“What a hideous monster. So this is a Magic Armor Beast?”
“Gyau...?”
The mocking words echoed through the dark cavern. Hearing them, the Arachlaw let out a low growl and turned its face toward the source of the voice.
Marcos stood boldly before the monster, legs braced wide. He let out a sharp metallic clack as he snapped the blades of the Giga Scissors covering his left arm, then pointed the tips at the Magic Armor Beast and shouted.
“I am the eldest son of the House of Borg, Marcos Borg! You hideous creature, I shall be the one to sever your head!”
“Wait, what?! What the hell is he doing?!”
Yugo turned pale as he shouted a retort at Marcos, who was currently snorting with pride after introducing himself to the Arachlaw.
The man’s folly in exposing his position before they even knew the enemy's numbers or locations sent a jolt of panic through Yugo. He hurriedly turned to Melt.
“Melt, hurry and save the people who’ve been captured! It’ll be a disaster if the ones hiding take them hostage!”
“R-Right!”
Under normal circumstances, Yugo would have preferred to think things through and prioritize securing the safety of the captives.
Telling himself there was no point in resenting Marcos for ruining the plan, Yugo decided to at least rescue the passengers while the man drew the Arachlaw's attention. He and Melt leaped out from cover and sprinted toward the captives.
“Are you all right?! We’ve come to rescue you! Please stay calm and don’t move!”
Yugo worked desperately to free them, using a knife Melt had created with her Sword Ring to saw through the webbing.
However, trying to free dozens of passengers from the reinforced Arachlaw silk with only two people was a slow, grueling process. Time was slipping away.
Some of the rescued passengers who still had their strength joined in, using newly created knives to help, but the sheer volume of webbing meant it would still take a while.
Yugo continued the rescue effort with a mounting sense of urgency, fearing the Magic Armor Beasts would strike at any moment. He looked toward Marcos with a sliver of hope, praying the noble had already finished his fight, but—
“D-Damn it! You cowardly monster!”
“Gugyagyagyagyagya!”
—Unfortunately, he only saw a struggling Marcos shouting curses.
Marcos had been fighting the initial Arachlaw, but two more had emerged from the shadows. With his subordinates defeated, he was now being forced into a desperate three-on-one disadvantage.
Furthermore, the scissor blades of his Giga Scissors had been bound shut with silk, preventing him from opening them.
A pair of scissors could only exert force when closing, which required them to be opened first. Now that the mechanism was jammed, his Magic Item was little more than a piece of scrap metal, serving only as an oversized pauldron for his left shoulder.
“They're learning! They watched the fight between Marcos and his men and saw through the Magic Item’s weakness!”
Yugo had assumed the terror of the Arachlaw came from its spider-like traits—the silk that restrained movement and the razor-sharp claws. However, watching Marcos struggle, he realized there was an even greater threat.
Intelligence. Specifically, the low cunning of a Goblin that could devise ways to maximize its own weapons while identifying and exploiting an opponent's fatal flaw. Understanding the true horror of a Magic Armor Beast that combined the traits of two different monsters, Yugo snapped to attention and scanned the surrounding darkness.
(There are three Arachlaws over there! That means more are still hiding! And they’re definitely watching us!!)
There were at least five enemies in total. Although Marcos was distracting three of them, there had to be at least two more lurking in the dark.
Yugo sensed that now that they had neutralized Marcos, they would undoubtedly target those performing the rescue. At that exact moment, white, sticky silk shot toward his right arm.
“Whoa?!”
“Yugo?! Kyaah!!”
The sudden ambush forced Yugo to drop the purple mana-knife as his right hand was pinned to the wall. Simultaneously, an Arachlaw swung down from the ceiling like a predator on a vine, pouncing directly onto Melt.
It must have been watching her manifest the knives. The Arachlaws pinned Melt’s hands to the floor, letting out triumphant howls while dripping foul saliva.
“Juragyurarara!”
“Gi, gi, giii!”
“You...! Let go of me!”
Melt was pinned flat against the ground, resisting with all her might, but the Arachlaw used its entire body weight to keep her immobilized.
The Magic Armor Beast directed a lewd, predatory gaze at Melt’s face and chest, baring its teeth in a sickening grin, while the other monster used its sharp claws to begin shredding her clothes.
“Gujujuju! Guhohoho!!”
“Don’t mess with me, you pervert! As if I’d ever let someone like you see my underwear!”
Melt desperately channeled her magic to manifest barriers, struggling to keep her clothes from being torn away. However, she knew her resistance would fail once her mana ran dry.
Frozen by terror, the passengers could do nothing to help her; they could only watch and scream.
Amidst the chaos, Yugo poured his magic into the bracelet on his left arm, clenching his fist and letting out a roar that filled the cavern.
“Transform!!”
“Gogyororo?!”
By the time the Arachlaws registered the explosion of crimson light and the torrent of overflowing magic, their bodies were already sailing through the air.
Having deployed the Blaster, Yugo tore through the silk restraining his hand in a single motion. He had kicked and thrown the monsters off Melt with a burst of overwhelming strength.
“Magic charge complete. Here I go!!”
He separated the monsters from his companion and the civilians, lining the two beasts up before funneling more magic into the Blaster.
Sending energy to the crystals in his ankles to boost his jumping power, Yugo leaped high toward the Arachlaws, raising his right hand toward the ceiling as it began to glow with power.
The Arachlaws spat silk from their maws to intercept the black-armored knight, but Yugo’s descending hand-strike sliced through the webbing like a hot knife through butter before slamming into the first monster's skull.
“Seya! Taah!!”
“Gobo?!”
The second Arachlaw watched in horror as a red flash of light tore through its comrade from the crown of its head to its groin. In the next instant, the Magic Armor Beast split perfectly in two and collapsed.
Without losing momentum, Yugo spun in a low, sweeping arc. His horizontal strike caught the remaining Arachlaw before it could even process its partner’s death, severing its upper body from its lower half.
“Blaster Dynamic Slash... It was strong enough to make you cry, wasn't it?”
As he struck a pose and announced the name of his technique after the fact, the onlookers could only stare in a daze. Ignoring the silence, Yugo ran over to Melt as she pushed herself up from the floor.
She blinked, dusting off her clothes as she stood. Yugo nodded from beneath his helmet, his voice warm with relief.
“Looks like you’re okay. Melt, sorry, but can I leave the passengers to you?”
“I’ve got it, but... what are you going to do, Yugo?”
“There's no other way out of this besides wiping them all out. Marcos is in over his head, too. I'm going to go finish those bastards off!”