HNSW - Chapter 8 - Torturous Torments

You have learned the skill Arcane Magic I

The demon blinked a bit at the barrier hovering in front of Lilussees, then began to smile.

“Well done, Lady Lilussees.”

Lilussees frowned.

“Li…thanks.”

The praise from the demon rang a bit hollow to Lilussees’s ears given the sheer amount of e-word this took. Learning a spell from scratch was so difficult Lilussees was even driven to consider whether…physicalmeans of defending herself might actually be easier. She shuddered at that thought, nearly losing the concentration needed to keep the spell up.

But, it was over now, and she could cast a barrier spell. That could be, like helpful, she guessed.

The demon then looked over.

“Please continue practicing, Lady Lilussees. This is a spell you should be able to cast in your sleep.”

Lilussees scowled. How dare she impugn upon the sanctity of sleep? Fortunately, though, the demon was now distracted. She turned to Adelisees, who was furrowing her brow, a magic circle sputtering and sparking in front of her as it tried to take shape. But Lilussees didn’t particularly notice. If anything, she was happy as the demon’s attention turned to the other girl, so that she could snarl and curse the demon all she pleased.

“Lady Lilussees, such a face is not becoming of a young lady.”

Lilussees screamed in her mind but pulled back her expression.

***

Later, Lilussees and Adelisees were given some time to practice on their own. Lilussees, however, had other plans.

She had avoided commanding spiders since her familiar was discovered and it became clear her attendants could sense her mana. She did not wish to reveal all of her capabilities, and at present they seemed to believe her abilities were limited to her one familiar. Who was currently trapped in a cage and not particularly useful to her at the moment.

But now…now Lilussees has an excuse to be flaring her mana. Additionally, Adelisees was also releasing her mana, especially whenever her magic circles failed and unraveled. This gave Lilussees an opportunity.

She held a magic circle in place, furrowing her brow as if struggling with it, and then released her mana out into the walls of the mansion. There, she found any number of spiders crawling about. She closed her eyes and groaned. The sheer amount of e-word it took to do this while holding an incomplete spell circle leant truth to her false struggling, but her mana managed to make contact. She had one of the spiders crawl towards a crack in the wall, just wide enough for the spider to catch a glimpse of her body and the spell circle she was making. She then practiced completing the spell while watching through the spider’s eyes.

And equally importantly, she spread her mana to as many of the nearby spiders as she could, so that she could keep track of them and order them in the future.

Well, at least until pain spiked through her head, and both the connection with the spider and her in-progress magic circle shattered. She sighed and tried again…

***

And so, Lilussees spent her days in the demon’s hell, biding her time, growing her power, and spreading her influence through the mansion’s spiders as she was able. It was on one of those days that she was just finishing up her magic practice when she noticed a problem.

Her cover wasn’t spreading her mana. The other girl’s magic circle was little more than a faint spark moving through the air, her mana wispy and sparse. And, worst of all, not providing any concealment at all for Lilussees’s efforts. The very last thing she wanted was for the demon to notice the one card she had in her pocket.

So, she frowned and turned to the other girl.

“What’s, li…wrong with you?”

The other girl jumped and then quickly shook her head.

“N-Nothing, I’m fine!”

Lilussees crossed her arms.

“You don’t look fine. And you’re, li…not practicing like normal. It’s annoying.”

The other girl bit her lip and looked away. Lilussees kept staring at her until she gave in.

“Ok, but, um, please keep it a secret? My honored father wasn’t happy with my family tutor’s latest report. He told me I need to stay up and practice more, so I’ve been trying to do that.”

Lilussees froze.

“Stay…up? As in…not sleep?”

The other girl slowly nodded.

“He said sleep is for the weak and the lazy.”

Lilussees began to tremble. She could not help but imagine the horror if her parents told her such a thing, and forced the hell to continue during the blessed hours of the night. She shuddered.

Even the demon was not that evil.

She grabbed the girl’s hand.

“Come.”

The girl blinked in surprise.

“Huh? U-Um, Lady Lilussees, aren’t we supposed to practice?”

“Later.”

One of the maids stepped forward.

“Lady Lilussees.”

“We’re going to go ‘play,’ or something.”

Before the maids could say another word, Lilussees dragged the girl out of the room. She marched down the hall with the panicking girl and straight to her room.

“What was your name again?”

The girl frowned.

“Adelisees.”

“Right, Adelisees, or whatever. We’re going to sleep now.”

Adelisees tilted her head.

“Um…”

But before she could say anything, Lilussees dragged her to the bed and jumped in, pulling Adelisees to the other side. Then she moved over to the empty side of the bed and curled up under the covers, activating the Rest skill before anyone could complain.

She wouldn’t give up an opportunity to catch up on her own sleep while she was at it.

Adelisees was left blinking and glancing around as she was lying in the other half of the bed, with sound of soft breaths now coming from Lilussees. She turned to one of the maids that had followed them into the room.

“Um…”

The maid made a sympathetic expression and shook her head.

