“Hyah, you’re really persistent. Do you want me to play with you more?”

Van frowned as he shook off the webs tangled all over his body. Forti skillfully dodged Van’s [Thorns] while firing webs. The closer he got to her, the harder it was to avoid the webs, and he had already taken a fair number of hits. Her attacks, which precisely targeted his joints, were gradually slowing his movements.

‘Too sticky. It’s not like regular spider silk, it’s hard to tear off. If I keep taking these hits, I’ll become one of her prey soon enough.’

The webs Forti shot were fast but had a narrow range. So, keeping a distance would make dodging easier. Yet Van was deliberately taking the hits and closing in to block Forti’s line of sight.

He was buying time, hoping that while he tied her down, Yozen would free the knights. Following Van’s intention, Yozen was quietly approaching the cocoons.

Ssshh—

The cocoon furthest from Forti. He had spread his dark energy along the webs, so it would be hard for Forti, preoccupied with Van, to notice.

Slicing through the cocoon with a dagger infused with dark energy, a human figure soon emerged from within. Yozen gripped him and pulled him down to the ground. It was Sorin. Feeling Sorin’s presence, Yozen quickly moved to cut the next cocoon. However—

“……?”

Just as he was about to move swiftly, Yozen stopped and turned his head toward Sorin.

‘I don’t hear him breathing.’

Even after being taken out of the cocoon, Sorin’s energy was faint. Yozen quickly crouched down and reached toward Sorin’s face. Something sticky pushed against his fingertips. It was spider silk laced with demonic energy. Different from the web that filled the space around them—it had a far thicker concentration of demonic energy and was disgustingly sticky.

As Yozen slowly moved his hand, his brow furrowed. Sorin’s mouth was wide open, and inside it was packed full of webs, so sticky they had clumped together into a single mass. Even when he tried to pull it out with his hand, it clung tenaciously to the mucous membrane and deep into the esophagus. Forcing it out might cause severe internal injuries.

‘What kind of power is this? If this web has spread to his internal organs, there’s nothing I can do to save him.’

The sticky web would adhere to the organs, gradually shutting down all bodily functions. Yozen removed his hand from Sorin’s mouth, pushed him aside into a corner, and hurried toward the next cocoon.

Sorin’s condition was critical. If the webs weren’t removed immediately, it wouldn’t be strange if he died at any moment. But there was nothing Yozen could do for him. If there was anyone here who could help—

‘I have to get the paladin out. If I can save him before he ends up like Sorin, there might still be a way.’

If it was Modeleine, he would surely be able to save Sorin somehow. If he was still intact, even if his comrades were in Sorin’s condition, there would still be hope.

Thinking that, Yozen followed Modeleine’s energy and slashed open the cocoon.

“……”

But the Modeleine he pulled from the cocoon was no different from Sorin. No—perhaps worse. The viscosity of the web surrounding him was far thicker than Sorin’s, to the point that it oozed like liquid.

Yozen examined Modeleine’s condition for a moment, then abruptly stood and began cutting through the remaining cocoons.

Lumen, Lydon, and Ector. Compared to Sorin and Modeleine, the three men were in relatively better condition, but Yozen could feel the presence of webs slightly pulled across the inside of their partially opened mouths. Instead of trying to remove their webs, he turned a grave expression toward the energy in the room.

‘……Nothing. I can’t sense Cadel’s teacher’s energy.’

There were no more cocoons left. The only energy he could sense belonged to the people now lying on the floor.

‘Has he already been eaten?’

The worst-case scenario flashed through his mind. If he wasn’t dead, his energy would still be detectable. If that was the case, what was he supposed to do now? Modeleine, who should have saved them, was unconscious. Mamil seemed to have already given his life. The rest were steadily nearing death. What could he do?

Yozen’s hardened expression reflected a mind in disarray. The only method of rescue he knew was through slaughter.

‘Cadel hasn’t even arrived yet…….’

He didn’t want to throw him into a nightmare where half of their allies and subordinates had already died. He had to find a way. And to find a way, eliminating the root cause of this disaster was the fastest path. With that conclusion, Yozen chose to join Van and Forti’s fight. However—

“Yozen! Get the others out of here!”

At the same time as Van’s pained cry rang out, the energy in the room began to tremble violently. Only then did Yozen see Van’s condition—it was devastating. More than half his body was covered in webbing, rendering him unable to stand. He lay on the floor, struggling to rise, but the web was stuck to the ground, preventing him from moving.

“Damn it, what are you spacing out for?! At least you get out of here!”

