Chapter 18

Summary of the previous chapter:

The final battle of Chapter 1.

18

"Lily! Rose!"

"‘Master!’"

I faced the two familiars who rushed towards me, and I received them head-on.

To be precise, I was ‘knocked down’ by them.

My hands were still stuck to the floor, and I couldn’t move properly, so I could only sit down as they tackled me.

"It's good to see you're safe..."

"I was worried, Master."

The two clung to my chest, rejoicing at our reunion.

I, of course, was also overjoyed. However, it wasn’t that simple.

"Ow... It hurts! Both of you, calm down a bit!"

"Oh, that's right. Master, you were hurt, weren't you?"

When I cried out, Lily immediately cast a healing spell.

Meanwhile, Rose freed me from the spider silk bindings with a small knife attached to her waist.

"Sorry. We were just so happy... We couldn't help it."

"No, it's fine. Don't worry about it."

It meant that they were so concerned about me.

Just knowing that made my heart warm, and the pain didn’t matter anymore.

My body felt warm and cozy.

The healing spell was repairing my injured body.

However, it would take a few minutes before I could move again.

Lily’s healing spell had its limits. I couldn’t complain.

Besides, I was in no position to complain about my injuries.

Both Lily and Rose looked terribly battered.

Lily’s disguise had partially dissolved due to the severe damage, and half of her face and most of her body had reverted to slime. Despite being naked, it didn’t look lewd, but it was a terrible sight.

Her hand, which gently touched my broken right arm, had completely turned transparent, and her fingers were indistinguishable. Her body fluids occasionally dripped onto my arm, slowly flowing down. She was barely maintaining a human-like shape, and it was clear that she was reaching her limit.

Rose had lost one of her arms. It seemed that her leg joint was damaged when she was slammed into the floor and pillars. When she came to me, she was dragging her injured leg.

The largest injury was the crack running across her torso. She had managed to avoid a direct hit from the spider leg’s thrust, but it had still struck her side, creating a deep, radiating crack up to her shoulder.

They were both in a terrible state.

If anything had gone wrong, they would have surely lost their lives.

Even so, they had come to save me.

"Thank you. Both of you. Thank you so much..."

I had no other words to say.

If this had been the end, it would have been an ideal happy ending.

But because it wasn’t, reality was cruel.

"What are you... celebrating?"

A voice filled with resentment reached us as we rejoiced.

I looked up to meet the burning red eyes of the white arachne.

"Are you really thinking you’ve defeated me with just these scratches?"

The white arachne, who was completely unharmed, spoke in a low, threatening tone. There was no sign of the damage from Lily’s magic earlier. More surprisingly, the burns on her face had completely disappeared. High-level monsters apparently had monstrous healing abilities.

On our side, it was clear that neither Lily nor Rose was in any condition to fight.

They had used up all their strength just to reach me alive. They had no power left to fight.

In other words, this was the end for us.

I accepted the hopeless situation with a surprisingly calm heart.

There was no need to search for a reason.

I thought that if I could die with Lily and Rose, it wouldn’t be so bad.

Being able to embrace them again gave me a sense of peace.

Dying here with Lily and Rose was far better than living alone, bound by spider silk.

I naturally felt this way.

As long as the white arachne’s goal was me, I wouldn’t be killed. But if that happened, I could just bite my tongue.

"Wait, Master."

Just as I had resolved myself, Lily’s liquid hand enveloped mine.

"Lily?"

"It’s too early to give up."

Lily whispered.

What did she mean?

This situation was clearly a ‘checkmate.’ There was no way to reverse it physically.

Yet, as the white arachne approached, Lily’s half-face was filled with confidence.

"I will tear you apart and reclaim what is mine."

The white arachne advanced, clicking her spider legs. She didn’t use her full jumping power to attack, probably to avoid involving me. She was clearly intent on ending Lily and Rose’s lives.

"Your efforts are meaningless. I will win."

"Your actions are meaningless, aren’t they?"

Kato, who was on the opposite side of the arachne, responded. She, like Lily, hadn’t given up.

I looked at her, and she met my gaze with a slight smile.

It was a natural smile, as if she was genuinely happy for my safety.

"..."

It was just a moment.

Kato quickly retracted her smile and turned a sharp gaze towards the white arachne.

"You’ve caused chaos and thrown tantrums... Have you achieved what you wanted, White Arachne?"

"I’m about to take it back. Watch and see, girl."

"Take it back? That’s a funny thing to say. You can’t do that, can you?"

"What did you say?"

The white arachne turned to Kato, unable to ignore her insolence.

"Can’t you see the reality? Clearly, they have no strength left to fight. They will be crushed."

Despite the killing intent directed at her, Kato remained calm.

"That might be true."

Kato readily acknowledged the white arachne’s statement and then shook her head.

"But that’s a different matter. Even if you kill Lily and Rose, you will never get what you truly want. ...In fact, you’ve never had it."

"Still haven’t realized it?"

This time, Lily spoke.

"You’ve been mistaken."

I didn’t understand what she meant, and neither did the white arachne, at least not at that moment.

"Mistaken? About what..."

