‘I take back what I said. My student is a complete and utter idiot. Fucking hells,’ Favian said. ‘You’re damn lucky that I don’t have my own body to control, or else I would’ve smacked you to death and beyond already.’

Favian’s annoyed voice brought Vice back to his bearings. He groaned in pain as he tried to get up back onto his feet, but it soon became clear to him that his feet were bound tightly. Blood was rushing to his brain and it was only then that he realized he was hanging from his feet.

“What?” Vice said in alarm when he opened his eyes to see his feet covered in a silky white substance that dug deep into his skin. It took him a while to realize that these were webs covering his feet tightly. Vice squirmed around frantically, but his feet weren’t freed no matter how much strength he tried to put into them.

“Shit, Anne? Wake up, Anne. We’re in trouble,” Vice shouted to the seemingly lifeless body of his friend hung upside down beside him. Fortunately for him, his hands weren’t wrapped as tightly as his feet were, and he quickly burst through those shackles with a mixture of strength and mana augmentation.

“Come on, Anne, you need to wake up,” he urged as he nudged her with his hands. The girl still didn’t wake up.

‘Just give her a slap, she’ll wake up by that,’ Favian murmured.

“FUCK!” Vice screamed and went with the suggestion made by his teacher. He swung his right palm, which he’d imbued with some of his mana, directly onto Anne’s back. A loud thud resounded through the area, and the girl was jolted awake. A green vapor had been forced out of her pores by Vice’s hit and dissipated into the air.

“W- What happened? Vice, is that you?” Anne said, each syllable seemingly being forced out of her frame with difficulty. Small amounts of blood dripped down from her lips as she looked toward Vice.

“We’re trapped somewhere. I don’t know why they didn’t just kill us, but I’m sure this widow maker didn’t expect us to wake up this soon. Here let me help with your hands,” Vice said and quickly helped Anne break free from the bindings. “Help me with my feet, the drop isn’t too far.”

Anne obliged and sent a bolt of yellow energy hurtling for Vice’s feet. The silky restraint was quickly torn asunder, and Vice crashed headfirst onto the ground. “Ouch,” he mumbled as he rubbed his head. “Do the same for yourself. My mana seems worthless against these webs for some reason. I’ll catch you don’t worry.”

Again Anne obliged, and sent a bolt toward her own feet. Vice was able to soften her fall because he caught her in his arms. For a moment he stared into her eyes but pushed the thought he’d just had out of his mind. “We need to get outta here, and as soon as possible at that,” he said.

Vice was finally able to get a better look at his surroundings. Everything was tinted in a crimson light, and a soft red vapor was constantly circulating around him. Multiple bones were strewn about in the room, femurs, craniums, you name it and it was there. Many of these bones were suspended in the air by silky webs all around Vice. A pungent vinegary odor mixed with sewage entered his nostrils. Vice quickly noticed Anne covering her nose from the smell, her face contorted in disgust.

“We won’t be able to just get out of here, Vice. That rune you touched, it’s brought us to a different dimension. It’s going to take a lot more than just running to get out of here, heck, unless you can break through dimensions with some spell of yours then we’re stuck here until we kill the owner of this realm,” Anne said. “You should really be paying more attention to magic that isn’t just for fighting. How are you a treasure hunter and don’t know about this?” she scolded.

“I’m sorry, I didn’t know… We need to prepare then if what you are saying is true,” Vice replied. He looked around the room hastily, until he found a large door that could accommodate three of him side by side. However, multiple thick webs blocked his way to the door.

Purple arcana sparkled about in his hands as he let the mana burst forth from within himself. After casting for a short while, purple flames burst into existence from his hands. Vice played around with the flame briefly, changing their size and shape until they completely covered his hands.

‘Just the luck I needed. The roulette isn’t always bad I guess,’ he thought. ‘I think that I might get used to this.’

‘I’m pretty sure you cursed my perfect technique vehemently the last time you tried to catch this widow maker, no?’ Favian asked.

‘Shh nobody asked you,’ Vice replied.

Vice walked up to the nearest webs and let the flames from his hands burst forth like a flamethrower. His eyes furrowed when the silky webs didn’t initially melt away, however after putting in some more mana into his hands, he was able to destroy them.

“These aren’t normal spider webs, they are fortified by some mana,” Vice said. He could feel a unique tingling sensation when he touched the webs, and after pushing his mana to his eyes to augment them, he was able to see that there were red strands of mana surrounding the white webs.

‘Stop marveling at the damn web, you’ve got more important things to worry about right now, like what made those webs maybe?’Favian’s voice echoed in Vice’s mind.

“Wait a second, Vice, do you see that?” Anne asked as she pointed to the ground next to the large oak door.

Vice’s augmented eyes moved toward where his companion was pointing, and he gasped. A trail of blood made its way to the door, but that wasn’t what caught his surprise. The oak door didn’t fully touch the ground, and in the small gap between the door and the ground, a large concentration of arcana swirled around. Thick black wisps of arcana covered the bottom half of the door, and a shadow could be seen moving about slightly behind the door.

Vice pushed his finger onto his lips as he glanced at Anne, and then frantically looked about the bone-filled room to find a different exit. Slowly Vice’s eyes began twitching manically because he couldn’t find any other means of escape except for the clearly booby-trapped door. There were no windows in the room, and the only source of light seemed to be some red candles which were hung upside down on the ceiling.

‘Fuck, what can I even do here? The only way forward is through that damn do- Wait a second, what’s that?’ Vice thought. A dull blue light caught his attention from the corner of his eyes. The blue light emanated from a pile of bones by a wall opposite to the large oak door.

Vice carefully made his way to the heap, moving his feet ever so quietly to not make any noise. As he inched closer, the blue light became clearer for him to see, and he wondered how he hadn’t noticed it in the first place. ‘Maybe the fog or mist here does something weird to the light in here?’ he thought.

A fresh breeze entered Vice’s nose, which he quickly breathed in. The pungent smell from the room still lingered slightly in his nose, but the fresh air was a nice surprise. Vice very quietly moved the heap of bones out of the way with the help of Anne, who wasn’t covering her nose from the room’s stench anymore.

An even brighter blue light was emitted through the room as the pair removed each of the bones from the pile and carefully placed them away to the side. “What do you think it is?” Vice mouthed to Anne, who simply shrugged in reply.

A metal trapdoor was built into the ground, and the blue light surged through it. Not only did it smell as fresh as a summer breeze, Vice could sense a thick amount of arcana was hidden beneath it. There wasn’t a handle on the trapdoor, however. ‘We’ve seen this a thousand times already, no door handle just means push your mana into it to open it,’ Vice scolded himself.

He took some of the flames from his hands and pushed them onto the trapdoor. Almost immediately the door swung open and hit Vice square in the chin. His head lurched back, and it felt like it had been knocked clean off his neck. Blood rushed to his chin, and he could already feel a bruise in the making.

“Are you okay?” Anne asked frantically. She held onto his head with care and caressed his horns. Vice’s vision was still blurry but the nice sensation of Anne stroking his horns brought him back to reality. His face blushed because the sensation felt too nice, almost euphoric, much to his surprise.

“What?” Anne mouthed as Vice stared at her.