Chapter 62: Spider Web (3)
Translator: bjgoofy
-Tsurur!
-Kwaduk!
At my command, Cho slipped out from my sleeve and promptly bit into the back of the pedipalp disguised as Namgoong Seol.
At the same time, Namgoong Seol’s eyes opened wide.
The eyes of the pedipalp that resembled Namgoong Seol looked at me with an expression of disbelief.
A face filled with disbelief, clearly showing the emotion of betrayal.
The beautiful face of Namgoong Seol soon formed a very pitiful expression.
A pitiful expression with a decadent and alluring atmosphere, quite different from the original Namgoong Seol,
Namgoong Seol was more of a fresh beauty like a spring flower, so I wasn’t sure if such an expression would suit her, but a woman’s transformation no, a spider’s mimicry, was indeed innocent.
Even though it was probably just mimicry in appearance, its emotional reactions felt so real that I couldn’t help but be amazed.
‘That expression looks truly real.’
In Iran, there’s a spider-tailed viper, a venomous snake with a tail that resembles a spider. This snake wiggles its tail like a real spider to lure its prey, birds.
So, that creature’s behavior must be a part of the same predatory tactic.
It seemed the creature had evolved that way.
To feed on yang energy from men, it would have to seduce them, so it was probably performing the most alluring expressions to attract men.
Borrowing the appearance of Namgoong Seol was, in that regard, the best choice.
She was reputed as the most beautiful woman in the Central Plains, so using her appearance would make it easier to seduce men.
First, I pulled Cho, who was still sinking its fangs into the creature’s back, away and tucked it into my robe, then I released the creature’s body that I had been holding and stepped back.
Then, trembling violently, the creature staggered toward me.
As it followed me, its body slowly emerged from the bushes, and under the moonlight, its beautiful form was fully revealed.
A bright red body.
Four large spots on its back.
Velvety soft and densely grown hair.
It felt like a ladybird spider, but even its legs were painted red?
“Beautiful...”
At my murmured admiration, the spider’s eyes, those organs resembling spider’s eyes, opened wide again.
The creature tried to move closer toward me, but couldn’t take more than three steps and stopped in place.
It must have been the effect of the poison kicking in.
Lastly, the one disguised as Namgoong Seol reached out its arm toward me as if trying to grab me, but its arm drooped helplessly without achieving that purpose.
-Thud!
The creature toppled sideways.
Its body flipped over just as it fell.
And like it had been sprayed with insecticide, it lay on its back, its spider legs trembling violently.
“Let’s see now, is it properly paralyzed?”
Though it looked like it was dying from insecticide, it likely wasn’t truly dead.
I approached to examine whether it was properly paralyzed.
The reason I told Cho to bite it without hesitation.
That was because the creature wouldn’t die from the venom of the centipedes.
This all relates to the correlation between centipedes’ prey and their venom in the ecosystem. Typically, a regular centipede’s prey consists of insects, spiders, or small animals like frogs.
Yes, even though this spider was quite large, it was essentially food for the centipedes.
People usually focus on the fact that centipede venom can harm humans and thus don’t realize the original purpose of the venom, it’s actually a type of neurotoxin evolved to paralyze the insects or small animals they prey on.
The venom of centipedes is designed to instantly paralyze their prey.
That’s why I told Cho to bite the spider.
Although the centipedes are unlike ordinary ones and are low-grade venomous creatures with somewhat stronger poison, this fallen spider was about the same size as the toxicity of their venom, so I wasn’t particularly worried.
Besides, at a glance, the spider looked just as venomous as the centipedes, if not more.
‘This one’s probably at least high-grade.’
The unnatural mist, the spider webs on the ground, and though I didn’t fall under its effect, based on the stories of the previously abducted people, it also seemed capable of charming people, so it was definitely at least high-grade.
As I gently stroked the fake head of the creature that was still staring at me with unblinking eyes, I spoke.
“I hope you won’t feel too hurt about this. After all, I saved you from a fate where you might’ve ended up dead at someone’s hands after harming people like this.”
