(L) Kumo Desu ga, Nani ka? [WN]

[kari-no-sugata II]

Originally Posted by K2Grey

In Shun 21 the divinity area was appraised as 魂の深層領域 which is the same phrase used in Blood 29 where Shiro's book mentions the Ruler skills transforming the inner region of the soul vs. normal skills transforming the surface. So it seems certain that the divinity area is indeed the deepest part of the soul. Although, being a Ruler is not required since Katia obtained it as well. She did it through Parallel Will and I guess that, along with Detection and Appraisal are also divinity area skills.

Thanks for reminding me about what Shiro wrote in her book. (This might sound odd but I generally don't re-read my own translations so sometimes I forget stuff I wrote myself)

I guess we could call anything that can put significant stress on the soul to be "divinity area skills", though I'm not quite sure how valid it is. It certainly seems to be indirectly valid though. Maybe it's like working a muscle - make good use of it, and it grows stronger.

Thanks for the summary. Ariel doesn't mess around. Although I wonder how this affects events later on. In the WN Kumoko could be forgiven for forgetting about Ariel since up to her arrival there had been almost no action taken against her besides 1 Arch Taratect which she disposed of easily. But this attack was very obviously planned and Kumoko almost died so building a 100m cocoon in sight of a human town would be suicidal.

Yeah, it would seem odder in the LN if "Kumoko" still does that but I guess we'll see. I could imagine her getting distracted by Sophia and the tributes - it's happened before

Originally Posted by cabman11

^^ D appears with the phone or in person?

Sorry, bad phrasing. Smart phone appears. Conversation is 90% identical. Main difference is that D indirectly warns Kumoko about being killed by "her", even though Kumoko had just gotten the Immortality skill. Kumoko didn't know about Ariel at the time and thought "her" referred to Mother.

Originally Posted by Amuris

The divinity area being a deeper, normally inaccessible area of the soul makes sense with wrath as well. I'm guessing that his power up isn't the system temporarily handing him power and taking it back but, instead him tapping into some of the power of that deeper layer. If that's true, then I guess just becoming a god gives a pretty big boost to your overall power, rather than just letting you freely use what you had before.

Shiro's thoughts on when Kuro beat up Wrath make it clear that the power of the Wrath skill comes from the user's own soul. If the soul runs out of power then Wrath skill is forcibly turned off. In the chapters shortly after Wrath gets the Wrath skill, it's suggested that the activation time isn't that long. As his status and divinity area improved the duration probably improved as well.

PS I'll write some more thoughts on LN4 once I've finished reading it.

[kari-no-sugata II]

New raw chapter is out - "The Third Informal Conference ①", pope's POV.

[Amuris]

I guess we should think of a soul as a star, then. Rather than being worn out from being "stretched" by MA energy, it looks more like a core trying to hold it's more "fluid" outer layers. Outer layers expand too much and the core can't hold it anymore, causing the star to collapse and go nova.

[kari-no-sugata II]

Translation is up for "The Third Informal Conference ①".

Things moving along quickly...

But it's curious: what Shiro seems to be requesting is for Shun to be kept in place... but that is very much not what happens (and him leaving the country seemed to be planned)

[kari-no-sugata II]

Another raw chapter is out: "The Third Informal Conference ②".

Shiro's POV.

[erneiz_hyde]

We're getting close to the Elf village attack, but there is still something missing. Sue was appraised by Shun and was shown to have three different brainwash statuses. OTOH when he appraised Natsume there is nothing indicating any status even though Natsume was supposed to be under Shiro's control. Even supposing that Shiro's control is special and the system doesn't show it, Sue shouldn't show any sign of brainwashing based on what we've been shown so far. Though from this chapter there's a hint that this missing link might be caused by Sophia.

[kari-no-sugata II]

Summary of second half of LN4 (just the "Kumoko" chapters):

One thing I forgot to mention from the first half is that Kumko first started to notice the Kim Domination skill during her fight with Fire Dragon Rendo - probably referring to "116 - Spider vs Fire Dragon ④" when she has the thought:

...? Hate? Huh? Although I thought that the Earth Dragon is scary, I never really hated it. Huh? Where does this feeling come from?

Also, all her Parallel Wills are focused on "Mother" and at some point contact between them is blocked somehow (probably Divine Dragon Barrier).

After Kumoko evolves to Zana Horowa she leaves the labyrinth again and finds the sea/ocean. She tries to swim (similar to WN) but is too buoyant. Some sharks attack her but she kills them. The blood draws more sharks and the sea around her becomes red. There's a colour image from LN4 with Kumoko imaging her vs sharks as some kind of B-movie - this is that scene.

Anyway, around this time the connection between Kumoko and the Parallel Wills is restored and one comes to warn Kumoko to run away ASAP because there's someone even more dangerous than Mother involved. Unfortunately, it's too late and was actually a trap - Ariel deliberately allowed the communication so that she could locate Kumoko (via Kin Domination link through Mother). Ariel arrives so fast it's pretty much like she teleported. Of course, Kumoko can't understand what Ariel is saying at this point (not eaten Mother yet so doesn't understand the language) and Kumoko isn't able to run away (she was preparing teleport but didn't have time to complete it - not that it would have worked). Ariel splatters Kumoko with a mere swing of the arm. Game over...

