Chapter 441: Arachne

Vee slowly began to awaken, her consciousness still groggy and her body feeling unnaturally stiff. She wasn't sure how long she had been out, having never had someone to actually comment on her time spent evolving, but it felt long; why else did she feel so tired and hungry?

In an effort to wake up faster, Vee stretched her right arm upward, placed her left arm behind her head, and grabbed her right arm before alternating the two. An old habit she had from before all this crazy monster stuff began. As she was stretching and letting out a little groan of satisfaction, she suddenly paused, the gears in her head finally turning and putting two and two together.

"I have hands!" Vee gasped, releasing her stretching position and holding out the two foreign yet familiar appendages in front of her. Vee couldn't help but giggle at the sight, making sure to wiggle them; boy did she miss having fingers and thumbs!

Vee then let out another shocked gasp as she grabbed at her neck and throat with both hands; yes, she had those now. "I can talk! It worked! Haha, Syl is going to be so surprised and shocked when she sees this!"

Perhaps out of excitement, or still half-asleep, Vee rushed to the exit to show off without exploring her changes further. She'd been keeping this evolution a big surprise and wanted to see how her slimy best friend would react to the big moment. She reached for the closed [Rift Door], using her hands this time, and made a grasping, pulling motion, the magic coming to life and responding to her will as it opened, and she promptly jumped through.

As she left the empty dimensional void, she immediately felt the familiar mental bond tell her that Syl was right there; yes, her companion had been faithfully waiting for her emergence. Vee felt a sense of relief as she returned to the sunny island and saw nothing immediately wrong, like it being reduced to a smoldering crater or even a nuclear wasteland.

She smiled as she quickly spotted Syl, who was currently in the slightly customized elf form made to be differentiated from Sylthaeryn. However, instead of being a solid form, it was a bit droopy, with some body features looking like they had melted, and patches of skin and clothing in that bright azure-blue slime color Syl loved.

For Syl's body to be in such a state could only mean one thing: extreme hermit mode. Vee's smile faded as she felt the urge to reprimand her companion for not taking care of herself and for clearly staying up for multiple days on end, doing who knows what, to exhibit these symptoms. But she held back because she didn't want to ruin the big day with negativity. No, she could shout at Syl for being a big dumb slime later.

"Syl! I have hands now!" Vee exclaimed, waving her arms wildly. "And I can talk!"

Syl blinked a few times before nodding, a bright smile blossoming on her face. "That's great. I'm glad things worked out for you."

"I bet you're jealous of such an amazing evolution, huh?" Vee asked with a giggle.

"Um… Maybe? I'm more focused on why you're so small…"

"Well duh, obviously I'm just shrunk down a bit. I can still shrink my size; that wouldn't go away from evolving, you silly slime," Vee giggled again.

However, Syl shook her head. "No, not like that… You kind of look like… A kid?"

Vee's giggling stopped. "What?"

"Okay, maybe more like a twelve-year-old?"

Vee couldn't believe what she was hearing; it was like sirens were going off in her head, and she finally realized she had been so focused on her hands and talking that she hadn't bothered to look at the rest of her changes. Her oversight could be fully blamed on the system, as monsters were given instincts with their freshly evolved bodies, so she had no issue moving it around as soon as she woke up.

Now that the realization struck, Vee glanced down and saw her diminutive human torso coming out from her spidery bottom half. She let out a screech, as not only was she basically a child, but she was topless! She bolted back through the [Rift Door], closing it behind her while feeling embarrassed to the extreme. From there, she frantically searched through her [Pocket Space] for the clothes she had previously prepared for this event.

***

I watched as the spider girl bolted right back through the [Rift Door], her pale human half basically turning into a peach as she blushed from embarrassment. I wasn't sure what to make of the situation; it had looked like Vee had succeeded and gotten what she wanted, but her abrupt change in reaction suggested otherwise.

Evolution-wise, if you ignored the human torso that grew out from where her head had been, she had basically not changed at all. Her spider half was still that same slightly fuzzy black with purple accents, and I struggled to recall any other potential changes from the brief glance I had before she retreated.

