It was dark.

Was I dead?

No, I could see my health, stamina and level, so that must mean I was still alive.

My body felt a little numb, but I could still feel things, like how my arms were tied behind my back. I was sitting on something hard, leaning against a cold wall.

Where was I? How long had I been out? Where were my friends?

Then I remembered my mother. The gruesome scene replayed in my head once, twice and by the third, I was crying. Why? Why was this world so unfair? All I had wanted to do was live a peaceful life! I hadn’t asked or even wanted to become a hero, or all powerful, or even strong. I just wanted to have a good time with who I loved, so why? Why did these things happen to me?

But I had to live.

Back in my previous life, my father had been dragged down by the death of my mother, turning into a horrible person. I couldn’t let that happen to me. I knew this was wrong, but I couldn’t let her death drag me down.

Now I had a reason to become strong.

Strong enough to push away those feelings.

Strong enough to see Bea once more.

But first, I had to get out of here.

Rope tied my hands together behind me. What could I cut them with? The material I sat on was smooth, like marble or concrete.

Surely there was something else I could do to get out of these ropes-

Extension.

With extension, wasn’t I able to move objects/weapons like they were my own? If I used extension on these ropes, I could untie them myself…

It was worth a shot.

“Extension.”

A tingly sensation appeared where I contacted the rope and, after a moment, a weird sensation followed. I could feel the rope.

Twitch.

I was a part of the rope.

The rope was a part of me.

Could I move it?

Sending a message to the rope, which was now a part of me, to move, felt really strange. I could feel the rope coiling on top of itself, in a double knot.

Luckily, I was a curious kid back in my previous life and had decided to spend time studying different types of knots to impress my friends. Didn’t really help then, but it did now.

A double knot is a hard knot to untie, and won’t come loose easily. But, unlike other people, I had my perk, extension.

Frowning in concentration, I attempted to slip a strand of the rope below another.

Twitch.

Move!

Gritting my teeth, I once again tried to move the rope.

Twitch.

This time, it moved a little further. Was it because I had no mastery on this skill? Wasn’t this supposed to be easy?

Taking a deep breath, I pulled once more.

Slide.

Finally! The rope slid out from the knot holding it together. Alright! One down, just one more to untie before I was free.

The second knot moved easier than I thought it would. Whether it wasn’t tied as well, or I had gotten better at controlling the rope, I didn’t know. All I knew was that I was going to get out of this place and get revenge.

Cautiously standing up, I attempted to look around, unsuccessfully. It was simply too dark.

Surely I had something in my hold that could be helpful…

Hold

Bag of coins (4560) Empty Armour Upgrade Stone Frayed Whip Weapon Upgrade Stone x2 Knuckle Dusters Giant Devil Ant Egg Werewolf's Heart Empty Bone Pearl

The bone pearl! Wasn’t it supposed to be able to light up? I could use it to see in the dark!

Carefully taking it out of the screen, I tapped it once.

Nothing happened.

Maybe I had to mutter some incantation or something?

“Light up!”

Nothing.

By this time, I was getting frustrated. I had come all this way, only to be stopped by this useless bone pearl? Annoyed, I threw it to the ground, only to watch it light up in a luminous yellow.

Taking a deep breath in, I wrung my hands, exasperated.

I picked up the sphere, strangely light in my arms, and began walking in a random direction. Soon enough, I reached a wall, made out of the same smooth material I had been leaning on. Taking a right, I continued until, yet again, I reached another wall.

At this point, I was getting the suspicion that I was trapped.

Of course I was trapped.

Why wouldn’t I be trapped?

After all, I had been captured by an overpowered monster.

“Damn it!”

After cursing out loud and smashing the wall with my fist, I felt a little better.

Slinking down onto the ground, I cradled the little ball of light and wondered what would happen to me.

* * *

Time had passed.

How long? I didn’t know.

After sulking for a while, I had done some crying, then eventually fallen into a fitful sleep. When I woke up, only one thing had changed from last time. I was hungry.

Realising my haversack was still attached to my back, I slid it across my body and rummaged inside it for the little food I had brought along. The bone pearl had stopped giving off light. Taking out a piece of breon, I smiled at the memory of Bea laughing at how stupid I was.

Bea.

I missed her.

Already?

I wondered if I would ever get to meet her, let alone the rest of my other friends again.

This time, I made sure to squeeze out the breon before putting it into my mouth, imagining it was Gana’s head.

Four pieces of breon left, with a little water left in my canteen.

How long would I survive?

* * *

Three more cycles of sleeping, crying, playing with my tail and eating later, a light appeared from the top of my prison.

It was green, dull, and my only hope.

“Hello? Is someone there? Help me! Please!”

In a moment, the light went off, and I was plunged into the darkness yet again.

