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thick with fog. A dark, crimson mist twisted and swirled in the haze.

I leaned against the crumbling wall, staring blankly into the dense fog.

“……”

Red eyes glowed like lanterns in the curtain-like mist.

The spider’s blood-red glare shone brightly.

—

**Episode 11 – No Disturbance on the Northern Front**

The spider shifted.

Long legs wrapped in the hard shell of a crustacean stretched out. Those legs shot up into the sky before slicing through the air and plummeting down to the ground.

– *Kuwaaaang!*

An enormous roar ripped through the silence. Mud clung to my eyes as it exploded around me. The spider, crashing down onto the earth, twisted its joints into bizarre angles as it moved its legs, much like squashing a cigarette butt beneath my shoe.

The spider’s movements were oddly playful, almost comical.

But the issue was that this spider was easily the size of a three-story building, and it could squash several people beneath its armored legs without a second thought.

The Imperial Army’s armored vehicle crumpled like paper.

A massive hole opened in the armor, which was supposed to withstand machine gun fire, and the armored vehicle that had previously been firing on the corpse spider twisted and crumbled until it was nearly unrecognizable.

As the spider’s leg pulled away, something sticky and unidentifiable—perhaps oil, perhaps human—dropped to the ground with a wet *thud*.

The giant spider, having effortlessly tossed aside the armored vehicle, began to shine its red eyes.

—

A thick silence enveloped the defense line.

Countless soldiers and heavy machinery cluttered the area, buzzing with noises of all shapes and sizes, but now only an eerie, chilling stillness remained.

Yet the silence did not last long. Not at all.

– *Whoosh!*

The legs attached to that grotesque body began to move again.

“It’s coming, it’s falling!”

“Get out of the way!”

The Imperial Army scattered in all directions.

Some dove into the trenches as if avoiding a torrential downpour, while others dropped flat to the ground, evading the oncoming assault.

It was a moment when a chorus of shouts and screams filled the once-silent defense line.

And then, just as one of the giant legs slammed into a stronghold—

– *Kwang!*

A tremendous roar accompanied a horrific silence.

Those fleeing and those caught in the chaos all fell silent. The only sound echoing along the defense line was the noise of the reinforced concrete being shattered.

Under the murky winter sky, a grotesque sound reverberated across the fog-laden valley. Each time the spider’s body undulated, the trees and grass trembled, and whenever a gigantic leg moved, chunks of concrete and rebar tumbled down from the stronghold.

Having obliterated the stronghold, the giant spider rolled its red eyes, scouting for its next target.

At that moment,

– *Explosions!*

Explosive blasts erupted from the monster’s body.

A bizarre wail tore through the sky. The red eyes scattered in every direction, desperately searching for the source of their attack.

At the end of those crimson glances sat a single tank.

The tank began to move, roaring with immense engine sounds. A massive shell ejected from the rear of the turret.

With each rotation of the tracks, the ground shook. The tank, having hastily abandoned the stronghold, fired its cannon at the monster.

The shells struck the spider’s body, exploding upon impact, and the tank discharged another round.

As black smoke and gunpowder mingled within the fog, the sound of gunfire followed suit.

*Tatatatata!* The tank commander wielded a machine gun, unleashing a barrage at the monster. The machine gun affixed beside the main cannon also blazed with fire.

Two flares sliced through the air, swiftly closing in on the monster, while the tank furiously shook off the snow piled atop it, charging forward like a beast.

And then—

– *Whoosh!*

White threads sailed through the smoke.

It was a web.

The spider silk danced through the air, weaving a net and ensnaring the tank. The once-thundering movement of the tracks came to a complete halt, and the tank was grounded.

I could clearly see the tank commander, startled and engulfed in webs, even from beyond the fog.

But it wasn’t for long.

The gigantic spider, having shot out its web, dashed towards the tank with incredible speed. Its massive form moved in ways that were astonishingly swift.

Approaching the tank with several moving legs, the spider latched onto it with its armored appendages. Lowering itself while anchoring its leg firmly to the tank, it let out a bizarre wail.

In that moment, the tank was lifted.

The tank, which had been thundering across the ground and firing shells moments before, was now hoisted into the air. The spider lifted it using multiple legs, much like a weightlifter raising a heavy barbell.

It took mere seconds for the tank to overturn.

The Imperial Army tank, boasting thick armor and a powerful main gun, fell over like a domino, crashing into the mud. The roaring engine, the tracks that had danced across the treacherous terrain, and the tank commander who had been leading it were all swallowed into the mire.

– *Whooooosh!*

The giant spider whipped its legs around, uprooting everything in sight.

Soldiers sitting idly, gawking, and armored vehicles moving their turrets were swept away. The turret of an armored vehicle aiming its machine gun suddenly spun around as if slapped, splattering red paint across the white snow.

There were no longer any living souls in that place.

