The cavern was silent save for the faint sound of dripping water.

  Wisnu’s heart pounded in her ears as she stared upward, her fingers tightening around the handle of her massive sawtooth greatsword. Clinging to the ceiling, a spindly humanoid spider woman hung like a grotesque chandelier, her long, brittle limbs gripping the stone above. Her exoskeleton shimmered faintly under the dim bioluminescent glow of the cavern. If Wisnu didn’t know any better, she would’ve said that there was a human skull on her face as well, but… no. That was just her strangely elaborate chitin pattern.

  And Wisnu felt she knew the name of the skull-faced spider, but she just couldn’t quite place a finger on it.

  Beside her, Muyang shifted, one foot sliding back into position as he raised his giant beetle helm like a bludgeon. He felt calm enough—composed enough—but the sharp focus emanating from him wasn’t easy to ignore. They both knew what this spider was.

  More than a Mutant-Class.

  Wisnu tried to swallow, but her throat was dry. She’d expected Giant-Classes. She’d more than expected Mutant-Classes, considering this was supposed to be a harder stage of the exam, but—

  Above them, the spider woman let out a slow, irritated groan.

  “... Goddamnit.”

  Wisnu’s shoulders tensed.

  The spider cracked her neck as if getting discovered were nothing more than a minor inconvenience. “So Apocia’s already fighting,” she murmured. “Means I’ve been found out, too. Tch. What a pain. This year’s participants sure are keen, huh?”

  And her many beady eyes glimmered like black glass, lips curling.

  “Hiding time’s over. Die.”

  She spat.

  Wisnu saw it too late. A tiny bundle of webbing shot toward them—compact, almost harmless-looking like a makra ball in the south—but then, just as it reached the midpoint of its descent, it suddenly expanded into a massive, cavern-spanning undodgeable net.

  Shit.

  Wisnu’s body locked up, and the world slowed.

  Just one look up at the web and she knew she wouldn’t be able to cut it. She knew it deep in her bones. The webbing was too thick, too sudden. It was laced with some glimmering green fluid, too. Even if she swung with everything she had, her greatsword wouldn’t slice through in time.

  She gritted her teeth.

  Move. Move. Move.

  Muyang was already stepping forward beside her, his grip shifting on his beetle helm, prepared to strike. But it was too late.

  The net would catch them both, wrap them in venom, and then—

  A streak of fire slammed into the net from behind.

  The webbing erupted into cinders, ash and embers fluttering down around them like burning snow. Wisnu sucked in a sharp breath and braced her greatsword above her as the heat brushed against her skin, the force of the blast pushing her and Muyang a step back.

  A second arrow whistled through the air. It struck the ceiling where the spider had been clinging. She hissed and flung herself off the exploding wall just in time, landing in a crouch at the far end of the cavern where Wisnu and Muyang had come in from, claws and legs screeching against the stone.

  Wisnu whirled towards the source of the attack.

  Another lady stood a good ten metres behind the two of them, bow raised, another fiery arrow already nocked and drawn. The glow of the flames cast flickering shadows over her face, and if nothing else, they highlighted the curved beetle horns jutting out her helm.

  The Sun.

  Muyang exhaled sharply. “An Arcana Hasharana…”

  Neither Wisnu nor Muyang had expected an Arcana Hasharana to be here. The realisation struck like a hammer blow, but before they could process it, the Sun moved. She leaped forward, placing herself between them and the spider woman. Her presence was immediate: commanding, unwavering, radiating the sheer authority of someone who’d seen and killed far worse threats than this.

  The spider woman let out a low growl, mandibles clicking in irritation. “And so the Arcana were shadowing the participants, huh?”

  The Sun didn’t so much as flinch. “That is Thracia, the youngest of the Seven Spider Spinners,” she said plainly, not bothering to cast a glance at either Wisnu or Muyang. “If she’s here, then her older sister, Apocia, must already be engaging the Fool and the Hangman in another cavern."

  Wisnu’s stomach twisted. “What?”

  Muyang, however, was already asking another question. “Are the other participants safe? Miss Emilia, Miss Dahlia, Mister Otto—”

  "They’re fine," the Sun said without hesitation. “They’re with the Fool and the Hangman right now. I know this because all Hasharana are connected via their Archives. We can communicate with each other across any distance, though the signal’s a bit weak this far underground.”

  Wisnu barely registered her own voice as she muttered, "Really?" It was a bit hard to believe—she didn’t know much about the advanced system she was fighting to get, after all—but the conviction in the Sun’s words left no room for doubt.

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  But before she could say anything else, Thracia lunged upright, spitting out multiple web bundles.

  The Sun reacted instantly. Three arrows loosed in rapid succession, igniting midair. The moment they made contact, fiery explosions tore through the cavern, consuming the webs before they could reach them. The force of the blasts sent a rush of heat through Wisnu’s face, and she barely had time to wince before another explosion rocked the stone beneath her feet.

  “What do we do, Miss Sun?” Wisnu shouted over the chaos.

  The Sun didn’t stop firing. Another arrow notched, another explosion tearing through the air. “Get back! Run! Leave the tunnels immediately! The exam’s indefinitely postponed until I deal with her!”

  Thracia snarled, knowing there was no advantage in taking a ranged battle with the famed archer who shot down eight suns, and then rushed in.

  She moved fast—blindingly fast—skittering toward them in a blur of limbs and serrated claws. But the Sun was faster. In one swift motion, she split her bow apart, the black beetle weapon shifting seamlessly into two curved shortswords, edges glowing with ember-like energy. She didn’t hesitate.

  Thracia closed in, and the Sun met her head-on.

