Chapter 20
—Kiyaaaaaak!
The Guardian Spiders continued closing in on us from every direction.
Lee Dohyun asked in a frightened voice,
“...Do we really have to kill that thing?”
It seemed fear had finally caught up with him.
I understood how he felt, but that changed nothing.
I answered coldly.
“If you don’t, we all die.”
“...But how am I supposed to attack that thing?”
“I’ll slow it down for a moment. While I do that, get underneath its belly.”
“What? If it hits me before I get there, I’ll die!”
Lee Dohyun looked horrified, but I replied as if it were no big deal.
“Don’t worry about that. The same goes for everyone else.”
“That really doesn’t make me feel any better...”
Actually, there was a much safer way to deal with the Red Venom Spider than what I had told Lee Dohyun.
However, awakening only happened when someone was placed in danger or driven into a desperate situation.
That was why I had no intention of telling Lee Dohyun the safer method.
Besides, I had already prepared the minimum amount of insurance in case things went wrong.
More importantly...
I trusted Lee Dohyun.
Because in the novel, he had defeated this monster without any safety measures at all.
So he should be able to do it this time too.
No.
He had to.
“Run when I give you the signal.”
“Ah, damn it! Whatever!”
I stared at the Red Venom Spider standing tall among the other spiders and waited for an opening.
Just then, an arrow flew through the swarm and created a small gap between the tightly packed spiders.
I immediately shouted,
“Now!”
“Uaaaaah!”
Lee Dohyun charged toward the Red Venom Spider while screaming strangely.
—Kiiiiik!
Thud.
I couldn’t tell whether it was intentional or pure luck, but Lee Dohyun managed to roll across the floor and dodge one of the legs swinging toward him.
And right in front of him...
The Red Venom Spider looked down at Lee Dohyun.
If someone with an unawakened body took that attack directly, they would suffer a fatal injury at the very least.
But...
I won’t let that happen.
[Skill, ‘Lag Lv.1’ has been activated.]
Mana drained from my body.
At the same time, the Red Venom Spider suddenly stopped moving.
However, I didn’t have enough power to completely freeze such a huge monster.
More precisely, it was still beyond me.
The skill would probably wear off almost immediately.
When the Red Venom Spider stopped, Lee Dohyun hesitated for a moment.
But he quickly understood what was happening and successfully slipped underneath its body.
—Kiik?
Once the Lag effect disappeared, the Red Venom Spider looked confused when Lee Dohyun suddenly vanished from its sight.
I had been worried that it might immediately notice him and attack, but fortunately, it seemed unable to figure out where he had gone.
I swallowed hard.
I kept saying that I trusted him, but that was only because I knew what happened in the novel.
There was no guarantee things would happen exactly the same way here.
We had only one chance.
If Lee Dohyun fails, all of us will probably die.
Despite the anxiety filling my heart, my mind remained strangely calm.
I watched Lee Dohyun raise his knife to attack and desperately prayed.
Please.
Please...!
Lee Dohyun brought the blade down and stabbed the Red Venom Spider's abdomen.
The giant spider immediately began thrashing wildly.
—Kiiiiiiik!
“Why the hell won’t you die?!”
Underneath the violently twisting monster, Lee Dohyun looked panicked.
Of course, there was no way an ordinary person's attack could kill the Red Venom Spider.
But I had never expected Lee Dohyun to kill it with a single strike in the first place.
Expecting something like that would be too much.
“He’s going to die like that! I should just—”
I grabbed Oppa as he tried to rush forward.
“He won’t die.”
And neither will we.
I swallowed the rest of those words and continued staring ahead.
The gigantic spider's body blocked Lee Dohyun from view.
Even so, I could feel it.
It was closer to instinct than certainty.
And then—
Slash! Slash! Slash! Slash!
—Kieeeeeek!
A rapid series of stabbing sounds rang out, followed by the Red Venom Spider's piercing scream.
The giant spider's legs, which had been wildly thrashing around, suddenly went limp and collapsed onto the floor.
“Haah... Haah...!”
Lee Dohyun crawled out from beneath it, completely covered in the spider's bodily fluids.
The kitchen knife he had been using had melted away because of the fluids.
Only the handle remained.
Yet unlike the knife, Lee Dohyun's body was completely unharmed.
There was only one possible explanation.
“Wait... Did he awaken?”
Oppa asked with a dumbfounded expression.
I nodded.
Then Oppa looked toward the spiders filling the area behind us.
“But why aren't those things disappearing?”
We had defeated the Red Venom Spider that seemed to be their leader, and the Guardian Spiders had briefly hesitated.
But only for a moment.
They quickly began closing in on us again.
The massive swarm rushed forward like a raging wave.
The path toward the rooftop, our destination, was already completely blocked.
We had used almost all our strength fighting the other spiders.
None of us had enough stamina left to force our way through that enormous swarm.
“Wasn't killing the red one supposed to be enough?”
Oppa glared at me as if demanding an explanation.
Sorry, but...
I had never said that.
Killing the Red Venom Spider had only been meant to awaken Lee Dohyun in preparation for the battle on the rooftop.
When I remained silent, Oppa ground his teeth.
“You damn fraud!”
“Is the rooftop really safe?”
Kim Taeyoon interrupted him.
I froze for a moment before nodding.
“Safer than here.”
“What’s on the rooftop?”
“The only way to escape this place.”
It wasn’t exactly a lie.
Kim Taeyoon continued.
“You’re a prophet, right?”
His gaze remained fixed on me.
