“Indeed, I was careless.
I was too caught up in what was right in front of me, unable to see the battlefield from a broader perspective.
Is this what they call lack of experience?
But the fight isn’t over yet.
If I keep lying down, I’ll end up dead for real.
I bore the pain and stood up.
‘Oh? Still getting up, are we?’
The spider-man said, sounding a bit surprised.
Which means, to him, that last strike might have been meant as a finishing blow.
It seems I withstood it against his expectations.
It’s safe to say that the body enhancement is working quite effectively.
However, the longer this battle drags on, the more I’ll be at a disadvantage with this body, which has limited stamina.
So, I have no choice but to settle this quickly.
I’ll give it everything I’ve got.
Being a backline type, my only option is to rely on long-range magic attacks.
But as I learned earlier, his movements are quick.
If he closes the distance, I, who am not good at close combat, will be at a disadvantage.
To avoid that, I need to…
I leaped back to create some distance and immediately began gathering magical energy with a water attribute.
A massive orb of water swelled up, covering the space before me in an instant.
A massive wave, ready to crush my opponent with overwhelming water pressure—Hydro Pressure.
To restrict his speed, I just need to close the shortest distance between us.
For that, wide-area magic like this is effective.
‘Go!’
Responding to my will, the water mass surged into a high wave and attacked the spider-man.
The image of him being crushed to death flashed through my mind.
In that instant, a flash sliced through the center of the wave, splitting it cleanly in two.
‘What the…?’
At the same time, the wave lost its momentum, unable to maintain its magical form, and dissipated.
On the other side, revealed in the absence of the water magic, stood the spider-man, poised with a sword.
And that sword was unlike any normal blade.
It looked as if threads were wound around it…
‘No way…’
‘Bingo, a sword made of thread,’ he replied.
It seems he can transform the threads he produces into weapons.
And as I looked at that sword, I remembered something.
Sometimes, even in the rain, you can find spider webs that hold their shape without breaking.
Spider silk is inherently resistant to water, strong enough not to snap when wet.
I never imagined that would apply even here.
Which means water-based magic might not be effective against him.
I glanced at him, and he seemed to smile slightly.
This is bad.
If I give him an opening, he’ll close the distance.
If water doesn’t work, then fire it is.
I quickly constructed a fire-based spell.
Like before, I created a spell that affects a wide area.
It was a sea of flames that engulfed the surroundings—Blazing Inferno.
Flames burst from my hands, forming a wall of fire as they rushed toward the spider-man.
This time, his flammable sword won’t be able to slice through.
I was confident in that, but right after, he leapt over the sea of flames with incredible agility.
‘…!’
Moreover, as soon as he landed, he closed the gap with lightning speed and unleashed a slashing attack.
I hastily summoned a five-headed water dragon, with one of the heads blocking the attack from the front.
It was the Hydro Serpent—no, Hydro Dragon—defensive magic that Diana taught me for close-quarters combat.
But, water magic wouldn’t work against him.
The dragon’s head was effortlessly cut off.
I’m done for…!”
“An image of being split in half from the crown of my head flashed through my mind.
Reflexively, I gathered the remaining four dragon heads in front of my forehead.
The next moment, a shock that pierced through my brain shot through my forehead.
‘…Ah!?’
After that, I don’t remember what happened.
When I came to, I found myself lodged into a stone wall in the garden.
I was likely blown all the way here by that attack.
The shock was so intense that I lost memory of the moment.
‘Ugh… ugh…’
A sharp pain shot through my entire body.
It was a blow powerful enough to break the stone wall.
If not for my body enhancement, I might have been reduced to minced meat.
The Hydro Dragon I summoned in the nick of time may have softened the blow a bit, but it still felt like several bones might be broken.
I tried to move, but my body wouldn’t respond.
As I hovered on the edge of consciousness, I reflected on my actions.
I made the same mistake again.
It’s not widely known, but spiders are inherently creatures with great jumping power.
Some species can jump as high as fifty times their own height.
