Twenty-five minutes. The number echoes in my head as we sprint through the maze's ever-shifting corridors. My ability pulses with each step, information flooding faster than before:
[Basic Information Sight]
Current Access: 2.6% → 2.8%
Status: Involuntary Display
Control: Unavailable until 5%
Note: Combat stress forcing adaptation
The creature pursuing us crashes through another wall, its massive form moving like liquid metal through solid concrete. Each impact sends vibrations through the maze that I can feel in my teeth. The data streams update:
[Basic Information Sight]
Target: Modified Human
Name: None Registered
Threat Level: S
Status: Pursuit Mode
Distance: 15m
Basic Traits: Matter Integration
Current Action: Hunting
Warning: GAINING SPEED
"Incoming!" Ji-ho shouts. His wind barrier expands just as the creature launches a barrage of crystallized maze fragments. The projectiles hit his shield with sounds like breaking glass, each impact making him stagger. Sweat drips from his forehead as he maintains the defense.
Seo-yeon spins, her movements precise despite exhaustion. Lightning erupts from her hands in a continuous stream, not the short bursts from before. The electricity writhes like a living thing, splitting into multiple arcs that illuminate the corridor in stark purple-white flashes. Where her power hits the creature, its flesh bubbles and reforms, each wound healing faster than the last.
[Basic Information Sight]
Target: Human
Name: Park Seo-yeon
Threat Level: A
Status: Power Evolution
Distance: 3m
Basic Traits: Lightning Control
Current Action: Maximum Output
Warning: Energy Critical
"The walls!" Min-ji's warning comes just as the corridor begins to transform. Her flames, now tinged with purple at their edges, reveal metal surfaces turning organic. The creature hasn't been chasing us, I realize – it's been herding us into a trap.
[Basic Information Sight]
Current Access: 2.8% → 2.9%
Status: Combat Analysis
Note: Threat pattern recognized
The percentage jump catches my attention even amid the chaos. My ability's been crawling up by tiny fractions since the adaptation phase, but now it's accelerating. Something about this situation – the constant analysis, the pressure, the need to process multiple threats simultaneously – is forcing it to evolve faster.
Sung-min sets Professor Lee down and faces the transforming walls. His enhanced muscles ripple as he drives his fist into the nearest surface. The impact sounds like a thunderclap, and for a moment, the wall's transformation stops, frozen in mid-mutation.
"We can't keep this up," Professor Lee manages between labored breaths. Blood has started trickling from his nose again. "Each attack is draining our—"
The creature strikes. It moves like mercury, its form splitting into multiple tendrils that attack from all directions. Seo-yeon's lightning catches two, turning them to ash. Ji-ho's wind slices through another three. Min-ji's flames force the rest back, but the main body surges forward, unaffected.
[Basic Information Sight]
Target: Modified Human
Name: None Registered
Threat Level: S → S+
Status: Evolution
Distance: 8m
Basic Traits: Tactical Learning
Current Action: Pattern Attack
Warning: LETHAL INTENT
"Down!" Sung-min roars. We drop as he grabs a chunk of transformed wall and hurls it with enhanced strength. The projectile tears through the creature's mass, scattering pieces of its form across the corridor. But instead of falling, the scattered fragments begin moving independently, each one growing into a smaller version of the main body.
The Scholar's voice drifts down, carrying that same lecturing tone: "Excellent improvisation. Though perhaps consider that dismembering an adaptive entity might not be the most... strategic approach."
Twenty minutes remaining, and we've just made things much, much worse.
The scattered fragments of the creature multiply, each one growing into a dog-sized version of the original. My ability updates frantically, the information coming faster than ever:
[Basic Information Sight]
Current Access: 2.9% → 3.0%
Status: Multiple Target Analysis
Note: Processing speed increasing
Another unusual jump. The more threats I track, the faster my ability seems to adapt. It's like being forced to run a dozen programs at once is upgrading my processing power.
"Circle formation!" Seo-yeon commands. We press together, backs facing inward. The mini-creatures surround us, their movements synchronized like a hivemind. Each one triggers its own status window:
[Basic Information Sight]
Target: Modified Human
Name: None Registered
Threat Level: B (Multiple)
Status: Coordinated
Distance: Varying
Basic Traits: Shared Intelligence
Current Action: Strategic Positioning
Warning: Pack Tactics
Seo-yeon's lightning crackles between her fingers, but the arcs are thinner now, less stable. Min-ji's flames barely reach past her hands. Only Ji-ho's wind seems to maintain its strength, creating a barrier around our group that pushes the creatures back.
