BABY SPIDER BEATDOWN

The Demon Lord, Vampy, and Mera have all gone into town.

To kill time, I’m amusing myself by remodeling the puppet spiders as usual, when suddenly, I detect a warp in space.

The telltale sign of a Teleport spell.

Someone’s about to warp here.

Who? I don’t even need to bother wondering.

I’d recognize that waaay-too-perfect manipulation of space anywhere.

Just as I suspected, Güli-güli appears before me.

If there’s anyone else in the world who’s this good at Teleport, well…let’s just say I hope there isn’t.

As an administrator, Güli-güli uses Teleport even more precisely than I do.

Even though I have Height of Occultism, too.

I doubt anyone else could be on this level.

“It’s been a while.”

The puppet spiders are visibly alarmed by Güli-güli’s arrival, but I nod as calmly as I can.

“We don’t have much time, so I’ll cut straight to the point: Your copies are on a rampage. Please do something about it.”

Come again?

Hmm? What did he just say?

My copies are on a rampage?

Wait, what? Does he mean my Parallel Minds?

“Perhaps it would be faster to show you.”

With a wave of his arm, Güli-güli creates some kind of screen floating in the air.

What kind of magic is that?!

But what’s on the screen is even more alarming than the screen itself.

It’s the town where Vampy once lived.

And a huge swarm of white spiders is attacking it.

Say whaaaaaaaat?!

“You see? If this is not your doing, I would like you to stop it.”

Huh? Whuh?

“And if this is your doing, I shall have no choice but to react accordingly.”

Ignoring my confusion, Güli-güli’s voice takes on a dangerous tone.

“I believe I told you before that if your actions lead to results that run counter to mine, you shall find me standing in your way. Did I not?”

Uh-oh. Am I in trouble?

I don’t think there’s any way even I can win against an administrator, right?

In which case, there’s only one correct answer.

“I’ll go stop them.”

For once, I make a firm statement out loud.

Mostly because if I didn’t, he’d probably kill me on the spot.

With that, I waste no time in starting to prepare a Teleport spell.

“You will, will you? Good.”

Güli-güli looks relieved.

I guess this was a pretty tight spot for him. If he laid a hand on me, he might very well be making an enemy of D.

Doing what he says right now is best for both of us, really.

What the hell are those Parallel Minds doing anyway?!

Are they stupid? Do they want to die? I hope so, ’cause I’m gonna kill ’em for this!

I haaate it when other people hold me back, but I never expected my own damn selves to hold me back, too!

As I rage inwardly, I notice the puppet spiders in a panic in front of me.

Oh yeah. What should I do about them?

Since they’re under orders from the Demon Lord to keep watch on me, wouldn’t leaving them here mean they’re technically shirking their duties?

The Demon Lord might get mad at them for that, even though they didn’t do anything wrong.

I guess I’d feel a little bad.

Maybe I should give them the option to at least be able to say they were watching me the whole time.

“Want to come, too?”

The puppet spiders look at one another, then nod in perfect sync.

Okay.

Then let’s go!

I teleport us behind the army of spiders.

Wouldn’t want the townspeople seeing what I look like now, after all.

Ideally, I should probably be helping the people fighting on the front lines, but I’ll just have to hope they have it under control.

What I need to deal with personally are those idiot Parallel Minds of mine.

Their spider army is so huge, you can’t even see the ground, but I don’t need to search to know where the Parallel Minds are.

They are me, after all.

Besides, when there are nine specific spiders who are emitting an aura totally different from the rest of the swarm, it doesn’t take a genius to figure out that those are my Parallel Minds.

At any rate, I should probably shove my way in there and talk to them.

I don’t wanna endanger the puppet spiders, so I’ll have them hang back for now.

“Hey, dummies, what’s the big idea?”

My words come easily enough for once. Maybe it’s because it’s my own selves I’m talking to.

“Geh?! The main body! You’re onto us already?!”

One of the Parallel Minds responds to me with Telepathy.

“You wanna tell me what exactly’s going on here? Güli-güli showed up to complain to me about it.”

“Whaaat?”

“That Güli-güli sure acts fast.”

“So fast he was gonna kill me if I didn’t stop you guys! Cut it out, will ya? Seriously, what d’you think you’re doing?” I make no effort to hide my annoyance.