Using their high jumping ability and knack for reading the wind, they weave webs in any location.
Ever wonder why you find spider webs in such odd places? That’s why.
The man in front of me is a spider. It’s no surprise that he has the same traits.
I had forgotten that.
‘Is this really all there is to a Seventh Magus Rank?’
The spider-man mocked me through my blurry vision.
‘Your family sang your praises so much that I thought you’d be something impressive, but you’re really not that great.’
I couldn’t respond.
I didn’t even have the strength to retort.
Kurt was right.
No matter how much I, a backline type, pretended to be a frontline fighter, I couldn’t win in close combat.
It was foolish of me to ignore my strengths and ask to learn swordsmanship.
The same goes for the close-range magic I asked Diana to teach me.
No, this is beyond such trivial matters.
I had grown complacent, relying on the title of the Seventh Magus Rank.
This outcome was brought about by my own arrogance.
I should look back and remember.
I was just an ordinary salaryman to begin with.
A plain person, with no goals, just wasting away every day.
Even if a mundane person like that gains a bit of unusual power, nothing is going to change that easily.
I’m still the same inside.
I feel embarrassed for dreaming even a little.
I’m probably… no, definitely going to die here.
I’ll be finished off by the spider-man in front of me.
It can’t be helped.
This would be my second death—would I be able to reincarnate again?
Well, even if I did, I’d likely end up with the same result, so if that’s the case, I’d rather just disappear now and be done with this painful life.
‘Now, how should I prepare you?’
The spider-man placed his sword on his shoulder, speaking cheerfully.
‘Oh, right, you’re a homunculus, aren’t you? I think I heard that somewhere.’
I don’t care about that.
If you’re going to kill me, just get it over with and free me from this pain and suffering.
‘I’ve never eaten a homunculus before. I wonder if they taste good? It’d be awful if they tasted bad.’
As he said this, he leaned in close to my face and sniffed.
Immediately, he wrinkled his nose and stepped back.
‘Ugh… no way… it smells awful. My instincts are telling me not to eat this. I guess you’re different from humans. You smell like a failure…’
Oh, is that right?
Rejected by even a monster…?
Well, that sounds like me.
‘This is definitely trash. And trash needs to be taken out right away.’
The spider-man aimed his sword at my neck.
‘I had a decent amount of fun, Nii-san,’ he said with a mocking tone as he raised his sword.
When it came down to it, I was still afraid.
‘Bye-bye.’
As the blade cut through the air, I gritted my teeth—
In that instant.
‘Guh!?’
The spider-man stumbled forward as if struck from behind.
It seemed a mass of water had hit his back and burst.
Both of us turned our eyes toward the direction from which it had come almost simultaneously.
There, on the second floor of my house—
A shadowy figure stood where the wall had been blown open, creating a large opening.
Diana!?
She was leaning on Iris’s shoulder, extending her arm toward us.
She was the one who had fired the water magic.
However, her attack, unable to be at full power, was only enough to momentarily distract the spider-man. It caused no damage.
In fact, it seemed that using strong magic beyond her limit had taken a toll on her.
‘Ugh, you’re annoying. I’ll eat you nicely later, so just sit tight until then,’ muttered the spider-man in irritation.
Ignoring his grumbling, Diana shouted.
‘Nero!’
‘…?’
Even through her pain, Diana’s strong voice echoed around us.
‘Just your existence makes me happy! No matter what anyone says, you are my son! So… live!’
Her son, huh…
Maybe that’s true in terms of magical genetics, but honestly, I never really felt that way… I’m still someone else inside.
But… I couldn’t deny that it made me genuinely happy.
That much is certain.
It felt like, for the first time, someone had truly affirmed my existence.
‘Don’t ignore me and start talking without my permission,’
The spider-man said irritably.
He clicked his fangs together as he looked up at Diana.
And then—
‘Shut up,’
The moment he said that, threads covered in flames shot from his mouth.
A roar followed immediately.
‘!?’
As the surroundings turned bright orange,
the second floor of the house was engulfed in flames.”
