In another side of the mysterious and brutal dungeon, Riko looked behind to see something as well.
"What the hell is happening anyway?"
She looked behind to see a monster as well.
But it didn't look like a monster. It was something else.
"Who the hell is that?"
It was like a human... but it wasn't the human species of today, not in the least.
It was a caveman, a giant caveman far bigger than any normal human. He had a spear in his hand, like a person from the history books who hunted animals for a living. For clothing, he was wearing skin-colored clothes from the Stone Age. His face was covered fully in hair, hiding basically the entire face. But there was something else about the man that stood out. He looked aggressive—like a serial killer of the literal Stone Age. His eyes were bloodlust red, making him look mad and not in the least sane.
Riko was obviously terrified by finding a human like that in a dungeon, and also by why he was here in the first place.
"Uh. Hello si—" she was cut off.
The human seemed to have gained sudden consciousness and cut Riko off with an animal-like roar in a human voice.
His eyes gave off hatred... a forced hatred that wasn't even needed in his life.
The human roared more and more until he jumped straight at Riko. And unlike others, this guy was also close to Riko in distance instead of being fifty meters away.
He moved forward with his spear aimed at Riko's heart, roaring like an animal during the attack. But he was too slow.
Riko instantly moved aside to the right the moment the spear was a few inches away from stabbing into her heart.
It was then that Riko realized—
"This is not a normal person... He's like a monster in human form, but I'm not sure."
The way he acted was NOT human. It wasn't the intention to kill that made him like that—it was how he did everything: the way he moved, his eyes, and the bloodlust of hatred that didn't exist in reality. Riko had somewhat noticed it, along with the uncoordinated and completely flawed attacks with no speed in the least.
The man turned toward Riko and tried to stab her again, but for some reason—by an extreme, slight difference—he was faster.
But Riko was still able to dodge it very easily by going back to where she was standing before.
The man attacked again.
But this time, he was noticeably faster than before. Still, it was something she could dodge in her sleep. Literally.
The dodging continued, and Riko remained confused, trying to understand what the heck the man wanted and what he was doing. Since Riko didn't know anything about the dungeon, he wasn't a monster to her—compared to others, who clearly understood that what they encountered were things they must fight.
Each and every time, the man got significantly faster than the previous attack.
It was after several failed attacks that Riko finally had to actually try and dodge.
He had become actually fast now.
"I'm done," she said.
She was obviously done. Even though she had a lot of patience and thought he'd stop after so many failed attempts, the inhuman roaring every time he attacked made Riko have enough of him and wanted to not just wait but do something.
The next time he attacked, Riko dodged by instantly moving behind him and placed her hand on his shoulder, trying to make him stop.
But something extremely displeasing and terrifying occurred.
The moment she put her hand on his shoulder, she also touched his clothes…
They were made out of something terrifying.
The clothes were purely made out of human skin. The moment she realized it, she backed away instantly, a little shocked.
She breathed heavily for a second, for some reason scared completely.
"Is he a psycho killer?"
She had realized the man wasn't someone to negotiate with or try not to kill—because only a psycho in extreme conditions back in the day would actually make clothes out of human skin.
She also wasn't confused anymore if he really was someone from the Stone Age. Since she had heard the God of Absolute's voice first when entering this place, she obviously knew he was involved.
To her, no one could've copied the God of Absolute's voice for something like this. And besides, no one aside from a few exceptions in the world even knew about the existence of an omnipotent and omniscient being such as the God of Absolute himself.
And even if they were aware, they wouldn't have dared to do it without the God of Absolute's permission—and permission alone involved him in everything that had happened. So in conclusion, she knew the God of Absolute was involved.
Riko was kind of dumb sometimes, but she was generally sharp in situations like mysteries—although nothing compared to others. For example: Kuroto.
The psycho attacked Riko again.
But this time, he was significantly faster.
Riko barely dodged the attack, but she still didn't attack—since it still wasn't a moment where she was in actual danger.
While all of this was happening, the God of Absolute was watching.
"Humans of the Stone Age were amazing, and monstrous adapters. I give them mana, and here the guy is already getting used to it," he said in amusement. "And when I put a psycho from the Stone Age such as him against a naive girl like Riko, he's bound to make her face enough challenge for the first trial of strength," he said in an almost devious way—yet it didn't sound evil. It sounded like something that was right to do, and that he should continue to do.
Back to Riko.
The psycho attacked Riko once again. When she had backed away—she had distanced herself at least ten meters away from him—yet it still only took him an instant to have his spear inches away from her heart.
She barely dodged it—not only because she had let her guard down, but also because he was significantly faster than before.
Riko, for some reason, was still willing to think and negotiate with the man… Still not understanding he wasn't a man but a true psycho killer, neither was he manipulated in this situation to do it either.
But she obviously couldn't.
As the God of Absolute had said, she really was a naive girl in a world like this, where people mustn't hesitate or they're dead.
