Natsuyu's proposal received unanimous approval from everyone.
The group returned to the vicinity of the Splendid Gate.
Natsuyu led the others in crafting stone swords, building stone walls, digging pits, or gathering stones.
Kiana, who held the right to slack off, also joined Natsuyu in setting up traps. She worked briskly, her grunts of effort accompanying her movements; relying on her monstrous strength, she became the most efficient transporter.
As afternoon arrived, the horizon swallowed half of the orange-red sun, dyeing the edge of the sky in a brilliant golden glow.
Thump...
Thump, thump...
Dull vibrations echoed from afar.
The five people setting up traps stopped their movements one after another and looked into the distance, their expressions turning grave.
At the forest edge.
Two massive spider warriors emerged from the forest, leaping toward them.
Kiana rubbed her head. "There really are more spider warriors."
Kushida Kikyo clenched her fists:
"They chased us out, and there are two of them!"
Natsuyu's expression was serious. Looking at the three completed traps, he took a deep breath:
"Don't be afraid, let's take them down!"
"We have the upgraded wooden crossbows and traps. Ema will weaken their speed, and we'll kite them to death."
Natsuyu distributed the high-grade wooden crossbows to the four girls.
Sakuraba Ema gripped the hem of her clothes with her left hand while laboriously holding the wooden crossbow with her right. Her eyes showed a resolute look as she whispered encouragement, "Natsuyu... we will definitely win!"
"Mhm."
Natsuyu smiled, then focused his gaze ahead.
The two spider warriors approached rapidly.
Just as Natsuyu and the others were waiting tensely, the spider warriors suddenly paused three hundred meters away. They stared fixedly in their direction, arching their bodies in aggressive postures as if ready to pounce and kill at any moment.
After maintaining this for a few seconds, the spider warriors waved their eight legs, turned around, and leaped away at a speed even faster than when they arrived.
Looking at their retreating backs, Natsuyu actually felt a sense of them fleeing in panic.
What was going on?
"Ara, Yuu-kun, it seems you've provoked the vengeful little cuties in the spider forest."
Natsuyu turned his head to look.
Tokisaki Kurumi had woken up at some point. She raised her lovely, delicate face, her wine-red eyes curving into a smile:
"Congratulations to you all for successfully surviving the first day."
"To have witnessed the true monsters of this world without suffering any casualties, Yuu-kun's team is quite impressive."
Natsuyu was surprised:
The spider warriors were afraid of Tokisaki Kurumi and were scared away by her?
The area around the Splendid Gate is a safe zone!
Natsuyu relaxed and looked at Tokisaki Kurumi, who was suspended in mid-air.
The girl, revealing a single red eye, chuckled with a slight hint of morbidity; her aura of a mysterious and dangerous bad woman was vivid, beautiful, and captivating.
"Kurumi, did you know there were spider monsters in that forest?"
"Mm-hmm~ I knew."
Tokisaki Kurumi admitted softly, her eyes smiling with what seemed like playfulness or ambiguity:
"Is Yuu-kun going to blame me for not giving you the intel? In my current state, Yuu-kun can't be resisted no matter how you want to punish me; I can only let you bully me."
Dangerous!
This was the feeling Tokisaki Kurumi gave everyone.
She clearly knew a large number of spider monsters existed in the forest—she had even named it the spider forest—yet she hadn't warned them. Was this bad woman looking forward to them being killed by the spider monsters?
As the most evil spirit, Tokisaki Kurumi enjoyed the wary gazes of the group with a beaming smile.
Now, they should know how dangerous she is.
"Why would I blame you?"
Natsuyu looked at Tokisaki Kurumi in surprise, as if he had heard something strange. "There is no emotional foundation between us; we are just partners who just met."
"Exploring the forest was my decision, so the responsibility is mine. I won't shirk that responsibility onto you. I'm not that kind of person."
Eh?
Tokisaki Kurumi tilted her head.
This reaction was different from what she had imagined.
Humans shouldn't be like this. Faced with the most evil spirit, you should be hostile toward me, attack me, and fear me, treating me as the embodiment of wrongness, rather than calmly analyzing that I am actually not at fault.
Humans shouldn't be like this.
Natsuyu continued, "The spider warriors retreated just now because you intimidated them, right? Rather than blaming you, I feel I should thank you."
"Thank me?"
Tokisaki Kurumi's wine-red right eye widened slightly, feeling the world was too absurd.
She, the most evil spirit, a demon who used any means necessary for her goals.
She had clearly withheld information on purpose, not proactively warning Natsuyu that monsters existed nearby, which led to Natsuyu and the others encountering danger.
Waking up to intimidate and drive away the spider warriors was merely because she didn't want her peace disturbed by ugly monsters.
Yet, Natsuyu still wanted to thank her.
Thank her, who had killed countless people?
Interesting.
Tokisaki Kurumi felt she understood Natsuyu's line of reasoning.
Was he trying to grind her favorability?
Tokisaki Kurumi readily acknowledged her great charm.
Perhaps by intentionally grinding her favorability, he also had the idea of using her to obtain more intelligence.
Truly clever, Xia You-kun...
"What Natsuyu said is wrong," Sakuraba Ema spoke with a serious expression.
Tokisaki Kurumi curled her lips.
See, these little girls without such schemes are going to blame her.
This is the normal reaction.
"It wasn't your fault at all, Natsuyu; you have no responsibility. I trust and thank you very much."
"Ah, and Miss Tokisaki Kurumi, you have no responsibility either. We won't blame you. Thank you for helping us drive away the big spiders."
After Ema finished speaking seriously, her gathered courage gradually dissipated. Shamed by her bold, honest words, a lovely pink hue appeared at the corners of her eyes and cheeks as she peeked at Natsuyu's reaction.
"?"
Tokisaki Kurumi's smile vanished.
Yukinoshita Yukino spoke with a calm expression, "Accusing others without cause is the incompetent behavior of the weak. Insects huddle together to attack the strong, as if doing so makes them perfect and without flaw."
"Tokisaki Kurumi, although I don't like you, you are not one of us and have no obligation to tell us your secrets. I won't criticize you for that; I simply find it expected and feel even more that you aren't worth associating with."
"As for Warm man-kun's statement of taking responsibility for the sake of stability, as expected of you. You even want to protect someone like Tokisaki Kurumi; you are gentle to a point that leaves one helpless."
Kiana's eyes were blank. "Eh eh eh, what are you guys talking about? When did Natsuyu protect that clock eye?"
Sakuraba Ema and Kushida Kikyo realized and looked at Natsuyu in surprise.
Natsuyu spread his hands. "I just simply felt that Kurumi shouldn't be blamed. The truly responsible party has always been that existence that brought us here."
"To have internal strife and blame innocent people before even escaping this place... that sort of thing is incorrect. I am avoiding the occurrence of the incorrect."
Kiana looked shocked, staring at Natsuyu in disbelief:
"You really did protect the clock eye? When!"
Sakuraba Ema was amused by Kiana's reaction. "Kiana is truly... simple."
Yukinoshita Yukino added with her sharp tongue, "Just say she's an idiot."