On the defense line, shrouded in thick smoke and dense fog.

Beyond the horizon, before the writhing horde of corpse spiders stood a giant spider, rising like a commanding general, roaring as if to swallow the sun whole.

—

I felt no particular thoughts racing through my mind.

I was simply filled with fear and dread.

The view through the broken outer wall of the destroyed building was utterly terrifying.

It was unbearably tempting.

The defense line was already under siege, and some sections had been breached.

Even now, swarms of Corpses Spider were marching toward the defense line. They vastly outnumbered the ones we faced at the lookout.

I thought of the faces of the people who gasped at the intel collected by the Military Intelligence Agency. The officials from the Ministry of Defense, who had been in a tizzy over where such monstrous tanks had been developed, were now screaming that we needed to develop new tanks too.

That monstrous tank was stuck right there in the muck.

—̶ ̶ ̶̶ ̶ ̶!

The main cannon roared.

The newly appeared tank fired shells at the Giant Spider. Other tanks that had escaped the stronghold also unleashed their firepower to slay the monster.

But still, the spider didn’t flinch.

Like a pufferfish, the spider inflated its body and glared with its red eyes, expelling webs. The vast spread of webs sliced through the air, crashing down on the tanks.

What followed was not much different from before.

Crew members, realizing they’d die if they got caught in the webs, desperately tried to maneuver the tanks to evade them; sadly, a few couldn’t escape. The webs engulfed the tanks, and the spider barreled into one, knocking it over.

And just like that, another tank disappeared into the muck.

“Uwaaaaah!”

“Kyahhhhh!”

The screams of countless people were piercing.

The cries carried by the wind crashed against ancient trees and cliffs, echoing farther and farther away.

“…Ah.”

What was unfolding before my eyes felt like a scene from a third-rate monster movie. It was even more ridiculous than the mass-produced ads I’d seen from Chinese companies before splurging on YouTube Premium.

Suddenly, I found myself chuckling.

Just a few minutes earlier, the defense line had held strong. But now, the emergence of the Corpse Spider was bizarre. A creature the size of a villa was now crushing tanks that weighed several tons. It was strange for a monster of such size to be here. And it was odd that we hadn’t recognized its approach until now. It couldn’t have just popped into existence.

I didn’t understand.

All of this felt like a freakish nightmare.

“If a novel were written this way, it would be panned….”

With a sense of emptiness, I sank to the ruins, watching the burning defense line. Just then, a fire ignited from the overturned armored vehicle, leading to an explosion.

Amidst the slaughter, I laughed like a deranged patient.

So I laughed.

“……”

Sitting amidst the ruins, looking at the burning world beyond the gaping wall, I thought deeply about what I could do now.

Flee?

Of course, I could. I’ve crossed hundreds of kilometers through a desert when I was on the verge of starving; crossing over a mountain range would be nothing.

I could certainly take care of myself, and I could manage to move with Camila and Francesca. Both of them were magicians, so it would be easier for them than for me.

Fight?

That was possible too.

But what could I accomplish by fighting here?

Though it was small, a hole had formed in the defense line. The unit tasked with sealing the rift had spread out to form a vast defense line along the basin. If even one spot were breached and monsters poured through, the forces guarding other sectors would be unable to retreat. Their escape routes would be blocked.

And the Imperial Army was no match. If the armored units couldn’t defeat a single spider, what could the infantry do? It might be worth a shot if there were magicians, but there were hardly any left here. The combat magicians requested from our division hadn’t even arrived yet.

Setting all that aside, this wasn’t my place in the first place.

Why would I guard the food supply for the Empire? I wasn’t even part of the Imperial Army. Dying here would be a pointless death.

Thoughts swirled in my mind, but my heart had already tilted in one direction. After mapping out a route to the closest unit under the mountain range, I turned to Camila and Francesca.

“…Camila, Francesca. If you can move, then right now—”

“Let’s go.”

Camila interrupted my words. Covered in dust and coughing, she had already shaken off the debris and stood up.

I glanced at her, bewildered, but Camila caught my gaze, silently assuring me she knew what I was about to say.

I was about to speak, but before I could, Camila beat me to it. She urged me on.

“Let’s go.”

Her blue eyes focused on the scene outside. Beyond the crumbled outer wall, toward the Giant Spider that was demolishing the defense line.

“Seems like… that’s the problem….”

“……”

“If we can just take down that Godzilla-like creature, everything will be alright, right?”

A red flame burst into existence in the air.

Camila, flames wrapped around her fists, stepped forward over the rubble of the crumbled building.

She said, “Francesca mentioned earlier that if we just hold on a bit longer, someone would come to help us.”

“……”

“I believe it. Someone will come to help us. Someone will definitely come to our rescue. So….”

Camila, who had always been such a troublemaker, looked at me with unwavering seriousness.

“Let’s go. To catch that monster.”

 

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