Ashen studied the sealed wall behind Eokimo silently.
Then he sighed once.
"The labyrinth changed faster than expected."
Eokimo stared at him.
"You say things like you've been here before."
"In a labyrinth trial?"
Ashen looked toward the dark tunnels.
"No."
That somehow answered absolutely nothing.
The growling sound echoed again.
Closer this time.
Eokimo immediately tightened his grip on his weapon.
"…Tell me that's another candidate."
"It isn't."
"Great."
The blue cracks along the walls flickered strangely now.
Some brightened.
Others dimmed completely.
Ashen suddenly looked down at the crystal lantern hanging from Eokimo's belt.
"Check the light."
Eokimo raised it slightly.
The blue glow inside the lantern had started turning purple.
"…That seems bad."
"It is."
Ashen's voice became sharper now.
"We need to move."
"For once, I fully agree with you."
The two immediately headed down the forward tunnel.
The corridor narrowed as they moved deeper into the labyrinth.
The air became colder.
Not naturally cold.
Heavy cold.
The kind that settled directly into your chest.
Eokimo noticed something else too.
The walls were changing.
At first he thought it was his imagination.
But no.
The stone itself shifted slightly when he wasn't looking directly at it.
Small movements.
Tiny distortions.
Like the maze was breathing.
"…Nope," he whispered.
Ashen glanced sideways at him.
"You notice it too."
"Too?!"
Before Ashen could answer—
A loud scream echoed through the corridors ahead.
Human.
Short.
Cut off instantly.
Eokimo stopped moving.
Ashen didn't.
"We keep going."
Eokimo looked at him sharply.
"Someone just died."
"Probably."
"…Probably?!"
Ashen's expression didn't change.
"If we stop every time someone dies in the labyrinth, we won't survive long enough to help anyone."
Eokimo hated how logical that sounded.
They continued deeper.
The corridor eventually opened into a massive circular chamber.
Eokimo froze immediately.
The room was enormous.
Towering pillars stretched upward into darkness.
Ancient symbols covered the floor in overlapping rings.
And in the center—
A giant stone door.
Chains wrapped around it.
Black chains.
Dozens of them.
Eokimo frowned.
"…What is this place?"
Ashen's eyes narrowed slightly.
"A sealed route."
"You know what that is?"
"I've heard stories."
That sentence alone irritated Eokimo now.
Stories.
Rumors.
Hints.
Nobody in this world ever explained things normally.
Then Eokimo noticed something near the pillars.
Bodies.
Three candidates.
Dead.
No visible wounds.
Their expressions were frozen in pure terror.
Eokimo slowly approached one carefully.
"…What killed them?"
Ashen crouched beside another body.
Then his expression changed slightly for the first time.
"…Their markers."
Eokimo looked down.
The Safe Marker hanging from the dead candidate's belt—
Was cracked.
A faint black substance spread across its surface.
Ashen stood immediately.
"We leave. Now."
That tone was different.
Urgent.
Eokimo instantly backed away.
"What happened?"
Ashen looked toward the chained stone door.
"The distortion reached this chamber already."
The lantern suddenly flickered violently purple.
Then—
The chains on the massive stone door moved.
Not much.
Just enough.
CLINK.
Eokimo froze.
"…Did that just—"
CLINK.
Another chain shifted.
The room temperature dropped instantly.
The blue cracks throughout the chamber dimmed one by one.
Darkness slowly spread across the floor.
Then the system appeared.
But this time—
The window was broken.
The text flickered violently.
[W̴A̶R̸N̶I̵N̷G̶]
[D̴I̴S̴T̴O̷R̴T̷E̴D̵ ̶Z̸O̷N̶E̸ ̵D̶E̴T̵E̷C̵T̶E̷D̷]
Eokimo stepped backward slowly.
"…Ashen."
Ashen's eyes remained fixed on the chained door.
"We run."
The chains snapped.
One.
By.
One.