I Became an Evolving Lizard in a Martial Arts Novel-Chapter 323:

So-Yeong sat happily on my back, giggling.

She must’ve been in a good mood after landing a solid hit on the Five Venoms Sect.

Understandable—every single venomous snake at that gate had ended up joining us.

The ones too slow or weak for battle had already been sent ahead to the Gae Gak Sect.

And how were we sending them? Well, my poor wyvern had some work cut out for him.

I’d plucked a few scales off myself, so if they showed up at the meeting spot and gave them to the wyvern, he’d know to give them °• N 𝑜 v 𝑒 l i g h t •° a lift.

Sure, it’d take a while given how many there were, but I told them to pass along the message that I’d prepare two brand-new luxury carriages if he completed the mission—so he’d probably be motivated.

“Heheh. How many are there, anyway?”

Naturally, So-Yeong was even more thrilled, given her obsession with poisons.

Of course, my actual destination was the Beast Palace, not the Five Venoms Sect—but now that things had turned out this way, taking a little detour didn’t seem so bad.

And bailing now would just make it look like we’d stirred up a hornet’s nest and ran off.

If I kept passing through these gates and gaining new allies like this, the Gae Gak Sect’s forces would get seriously beefed up.

“...No, I swear, this really used to be Beast Palace territory!”

Hoya tried to defend herself beside me.

She looked pretty embarrassed.

After all that confident talk, she’d ended up getting us lost.

“Ugh... I swear I’m not lying.”

Her ears and tail drooped.

Still, I didn’t press her.

Things hadn’t gone totally off track, after all.

“She’s telling the truth. I heard this area was established recently~.”

Blue Serpent, perhaps feeling bad for the downcast Hoya, spoke up in that same singsong tone.

“Back then, beasts from the Beast Palace used to pass through here all the time.”

“See? I told you I was right!”

With her spirits lifted, Hoya’s tail perked right back up.

Sure, let’s go with that.

“Gek-gek.”

“Hmph. This snake’s got a good eye. Remembering details like that... I’ll be keeping an eye on you.”

Hoya seemed to be warming up to Blue Serpent.

Blue Serpent stared up at her, then slithered closer and asked,

“What’s your relationship with the Young Master~?”

She asked while swaying her neck back and forth.

“Huh? What do you mean?”

“That wolf over there is the Madam~. What about our tiger lady?”

Hoya paused for a second, pretending to think, then answered clearly.

“Absolutely nothing. If I had to say, it’s more of a contract? I’m just guiding him around.”

That really is the extent of it.

She taught me Partial Spirit Transformation, and now she’s acting as a guide.

“Ugh, what a waste of time.”

Suddenly, that playful, drawn-out tone vanished.

“W-What?”

Hoya froze on the spot, looking genuinely shocked.

Blue Serpent slithered away without a care and wiggled her way over to the wriggling Pus and Tus.

“And what about our adorable spiders~?”

Tus and Pus were my first-ever disciples.

“Ki-ong!”

“Kii-eng!”

“...Ahh, so they’re the Madams~!”

Huh?

What exactly did you two just say?

And Blue Serpent, why do you keep adding “~yong” to the end of everything?

Must be her “thing,” considering how she talks to Hoya.

Still, she doesn’t seem like a bad snake.

Look at her flicking her tongue and brown-nosing like a pro.

She’s clearly happy to have joined our side, but more than that—she’s calculating.

Trying to figure out which side to stick with to improve her standing.

In other words, even if I told her to go away, she’d probably cling to me like a leech.

“Ahem.”

So-Yeong cleared her throat dramatically.

Blue Serpent glanced up at her briefly, then said,

“That human over there... hmm, doesn’t seem worth asking~.”

She spoke like she saw right through everything.

“W-What?! I’m Tang So-Yeong, the one who receives the most favor from Ko Hui!”

...Blue Serpent, huh.

The more I look at her, the more I like her.

Bickering back and forth, we continued on our way.

From time to time, wild beasts would glance at us, but none dared to approach.

How far had we gone when So-Yeong, perched on my back, finally spoke?

“...I think we’ve arrived.”

Everyone stopped walking.

Only the snake-serpents knew the layout and location of the next gate, but So-Yeong knew more about the Five Venoms Sect as a whole.

She’d been sharing intel along the way, too.

“There’s something off about this place.”

Baekrang stretched beside me.

As she said, something was strange.

No—in fact, I wasn’t even sure we could call this a “gate.”

There were barely any signs of human presence.

A few scattered structures were visible, but they were clearly neglected.

Rusty. Collapsing. Decaying.

Completely different from the Fourth Gate, which even had fields being cultivated.

This place felt more like an enormous nest than a checkpoint.

“Kiooo...”

“Kieee...”

Tus and Pus let out low cries.

“Ko Hui. If I’m right... this should be Jidokmun.”

Jidokmun!

Even I could figure that one out.

Since it was known for using poisonous insects, of course they used the ji from “spider.”

“There’s nothing visible right now, but take a wrong step and they’ll swarm out... just like a spiderweb.”

There weren’t any visible webs...

But something was definitely here.

Just like So-Yeong said, one wrong move and they’d all be alerted.

“Everyone listen up. I’ll take the lead here.”

So-Yeong spoke with a calmness uncharacteristic of her usual self.

Apparently, even she couldn’t stay casual when dealing with the Five Venoms Sect.

“Gek-gek.”

I nudged So-Yeong’s rear with my tail.

