Spider's Nest

As exploration progressed, scattered hunter camps and a public camp the Guild was preparing to build appeared on the mountains surrounding the underground cavern entrance.

Faced with the bizarre construct resembling a Seltas Queen, if not for the blue-and-gold flag standing upright on its back shell,

quite a few hunters and scholars might have written sighting reports while trying to approach it.

After choosing a campsite halfway up the mountain, the team set up their own camp.

Crash!

The Seltas Queen Ahtal-Neset's back shell flipped open, and a somewhat listless Sisi crawled out, swaying unsteadily.

"Sisi's stamina really is incredible. She traveled for an entire day and night, stopping only once for a brief hunt."

Standing at the cliff's edge, Li Le looked down the mountain and wrote his notes.

Only after finishing the lift up the mountain, cutting down several trees, and concealing the Seltas Queen Ahtal-Neset beneath their branches and leaves did the exhausted Sisi fall peacefully asleep.

At midday, the first thing he did upon waking was likewise to check on the Ahtal-Neset.

"Everyone, the Ahtal-Neset is about to start moving. You can't stand nearby. You can learn more about it another time."

At Li Le's words, the crowd watching halfway up the mountain immediately dispersed.

Initially, it had actually been an investigator who had ventured deep into the underground caverns, bringing the nearby camps the latest maps drawn from their surveys.

After all, everyone who established a camp here intended to enter the underground caverns.

Although even the latest map might not be comprehensive, a little more detail could potentially be a great help.

But after delivering the map, the investigator had stayed, saying he wanted to observe the mechanical insect.

Li Le hadn't refused. After looking it over, the investigator said he had a friend who wanted to see it too...

And so the crowd had kept growing.

"Preparations complete. Destination: the underground caverns! Move out!"

As Li Le finished speaking, the Seltas Queen Ahtal-Neset leaped off the mountainside.

Whoosh-boom!

After smashing a round crater into the ground, its four pillar-like insect legs lifted its body, and it continued crawling.

Beside the enormous pit leading into the underground caverns, several hanging ropes swayed in the wind.

"An area where hunters can descend by rope-if something launched a sudden thrust here... Ah! It jumped!"

Li Le stared into the bottomless pit. Before he could finish speaking, the Seltas Queen Ahtal-Neset leaped inside.

Crash!

A moment later, the sound of the Ahtal-Neset striking the ground echoed up.

"Spade Three and you two, your cart needs lowering. Wait here. Kaluo and I will go down first and take a look."

As Li Le finished speaking, Kaluo leaped onto his back, and they descended together by rope.

The deeper they descended, the darker their surroundings became, with cold, clammy currents of air continually brushing past them.

Kaluo lit a torch to illuminate the way.

Once the human and cat reached the bottom, an enormous underground grotto appeared before them.

In a ring-shaped impact crater, the Seltas Queen's body lay tilted to one side.

One of its pillar-like insect legs was missing, and its back shell had flipped open.

"Sisi really treasures it during routine maintenance, but she sure is ruthless when using it."

Just as Li Le finished his remark, Sisi returned, dragging the insect leg that had flown off sideways.

While she reattached and repaired it, Li Le unrolled the updated map the investigation team had given him.

"The underground caverns are currently an ecologically unstable, high-risk area without Guild support. Close to a volcano, this was originally a high-temperature region covered in lava. For unknown reasons, all the lava disappeared. The Research Commission is still investigating..."

After reading the area's introduction, Li Le turned to the marked monster distribution.

"Besides our target Kecha Wacha, a Tetsucabra is also active nearby and has deepened its interactions with the neighboring Brute Wyverns... These two high-risk skull marks represent an injured Nerscylla and an uninjured one."

Li Le considered for a moment, then planned their route.

Once Spade Three and the other two successfully joined them using the regular Felyne rescue team's lifting platform, the team immediately set off.

Nerscylla were rather sinister monsters. Areas blanketed in webs were their ideal home turf, and there were two of them.

Li Le didn't want to enter their territory and decided to go around as much as possible.

Accompanied by intermittent whistling winds, the team traveled for a day through the uneven grottoes.

Just as they were about to find somewhere to rest, they discovered a crude altar recessed into a stone wall.

The altar consisted of two crookedly stacked stone pillars and an enormous stone block with a cat-shaped outline.

Simple fish designs had been painted in red on the pillars.

A drying line hung with all kinds of dried fish connected the two pillars.

On the offering table were half a whetstone, empty portable ration cans, barrel lids...

All sorts of miscellaneous scraps were piled upon it.

