As soon as Lilly disappeared the monstrous spider retaliated with a lightning reflective barrier. Usagi's lightning bounced off the barrier and shot at me. I [blink] out of the way and cast [blood veil]. The dripping blood from the monster gathered around me in a ring. Meanwhile, Usagi had switched to wind and earth magic from lightning magic.

"KaAh! KiLl, kIlL, kILl!" The spider jumped down from the ceiling and with a blur I felt something hit me square in the chest kicking me through the air and into the webs, pain rocked my body and I could have swore a rib was cracked. Realizing my blood veil was broken through I recast it. Instead of falling down after hitting the webs, I was stuck to it!

Usagi had burned away a third leg with fire magic and sliced off a fourth with wind magic. The monster kept trying to kick the little jackalope but Usagi proved to be more agile, but just barely. Usagi's magic barrage slowed greatly as he focused on not getting hit. the blood spraying from the spider's stumps joined my blood veil, strengthening it.

I [blinked] out of the webs and with another [blink] I teleported on the spider. I stabbed into the hard carapace of the monster and sliced the top of its abdomen as I ran toward the mark I placed earlier. The spider thrashed about to throw me off again and I reflectively grabbed its hair for support.

Bad move on my part as the spider launched its hairs with me still grabbed in it. I am launched into the air but reacting quickly I [Blinked] back onto the monster. Making my way back to the mark I stabbed it yet again! [Sixth Dance: Fullmoon Bloom]. With a determined glow, ruby's glow enveloped the blade and the mark grew spreading out its thorny vines. I just need to hit it two more times and it'll die. Before I could do anything the spider beneath me burst apart tossing me back into the air.

"[Molt], YoU CaN't kIll mE!" The spider declared. I hit the ground rolling and when I managed to stand back up I saw the spider in pristine condition. All its legs and hair are back, looking more pearly and colorful than before.

"I Won'T lEt YOu GeT yoU'Re EighTH hiT iN!" The arachnid laughed as it spoke. This damned monster knows that the instant kill only works on the eighth strike; it'll be more cautious. "I'll eAt yoU and TheN i'lL EaT tHaT damNeD fOX aGaiN! I'lL eaT EveRyThINg!" The monster spoke and laughed deranged. I blinked above it and used gravity to assist my strike to stab its eyes.

[First Dance: Dusk Seed]! Ruby's glow concentrated to the tip of the blade. "AS iF I'll LeT yOu!" Once again the spider kicked me sending me flying through the air. I heard thunder and felt something soft hit me. Uasgi had caught me and kicked me back toward the monster. Not expecting this I managed to get my strike in but the blade glanced off only lightly cutting one eye. Blood gushed from its eyes and the spider screamed as more blood fell under my command.

I commanded the liquid in my blood veil to pierce its eyes. Hundreds of thin crimson spikes jutted out from around me stabbing into the delicate eyes of the monster, slowly blinding the thousand-eyed creature."KAaAahHhH! Get oFF! GeT OfF!" using its legs it is trying to bat me off but before it could bring them down upon me they fell to the ground and with a bolt of lightning Usagi appeared next to me. With a howl, many blue and brown magic circles appeared shooting out a hundred ice and earth spears into the vulnerable eyes of the monster.

I added the spilling blood to my veil and as I stabbed the mark with [Second Dance: New Moon Germination]. Instead of trying to build up to the killing strike I immediately discharged the mark with [Eight Dance: Dawn's Death] and green light flooded the wound where the mark was and it began to fester.

[Molt]! The spider burst open again, casting more shedded chitin around. Once more the spider stood in front of us in pristine condition!

How many times can it do that?!

"AnNOYinG!" The creature screeched, infuriated. [Silken Wire] My crisis perception blared telling me to jump. I did so just in time. The soles of boots being cleanly cut as a web sliced through beneath me.

How can we defeat such a monster?! It has only shown two of its abilities so far and it's not likely going to take it easy on us anymore. We'll have to end it quickly. A sudden idea hit me. I ran over to a group of egg sacs as Usagi engaged the monster with a flurry of magical attacks. The arachnid retaliated with reflective barriers and slinging webs around like blades.

