A black polished claw tore the egg-like pod open, creating a rift that leaked out unknown green substance. It gushed to the floor, tainting its surface with a dim glow.

A black mass of monstrosity landed onto the black ground. The soft fleshy surface helped to reduce the impact. She didn't suffer any discomfort.

She cried from dizziness in a muffled, high-pitch tone. The noise startled her with its distortive and unnerving quality. It shouldn't come from a human being.

In confusion, she surveyed the surrounding with her pair of azure pupils. Though her eyes were lifeless, there was a certain sharpness, hidden within it the quality of wisdom.

Inside the empty room, a throne-like structure stood at the centre, its design resembled not what the Great Races would make. The surface was uneven with strange patterns that didn't account for any beauty. The silhouette was like a rotten stump with its slimy texture.

At the heart of the throne was a broken pod. Despite how disgustingly-sluggish and uncomfortable the design was, she felt a sense of comfort when looking at it.

In her curiosity, a strange aroma tickled her nose. She felt her head spinning as she lost control over her body. The urge to devour took over her.

She shrieked, her voice shifting from distortive to a more lively tone. Her body slowly adjusted itself after sitting inside the pod for so long.

"Food . . ." she said.

The fragrance of the meat, its soft-looking texture, its inviting crimson colour, they lured her to their direction.

Following her instinct—the Arachna's instinct—she extended the two pairs of spider-leg-like limbs in her back. They stabbed the corpse and brought it to her.

Without any hesitation, she split the corpse's head, the forceful impact splashing out the brain matter and scattering it along the floor.

She feasted without any manners, her fingers tainted with blood and gore. Her bloody crunching continued for five minutes before she found herself licking her fingers, savouring the last drop of blood. Disgust was never in her mind.

"Where am I?"

After satisfying her urge, she trembled, the implication of her action hitting her. A torrent of information flooded her mind. She clutched her head in pain and rolled on the ground, her groan echoing.

The fragmented memory inserted itself into her mind. Though the memory was fleeting and blurry, she couldn't handle the mental pain it brought to her.

Only after a full minute of agony, the pain subsided. The monster—the Arachna Lady— slowly stood up, surveying her location once more.

"What have I done?"

After realising the metallic taste in her mouth, she finally remembered her appetising feast. She had eaten a man's brain without any remorse.

No, she didn't just eat his remains. She enjoyed it. She couldn't stop herself from savouring the aftertaste. Her twisted smile kept crawling to her face, despite her effort to suppress it.

The deformed corpse didn't disturb her. The metallic taste didn't disgust her—they excited her.

Trembling, she looked at herself. Her claw-like hands touched her sharp teeth, the venomous fangs pricking her finger. She saw herself in the reflection of her carapace, her eyes gleaming in pale blue.

At her appearance, half of her felt conflicted while the other half marvelled at the beauty.

"I'm not an Arachna!" Her voice, eerie yet feminine, didn't bother her in the slightest.

She desperately tried her hardest to think about everything before this. No matter what she tried, nothing of significance came to her. Everything remained clouded in her memory. She merely knew she was once a human.

"My name is . . . Scaena, no . . ." Instead of her own, the Arachna Lady recalled the man's name.

By devouring him, she absorbed his fragmented memory. Scaena was one of the crew members who knew how to operate simple functions. From him, she learnt that this vessel was unremarkable, but something felt off.

As the Arachna Lady digested the memory, her chest heated up. She gazed at a gem embedded slightly above her breasts. It softly glowed, radiating the warm light.

The Arachna Lady felt disoriented as her vision spilt into countless perspectives, detailing similar scenery but at an ever so slightly different angle.

Despite the magnitude of information she received, she didn't feel any discomfort. She instinctively assumed command and looked around under the guise of the spiderlings.

As the leader of the Arachna, she could easily hijack any living Arachna under her command. Though a part of her didn't like it, the other part embraced it.

The dusty sky screened out sunlight, creating a dusk-like atmosphere at all time. Despite having various forms of forestries, the gloomy ambience remained the dominant tone.

As the spiderlings feasted upon a lump of rotten meat, a mysterious object rolled to one of them and exploded. The Arachna Lady finally remembered that it was an electric grenade.

The muffled gunshots resounded as she lost all of her spiderlings at the entrance of the vessel. In the end, she merely had two alive, guarding the gate of the central control room, her location.

"Other humans? Maybe I should—" She cut herself short. Though she couldn't remember anything, she knew the Arachna was the Great Races' archenemy.

With her appearance, the humans would kill her without any hesitation. In the worst case, she might end up in an experiment lab, becoming a living subject stripped of all freedom—a fate worse than death.

Even being a noble's slave was still better than a living experiment.

"For now, this is the only way."

She didn't feel anything when she decided to put herself before the humans. Both sides of her felt completely justified.