“Everyone, step where I—hyaaak!”

Startled, she fell flat on her butt.

“Ko-Ko Sir?!”

She scrambled back to her feet in a fluster.

“Kiaaaah...”

From the distance, we heard the rustling, chittering sound of massive spiders rushing toward us.

“K-Ko Sir! I’ll give back the spirit orb I secretly took, okay?! Just save me—!”

This translation is the intellectual property of Novelight.

...Huh?

When did you even take that?

“Kiaaaak!”

The spiders were coming.

But strangely, I wasn’t worried.

I flicked my tail to move So-Yeong behind me and stepped forward.

“Gek-gek.”

“Kiaaah! Kiee... Ki-ong?”

There was a time I stood side-by-side with Nephila, hand in hand, to face the fire ant horde.

The day she threw her body in the way to save me... was the day she started feeling something more than loyalty.

And from then on—

I became the one beloved by spiders.

“Kieeiing...”

The assorted spiders bared their fangs—

Then softened their expressions into innocent puppy-eyes.

“Kioooooong!”

“Kieeeng!”

Tus and Pus let out low, warning growls—they clearly didn’t like what they were seeing.

“Eee-ee-ee...”

The spiders wiggled their butts eagerly, expressing affection toward me.

“Don’t tell me... you’re seriously thinking of accepting all of them? No way!”

Baekrang bared her teeth and growled beside me.

Maybe it was just my imagination, but it felt like her hostility was aimed more at me than at the spiders.

“Ohh, Young Master! Remarkable, truly! A real hero of beauty and charm!”

“Such virility~.”

...What’s with you two now?

Still, the general mood was pretty upbeat.

We’d passed through the gate without a fight.

And just like with the snakes, some of these spiders might follow us.

“Kyaaak! Kyaoo!”

But not all the spiders seemed friendly.

The larger ones—about Baekrang’s size—didn’t seem affected by the title’s charm.

Tch. Those were the ones I really needed if I wanted to strengthen our forces.

“Kyaah... Kyaaak!”

Alright, time to try the classic handsome-guy trick.

“Geg-gek.”

I let out the deepest, suavest geg-gek I could muster.

“Kyaang... Kyaaang-ang...”

“Kyaing-ang...”

Even the large spiders started wiggling their butts shyly.

I’m terrified.

I’m genuinely scared of myself right now.

I actually got those spiders to calm down.

I’ve become the ultimate lizard—beloved above all by spiders.

Of course, the more those big spiders mellowed out, the more aggressive a different pair became.

“Kioooooong!”

“Kieeeeeeng!”

Tus and Pus started yanking on the scales of my cheek.

“Ki-ooong!”

Come on, guys, you know my favorite spiders are you two and Nephila.

“Kieng...”

“Ki-ong...”

Hearing that seemed to immediately lift their mood.

Tus and Pus began wriggling joyfully.

The little spiders bounced along.

The big ones swayed side to side.

It had become a grand festival of spider unification.

We’d conquered Jidokmun without a single loss.

“Kiyaaaat...”

No—I thought we had.

“Did I not teach you to separate personal and professional matters?”

That voice struck cold and sharp through the air.

The dancing spiders instantly froze in fear.

“Kiooo...”

“Kiyang...”

SHHHRAAA!

A massive web spread out in an instant.

Threads that had lain dormant suddenly materialized.

“Now, let’s see... how exactly did you manage to charm these children?”

A pressure unlike anything I’d felt loomed over us.

It was nearly equal to that of the Snake Queen.

【Anansi – LV123】

And then it all made sense.

The reason there had been no visible handlers for the spiders.

There was no need for humans when a spirit beast existed who could assume full human form.

Her crimson eyes, much like Nephila’s, stared directly at me.

“Hooh... There is something odd about you. Looking at that little lizard makes me feel strange. I can kind of see why the younger ones lost their minds.”

This was someone even my “Beloved by Spiders” title couldn’t affect.

Just as larger spiders resisted it more than the smaller ones, the effect likely scaled with power.

And Anansi’s power dwarfed even the largest spiders.

“But that won’t work on me, little lizard.”

And with her arrival, the other spiders seemed to snap out of their trance.

Truthfully, the title only made spiders like me.

But if their leader labeled me as an enemy, they’d follow that instinct.

“Kyaak...”

They hesitated now, but at the leader’s command, they’d charge.

I didn’t want to fight her.

It wasn’t just that I wanted to recruit her into the Gae Gak Sect—something deep within me, some ancient lizard instinct, screamed that I must not fight her.

But why?

“Children. Return to my side.”

Scuttlescuttlescuttle.

The spiders all returned to her immediately.

So now she was preparing for battle.

“Kieeek! Kiek, Kieek?”

“Kioooong?”

Tus and Pus tilted their heads, staring hard at Anansi.

Strangely blank expressions filled their faces.

...No way.

Could it be?

Does she have the ability to manipulate spiders at will?

If she’s even thinking about laying a hand on Tus and Pus—

There’s no room for negotiation.

I took a deep breath—

Just as I was about to exhale—

“You two...?”

I froze, quickly covering my mouth.

“Ki-ong!”

“Kieng!”

Tus and Pus weren’t dazed—they were staring at her to recognize her face.

And judging by that reaction, they clearly knew her.

Spiders always recognize their own.

If they knew each other, maybe we could talk this out.

“...Mama?”

They immediately flung themselves forward and bowed in full prostration.

Wait.

Are you telling me—

That’s... my mother-in-law?!