'No, wait ! Ow! That hurts!', A moment ago, Spider was still full of herself, but then she got tossed onto the ground and rolled several times. It didn't actually hurt, but... it hurt more emotionally. She immediately started waving her legs around in protest.
'What's with that attitude? I was just giving you a little test! That's it? Isn't that too much? Are all men like this? If they can't get something, they throw it away? I'm mad now! If you don't hurry up—'
Before Spider could finish complaining, four hornets swooped down from the sky.
They flew extremely fast, bringing with them a sharp rushing sound. Their stingers gleamed coldly even in the darkness, and their target was the two of them.
Faced with this danger, the chatterbox spider instantly shut up. Her first reaction was to grab Ash and run away from this dangerous place.
But before she could do anything, several translucent slashes suddenly shot toward the sky without warning.
The slashes were incredibly fast, like a dense net of death. They tore through the air in an instant and accurately struck all four hornets.
Spider didn't even see what happened before the four hornets were cut into several pieces in midair.
Chunks of their bodies scattered everywhere like raindrops, as if a rainstorm made of strange liquid had fallen from above.
'Y-You're kidding?', Spider stared with wide eyes. One piece of a hornet even landed directly on her head, making the whole thing feel much more real. She couldn't believe what she was seeing and shouted in shock.
'You're this strong, so why didn't you say so earlier? You made me think you died! That I couldn't eat cooked food anymore... no, you made me think the first companion I'd met had been eaten by some monster! I was sad for so long!'
"Too noisy."
To Ash, it all sounded like squeaking. He frowned and casually grabbed a piece of a hornet's body before stuffing it into Spider's wide-open mouth.
The sudden action instantly silenced Spider, who had been waving her front legs and making strange noises at him.
'Blegh! It's stuck! It's stuck in my throat!', At first, Spider rolled around on the ground with a red face, trying to spit it out.
But after a while, she accidentally swallowed the hornet piece. Then she licked the liquid left in her mouth and suddenly her eyes lit up.
'Ah, but it tastes pretty good. Kind of refreshing somehow? Let me try another bite! Let's roast some too!'
The hornet didn't actually taste that amazing, but compared to the poisonous monsters around here, hornets were surprisingly tasty when eaten raw. They had venomous stingers, but most of their flesh and juice weren't poisonous. The foodie spider immediately forgot all her complaints.
She quickly began gathering the shattered hornet remains from the ground while muttering to herself.
'Seriously, why did you have to cut them into so many pieces? We still have to eat them later. Now they're all covered in dirt. This head... hmm, it's ugly, but it's edible! Can't waste it!'
She stared at a severed hornet head for a while. After making eye contact with it, she silently stuck a leg through the middle of its forehead and lifted it up, preparing to collect the other pieces.
Before she could continue, however, some strange liquid suddenly dripped down from above.
Her body twitched.
The tiny sensory hairs on her legs instantly stood on end.
'Is there a leak... somewhere?', Spider forced out a smile, but a bad feeling rose inside her.
She carefully looked up.
The moment she did, her whole body jerked. It almost scared the soul out of her.
A giant blue python was coiled above them. Its head alone was larger than her entire body. Its huge eyes were fixed on her, and cold killing intent filled its gaze.
'Ah... ahaha... Did I... accidentally come to the wrong place? We're all poisonous, right? You wouldn't eat me, would you?'
Spider laughed awkwardly while backing away.
Her body trembled slightly from fear. Every one of her legs felt weak.
But...
"Hisss!"
The blue python clearly had no intention of letting her go. It opened its massive mouth, revealing sharp fangs, and let out a chilling hiss.
'Waaah! So that won't work after all! Stop looking at me! Please let me go!'
Spider jumped and immediately rushed behind Ash at top speed. Her eight eyes peeked out from behind him, staring in terror at the blue python above.
But before she could relax, her hearing picked up strange sounds from behind.
She instinctively turned around and discovered, there were two more identical giant pythons behind her.
'Y-You're kidding? W-What do we do? We're surrounded? We're done! We might really be done this time!'
Spider's already sharp voice became even sharper from fear. It echoed through the gloomy surroundings, and for some reason Ash found it a little funny.
The overwhelming pressure from the three pythons made her feel as though death itself had grabbed her throat. Her body had gone stiff from fear, and she could only stare blankly at the hopeless situation before her.
Unlike Spider, Ash remained completely calm.
There wasn't a trace of panic in his eyes, as though the danger before him was nothing worth mentioning.
He didn't even raise a hand.
With a casual glance, invisible slashes shot toward the blue pythons like sharp wind blades. They moved so quickly that only blurry traces remained in the air.
"Hisss!"
The pythons seemed to sense the danger.
One twisted its massive body in an attempt to dodge, while the other two tried to strike first.
But whether they dodged or attacked, Ash's magic was clearly faster.
Every strike hit its target.
The pythons suddenly stiffened.
They let out painful roars.
