The corrupted spider remained still for only a heartbeat after severing the leader's head. Then, its many red eyes gleamed brighter—hunger ignited within them, glowing like blood-hot coals. It gave a long, high-pitched shriek, a sound that echoed across the jagged walls of the cavern like the wail of a banshee. Its claws twitched eagerly, dripping viscous ichor.
Then, slowly, it began to advance.
Click-click.
Skrrrch.
Click.
Its limbs stabbed into the cave floor, steady and deliberate. The remaining team members were still sprawled on the groundbleeding, weak, panicked. Most couldn't stand. One whimpered. Another dragged himself a few feet, leaving a trail of red behind him. But the spider didn't rush. No, it savored this moment. Like a predator toying with its prey.
The youngest one the timid boy who had been tending to the otherslooked up with wide, teary eyes. His hands trembled as they pressed the last bit of treatment into a wound. His body refused to stand. So, he did the only thing he could, he crawled.
His feet dragged behind him uselessly. His elbows scraped the stone. He moved with all the desperation of someone trying to escape death with no legs and no hope. Well he was trying to escape death. His breath came in ragged gasps. He looked back once.
The spider raised its forelegs, preparing to pounce.
The boy opened his mouth to scream—
WHAM!... BOOM!
The cave shuddered.
An invisible force massive, precise, and sudden slammed into the spider like a sledgehammer. The creature's body was hurled through the air, legs flailing wildly as it crashed into the far cave wall. Stone cracked. Dust exploded outward in a cloud. Loose rocks rained from above.
The boy froze, mouth still open, but no sound came out.
Then, something stirred in the dust.
A figureshrouded in black mistmaterialized from the darkness, stepping forward like a phantom. The edges of his tattered cloak danced in an unfelt breeze, flowing as if stirred by the weight of his presence alone. A sword rested carelessly on his shoulder, angled as if it barely mattered his head tilted slightly to the left. Perched calmly on his opposite side sat a strange parrot-like bird, its feathers dark and shimmering with hues of violet and indigo.
Dark smoke rolled off the figure in soft waves, coiling around his boots and cloak like a living aura. Darkness danced around him. His face was hidden beneath a porcelain mask the Sanity Mask its features frozen in an unsettling smirk.
He exhaled slowly. The mask muted the frenzied whispers in his mind, the shrieking madness that had once threatened to split his thoughts in two. It allowed him to fight clearly but at a cost. Fifty percent of his power was sealed.
Didn't matter. He didn't need all of it. Hope sighed
The corrupted spider hissed, crawling out of the debris. A cut on its side leaked thick fluid. more cautious now.
Hope tilted his head, smiling beneath the mask.
"Good," he muttered, then smiled beneath the mask.....
He stepped forward.
The corrupted devil screeched again, this time more from frustration than triumph. It lunged.
Hope didn't flinch.
Their bodies collided, the crash like thunder in the cave. Hope twisted in the air, turning with the momentum, his blade sliding between the creature's claws, locking briefly in the ridges of its armored leg. Neither landed a decisive blow, but the force of impact was enough to create another shockwave that sent dust flying.
They hit the ground and lunged again—no hesitation.
The fight became a blur of movement.
Hope ducked low, sliding beneath a sweeping claw, then rolled to his feet and twisted behind the spider's flank. His sword arced through the air CLANG! sparks burst as the blade collided with the beast's armored hide. No penetration, but the impact jarred the spider, forcing it to pivot.
The corrupted devil retaliated, spinning faster than expected. A leg stabbed toward Hope's chest.
He stepped sideways, barely avoiding the strike a breath away from being impaled.
Another strike came from behind.
Hope's cloak billowed as he flipped backward, pushing off the spider's leg. He landed lightly several feet away, sliding on his feet. His sword dropped back to his shoulder.
The spider shrieked again, charging
SQUAWK!
A sudden, piercing clicking sound echoed through the cave.
The corrupted devil jerked to the side, distracted. Its many eyes darted.
The parrot on Hope's shoulder fluttered upward, gliding across the cave in erratic circles. It perched on a rocky outcrop, mimicking the exact screech the spider had just made, then chirped a rapid clicking sound a mimicry of scuttling legs.
The creature paused, twitching.
Confused.
...
...
....
.....CRACK!
The blade sank half an inch in. Enough to cause damage, not enough to kill. The creature shrieked in fury.
Hope danced away before its leg could swipe at him, flipping backward with one hand on the ground. His eyes burned with focus.
All that training with Nefer... every grueling hour, every beating, every perfect movement—it was flowing through him now. She had left, yes. But the skills remained. The muscle memory was engraved in him.
The spider attacked again.
This time with desperation.
Legs struck from multiple angles. One from above. One from the side. One stabbing toward his ribs. Hope twirled, sidestepped, ducked. His cloak ripped slightly as a leg grazed it, but he was untouched. Then he struck again, carving a shallow wound into its abdomen.
It shrieked—
"HIIIIIIISSSSSSSSkkKk—!"
"HIIIIISSSSKkkk!"
The parrot echoed from above, mocking the sound perfectly.
The creature turned its head up again, twitching violently in every directionconfused, threatened by an enemy it couldn't see clearly.
Hope didn't waste it.
He closed the distance in a blur.
This time his sword was aimed true a vertical arc toward the creature's eyes.
It twisted just in time the blade slashed across its face instead of piercing the eye cluster. A screech of agony exploded from its maw.
The parrot screeched again — this time mimicking Hope's sword clash drawing the creature's head away as Hope vanished into the smoke, reappearing behind the spider in a swirl of black mist.
Another cut. Deep. This one to the back of its leg.
The corrupted devil stumbled for the first time, sagging slightly.
Hope straightened, breathing hard, his blade dripping with blood.