"...What the hell."
"What in the—."
The exhausted Chosen Ones, worn down by the endless swarm of spiders, had their eyes light up.
Just as they thought they couldn’t hold out any longer, a girl appeared.
Around her, spiders were being torn apart at an incredible speed.
As they approached her, the spiders’ corpses were sliced cleanly, as if cut by a knife through tofu. It almost seemed like the spiders couldn’t even get close to her.
"...Threads! She’s laid down threads that slice you apart if you get near!"
"Everyone, stay away from that girl’s vicinity! Unless you want to cry with an arm chopped off!"
An ability that could kill those beasts continuously just by setting it up—what an opportune power for the current situation.
They cheered at the arrival of a Chosen One with an ability so perfectly suited to their predicament.
"If we use her area as an evacuation point... we can get healed right away if we’re hurt!"
"It’s possible! We might actually hold them off!"
The long threads extending from the girl’s surroundings clung to the rubble of collapsed buildings, serving as traps.
Though the threads began to lose effectiveness as too many corpses piled up...
...the threads she controlled spread out even faster in all directions.
Perhaps because of that.
The endless tide of spiders, which had seemed impossible to stop, now appeared to be thinning slightly.
If this kept up, they might just manage to hold the line.
Just as they were thinking that—
—a howl echoed in their ears.
"Aoooooooooooo!"
"A wolf? Another beast?! Damn it, not now—!"
"No! ...It’s not a beast! It’s an ally! Look over there!"
Crunch, crunch.
Even Chosen Ones couldn’t avoid injury if bitten by those spiders.
And if they hesitated for even a moment after being bitten, they’d be swarmed by the others.
That was why the front line had been pushed back. To ensure maximum safety.
...But that didn’t apply to the figure before them.
A wolf walking on two legs like a human.
Some of the Chosen Ones gasped at the sight.
"Wait... I’ve seen that in a book before. Isn’t that a werewolf...?"
"...What? A werewolf? That race went extinct hundreds of years ago. Why is it here?"
"Aoooooooooooo!"
Ignoring their shock completely, the werewolf howled.
As if to say that such attacks couldn’t even scratch it.
Unlike the retreating front line, which moved back in sync with the waves of spiders, the werewolf advanced.
And a short time later—
—drops of ichor began to seep out from the tide. It was probably slaughtering the beasts from within.
To crawl into such a horrifying place directly...
"...It doesn’t look sane. Are you sure it’s an ally? Not just another beast that showed up by chance?"
"Don’t worry. It’s definitely an ally. That’s a Chosen One who transformed using their ability."
"J-Jesus! It was you?! Where the hell have you been until—!"
"I had something to take care of. But thanks to that, good things happened, right?"
"...You brought those Chosen Ones, didn’t you?"
They were specialized in mass slaughter, just as described.
To kill as many beasts as possible without dying, they endlessly erected walls with their abilities. When the walls broke, they moved and built new ones.
Unlike the others, who had been steadily pushed back and worn down, these two didn’t need a front line at all.
One was completely immune to the beasts’ attacks, and the other couldn’t even be approached—they’d die the moment they got close.
"Thanks to you, we made it. With just the two of us, but this should be enough…!"
"It’s not just two of us."
"…What?"
"Excuse me."
As they turned their gaze toward Hayul’s nod, they saw a woman whose lower half was a snake, tears streaming down her face as she spewed curses.
"Why do I look like this?! Why do I look like this?! I’ll curse you, I’ll curse you, I’ll curse you…!"
"…Is she really okay?"
"She tends to overreact a bit, so she’ll probably be fine."
"Hyaaaaaak?! I almost died…!"
Maybe she hadn’t noticed the spider creeping up behind her.
A few strands of her hair were instantly sliced off by the spider’s mouth when she happened to turn her head.
Fortunately, she seemed to have fled in terror, so she wasn’t seriously injured…
"Hey, we should send her to the rear."
"Isn’t that too dangerous?"
"It’ll be fine. She’s not very reliable, she overreacts, I don’t even bother listening to what she says, and she’s just a freeloading parasite who only eats…"
…Is she really okay?
As their faces filled with concern at their former comrade’s harsh criticism,
Perhaps the humiliation of being attacked had gotten to her.
The snake woman’s face, which they glanced at, was flushed crimson.
"But she’s still useful."
"You tried to kill me…! I’ll never forgive you!"
Somehow, between her dried tears, her yellow eyes gleamed.
