"I like spiders"
"..."
The members of the 7-Headed Cerberus guild knew that Van wasn't telling the truth, but they didn't really pursue the matter any further. System Holders must hold secrets, after all.
Scott and the rest of the group could not help but look at the corpses of the arachne that were littering the area. Even if the arachne were in the lower tier of Portal monsters when it comes to their durability, the sheer number of them here would make even Scott think twice of going in and engaging the enemies with his group.
But alas, at the end of the day, the boy was still… just a boy.
"Go rest, kid", Scott said as stretched his arms, "We will finish the dungeon"
"What?", Van could not help but raise his eyebrow.
"Even if you are strong enough to survive in this dungeon, you're still a civilian", Scott let out a sigh, "Not to mention a student. You can't really be inside a D-rank Portal without an explorer badge"
"Cut the boy some slack", Nisha breathed as she sharpened her daggers, "Look around you, the kid can handle himself"
"That doesn't--"
"A student?"
Before the two could continue their conversation, Van interrupted the two of them by clapping his hands, "Who told you that?", Van said as he lightly scratched his chin.
"We heard the people talking outside"
"What? No…", Van let out a deep sigh, "I am an explorer"
"...", Scott could not help but squint his eyes as he scanned Van from head to toe, "You? Where's your badge?"
Hearing Scott's words, Van shook his head in frustration, "My friend and I were packing when the Portal appeared, I left the badge there", he said. He then casually retrieved his pouch from his pocket and removed a Yellow crystal from it.
"See?", he said as he showed the Yellow Crystal to Scott and the other members of the 7-Headed Cerberus, "Would a student even have a Yellow crystal?"
Scott once again squinted his eyes as he stared carefully at the Yellow crystal. What the boy said does make sense. No student would ever carry a yellow crystal with them. And based on the corpses that they have seen so far, none of them were capable of dropping a crystal of this quality.
Scott still had his reservations, but still, if he really was an Explorer and he was the first one to find the Portal, then that would mean he had the rights to explore this Portal much more than them. He also had the right to kick them out if he wanted to.
And so, with a sigh, Scott could only let out a sigh of frustration as he tightened his shield. "Fine", he muttered, "But stay clear from us as much as possible, we don't want our formation ruined because you're blocking our path"
"...Got it", Van nodded as he walked away from the group. He then started picking up the crystals that the arachne dropped, glancing from time to time towards the group with his eyes squinted
"Don't try to steal anything", he warily said as he continued picking up his crystals, "This is all mine"
"..."
It took about 2 minutes before Van could finish picking up all the crystals from the dead arachne. Van slightly hummed as he placed his now fat pouch back inside his pocket. It was quite a bountiful picking, Van thought. There were even a couple of Green Crystals from the bigger arachne.
The group proceeded to walk deeper into the cave as soon as Van finished his… farming. It would seem that the group Van defeated depleted most of the monsters in the cave. They have been walking for more than 30 minutes but they have not encountered any more of the arachne, even the smallest ones.
"So…", Nisha slowed down and walked beside Van, "Which school do you go to?", she whispered.
"NYSA", Van instantly answered proudly. But as soon as he realized his mistake, his eyes slowly widened as he looked at Nisha.
"Pft", Nisha could not help but cover her mouth, "You need to brush up on your lying skill--"
"Sssh!"
Before Nisha could finish what she was saying, Scott raised his fist as a series of chittering came from the distance. As soon as the tapping sound entered the group's ears, they quickly hugged the wall and got into position without even their leader saying anything.
Van also followed them as he moved to the side. Was this how guilds work? Van thought.
The group has been waiting for more than a minute now and the arachne still had not shown themselves. Van was getting a bit impatient. If he was alone, he would have already rushed towards the arachne and picked them off one by one before they could even know what hit them.
Finally, after a few more seconds, the arachne revealed themselves. There were 5 of them, all bigger than Van. As soon as they came into view, Nisha threw something on the ground. Van squinted his eyes to see what it was, but before he could even make out what it was, one of the arachne approached it.
And soon, the rest of the arachne gathered around it. With the spiders completely distracted, Scott quickly ran and slammed his shield towards the nearest arachne, causing it to shoot towards the rest of its cluster.
And while the arachne tried to collect themselves, a blaze of fire was launched straight towards them by the two members of the 7-Headed Cerberus guild, whose names were still unknown to Van.
The arachne that managed to run away were then swiftly disposed of by Nisha's daggers as she jammed her daggers through their temples. And just like that, without even half a minute, 5 arachne were easily subdued.
'Interesting', Van could not help slightly hum in admiration. So this is how the professionals do it, he thought. Their group consisted of 2 Enhancer-type System holders, one that focused on STR and the other in AGI. Then the two Elementals were responsible for causing chaos.
"Let's move", Scott ordered without even taking a rest, "There should be more of them nearby, stay vigilant"
The rest of the group nodded as they followed Scott. Van could not help but be in awe of how organized the 4 were. This was a good chance for him to watch and learn how real explorers operate up close.
He should just take it easy and learn from behind. 'But just in case, I need to replenish my lost SP', he thought as he grabbed a clear crystal from his pouch for him to eat.
"Stop!"
But before he could even put it inside his mouth, Nisha slapped his hand away, causing the crystal to fly off from his hand.
"Are you trying to kill yourself!?", Nisha screamed as she ran towards the crystal and kicked it farther away.
"W… what?", Van could not help but blink his eyes a couple of times in confusion.
"What do you mean what!?", Nisha waved her hand, "You were about to eat the crystal! Do you want to burst into pieces or something!?"
"...What?"