A sphere of dark energy, encountering the air as it advanced, relentlessly pursued its predetermined target. Nothing could hinder its trajectory except when it struck the target itself.
Repeated blows were delivered to the shapeshifter. Though the damage inflicted was non-existent, they effectively compelled the shapeshifter to devote his full attention to David.
"'Hah, how's that for your bloodthirst?' David exclaimed, having successfully captured the shapeshifter's attention. It might have been foolish, but it was a plan he had devised on instinct."
It was a huge gamble. If it didn't work, he might not leave the Rift alive.
He started running into the maze, the fury of the shapeshifter now hot on his heels.
Everyone else looked at David with bemusement, wondering what he was attempting to accomplish as he ran into the maze.
He halted abruptly at the first intersection, scanning the paths before him, tightening his grip as he struggled to decide which way to go. This maze was unfamiliar, as he was entering it for the first time.
Which way? His thoughts spiraled in confusion.
Arnold said something about signs. David cursed under his breath, clenching his fists. But I didn't ask what the damn signs were!
"Is this the best I could come up with? A shitty plan, half-formed, with no real thought behind it?" he muttered to himself.
His mind screamed at the absurdity of it all. He had thrown himself into the maze without thinking, without asking the right questions, and now his life was hanging by a thread because of it.
"Alright, focus," he muttered, forcing himself to stay calm. He cast a quick glance at the towering, ancient stone walls around him. They stretched upward, their surfaces cracked and worn, yet some bore faint engravings, arcane symbols barely visible due to the passage of time.
Without hesitation, he chose that path.
Behind him, he could hear the unmistakable sound of the shapeshifter's angry pursuit echoing through the path he had just passed.
David knew the shapeshifter wouldn't stop until he was found. "Not now... not yet," David whispered, a bead of sweat rolling down his temple.
If the shapeshifter caught up to him now, everything would fall apart.
The symbols seemed to lead him deeper into the maze, the passageways becoming narrower, the air thicker with the scent of dust and dry stone.
He barely noticed the pain in his legs or the exhaustion creeping in. His mind was consumed by the chase, and by the plan he had hastily thrown together in his moment of desperation.
A little while later, he found himself at a section with no openings, another dead end. The symbols no longer offered any guidance, he thought.
He turned back and kept moving. He had to run for his life.
As he reached another junction of walls, each path stretched out before him like an unsolvable riddle. To his dismay, every direction now bore symbols.
David's breath hitched. "Damn it… Which one?" he muttered running a hand through his sweat-drenched hair.
His gaze flickered between the symbols, desperately attempting to decipher their meaning, when a realization struck him.
The deeper he ventured into the heart of the maze, the more the walls seemed to tower above him, gradually ascending in height as though the entire maze were constructed to form a pyramid, rising from its outskirts toward the central core.
Perhaps the clues no longer resided in the symbols, he thought. Maybe the answer lay within the very structure of the walls themselves.
And then he noticed a section of wall that remained consistently the same height. Acting on a hunch, he began to follow this wall, only to discover that no matter where he moved, it retained its uniformity, unaffected by the pyramid-like structure of the surrounding walls that rose from the outskirts to the center of the maze.
By following this wall, he was no longer encountering dead ends.
Sift!
As he neared the center of the maze, he finally heard a sound.
With each step, a soft sift! echoed as sand trickled through the walls.
Compelled by the noise, he pursued it, ultimately arriving at the very heart of the maze.
Once again, he found himself in a brightly lit room, open from all four directions. This room was unique, adorned with signs indicating the presence of valuables, though they were no longer there.
He took note of scattered pieces of shattered crystals, glimmering faintly in the light, resting amidst the sand that seeped through the fractured walls.
So, the room was messy, entirely because of their own making. Arnold wasn't honest enough to include this in his details, which led David to think, what an irony.
He now stood staring at the center, where two towering walls rose all the way to the ceiling, their base covered in trickling sand.
The sight was imposing, reminding him of shifting sands in an hourglass, each grain marking the passage of time, like sands through the hourglass, just like the days of our human lives.
"This seems like a perfect place to end the shapeshifter, or perhaps to die trying if I fail," he determined, steadying his breath.
Now, it was time to ensure the plan's success. He proceeded to open his inventory.
