After a few minutes of hard running, Leo burst into a crossroad where three new paths opened like the spokes of a wheel. He didn't stop to think; the left one felt marginally safer, so he left a phantom there and sprinted into it. But barely a minute later, that path ended in a dead wall of dark myrtus-like plants, leaves pressed so tight they looked carved from shadow.
If the thing chasing him had been stronger, S rank instead of the B-rank beasts behind him, this would have been the moment he died. But the heavy footsteps of the three monsters had already faded far behind. His phantom at the crossroad still marched in a steady loop, buying him time and misdirecting anything smart enough to track him.
Now he could start his plan.
He sat on the cold, smooth ground and pulled two bracelets from his magic bag. They were plain at first glance, but he knew their weight would soon be anything but plain. Leo pressed mana into each one, weaving a Weight Enchantment of two-hundred and fifty pounds onto both. The runes along their edges flared for a heartbeat before settling into a faint, steady pulse.
Together, the combined weight reached five hundred pounds.
He slid them onto his wrists and activated them. Instantly, a heavy pressure settled into his arms, shoulders, spine. His body felt almost three times heavier, but his muscles held without shaking. It wasn't comfortable, but it wasn't enough to slow him down.
Then he placed his palm against the ground.
Lines of blood-red light unfurled from his hand, drawing themselves into an Explosion Trap beneath him. The spell circle expanded, ring after ring unfolding until five full layers of magic wrapped around the core. Much more advanced than his older traps, this design came straight from the knowledge he'd got during Obscurae.
He rose to his feet, wiping dust from his palm.
And that was when the walls began to move.
Not fast, but steady, like the maze was stretching, exhaling. Some sections slid inward, others slid away, paths closing or opening as if the labyrinth itself was shifting its intentions. The way behind him sealed shut. The plant-wall folded over the exact patch where he'd laid his trap, hiding it completely.
Leo focused and felt for the spell. A faint thrum answered him from beneath the living wall.
Good. It was still there. On his opposite side, a new passage creaked open.
"So the maze wants to change." He let a slow grin form. "Classic."
Before taking a single step, he layered his defenses. First his two vision spell, one sharpening every life force in the dim maze-light, the other letting him sense heat. Then he wrapped himself in False Aura, smothering his magical presence until it was barely more than a whisper.
Next came the illusion. A faint distortion shimmered around him, blurring his exact position to anyone watching. After that, he created two phantoms, each a convincing echo of himself, and set one to walk several meters ahead, the other several meters behind. Moving decoys, breathing illusions, enough to make any ambushers hesitate.
This place was lethal, and he wasn't going to give it a clean shot at him.
He walked for several minutes, listening to the faint rustle of the maze walls and the steady footfalls of his phantoms.
Then shapes appeared ahead.
Two more monsters stepped into view, twenty meters tall, four-armed, black-skinned, identical to the one he'd cut down earlier.
And a smile curved across Leo's face.
"The training has begun."
...
Arthur, Briva, and Elna stood at the forest's edge, watching the treeline breathe in their own light. The air felt heavy, as if the woods were holding their own kind of silence for Leo.
"Let's go," Arthur said.
Briva didn't move. Her gaze slid toward Elna, unsure. "We could stay a few more minutes."
Arthur's voice dropped. "Every minute out here gives Leo hours... maybe days. He's getting stronger fast. If we don't keep up, he'll leave us behind."
Elna turned toward them with a small, steady smile. "You're right. Let's go."
"Are you sure?" Briva asked.
She nodded once. "Leo's trusting this place with us."
That was enough.
Together, they turned away from the forest and started the walk back toward the City of Hope. The trees behind them swayed, like they were closing the moment and sealing it away for good.
...
Leo pulled his sword free from the giant's corpse and dropped down from its massive body. Behind him, a long trail of slain monsters stretched into the dim distance. Days had passed like this. Endless fighting. No sleep, not even a moment to close his eyes. That was another problem he would eventually have to deal with.
But his purpose in the Maze hadn't changed. As he pushed deeper, he trained both his physical strength and his mana pool, especially the mana he needed for the creation spell. And above all, he worked to master his transformation.
It had always triggered alongside his domain. But now he understood that the domain wasn't actually the source. It only pushed him in the right direction. The summon could become something far greater than a simple transformation. If he could shift forms without relying on it, it would be a massive advantage.
Lost in thought, he almost didn't notice the next monsters approaching. Two hulking figures stepped into view. Leo pointed his sword at them.
"You're too weak to defeat me."
As the words left his mouth, the blade began to extend, metal stretching and lengthening in a smooth, fluid motion. Within seconds, the tip pierced straight through both monsters' skulls. Leo pulled downward, slicing them cleanly in half with almost no resistance.
He continued onward, walking for another half hour before reaching a crossroads that branched into three other paths. He picked one and followed it. Only a few minutes passed before a massive heat signature flickered into his vision.
He didn't hesitate. Blood wrapped around his sword, and he launched a blood slash forward.
A second later, the blood slash collided with an incoming fireball. The two attacks met mid-air and detonated in a burst of heat and pressure. A wave of scorching air rolled over Leo, stinging his eyes.