And after a moment of checking, I came to a conclusion.
As expected, the spider was only paralyzed, not dead.
Its abdomen was still moving to breathe.
‘Hmm… That’s true, but I just can’t help myself, can I?’
Having confirmed that the creature was indeed paralyzed,
As I stared at it in silence, I found I simply couldn’t resist.
It felt like I had caught some incredible new species of spider, and I wanted to examine every inch of its body.
For that reason, since it wouldn’t be able to move for a while, I decided to take the time to inspect it thoroughly.
I was curious about exactly what kind of creature it was and what it looked like in detail.
Spider faces vary a lot, so I started with the face.
‘What shape could it be? Maybe it has large venomous fangs like a tarantula?’
To check its true face, I grabbed the legs of the pedipalp that had disguised itself as Namgoong Seol, which were covering its face, and pulled them apart.
And just as I was examining the area that seemed to be its real face
“Let’s see now. Let’s see how pretty you are.”
Then came a surprised voice from behind.
“So-Soryong, don’t do that!”
As I turned around at the sudden sound of Nunim’s voice, I saw her running toward me, Bin and Hyang perched on each of her shoulders.
And soon after she reached me, Nunim hugged me tightly to her chest and said,
“Try breathing while circulating the Tang Sect’s internal energy technique. Hoo... Haa... You can do it, Soryong.”
“Uh? All of a sudden?”
Blinking in confusion at the sudden instruction to breathe, I was surprised when Nunim opened her eyes wide and peered deeply into mine.
After staring into my eyes for a while, Nunim wore a face of disbelief.
“You’re not intoxicated by the mist? Th-then!?”
Then, looking even more shocked than before, she asked,
“Soryong, then, wh-what exactly were you doing just now?”
Nunim’s face turned bright red.
When I turned my head and looked at myself, I could see why she might misunderstand.
I was holding and spreading apart the legs of the creature lying there in the form of Namgoong Seol.
“Y-Young Miss, i-it’s not what you think. I can explain everything. Really. I was just trying to see how pretty it looked, that’s all!”
“Whaaat!? You said you were checking how pretty it looked!? Exactly which part!?”
That wasn’t it, but I couldn’t help feeling that the misunderstandings were only piling up.
***
“So, you were just trying to see how pretty the spider was? That this isn’t a human body but a spider mimicking a human?”
Nunim crossed her arms and stared at me as if interrogating me.
It seemed like she thought the man she considered a potential husband was showing some strange tendencies.
So I quickly patted the spider’s abdomen that I had restrained and answered.
“I’m telling you, yes. I was only trying to see how pretty the spider looked. Look, the red color is really beautiful, right? And the hair here is so smooth and soft, too.”
“O-okay, I get it. Now stop stroking the spider.”
Nunim flinched in shock as I stroked the spider’s soft abdomen.
When I quickly removed my hand as she said, only then did Nunim look slightly relieved.
I liked spiders, not loved them, but her reaction was rather exaggerated.
Since the misunderstanding had been cleared up for now, although I felt a little regret, I decided to check the creature again later and moved.
I didn’t know how strong the creature was, but just in case it woke up, I gathered the spider silk on the ground, twisted it, and began tying up its legs.
Since spider silk has immense elasticity and strength, it should be able to withstand the creature’s power easily.
After I had finished tying the creature up, I heard Nunim ask,
“But Soryong, why were you here in the first place? It doesn’t seem like you were lured by this creature, does it?”
Only then did I realize I had completely forgotten that I had come chasing after a scream because I had been so absorbed in the spider.
“Ah! Right! I came here because I heard a scream.”
“A scream!?”
“Yes, I followed someone’s scream all the way here....”
“Then let’s check the surroundings. Someone might have been attacked by this creature.”
I had been so absorbed in the spider that I had neglected to think about the safety of the group.
Nunim and I briefly searched the area, but there was no sign of Namgoong Seol or Namgoong Eun.
“There’s no one around?”
