I Became a Tentacle Monster Blooming in the Academy Garden 351

## Chapter 351 – Dungeons and Adventurers (18)

‘How is it? Is it livable here?’

“It feels like the old days…
Isn’t this the place that suits me best?
Especially with a companion.
Hehe… I suppose Yunmei felt this way…”

‘Yun… who…?’

“Someone precious to me.
Perhaps there will be a time to tell you about her?
But for now, let’s enjoy our meal together.”

Leah glanced at the small spider on her shoulder, her red eyes blinking as if smiling, and gently sat down with a light laugh.

This place was Leah’s new hideout.

She was one of the Enic Vanguard who spearheaded the creation of an outpost inside the dungeon and laid its foundation.

An Arachne, a powerful monster that ordinary beasts couldn’t even dare to threaten.

Although she herself was a monster, she was the one who hunted most of them. With overwhelming force, she sliced through her opponents, playing a key role in the outpost site clearing operation.

“It’s not often that we can enjoy such a cozy moment, is it?
Lately, my dear husband has so many things to worry about, this woman and that.”

‘Haha… I feel a little sorry about that…’

“I didn’t mean for you to feel sorry.
It’s thanks to you that I can enjoy such luxury…”

Eventually, when the dungeon outpost, which she had worked so hard to build, was about to be opened to the public, Leah, who couldn’t be exposed to too many people, chose to stay in the dungeon rather than return to the lair.

Of course, it was her wish, so I couldn’t stop her. Besides, the lair, which was constantly being filled with unfamiliar humans, would have felt unbearably cramped for her with her special body.

So, I gave her a magical tool connected to the lair so she could return whenever she wanted, and she was sent out of the dungeon outpost.

Finding a suitable place, Leah spun spiderwebs from her body with a refreshing ease, creating a plausible treehouse-like web house above several large trees in just one day.

The cool breeze blew, and the sight of the dungeon landscape unfolding before her eyes was more refreshing than I had expected. Even I, who occasionally became the spider inside her to keep her company, quite enjoyed it.

“Here. Try this… but it’s too big.
I’ll cut it for you… that’s right… eat well…♡”

Leah held out a piece of meat torn off with her hand, and then, realizing the size difference with the tiny spider, she felt embarrassed. Soon, she cut the meat into even smaller pieces with her fingernails and fed it to its mouth.

I didn’t know it before because it only ate the copious amounts of urine, saliva, and vaginal fluids that she produced, but it seemed that spiders were surprisingly omnivorous.

‘Ugh… oh… this…
It tastes like pork?’

As a monster combining a spider, a hunter from ancient times, and a human, the leader of all creation, Leah showed no mercy in sweeping away the monsters. She was already showing a greedy side, tying up all sorts of monsters with thread and storing them away.

‘If she does that, she can just laze around at home for a while…
That… might be better than I thought…’

And I, eating that meat with trembling feelings, couldn’t help but tilt the spider’s body in surprise at the surprisingly soft texture.

“Is it good?”

‘It’s good. It’s quite tender.’

“I injected a toxin that makes it tender.
Soon, your body will become tender too…
And then… Hehehe…”

‘Eek…!!’

“It’s just a joke, don’t be so surprised.
I have no intention of melting my companion♡”

At her words, accompanied by a slightly artificial laugh, I staggered, tilting my body. I tried to straighten the spider’s body and laughed inwardly.

“……!!”

But this time, it was her turn to be surprised, having heard my inner laughter. Her expression suddenly turned serious.

With a groan, she rolled her eyes from side to side, and as if sensing something instinctively, she immediately grabbed me, who was on her shoulder, and threw her body like the wind.

‘Oh… whoaaaaa!!’

Clutched in Leah’s hand, I was swept out of the house, which was about the size of a spiderweb mansion, in an instant, unable to come to my senses due to the rapidly changing scenery and the swaying dizziness.

Leah, who had rushed outside, immediately spewed spiderwebs from her chest, gently coiling them around one of her long, sturdy legs, and quickly descended from the house above the tree as if rappelling.

‘What…!!? What’s wronggg!!’

But beyond my four pairs of eyes, I soon realized the reason for her actions. The spiderweb house was being smashed to pieces with a cracking sound.

– Crack

Leah’s new sanctuary, built on a moderately tall tree.

Leah, seeing it collapse, turned a blunt word toward me, who was horrified.

‘What…!? Why is it collapsing…!!’

“Be quiet for now!!”

Leah, who was quickly untying the spiderweb tied to her leg, seemed to think that speed was not enough. She clicked her tongue and held onto the spiderweb with one arm.

Then, untying the spiderweb from her leg, she showed a rapid descent at a speed that threatened to grind her delicate human hand against the spiderweb.

“Hmph…!!”

Fortunately, after finally landing stably on the ground, Leah moved her legs quickly and moved away from the collapse site.

Reaching a place that felt safe, she looked back at her house, silently placed the spider’s body, which was tightly held in her hand, back on her shoulder, and sighed self-deprecatingly.

