I run across the woods with the spider riding on my head.
The spider would sometimes poke me with its leg and points at the direction I need to go.

I’m using〖Presence Sense〗along the way, but I’m not detecting any humans so far.
The remaining soldiers must’ve fallen back quite a distance.
Maybe they thought that it’s suicide to fight me and they gave up on attacking the village.

Though, I doubt they’ll stop searching for this “glowing beast”.
According to the Lithuvar Tribe, if they somehow anger the forest dwellers, a disaster will happen.

If I hurry, I may be able to reach the enemy’s main camp along with the children they abducted.
Then, I can save the children and stop their evil schemes at the same time.

I could also look for the survivors and drive them away…… no, I don’t have time for that, if I delay any longer, the children are gonna be their prisoners of war.
But, if I let the survivors run free, they’ll dispatch another subjugation force with the glowing beast and me as their next targets.
What’s the best course of action to take here.

“Gru…!”

I suddenly felt a presence.
There are three of them. And, they seem to be riding horses.
They’re not particularly doing anything other than merely wandering in the forest.
If I were in their shoes right now, I’d either run away from the forest or regroup with fellow soldiers…… so, what are these guys up to?

Well, there’s nothing to gain by just thinking about it here.
I bend down, giving the spider on my head a sign that I’m about to speed up, and run towards the three enemies at full speed.
They must’ve heard me since I can sense that they’ve started to move in a hurry.

As I chase after them, some part of me thinks something is off.
They’re not running away from me, but more like, they’re moving further to the sides, and I’m starting to spot them in the distance.
All three of them are heading the same direction too.

At first, it looked like they were patrolling around the area, but maybe they were too scared to leave the main group and they chose to patrol not too far?
But, if they really are heading back to the main group, the way they showed it was rather…… intentional.
What was the point of standing by in the first place?

If they’re leading me to somewhere, is it a trap, or maybe they intend to attack the village……
But, they should no longer have any reason to attack the village.
They know that messing with the village again will only incur my wrath on them.

If the “glowing beast” is what they’re after, then attacking the Lithuvar village is just a means of gathering information, so there should be no point in attacking the village again.
Most of their men have fallen.
And, Alo is keeping watch too.

If their aim is to lead me to a trap, then fine by me.
I’ll just break past it.

I’m getting closer to their presence.
I jump to the air, spread my wings, flly to the sky, and crash directly behind the enemy.
The ground greatly shakes from my landing.

“Gwa~ah!”

An enemy near me was thrown away from his horse.

“Gyah! It’s just too fast!”
“They’re asking us the impossible! There’s no way we can lead that monster anywhere!”

The other two run off to different directions.
The man who fell off his horse also scuttled along.

“Noo~o! I don’t want to die!”

The man was desperately trying to get away from me as he runs. I ignore the man, put my head down and rest my chin on the ground.

“Gru~uoo”

When I growled, the spider stood still for a while, then it poked its leg on my forehead.
I slowly shake my head in response, and the spider gives up and crawls down my head.

I noticed the spider stopped guiding me halfway.
It probably has no idea where to go from here.
But, since I’ve found a few of their men here, their headquarters should be somewhere close by.

If a battle happens, this one Arachne will be at a clear disadvantage.
It’ll only end up being a burden.
The pale-faced swordsman Alo fought must be a squad commander.

He managed to push Alo to her limits and she was left with very low HP and MP…… I’m glad it didn’t end worse than that though.
The power gap between Alo and that commander was so wide, Alo might’ve been instantly killed if she didn’t get away in time.

After parting ways with the spider, I head to the general direction where the three men tried to lead me to.
My〖Presence Sense〗instantaneously reacted.
It’s strange for it to react to something so strongly.
If memory serves, I also felt this level of reaction when I first met Adofu.
Adofu was using his〖Decoy〗skill to attract monsters.
If they’re using something similar this time…… then, they really are trying to lure me out into the open.

Following the direction where〖Presence Sense〗is reacting strongly towards, I spot a hill with a cave below it.
There are two enemies armed with bows near the entrance.
When they saw me coming, they prepare their arrows and shout a signal inside the cave.

Even with〖Presence Sense〗…… it’s kinda hard to distinguish what’s inside the cave, as if something is jamming my senses, but including the two men outside, a rough estimate leads me to believe that there are 11…… no, 12 presences overall.
Five of them are rather weakened.
There’s also five children missing from the village.
It’s safe to assume that they’re being locked inside there.

The entrance is too small, I don’t think I can fit inside.
To think they’d lock children inside such a dismal place. If it weren’t for those kids in need of rescuing, I’d have demolished the cave already……

Should I just shoot〖Wind Slash〗near the cave entrance then?
No, the cave looks deeper than it seems.
I don’t want to risk crushing the walls and cause a cave-in.

Let’s see how much MP I have left……

‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐
〖Irushia〗
Species: Ouroboros
Status: Normal
Lv: 91/125
HP: 2402/2402
MP: 1612/2410
‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐

Alright…… I recovered quite a lot.
Good job,〖Automatic MP Recovery: Lv 6〗.
With this much MP, I can use〖Human Transformation〗for almost an hour.

I can fit inside the cave with〖Human Transformation〗.
…… The only downside is that my stats will drop significantly.
Hey God’s Voice, show me the details of this skill again, will you.

【Normal Skill〖Human Transformation〗】
【Allows the user to take the form of a human.】
【Activating this skill will drop the HP to half,〖Attack・Defense〗will also be reduced to half, and MP will constantly decrease upon use.】

Attack and Defense will be halved…… oh well, it should be fine as long as my speed remains the same.
Besides, even if my stat gets halved, I’ll still have a whopping 470 attack.
Even the squad commander Hannibal just barely reached 300 despite his weapon boosting his attack stat.
If they have someone higher than his attack stat, I think I can still manage.

