My Seven Wives in One Body and Me, her Manager-Chapter 51: Lure Monsters to Enemy Base

"Srag," Dennis leaped out from behind the bushes. Naturally, the crawler in front of him immediately turned to look at him.

"Yo," Dennis greeted, raising his hand.

The crawler stared at Dennis with its eight eyes, tilting its head as if observing him with a face that seemed to say, "is this guy looking to die?" Dennis stepped forward slowly, then "clang," he hurled Hyunjin’s knife at the crawler’s head. Of course, the knife bounced off the crawler’s tough skin and fell to the ground. Seeing that, the crawler immediately moved into an attack stance, its body low and its long spider legs crouching, ready to pounce.

"Bye bye," Dennis said, jumping backward.

But suddenly, "thud," Dennis slammed into something behind him. "krrrr," a low growl echoed at his back. Slowly, Dennis turned his head and saw another spider chameleon behind him that had just appeared, causing him to bump right into its long, massive legs. Right after that, another one emerged beside him. He was surrounded by three spider chameleons, all of them staring at him and preparing to pounce. Dennis looked at his map, and sure enough, three dots had appeared surrounding him, even though there had only been one before.

"Okay, I’m dead... this was a total miscalculation. Turns out there are three, and the icons on the map are monsters that didn’t disappear," Dennis muttered in his head.

[Correct, Master.]

"Why didn’t you say anything?" Dennis asked, annoyed.

[I thought you already understood, so I didn’t explain it.]

"Grr... help me find a way out. I don’t want to die here," Dennis said.

Before Dennis could get an answer, the spider chameleon to his side spat a liquid web from its mouth. Dennis dodged it and the liquid hit the ground. "csss," the ground where the web landed immediately started smoking because it was an acid web that dissolved anything it touched. Dennis didn’t have time to process the situation because the spider chameleons in front of and behind him shot out their tongues. Dennis was forced to let both tongues wrap around his iron gauntlets.

"Aaah... this is bad... really bad... they’re gonna swallow me whole," Dennis muttered in his head.

[I will move you using placing. Hold on, Master, keep gripping the tongues.]

Dennis immediately grabbed the tongues of both spider chameleons. Instantly, Dennis went airborne, floating backward. The two spider chameleons tried to hold their ground by digging their eight massive spider legs into the earth, but because Dennis kept floating backward and pulling their tongues, those eight big legs were eventually ripped from the ground. The two spider chameleons ended up flying through the air, following Dennis as he floated back while gripping their tongues. Meanwhile, the remaining spider chameleon chased after Dennis, sprinting across the ground.

Of course, Dennis was fighting for his life because the two spider chameleons whose tongues he was pulling kept attacking him with their spider legs, occasionally spitting their acid webs in his direction. Dennis could only dodge and sometimes parry the strikes of those spider legs with his own feet, all while continuing to float backward through the dark, dense forest. Dennis’s anxiety spiked as he saw the spider chameleon chasing him jumping from tree to tree; it was moving faster than him, firing acid webs all around in hopes of snaring him.

Sami controlled Dennis’s body to evade the attacks, while Dennis stayed busy pulling the tongues of the two spider chameleons and dodging their increasingly violent strikes. Dennis ignored the pain in his back from being slammed into dense plants and trees—impacts that happened because it was so hard to avoid the webs constantly raining down on him from the treetops.

The three spider chameleons roared, growing even more feral, desperate to capture Dennis as he continued to hold two of their tongues hostage. Dennis kicked the body of any spider chameleon that got too close, trying to snare him with spider legs that were ready to cage his body; he knew the moment he was caught, he was a dead man. 𝘧𝓇ℯ𝑒𝓌𝑒𝑏𝓃𝘰𝘷𝘦𝘭.𝒸ℴ𝓂

"Hurry up, Sami! How much further?" Dennis shouted in his head.

[We will be out of the forest and at the enemy base shortly, Master—approximately fifteen minutes.]

"What... fifteen more minutes? Man, I’ll be dead before we get there! Speed it up, Sami!" Dennis screamed in his head, panicking.

[I am trying, Master.]

Ultimately, Dennis surrendered to the situation, doing the only thing he could: dodging attacks and kicking away the spider chameleons that occasionally collided or attacked him simultaneously. He ignored the pain racking his body, which was now covered in cuts and bruises from the relentless trees.

