"Alright, alright, enough sulking. We've got some leveling up to do."
C.C. bent down, gently ruffling Shiraori's fluffy little head before tugging on her round, squishy cheek.
"Oh…"
Shiraori puffed out her cheeks, still looking dazed and dejected, but nodded obediently, as if her spider-life had just lost all meaning.
Dragging the Earth Dragon egg along for a few steps, she suddenly stopped, snapped out of her daze, and zoomed back to Nagami.
With her razor-sharp forelegs, she poked the egg's surface a few times, sparks flying like clashing swords.
"Nagami, what exactly are we supposed to do with this thing?" she asked, tilting her head with a troubled look.
What was she even going to do with it?
Eat it? Nah.
Raise it until it hatches? That'd take, what, over ten years?
And when it does hatch, is she supposed to call the reincarnated girl inside—Kurihara Mirei—her former classmate? Or… mom?
The mere thought gave her the creeps.
Her pink eyes flashed with existential dread as she stared at the egg like it was cursed.
There was no way she could keep this thing!
"You're asking me? I've got no idea either~"
Nagami shrugged dramatically, folding his arms and looking at her with mock seriousness.
"But tell me—why did you bring this egg back in the first place? I mean, in the anime you ended up tossing it anyway."
Whether we leave it with that soldier or not doesn't make much difference. It's not like humans are gonna eat it, right?"
"Uh… (⊙o⊙)…" Shiraori blinked hard, her eyes suddenly wide.
She furrowed her brow for a moment before realization dawned.
"Oh right! Why did I bring this back?!"
Nagami sighed, rubbing his forehead in exasperation.
This spider was starting to act more like a pig…
"Ehehe~ She's still my classmate, y'know? I just brought it back on instinct." She pressed a foreleg to her head in mock embarrassment, winking cutely.
"'Ehehe' my ass." Nagami karate-chopped her on the forehead, rolling his eyes.
"How about this—just stash it somewhere and wait for fate to do its thing. Ideally, once we escape the Great Dungeon, we find a nice cliff and leave it underneath."
"If someone survives a fall and finds it? Boom—instant cheat item. Dragon companions are standard for protagonists, right?"
He tapped the patterned egg thoughtfully, fingers brushing over the hard surface.
Yep, solid stuff.
"With how sturdy it is, it's probably not gonna break."
"Nice! That actually sounds really fun."
Being a hardcore otaku, Shiraori had read her fair share of similar stories.
Sure, it was cliché—but now that she was the one making the plot, it felt fresh and exciting.
"If Schlain's lucky enough, maybe the egg will end up back with him anyway."
Nagami honestly didn't care much about the egg.
Well—if he had to be honest—he did have one tiny selfish thought.
After eating bland, dry survival biscuits for days on end, he was really craving a change in flavor.
"Hmm… that's not a bad idea either."
Shiraori didn't harbor any strong hatred toward the hero's party.
After all, they were her former classmates.
But from the perspective of a monster, she didn't have much affection for them either.
Familiar background characters—that's about the level of sentiment she felt.
While discussing what to do with the egg, the two returned to their little hideout.
Using webs, Shiraori wrapped the egg into a tight cocoon and hung it high overhead.
"…You know what? I changed my mind. This thing might actually make a decent weapon."
Nagami gave her a peculiar look as he bounced the egg around like a toy during the setup, sending it crashing into the cave walls.
Pebbles crumbled and fell from the impact zones.
"Hey—woah!"
Startled by his sudden comment, Shiraori nearly fell out of the air.
She quickly secured the egg, rappelled down with webbing, and stared warily at Nagami.
If he kept playing around, he might actually use it as a blunt weapon.
"Don't joke about stuff like that!" she huffed.
Sure, it was a reincarnated classmate—but still, there was some sense of school spirit left in her.
And technically, Shiraori still carried Wakaba Hiiro's memories.
That should count as being Wakaba Hiiro herself… right?
Kind of a philosophical question.
"Shiro, remember those dumb monkeys from the anime?"
C.C. tucked a loose strand of hair behind her ear, her delicate face curling into a sly, knowing smile.
"You mean that Arnoglatch guy—the one whose whole tribe swore to hunt me down to the ends of the earth just because I killed one of them?"
Shiraori lifted her head, giving C.C. a complicated look.
It hadn't been that long since she'd rewatched the anime based on her world, so she remembered the plot clearly.
"That monkey's name is really Arnoglatch? Who comes up with these weird names?" C.C. muttered.
"But this might actually work in our favor. If we play our cards right, we could rack up enough XP to level up big time. You might even evolve to the next stage."
The beast that looked like a monkey had a unique skill called Vengeance, which made it obsessively and endlessly attack anything that harmed its comrades.
Because of this, they were nicknamed Revenge Apes.
With Nagami around, Shiraori's level was way higher than it had been in the original storyline, so either of them could easily take down a single Revenge Ape.
But as a group? That was a different story.
As a collective, these beasts were easily S-rank threats.
They would relentlessly pursue the killer of one of their own, never stopping until the entire horde was wiped out.
For context, the group that Spider Girl had defeated in the anime was the smallest possible unit.
C.C. always found it weird how these monsters even managed to survive in the lower levels of the Great Elroe Labyrinth.
What if a passing earth dragon accidentally stomped one of them to death? The whole tribe would go on a suicide mission to avenge it!
How the heck did these things not go extinct?
Also, who the hell thought naming their skill Vengeance was a good idea? Might as well call it Mutual Destruction!
In the lower layers of the labyrinth, monsters with human-level intelligence were essentially raid bosses.
They wouldn't bother wasting energy on hunting down low-level mobs like the Revenge Apes.
And while some weaker monsters had a bit of brainpower, they clearly weren't on par with humans.
So, if they made good use of the terrain and set traps in advance... maybe, just maybe, they could pull it off.
It would be a high-stakes gamble, but if it paid off, they'd hit the jackpot. Nagami might even be able to call it a day and return home.
The idea alone was enough to make C.C.'s eyes sparkle.
After all, they had the ultimate cheat code—Nagami was un-killable.
If they were going to go crazy, they might as well go all the way.
Getting more and more excited, C.C. turned to Shiraori with a raised brow and a grin.
"So? You in?"
Shiraori hesitated. "It… sounds pretty dangerous. But also really tempting…"
"Great! Then it's settled—we're doing this!"
The green-haired beauty shouted in a clear, melodic voice… completely clashing with the outrageous words she'd just said.
"Relax. If things go south, we run. I'll use my male body to draw their aggro."
"Wait—what?"
Shiraori suddenly looked horrified, as if something terrifying had just clicked in her mind.
Don't tell me… is Nagami planning to abandon his male body?
Is he going to go full beauty queen and become an actual girl?!
From a normal perspective, if you had to sacrifice a body, wouldn't you ditch the spare, not your original one?
I mean, sure, being sisters with Nagami might be kind of nice, but this plan isn't worth a whole life!
"Hold on, Nagami! Be rational! I'm not ready to be your sister!"
Shiraori flailed her little arms in protest, trying to stop whatever madness Nagami was contemplating.
"What the hell are you on about?" Nagami swatted her hands away, looking at her like she was speaking nonsense. "Didn't I tell you I'm immortal?"
"…Oh. Right. You actually didn't. Then we're good."
"???"
'Wait, what happened to being a normal person?'
'I wanna be an immortal normal person too!'