In a dark and damp tunnel of unknown location, within the near pitch black surroundings, a little girl no older than 12 walked at a steady pace.
Her short pink hair swayed as she looked at her surroundings curiously. Her small black horns rotated left and right as she eyed the tunnel she walked through wall to wall.
Though her delicate face showed no prominent emotion, and her steps were measured and determined, a small place in her heart was chilled with unease.
She had been walking in pitch black darkness for what felt like hours, maybe days, yet she had not seen a single indicator of an exit to this place, heck, she had not even seen a fork in the road.
But that was just a small portion of her unease, what jarred her the most was the feeling she got the second she stepped past the threshold of the feasting temple. The warm and safe feeling fueling her resolve had vanished the second she left, replaced by a cold and hostile air.
Hannya's instincts could feel it the further away she got from the temple. The ethereal protection that had shrouded her was slowly dissipating.
She took a deep breath. She had to just keep going. She was aware there could be dangers ahead, but she couldn't stop here, she had to find an exit.
As she walked she continued to gaze around. Even in the pitch black darkness, she could see as well as she would in the daylight, which only made the road she was walking down all the more eerie.
The tunnel, for the past hours, had been a straight line forward, no turns, no hideaways, even the walls lacked a single indent. The large tunnel had clearly been artificially made.
'I wonder how Gula did such a thing?'
To distract herself from her rising nerves, she began to think about why Gula would put such a temple so deep underground. Were there demons that lived so deeply underground? Perhaps she contracted with magic beasts as well?
Gula's contracts were always rather strange in the novel, she would be willing to contract with anything that asked for food. As long as the contractee ate the food provided by Gula, she would receive desire. This world's exp for devils in a sense. Sure, one could get stronger just by training, but why do that when you are a race that just levels up with people's desires?
'Gula's skill set really is cheating.'
One of her abilities is to convert mana in the air to something edible to the masses. Essentially making her a walking restaurant, creating dishes seemingly from thin air. Of course, the food isn't really there. The steak you are eating really isn't a steak, but if you can't tell, does it really matter?
After thinking about Gula's [All shall eat] ability, Hannya realized she hadn't eaten anything since she arrived here. However, she felt fine.
'Do devils even need to eat?'
She didn't remember a time in the novel where a devil starved to death, so it was probably ok, right?
As she successfully distracted herself, she failed to notice the increasing quantity of peculiar silky strands laid on the edges of the path she was walking on, as well as the dog sized creature stuck to the ceiling above her slowly opening its eight red eyes.
As Hannya walked she began to feel a strange sticky substance under her feet. Startled, she broke from her thoughts and looked down at the floor.
There she saw thick strands of white silky and sticky web on the floor below her. Her hair stood on end, the web alone was not the unnerving part, it was the quantity. The place was pitch black, but with her devil eyes she could see clearly and quite far ahead. As She followed the path ahead, a huge change could be seen before her.
As the path continued, the webs massed over the floor, walls and ceiling, making the tunnel look completely white.
She shivered at the sight, how did she end up in a place like this without her notice? She had only been distracted for a second!
SCUTTLE
Then her ears picked up something behind her. She whipped her head around, and her heart froze.
In the darkness, on the ceiling of the tunnel, a spider the size of a large dog was staring at her with its eight eyes.
As their eyes met, the spider let out an ear piercing shriek, like metal scratching metal, as the shriek thundered throughout the tunnel.
SCREEEEEE
Hannya, having lost her composure at the freakishly size spider and the shriek that bounced off the walls and slammed into her ear drums, decided to retreat.
'I-I have no weapon, I should find a place to train first before dealing with monsters like that. I can only tactically retreat for now.'
Such thoughts swirled in her mind as she swiftly ran deeper into the web filled tunnel, no way would she run back the way she came. The giant spider had already blocked that path.
As she ran she could hear the scuttling of the spider behind her giving chase. The further she ran, the denser the webs became. They began to drape the tunnel like curtains, making her swipe her hands in front of her to keep her vision unobstructed.
She could hear the spider closing in on her, cold sweat was soaking her back, and her heart was pounding in her chest. Her mind spun, trying to find a solution for escape, when all of a sudden her instincts spiked, her body sensed mortal danger.
Without thinking, she used her escape ability, [Hasty Retreat]. In a puff of smoke, Hannya disappeared just moments before a razor sharp limb sliced through the air where her neck used to be.
Confused by the absence of the familiar feeling of flesh slicing in two, the creature's eyes darted around for its prey, only to find her a few dozen feet away, panting heavily.
Hannya took no time to admire her illusive skill, without a moment to lose; she activated it again. She continued to do so consecutively. As she desperately did so, the spider became further and further away, unable to chase the short range teleportation. When she finally stopped using it, Hannya slumped on the side of the webbed tunnel, exhausted.