I stopped at the egg sacs and began to chant a spell. Hopefully, this will work. "Essence of all life tear from your vessels and bind," I focused on the essence to seal the monstrous spider "Cage my foe-" My danger sense warned me of the attack too late. Something hit me in the middle of my chant sending me crashing into a net of webs.

"I wON't lEt you!" The spider hissed. [Hasten] the already blindingly fast monster sped up, now able to strike little Usagi. The lightning Emperor flew into some webs getting stuck just like I had.

Growling threateningly Uasgi burned the webs away to free himself only to be battered with a flurry of strikes from the spider. I [blinked] over to my companion's aid and back on top of the spider I once stabbed it with [First Dance: Dusk Seed] another plan forming in my head.

The arachnid ignored me, it can just [Molt] if needed and any damage would be undone. Usagi cast an ice wall and followed it with an earthen wall to shield himself from the constant barrage of strikes.

Okay, if you really want to ignore me like that then have it your way.

But before I could get my second strike in Usagi howled a long echoing roar, he must have gotten angry. Lightning burst from Usagi blasting one of the spider's legs off. The arachnid cast it's lightning reflection again but the next bolt simply passed through it!

Dark clouds formed above us and a thousand bolts rained down forcing me to blink out of the area.

"StRonG! BuT nOT sTrOng EnoUGh!" The monster taunted. Usagi looked at me as if saying "Keep it busy" then with a bolt of lightning joined the storm above.

Well, I know one way to get its attention. I [blinked] over to the egg sacks again and began chanting. Keeping watch for the spider. Sure enough, it rushed over to me in an instant and loomed over me with a leg raised. I managed to [blink] away just in time and on top of it. I stabbed it again with [Second Dance: New Moon Germination] in quick succession I followed up with [Third Dance: Midnight Budding]

Instead of pulling the blade out again, I kept it in as the spider thrashed about. The chitin seemed to be getting harder. Each time it molts it takes more and more force to even penetrate its armor. As I clung onto the spider I cast my vitalism spell to draw lifeforce from the monster and gave it to my sword. A few seconds later the spider stopped thrashing about and began to cast earth spears from magic circles that appeared around me.

I blinked above and, falling, I slammed Ruby into the mark again [Fourth Dance: Moon flower]. The mark grew into the shape of a rose. The spider started to spin in hopes of throwing me off with centrifugal force. The storm rumbled dangerously. Looks like Usagi is ready.

"Not yet!, Wait for the opportunity I give you!" I shout at the dark clouds. It was brimming with so much electricity it was more electricity than clouds at this point. I was thrown off and the monster started to climb the walls to get to Usagi, sensing the danger. I landed near a single egg sack.

"Essence of life. Rip from your coils and join my blade for my [Empowering Strike]" With three blinks I caught up to the spider who ignored me. [Fifth Dance: Waxing growth].

"I WoN't Let yoU! I wOn'T YoU!"

[Sixth Dance: Fullmoon Bloom]. Once again Ruby's blade shone with a light, much brighter this time. Shining like the sun. I raised Ruby high and plunged the sword down into the mark [Ninth Dance: Dying Eclipse]! I discharge the mark and release my empowering strike at the same time. The spider's abdomen exploded sending gore everywhere the crimson vines of the mark whipped outward like deadly blades. an attack normally not fatal easily becomes one of the deadliest.

Unable to survive long from the fatal blow it immediately [molt].

"NOW!!!" I shouted to Usagi who had further charged up the cloud. Now a shining ball of electricity. The world turned silent for a split second as a single bolt the almost the size of the gargantuan spider struck. A deafening roar of thunder resounded throughout the area. The ground beneath the spider melted and even vaporized. Once the light died down I saw the spider with a massive hole in the middle of it glowing red as the chitin melted. the remains of the spider collapsed into the molten hole and began to burn.

I slumped to the ground panting with exhaustion. Usagi slowly hopped over to me and plopped down next to me.

{Congratulations! For triumphing over an insane and weakened Ancient One with clever use of vitalism and sword skills both skills have gained 21 and 9 levels respectively.

