Eventually, Vile, having had enough of the mathematics lesson (and I having had more than enough of it), went off to retrieve Slave. I was tempted to follow, but I figured that this was a private matter between the rat and the cat, and similarly, I was a little bit frightened to see what sort of predicament that the sadistic rodent had left that poor feline in.

Slave did look a little bit worse for wear. Not significantly injured, of course, but even having so much as a strand of fur out of place is rare for the virtually invincible creature.

"I-I'm sorry." She says, sitting upright, head lowered, unwilling to meet my gaze. "What I did was disrespectful to my Mistress, and unfair to you as well. I promise that it won't happen again."

"It's alright. I know that people can do funny things when they are in... respect." I say with a smile. The cat just gives me a curious look, while the rat responds with a far more negative one. "I'm sorry that I called you weak."

"Repeatedly." Slave says, with just a hint of annoyance in her voice.

"Um, yeah, I did do it more than once, didn't I? I'm really sorry! I didn't mean it!"

I'm relieved when the black cat offers a small smile. "Yeah, I know that you didn't. Look, I know that it's kind of an unreasonable request, as clearly I was far more wrong than you were, but I was sort of hoping-"

"Of course. Let's just put this behind us. I'd much rather have you as a friend than an enemy." I say.

The cat lowers her head again. I probably shouldn't have said that. Actual friendship might be a bit of a tall order at this point, and an apology is more than enough. She's still very much entitled to holding a dislike of me, as much as the idea displeases me. Instead she raises her head, looking to me with those golden eyes which had looked so hateful and fearsome just a few hours ago, but now soft, gentle and beautiful to the extent that it's difficult to believe that they belong to the same creature. "Agreed."

"Well, now that that's settled, let's move on, shall we? I'm getting a little tired of these woods." the rat chimes in.

"Yeah, they are a little bit boring. I don't get why the wolves were so scared of them." I say as we continue forward, the rodent returning to her usual spot atop the back of the black cat. "Sure, they're kind of dark, but other than that-"

I stop mid-word, confused as I find my right front-paw stuck to the ground. I give it a little tug, and I still can't seem to move it. It finally comes free as I yank at it with all of my strength. Still connected to the foot are a series of sticky, translucent strands, and as I look to the ground, there are countless tiny 'puddles' of them up ahead.

That's when a strange rattling noise can be heard from all directions. It isn't incredibly loud, sounding like a series of hollow sticks clacking against one another in large numbers. The source is all around us, but more specifically, above. I look up only to wish that I hadn't.

I've been so stupid. I can't beat myself up too much, as clearly neither Slave nor Vile had noticed either, despite how obvious it was, in hindsight. How obvious it was that the tranquility of this place wasn't natural. Sure, one could dismiss the lack of hostile animals as just good luck, but how could I have possibly not noticed the lack of calling birds, tiny critters, or even insects? How could I have possibly not noticed that the heavy canopy overhead required more than just leaves to block out the sun so thoroughly?

The branches overhead are connected by thin, wiry silver webs, and within those webs are the remnants of the creatures who had used to live in this place, or those who happened to enter, never to escape. Bones. Bones of wolves, bones of birds, bones of smaller rodents, and bones of humans, all knocking and clanking against one another as the webs vibrate. Clearly such an obvious and macabre spectacle wasn't visible at the entrance to the wood, or we would have noticed it then, but based on just how heavy the webs are, we likely didn't just now stumble upon it, either. Who knows just how long this terrible graveyard has been looming overhead, slightly hidden in the shadows but still visible to any of us who were wary, who paid proper attention to our surroundings.

The narrative has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the infringement.

Then came the other sound, a much more organic one, a strange, rapid chittering. Not from everywhere, mercifully, rather directly behind us.

"Fuck..." Vile says, not wearing her usual causal and mildly sinister looking smile. While I don't approve of such crude language, of course, I can very much echo the sentiment as the massive spider crawls out from the brush, its body a little larger than my own, looking upon us with eight, red soulless eyes.

Battle Start! Squire's Party Versus DeathWeaver!

DeathWeaver sprays webbing!

Slave is entangled!

Squire is entangled!

Vile evades!

I yelp at the wide area of attack as a strange net-like pattern of webbing is launched from the mouth of the massive arachnid. It covers my body entirely, pinning all four legs to the ground, covering my back and snout, even preventing my tail from wagging.

Slave is unable to move!

Squire summons her inner strength!

Squire is no longer entangled!

Attack power increased!

Vile casts immolation!

DeathWeaver suffers 115 point(s) of damage!

DeathWeaver attacks! Critical hit!

Slave suffers 6 point(s) of damage!

Slave has been poisoned!

Squire uses Divine Strike!

DeathWeaver suffers 285 point(s) of damage!

DeathWeaver has been defeated!

Squire and her allies have won the battle and gained 200 Experience Point(s) and 75 Gold(s)!

"Whew, we won! That wasn't so bad, right?" I say, even if I can't help but shudder as I look to the remains of the gigantic silver furred spider with its strange, almost human face. My enthusiasm is once again dampened as I look to Vile who is effortlessly burning away the webs from Slave (and burning the cat in the process, but she doesn't seem to mind).

"This isn't over yet." the rat says, brow furrowed, "Not even close."

---

Squire: "Evil spiders! Is this some sort of training, too?"

Slave: "No, I think they're just regular monsters."

Squire: "Oh... I just thought, you know, since this is the 'training arc'..."

Slave: "It's just a general title. Not everything that happens will fit into that theme."

Vile: "It's true. Although I can understand Squire's confusion. The title of the last arc pretty thoroughly encompassed the entire premise of it, after all."

Squire: ...