On Dante's side of things he had a much rougher route than Kaito. He had found himself in a spider nest. The webs grew thicker the deeper they traveled into the jungle.
They stretched between enormous roots and hanging vines like pale curtains, layered across layered across glowing mushrooms and tangled around stone pillars.
Moisture dripped steadily from the cavern ceiling high above while strange insects chirped in the dark. Every step forward made Dante's skin crawl.
Threads clung to his boots and brushed against is shoulders as he walked. While Dante went through all this emotional mess.
Jessie, meanwhile, treated the entire thing like it was just a silly game. "You missed one on your left," she called cheerfully.
Haruko flicked her wrist without even looking. Her blade flashed once, and a spider the size of a wolf dropped from the canopy overhead in two clean halves. Dante stared blankly.
Jessie grinned at her boss. "Too slow."
Haruko smirked. "You're the one keeping score." She replied calmly.
Jessie snickered. "That's because i'm winning." She mocked.
"You're counting the ones that I killed." Haruko rebutted.
"That sounds like an excuse from someone losing." Jessie mocked once again.
Haruko sighed the sigh of a woman who had dealt with this for years already and kept walking. Though Jessie could tell she was enjoying it.
Another giant spidered skittered down a web ahead of them. Before Dante could even draw his weapon, Jessie vaulted ahead, electricity bursting around her boots. Her spear punched straight through the creatures head and sent it tumbling into the undergrowth.
"Nineteen," she announced proudly.
Haruko tilted her head slightly with a smile. "You killed seventeen."
"I did not!" Jessie snapped.
"You absolutely did." Haruko replied.
Dante blinked between them while another spider corpse steamed nearby. By his count, they had already killed twenty monsters since entering the underground jungle. And neither of them looked remotely tired.
Though being in the company of these two powerful women made him feel might comfortable despite the circumstances. "Haruko can I ask you something?"
"You just did." She said with a big smile on her face. Which made Jessie snort.
Dante ignored her. "If you were this strong back then... why did you stop adventuring."
For the first time since they entered the jungle, Haruko slowed. The humid air shifted ever so slightly. "Why'd you ask that? From the stories I was telling earlier?"
"A few of them peaked my interest," Dante admitted. "From what I've seen and heard, you could've become one of the strongest adventures in well... ever."
Jessie immediately pointed at Haruko. "See? I keep telling you that, you're so stupidly strong you're awesome!"
Haruko looked unimpressed by both of them. "I just fell out of love with it." She said after a moment.
Dante frowned. "That's it?"
"That's enough, isn't it? Stop prying you little weirdo." Haruko replied.
Dante stammered. "I-I was just curious!"
Another spider descended silently behind them, Haruko stepped backward and drove her blade up through it's mouth without interrupting herself.
"Relax I'm just messing with you, when I was younger adventuring felt bigger," she continued. "Every dungeon felt important. Every town I helped felt memorable. But eventually..." she paused, as if searching for the words. "It stopped feeling that way."
The spider slid off her dagger. "I still had strength," she said quietly. "I just didn't have the feeling anymore."
Dante didn't really understand that. He wasn't sure if he wanted to, it felt as though there was more to that story.
"So why are you adventuring?" Haruko asked him.
Dante looked down at his hands for a second. "I wanted to become an adventurer who helps people," he admitted. "Not just fighting monsters I mean... helping weak people become strong enough to protect themselves. Someone they can rely on. A hero, I guess."
Jessie immediately made a face that looked dangerously close to her bursting into tears. "That is so cute."
Dante nearly tripped over a root. "Wh- it's not cute!"
"No you're right, it's adorable!" Jessie insisted.
Haruko's expression softened faintly. "There's nobility in that," she said with a smile. "Don't lose it."
Dante felt his face heat up and he quickly looked away. Unfortunately, that was exactly when the ground beneath Jessie collapsed.
"OH COME ON!" The earth gave way beneath her boots and she vanished straight through a thick layer of webbing hidden beneath the jungle floor.
"Jessie!" Dante shouted. A horrible screech erupted from below. Without thinking, Dante jumped after her. He crashed through layers of sticky webbing before landing hard beside Jessie in a massive hollow nest beneath the roots of the jungle.
Eggs lined the walls in swollen clusters. And all around them, dozens of spiders crawled along the walls and ceiling.
Jessie looked up slowly. "...Okay. This one might be a little bad." Above the,, another screech exploded through the cavern.
A gigantic spider descended toward the opening they'd fallen through, easily three times larger than the others. Haruko stood at the edge of the whole staring down at it.
"Hm," she murmured. "Did you know I actually really like spiders."
Dante blinked "THIS IS THE TIME YOU SAY THAT!?"
The giant spired lunged, Haruko met it head on, steel clashed against chitin with a thunderous crack. Meanwhile, Dante backed toward Jessie as smaller spiders closed in from every side. Panic righted in his chest.
There were too many. How was he supposed to save her? A spider lept toward him, Dante thrust his hand forward instinctively. Cold exploded outward as ice raced across the webs lining the nest in sharp crystalline streaks.
The sticky strands instantly hardened and lost their elasticity, turning brittle beneath the spiders legs. The creatures crashed awkwardly to the ground in confusion.
Jessie's eyes widened. "Oh that's smart." Electricity erupted around her body before Dante could respond. Blue-white arcs exploded through the chamber, blasting through the surrounding spiders in every direction. The smell of burning chitin filled the air.
Jessie grabbe Dante around the waist. "Hold on tight!"
"What!?"
Lightning burst beneath her feet. She launched upward like a cannon shot, carrying both of them out of the nest in a streak of crackling light before landing hard beside Haruko.
The giant spider collapsed seconds later behind them with a violent shudder as Haruko pulled her dagger free. Silenced settled over the underground jungle.
Burned wens crackled softly nearby. Jessie finally released Dante and grinned. "Nice save!"
Dante let out a shaky breath. "You too."
Haruko glanced between them before crouching beside the giant spider corpse. "Oh," she said suddenly.
Jessie looked over. "What?"
Haruko reaches into her pocket and pulled out a small crystal stone. "I forgot I had an appraisal stone."
Dante stared at her in disbelief. "You forgot!"
Haruko looked at the dead spider, then at the stone, then shrugged lightly. "Whatever," she said. "Probably didn't need it anyways."