[Large Spider:] [Level: 5] [Quantity: 3]
"This monster nest should be a good place to test the skill we got last night," Tsukikawa Shu said.
"Okay!" Goto Hitori nodded as well.
Although she was only Level 2, she had gained a skill by now. Helping out should not be difficult.
The two of them walked down the stairs into the subway entrance. It was gloomy and damp inside, while the railings were covered in rust and moss.
The entrance had been blocked by webs. Three bloated spiders clung motionlessly to the walls, seemingly waiting for prey to arrive.
Even without counting their leg span, their bodies alone were the size of tabletops.
Several bright red streaks ran across their black bodies. The moment Tsukikawa Shu and Goto Hitori stepped inside, all eight of each spider's eyes turned toward them.
"Go, Bocchi!"
Tsukikawa Shu pointed at the spiders.
At that moment, Tsukikawa Shu looked like someone commanding Digimon into battle.
"I... I'll do my best!"
Bocchi swallowed and looked at those horrifying spiders.
Tsukikawa Shu also used the system to inspect the monsters' information.
Compared to the Giant Rats from before, which had only been Level 1, these spiders had roughly similar attack power. However, their deadliest trait was their venom. Once contaminated by it, one would face a fatal crisis in this Inner World, where medical care was practically nonexistent.
That was why they had successfully become "Level 5 monsters."
The spiders stirred, shifting their bodies as they slowly crawled toward the two of them. They remained somewhat wary of the humans, but once they confirmed that the pair lacked overwhelming combat strength or let down their guard, the three spiders would suddenly pounce right at their faces.
"It's okay, Bocchi. Relax and fully unleash your skill."
As Tsukikawa Shu spoke, he retreated several steps.
It was not because he intended to leave Bocchi at the front to block for him. Rather, Bocchi's skill was a wide-range attack, and he might get caught up in it if he was not careful.
"Okay!"
Bocchi took a deep breath, then opened her eyes.
They were hollow eyes devoid of hope, completely stripped of all light.
On anyone else, that expression would have looked exactly like someone who had been thoroughly broken.
"I... am trash. A parasite on society."
Goto Hitori lowered her head, her hair hanging loose as she staggered forward.
Intense black mist erupted from her body, and powerful negative emotions flooded the surroundings!
Like a zombie, Goto Hitori could not help recalling one embarrassing memory after another from her past.
For someone with severe social anxiety, the number of embarrassing memories far exceeded that of ordinary people.
One humiliating memory after another surfaced before her eyes—memories that, when recalled late at night, made her clutch her blanket and writhe, wishing she could crawl into a hole and disappear. Goto Hitori completely fell into darkness.
"Terrifying."
Tsukikawa Shu had not expected this skill to be so powerful.
The three enormous spiders had been lunging at Goto Hitori, but the instant they touched the black mist, they all went limp and collapsed onto the ground.
They struggled briefly. However, all eight of their legs had lost their strength, and they lay there like discarded rags.
Clearly, they could not withstand Goto Hitori's powerful curse ability. They had completely lost their will to fight.
"Hey, do you know how I spent these eighteen years?"
Goto Hitori opened her bloodshot eyes, her empty, dark pupils staring at the three spiders before her.
"Eighteen years! A whole eighteen years! Do you know how I spent these eighteen years?!"
She lifted one spider's head and stared into its eight huge doll-like eyes, shaking it repeatedly.
"I'm trash, unwanted trash..."
"It hurts! It hurts so much!"
"But! I'm not the one who's wrong. This world is!"
Goto Hitori looked completely insane, panting heavily as both hands squeezed the giant spider's head with all her strength.
With a wet splat, the spider's head was crushed apart!
Green fluid splattered across the ground and all over Goto Hitori's face.
"Hehehehe... Die. All of you, die!"
"Be destroyed! This cruel world!"
She suddenly stretched out both hands again and pressed them hard against the remaining two spiders' heads.
Fear actually appeared in the eyes of the giant spiders, despite them being monsters.
With two sounds like water balloons bursting, Bocchi unleashed strength that did not belong to her and crushed the remaining two spiders as well.
"Ahahahaha!!!"
Goto Hitori let out a crazed laugh.
As for Tsukikawa Shu, he had stayed far away, simply watching Bocchi perform without daring to approach her.
Good grief. If he got close, there was no telling how the darkened Bocchi might handle him.
After some time, the black mist around Goto Hitori gradually dispersed. The light returned to her eyes, and her expression cleared.
She looked at the dried green fluid in her palm, unable to believe it.
"I took out those three things?" Goto Hitori could hardly believe it.
But her memories told her that she had done it.
It was just... no matter what, she could not believe she was capable of doing something like that.
"I really am so dark..."
