Chapter 674: Tasteless
The gargantuan spider’s legs drew inward.
Those enormous, many-jointed limbs folded against its body, bending with a slow, sinister fluidity that made their former shape seem suddenly uncertain.
The abdomen contracted, its majestic breadth collapsing toward the centre of the radiance, while the silken cradle loosened around a weight that was swiftly diminishing.
The transformation produced no loud cry.
A low, continuous hum disturbed the chamber, accompanied by the soft whisper of webbing sliding against itself.
Through the blinding light, the creature’s outline contorted, its angular extremities disappearing into a compact mass that grew smaller with every passing moment.
The woman dared to open her eyes a fraction.
What had occupied most of the ceiling now hung at the centre of the web as a narrow, luminous shape. It compressed further, drawing itself into a small, intensely radiant core before slowly lengthening again.
A head emerged from the brilliance.
Shoulders followed, then arms, their outlines unfolding with an eerie grace.
The remaining light stretched downward, separating into the slender silhouette of two legs, and the figure descended from the loosened web as though an unseen hand were lowering it toward the floor.
By then, its shape was unmistakably that of a human woman.
For a moment, that luminous silhouette remained suspended above the stone, its features obscured beneath the incandescent veil. Then its pristine, pale feet touched the floor as the radiance receded upward.
The chamber dimmed.
Shadows returned beneath the web and around the heap of bones, while the original globe resumed its feeble dominion over the room. In the place where the enormous spider had descended stood a naked woman.
She was supremely beautiful.
Long, pale hair fell around her shoulders and down her back, its silken strands carrying a faint lustre even after the light of the transformation had vanished.
Her face possessed an exquisite symmetry, with high cheekbones, finely drawn brows, and features so faultless that their perfection was almost disquieting.
Her skin was smooth and pallid beneath the chamber’s cold illumination, untouched by any blemish that might have suggested an ordinary life.
The contours and curves of her naked body formed a well-endowed but slim figure, with delicate breasts that lay still on her chest.
An impossibly slim waist adorned the area below her torso, but that same slender waist flared into a pair of shapely hips.
She stood barefoot upon the filthy stone, wholly composed, with neither the temperature nor the bones scattered nearby drawing the slightest reaction from her.
The elderly woman remained bowed before her.
Above them, the empty cradle of webbing swayed gently, its loosened threads stirring in the aftermath of the transformation.
Beneath it, the master regarded her servant through beautiful, inscrutable, bloody eyes, with the same patient gait that had watched her from the spider’s nest.
The master stepped forward and stopped before the shivering woman, lifting her chin until their eyes met in the faint light emanating from her body.
However, the elderly servant didn’t dare keep her eyes open, quickly closing them before she gazed upon the master’s perfect countenance.
"Tell me... the little girl brought the outsiders in, yes?"
The elderly woman nodded, barely managing to keep herself standing. "Y-yes, master."
The master licked her pale lips, a pleased expression forming on her face.
"She’s done well. These peasants’ flesh hasn’t tasted the same since I had a bite of those outsiders you found a few days ago. You’ve done well to find more so soon. Make sure the girl is rewarded."
Her smile widened as she continued. "She can have the honour of joining her new friends at my next meal... as an appetiser! Hahahahaha!"
Within the master’s eyes, an impossible scene was unfolding. She was seeing through Eva’s eyes!
As the little girl hungrily ate the bread and drank the tea Elion had given her, the master surveyed the faces gathered around her.
Her smile turned into a beautiful one, her borrowed vision granting her a glimpse of her next delectable meal.
However, the scene reflected in her eyes began to recede, dividing into a dozen hexagonal shapes, each holding a different view.
The dozen became hundreds as her vision continued to expand, forming an intricate mosaic of overlapping perspectives.
Eva’s eyes were merely one pair among them. The master could see through the eyes of every person in the settlement!
"Inform these outsiders that I would be delighted to meet them," she told her servant. "And begin making arrangements to discover where they’re coming from!"
A long, serpentine tongue slowly slipped from her mouth, passing over her pale lips. "I have a feeling I won’t be able to get enough of their flesh..."
"Ahahahahahaha!" Her laughter reverberated through the frigid chamber, rising with undisguised delight. "There must be more where these ones came from! Find them all!"
Her succulent tits jiggled from the vibrations of her laughter, and the servant didn’t dare interrupt her master’s moment of delight.
She didn’t dare dismiss herself either, waiting until the moment when the laughter had passed.
...
Night had fallen over the ruins above, though little changed within the cavern.
The lamps continued to burn bright beneath the eaves of the neighbouring houses, casting small pools of amber light over the square, while the pale growths overhead maintained their spectral luminescence.
Only the dwindling movement in the streets suggested that the town was settling into its hours of rest.
Elion sat beside the window, looking down at the two guards beneath the entrance.
They had barely moved.
They did move around occasionally, but neither had shown any inclination to leave. From where Elion sat, he could see the faint threads extending from them, disappearing beyond the rooftops toward the spire.
Mayumi occupied the chair beside him, her sword resting within easy reach beside her knee. She had just finished sharpening it as she did once every two days.
The others had withdrawn into the adjoining rooms, leaving only the two of them in the sitting area, though Elion doubted anyone had managed to fall asleep just yet.
Maya and Nora were keeping an eye on Eva.
He had stopped the girl from eating the moment the system warned him, earning a look of bewildered disappointment that still troubled him.
The others had swiftly put their portions aside, but Uta and Nora had already tasted the bread or tea, and none of them knew enough about the poison to dismiss the matter simply because they felt no immediate discomfort.