The stairs to the next floor were in front of me, each step spiralling upward.
I took a deep breath, watching as Perugius motioned for his familiars to form a defensive ring around Elinalise and me. Their movement were precise, practiced, almost like a routine they'd performed countless times.
However, one of them stiffened.
"My lord, look! The flood is approaching!"
Following their gaze, I noticed the black liquid gushing from the far corner of the hallway and rapidly crawling towards us.
"Everyone, move now!" Perugius commanded.
The familiars reacted instantly, guiding us as we hurried up the spiraling stairs. Each footstep echoed sharply, almost immediately swallowed by the vastness of the stairwell. Elinalise kept a tight grip on my hand, so I steadied my pace for her.
Halfway up the stairs, I dared to glance downward.
I noticed the black flood had halted at the foot of the staircase, but it didn't seem to follow. It churned, rippling with breath-like pulse, but never rose past the hallway below.
Did the failsafe end there?
No time to dwell on it. We needed to reach the top.
When we finally did, an arched entryway greeted us. Beyond it waited the next floor.
Inside, the walls shifted like slow-moving gears—stone sliding against stone, rotating, fusing, and parting in a constant mechanical drift. Paths appeared and vanished in rhythmic cycles.
Seeing that, I couldn't help muttering to myself.
"...The walls were really moving."
Sylvaril turned her head in response.
"That's right. This floor is notorious for isolating intruders. Become lost, and you'll die alone."
Yikes, that isn't very good.
We entered the entryway and strode down the hallway, where it then split into three paths.
Perugius grumbled in annoyance before gesturing to one of his familiars.
"Clearnight—take the lead and guide us to the other side of this floor."
A familiar wearing a bat mask stepped forward, then knelt and placed his skinny hand on the ground. For a moment, he stayed completely still. Then, he rose and pointed at the rightmost hallway just as the shifting walls paused.
"That way. I don't sense any monsters there."
We quickly followed his direction, only for the corridor to shift again—wall sliding and turning, and the floor diverting beneath us. Clearnight adjusted without hesitation, pointing out each time the paths rearranged themselves.
Despite the labyrinth's attempt to disorient us, his directions remained confident.
After a series of turns, revolving wallways, and moving partitions, our group entered a square chamber with a fountain in its center. The flowing water looked somewhat menacing, just like the rest of the room.
"We've been here before."
Sylvaril approached the room with a solemn breath, eyes darting around.
"This is one of the danger rooms. If we leave carefully, we can—"
Ggggrrrrg—
Before she could finish speaking, the walls of the chamber lurched.
One after another, multiple entrances materialized around the chamber. From each of these passages, heavy footsteps rang out.
Humanoid figures made of stone marched forward, metallic armor fused to their bodies, and swords carved from the same ore as they were. Their eyes glowed dimly, like embers buried inside hollowed shale.
"What are those?" I whispered before I could stop myself.
"They're Stone Sentinals," Sylvaril explained, "and they intend to surround us."
-----------------------------------------------
As if this life couldn't get any more surprising, our group was currently being ambushed by a bunch of creatures beyond my comprehension.
So much so, Clearnight lowered his head in shame.
"Forgive me, My Lord. I should have foreseen this."
You're not the only one in shock, buddy. I didn't see this coming either.
I looked to my side and saw Elinalise hiding behind me, using my body as a shield.
"It matters not."
Perugius waved him off, stepping to the front with unshaken calm.
"The labyrinth would have forced this kind of encounter no matter which route we chose".
While he was giving his speech, the Stone Sentinels raised their swords in eerie unison.
In response, Perugius lifted his hand.
"Trophimus. Gall. Furiousful… attack."
Following his order, three of the familiars faced in different directions.
The one with a fish mask extended both palms forward and shot waves of water at the Stone Sentinals, softening their joints and weakening their shape. The one with a rhino mask hurled a volley of stones, destroying chunks of the monsters' armor and limbs. Lastly, the one with a horned mask barreled in with a massive hammer, shattering their fatigued forms into rubble.
One by one, the Sentinels were getting destroyed, filling the room with the thunder of impact and cracking of rocks, until none remained.
After watching the battle, I opened my mouth in awe.
"Wow... They're incredible."
"That's good to hear."
I heard Perugius answered to my remark. When I glanced at him, he wore a faint smile before raising his hand once more.
"Clearnight, continue guiding us out of this floor."
"Understood, My Lord."
