Chapter 23
Death.
A word that had always felt so distant suddenly felt terrifyingly close.
I swallowed hard.
What if we all died here?
I had dragged everyone here recklessly, saying we could win.
The victory that had seemed so certain was now dragging me down instead.
My head slowly lowered.
Prophecy, my ass.
In the thin silence, Oppa spoke.
“So?”
“……”
“What do we have to do?”
I slowly lifted my head.
None of them were looking at me.
Oppa stood at the front.
Han Siwoo stood on the right.
Lee Dohyeon stood on the left.
That was all.
All I could see were their backs.
Yet somehow, that alone was enough to make the fear shrinking my heart slowly disappear.
A strange confidence began rising inside me.
Fwing.
Arachne fired another strand of web.
Oppa raised his shield and blocked it.
Crackle.
A few sparks flew.
Han Siwoo spoke.
“Tell us. You’re the only one who knows.”
Right.
I was the only one who knew.
I continued, stumbling slightly over my words.
“...It’s the same as when we fought the Red Venomous Spider earlier. While Oppa and Han Siwoo draw its attention, Lee Dohyeon has to get underneath Arachne’s belly.”
That was it.
One single sentence.
That was the only strategy I remembered.
In the novel, we succeeded using that method.
But I had no idea how we had succeeded.
The process we had to endure would not be as simple as reading the completed sentence in a novel.
Even so, we had to do it.
“We’re going to survive.”
It was nothing more than my desperate wish to believe in the novel.
“Of course we are.”
Lee Dohyeon gave strength to that wish.
At the same time, Han Siwoo began running toward Arachne.
Kyaaaaaaaah!
Arachne roared at Han Siwoo charging toward it, then fired again.
Fwing!
Another projectile shot forward.
Han Siwoo quickly twisted his body to dodge it, but one of the poisonous needles still grazed his cheek.
[You have been afflicted with a status abnormality due to ‘Arachne’s Poison Needle.’]
[Skill, ‘Debuff Removal Lv.1,’ has been activated.]
[Current Mana: 40/100]
It was okay.
We were still okay.
I pushed down my anxiety once again and raised my chin to look forward.
Clang—!
Han Siwoo blocked Arachne’s incoming leg with his kitchen knife.
The sound of metal crashing against metal rang out.
Then—
Crack.
A fracture began spreading across the knife.
“……!”
Arachne was much harder than I had expected.
But that was still fine.
Han Siwoo had never charged in because he was supposed to defeat Arachne in the first place.
Rustle.
A shadow hidden in the darkness quickly moved behind Arachne.
It was Lee Dohyeon.
Arachne seemed too focused on Han Siwoo to notice him.
Just as I was beginning to relax because things were going more smoothly than expected—
Fwing!
Arachne suddenly turned its head and fired a poisonous needle toward Lee Dohyeon.
“Ack!”
Startled, Lee Dohyeon immediately twisted his body.
The needle narrowly missed him.
His movement was clearly different from Han Siwoo’s slightly clumsy dodge.
“He’s pretty good.”
Oppa muttered while watching Lee Dohyeon continue running without stopping, despite being attacked.
His movements had been awkward at first.
But after dodging several more poisonous needles, they gradually became sharper and more stable.
“Is that guy seriously going to kill it?”
Oppa shouted excitedly as Lee Dohyeon finally approached Arachne.
Until then, Arachne hadn’t done much besides firing poisonous needles.
That made me feel slightly uneasy.
...Is it really this easy?
The moment I thought that—
Flash.
A massive light swallowed the sky.
A thick, long beam of light crashed down directly over Lee Dohyeon.
His body was thrown into the air.
[‘Shield Lv.1’ has been destroyed.]
[You have been afflicted with a status abnormality due to Arachne’s Poison Fog.]
“Lee Dohyeon!”
BOOOOM!
Oppa’s scream was swallowed by the thunderous sound that struck the ground a moment later.
While I froze at the unexpected situation, Oppa quickly rushed forward and saved Lee Dohyeon.
I finally came back to my senses and activated my skills.
[Skill, ‘Shield Lv.1,’ has been activated.]
[Skill, ‘Debuff Removal Lv.1,’ has been activated.]
[Current Mana: 30/100]
I slowly caught my breath and examined the situation.
Arachne was completely fine.
We were a mess.
Up until now, everything had happened exactly like it had in the novel.
And yet...
A doubt rose inside me.
Can we really win this?
Above us, the dark sky flashed repeatedly.
Black.
White.
Black.
White.
It looked almost like our wavering hope.
How many people could remain calm in a situation like this?
I was scared.
Terrified.
I wanted to turn around and run.
Maybe the idea of trusting a novel from the very beginning had been ridiculous.
“Ugh!”
My eyes widened as I turned toward the sound.
Arachne’s leg had pierced straight through Han Siwoo’s shoulder.
Another leg immediately swung toward him.