Then several strange lines of blood appeared across their huge bodies.
The pythons struggled and writhed in place for a few moments.
Then their long bodies split apart along those blood lines.
In an instant, they became several bloody sections filled with shattered organs, as though a rain of flesh had fallen from the sky.
The chunks slammed heavily into the ground, kicking up a massive cloud of dust.
As the giant python corpses crashed to the ground, dust scattered everywhere.
Spider froze.
Her eight eyes were wide open, filled with disbelief.
The violence had been too overwhelming.
She almost couldn't believe that the nightmare before her had been resolved so easily in such a short time.
Carefully, she peeked her little head out from behind Ash.
Her movements were extremely cautious, as though she was afraid of disturbing something.
Without blinking, she stared ahead.
After rubbing her eyes and confirming it several times, Spider finally emerged completely from behind Ash.
She walked over to the python corpses in small steps.
The trembling figure from earlier was nowhere to be seen.
In its place was a proud stance.
Standing before the enormous corpse like a victorious general, all traces of fear had vanished from her face.
She even stood on two legs.
Four legs rested on her hips.
The remaining two were folded across her chest.
The sight was... difficult to describe.
But she didn't seem aware of that at all.
She immediately burst into loud laughter.
'See that? This is what happens when you mess with me! I have support now! I've got someone backing me up! Now all of you have become my food!'
As she spoke, she proudly slapped the python corpse with her front legs as though announcing her victory to the entire world.
"What's this spider doing now?"
Watching the spider standing on two legs, with four on her hips and two crossed over her chest while squeaking loudly, Ash couldn't understand her, but the phrase "borrowing someone else's power" suddenly came to mind.
'No, more like a spider borrowing someone else's power.'
Before he could think further, Spider dragged a huge chunk of snake meat over to him and rubbed her head against his leg like a pet seeking attention.
'Quick, quick, try this~! Same as always! I'll roast the meat and you make the fire!'
"At this point, complaining feels pointless."
The spider was strange, but Ash was tired of commenting on it.
Silently, he summoned flames and watched as Spider skillfully held the snake meat with two front legs and roasted it over the fire.
It was worth mentioning that although a spider roasting meat looked strange, she was surprisingly skilled.
She flipped the meat smoothly, making sure every side heated evenly.
Before long, an appealing aroma drifted out.
Even Ash was impressed.
He hadn't expected Spider to have such talent for roasting meat.
And after switching from frog meat to snake and hornet meat, the food tasted much better than before.
At least...
'So good! I'm so happy~ Living really is wonderful! Wonderful!', Spider ate while crying tears of gratitude, completely immersed in her emotion.
———
After they had eaten their fill, Ash sat on a rock, reminiscing about his old life.
Warm sunlight.
Bustling towns.
Sexy mature women.
Cute girls.
'I'm full~ I'm full~ Time for a nap today! Ahh~ This is great~ Eat until you're full and then sleep! Isn't this the meaning of life?'
While Ash was lost in memories, the carefree Spider finally stopped stuffing food into her mouth and began savoring it properly.
After eating all the cooked meat, she lay on her back like an overturned cockroach, happily patting her belly and wanting to take a nap.
As if remembering something, she glanced at Ash, who seemed lost in thought.
Not only did she fail to hold back, she became even more pleased and laughed loudly.
'Now that I have such an amazing subordinate, I'll never have to worry about being bullied again! Gahaha—wah?'
Spider had only laughed halfway through.
Ash had been reminiscing about Linie.
But that squeaking noise suddenly replaced the image in his head with Spider.
Startled, he reflexively grabbed a chunk of unfinished snake meat beside him and threw it.
The meat landed directly on top of Spider.
It was accidental, but the world finally became quiet again.
The piece of snake meat was over three meters long.
Like a small hill, it pressed down on Spider.
Everything went dark for her.
And she could barely breathe.
After a great deal of effort, she finally kicked the snake meat off herself like kicking away a blanket.
Then she climbed up angrily, waving her legs at Ash while constantly squeaking in protest.
But Ash simply placed a hand on her head and forcibly pushed it down.
There was a trace of frustration in his voice.
"Could you be quiet for a bit? I had just started remembering the good old days, and then a spider suddenly barged into my memories and painted them spider-colored, okay?"
'What are you doing? Spiders have rights too, don't they?', Spider shouted angrily, shaking her head hard in an attempt to break free.
Then she quickly climbed onto Ash.
Her huge spider face moved right in front of him.
Her eight eyes were opened wide.
'How can you bully such a cute spider? Look at me! Look at these big watery eyes blinking at you! This lovable face! Doesn't your conscience hurt? Where's your conscience as a human? Where is it?'
"Are you a spider or a facehugger?"
'What are you talking about? Have you reflected on your actions yet? Reflect properly right now!'
"What should I do? I really want to flick your eyes... Actually, if you don't get down, I'm going to tie you up and hang you on the wall."
Spider kept squeaking away.
