-Emilia Merwin's point of view.
"Haa... Haa... Haa..."
Emilia's chest rose and fell as her mana was depleted. Her body trembling with exhaustion, she looked at the entire sight in front of her.
Several wraith bodies lay on the ground, while a viscous black colored liquid emanated from every part of their bodies.
Quite a powerful scene.
However, Emilia didn't mind.
She had seen this kind of thing before, and besides, they were monsters.
What if it's human?
Although she had high mental strength, it was still difficult to see monster bodies, and it would be much more complicated to see the human bodies of dead people.
As her breathing continued to hitch, her exhaustion reached such a point that she fell backwards.
Sitting on the ground, she took a deep breath and then let the air out of her lungs as she tried to calm herself.
"Haa..."
"This is..."
She looked up at the twilight sky, it looked like a sunset, but with several colors at the same time.
"Where are the others?"
Emilia wondered as she looked around.
Suddenly, she had come to a different area and had separated from the others.
At first, she noticed that the others were gone, and when she looked again, in an instant she had reached another place without even noticing.
She was disoriented.
Lost somewhere in the maze.
Of course, it wasn't that she really couldn't find a way out.
The solution was to look for someone else, but where?
Emilia looked at her watch.
According to Professor Oriana, this watch had a witch on it.
However, Emilia had a little problem.
"Uh... How do I use this?"
Emilia looked with slight confusion at the witch.
However, no matter how much she looked at it, she did not understand its use.
"If I were... Julian... I suppose it's best to look for someone."
For the moment, Emilia would look for the others.
The problem was...
"W-Why... there are fifteen paths?"
After coming to an area, she saw fifteen paths, all together, side by side, in a row, though they led along a narrow path.
Emilia looked curiously.
Which one?
In labyrinths it is common to find several paths at the same time.
Each leads to a different place, some to dead ends, while others lead to the exit or even to traps.
Finding traps in a sprawling maze, full of monsters and mana beasts, was difficult.
"Well... I'll go for the middle one."
Then he walked.
He kept looking at the straight path.
However...
"Grrrrrrrraaaarghh-KKRRRRRRAAAA!"
It wasn't the roar of a monster.
Emilia knew immediately what it was.
"It's... a mana beast."
Although she had not yet reached the location of the roar, Emilia knew immediately.
While the roars of monsters are high-pitched, the roars of beasts are clearer and more sonorous than normal.
They usually have a roar with which they can stun any mage or monster, although, like monsters, mana beasts are also divided into "degrees of power".
But Emilia wasn't sure.
It would be risky to go after the mana beast.
She was currently depleted of mana; if she fought a mana beast, she would lose indefinitely.
Emilia then reached the end of the path.
The labyrinth had these large, clear square-shaped areas, as if they were made to fight monsters.
Ever since they entered here, Emilia had felt something strange.
Most peculiar was the sudden change of location that occurred.
However, what if it was some kind of illusion?
"It's possible."
"The dungeon has large amounts of mana."
Especially because of the amount of monsters and mana beasts that are supposed to be in higher ranked dungeons, such as grade 3 minimum.
However, what are mana beasts doing in a grade 9 dungeon?
"Those in dungeon management should know this."
In fact, Dungeon managers check these first, before allowing cadets to enter them.
So why wasn't the information about the mana beasts there?
However, Emilia could not believe it.
Soon she reached the end of the road.
It was then that a deafening roar stunned Emilia, echoing close by.
Grrrrrrrraaaarghh-KKRRRRAAAA!
In an instant, she covered her ears with mana, which flowed from her body and quickly enveloped her.
The way to avoid the paralyzing roar is to cover yourself with mana.
Then, Emilia approached.
Her eyes soon widened at the towering mana beast in front of her.
The mana seemed to evaporate from the creature's body.
At that moment, she could not react, but her eyes did not leave the mana beast.
But...
"It's... unbelievable."
***
-Scene change.
-Moon Hazard's point of view.
Bursting.
Crackle.
Ice crystals fell like a storm to the ground as the Wraiths were taken out with ease.
They were not that difficult to deal with, but just like the others, their numbers were overwhelming.
Luna felt that these Wraiths were too many.
As far as she knew, these monsters walked in groups, but the biggest problem was that she had no idea how many she faced.
It looked like an army.
A huge wave of Wraiths.
Their black arms were moving rapidly toward her.
At that instant, the hand of one of them brushed past her cheek.
"If they touch me, I will be poisoned," she thought.
The ability of these monsters was poisoning.
Once the poison entered the body, the nervous system was completely paralyzed.
The next thing was simple.
You would be devoured by the Wraiths while paralyzed by their poison.
Luna frowned.
Despite being on the edge, she continued to fight.
Moving quickly, Luna coated her arms with mana, which turned to ice, and struck a Wraith.
