The flaming arrow travelled fast and hit Nari right in the middle of her abdomen, a shot that many would call perfect, yet instead of exploding on impact as it did before, it was the girl’s body that lit up and turned into purple chains and enveloped the pointed projectile.

  For an outsider, it would have looked as if the burning object had stopped in time, but none of it fazed the marble monster; in fact, it promptly readied another shot on its bow, yet it waited before letting go of the string.

  Just as expected, it’s still searching for Nari even though I am much closer, the spider mused.

  As Lily had theorized, the monster’s actions were dictated by a predetermined plan: take out the humans first. Though it could strategize, as it did when eliminating its ally to grow stronger, it lacked the thinking capabilities of a living being; it was just another defensive mechanism, the same as the statues the girls had fought early in the dungeon.

  Yeah, the statue’s defenses were formidable, and its attack power grew even stronger when combined with the fire spell of the tome, yet it was bent on searching for the human girl for some reason.

  Could it have just been a flaw in its design? Lily had no idea, but she knew it was the answer to defeating that powerful monster.

  “Now!!!” Suddenly, Nari appeared out of nowhere just as she had done before, and in that exact moment, the monster let go of the bowstring and shot the arrow, once again using the flame wall to empower its attack.

  Good job, Lily thought as she dug her pointy limbs into the ground, then pulled her webs with all of the strength she could muster up. “Come ONNN!!!” She managed to uproot the gigantic marble columns and launch them directly toward the gargoyle like projectiles.

  The flaming arrow stopped mid-air again, tied by yet another set of glowing purple chains after hitting the target. Unlike earlier, Nari’s body immediately appeared right beside them, breathing heavily and struggling to stay on her feet.

  “It’s all you now…” the girl whispered under her breath, falling to her knees a second later. The mana needed to cast Fata Morgana twice and to keep two instances of the spell active at the same time was taking a toll on her.

  While the statue was in the midst of setting up another arrow to shoot at Nari, the columns crashed into its body from behind. The first one crumbled upon coming into contact with the monster’s shielding spell, but the second one—which Lily had timed to hit just a moment later—pushed its massive body forward and stunned it briefly.

  Lily used that moment to jump in closer before the enemy could regain its senses and defend itself again. At the start of the fight, the spider thought about destroying the head, as she had done earlier with the other statues, but after seeing the abilities it had gained thanks to the tome, she had a whole new plan.

  “Devouring!” the little spider exclaimed, and instead of aiming for the gargoyle’s head, Lily went straight for the marble tome, swallowing it whole in a single bite. “Whoa… s-so much mana!” She gulped loudly while shooting her webs toward her friend and digging her feet into the ground for support.

  Just as Nari’s illusion spell was about to give out, the webs linked to both flaming arrows and pulled them away before they could crash into the ground, swaying their trajectory back onto the marble gargoyle.

  Nari stared wide-eyed at the scene. “I-incredible,” she muttered to herself, surprised by how skilfully the spider had enacted her plan, and even more shocked by the ease with which she had pulled away the flaming arrows. “She’s a genius.”

  The first flaming projectile crashed into the statue’s side before it could fully regain its senses, blowing apart its left arm and taking out the gigantic bow with it. Then came the second one, hitting the statue’s right leg, causing it to lose its balance and fall on its left knee.

  “Hell yeah!” Lily cheered. “And now…” she mumbled under her breath, “Silk Web! Armament!” She tied them around the monster’s neck, using the momentum to gain pressure and dart toward the head with her empowered forelimbs.

  Lily’s attack connected with the gargoyle’s head and shattered it upon landing, but for some reason, the lower half of her body passed through the rest of the monster’s frame as if it were quicksand.

  “It’s finally over—” Nari finally exhaled after having held her breath during the whole final sequence, “she did it!!!” The girl jumped up and cheerfully rushed toward the spider, feeling already stronger after letting her magical restraint spell fade away.

  “NO! Don’t come closer!!! Escape from here!” Lily wanted her friend to go through the swirly orange portal, which had finally become accessible. “Armament!” She attempted to free herself, using her right forelimb to crush the statue’s chest, to no avail.

  “What are you doing? Let’s go!” the girl yelled.

  “I c-can’t get out of here,” the spider replied, her voice shaking. It happened in a split second. The monster’s body started cracking all over, and mana began overflowing out of it.

  Nari used all of her remaining stamina to run faster.

  Stolen content warning: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.

  The monster’s marble body suddenly lit up and released a powerful shockwave, wounding Lily—who was far too close to the epicenter—and blasting the human toward the portal.

  Nari flew through the air like a rag doll, but luck must have been on her side, because if she had been closer, she would most likely have suffered internal injuries and died instead of just getting badly bruised.

