About an hour after Arthur and the Spider Woman left, and amid the destruction and chaos they had caused, Beaumont’s unconscious body suddenly trembled.

  His eyelids twitched. A few seconds ter, his body trembled again. Slowly, he opened his blurry eyes and let out a faint groan.

  "Ah…"

  A loud ringing filled his ears. Because of the intense dizziness, he felt as if the world around him was shaking violently. He raised his hand and grabbed his aching head, thinking in confusion.

  'I’m still alive? Didn’t… that wolf kill me?'

  Little by little, the chaos inside his mind began to calm down. The ringing in his ears faded, and his vision regained some crity.

  He moved his body with difficulty and leaned his shoulder against the tree trunk he had crashed into when he was injured. Remembering what had happened earlier, he said in a low voice,

  "What happened to the others? Did they survive too? We need to leave the forest before nightfa—"

  Suddenly, his body trembled again. Or more precisely, he—and everything around him—shook. Not only that, but he heard a terrifying growl coming from somewhere nearby.

  At that moment, the remaining dizziness and ringing disappeared completely. He snapped out of his daze, and all his senses returned at full strength.

  "What’s going on…"

  Terrified, he forced himself to stand up quickly and began looking left and right in confusion and fear, before he could fully understand what was happening.

  Boom!

  A gigantic leg nded near him. The ground shook even harder. Leaves rained down, and dirt flew everywhere.

  His eyes widened to the limit, and his breath caught in his throat from the shock. Trembling, he took a step back and slowly raised his head to look at the owner of that leg.

  It was an enormous beast that resembled a lizard. Its body was covered in yered armored scales with mixed, overpping colors—some golden yellow, others reddish orange.

  From the top of its head all the way to the end of its long tail, a row of sharp bony spikes ran down its back. Overall, it was over forty meters long and nearly fifteen meters tall.

  Its entire body was covered in deep, old scars. A massive burn mark covered the upper left side of its face, leaving its left eye deformed.

  The moment Beaumont saw the creature clearly, he almost fainted. He barely managed to stay on his feet and muttered involuntarily, stuttering,

  " O..Obsididrake… a B Rank monster… This is a disaster. A disaster. I need to inform the Count immediately—no… this is bigger than him. I need to inform the Duke."

  He calmed himself with great difficulty and suppressed his presence as much as possible. Then, slowly and carefully, he began stepping backward, desperate to escape with his life.

  He knew that monsters, in general, hated humans deeply. Staying anywhere near it was pure suicide.

  When he was about twenty meters away, he gathered more courage and increased his speed.

  But the moment he took a few more steps, he heard a violent scraping sound from his left. From that same direction, trees and rocks began flying into the air.

  Then he saw the massive tail of the Obsididrake shing toward him like a whip. In the blink of an eye—before he could do anything—the tail reached him and struck with devastating force.

  His body was shattered instantly and sent flying hundreds of meters away, his remains scattering across different parts of the forest.

  Sniff!

  Completely indifferent to the human it had just killed, the Obsididrake sniffed the air deeply. Then it shifted its gaze toward a spot on the ground where a few small drops of blue blood remained.

  It opened its mouth, filled with rows of fangs, forming a twisted and terrifying grin. In a very rough masculine voice, it said,

  " That filthy insect… I finally found it."

  Without wasting a single second, it followed her scent—and that other strange scent—heading south at full speed. With every step forward, it destroyed everything in its path like a moving mountain.

  …

  Dozens of miles away, Arthur ran at a steady pace. With a serious expression, he discussed the terms of their agreement with the Spider Woman sitting on his back.

  Since their retionship had shifted from master and sve to something closer to a business arrangement between near equals, he no longer treated her with excessive caution or weighed every word.

  He spoke directly about whatever was on his mind.

  "Answer me. Why do you keep stalling? Remove your webs from inside me. After that, we’ll discuss the guarantee you’ll give me to ensure you won’t attack me once our deal is over."

  The Spider Woman frowned in annoyance and replied,

  "You’re so impatient. Didn’t you hear me? I already told you I’ll free you. Just wait.

  Removing the control webs from inside your body isn’t easy. This is my first time doing it.

  If you don’t want me to accidentally destroy your brain or one of your organs, then wait until I stabilize my mental state. This is very difficult, you know."

  In truth, she wasn’t lying. Extracting the control webs without harming him was difficult. They were spread through every part of his body like a network of veins and arteries.

  Arthur grew slightly irritated and said impatiently,

  "You’re an extremely powerful monster. What could possibly distract you so much that you’re struggling to stabilize your mental state…?"

  He fell silent for a moment. Realizing arguing wouldn’t help, he clicked his tongue and continued,

  "Tsk. You know what? Just hurry up. Otherwise, I’ll stop, and we won’t continue our way until you free me.”

  Without answering, the Spider Woman looked at him with a lost expression. Inside, she thought bitterly,

  'You’re right. I’m an extremely powerful monster… and yet you defeated me. My thoughts are in chaos because of you.

  I don’t know why, but I don’t want to free you. Just like I can’t kill you… I can’t let you go either. Why? What does this even mean?’

  It was hard for her to understand this kind of complicated emotion. She was just a monster who had spent most of her life in her nest, hunting and fighting other monsters. She barely knew anything about the vast world outside.

  And yet, for some reason, this weak wolf she was riding possessed knowledge and intelligence far beyond hers.

  The more she thought about him and tried to unravel the mystery surrounding him, the more interested she became.

  While she was lost in her thoughts, her "Enhanced Senses" detected a powerful being rushing toward them at insane speed.

  Worse still, she recognized it immediately. How could she not? It was her sworn enemy, one she had fought several times in the past.

  As its presence drew closer, Arthur felt the ground beneath him tremble faintly. He caught a somewhat familiar scent, but before he could identify it or its source, the Spider Woman suddenly jumped off his back.

  Without warning, her body began to expand rapidly until she returned to her savage giant spider form. Then, with a hesitant expression, she looked at him with her eight eyes.

  He panicked.

  'What’s going on…?'

  Countless thoughts and fears fshed through his mind. He wanted to ask her, but he didn’t have the time to do that.

  Suddenly, she grabbed him with a strand of silk and threw him onto her back. Then her voice echoed inside his head.

  "Hold tight."

  With unbelievable force, she pushed off the ground with her eight legs and leapt high into the air, soaring hundreds of meters away.

  His eyes widened as violent winds toyed with his fur. Instinctively, he dug his cws into her body, anchoring himself so he wouldn’t slip.

  While they were still midair, he saw a gigantic monster in the distance, charging through the forest straight toward them.

  Roar!

  The beast let out a thunderous roar—one that felt extremely familiar to Arthur. Then it opened its dark maw, and like a cannon, unleashed a barrage of massive fireballs that shot toward them at insane speed.

  In that moment, after hearing its roar and catching a clear trace of its scent, Arthur finally understood why it felt so familiar.

  This was the same monster that had roared near his cave on his very first night in this world. ( Chapter 3)