As for the human half, she had been ghostly pale, practically porcelain, which was a little unusual, but considering there were plenty of elves with similar complexions, it was probably fine. Her hair was obsidian black, straight and long, going down the entire length of her back, matching well with the fuzz of her spider half. Facially, the first thing I noticed was her large amethyst colored eyes, and that was when I realized that each eye appeared to have multiple pupils if you looked hard enough.

So losing her spider head didn't result in fewer eyes… Interesting. My lackluster [Identify] spell said she was an Arachne now.

My thoughts were interrupted as I felt the [Rift Door] open, and Vee came out again, except this time she was wearing a pale yellow sundress. Clearly she had prepared this for her expected evolution, but unfortunately it was clearly way too large for her, and I couldn't help but wonder what proportions she had based it on.

"I can't believe this has happened!" Vee fumed. "This is not what I expected at all!"

"Don't worry, I'm sure Yuzz can resize that for you. Or better yet, I could try enchanting it for you," I offered reassuringly.

Vee shook her head. "No, not the dress, this whole body and everything. I feel like I've been lied to!"

"You look fine to me," I said before conjuring up a mirror made from ice. "I really like your eyes; they are like sparkling gems."

However, despite my compliment, I only saw Vee's anger worsen as she gazed at herself in the mirror. She turned around a few times, adjusting her position to give a full look at herself and even unshrunk a bit, but all that did was change her overall size, not her features.

"That bitch tricked me! Syl, we have a spider queen to go get revenge on! I'm sure you'll love a new profile-thingy you are always talking about, right?"

Normally I would jump at the opportunity, but assuming Vee was talking about Qhilleeqeth, that seemed like a bad idea. Not only was she under Mother, but she was also part of the dungeon alliance with Juniper, Ygdran, Simon, and presumably many more. She'd also helped us out, and without her, Vee apparently wouldn't have even gotten this evolution, so I felt reluctant very reluctant to betray her.

"Are you sure? Maybe it's different because of your base spider species?"

"No, I definitely think she tricked me. She kept calling me child and things like that when I was with her. I think she knew I'd end up like this; it was all part of her plan! I was expecting to be a buxom beauty, not… This!"

"Um… Maybe your next evolution will fix it?"

"What next evolution? This was my last one!" Vee cried out.

"What!? Are you sure?"

Vee nodded. "That Gramps person told me to warn you to make it count. Apparently this is the end of the road for monsters except under extremely unique circumstances."

"You spoke to Gramps? My next evolution is going to be my last?"

I couldn't believe what I was hearing, as I had really expected the tiers of monsters to go much higher. Considering most skills and traits went up to level ten, I had expected ten tiers of monsters to match. However, as I thought about it more, I realized that even the king and queen of the mermen had only been tier five. Vee was, in fact, the only tier six monster I'd ever seen, although now I could assume the rest of the dungeon alliance were also tier six.

"If it makes you feel any better, apparently we don't have a racial level cap anymore and instead get rewards similar to ascensions, whatever those are," Vee said. "That Gramps person told me to tell you that so you wouldn't freak out. It's apparently a very rare privilege for monsters."

That was honestly a bit of a relief, and it seemed Gramps knew me too well. Still, while I was partially placated, Vee was still very visibly upset. I ignored my own feelings for now and focused on her, trying to find a way to help her.

"Maybe you just need to shapeshift a bit? What about [Bipedal Shift]?"

I quickly shared the trait with Vee again, which had come from the mermen and was what allowed them to turn into humans to walk on the land. Considering it had allowed some of them to change how they looked as well, I was hoping it would help her.

Vee wasted no time purchasing the trait, and I saw hope in her eyes as she was clearly successful this time. It seemed whatever she had become met the criteria, and then she used it. I'd seen the mermen use it plenty of times, and it was a flawless process, yet perhaps because of Vee's low level in it, it was anything but.

As the sounds of joints creaking and bones shifting filled the air, her body began to change. Her spider half was being slowly swallowed by her human half, and it seemed like her body was inflating as a result. However, that abruptly stopped and reversed entirely, as if the trait suddenly realized her body and organs were all some weird kind of dimensional storage.

