NOVEL NEXT Chapter 48
48. The Spider Queen
Having conquered his fear, Nord peeked out from the cliff once more, staring at the scene unfolding before him.
A swarm of over a hundred spiders scurried about, weaving a colossal web that formed a palace-like nest.
Within this nest were large forest creatures, trapped as food for the spiders.
And there—at the center—loomed a gargantuan spider, as large as a small hill.
It was clear that the strange phenomena in the forest were caused by these spiders.
Yet—
*(What… are they?)
A fundamental question rose unbidden within him.
To Nord’s knowledge, knight spiders and general spiders were solitary creatures.
They built their nests by spinning webs between trees or caves, using traps to catch their prey, which they stored in their webs as food.
During the breeding season, males sought out females for mating and egg-laying. That was their known behavior.
However, almost every detail about the scene before him contradicted his understanding of these creatures.
The shape of the nest, the number of spiders, the existence of the giant spider, and the ritualistic offering behavior—all were unknown.
Nord pulled a familiar black-leather notebook from his pocket.
The notebook was the same type he had used since his adventuring days, filled with notes on his knowledge and experiences.
Flipping through the pages, he paused at one detailing knight spiders and general spiders he had previously encountered.
He compared the characteristics listed with those of the spiders before him.
*(Looking closely… even their body colors seem strange.)
Illuminated by moonlight, the spiders’ bodies bore a faint but noticeable difference from normal specimens.
The color of their abdomens, bathed in silver moonlight, was darker than that of the knight and general spiders Nord had fought before.
While ordinary spiders had tufts of white hair on their bodies, these were completely black.
Their limb structure and distinctive eyes still resembled knight spiders, suggesting they weren’t an entirely different species—but their true nature remained elusive.
At that moment, Nord saw the giant spider move again.
With a ponderous motion, it extended its enormous forelegs—each as large as a tree trunk—grasping live prey offered by the smaller spiders and bringing it to its mouth.
The prey, still cocooned in spider silk, was crushed by the giant spider’s massive jaws and swallowed whole.
*(So, the giant spider is feeding… and the others are providing it with food.)
The giant spider moved only to eat. It sat motionless otherwise, its servants tirelessly delivering sustenance.
It didn’t hunt for itself, merely reigning from its web palace while its followers carried out its will.
*(That spider commands the swarm… like a king.)
The word surfaced in his mind almost unbidden.
Determined to document as much as possible, Nord sketched the giant spider in his black notebook and labeled it with the word “King.”
*(…Something feels off. What is this feeling?)
Deja vu. A strange sense of familiarity nagged at him.
What was it? Nord racked his mind, trying to pinpoint its source.
Was it the knight and general spiders? That would make sense, given he had fought them before—but this felt different.
Was it the scene before him? No, that wasn’t it. This sight filled him with awe, not familiarity. Then what could it be?
Nord chased the thought through his accelerating mind, knowing instinctively that it was critical.
The source of his deja vu was—
His gaze dropped to the sketch in his notebook.
He stared at the drawing of the giant spider.
*(Of course. The deja vu is tied to this drawing. I’ve seen it before.)
But where—?
Nord delved into his memories—his adventuring days, his training as a dragon knight apprentice. His quests, his battles.
His comrades, monsters, his guild, his family. His colleagues, his friends—
*(…Right. It was in Elisio’s room.)
He whispered the name aloud, letting it roll softly off his tongue.
That name drew forth another memory—a book titled Legendary Monsters.
It described a creature that once existed, not a giant spider, not a spider king, but—
“The Arachne.”
The words slipped from his lips and reached his ears, carried clearly on the night wind.
As if in response, the giant spider’s massive forelegs moved again, lifting another hapless victim into its merciless jaws.
§
*(…This is bad.)
Nord had identified the cause of the forest’s strangeness but felt no relief.
──Worst case scenario.
Those two words summed up his current state of mind.
The moment Nord recognized the colossal spider, he was consumed by terror.
He had resigned himself to death.
Nord once ventured alone into a mountain inhabited by wyverns, retrieving an egg that would later hatch into Nyut.
At the time, he had come face-to-face with a wyvern and experienced true despair.
Trapped in the creature’s lair with no escape, he had leaped into a pile of dung to avoid detection.
From there, he stared directly into the wyvern’s face, understanding in that moment the meaning of absolute terror.
Even now, he vividly remembered that overwhelming fear.
Yet over the past year, Nord had grown significantly stronger.
Though still officially a crystal-ranked adventurer, his skills far surpassed that level, nearing the bronze rank.
However, even as a bronze-ranked adventurer, defeating a wyvern alone was unthinkable.
Wyverns, creatures faced by silver-ranked adventurers, were monsters beyond Nord’s ability to overcome.
Yet, there was one thing Nord understood with certainty:
──The Arachne was more powerful than a wyvern.
Having witnessed both, Nord could make this judgment without doubt.
And it meant Alba Village was in grave danger.
Nord recalled the legends of the Arachne from a document Elisio had shown him:
“When chaos reigns and wars rage, the Empress descends. Mountains burn, fields wither, armies march. People, do not fight among yourselves. If you forget peace and incite great wars, the land will once again be ravaged by the monsters’ forces.”
The document was an ancient text written in the language of the old empire.
Nord couldn’t read it, but Elisio had translated it into modern language.
There had been no reports of war in Alba’s forest.
Still, something had resurrected the Spider Empress on the continent of Ilva.
──And her army.
A shiver ran down Nord’s spine.
Yes. The swarm of spiders serving the Arachne. What were they doing now?
──Feeding her.
The swarm was offering live prey to their empress, who devoured it ravenously.
Where had they gathered such prey?
──From Alba Forest.
The spiders had scoured the forest for their empress’s sustenance, nearly eradicating all other life.
It was possible that Nord and Nyut were the only living beings left in the forest.
And when the prey ran out—no, even before that—what would the spiders do?
──Seek prey beyond the forest.
And beyond the forest lay—needless to say—Alba Village.