An hour later, the meat was ready to eat. It had a sweet taste, but, basically, it was no different from ordinary rabbit meat.

After eating, the squirrel stood in the winner's pose and lifted its muzzle. With all his face, saying, «Look what a great guy I am. Praise me!»

«You ate two rabbits and killed only one, so I should be thanked and praised, not you. And how did your little body fit so much? «Amadeus said and pointed her finger at the fluffy belly of the squirrel. In fact, she also can't eat three rabbits. But. Let's keep silent about this.

The squirrel looked at Amadeus with tears in her eyes, turned her back to her, and curled up in a small ball.

«I'm not saying you're fat. I'm saying you eat a lot for your size. And you're good for killing a rabbit larger than yourself,» she praised the squirrel.

In actuality, Amadeus often had to have fights with whoever was a bigger size than her or against more numbers, and sometimes both. But she didn't mention it.

The squirrel turned around, looked at Amadeus, and, in the next second, jumped on the girl's face, wagging her tail in happiness.

«You're very strange,» she said, taking it off her face.

After finishing her lunch, Amadeus decided to explore some deeper into the woods. The squirrel followed her.

«You don't need to follow me. I'll be back in a bit anyway,» Amadeus said, looking at the squirrel.

The squirrel crossed his paws on his fluffy chest and began tapping the ground with its hind paw. Its gaze said, «I'll go with you. And that's out of the discussion.»

«Nice... Do whatever you want.» Amadeus turned around and walked deep into the woods.

A squirrel jumped onto Amadeus' shoulder with a gratified winning muzzle and hung his fluffy tail down.

«You have all four paws. So, why aren't you walking yourself?» asked Amadeus, but the squirrel turned it muzzle to the other side as if saying, «I can't hear you.»

No matter how much she thought about it, the squirrel was more like a little spoiled child.

After a while, the squirrel jumped off the girl's shoulder. She looked at Amadeus with a saying gaze, «Come with me. I'll show you something interesting.»

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Amadeus stopped paying attention to the strange behavior of the squirrel a long time ago. The fact remains that the squirrel had intelligence. Well. Maybe a little lower than a human, or maybe not.

Following the squirrel for a little over thirty minutes, it came to a cave that went deep into the ground. Near the cave was an old sign with the title The Spider's Pit.

The squirrel looked at Amadeus with a gratified muzzle, asking for praise.

«You did well. Bring me here. But according to the title, there will be only spiders there. They're not edible, and we don't have much food. I'll have to go up to the surface from time to time. And also, it's dark, and I can't see in the dark.» Amadeus told the squirrel.

«Certainly, this place would be fine to up the level, but we would have to stay here for a while here,» thought Amadeus.

«Here, the spider's nest and other animals won't get close to this place. The hunting will become harder,» Amadeus said to the animal.

The squirrel dropped its fluffy tail and looked at Amadeus with wet eyes.

«Don't cry. All we need is to go up to the surface sometimes for replenishing the provisions. And we'll have to do something about the darkness. I think so...» Amadeus said.

«And staying here too long is not safe. I don't know what may come from the forest. So, we'll explore the cave, and if it becomes too difficult or dangerous, we'll leave it. Thank you for bringing me here,» Amadeus explained and thanked it. She squatted and stroked the squirrel on the head.

The squirrel immediately gave a happy face and wagged its tail.

«Its mood changes so easily,» she thought.

After a while, Amadeus found some fruits and put them in an improvised bag.

So, they went down together into the cave, which, luckily, was illuminated by sparse fluorescent moss.

After a few minutes of roaming, they encountered a spider the size was an adult German shepherd dog.

It rushed at Amadeus, but she dodged in time. The girl pushed the spider back against the wall and, pulling out her machete, cut off the spider's head with a single slash.

«Perhaps we'll stay here for a while,» she thought with a grin.

The squirrel jumped up to the spider's corpse and started to break the bottom of the chitin. After a minute, the squirrel arrived at Amadeus and handed it a black stone the size of her little finger.

«And what do I need it for?» asked Amadeus.

Even though it was dark, Amadeus could clearly see the expression on the squirrel's face, «Needed!»

«Ok... I'll take it.» said the girl, shrugging shoulders and put the stone in the bag.

For about two hours, Amadeus roamed through the caves, going lower and lower in the dungeon. She was killing spiders, and the squirrel was collecting black rocks.

***

«DING!!!»

Congratulations!!!

Level UP!

«Why do I have only one level up?»

«The spiders were easy to kill. Are they too weak for me?»

«I have killed just over thirty spiders. I finished the battles in seconds, I suppose, though. I don't understand anything about it.» Amadeus reflected while roamed and checked all the caves.

It turned out that the cave is not so deep. In front of Amadeus was a dead-end. More precisely, a large door with a height of about four meters. Carved spiders decorated the doors. As soon as Amadeus touched the central ornament, a message appeared.

«DING!!!»

Warning!!!

You are entering the Abode of Arachne!

You will not be able to leave the location while the Guardian is alive.