(Haru POV)

So... this is bad... I didn't notice when that spirit came close, and to make it worse... it wasn't something I could handle, and now... that spirit is watching me from the darkness.

I still don't know what it looks like, but the four pairs of eyes, the beautiful mocking voice, and the disgusted eyes made one thing clear. This spirit was completely denying my existence, wanting to erase me as soon as it had the chance.

My location was compromised, and I had a powerful opponent before me. In short, this was the best recipe for a disaster. Escaping was my top priority, so I threw a devil spear at the spirit while retreating as fast as possible.

I thought this would be enough to stop the spirit, but my spear crashed into a thin, strange barrier. A barrier that was seemingly made of treads.

"You have more power than we anticipated. I need to finish this quickly."(????)

As if waiting to take action, the unknown spirit pounced at me to take me down.

The spirit attacking me was a giant spider, or more precisely, a tarantula. Her exoskeleton had a shining grey color. The hair covering her body was thin and short while having the same color as her exoskeleton. Her four pairs of eyes were like sapphires glowing with a deep blue color, and her fangs had a vivid red color like a blazing furnace.

Allowing her to be near me was dangerous, so I kept her away. I created a sword made with the astral energy I secretly accumulated while we were talking.

Hoping for the best, I threw the sword at the spider, but the spider didn't flinch and clashed with my sword. This time, however, we were both surprised by what happened.

My sword didn't manage to injure her in the slightest, but it completely stopped her charge. Unfortunately, I was still at a disadvantage. It only took one exchange for the sword to be covered with cracks.

I fired two weaker devil swords at the spider to distract her, and at the same time, I poured energy into the cracked sword. This short exchange gave me a piece of very crucial information about this spider.

This spider was like three or more ranks above me, which meant a worse situation than expected.

I'm done for if I make the slightest mistake without a doubt or exaggeration.

I couldn't allow myself to show my back to an opponent as formidable as her. So, I faced the spider in front of me directly, completely unscathed. With the tension at its peak, none of us dared to make the first move, as the spider also considered me a menace.

I gathered astral energy slowly but steadily, betting everything in a dual-attribute attack. Why am I doing something risky after saying I must be extremely cautious? This is my only option. A typical attack won't be enough to take down this beast or at least immobilize her.

Since none of us moved an inch, I couldn't tell how much time had passed. It felt like every second was an eternity. The surroundings were silent, but the pressure kept rising, testing our patience.

Feeling something odd from her behavior, a bad premonition came into my mind. I don't know why, but I got the feeling that if I didn't leave right now, everything would turn for the worse.

The spider didn't miss the change in my behavior. Feeling that she had won, she relaxed and spoke smugly and mockingly.

"For an abomination like you, you have some keen senses. But it's too late to flee. The entire area is covered with my treads and completely sealed. You don't have any hope of survival, so give up now, and I'll grant you a quick death."(?????????)

What!? When did she do that!? Hoping her words were just a bluff, I looked at the tunnel where I wanted to escape, only to see a spider web blocking it. I messed up by doing nothing, and despair slowly crept through my soul. I had never been this stressed, and the mocking gaze of the spider wasn't helping at all. Without a doubt, she looked confident of her victory over me.

But even with me against the ropes, even when I was trembling in fear, my soul was still burning with hope. How do I know that? My attributes resonated with each other for the first time since I became a spirit. While using the astral energy, I kept accumulating as a medium. Of course, I knew that my attributes weren't sentient. Instead, it felt like something changing in my soul.

Embracing the power brought by this resonance, I felt myself ranking up. After ranking up, it was clear I was two ranks below the spider, but this was enough to flee from her. Consequently, thanks to ranking up, my appearance underwent significant changes.

The light on my body shone brightly with the white and dark purple light. This wasn't the only change as a core with the same two colors formed in the middle of my body. All of this happened in the blink of an eye, so the spider was left speechless by the time my rank-up was done.

With my motivation higher than ever, I used the cracked sword as a medium for my escape. I imbued the cracked sword with my attributes to repair it. The combination of my attributes repaired the damage and made a sword that exuded a holy and demonic aura. Betting everything on this sword, I threw it at the spider, hoping to instantly end everything.

My transformation had to be the biggest surprise of the spider's life. After all, no one had even heard about a spirit with two attributes.

When the spider recovered from the shock, my sword was already in front of her. The spider tilted her body as fast as possible, trying to reduce the incoming damage.

Her actions proved to be correct, but too late, as my sword cut through her legs without any resistance. This time, however, the damage didn't end there. The shockwaves from the slash made a clean cut on the ground and sent her flying far away from me. Additionally, the threads she deployed were either cut or dispersed. This was a chance to escape I was waiting for.

This wasn't perfect, though. The creation of that sword took a significant toll on my body, bringing it to its limits. I took advantage of my current momentum to flee while thinking about how to hide. Everything was perfect, too perfect, to be honest. Too perfect that a barrage of attacks greeted me the moment I almost escaped.

Thanks to being tired from the recoil, the ambush took me by surprise. I couldn't do anything this time as the projectiles landed on my body. Forcing me into the zone with the spider and cracking my new core.

"Who would have thought that Sapphire lost?"(?????)

"No one can blame her. Who would have thought she was fighting this kind of monster?."(???)

"You are right. This isn't a spirit but an abomination."(?????)

"Don't worry, Sapphire, with everyone here, it will be impossible for this monster to escape."(?????)

So this is what hopeless feels, fuck... it is horrible. If I didn't use my devil attribute... no, in the end, no matter what I did, I would be hunted thanks to having a different attribute.

Now... I'm surrounded and injured. There is no escape from this... this feels familiar... Yes... I remember... feeling death in front of you... feeling death surround you... like in the hospital bed... so this was the end again... thinking about this is breaking my heart... I want to cry... why is this happening to me? It is not fair.... not fair...

I haven't done anything I wanted, so why? WHY?!

Yes... if I... I go down... I won't go alone... T̵̲̥̪̂͝H̴̥̻̉̚Ę̸̟̱͑Ỹ̵̱͋ͅ ̷̛̤̆A̸̪̖̽͠ͅR̴͚͆̇͝Ë̸̠̞͔́͐̆ ̸͎̲̓͘C̴̼̥̄́͐O̶͙̲̣̾̍͛M̴̗͒̇Ǐ̶̯͍̭N̸̻̋͊G̷̝̟̕ͅ ̵̦̫̇̋W̶̞̭͐̈͘I̷͐͜T̵͇͊̔H̶̰̳̩̓ ̷̡͉͕̚M̷̧̺̔̊Ė̴̙̹̇

(??????? POV)

"You called my lord?" (???????????)

"That is right, please keep an eye on the newly born princess of the Holy kingdom. She is our last hope, so protect her and become her contracted spirit."(????)

"Understood, my lord"(??????????)

It has been so long since everything began... How many have we lost? I cannot even fathom how many more we need to sacrifice.

I am sorry to leave this burden to you, human child. You are our last hope. I don't know how much longer I will be able to endure.

"My lord! Sorry to interrupt, but the astral forest is! Lord Gaia is!!!"(????????)