Who Let This Spider Cook?! Ch.45

— Kakuei —

The soft pats of quiet footsteps could be heard as we walked on the hard dirt floor of the Forest of Jura.

As Fuze had ordered, Momonga, Narberal Gamma, and I were traveling with the three idiots and the one champion girl.

We had been on this quest with them for a few days and finally managed to arrive near our destination. 

Our job was to investigate the disappearance of the Storm Dragon and gather as much information as we could about it, as well as the monsters moving into the territory. Eren and her two buddies had already been to the forest to check the Storm Dragon’s seal, but they didn’t have much useful information.

I was a bit worried about meeting the Storm Dragon, it was described as a catastrophe, a walking, unbeatable natural disaster. Apparently he is one of the reasons that a continent to the south has an active volcano that is constantly exploding. 

Nobody else seemed to have any idea of what to expect when it came to Jura, but I already knew a bit from Touch Me and Aura.

There were some fairly strong monsters (at least by this world’s standards) within the forest, and the strongest of them were gathered in the slime, Rimuru Tempest’s village.

Since we were here and our job demanded it, I was looking forward to meeting this powerful slime Touch Me was so eager to speak of.

His caution had been completely thrown out of the window once he finally got a chance to speak with Rimuru. 

The entire guild knows that Touch Me has a good judge of character, and he doesn’t tend to trust people unless he feels deep in his bones that they can be trusted.

The fact that he trusts Rimuru already isn’t quite enough for me to lay down my guard, but I’ll at least give the slime the benefit of the doubt—for now.

“So have any of you guys and gals been in this forest?” The blonde girl, Eren, asked as we continued walking. 

Momo, Nabe, and I shared a look before I answered for the three of us. “We took a quest a few months ago that led us to a mine just outside of the forest, but that’s the closest we’ve ever been.” 

The group of three B Rank Adventurers hummed at my words, meanwhile the A+ Rank Adventurer wearing her mask barely reacted.

“The mine? I think I saw that job before, it was to clear some of the monsters from there, right?” The brown-haired leader of the B Rank Party, Kaval spoke up with a hand stroking his chin fuzz.

“It was.” Momo answered, stealing everyone’s attention. I didn’t miss how the two other men stared at her for longer than necessary, their cheeks turning a slight hue of pink before they turned away.

I narrowed my eyes at them but didn’t wish to create any issue. Momonga is a beautiful woman and her appearance is absolutely divine. Snow white hair that falls to her back would steal anyone’s attention, but her soft, delicate face would steal their hearts. Even with her blood red eyes hidden by magic to appear blue instead, she still looked absolutely stunning, like an angel.

“We came here before.” Eren spoke up again with a bit of happiness, but that happiness began to die when she saw our knowing faces. “Ah… right, the Guild Master already told everyone.”

“It’s alright Eren, go on ahead, it’s been a few days so refresh their minds.” Kaval nudged her shoulder and the woman nodded with a determined expression.

“Right! We were sent on a quest to investigate the forest and see if the hero’s seal over the Storm Dragon remained! When we did, we saw that the Storm Dragon was gone!” Eren explained as if she was telling us a scary story rather than reporting on a past experience.

“Then what happened?” I decided to join in on the fun. Idiots the group may be, but they reminded me of the idiots that flooded our guild many years ago.

“Ah… that’s it.” Eren blushed. “The dragon was gone… so we went home.”

“Hm, well not every story can be a gem, right?” I attempted to cheer the poor girl up and my words seemed to reach my desired outcome. She gave me a small smile and nodded.

I had to admit, Eren kind of reminded me of Buku and Momo, at least the way they acted in the past. If you took their old selves when I first met them and mashed them into one person, it would probably end up similar to this girl Eren.

My eyes trailed over to the masked woman who was keeping to herself.

“What about you?” I questioned black-haired woman. She turned her head to me then tilted it in confusion. From what I knew she was a pretty important person. The A+ Rank did not officially exist, A Rank was the highest the Free Guild offered, yet certain very special individuals were bestowed with the rank of A+. Champions they were called.

