Chapter 6: From Lowborn to Something Below Is As Hard As a Horn

Monsters from the Underworld.

3-Headed hounds, giant eagles with the body of a lion, a literal half-human half-reptile with small snakes as hair. There were also sorts of monsters that existed in the Underworld, completely different from each other and varying in strengths.

And yet, there was one thing that was consistent amongst all of them—none of them could talk. Even those that have human heads and faces are not capable of speaking to men. Many Explorers have already tried, some have even captured monsters to experiment on them when the technology needed for such procedures became available, and yet to no avail.

And yet right now, in front of Rhys, with its mouth dripping with blood—a monster spoke.

"Did… you just speak?" Rhys slightly flinched, standing up from the frosty ground as he looked the spider lady in the eyes.

"Grukh, khee?"

'...Oh." But as the monster opened its mouth again, the only thing that escaped its lips was a mumbling screech. It opened its mouth again, but no words that Rhys could understand reached his ears. Was it possible that he was just hallucinating?

Although he was calm, he is still facing death, after all. Perhaps something inside his brain started to fry—or perhaps it has always been, and that is the reason why everyone around him either dies or leaves him.

"..." And once again, Rhys's breaths became hesitant as images of his pathetic life flashed before his eyes.

The monster did not care about his wallowing, however, as it curiously tilted its head to the side. It then started looking back and forth between Rhys and the mangled corpse of Lex in her hand. And with a chitter once again escaping its lips, it just carelessly threw Lex and rushed toward Rhys.

"!!!"

Rhys wasn't even able to react—no. He wasn't even able to see the spider lady approach. Her human parts may be just slightly larger than that of an average human, but her spider bits could be compared to that of a small car.

How was it even able to move that fast in front of him?

"..." Rhys could really only very slowly look up, and he couldn't even see its face; it was blocked by her abs, as well as her large round, plump, bouncing breasts.

Rhys was now officially 18 years old today, and it was just 18 years of nothing. But what he could say, however, was that this was not the first time he was seeing a naked pair of breasts—he was 12 then, and it was not really a memory he wanted to open up.

And now that death was literally right in front of him, Rhys slightly started to feel a little nervous. He turned to look at Lex's corpse; his stomach open, and his flesh completely dry.

Rhys is used to pain, but he has never tried being eaten before. But still, Rhys took in a deep breath as he once again tried to calm himself down… but before he could even exhale, his vision suddenly started to shift.

He couldn't even see it move, but he was now dangling in the air right in front of the spider lady's face; his neck, imprisoned by her surprisingly smooth hand.

And now, as he stared at its face that truly resembled that of a woman; long jet-black hair, sharp and thin eyebrows, pink lips, and a small nose all painted on pale flawless skin—Rhys finally remembered the monster's name from one of his classes.

Arachne.

Half spider, half woman. The very first one of them was said to be cursed by the gods, making Rhys question who the true monsters were—a blasphemous thought.

There was also one thing he remembered about them; they move in a cluster… So why was this one alone?

"Kh…!" And before Rhys could overthink again, the grip around his neck tightened. It was no wonder that Lex was eaten, she was just physically stronger than him.

Whenever Lex bullied and strangled Rhys, he could still at least move his head. But with the arachne, it felt like his neck would snap with just a tiny bit of wind–this is good, of course—it means a quick death.

"Tck…" Rhys's eyes started to twitch as the arachne pulled him closer to her. She then very slowly lifted up her other hand, before suddenly pricking his cheek with her sharp nails.

A small smile then started to crawl on the arachne's face as it looked at the blood dripping from Rhys's cheek; her otherworldly beauty, no more as Rhys saw her teeth that looked like several saws stacked on top of each other.

"...Shit," Rhys breathed out. His body wanted to look away, but he forced his eyes to watch—he didn't want to miss his death.

And so, very slowly, the arachne leaned her head closer to Rhys's face. Rhys immediately gritted his teeth as he readied himself for the pain of his face getting torn off… but it never came.

Instead, he felt something warm touching his cheek, And as he didn't look away, he knew exactly what that feeling was—the arachne's tongue.

"...Uh?"

And while Rhys was still slightly confused, the arachne continued to slither across his skin; damp and soft. The sound of her hungrily slurping the blood running down his cheek sang to his ears like a whisper.

The arachne then pulled her head away; her tongue was still stuck out, a mixture of her saliva and Rhys's blood, bridging the two of them as drips of the combined juices trailed down her chin. And then, very slowly, the arachne's eyes trailed down below Rhys's waist; her tongue, licking her lips as a smile once again crawled on her face.

"..." Rhys also turned his head to where the arachne was looking, only to see the thing between his legs… violently thriving, almost hitting the arachne's stomach from how alive it was. Perhaps out of everything that has happened in the Underworld, this was the most unexpected one.

"Well…" And then, once again, Rhys heard a word escaping the arachne's plump pink lips, causing him to quickly look at her,

"...I wonder how that would taste."

"!!!"

And before Rhys could even contemplate how disturbing the situation was, a surge of pain suddenly enveloped his entire body—a pain he has never felt before. His bones felt like they were being ground, while every inch of his flesh burnt.

Venom? Poison? Perhaps rabies from the arachne's saliva?

A million thoughts once again entered Rhys's mind as the excruciating pain tried to tear away any sanity he had left. And very soon, tears of blood started to trail from his eyes. His dark irises, slowly losing their intensity as they started to pale, turning into a dull, silver color.

His now silver eyes started to tremble as they reflected all sorts of strange images and foreign information that were entering his brain.

And finally, in the midst of this painful journey, Rhys recognized the pattern of what was happening to him. He wasn't poisoned, he wasn't rabid. What he was experiencing now is...

An Awakening.

The blood of gods hiding within his veins was finally waking up.