Leaving behind the room where four villains had their lives cut short in an instant, I stepped out into the hallway.

…I guess I was pretty slow.

Villains covering nearly the entire corridor were there to greet me.

“Wow, are you all welcoming me? I didn’t know I was this popular. As expected, you all have an eye for beauty.”

“Don’t let your guard down! She’s that Arachne! Form ranks!”

Hah, seriously.

These people have no sense of humor.

I tried to have some conversation before fighting.

…Well, whatever. I don’t have much time to spare either.

I’ll have to get serious like they want.

“Alright. It’s nice to see everyone diligently doing their job, but just one thing.”

“…What is it? Surrender is useless. You won’t be able to leave here unscathed.”

Ugh, as expected.

It’d be hard to keep my limbs intact  if I get captured. 

 If I had stupidly kept infiltrating, the probability of me becoming a robo-Arte shooting energy beams from my hands would have exponentially increased. 

Even  if I used up all my  clothes until I was wearing my birthday suit, I couldn’t take them all out.

In that case, I need to instill fear.

Fighting is all about spirit.  If no one wants to fight me anymore, that’s good enough.

If 500 lose their will to fight, I only need to kill 100.

“I’m a bit busy, so playing with all of you would be hard. If those who want a good time could gather, that’d be great.”

“…Nonsense! Everyone, prepare for battle! Capture that wench! No, you can kill her too! Whoever kills her will get a bounty!”

Hmm, as expected, they won’t be scared by this level of threat.

Alright, fine. 

 If they won’t be scared by this, I’ll show them directly.

“…You might regret it later. This is your last warning.  If you want to live, jump to the side right now.”

“Attack!”

Countless mana-infused long-range attacks flew at the order, ignoring my words.

“Sigh, okay.”

Fine. 

You won’t listen to what I say, will you?

Using some of my stockings, I weaved threads to create a shield.

But as they say, fighting is a game of numbers. The shield that took attacks from dozens collapsed precariously as  if it would tear any moment. 

Seems they aren’t complete idiots.

This is a narrower chokepoint than I thought.

Even  if hundreds of villains come at once, the number I can face at a time is limited.

Did they order long-range attacks, being wary of that?

Then I have no choice but to move too, right?

I unwound the threads from the half-gloves I had deliberately left unused and stabbed them into the arm of a muscular man.

“Guh, gaaah…?!”

“Thread…?! E-Endure it! I’ll use you as a shield! Endure it no matter what!”

Hmm, bingo.

As expected, he was a physical reinforcement type ability user. He looked the part.

I’d have had to find someone else  if he weren’t, but this is perfect.

Circulating mana, I manipulated the threads. Then, leaning back, I pulled the threads as  if trying to drag him.

The guys who thought I would subdue and use him as a shield started using their heads.

A huge villain planted his feet firmly into the ground so he wouldn’t get pulled towards me, and several villains pressed down on his shoulders next to him…?

No, why are villains cooperating? I really don’t get it.

The net of threads above my head was on the verge of breaking.

What an extremely dangerous situation.

…But those guys were mistaken about something. 

That was never my intention.

At the same time as the sound of the net above my head ripping, I severed the tug-of-war I had been forcibly maintaining with mana. 

The strength I had forcibly pulled using mana instantly dropped to the level of a feeble high school girl. Naturally, the balance of the tug-of-war was broken.

“Wh-What?!”

Now, quiz time.

What would happen  if a fierce tug-of-war was going on and one side suddenly let go?

The balance instantly broke.

And to think they were really trying to stop him from falling into my grasp.

This is why I was looking for a physical reinforcement ability user. As expected, I’m lucky. 

I held onto the rope and let myself be pulled by it, instantly closing the distance between us and avoiding the projectiles.

“Ta-da!”

“This crazy–”

“Hello, and goodbye.”

I separated the heads and bodies of the muscular man who brought me here and the villains who tried to restrain him as thanks. 

The dumbfounded villains tried to attack, but my uniform completely unraveled at that moment, and the freed threads went wild. 

…The technique I decided to seal.

I didn’t want to use it, but I had no choice.

Since the goal is to scare them as much as possible.

“Ptooey…Ah, dammit. Blood got in my mouth.”

“Hii, hiiiek….”

The threads danced wildly across the corridor.

The clean and smooth floor became sticky with blood like it had never been washed.

…Wow, there’s so many people.

When I heard the number, 600 seemed like a lot, but seeing it directly, there’s even more.

I sliced up so many, but there’s no sign of the number decreasing…

I dusted off the beret that seemed to belong to the one who looked like the commander and put it on my head.

