12 The monster hunt

" Pod, just watch over her for the time being."

"Okay, I will report to you immediately if something happens." Pod hovered once around me and then moved toward Rue's situation.

"That's what I like to hear, partner. See ya." I said, waving my hand and walking in the opposite direction from Pod.

Now that I have Pod protecting her there isn't something for me to do here. I'll just go back to the town to claim my reward.

But wait, if Rue kills that goblin she will have loot from a higher-ranking monster than me. And that means she will win against me, not by speed but by quality.

Hmm, should I let her win or do something?

What am I thinking? Of course, I'll have to do something, we have a competition here. And I am not going to lose practically in my world!!

But, what should I do? Spawning the loot is out of the question. I want to win but I'll not cheat to that extent.

Though I don't think it's cheating to locate a monster more special than that goblin.

Now without pod here no one can say something about what I'm going to do.

"Who said that I'm not here?" I heard Pod's voice echoing inside my head.

And although I knew that he wasn't anywhere near me, as I could sense him being some kilometers away, I looked around me by instinct.

"Well, partner, I don't think it's cheating if I locate a monster. I could just use magic the assassins of this world discover to mark their target and customize it for strong monsters." I said, waiting impatiently for his answer.

"Ah, fine. I guess this isn't cheating. But isn't it basically using your godly power to create magic? Well, this is the furthest you will go. I'll also watch over you, keep that in mind."

"Yes ma'am," I complained as he was as bothersome as my mom sometimes,

"You said something?" his voice sounded stern sometimes I wonder if I really am his master, well either way if not for his current personality I would've lost will long ago.

"Nothing," I replied immediately.

Well, now I'm free to re-enter the competition.

I will for the technique to manifest in me and customize, or maybe this I remember I had given the priestess a special holy magic called astral projection.

Or to explain it better my soul left the body and before me appeared a map of the planet.

In the search bar, no search bar isn't cheating I mentioned customization before. I inserted my location via the hovering keyboard that was just under the map and lights started glowing on it.

I guess those lights depict the rarity of the monsters that exist in this area. Though it's my first time using that ability on the planet I guess that the grey color is for common monsters, the green for uncommon, the blue for rare, purple for epic, yellow for legendary, and gleaming jade for mythical.

"Master?" Pod's voice echoed in my head,

"What?" I tried to sound as humble as possible,

"Didn't you just customize the magic to the level of your administrator Overview" He spoke in a complaining tone,

"I don't get what you are saying" I shrugged,

"Master you need to be careful!! You should know with cultivation if another priestess broke through the current max seen rank for priestesses she might get this magic formula as we haven't set any other magic!! And this is basically omniscience of planet!!" he complained and I replied,

"I'll take care of it as it comes…. Something isn't right" my mind wasn't on petty things such as cheating as I saw the map in front of me.

That's one hell of a monster quality here. We got everything, from common monsters to a few mythical ones.

And that's supposed to be one of the safest places on this planet.

If it's like that here I can't imagine how it will be in the capital.

But never mind that now as long as it is a grad A irregularity it's no danger.

Actually, I think it's better to see what the rarity of Goblin Highlord Rue is fighting with now, to not overdo it.

Okay, so, here is the Pod, so this monster here should be the goblin.

Damn, this thing is an epic rarity. Rue found something unique all of a sudden.

I will appraise her later for her work.

But now I have a competition to win.

Let's see, this mythical fire dragon that lives inside that active volcano will be too suspicious if I were to kill it.

That legendary water reptile too, so I guess I'm going with that epic Nemesis spider in the middle of the forest. I do wonder if the Guild is keeping tabs on monsters that can destroy countries,

'If only I can use omniscience' I thought and Pod reply with sarcasm in my mind,

'With the level of cheating you are doing, might as well do that!!'

'I got pride and class you damn ball!!'

Lucky me, the monster isn't too far away from my current position.

"Let's rain havoc above this unlucky spider," I said and happily started walking toward the unaware monster.

Suddenly as soon as I stepped further into the forest some sort of mist surrounded me.

The mist was so thick that I couldn't see in front of me.

I guess that is one of the defensive mechanisms of this place to make it more difficult for the adventurers to come across the killer spider.

Well, that's not something to worry me.

I slapped my hands and due to the collision force, the mist immediately disappeared, from in front of me due to the wind current my move made, along with some spiders that were near me, and went flying to the other side of the forest.

Some of the trees were tilting due to what I did but that's not concerning. I can just put them in their place.

Thus I started pushing the trees to their original position.

"Oof, that's one job done. Now to defeat the spider."

"Master, you may want to speed up. Rue just finished the goblin and is ready to return."

"Oh, shit, I better finish this quickly."

"Yes, and you should also…"

"Pod? You there?

Suddenly pod had gone silent for some reason.

And it didn't seem to be intentional as he had never left anything he say unfinished.

But on the other hand, he's a tool made by a God, what could happen to him? If I was in my true soul form nothing could have stopped our connection it seems like something that can affect the connection between those in mortal coils,

Eh, he will be fine. But in case something happens he can always teleport me there so nothing's to worry about.

Thus I continued walking in the forest with the hope of finding the giant spider quickly and scold the pod for worrying me.

But after walking for about half an hour in the forest I still couldn't find that spider. And not only that, but it seemed like that forest was endless.

"Something's strange here" I muttered.

Upon looking around to find any evidence to understand what was happening I felt something sticky on my right shoulder.

When I turned my head to look, I saw that the cloth had melted and inside the small hole was a purple slimy stuff.

Suddenly the sky became dark and I could see nothing anymore due to the absence of light. But I could feel more of that slimy stuff landing on me.

"Oh shit, if this continues I'll be naked in the end if my clothes dissolve completely."

Seems like I found the spider I was looking for.

And it also seems that I'm in Its stomach right now.

I don't know how the fuck that happened but I have to get out before my clothes melt completely.

I guess that's the corrosive acid pod was talking about when he asked me what abilities the monsters will have.

Remembering our conversation, this monster is underground and when its prey walks into its territory, it eats them alive without them knowing that they are inside the spider.

That was a pretty interesting idea I had back then.

Ahh now I get why it can stop the connections of mind and soul, my soul is already being compressed by the mortal coil and the spider surrounding me also has its soul so it is the spider's doing.

But seems like it backfired now.

Strange how one got in this part of the world I originally just meant them for a few dangerous places and limited in reproduction, Literally they are the kind of spiders in which firstborn siblings kill other eggs and then eat the mother from inside out growing to a similar size to her.

Well, in any case, it's time to finish this not-so-little spider.