For a brief moment, they thought her pupils had split vertically like a reptile’s.
Then, the spiders in front of her turned a grayish color.
As if their very material had changed.
"…Is that stone?"
"She creates a barrier while attacking. That’s a great ability."
"Yes, she can turn anything she focuses on within her line of sight into stone. However…"
"However?"
They voiced their doubts, impressed by what seemed like an incredible ability, as she grinned triumphantly.
Was there some kind of problem?
"If I use it too much, my eyes hurt, so I can’t use it often… And to use it a lot, I have to keep my eyes open…"
"Aaaaaah, my eyes…! Why won’t you all disappear?! Eeeek! Save me!"
Her ability to turn countless spiders to stone was a far cry from her current state.
Rubbing her eyes repeatedly and fleeing with her tail swaying, they could only shake their heads.
"That’s what happens."
"…It’s impressive, I guess."
"Yeah, kinda…"
"Don’t worry too much. She might look like that, but she’ll manage to survive on her own."
She had during the Weaver Menace, after all.
Hayul closed his mouth before he could say that.
There was no need to bring that up.
"Still, I didn’t expect things to get this much easier just because three people joined us."
"Yeah."
"…Can I correct one thing? It’s not three."
"Huh? Why?"
"Because I’m here too. That makes four."
"What? But you can’t—"
Before he could finish—*against monsters*—
Hayul vanished in an instant, turning into mist.
They stared blankly at the empty space.
Hadn’t that guy complained before about how his ability was only useful for evasion against monsters?
That even if he got inside their bodies and filled their respiratory systems with water, they were so massive that it wouldn’t have much effect…
…And only after recalling that fact did they realize.
That those monsters were offspring.
"...Do spiders even have lungs?"
"I don’t know. But they must have some kind of respiratory system. If they’re young, they’d be pretty small."
As if proving their theory right, the mist settled in the middle of the wave in an instant.
And the spiders, who had been charging at the superhumans at full speed while inhaling that mist, soon collapsed, foaming at the mouth—never to rise again.
"Huh. Wow. That’s terrifying."
"Yeah, no kidding."
But even if the ability was chilling, it was still their ally’s power.
The moment the four superhumans joined the fight, the burden lessened dramatically—so much so that it was visible to the naked eye.
It wasn’t just a feeling. They could see it with their own eyes.
The number of monsters had decreased in a truly revolutionary way.
"Phew, finally, things might get a little easier."
"Yeah. After all the hard work, maybe we can—"
"Stop dawdling and fight now! There’s a time limit! We need to finish this as fast as possible!"
"...Ah, damn it. A time limit? I thought we could take it easy for once."
The superhumans, who had hoped to wrap things up a little more comfortably now that the pressure had eased, scowled.
A time limit?
What new intel had that old man gotten to push them this hard?
"...Well, nothing we can do. Let’s just finish this fast and rest."
"Yeah..."
Still, they dove back into the front lines, convinced there had to be a reason the commander was rushing them.
After all, that grizzled old man was the only one who ever looked out for them.
"Kuuuugh...! Kwaaaaaah—!"
"...You look like you’re in a lot of pain. You okay?"
"Dieeeeeeee!"
"Sorry, but I can’t grant that wish. I promised the girl I love I’d come back to her."
Fire flew at me to burn me alive, arms swung to crush me, and water surged to slice me in half.
But I dodged them all with minimal movement. The less I moved, the longer I could hold out.
It was cruel to the girl in front of me, but Yu Siwoo had no intention of dying for her.
He had a promise to keep with the girl he loved.
"...Hmm, how many more hours until the others arrive? Wanna make a bet?"
"Why, why won’t you just die...!"
He didn’t bother answering her frustrated question.
As long as she stopped attacking, it was good for him.
But her frustration didn’t last long.
Perhaps realizing that the reason for her frustration was *him*, she began attacking even more fiercely.
Did she think he was predicting and dodging her attacks?
She started swinging wildly.
And after he dodged every single one of those attacks, just as she was getting frustrated again—
"Grrrrrl..."
"...What the hell is *that*?"
When had it even gotten there?
An unnamed monster was now standing beside the girl, glaring at him.
Realizing she had gained another ally to attack him, the girl smirked bitterly.
"...Fine. Let’s see how long you last."
Yu Siwoo abandoned his earlier calculation that he could hold out all day.
Two monsters.
This was going to be harder than he thought.
But Yu Siwoo didn’t give up.
He *would* survive and return to Arte’s side.
Because that was his promise.