The white arachne’s words abruptly cut off. She hadn’t been interrupted by Lily; she had stopped speaking herself, her eyes widening.

Her red eyes reflected the two monster familiars by my side.

Lily gently placed her hand on my arm and leaned her flaxen head against my shoulder.

My other hand was held by Rose’s doll-like hand.

The white arachne stared at the two familiars with a frozen expression.

Lily spoke to the motionless arachne.

"You’ve realized, haven’t you? Then you should understand what I meant by ‘mistaken.’”

Her half-slimed face even showed a pitiful expression.

"You gained a will? A self? That’s wonderful, indeed. I remember it too, the moment when the world gained color."

The white arachne had said the same thing.

Monsters are born without a self. Therefore, the moment they gain one is an invaluable, shared experience among my familiars.

"Master gave us our selves. Master is like a mother to us. No, more than that, a special existence. I can understand why you wanted to kidnap him and keep him all to yourself."

My three familiars have different stances towards me, but they share something in common.

Like Lily’s metaphor, they all have a special feeling towards me, and this is no different for the arachne who kidnapped me. In fact, it was precisely because of these feelings that she took such extreme actions.

"But just having Master isn’t enough. That’s where you were mistaken."

Lily squeezed my hand tightly.

"We value Master more than anything. Master also values us. This is an irreplaceable happiness that can’t be substituted by anything, I believe."

She placed her hand on her chest, which had completely collapsed into transparency, but she looked content.

Her injuries were a source of pride, she silently conveyed.

Lily was in a state of happiness.

The same was true for Rose, who was by my side.

And I, of course, felt the same.

This situation was what Lily and the others had risked their lives to create.

"Can you feel our happiness, too?"

There is a connection between me and my familiars that links our hearts.

The white arachne is no exception.

Through this connection, we can’t exchange complex information, but we can convey things that words can’t express.

We can directly share feelings that can’t be fully described in words.

In other words, the happiness that Lily, Rose, and I are feeling is being transmitted to the white arachne in its entirety.

This is the fulfillment of working hard for someone dear.

This is the joy of loving and being loved.

This is the true, incomparable happiness that can’t be achieved alone.

This happiness is the hammer that crushes the white arachne and the spear that pierces through her.

Because she is also my familiar.

She should have been a beloved companion, a family-like existence, sharing the happiness of not being alone with us.

But she can no longer achieve that.

Even if she couldn’t achieve happiness, she wouldn’t have considered it a problem before.

She didn’t know what happiness was.

Not knowing allowed her to act recklessly.

But the connection between us allowed her to directly experience the happiness she had never known.

The white arachne now knew happiness.

As something completely unrelated to herself.

Realizing that this incomparable happiness was forever out of reach was a crushing blow.

If she hadn’t been broken by this, she truly would have been a monster.

"Ugh..."

But that was impossible.

She was as pure as anyone, a child who had just gained a heart, and I, a mere human, had given it to her.

In a sense, this was ironic.

If she hadn’t had a heart, she would have remained an invincible existence.

"I... I..."

No matter how strong the exterior, a soft spot can be fatal.

Thus, the white spider, who had wreaked unparalleled havoc, crumbled.

***

"I’m glad you’re safe, senpai."

"Thank you."

When I, now able to walk thanks to Lily’s healing spell, approached, Kato greeted me with a modest smile.

Everyone was wobbly, and Kato, who hadn’t actually wielded a sword, looked a bit pale. She must have been under a lot of stress.

"Was that plan yours, Kato?"

I asked about something that had been on my mind.

I wasn’t certain, but I felt that the strategy wasn’t Lily’s or Rose’s idea.

It seemed a bit too ruthless, and I felt a bit awkward saying it, but...

The idea was human, not from the pure-hearted monster familiars.

As expected, Kato nodded.

"I didn’t know why the spider had taken senpai, but I could tell from the fact that she had kidnapped him that he was special to her. I concluded that, as senpai’s familiar, she would still be bound by the same principles as Lily and Rose. If that was the case, there had to be a way to defeat her."

"Regardless of her reasons for taking me, it wouldn’t matter."

"Yes. Being trusted, trusted, devoted to, and loved by the master... That must be a very happy thing, right?"

"Is it?"

"Yes."

Kato smiled somewhat wistfully.

"The condition for victory was for Lily and Rose to reach senpai alive."

Before I could say anything, Kato continued with a serious expression.

"It was a tough condition, but they accomplished it beautifully."

To win against an opponent who couldn’t be defeated by any means, they had to risk their lives and reach me no matter what.

That was the only way.

"All that was left was to make the white arachne understand the situation. To do that, I had to engage her in conversation. I was the best choice because I’m very weak, and she’s very strong. She would be curious about someone who appeared before her, and if she could kill me anytime, it wouldn’t matter whether she did it now or later."

"But it was still dangerous, right?"

In fact, she could have been killed on a whim, so she was truly walking a tightrope.

"Besides, you appeared once before, during the battle."

When Lily interjected, Kato shrugged.

"I moved to create an opening. It was an improvisation. It seemed like it wouldn’t work otherwise."

"You were reckless. I thought my heart would stop."

"Right now, Lily doesn’t have a heart, does she?"

"You two seem to have