Gathering all the remaining fire harpies at the top of the canyon I ordered them to carry the phoenix corpse back to my kingdom. As they were able to pick it up with ease, we made our way out of the canyon. On the way down I told Lucy to follow us since she was the only harpy maid that stayed behind when we were at war.
Disposing of any enemies that got in our way, we swiftly made our way out of the Canyon of Volcanoes. During the trip out I never laid my hands on any monsters. They offered me some of the corpses since they knew I could eat raw meat.
[Gained the following skills]
[Magma Control]
[Kingfishers Flexible Wings]
[Body Modification: Iron Skin]
[Magma Secretion]
...
The change in scenery almost brought a tear to my eye. The canyon was cool but it wasn't very pleasing to look at. The barren and brown/orange rocks got boring after a while and the only plants seen were dead bushes scattered around the canyon.
"Arpious… can we check out my old nest?" Kumo says.
"Why?"
"I want to kill them all..." she says while staring at me with cold eyes that seemed to peer into my soul.
I forgot that she was a reject in her nest. She probably wants to take revenge for all the suffering they brought her. I remember her telling me that her only reason she wanted to keep living was that she wanted to learn more about the world.
"Ok... I won't help out since it's your revenge, not mine though," I declare.
As she nodded in agreement I petrified one of the bird corpses I didn't finish eating and gave it to the group of fire harpies. Lucy insisted on following me but told her that we'll be back soon.
『Status』
[Name: Lucy]
[Race: Fire Harpy]
[Status: Worried]
[Level: 3/50]
[HP: 120/120 MP: 90/90 SP: 25/25]
[Strength: 15]
[Defense: 5]
[Magic: 15]
[Speed: 10]
[Luck: 1]
[Charisma: 10]
[Skills: [Body Enhancement] [Fire Magic] [Wind Control] [Intense Focus] [Flying Sense]
[Titles: None
…
"Wait, Lucy," I call out seeing that she's not my direct subordinate or servant.
[Would you like to make [Lucy] your subordinate?]
Yes…
[Congratulations [Lucy] is now your subordinate!]
[Would you like to name her?]
No...
Finishing the process we sent them off towards my kingdom. They should all be fine if they get attacked since they are all strong warriors that survived a "war".
…
Making our way out of the Ignited Forest and walking towards the Rock Boned Forest. Activating all the presence skills that I have we had a smooth trip to the forest. Some of the smaller monsters like berserk boas showed up but instantly got knocked out by my presence skills.
"This might be too overpowered," I mutter to myself.
…
Another 10 minutes passed by and we finally arrived at the Rock Boned Forest. Taking a mental note for me to come back here and grab some of the rocks inside the trees I begin to follow Kumo.
A wave of nostalgia hit me when we passed by the river we used to drink out of and watch the stars together. We also passed by the cave that I found the injured Kumo in.
Soon the wave of nostalgia was washed away when Kumos gaze had landed on the bottom of a tree. It was just like every other tree in the forest but what she was staring at was an… anthill?
What…
Opening a hole where the back of her dress is, her moon tattoo starts to glow a light pink. The glow suddenly hardens and forms into a spear.
Noticing that Kumo has started her revenge due to her cold aura, I slowly back away. Deactivating all of my presence skills I brace myself for what's to come… even though I was slightly troubled by the fact that she's aiming the spear at the anthill I still let her do her thing.
BANG
The spear made of moonlight then plunges toward the anthill causing dirt to fly everywhere and the tree to be slightly uprooted.
CLICK CLICK CLICK CLICK
The clicking of mandibles could be heard coming from the now gone anthill. The sounds grew louder as multiple ant-like shapes crawled out of the hole. Not long after they grew in size capping at about my chest level in height.
"Hmmm, so those were berserk crawlers. I remember Kumo telling me that berserk crawlers or maybe just crawlers, in general, could shrink or grow in size. Still, this is way too many! Kumo will you be alright!" I shouted shocked at the number of berserk crawlers pouring out of the hole in the ground.
I didn't get a reply since she still had her concentration on the hole. The berserk crawlers tried to lash out at her with [Shadow Control] and their claws but Kumo instantly ended them with her [Thread Manipulation] and [Shadow Magic].
Still not batting an eye towards the berserk crawlers pouring out in waves towards her she mutters something very softly.
"She's here…"
A presence more powerful than the rest exits the ant hole and perches on top of a tree branch above Kumo. 6 eerie purple eyes glowed in the shadow of the tree.
