The Exalt [Cultivation Fantasy]

Oscar fell. With the rushing wind in his ears, his attention turned to the others. No one dared to start anything during this time and went along for the ride. After a few moments of falling, Oscar landed on something. It wasn't hard like rocks, nor was it smooth as the floors. Oscar felt his body springing up and down while a substance held tightly onto him.

The light from above slowly faded as the floors closed back up, leaving Oscar in the dark, but that was not a big deal. He just had to light up some oil and get out before the other three, not wanting to fight them. Orden and Maia had grown stronger in the short few weeks, especially Maia. Oscar grew jealous of her Grade Eight, which allowed her to progress further than him already, and Orden was getting stronger.

'The only way for me to defeat them would be to fight one on one and go all out with the Demon Deer Eirin Mantle…But can I find a safe spot to rest?' The risk was too high, and Oscar preferred not to fight these monsters right now. He needed to find a token as soon as possible.

Oscar tried to move his hand. Strange. His hand couldn't break free. He struggled and wriggled around, his legs kicked, and his arms flailed. Oscar breathed out in frustration. He was stuck! Something akin to glue was binding him down. Anything he moved, he was snapped back to his original position.

"Shit," Once again, he found himself in some godforsaken, unknown place.

"Can't move?" Orden's voice called out from the dark. "I can't either. Whatever's binding us is strong. I tried resummoning my hammer anima and used it to hit it, but nothing."

"So we're completely bound." Oscar summoned his deer anima on his body. With a mental thought, his Ein flowed onto its antlers into a sharp lance. His deer anima stabbed away at the substance around him. Oscar's hopes were dashed as his deer anima became entangled as well. Just what was this?

He unsummoned his deer anima and entered meditation to calm himself. Only with a calm mind could he assess the situation. While his eyes were closed, an orange light spread under his eyelids. It reminded him of closing his eyes directly under the suns. Opening his eyes, Oscar saw the red flames blowing upwards.

"These things won't burn?!" Maia's shocked voice echoed from Oscar's right. "These are webs?"

Thanks to Maia's flames, the place was visible. Oscar struggled with his head and barely turned it for him to use the corner of his eye to spot some white spider webs entangling around his arm. He never knew of such large spider webs. Every strand was thick as a rope and stickier than his mom's collection of preserved honey.

His heart began to race, and he struggled harder against the webs. His mind snapped. With each movement, more and more of the webs entangled him until he could no longer move a muscle. This was bad. Very, very bad. His rushed breathing echoed into his ears.

"Hey, stop wasting your effort on fire. Don't waste your Ein on such stupid things. We need to find a way out of this ourselves." Orden said.

"Then what would you have us do?" Maia sounded irritated.

"Quiet!" Oscar silenced the other two. His ears perked up. The slight sound of rubble falling off the wall caught his attention. Next, he felt his body leaning slightly toward another direction, not in the direction of Orden and Maia.

"Maia! Use your flames for a moment." Oscar shouted.

"Who do you think you are?" Maia's angered shout responded.

"There's something else with us here! Either let me see it or wait to die." Oscar threatened. His body leaned more. Something heavy was walking on the web. He knew only one creature with the means of creating webs and walking on them, a spider. But just how far was it?

Maia's flames burst and flew into the air above, lighting up the place as a mini sun. Since his body was leaning toward the direction of the intruder, Oscar finally saw it, and he froze. A rather large spider, around the size of a carriage, walked along the webs with its eight legs. A bone-white exoskeleton covered the spider with spikes protruding from its back and joints. Its eight red eyes gleamed with the flames, and the gaping maw, resembling a leech's mouth, circular with teeth all over, drooled.

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"What the hell is that?" Oscar couldn't move.

"A Sangaranturosis. Its literal name is Bone Leech Tarantula." Gol-4 whispered from his waist. "It's highly venomous. Be wary of its legs, bite, and spikes. All of them release a venom so potent an Elite Exalt will go stiff as a board."

Before Oscar could respond, the Bone Leech Tarantula leaped into the air. Oscar's mind fired off with every thought it had. Time slowed down. Should he use the Demon Deer Eirin Mantle now? The monster's speed was unbelievable—only a fraction of a second to make a choice.

Out of nowhere, the tarantula split apart into two parts. Green blood splashed all over Oscar, and its two halves landed on his sides. Unable to understand what had happened, Oscar shouted, "Orden, Maia, did you two do anything?! The tarantula suddenly split into two."