“Have you been to this forest before?” I clarified and she nodded. I still couldn’t see her face because of that mask, but I didn’t ask her to remove it as I didn’t want to come off as rude.

“I have… many times.” She answered vaguely. 

“And how were your experiences here in the past?” Momo narrowed her eyes and I internally smiled at how fast she caught on. 

“… The number of monsters that existed in this forest were far less than now. There were a few goblin villages scattered around and lesser animals to feed off of the forest. Nothing would dare invade, not with the Storm Dragon around.” She spoke quietly and momentarily looked up at the sky.

Well that was unhelpful. I had hoped to learn more about this woman rather than the forest itself. Her being recognized as a champion means she’s the strongest person we’ve met to date. It also should mean that her understanding of this world should excel beyond most others, and we could use that information.

Our current situation wasn’t a desirable one, and any knowledge would help make it a little better.

I didn’t want to push Shizu too far, but we needed to learn more.

“The monsters that have migrated here… do you believe the combined might of our parties should be enough to defeat them?” I asked after carefully wording my question. 

The masked woman almost immediately nodded. 

“There should be no monster in this forest strong enough to take on all of us.” Shizu said with confidence.

“That’s a relief!” Eren rubbed away a bead of sweat that had been dripping down her brow.

“You’re telling me.” Kaval whispered to himself.

Although my question didn’t seem like much, it answered a huge question about the danger not only surrounding the forest, but the level of adventuring parties against monsters as well.

Although I still lacked perfect information. Did Shizu say that no monster could threaten us because of our ranks or was it because of her own skill level? If her assumption was based on our ranks then it would mean that compared to the the inhabitants of Nazarick, this forest and the adventuring humans would be a cake walk when it comes to our creations and us the Supreme Beings, however if Shizu is implying that she can solo every monster in this forest, which I’m inclined to believe, then that raises a bit of a problem for us.

As we continued walking, I prayed for a monster to appear, for something to come along and give me an answer to my questions.

How strong was Shizu? How did she compare against a Supreme Being? How about one of our creations? And how many adventurers shared her level of power? 

If we were strong enough to deal with someone like Shizu, then we should focus our attention away from adventuring and toward the Demon Lords and Heroes that seem to run this world.

Having one of the Supreme Beings as a Demon Lord seems like the best way to both gather information and protect Nazarick, but until we learned more about how dangerous those at the top were, we couldn’t attempt to make any connection with them or plan a meeting. For all I knew the Demon Lords were stronger than any single Supreme Being, I just didn’t know the depths of power this world had. 

Eren and Kaval began to babble as we walked about stuff while their party member, Gido would add in his thoughts here and there.

The rest of us walked in silence until a chill ran down my spine and I came to a stop.

The others noticed my sudden halt and tilted their heads in confusion. Meanwhile Momo, Nabe, and Shizu all began looking around.

“You sense something, don’t you?” Shizu asked and I nodded.

“I do.” I partially lied. I had some sort of instinctual feeling that we were being watched, and I activated my Eyes of Lustful Intentions to look around. There was nothing in front of us or behind us… but there was something above us. 

I didn’t want to tell the others though. I knew Momo and Nabe couldn’t be harmed by this monster once I managed to get a look at it, but I was curious how the others would handle themselves.

I deactivated my skill and waited for the attack that was bound to happen any second.

“Do you know where it is?” Shizu turned her head to me and for a moment I wondered if she knew. If she did and I didn’t tell her after sensing it first, it would definitely make us look suspicious.

“Above.” I pointed and I watched as Eren, Kaval, and Gido’s faces went blue out of fear.

“Is it a dragon?!” Eren shouted, her body shaking as her eyes roamed around the trees above.

“No, I don’t believe so.” I said as I brought my hand up and pointed it at where I sensed the monster hunting us. A ball of water formed in my hand and I launched it at the monster.