She slid across the ground, as it froze, and threw several spears; ice crystals scattered all over the place.
Propelling himself into the air, he ran faster and held two ice spears in his hands, moving them with agility.
Whoss!
Clank!
Several Wraiths fell.
He swung his torso, then his arms, and threw one of his ice spears in a straight line.
Starburst!
In an instant, an explosion resounded and a mountain of ice erupted as everything in its path froze.
Moving quickly, Luna released crystals from her hands.
Several Wraiths were pierced by these crystals, falling dead to the ground with ease.
The air hissed as a wave of ice erupted from Luna and swept over the Wraiths, cutting them in half. Luna finally stopped moving.
Surveying the battlefield, she thought:
"Haaa...."
She finally sat down on the ground, contemplating the strewn bodies and everything frozen in her path.
He sighed heavily.
"This is exhausting."
"I don't understand how I got lost."
Not long ago he had been at Gloriana's side, but like the others, he appeared elsewhere.
"Asher was right... This maze is strange," she remembered.
"There's something weird about the maze. It looks like the boss can modify it as he pleases. It's best that we stay together, since the others were separated from us as well," he recalled Asher's words before getting lost.
He reflected for a moment.
If that was true, it would not be impossible to get out of the labyrinth.
But it wasn't easy either.
Luna knew that.
Although the maze changed shape seemingly every so often, it had already changed twice in the last hour.
Knowing this, it was useless to fight the maze if it kept changing its position.
But...
When did it all start?
From the beginning, the maze had been strange, and Asher had noticed it when he warned the others.
Of course, it wasn't that they hadn't heard him.
The biggest problem was that it all happened so fast. Luna didn't understand why, if the maze changed every hour, there had to be a limit.
But what would it be?
Her question echoed in her head as she remembered Asher's words.
Still, she couldn't find a clear answer.
The priority at the moment was to keep moving forward until he reached the end of the maze, where the fog was.
The problem was the constant shifting.
If you moved from the place where you were, you would have to start a new path as quickly as possible.
Then, Luna thought.
"If the maze changes shape, it's possible that it will lead me straight to the exit."
It was a great idea.
Although she still wasn't sure if that would actually happen.
At best, it would.
But it was also possible to fall somewhere extremely dangerous in the maze.
Knowing the size of the place, it was obvious that it was still far from the exit.
Luna's idea was simple: let the maze itself guide her to the exit. If there was no way out or it was not possible to find it, then she would let the maze itself expel her. It had to be logical. If it wasn't, Luna would use the return stone. There was no other option. If there was no way out, she would use the return stone.
The biggest problem was where she would get to when the labyrinth changed again. At best, it would be somewhere near the exit. But...
"No, it's also possible."
It was risky to gamble on something like that, so he dismissed that option for the time being. The only plan, and the most logical thing to do at this point, would be to let the maze guide Luna to the exit.
"Well, then..."
Suddenly, as Luna looked around, she realized she was in a different place. It was darker and there were tall trees. Soon she turned her head and saw a fog advancing rapidly towards her. By instinct, she covered herself with mana just as the fog enveloped her.
"Harg..."
"W-what is this?"
He felt as if he couldn't breathe, as if an invisible hand was squeezing his neck, preventing him from inhaling. Then, he channeled his mana into his lungs and airways, and finally....
"Haa..."
He breathed rapidly, as his chest rose and fell and his heart pounded. He was on the verge of choking to death.
"Haa... This was dangerous, but..."
He looked around, and a smile appeared on his face, with some excitement as he realized where he was, or at least what he appeared to be.
"I'm at the exit," he muttered, as he looked at the incredibly dense fog that surrounded his entire field of vision. The fog reached even the clouds and stretched across the entire place, forming a radius that encompassed almost half of the labyrinth. In front of it, there was a forest with tall trees.
However, what caught her attention the most was up ahead: a huge structure that stood majestically.
"That's it... a ruined castle."
Seeing everything before her, she knew immediately that this was the location of the dungeon boss. Her idea had been correct: the answer to getting out of the maze was simply to let the maze itself lead you out.
Now, the concern was whether the others would have come to the same conclusion.
"Asher will be fine, though," he thought.
But the others were a problem. Gloriana was with Asher, though the maze might have separated them. While the others were also somewhere in the maze, it was possible they could get out using the maze itself as a means. If it changed shape, all that remained was to wait for it to guide the others out.
With that in mind, Luna decided to wait for the others. If she was right, they would soon find out. In the meantime, she had to be patient. If monsters appeared, it would be a problem, as she had not yet regained all her mana.
"Well... I should wait and conserve the mana I have for now."
Then, he sat down on the ground and closed his eyes, as the mana flowed freely into his body, patiently waiting for the others....