"Anna?" I called out.

"Yes?" She asked.

"W-what are you?" I asked. My voice was shaking, staring at her spider appendages which protruded from her back. What just happened?

She's a spider lady? What?

Scratch that. How do spider ladies exist?!

Oh god, what's going on?

Anna gasped, her spider legs quickly folding back into her back. She brushed her hair back over her forehead, covering two sets of eyes.

That same feeling from my [Freerunner] skill came back, this time pointing me towards Anna. I quickly jumped forward, grabbing her wrist.

She was trying to run away. She was scared.

Of me?

"Hey, calm down. Please, tell me what's going on." I asked, holding her close.

Her hands gripped the back of my shirt, as she started to sob into my chest. I could feel her tears wetting my shirt. I'll need to dry it later.

"Y-you shouldn't have seen that." She cried.

"It's alright. It's alright." I said, trying to soothe her. Maybe if I rub her back, she'll feel better.

Her sobbing soon died down, and she broke the hug. She wiped away her tears from her eyes. All six of them.

"So...you're a spider lady?" I asked, trying to start a conversation. Look, I'm awkward, okay? I know this.

She giggled. "After all you've seen that's the first thing you ask?"

"Well..." I replied, trailing off.

"Yes, I'm a spider lady." She confirmed. "Do you hate me?" She suddenly asked, a sad look in her eyes.

"No. You're still you. Though I didn't expect this..." I nervously explained.

Anna giggled once more.

——————————————————————————

And that's how I got here. To being webbed up onto the ceiling, with Anna cuddling into my side. As much as I like Anna, her being a spider person still kind of freaks me out.

Sally, bring the system out please.

"Sure Host." Sally said.

The System menu popped up in front of me once more. I wiggled my arm, getting it out from under Anna. Clicking the [Missions] button, I went to claim my reward.

[Mission] - Survive your date with Anna. Completed.

[Bonus] - Learn more about Anna. Completed.

(Claim?)

Clicking the (Claim) button, I was rewarded with 120 AP. Wow, that's a lot. Add that to my 30 and now I have 150. Math!

Suddenly the System screen disappeared. Huh?

Sally, did you do that?

"No, I didn't Host." She replied.

What? I didn't either. What's going on?

A new screen popped up in front of me, showing a message;

"Basic requirements fulfilled! [Harem System] is upgrading!"

What? It can upgrade? There's more to the system? Sally?

"I'm afraid I don't know Host." Sally informed.

Seriously?! Sally?!

"I was not programmed to have complete knowledge over the System. It's existence is a mystery." Sally continued.

The message changed, now showing a loading screen. The bar was at 67%, and was moving higher every second.

70%

...

80%

...

90%

...

92%

...

96%

...

99%

...

As soon as the bar hit 100%, it disappeared, now showing me the System menu once more. But now it had changed.

[Monster Harem System]

[Profile]

[Inventory]

[Lottery]

[Affection]

[Harem]

[Missions]

What? Monster Harem System?

"I see." Sally suddenly said, as if she finally understood everything.

What do you see? What's going on?

"With the System's upgrade I have also been given more information." Sally stated.

So you understand everything? Okay! That's good! What do you know?

"Over 100 means that said person is completely in love with you, and they are permanently part of your Harem." Sally informed.

Okay! Wait, that means...

"Yes, Anna is completely in love with you, and will continue to be." Sally confirmed. "You idiot."

Stop calling me an idiot!

So, what's the new maximum number on the affection meter then?

"150." Stated Sally. "Upon reaching the thread hold, she won't provoke fights with other future harem members. But that isn't easy to reach."

Oh, okay. This is going to be troublesome...having a harem that hates each other, huh?...

So, what else did you learn?

"The System's true nature is to get the user a harem of monster girls." Sally stated. "It helps attract monster girls to you, giving you rewards as you complete missions to become stronger to manage the harem."

...and they're also monsters.

Wait. Monster girls? It only attracts monster girls?! I should have know that a harem system was too good to be true! There was a twist!

It was a [Monster Harem System] all along!

Oh no...

How am I supposed to manage a monster harem?! I would have been fine with just a girlfriend!

I clicked the [Harem] tab. I better see what's on there.

[Harem]

(1/10)

1. Annabeth Webb - Arachnid

2. None

3. None

4. None

5. None

6. None

7. None

8. None

9. None

10. None

"Upon gaining ten harem members will the System's purpose be completed." Sally stated.

You got to be kidding me.

Ten?!

I'm seriously going to die!

How am I supposed to manage ten monster girls?! Gah!

I heard Anna softly groan from beside me. She shifted, waking up. Upon opening her eyes, their vision latched onto me.

"Uh...morning." I awkwardly replied.

"Morning!" She happily replied.

"...Can you let me out of the web?" I asked.

"Sure!" Anna replied.

The web under me disintegrated, dropping me onto the floor. Ow...

"Sorry!" Anna yelled, hanging from the ceiling.

"It's fine..." I slowly replied, in a small amount of pain.

Falling from the ceiling hurts. Don't try it.

"You're taking the fact that monsters exist surprisingly well." Sally commented.

Well, once you see a spider lady kill a purple werewolf in front of you, you kind of have to believe it. And I already have a System. Finding out that monsters exist pales in comparison.

Anna nimbly dropped down to the floor, landing on her feet. She extended her arm to me, allowing me to grab her hand and pull myself up.

The door to the room opened, John walking in, sighing along the way.

John also was a spider person. He had the same eight black spider appendages, and his bangs covered his extra set of eyes.

Their spider legs folded into their skin to stay hidden. Sounds extremely uncomfortable.

"I can't believe you let him find out..." John sighed.

"A Corrupted attacked us!" Argued Anna.