In the meantime, I prepare to fire〖Wind Slash〗at the two men standing guard.
When they saw me spread my wings, they immediately flee inside the cave.
The wind blade I shot at them hits the ground, forming an extremely deep crevice on the soil.

Tsk…… they’ve gotten wary.
Well, I guess I should’ve expected that.

If I rest for a little while more, I could go in with full MP…… but I’m in a hurry, so I won’t.
I can’t mess this up, or the lookouts who went inside will take the children someplace else again, assuming there’s another way out on the other side.
And, I don’t know how weak the children really are.
The second we find them, I’ll have Partner use〖High Rest〗 on them immediately.
With all that said, I can’t bother wasting any more time standing out here.

“Pe~eh!”

I spit out the clothes I hid in the back of my teeth.
I brought it with me in case the need to use〖Human Transformation〗arises.

【“Ya gonna turn hooman?”】
[“You gonna turn human?”]

Partner sends me a thought message.
Yeah, sorry, but I’ll need you to stay put for now.

【“Sure, jusht dunt duu anythin krayzie……, ……?”】
[“Sure, just don’t do anything crazy……, ……”]

Partner cut her words in the middle and turned around.
What is it? Is there something there?
When I turned to where Partner was looking…… a lizard, about two times smaller than a human, is seen in the distance, and when we met eyes, it dashed back into the forest.
It had brown and dark green color schemes, a rather peculiar mixed color design.

【〖Forest Lecherta〗: Rank E monster】
【A large lizard that lives in forests.】
【It is adept in erasing its presence and creating a unique rotten odor when it uses the skill〖Play Dead〗.】
【However, not many monsters like to dine on rotten flesh, so it often fails.】
【It has a cowardly personality, so it rarely approaches monsters of the same rank or higher.】
【Territorial feuds with others of the same kind are often settled with〖Play Dead〗, and whoever has the most realistic appeal wins.】

…… I’m somehow reminded of Black Lizard.

【“Oh, jusht uh monsutaa”】
[“Oh, just a monster”]

It doesn’t seem to have any strong or disturbing-looking skills, so I guess we don’t have to worry about it.

==========================

Author’s Note:

Status check once again.

I keep forgetting to find a way to add it in the main story…… But, let’s celebrate in reaching 4 digits of magic!

‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐
〖Irushia〗
Species: Ouroboros
Status: Normal
Lv: 91/125
HP: 2402/2402
MP: 1612/2410
Attack: 941
Defense: 548
Magic: 1039
Speed: 670
Rank: Ａ

Sacred Skills:
〖Human Path: Lv—〗

Characteristic Skills:
〖Dragon Scales: Lv7〗〖God’s Voice: Lv5〗〖Grisha Language: Lv3〗
〖Flight: Lv7〗 〖Dragon Moth Scales: Lv7〗 〖Dark Element: Lv—〗
〖Evil Dragon: Lv–〗〖Automatic HP Recovery: Lv8〗〖Presence Sense: Lv5〗
〖Automatic MP Recovery: Lv6〗〖Double-Headed: Lv—〗〖Split Mind: Lv—〗
〖Communication: Lv3〗

Resistances:
〖Physical Resistance: Lv5〗〖Falling Resistance: Lv6〗〖Hunger Resistance: Lv5〗
〖Poison Resistance: Lv6〗〖Solitude Resistance: Lv6 〗〖Magic Resistance: Lv4〗
〖Dark Element Resistance: Lv4〗〖Fire Element Resistance: Lv3〗〖Dread Resistance: Lv3〗
〖Oxygen Deprivation Resistance: Lv4〗〖Paralysis Resistance: Lv6〗〖Illusion Resistance: Lv3〗
〖Instant Death Resistance: Lv2〗〖Curse Resistance: Lv2〗〖Confusion Resistance: Lv2〗
〖Intense Light Resistance: Lv1〗

Normal Skills:
〖Roll: Lv7〗〖Status Inspection: Lv7〗〖Scorching Breath: Lv5〗
〖Whistle: Lv2〗〖Dragon Punch: Lv3〗〖Disease Breath: Lv6〗
〖Poison Fang: Lv7〗〖Paralyzing Poison Claw: Lv6〗〖Dragon Tail: Lv2〗
〖Roar: Lv3〗〖Skyfall: Lv4〗〖Ground Upheaval: Lv2〗
〖Human Transformation: Lv8〗〖Wind Slash: Lv7〗〖Decapitation: Lv4〗
〖High Rest: Lv7〗〖Self-Regeneration: Lv5〗〖Companion: Lv—〗
〖Death: Lv4〗〖Fake Life: Lv4〗〖Holy: Lv2〗

Titles:
〖Son of the Dragon King: Lv—〗〖The Walking Egg: Lv—〗〖Klutz: Lv4〗
〖What an Idiot: Lv1〗〖Infighter: Lv4〗〖Vermin Slayer: Lv8〗
〖Liar: Lv3〗〖Dodge King: Lv2〗〖Stray Path: Lv9〗
〖Disaster: Lv9〗〖Chicken Runner: Lv3〗〖Chef: Lv4〗
〖Mean King: Lv9〗〖Guts: Lv4〗〖Giant Killer: Lv3〗
〖Ceramics: Lv4〗〖Alpha of the Pack: Lv1〗〖Laplace’s Interference Authority: Lv2〗
〖One Who Knows Eternity: Lv—〗〖King Ant: Lv—〗〖Hero: Lv7〗
‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