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Shadowfang’s sharpness was such that any who stood in its way was sliced apart in an instant, even the vaunted carapace of those Metal Dryders stood no chance when faced with the reaper’s scythe that was my blade.

With those two Metal Dryders taken down, I took the opportunity to charge into their formation which had fallen into disarray by now and began slicing at anyone I saw. In my wake was a trail of destruction, wrought from the incomplete corpses of any Dryder unfortunate enough to stand in my way.

Yet even with my Shadowfang brought to bear, it was still possible for my Shadow Demon to manifest itself. At the same time as I wielded Shadowfang, my Shadow Demon took the opportunity to return to its normal state, an ordinary Shadow Guardian. Should the need ever arise, I just had to call for it and it would respond immediately.

A Dryder managed to climb up to the ceiling of the tunnel amidst the chaos, and with a forceful kick of its multiple limbs, launched a diving attack right for my brains.

Because I only had Shadowfang to defend me right now, it only made sense that my defenses would be thinner than usual -occasional openings were only to be expected.

It was this exact opening that the Dryder was aiming for. Yet just when he thought that success was in claws, my Shadow Demon sprung from the shadows like a snake, coiling around it and binding it in an instant. I quickly reacted by slicing it apart with a swing.

Now that its job was done, the Shadow Demon returned back to dormant shadow state.

Having lost so many of their brethren already, the remaining Dryders finally realised that the odds were stacked against them in a melee fight. Thus, they took up formation together and began firing at me from a distance. Countless projectiles flew towards me in a shower. From behind, I could vaguely make out the silhouette of their remaining nine Metal Dryders forming a defensive wall for the long-ranged attackers. Even though they knew that they weren’t a match for my weapon, they still took up the charge without any hesitation.

Facing down a rain of projectiles was nerve-wracking to say the least. My first instinct was to quickly erect a barrier of Nether Flames around my entire body, burning off the incoming projectiles just in the nick of time. However, that also meant that my mana had plummeted rapidly from this successful defense.

I needed to fight back, just standing there and defending wasn’t going to work at all. But no matter how I looked at this situation, there was no elegant solution in sight. Helpless, I knew there was no other way now.

With my body still guarded by the Nether Flames, I began flapping my wings furiously in a reckless charge into their numbers. This time, I did not even bother aiming as I wildly sliced in an arc in front of me. Defense wasn’t an issue for the time being so I was fully in reaper mode as I carved a bloody swathe through whatever stood in my way. If they weren’t dead at this point, they were about to be.

In just the short span of ten minutes, I swore I killed over a hundred Dryders. Even the ugly things knew to run away from me at first sight.

Finally, the Dryders had been routed. Their weird cries filled the tunnels as they frantically retreated. But I would have none of that. I yelled at the top of my lungs in excitement as I chased down the survivors with my Shadowfang raised high into the air.

Their souls had a rather peculiar taste to them. To be exact, every living being had a unique taste to their soul. Even human souls had varying tastes according to their physical differences. If I had to describe the taste of the Dryder souls, it would be a deep, penetrating, depravity -most likely because of the environment they grew up in.

Barring everything else, the Dryders were honestly a good source of nourishment for me. Whatever I had expanded up till now had been topped up by the souls of those hundred Dryders.

Furthermore, the death of those hundred over Dryders had fully instilled the fear of death into the survivors. Their uncontrollable fear only fuelled their speed further, to the point where even if I wanted to chase them I couldn’t. Yet just when I thought all was over, they suddenly turned around and ran in my direction.

What’s happening?

I reflexively summoned a wall of Nether Flames to block them. Yet who would’ve thought that they would actually rush ahead anyway. In fact, their speed seems to have increased?!

They ended up being burnt to cinders as I had expected, but their numbers were just too many. With how they seemed to be rushing at me like a swarm of angry bees even unto their death, to say that I was afraid was an understatement. It had gotten to the point where even my Nether Flames wall wasn’t able to keep up and had stopped burning for a split second. Yet that split second was enough for the horde of Dryders to trample over the sputtering wall of flames and smother it with their sheer numbers…

Even so, the wall collapsing didn’t mean that the first twenty or so Dryders had managed to escape death either. Anything that touched my Nether Flames was doomed to a loud, painful death.

Ironically, this rushing horde only served to stir my spirits… Come at me then! Whether it be dogs, cats, chickens or Dryders, I’m not budging an inch unless I die!

