A Beautiful Woman's Head Perched on a Skyscraper (Eighth Update) / Come Fight Me One-on-One!

The discordant voice in the crowd had vanished, but Granny Zhuohua did not feel much happier. She was pessimistic about the current situation.

Monsters like this had arrived along with the thunderstorms. Was the Shelter really safe?

How long would the Narukami Shrine Maiden be willing to protect them?

The Narukami Shrine Maiden would probably leave after sending them to the Shelter. She certainly had more important things to do.

But the gunfire from the direction of the Shelter...

Was the Shelter really safe?

"What's going on? What's going on? Why did we stop? Where's Mei?" Kiana's voice came from behind. She had made her way from the back of the group to the front, searching for Raiden Mei. "Where did Mei go?"

The reason the Narukami Shrine Maiden had stayed behind to escort their group had appeared. Kiana had searched all the way here without seeing Raiden Mei, while the people in the group had also scattered, with those who knew each other heading off together as if they planned to rest where they were.

The thunder overhead had not stopped once, so Kiana at the back of the group had failed to notice the faint gunshots ahead, drowned out by the thunder.

"Kiana. The Narukami Shrine Maiden said there was gunfire ahead, so she told us to rest here for a while while she went to take a look."

"Gunfire?!"

Kiana's expression changed drastically. She listened carefully for a while and, sure enough, heard the faint gunshots from the direction of the Shelter, muffled by the thunder.

"There must be a Kishin!" Kiana's face paled.

Mei had actually gone over there alone without even discussing it with her. She clearly did not want Kiana to follow her into danger.

Besides, the group was huge now, and someone needed to stay behind and watch over everyone.

But knowing that Mei had gone toward danger, even if she was unlikely to be injured, Kiana still could not help worrying.

"If you want to catch up, then go, Kiana."

Granny Zhuohua saw the conflict and hesitation in her eyes and took the initiative to encourage her, giving her a push.

"But what about here..."

"The Shelter is just ahead, and this place is relatively safe. Don't worry about everyone encountering more monsters. Go do what you want to do."

The Beauty Head Perched on the Skyscraper

Granny Zhuohua knew that Kiana's heart had already followed the shrine maiden ahead.

She was a good girl.

If Granny Zhuohua had asked her to stay, Kiana might well have remained behind to look after everyone.

But Granny Zhuohua did not do that.

She chose to go with the flow.

"...I understand!"

Kiana had already been inclined to look for Mei, and after Granny Zhuohua gave her that push, her resolve only grew firmer.

She dashed toward the gunfire.

"Don't worry, Granny! I'll deal with the trouble and come back as soon as possible!"

Whether it was the shrine maiden or the mysterious Kiana, neither was someone she could keep here.

Since that was the case, why offend them?

Granny Zhuohua was broad-minded, and the others had no objections either. After all, the person who had just slain the Kishin and revealed her divine might in front of everyone was Raiden Mei.

Kiana had not had any impressive moments.

Most of them had seen Kiana before, but they did not think she possessed power like the Narukami Shrine Maiden.

If she wanted to chase after them, then let her.

Following the sound, Kiana reached the vicinity of the Shelter in two minutes. Once she came within sight of the area, however, she saw a scene that left her utterly stunned.

White, terrifying giant spiderwebs covered the area, along with countless white spiders the size of people and one enormous, horrifying spider at least several dozen meters in size.

It crawled across the webs between the buildings, constantly giving birth to more spiderlings.

On the ground, a scattered armed force had hidden themselves and was continuously firing at the giant spider with the beautiful woman's head, as well as the smaller spiders approaching it.

The entrance to the Shelter was still within the area they were guarding, but fallen landscaping trees, shattered glass, a collapsed kiosk reduced to rubble, and several corpses torn apart by spiders littered the surroundings.

Where was Mei? Where was Mei...

Kiana hurriedly searched for Raiden Mei and saw her using the covering fire to advance toward the building occupied by the spider.

"Mei!"

Kiana's heart lurched. She picked up her baseball bat, then looked at the enormous distance between herself, the building, and the giant spider.

"Damn it!"

If she had known there would be such a huge spider ahead, she would have bought a sniper rifle.

Now it was too late for regrets!

"Hisss—"

The sound of arthropod limbs scraping against one another rang out. Several white, terrifying spiders the size of people surrounded Kiana from several directions, blocking all possible escape routes.

"...Your luck is really terrible, because I hate spiders!"

She could not hit the giant spider from this distance, but could she not hit these little ones?

Kiana charged forward with her baseball bat. The spiders had not expected their prey not only to refuse to run, but to charge at them recklessly.

They spat out webs from their abdomens. Once the webs left their bodies, they spread into nets that covered Kiana.

Such an attack did not faze Kiana. She nimbly dodged the web, reached the spider, and swung her bat down hard, smashing it into a puddle of white liquid.

"First one!"

There was no kill notification, nor did any black smoke emerge. These "little" spiders were probably all parts of the giant spider with the beautiful woman's head.

Even if they were merely parts of it, they still had to be killed!

Like a wolf charging into a flock of sheep, Kiana swung her baseball bat, killing every spider she encountered as she advanced toward the building.