“Exactly. Strange. I clearly heard a scream, didn’t I? Could it be this creature can make sounds too?”
I crouched in front of the spider, wondering whether it could possibly produce sound.
-Tutuk.
A drop of water fell on my head.
Thinking it might be raining, I looked up at the sky and saw something dangling from the top of a tree.
“No way!?”
At my exclamation, Nunim looked up and cried out in a shocked voice.
“Eun!”
Right after, a flying dagger soared through the air, and the cocooned Namgoong Eun fell from above, which Nunim quickly caught in her arms.
“Eun, are you all right?”
In response to Nunim’s words, Namgoong Eun couldn’t even answer and simply wept in silence.
She must have been bitten by the spider, and judging by the movement of her eyes, it was probably paralysis poison again.
Since it didn’t seem life-threatening, we laid Namgoong Eun gently on the ground.
“By the way, the only one left now is Young Miss Namgoong Seol, but it seems she still hasn’t found us?”
As I brought up the matter of the last remaining Namgoong Seol, Nunim looked around at the fog that was beginning to scatter and said,
“She probably won’t be able to come in easily until the fog completely clears. Even I couldn’t bring myself to step into the fog at first. Are you all right, Soryong? Ah, I guess you are....”
“You mean aside from not being able to see clearly?”
Other than the poor visibility, there had been nothing particularly wrong, so I shook my head, and Nunim shuddered as she spoke.
It was as though she had experienced something unpleasant.
“This fog, I’m certain the spider did something to it. When you inhale it, it stirs up such lustful desire, you could mistake it for an aphrodisiac. Though it’s not quite as strong as one....”
“You mean the fog?”
“Yes, I inhaled just a bit and was so startled that I escaped out of the fog and forced the energy out of my body. I think Young Miss Namgoong Seol won’t be able to enter until the fog is gone. There aren’t many internal energy techniques as resistant to poison and drugs as the Tang Sect’s internal technique.”
“Ah, then those villagers who seemed to be possessed, they might’ve been affected by this fog....”
Nunim’s explanation unlocked the clue.
In other words, the villagers had been intoxicated by the fog and became charmed by the spider, which is why they all thought they had seen the same thing.
Now I understood Nunim’s earlier reaction toward me as well.
She must have thought I had become overwhelmed by lust and was about to do something strange to the spider.
‘Even so, really. In any case, is the fog made of some kind of pheromone that drives people into excitement?’
The identity of this creature was truly fascinating in many ways.
I began to wonder what its name was.
“Young Miss, by the way, do you happen to know this creature’s name?”
If it was such an incredible creature, I had a feeling Nunim might know its name.
That’s why I asked her its name, but her expression quickly turned into one of flustered confusion, and she responded with an extremely unnatural look.
“W-well... I-I’ll have to go back to the family and, uh, check. I feel like I do r-remember it, but I just can’t recall it for sure.”
“So there is something Young Miss Hwa-eun doesn’t know? I thought everyone in the Tang Family had all the names of venomous creatures memorized.”
“J-just because I’m from the Tang doesn’t mean I h-have everything memorized.”
It felt like she did know something but was hiding it.
But what could I do? If Nunim said so, then so be it.
It was while we were talking like that.
Namgoong Seol appeared in the small clearing where we were.
After checking her fallen sister and the spider's face, Namgoong Seol drew her sword with a furious expression.
-Sreung.
“This vile monster sullied my honor and even got Eun”
She looked like she intended to strike it dead with a single blow.
I quickly dashed forward, spread my arms wide, and shouted.
“Wait! Young Miss Namgoong Eun is alive. And I captured the spider, so it’s mine!”
“What?”
Namgoong Seol was taken aback by my words.
Apparently, the Namgoong household had no concept of basic collector’s ethics.
Even if we were out collecting insects as a group, the one who caught it first owns it. That’s the unspoken rule of group insect collecting.
'I didn't like that family since they ground up the lizard. Seems like they ground up their conscience too.'
*****
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