For resisting the battering of the spider your physical resistance has gained 2 levels.

P.S. You might want to hurry on out of there}

"We did!" I weakly cheered. I saw a portal. Somehow we must have overlooked it in our fight. It was on the opposite side of the hole. Did Lilly create it? I told her not to use magic until she had practiced enough but I can't complain for her opening the door out of this place

"I really hoped it could not regenerate in quick succession, fortune was with us today," I said, getting up and walking toward the portal. Usagi followed me. Something about the system's post message still gave me a bad feeling, we killed the spider, right?

"You really think that?" A voice entered my mind "Finally that [Madness] condition was cured. I have you to thank for that" A massive spider crawled out on the hole. "[Rebirth] cure all ailments, I was not sane enough to think of that"

"Shit!" This has turned from bad to worse.

"Still I have to thank you for putting up such a valiant fight" The creature taunted. "I leveled up my resistances thanks to you. So many physical and lightning resistance levels. Now I am even more invincible!"

So that's why it was getting harder to pierce it.

"Now that you both have exhausted your selves won't you be our dinner? You have no hope of escape"

"Not if I can help it!" A new voice. Lilly! Why is she here? Did she come back?

"You! So you can enter my realm on your own huh? I won't make the same mistake last time!" The spider angrily said.

"Ara~! How did they live for so long? Looking at this place they must have done quite some damage to you" A new voice joined. Stepping through the portal was a voluptuous nine-tailed fox wearing a kimono with butterfly embroidery.

"Damn fox! Did you come here to be my dinner again?!"

The fox just gave a soft smile with a flicker a magic circle appeared and instantly disappeared conjuring nine foxes as tall as a man. I didn't even have time to register that magic was cast before it was finished. Just who is this woman to be able to do that?!

The conjured foxes were made of blue fire and snarled at the spider. With another flicker, I was only able to register a magic circle of colossal size. Each of the fire foxes blasted out a blue beam of fire each burning with the intensity of the sun. The heat from the fire set the webs beneath it ablaze and glassed the earth.

[Absolute Defense!] The spider conjured forth a dome that cracked when the attacks hit. However, the fox woman didn't let up as she chanted a spell. However, what set this apart was that the magic circles formed a sphere. Not a true sphere as each individual circle was flat. It was more like thirty sided. Again each circle was of colossal size.

"Blaze eternally,-" A bright star formed within the magic circles, burning brighter than the sun. Another barrage of attacks hit the arachnid's barrier the conjured foxes stalling for time. With its barrier almost falling to pieces the spider dashed forward to interrupt the spell. But three of the fire foxes tackled the spider to delay it.

I took this chance to run toward the portal that Lilly held open. She seemed to be studying that magic circle that the fox woman was casting. With three [blinks] I moved over to where Lilly stood. Usagi dashed forward like a bolt of lightning leaving sparks of electricity behind.

"Reduce all to ash,-" The spider had turned the three fire foxes to cinders and three more jumped in to buy more time. While the last three continued to blast it with their fire beams. One of them had finally broken the [Absolute Defense] and blasted a leg off.

"By your fury set this world ablaze-" The last the foxes jumped in even before the sixth fire fox died.

"This changes nothing! I'll just heal and kill you again!" The spider declared.

"And consume this world [Solar Eruption!]" As the last fire fox died the spell finished. The world was turned white and the dying screech of the spider echoed around us. But the spell didn't end. It continued to bath the land in front of us with flames reducing all to plasma and revealing this sub realm for what it truly is.

When the spell ended and the flames died all we could see was a small island bleeding white-hot lava and a sea of liquid blue mana. What was once a web filled world was now a realm of mana. The mana layer.

"I admit, even I thought I might not have lived through that. But it seems that my ability to [molt] could withstand even that. So long as even a cell of me survives I can instantly regenerate over and over again." The Spider boasted. Despair gripped me. If even that couldn't kill this damned spider then what could?!

"Tch, we need to go, NOW!" The fox woman clicked her tongue and pushed us toward the portal.

"Not so fast!" In an instant, the arachnid loomed over us. "Now die!" as it slammed it's legs down Lilly raised her hand up and a film enveloped us in a dome. The same one that protected us from that airwave.