From the darkness ahead, a shape emerged. The creature stepped into view like a vision born straight from a volcanic dream. A colossal lizard-like beast, sculpted from fire and earth, its body was all dense muscles sheathed in scales the color of cooled magma. They were dark and stone-like, but cracked through with glowing lines of orange and gold, each pulse revealing the molten heat circulating beneath its skin. Every movement made those cracks flare brighter, like the beat of a living lava heart.
Its head carried the sleek, predatory angles of both dragon and salamander, long, fierce and dangerous. A mane of open flame arched from its skull and down its spine, swaying and snapping with every breath it took. Its eyes burned like molten gems, bright and intelligent, yet unmistakably wild. Fire dripped continuously from its jagged maw, splattering against the ground in hissing sparks.
Its limbs were thick and powerful, tipped with talons that looked carved from volcanic glass. Despite its size and weight, the beast moved with unnerving grace, a predatory rhythm mixed with the slow, regal confidence of something ancient. Heat rippled from its body in shimmering waves, warping the air around it, making its outline flicker like a desert mirage.
It was beautiful. And horrifying.
Two phantoms appeared at Leo's sides and charged toward the monster. They moved as fast as he did, darting across the ground in perfect sync, their forms rippling faintly like specter in the dim light. In seconds they reached the massive creature and leapt from opposite angles to strike.
The lizard narrowed its molten eyes. Heat rippled across its scales, and in the next instant, a wave of scorching air burst outward, an explosive surge of fire and pressure powerful enough to obliterate both phantoms instantly.
Leo didn't flinch. He hadn't expected them to survive.
He was an illusionist, and against monsters that lacked true human intelligence, phantoms were more than weapons, they were instruments of study. Each one acted as a decoy, a probe to reveal weaknesses, to test reaction speed, to measure how the enemy's instincts functioned under pressure.
From within the fading remnants of the phantoms, two Frost Traps materialized and detonated. Blue-white light burst through the air, coating the creature's body in a shock of freezing energy, a seamless blend of Leo's illusion and enchanting skills.
Normally, he had never learned Frost Trap before. But after gaining all that knowledge, countless spells came to him naturally. Now it wasn't a matter of knowing a spell, it depended entirely on the shape of his soul.
His soul had formed along the illusion path, and that alignment governed everything. If he wanted to use more complex enchantments, he had to pour in more mana, to force the enchantment rule itself, to bend to his will.
It was also why the structure of the soul was so important. The path a person chose early on shaped not only their power but their limits.
Fortunately, Leo's frequent use of enchantments had molded his soul to accommodate both paths, illusion and enchantment, letting him weave the two together with remarkable ease.
The monster roared beneath the blast of frost and ice. The flames along its body dimmed, its molten glow fading as frost clung to its scales. For a brief moment, the creature's heat faltered… then, slowly, it reignited, fire bursting through the cracks once more.
Leo observed in silence, eyes narrowing as he gauged its resilience. After a quick estimation of its strength, he moved.
The giant lizard fixed on his advance, opening its molten jaws as fire gathered deep within. It was a simple breath attack, but Leo had no intention of underestimating his opponent.
He leapt forward, Thorn shifting in his grip midair, metal twisting and folding until the sword became a massive mace, its head bristling with jagged blades that caught what little light the maze offered. The beast tensed, molten eyes following his movement. To its perception, Leo was still too far away to interrupt the incoming fire breath. The glow within its throat brightened, heat rippling outward in violent waves.
Then Leo blurred.
In a blink, the space between them vanished. One heartbeat he was ten meters away, the next, he was directly in front of the monster's face, close enough to see the molten veins pulsing beneath its scales.
The creature's eyes widened in sudden shock, but it didn't falter. Fire surged inside its maw, seconds from release.
Leo's lips moved in a whisper. "Dream."
The single word carried power. The monster's focus wavered, its mind caught in a momentary haze. Its eyelids flickered, its thoughts tangled in confusion. For just an instant, the act of breathing fire slipped from its control.
That was all Leo needed.
Thorn came down like a meteor. The air cracked with the sound of impact as the mace, empowered by Weight Enchantment, slammed into the beast's skull. The blow drove the creature into the ground with crushing intensity.
The maze trembled. Dust and fragments of glowing scale scattered as the lizard collapsed, its body shuddering once before falling still. The molten light in its eyes dimmed, flickered once, and finally went out.
Leo landed beside it, Thorn already reshaping itself into its usual blade form with a soft metallic hum. He exhaled slowly, eyes scanning the corpse.
'Too direct,' he thought. 'If I keep relying on raw strength, I'll stray from the illusion path… and burn through my mana too fast. I need balance.'
He sheathed Thorn and reached into his bag, pulling out a small, worn notebook. Kneeling beside the fallen creature, he conjured a faint illusion above the page, a translucent image of the monster as it had looked before the fight, and began sketching over it.
Each line of his drawing was clean, efficient, but filled with quiet fascination. He noted its features, its heat pattern, even the way the light had moved beneath its skin.
It wasn't just record keeping, it was a hobby. A way to study, to refine… and to keep his mind anchored in this endless, shifting labyrinth.
By the time he closed the notebook and stood, his expression had steadied again.
One more monster down. Countless more waiting.
And Leo walked on, deeper into the Maze of Madness.