[ INFO ▸ QUEST ▸ INVENTORY ▾ SHOP ▸ ]
ITEMS
▪ 1 S-Class healing barrier [ RARE ]
▪ Mysterious book cover [ ??? ]
▪ Heart of the Desert Armor [ EPIC ]
"Select the armor," he said.
[ INFO ▸ QUEST ▸ INVENTORY ▾ SHOP ▸ ]
ITEMS
▪ Heart of the Desert Armor
- Increases defense by 20%.
- Increases endurance against desert heat by 50%.
- Provides camouflage in sand.
- These perks function exclusively in the desert environment.
"Wear the armor," he commanded.
The armor manifested gradually upon his body, as though a swarm of nano particles were racing across his torso with astonishing speed, seamlessly assembling until the entire armor was meticulously formed, every segment locking into place with fluid precision.
He also felt the weight, along with its strong construction.
It felt strange, but he reassured himself that it should work.
"'Show me my status now,' he asked, eager to check if the armor had improved anything."
STATUS
HP : ▰▰▰▰▱ ¹²⁰
DEFENSE : ▰▱▱▱▱ ³⁰ + ▰³⁰
MANA : ▰▰▰▱▱ ⁹⁰
So, my defense did increase by 20%. That should give me the durability to survive at least one more attack.
Stepping back, he made his way toward the corner from which he had initially entered the room, where an abundance of sand gathered near the floor.
As he neared the sand, he hoped he would completely disappear by activating the armor's perk, but no effect seemed to take place.
This is the perk on which I am depending, so the camouflage should function effectively. Perhaps I simply cannot perceive my own disappearance, yet I must be invisible to anyone observing the wall.
Well, I suppose when the shapeshifter arrives, I will find out.
I can hardly believe I am placing my despairing life in the hands of the system.
Now, all I have to do is wait silently for the shapeshifter to arrive. He stood attentively, prepared for it to appear at any moment.
He waited, but there was no sign of anything.
The shapeshifter was quite close earlier, so why hasn't it reached the center yet?
But David kept waiting because that was the only way for the plan to work.
Still, after what felt like an eternity of waiting, nothing revealed itself, and the maze echoed with an oppressive stillness, completely devoid of any sound or activity.
Or perhaps the shapeshifter had returned to hunt the others, David thought, since it couldn't find him.
The silence was palpable, thickening the air around him. "Maybe I should make some noise," he thought, considering the idea of clapping or shouting to draw it out.
Yet, doubt crept in. "What if it's a trap?" he murmured to himself, hesitating.
After a moment of indecision, he waited a little longer, the tension reaching its peak. Finally, he concluded that it wasn't coming, feeling a wave of frustration and resignation wash over him as the plan had failed drastically.
Just as he prepared to move his leg back to leave the center of the maze, completely disappointed, a chilling hiss echoed above him, a sound so eerie that it sent an icy dagger of shivers down his spine.
Instinct kicked in, and he nearly bolted, but he forced himself to stop. Slowly, he turned his head upward, and there it was, the shapeshifter, its form clinging to the wall with all four limbs, staring directly down at the floor. Its eyes glinted with an unsettling intelligence.
Confronted with this sight, David found himself paralyzed by fear. Even if he wanted to flee, his legs would not obey him. Even the notion of attacking the shapeshifter rendered his arms utterly immobile.
All in all, he found himself handicapped by the overwhelming intensity of the moment.
The shapeshifter leaped from the wall above him, landing directly in front of David, its back turned toward him.
"Maybe it really can't see me, right? The camouflage is working," he thought, his heart pounding in his chest.
As the shapeshifter turned its head to scan the surroundings, David's assumption was confirmed, but that offered him no relief in this situation.
A manifestation of pure malevolence stood just a few feet away, completely unaware of David's presence."
"What should I do now?" he wondered, his mind racing with possibilities. "If I move, it might sense me. If I breathe too loudly, it could detect my presence.
And if my heart pounds any harder, I'll surely give myself away. I can't let it notice me, I have to stay completely still.
David held his breath, feeling the weight of the moment pressing down on him.
With the shapeshifter right before him, David faced a dilemma of whether he should attack or wait. What if he proceeded to strike but it still fails?