From her newly-acquired memory, she moved to the control panel and operated it. Though the vessel fell, the inner system remained intact as none of the Arachna bothered it.

Recalling from her memory, she started the generators and rebooted the system. Despite the error messages, she ignored most of them and shut-down all useless functions. Her actions created a chaotic radio wave, but she could care less.

With the security cameras, she observed the scavengers navigating through the vessel. She scrutinized their facial expressions, equipment, as well as clothes.

As her mind operated at the extend beyond a mere human, the gem in her chest supplied her with energy. The mental power of an Arachna's leader was powerful, enough to command an entire army of Arachna.

"Ah—hello—greeting . . ." The Arachna Lady tried to mimic the human's voice. She couldn't get rid of her screeching quality, so she decided against communicating with them. "An android?"

With the appearance of the stunning beauty, the girl revised her plan accordingly. The android would immediately know she was faking her voice.

As the group arrived at the dividing line between the inner part and the outer part, the Arachna Lady finished deriving her plan. After listening to their conversation, as well as observing their manner, she understood something.

As if she was a full-blown Arachna, she sadistically smiled and issued a command, generating an interference field.

Without any way for the group to send out any evidence of her existence, she could act as a human to lower their guard. The Arachna couldn't use technology. The Arachna couldn't scheme.

The light went on. The gate connecting the inner section and the outer section shut close.

From this moment, the scavengers couldn't escape her anymore. Like a spider, she silently waited for her prey to get trapped on her web.

As she expected, the group panicked before getting told off by the Captain. He should discern that there was the presence of a human inside the vessel.

The central control room—the most significant section of the vessel—was accessible only to the government. If anyone could hide inside there and evade the surveillance of the Arachna, they must be a person of high importance.

The nobility and the government must never be offended. They could easily crackdown upon the commoners with their resources and connections. Killing a man of insignificance was as simple as breathing in and out to them.

To not anger the government—or in this case, an officer—the scavengers would have to drop their weapons and express their apology.

"Come, little ones." The Arachna Lady didn't realise she had regarded the group as a mere lower lifeform.

She existed above them, from both an Arachna and a human's point of view. They were lowly scavengers—commoners without any significant footnote in history.

As tension rose, she opened the gate for the scavengers, though this wasn't enough. She needed to do more to survive, to see them in despair.

The group had already dropped their main guns, but inside their clothes were their hidden weapons and gadgets. If she were to ambush them, she would fail. They were a group of veterans and not some weaklings.

If she couldn't annihilate all of them, just one escapee would spell doom for her. A technologically-advanced Arachna mustn't exist.

Without the overwhelming numerical advantage, the Arachna couldn't fight against the Great Races. Nevertheless, that only extended to the lower lifeforms—not her.

As the Arachna Lady watched the group arriving at the gate before the central control room, she closed the gate and pointed the automatic turrets at them.

"Sir, what can we do for you?" The Captain said.

He gestured for his crew to quiet down. Though he feared the officer might massacre them, he immediately calmed himself with logic.

Without any replenishment, the ammo must be insufficient. With merely two turrets, the group could easily retreat to their guns with one or two casualties.

More importantly, the officer wouldn't want to travel alone in the wilderness. It was safer to use the scavengers as a meatshield.

The turrets shot twice, hitting the floor in front of the group. The bullets pierced the metallic floor, leaving scorched holes with their destructive power.

Agitated by the gun-shots, the scavengers panicked and drew out their hidden weapons.

"Hold your fire!" The Captain shouted.

Though he didn't want to disrespect the officer, he feared his soft command might not reach his group.

Hearing the thunderous roar, the group snapped out of their panic and ceased their movement. They dropped their pistols and lowered their head in dismay.

"Sir, you want us to drop our weapons, right?"

Looking at the holes on the ground, the Captain finally realised the officer's intention. It was natural not to trust a group of scavengers.

Though the officer could send a distress signal in case of treachery, they would still die before any help could come. It was logical to disarm visitors.

The world was an unforgiving place. Everyone would do anything to survive.

"Place your guns and gadgets on your feet. We can't meet the good sir armed."

The crew disarmed themselves. They had absolute faith in the Captain. He had made countless sound judgements that saved their lives numerous times.

The turrets moved again, pointing their lasers at Angelica.

"Angelica, enter standby mode and wait here," the Captain said.

Though he told Angelica to standby, he didn't deactivate her. If things went south, he could command Angelica to retreat and send the news to the city.

The turrets cooled off. With their deactivation, the gate opened, revealing a long hallway, filled with a mix between Arachna's black fleshy structure and the military decoration.

"Let's go." The Captain nodded. Now that they were unarmed, the officer should be making their appearance soon.

Thus, the group of five strong men marched on—their destination: the central control room.