Chapter 228

(3)

4.

Ruins in the Heart of the Jungle.

A place full of ancient buildings that proves there was once a civilization here long ago.

Someone appeared at this location.

A figure wrapped in a red robe.

Though he had a very small frame, he wielded a staff made of mysterious bones that emanated a tremendous pressure.

Obviously.

He was Astevan Urbatr Mordem.

The very one responsible for creating all the undead that currently roam this jungle and proudly boasted the title of Lord of the Abyss.

【Now all preparations are complete.】

Three days had passed since he first opened his eyes.

While staying in the jungle, Astevan created numerous undead and also devised a way to effectively procure the Power of the Abyss.

The solution was the Maze of Devouring.

Specifically, a maze that absorbs the magic power of all living beings within it and converts it into the Power of the Abyss.

As soon as he completed the maze, he scoured the areas adjacent to the jungle. He needed to find the location with the strongest Magic Response.

Finally, he found a suitable spot.

【The City of Humans.】

The direction of Shulfern.

The completed maze moved southward like a living creature and had just now begun to engulf the city.

With this, the objective was achieved.

【Now all that’s left is―.】

All that remained was for the maze to absorb the magic power of living beings and convert it into the Power of the Abyss. Then Astevan’s magic power would naturally be replenished.

Just as he was concluding his thoughts.

Someone made their appearance.

【My king.】

An undead wearing the Lion’s Mask.

He was Astevan’s very first minion and also his apostle.

It was the agent, Calex.

He bowed his head and spoke.

【Report from the Watcher.】

Astevan nodded silently. It was a sign that he was permitted to speak. Then Calex continued.

【Including the priest who left the forest earlier, both the Guide and the Gladiator have fallen.】

News that the three minions had been defeated.

At this sudden piece of bad news, Astevan’s eyes narrowed. Displaying signs of discomfort, he soon parted his lips.

【Was this the doing of the Star’s followers?】

【It appears not.】

【Then who?】

【I can’t say for sure, but perhaps it’s the ‘Outsider’ mentioned by the Watcher.】

Outsider. At that term, Astevan’s eyes glinted sharply. He recalled something he had heard from Rakus while he was in the Abyss.

【Outsider, huh―.】

A being that crossed over from another world in answer to the call of the Stars. Rakus referred to that being as the Outsider.

He had also warned him.

The Outsider would be just as much of a nuisance in the Abyss as the Star’s agent. Reflecting on those words, Astevan finally spoke.

【Calex.】

【Yes, my king.】

【Select six minions and send them into the maze.】

Astevan had nine remaining minions.

With the order to send a majority of them, Calex’s eyes gleamed sharply.

【Are you saying you wish for―.】

【The annihilation of the Outsider.】

【Understood. I will obey your command.】

Calex bowed his head respectfully.

After a while, as he vanished like smoke, Astevan gazed once more to the south.

The direction where the maze lay.

【It won’t be long now.】

Astevan’s ultimate goal.

It was to build an eternal kingdom where no one ages or dies. Anyone who obstructed this was unacceptable.

So if there were any variables or obstacles, he thought of excluding them all. The recently mentioned Outsider was one of them.

【This time, I will surpass you.】

Astevan looked westward.

In reference to the Source of Magic located in the center of the continent, towards the southern desert. He stared intensely in that direction and murmured.

【Kazan Rudrik.】

A voice mixed with nostalgia and hatred.

But this was soon lost in the wind that blew by. And when the wind ceased, Astevan too had vanished without a trace.

5.

Darkness engulfed Shulfern almost immediately.

Suddenly, a distortion of space occurred, and a severe headache struck his head for a moment. An unbearable pain. Noa tightly shut her eyes.

“Ugh!”

That wasn’t all.

She felt nauseated and disoriented.

It was hard to keep her balance.

After collapsing on the ground to rest, the pain gradually subsided. Barely regaining her senses, Noa slowly opened her eyes.

‘What just happened……?’

Was it because of the strong headache?

Her head was so chaotic that she couldn’t quite remember. After a moment of daze, she unfolded her palm and slapped her cheeks hard.

*Slap!*

To grasp the situation.

Finally managing to regain her composure, Noa began to reflect on what had just transpired.

‘I had organized a punitive team to head into the jungle.’

A punitive team composed of nine members in total.