Without hesitation, Clearnight investigated the shifting hallways and pointed toward a certain path. We followed immediately, adjusting with each arrangement of the walls. Every so often, Stone Sentinels appeared, but the familiars dispatched them without effort.
Yet after several twists and turns, we ended up in a familiar space.
A square room with a fountain in the center.
I rubbed my eyes and blinked hard.
"Did we loop back to the same danger room?"
"Not quite."
Perugius stepped forward and pointed directly at the fountain.
"See that water? It's different."
I followed his finger and noticed how peaceful the water was compared to the last one.
"This floor tricks people into believing they've returned to the same room, unaware they have been guided to a new area entirely."
The sound of dripping water resonated from one of the side corridors, soft and rhythmic, like a heartbeat marking time inside these twisting halls. I strode closer to the fountain, watching the clear liquid churn as though stirred by an invisible force.
"So, the labyrinth copies rooms?" I murmured, leaning slightly forward.
"It's more like it creates illusions through repetition," Sylravil explained. "Wander long enough, and your sense of direction will collapse."
Elinalise tightened her grip on my hand upon hearing that. Her eyes flickered toward each of the multiple passages now shifting in slow rotation at the chamber's edges.
"Are we going to another identical room?" she whispered.
"Naturally," Perugius stated, already turning his gaze to Clearnight. "The path forward reveals itself only through persistence and observation."
Clearnight walked forward and did his standard procedure. Afterward, he rose and pointed at the leftmost hallway just as the shifting walls paused.
"That way is the safest one to cross,"
We proceeded into the corridor that Clearnight pointed out, navigating the shifting halls once more. But as time passed, I noticed a pattern. The labyrinth seemed to steer us into a danger room whenever there were fewer Stone Sentinels on the path we chose.
"How about we choose the path with more monsters?" I blurted out unconsciously.
Sylvaril raised her eyebrow, confused. "Why?"
"Because I think the chance of getting a safe room is higher there," I explained boldly.
She turned to Perugius, as if requesting his verdict on my proposal. He then nodded his head calmly. "I suppose we could try."
Following my suggestion, we navigated the moving corridors and forced our way through the huge waves of Stone Sentinals, awarding us with a safe room to catch our breath every time.
After several triumphs, something happened at the seventh safe room.
"I sensed the end of the maze ahead," Clearnight noted. "However, there's something else."
"What is it?" Perugius demanded curiously.
"I'm not sure," Clearnight replied skeptically. "But it seems to be an accumulation of mana."
"Hmm." Perugius furrowed his brows in suspicion. "We should investigate regardless."
With that, we continued navigating until we reached the end of the maze and found a large room, where a massive barrier blocked the hallway leading to the staircase.
----------------------------------------------------
This was getting ridiculous.
When it seemed like we could finally leave this floor without further trouble, the labyrinth just decided to spite us once again by placing a tremendous magic wall just a few feet away from the staircase to the next floor, as if proudly flashing a huge screw you sign right in our faces.
So much for a smooth escape.
Still, that's just the way it is.
Anyway, Perugius stepped towards the barrier without hesitation, placing his palm against its polished surface. The moment his hand made contact, faint ripples spread across the border like disturbed water, yet the structure itself didn't waver in the slightest.
He remained still for a few seconds before frowning.
"Is something wrong, My Lord?" Sylvaril asked, tilting her head.
"This barrier..." Perugius muttered, retreating his hand. "It's not something I've seen before."
Hearing that immediately caught my attention, so I asked, "What do you mean by that?"
"It's composed of extremely dense mana," he explained calmly. "So dense that even forcing a bypass would be futile, which means it rejects interference by design."
Of course, it was. I mean, it's a huge screw you sign after all.
Meanwhile, Sylvaril crossed her arms, looking troubled.
"But how did something like this end up here in the first place?" she pondered before shifting towards the familiars. "Almanfi, have you faced this barrier when you were returning from the third floor?"
"No," Almanfi denied, shaking his head. "I've never seen anything like this on the way down."
On the way down, he says? That made me wonder about something else.
"Hey, a little off-topic, but was there a teleportation circle on the third floor?" I blurted out. "If so, why didn't you use it to teleport back?"
"There was one," he confirmed. "But it was disabled shortly after I arrived, so I had no choice but to navigate through the third and fourth floors."
Ah, that explains why he was severely injured when he returned earlier.
"Settle down, everyone."
Before the conversation could spiral further, Perugius stepped in and raised his hand.
"Search the whole room for a mechanism. There should be one that disables this barrier."
"At once, My Lord."