Lilly had to stop and she furrowed her brow in concentration. The monster barring down on us continued to barrage the shield with attacks. The soft booming like drums echoed with each strike

"What kind of barrier Is this?! Why won't it break?!" The spider frustratedly screamed.

"Get her!" The fox woman said. I picked Lilly up and then noticed something wrong. Crystalized mana was slowly accumulating on her arms again. Slowly crusting in the patterns and lines of her engraved mana paths. She must be expending so much mana just to keep that barrier up, she really needs to learn how to control how much mana she uses.

With Lilly slung over my shoulder we dashed through the portal that immediately closed. Was Lilly keeping the portal open the entire time?! Just how much mana had she used?

We were safe now. I laid Lilly on the ground who was now unconscious.

"What was that thing?!" I complained. I sat down to catch my breath.

"An Ancient One," The nine-tailed fox woman said. "Every one of them is just as invincible if not more so"

"Why have we never heard of them?" Surely we must have had some idea that they existed.

"You're probably the first mortals to have come out of one of their realms alive" The fox explained. "In addition, they don't normally leave their realms" Just as she said that we heard a screech nearby.

"Where are you? Come out, come out wherever you are!" It was the giant spider. We can hear it cracking trees and knocking them down as it searches for us.

"Normally, that is" The fox replied with a stern look.

"You've got to be joking!" I groaned. Ruby glowed dimly as if afraid.

"Follow me, I know a place where it won't follow"

The woman led us further into the forest much to my displeasure, I'd rather not go further in but if it means that spider won't follow I don't have much choice.

"You got a name?" I asked, looking at the nine-tailed on the woman swaying as she walked expertly through the thick forest.

"We can have introductions when we're all awake" The woman turned to me and winked seductively. "But for now you can call me Nymphaya"

The further we went in the forest the more alien it became. Vines with glowing lines and berries dimly glowed looking light floating lights in the dark. The air was thick and humid and the canopy so thick it blocked out all light. It was easy to get disoriented with glowing flora making it look like a void filled with floating lights.

Three fairies whizzed by laughing and trying to catch each other. Their beautiful butterfly-like wings also dimly glowed. Looking like a pair of eyes moving around.

I can see why this place is sometimes called the 'Forest of Illusions'

Nymphaya led us into a large cave opening. Brightly glowing crystals of all colors lit the way through the moist cave casting shadows from stalactites and stalagmites. Looking around I failed to notice the small canyon carved in the floor by a stream and tripped, falling flat on my face while Lilly's unconscious body hit the ground.

Usagi growled at me for my blunder.

"Watch out for the rough footing" Nymphaya amusingly smiled at me.

"Thanks, Miss obvious!" I retorted while picking Lilly up. Nymphaya purposely neglected to tell me.

This cave is long and winding. With lots of branching tight tunnels.

"Do not go off this path. The side tunnels are a maze and often lead to danger." Nymphaya said as she jumped over a large stream that has carved two feet down into the floor. "And don't drink the water, it's acidic"

Eventually, the right side of the main tunnel gave way to a massive chamber with a sheer cliff. About two hundred feet below us is a lake with large pitch-black crystals jutting out.

"Those black crystals draw in mana and drain the air of it. Spells simply fizzle out before it can even take effect." Nymphaya said, pointing to the largest crystal that towers up to the ceiling of the chamber. It must have been easily three hundred feet tall. "Even from here, our magic won't work. Stay in these caves long enough and it'll drain you of all your mana"

"So if you fall here, not even magic can save you, huh?" I mutter and move to the left wall to keep Ru-Lilly safe.

"Yes. This point also marks the halfway point to our destination" Nymphaya continued leading the way "There's another large chamber up ahead that roughly marks the three-quarter point of the cave tunnel"

The three-quarter point still had the glowing crystals that illuminated the area. The biggest of them easily towers over a man at twenty-two feet high. The large chamber is almost fifty feet high and seventy feet in diameter. Pillars stood holding the ceiling up made of harder rock that the water could not erode fast enough.

