Due to the distance, Bella was only able to distract the spider. Everyone was occupied with the flood of insects invading the enclosed area, desperately trying to stay alive. As she rushed past her comrades, Bella saw another team member struggling against what looked like ants. Feeling conflicted about reaching Sin or saving the other, Bella was happy to see Olivia shoulder-slam the thing, giving both of them enough time to regain their position.

"Sin! Push them back! Now!" Bella yelled as she launched herself at the spider, still struggling with the dagger stuck in its body.

Gaining new energy from the appearance of Bella, Sin used her spear to strike at the enemy on her right and pushing it into the other. When they were entangled with one another, she took a stance with her spear. Time passed as she looked to gather strength into the point of the spear. With a determined thrust, her weapon impaled both spiders, instantly killing them.

Bella swung her hammer at the spider, knocking it off of the ceiling and having it crash to the floor. The way it struggled to get back up, it was obvious the thing was disoriented.

Swinging a spear, Sin moved with coordinated precision and sliced the creature.

Though Bella's squad was still fighting off the insects, killing off the spiders allowed Sin to take a breather. Bella wiped the sweat off of her brow. Using her war hammer, she leaned on it, feeling her muscles screaming in protest from the amount of work she was demanding on them. Looking over at Sin, "Great job with the timing," Bella chuckled.

"Thanks for the assist," Sin wearily grinned. "What's the plan?"

"Aside from not getting eaten?" Bella scowled.

Sin nodded at Bella's question. She looked to be regaining her strength, though her face still looked a little pale.

"We'll need to keep searching for a way out. I think this place is designed to be either a trap or a training ground." Bella slightly lifted her arm and waved it towards their surroundings.

Tilting her head, Sin asked, "What makes you think that?"

Breathing in and letting it slowly leave her lungs. Before she was able to speak, she ducked, narrowly dodging two legs with webbing between them. "Are you fucking kidding me?!"

"They just won't let us take a breather!" Sin moved almost instantly as Bella escaped from the spider sneaking up on them. With a sharp thrust, the point of her spear plunged into the head of the monster.

Having its head pierced by the blade, it trembled with short spasms and falling to the ground.

As Sin pulled out her weapon, strings of ooze being made from being in contact with the creature's innards, Bella slammed her hammer on the spider's head. "Fuck!" She could feel her heart beating fiercely, realizing how close she was to being eaten or have her innards dissolved and sucked out of her.

"So you were saying, Squad Leader?" Sin tried to act jovial, but her pale face spoke volumes. What little color that had returned had faded away from the scare.

Cursing some more, Bella tried to shake off the feeling of death. "It's the way this place changed its layout." Panting, Bella fought to ground herself and continue being the strong leader everyone expected her to be. "Though the fact we were able to leave and get down those stairs makes me lean towards the latter. This is especially the case by how our abilities are increasing with each encounter."

"So Katya's theory was correct?" Sin raised an eyebrow, correctly keeping a certain level of skepticism related to the information provided by the spy.

Grimly nodding her head, "I was always a little skeptical, but these back to back fights have triggered something deep inside. It's to the point where I've noticed my reflexes improving noticeably."

Sin was silent as she digested the information.

"Those kids had developed skills at breakneck speed, but I think we've reached a point where we are surpassing the skills we had previously built from our numerous missions and training by PentaSoft." Bella felt herself calming to a degree, though she made sure to pay attention to her surroundings, to prevent such a close encounter as earlier.

Rita, a slightly new member relatively fresh out of training, came running up towards the two of them. Her eyes would occasionally wander around the walls and ceiling, well aware of surprise attacks. "Squad Leader!"

"What is it?" Bella noticed the number of insects was at a manageable level. It made her sigh internally, glad to have finished such a crucible.

"I've come to report our losses from the encounter. We lost Cris, Li, and Vye to the enemy." Rita's expression was downcast.

Gripping her fists, Bella tried not to remember their happy expressions during the time spent together in the squad. The recent encounter had been the fiercest one yet, "It feels like we're losing precious companions the further we go." She fought back the tears beginning to form, "I hope all of you can forgive me. We should've never returned back to this place."

Neither Rita nor Sin offered comforting words, processing the additional deaths of their comrades. As though a wound never healing, their team members were slowly being picked off.

Gritting her teeth, Bella thought, "We're already in this mess, and retreat isn't an option." Out loud to the two, "We'll keep pushing forward."

Both nodded their head, their expressions lacking any blame and anger towards their leader.

"I'm thankful for not only for their training to deal with their grief but also their trust in me." Bella thanked all those serving under her inside her heart.

Olivia limped towards where they were standing. In her hand, she held a shattered sword. It was pure discipline and situational awareness, keeping her on her feet and ready for any attacks. It was seen in her eyes, the way they seemed to keep track of her surroundings, though not rolling around like Rita's eyes.

Tossing aside the broken weapon, it clattered loudly. "We had to use so many torches in this fight. Too many." Olivia grimaced at the necessary waste.

Bella closed her eyes, not even caring if an insect were to take her that moment. "Can't we get any help in this fucked up world?" She prayed to anything that would listen beyond the visible world. Taking a deep breath and sighing, "How much longer do you think we have until our supply runs out?"

Cracking her neck, Olivia massaged it. "We were fortunate to pick up a few. It's more of an issue of the number of weapons we're going through. If things continue, we'll go through all our reserves at the rate we're going. There may be a scenario where we can see the enemy but have nothing to fight with."

"At least we won't die or get eaten in the dark," Sin made a vicious grin at the idea.

Bella felt a similar feeling, "If we have to, we'll fight those monsters with our bare hands if necessary."

Rita and Olivia gained a little bit of energy from the encouraging words. The thought of waiting for their deaths wasn't something they were comfortable with.

"Hopefully, something out there can give us a hand," Bella didn't say to her subordinates, not wanting to share the fear inside of her.