After what felt like an eternity of fighting, we continued walking and stumbled upon something strange—a stone chess table, oddly out of place in the middle of the cavern. The board was set, with most of the pawns lined up on the third rank, except for two. One pawn lingered on the second rank, while another stood boldly in front of the enemy queen on d5.
Leo placed his hand on the board, but nothing happened. He tried to move the pieces, but they were glued in place.
"Do these pawns represent us?" he asked.
When Leo finished speaking, I looked around the area. The chess set was the only thing of noticeable value, alongside a chair made of skulls and bones from dead spiders and loot from former adventurers. I approached the chair and examined the loot, finding nothing of value. As I glanced around, I noticed spider eggs lining the walls, and webs hung ominously in the crevices.
Among the loot, I spotted something peculiar—an eye pierced through the center with ice. The eye was intact, but it gave me an uneasy feeling. Could this boss use magic?
I quickly put the eye in my bag and returned to Leo, who was frozen in fear. I looked upwards and saw it: a massive spider, the size of a small house, with a red name that read "LVL 12 Spider Queen." She hung from the ceiling, her cold, empty eyes fixed on us.
"Ah, let the feast begin," she hissed as she jumped down with a loud thud.
As she fell, I noticed bones hanging in the webs above us. The Spider Queen let out a deafening roar before charging at us. Leo and Mia rushed to the front; Leo defended while Mia used her fire magic, trying to burn the spider with powerful spells. Before I could activate Lightning Javelin, Lia grabbed my arm, her wand's light dimming.
"We need to get back. It will jump at us if we're in range," Lia said in a serious tone.
I winced from the pain of her grip and followed her to a corner. We huddled there, watching the chaos unfold.
The Spider Queen attacked relentlessly. Mia tried to hold her ground with fire magic, but the spider's massive size and strength pushed her back. Leo engaged in a fierce battle but was soon ensnared by the spider's web, trapped and struggling.
"Leo!" I screamed, my heart pounding as I gathered my own magic, lightning crackling in my hand. I couldn't just stand by and do nothing. I had to help him. I raised my hand, ready to strike, but then—
Lia's hand shot out, gripping my wrist with a force that made me wince. The spell fizzled out, the energy dissipating into the air. "Lia, what are you doing?" I asked, my voice trembling.
That's when I noticed Mia. She was standing there, watching Leo struggle with an emotionless face. She wasn't moving to help him. She wasn't moving at all.
"Mia… Lia…?" My voice trembled. "What's going on?"
Lia's grip tightened painfully on my wrist as she leaned in close, her voice cold. "We never cared about you, Husk. You were just a means to an end. Now that Leo's gone, we can take the egg."
As she finished her sentence, Lia pushed me.
"Oh, and by the way," they yelled as I fell, "we could have saved you from the bear!"
I stumbled back into a nearby crevice, feeling the cold wind on my face. It was oddly refreshing. As I fell further and further from Lia, her light grew dimmer and dimmer until it vanished completely from sight.
"Well, it doesn't matter," I thought. "If this were an anime or manga, I'd get a second chance and be granted some overpowered skill to exact my revenge." I chuckled softly to myself.
NO!
I've been overlooked my whole life. Just another orphan, just another mouth to feed. People would glance past me, past Leo, like we were nothing. We had to scrape by, surviving on scraps, always forgotten, always alone. No one ever cared, no one ever stayed—except Leo. He was the only one who never turned his back on me, the only one who stood by me no matter how bad things got. When the world twisted into this nightmare, I thought we'd finally found something more. But it's the same, isn't it?
No one ever really changes. Mia and Lia, they smiled, they laughed, they pretended we were a team… but in the end, they looked right past me again. They didn't care about me or Leo. They just saw an item and what we could do for them. And Leo… the one person who's always been with me will … will.
I've had enough! Enough of being ignored, enough of being cast aside! If this world is just another cage, another place where people use and discard you, then I'll tear it apart! I'll burn this tree to the ground and make sure there's nothing left for anyone to climb. No more games, no more betrayal.
If I survive… I'll be the one to tear down everything. I'll burn it all to ash, just like this world shattered my heart. I'll make it pick up the pieces. I'll reshape it, twist it until it remembers my name, until no one can ever forget me again.
"Leo… I'm sorry," I whispered, as I accepted my fate.
THUD