A swarm of black and green energy waves splashed outwards, hitting every corner of the room. It quickly swarmed back, turning into a whip and a black flaming sword. Each weapon was present on the one hand. With a flick of his wrist, the whip smashed and hit Arachne in the face, leaving an ugly gash.

The second time, he snapped it around her neck, pulling her down to the very ground. A loud thud followed after as Arachne choked. She rolled around on the ground, trying to pull the whip off her throat.

Snow blitzed forward, raising her flaming sword of light at the King. Their sword made contact, sparking off dangerous energy around both of them. She persisted in the contest of strength. Dipping a bit lower, she pushed to stabilize her stance.

“Are you the one to fill her head with silly ideas?” The King glared. His milky eyes glinted dangerously with the intent to kill her.

“No, but if she did decide to kill you, it's all good for me.” Snow felt the shift of the blade changing against her even harder. She stepped out to the right, causing the King to slip up. He temporarily fell forward, catching himself in the process.

Snow took this chance, she directed her sword with a twist. Stabbing directly into the chest, she felt her sword part skin. But, the King flared out his magic at the last minute, and instead, a small gaping wound was present.

With a click of her tongue, she bounced back. The King motioned his sword in a quick circle, lunging towards Snow without any remorse. At the same time, he yanked the whip in his other hand, pulling Arachne straight towards Snow.

A painful slam was felt on her back, Snow yelped. Her sword almost dropped, she fell forward.

The black energy around Arachne’s expanded and grew, slithering up the side as it latched on to Snow’s arm. A hot pulsating energy sizzled around her arm that held her sword biting through her armor, where she felt a disgusting energy trying to invade her very soul.

With a loud clang, the sword dropped onto the ground. The black energy twisting even more tightly than before.

Mike and Dairen broke free from the crowds of armor. They dashed forward and made contact with the King.

“Gotcha, you bastard,” Mike shouted. Swinging his sword wildly.

Dairen shot arrow after arrows, right behind Mike. Mike instinctively dodged out of harm’s way, allowing it to hit the king square in the chest. Three arrows closely tied up together hit together.

The King stumbled backward. Dazed at the second surprised attack that threw him off guard. Frustrated at his incompetence, he swung his black sword at both Arachne and Snow, who was on the floor unable to move effectively.

A grunt and a hiss escaped Snow’s lips. She reached upwards, grabbing the edge of the whip with her claws. Energy bubbling out of her and was directed towards the whip in hand. A spark of light and darkness clashed amongst each other, she violently forced her way through, breaking the connection a few milliseconds away from getting her neck split in half.

“How?!” The King screamed angrily. He once again extended his whip towards her.

Snow ducked down, picking up her sword and made contact. Her sword bounced backward, creating an unwanted opening. But luckily for her, the King wasn’t able to do anything. He was too busy trying to fend off Arachne’s vicious attack.

“See that you despicable old king!” Arachne shouted, attacking with such ferocity that one who had thought that she was going to smother him with hate only. “You will die today, and I won’t ever regret it! You have kept me in the cage for thousands of years!”

The King's left arm was cut off by Arachne’s attack. He stumbled backward, his black sword disappeared as he held onto his armless shoulder.

“You think this will be enough?” The glowing milky eyes started to dye completely black. Even the dark energy wrapped heavily around him. It didn’t take long for him to grow in size.

An ugly deformed monster was born with six eyes. Compared to when Arachne was a giant spider monster, the one in front of her made her want to squash it entirely out of existence. It was a centipede with its hundreds of legs disgustingly moving all-around at the same time. Its pincer jaws opened and closed as acid spat out from its mouth.

Both Arachne and Snow dodged out of harm's way. The vampires took turns dodging and attacking. Their endless array of dark energy was easily deflected, sometimes strangely absorbed, making their fight difficult. Realizing such circumstances, they changed tactics into a more physical approach.

Arachne shifted forms, meeting the King in her spider form.

Snow paled, but she reminded herself over and over again that the spider was on her side. It still creeped her out immensely, but the repetition of her words in her head was a blinding reminder that there were more at stake than her own disgust.

