Chapter 458: You are interesting

The atmosphere inside the cave seemed to vibrate.

Spiderling’s paws scraped the stone in an irregular rhythm, as if she were a machine adjusting for the perfect attack. Her eight eyes were fixed on Vergil, but he seemed… distracted. The spear rested on his shoulder, his body relaxed.

“Ready for class, spiderling?” His voice had a lightness that only added to the weight of the insult.

She didn’t answer—she simply disappeared.

The sound came first: a sharp snap, then the roar of air displacement as she reappeared inches from him, the bony blade descending in a deadly arc.

Vergil twisted sideways, the spear describing a lazy semicircle that effortlessly deflected the blow. “Fast. Faster than before… but still too slow.”

Her roar echoed.

A flurry of blows followed—paws, venom, jaws that closed like iron traps. Vergil backed away millimeters, sometimes not even that. Each dodge seemed calculated so she almost touched him, but never quite got there.

“You’re learning to vary your pace. Good. But…” He tapped her shoulder with the tip of his spear, as if marking a target. “…predictable.”

Fury rose in her like a wave.

She leaped to the ceiling, her claws digging into the stone, and shot from above like a living spear. Vergil rolled back, but not to escape—only to miss her by a hair’s breadth.

“Better. Bolder.” He smiled. “Let’s see how far you can go.”

Zuri, leaning against a column, widened her eyes. “Is he… training her?!”

The next attack was different.

She began moving at impossible angles, changing direction in midair, using the walls and ceiling as steps. Each impact of her paw sent up shards of stone. Vergil felt the increase—she was getting faster in his eyes.

And it amused him.

“Now, yes. You’re starting to look like something worth my time.”

He lunged for the first time, and the spear sang in the air. It wasn’t meant to kill—but to push her to her limit. Each strike forced a desperate dodge, each step he took seemed to cut space in half.

She snarled, spitting venom in a perfect parabola to block his path.

Vergil passed through the toxic cloud like mist, spinning the spear to dispel it. The blade grazed her abdomen—dark green blood splattered on the stone.

“You hurt her again.” He glanced at the liquid. “You’re getting slow again… or is it just distraction?”

“No!” She lunged with a roar, and now her blows were heavier. Each impact with the ground shook the cavern.

Vergil noticed: she was incorporating her body weight into her attacks. Quick adaptation. Good.

He began to accelerate as well.

The spear moved like an extension of her arm, sometimes blocking, sometimes thrusting, sometimes just touching. Each time the tip touched her, it was like a silent lesson: here lies your flaw.

Her breathing became more ragged, but her strength… only increased.

Her hind legs propelled increasingly violent leaps. Her jaws combined with claw hooks, like combination strikes.

Vergil laughed. “You really want to reach me, don’t you?”

“I’ll crush you!” She spun in the air, trying to strike him with two blades at once.

He dodged, letting the first blade pass inches from his face… and caught the second with the shaft of the spear, twisting her movement until she was off balance. “Almost. You almost got me that time.”

She fell to the ground and leaped back up, without pausing. Now Vergil noticed something new—her reaction time had shortened. She was beginning to anticipate his moves.

“You’re learning to read my body. Good.” He made a false move with his spear, forcing her into the trap… but she didn’t. She dodged to the side, attacked from below, trying to catch her legs.

Vergil leaped at her, spinning in the air and slamming the spear shaft into her back—not to wound, but to score another weak point.

She roared and turned so quickly the sound of the air tearing sounded like thunder.

This time, Vergil had to use two moves to escape: first retreat, then spin. The tip of her blade cut through his coat.

His gaze flashed. “Even better.”

The fight became a dance. The sound of paws against stone, the hiss of venom, the snap of the spear. Vergil, always one step ahead, now had to think to maintain that distance. He was bringing out the best in her, and she was responding.

“You… are not invincible!” she screamed, trying to dig all her paws into the ground and launch her entire body like a projectile.

Vergil swung his spear and stopped her mid-leap, the force of the two impacts echoing like thunder through the cave.

He pushed her back, sliding across the floor.

“Invincible? No.” He tilted his head. “But to you… I’m still unreachable.”

What came next was pure chaos.

She attacked with all her might, without pause, each blow chaining into the next. Vergil counterattacked, but not to end the fight—to prolong it. He wanted to see how far she would go.

Every time she learned to avoid a blow, he changed his rhythm. Every time she found a new angle, he closed the gap.

Zuri, watching, whispered, “He’s… teaching his own enemy how to fight him.”

Vergil heard, even without looking. “And still… she won’t defeat me.”

The venom now came in short, precise bursts.

She used the walls for short thrusts, mixing high and low attacks, forcing Vergil to constantly change his stance. He, in turn, adapted in the next instant, always blocking or dodging by the skin of his teeth.

Their speed was at its limit.

With each clash, sparks flew—metal against bone, stone against claws. The sound echoed through the cave like a war drum.

And then… She did something Vergil didn’t expect. She stopped her attack mid-swing, took a step back, and waited. All eight eyes fixed on him.

Vergil smiled. “She learned to stop. To think.”

“I learned… to kill you.”

She leaped—but now, the attack wasn’t coming from just one angle. It was an impossible sequence: poison to the left, blade to the right, jaw strike overhead. Vergil blocked the poison, dodged the blade… and felt the jaw scrape his shoulder.

Blood. Red. The first time she’d truly touched him.

He laughed. A low, satisfied laugh. “Finally.”

And then, before she could take advantage, he moved.

Too fast for her to follow. The spear slammed into three spots on her body, each blow deflecting an attack, until she was pushed against the wall.

But not crushed. Not defeated.

Vergil took a step back. “Another lesson. Never get carried away with your first victory.”

She was panting, her body trembling with exertion. But her eyes… shone. There was no fear. There was hunger.

“Come on, little spider. It’s not over yet.” He twirled the spear and spread his arms. “Show me the next step of your evolution.” He began to heal her, using his blood.

“Come on, get up and get stronger. Grow legs, come on, grow legs and fight like a human,” Vergil said, his eyes exploding with madness, with fascination.

Her Evolution was… Interesting.