The cave is even more humid and moisture coated the walls. Water could be heard dripping throughout the cavern and dozens of streams ran through carving little canyons in the ground. For each stream, there is a branching tunnel.

"Now we just follow the source of the water," Nymphaya said, pointing up the main path that was a wide but shallow stream flowing through it. "If you ever find yourself back down here be sure to never enter these tunnels during a rainy day or on a day where rain is probable, this cave will flood and you'll probably be flushed down that large cavern at the halfway point." She further warned.

Looking up I could clearly see the waterline, where the rock and pillars are far less eroded, easily forty feet up.

At the exit, we arrive at the bottom of a three hundred foot tall hole with a small waterfall that feeds the tunnel. During the rains, the waterfall must be majestic if the eroded parts are a sign of anything. There is a winding path up to an encircled valley with small forested mountains on all sides. I could easily see the colossal dreamshades towering above the forest canopy on the side of the mountains. The violet glow of its field-sized petals shone like a bonfire in the quickly darkening sky.

_____________________________

Lilly POV

My mana core was strained. I had forced so much mana out through the small roots that they widened slightly I could almost sense what was going, almost. I need to train my mana sensing abilities to get a clearer vision of what is causing my mana exhaustion.

Checking the condition of my engraved mana paths I don't feel much different. Maybe slightly easier to sense mana? But that might be because I've been training my mana sensing capabilities.

Waking up from my meditative slumber I realized I was being piggybacked by Onyx.

"Here we are, in the heart of the sleeping forest. We should be protected by those dreamshades" An exotic and sensual voice said. I recognize it as the fox eared woman.

Opening my eyes I saw that we were in a clearing. Many foxes of all sizes with differing amounts of tails are laying about. The trees at the edge of the clearing had what looked like orange glowing elongated fruits hanging from willow-like branches. On a dark night like this one, those fruits look like they are floating.

Asides from the trees there are vines draped from tree to tree with bioluminescent lines traveling down the length of them. There were pink glowing strawberry-like berries growing from the vines. There were bushes with leaves that had light blue glowing veins so that it would look like skeletal. Farther in the trees there were other types of glowing plants and trees. Overall, the glowing colors covered all ranges of colors, from red to violet. It was very beautiful, if not a little eerie.

In the clearing was a small waterfall that formed a small pool, with a stream cutting through the middle of the clearing. Flat stepping stones formed paths across the stream. The waterfall only fell from a ten-foot-high cliff and there is a path up made from a massive boulder. The boulder looked like it had been cut with a torch cutter to form stairs, evident of heat being used to do the job.

"Ara~ looks like our savior was awoken~," The fox woman said, noticing me looking around. Onyx set me down. I stumbled and fell down, my legs and especially arms feeling like jelly.

"W-What going on?" I asked, looking up at Onyx. Tears threatened to fill my eyes. I've never felt this weak before, I've never been unable to stand on my own two legs before. I was scared, with everything that has happened lately. I just want to go home.

"It's mana exhaustion, my dear. You use too much mana too quickly" The fox said. "Now that we are in a safe place would you mind telling me who you are?"

The woman called a large seven tailed fox over. It was a golden orange fox as large as a polar bear.

"She's a little tired, can you take care of her, Nana?" With a yip, the fox laid next to me grabbed my collar with its mouth and placed me in its soft lap.

"I'm Onyx. This is Lilly, and this little storm is Usagi, Lilly tamed him" Onyx introduced us. Wearily watching the fox. Usagi jumped into my lap and snuggling into a ball and instantly fell asleep.

"I am Nymphaya." The fox woman properly introduced herself. "Tell me about yourself. I am quite curious as to why you entered a dungeon, most people avoid those you know" Nymphaya studied us with an inquisitive look.

"A dungeon?! That spider place was a dungeon?!" Onyx looked shocked.

"No, that place was worse. This forest itself is a dungeon" Nymhpaya said with an amused smile.

"Dungeon? What's that?" I asked. Looking at them.

