Ronald walked into the unknown path, and all he could see was darkness. 'I can't see anything. Where am I heading to?' Ronald waved his hand around, hoping he could find something while calling out to Rona. "Rona! Rona! Where are you?" But there was no response. 'Where could she be?' Ronald cautiously moved forward. "Hmm?" He felt uneasiness as he felt something was watching him. His mind was telling him to run away quickly, but he refused. "Not until I find Rona."
Ronald continued forward and arrived at a small cave. The cave looked completely empty and abandoned. There were cord webs around the cave. Ronald looked around and touched the walls of the cave. "What is a cave doing in the middle of the maze?" Ronald walked around the cave. "I don't see any sign of any living form living here. Rona, too."
Zzzt.
Ronald heard something from above and looked up. He was horrified by what he saw. Huge spider webs and many cocoons hanging in the air.
"Is this a spider den?" Ronald backed a few steps in fear.
"Don't tell me Rona is inside one of those cocoons. What am I going to do?" Ronald looked at the spider webs connected to the cocoons and the walls. Ronald nodded.
"I can do this. It's just simple rock climbing. No big deal."
Ronald placed his hand on his head. Suddenly, he recalled one of his awful memories of falling off a tree and injuring his head. Ronald remembered he wanted to save a cat that was stuck on top of a branch. He climbed up the tree and managed to save the cat, but when he was descending, he misplaced his feet, which caused him to slip and fell with his head hitting the ground first. His head was bleeding a lot, and several of his bones were broken. He couldn't move and was having trouble breathing. A passerby saw the incident and immediately called an ambulance. He was sent to a nearby hospital and had a few stitches on his head. Ever since then, he was afraid of heights.
"It's okay. Everything will be fine. Just don't look down." Ronald began climbing the wall. Within a few minutes, he reached the first cocoon. "Looks like my climbing skill hasn't gone rusty." He looked at his shaky hands and legs, he told himself. "It'll be fine. Face your fear. Now, what's more important is Rona's life."
Ronald breathed in and out. When he felt more stable, he reached his hand out to tear the cocoon.
"WAAA!" Ronald screamed when he saw a human lying unconscious inside the cocoon.
"That almost gave me a heart attack. I expected this, but it's more horrifying after actually seeing it." He looked up.
"How do I get him down safely?" Ronald touched the wall and said.
"This might work." Ronald clenched his fist and smashed the wall.
A big hole was formed, and he said. "Okay, time to move them into the hole. I'll pick them up when I descend." Ronald took the boy out of the cocoon.
"Hmm? He looks familiar." Ronald recalled the pair standing on his right at the start of the maze. "It's him. No wonder he felt familiar." Ronald shoved him into the wall. "That does it. Onto the next one."
After tearing apart several cocoons, he still couldn't find Rona. "There's a few more left. I hope Rona is safe." A huge monster crept from above while he was tearing the spider webs apart. Ronald felt a sudden movement from above.
He looked up and saw a huge spider crawling out from the shadow. "S-spiders...?" The spider reared up and spat silk at Ronald. Ronald quickly dodged the attack and nearly lost his grip.
"That was close. I almost fell."
The spider jumped towards Ronald, but Ronald couldn't react in time and was pinned down by the spider. The spider bared its fangs and began attacking Ronald.
Ronald dodged its venomous fangs but was finding it hard to dodge after some time. "Gah... I need to deal with the spider before it stabs me and injects venom into me."
While resisting the spider, Ronald saw a sword at one of the victim's waists, just below him. "I hope it'll work."
Ronald raised his feet and kicked the spider away. The spider lost its grip and screamed. Ronald began slipping down and quickly reached out to grab onto the victim's leg. Ronald looked down and said. "It works."
Ronald climbed onto the body and took the sword from the victim. "Okay, let's go down in one piece." Ronald successfully slid down the wall.
Meanwhile, the spider was furious and rushed towards Ronald. Ronald dodged to the side. He raised the sword and threw it at the spider as hard as he could. The sword sliced through and killed the spider. "I did it! Woohoo!" Ronald cheered. Then Ronald realized, "Oh right! Rona!" Ronald climbed back up and tore the remaining cocoons. "None of them are Rona? If so, where is she?"