"And the only condition for us living here was for no one to find out!" John revealed.

Anna just looked away, avoiding eye contact with her twin brother.

John sighed. "Now we're going to have to go home, and bring Jack with us." He looked at me sadly.

"We can't." Anna pleaded.

"I don't like it either, but we have to!" John yelled. "That's the orders!"

"What do you mean you're going back home?" I asked. Wasn't this their home?

"We're going to Hell. Literally." John said, staring me straight into the eyes.

His eyes weren't lying. He was completely serious.

We're going to Hell?! What?!

John nodded. "Best way to get there is the Highway."

"The Highway?" Both me and Anna asked.

He grabbed a piece of chalk from his pocket (I don't know why he had that in there) and started drawing a satanic circle onto the ground.

Once he finished drawing it, he pocketed the chalk and placed a glowing red crystal in the middle of the portal, completing the set up.

"Time to take the Highway to Hell." John said.

Waving his hand in front of the circle, he stepped back as the chalk lines burst on fire, burning. As they burned away, they revealed a glowing orange portal where the satanic circle once was.

"Jump on in. I promise it's safe." John assured me.

I hesitated. I mean, I trust John and all, but that's still a glowing orange portal that appeared out of nowhere. Of course I'll be hesitant.

Anna jumped on in, disappearing from view. I stared down into the glowing orange pool. She just jumped In...Well, I guess I should-

Did you just push me in?!

I fell into the hole, seeing John's smug face for a second, before hitting the ground hard.

"Ugh..." I groaned. That was the second time today falling onto the ground.

Wait...the ground?

I shakily stood to my feet, looking around. I was on some sort of Highway. It stretched as far as the eye could see, so who knows how long it went on.

"Out of the road!" John yelled, grabbing the back of my shirt, pulling me out of the way.

A car zoomed by- was it on fire?!

More cars zoomed by at incredible speeds. The fierce wind blew past my face, ruffling up my hair. They look had to be going over the speed limit.

The Highway was surrounded with spiky, red rocks and lots of lava. Lots of it. Looking up to the sky, I noticed that it actually had a ceiling a far way above, made of the same spiky red rocks as the floor.

"Welcome to Hell." John said. "The largest section of the realm known as the Underworld."

"Realm?" I asked. Like, an alternate dimension? Is that what you're trying to tell me?

"There are multiple realms. Earth and the Underworld are two of them." John informed.

Okay, so like a separate dimension.

I watched as the cars continued to fly by. They were definitely going faster than the Highways on Earth.

A car stopped in front of us, pulling off of the Highway. It was a yellow sport car with a white and black checkered stripe across it. A sport car taxi.

Did you call that taxi John?

The man in the front seat had a buzz cut and a leather jacket, with some nice shades on. I don't know why he was wearing shades, the lava made it pretty bright here.

He turned to us, pulling of his sunglasses and revealing that instead of eyes, he had literal fire in his eye sockets.

Ah. That's why he had sunglasses.

"It's been a while Johnny boy. Looks like you've finally come back." He smiled.

"Hey Dunk. Can you give us a ride?" John asked. "I'll pay."

"Of course. Who are the other two?" Dunk curiously asked, gesturing towards me and Anna.

"My twin sister Anna, and my best friend Jack." John replied.

"Ah, she's the one your always complaining about." Dunk revealed, causing Anna to shoot John a glare.

John nervously chuckled, rubbing the back of his head. He walked around the car, getting into the front passenger seat. Me and Anna followed his lead, getting into the back seats of the taxi.

"Is this their first time?" Asked Dunk.

"It is." Confirmed John.

"Alright. Buckle up and hold on! This is gonna be a ride!" Dunk yelled.

We quickly bucked our seatbelts, before grabbing onto the seat we were currently sitting on. I think I'm ready.

He revved the engine, taking the taxi out of park and into drive. Slamming his foot on the petal, the taxi spring forwards.

In a moment we were racing at tremendous speeds. I gripped onto the seat as hard as I could as the wind violently pushed me backwards.

I wasn't ready!

I tried to move my head to peek over Dunk's shoulder, but the wind kept resisting. It tried to push my head back, but I won't give up!

Looking over his shoulder, I saw the speed we were going at...

120 MPH. And it was still climbing.

"Wooohoooo!!!!!" John yelled into the wind, throwing his hands up into the air.

We sped across the Highway, slowly matching the speeds of the other cars that passed. Dunk and John looked like they were having the time of their lives, while Anna looked like she was going to puke.

I don't want to know what my face is like.

"You also look like you need to puke." Sally clarified.

Thanks a lot Sally! I totally needed to know that!

I clenched a hand over my mouth, trying not to vomit. I get car sick easily! This was a terrible idea!

After a couple more minutes of extremely fast driving, he started to slow down as we turned off the Highway onto an exit ramp.

Following the ramp, he drove us down to in front of a lava lake, skidding to a stop. Stumbling out of the car, I immediately puked my guts out onto the floor.

Ugh....I feel terrible....

Wiping my mouth, I stood back up. Anna looked like she just went through Hell (which we did) while Dunk and John were madly grinning.

"Here's the money." John said, handing Dunk some cash.

"Alright! See ya next time, Johnny boy!" Dunk happily yelled.

Getting back into the taxi, he quickly sped off, going back the way that we had come from.

"Ugh...where are we going? Please say no more cars..." I groaned.

"None. Our destination is right there." John stated, pointing out towards the lake.

Turning around towards the lake, I saw an impressive sight. Right in the middle of the giant lava lake was a beautiful castle sat on a small island, with a single bridge that went from it to the land.

Despite all of the lava and blood red rocks, it really was an amazing sight.

"It's time to go see Madam Webb." John stated.