BOOM

The water ball crashed against the tree and exploded creating a blast of mist that fell down atop us. I didn’t miss how the monster that had been stalking us jumped out of the way and down to the forest floor. It landed behind a tree, disappearing from our sight… or it would have if we didn’t have Magic Sense.

“Did you get it?!” Kaval asked with a shout as he drew his blade.

I blinked at them. Did they not see the fifteen foot long black panther fall from the sky? 

“No.” I answered quickly as the panther jumped in front of us and let out a loud roar which genuinely surprised me.

That’s a huge fucking panther! 

As if this panther couldn’t get anymore wild, suddenly its entire body was set ablaze. Initially I thought someone had done it, but upon looking closer, I realized the panther had done it to itself! 

We’re fighting a magical fire panther…

What the fuck is this world? 

“Oh wow…” Eren cowered in the face of the massive panther and took a step back. Kaval tightened his grip on his blade as we prepared for a fight. 

“Use water.” I suggested as I drew the blade on my hip. It was just a common adventuring blade, nothing even close to the greatness of World Savior or Gram, but it helped me blend in.

Momo pulled out a staff we had got from the same weapon shop and pointed it at the panther. Meanwhile Nabe stepped forward and raised her hand at our foe.

‘[Stay back and provide support, let them fight this out.]’ I ordered the two through thought communication.

‘[Understood, Lord Kakuei]’ Nabe answered back while Momo nodded.

“I will go.” Shizu said as she stepped forward and drew her blade. With a quick step she launched herself forward and at the blazing panther. As her blade struck the panther, I had to admit that she was fast, but the hit didn't have as much power as I was expecting. The panther took the hit with ease before throwing out its massive claws in an attempt to take Shizu’s head.

The Champion easily dodged backward and as she did, Momo and Eren launched lances of water that hit the panther hard and made it roar in pain.

I gave Momo a thankful look. I knew for a fact that she could easily one shot a monster of this level, it was much weaker than I expected it to be. 

“I’ll help!” I shouted as I rushed in behind Shizu. She momentarily turned her head slightly toward me before refocusing all of her attention on the foe before her.

She gracefully dodged the monster's attempts at gutting her and countered with fast, precise strikes. 

I came in after her and attempted to slash my blade at the panther, and as I did, the panther directed its fire out further than I expected.

I was consumed by the flames and paused in my attack to roll back and pretend to be hurt.

“Kakuei!” Momo shouted in genuine worry which made me feel bad as I rolled on the ground trying to put the flames to rest. Eren watched on with horror filled eyes as I seemingly burned. 

In reality I could have persisted through the flames and slashed the panther in half, one shotting it, but that seemed a bit unrealistic for an A Rank Adventurer.  

Judging by Eren and Kaval’s fear, this monster had to be higher rank, probably B or A rank, which means an easy victory wouldn’t make much sense in their eyes. Especially since Shizu hasn’t one shot it yet either. Though that could be for her own reasons.

Momo shot water at me, putting the flames to rest and I slowly picked myself up. 

“I’ll help you!” Eren shouted and ran forward as Shizu and Kaval managed to push the panther back. 

She crouched down and pointed her staff at me and a green glow surrounded my body.

Healing magic? I couldn’t tell because I didn’t actually suffer any injury. 

“Huh… you weren’t hurt too bad. That’s strange.” Eren blinked at me and I gave her a nervous smile as I stood up. 

“My armor is pretty good quality.” 

Eren stared at me for a moment before smiling. “Well, I’m just happy you’re alright.”

My smile grew more genuine before fading completely as I watched Kaval and Shizu fight the panther while Momo and Nabe used water and lightning magic respectively to give the panther a hard time.

Even after this short amount of time, I got my answer for how strong Shizu is. If she couldn’t one shot this panther, she was of no real threat to me or any high leveled person in Nazarick.

Just as I was about to join the battle again, the panther brought its claw down on Kaval who attempted to block the attack, but the fire started to burn him.