Riko was both similar to and completely different from Kuroto in these situations. Whereas Kuroto would probably hesitate, it would only take him a mere second to accurately decide which decision to take. And Riko lacked that exact thing.
The naive girl in such a world wasn't just a lesson—it was also a punishment if she faced consequences in the near future at any time because of it.
In the same dungeon as the naive girl Riko, Tatsuki also turned around to see a monster he'd fight against himself.
When Tatsuki turned around, he saw another monster.
"Oh..."
Tatsuki was surprised and excited, because what he saw wasn't anything short of dangerous.
A disgusting-looking, twelve-legged giant spider—the same size as Tatsuki himself. The spider was pitch black, with red hair covering all twelve legs.
The spider itself didn't look scary, but it wasn't really standing normally. It was upside down, hanging from the ceiling of the dungeon, just a few meters from the ground.
It was looking at Tatsuki and was already conscious—unlike what was literally the case for everyone else.
"Welcome, human... to the domain of the Dozen Legged Spider itself. You should be honored that you've been chosen by him to face me as your trial."
The spider spoke. Its voice actually sounded more human than monster, but it definitely wasn't totally human at all.
"Oh... so that's how it's supposed to be? You put me here, and I didn't ask for it—and you're saying I should be honored? It's like kidnapping an innocent kid and saying he should be honored because he was kidnapped by professionals. You might not have meant it, but I hate arrogant people, even if you're a monster," Tatsuki said. For the first time, he didn't sound playful but serious.
Tatsuki really hated anyone who was overly arrogant like the spider. Even if the words weren't true, they still triggered his annoyance cells a little.
But this annoyance wasn't anything negative. It only made him serious, and that was obviously nothing short of an advantage.
Tatsuki might not look it, but he was someone who would—and easily could—become serious at even the slightest inconveniences and displeasing moments. He might be a chill guy on the surface, but not on the inside.
"Oh... I have an interesting guest indeed. God of Absolute really was correct... but I mustn't have dared doubt him."
The moment the spider mentioned God of Absolute, Tatsuki's face twisted into a warm expression and he said, "I don't know who you're talking about."
"You don't have to play dumb. God of Absolute already told me that the reincarnation of the God of Emotions is who I'm going up against."
Tatsuki chuckled in a smiling manner.
Tatsuki really was him.
He really was what the spider said.
He truly was... the God of Emotions' reincarnation.
"So you know, huh? God of Absolute is too unpredictable, and I figured he was behind all of this mess. No wonder the legendary Dozen Legged Spider—the spider that ruled the wild for a long time—stands before me as an opponent," Tatsuki said, his voice a little more normal now.
The Dozen Legged Spider—an extinct animal just like the Terrorrapter. But this one was different.
The Dozen Legged Spider was once found in Africa 564 years ago. The terrorizer of Africa. The sole animal of its species that ruled over Africa for over 450 years. This animal was one of the strongest animals, but it really wasn't an animal—it was a monster.
The Dozen Legged Spider was an intelligent monster from a dungeon gate that had somehow escaped. The spider adapted easily in Africa, hunting animals and growing stronger with every passing day from fighting things that didn't kill it.
It was several decades later that it was found in Africa, and it killed two of the three people that discovered it for the first time. The one who escaped and outran the monstrosity shortly died after reporting it to several people. He died because of a curse the spider gave him.
The spider grew exponentially stronger with every passing day, until two Spirit Users—both from Germany—finally ended the monster's few centuries of terrorization with combined efforts.
To this day, the spider, although not just as terrifying by today's standards, was still known to at least 90% of literally the entire world and was named The Legendary Dozen Legged Spider.
Tatsuki wasn't hesitant—unlike Riko, he was seriously focused on the enemy.
"Threads of Darkness, forbid movement and ability reader."
Tatsuki was behind the spider by a few meters, and the Tatsuki in front turned into black smoke.
Tatsuki began reading the spider's abilities... but suddenly, something happened.
"Reverse Threads, capture," the spider said.
Suddenly, the invisible threads of Tatsuki's Threads of Darkness slowly converted into the spider's white threads. Then, they wrapped around Tatsuki from his legs to his shoulders. Tatsuki was completely covered in threads and struggled, but was unable to free himself from them.
The spider then turned around to see Tatsuki trapped in its web, which was stronger than steel.
"Oh..." Tatsuki sighed and said, "Looks like you captured me. My bad for being careless," he said sarcastically.
The spider slowly headed toward Tatsuki.
But before that, Tatsuki did something else.
"Darkness, clone," he said, as a few meters behind him, a clone appeared—exactly identical.
"Clone Exchange," he said when the spider reached him. Then, the Tatsuki that was trapped in the web turned into dark smoke.
"That's some ability you have," the spider said, actually amazed.
The Dozen Legged Spider was far too human for a monster. It acted and thought like a human as well.
That was because, in those centuries of ruling, it had devoured and feasted on several human brains. And for some reason, it had acquired human traits alongside them.