"Captain, there's someone over there!"

The armed personnel firing at the little spiders noticed Kiana killing one spider with every swing and realized that she was also reinforcements.

"Cover her!"

Although they had only learned of the Kishin's existence an hour ago, these people had overcome their fear and bravely stood on the front line of the battle for the city.

The firepower in their hands could not threaten the giant spider, and they were nearly driven to despair when Raiden Mei appeared.

She had burst in like a bolt of lightning, electric light trailing behind her as she charged toward the terrifying giant spider perched on the skyscraper.

It was as if they had seen hope. They shifted from attacking to providing cover, hoping to ease the hero's burden even slightly.

Now another warrior had arrived. Naturally, those who could not turn the tide by themselves were extremely excited.

One more force meant one more chance of victory!

Kiana planned to approach the giant spider while killing the little ones as she had before. Just as she was about to swing at the spider ahead, a bullet struck it and killed it.

Kiana had realized when she killed the first one that although there were many of these little spiders, they were just as fragile.

Only their webs required caution.

Getting stuck in one would waste too much time.

She glanced toward where the bullet had come from and saw an armed soldier wearing a helmet gesture for her to keep moving.

Are they covering me?

Kiana nodded at him, then sped up instead of killing her way forward.

She avoided whatever she could, while the covering fire directly shot down anything she could not evade.

The one or two that slipped through were easily smashed to death by Kiana.

She reached the foot of the building quickly and without incident. The lightning representing Raiden Mei had already engaged the giant spider on its web.

Kiana looked at the baseball bat in her hand again, wishing she could turn back time.

"Next time, I'm definitely getting a ranged weapon!"

After muttering resentfully to herself, Kiana thought of a way to run up the building.

By then, Raiden Mei had already leaped onto the giant spider's body and planted her feet firmly. The samurai sword Kiana had given her showed no mercy as it crackled with lightning and slashed toward the spider's waist.

However, the blade struck as if it had hit steel, producing a metallic clang. She quickly leaped backward, only to see a web as thick as an arm emerge from the spider and block her attack. It now moved like a flexible arm, continuing to strike at Raiden Mei, who stood atop its body.

"Insolent one, die!"

The beautiful woman's head on the spider released a venomous voice, making Raiden Mei's heart jolt as she used her sword to fend off webs attacking from every direction.

Counting the lizard head from before, she had already slain two Kishin. But neither of those Kishin could speak, and neither had been particularly intelligent.

No, the lizard head had simply died too quickly.

Being able to speak meant possessing a certain degree of intelligence, and an intelligent enemy was far harder to deal with than a mindless beast.

The samurai sword Kiana had given her was extremely sharp, but the beautiful-head spider's webs were also incredibly tough. Raiden Mei even suspected that they were comparable to the strongest alloys.

The giant spider's body was also completely different from those of the little spiders, its offspring. It was extraordinarily hard.

To leave a wound, she had to give it her all, but the webs around her kept interfering, trying to kill her on the spot.

It was difficult to deal with.

Raiden Mei, fighting in the thick of battle, soon adapted to the beautiful-head spider's attacks. However, she set her sights on the beautiful woman's head.

The spider's body was huge and disgusting, but where its head should have been was the upper body of a beautiful, white-haired woman with her torso exposed.

The spider's body was as hard as steel. Surely the humanlike upper body could not be just as tough?

Raiden Mei pretended to struggle as she defended against the attacks, quietly closing in on the beautiful head.

Then...

"Mei, watch out!"

The voice from above made Raiden Mei's eyes widen. It was a familiar voice, and a familiar scene.

Kiana had leaped from the top of the building.

She focused all her strength into the baseball bat in her hands and, using the speed of her precise descent, slammed it viciously into the beautiful-head spider's pretty face.

"Challenge Me One-on-One!"

The deafening sound of a massive body crashing into the ground rang out.

The unbelievable happened just like that. Kiana had knocked a spider dozens of times her size into the ground with a single swing, even smashing a crater into the earth.

And Kiana?

Wind howled past her ears as Raiden Mei held her in a bridal carry. Only after the beautiful-head spider hit the ground did the two of them land safely.

If not for the Stigma, which had massively enhanced their physical abilities, and the webs that had absorbed some of the impact, the force of that descent alone would have cost them most of their combat strength, leaving them severely injured or even on the verge of death.

"Kiana, that was reckless!"

Raiden Mei wore a stern expression. After landing, she set Kiana down, her heart having nearly leaped out of her throat moments earlier.

Kiana only felt exhilarated!

She had not thought it through when she did it. She had simply figured that jumping down from above and landing a hit would seriously injure the giant spider, so she went for it.

"Mei came over without calling me..."

Kiana muttered her protest. Her blood was still racing as she craned her neck to look at the giant spider, which lay in the crater, apparently dead or dying after being struck by her bat.

Although she had gained extra force from the speed of her descent...

To knock something that huge into the ground with a single swing, leaving it embedded in the earth—where had all that strength of hers...

Could the changes brought by the five percent of the Finality Process in her body really have all been added to her strength?

"Kiana!"