Since when had the illusion taken root that escape from the Great Demon Lord was impossible?
The eggshell cracks.
I, Re-born!
Ah—nearly missed it.
No way.
I nearly died for real.
Immortality exists. I was going to fake my death and slip through by pretending to be killed, but why use Abyss Magic?
Frustrated.
Would have lost the entire parallel consciousness if the connection to the main body had been severed just a moment later.
At the moment I was struck by Abyss Magic from the Demon King, I forcibly withdrew only my soul from my body and escaped.
It was the first time doing something like this. Whether it could be done was uncertain. Still, I sent my entire self through the method of dispatching parallel consciousnesses.
The destination was an egg being produced by skill ovulation, currently under experimentation within the Elro Great Labyrinth.
Skill: Oviposition allows one to produce offspring in the form of eggs without mating.
The skill was added after consuming Mother, but I returned to the labyrinth's core and tested it.
Result: I could produce an egg by consuming SP.
The egg did not hatch immediately, so I left it unattended. I never expected it would prove useful in this manner.
Abyss Magic is dangerous.
If struck directly, even I would die.
Immunity, invulnerability, resistance—none of it matters against that magic.
After all, it is a spell of quasi-administrator-level power.
A monstrous spell that disassembles both flesh and soul, forcibly projecting them into the MA domain.
The only method within the system capable of killing me.
Extremely dangerous.
I did not anticipate anyone else being able to use Abyss Magic, nor did I expect someone to come after me using it.
Ah, these past few battles have been relatively easy. Yet why is it always life-or-death when facing a strong opponent?
I should be strong enough to say I have no enemies now.
Why am I being beaten down so thoroughly?
Well.
At least I survived by the skin of my teeth. Time to assess the current state.
First, check status.
Blast!?
I burst out laughing upon seeing my own stats.
All stats at 3.
Three.
No mistake. Definitely three.
The maximum value remains unchanged from before, with "decreasing" displayed beside the stat values.
Perhaps the body swap caused a temporary drop in stats?
Well, unavoidable.
My current form is palm-sized.
The egg I hatched from was roughly the same size as a chicken egg.
The new body that emerged from it is small.
With this size, maintaining previous stats would be a visual deception.
Skills remain unchanged, but with these stats, proper combat is impossible.
Best to remain dormant until stats recover.
Ah, hello?
{Yes?}
Possibly heading to the Demon Lord soon.
{Really?}
Yes.
Good luck!
{No way, no way!}
For now, if cornered, just escape the same way I did.
{Understood.}
Mother duty meeting concluded.
Should the soul attack on the Demon Lord be paused for now?
No—this time, the mistake was allowing proximity due to carelessness.
If I hadn’t been careless, I could’ve used teleportation to evade—except with my current stats, teleportation won’t activate.
Ah, no good.
Therefore, everyone—please suspend attacks temporarily and go dormant.
{Got it.}
"Can't help it."
Yeah.
Initiate fake-death strategy.
Abyss Magic doesn't grant experience points.
Experience points are absorbed from the soul of the defeated opponent. Abyss Magic recovers even that.
Since no experience points are gained, there's no risk of revealing I'm still alive.
Phew.
It's strange—dying from Abyss Magic, then being saved by Abyss Magic.
But what now?
With this body, normal activity is impossible.
Or rather, will the stats really return to normal?
What if they don't?
Before that, how will I eat?
Can I even hunt with this weak status?
Ugh.
This is getting bad.
What should I do?
While pondering, rustling sounds begin from around me.
Ah, right.
I was supposed to lay about a thousand eggs.
One by one, my little ones break free from their shells and emerge.
『Minimal Lesser Holowar Neia LV1
Status
HP: 3/3 (Green)
MP: 3/3 (Blue)
SP: 3/3 (Yellow)
ATK: 3/3 (Red)
Average Attack: 3
Average Defense: 3
Average Magic: 3
Average Resistance: 3
Average Speed: 3
Skills
"Magic Perception LV1", "Magic Manipulation LV1", "Poison Fang LV1", "Spider Silk LV1", "Dark Vision LV7", "Poison Magic LV1", "Poison Resistance LV1"』
Huh?
New species. Never seen anything like this before.
My species remains Zana Holowar, but what are these?
And they just casually have Poison Magic innate.
『Minimal Lesser Holowar Neia: New strain created by Zana Holowar』
A new strain?
D?
Was it him?
Whatever.
They’re weak individually, but numerous and usable.
Familiar control is functioning properly. If I command them to hunt, I won’t need to do anything myself. That’s fine.
Kukuku.
Good.
Hey, my little babies!
Bring me prey!
Nine hundred and ninety-nine spiderlings move in unison at my command.
Ugh, disgusting.
Forcing newborns to serve… what kind of parent is that?
Terrible.
Cruel.
Aha ha ha.
Do your best, my children.