"Are you trying to kill yourself!?"
Van could not help but widen his eyes in shock with Nisha's statement. Was something like that supposed to happen when one tries to consume a Crystal?
"I… was just yawning", Van said as he slightly opened his mouth and pretended to yawn.
Hearing Van's words, the rest of the group burst out in laughter, but quickly covered their mouths so as to not attract any monster's attention.
"W… what!?", Nisha furrowed her eyebrows and waved her hand, "But you were about to put the crystal in your mouth!"
"It's dark…", Van shrugged his shoulders, "You must have seen wrong, miss", Van nonchalantly said as he picked up his crystal from the ground, patting it clean before returning it to his pouch.
"Don't mind her, kid", Scott said, his voice still slightly high due to him trying to stop his laughter, "She always tends to overreact, like an old grandmother"
Nisha clicked her tongue as she threw her dagger towards Scott's shield.
"A deadly grandmother!", Scott once again tried to stop his laughter as he ran towards the front of the group. The two unnamed Elementals also followed him, afraid to be the one who would be the object of her wrath.
Nisha could swear that Van wasn't yawning, he truly was going to eat the crystal. She once again furrowed her eyebrows as she stared at Van, her eyes filled with curiosity.
'There is something odd with this kid', she thought as she continued to stare at Van. Van, realizing that Nisha was looking at him, once again pretended to yawn. His mind, however, was currently in disarray.
Do people explode when they consume a crystal? Sweat started to form on his face as he imagined himself bursting into pieces. Why don't they teach something like that in the Academy!? He bellowed in his mind.
Or maybe they did, but he wasn't listening? Van could not help but sigh. He had so many things to learn about the world of System Holders and Explorers.
But the main question that was circling his mind was… Why is he fine?
Did it have something to do with him being at superspeed when he consumed the Crystal? Would that mean that he would have burst into pieces if he wasn't in superspeed? Van could not help but gulp and shiver at the thought.
But if that really was the case… then his System really was special.
As Van was lost in his own world, the group continued to walk deeper into the cave, with Nisha watching him closely. But seeing as Van wasn't doing anything crazy anymore, she could only sigh and think that maybe she really was just seeing things earlier.
"Enemy in the front"
Van quickly woke up from his stupor as soon as he heard Scott's words. He joined the rest of the group as they all hugged the walls almost all at the same time.
The cave started to slightly quake as the dust from the ceiling started to fall on their shoulders. The sound they heard was no longer chittering, but rather, almost the sound of stone crushing.
And soon, the enemy revealed itself.
Van's eyes could not help but widen as soon as the arachne came into view. He thought that the ones that he fought earlier were big, but the one in front of him right now was… in a different league. It was almost 3 times as big.
"It's a greater arachne", Nisha whispered, "The Portal's boss must be near"
Greater arachne? Van squinted his eyes as he focused on the gigantic spider. He reckoned he would already need to use [Air Step] in order for him to reach the spider's head. Surprisingly though, even though their size has more than doubled, their human heads still remain the same size as a normal human's.
The only thing that changed was that… their faces were even more beautiful. Seeing this, Van could not help but squint his eyes. The creatures of the Portal really were weird no matter how he puts it.
'Now… how are they going to fight this?', Van let out a tiny breath as he waited for the group to go out from hiding. Of course, he still tightened his grip on his weapon so he would be ready to fight if he needed to.
Similar to their first battle, the first to attack were the two Mage-types with their blaze of fire. However, their skill missed the gigantic spider by a hair's breadth.
"!!!"
Van was about to activate his [Time Perception] skill when Nisha suddenly ran across the wall. Van could not help but raise his eyebrows, wondering how Nisha was able to do that.
And as soon as she was at a considerable height, Nisha then jumped towards the ceiling, rotating her body so that her feet were planted beneath it. And as soon as her feet made contact with the ceiling, she pushed herself down straight towards the spider's head.
"...Oh!", and while Van was busy watching Nisha do her thing, he didn't notice that Scott was already below the spider's head, with the sharp edge of his shield directly beneath its neck. The spider's head was slammed down due to the impact from Nisha's forceful descent from the ceiling, causing its neck to land directly on the sharp edges of Scott's shield.
The two then quickly retreated back as soon as the spider's head dropped to the ground.
"Run!", Nisha said as she passed by Van. The spider, even with its head separated from its body, started to flail around, it's long and gigantic legs causing the cave's rocks to be thrown around violently.
Van's eyes could not help but glisten in awe as the greater arachne was dispatched in just a few seconds. Before this, he didn't really think of doing the moves that Nisha did when she ran across the walls. With his current STR, he should be able to do the same, not to mention with his speed.
His way of thinking still remained that of a normal human's, and so the way he moved was limited. It really was the right decision to just watch them, he was learning so many things.
Van's thoughts of admiration were then quickly disrupted when he saw the Crystal that the gigantic spider dropped. 'Only a Green Crystal?', he thought. He was expecting the huge spider to drop at least a Yellow Crystal, but to think it was only Green?
Then what kind of creature did he need to defeat for the Yellow ones?
"This is it, boys"
As Van was lost in thought, the four members of the 7-Headed Cerberus guild suddenly sat down on the ground and started tinkering with their weapons.
The two Mage-types also closed their eyes, their deep breaths filling the entire cave. Van blinked his eyes a couple of times as he wondered why the group suddenly rested, but then he realized that there was a huge door in front of them with some sort of crystal in the middle of it.
"First time?", Nisha whispered as she stood beside him.
"What… no", Van raised his eyebrow.
"Cut with the act already, I already know you're just a student", Nisha sighed as she tightened her bandana, "You don't have to worry, no one is listening to us"
Van looked around, and like what Nisha said, the other 3 were busy with whatever it is they were doing.
"That's the door that leads to the Portal's boss, Arachnaea", Nisha said as she started sharpening her daggers.
"Arach… what?"
"This really is your first time isn't it?", Nisha could not help but pause as she looked Van straight in the eyes, "Unlike the rest of the arachne we have faced so far, Arachnaea are quite… different. Just don't get distracted"
"Distracted?", Van tilted his head in confusion, "What do you--"
Before Van could finish his words, a crunching noise pierced his ear. He then quickly looked at the direction of the noise, only to see the crystal that was previously sticking on the huge door fall to the ground in pieces.
It would seem that Scott crushed it with his fist, "Look alive, boys!", he bellowed as he slowly walked back. The entire cave then suddenly rumbled as the huge door slowly opened by itself.
Van could not help but slightly squint his eyes as a bright light seeped from the edges of the door. But as soon as the door fully opened, Van almost choked in shock.
...Was this what Nisha meant by 'try not to get distracted'?