Outside the Portal, numerous people were setting up tents, shouting and running around. Some of the people were handing out spears, and some were setting up a barricade that circled the Portal.
The people moved without pause, a testament to how used they were at doing their jobs.
"When did this Portal appear?"
"A… Around the time we reported it!"
Andrea was currently talking to a man wearing a similar robe as to what Sarah wore when they first met her in the hospital. The man was the appointed Standby Unit Leader for this Portal.
Instead of going to the city, Andrea told the rider to go to the nearest Explorer's Association. The rider wasn't going at first since Van paid him to take her to the city, but Andrea threatened to jump from the gryphon if he didn't take her there.
Thankfully, the stations of the Explorer's Association were everywhere, even in the Deadzone.
"I see, so around an hour ago?"
"Y...yes!", Andrea grabbed the standby unit leader's arms, "Please send someone inside! My friend… my friend is there!"
"Friend?", the man squinted his eyes as he looked towards the Portal. "So… that's why no monsters are coming out", he sighed, "What rank is your friend?"
"R… rank?", Andrea stuttered.
"Yes"
"I… I don't know", Andrea nervously shook her head, "But he's a student at NYSA!"
"NYSA? What is he doing here?", the man could not help but be slightly taken aback, "What year?"
"F… first year. He just enrolled about a week ago"
"!!!", the man's eyes instantly widened as soon as he heard this, "This is a rank D portal! You need at least a group of level 15s to clear this!"
"P… please save him!", Andrea quickly burst into tears as soon as she heard this.
"Do we already have a guild inside!?", the standby unit leader pulled one of his men that were running around,
"Yes!", his men quickly reported, "It's the… I think they are called the 7-Headed Cerberus guild?"
"Good, good", the standby unit leader let out a sigh.
"Is Evans... is my friend going to be alright!?", Andrea once again grabbed the standby unit leader's arms.
"He…", the standby unit leader can't really answer Andrea. A freshman student, alone inside a Rank D portal? That was suicide. But still, if no monsters were coming out until now, then that would mean the freshman was still pretty much alive.
A freshman student surviving a Rank D Portal on his own for 2 hours?
Just… What kind of person was inside?
***
"Scott, we can only see traces and bits of smaller arachne… and they've all been looted!"
"Damn it, did we waste our time coming here?"
A group of people wearing armor were walking inside the Portal cave, their expressions clearly disappointed as they searched the place.
"I heard from one of the people from the standby unit that a student of NYSA is inside here"
"...Oh?", a woman wearing a bandana kicked a spider's leg, "He seems to be doing well for a student"
Hearing this, the muscular man walking in the front, Scott, could not help but click his tongue as he adjusted his large shield. "Wait until he meets the normal arachnes, he'd be shitting his pants", he said as he let out a burst of laughter.
"Even if he was lucky enough to survive, there are still the greater arachnes and the Portal Boss", he continued, his voice filled with disdain.
"An Arachnaea, huh?", one of the men said coquettishly, "Haven't seen one for so long. Haa… so beautiful"
"Tch", the woman wearing a bandana clicked her tongue, "So disgusting"
"What's that? Are you jealous of a monster, Nisha?", the last man said as he wiggled his pinky finger.
The group of 4 continued to bicker as they walked deeper inside the cave. But after a few minutes, all of them hugged the walls and hid as they heard a sound coming from the darkness. All of them nodded to each other as they slowly crawled towards the source of the sound, careful not to be heard.
The nearer they got to the sound, the more distinct it became. They were now hearing crunching noises, and also a hint of laughter that almost sent chills to their spine.
They carefully leaned their heads over the corner.
"!!!"
"T...that… is a student?"
Their eyes could not help but widen as they saw an arachne, with a boy only slightly smaller than itself on top of it.
Of course, the boy could be no other else than Van.
Van's breathing was erratic, his face already covered with the mixture of the arachne's blood, as well as his. He no longer had the gryphon's gaff in his hands, instead, he was holding what seemed to be a black spear.
No, it wasn't a spear. It was…
"Is he… using the arachne's leg as a weapon?", the woman wearing a bandana, Nisha, could not help but let out a slight gasp. And as soon as she did so, the boy on top of the spider looked at her… and disappeared.
"!?"
"Nisha!"
Scott quickly pushed Nisha out of the way and raised his shield. A loud clanging noise echoed throughout the cave as Scott slightly flinched backward.
"What!?"
Nisha quickly looked towards Scott, only to see the boy that was on top of the arachne stabbing his weapon on Scott's shield. Nisha quickly unsheathed her daggers, while the two men summoned fire on their hands.
They were about to rush towards the boy, but Scott quickly stretched his palm towards them and shouted, "Stop!"
"What!?", Nisha rolled her daggers as she stopped her advance. She was going to open her mouth again, but before she could do so, the boy suddenly dropped to the ground.
The boy let out a deep breath as he turned his eyes towards Nisha, "S… sorry", he stuttered as he slightly bowed his head, "I thought you were a spider-human"
"I...is that so?", Nisha could not help but twitch her eyes.
"Buwahahaha!"
"Maybe your body is, but not your face!"
Nisha's group quickly burst out in laughter as they heard the boy's words. Nisha's daggers were about to pierce her companion's necks, but it was a good thing that the boy interrupted them.
"Who… are you people?", the boy said as he let out another deep breath.
"We're part of the 7-Headed Cerberus guild, boy", Scott cleared his throat as he lightly pushed Nisha's dagger away from him, "And you?"
"...My name is Nathan", the boy said.
"I see…", Scott slowly nodded his head, he then turned his attention towards the direction where the boy came from,
"So Nathan… Are you going to tell us what happened here?"
Scott said as he stared at the arachne that the boy just killed… as well as to the other arachne corpses that surrounded it.
30. Scott reckoned that there were at least 30 arachne sprawled on the ground.
Did the boy… really kill all of them?
...Alone?