I gripped down hard on Shadowfang then charged into the fray. Yet the anticipated battle to the death never happened. Instead, it somehow ended up being a strangely one-sided massacre… Those Dryders seem to be ignoring my Shadowfang. In fact, they are avoiding me as well. Have I turned invisible or something?

Seeing the horde just pass me by like that, even my rush of hot blood was instantly doused by this gap in reality. I didn’t even feel like swinging my sword anymore.

Such an occurrence had happened before; the last time this happened was with those spiders. Back then, they were just as desperate as these Dryders to escape.

Perhaps there’s another stronger monster about to appear?

In truth, I didn’t enjoy killing those who won’t fight back, that was why I just ignored those Dryders that tried to flee while I stood there waiting for what was to come.

Roughly thirty seconds of standing later, the long-awaited monster finally arrived. It was a familiar face. The same Dark Elven upper half and the same arachnid lower half, but this particular specimen was evidently stronger than those that fled. Just based on its height and on its aura I could tell.

The new Dryders were all at least three meters tall and were oozing with murderous intent, which really wasn’t a surprise, to be honest. These monsters only had four things in their minds: food, sleep, kill and the act of procreation. It was too bad they couldn’t procreate on their own; a spider and a Dark Elf had to get together to achieve that.

While these newcomers seemed stronger than the previous ones, I wasn’t all that worried. I still had Shadowfang in hand after all.

Ever since I mastered the Inverse Cut, while I still wouldn’t consider myself invincible, I was pretty darn close. As long as I didn’t bump into a creature like Lolthe, I had a fighting chance.

The new Dryders all eyed me with those same blood red eyes, but strangely enough, none of them tried to rip me to pieces. Instead, they just stood there.

A conspiracy?

Well, it doesn’t matter. As long as I have Shadowfang, I have nothing to fear from these mindless cretins!

Just as I was about to charge into their ranks, a gigantic spider web suddenly dropped from above, wrapping me in an instant and not even giving me the chance to swing Shadowfang before turning me into a spider dumpling. I tried to activate my Nether Flames but nothing came out. I ordered my Shadow Demon next: nothing as well. The moment that web wrapped me up, my Shadow Demon had turned back into an ordinary shadow.

What’s going on? Why am I suddenly caught? What is this web? Why is my mana all gone?

“Oh right, your big sis almost forgot to mention this, but that spider web should have been blessed with sealing powers by the Spider Queen…” Ferti’nier tried to remind me of her existence once more but was abruptly cut off by a black Dryder dropping down from the ceiling. Its eight spider legs daintily landed on the floor right next to me. Unlike the other Dryders who at least had a white Elven half, this Dryder was fully black from top to toe. Only her hair was white -yes, it was a she…

She must have snuck up to the ceiling while I was distracted, then threw down that web to capture me. So those immobile Dryders were just a distraction? Drats, I should have just attacked from the very beginning instead of trying to look cool…

The black Dryder stared into me with her cold, empty red eyes. Within those ruby red pupils, there was nothing to be gleamed. It was said that the eyes were the windows to the soul. Seeing as there was nothing to be found, did that mean that she had no emotions as well?

Oh sweet jeebus, is she going to just kill me right away? That’s what people with no emotions always do, right?

Yet just as I was about to run wild with my imagination, she suddenly pulled me into her arms then began walking in the direction from which I came in. As she crawled through the tunnel, the two weapons of mass destruction on her chest bounced precariously before my very eyes. Even through the decidedly thick dumpling wrapping that was the spider web, I could feel a very real sense of danger emanating in the air.

Hey, hey, hey! What’s the meaning of this princess hug?! But I guess it’s still better than what I had imagined at first. At very least, I should be able to live for a while longer.

I turned around to catch a glimpse of the black Dryder… A little black, but still a girl, I guess. And with her Dark Elven base, there’s no way her face is going to be anything but pretty. None of that strange Dryder nonsense on her upper half too. Hmm… I’ll give her a solid 85 out of 100 on account of her being an ebony beauty.

@#$@, what the heck am I even doing now… now’s not the time to be looking at her… and when did my standards drop so low anyway? A spider beauty? Nah…

Blast it, I’m off tangent again. I swear my mind seems to be extra active at times like this… I should be more concerned about how to survive…

“Hey, where are you taking me?”

I tried talking to the ebony beauty but she didn’t even bother looking at me as she continued crawling along.

Shameless Self-promotion

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If you liked my work translating Devil’s Evolution Catalog, feel free to check out Song of Adolescence. Also, every comment is appreciated even though I might not reply. I do read them.