Chapter 42 Falling Flowers
The sky was filled with a rain of flowers.
It was truly a magnificent sight that matched the term “Manchunhwa Rain.”
Poison, feathers, and hidden weapons kept pouring down from the sky.
I had to avoid them.
Somehow.
Pow-pow-pow-pow-pow!
I put strength into my legs.
But.
Thud.
I lost my balance and fell.
The injury from my opponent was more severe than I had thought.
Blood flowed from my side.
The damage I received while executing the death roll.
I couldn’t put strength into my legs.
But I had to avoid them.
Somehow…
[Warning! HP is low.]
There was no way I could avoid them.
Even if my body were intact, I wouldn’t have been able to dodge all those attacks. How was I supposed to dodge those attacks in my current worst physical state?
I looked up at the sky.
Hundreds and thousands of poisons and hidden weapons.
Even with Ten Thousand Poisons Immunity, I couldn’t block those attacks.
Those attacks, which were cruel but paradoxically beautiful, had no blind spots.
Manchunhwa Rain.
I never thought I would see Manchunhwa Rain in my lifetime.
Moreover, to see it used by a Dilophosaurus.
I’m seeing a beautiful sight before I die!
Countless hidden weapons drew closer.
This was the end.
Time slowed down.
This must be what people call their life flashing before their eyes.
Strangely, I didn’t feel regretful.
If I said I had no lingering attachment to life, it would be a lie.
But I didn’t think my life was meaningless.
I was born as a gecko lizard, became a basilisk, and eventually evolved into a king lizard.
I think I raised Tus and Pus well enough.
When I first met them, they were just snotty kids, but now they’ve grown quite big.
I didn’t know, but they could handle internal energy, so they would be safe wherever they went.
Since Tang So-yeong took them, she would take care of them.
Tang So-yeong.
She had some strange points, but she was a smart woman.
I hoped she would take good care of Tus and Pus.
…It bothered me a bit that I couldn’t give them my poison, but they would manage.
I saw real dinosaurs, and even hunted and ate them.
I used martial arts with a lizard’s body.
Yes, martial arts.
Baek Yeonyeong.
My master whom I met in the Silver Dragon Cave.
If I had followed her then, I wouldn’t be dying like this.
I would have lived my whole life as a small lizard, comfortably until I died of old age.
I wanted to talk more and get to know her better, but I’d rather be a hungry king lizard than a well-fed pig. I didn’t regret not following her.
Looking back, it wasn’t a bad life.
A second life that started absurdly.
I kept my promise never to run away again until the end, so I had no regrets.
If there was one thing I regretted.
Nephila Jurassica.
You remained.
The first bond I made when I came to this world.
We fought each other and also had each other’s backs.
Because of you, I almost died, but also managed to survive.
If I hadn’t met her, I might still be a gecko lizard.
If I had to pick the first turning point of my second life, it would be Nephila Jurassica.
Spider.
I was going to apologize when I saw you again.
If I could just get through this, I wanted to see your face at least once.
But it didn’t turn out well.
I’m sorry.
Swoosh!
A hidden weapon flew towards my neck.
This would be the end of my farewell.
…
……
“Kieeeek!”
Crack-crack-crack.
The hidden weapons flying through the sky suddenly stopped.
What stopped the hidden weapons was an immense amount of spider silk.
And standing in front of me was.
Red eyes.
Black legs.
Resembling a tiger spider.
“Kieeeek!”
It was Nephila Jurassica.
…How on earth?
Splat!
The spider silk Nephila Jurassica shot blocked the incoming hidden weapons.
Crack-crack-crack!
Her highly adhesive spider silk was enough to block the Manchunhwa Rain.
Clang!
The missed hidden weapons were quickly struck down by her steel-like legs.
“Gegek!”
She let out a cry full of jubilation.
Nephila!
I’m really glad to see you right now.
“Kieeek!”
Yeah.
There was hope.
A hope that I might somehow survive.
If it was Nephila Jurassica, even in this situation…
Splash!
“Kieeek…”
Were my eyes playing tricks on me?
Why could I clearly see a part of you that should have been covered?
There was a large hole that shouldn’t have been there.
Crack!
Her legs weren’t intact either.
Smash!
Two of her legs were shattered by the incoming hidden weapons.
There was no way a single spider could block the Manchunhwa Rain.
Though she had grown bigger than when I saw her last, she was still smaller than me.
If I couldn’t block it, how could a small spider block it?
“Gegegek!”
Get out of the way!
You stupid spider.
Why are you intervening and getting yourself killed?
I could save Nephila now.
I swung my tail with the last of my strength to send her flying away.
Splat!
The spider silk shot out.
