The roiling, crawling, clattering mass of hairy legs and venomous mandibles shot around the corner like a wave, chasing a small, ragged figure. The small humanoid person was sprinting full tilt, but strangely, as though they weren't used to walking. Despite the incredible speed of the army of spiders chasing them, the figure was somehow running fast enough to outpace the horde.

Isaac gave directions with blistering speed. "Carl, drop the Ice Wall immediately. Anyone with an area-of-effect attack, prepare it now! Barkley, make sure none of them get past. I don't know what your specialty is but you're the only other adult. Get ready... NOW!"

As the Ice Wall melted with unbelievable rapidity, Lola flipped backward through Codex and put a finger to Fireball, hesitating. She didn't want to overdo it again, but if there was ever a situation to overdo it, this was it. She started loading Codex with all the mana she could spare.

The wall dropped, and Carolin reached her arms out open to the sprinting figure. "Hurry up, hurry up, hurry up! You're in the way!"

The unknown person nodded, then dug deep into some sort of reserves and positively flew across the floor. His feet were practically skipping across the ground as he blurred towards them.

Behind him, the writhing horde of spiders continued inexorably onward, snuffing out the torches in their wall-sconces. They crawled on the walls and ceiling with staggering speed, rushing towards their group with an earsplitting sound of shrieking, clicking, and chattering.

The figure reached them, and Carolin practically tossed him behind them.

Isaac shouted, "NOW!"

He needn't have bothered. Everyone with a spellbook unleashed their best spells. Carolin was firing off some sort of lightning bolt, which sparked between spiders, frying several before fizzling out. Carl was launching gigantic shards of ice, his leofeur spitting small fireballs at the oncoming crowd. Forrest reached a hand out and yanked towards him, and gray energy shot towards him from the spiders. Every time it happened, a spider curled up and was promptly devoured by the army.

Lola was still flooding Codex with mana, and the fireball was beginning to grow larger and larger. She hadn't remembered it taking this long in the training room! Although maybe that was the adrenaline pumping through her. At any rate, they needed her magic! She needed to prove she could be the Magelord!

The spiders reached the first of Isaac's strange red spheres, and it detonated into a red tangle. Everything the ragged, crimson magic touches began sticking to everything else, and the spiders slowed as they tried to run around each other, only getting more and more tangled in webs, ironically enough.

Dawn had been muttering for some time now, gathering green mana between her fingers and weaving it into a complicated structure. Her chlorofae, Thorn, kept tossing small concentrated bursts of mana into critical parts of the strange spell, hovering around her at increasing speeds. Forcing her hands through the gaps in the spell, Dawn threw her arms wide, then slammed her palms into the ground.

The dirt around her hands rippled, then exploded forwards, jagged shards of rock hurtling forwards in a devastating display of power. Lola cheered, almost cutting the supply of mana to Codex off, and everyone felt their spirits rise as her enormous Charm enhanced the awe-inspiring sight.

Inches before the stone hit the horde, it stopped, shimmered, then leveled instantly. The cry of relief died in everyone's throats as the spell was cancelled.

Slowly, writhing in complex and yet random patterns, the spiders slid aside to allow an abomination through. It looked like a black book, curved teeth jutting out along the edges of its cover. On its front were nine blood-red eyes, flicking and twitching back and forth, examining and appraising and judging their party. Eight long, disjointed hairy legs sprouted from its back, stepping on the wall and ceiling indeterminately.

Isaac's entire body tensed, and his eyes narrowed. Hands clenching into tight fists, an audible pop was heard as his knuckles cracked. Lola looked at him nervously. She'd never seen him look like this.

A hissing, slithering, gravelly voice slipped into their minds. You have something of mine. Return it and die.

They looked back at the small person, who was cowering on the floor and covering his head, whispering quietly, "No, no, no, no, no, no..." Over and over, the same words of panic in an unending repeat.

Isaac focused ahead, speaking quickly and lowly. "Barkley, get everyone out of here right now. I'll follow you in just a moment. Dawn, the second I'm out, collapse the tunnel."

Barkley nodded briskly, grabbing Forrest's shoulder. "All right, students, let's get out of here. We need to-"

Lola had been trying to hold it in while everyone had been talking, but Codex had hit his limit. A fireball erupted from him, growing larger and filling the corridor with massive orange tongues of flame. Everyone watched it, eyes wide, as it utterly engulfed the entire tunnel in its direct path towards the book-like creature.

And then paused. The enormous fireball, loaded with over two thousand points of Lola's mana, began to diminish.

I know you. You will not escape me.

Isaac spun around, his grimoire's pages fluttering quickly. "Barkley, NOW. Do whatever you need to do!"

Barkley yanked everyone towards him, including the familiars, and brought his gaze up to Isaac's. "Good luck." The entire group vanished in a swirl of shadow.

Turning, Isaac held his grimoire up, rapidly selecting a volatile cocktail of spells. As he did, the fireball jittered, and then spun out entirely. Yanking black threads of mana out of where it'd been, the book glared at him with all nine eyes. Return my prey and die.

"Not too original, are you?" Isaac muttered, and then detonated every spell in the tunnel. A maelstrom of red magic blew through the tunnel, stabbing and strangling and inflating every spider it touched, but leaving the book unharmed. Thin flickers of black magic kept snapping out the book's eyes and knocking his spells away.

Very well. You fight using jinxes and curses? I shall respond in turn.

An eruption of darkness exploded from the book, hurtling towards Isaac. Rapidly flicking through his grimoire, Isaac fired off a single spell, a concentrated mote of crimson that shot forward. Impacting the darkness, it shrank into a minuscule dot, vacuuming every point of mana from the immediate area. Isaac grinned morbidly. "See that? I made that spell to counteract against you. You can't beat it."

The book narrowed its many eyes. You know I am the Compendium, and yet you do not run.

Isaac pumped a fist against his chest. "That's right. You killed my wife, you monster. And I'm going to bloody well blow you to pieces." He launched a spiralling, bullet-shaped spell at the Compendium, firing off more and more in a never-ending spree of spells.

The Compendium didn't even flinch. It accepted the hits and took them full on its cover, blinking as they exploded into rust-colored stardust, incinerating countless spiders and carving gashes through the walls as if space itself refused to touch the spells' edges.

After the dust cleared, the Compendium... was utterly unharmed. Do you understand? Do you yet feel fear? Surrender and be devoured.

Isaac shook his head. The spell he'd been preparing for the past few minutes was undoubtedly going to use the rest of his mana. "Sorry. I just don't have the time to be afraid."

And he activated the Void Bomb.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

Lola stared anxiously down the tunnel. She wasn't the only one - practically every adult with a grimoire was watching the entrance, tense with anticipation.

Isaac ran out of it, a manic grin on his face. His fancy clothes were in tatters. "Collapse it! Collapse it now!"

Standing next to the entrance, Dawn placed a palm on the side of it and hummed quietly. Almost immediately, the roof of the tunnel caved in, rippling down the tunnel in an expanding movement. The cave would be rendered completely impassable in mere moments.

Isaac continued onwards, the grin still on his face as he went limp, falling to the floor.