When the Abyss went down the cliff, I looked back at Alo and the others.
After a brief eye contact, all of us followed suit and we went down after it.

The walls were slanted at a right angle slope, so I tread carefully with my claws digging deep in the soil in each step.
The spiders aren’t held back in this kind of terrain, in fact they prefer it, and they’re just crawling around the walls.
Treant is the same as me, taking slow and careful steps with his roots (legs).

However, I noticed that Alo isn’t anywhere with us.
At first, I assumed she didn’t go down and stayed behind so I stopped for a second.
The Abyss Zombie didn’t wait and kept going, but I guess we don’t need a guide now that we’ve come this far.

I’m sure that the Abyss nest is just down below.
Behind us, I heard a mashing sound.

Looking back, Alo is climbing down after us, but she has a third arm extending on her back.
The third arm is about the same diameter as Alo’s neck and it has that same horrifying claws from before.

To prevent her clothes from getting sullied, Alo wore her dress in a way that exposes her shoulders.
The clothes were already loose to begin with, so stretching it didn’t rip it apart.
The third arm is extended from the gap on the clothes behind her back.
I’ll say, that’s not a sight a normal human might be fond of seeing.

“………… Ah”

When we met eyes, Alo shook her shoulder, muttered something, and stopped moving.
Rather than her shoulders, it was actually her third arm that she was embarrassed about.
She probably doesn’t want anyone looking at her already deformed human body looking more deformed.

I face front and pretend I never saw that.

“Vu~e, ee, vu~e~eee……”

“Vu~ee?” “Vu~ea!”
“Vu~ee~ee?”

Straight down below us, the Abyss Zombie has met up with its fellow Abyss.
There were three of them.

I was surprised to see them appear out of nowhere, so I looked around.
There are hardened bent trees stuck on the cliffside which makes it easy for the Abyss to hide.
I almost forgot, I’m invading their nest now!

A loud rumbling sound and cracking noise is heard.
I got scared that I subconsciously turned around.

I met eyes with Alo again.
Apparently, the sound came from Alo who nearly fell and sunk her third arm in the cliffside that made the rumbling noise.

“――――！!”

She was surprised that I suddenly turned around.
Alo’s body swung from the unexpected stop and her feet slipped. Alo was flung in the air.
I hastily spread my wings to catch her.
But, Alo landed on Treant’s back instead, stopping her fall.

“…………”

Alo looks at me after holding on tightly to Treant.

“Gru~oo……”

I muttered a low growl, attempting to apologize, and bowed my head.
Alo insistently shook her head, as if saying it’s fine, and balances on Treant’s back.
It looked like she didn’t want me to blame myself for what happened.

Alo then decided to just ride on Treant all the way down.
Her third arm shrinks back into her body and disappears.
She also pulls back her loosened clothes and redresses herself.

Now that that’s settled, we face forward again.
That reminds me, the Abyss……!
I was distracted by Alo’s fall that I let down my guard.

“Gru~o?”

The Abyss Zombie was facing us with its dislocated fangs sticking out.

“Vu~eha! Vu~e, vu~evu~e!”

It then spat out its bodily fluids.
I can tell that it has clearly went against us now.
At the same time, I felt a chill down my back so I turned around, and……

Rows of Abyss are lined up from the cliff where we descended.
They’re all positioned at an even spacing.
I had another bad feeling and turned to look all around us.

More and more Abyss show up from all sides.
The gap is large, but we’re still surrounded.
Quickly glancing at them, there were at least over fifty of them.
The sound of a hundred of legs fidgeting is very unpleasant.

It’s an Abyss siege.
Even though I intended to attack them myself, and if I judged that it was too much to handle, I was gonna retreat, but now I’ve been besieged.
Not to mention, we don’t have stable footing.
We should’ve been more cautious when the Abyss Zombie became hostile on us the first time.

“Vu~e~e~e!” “Vu~e!” “Vu~ea, vu~e!”
“Vu~ee!” “Vu~ea!” “Vu~ee~ee!”
“Vu~ee~e~e!” “Vu~e~e, vu~e~e~e~e~ee~e!”

All their squeals mixing together is making it difficult to think straight.

I completely let my guard down.
For me to just carelessly jump down into their nest without a proper plan, I was too full of myself.
They got me. In the first place, I only came here to stop the source of their massive outbreak.

Thinking about the Abyss’s behavior up till now, more keep showing up, like they don’t care how many casualties they might have.
Maybe they think that as long as their eggs or their source is safe, they’ll still survive. They remind me of the Red Ants in the desert.
This will be the hardest battle I’ll ever have against the Abyss.

“Vu~e, vu~e~e~e~eee, vu~e~e~e~e~ee~e!”

The Abyss Zombie continues to provoke them with its misshapen mouth.
It probably led me here to plan this very ambush.
On the way here, I drove plenty of Abyss away.
That was probably when it signaled them to plan this pincer attack.
I hate myself for even thinking about raising you.

The Abyss Zombie turns its back on me and heads to join the other Abyss.
…… But, it stopped midway.

I was watching at a distance, and I could already tell.
The Abyss…… all their eyes were pointed at the Abyss Zombie with hostility.

“Vu~e……?”

The instant the Abyss Zombie uttered a sound, five Abyss jumped at it.

“Vu~e~e~e~e~e~ee~ee!”

The agonizing cry of its death echoes throughout the cliffside.
The Abyss Zombie’s already rotting corpse falls down the cliff.
I already knew that the Abyss is capable of eating their own kind, but to think an Abyss Zombie is no exception.

I don’t have the luxury to feel bad for the Abyss Zombie right now.
If I show them even the slightest opening, I’ll end up like it too.

“Gra~a!”

I kick off the cliffside, open my wings, and hover in the air.
With such an unstable footing, I can’t protect Alo and the others while fighting against this many Abyss.
I feel bad for my friends and enemies stuck on the ground, but I want to fight in a more comfortable zone.

“Gra~a!”

I lower my altitude and roar at Alo.

Alo jumps off of Treant and slides down the cliff.
She then kicks the cliffside and I catch her on my back.

“…… ~!”

Alright, now I can shoot at the Abyss with Alo’s aid.
Now that I think about it, it’s gonna be hard to retreat with Treant and the spiders in this hairy situation.
Either way, reducing the number of Abyss is top priority.

While I was thinking to myself, something flew by my line of sight.

“Kiki!”

…… Something black joined the joy ride alongside Alo.
It’s Petite Nightmare.
It jumped after Alo with a spider web.
Wait no, you’re the leader of the spiders, don’t leave your siblings behind.

“Vu~eee~e!”

Three more Abyss jump on me and I swing my tail, hitting them to the wall.
How many of you want to ride me so much?!

The Abyss that were slammed to the cliff were still twitching and struggling to stand back up.
…… Woah, the Abyss around here are tough.