Horo Neia

Horo Neia, also known as the Nightmare's Vestige, are a Taratect sub-species that are the spawns of a Zana Horowa known as the "Nightmare of the Labyrinth".

Description
The Vestiges look similar to the Zana Horowa. Minimum Lesser Horo Neias are described to be palm-sized and every time they evolve the only thing that changes are their size. Due to their extreme intelligence and communication Skills, their threat level increases dramatically the longer they are alive. A fully grown Horo Neia can reach danger level S. In groups their threat level only rises exponentially.

They are capable of communication with each other and other sentient beings via telepathy and seem to sometimes cooperate with other Taratects, like Greater Taratects.

Julius
Sensing that their mother wished to eliminate the Hero, Julius, one of the Horo Neia attempted to assassinate him. Attacking a group of adventurers, it successfully lured out the Hero and his party and took them all on single-handedly. The fight went pretty evenly until Shiraori sensed what the Horo Neia was doing and reprimented it, as it was not yet time to remove the Hero. This terrified it and Julius used the opening to finish it off.

Shun
When the current Hero, Schlain, and his party moved through the Labyrinth on their way to the Elf Village, they encountered the Horo Neia. Appraising the party and noticing they had the Hero, two Rulers, and four Reincarnations, the spiders established telepathic contact. Schlain asked how they knew about the Reincarnations, to which the Horde of Horo Neia replied that they learned it from their "Master/Mother". Schlain tried to question further, but the Horo Neia just left, stating it did not matter as "the world [would] soon end".

Origin
The species was born when Kumoko laid 1000 eggs in the Great Elroe Labyrinth to act as spare bodies in case her original was destroyed. After this exact scenario came to pass when Ariel killed her, she simply hatched from one of the eggs as a newborn. Finding herself in a weakened state, Kumoko briefly considered eating the other eggs. However, this was ultimately unnecessary, as Güliedistodiez gifted her multiple Earth Dragon corpses as a peace offering. After evolving into an Arachne, Kumoko handed the leftovers to the Horo Neia, which had all hatched at this point, and took her leave.

The War in Sariella
In Kumoko's absence, her parallel minds, who transferred themselves into seperate bodies, took command of the Horo Neia. They proceeded to start a hellish training program for them to quickly get strong while mass-breeding more. While many Horo Neia did not survive this, more just kept being born. Eventually though, the Horo Neia had hunted out nearly all prey in the labyrinth. Having been corrupted during the battle with "Mother", the parallel minds thus decided to prey on humans and already knew of a place to start: Keren County.

A short while later, an army of Horo Neia attacked Keren County. Güliedistodiez took notice of the situation and informed Kumoko, prompting her to return to the labyrinth and kill her parallel minds. Also, recognizing her offspring were just following orders, she teleported the Horo Neia all back to the labyrinth just before they were hit by a magical bombardment. Afterward, she once again left her offspring to their own devices.

G-Fleet Battle
While Kumoko, Ariel, and the Puppet Taratects were busy dealing the G-Fleet, the former teleported Sophia and Merazophis to the labyrinth for their own safety. To ensure the duo would be safe in the dangerous dungeon, she ordered the Horo Neia to defend them.

Nightmare's Vestige
Years later, Kumoko (now Shiraori) returned to the Labyrinth to find that the Horo Neia are doing just fine, having earned the terrifying moniker of the "Nightmare's Vestige". Overjoyed upon seeing their mother again, they showered her with offerings, prompting her to stay over for a few days. While she eventually had to leave again, Shiraori took note to visit her children more often henceforth.

Abilities
Due to their small size, Horo Neia actually start out even weaker than Small Lesser Taratects. However, they make up for this with teamwork and their ability to cast magic. As a result, they develop quickly and the base stats of a fully grown adult are around 3000, making them S-Rank monsters.


 * Magic: due to the intense training, the Horo Neias displayed capability to use a wide range of magics (dark magic, earth magic, wind magic, and healing magic).
 * Speed: similar to their progenitor, the Horo Neias relied on their high movement speed in combat.

Trivia

 * While Horo Neia actually start off even weaker than Small Lesser Taratects, they have the advantage of being able to cast magic and high intelligence, allowing them to work in packs instead of resorting to canibalism.