[Inspect]
『Status』
[Name: Queen]
[Race: Berserk Crawler Queen]
[Status: Enraged]
[Level: 68/100]
[HP: 250/250 MP: 150/150 SP: 15/15]
[Strength: 10]
[Defense: 10]
[Magic: 30]
[Speed: 10]
[Luck: 1]
[Charisma: 5]
[Skills: [Body Enhancement] [Shadow Magic] [Demonic Berserker (Locked)] [Thread Manipulation] [Contortion] [Boost] [Slash] [Poison Immunity] [Enhanced Regeneration]
[Body Modification: [Mark of a Berserker]
[Titles: [Queen of Berserk Crawlers]
…
Clicking could be heard coming from her mouth. Using [Mind Magic] I try and hear what she's thinking but nothing happens. Inspecting [Mind Magic] I try and find out what's going on.
[Mind Magic]
[Allows you to create illusions in another being's mind.]
That's kind of dumb. I lost all the benefits of mind control like allowing me to hear the thoughts of other beings or suppressing my monster's instinct… wait is that why I entered that state when I was fighting the phoenix…?
tsk
Now I have to find another skill that suppresses it. I'm assuming I've only seen a sliver of what my monster's instinct can do because I was quickly snapped out of it by an external reason.
Taking a mental note I look back up at Kumo. She was currently fighting toe to toe with the queen.
The queen almost looked exactly like Kumo besides the different color schemes and her spider legs. Her face was very humanoid while her skin was pale white.
She was beautiful but I would never love somebody who my lover hates.
Her hair was a deep dark red that flowed down to her waist. The spider legs on her back ended with dark red claws instead of small sickles. Her skin was as hard as any carapace that you find on most bugs making the fight much harder for Kumo. If it weren't for her extremely hard skin, Kumo would've won by now.
The berserk crawlers were hindering part of her movement due to them flooding the forest. Thankfully I was perched on a tree branch looking down on everything.
"She can easily kill the queen but the berserk crawlers are a different story. Even now they keep pouring out. If Kumo gets hurt while defeating the queen only will I step in," I mutter.
Some crawlers approached me but I swiftly ended them with [Thunderbolt].
[Thunderbolt has leveled up]
[Thunderbolt evolved into Forbidden Magic: Zeus's Nimbus]
"Oh, I should try this out later and try and level up some of my other skills right now,"
Looking back at Kumo I see that she is still in a stalemate with the queen. Both used the forestry terrain to their advantage with [Thread Manipulation] and [Shadow Magic].
Kumo tried to lock the queen in place with [Shadow Magic] whilst also creating spears of moonlight behind her. She also set up traps with [Thread Manipulation] that could slow the queen down for a split second.
The spider legs on their back never played a huge part until the queen used [Boost]. Jumping off a tree and flying towards Kumo like a missile she cocked her spider legs back to go in for a huge attack with [Slash].
As Kumo saw this she quickly assessed the situation and coated all 6 of her spider legs with [Acid Secretion]. As all 6 of their spider legs clashed you could hear the sound of something getting seared.
It was the queen's legs. Even though she has [Poison Immunity] Kumo now has the upgraded version [Acid Secretion].
The queen's spider legs were slowly getting melted but it seemed like she wasn't fazed by it since she was now making blades of shadows behind Kumo. The blades aimed for her neck but Kumo quickly deflected them with her blades only leaving tiny scratches on herself.
…
Another 15 minutes passed and it seemed like the queen was tiring out due to her low stamina. The queen kept tripping on her own feet only to make a swift recovery but Kumo noticed this and used it to her full advantage. The next time she tripped Kumo dashed towards the shadow of a tree and… disappeared?!
In the queen's confusion, she stopped and prepared herself for an attack. Her heavy breathing could be heard from where I was and I was about 10 meters away from them.
Suddenly Kumo popped out from a shadow behind the queen with her spider legs coated with acid. Jumping off the tree like a missile she cocked her legs back, like the queen, and sliced through all 6 of her legs. Kumo's spider legs continued and made a huge scratch on her back causing the queen to cry out in pain and fall to the ground.
Tons of blue blood poured out from the massive scratch on her back. While this was happening Kumo just stood over her, staring down at her old queen now writhing in pain. I saw her mouth move but I was too far away to make out what she said even with my enhanced senses.