An hour had passed, and so far, Vale and the others hadn't encountered any obstacles except for a fork in the road.
On the other hand, Vale realized that as a wooden puppet, they didn't feel hunger or fatigue at all, so they could continue to search for the right path.
"Is it just me, or have we already passed this way?" Vale asked. He felt that the surrounding environment was very similar to the one they had passed a few minutes ago.
"I feel the same. Maybe we took the wrong path, let's try another one," suggested Colbert. This place was connected to seven different passages. They came here from one passage and took a different direction a few minutes ago. This meant that there were still five passages that had not been explored.
"It's all because of you, a commoner, trying to lead us. Let me lead the way this time," Yor interrupted the conversation suddenly.
What is this girl talking about?" Vale murmured, shaking his head confused. He took a step back and let Yor lead the way.
"Very well, lead the way, Lady," Vale said sarcastically.
"Good that you understand. Alright, we will go in this direction," Yor pointed to one of the passages they had not explored.
"Are you sure, Yor?"
"Are you doubting my ability, Colbert? Just follow me."
Led by the confident Yor, the four students from Midvalley Magus Academy continued their journey to find a way out of the maze. After ten minutes had passed, they returned to the same spot they were before.
"Ah! We're back here again," Brenda said.
"Shut up, lowly noblewoman!"
"Congratulations, Lady, you've led us back here," Vale taunted.
"This was just a minor mistake, let's try again," Yor said firmly, angry at Vale and Brenda. However, Colbert quickly stopped Yor.
"Stop, Yor. It's useless. I think there's no way out of this passage," Colbert said, adjusting his glasses.
Vale nodded quietly and said, "I think the same as you, but to make sure, let's split up and explore the remaining passages."
Vale had the same idea as Colbert. The exit from this maze might be hidden somewhere rather than being clearly visible like before. However, they needed to make sure of this first. So, Vale and the others split up to explore the four remaining passages.
Vale and Colbert were right. The four remaining passages also had no way out. They all led back to the previous room.
"There's no way out at all. How can we return to our original bodies? I'm afraid something bad will happen to our bodies if we leave them for too long," Colbert expressed his concern.
"This is all your fault! Colbert, if we're all going to die here, we might as well kill them with our hands," Yor once again expressed her anger towards Vale and Brenda. However, Colbert, Vale, and Brenda ignored Yor's words and considered them to be just hot air. They had heard the same thing many times before.
Meanwhile, Vale began to wonder, could the system really let him die here? Was it easy for the system to find a new host? Vale had no idea. He didn't know the system's objectives, so he couldn't guess its criteria for selecting a host.
In a few minutes, the mood had become quiet, and thoughts of death had crossed their minds. At that moment, Brenda, who had remembered something, suddenly asked, "Vale, if I'm not mistaken, didn't you bring that small glass ball?"
Brenda's words made Colbert and Yor turn their attention to Vale as well. They then remembered that Vale had indeed taken a small glass ball. Meanwhile, Vale had just recalled the object himself.
He then took out a small glass ball that emitted a soft light. Vale examined the glass ball carefully. Was this just an ordinary glass ball that could light up? He wondered. Shortly after, he remembered how Brenda had found a clue when they were first trapped in the initial room, where their real bodies were located.
Vale tossed the small glass ball to Brenda. "I didn't find anything, so I think you should check it out. Maybe you can find something."
Brenda nodded quietly. She immediately examined the glass ball carefully, trying to find a clue from it.
Ten minutes had passed, and Colbert and Yor had given up on paying attention to the glass ball. Vale also felt that there was no secret behind the glass ball, maybe the glass ball was just a prank placed by the person who made this maze. The only person still looking at the small glass ball was Brenda.
"How long are you going to look at that toy? That must be merely a prank prepared by the owner of this maze to deceive trapped rats like us," said Yor, who was tired of seeing Brenda keep staring at the glass ball.
However, a moment later, the intensity of the light on the small glass ball increased. Shortly after, the glass ball emitted mana or magic energy in the form of gas. The mana then flowed towards the ceiling of the maze.
"That glass ball is not a toy!"
"That small object is used to store mana?!"
"I shouldn't have doubted her, she really found something," muttered Vale. Brenda's perception was truly remarkable, she was probably very sensitive to mana. Because Vale himself could not feel the mana within the small glass ball.
At that moment, the mana flowing towards the ceiling caused hidden runes to glow. Then, a circular hole slowly opened.
"Is that our way out?"
"Finally!"
The four Midvalley Magus Academy students couldn't help but smile. The desperate situation had now disappeared thanks to Brenda's keen eye.
However, when they were happy, something fell from the hole. Vale's and the others' happy faces disappeared instantly. A 3-meter-tall full armor Knight appeared before them. The situation became even worse when three other full armor Knights fell from the hole.
One of the full armor Knights swung a large sword on his back. Vale tried to avoid the attack, but his puppet body made him less agile than usual. The attack successfully cut off his left puppet arm up to the elbow.
"Run!" Vale shouted.
The others immediately realized how grave the situation was. The four of them ran in different directions. The full armor Knights also dispersed, chasing after the four individuals in different directions. The desperate situation that had turned into hope once again became a situation that was even worse than Vale's and the others' initial situation.