"Nope," Orden said. The sounds of his struggle to escape were clear.

"Why would I save someone like you?" Maia cursed.

"Then who…oh!" Oscar realized he had forgotten about one other.

"How sad! You forgot about me so quickly! After I tried to kill you twice, I thought I'd be in your memories longer." Gaia's voice called out.

"You!" Maia shouted.

Oscar frowned. Maia's flames went out already, not allowing him to see Gaia. Suddenly, a bright light flashed from above. It was a lantern hooked onto someone's waist. In front of Oscar, Gaia's innocently smiling face hovered over him. Her smile sent shivers down his spine.

He was already helpless within this web unless he did something drastic. He felt like a mouse caught in a trap while a cruel person watched his struggle and pain.

"How did you get out of the webs?" Oscar asked.

"My winds are sharper than you know." Gaia laughed. "Chopping through these is a simple task. And before you ask about how I'm walking fine, that's a trade secret."

"Looks like she's got the advantage." Orden yawned. "What will you do? You can try to kill us, but I won't make it easy for you."

"Come near me, and I'll burn you to ashes," Maia said. "Though if you're going to kill Oscar, give it a try."

Gail crossed her arms and swayed her body in a cute manner with a bright smile. Her smile widened, and Oscar knew it was not a good sign. She said, "No, I won't. I'd rather watch the show."

"Show?" Oscar twitched. What sort of sickening thing was this crazed lunatic thinking about? Her ever-smiling face and forced behavior reminded him of his master, a complete lunatic.

"There's a lot more spiders around us. They're hungry and moving around. I can feel the winds changing. There are several holes in the walls they claim as their home." Gail stretched her arms out, emphasizing her chest, which was not at all attractive when paired with her words. Her teal eyes glinted. "I'll have a first-row seat to watch them feed on you three. You can struggle all you want, but you can't escape. There's a lot of them."

As Gail finished, Oscar heard more rubble falling from the walls, followed by the screeches of their maws and the skittering of many legs. Many more Bone Leech Tarantulas dropped onto the webs, shaking Oscar and the others around. As a final finisher from this sadistic woman, Gail laughed.

"I hope to see you all struggle." Gail leaped away.

"That bitch!" Maia shouted.

"How twisted. Not even wanting to fight straightforwardly." Orden's Ein burst out, reverberating through the air.

"How about we fight together?" Oscar suggested. Gail had pissed him off. He wanted nothing more than to make her pay. The others should feel the same as him. Their collective anger and the dire situation were good catalysts for working together.

"I'm still going to kill you for what you did to me, but this is more concerning." Maia, at least, had the sense to agree. "I'm going to burn that witch later."

"Another agreement? I'm not opposed to it. But what will we do?" Orden said.

"The two of you have the most ways to deter the spiders without them reaching you. I'll try to make my way toward you." Oscar said.

"Excuse me!" Gail's annoying voice interrupted like a student in a classroom. "How will you break out? I'm interested now."

Oscar didn't reply. He closed his eyes as the tarantulas drew closer. He wished there was no need for this technique, but what other choice did he have? Oscar twisted and rebounded, taking Reis to enter Adamasreis. With a painful grunt escaping his lips, Oscar exploded it all out with Ripple Shroud and Shattering Wave. He fused the power of Eirin into it, and it all burst and tore apart the webs around him.

His heart thumped loudly, beating his eardrums. His body felt hot as a raspy breath escaped his lungs. The large use of Eirin strained him too harshly. Thankfully, the results were favorable.

He leaped up from his broken bondage of webs and landed on strands of webs. Oscar hoped this would work. His feet were coated in Eirin and were unaffected by the stickiness of the webs. If his Ein couldn't break free, then the next step, Eirin, should fare better.

"Now then," Oscar gazed around. Maia's flames were burning all the spiders that came near her, and Orden's hammer flew widely and battered down more spiders. Some spiders came near him. Oscar felt nothing toward them and focused his senses.

"There!" Oscar deflected another attack from Gail, who sprinted from behind a cluster of spiders. Their gazes met, not caring about the spiders around them. The spiders were either squished to a pulp or cut apart.

"How astounding! How did you escape from that? Also, are your feet bubbling? Is that normal?"

"Shut up," Oscar said two words and lifted his hands. He was going to kill Gail right here and now.

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