The Spider Queen

This was not good.

Sophie had not felt such a high level of threat since the vision of her battle with Captain Dawn.

Standing in front of her was a horrifying twenty feet tall behemoth with two floating eyeballs that glowed an eerie red colour.

It was not often that Sophie encountered an enemy that made her feel small by comparison but standing in the shadow of this much taller creature was a humbling experience.

Each of the monster's eight ferocious heads had a different expression on their faces as they observed Sophie carefully.

Some were gazing at the hybrid girl with an expression of deep confusion while others stared with what could only be assumed was an intense feeling of disgust and the rest had different degrees of curiosity.

"You…" the middle head of the monster opened his right jaw and spoke.

Sophie gripped the handle of her dagger and mentally mapped out what was the best series of movements needed to plunge her blade in the center of the monster's chest.

The lack of qi in her dantian meant that her movement techniques such as the 'Cloud Treading Dragon' could not be used but hopefully her naturally agile body could avoid any incoming attacks.

Losing the element of surprise had certainly placed Sophie at a greater disadvantage in this fight.

(Don't think about his size)

(Don't think about dying)

Sophie's golden eye briefly flashed a crimson red colour, but she didn't even notice as this short connection to the hunter goddess was immediately broken.

The minutes passed by with neither side willing to make the first move. Sophie noticed that the monster had fallen into a state of deep contemplation.

A tense atmosphere filled the air as Sophie tightened the grip on her dagger and bent her knees.

But this taut mood was unexpectedly broken by the following words that the monster uttered,

"Why are you so ugly?"

Sophie was quite taken aback at the sudden insult and could not help instinctively replying,

"Excuse me?"

"You heard me," another one of the heads stated.

"I have lived for eons watching different civilisations rise and fall but I have yet to see a species so hideous and unsightly."

One by one the monster's different heads started to list off Sophie's apparent imperfections all the while having a tone that was an unpleasant mixture of both pity and empathy.

"Firstly, your body size is too small, your limbs are too tiny and most importantly…."

"You only have ONE head!"

"And tell me… what's the purpose of those two ridiculous bags of meat attached to your puny chest region."

"Lord I pity what terrible evolutionary trials your species had to overcome to grow four twig-like 'weapons' on your back."

"Don't get me started on those facial features…. I shudder to think what kind of abomination would have such low standards that it would be willing to mate with you."

The eight-headed alien leaned back against a nearby boulder and relaxed his posture.

Sophie remained on guard in case the creature launched a hidden strike but curiously enough, her danger sense no longer activated.

The alien casually placed one hand into his loincloth and begun to scratch at his groin region vigorously while continuing to critique Sophie's appearance.

"Don't get me started on that ridiculous outfit. All intelligent species know that the only purpose of clothes is to hide the important bits!"

"You need to let yourself be free!"

The alien gestured towards his naked upper body and proudly curled his biceps. Sophie could see the impressive veins bulging outwards as the twenty-foot-tall behemoth flexed his muscles.

He made a tearing motion and silently encouraged Sophie to rip off her body suit that was covering her upper chest region.

Well… this encounter was going a lot different than Sophie had initially imagined.

It was not that she automatically expected to jump into a life and death battle but that was generally the prevailing theme of most of the encounters she had experienced that involved powerful aliens.

Actually, maybe she should try to find out more about the current situation.

It had occurred to Sophie that she had really only heard about what had happened to the grasslands from Khul's point of view.

This alien may look intimidating but outside of insulting her appearance and firing off some laser shots… he at least seemed saner than the green goblin religiously dancing in an open field.

"Um… I'm sorry about setting the fire outside your home," Sophie tentatively begun with an apology.

"Oh no worries," one of the heads replied with a gentle smile.

"Truthfully, we overreacted. I mean how could you have known that someone was living there!"

"We really need to learn to be more patient. It's just that there is this guy who comes over every few weeks and tries to kill us."

"What a crazy lunatic!"

All eight heads of the alien threw themselves back with laughter at the mere thought of that pipsqueak Khul ever threatening their life.

Sophie nervously laughed along while secretly wondering if she should reveal the story that Khul had told her.

This enormous creature was by no means a gentle giant. The floating eyeballs with powerful laser beams had made that exceedingly clear.

But if Khul's story turned out to be false then this creature was the only clue she had that could lead to passing this stage of the trial.

"I think I've met the guy you are talking about," Sophie softly whispered.

All ten eyes immediately swung towards the hybrid girl and a tense atmosphere immediately returned except this time Sophie could sense a killing intent hidden in the monster's gaze.

The only thing Sophie could hear was the thunderous roar of the waterfall as time seemed to be frozen still.

The creature was clearly waiting for Sophie to continue to speak so with a few deep breaths she begun her tale,

"It all started when I suddenly appeared in this world….

(Fifteen minutes later)

"Wait… wait… wait… let me get this straight," the eight-headed monster crossed his arms and looked at Sophie with an expression of disbelief on every face.

"So, you're telling me that he thinks I kidnapped the members of his tribe and made their corpses into presents and gifts for children?"

"I don't even like children! They are nothing more than horrible tiny gremlins!"

"Do you see my hands?"

The titanic alien held out a massive palm with fingers that were around the size of Sophie's entire body.

"Does it look like I can make presents and gifts from those little bodies using these hands?"