Marvel was a little overwhelmed with everything she had experienced in the last few minutes. After all, she was but two years old, and a fourth of that time had been spent in the nursery, and the rest under the safe protection of the Web School and their dwellings.

She did have occasional field practice where she faced other creatures, fought, and won over them. But they could not be compared to this abomination.

The sheer aura it possessed made her feel nauseated. Not even Serenity or Elegy’s aura was that unsettling. Midnight’s aura was more dangerous and thicker, but the Guardian was second best at controlling her aura, only surpassed by Solace. Elegy and Serenity had decades to catch up to her. While this creature’s aura was more raw, and primal.

Marvel knew most of the unsettling feeling came from the creature’s uncontrolled nature and everything that was wrong about it.

“Hey, kid, are you listening to me?” the greedy snake’s voice interrupted her contemplation.

Marvel was about to reply but paused as they suddenly heard a horrifying screech reverberate out of the pits, echoing throughout the surroundings.

“About your mama,” the snake said again, “I think it’s about time you call her up.”

They ceased whatever they were doing and approached the edge of the pit to look. Marvel’s blood grew cold, discovering the abomination scaling the wall, digging its claw into the rugged stone. Its pace was a lot slower than hers, but it wouldn’t need more than a couple of minutes to climb the couple of hundred metres.

Marvel exchange a look with the snake. The fear in their eyes was identical and palpable. However, Marvel refused to be led by fear. She got a hold of herself, fortifying her mind of any unduly influences. She got moving, knowing they had to act quickly if they wanted to survive.

“Let’s go,” Marvel said, shooting a web to catch the snake. Wrapping the white snake to herself, Marvel didn’t waste a single moment to flee.

The snake let out an exasperated hiss, but didn’t complain as Marvel thought it to.

It’s not an it, but a Her, Marvel corrected herself inwardly, her eight legs working in synchronisation to move in the direction she came from.

As they hurried away, Marvel refrained from sucking any emotional energy from the snake, fearing it would affect her mindset.

“Are you taking me to your mama?” the snake asked, resigned.

Marvel remained silent. There was no time for explanations. She needed to keep moving and find safety as quickly as possible. Of course, the reasoning was sound in her head, however, the truth differed a little.

Honestly, Marvel was embarrassed. That was why she didn’t even try to clear the snake’s misinterpretation of thinking Serenity was her Mother.

And no, she wasn’t taking the snake to Serenity.

Marvel had sneaked out of her dwelling when everyone was busy doing their stuff. If she were to find Serenity at this time, she would get more than a mindful for her blunder. Serenity might even lock her up for weeks as punishment.

Marvel’s mind raced with worry as she thought of options other than Serenity. Elegy was no go either, she would be harsher than Serenity, and might even try to revoke her chance of becoming a guardian. While Midnight was just scary.

That left a few of her teachers, and Solace. A couple of the teachers were at Iron rank, but they weren’t well-versed in combat. They would have to pay a price to stop this creature from destroying their dwelling. On top of that, Marvel couldn’t take this creature to them, they were in the inner part, taking care of her younger siblings.

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That only left Solace. Considering the blunder she made by leaving her dwelling without permission, Solace was the only option she had.

The horrifying screeches of the curse walker echoed from behind, reminding them of the impending danger they faced.

Then again, being locked up for weeks was still better than being devoured by the cursed creature. Marvel had no clue that such abhorred creatures dwelled in their home. Its twisted nature and aura were mind-consuming. She could understand why Serenity and others kept it from the children, though that didn’t stop her from being pissed about it.

“It climbed off the pit already,” the snake reminded her.

Marvel focused on the eyes on her back to discover the snake was telling the truth. Although she felt it was weird for the snake to discover it first with its head hanging on her abdomen.

Marvel turned a couple of times to come into a wider and more spacious tunnel, where she could use her webs for faster movement.

She swung her way for a long distance, for like five minutes, covering over a couple of miles, yet she couldn’t flee from the Iron-raked Wyrm. For some twisted reason, it didn’t stop chasing even though it had a hard time following.

Her sense of urgency amplified as the presence of the Cursewalker seemed to draw closer with each passing moment.

The snake hissed in distress, circling her to latch its head on her back. “Looks like it will eat us twice over before we reach your mama,” she said. “Got any other ideas?”

The snake’s distress mirrored Marvel’s fear, even though she wasn’t influenced by her.

“What are you talking about? Serenity isn’t my Mother,” Marvel said indignantly. Although Serenity acted like one, in the absence of their Mother.

“That matters very little now.”

Marvel was busy dodging those black bolts that came her way to retort to the snake. Seriously, the reptile was becoming more skilful in shooting those over time. Although she managed to evade all of them so far, Marvel wasn’t so sure about it now. Her body was growing wearier. she was reaching the point of exhaustion when she wouldn’t be able to use her webs or essence power anymore. But before that, she needed to escape from the creature.

She considered, examining her surroundings. “There is a training pit ahead,” she transferred to the snake, “if we delay it enough, it might not be able to chase after us.”

The training ground offered a slim chance of escaping the creature, though she would have to be very swift in her work.

The white serpent hummed in uncertainty in her mind, clearly not satisfied with her plan, but that was the best she could offer at this moment.

“I guess we have no other option,” the serpent said. Her power seemed to have recovered a little over time, though Marvel could feel the snake’s mind was exhausted beyond measure. The snake was a little Lvl 20 hatchling after all. “Attack its mind again when it was about to pounce on us. I’ll follow up with something.”

“Something? What?” Marvel refrained from asking more as the creature was on them. She swiftly shot a web and rode away, clinging to it, barely evading its pounce.

“Now!” the snake snarled in her mind.

There was no time for questions. Marvel pushed for her mental attack, fortifying her mind first. Easily, she found the unprotected mind of the iron-ranked creature. Marvel jabbed with a sharp spike of empathic attack.

The creature’s agonised screech filled the air. It was not alone in announcing its agony, Marvel let out a squeal as well, as the wyrm’s twisted nature, hunger, and corrosion engulfed her mind, shambling her fortification.

[Congratulations! Empathic Defence (E) has reached 100% mastery. + 6 to Mind.]

Great time, but Marvel had no time to gloat over her gain.

The wyrm hadn’t retaliated on its own; the attack was borne from an instinctual mental construct. Even still, it was swift and brutal, nothing like before. Marvel found herself overwhelmed by the dark and corrupted aspects of its mind. Her mental fortification crumbled under its influence, leaving her vulnerable to the corrupting power.

In her panic to fortify her mind, Marvel hadn’t noticed the snake freeing itself from the web. However, it didn’t escape on its own, instead brought out something out of thin air and shot it in the direction of the momentarily frozen wyrm.

It was a small ball, which spread out when it crashed into the wyrm, turning into a confining web that arrested the serpentine creature completely.

“That’s Solaces,” Marvel couldn’t help but ask, “Why do you have it?”

“It will break free soon,” the snake said again, shooting another one of those web balls, lashing its tail against it. “Let’s go.”

The wyrm lay on the ground, confined by the webs arresting its form as they finally rounded another turn to come across another pit. Well, not a pit, but more like a chasm.

The sight of the vast chasm before them was daunting. It went deeper than their eyes could follow. Thankfully, it wasn’t completely empty, as layers of intricate webs intertwined within the chasm to form some complex system. It was a puzzle. Even still, the intelligence and craftiness required to design this place were immense, but Marvel had no time to appreciate the intricate beauty.

If they could navigate through the chasm’s intricate web system, they might find a way out. Thankfully, Marvel had solved the puzzle before.

Marvel leapt onto it without looking back. Shai clung to her body.