Except, Kumoko has Immortality. The Parallel Wills feel that the main body was beaten but the connection didn't die. They don't know why they didn't die but decide that the main body must have done something so keep on attacking Mother's soul.

Sometime later, Kumoko regains her consciousness. She's floating on the wide open sea. And, she has just her head! (LOL!!) She decides it's too dangerous to teleport anywhere (since Ariel might have prepared something) so just continues to float for many days like seaweed. After killing enough Water Drakes and a Water Dragon she recovers enough that her whole body is back (she didn't get full body recover on level up).

She then begins gorilla-style attacks on Mother and the spiders in the labyrinth while keeping a close eye on Ariel (who she marked with Wisdom). She kills all the Arch Taratekts and most/all of the Greaters. Her biggest worry is the Puppet Taratekts since they have better status values than her (except in magic). She's even more worried when it turns out there's 10 of them (though only some are in the labyrinth). She lures a bunch of them into a small chamber, seals the chamber with Earth Magic, then floods the chamber with sea water (she used her Item Box type feature from Space Magic). Naturally, the puppets can't swim and also float to the top. Kumoko took the Swim skill (despite the cost) which puts her in a better position and also she can't drown due to Immortality. She fires magic at them to weaken them at the same time and also to distract them - if they'd kept calm and ignored her they could probably have destroyed the walls but Kumoko used herself as bait to prevent this. So she basically drowned them! (Nasty plan Kumoko...)

Eventually she feels safe to go attack Mother - she'd seen through Wisdom that Mother's status values had dropped a lot, into the mid-thousands. Kumoko has way better status values at this stage, so teleports to Mother, who is at the bottom layer. However, it's a trap. Mother still has better skills - like God Weaving Thread and Divine Dragon Barrier. So Kumoko's normal situation has been reversed - despite her better status values she loses in skills and fell into a trap. Eg the ground is covered in sticky threads - Kumoko has to cut off her own legs to escape. The Divine Dragon Barrier weakens her best skills (magic) a lot. It's looking pretty hopeless but then the Parallel Wills return.

Since the Parallel Wills had been eating Mother's soul that allows them to bring Mother's status values and skills to Kumoko when they return. So Kumoko gets a huge power-up to save the day and Mother is killed pretty easily. This completely breaks the Kin Domination link. However, one of the Parallel Wills is missing - one had gone to attack Ariel and doesn't return.

So in the end Kumoko leaves the labyrinth again, but since Ariel is out there she wants to keep a low profile. This is when she comes across Sophia for the first time, like in the WN.

---

Phew. Pretty interesting! Was nice to see the real effects of Immortality skill and some other stuff. And as usual Kumoko is a mix of brutal efficiency and air-headedness. Though there were one or two times I wondered "would she really fight like this?"

Looking ahead to LN5, based on what's already happened in previous LNs, I don't think much else has to change. The only real differences are that Kumoko has already eaten Mother and already knows just how crazy Ariel's stats are - but the Kin Domination link is gone. The "Remnants of the Nightmare" still clearly exist on the S stories. Ronant will clearly have his 2nd meeting with Kumoko. And Sophia's starting situation isn't any different. I'd guess that Kumoko will accidentally forget about Ariel after tracking Sophia and getting the "tributes" (sweet food!!).

[kari-no-sugata II]

Originally Posted by erneiz_hyde

We're getting close to the Elf village attack, but there is still something missing. Sue was appraised by Shun and was shown to have three different brainwash statuses. OTOH when he appraised Natsume there is nothing indicating any status even though Natsume was supposed to be under Shiro's control. Even supposing that Shiro's control is special and the system doesn't show it, Sue shouldn't show any sign of brainwashing based on what we've been shown so far. Though from this chapter there's a hint that this missing link might be caused by Sophia.

Shiro's manipulation of Natsume is outside of the System so naturally it wouldn't show.

With regards to Sue, it's looking likely that the brainwashing that shows up in her Appraisal is faked to some degree. Normal brainwashing effect is small and temporary so if Sophia applied LV1 versions of those skills on Sue they probably wouldn't affect her too much and would also fade quickly - particularly if Sophia's command was simply "do what you want" or similar.

I'm not sure how quickly things will move. It looks like Katia hasn't been brainwashed yet so it's probably still some weeks before the coup begins. But based on how quickly things have been moving since the end of the war, it probably won't be too many chapters.

[cabman11]

^^What did Ariel say anyway?

[kari-no-sugata II]

Originally Posted by cabman11

^^What did Ariel say anyway?

If you mean in LN4, it's unknown - like with Kuro, her lines are just ***.

[Okashira]

lol , as expected Sue's (& Yugo's) criteria for brainwashing people is getting rid of the ones that do the most ichaicha with Shun

[Rasty]

Am I the only one who doesen't like the style they are doing things where they keep on making loses for their allies and subordinates and giving advantages to the others?

In the first place, why is Kuro not protesting against enlarging loses on the deamon side while he is protesting on enlarging the loses on human side?