“I apologize, Lady Adelisees, but our lady is quite stubborn when it comes to her sleep. You’ll just have to follow along.”

“O-Ok…”

Adelisees hesistantly settled into the bed, pulling the covers over her, and gingerly laid her head down. But fatigue hit the young girl near immediately, and barely moments later she, too, had fallen asleep.

A moment later, Lady Baillairgé came to the entrance of the room. One of the maids leaned over and whispered to her, telling her what happened. Her face curled into a soft smile.

“It is the first time Lady Lilussees has shown initiative towards another…as well as empathy. Let’s let them be for today, shall we?”

From then on, Lady Baillairgé added a free time period earlier in the day, which Lilussees insisted both girls use to rest. Adelisees’s performance in the afternoon lessons subsequently began to improve.

***

Lilussees huffed and she puffed and she fell to the ground. The sun beat down relentlessly, drenching her in sweat. The ground was course and rough and scraped at her, soft human skin being far inferior to her old chitin.

And the glowing orb of light she was chasing zipped away. The demon walked over to her.

“Are you alright, Lady Lilussees? That was quite the fall.”

Lilussees just turned and glared at her, not even entertaining that question with an answer. After all, it was the demon was ultimately responsible for this torment.

“I got it!”

Adelisees continued running and jumped after the orb, grabbing it in her hands. The demon went to congratulate her, leaving Lilussees gritting her teeth as she rose from the dirt. The demon had, of course, come up with a new form of torture. Lilussees was to chase an orb of light…with her body, exerting physical e-word. No magic permitted. A horror and a humiliation beyond anything the demon had subjected her to thus far.

But she had no choice. She had been promised an extra hour of sleep should she catch the orb.

Unfortunately, Adelisees was playing too. The other girl had two years of growth on Lilussees, and had been subjected to far more physical e-word than Lilussees ever had, apparently running about with frightening regularity. Lilussees might even have pitied her had that torment not given her a considerable advantage in the current situation.

The demon looked her over, clearly not content with the amount of pain she had inflicted on Lilussees thus far, lined the two girls up.

“Let’s go for another round, shall we?”

Adelisees nodded with a strange expression on her face. Lilussees might have thought it a grin, if she thought anyone with a lick of sanity would possibly grin in the face of such torment.

“Ok!”

Lilussees just frowned and prepared herself. The demon reformed the orb of light just out of reach of the two girls.

“On my signal, then. Ready, set, go!”

The orb began to zip forward as Lilussees lunged at it, missing it by a hair. Adelisees, on the other hand, took off running instead of leaping and so shot forward while Lilussees stumbled, chasing after the orb. Lilussees grunted and stomped the ground.

She was going to lose again…unless she ran. With, like, her legs. Making them exert…e-word.

But if she did not…if did not capture the orb at least once…then all of this torment and e-word would have been for nothing. And that was a humiliation Lilussees would never forget.

So…Lilussees started to…run. She was appalled at herself, but she pushed her legs forward, exerting levels of e-word she had not since the earliest moments of her dungeon, when she had to spin her webs herself in order to catch prey.

But…as she did…mana began to surge through her body. Mana that did not originate from her own stores, and that was not commanded by her. She felt her muscles burn…though she assumed that was from the ungodly amount of e-word they were currently subjected to. She would soon be proved wrong.

The skill Monster Spider-Woman has partially unlocked.

Suddenly the world exploded into light as her eyesight sharpened. She had to shield her eyes from the searing light. Meanwhile, her latest step launched her from the ground, causing her to soar forward, flailing her arms about as she immediately lost her balance. But…something within her shifted and she was able to spin about, landing on all four limbs before she crashed into the ground. Old memories awoke and she began scuttling forward on her hands and legs.

She barely managed to open her eyes just the slightest bit, and saw that she was gaining on Adelisees…and the orb.

She focused in. Sudden skill unlocks could wait. She had a target to catch.

She scuttled forward until she was in-line with Adelisees. Adelisees tried to run faster but Lilussees still passed her by. The orb came closer…and closer…

And then finally, Lilussees leapt at it and stretched her arms out.

Her hands closed around the orb.

Lilussees landed in the dirt and immediately turned to the demon.

“…I’m taking my prize now.”

She activated the Rest skill before anyone could say another word, curling up to sleep right on the ground.

Lady Baillairgé let out a small sigh.

“Well, I suppose fair is fair. It was not the most elegant display…but at least we got her moving somehow.”

She then turned to Adelisees and smiled. The young girl was panting for breath, frowning at her first loss of the day.

“Well, then, Lady Adelisees, would you like your reward as well?”

The girl’s frown turned upside down as the servants brought out the several pieces of cake she had rightfully earned.

Author’s Note:

…Lilussees had to…run?

…that’s a step too far! The demon truly is a demon.

Anyways!

Will Lilussees ever gain the power needed to escape hell? Will Adelisees be able to catch up on her own sleep? What other horrific torments will the demon torture the young ladies with? Tune in next time, to find out!