Hmm...

Extra Trial: Alluring Spider Alley Requirements: Medal: "Spider", "Wakoku", or Charm-related medals. Wakoku-related Trial Ground. Quest Content: The challenger finds themself in a location that is based after a Wakoku-styled village. To clear the Trial, they have to reach the shrine located at the center of the village without losing too many points. The challenger will lose points by being caught by the female spider-type Youkai prostitutes' charms and traps. Rewards: Possible rewards from the "Spider" category based on the score:

T3 Skills Ex-rarity Items

Yes, it says I have to avoid getting caught by the wiles of these ladies. Just my luck...

"Hey, sweetie~? Mind having a drink with us~?" - Busty spider lady in low-cut kimono

"Cutie-pie~. Come here and have some fun with us~." - Seductive-looking younger spider lady.

"Child, come here. Allow me to take you to heaven." - Sexy older spider lady

After I got out of that alley, I entered a place that can't be anything but a red-light district. The place is too big for the 3D map alone, so I removed the blindfold for now. And I was greeted by the sight of a ton of hot Arachne-like creatures, probably Jorou-Gumos considering the youkai-comment in the information screen, were trying to woo me to their side..., and it is DIFFICULT to resist! Good thing I'm used to Mira. This makes me wanna applaud Alf for being able to resist this without that developed resistance against sexy-

"Master, snap out of it! You are being Charmed!" - Bloom

"Charmed? ...Crap!" - Garami

I used [Identification] on myself and saw a low degree of Charm ailment on it. Not good. *Slap, slap, slap!*

"Ouch..." - Garami

"Are you alright now, Master? Now, let us be on our way-" - Bloom

Before Bloom could finish her sentence, she was grabbed by a sticky thread and pulled away like a fish on a fishing hook. All that remained was a faint "noooo-!" on the horizon (just around the corner). [Danger Sense] warned me that more threads were coming my way, so I wasted no time leaving Bloom behind. She's tough, she'll handle it.

More and more spiders are coming out of the woodwork as I continued on evading threads, body tackles (which I normally wouldn't have dodged, for personal reasons), and even giant nets thrown from the rooftops. Grr, this is getting too ridiculous. Let's get a little serious...

Seeing as the road was getting spider-infested, I climbed up the buildings using [Hardlight Claw] and [Sticky Limbs] and started to run over the roof while aiming for the shrine. Alas, as one would expect from spiders, they didn't need much time to imitate me. However...

*BOOOM!*

The trap I set using [Trap Creation]'s quick set-up function blasted some of the pursuers down again. But that trick costs me some explosives that I gotta stock up on, so I wish not to rely too much on it. The webbing used for the trigger wires is luckily "free" when you ignore the minimal SP I need to provide, thanks to the skills, but webbing alone against spiders? I don't think that will end well.

Some spiders started to block the path forward, so I generated [Poison Balls] and [Darkness Daggers] in each hand that I threw at their faces so they would step back, giving me the opening to slip past them. I mean, when [Identification] gives you the result of their HP not existing, as in there's nothing to deplete to keep them from chasing you, running is the only option left to take.

And here comes a little smarter batch of "Jorou-gumos". They are throwing some threads at me instead of charging in blindly. Actually..., screw the "some"-part. It is the whole downpour of the century! Now's not the time to be saving my tricks up my sleeves.

"Zahhak!!" - Garami

The darkness dragon, released from its shackles, faced the web storm head-on, and it won. The webbing got blown away while the dragon continued and struck the spiders, forcing their stats to take a deep dive. Yes! But man, now I'm feeling lightheaded. That dragon is surely useful, but it sucks up lots of MP just for one shot. Around 100 per blast, I think. I have a high MP recovery, but the feeling of being drained that much takes a toll on me.

A prolonged stay in this spider village ain't something I can recommend. Let's get out of this place post-haste!

---

*CRASH!*

And I'm out! After I jumped into the shrine after throwing out a final Zahhak to blast away the enemy spiders, I returned to the flower garden cave where I left the others. I almost ended up in an accident, seeing as the exit is located on the shrine's roof, but I managed to stop. Thank god for [Sticky Limbs]. And I hope nobody wants me to reprimand me for using [Hardlight Claws] with my feet. Nobody is going to miss a roof tile or two...

Now, where are those guys? I'll regroup with them, then see what I won from that crazy spider escape. ...Over there. How weird. They are gathered together and on guard, weapons raised and all. This smells like trouble.

"I-I am finally safe-" - Bloom

"Shh." - Garami

"What now!? After everything...oh." - Bloom

Bloom, who had finally rematerialized, needed only one look at the situation down below to understand that she needed to be quiet.

"Any signs for potential attackers?" I whispered to her.

"That is a tough question. It's not certain that we will be lucky with the opponent's choice of stealth attributes...scratch that. I see them! Behind that tree!" - Bloom

Barely succeeding in keeping her voice low in her excitement, Bloom pointed at one of the trees close to the group's position. In its shadow, I could see...a giant lizard? One with nasty scales that looks like knives from where I stand.

"That is a Hashamander. A stealth specialist among the lizard-type monsters. Its racial rank is D." - Bloom

"Do they have a chance?" I asked, my question is regarding the safety of Mira's group.

"The lizards...are not that strong in a direct fight. They evolved while being keen on the motto of 'sneaking for winning'. But on the other hand, if they are not discovered-" - Bloom

"That's all I need to hear." - Garami

I cut Bloom short by readying and firing a [Darkness Bullet] before you could say "one shot, one kill"! The bullet...did NOT hit the reptile, but it scared it out of its hiding place. Mira noticed my shot, and the lizard, and told Noire to do the shot. The latter looked displeased by the sudden order, but she didn't disobey and fired at the lizard.