[kari-no-sugata II]

Originally Posted by Okashira

lol , as expected Sue's (& Yugo's) criteria for brainwashing people is getting rid of the ones that do the most ichaicha with Shun

Yuugo: Down with riajuu! Death to donkan harem protagonists!
Sue: Death to harem member wannabes!
Shiro: You guys suck so bad that I had to send Sophia over to supervise. (I hope she doesn't screw things up as well, mutter mutter)

Originally Posted by Rasty

Am I the only one who doesen't like the style they are doing things where they keep on making loses for their allies and subordinates and giving advantages to the others?

Well, Shiro and Ariel don't see the demons as real allies. Just convenient pawns at best who are better off dead. So in a way, it's not really a loss for them. Better to keep the Divine Word Religion happy to maximise chance of killing Potimas and getting the pope's Ruler Authority.

In the first place, why is Kuro not protesting against enlarging loses on the deamon side while he is protesting on enlarging the loses on human side?

Not sure what you're specifically referring to but I seem to remember him protesting about the deaths in general.

[Amuris]

yeah, Kuro's concern was with summoning the taratect queen, as I recall. That wasn't a human specific problem, any normal person remotely close should have been one-sidely massacred, demon or human.

I think it just feels that way to you because of the leadership. The leadership of the demons, not having any rulers or anyone significant outside of Shiro's group, can't really put up much open resistance and has to just quietly obey as their people are slaughtered whole-sale like domesticated animals. The pope can't fight them directly but he's in a much better position to bargain due to the kind of influence he has and probably also because of his ruler skill. He also probably has a stronger spine than all of the demons.

[kari-no-sugata II]

Another raw chapter is out... but it's a short Halloween special.

(Almost finished translating the current chapter)

[Breimn]

We need some juicy art of D and Kumoko cosplaying as sexy twin witches .

[kari-no-sugata II]

Translation up for "The Third Informal Conference ②"

I wonder if the pope is thinking that their offer is too good and is suspicious...

[kari-no-sugata II]

Finally had time to read the Halloween special. Ahaha! Cute! And yeah, we need pics! Doujinshi authors do your job!

[Rasty]

Originally Posted by kari-no-sugata II

Well, Shiro and Ariel don't see the demons as real allies. Just convenient pawns at best who are better off dead. So in a way, it's not really a loss for them. Better to keep the Divine Word Religion happy to maximise chance of killing Potimas and getting the pope's Ruler Authority.

But intentionally making loses for people who obey them or are even loyal to them while making gains to people who are hardly cooperative (even though they have the power to just force the other side to at least divide the loses with their subordinates) feels just wrong.

Originally Posted by kari-no-sugata II

Not sure what you're specifically referring to but I seem to remember him protesting about the deaths in general.

Shiro directly mentions Kuro would be against her crushing the human religioin, yet he has nothing against Ariel + Shiro systematically destroying all demon organisations, nor does he have anything against putting the deamons in position that is gonna lead to them getting massacred/enslaved in 10 years after the war ends.

Originally Posted by Amuris

I think it just feels that way to you because of the leadership. The leadership of the demons, not having any rulers or anyone significant outside of Shiro's group, can't really put up much open resistance and has to just quietly obey as their people are slaughtered whole-sale like domesticated animals. The pope can't fight them directly but he's in a much better position to bargain due to the kind of influence he has and probably also because of his ruler skill. He also probably has a stronger spine than all of the demons.

No. Ariel and Shiro went and took everything from the deamons by brute force. Some of the deamons had a spine, it's just that they had only 2 options: obey or get crushed. On the other hand nor Ariel nor Shiro tried to get control over the human realm exactly because Kuro was against that... There is something unfair there.

[Xellos-_^]

Originally Posted by Rasty

But intentionally making loses for people who obey them or are even loyal to them while making gains to people who are hardly cooperative (even though they have the power to just force the other side to at least divide the loses with their subordinates) feels just wrong.

i don't see any actual loyalty here. It is complete rule of fear.

And whatever goodies Ariel/Shiro are giving to the pope it is still only temporary. They are still planning to massacre 99% of the population.

Shiro directly mentions Kuro would be against her crushing the human religioin, yet he has nothing against Ariel + Shiro systematically destroying all demon organisations, nor does he have anything against putting the deamons in position that is gonna lead to them getting massacred/enslaved in 10 years after the war ends.

Ariel had already became demon king at that point. Kuro doesn't have much to stand on. he can protect the pope somewhat because they were still somewhat outside Ariel/Shiro influence.

Again 99% of the population is going to die in Shiro's plan. Convenient tools or allies, they are f*ck.

No. Ariel and Shiro went and took everything from the deamons by brute force. Some of the deamons had a spine, it's just that they had only 2 options: obey or get crushed. On the other hand nor Ariel nor Shiro tried to get control over the human realm exactly because Kuro was against that... There is something unfair there.

Kuro had nothing to do with the decision to take over the demons instead of humans.

it was a lot easier to take over the Demon Realm when Ariel took up the title of Demon King. The Demons unlike human are more unified.
And Shiro taking control on Yuugo and having him take over both the empire and the kingdom is pretty much Shiro taking over the humans.