With the Saintess's speech now finished, a crackling tension filled the air. Some youths shifted uneasily, glancing toward each other, evidently worried about who would be on their team.
Nico was among that sizable group. He was afraid of being paired up with someone who had a similar personality to Lucas.
If his time in the Training Camp was any sign to live by, his experience in the Ceremony would be nothing short of hell if that were to be the case. Well, a larger one on top of having to battle the Ferocious Demons in the Dungeon, anyway.
A tense sigh escaped Nico's lips. He looked to his right and found Leon doing his best to suppress his own anxiety.
'Hopefully, we run into each other first.'
Since they had fought side by side with each other before, they already had a small understanding of how the other fought. If it was any of the other members of the team, Nico and Leon would have to adjust around where their peers' strengths lay. And quickly, at that.
Their very lives depended on it, after all.
Shaking his head, Nico watched a few of the guards take a couple of steps to the side and bang the butt of their spears on the ground. Silence instantly occupied the chamber thereafter.
Motioning for the nearest youths to step forward and enter the portal, the guards had stern expressions on their faces. One that only added to the gravity of the situation.
Reaching for the wooden charm around his neck, Nico took a deep breath to calm his fraying nerves.
'Lend me your strength, Father.'
Eventually, it was time for him and Leon to enter.
Staring at the pale blue, writhing portal, Nico couldn't help the shiver that crawled down his spine. He gritted his teeth, and spared the half-blood one last look, before the rift swallowed his lean figure, ushering him inside a new realm.
***
As soon as the spatial transfer finished, Nico focused his mind on the tether and summoned his spear. The trident-like weapon swiftly manifested, glinting lightly in the gloom.
A guarded expression appeared on his face, as he scrutinised his surroundings intently.
The brown-haired boy found himself in what appeared to be a narrow corridor. Nico's eyes examined every inch of the space, his pupils gradually adjusting to the low light. The ground was strangely smooth, yet the walls were jagged and rough.
Several stalactites hung from the ceiling, casting specks of pale, ethereal light that littered the passageway below.
Nico exhaled, his breath clouding over in front of his face.
'Cold.'
He shivered slightly, then grimaced a moment later. His nose registered a putrid, rotting, mildewy scent. One that was all around him… like a sort of cancerous mist that hung in the air, a macabre reminder of the place he now found himself in.
Scanning his surroundings once more and finding no immediate danger, Nico spared a peek at his wrist. There, he spied another transformation that had taken hold of the bracelet.
Where the numeral depicting the number two had been, was now a small holographic map that blinked with several red dots on it. The closest one was not too far away.
'Not too bad, I guess.'
Pinching the holographic projection with two fingers, Nico enlarged the map, finding one dot a fair bit north from his position, another south, and the final one to the east.
The nearest crimson mote was to the west.
Peering closer, the boy discovered a large crimson circle displayed at the very north of the map.
'The Dungeon Core.'
Studying the holographic chart a little longer, Nico gleaned that the structure of the Dungeon was like a labyrinth. It was like one whole convoluted knot of twisting corridors. Some passageways were short, some were long, some were curved, and some were straight.
Others had side passages merging them together.
He felt dizzy just by looking at it all.
Massaging his eyes, Nico pondered for a moment.
'I should head over to the dot in the west.'
With a course of action now decided, Nico adjusted his bearings and began walking, his eyes searching through the dim gloom for any danger.
He did his best to breathe with no noise, as well as to reduce the effect of his breath misting over in front of his face.
Spear in hand, the brown-haired boy idly wondered what type of creatures inhabited this bastille. Based on the stalactites and frigid environment, he surmised them to have an affinity for the cold, or at least be adapted to such an environment.
Enough for them to move freely and at ease.
Unlike him.
Already, Nico could feel the cold try to worm its way through the tiny gaps where his armour did not fully cover his body.
'Blasted Fates!'
He would have to summon another garment to wear once he had met up with the first member of his team. After all, it would not do if a Demon suddenly ambushed him while he was stripping his armour to get warmer.
He much preferred to change with someone on guard. That way, he had less risk of being gutted.
Nico smirked at the thought.
A few minutes passed uneventfully. So far, he had not come across any Demon, nor a sign of any other living creature in this place. The corridor he had been travelling through seemed to be endless as well.
'Didn't they say the Awakening Ceremony was one of the toughest challenges a person our age could face? So far, I've seen none of that.'
Just as he'd finished that train of thought, a rumbling sound echoed through the Dungeon, causing the ground to shake. Nico staggered, caught off-guard by the abrupt development.
The walls creaked as if a massive force was uplifting them. A couple of stalactites, a meter long, fell from the ceiling, shattering on impact as they collided with the ground.
The boy sucked in a cold breath. He had just narrowly avoided being skewered.
Once the shaking subsided, Nico scanned his immediate vicinity with a greater sense of urgency. Something about this rumbling unsettled him greatly.
Finding nothing, he released a silent sigh of relief and glanced at his wrist.
Nico's expression instantly froze.
'W-What?!'
Stunned, Nico just stood there, his jaw slack with disbelief. The source of his incredulity blinked back at him as if counting down his doom.
'How can this be?'
The map on the bracelet was telling him he was in a completely different location to the one he had been in a few seconds before.
How he had got there, he had no idea.
Unless…
Nico's eyes narrowed, his expression turning grave.
What if the layout of the Dungeon changed in random intervals, never staying the same for an extended period? But, if that were the case, why hadn't the Saintess and the Descender Association said anything?
Surely, they didn't expect them to not only battle against the Ferocious Demons of this Labyrinth but also somehow reach the Core of the Dungeon in a tumultuous and ever-shifting environment.
Unless… this was also a part of their trial… and they had picked this specific dungeon for this very purpose.
'Blasted Fates! I shouldn't have jinxed it…' Nico showed a bitter smile.
Sighing, he peered closer at the map, finding to his good fortune and surprise, that he was actually very close to one of his teammates.
In fact, if he took a few turns and used one of the side passages, he estimated it wouldn't take long to reach their position.
The only downside, though, was that he was much further south of his original location, which also meant he was much further away from the Core.
'I'll worry about the Dungeon Core later. First, I need to reach 'them' before the Labyrinth shifts again…'