The rest decided to flee to Murka, the commercial city south of Shulfern, to be vigilant against a potential second attack.

Up to this point, she definitely remembered.

‘And…….’

The soldiers monitoring the jungle delivered urgent news with troubled expressions. Just after recalling what they had shouted earlier,

Noa opened her eyes wide.

“The Maze!”

All her memories rushed back.

The black fog creeping from the direction of the jungle, and how all of Shulfern was swallowed by thick darkness—all of it.

‘Right. It definitely was the maze.’

There had been a similar enemy in the original story.

Although it wasn’t in Shulfern, it was after the Gate of the Abyss opened. Still, at that time, there had also been a moving maze like this.

‘I can’t believe it struck first.’

Noa bit her lip.

Of course, she had anticipated the existence of the maze. However, she thought she would face it after entering the jungle, never expected it to launch an open attack.

But Astevan had overlooked something.

The existence of Noa.

She had repeated many cycles and experienced various mazes. Thus, she knew how to escape from the maze.

‘First, let’s figure out the type of maze.’

Astevan’s maze came in various types.

From mazes that induce hallucinations to ones that make you wander aimlessly with no exit. Methods to escape depended on what kind of maze it was.

As she was about to look around,

Noa suddenly froze in her steps.

“This is…….”

The smoke emanating from her body was flowing out, absorbed by the darkness.

The smoke was none other than magic power.

And the darkness signified the maze itself. Upon realizing this, Noa grimaced.

“Ugh! Of all things, it’s the Maze of Devouring.”

The Maze of Devouring.

Literally, it meant a maze that slowly devours magic and life force. The only way to stop it was to escape from the maze.

‘At this rate, I won’t last a day.’

It meant she had to escape before a day passed. If not, her magic would be depleted, and her very existence would be absorbed by the maze.

Noa trembled in her body.

It was a thought of needing to get out of there as soon as possible.

‘But before that…….’

She needed to reunite with her party.

The space had twisted as she was swallowed by the maze, causing her companions to scatter.

Moreover, to escape the Maze of Devouring, she needed the powers of Laurea, Fertisha, and Ulan.

‘It would be great if I could meet Ulan first.’

Regardless of the reason to escape the maze, being with Ulan made her feel at ease. Plus, her personal safety would definitely be ensured.

Noa cautiously started to move.

How long had passed? Just when she thought anyone could appear now.

“……!”

She saw a glimmer of light in the distance.

Light that devoured the darkness. The power of the holy.

Who could it be? Could it be Laurea?

Or perhaps Ian? With a happy heart, Noa rushed towards the place where the light manifested. Yet, the person she encountered was somewhat unexpected.

“Ah! You are…….”

A Paladin just finishing a prayer.

It was Paladin Master Kadel Dun Shanktus.

6.

Meanwhile, at that same time.

Just like Noa, another individual was lost in the maze. A hunter of the catfolk tribe with pointed ears, it was Sven Isaac.

‘Where am I?’

I was definitely in Shulfern.

Suddenly struck with a headache, he writhed in pain, and when he finally regained his senses, he found himself here.

While he was rummaging through his past memories.

“Milena!”

He snapped his eyes wide open as he recalled.

Just before Shulfern was swallowed by darkness, the last thing Sven saw was Milena and the rear guard moving towards Murka.

‘Could it be that Milena got caught up in this too……!’

If that’s the case, he had to find her quickly.

This darkness gave him an unsettling feeling. However, due to the difficulty in seeing, Sven activated his acute sense of smell instead.

He sniffed the air, trying to track down Milena’s scent.

But no matter how much he sniffed, he couldn’t detect her fragrance. This prompted Sven to consider a reasonable inference.

‘She might not have been swept into the darkness.’

It would indeed make sense to think that way.

Realizing this, Sven let out a sigh of relief. As his chaotic emotions subsided, the hunter’s typical icy clarity returned.

‘I need to find an exit.’

He immediately started to move.

To seek a way out of here.

But soon he halted. He felt a loud commotion coming from not too far away.

‘What’s that sound?’

The thumping footsteps that shook the ground.

Judging by the vibrations, it seemed to be a being over 3 meters tall. In that case, it likely wasn’t human, so he quickly readied an arrow.

So he could fight at any moment.

But the worst-case scenario he dreaded did not happen.

“That’s…….”

The source of the footsteps was a gigantic golem.

