Rosemary's POV:

I didn't stop running until I calmed down enough to hear what Kumoko's saying.

"Hey! Put me down! Put me downnnnn!" She yelled. I put her down gently on the ground, as she wanted.

"What the hell was that? He scared the crap outta me!" Kumoko complained.

"That was an earth dragon. His name was Araba, I think." I answered.

Then, we heard something crawling around near us. We went into hiding. I appraised whatever was in front of me. "Elroe Greshigard a mantis monster that dwells on the lower sanctum of the Great Elroe Labyrinth.," it said.

I flipped it in hopes of it telling me what the Great Elroe Labyrinth was. "The Great Elroe Labyrinth lover stratum. An area located between the middle and bottom stratum of the Great Elroe Labyrinth. Habitat to a fair number of powerful monsters" was what it said. I suppose this means I'm inferior to these monsters. Whatever.

Soon, I felt the presence of the mantis. I turned around to see the mantis being eaten by a big spider. I appraised it. "Greater Taratect LVL 18. An evolved form of the spider monster taratect. Carnivorous, with potent venom."

I started to walk away like normal since my presence is naturally hidden, whether or not I use dark magic. Dark magic just makes my presence even harder to notice. Dark Magic hides it to the point where you won't ever know where I am unless you're looking directly at me. Kumoko followed me, but with more stealth.

"Well, I'm glad we managed to escape alive. Should we explore?" Kumoko asked. I just nodded. As we walked together for a couple of days without food or sleep, I noticed that all the creatures in the lower stratum were either toxic or poisonous. All except for me. Technically, I'm still harder to defeat, so I think I'm safe. I suddenly noticed a bunch of slugs on the walls.

"What do you think they taste like? These are everywhere! Why isn't anyone eating these?" Kumoko said out loud.

Since I was hungry, I took one off the wall and ate it. I chewed and swallowed. "Eh, it could use some salt," I said as I took another one and ate it.

"You have gained a title foul feeder. You have gained the skills Rot Resistance level 1, and Poison Resistance level 1 because of the title foul feeder" oh new skills. Cool.

"Really?" Kumoko asked me before also eating one. She immediately spat it out in disgust. "That was the most disgusting thing I've ever eaten! Like if you left food waste out in the middle of a heatwave for a few weeks before stewing it in spoiled milk! And I've eaten some really gross stuff! Ahh! My health is going down! I'm never eating these again unless it's for last resort! How are you so nonchalant about this?!" She asked me.

I just shrugged and ate another one. Kumoko appraised me and said "Your health is going down as well! Stop eating them or you'll die!"

I looked at her and said, "I don't care, they don't taste that bad." …and proceeded to eat another slug. "At any rate, I can eat more slugs than you and still survive. I'll be killing these and roasting them over a fire to see if it makes a difference."

"Proficiency level has risen. Rot resistance level 1 has become rot resistance level 2. Proficiency level has risen. Rot resistance level 2 has become Rot resistance level 3."

"I don't want to eat this anymore, but I really hate wasting food! What should I do?!" Kumoko complained.

"Give it to me. I'll eat it" I said. She gave me the half-eaten slug and I slurped it like soba.

"Okay, let's get going," I said to her. We walked and walked. My food bar is still pretty low, and I want to eat something bigger, other than slugs to fill my appetite. Soon, I was faced with a bunch of blue lizards. "Elroe Randanel LVL 7. Lvl 8. Lvl7"

"Leave this one to me. Though you're only going to get one and I'm going to get 2 considering our size difference and I'm the one who put in the actual work." I said. Kumoko sighed but didn't complain.

"Now shoo, go rest," I said before turning to the Elroe- blue lizards. "Death gate: Lost memories," I said. The death gate activated and now I'm in a galaxy-looking shit with 3 lizards. Now to wait.

I waited for a few seconds before the lizards seemed hollow with nothing inside. After all, I did take everything away from them. Their internal organs, blood, memories, thoughts, everything. This is just temporary though. Once death gate stops, everything will return to them, but they would already be dead by then.

"Experience threshold has been reached. You are now level 6. You have obtained skill points. All basic attributes have increased Condition satisfied. Skill: Death gate LVL 10 has evolved into Deadly doors LVL 1. Skill: Bite has reached level 8. Skill: Claw has reached level 9. Skill: Heretic Magic has reached level : Heresy Magic has reached level 4." Said the mysterious voice. That's surprising.

I started to crack and glow again. I didn't take much damage so it didn't really help. After that, I ate the 2 level 7 blue lizards.

After I was done, my food bar went back to being full again. I dragged the level 8 lizard to where Kumoko ran.

I found her sleeping. "Hey, wake up, I got you your food," I said to her. Her eyes slowly fluttered open and I showed her the lizard. She quickly ran to it and chowed down.

After she was done, we started walking forward, seemingly at random. I didn't know where we were going, and I don't think Kumoko knows either.

I spaced out for a few minutes, then suddenly snapped back into reality. I looked around and felt like something was off. I couldn't pinpoint what that feeling was, this reminds me of the time I met that earth dragon.

I continued to look around and then I realized, I'm not with Kumoko anymore. Did we accidentally separate? Did she accidentally leave me here? Where is she even?

I used my sense of smell to try and locate Kumoko. Her smell was faint, but it was there. I just followed the smell for who knows how long. Her smell was everywhere! On the walls, on the ground, on the ceiling. It was starting to confuse me.

After running for a good half hour, I finally heard Kumoko. "WAAAAAHHHHHH! That was a seriously close one! Now I just need to finish off every monkey I've webbed down!"

I landed beside her. "So you could handle yourself."

"EH? What do you mean? Of course, I could handle myself! Also, stop appearing out of nowhere!" Kumoko said in shock (I think).

"Yeah yeah, whatever. So, do you need any help killing all those monkeys? I mean, you're the one who got them trapped in the first place."

"I can kill them all I guess. Can you cook them when I'm done?"

"Sure."

*Chomp*