Now out of its hiding place, the lizard fumbled around in panic as it tried to evade Noire's arrows, but a few of them managed to find their targets. The knife-like scales repelled some, but most of those who managed to hit were also able to strike in the small gaps between the body armor of the reptile. If Noire aimed for that on purpose, then I'm never gonna set up a sharpshooting booth with her nearby. I'd go broke in less than a minute.

The arrows alone were not enough to end the lizard, but they didn't need to. Mira had already run up to it and started to slash at the monster with swordsmanship I can only call "masterly". She moves like she would have been a stage actor, yet scales and blood fly into the air with each strike. That silver arm-Extra Skill must be playing a role here, but her skills with the blade are solely hers.

I can't even see the typical lights accompanying Combat Arts, so she works solely using her talent. She did mention once when she forced me to accompany her with her training acts that she never relies too much on those arts, as their motions are predetermined and can't be changed while they're in use.

The lizard was getting creamed. Or cut. But that's not all that's happening downstairs. All of a sudden, Alf prepared a wall of ice, blocking a SECOND lizard from taking a bite outta Noire! Holy shit, that was close! I was too preoccupied with watching Mira curb-stomping the first one to notice it! Good thing Alf can keep his head cool. Is that a side-effect of using the Ice attribute?

...Hold on. There is more than just one. Now I started to get a bad feeling in my gut.

*Swish!*

And I was right! A third lizard tried to use its knife-covered (actually scales, but the difference is zilch in this case) to slash off my legs! I only barely dodged it because I had that murky feeling seeing the reinforcements down below!

"What in the!? Another one!?" - Bloom

Even Bloom is surprised, so it's less likely I didn't pay enough attention there. This lizard can bypass perception skills such as [Danger Sense]! It was purely my instincts that saved me there. Phew.

The lizard must have climbed up the shrine after I fired the warning shot at the first reptile. That shot revealed both parties' locations after all. Grr, I should have been more careful.

I tried to retrieve the scythe from my inventory while throwing a [Poison Ball] at the lizard, but the giant reptilian kitchen drawer just swatted the poison away! And the footing up here on the roof is horrible! I'm almost-

...Forget almost. I DID drop the scythe! And now the lizard is trying to bite me! Keep those nasty teeth away from me! From which shark did you steal those!?

Things were looking bad here, but to my big surprise, a saving angel was nearby.

"Got you!" - Bloom

Or, a saving fairy-shaped avatar. Bloom had manifested the Kigal-Note for some reason, and astonishingly, she created a vortex from its open pages! Could it always do that!?

The lizard was as stupefied as me, which caused it to be hit by the vortex. It tried to claw itself to the roof tiles, but unfortunately..., those are the ones I half-broke with my [Hardlight Claws]. Whoops. Sorry...NOT!

Anyway, the lizard lost its grip on the roof as the tiles broke off it, then it got...sucked into the Kigal-Note??? Am I seeing this right?

"Phew. Capture complete~!" - Bloom

"'Capture complete~' my ass! What was that!? And thank you for the save!" - Garami

"Waa-!? Are you angry at me or grateful?" - Bloom

Both! And it's annoying me, but getting down from here takes priority over my feelings at this moment. The party below has almost defeated the 2nd lizard now after the first got turned into lizard sushi, so it's time to regroup and sort things out.

---

"So, anyone cares to explain what's happened here?" - Garami

After I managed to get down without crashing into the ground like Alf had before, I started to question the three about what had happened while I was gone.

"That is a question I want answers for too. Not long after you had left, Noire noticed something lurking behind the tree and took a shot at it." - Mira

"Don't say it in a way that makes it sound like I am responsible for this mess! And if I had not noticed it, those lizards may have had us for dinner tonight!" - Noire

Ah, the sharpshooter's eyes prove useful yet again.

"No need to point fingers. What I wanna know is why those monsters decided to enter this supposed monster-safe area." - Garami

"Oh, right. That part completely slipped my mind." - Mira

"Is it not because the trees are providing less pollen now?" - Alf

"Say what?" - Garami

"I remember that this area's safety function originates from the trees' monster-repelling pollen. Maybe that is why the reptiles decided to come here?" - Alf

So, they didn't come here to target us specifically, they entered because a previously closed-off area to them was opened? Rather, before that-

"Where did the theory about the trees being less productive come from?" - Noire

Grr, she stole my line...

"Mira, you mentioned to me earlier that the three of you did not find many fallen leaves and branches from the trees, correct?" - Alf

"Yes, that's true. But, does that have anything to do with the trees going impotent?" - Mira

"W-what a way to describe the situation. *Cough*, if my theory is correct, it is not that there have been people here who have been collecting plant materials in large amounts as you believed at first. Or, you were right, but you didn't quite hit the right scale of the situation." - Alf

"What does that mean?" - Noire

"Let us return. We should report this to the Union and have them figure out the details." - Alf

"Why!? Let us do the work AND harvest the honor!" - Noire

"Because we will not obtain a reward for fulfilling a quest that we complete before it is recognized as a quest by the Union." - Alf

"I agree there! Let the money talk before action does!" - Mira

That Alf, did he put it that way to get Mira on his side? He's one shrewd former guard. Maybe those teeth from before increased his INT. And speaking of which, I have yet to see what I won, haven't I?

SYSTEM MESSAGE:

You have cleared the Trial: [Alluring Spider Alley]!!!

You have acquired the skill: [Nature's Webbing].

...Okay..., it's not just the underground tree garden that needs investigation. Not to mention that weird stuff Bloom did with the Kigal-Note. But first, let's get back to the inn. I wanna sleep in a proper bed.