Eek, the blood is sticky and feels gross….But I need at least this much not to be naked, so I have no choice…

“How unfortunate. I told you to scram  if you didn’t want to fight, but you didn’t listen.”

“D-demon…!”

“Demon sounds too impersonal. I have the cool name Arachne, you know?”

It’s not like I came up with it. The Author did.

Hmu*, your naming sense is quite good.

I liked it more than I expected. Arachne.

“So, well then…Will you fight or scram? Decide quickly.”

Get scared, get scared, get scared, get scared…!

Perhaps because I used a technique I didn’t want to, or maybe because I kept praying from the bottom of my heart?  

Fortunately, the terrified villains started backing away slowly.

They all seemed greatly shocked by the process of making cube steak.

They panicked, thinking the same thing would happen to them.

Haha. Bluffing tactic, huge success!

…Well, I have no intention of sparing you even  if I let you go.

I already blocked all the exits, you idiots.

It’ll be too late to regret not fighting after all the executives die.

***

“Ahaha…. You startled me. That ambush nearly got me.”

“S-Spare me…! Spira, help me! I, I can’t move…!”

We’re screwed.

Spira, an Übermensch executive with a snake lower half, one of the Twelve Zodiac.

She sensed defeat.

The ambush she thought was perfect had been shattered.

And quite spectacularly at that.

“W-Why…? Why did it fail? No, how…?!”

“Hm?”

“How did you kill Ovis…!”

“Ah, this?”

The feeling of a comrade who was perfectly alive until a moment ago being called ‘this’ while limply hanging.

Those who haven’t experienced it wouldn’t know. She didn’t want to know either.  

“Ovis’s wool could instantly absorb most attacks…”

Ovis, who had sheep’s wool, lacked attack power but could boast tremendous defense in certain situations.

Impacts couldn’t pierce her wool and would lose strength after cutting a few  strands, so they were unable to harm her.

She prided herself in not being able to get heavily injured unless burned by fire or fried by electricity.

Yet that she now hung like a doll.

“Ah, that’s why it’s so hard to cut. Physical nullification or something?”

“How did you do it…!”

“Aah, it was nothing much.  If it doesn’t work once, you just do it many times, right? You startled me, suddenly hugging me out of nowhere.  If one or two don’t do the job, repeat it hundreds of times until it does.”  

A chill ran down her spine at the appearance of that woman saying those words.

‘She sliced the same spot that many times in such a short time…?’

“Thanks to that, my  clothes are all used up too. Aah, dammit. It’s a relief there’s at least sheep wool. I almost became a pervert.”

Spira, who didn’t hear Arte muttering afterward, now looked at her controlled comrade.

Kris, a pig beastman. He also had some physical resistance, and his weight-utilizing attacks were enough to turn a person into pulp.

…Such a guy was trembling from a tiny thread.

“I guess your strategy is good? A person with physical resistance hugs and attacks me one-sidedly. It’s quite ingenious  if I do say so myself.”

“A-Are you mocking me…?”

“It was good that you tried to ambush in case it failed too.”

Reeking of blood all over yet smiling brightly, she controlled Kris. No, rather than control, she might be toying with him.

…Because she was moving him around and observing with a curious look while poison from Spira spread through his body. 

She attempted the second ambush as soon as Kris failed.

She used him as a shield and quickly escaped.

“Stop, stop…! The poison is spreading! What do you want?! Information?! Or money?! Tell me what you want! I’ll give you anything!”

“Ah, will you really give me anything?”

“Yes! I’ll give you anything! Hurry! Tell me what you want!”

“Your life.”

“…Guhek?!”

It was the end of Kris, who had feared the tiny thread by his ear.

He had proudly said his thick layer of fat would make even a thread like that harmless.

The tiny thread suddenly dug into his ear, and soon Kris collapsed with blood flowing from his eyes and nose. 

Did she scramble his brain with that thread?

Her face automatically paled at the horrific imagination.

“Things like your money or information are meaningless to me. What I want is your death, after all.”

In an instant. 

Truly, in an instant, the two executives who had ambushed her died.

They were people with quite a lot of combat experience too.

“Now, you’re the only one left…What should I do.”

Her mind went blank.

What do I do?

What do I have to do to survive?

…The contemplation didn’t take long.

Because she felt she wouldn’t survive no matter what she did.

So, she decided to do as her instincts told her.

“Please spare me!”

Like a snake, she decided to lower her head to the ground.

Author’s Notes

Writing the scene of killing a pig made me crave meat…

It’s pork belly today.