***

Meanwhile, at the southern fortress—the location of Ivan, Sasha, Brad, Hyunjin, Minji, and Akira’s team—"skrieeeek," a loud roar echoed from deep within the forest. Ivan, who was standing in front of the fortress with a massive sword strapped to his back, turned to look toward the woods. Sasha, who had been sitting on his lap, looked up at her husband.

"Did you hear that roar just now?" Sasha asked.

"Yeah, the crawlers are coming this way," Ivan answered.

"Huh... probably some people taking the forest path ran into them and are being chased. Running here is a huge mistake. We’re just waiting here for the clock to run out so they’ll be squeezed between us and the crawlers. They’re being attacked from two directions, and it’s definitely because my two knives marked them," said Hyunjin, standing next to Ivan and Sasha with his hands on his hips.

"Hey... a lot of trees are falling in the forest!" Akira’s voice shouted from atop the fortress.

Ivan and Sasha immediately stood up, followed by Minji, who had been sitting next to Hyunjin. They all turned toward the forest, where the sound of crashing trees and the shrieks of crawlers grew louder.

"Let’s go welcome them," Ivan said.

"Wait... where’s Brad?" Sasha asked, looking around.

"Who knows. Just leave him; he’s a mess and only causes trouble. Don’t worry about him," Minji said, sounding annoyed.

"Let’s take our positions in front of the forest, move it," Ivan called out, already walking forward.

"Alright, let’s go," Sasha replied, twirling her spear as she followed Ivan.

"Should I stay here or what?" Hyunjin asked.

"You’re coming, let’s go," Minji urged, spinning her twin swords before walking past Hyunjin.

"Oh, okay, let’s go," Hyunjin replied, his body bristling with knives ready to be launched at the enemy.

"Hey... don’t everyone leave!" Akira yelled.

"Handle whatever comes out of the rocky hills, alright? I trust you!" Hyunjin shouted back.

The four of them walked to the left side and stood directly in front of the forest, though they kept a bit of distance. Ivan drew his greatsword and stood guard, while Sasha and Minji backed him up. Hyunjin stood atop a boulder, all the knives on his body hovering out of their sheaths, glowing with energy as their blades pointed toward the forest.

Akira, positioned on the tower roof, looked toward the forest through his scope and exhaled. He then redirected the barrel of his sniper toward the rocky cliff fields, scanning through the lens. After confirming the area was clear, Akira straightened his body and turned around.

"How long are you going to keep acting like this, Brad?" Akira asked.

It turned out Brad was sitting behind Akira, hugging his knees and clutching his sword. His face looked vacant and disheveled. He looked up at Akira, who was staring back at him, then quickly looked away.

"Don’t worry about me. If someone shows up, I’ll kill them," Brad answered.

"Haah... if someone shows up, you’ll be too slow to act. Ivan and the others are standing guard at the forest edge. If anyone comes out of the rocky hills, please handle it and help me out," Akira said.

"Yeah, relax," Brad replied.

"Come on, stop obsessing over Bella. I already asked Rika to talk to her. Just calm down, everything’s going to be fine," Akira countered.

"Shut up. Don’t meddle in my private business," Brad snapped.

"Hah... I’m only trying to help because you’re my friend and you look completely broken, like someone who can’t get back on their feet. Whatever, just focus on this match," Akira said.

"Yeah, I’m focused," Brad replied, looking back down at the floor as if the ground were more interesting to him than anything else.

Seeing his friend in such a bad state, Akira simply shook his head. He returned to his scope and began monitoring the dark, rocky hills once more. Meanwhile, Ivan, Sasha, Minji, and Hyunjin, who were standing guard at the edge of the forest, heard the bushes rustling and making a racket; they immediately went on high alert, raising their weapons and dropping into their combat stances.

"Sraaag,"

Suddenly, Dennis shot out from the undergrowth with his back toward them. In each hand, he held the tongues of two spider chameleons wrapped around his arms, plus a third spider chameleon leaped out right behind them. Ivan, Sasha, Minji, and Hyunjin’s eyes went wide, and their jaws dropped at the sight of three monsters plus one Dennis—who was still facing away from them—barreling in their direction.

Dennis glanced back at his seniors. "Yo... I’m here," Dennis said with a smirk, tilting his head to the side to dodge a thrust from a spider chameleon’s leg.