“What kind of bad luck has befallen me lately…
Why can’t I avoid this fate every time I build a house…”

The house she had worked hard to build all day long.

Moreover, all the food she had stored was buried inside.

But the important thing was not that.

The fact that the house Leah had made with meticulous care and observation for a comfortable dungeon life had been destroyed like this.

The fact that she felt a strange sense of unease, to the point where her eyes were quite furrowed, may have been the most important thing for her.

“Dear husband. Did you feel it?”

‘What… what……?’

“I can’t say for sure…
But… something is definitely twisted…”

‘Twisted……?’

“I’ll tell you more later.
Right now… I think we should get out of here first…”

She was spouting nonsense that I couldn’t understand. Soon, she put her hand into her heavy bosom, which was wrapped like a bandage with spiderwebs, and took out a card.

‘Oh… are we going back…?’

I, too, realizing that the card was a magical tool for returning to the lair, suppressed my uneasy feelings and looked at her.

“Something is wrong.
We may be able to return later.
Prioritizing immediate safety… hmm…?”

Magical tools were basically intended to make it easier to use magic, but they were also created to allow people who couldn’t use magic to achieve similar effects.

Humans contain a certain amount of magic power in their bodies, and the magic circle reacts to the small amount of magic power flowing through the body to start it.

And the core magic power that keeps the magic circle running is designed to be charged separately, so the key to magical tools is that even ordinary people can use them without difficulty.

Leah, biting her bright red lips and staring at the card in her hand, soon widened her eyes, sighed, and put it back in its original place.

‘What’s wrong…?’

“Strangely, it doesn’t work.
Well, it must be one of two things…
Either it doesn’t work in the first place…”

My thoughts froze slightly at her words. For a moment, she shook her head as if to deny what I was thinking, and immediately continued.

It would be a leap to say that this magical tool doesn’t work in the first place.

That means that someone has betrayed Leah, and me, who trusts her.

The people involved in this magical tool were Vivian, Aurora, Lanié, and even Eloise.

Eloise, who had only a superficial bad relationship with me, was the most likely, but if that were the case, she wouldn’t have needed to make the rest of the items properly.

The other three had no reason to betray me in the first place, so they were out of the question.

‘Hmm… then… wait a moment…?’

But you should always be sure to check.

I tried to shift my consciousness and return to my main body, but I felt a stuffy feeling as if something was blocking my mind like a wall, and I staggered as if bouncing back.

The spider’s body, which had been tap-dancing, swayed and fell onto Leah’s hand, and Leah stared down at me with an expression that seemed to confirm her suspicions.

‘What… is this…… what’s going on……?’

Leah, perhaps sensing my bewilderment at the unprecedented situation of not being able to transfer my mind, also swallowed a groan.

Not being able to return to the main body meant that I was as good as trapped here.

Now, Leah, as Arachne, seemed to have a sense of what was going on. She chewed her lips for a moment, narrowed her eyes as if closing them, and let out a small sigh.

“I don’t know for sure… but if it’s not what I said…
Then what we’re feeling must be an unusual situation…”

‘Then would it be better to return to the outpost…?’

“That is too dangerous.
This thing that happened here…
There’s no guarantee it hasn’t happened there too.
If that’s the case, then that side will be just as chaotic.
A human who has been mentally driven to the edge…
It’s better not to face them…”

She, who had a deep-rooted distrust of humans, turned her back on the collapsed house and began to walk away with a clattering sound.

Now that I couldn’t return to my comfortable main body and was trapped in the fragile body of a small spider, perhaps I could feel the fear a little more realistically.

I could imagine that this feeling of helplessness and fear, as if the world might come crashing down at any moment, was the life she had lived.

“I welcome anything that comes at me.
But I don’t think my companion would like it.
I’ll try to find somewhere else for now.
So… will you accompany me on this rough road……?”

Her smile, as she smiled, looked a little sad. I was about to get lost in thought, but I tried to make a joke.

‘I’m not going anywhere…?
It might be okay as long as you don’t use me as emergency rations…?’

“Hoh hoh!! Your jokes have improved quite a bit.
That’s right. That’s my companion…”

With the sound of legs digging into the gravelly soil, she quietly began to walk.

Sitting on her shoulder, suppressing the sadness of having to walk away again, I gently stroked and brushed away the regret on Leah’s cheek with my legs. I carefully set off with her.

Of course, it would be a path to return somehow, that path.

.
.
.
.
.
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“If you’re ready, let’s move out slowly.
Everyone, you’re familiar with Terripica, right?
Thorough preparation never betrays you.
Be careful not to cut the bags in the ship.”

“Yes!! Instructor!!”

“Good. Then let’s go.
According to that map, we’ll see the forest if we get over this hill.”

“Yes… Instructor……”

“It’s a monster that everyone is seeing for the first time…
I like the feeling of adventuring together…”

At Lucia’s smile, which was uncharacteristically girlish, Anne slightly raised the corners of her mouth and smiled awkwardly.

A hateful rival, a respectable senior, a reliable instructor, and even a dreaming girl.

Her pure appearance, which was bound to be compared to herself without her knowing it, was shining and dazzling, and it was an appearance that would no longer come to her.

