Chapter 507

The Ryuujin and Tarachnathos
(Now then, is Kikuri’s story finished?)

“Yes. Was there anything else you wished to address?”

(That monster behind you, the girl*. It’s radiating an extraordinary presence…)

*TL: So apparently Talat was a girl all along, who knew. Sorry for the 500-long misunderstanding…?

Ah, Talat’s been locked onto.
This might be a little bad.

“Talat is a monster called a Cocytus Tarachnathos.”

(… I see. So it’s of the Tarachnathos species. That explains it.)

“Huh? You know about the Tarachnathos, Ryuujin?”

(When you live long enough, you run into legends. It was… how many millennia ago, I wonder? Back when barely anyone lived on the Isles of the Eight Gods, the sea suddenly turned violent. The sky was clear, yet the sea alone was roaring and churning with impossible turbulence. When I went to investigate the cause, I found a Water Tarachnathos.)

So there was a Water Tarachnathos in a place like that…
But what happened afterward?

(I asked the Tarachnathos to stop agitating the sea. But it replied, “It’s difficult. The sea churns on its own when I walk. I’ll be gone soon, so bear with it.”
With no other choice, I held back the raging sea and saw it off.)

“I-I see… There are legends that say when a Tarachnathos walks, it destroys entire nations. Is that actually true?”

(Most likely. That Tarachnathos was walking several days’ voyage offshore from the Isles of the Eight Gods. Yet even that far, the islands still felt the effects. Had it passed any closer, even I wouldn’t have been able to contain it.)

“R-right… Did you try to fight it…?”

(Impossible. The difference in our inherent power is simply too vast. The one you have with you still seems young, so it’s weak for now. But a fully matured Tarachnathos is a natural disaster unto itself. Even if a Ryuujin can control weather, I wouldn’t want to face something that *is* a natural disaster.)

An incredibly reasonable answer.
So Talat is still considered weak.
That means she might get even stronger someday… wow.

(Still, I’ve never seen a Tarachnathos submit to a human. How did you manage it?)

“Well, Talat was originally a Large Silk Spider, and evolved repeatedly to reach this form.”

(I’m not familiar with the evolutionary path of the Tarachnathos, but it seems… implausible that such a being could evolve from a silk spider…)

Well, it is kind of ridiculous.
But the fact is, Talat really did become a Cocytus Tarachnathos.
It’s a little absurd in terms of evolutionary lineage, but it happened, so there’s no arguing with it.

After that, we continued our talk with the Ryuujin about Tarachnathos.
Even for the Ryuujin, Tarachnathos is a creature to be avoided, and He apparently doesn’t have much information about them.
That really shows how feared they are.

Maybe that’s why the Ryuujin completely dropped His guard around me?
Either way, I’m grateful.

What do you think about this chapter?