Reever traced his steps backward in his mind, slowly, carefully, as if walking through a maze he had already crossed once. From the moment the trial started until now, he replayed everything. Every encounter. Every system message. Every strange feeling.
Up until the moment he met the queen, everything had been normal. Dangerous, yes. But normal.
After that, things went haywire.
That meant there were suspects.
Three of them.
The first suspect was the player who waved at him before being swallowed. Reever couldn't let that person go scot-free until he was sure he was truly dead. The timing was too strange. The wave. The calmness. And then suddenly, disappearance.
The second suspect was Prespeto.
Sure, he was weak. At least that was what Reever believed. But what if that weakness was an act? What if Prespeto had placed him inside an illusion where Reever thought he had defeated him? Who knew what abilities that guy had? Sometimes the weakest-looking opponent hides the sharpest blade.
Maybe that was exactly how Prespeto wanted to be seen.
Weak.
Forgettable.
Harmless.
And then there was the third suspect.
The biggest one.
The most dangerous one.
The queen.
In this new life, Reever had noticed something. Bosses were not ordinary creatures. Every one of them had special abilities beyond simple strength.
The mafia boerrhana had water manipulation skills and wielded a mystique-ranked weapon.
The cockrupine had a berserk skill and could trace enemies with precision. If Conner hadn't killed it in one hit, Reever was sure it would have been a serious threat.
And finally, the queen.
She was different.
Strong didn't even describe her properly.
Of all the enemies he had faced so far, his instincts told him she was the most powerful.
So yes, she was the biggest suspect.
Still, a small part of his mind whispered something else.
Do not trust Conner fully.
If this was an illusion or some kind of dream, why was Conner in it?
Unless the queen had encountered him before and learned how he operated.
Or maybe this was something else entirely.
Either way, Reever refused to lower his guard.
With that in mind, he decided to test something.
Without warning anyone, he activated his communicator.
"Conner, can you hear me?"
If the person standing in front of him was truly Conner, the communicator would respond.
There was silence.
No beep.
No connection.
Conner looked surprised by the sudden move, but the device remained dead.
That was all Reever needed.
This wasn't Conner.
"Sh*t," he cursed inwardly.
In the next second, 'Conner' and the army facing him stopped pretending. Their eyes turned red simultaneously.
"You could have just stayed calm and your death would have been simple, human," countless mouths spoke at once. The voices overlapped, layered over each other unnaturally. "But now, you have to die."
The environment shifted instantly.
The cavern around him distorted.
And then—
He was trapped.
Webbing covered him up to his neck. Thick. Sticky. It tightened around his body slowly, layer by layer, forming the beginning of a cocoon.
He couldn't move.
Above him, countless cocoons hung from the cave's ceiling, swaying slightly.
The air smelled damp.
The queen stood directly in front of him, her hideous head lowering closer as she sniffed.
"You sure are a strange human," she spoke clearly, in human language. "You look like one. Smell like one. But something tells me that you are more than that."
Her voice was steady now. Controlled.
"Do not worry. I will not eat you now. I will wait for your friend to come so that I can enjoy you both."
She turned her head toward one of the hanging cocoons.
Screech.
Her cry was sharp.
One cocoon fell and hit the ground, splitting apart.
Inside was a human.
No.
Calling him human was wrong.
He had wings growing from his back. An extra pair of arms protruded awkwardly from his sides.
"Success," she hissed softly, glancing back at Reever.
"I've always wanted to control humans and make them my slaves. And now I have managed. Unless they die, they will be trapped for eternity with me. And soon afterward, they die completely."
She screeched again.
Louder.
All the cocoons fell like rain.
They hit the ground one after another, splitting open.
Inside each one were creatures that once might have been human. Some had ant heads. Some had spider legs replacing their lower bodies. None of them looked fully human anymore.
Reever didn't struggle.
Not because he didn't want to.
Because he knew it was useless right now.
He could summon his explosives and bring the entire cavern down. He still had them. But he couldn't do that while the queen was standing this close. She would react before he could finish.
Then—
Beep.
His communicator activated.
"I have caught your trail bot 067 and I am coming to get you."
Conner's voice.
The queen heard it too.
She smiled.
It was a hideous expression.
Screech.
She roared, and her newly formed humanoid army began marching toward the exit of the cavern.
Reever exhaled slowly.
"So it was all an illusion," he muttered to himself. "Funny how I was captured."
Now he was wrapped in webbing, suspended, unable to move.
All he could hope for was one thing.
That Conner would survive whatever waited outside.
And maybe—
Just maybe—
Come back for him.