When I opened my eyes, the first thing I saw was a face looking at me intently. Coming to my senses, I could see that it was Eirlys, who was holding me with her legs as a pillow.
When my sight and wits came back completely remembering the last thing that happened, I tried to get up, which was very easy. As I looked around, I could see that we were outside a temple.
As I looked around me. I saw the nine children around me looking at me, and immediately noticed where we were.
Although it varied from maze to maze, all eight mazes have in common that the reward location is the same. As I looked closer, I could see that it was a temple made of yellow-colored crystals that emitted sparks of lightning from time to time.
Interestingly, these lightning bolts did not harm us. I immediately realized that we had finished the maze. 'Was the last attack I made enough to finish the maze?'
According to the mission, the main objective was to prevent the invasion. Although there were still demons and monsters left, I guess during the time I was unconscious they were able to complete it.
"What happened?" I asked the guys to check what had happened.
"Yeah, boss, what happened is..."
Clayton explained to me that the moment I flew out and was falling, a large spear of light appeared where I was, hitting the goblin and ogre that were near the rift.
This caused a huge explosion that sent monsters and people alike flying. Even in the confusion, the leaders who had recovered led their armies to eliminate the remaining invaders.
On the other hand, Eirlys, along with her subordinates and the other guys, took advantage of this to go to where the explosion occurred and found me in a precarious state with my limbs shattered and my body scorched all over
. If it wasn't for the fact that I was still breathing, I was no better than a dead man. But, according to them, I began to heal myself, and for the next few hours, the battle continued until they killed the last monster then suddenly we began to transform into particles of light and suddenly appeared here, after a few seconds I woke up.
'Thanks, Lili,' I conveyed my thanks to the person who kept me alive.
['You still wouldn't have died for real.']
Lili responded, confirming my suspicions that she took control of my body and healed my wounds while I was unconscious and kept me alive until the scenario was completed.
In fact, one of the reasons I trust Lili completely is that from the first time we met, she had the ability to control me and turn me into her puppet with her traits, just as she does as the doopelganger.
Back then, I didn't have the will and holy traits that could prevent that, so it was until much later that I realized how vulnerable I was at the time.
['Besides, we needed to get the remaining energy out, and I don't like dying, even if it's not real.']
What I cast at the last moment was not a sixth level spell, but a seventh level spell, a low level Arcane Spell that is impossible for some three stars to cast. But what surprises me is that even that couldn't finish off the mana resulting from eating the six-star core.
In fact, I had understood the essence of the labyrinth at the last moment. If it wasn't for my strength, even if I had completed it, I didn't like how it was about to end.
If he hadn't intervened, from what I saw, Hayato would have used the artifact to sacrifice himself along with most of Tenjin's army to activate it and close the rift, while Kai would have been killed by Sakura, using his life as a sacrifice to activate the necklace and gain temporary power, and using the stone that gave him the advantage to defeat the orc.
Thus it would have ended and they would have established the concept of each realm perfectly. In my previous life, this maze took a long time to complete for the first time since discovering it, I was arrogant in believing I could do it the first time and on top of that be able to do side quests.
The reason I didn't let it finish naturally is not because I'm hungry for the rewards, but, at the time, the things going on, I felt, represented the things that drove mankind to extinction.
Even if it was just a maze, I felt it was a small representation of what happened in the past and I couldn't stand still. Never mind that it was a fictional scenario; standing by was something I had already done and deeply regretted. In the end, you could say I'm just being stubborn about some things, but this is what I chose to do, with no regrets, even if I died.
Moving my thoughts, I started walking towards the inside of the temple followed by the boys. As I walked, I looked at the walls with drawings depicting some kind of story. It varied from maze to maze, but they all started the same.
The first big picture was of a planet seen from space. It was an unfamiliar image to me, who saw actual maps of the world often. But according to historians, this is what our planet looked like 500 years ago. Back then it was called Earth and had six continents and there was no magic.
I kept walking and the next depiction showed how many people were surrounded by light as they rose up, with eyes looking down from the sky. According to what I heard, this was the moment when humans and animals began to awaken.
Theologians say these eyes are from the God of light who blessed us with awakening. The boys following behind me were looking at the walls in awe as I looked at the third painting, where the world was again, but this time with a more familiar image where the world had our current appearance, with only one continent called Neo-Pangea.
It is said that after the first awakening, after a few years, the continents began to move, causing chaos and death. This lasted about a hundred years, called the dark century, where the countries and kingdoms that existed at that time fell, creating new ones.
Borders blurred and another era began where humans who survived the destruction of the dark century fought against each other and the beasts. At that time, many countries and kingdoms were created and many fell.
I continued walking. Now the images usually started to look different between mazes, so I studied them, though I did not understand everything they showed before me. some even explained future events, where I see humans kneeling down asking the sky for help, but the heavens were empty.
I already knew this, although I had not cleared this labyrinth in my past life, I had delegated others, so I was not surprised that they told the future. I kept walking without stopping, taking pictures with the camera I took out of my tent to study later calmly. As I walked, I froze when I saw the last image of the wall.
"Th-this is it?"
In the mural I could see the figure of a man whose eyes were red, but had white hair with golden highlights, although he had no defined features, he exuded a unique aura.
He was standing holding a golden spear that seemed to glow, even if it was only a drawing. He was charging at a being that was not human and that I think I recognized. A shiver ran through my body, I couldn't take my eyes off the image.
"Lili, this is..." I lost my composure so much that I spoke to Lili out loud.
['Yes, it looks like that's you...how curious.']
"Lili, who's Lili, boss?"
"..."
I heard Clayton speak, but I didn't take any notice.
"But this picture is impressive. That light warrior looks powerful, boss. Gives off an imposing aura, doesn't it, boss...boss.... Boss!" Clayton started to shake me when he saw that I didn't answer him.
"... Ah! oh, it's nothing. Yeah, it looks great. For now, let's move on."
I took a picture of him and moved on. This left a lot of questions in me, but that's always happened. So, after regaining my wits, I just took a picture of it and moved on. In the center of the temple was a pedestal. I had done this before, so I went ahead and started thinking about what to choose. I put my hand on the sphere that was on the pedestal.