The guild and Kumoko watched in terror as Araba moved past them before it headed down the tunnel as it ignored them.
"What the? It didn't attack." Theo said.
"It likely didn't see any of us as a major threat." Emerald said.
"Whew. For once, I'm glad I'm not a guild powerhouse." Kazuma said.
"Amen to that, man." Subaru said.
"Still, we're in a bit of trouble here. We're down deeper into the Labyrinth, which means all the monsters are for sure stronger." DJ said. "We should be fine, but Kumoko's still growing. How's she gonna handle it?"
"Obviously…the best choice would be to hide." Rem said.
"Stealth can keep you alive longer than constant fighting." Naofumi said. "And right now, she needs as much stealth as she can."
Kumoko had the exact same idea as she recovered from the shock of seeing Araba herself. She continued to stealthily hide among the monsters as she continued to battle whenever she was hungry. One desperate move was eating an insect monster that tastes horrible. After that was the slaying of three stronger monsters. Through this though…
You have obtained the title Poison Master
Acquired the skills Poison SynthesisLv 1
Poison Magic Lv 1
Poison Fang risen to Lv 8
"Whoo! More Poison huh? I like it!" Kumoko said as she dragged her quarry off to eat. After which, she checked out the new skills she got. "I still have no idea how to use magic, so I'll set Poison Magic aside. But Poison Synthesis…." she said before focusing and creating a weak poison. "Hmm…not sure how to use it…but at least I know how to use it."
As Kumoko continued to explore the dungeon, she couldn't get over how big it was, despite being underground. She couldn't help but reminisce about how her past life was compared to this. She only ever saw secluded parts of the world on TV, but they never made an impact. But now? This has been her life and the world she's in. she can't let her guard down for a second. She eventually came across a small monkey-like monster as she wrapped it in webs before biting it. As she did, it let out a piercing scream before it died and she ate it.
"Well…little guy was a screamer but at least she killed the thing." Theo said as they had watched as Ivy just looked in fear.
"We need to leave this place…right now." Ivy said.
"What, why? She just killed one small little mon-" Grantz started before they saw a whole massive troop of monkeys rushing straight towards Kumoko's position." -OH MY GOD, let's listen to Ivy!"
"What's going on?" Theo said.
"That monster Kumoko killed and ate just now? It's an Anogratch… a monkey monster listed as danger level D. However…if you get a whole group of them together, the danger level can go up to S. They'll kill that spider for murdering their kin. Which is why they're also called Revenge Monkeys." Ivy said.
"Well, I'm sold! Let's book it!" Kazuma said.
The Mythos Hearts members observing Kumoko got out of there before the Anogratch troop locked on to them by association. However, Kumoko herself had nowhere to go. The rocks were too slippery for her to climb any higher, and the troop was pelting her with rocks as she tries to change directions, leaving her isolated as she was forced to fight by herself against a horde of monkeys.
"Even barricading my house with webs isn't slowing them down… if only I had something to drop on them." Kumoko said, before she suddenly remembered her Poison Synthesis Skill. "Poison Synthesis!" she called, dropping a few globs of her LV 8 Spider Venom on her siegers before blocking them off with Webbing, but they just kept coming.
"Whoa…these little guys really want vengeance." Cobalt said.
"We can't let her die! We have to help!" Ethox insisted.
"Dude, even we can't take that many! Besides, do you wanna give the spider who's trying to survive on her own right now a helping hand?" Kazuma asked. "If you really wanna let her be the mascot of the guild, you gotta let her take care of this herself."
"But…" Ethox said before watching the little spider start to turn it around against the monkeys as the entire wall was collapsing on top of them. "Phew, nevermind."
"Uh…trouble isn't over!" Gabiru said as emerging from the darkness were three large mandrill-like monsters.
"Ivy, are those things the Alphas?" DJ asked.
"No. Bagragratch…they're the evolutions of those monsters she just slayed." Ivy said.
Kumoko did her best, stood her ground, and was even able to defeat one of the Bagragratchs by trapping it and stuffing its face with poison.
"That's one way to make someone eat their food." Nemo quipped. "One down, two to go."
One of them leapt at her before she wrapped them up in a web as she started sending poison down its throat.
"One more…now where are they?" Kumoko said as the last monkey was above her as it bit off a part of her left side. "No…losing blood…feel like…going to pass out…" she muttered. "But if I do, it's game over!" Kumoko said as she treated the last monkey to a triple dose of a poison espresso as it fell and she leveled up before letting out a victory cry.
"Alright, she won!" Ethox said.
"I don't believe it… she took out an entire horde of Anogratch's and three Bagragratch's. And she timed her level up perfectly to avoid death." Ivy said. "Oh…looks like she's done enough to evolve again." she said, bringing up two options. One was Taratect and the other was Small Poison Taratect.
"Eh…she'll worry about that later. Look." Kazuma said, seeing light down a tunnel.
"A light….it must lead to one of the upper floors." Maple said.
"Likely the middle stratum. Our stay here was short but we are getting out of this place with the murderous monkeys." Subaru said.
Kumoko smiled as she ran towards the middle stratum as the others followed.
"Hey, is it me, or is it getting hot in here?" Nemo asked.
"We're probably just all feeling the heat from Kumokos big victory." Ethox said. "And since we're headed towards the middle stratum, things are definitely gonna look up for our little mascot-!"
Right as they said that, Kumoko and the others arrived in the Middle Stratum…. Which just so happened to be filled with a boatload of red-hot, bubbly magma.
"WHAAAAAAAAAAT?!" Kumoko yelled in shock.