But Ash only saw a terrifying spider face climbing onto him and pressing itself right in front of him.
Those dark red eyes.
No eyelids at all.
It really was unsettling.
His expression went numb as he instinctively threatened her.
But in the end...
"Forget it, forget it. Talking to you feels pointless."
Scolding a spider was simply too ridiculous.
There was no meaning in it.
Ash let out a helpless sigh and gave up arguing with Spider.
Then he grabbed her like a small object, lifted her off himself, and casually tossed her onto the ground.
At that moment, he felt as though he finally understood how people who raised huskies felt.
Helpless, yet amused.
Though this husky happened to look terrifying.
If it were anyone else, they might have gotten a heart attack.
But for some reason, Ash could tell that Spider had only been complaining.
There wasn't any malice in it.
At least, he hadn't felt any.
And Spider was the first living being he'd met in this world.
She had been friendly to him from the beginning.
She could even dance and cook.
Thinking of that, Ash's gaze fell upon the clean-picked bones scattered around them.
A small sense of pride rose in his chest.
His cooking really wasn't very good.
But somehow, he seemed to possess a strange ability that made other people's cooking improve.
'Hmm... That should count as one of his special talents, right?'
'After all, in a way, that is rarer than being good at cooking myself.'
'Even a spider learned how to roast meat under my influence.'
'If people heard about that, wouldn't it sound impressive?"
With that thought, he reached out to pat Spider's head again.
Only to discover, after being thrown onto the ground, the carefree Spider complained with a series of squeaks.
When she realized her protest wasn't working, she flopped onto her back in frustration.
'Forget it! Forget it! I'm generous, so I won't argue with you! Running around all day exhausted me... Now that I'm full, I'm taking a nap first!'
Spider muttered to herself and sprawled on the ground, determined to embrace laziness.
Watching this, Ash felt that she really did look like an overturned cockroach.
It gave him an urge to step on her.
And he truly couldn't understand it.
'Do normal spiders sleep like this?'
"Or are monsters in this world just strange?"
Thinking that, he unconsciously touched Spider's belly.
Surprisingly, despite being an exoskeleton creature, her abdomen wasn't covered in hard armor.
It was unexpectedly soft.
After testing it, Ash simply lay down beside her.
Using Spider's belly as a pillow, he rested his upper body against it.
After all, he had injuries on his back.
Lying on something soft made them hurt less.
Resting on Spider's soft abdomen, Ash gradually fell asleep.
In his dream, he returned to the familiar human world.
Bright sunshine.
Crowded streets.
And himself lying on Fern's soft thighs, enjoying a beautiful girl's lap pillow.
However... just as he was immersed in the pleasant dream, Spider began squirming because the weight on her abdomen was uncomfortable.
She felt as though a huge rock was pressing down on her stomach.
Even in her sleep, she couldn't rest peacefully.
Though she had finally managed to sleep well for once, she ended up having a nightmare.
———
After waking up, Spider discovered the culprit behind her nightmare.
She dared to be angry.
She dared to complain.
But she didn't dare do anything.
There was no helping it.
He was her meal ticket.
And she couldn't beat him anyway.
Putting that aside...
"As long as I stick with this guy and hold onto his leg, I can happily become a shut-in from now on. Hehe~ A wonderful life is waiting for me. Barbecue every day! Picking up corpses! This is amazing! Having someone to rely on is amazing. Thank you! You've finally given me a reason to live again. I've understood the meaning of life! And also... living off someone else, is heaven!'
At first, she had planned to do the hunting herself while Ash provided the fire.
But after discovering how absurdly strong he was, Spider naturally wanted to slack off.
When Ash woke up, she happily shook her head and rubbed against his clothes like a pet dog.
Then she looked up at him with watery eyes.
'Go hunting already! I'm not picky! As long as it isn't poisonous! And tastes good! Anything is fine!'
"Come to think of it, this spider could be kept as a pet. But if she never fights, she'll definitely become useless. That won't do..."
There wasn't much worth studying in the human world anyway.
It was basically the beginner village of beginner villages.
Ash couldn't help but wonder how far this rapidly improving spider could develop.
And the labyrinth clearly seemed to be hiding some kind of secret.
That made him want to stay longer.
So he decided that during this time, he would do everything possible to make her hunt for food herself.
After all, after spoiling children too many times, he had finally realized that sometimes you had to be strict with them.
The same should apply to raising pets.
Unfortunately, Spider had the exact opposite idea.
She wanted to become a happy shut-in.
And so, during the next two days, Spider never left his side.
She sat there with a hungry stomach, eagerly waiting for him to go hunting.
But whenever she wasn't paying attention, Ash would quietly take military rations from his storage space, the ones he had stolen from the camp, and fill his own stomach first.
As a result, Spider stubbornly waited for two whole days without ever seeing him hunt.
Meanwhile, her own stomach kept growling from hunger.
She continuously scratched at the ground to vent the misery of being hungry.