Namedzu.
Where'd you run off to~.
Come outta here~.
While I was wandering around like that, I discovered something.
Well, not so much discovered it as... it was just there.
Though honestly, it'd be weirder if I *didn't* notice something that conspicuous.
What was there was a massive hole.
The vertical shaft I'd fallen through before, from the Upper Layer down to the Lower Layer.
This one was even bigger than that.
It connected upward and downward, both directions.
Yes, this hole went up.
If I climbed through it, I'd reach the Upper Layer; if I descended, I'd reach the Lower Layer.
That's what I think, anyway. But I'm going to skip this hole.
Oh, I'm not joking. I mean it.
If my sense of humor got questioned over a lame dad joke like that, it would be truly regrettable.
Anyway, that's all beside the point—this hole has my Detection skill screaming danger at maximum intensity.
Yes, oh yes indeed.
The instant it came into view, it was already screaming.
Like, "Oh no, this one's bad"—you know, the kind you can tell right away.
So naturally, I'm taking a wide detour around it to keep moving forward.
That thing is absolutely off-limits.
Getting close to that is a guaranteed flag for a horrific death.
Here I was thinking I'd evolved and was all TUEEEE, and then this shows up.
Yeah, right.
There's never been a time in my life where getting cocky ended well.
Getting cocky never leads to anything good.
That's what this reminded me.
A humble heart is best.
So I'll be going ahead and avoiding that flag with everything I've got.
Yes.
I will not approach it.
Not a chance.
I don't know anything about the ostrich effect.
I'm not a comedian.
With those thoughts, I moved away from the hole.
And then, when the hole was barely still visible in the distance, my Detection skill picked up an extreme level of danger.
I dove behind a rock without thinking.
Peeking out, from above the hole— *That thing* was coming.
Even from far away, the massive body was unmistakable.
Pitch-black, from head to toe.
Eight sinisterly glowing crimson eyes.
Eight legs that walked along vertical walls without a hint of difficulty.
At the tips of those legs—five long, sharp claws that looked like human fingers.
And that maw, capable of swallowing everything whole.
What was standing there was a Monster.
Not some run-of-the-mill defective like the ones you'd find anywhere—a genuine being of terror.
Fighting that? A handful of insignificant fodder wouldn't even begin to cut it.
The same overwhelming disparity in power I'd felt from the Earth Dragon.
I regretted that my Appraisal couldn't reach it from here.
Without a doubt, its Status would have been so horrifying it'd make you laugh.
Right, Mother?
This was my second encounter with the Super-Huge Spider.
An existence that absurdly overpowered couldn't exactly be roaming around everywhere.
If there were more than one, you could die pretty easily.
That had to be the Mother I'd witnessed right after I was born.
She was descending slowly, moving downward.
Her movements were majestic—the bearing of a true king of this labyrinth.
In reality, I couldn't imagine any Monster being able to stop her march.
I couldn't say for sure since I had no idea where either of our upper limits lay, but even the Earth Dragon probably couldn't beat the Mother.
I wanted to Appraise the Mother's power, but getting close enough to her would be suicide.
Curiosity killed the cat.
I'm a spider, so I'll politely pass on getting killed, thanks.
I'd thought the Mother was too strong to belong in the Upper Layer, but it turned out she moved between layers using vertical shafts like this.
Her visit to the Upper Layer was probably just a casual drop-in.
Her true territory was the Lower Layer—or maybe even deeper, in the very bottom layer.
Even the powerful Monsters of the Lower Layer wouldn't stand a chance against the Mother.
Thank goodness I didn't approach that hole thinking I could pull off some kind of cheeky stunt.
That thing is so far beyond winning or losing as a concept.
Same as with the Earth Dragon—the moment it sets its eyes on you, death is a foregone conclusion.
That thing is practically a walking calamity.
And then, the Mother's movement suddenly stopped.
She was staring fixedly in one particular direction.
And then, slowly, she turned her enormous fangs toward it.
The next instant, the world shook.
Not like a metaphorical shake or anything like that—it actually, literally shook.
The shock was so intense it was as if the labyrinth itself was screaming.
If I had to express it in sound effects: *CHUDONN, rumble rumble*.
Whatever kind of attack that was, it exceeded my understanding, so I couldn't really tell.
But where my gaze was pointed—where the magma spring had been—there was now a brand-new crater far larger than the spring had ever been.
Whatever had been in there, any trace of it was lost forever.
Maybe it had simply entered the Mother's line of sight, or perhaps it had done something to offend her.
That unfortunate Monster was no longer even dust.
Magma flowed anew into the freshly made crater.
Eventually, a spring even larger than the original would probably form there.
I was just glad that attack wasn't aimed at me.
Something like that, and you might die without even realizing you'd been killed.
I desperately suppressed my presence, doing everything I could to keep the Mother from noticing me.
《Proficiency has reached a certain level. Skill "Stealth LV7" has become "Stealth LV8"》 《Proficiency has reached a certain level. Skill "Silence LV1" has become "Silence LV2"》 《Proficiency has reached a certain level. Skill "Fear Resistance LV7" has become "Fear Resistance LV8"》 And then, slowly, the Mother vanished downward.