All of the familiars bowed and dispersed, inspecting every inch of the chamber—walls, floors, torches, corners, and even individual bricks—moving with disciplined efficiency.
While they were searching, I glanced at Elinalise, who was silently observing. She hasn't said anything for the past several minutes, and her expression remains emotionless like a doll.
"Hey, are you doing alright?" I asked curiously.
She turned towards me and looked down. "I think so..."
"Don't worry," I reassured her. "We'll leave this labyrinth together in no time, okay?"
She nodded calmly, the faintest smile tugging at her lips.
Seeing that was a small miracle, and for now, that was enough.
"Lord Perugius, I found something!"
Suddenly, one of the familiars called out, snapping everyone's attention toward the far wall.
As we went over to take a look, a single brick had been pressed inward.
Ggggrrrrrrrgg—
With a soft grinding sound, a section of the stone wall slid apart, revealing a dark and narrow hallway beyond. At the far end stood a lone lever embedded into the stone.
But the hallway itself was blocked by another barrier.
Oh, come on! What is this now?
Seeing this obstacle made me frustrated, so I let go of Elinalise's hand and marched forward, clenching my fist.
"Alice, where are you going?" Perugius demanded.
I kept walking, pulling my arm back. "Giving this barrier a piece of my mind."
If this thing was going to block us again, I at least wanted to hit something.
"Take this, you—woah!"
My punch didn't collide with the barrier. Instead, my entire body passed through it.
"Oof!"
I stumbled forward and fell to the ground, blinking in disbelief as I pushed myself up.
"Alice!"
Just then, I heard Elinalise's voice shout my name, so I turned around and caught her running toward me. The moment she reached the barrier, however, her face slammed into it head-on, and she recoiled with a yelp, stumbling backward as if she'd collided with a solid wall.
"What?" I blurted out. "Why did it let me through, but not her?"
Perugius approached the barrier and inspected it closely, eyes narrowed.
"This one appears to be selective," he concluded. "It only allows certain individuals to pass."
"How could this be?" Sylvaril muttered, arms crossed. "Is it because she's the key?"
"Perhaps," Perugius replied, stroking his chin. "But if that were the case, Elinalise should have been allowed through as well."
The two wavered on the idea, clearly considering its implications, while the familiars stood by in tense silence.
Well. Someone had to say something.
"So.... um... Should I pull the lever now?" I asked, scratching my cheek.
Perugius lifted his gaze to meet mine. "Of course, but proceed with caution."
"Got it."
I got on my feet and walked down the narrow hallway, each step echoing softly as the barrier shimmered behind me. Reaching the far end, I wrapped my hand around the lever and pulled.
...
...
Nothing happened.
At least, nothing I could see from my side.
"Did it work?"
From beyond the hallway, Sylvaril poked her head from the side.
"Yes, the barrier is disabled. You can come back now."
I let out a relieved sigh and turned around.
But before I could walk halfway through, something happened.
Gggggrggg... Clang!
A metallic gate suddenly slammed down in front of the barrier, sealing me in.
"What? Hey!"
I rushed forward and slammed my hands on the gate, but it didn't budge.
"Wait, wait, wait! This isn't part of the plan!"
"Alice!"
On the other side, Elinalise froze, eyes wide.
"Get me out of here!" I protested, shaking the metallic bars.
"Calm yourself," Perugius commanded. "Panicking won't help you in this situation."
"Then what should I do?" I pressed anxiously.
"Search your surroundings," he suggested calmly. "There should be another route."
I swallowed hard and forced myself to breathe.
Alright... Calm down, Alice... Think...
I turned away from the gate and began tapping the bricks along the hallway walls, inspecting them one by one. Eventually—
Click.
One brick sank inward.
Ggggrrrrrrrgg—
With another grinding sound, part of the wall slid open, revealing a staircase inclining upward into darkness. Just looking at me sends a shiver down my spine.
"Did you find something?" Perugius demanded, his voice tinged with slight concern.
I hurried back to the gate and replied, "There's a staircase leading to the next floor."
"Good," he acknowledged. "Climb those stairs and call for us once you reach the top."
I hesitated, glancing at Elinalise once more. Her expression is a mix of anxiety and assurance.
"We'll catch up," she reassured, nodding at me.
I nodded in return, steeling myself. "Alright... see you later."
"You too," she reciprocated before returning to the group.
With that, I turned around and ascended the hidden staircase.
I don't know what's beyond these stairs, but I hope nothing bad will happen.