I Reincarnated into a Game Filled with Mods – Chapter 55

Chapter 55
Arachnainera, the Spider Queen.

One of the bosses that must be defeated to progress through the main story in the Silver Dawn Knights route. This is the very creature Claudia was sent to subjugate at the beginning, under the lord’s orders.

Since she only received a rough location without any information, it seems she didn’t expect this type of monster at all.

As its alias, the Spider Queen, suggests, Arachnainera is a boss that takes the form of an incredibly large spider.

To be precise, only the lower half.

Its lower body is the very image of a spider, with eight legs and a repulsive pattern, but it has a peculiar appearance with the upper body of a human female attached to the spider’s head.

It’s even quite beautiful, considering that it’s covered in armor up to the neck, perhaps due to censorship concerns about showing a naked female body.

Because of this, it enjoys a cult-like popularity among a certain group who prefer monster girls, and even among those who don’t particularly like monster girls, it’s quite popular as one of the few beautiful female characters in Brightest Darkness 4.

Especially since one of its death scenes is of that kind.

Its attack patterns are nothing special, as befitting an early-game boss. Even considering Darkest Light mode, it only has about 10 patterns. And only one phase.

Considering that late-game bosses generally have well over 20 patterns, it’s definitely on the easier side.

Except for one thing: the pattern where it summons countless spiderlings.

This pattern appears twice: once when its health is reduced to 60%, and again at 30%. This can be considered the biggest challenge of Arachnainera in Darkest Light mode.

In vanilla mode, it only summons about 50 spiders, so you can deal with them individually by dodging, rolling, and attacking. Or just wipe them out with area-of-effect magic if you find it too bothersome.

But Darkest Light mode is different.

The number summoned jumps significantly. 250 appear when its health reaches 60%, and a whopping 750 appear at once when it reaches 30%. That’s why it’s 1000 in total.

It’s not uncommon for computers barely meeting the minimum requirements to overheat and freeze or even crash in the second situation.

The spiderlings themselves have low health, dying from almost any hit. It’s only 1 in the first playthrough, and even in the highest playthrough, it’s only 11.

The problem is the ridiculously large number and the fact that they swarm from all directions at once.

They even accumulate poison like their mother, the Spider Queen. If you get hit by a spiderling, you’ll either die from being stunlocked or from the poison.

“That’s why I said we need an attack spell that can continuously sweep a wide area. And you’re the perfect fit for that, Erika, aren’t you?”

Or we could use the spell you get from defeating the Burning Golem.

To deal with the spiderlings safely, you need an attack that can ‘continuously’, ‘quickly’, and ‘over a wide area’ deal damage. And the perfect spell for that is the reward for defeating the Burning Golem.

Flame Rotation Ring.

A spell that creates a ring of fire around the caster for 30 seconds.

It’s fast to cast, has a decent duration, and consumes little mana, but in return, its damage is abysmally low. However, even that abysmal damage is enough to kill a spiderling in one hit, making it ideal for countering the summoning pattern.

The strategy itself is to cast the spell when the pattern starts and run around like crazy, burning the spiderlings until the boss room is clear. Enough said.

“…”

“…”

“…”

Rize, Erika, and Claudia’s expressions gradually darkened as they listened to my explanation.

Iris said she wasn’t a good match for this type of monster and that she couldn’t hold us back. We needed at least one person to guard the castle anyway.

“Now I understand why Delta emphasized the need for a wide-area attack. Spiderlings…”

“And they have poison on their teeth and claws? We have to kill them before they get close.”

“When you first said a thousand spiders, I wondered what you meant, but now it makes sense. There are swarm-type monsters, so I thought it would be something similar.”

The Knight Commanders each spoke. Although they all seemed to be complaining about how disgusting it was, none of them seemed afraid of Arachnainera.

“Here we are. We’ve arrived.”

I stopped speaking. The Knight Commanders also stopped alongside me. We were at the entrance of a valley densely covered in forest.

Even though it was broad daylight, the inside was dark because the trees were so thick. Only a few rays of sunlight managed to penetrate through the leaves.

“It looks like a place that would be crawling with bugs.”

Erika said with a grimace. I agreed. It didn’t look like much in the game’s graphics, but seeing it in person, it was no different from a jungle.

“Alright, let’s check one more time.”

Clang, we each drew our weapons. I had hidden the horses with the same jewel I used when we went to hunt the Rock Centipede.