One look at the style made it clear that a Melynx or Felyne tribe had built it.

Seeing Li Le approach the altar, the three black cats ran over to stop him.

Although they belonged to a different tribe from those underground, casually touching a feline altar was an absolute taboo in the eyes of feline tribes.

But wild Melynx often placed the items they stole or plundered on their altars.

Veteran hunters familiar enough with an area would therefore try to recover their belongings at the local altar.

Over time, the resentment continued to deepen.

But to the three cats' surprise, Li Le stopped well away from the offering table.

He clasped his hands together in front of him in prayer.

"Meow?"

It was the first time the three cats had ever seen a human pray to the Meownster.

Next, Li Le presented a medium-sized Paintball he had combined himself as an offering.

"All right, let's keep looking for somewhere suitable to rest."

Since there was little need to worry about combat, he had made no plans for a prolonged pursuit.

After eating in a cave in the rock wall and resting briefly for two hours, they set off again.

As they approached the latest sighting area provided by the investigator, they discovered a little orange Kecha Wacha fur on the ground.

Kaluo also found some discarded fruit cores.

Everything indicated that it was active nearby.

But their subsequent search reached a deadlock. After searching for a long time, all they found were traces.

"Something's wrong. We've searched everywhere around here. To keep the Ahtal-Neset's footsteps from frightening the Kecha Wacha, Sisi has even gone on standby. Why can't we find it?"

Li Le looked at the map, his face puzzled.

"These Nerscylla nests with the extensive webs all connect to our location, meow. Could the Kecha Wacha have blundered inside?"

Kaluo offered his conjecture.

"Although its hooked claws and tail claw let it move nimbly along webs, these web nests aren't abandoned, and there are two Nerscylla here at once. Surely it isn't that stupid."

Li Le didn't think it very likely.

"But if we keep going, we'll be back where we started, meow."

Kaluo pointed a paw at the familiar cave terrain ahead.

"Then let's approach and investigate."

With that, Li Le marked a search route through the web nests on the map.

The human and cat emerged from a dark rock fissure covered in green luminous moss, and their surroundings suddenly opened up.

Inside the enormous, open cavern, a gigantic white web divided the steep terrain midway up.

"Uh, uh... That, meow..."

Kaluo raised a paw and spoke in a trembling voice.

Li Le looked up. Several monster corpses wrapped in silk hung from the cavern ceiling, swaying gently.

"Your earlier decision to stay away from the insect nest really was wise, meow."

After calming himself, Kaluo voiced his thoughts.

"From now on, keep every movement light. We mustn't make any noise, and we can't touch the webs carelessly."

"Understood, meow."

Kaluo answered quietly.

Bang! Boom!

The human and cat froze, then turned to look back.

The narrow rock fissure crumbled apart, and the Seltas Queen Ahtal-Neset crawled out, its back shell covered in rubble.

"Uh... Should we adjust our plan, meow?"

Kaluo asked tentatively.

"No. Sisi is different from us. Don't copy her. But with her drawing attention, no monsters should pay us any mind."

The human and cat cast aside their concerns and began moving boldly.

Creak, creak...

Under the pressure of the four pillar-like insect legs, the enormous web stretched taut and sagged.

With pressure this heavy, it would be difficult for the Nerscylla not to notice.

Tap... tap...

The soft, rhythmic tapping of insect legs sounded nearby.

Li Le and Kaluo stopped, pressing their backs tightly against the rock wall.

Beneath the web, a figure appeared, crawling upside down on four legs.

Li Le and Kaluo exchanged a look, then simultaneously reached out a hand and paw to cover each other's mouths.

Only after the figure crawled past did the human and cat finally breathe a sigh of relief.

"What a terrifying monster, meow..."

"It's all right. Nothing special."

With that, Li Le punched his stiff thigh hard and began running briskly.

"The Nerscylla is so terrifying. Will Sisi be in danger, meow?"

Kaluo asked worriedly.

"Don't worry. Nerscylla look terrifying, but their threat level actually falls short of a Seltas Queen's. Besides, its abdomen and forelimbs have injuries that haven't healed yet. It should be the injured one."

"Of course, with its home-field advantage of high mobility on the webs, Sisi will have some difficulty killing it too."

"That's a relief, meow... That's! The Kecha Wacha, meow!"

Li Le followed Kaluo's gaze.

Ahead, beneath the web, an orange-red-furred monster alternately reached its arms upward, swinging forward with its hooked claws.

Although the medium-sized Paintball was a little large, it could already be thrown and used normally.

Li Le aimed at its position and threw.

Splat!

