The Strongest Gun Magus: I Cast Bullet!-Chapter 25: Kids These Days

Reynard made magical passes for another basic ice spell, Freezing Bolt. Unlike the Icicle Bolt, this created pure ice energy. 𝗳𝚛𝚎𝚎𝘄𝕖𝕓𝕟𝕠𝚟𝚎𝕝.𝗰𝕠𝐦

He directed the freezing bolt at a patch of stray webbing on the ground nearby. On impact, the webbing and the grass nearby were frozen solid and covered by a layer of rime.

Reynard reached out and pulled the webbing off the ground. It was completely solid and easy to dismantle.

With a sharp strike, Reynard broke the clump of spiderweb in two, then threw it aside and focused on himself.

After a couple of miscasts, he resized the Freezing Bolt spell to create a much weaker version of the spell. Reynard directed it at the spiderwebs on his feet.

The shot froze a patch of spiderweb solid, and only chilled Reynard a little bit in the process. He cast a couple more small Freezing Bolts, then pulled a chunk of frozen spiderweb off his clothing.

Some time later, Terence finished treating the other magi and came over to help Reynard out. This made the job much easier.

Still, Reynard’s robe was entirely unsalvageable. With the last piece of spiderweb gone, he was forced to stand in chilly autumn air in nothing but his underwear. But only until he got a spare out of his backpack.

"This is much better. Except for my hair. I will need either a solvent or a razor to deal with that crap..." Reynard muttered, tugging on terrible spiderweb knots in his hair. "So how are the other guys, Terence?"

"They were both bitten, but they breathe. I fed them an antidote, but I don’t know if it will help against this venom. I have actually remembered what this was, Mister Artemy. It was in the monster encyclopedia!"

"Really? But I also read manuals about Growlgrove monsters, and I don’t remember a spider like that! Was I given an incomplete version in the library?"

Terence scratched his cheek.

"Could you have simply forgotten, Mister Artemy?"

Reynard scowled at him.

"No. Give me the exposition, Terence!"

And while Terence explained in an unnecessary amount of detail the feeding habits of Singing Spiders and compared them to habits of other giant spiders, Reynard went and freed Markus’ cronies of their spiderwebs and everything valuable that was in their pockets. Which wasn’t much.

Their backpacks were found not too far away. Reynard rummaged in them as well.

The owners were too out of it from the venom to protest.

"...And like many other spiders, the females eat their males when, um, copulating. So we probably shouldn’t expect another one to appear."

Reynard lifted his head from a crony’s backpack and actually turned to listen to Terence.

"Really? Say... If I were a Singing Spider, where would I put my eggs?"

Terence smiled.

"Oh, I remember that! It’s in its nest! And... I get it. It should be nearby!"

"And eggs are much easier to carry than piglets. Speaking off, pass me Chili."

The spider’s nest was woven high in a tree. A human would have to climb it to get there, but a Singing Spider could simply reach it from the ground if it stood fully upright.

The entire tree and nest were covered in spiderwebs. Leaves, dust, insects, and small rodents were stuck to it in abundance, and to not get caught as well, Reynard and Terence had to cover the webs with more leaves and dust.

The spider eggs were iridescent like its mouthparts and the size of small apples. There was an entire pile of them, and when Reynard finished passing them to Terence, their bag became full to the brim.

"There are fifty-one! Mister Artemy, even if each of them costs only five points, you will be rich!"

Reynard jumped off the tree and scowled.

"Do they really cost only five points, Terence?"

The kid shrugged.

"They should cost more! Singing Spiders are classified as Final Cycle Nigredo beasts by their physical strength, but their ability is Albedo-level, I think. Or... I don’t know... The manual was unclear. The classifications are hard... Mister Artemy, do you think I can work for you for a salary?"

Reynard gave Terence a withering stare. The kid’s shoulders hunched.

"Maybe later, if you need a servant. I remember, I still owe you!"

"That’s right! If not for your impulse to help everyone who cries for help, we could have just avoided the Singing Spider altogether," Reynard glanced at the bag of eggs and softened. "But, I guess the risk was worth the reward. Let’s go! When we get to the instructor, we might as well notify him that there are severely wounded students out there."

***

Marien made ten more steps forward and stopped.

The Wind of Mana that she had followed, instead of gathering into a whirlwind she could have used to meditate, dissipated entirely.

"Aaaaah! This is so unfair! The Autumn Beast Hunt was supposed to be exciting!" She pouted and shook her fist at the nearest tree.

The tree didn’t react, and even the birds on it didn’t hurry to tell Marien something nice.

The forest around her, which was such an interesting and new place a day ago, became her prison of boredom. Not a single beast dared to attack her, and she couldn’t find a single burrow to earn points.

With a huff, Marien picked a random direction and resumed walking. Five steps later, she stopped again, but this time excitedly.

She ran up to her new find: a dessicated corpse of a deer, half-covered in spiderweb.

This was a trail! A trail of some giant spider.

Emboldened, Marien went on, looking for more, and found them. She followed the trail of old meals like they were breadcrumbs, and the farther she went, the more excited and eager for a fight she was.

Her hands were already raised in a spellcasting stance when she stepped from behind the trees and saw it—the giant spider!

It was truly giant, and a spider! And it was...

"Dead! It’s already dead! I am laaaaaate!" Marien sniffed at such unjustness. "Agaaaaaain!"

Her cry spooked several crows and rats that had been picking at the spider’s flesh.

She walked around the site of battle, hoping for at least some danger to appear. But there was nothing, and the spider was the only corpse in the clearing.

Marien kicked it and stomped away.