"Quite a cute little one, aren't you?"

"W… what?" ​​

Van could not help but blink his eyes a couple of times as he stared at the arachnaea in front of him, his mind drowning in confusion as the monster's words repeated over and over in his mind. Were creatures from the Portal able to speak!?

No. It made sense. The monster in front of him had the body of a woman. If it wasn't for the ominous legs and round bag of flesh below its waist, the monster was… technically human.

"I was planning on pretending more…", the arachnaea once again spoke. Van made sure to look at her mouth to see if it really was her that was talking, and to his confirmation, it was, "But you… are just too cute!"

The arachnaea crossed her arms and started to wiggle her body, her gigantic breasts swaying coquettishly in the process. Van wanted to run, but for some reason, his body was frozen solid, probably due to the chilling fear that was crawling through his skin.

"I am supposed to test you. But…", the arachnaea continued to speak as she tilted her head as her eyes scanned Van from head to toe, "... you're still too weak. Too small", she then sighed in disappointment.

"How am I even going to test you if you can't even make me bleed?", the arachnaea slowly leaned closer towards Van, her face only a few feet away from him, "...or maybe you can?", she chuckled as her eyes wandered below Van's waist.

[Time Perception]

With the arachnaea's face right within reach, Van quickly activated his skill and thrust his middle and index fingers straight to the arachnaea's eyes. No matter how hard your body is, your eyes will always remain soft, Van bellowed in his mind.

"Gah!", but as soon as his fingers made contact with the arachnaea's eyes, Van screamed in pain as his fingers snapped and twisted, his fingernails flying away due to the impact.

His [Time Perception] automatically turned off due to the unexpected pain. But as soon as it did so, Van heard a shrilling scream echoing throughout the spacious room.

"Kryaaa!"

Van quickly looked towards the screaming arachnaea and watched her as she flailed on the ground while covering her eyes.

"D… did it work!?", Van could not help but be filled with excitement as he stood up from the ground, the pain in his fingers overwhelmed by the adrenaline that instantly rushed throughout his body.

The arachnaea continued to scream… until after a few seconds later, it dropped to the ground, no longer showing any signs of movement.

Van could not help but take a deep breath. "D… did it really work!?", he shouted as a wide smile appeared on his face.

"Ahahaha!"

But then, the smile on Van's face quickly disappeared as a playful laugh resounded throughout the room. The arachnaea then slowly stood up from the floor, her legs moving one by one as she lifted herself up from the floor.

"My apologies, cute one", the arachnaea chuckled as she removed her hands from her face, her eyes completely fine and without any damage, "My eyes have long since been gouged out by… a friend"

A disgusting sound then whispered in Van's ears as the arachnaea removed her eyes, revealing the two hollow sockets in her face, "These eyes were woven by me, one of my finest work. Don't you agree?", the arachnaea chuckled as she presented the two eyes towards Van.

Van, however, kicked the arachnaea's hand, causing the pair of eyes to fly away as he turned on his [Time Perception] skill. Van then quickly took this chance to retrieve his weapon that fell earlier from the ground.

Without any delays in his movement, he ran back to the arachnaea and used his [Air Step] to push his body straight towards her face, thrusting his weapon through her eye, which was now only a hollow eye socket.

But alas, the result was still the same. He let go of the weapon before it could snap into two. Van turned off his [Time Perception] skill as he listlessly dropped in front of the arachnaea.

This was it. He thought. If the arachnaea's insides were also too hard for his weapon to not be able to do anything, then any attack that he would do now would just be a waste of his strength.

He lost.

"Quite the violent one, aren't you? Stabbing me with the remains of my children", the arachnaea chuckled as she lifted Van from the floor, embracing him, their faces only inches away from each other.

"Are you… going to eat me?", Van said as he stared the arachnaea straight in the eye.

"Hmmm", the arachnaea smiled as she embraced Van even tighter, her soft gigantic breasts were the only reason why Van has not been crushed yet, "Should I?"

"You might as well", Van sighed as he looked to the ceiling, "Can't waste anything these days"

Hearing Van's words, the arachnaea could not help but let out a burst of laughter. "You pass, cute one", she said as she dropped Van to the floor.

The room then started to change. The broken pillars that littered the room slowly became trees, and the webs that hang from the ceiling slowly turned into colorful garments, and the ones that were sprawled on the ground became flowers.

"What…", Van could not help but blink his eyes numerous times as he looked around the place, wiping his eyes to see if he was hallucinating, "Am I… dead?"

"Don't be ridiculous", the arachnaea once again chuckled, "I am supposed to give this to you"

"!!!"

Van put up his guard as the arachnaea started moving her hand, her fingers weaving something out from her webs.

"Here", as soon as she finished what she was weaving, she handed it over to Van.

"This…", Van was still wary, but if the arachnaea truly wanted to kill him, then he wouldn't be standing here right now. He then stared at the thing that was handed to him by the arachnaea.

"...A feather?"

"Hm", the arachnaea nodded her head, "Don't ask me what that is. Knowing them, it's something perverted", she said as she waved her hand. And as soon as she did so, Van's vision started to darken.

"Goodbye, then"

"W… wait!", Van could not help but scream. Everything happened so fast that he wasn't even able to follow what was going on. He was, in three words, very very confused.

Before his vision completely disappeared, the arachnaea's words once again whispered into his ears.

"Be very careful of the ones watching you, cute one", her sedated words ringed in Van's ears, "Never... trust them"

"Never trust who!?"

"Evans!"

Van could not help but grit his teeth as he suddenly felt someone hugging him from behind. He was about to strike the one who hugged him, but then he realized that his vision was back and that he was no longer inside the Portal, he was now outside, back in the Relic Graveyard.

Van blinked his eyes a couple of times as his eyes wandered the area that was now filled with people, their eyes all staring towards him.

"What… the hell is happening?"