Step. Step. Sniff.
Ronald heard a noise from the entrance. He turned towards the entrance and saw Rona holding a little crying girl's hand. Rona looked up and smiled. "Ronald! You're here!"
Ronald stared at Rona. "...She... Haiz..." Ronald climbed down while carrying the rest of the victims.
Rona tilted her head. "Who are they?"
"There are the contestants. They were trapped by the spider over there." Rona looked at the dead spider and shaped her mouth like an 'O'.
Ronald looked at the crying child. "Who's this?"
"Don't know, but she was crying, so Rona thought maybe Rona could help somehow. Rona did good, right?"
Ronald smiled and patted Rona's head. "Ya. You did, but next time, tell me first before you run off somewhere."
"Ronald was looking for Rona? Thanks, Ronald. Hehe."
Ronald placed a few bodies over his shoulder. "Let's go back now. Help me carry these people as well."
Rona nodded and picked up a few bodies. Then, the three of them exit the cave and safely arrived back at the maze.
Ronald looked around and said. "The maze changed again."
Rona sniffled. "I can smell Isaac."
Ronald looked confused. "Smell?"
Rona nodded and said. "Follow me." Ronald held the little girl's hand and followed Rona.
[Llyne's side]
Little green slime kept happily bouncing on my head. "Bluuu!"
I laughed. "Ouish! Are you happy that we are going on an adventure?"
"Blu!"
"Me too. Hopefully, we can find your mom too. What does she look like?"
"Blu, blu... Blu!"
"Big green slime? So, a bigger version of you?"
"Blu!"
"Ok, then. We should find your mom as well. Wouldn't want her to be worried."
After walking for some time, I sat on the ground to take a break. "Oui... I think we covered the entire maze already. I even found the centre of the maze, but we still couldn't Isaac and the rest as well as your mom."
"Blu..."
"You don't think your mom might be on the fifth level, right?"
"Blu~"
"Will never know till we reach the fifth level. I wonder where my friends are, though... Oh, ya. Do you remember where's the centre of the maze is?"
Tiny slime kept silent. "..."
"Oh well... We just got to find it again." I got up and stretched my back. "Let's continue our adventure."
Tiny slime excitedly jumped down from my head. "Hmm? What's wrong?"
"Blu!"
"You want to lead? Sure, but don't get squashed."
Tiny slime nodded and hopped forward while I followed it from behind. As we turned a corner, I saw a human-shaped shadow. 'Is it Isaac? But it's too big to be Isaac... Is it Dan?' The tiny slime turned the corner, and I screamed. "Wa-"
Splat.
Before I could stop the tiny slime, the tiny slime got squished. The slime's body got splattered everywhere. I squatted down and gathered the remaining of the tiny slime onto my palm. "Oh, little slime. How could this happen to you...? Oh... I should have said something sooner, but now you're gone. You can't see your mother now. It's all my fault." The slimes started wiggling on my palm. "Hmm? This looks familiar." The slimes combined and tiny slime came back alive. "Tiny slime!" I hugged tiny slime, and tiny slime jumped in joy. I kissed the tiny slime. "Aww~ You still look so cute even after getting squashed..." Tiny slime squirmed. "Blu!"
Then I heard a familiar sound. "Eww... That slime just got stepped on, and you kissed it? So, unhygienic." I looked up and saw Isaac, Rona, and Ronald.
Ronald scratched his head and apologized to tiny slime. "Sorry, I didn't mean to step on you." Tiny slime jumped onto Ronald's head. "Blu!"
Ronald looked at me. "What did tiny slime say?" I pouted. "Tiny slime said it's fine." I looked away. 'So you found someone taller than me, then you jump on their head. Hmph!'
Isaac stared at me. 'She must be thinking nonsense stuff again...'
Rona looked at all of us and giggled. "Rona happy we are all together again!"
We looked at each other and smiled. I grabbed Isaac, Rona, and Ronald. "Group hug!" Isaac screamed. "Personal space! Personal space!"