Both monsters clashed, trying to overtake one another.

Mike and Dairen, who was the closest one to the King’s body, pulled back, trying not to be overrun by its thrashing body.

“This is insane,” Mike spat. He dodged under and away from beneath the centipede's body. He slashed a few times, taking out a leg that almost overran him.

Even still, the singular lost leg didn’t affect the centipede’s attack. Instead, it wrapped around Arachne in the hopes to confine her in one spot and devour her with acid.

They clashed, trying to overcome the other. So far, none overtook the other.

Snow ducked from the thrashing end, she jumped up, her sword in hand as she stabbed down onto the back. Her sword made an impact, plunging into the hard shell, which she had to lean onto her blade to crack through. A sudden thrashing caused her to flail around, trying to stay on.

At first, her finger slipped. Desperately grabbing on with one arm, she reached over with her second arm. She pulled herself up with great difficulty. A few times, the bulking of the monster's attack could have caused her to fall, but she didn’t.

Gritting her teeth, she climbed her way up, segment-by-segment, towards the middle of the back. She raised up her sword and smashed it into its back a few more times. A gush of green juice splattered outwards and oozed down the side.

She was, unfortunately, hit in the face, leaving her disgusted.

“You!” The Centipede clacked, letting Arachne go in a mid-choke.

Raising up its rear end, the Centipede lunged forward to snap Snow in half.

In a hurry, Snow pulled out her sword and dodged to the side. She slipped. Her hand grabbed hold of the sword, yanking her back. The sword started to slide down, ripping open the shell even more as she fell and landed with a thud.

The Centipede thrashed around in pain. Snow rolled out from underneath. She made some distance between herself and the Centipede. With a quick prayer, she shouted, “Holy Redemption!”

A powerful holy light erupted outwards, spiraling around the four Players: Audrey, Gilbert, Mike, and Dairen. Their magical and physical ability increased and made them even more powerful than before. It was as if they were four more extra Players that joined in the fight, which was pushing back the Centipede slowly but surely.

Arachne was having a field day, she was the main force that kept the Centipede in check, while the others rolled in to throw in their own punches here and there. She spat out a poisonous array of deadly poison at the Centipede, causing the hard shell to bubble and sizzle. Such powerful attacks caused the Centipedes body to decompose at a rapid pace.

Snow darted back in. She summoned up a large amount of Swords of Light, sending them to it in a torrent of rain. Each blade sliced apart her legs. The Centipede crashed onto the ground, unable to make drastic moves.

“It’s time to die!” Arachne squealed in delight, she plunged forward. Her mandibles clamped onto the side of its neck, cutting it in half with one sickening crunch. Snow and Mike ran their sword down its side, leaving open a large wound that they were sure that the Centipede could not recover.

With a wild but angry scream of despair, the King had died.

Snow let out a large sigh. She didn’t realize that she was holding her breath for the past few minutes. Her fingers were sweating. Putting away her sword, she walked over towards the body.

The body hissed and fizzled, becoming a black muck of a puddle. A stagnant smell of death persisted until, eventually, the puddle disappeared as well. In its place was the leftover clothes that look a bit too old to be worn and multiple sparkling items.

She squatted, poking the content with her claw. Most of the items seem bland, but there was one particular item that caught her eye. It was a simple gold earring with rune design all over.

Carefully picking it up, she flipped it around a couple of times. A vibrant amount of energy seemed to echo throughout her body, telling her that this earring made her powers increase exponentially. Not only that, but she could also feel the welling around her made her dizzy.

She clasped the earring on.

Mike, Dairen, Gilbert, and Audrey score through the items. Each ecstatic at their scavenged parts from the King. Some even shouted in joy at the bounty they have collected.

Snow got up, leaving the three behind. She small, but hot pulsating energy of magic congregated behind the King’s throne. Walking around, a door was present. If she wasn’t paying attention, she would not have found the door behind her.

Taking her first step, she pushed open the door.