"Haah..haah..haha, made it."
As her small frame began to heavily take in air, she pushed herself up and began to move as quickly as she could down the tunnel. She had to keep moving, who knows if that creature would catch up to her.
She could feel her arms and legs shaking. Her body was tired already, she felt a little regret using her skill so much, even after the spider was well out of sight, she continued to use it. She felt dumb for losing her composure like that at the first sight of a monster. Such an act was cliche in books, yet she had done the same thing. She wanted to smack herself.
'What if I run into another? I'm nearly out of mana now.'
Hannya gritted her teeth at the thought. She felt helpless, that spider was too much to handle for her right now. She can only sneak around for now and find a way to escape this place before she gets discovered again. She picked up her pace, while she eyed her surroundings cautiously.
As she moved swiftly and silently, Hannya finally found a change in the terrain, though the walls were still covered in webs, the path ahead now branched off into three directions.
This small change gave Hannya a bit of relief. The psychological toll of walking on a single tunnel for hours on end with not much of a change had affected her more than she realized.
She examined the tunnels before her. All three didn't seem to have any indicator of what lies within. She wasn't some sort of tracker, and all trails that would help possibly make a choice were covered in webs.
She decided to take the left path, her intuition told her that was the way to the exit. The further down the path Hannya walked, the more she noticed the small webs draping from the ceiling like curtains were becoming less and less. She felt a surge of hope as she quickened her pace.
But the further she went, the more her heart began to sink. The small mass of webs were now becoming bigger and thicker. By the time she came to a halt in the tunnel, the webs on the ground were as thick as ropes, overlapping one another, covering the whole area.
"Intuition my ass."
She couldn't help but hiss out those words. It was clear this led to something much bigger than she had already encountered. No way she was risking a run in with something like that. She decided to try the other tunnels. But before she could turn around…
SCREEEEEE
As her heart sank further, she noticed a dog sized spider blocking her path of retreat. It was not the one from before, this one was a lot smaller, with purple eyes and a golden pattern on its back.
But the spider was odd, unlike the last one, It didn't move. It just stood there, its eyes brimming with something close to malice and amusement. Hannya could see it clearly. With her [Cold Reading], Hannya could tell this spider was intelligent, and it was trying to toy with her.
Hannya felt her heart fill with rage and indignance. She understood, It wanted her to run deeper into the direction she was going. Whatever was down there would only make her despair when she arrived.
She clenched her teeth "As if I'd let you mess with me!" With her anger suppressing her fear, she charged towards the spider with reckless abandon. Facing this small one was better than finding out what lay further.
She swung her fist at the spider with surprising speed and strength, earning a large crack to come from its hard carapace.
SCREEEEEE
The spider wailed in pain as it flew back and crashed into the wall behind it.
"You dare mock me!" She continued her assault, rushing towards the spider, her confidence bolstered by her initial attack.
But the spider did something Hannya had not expected. Using the momentum of the wall behind it, it charged back at her at abnormal speeds, deftly ducking her cross and biting into her right shoulder with precision.
"Fuck!" She immediately felt a searing pain on her shoulder. In her panic, she slammed her body against the wall, making a small crater with her momentum, destroying the spider's armor completely and crushing the creature in the process.
"Haaah haaah, b-bastard" she said on shaky legs. She had won, but the pain she felt on her shoulder didn't subside, even when she saw the wound visibly healing. If anything, the pain began to spread through her body.
"I-I just…need to rest a little." After saying that, her legs gave out and she collapsed to the ground.
DING
She heard the notification bell ring in her mind as she laid there. She figured it was a level up or something, but she was more concerned about how her body was beginning to feel weaker by the second. Her head was beginning to feel light, and she was beginning to feel her arms and legs growing numb as time went on.
She struggled to lean against the nearby wall. Covered in spider blood, she checked her notification. After reading it, she felt her stomach churn.
[
Debuff: Paralysis - Your body has been infected with huge doses of a high level paralytic.
Duration: 12 hours
Passive activated: Supreme Devil Blood - Your supreme blood adapts to all.
Adaptation time: 3 hours
]
She began to panic more reading that. It was good she could adapt to the poison, but she couldn't afford three hours. She shook herself from those thoughts and focused on the positive. Just three hours.
"J-just…T-three…maybe…lucky." as her mouth started to become numb, and her body unresponsive, she noticed something in the corner of her eye.
She could no longer turn her head, so she shifted her eyes to the end of the tunnel. She then fully despaired.
At the end of the tunnel where she came from. Hundreds of glowing red eyes were creeping towards her. She knew what those eyes were, they were all spiders.
Silently crawling on the ceiling, the walls, the floor. All leisurely approaching her, as if this outcome was to be expected. It seems the shout from earlier had alerted the rest of the local clutter.