Especially for a girl who had sold her body for a few pennies, even if it was a lot of money, and was jaded by the world.

As she climbed a slightly sloping hill, Lucia, who was uncharacteristically excited and kept talking, spoke to Anne, who was smiling awkwardly.

“I used to imagine that.
Climbing over this hill together…
Looking at the scenery beyond.
Beyond that, there must be something I’ve never seen before… um……?”

Lucia, who had just reached the end of the hill and was about to say something that would make us contemplate the scenery beyond, suddenly stopped and closed her mouth.

“Senior…?”

At her sudden reaction, Anne momentarily wondered if she had offended her in some way.

“Everyone, stop.”

Anne, who could finally see the front that Lucia was staring at, finally understood why she had stopped.

“Oh… oh……? The forest……”

“It’s not a forest.”

According to the information that Anne had gathered by investigating people here and there, there should have been a dense forest here.

But what was in front of her eyes was only a wasteland with a strange shape.

It was like looking at a dried-up, cracked rice paddy in winter, but the terrain was so deeply carved between the cracks that people could even come and go through them. Anne was flustered and looked down at the map again.

“This is definitely… according to the map……”

“Maybe we took the wrong path in the middle.
Or maybe we got the wrong information.”

“Then… let’s go back the way we came…”

“I think it would be okay to check it out first.
Maybe we came the right way, but there were parts missing from the map.
And… don’t you think this place is charming in its own way?”

“……”

Anne, who couldn’t raise her head at Lucia’s words, which seemed to be considerate of her, had to try to erase the feelings that were filling her with shame, regardless of the warmth she felt from her.

Consideration, in other words, is also being pitied.

As if her inferiority complex had been exposed, Anne felt as if she had been stripped naked, and nodded with difficulty.

Now, in the past that felt so distant, and the dark emotions that she thought had disappeared with Vivian’s disappearance, seemed to be resurfacing.

Anne’s lips were trembling slightly as she followed Lucia, who was walking ahead steadily, and the other students who were following closely behind, clutching the map in her hand and crumpling it up.

After a while.

“It’s deeper than I thought. Be careful not to fall,”

The students walking on the wasteland were jumping over the cracks in the soil, following Lucia’s encouragement.

“Ah… be careful……!!”

“Eek…!!”

Of course, the gaps were not so wide that it was difficult to jump over them properly.

Also, it wasn’t so deep that you couldn’t see the bottom, so at most, you would only get a sprained ankle if you fell into the soil crevasse…

Perhaps it was because of the environment?

“Are you okay? Ah……
I’m sorry for grabbing your hand without permission…”

“Uh… uh… it’s okay…!!
You saved me, didn’t you?
Thank you. You’re so kind?”

After all, everyone was a swordsman and had a certain level of skill, but this time, it was a legal (?) opportunity for the female students to pretend to be weak as women, and it was also having the unexpected effect of strengthening the relationship between them and the male students who were escorting them.

“Couples…… extermination……”

“Revolution… it’s a solo revolution……!!”

Later, some couples were openly flirting, and the resentment of the invincible solo warriors was also rising.

But these people, who were living the lives of ordinary people that were already far from fun, were fully enjoying the small event that had come their way.

Jumping over the crevices and helping and relying on each other.

At one point, as they were moving through the vast wasteland, they heard a shout from Lucia, who was walking ahead at the very front.

“Let’s take a break here for a while.
Let’s have a meal too.”

“Waaa!!”

The students were very excited at the word ‘meal’.

The moment they gathered together and began to stretch their legs, which had become stiff from walking for so long.

“Wait a minute… where did Dennis go?”

“Where’s Claire…? We were supposed to have dinner together……?”

The students were looking around at each other, and the expressions of the two students who had spoken with subtle expressions were slowly hardening.

Several students had disappeared without a trace, without anyone knowing.

In addition to the two people from earlier, one more student had disappeared without anyone noticing, and even Lucia immediately drew her sword and looked around.

“Did I let my guard down…… what is it……?”

She herself was feeling like she was on a picnic and was all excited, but she had only told the students to prepare themselves verbally.

Uncharacteristically for her, who had a ghostly sense of her body, she didn’t even know that something had happened to the students, and the corners of Lucia’s mouth were twisted with frustration.

The surroundings were just a wide-open wasteland in all directions.

If someone had been left behind in this place, they should have noticed as soon as they were even slightly separated.

But there was no one following behind on the way they had come, and no one around them seemed to know that anyone was missing.

Lucia, who was thinking about something carefully, grabbed her sword in reverse and quickly lowered her body and threw it somewhere.

– Screech!!

“Oh!! Oh oh oh!! What is that……!!”

The wasteland, where the ground was cracked due to the hot drought.

“Eek!! Between the cracked ground……!!”

The creature that was peeking out from the soil crevasse of the wasteland, and was eventually pierced through the eyes by Lucia’s sword, screamed as it fell, and a deep fear began to take root in the expressions of all the students.

“I know that!!
It’s a land spirit!! A land spirit!!”