“Kaval!” Eren shouted in pure fear as Shizu launched forward and cut the panther’s arm off, freeing the burnt man from the fiery hell.

I jumped forward again, this time a great deal more considerate about the power of the panthers flames. 

My goal was merely to provide some aid to Shizu because judging by that attack, she could deal with this panther by herself, if anything, the group was holding her back from fighting more freely.

Shizu slashed her blade at the panther’s neck and narrowly avoided its jaws as it tried to bite her in half. I ran behind the panther and slashed at its back, dodging the flames that were blasted at me in the process.

“GRAH!” The panther roared as it realized it was cornered. Momo and Nabe launched water and lighting as both Shizu and I moved a fair distance away, delivering a critical hit to the panther that left it panting and twitching.

Shizu stepped forward and delivered the final blow to it, putting its suffering to rest and giving it a merciful death.

“That… was intense!” Kaval shouted. His burns were gone and I assumed Eren healed him.

“Yeah, who would have thought a Bright Panther would just be hanging out in the forest trees?” Eren let out a breath of relief as she smiled at all of us.

“A Bright Panther?” Momo questioned.

“Mmm. It’s an A Rank Monster. Usually they live around swampy or forested terrain, but never has there been one in this forest since the Storm Dragon’s sealing.” Eren explained helpfully.

Ah, so we just got incredibly unlucky running into one of them.

“Is everyone alright?” Eren asked and earned nods from everyone.

I side-eyed the masked woman who took care of that panther like it was just another day on the job. Had I not been extremely powerful, I would have ended up being burned much worse than Kaval, which means that Shizu is much more skilled and experienced than me. Not to mention she didn’t look winded at all.

Gathering information on monsters and skills should be one of my priorities going forward. I don’t want to end up blowing my cover because of a sneak attack that should kill a human.

“Let us continue.” Shizu said quietly before continuing on in the direction we had before the fight started.

We started moving again while everyone shared some words about the fight we just got ourselves into. Kaval ended up asking me if I was sure I could continue since I likely suffered nastier burns than him, but I insisted I was fine. Thankfully Eren left out the fact that I didn’t suffer as much damage as I probably should have. I didn’t know if she left that bit of info out because she didn’t want to share it, or because she was stupid enough to believe that there was nothing wrong with my lack of injuries, but either way I remained thankful.

After another ten or so minutes of walking, we heard powerful footsteps approaching us, and just by listening we could tell that whatever was approaching had some friends.

We waited, hands on our weapons as a group of direwolves being ridden by goblins emerged through the small forest clearing we had stopped in.

My eyes locked onto a particular dire wolf, the one in front. Its horns and star pattern on its head were interesting, but that’s not what got my attention.

Its rider, the jiggling blue slime that I had heard so much about bounced off of the wolf and hopped over to us.

“A slime?” Kaval tilted his head in confusion. His confusion was shared by everyone who didn’t know of this slime.

Momo, Nabe, and I on the other hand hid our smiles as we stared at the slime.

“Please, we come in peace! We won’t hurt you so don’t take out your weapons!” The slime’s voice rang out.

“… A slime that can talk?” Eren rubbed her eyes to see if she was dreaming.

“Perhaps we should do as the slime says.” I offered, taking my hand away from the hilt of my blade. “If we’re lucky, this slime could even help us with our quest.” I reasoned and the others paused as they fell into thought.

“Umu.” Rimuru jiggled with approval as we waited for the others, mainly Shizu’s, answer.

“You… may be right, let us hear this slime out.” The masked woman said slowly as she stepped forward and crouched to Rimuru’s level. 

“I’m glad our second group of visitors are so understanding! I’m Rimuru Tempest, the leader of a small village of goblins, wolves and dwarves! It’s nice to meet all of you!” 

— Chapter End —

Beta Readers:

Author’s Note: This chapter took longer than I’d like to admit to finish up, so I apologize for that. I’ll drop the next chapter either today or tomorrow. Expect a Solace chapter as well whichever day I don’t post the next Spider chap.