At the end of the rather gross body-shifting, what stood in front of me was Vee, a human-looking girl, her sundress trailing across the ground. Vee looked down at her tiny legs, then looked at the mirror and practically erupted.

"I'm going to kill her too! That stupid mermaid, after all I did for her, and this is how she repays me!"

Before I could respond, Vee must have used [Veil Step] as she disappeared from the spot. However, thanks to [Companion Bond], I quickly followed her. I arrived at the edge of the island, where a small, cozy-looking house had been built on the beach. This was where Sylvain and Vanessa lived, and it seemed I had arrived just in time, as I saw Vee lifting the siren and shaking her.

"You harlot! You tricked me just like that spider bitch!" Vee screeched.

From my perspective, things were almost comical, as this tiny girl was lifting up a fully grown woman and basically manhandling her. It appeared that no matter what her size was, Vee was still a tier six monster and had the strength to back it up. Poor Vanessa was ill-equipped to deal with the spider's rage and was being shaken like a rag doll.

"Vee! Stop it, or I will make you!" Sylvain threatened, having rushed to aid Vanessa.

I was getting ready to throw myself into the mix as well, but thankfully Vee dropped the siren and collapsed to the ground like a puppet whose strings had been cut. She began wailing, pounding the sand as she vented her frustrations.

While Vee was being hysterical, it was clear that Sylvain and Vanessa wanted answers, and, at the same time, Sylbera arrived on the scene. With pretty much everyone here, I explained the situation as best I could, hoping to put our heads together for a solution.

"I don't suppose more levels in the trait would help?" Sylvain asked Vanessa.

"No. More levels just make the change quicker, with less flaws and harder to see through," Vanessa explained. "I'm actually wondering where she's hidden her monster parts; it seems too early to have it at this level if this is her first time using it."

"It's probably stored dimensionally," Sylbera answered. "But can't you change how you look? Why can't Vee do the same?"

"That's a different ability," Vanessa answered. "All mermen can learn to grow legs, but only those who take the infiltrator mutation can change how they look. We can try, but I wouldn't get your hopes up."

Vanessa shared the trait with Vee, but as expected, she couldn't buy it. Having a human half and form was one thing; being a shapeshifter or disguise-focused monster was another.

"So I'm stuck like this…" Vee muttered, with Sylbera rushing to her side to pat her on the back.

"Why would you be stuck like this?" Vanessa answered. "All mermen children look like that; don't you just need to grow up?"

"Grow up? I'm an adult!" Vee retorted. "I'm a tier six monster; I'm at the end of the growing phase. There's no more!"

"But how old are you?" Vanessa asked again.

"What? I'm like… Twenty… Something?" Vee tried answering, now looking unsure of herself.

"Wait. No, not your past life, Vee," I finally replied, understanding what Vanessa was trying to get at.

"What? I mean… Does that even matter? I thought monsters aged by evolving?"

"Who told you that?" Vanessa asked.

"Isn't it common sense?" Vee replied. "Evolutions are like growths for monsters."

"Maybe for monster monsters," Vanessa agreed. "But for monstrous humanoids, even if you rapidly evolve, you still grow with age."

"But… By that logic I should be a toddler, not a pre-teen."

"Just like an elf ages differently from a human, so do monsters. You can't compare one species' lifespan to another's," Vanessa answered again, as if it was obvious.

"Wait… Does that mean I'm living in spider years?"

"Spider years?" I asked.

"Like dog years, but for a spider," Vee answered.

All of us looked at Vee curiously, not really understanding what she was saying. It must have been another one of her Vee-isms, but thanks to the context of the earlier conversation, we pieced it together.

"Okay… so maybe we don't need to exterminate Qhilleeqeth," Vee finally said.

Our small group sighed with relief as the situation finally calmed down.

"Well, we can reevaluate it in a few months," Vee said, keeping the flame of revenge simmering. "If I haven't grown the equivalent in spider years, then she's got some explaining to do…"