Warn folded his arms. "If this were a normal dungeon, I’d say middle. That’s usually the direct route to the mid-boss."
Beatrice frowned. "Too obvious. Dungeons sometimes trick you with the direct route. I say we take the left path, test the difficulty, and see if it loops."
Priscilla shook her head slightly. "The right path’s mana flow is irregular. That usually means there is something like traps or puzzles in there. It might lead to the reward chamber instead."
The air was still.
The mirrored walls reflected their images in strange ways. Sometimes doubling them, sometimes twisting their shapes until they didn’t even look human.
"I can’t teleport to the other coordinates," Celia suddenly muttered, frowning.
Isaac turned to her. "What do you mean?"
"The coordinates in each corridor are messed up," Celia said, concentrating as faint light flickered across her hands. "I think..."
She took a careful step forward into one of the corridors.
"Yes. Now that I’ve stepped here, I can use teleportation inside this corridor. But I can’t sense the coordinates of the previous one anymore."
She stepped back, testing again.
"See? It’s like the space resets itself every time you cross into another corridor."
"The corridors are probably made like this so you can’t sense anything beyond your own. Let’s take a random corridor and start walking," Isla said, watching the shifting reflections.
Celia hesitated. "Shouldn’t we think carefully about which one to choose?"
"No, it’s fine," Isla replied. Her tone was calm but thoughtful. "There’s something I need to confirm. If it’s true, then choosing a corridor won’t matter."
Isaac nodded. "Then left it is."
They picked the left corridor and started walking.
The mirrored floors gleamed faintly with red light seeping through thin cracks.
Every step echoed strangely, like the sound was coming from somewhere else.
The Glass Phantoms appeared again soon after.
Isaac moved forward without hesitation.
His sword flashed once, and the nearest Glass Phantom shattered into a thousand shards.
The others lunged, but he weaved through them easily, cutting them apart one after another.
When the last one fell, Celia glanced at him. "You make that look way too easy."
Isaac just shrugged. "They’re fragile."
Beatrice sighed. "Fragile or not, they’d slice us to ribbons if we weren’t with you."
They kept going. The mirrored surfaces made it hard to tell how far they’d walked.
The reflections multiplied endlessly, like the world stretched in all directions at once.
Then something new appeared.
Floating crimson spheres drifted out of the walls.
Each of them pulsed faintly, leaving behind thin trails of light as they bounced from surface to surface.
They moved fast, ricocheting off the ceiling and floor like living bullets.
Isaac swung his sword the moment one came close.
The sphere shattered with a sound like breaking glass.
Mana Wisp (Elite Rank) Defeated
Drop: 1 Silver Coin, EXP
"...?" Isaac raised a brow. "Looks like this monster’s weak to physical attacks."
"Let me check something," Isla said, raising her hand.
A small fireball gathered at its tip and shot forward.
The fireball hit another Mana Wisp, then got absorbed into it.
The sphere glowed brighter, expanding in size, and its movements became sharper.
"Mhm. Beatrice, can you try something too?" Isla asked.
Beatrice nodded, closing her eyes.
She whispered softly, and glowing pollen spread from her hands.
The particles floated toward the Mana Wisp, but instead of burning it, the creature absorbed the energy too.
It swelled larger until its light became almost blinding.
"So these monsters absorb spell-type attacks. Their weakness really is physical damage," Isla noted.
"Let me check something too," Isaac said.
He raised his hand, using telekinesis on the next Wisp.
The air around it trembled, but instead of being crushed, the sphere began to expand again, feeding on the invisible force.
After a few seconds, it burst apart in a violent explosion.
The shockwave rippled through the mirrored corridor, scattering shards across the floor.
Isaac swung his sword once, his Dark Lightning Sword Aura cutting through the explosion and dissipating it before it could touch anyone else.
When the air settled, he said calmly, "Looks like they explode when they absorb too much mana. The explosion’s strong enough to kill a Champion-rank if they’re not ready."
"O-oh," Isla said, blinking. "I didn’t think it would be that strong."
Warn let out a low whistle. "Good thing he’s on our side."
Celia crossed her arms, her expression smug.
Isaac noticed it immediately.
She looked far too pleased, either because it was her skill that helped him cut through the blast or because she’d simply gotten used to his absurd strength unlike others.
They moved on.
More Glass Phantoms appeared, mixed with Mana Wisps bouncing through the hallways.
Every time one of the spheres exploded, Isaac neutralized it without much effort.
The others focused on supporting him, gathering materials and watching his movements closely.
By the time they stopped, Isaac had defeated nearly fifty monsters.
Small silver coins glimmered faintly in his pouch, the sound of metal clinking each time he moved.
Warn stretched his arms, exhaling.
"You’re defeating them easily, but it’s going to be a grind for the rest of us," he muttered, giving a tired grin.
Beatrice nodded. "And another thing, the corridors keep branching, and we still haven’t reached the mid-boss room. Maybe we took the wrong path? We might have to find the right one to reach it."
Isla stayed silent for a moment, deep in thought.
"Let’s keep moving a bit longer," she finally said.
They continued walking after a short break.
The mirrored walls reflected them endlessly, and the red cracks glowed faintly like veins.
Occasionally, the reflections moved a fraction of a second too late, like the mirror world was lagging behind.
After nearly an hour, Isaac had earned another sixty silver coins.
The monsters kept coming, but the rhythm of the fight never changed. Attack, shatter, collect.
Isaac was smiling, watching his bank account climbing in real time.
’I should give everything to Celia after we leave, then share it back.’
At last, they reached a massive door at the end of the corridor.
It was carved into the mirror itself, its edges outlined with red light.
The air hummed faintly around it.
Warn stepped forward. "This looks like the mid-boss door."
Isla’s eyes lit up slightly. "That confirms it. All the corridors reach the same destination. It doesn’t matter which one we take. Otherwise, it wouldn’t make sense that we reached this room after wandering randomly."
Celia tilted her head. "Then what was the point of all those corridors?"