Goto Hitori covered her eyes.
There was another embarrassing memory added to the pile!
But then, someone took her hand.
"Nice job." Tsukikawa Shu smiled.
"Actually, I'm not usually this dark... At least... not in public."
"At most, when no one's around at night, I stay in my room, silently wiping away tears while remembering embarrassing things..."
Goto Hitori spoke without any confidence, her voice growing quieter and quieter.
Her ahoge had been drooping the whole time, and her two fingers poked against each other as she tried to ease her unease.
"You don't need to hide your personality."
At that moment, Goto Hitori felt herself being gently embraced from behind.
"But I only give off negative emotions. People will hate me..." Goto Hitori said awkwardly.
"I like the real you, no matter what the real you is like." Tsukikawa Shu smiled. "You're someone I can understand. In the same way, I hope I can become someone you can understand too."
"That's enough."
Goto Hitori pursed her lips, wanting to say something more, but then she felt something warm and moist touch her cheek. She immediately realized what had happened, and her face turned crimson.
Tsukikawa Shu lightly pecked her small cheek, and Goto Hitori instantly fell apart.
"Don't do that so suddenly..."
Goto Hitori reflexively wanted to push his face away, but after thinking about it, she felt that would not be right.
He was her boyfriend now... No, in this Inner World, he was her husband. Doing such things was normal, right?
"At least... at least tell me first." Goto Hitori stammered.
Tsukikawa Shu looked at her bashful appearance, thought for a moment, and suddenly felt like teasing her again.
"Sure. Then let me kiss you again right now," Tsukikawa Shu said.
"..."
Before Goto Hitori could react, Tsukikawa Shu drew close once more.
"Wait..."
But her refusal was useless. Goto Hitori was once again completely handled by her husband.
This time, it was not merely a light peck. It lasted for several seconds.
As time passed, Goto Hitori's face gradually turned as red as a heated branding iron, seemingly even giving off white steam. Held in Tsukikawa Shu's arms, she went limp all over, as though she had lost every bone in her body.
"If you have anything on your mind in the future, you don't need to keep hiding it. You can tell me everything," Tsukikawa Shu said. "After all, I'm your boyfriend."
Calling himself her husband would be a little too much. The two of them had not reached that stage yet and had not adjusted to it either. Being together as lovers was just right for now.
"Mm." Goto Hitori nodded with a blush.
Afterward, aside from necessary battles, the two of them walked hand in hand.
Goto Hitori gradually grew accustomed to having someone hold her little hand. She no longer resisted it as much.
They had progressed to holding hands, kissing, and hugging in just two days. That was not bad progress, Tsukikawa Shu calculated inwardly.
With the system map's assistance and alerts, the two of them became much more efficient at farming monsters.
As their levels rose, this Inner World gradually seemed less frightening.
As long as they avoided monster nests with excessively high levels, everything else was a juicy target for leveling up.
Goto Hitori was responsible for crowd control, activating her curse to lock down the entire field. Then Tsukikawa Shu would casually enter the fray and use the Physical Holy Sword to smash the monsters' heads apart.
Of course, whenever Goto Hitori darkened to the extreme, she would also enter the fight herself like she had at the beginning, crushing the monsters' heads barehanded.
After forming the Destiny Contract, the two of them leveled up at a tremendous rate.
By the end of the day, Tsukikawa Shu had reached Level 15, while Goto Hitori had reached Level 13.
Players who could farm higher-level monsters and more monsters would only grow stronger and stronger, eventually creating an insurmountable gap in levels.
The two of them had gained plenty that day. Tsukikawa Shu opened the System Backpack and found it packed full of drops from slain monsters and items they had picked up along the way.
They had even found two Green Gear Weapons.
Not counting the other unknown areas, Tsukikawa Shu had already stuffed himself full of every material and item that monsters from Levels 1 through 20 could drop. The two of them simply could not use it all.
"This huge pile of materials should be very useful later on."
Tsukikawa Shu pondered this.
As long as the Inner World continued to exist, players would develop their own unique society, and all kinds of material trading would emerge.
Tsukikawa Shu and Goto Hitori could both challenge monsters above their level, so they had farmed many higher-grade materials that others could not obtain. This would give them a huge advantage.
Hmm... Using high-grade, valuable materials to Widely Recruit Virtuous Wives was not a bad option either.
Tsukikawa Shu held Goto Hitori's little hand as he walked, thinking about how to juggle several relationships at once.
He looked at Goto Hitori beside him. She still had that adorably silly expression, her eyes narrowed as she immersed herself in the joy of having found a boyfriend.
In the real world, this really was the behavior of a complete scumbag. But what made him slightly better than one was that he would take responsibility for every girl.
Before you continue