  “S-shit…” the golden-haired girl muttered under her breath, still disoriented and hearing only a ringing in her ears. “What the hell happened—” Everything hurt so badly that even sitting up was hard, and speaking was almost impossible. Then a green glow slowly enveloped her body. “Renewal…”

  As if nothing had happened, the wounds and bruises began closing up, at a slower rate than she had hoped for, because she was exhausted and had already used a lot of mana during the fight, but enough to allow her to stand back up and hear clearly again.

  Lily’s voice was the first thing the girl heard, “run… it’s gonna—” The spider coughed, “it’s gonna explode.” It was a miracle she could speak, since the shockwave had blown most of her lower body and right side away.

  “No!!! We’re getting out of here together!” Nari tried to rush toward her friend, but the orange swirling portal began to pull her in. Even though she had healed herself, she still couldn’t move fully, but she tried to dig her fingers into the ground anyway, unwilling to give up. “I’m not gonna—”

  Using the last of her strength, Lily raised her only remaining limb. “Water Bolt.”

  Caught by surprise, Nari had no time to react, and before she could utter one word, the spider’s skill gently pushed her into the portal.

  “At least—” The spider coughed again, “at least one of us gets to leave this place. Guess I’m the unlucky one,” she giggled under her breath, her vision becoming blurrier by the second. I wish I could have explored every corner of this world, Lily thought to herself as tears formed around her many eyes.

  With every passing second, the statue’s body grew blindingly bright, enveloped in warm light. At that rate, it wouldn’t be long before the overflowing mana reached the point of explosion.

  I wish I had time to remember my past, the spider mused.

  For a second, the blinding rays of light returned to their source, then the immeasurable pressure applied by the overflowing mana finally destroyed the statue’s body, releasing an impossibly powerful explosion.

  I wish I could have enjoyed this new life a little more, Lily told herself, crying, yet unwilling to die without smiling one last time. She stood there with her eyes closed, unable to move, barely feeling anything but a freezing sensation and tiredness.

  Yet nothing happened.

  “You’re an interesting little creature,” an ominous, echoing voice spoke up out of nowhere.

  Lily’s eyes shot wide open, but she couldn’t understand anything of what was going on right in front of her, so much so that she believed she was just hallucinating everything because of her injuries.

  Everything around her stood still; no, it was actually more than that, it was as if everything had been frozen in time. Nothing moved, not the orange swirling portal, not a single dust particle, not one ray of light, and even the explosion had stopped right as it was about to expand outwards.

  What the hell? Lily thought to herself, trying to speak, but unable to do so.

  “It’s truly been entertaining watching you,” the voice spoke once again, drawing closer. “Dare I say that I’m almost glad you managed to beat one of my minions?” A laugh echoed around the arena.

  “W-who…” the spider tried to speak again, barely able to make a sound.

  “It’s no use, you’re dying, my dear…” A womanly figure appeared beside the little spider’s motionless body, gently caressing her head. “Don’t cry—” She dried a tear from Lily’s cheek, “I’m here to give you a deal.”

  A deal? Lily mused, trying to identify the stranger, but she could barely make out anything with her blurred vision. “What—”

  “Shhh.” The womanly voice interrupted her. “You must conserve your strength… let me do all the talking.” She laughed, booping the spider in between her multitude of eyes. “Here’s my deal…”

  The unknown figure leaned in toward Lily’s ear and whispered a couple of words, visibly shocking the spider, who listened carefully to the woman’s requests.

  “Do you accept?” the stranger asked.

  Lily hesitated for a second, but she knew that there was no other choice if she wanted to escape alive from there, and she really wanted to survive; she had to live another day.

  Given the choice, that could not have been the ending of her story, and she nodded ever so slightly.

  “We have a deal, then.” A deafening laugh echoed again around the room, then everything returned to its normal flow, and the blinding light of the explosion wholly enveloped the little spider.

  On the other side of the portal, Nari woke up still whiplasshed, but strong enough to stand back on her feet. “LILY!!!” she yelled, frantically searching around for her friend. “N-no, where is it?” She was right back where they had started, but the portal had disappeared.

  The girl looked all over the place, limping as she desperately searched for the orange swirl, hoping to find her friend unconscious somewhere, but all she could see were rocks surrounding her from every angle.

  “This can’t be happening…” she muttered under her breath. “W-why did you—” Suddenly, an orange flash caused her to close her eyes, and when she opened them back up, the spider’s half-torn body was lying right in front of her. “Lily—” she gasped, “LILY!” Without wasting even one second, she rushed toward her friend, her hands already glowing green. “Renew—”

  But before she could finish chanting, the spider’s body lit up, emanating a warm light that wholly enveloped her.

  “W-what’s happening?” Nari stood motionless, shielding her eyes from the intense light and peeking only through the slit.

  The spider’s body was floating a couple of centimeters off the ground, but that wasn’t what shocked the girl. No, she witnessed her friend grow a bit larger as the missing parts of her body grew anew, as if healed by the most potent spell she had ever seen.

  Lily was evolving once again.

  [You have received the Gorgon’s Blessing.]

  And even the System was finally back online.

  [You have missed many notifications.]