"Fwoosh!"
Blazing flames lit up the metal walls, turning them bright red. The Virga clinging to the walls and ceiling let out shrill screams before being burned to ashes in an instant.
"Move! Pick up the pace!" Ryoji led the group from the front. He held a magic sword in each hand, torrents of raging flames pouring from their blades to incinerate every monster in their path. He wasn't the only one; nearly everyone behind him carried a magic sword as well, carving a path through the swarming monsters with overwhelming force.
"Where did you even get this many magic swords?" Unable to hold back his curiosity any longer, Gareth called out from behind.
"This isn't the time for that!" Ryoji shouted as he burned another wave of Black Cloaks charging at them. "Just don't push your magic swords to the limit! Once they're about halfway spent, throw them away and get a new one from me!"
Everyone nodded in agreement. Even though many of their enemies had once been human, Ryoji showed no mercy. They had already seen how terrifying they were as living bombs.
"This is bad! Crystal Spiders are catching up from behind!"
"Another new species?" Ryoji clicked his tongue.
He glanced back as the rapid clacking of countless legs echoed through the passage. Moments later, giant spiders nearly twice a person's height appeared behind them. Their bodies were as transparent as crystal, making the brilliant, rainbow-colored Magic Stones clearly visible inside their chests. Like the Man-Eating Flowers and Green Worms, they were new species born from the Corrupted Spirit. Unlike the heavily armored Man-Eating Flowers or the corrosive Green Worms, however, these Crystal Spiders specialized in speed. Once they caught up, the group would be surrounded from all sides with no chance of escape.
"Ais, cover the rear!" At his command, emerald-green wind surged forward. The golden-haired girl became a whirlwind of slaughter, shattering every Crystal Spider rushing from behind.
"Bete! Left at the next intersection!" Hearing the order, Bete's legs spun like giant blades, kicking every Crystal Spider blocking the way to pieces before turning down the left passage.
"Are you sure this route actually leads out?" Watching Ryoji's seemingly random directions, Gareth couldn't help but shout.
"I don't know! But I have a good feeling about it!" Busy clearing out the monsters Bete had missed, Ryoji shouted back without looking around.
"Fine! If you're wrong, I'll spank you when we get back!"
"I refuse! If anyone's doing that, it should be Riveria!"
'Sorry I'm not a beautiful elf,' Gareth grumbled to himself.
The large supply of spider silk they had prepared before the battle had already run out. Worse, the enemy seemed to have complete control over the labyrinth. One Orichalcum gate after another kept dropping into place, making their map completely useless. The entire maze had become like a giant honeycomb, filled with holes, detours, and dead ends.
"Alicia! Break those statues!"
"Got it!" Two arrows flew in succession, smashing the heads off the two statues ahead.
Leading the group forward without slowing down, Ryoji kept thinking. 'There are surveillance statues all over this labyrinth. There's no way they can monitor every single one of them. Even if they use the destroyed statues to trace our route, they'll always be at least one step behind us.' In other words, the enemy couldn't coordinate their attacks quickly enough to keep up. As long as they maintained this pace, they would eventually find an exit.
He glanced back at Raul. Finn's blood had nearly soaked Raul's entire back, and Finn's breathing was growing weaker by the second. There wasn't a moment to waste. 'We just need to find the exit.' To be honest, Ryoji was nervous himself. He was navigating almost entirely by instinct. If his intuition failed even once, they were finished.
'Boom!'
'Boom!'
Two deafening crashes rang out as two massive Orichalcum gates slammed down, casting the shadow of despair over the group once again.
"Can we really get out like this?" Raul's voice trembled. "If they just keep lowering every gate, we'll never escape!"
He was right. If every gate came down, they would become trapped like turtles in a jar. Without any way to open the gates, the Loki Familia had no hope of escaping the labyrinth. All the enemy had to do was lock them in one area. Without food or water, they'd eventually die without the enemy lifting another finger.
"At least that's not what's happening right now," Ryoji said, remaining calm. "The enemy wants to wipe us out themselves, so they've deployed their troops. That means there has to be at least one route left open for their own forces to move through!"
From what they had seen, the red gemstone engraved with the Type-D mark that Valletta carried was the key used to control the gates. But so far, none of the other enemies had been carrying one. That meant only a handful of executives possessed gate keys. If the vast majority of their forces didn't have keys, then after spreading them throughout the labyrinth to hunt the Loki Familia, the enemy couldn't possibly lower every gate at once.
"I-Is that really how it works?"
"Absolutely." Even if he wasn't completely certain, he had to sound completely confident. That's what Finn had always done. Now Ryoji could only force himself to do the same.
"Shouldn't we go through that room? It looks like a shortcut."
"No. Too dangerous." Without even looking inside, Ryoji immediately rejected Alicia's suggestion.
'Clack!'
'Clack!'
Suddenly, the floor panels beneath them slid open, revealing a bottomless pit. Another trapdoor!
"I've been waiting for this!" Ryoji threw the magic sword in his left hand. In an instant, the air turned freezing cold as a torrent of ice burst from the blade, instantly sealing the opening beneath them and forming a sturdy bridge of ice.
"Oh!"
"Amazing!" The entire group cheered at once.
So far, nothing unexpected had happened. Every crisis had been overcome almost immediately by Ryoji. 'This kid... he's really starting to look like a leader,' Gareth had to admit. At this moment, Ryoji had earned everyone's unconditional trust, just like Finn. That wasn't something Gareth himself could have done. Finn truly had an eye for people. If Ryoji told him to jump into a pitfall right now... he might actually do it.
"Jump into this pit!"
"..."
Before Gareth could even respond, Ryoji had already leaped into one of the trapdoors.
"Then I'll risk my old bones and follow you!" Taking a deep breath, Gareth roared and jumped in after him. The stunned members of the Loki Familia gritted their teeth and followed one after another. Even Bete turned back and jumped into the hole.
After wiping out the remaining monsters in pursuit, Ais arrived at the edge of the pit.
'Boom!'
But the next instant, a figure burst out like a ghost, swinging a black greatsword down at her with tremendous force!
(End of Chapter)
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