Her spider silk accurately bound my ankle.
So, for now, I couldn’t move.
To shoot a web at me, she had to inevitably turn around.
Twack!
In that brief moment, another one of her arms fell off.
“Guh…!”
Why.
Why on earth.
I wondered.
Why go this far.
We had only known each other for a day.
Why turn into such a state.
I wasn’t afraid of dying.
But I didn’t want this innocent spider to get involved.
Please.
“Geggegegegek!”
Thud thud thud!
The Dilophosaurus continued its relentless attack, seemingly never tiring.
Twack!
Another leg went flying.
She couldn’t shoot webs anymore.
She had no hands to fend off attacks and had lost her other abilities.
While she still had a few legs left, please, run away.
Nothing would change by staying here.
“Kieeek!”
Nephila Jurassica screamed as she had the first time I saw her.
After screaming like that, she dragged her body, with only a few legs left, closer to me.
As more wounds appeared on her body with fewer legs remaining, her eight jewel-like eyes dwindled to just two.
Even so, she didn’t give up.
The barrage of flying weapons continued.
With her current state, even moving was a miracle.
Even if she persisted, there was no way to stop this.
Pa-papapap!
Nephila Jurassica struggled to drag her remaining legs as she climbed onto me.
Her body, which had seemed so large when I first saw her, now felt so small.
“Gegegek!”
“Kioon…”
Even without the strength to make any more sounds, she foolishly took all the enemy’s attacks with her back.
It didn’t matter what happened to me.
So please.
At least you survive.
If miracles existed, I wished for the power to send this spider to a safe place.
Nephila Jurassica’s body began to glow.
‘When emotions reach their peak.’
At that moment, Tang So-yeong’s words flashed through my mind.
‘When it reaches the extreme in any direction.’
True metamorphosis.
‘Most of all, when trying to protect something.’
Hope began to appear.
She might become a spider with a hard outer shell or one immune to poison.
Yes.
If this happened, she could survive.
Saaaak!
A strong light enveloped the entire swamp.
Nephila Jurassica’s appearance began to change.
*
Nephila Jurassica’s emotions had reached their peak.
It was the desire to protect the lizard she loved.
She instinctively realized.
She could advance to the next stage.
The form she would take depended on her choice.
She saw many options.
A fast spider, a spider with a venomous sting like a scorpion, a spider with an iron-like shell.
All were strong species.
It was the evolution she had longed for.
But none of those would allow her to protect her beloved.
The small lizard had grown, and compared to it, she was small.
No matter how strong she became, she couldn’t protect him now.
To save him, her body needed to be larger.
She needed a body that could completely shield the lizard.
That option clearly existed.
It was an inefficient and foolish choice that no living being would ever make.
A spider without emotions doesn’t act inefficiently.
Inefficient and foolish actions.
Nephila Jurassica learned that this was love.
She didn’t know much about love.
She had only seen the brutal truth that those who coveted love were devoured by the females.
For that reason, she had hesitated.
When she parted from the branch, if she hadn’t hesitated, could she have caught the lizard?
If she hadn’t hesitated while wandering this place repeatedly, could she have met him?
When she was caught watching the lizard, if she hadn’t hesitated and intervened, would this have happened?
Nephila Jurassica looked at the giant lizard.
A lizard so large she couldn’t possibly cover it with her current body.
Blood flowed from its side, and one eye was completely crushed.
If she had acted sooner, this wouldn’t have happened.
She had hesitated again.
She resolved.
She wouldn’t hesitate anymore.
Yes.
To Nephila Jurassica, love was.
No longer hesitating.
*
Was it the cost of recklessly invoking a miracle?
Nephila Jurassica’s form had changed differently than I had expected.
There was no hard shell. Given that she was coughing up blood, she wasn’t immune to poison either.
Why, why did you change into this form.
All she had were two red eyes and short golden hair.
Nephila Jurassica’s upper body had transformed into that of a frail human.
In this situation, her evolution might be better called regression.
Her body was weaker, and her larger frame only made her an easier target for flying attacks.
Papapapap!
The number of weapons embedded in her back increased.
Human flesh couldn’t withstand the Dilophosaurus’s attacks.
Her body burst in several places.
Drip.
Blood flowed from Nephila Jurassica’s mouth.
It was the wrong choice.
A foolish and stupid choice.
A decision that hastened death, a truly idiotic choice.
And yet.
Even so.
Nephila Jurassica was smiling.
Though she couldn’t speak a word.
Though she had evolved into a foolish form.
Though her body wasn’t whole.
What was so good about it.
She just smiled.
Brightly.
The web that bound me loosened more and more.
That meant only one thing.
