My appetite is small-good for the little spider's continued growth

After using his Sharingan to gather everything he wanted to know from Shinnō's eyes, Arata took the core key that powered Ancor Vantian and walked over to a wall in the inner hall.

The scroll containing the secret technique for controlling and reviving Zero-Tails was hidden there.

Ignoring the pain, he raised his fist, punched straight through the wall, and retrieved it.

"Honored onmyoji."

"We have captured that little spider."

In that short span of time, Ryomen Buddha and the other great yokai who had gone out to hunt Tsuchigumo had completed their task and returned. They stood respectfully behind their onmyoji as they quietly delivered their report.

Even Yaksha, who had been so utterly defiant just days earlier, behaved the same way—more cautiously still, in fact.

After all, he was surrounded by presences far more terrifying than that big monk!

Take that ugly Buddhist who could summon wind and lightning with a casual gesture, for instance. Even he was someone Yaksha could barely hope to fight.

Turning around, Arata immediately spotted the little spider clutched in Ryomen Buddha's hand. Though it was only the size of a human palm, it looked almost exactly like the terrifying giant from earlier. Anyone with exceptional eyesight who looked closely could still make out the smooth, clean wound on its severed left foreleg, as though a sharp blade had sliced through it.

Clearly, this was the Lord of Green Forest from earlier. Hunted and threatened by several great yokai, it had shrunk into this tiny, trembling form.

"Well..."

Well done.

Arata had wanted to say that, but after seeing the little spider—now dainty, adorable, and harmless-looking at its reduced size, with its four pairs of simple eyes almost brimming with aggrieved tears—he swallowed the rest.

After all, this was Tsuchigumo, a creature that