“Just sightseeing,” I shamelessly lied.

Chloe, maybe trying to be considerate or simply because she was too tired to do so, didn’t address my untruthfulness and remained silent. Nobody dared to move. Many had seen or heard about my exploits during the tournament and voices of my violent tendencies and how I had pummeled Caleb had most likely gone around. Or at least, that was what I could read in the eyes of those watching me.

The look the beast was giving me was quite different. All of its numerous eyes were concentrated on me, studying my every movement, from the almost imperceptible twitching of my fingers to the wandering of my eyes. I returned its gaze and fixed my eyes on its head.

Differently from every other beast I had crossed paths with, I didn’t feel the usual unnatural hate and bloodthirstiness held by those of its own kind. In its eyes I could read a rudimentary intellect, wariness and even a speck of hostility, but no imperative to cause my demise.

I found that quite curious, as it had become the norm to be attacked on discovery by every single beast I came across. Maybe the difference in its behaviour was due to its higher intelligence or deviance, or maybe due to the fact it was an inhabitant of the Garden, which was a world of its own.

“May I ask for your assistance?” Chloe’s faint voice distracted me from my own thoughts.

I turned to look at the surrounding environment. The fighting force had distanced itself from the spider and had neared Chloe’s and mine position. Numerous corpses laid on the ground and even more broken swords were scattered around. The peculiar blades, which ranged in colours from bronze and to silver and every possible combination of the two, attracted my gaze.

I couldn’t recognise the alloy they were made of. At a glance, they appeared to be the result of crude workmanship, but at a deeper look it was possible to recognise the extreme care applied to the edge of the blade. A series of veins and bumps ran across the centre body of the swords, drawing out complex shapes and fractals.

These strange additions probably messed with the blade equilibrium, but considering how flimsy they appeared to be, I doubted weight would be a problem.

I returned my attention to Chloe.

“I don’t see why I should do that,” I answered.

“Pardon?” she responded, quite taken aback.

“The spider didn’t do anything to me”

“He killed so many people,” the astonished Chloe replied to my words.

She was looking at me as if she was hoping my response was due to the fact I had yet to process the severity of what had happened.

“I can see that,” I simply uttered.

She suddenly lost strength in her limbs. Her eyes were fixed into mine. Her look displeased me. Her eyes reflected some kind of monster. For some reason that bothered me a lot.

“I’m simply a visitor. The owner wouldn’t look kindly at me making a mess,” I strangely tried to justify myself.

Before Chloe could respond to my words, Caleb burst out in a series of invectives directed towards me.

“You fat bastard!” he started.

His words turned more and more violent with each passing second, at times even lapsing into the sacrilegious territory. The eyes of his companions opened wide as they looked in surprise towards him. Even the tolerant Isaac appeared slightly disturbed by his manner of speaking.

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His tirade helped me come to a final decision.

“Fine, I’m helping out,” I said loudly.

Caleb immediately shut up and Chloe’s cloudy eyes regained colours.

“Are you sure?” she spoke.

I simply nodded. Caleb’s words had helped me think more clearly. If I let the giant spider eat him, I wouldn’t be able to fulfil my promise, and there were also things I needed to hear from him.

Moreover, differently from the others, I didn’t like too much the idea of leaving Lily and Isaac to die. After all, I was the one who designed them. I would prefer for them to be alive and well.

I took a step forward and the spider responded by instinctively taking one back. We both knew I was a really bad-matchup for it. If its senses were developed as I thought they were, I probably appeared as a compacted mass of absolute poisonous death to it. My blood, being almost pure materialised aura, would react violently with a mana-entity.

“Come on, go away!” I shouted at the beast, trying to solve this peacefully. The outcome of a battle between the two of us couldn’t be easily foreseen.

The spider didn’t react to my words. I didn’t know if it was because I had overestimated its intelligence and it couldn’t understand me, or if it had no intention to concede its territory. Anyway, it didn’t make an actual difference to me. Not fighting it came with the advantage that I wouldn’t need to risk my life, but by fighting it I would surely earn much satisfaction.

I detached my trusted black mace from my side and took it in my hands. I raised it towards the crowd.

“I’m gonna help you out, but I’m gonna ask for something in return,” I declared with force.

Caleb grinded his teeth. He tried to speak, but before he could open his mouth, Isaac addressed me.

“We understand. We will do whatever is in our power to satisfy your request,” he stated.

“What are you saying Isaac?! Don’t you remember what that bastard did to me?!” Caleb lashed at his ally.

“Caleb, please, put aside your personal grudge. We both saw what he did to all those beasts back at the tournament. We need his help”

In his words there was a hint of reproach.

“We don’t need him!”

“It’s not true!” one of the few survivors suddenly spoke out.

Caleb whipped his head around and looked at her with fire in its eyes. Frightened, she lowered her gaze.

“F**k! Caleb! Do you think this is the moment to be lofty?! We are literally all dying out here! Are you really so hung up on the fact that he humiliated you that you prefer for all of us to get massacred instead of asking for his help?!” Lily intervened furiously.

She was completely bloodied up, with almost no trace of clothes remaining. Every single square inch of her body was full of cuts and bruises. The twin swords she was currently using were broken in half and her greatsword was severely damaged.

After her words, the rest of the group gained courage and started attacking Caleb. Even some of the severely wounded laying on the ground groaned out complaints against him. Only one person didn’t speak out, only looking at me with clear malice.

“Please, be reasonable Caleb,” Isaac told him, putting both of his hands on his shoulders.

Caleb flushed angrily and yet he didn’t utter a single word. It was clear he felt wronged and humiliated and yet he stopped talking, apparently conceding to Isaac's words.

Isaac let him go and turned towards me.

“What are your requests?” he asked me warily.

“I’m breaking his nose,” I answered

“What?” the stunned Isaac and Caleb spoke at the same time.

“I’m going to cave his face in”

Everyone remained speechless.

“He hurt a person dear to me. Moreover, I don’t like him. Ah, but don’t worry! I won’t kill him. Tobias asked me not to and I don’t want to be rude. For now”

I smiled widely, trying to reassure them and yet no one seemed relieved by my words.

Without waiting for a response I walked towards the spider. When we were less than a hundred metres apart, I opened my mouth.

“I asked you to go away, but you didn’t listen to me. Is this your final decision?” I told the spider. Once more, there was no response coming from the beast.

I raised my voice one more time.

“I’m going to kill this one,” I spoke to the wind.

A low beeze reached my ears.

As it had become basically routine, I bit my hand and let the black blood flow out from the wound and on top of the mace. It seeped deep inside the weapon, replenishing that which had been employed in past hunts.

“Okay then. Let’s see what we can do”