At that moment, the golem also stopped moving and looked in Sven’s direction. A peculiar standoff continued until Sven recognized who it was and spoke first.

“You are certainly…….”

“Ulan Bator.”

The low, resonant voice rang out.

The armored Ulan had removed his helmet and locked eyes with Sven.

He continued his introduction.

“A student from Arsen Academy.”

“……Sven Isaac.”

After a brief introduction.

Both put down their weapons.

They had realized they were not enemies.

So, having joined with Ulan, Sven fixed his gaze on him and suddenly threw a question.

“You know.”

“……?”

“Do you have any idea where this place is?”

He asked this for a reason.

Ulan looked far too calm. It was as if he had been here several times before.

And Sven’s assumption was spot on.

“This place is a maze.”

“A maze?”

“Yes, one of the many mazes created by the Lord of the Immortals, Astevan. I remember having been trapped here a few times in my past life.”

Astevan? Past life?

Sven’s expression turned puzzling at this suddenly mentioned information.

Yet his tone suggested that he knew about the nature of this space, so he decided to ask if he also knew ways to escape.

Holding onto a sliver of hope.

But that hope was quickly dashed.

“I don’t know.”

“What? Why not?”

“I was always the one trapped in the maze; it was my companions who always rescued me.”

Ulan answered proudly.

Was he bragging about it? Sven looked at Ulan with a disdainful gaze. At that, Ulan chuckled softly.

It was a familiar reaction.

Because Sven had been the one who rescued Ulan most frequently from the mazes.

After concluding that nostalgic thought.

Ulan reverted back to the main topic.

“But there’s no need to worry.”

“What do you mean by that?”

“If it’s Noa, she should know how to escape.”

“……Noa?”

“She is my companion. She has black hair.”

Upon hearing “black hair,” Sven immediately recognized who it was. Among everyone, there was only one girl with black hair.

Just then, Ulan continued.

“Find Noa.”

“Are you talking to me?”

“Yes.”

“You want me to look for someone I haven’t even had a conversation with? In this dark place?”

Sven asked incredulously.

Ulan nodded.

“You can do it.”

“No, on what basis…….”

“You have an extraordinary sense of smell, don’t you? You can remember a person’s scent for days after you’ve encountered them.”

This time, Sven was left speechless.

His eyes widened in surprise.

After a moment, he glared at Ulan with a strong sense of wariness.

“How do you know that?”

“I heard it.”

From Sven in his previous life.

Leaving the rest unsaid, Ulan stood up.

Then he pointed towards the impenetrable darkness and spoke.

“Regardless, Noa is the only one who knows how to escape from the maze. So you must find her by any means necessary.”

“……Just so you know, knowing her scent doesn’t guarantee I can find her.”

“Take note of that.”

Ulan’s answer prompted Sven to let out a deep sigh. Then he immediately began to sniff around, recalling Noa’s scent—the girl who knew how to escape the maze.

After a while, Sven’s mouth, which had been tightly shut, opened.

“I’m not entirely sure, but it feels like it’s this way.”

“Alright. Let’s move right away.”

Ulan dashed toward the direction Sven indicated, acting as if his answer was the correct one. Sven couldn’t help but let out a chuckle.

‘What an odd guy.’

They were practically strangers at this point.

They had just met during the earlier battle and exchanged only names. Yet, Sven felt an unshakeable trust in Ulan.

A type of person he had never met before.

While pondering that strange feeling, Ulan abruptly stopped in his tracks.

“What? Why did you stop?”

“An enemy.”

“An enemy?”

What on earth did that mean?

Sven furrowed his brow. Then soon after, his complexion hardened like stone. He sensed the enemy’s presence a moment after Ulan.

A powerful aura felt from a distance.

Sven’s eyes widened.

“Those guys……!”

Monsters wearing the skins of beasts.

And there were three of them.

As the presence of the strong suddenly emerged, tension spread across Sven’s face.

“We fight. Cover me.”

“What? Wait a minute…….”

Suddenly, we’re fighting? With no plan?

He wanted to ask that, but he couldn’t.

Before Sven could finish his words, Ulan had already charged forward, kicking off the ground.

“This is insane!”

An utterly reckless charge.

Sven, his face scrunched in annoyance, cursed under his breath. However, despite his angry voice, he quickly nocked an arrow to his bowstring.

To join the battle.

52nd Chapter: The Maze