Kumoko fights and kills a menacing monster that looks like a monkey. With its last breath, the monkey screams for its tribe. Soon after, Kumoko is confronted by a whole army of them! This is the beginning of a long and exhausting fight between our spider girl and an angry mob looking for revenge for their lost sibling.

Kumoko tries many techniques against the monkeys, like throwing poison balls at them, while they are climbing to reach her, or traps them in her net. When she traps a couple of them and intends to throw them against the rest, the monkeys jump to their death. This is when Kumoko realizes that this is going to be a fight to the death since these monsters are so devoted to each other. The menacing creatures break Kumoko’s legs and she barely survives after leveling up and restoring her body. Not only that but soon after she also has to face the evolved version of the creatures, Bagragratch.

This battle royale is important because after winning, Kumoko feels vindicated: she does not have to feel weak for fleeing from the ruler of the caves, Araba. She also manages to survive and keep her turf, while in earlier episodes, she was traumatized and humiliated by the destruction of her home by humans. This is the beginning of Kumoko’s ascendance to becoming overpowered.

Soon after escaping the monkey mob, Kumoko ends up in the lava stratum. This is yet another dangerous area, full of fire-spewing monsters. Deep in the rivers of lava lives Elroe Gunerave, a giant dragon eel, which sees her as its next snack.

The battle that ensues is epic: The lava eel is much stronger than Kumoko and uses fireballs against her. It is swift in its movements and can heal itself fast. Kumoko fights for her life, she falls down multiple times and is saved again by leveling up. After striking the final blow, Kumoko finds out that the creature she just killed is delicious, so she digs in. It’s these comedic moments that bring balance to the series and strengthen our positive view of Kumoko.

Kumoko is finally facing the source of her trauma, Araba, the ruler of the Lower Stratum. This is the only way for her to move on and exit the caves. Araba is much more intelligent than other creatures and adapts his magic depending on his opponent and can use Rapid Recovery among several other OP skills.

This is why Kumoko prepares her strategy in advance. She keeps the use of Annihilating Evil Eye for later because it has the side effect of Rot. Instead, she goes for Phantom Pain, which causes zero damage but inflicts massive pain on her enemy. While he is trapped she hits him with a lot of magic to lower Araba’s stats.

But Araba adapts his skills to match Kumoko. The battle gets even higher difficulty, while Kumoko falls deeper into the earth, and has to survive the flames and Araba’s attacks at the same time. When she finally casts Annihilating Evil Eye it costs her 2 eyes. She gets half-eaten but escapes by using Rot!

This is when we get to see that Kumoko used her Wisdom and Intelligence effectively. It’s not just grinding after all that makes a spider stronger. By casting Sloth she can make Araba’s HP, SP, and MP burn faster. Since SP cannot be automatically recovered, she eats away his stats, and Araba finally gives up on his life.

As expected, this is the most epic battle of the first cour, with twists and turns and several near-death moments. Fighting against Araba teaches Kumoko another lesson. When faced with a proud, intelligent enemy, she can’t help but feel sorrow and respect after defeating him. Kumoko realizes that she just finished off a creature that had a strong conviction like her and wasn’t fighting just out of instinct. She hails goodbye to Araba like a king and runs out of the caves to the bright big world.