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Chapter 281
281 – Abyss Siege
Once I’ve seen that the abyss has made it safely down the cliff, I turn to look at Aro and the others . After confirming they’re ready with eye contact, I follow it down the cliff myself .
The cliff is more or less completely vertical, so I descend carefully by digging into the cliff with my claws . The spiders are good at this kind of terrain, as they crawl freely across the cliff face . The lesser treant also moves carefully by spreading its roots .
I notice I can’t spot Aro . Thinking that she’s not coming down, I pause . The abyss zombie doesn’t stop, but I don’t think I need any more guidance from here .
Probably, once I get to the bottom, the abyss nest will be right in front of me . I hear the sound of impacts coming from my blind spot .
I turn my head to see Aro with three arms sprouting out of her back . The arms are each as wide as her head and have fiendishly sharp claws at the ends of their fingers .
To avoid tearing her clothes, she’s pulled back her sleeves to expose her shoulders . Her clothes are originally just picked up rags, so they stretch easily . And then from the gap created by pulling back her sleeves, three arms are extending . It’s quite the grotesque spectacle .
“……Ah”
When I meet her eyes, her shoulder quivers and she leaks a small noise . She might be embarrassed to be seen with arms sprouting from her clothes, or rather from her back . She probably doesn’t like being seen without a humanoid body .
Pretending I didn’t see anything, I look back down .
“Ve, ee, veeEE…”
“VE?” “VeA!”
“VeEeE?”
Far below us, the abyss zombie and some abysses are meeting face-to-face . The abysses number three .
Wondering where they came from, I scan the surroundings . A good few of the twisted, hard trees are sprouting from the cliff face, and abysses could easily be hiding behind them . Remembering that this place is their nest, I change my state of mind .
Gatsun gatsun gatsun gatsun, zugagagagagagagagagagah! I hear a terrible sound, and involuntarily look back up .
I meet Aro’s eyes again . It seems she was about to fall, because she stabs her claws deep into the cliff and clings to it closely .
“――――!!”
Apparently startled by sudden turning around, her body twitches, and her claws separate from the cliff face . Her body falls through the air . Panicked, I spread out my wings to catch her . But before that, she lands on the lesser treant’s back, breaking her fall .
“……”
Aro jerks up to look at me .
“GuoO…”
I cry out apologetically, bowing my head . From the lesser treant’s back, she hurriedly shakes her head, waving her arms and legs . She probably didn’t mean to blame me .
It looks like she’s decided to ride the lesser treant down . The huge arms sprouting from her back slowly withdraw into her body . She pulls down her loose sleeves, restoring her clothes .
Once she’s ready, I return to looking down . That reminds me, the abyss…! I was too distracted by Aro and forgot to be vigilant .
“Guo?”
The abyss zombie looks at me, baring its broken teeth .
“Vehah! Ve, veveh!”
With a peh, it spits its body fluids at me . Guessing from its actions I can tell my situation is far from favourable . Feeling a cold shiver, I look up .
Abysses line the edge of the cliff . They’re evenly spaced alongside each other . With a sense of foreboding, I look around .
From every direction, abysses are appearing in groups . The gaps between them are big, but we’re surrounded . From a quick estimate, there’s easily over fifty of them . Several hundreds of legs squirm, creating an unpleasant sound .
We’re under siege . I was planning on attacking from here, and then if there wasn’t enough of a leeway, I’d run away, but I got besieged before I noticed . What’s more, it’s in a place with such bad footing . I should have been more careful from the start when the abyss zombie showed hostility .
“Veeeh!” “Ve!” “VeAh, veh!”
“VeE!” “VeA!” “VeEeE!”
“VeEeeh!” “Vee, veeeeeEe!”
Their disturbing cries overlap, becoming a dissonance that disrupts my thoughts .
They completely caught me off guard . From how they’ve always launched themselves at me despite being lower rank, I didn’t think they were very intelligent . I’ve been had . In the first place, the reason they launch themselves at the higher-rank me is to lay their eggs in me .
From their actions so far, I can guess the deaths of individual abysses don’t weigh heavily on them . As long as their offspring can prosper, then, like the red ants, they don’t mind what happens to them personally . I’ve had plenty of leeway in my fights with them so far, so I was naive .
“Ve, veeeEE, veeeeeEeh!”
The one gnashing its teeth in provocation at me is the abyss zombie . Probably, it told them that I was headed here . On the way here, I drove off many abysses . It might have told them at those times . I hate myself for even considering raising it .
The abyss zombie pivots, raising its rear to me, before crawling towards its allies… But it suddenly stops walking .
As I watch it from a distance, I can somehow guess what’s about to happen . The abysses’ eyes are fixed on the strange abyss zombie .
“Ve…?”
The moment the abyss zombie steps back, five abysses leap at it .
“VeeeeeeeEeEh!”
Its dying cry rings out . The remains of the abyss zombie plunge to the bottom of the chasm . It seems that not only do abysses eat the corpses of their allies, they also eat zombies of their allies too .
But this is no time to feel sorry for it . If I lose focus, we’ll end up with the same fate .
“Gaah!”
I kick off the wall, spreading my wings to hang in the air . With footing that bad, I can’t protect Aro and the others from this many abysses . It’s unfortunate for my enemies and allies, but I’m going to fight from a safe distance .
“Gaah!”
Lowering my altitude, I howl at Aro .
She jumps down . I move closer to the wall, catching her on my back .
“…gh!”
Allright, now I can snipe at the abysses with Aro’s assistance . Ideally I’d rather collect everyone and retreat, collecting all the panicked spiders and getting away would be difficult . Either way, I need to reduce the abysses’ numbers .
As I’m thinking that, something launches itself at me .
“Kiki!”
…Following Aro, something strange has dropped onto me . It’s the petit nightmare . Using its thread as a wire, it jumped down… No, I wanted you to take command of the spiders, though .
“VeEEeh!”
Three abysses come diving down, and I strike them with my tail, sending them soaring into the opposite cliff face . No matter how you look at it, I’m not letting you guys on!
Glancing at the abysses I sent flying, I see they’re on the verge of death, but still twitching… They’re pretty tough, these guys .
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