The first attack comes from three directions at once. The creatures move like liquid metal, their forms stretching and warping. Seo-yeon's lightning catches one mid-leap, the electricity turning it to ash – but this time, the ash starts moving, trying to reform.
"The purple veins!" I shout as my ability pieces together the pattern. "They're using the maze's power to regenerate!"
[Basic Information Sight]
Current Access: 3.0% → 3.1%
Status: Pattern Recognition
Enhanced Note: Tactical analysis unlocking
The progression is definitely accelerating. Each new threat, each pattern recognized, seems to push my ability further. No time to analyze why – more creatures are attacking.
Min-ji's flames catch two that try to flank us. The fire has changed color completely now, burning purple-white. The creatures caught in it don't regenerate this time. "They can't reform if we burn out the maze energy!"
Sung-min moves like a blur, his enhanced strength letting him catch a creature mid-pounce and slam it into another. The impact sprays liquid metal across the walls, but where Min-ji's altered flames touch it, the substance stays inert.
"The safe zone," Professor Lee points through a gap in the attacks. "It's through that wall!"
He's right. Through the chaos of battle, I can see a section of wall that pulses differently from the rest. But reaching it means crossing through dozens of creatures that are getting smarter with each attack.
The Scholar's voice carries down: "Fifteen minutes remaining. Do note that failing to reach the safe zone will result in... immediate course termination."
A creature slips through our defense, its claws catching Ji-ho's arm. Blood sprays as his wind barrier falters. The circle starts to break.
Ji-ho staggers, his wind barrier flickering like a dying flame. Blood runs down his arm in streams, each drop sizzling where it hits the transformed floor. My ability processes everything in sharp bursts:
[Basic Information Sight]
Current Access: 3.1%
Status: Critical Analysis
Note: Combat efficiency increasing
"Hold the line!" Seo-yeon's voice cracks with strain as she launches another lightning barrage. The electricity arcs between creatures, turning three to ash – but five more take their place, crawling out of the purple-veined walls.
[Basic Information Sight]
Target: Human
Name: Park Seo-yeon
Threat Level: A
Status: Power Drain
Distance: 2m
Basic Traits: Lightning Mastery
Current Action: Desperate Defense
Warning: Near Collapse
Min-ji presses her back against Ji-ho's uninjured side, her purple-tinged flames creating a barrier where his wind faltered. The creatures test it, probing for weaknesses. Each attack shows new tactics, new patterns that my ability rushes to analyze:
[Basic Information Sight]
Current Access: 3.1% → 3.2%
Status: Tactical Processing
Note: Learning rate accelerated
"The wall!" Sung-min shouts, enhanced muscles coiling for action. "I can break through to the safe zone!"
But the creatures seem to understand his intent. They merge, flowing together into larger forms that block our path. The Scholar watches from above, making notes in its glowing book as we struggle.
"Ten minutes," it announces with academic detachment. "Perhaps consider that brute force alone rarely provides optimal solutions."
The creatures launch another coordinated attack. Seo-yeon's lightning catches the first wave, but her power flickers, nearly dying. Min-ji's flames push back the second assault, but the effort makes her stumble. Ji-ho's remaining wind barely deflects a creature that leaps for his throat.
[Basic Information Sight]
Target: Modified Human
Name: None Registered
Threat Level: A (Multiple)
Status: Final Attack
Distance: Various
Basic Traits: Maximum Adaptation
Current Action: Kill Strike
Warning: LETHAL FORCE
Professor Lee grabs my shoulder, his grip surprisingly strong despite his condition. "Jin, what do you see? What's their pattern?"
The question kicks my ability into overdrive:
[Basic Information Sight]
Current Access: 3.2% → 3.3%
Status: Deep Analysis
Note: Processing all targets
The information floods in faster than ever, and suddenly I see it – the gap in their formation, the flaw in their attack pattern. They're so focused on blocking Sung-min's strength that they've left a blind spot.
"There!" I point to a narrow space between two merged creatures. "They're watching Sung-min, expecting him to charge! If we—"
Seo-yeon understands immediately. "Everyone, on my mark! Min-ji, full power left! Ji-ho, whatever wind you have left, right! Sung-min..." She grins, electricity crackling. "Make them think you're going straight through!"
The creatures bunch together, preparing to stop Sung-min's charge. My ability tracks their movement, processing faster than it ever has:
[Basic Information Sight]
Current Access: 3.3% → 3.4%
Status: Maximum Analysis
Note: Combat clarity achieved
"Now!"
The final clash begins.