"A dungeon is a monster-filled place. Everybody who enters almost never leaves, and those who do don't come out in one piece. Even S rank adventurers usually don't come out whole." Onyx explained. "But this forest. Other than the dreamshades and the monsters that would lead travelers astray or use illusory magics to trick them, most who enter leaves unharmed. This place is considered monster-infested but not a dungeon"

"Not all dungeons are so deadly" Nymphaya commented. "A dungeon is designed to contain Calamities. A lot of calamities rampage around within their dungeon and most casualties stem from that. The wind elemental, Silphae, for example. Or the treant Bloodroot. These being hate the destruction that civilizations bring. They seek the total destruction of them and will kill every person they see." Nymphaya smiled "However not all calamities are that way."

"What are Calamities?" Onyx asked. "And who's the calamities of this forest"

"Ara~? You don't know even that? Well, it has been a long time so that knowledge has probably been lost in history." Nymphaya sighed. "There are three great powers in this world. The first are Deities, beings who have gained access to the deity system. The next are calamities, those who have gained access to the calamity system. The last is the Ancient Ones. I don't think they have access to another system other than the normal one.

The Ancient Ones like that spider are just so powerful they are unrivaled. I honestly thought that last attack would have done the job. I've spent the last six hundred years coming up with a spell that would kill that bitch! But alas it couldn't. Back to the drawing board."

I smiled at that. I know all too well how it feels. But I felt that she was close, using two-dimensional magic circles to form a three-dimensional one. Thinking about it, why wouldn't three-dimensional magic spheres work? You could fit way more information in it.

"That spider said that he killed you before, how did you survive?" Onyx asked, looking serious. The silky fur of the fox is beginning to entice me to sleep. That's bad, I've been sleeping so much lately Stem is going to be angry.

"I didn't," Nymphaya said bluntly. "We calamities, like the gods are just really hard to kill permanently."

"You're the Calamity?!" Onyx exclaimed, his eyes widened.

"Don't be alarmed," Nymphaya said with a hand raised to show that she didn't mean any harm. "Unlike some Calamities I no longer wish to destroy, the target of my revenge is long gone." Nymphaya sighed and began stroking Nana's head "continuing on with my explanation. Deities can't be killed so long as they have believers. Ancient ones have found a way to simply not die in the first place, and calamities like myself are so hard to kill or so costly it's simply not worth it"

"What do you mean?" Onyx Asked.

"Take Bloodroot for example" Nymphaya sat in front of him like teaching a child "Every time you kill him his soul moves to another tree which warps to become him. You'd have to cut down every single tree on the entire world and then kill him in order to permanently slay him. It's simply not worth the effort. Even if you did that to kill him you'd do more damage to the world than he would. So instead the gods imprisoned us in these places, turning them into dungeons"

"So you're the one imprisoned here, I assume you've tried to escape so why can't you?"

"The dreamshades. So long as they stand I can't leave the premises of this forest. The larger the forest, the larger my prison. It's the only way to capture us calamities. They have to bind us to a part of the land. In a lot of cases it's forests. But mountains and canyons work too. So long as a part of the world and an 'Identity' we can be bound to it. In this case, it's the 'sleeping' forest. Without the dreamshades providing that 'sleeping' part I am stuck here"

"Clever, it makes it hard to set you free, but surely you have enough power to destroy the dreamshades right?" Onyx asked. leaning back using his arms as a brace.

"No" Nymphaya said. "I'm not immune to their sleeping effect and they are too large to cut down, and immune to fire so I can't burn them down either"

Poor woman nobody should be stuck here like that, why would these 'gods' do such a thing? Are they like the bad people who keep others in cages like the metal men?

Fighting off the urge to close my eyes I speak up.

"Umm, perhaps if you can teach me how to do magic I might be able to find out a way to free you," I said.

Nymphaya looked surprised. "Under normal circumstances, I'd not take you seriously, but you've shown yourself capable of strange and powerful magics. Do you really not know how to cast magic?" Nymphaya asked with a quizzical look.

"She's from another world, she recently came here and is still learning things" Onyx informed her as he gave me a weak but affectionate smile.

"I... See..." Nymphaya said, slowly. "Well then, in that case, I'll teach you, but first you should rest, you've already exhausted yourself and shouldn't cast any more magic"

As if those words were a spell I immediately fell asleep.