As pink mist burst outward, it successfully coated the forearm hooked onto the silk above.

Li Le took down his bone staff and fired another Paintball.

A red aura carrying Power Nectar began drifting outward from the Kecha Wacha.

At that moment, in the center of the sagging web, the Seltas Queen Ahtal-Neset's back shell flipped open.

After examining the web below, Sisi raised her head to study the monster corpses hanging upside down above.

The insect nest's web ecology here felt incredibly novel and interesting to her.

She detected the drifting scent of Power Nectar.

Understanding that Li Le was directing her to attack, she sharply pulled the silk attached to her scythe claws.

The back shell closed, and wisps of pale yellow fragrance sprayed from beneath the abdominal shell.

The Seltas Queen Ahtal-Neset turned and charged toward him.

But before it had gone far, a curled-up body swinging on silk came crashing toward it head-on.

Crash!

The purple crystalline spikes on the Nerscylla's back embedded themselves in the back shell nailed together from wooden slats, piercing through it.

Viscous venom sparkling with purple flecks flowed steadily inside along the crystalline spikes.

The Nerscylla kicked hard with its forelimbs to disengage, then swung backward again to build momentum.

All six round eyes on the Nerscylla's face glowed red, making it look extremely furious.

Seeing the situation clearly through the observation port, Sisi couldn't quite understand.

This was clearly their first meeting. Why was it so angry, launching another ambush?

But she saw the accumulated venom flowing toward the insect legs.

So she tilted the body forward while opening the abdominal shell's vents as wide as possible.

The abdominal vents had originally been designed to mimic a Seltas Queen releasing foul-smelling pheromones.

Only Sisi released fragrance instead. She truly hadn't expected them to serve for draining venom now.

Seeing venom seep out from beneath it, the Nerscylla hesitated slightly.

But it had already built its momentum, so it curled up again and swung forward on its silk to strike.

Thump! Thump!

The Seltas Queen Ahtal-Neset stamped hard and charged.

Pressing down on the web left its legs with soft, yielding footing, but Sisi knew Li Le was calling her. She couldn't wait any longer.

Bang!

The purple crystalline spikes successfully embedded themselves again, even deeper this time.

But under the force of the forward charge, the Nerscylla itself was also caught in the impact.

Clatter!

The Ahtal-Neset and Nerscylla passed each other, one above and one below.

The crystal pillar piercing it snapped and shattered, and the Nerscylla was knocked backward, tumbling through the air.

The top of the Ahtal-Neset's back shell was also torn completely open amid the shattering.

Sisi braced for another charge as the Nerscylla heaved itself upright.

When it saw the beautiful golden figure inside the shell, the Nerscylla's six round eyes instantly turned from red to blue, as though it had regained its senses.

Pssht!

Silk shot toward the cave ceiling, and the Nerscylla rapidly climbed up, hanging upside down and yielding the web.

Sisi's charge missed, and she turned to look back in confusion.

To her, both the beginning and the end of this battle had been rather baffling.

Creak~ creak~...

After the footsteps receded, the silk lowered section by section.

Feeling the insect web suffused with a faint, sweet fragrance, the Nerscylla unconsciously turned its back and sank into it.

"Don't run!"

"Stop, meow!"

The human and cat pursued closely.

Yet this Kecha Wacha, which the client had described as extremely aggressive, showed no intention whatsoever of stopping to fight.

It swung faster beneath the web, as though hurrying somewhere.

"Strange. Why does it feel like it was waiting for this chance too?"

Li Le spotted the problem.

But when he noticed the web trembling more intensely, he knew Sisi was approaching and stopped worrying.

After a long running pursuit, the Kecha Wacha finally stopped.

But after leaping onto the web, it hooked its claws into the rock wall beside it and began climbing.

The human and cat looked up and found nothing on the cave ceiling except a large number of monster corpses wrapped in silk, hanging upside down and swaying.

"There's a Kecha Wacha corpse hanging there... Don't tell me it wants to take its companion's body down and carry it away, meow?"

Although the grayish-white silk wrapped the corpse very tightly.

Kaluo had been keeping an eye out for traces of Kecha Wacha lately and could not possibly mistake its build or fur color.

"No wonder this Kecha Wacha boldly made its move right after Sisi appeared. It really is loyal..."

Li Le suddenly understood why it had entered the spider's nest.

"Something's wrong, meow. We've already seen one Nerscylla food cache!"

Kaluo exclaimed.

"Then this place belongs to another one... Uh! Here it comes!"

High on the cave wall, an individual a size larger than the injured Nerscylla was crawling along upside down.