  The clash was violent. Blades clashed against clawed limbs, sparks and embers flying with each strike. Thracia moved like a shadow through firelight, dashing through the cavern in erratic bursts, never lingering in one place for longer than a blink. Her spindly limbs blurred as she vaulted off walls, twisted midair, and spat venomous webbing with lethal precision, but the Sun’s shortswords flashed like fangs of flame. Each counter slash, block, and deflect detonated the webs on impact, sending explosions rippling through the cavern like a controlled inferno.

  … The air reeked of burning chitin and scorched rock, but even through the chaos, Wisnu could tell the Sun wasn’t winning.

  And the longer the battle dragged on, the more it became obvious.

  The world had changed. Forty years ago, during the era of marching heroes, individual strength had been everything. Back then, titans walked the land—living legends like the Worm God and the Thousand Tongue—lone warriors who could tear through hordes of the Swarm with sheer force of will. Powerful individuals could still do that today, and the Sun was one such person, but even then, her hunt that led her to becoming an Arcana Hasharana had ended fifteen long years ago.

  That era was over.

  In Year One Hundred, strength alone was no longer enough. Wisnu knew the saying very well: it’d take two Arcana Hasharana to handle a single Insect God, and even then, it wasn’t a sure victory. If nothing else—and they had a lot going for them—the Swarm were good at adapting.

  Right now, the Sun wasn’t fighting on equal footing.

  Thracia suddenly feinted left before lunging, her six clawed arms a blur of flashing death, aiming to rip through the Sun’s blindspot.

  Before she could land the blow, though, Muyang moved. He let out a sharp breath, equipped his giant beetle helm, then slammed his head into the ground between the two ladies.

  Crack.

  The cavern floor shattered like glass. Stone fractured outwards in jagged veins, splitting apart beneath all of them. The sudden force sent Thracia skidding back, forcing distance between her and the Sun. At the same time, Wisnu lunged forward, hooking the ridges of her sawtooth greatsword onto the Sun’s ridged beetle armour.

  With a controlled yank, she pulled the Sun back, preventing her from getting caught in the collapsing ground.

  All three of them landed together in a crouch, dust clouding around them. Wisnu rose first, her greatsword steady in both hands. Muyang stepped forward beside her, placing himself between the Sun and Thracia on the other side of the crumbling cavern as well.

  The Sun exhaled sharply, then scowled. “This is no place for children. Leave.”

  Wisnu bristled, but Muyang interrupted calmly. “One's life is but a fleeting candle. If given a single flame, burn brightly before the wind claims it.”

  Wisnu swallowed, something settling deep in her chest.

  That was right.

  She wasn’t here to run. She was taking this exam because she wanted to become a Hasharana, and that meant standing against overwhelmingly powerful monsters like Thracia. That meant proving she had the resolve to face them, even when fear clawed at her throat.

  Her grip on her sword tightened.

  “We must not be rash,” Muyang continued. “If the others are here, then we regroup. We fight together.”

  Wisnu nodded, the words clicking into place in her mind. “These exams have changed over the years, have they not?” she said. “It is no longer as much about individual strength as they were a decade ago. It is about proving we can work as one.”

  The Sun hesitated, eyes flicking between the two of them.

  Before she could respond, Thracia spat another net of webs, and this one was massive, large enough to consume all three of them and the rest of the cavern behind them in an instant.

  The Sun reached for her bow, fire already igniting at her fingertips, but Wisnu took one more step forward.

  “Save your arrows, Miss Sun,” she said, raising her greatsword. “We can handle this.”

  Muyang moved in tandem. His body swelled, his muscles and chitin plates expanding as he suddenly grew twice his size—as if he wasn’t massive enough already. His giant beetle helm suddenly fit him perfectly.

  At the same time, Wisnu drew her blade across her palm, blood welling up at the edges of her sawtooth sword.

  Swarmblood Art: Mad Legion.

  Her blood boiled and churned on the edges of her greatsword, shifting into a writhing mass of frenzied crazy ants, their tiny legs clicking against the steel as they coated her weapon into a living, biting blade.

  With one powerful swing, she slashed through the net, and her crazy ants devoured the sticky strands on contact. At the same time, Muyang lowered his head and charged, his beetle helm slamming straight through the webbing like a battering ram and tearing it apart with raw brute force.

  The shredded web fell in sticky, broken strands around the two of them.

  Wisnu felt the thrill in her chest, sharp and electric. The sight of her crazy ants swarming over the shredded web and tearing through it like a living tide sent a rush of satisfaction through her. They worked. They could fight back.

  But the moment was short-lived.

  Through the chaos of unraveling silk and smoke, she noticed the absence of Thracia on the other side of the cavern.

  The spider was gone.

  Wisnu’s head snapped up. Her gaze darted across the cavern, searching, panicking—then she saw it. A shadow crawling across the ceiling to drop down behind them, sliding deeper into the tunnels where Wisnu and Muyang had been planning on exploring just before this whole battle started.

  “... Running!” Wisnu said, turning on her heel at the same time as Muyang. Her voice sharpened with urgency. “She is heading for the heart chamber! We have to go after her!”

  The Sun didn’t react immediately. The Arcana Hasharana simply stared at them, her fiery gaze burning a hole through Wisnu’s face.

  Then, with a scoff, she shook her head. Not dismissive, but… something else. Something almost amused.

  “Hah. The kids this year have fire in them, huh?” The Sun twirled her fiery arrow and returned it to her quiver, extinguishing the tip. "We’re giving chase and meeting up with the Fool and the Hangman. Keep up.”

  No hesitation.

  Wisnu and Muyang followed the Sun without question, their feet hitting the sloping cavern floor as they slid steeply into the depths.

  Though, as the walls blurred past in a rush of flickering bioluminescent, Wisnu glanced at the Sun.

  “What is going on, Miss Sun?” she asked. “What are two of the Seven Spider Spinners doing down here?”

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