## Chapter 50 – Melee
It’s a bit of an unfair comparison, but Arachnella was incredibly adept at evasion, boasting the turning ability, rapid braking, and acceleration of a red cockroach.
Not only evading, but also seizing opportunities to counterattack with her sharp claws once or twice, keeping her opponent on edge?
Perhaps that was why, despite the orange-haired female student being quite skilled, she didn’t seem to pose much of a problem for Arachnella, who was fully utilizing her abilities.
Certainly, compared to when everyone charged from their positions earlier, she seemed relaxed, and I understood what I needed to do.
‘Create a 1-on-1 situation…!!’
The best option for now.
Arachnella and I have no experience coordinating, so vaguely trying to help might only be a burden.
So, realistically, interfering in their fight would be too much.
“Uh…?”
“Unnie!!”
As Marie was drawing a magic circle to unleash a big attack, her body suddenly tilted. Anne quickly lunged, wrapping an arm around Marie’s waist and moving her from that spot.
Marie, not understanding what had happened, glanced down at the floor and saw a small pit where her foot had almost slipped through earlier.
“Was… was that an attack…?”
And I just realized, magical calculation becomes useless the moment concentration wavers.
Seeing Marie redrawing the magic circle she had already completed from the beginning proved that.
In that sense, summoning several Kernel Worms to chase her from underground completely sealed off not only Marie but also Anne, who was protecting her, with troubled expressions.
“Tch…”
Clearly, there was something underground, but in normal circumstances, stabbing the ground with a sword to catch it would be a very fatal move for a swordsman.
All she could rely on was Marie’s attack to blow away a large area of the ground, but the intelligent opponent was targeting Marie specifically, blocking that as well.
However, while Anne and Marie were struggling, something else was happening nearby.
“What’s this now.”
Similarly, I directed other Kernel Worms towards Antonio and Hyeryeong, who I was trying to hinder.
Hyeryeong, narrowing her eyes as she sensed something lurking underground, immediately pulled out a gourd from her side and scattered something around her, as if to surround herself. The black liquid inside poured out and began to soak the ground.
‘Ugh…!! Get back… retreat…!!’
I felt a momentary disgust, and then my consciousness disappeared altogether, only to awaken in another Kernel Worm’s body.
I realized that the Kernel Worm I had initially inhabited had died after touching the black liquid in that short moment.
‘Poison…!!’
Three Kernel Worms lost in an instant.
The rapidly poisoned Kernel Worms were no longer responding.
“It doesn’t matter as long as we don’t leave this area.”
“Then we can’t help over there?”
“She’s doing fine on her own, isn’t she?
There’s no need for me to step in.”
But if there was any saving grace, it was that they didn’t leave the poisoned area, treating it like a sanctuary.
Antonio, fixing the broken mechanical bird, and Dang Hyeryeong, watching the fight with her arms crossed as if she had done all she needed to do, were thus removed from the battle.
The 1-on-1 battle between the orange-haired woman, Lucia, and Arachnella continued without further interference.
And at that very moment.
“Haa… haa…. Ugh-huu…”
‘This is… a bit fast…’
Someone’s presence, having entered the final gate with hurried breaths, was stealing everyone’s attention.
“Alchemy Department… Huu… Carla Sterben…!!
Oppa…? It’s Plazina reagent!!
Get… haa… far away from there…!!”
“…….?”
Everyone’s questioning gazes began to focus on her, and her labored voice echoed through the gate.
“Evacuate!! You’ll be swept away!!”
And as if understanding what she had said, a man’s voice, urgently shouting, was shaking the cavern.
Carla’s emotions seemed quite heightened, perhaps because Arachnella reminded her of Yui.
‘Get far away…?’
At that moment, my senses focused on the flasks she was holding in both hands.
‘Those are definitely… the ones she’s been carrying since earlier…?’
Carla had been holding those when we first encountered her.
Could there really be a reason to keep carrying glass flasks in this dangerous dungeon?
Or, perhaps…
‘Those were Carla’s ‘weapons’… ?
Wait… the timing isn’t right yet…!!’
Carla’s major is in the Alchemy Department.
That means she can apply the chemical reactions that occur in the processes of combining, synthesizing, and separating various substances commonly used in alchemy.
‘Oh… no…!!’
What if it’s a potent acid like sulfuric acid that could melt Arachnella?
What if it’s an unstable substance like magnesium that causes a violent explosion when combined with water?
And what if.
“Eeiitt…!!”
What if Carla is trying to do something even more extreme…?
Seeing Carla pulling one of the bottles in her hand behind her back, trying to throw it with all her might, I had to make a choice.
At the very moment she was about to throw the bottle.
‘Eee…!! Ugh!!’
– Clang
Because her foot suddenly slipped into the ground, Carla fell backward in the same posture she was about to throw the flask.
Due to her unbalanced body, the flask she was trying to throw fell behind her instead, shattering on the floor with a clang.
“Aaaah…!!”
Seeing Carla tear up as she looked up at the broken flask, I felt a bit guilty, but there was no helping it.
If I, as a monster, had to prioritize something right now, it would be another monster, not a human.
To be honest, it’s true that I’ve grown fond of Carla, but I judged that Arachnella would be more important for my survival.
Fortunately, it seemed that the shattered substance wasn’t dangerous, as Carla was shown scraping up the chemicals that were seeping into the soil with her hands, looking distressed.
Clutching the soil soaked with the chemicals in her hand, Carla burst into tears, sobbing powerlessly at her own inadequacy.
“Ugh-hic… No… It can’t be…”
‘I bought some time. Then just a little more… faster…’
Perhaps because it was no longer possible to just keep running away, Arachnella, with a few cuts on her body, was fighting back against Lucia.
‘I need to do something about that side quickly…
I have to let the mage go now…’
Releasing Anne’s sister, the mage Marie, so she can cast her spell at the right time.
The fact that that timing would soon be achieved made me start to withdraw the Kernel Worms.
‘Arachnella!! Next phase!!’
“You’re late… I’m tired…
Then it seems it’s time for us to see the end as well?”
In response to Arachnella’s mutter, Lucia unleashed a flurry of sword strikes as if squeezing out her strength, and red lines gradually began to appear on Arachnella’s pure white skin.
Even so, Arachnella, not losing her smile, changed the position of the battlefield as if luring Lucia to a suitable location, at that very moment.
– Cha-chang-gra-lang!!
Arachnella’s gaze momentarily turned to the side, and there, a broken flask, shattered against her solid leg, was revealed.
Along with some unknown liquid dripping from Arachnella’s leg, a girl’s figure, with her eyes wide open and something clenched tightly in her hand, was reflected in her eyes as she raised her head.
And then, the girl’s action of throwing it forward with all her might, as if throwing a flask.
Almost simultaneously, the small but pure reagent held in the soil, flying as if scattered in the air, quickly reacted with the substances on Arachnella’s leg.
Could this be what slow motion feels like?
Even I was momentarily stunned by the sight of Arachnella being engulfed in something blurry, whether it was flames or something else.
‘N… ow…!!’
The very moment the fourth substance, plasma, blazed like a bright blackout.
The figures of the students and Arachnella, covering their faces from the bursting bright light and heat, were disappearing from the dungeon as if being white-washed.