Van shouted words he would never have said under normal circumstances. It was because he had only just now realized the condition of the allies Yozen had rescued. Seeing their mouths filled with webbing—it was a preview of his own imminent future.

If it was impossible to escape with the fully unconscious knights, then at the very least, Yozen had to get out of the room alone. They couldn’t afford to be completely wiped out by a single High Demon in a place like this.

However, Yozen ran toward Van instead of fleeing.

“What the hell are you doing? I told you to get lost!”

“You’re not unconscious yet. I have to take you at least.”

“Damn assassin bastard. Can’t you see that thing? No—maybe you can’t see it, but you sure as hell can feel it!”

Van’s gaze shot to the ceiling. There, Forti—the one who had rendered him unable to fight—was hanging upside down, waving her hand. The webs spread across the room swayed like cloth, following the miasma of magic she released. The vast web was steadily advancing, slowly suffocating them.

If they were buried in that web, only the worst kind of ending awaited. Even if it meant just one survivor, Yozen had to get out and find Cadel. He should’ve understood that much. And yet, stubbornly, he was trying to tear away the webs that bound Van.

“When the hell did we become so touchingly close that you’re doing this crap……?!”

Van’s body shifted slightly, pulled by Yozen’s strength, but that was all. As Van snapped, overwhelmed by the hopelessness of it all, Yozen—still silently tugging—spoke in a low voice.

“Are you really planning to die here?”

“What?”

“Lumen, Lydon, the other knights—they’re still alive. They’re fighting to hold on. But you’re just gonna die like this? If that’s how it is, I’ll quit this crap and escape alone.”

Sticky webbing drooped between Van and the floor. Yozen slid a dagger imbued with dark energy into the gap, trying to cut through it. But the web writhed and swallowed the blade. With a frustrated breath, Yozen pulled his hand away before even the dagger could be lost.

Watching him, Van finally spoke again, this time in a more composed tone than before.

“You really think I want to die? That damned young master, the fairy bastard, and the rest of those noble brats—they’re still alive, like you said. So what I meant was, if you’re the only one still capable of moving, get out and call for help.”

“I can’t do it alone.”

“……You’re the one saying that?”

“At least not here. That’s why we need to get out with as many people as we can.”

Just like himself, Yozen only cared about Cadel. He didn’t seem to give much thought to what happened to the other members, and honestly, that was probably true. Van didn’t feel hurt by it—he was the same way. But right now, Yozen was calling him a ‘comrade’ and asking for help.

Van wasn’t moved by his sincerity. It was just gross. But he understood. In this Demon King’s castle, with Cadel absent, the only ones they could rely on were each other. So if a comrade asked for help, then even if he didn’t want to, he had to do it.

“……If you can just get the part stuck to the floor off, I can stand somehow.”

“But nothing I do can get it off. I’ve never seen anything this adhesive before.”

“Peel off the skin. Slice through the flesh if you have to—just get me up.”

Yozen hesitated, stunned by Van’s indifferent tone. Van pressed him again, even more casually.

“You think I’m gonna start screaming over a bit of pain? I’ve gone through worse than this a hundred times. Hurry up. The room’s getting smaller.”

“……Got it.”

There was no other option but to follow Van’s lead. Resolute, Yozen tore a long strip from his clothes, balled it up, and shoved it into Van’s mouth. Van struggled as if to ask what the hell he was doing, but it was better than biting through his tongue.

“I’ll make it quick. Just don’t pass out.”

If there was any silver lining, it was that Yozen was pretty confident in filleting human flesh. Taking a short breath, he braced Van’s body and lifted him from the floor, then brought the dagger to his chest. The condensed dark energy gathered at the blade’s tip, and as the chill of it neared, the tendons in Van’s jaw tensed.

The moment Yozen’s blade touched Van’s chest—

“What is this……?”

Forti’s bewildered voice rang from the ceiling, just as flames burst across the web binding Van. Startled, both men flinched as the fire suddenly roared to life. It didn’t stop at Van’s body—it spread across all the webs filling the room.

The webs that had devoured every energy thrown at them couldn’t swallow this fire. Flames of vivid colors danced like a work of art, flooding the chamber. Realizing whose energy it was, Yozen whipped his head toward the exit.

The webs that had blocked the door crumbled under the fire, revealing the figure beyond.

“Seems I’m not too late after all. ……You two. I don’t know what you’re doing, but either kill that demon or go fetch the other knights.”

Mamil Kipa. His face was even more gaunt than before, weighed down by exhaustion, as he let out a weary sigh.