As they came into view and surrounded her. Hannya could see the contempt and ridicule in their eyes. They circled around her, a cruel dance, revelling over her defeat.
Their actions were clear. 'A mere devil dares come to our territory?'
As the spiders danced around Hannya, a smaller purple spider with a golden pattern on its back stepped forward. The others seemed to make way for it, as if this one was a leader amongst them.
It locked eyes with Hannya for a while. And then, with a sneer, it plunged one of its sharp forelegs into the devil girl's stomach.
Hannya could only feel the searing pain, her mind went white at the pure agony she felt having been impaled in the stomach.
The spider twisted its limb with cruelty as it pulled it out of the wound, taking chunks of her intestine along with it.
Hannya coughed up blood, her fear and despair reaching its peak. She realized she could not feel her body, but she could feel the pain. And the spider had no intention of ending her life.
As if on cue, the spiders began to screech, and one by one, began to take bites from Hannya's small body. She wanted to scream, but the fast acting poison stopped any muscle in her body from moving.
CRUNCH CRUNCH
SPLASH SPLASH
Chunks of her flesh flew, her clothes ripped to shreds, black blood splashed against the walls and floor. She could only watch and agonize as more of her bones became increasingly visible. Her ears ringing and her mind in desperate chaos as her body began to slowly vanish as the beasts feasted ravenously.
CRUNCH CRUNCH
SPLASH SPLASH
The spiders continued to eat happily, oblivious to the torture they were casually inflicting. Every bite was rationed, and every stab deliberate. They would not kill her, they were aware of the creatures above ground. The ones with black eyes can heal fast as long as the head stays. And this one healed by the second!
CRUNCH CRUNCH
SPLASH SPLASH
They would be able to feast on her for ages if they ate slowly and kept her immobile.
Hannya, trying hard to keep her mind from crumbling by the constant pain brought to her by the spiders, understood their intentions. She wanted to find a way out, the pain was so unbearable she wanted to die, but the spiders wouldn't allow it. She wished for freedom.
'W-wish..I c-can escape..'
A flicker of hope shone in her eyes.
She had lost her ability to speak due to the paralytic, and the spiders must think adding new dose after new dose would keep her here, but…
Her half lidded eyes glanced at the transparent screen in front of her, as the spiders continued to feast on her flesh. Her hope wavered at the sight.
[
Adaptation time: 3 hours
]
'3 hours.' How could she endure that long?
The pain was unbearable, how could anyone-
But then, through the pain, her mind flashed with a being that had endured a pain similar to this, if not worse for 600 years already. In a darkness similar to this, most likely despairing the same as this.
Trying to keep her thoughts from the deafening pain and screeching monsters, Hannya's mind closed within itself, thinking of the novel she read day and night, the research she had done, and the characters she followed. Only one endured such a torture for so long and kept their sanity, until his soul was fractured in Greeds dungeon.
She remembered the novel's description of his circumstances. Tossed into an endless pitch black abyss, restrained by magitech and holy sigils sapping his energy, silenced by blood curses, and impaled by staves and thorns from a world tree branch, constantly shifting and tearing through his muscles.
The irises of the young devil began to spin slowly thinking this. Her eyes glowing subtly.
Vainglory was enduring all of that, enduring for a chance, enduring for freedom, enduring for her.
Compared to that, her pain was nothing. If anything, wasn't this shared torture bringing them closer together?
Her eyes glowed a bit brighter. A small spiral began to subtly form in her pupils.
'Kikiki, aren't our hearts practically touching right now?'
Hannya's fear and despair had already been forgotten. Replaced by a twisted joy and gratitude as she swept her gaze across the savage spiders tearing at her flesh.
To gain such experience, Vainglory would surely appreciate such an understanding partner.
But a cold light in her eye soon followed. The experience granted her perspective, but these animals were clearly planning on keeping her here well past her newfound enlightenment.
'They overstep their authority.'
Thinking of these bugs getting in her way. Wasting her precious time. Their precious time.
Her eyes began to spin a little faster at the thought.
Hannya felt like laughing at her fear of such creatures, these vermin couldn't even speak properly. Yet they dare block her way, her hatred rising rapidly.
'Kikiki, you wish to take up our time together? Sure…'
Hannya gazed at the leader, now standing in the back, its eyes filled with glee.
Her eyes glowed brighter as her lips curled up slightly.
'...Kihee, but the price for my enlightenment will now be the lives of your miserable race...'
As their eyes met once again, the spider was confused, it saw no despair or fear coming from the girl. Her eyes showed something…more unsettling.
'It's a deal.' She thought happily.
The spider couldn't tell what the expression was, but if it had the knowledge, it would recognize her eyes as one of cheerful malice.
The eyes of a devil.
DING
[Achievement: Heart Trial 1 - Torture(Completed)]