* * *

“Hey Ikite! What’s up?”

“Oh nothing, just stuck in this cell or something.”

“Oh, cool!”

I had resulted in conversing with myself to pass the time, but instead, it made me feel like I was going crazy. Perhaps I was.

“Talking to yourself? I guess that’s not exactly uncommon.”

Huh? Did I say something unconsciously?

“Yeah, it’s alright I guess. Conversations are boring though.”

“I would prefer not to talk at all, if I were you.”

“But you are me?”

Strange, when did I develop split personality disorder?

Then the lights came on.

My eyes, having spent an excess of time in the dark, were blinded by the sudden brightness and I shielded them, looking away.

“The heck…?”

There he was.

Gana.

Casually leaning against the wall, arms crossed.

Had he been the one talking to me?

My whole body froze in fear and I wanted to run, but knew I couldn’t. In fact, even if I could outrun him, I had nowhere to run. My prison was a hole in the ground, about twenty metres wide, and impossibly deep.

Had he been standing there the whole time?

“I’m surprised you’re still alive.”

Surprised? Why was he surprised?

Then, as I looked up, I knew.

A giant spider hung from the ceiling, peering down towards me.

Animal Profile

Species Giant Spider Rarity Rare HP 590/590

Level 80 Gender Female Skills Bait, ??? Information

A giant spider usually lives within caves in the outskirts of Hell. It uses a strong, yet sticky web to trap its victims and devours them whole. However, it has an incredibly poisonous bite which will paralyse and poison the victim. It's skill, bait, gives off a green light which attracts prey toward it.

Stifling a scream, I edged away from it, closer into the wall. For some reason, it had decided to leave me alone, but that could change at any moment. However, other's hadn't been so lucky. I could make out several disturbingly human like forms attached to the web above.

“Come.”

Gana’s commanding voice rang out once more and I felt my body obeying his command. Was I really that petrified of him that I would do everything he said?

“W-where are we g-going?”

I stuttered as I spoke, eyes still on that massive spider on the ceiling.

“Torture. Remember?”

Torture? Seriously? He was still on that?

“I-I don’t think that’s necessary…”

I slowed down and stopped behind him, suddenly not wanting to go any further.

“Shut up. Do you need me to drag you? Or I could throw you, just like I did with your mother.”

My blood went cold and a strange feeling welled up within me. This… imbecile dared to speak about my mother with such disrespect?

“You freaking bug-”

I steeled my body, hands up, about to release two deadly light rays at him.

Clonk!

Something hard hit me on the head.

“Guess I need to drag you then.”

Why did this feel familiar?

* * *

“Wake up.”

Something slapped me across the face, inciting a stinging sensation. My eyes fluttered open and I came face to face with a fat, bearded man holding a slipper.

“Good morning! Welcome to the torture chamber!”

Realising I was strapped down to a table next to a set of sharp looking instruments did not bode well with waking up.

“Who the hell are you! What is this?”

“This is the torture chamber, where I’ll drive out some of that rebelliousness from you!”

With that, he picked up a small scalpel and sliced it across my cheek.

Warm blood flowed down my face and I felt tears begin to arise.

“Stop! I’m sorry ok?”

The man just sneered at me and began making cuts across my arms, legs, stomach, everywhere.

The pain was bearable for a while, then he injected something into me that caused a feeling of nauseousness to wash over me. After the nauseousness, a burning sensation covered my entire body.

“What. Was. That.”

I could barely speak, every movement beckoned my body to puke.

He didn’t reply, only continued to slice up my body with that damn scalpel of his.

“Hmm, good muscles here. Nice legs.”

The heck? Was he a freaking pervert?

“Alright, now this is going to hurt. A lot.”

I was too busy pushing down the feeling to vomit that I didn’t understand his warning until I felt something penetrate through my stomach.

“Ahhhhh!”

Oh god, this really brought back memories of my mother’s death.

Crying and screaming, I felt the object get ripped back out of my stomach.

Warning: Critical Health

Were they just going to let me die here?

“Come on Calvin, heal him already.”

Too busy with other things, I hadn’t noticed a spindly insect-like creature standing to my left, staring down at me with a curious expression.

Sighing, it used some sort of magic that filled my HP up to max.

“Borno, I still don’t understand why you have to do these things. Just brand him and get over with it.”

Borno, the other guy, grumbled something rude and gave me a sad look.

“Fine. You know I need my fun too, right?”

Borno walked away from the table, coming back a few seconds later with a red-hot stamp, embedded with a strange symbol consisting of two parallel lines. Giving me a pitiful look, he raised it above my thigh and brought it down.

Hiss!

The heated metal melted my skin easily and I screamed so loud that my throat went dry.

“Sorry pal, wish I could have had more time with you.”

The pain too much for me to handle, I fell unconscious once more.