"Grah!"

Van was careful not to close his eyes even with the light of the portal already right in front of his nose. His vision quickly shifted as everything turned dark. ​​

"W… what?"

Van could not help but blink numerous times as he scanned his new surroundings. It was dark, almost as if he was inside a cave. If it wasn't for the lanterns that were on the walls, then his eyes wouldn't have adjusted that easily. He quickly put up his guard, but contrary to his expectations, there was not even a single monster that welcomed him.

He was expecting that there was at least a single monster waiting for him since 2 were able to crawl out of the Portal before he ran inside. Van looked behind him, and the Portal was still there. Could it be… the monsters that were crawling out of the Portal came from a different place? He thought.

But he quickly shook his head as he focused on the words that popped up in front of him--

[Labour: Defeat the Arachnaea]

"La… defeat the what?", Van didn't even bother reading the rest of the words as he could not even start to fathom how they sound like. He had to defeat something, that was all he needed to know.

He just needed to focus on killing everything here, and eventually, he can go out.

Van continued to walk deeper into the cavern, his weapon raised and pointed in front of him so he could be ready to rush towards a spider as soon as he sees one. However, even after a minute of walking, not even a single spider showed itself.

"What's… going on?", Van could not help but whisper as he slightly relaxed his stance.

"!!!"

But as soon as he did so, a loud chittering noise quickly approached him from behind. He quickly activated his [Time Perception] skill and turned around, only to see two spiders rushing towards him.

Van could not help but click his tongue as he slammed the nearest one with his gaff in panic and quickly backed away. However, it was clearly ineffective as it did not even notice a single dent on the spider's body.

Besides his speed, he really did not have anything else to offer, he thought. And so, without deactivating his [Time Perception] skill, he stabbed the two spiders with his blade numerous times.

[SP: 29/38 -> 25/38]

He had noticed it during his way over to the Relic Graveyard, but the SP consumption of the [Time Perception] changes depending on whether he activates his superspeed. If he didn't activate his superspeed while [Time Perception] skill was activated, then it won't reduce that much, maybe because time is somewhat slowing down, even for him. It was still consuming 1 SP per second, but for him, it felt longer.

But once he uses his superspeed, then the consumption turns to normal, 1 SP per second, only relative to him that is.

He took a deep breath as he canceled his [Time Perception] skills, and like the first spider he killed, the two were still able to move momentarily. But since he already knew what was going to happen, Van easily dodged to the side.

He watched as the spiders' legs trembled as they dropped to the ground. And he continued to watch until their life completely faded away from them. Only then did Van let out a sigh of relief as he turned around, once again going deeper into the cavern. But before he could do so, he heard a sizzling noise behind him.

"Hm?", Van slowly turned around, only to see some part of the 2 spider-human babies melting to the ground, "This…"

His eyes then widened as soon as he saw something glisten from the murky remains of the monsters.

"A crystal!?", Van rushed towards the shining object, even using his superspeed to snatch it up. "It really is a Clear Crystal!", his voice turned louder as he placed the crystal in front of his face. He then looked around him by instinct, afraid that someone else was here, and saw him getting it. After a few seconds, he placed it in his pocket. Inside the pouch along with his other crystals.

Van then continued to walk deeper into the cave, this time, his steps were quiet. However, the sound of his ominous laughter could not be hidden as it echoed throughout the darkness, the candles almost dancing to his tune as he went deeper and deeper into the cave.

And soon, an hour passed.

Van's breath was already heavy. His clothes were already covered with the slimy blood of the spiders, with some bits sticking to his hair as well.

"Do… I really need to kill everything here?", Van said as he tried to catch his breath and laid his back on the wall. He reckoned he had already killed more than 20 spider-human babies, but even then, the cave doesn't seem to end.

He could already feel his weapon, the gryphon's gaff, starting to lose its sharpness. With the last spider he killed, it took two strikes before the gaff could pierce its body.

"Am I… in trouble?", Van could not help but let out a sigh as he looked at the tip of his weapon. But after a few seconds, the corners of his mouth slightly lifted. "This…

...this is fun"

His smile, however, quickly disappeared as he heard a loud chittering coming from the darkness- 3 spiders.

Van could not help but roll his eyes as he pushed himself from the wall. Why does this world always have to jinx him, he thought.

Van raised his weapon as he stared at his three new opponents. Their faces no longer that of a baby's but of a grown woman. Van's skin could not help but crawl as he stared at their empty eyes and their long black hair that almost reached the floor.

And most importantly, each of the three was already bigger than him in size.

"This…

Could still be fun, right?"