“Where did you say the poison is applied?”

“The spider-like lower body. The human-like upper body is fine. You said we’d get poisoned after just a couple of hits, so we should keep our distance except when attacking.”

“What about the web attack?”

“It’s best to avoid it if possible, but if it comes at the same time as another attack, you said to dodge the other attack and take the web hit. We can get rid of it quickly if we only get hit once or twice.”

“And we’re on our own if we get hit more than that.”

“I’ve explained everything about its behavior… Oh, just in case, the place where we’re going to fight might be quite disgusting. I’m just warning you not to be shocked. Alright?”

“…How disgusting can it be?”

“It’s hard to explain. You’ll see for yourself, so just be prepared.”

You could say it’s a weaker version of the insect dungeon we’ll have to visit later.

Conversely, the insect dungeon, which is an enhanced version of Arachnainera’s boss room, is a veritable den of horrors beyond imagination.

With the final check complete, we moved towards the Spider Queen’s boss room. I led the way, knowing the route, and the other three surrounded me from the sides and behind.

The path was incredibly rough. Tree roots were strewn everywhere, causing me to stumble several times, and it was overgrown with weeds and plant stems so tough they wouldn’t cut properly.

If Rize hadn’t frozen and shattered the plants blocking the way, it would have taken us much longer.

“…This is it, isn’t it?”

“I think I can already imagine what the inside looks like.”

We stopped at the entrance to a path leading deeper into the valley.

Covered in cobwebs instead of weeds, trees, and plants.

Rize stomped on the ground and then lifted her foot. Spiderwebs were stuck to the bottom of her silver sabatons. They wouldn’t come off easily, even after she shook her foot a few times.

“Can we even move properly in this?”

“Try to avoid stepping on the areas that are heavily gray. It’ll be hard to move properly.”

In the game, rolling in cobweb-covered areas was fixed at the slowest speed, and you couldn’t run or walk quickly, only walk. It was best to avoid areas covered in cobwebs.

“But everything is gray.”

It was just harder to find areas not covered in cobwebs.

“That’s why I said ‘try to’. We have no choice.”

“Can’t we burn this?”

“Well… I don’t know. Why don’t you try it?”

Upon hearing my words, Erika unhesitantly infused her sword with flames and swung it horizontally. The flames swept through the cobwebs, but they didn’t catch fire.

“It doesn’t work.”

Erika gave up cleanly and stepped back.

Actually, I had initially thought of asking Rize to freeze the ground, but I decided it would be better to fight on cobwebs than on ice.

“It should be alright further inside. Let’s go.”

Since it was a straight path from here, Claudia took the lead and entered the valley. Rize followed, then me, and finally Erika.

Fifteen spiders, each reaching up to my thighs, appeared in a line along the way, but Claudia single-handedly wiped them all out with her greatsword.

Those were the spiderlings that appear in the Spider Queen’s summoning pattern.

The deeper we went, the thicker the cobwebs covering the valley walls became, and conversely, the number of spiders attacking us decreased. A musty smell filled the air.

“…Ugh.”

Soon, we arrived at Arachnainera’s boss room. Erika let out a groan as soon as we did. The other two didn’t show it outwardly, but they certainly didn’t look happy either.

The entire place was teeming with green eggs.

Round eggs were stuck to the walls, the cobweb-covered ceiling, and the floor near the walls. The silhouettes of spiderlings could be faintly seen through the egg membranes.

Where there were no eggs, there were cobwebs, and where there were no cobwebs, there were eggs. Dried-up human corpses scattered here and there were a bonus.

“Oh my, do we have guests?”

A very seductive voice came from among the eggs, and the Spider Queen walked forward. Perhaps due to the cobwebs covering the floor, there was no sound of footsteps.

As the distance closed, I could finally see it clearly.

A giant spider’s lower body, green overall with a repulsive pattern, and a beautiful woman’s upper body attached to the spider’s head. It was undoubtedly the Spider Queen.

Her dark green hair flowed down to her waist, and her pale, almost gray skin was fully exposed because she wasn’t wearing anything on her upper body. Her eyes and lips were green.

The Spider Queen, upon seeing us, spread her arms wide as if welcoming guests. Her breasts jiggled greatly with the movement.

I was about to follow the other Knight Commanders and prepare for battle, but I stopped for a moment, wondering if I had seen wrong, and looked at Arachnainera again.

‘…Huh?’

Why is she naked?