“SKREE!” a Jorogumo screamed as it charged at Favor. It seemed intent on taking one person with it to the grave.

The last remaining Jorogumo shouted wildly as a torrent of water flung it high up into the air. Moments after it exploded, its black blood and guts spread everywhere in the vicinity, painting Vice and his companions in that disgusting liquid. Vice glared at Favor who had used that ability. ‘Couldn’t she have used something else? This blood is so sticky,’ he thought.

“Good stuff everyone, we have to be even more vigilant. Had it not been for Vice then we’d have been completely taken by surprise,” Paul said as he huffed and puffed to regain his breath. All of the other individuals were similarly catching their breaths and allowing the thick arcana in the surroundings to restore the mana they’d just used up.

Vice was in a better shape than the others, and instead observed the surroundings for any more hostiles. “The fog seems less thick,” Vice said as he looked around. He could feel that the arcana in the area had weakened slightly.

“You’re right, I can see much further into the distance right now. Maybe killing those beasts has something to do with that? Just a thought don’t take that as a fact,” Favor said. Her eyebrows were arched up as she stared at Vice with curiosity in her eyes. “You’re like a demon, right? Does that give you certain powers or what’s that all about?” Favor asked as she pointed at Vice’s horns.

Vice stood still and mouth was wide agape as nobody had ever asked such a direct question. Yet it didn’t feel like it was meant to be an insult, rather the girl was just inquisitive. He wanted to say something but wasn’t sure what to say to answer that question. ‘I don’t know myself,’ he thought whilst looking down at the ground.

“Hey you can’t just ask something like that,” Anne said.

“Why not? It’s just a question. I’m interested in how that works,” Favor replied, her hands stroking her chin.

“This isn’t the time for squabbles, we’ve been given a task and we need to carry it out now,” Paul said. The group immediately went back into formation and began moving forward. Their formation was a slight bit more lax and less tightly knit because they could finally see where they were going a little bit better.

The ground felt like a mixture between soil and concrete, a weird sensation which he wasn’t able to fully pinpoint. Everything he saw made him believe that this was the Gwabu area. There were still many of the houses he’d seen before in the vicinity. ‘Favian, do you know what this place is? Or why it looks like the Gwabu area but doesn’t feel like it at all?’ Vice thought.

‘That’s because this is a different dimension moron. They work in weird and wonderful ways. Most of the time the dimensions will just use the landscape of the material plane where you reside to format their own plane,’ Favian replied. ‘Don’t be surprised if a wormhole opens up from underneath you and swallows you whole, hahaha.’

Vice shivered at the thought and looked down at the ground carefully to find the signs of any irregularities. The group barely talked as they walked, and the eerie silence mixed with the foreign plane started to make Vice feel uncomfortable. Before this could manifest into anything, the party reached a weird landmark. Right in front of them was a humongous dome made completely out of white silk.

“These are spider webs…” Anne said. “A similar kind from when we got trapped here, Vice.”

‘How many spiders do you need to create a dome almost twenty meters high,’ Vice thought as he nodded toward Anne.

“I think we’ve reached our destination. There’s a huge dome made out of spider webs in front of us. I think there could be dozens or even hundreds of Jorogumos hidden in there based on its size,” Paul said into a golden card. “Yes. Alright, we’ll turn back now.”

“What’d they say?” Austin and Jake asked eagerly. Despite their huge muscles and chiseled jawlines, Vice sensed a certain childishness hidden inside them as they stared with puppy dog eyes at Paul.

“They will bring reinforcements now. We are to turn back and take a rest outside until we are called to come here again. Okay, let’s go.” Paul said.

“Hey, what’s that over there?” Jason asked as he pointed to a faraway location with his right hand.

Paul turned to look at where Jason pointed. His blue eyes instantly dulled in color and his face dropped as if he’d been paralyzed by a gorgon.

‘DO NOT LOOK WHERE HE JUST LOOKED. I WILL KILL YOU MYSELF IF YOU DO, VICE,’ Favian said. His voice echoed loudly within Vice’s mind, so much so that Vice had to clutch his head for a moment.

After regaining his bearings, Vice realized that all of his companions were similarly frozen to the spot with their heads dropped, and saliva was even falling from their lips. Vice had made sure not to look to his right, where Paul and presumably the others had looked toward.

Vice ran back the way they’d come after picking up Anne. The decision wasn’t a difficult one for him to make either, because she had the information on who had tried to kill his mother. There were no sounds in the area apart from the shuffling of his feet, just a deathly silence. He moved his feet one after the other, and that rhythm was the only thing his mind could focus on.

“Something bad has happened, everyone except for me and Anne are stuck by the spider dome,” Vice said into his golden card which he promptly put back into his spatial pouch after relaying the message.

As he ran he tried to shake Anne awake, but she was completely frozen, and her fingers were curled up tightly. She was petrified to such an extent that Vice feared he’d break off one of her fingers if he tugged too much at them.

“SKREE!”

“SKREE!”

Two guttural screams erupted from the distance, and the sound of cement being crushed by a powerful force filled Vice’s ears. The ground trembled slightly as the screams came closer and closer toward Vice.

[DING! Two hostile forces are about to converge on to the host’s location shortly. The host is advised to take any defensive measure possible.]

“Fuck,” Vice mumbled before dropping Anne to the ground.

‘Just because I like this girl a lot I’m going to give you a tip. Take out that plant you killed a cute ass little fox for and put it in her mouth,’ Favian said.

‘What? Why? I don’t have time for your stupid games, Favian,’ Vice quickly replied.

‘Fine just leave her to die then. It’s not like I’ve saved you dozens of times. No, not at all. Why would you listen to me anyways? I’m just an aged old man who has lived for centuries a-’

‘Okay just shut up, I’ll do it,’ Vice thought. He frantically reached for his spatial pouch and removed the plant that had a blue and a brown colored pistil. He then pushed the plant into Anne’s mouth, after which a strong blue barrier formed around her body. The barrier wasn’t able to accommodate Vice because it only reached a couple of centimeters off Anne’s skin. The barrier pulsed around her body with a life of its own, changing from blue to brown as it finished its different cycles.

Vice breathed out a sigh of relief but was instantly brought back to reality as he heard the Jorogumos coming even closer. His face contorted into a frown as he let the mana from within his body burst forth into his hands. Purple flames crackled brightly in both of his hands, leaving a warm sensation on his palms. Vice continued to push even more mana than usual into the spell until each flame became as big as a boulder.

“Skree?” one Jorogumo voiced as it came closer to Vice, before turning around and running away. Its human hands swung about aimlessly as it tried to propel itself further away from Vice. Before the creature could get even five meters away, a purple inferno akin to a huge flamethrower engulfed it. The human-spider amalgamation was burned into a pile of ash before it could even put up a fight, and a charred smell rose through the air and reached Vice.

The second Jorogumo was torpedoing at Vice. It received a similar treatment and was instantly killed under the high temperature of the fireball that had been flung from Vice’s hands. A large explosion sounded out as the Jorogumo was hit, and a crater was left where it had stood, pushing a gray residue into the air.

“Phew, the perfect weapon. You gotta love to see that,” Vice mumbled as he took in deep breaths. The air was becoming easier for him to breathe, and the fog had again cleared up a tiny bit. From where he was stood, he could make out almost 20 meters up ahead.

“WHAT?” Vice gasped as he looked into the distance. His mouth twitched because the dome made out of spider webs was once again in front of him, along with the frozen statues that were his five party members.