The lights near the big room turned off, and the John immediately fell into a panic.
However, since Nick had already warned him, he simply fell to his knees while screaming in pain.
He didn't move.
The Specter noticed that the guy wasn't moving and realized that things were becoming worse and worse.
The algorithmic construct was amazing at keeping people inside, but it didn't have any kind of offensive capabilities.
A Late John, like this guy, could easily survive a couple of walls crashing onto him.
Worst of all, the Specter couldn't just move the corridors.
If anyone fell through the gaps that the shuffling created, they would fall out of the construct, returning them to the outside.
And this fucking John was perfectly on the edge!
If the Specter moved any of the two corridors, the John would fall out and appear right in front of the Specter!
Yet, the Specter didn't despair and focused on Nick again.
Numbers and equations shot through the Specter's mind.
There was a way to accommodate the additional hallway and room into the loop, but the Specter needed to completely recreate the algorithm for that.
Otherwise, one number overflow would vanish just to create three other ones.
The Specter saw Nick coming closer to the edge and manually moved corridors around.
Nick ran forward with incredible speeds, numbers and equations shooting through his mind.
Nick wasn't thinking in directions or orientations.
Everything had turned into numbers, and he was simply entering hallways that would increase the number to a value he desired.
Nick didn't know that he was essentially running straight for a corner.
Seeing that Nick was close to the corner, the Specter deactivated the algorithm and moved the rooms around manually.
The Specter noticed that Nick ran away from the corner and calmed down a bit.
However, Nick suddenly stopped as he saw an unexpected mark.
This didn't fit the numbers.
'It switched to manual shuffling,' Nick thought.
The next moment, Nick smirked.
'I won.'
Why was the algorithm so important?
Why did it exist?
Speed.
The reason was speed.
BANG!
Nick charged through a random wall, breaking into a new corridor.
The Specter became nervous again.
BANG! BANG! BANG!
Nick randomly charged around.
Sometimes, he broke through the top.
Sometimes, he broke through one of the sides.
There was no rhyme or reason.
The corridors and rooms kept shuffling.
The movement of the rooms was no longer graceful and calculated.
When looking at the construct from outside, it just looked an unstable domain that kept changing in a frenzied manner.
Rooms and corridors appeared in completely irrelevant directions.
The Specter's mind was going crazy as it dealt with the repairs of the labyrinth while also trying to stop Nick from breaking out.
The scene of the Specter trying to contain Nick resembled the scene of a normal human trying to capture a fly.
BANG!
Nick broke through another wall, and an instant later, a light appeared in his eyes.
Just now, he had seen the walls move for just an instant.
'I'm at the edge!'
BOOOM!
The next moment, Nick exploded with light, and the Specter became blinded for just an instant.
However, it had seen where Nick had been running to, and it dumped a ton of corridors in that direction.
Yet, when the Specter recovered a second later, it couldn't see Nick anymore.
BANG!
A loud explosion echoed throughout the place the Specter was in.
Then, it saw a blue dot moving out of the opposite side of the labyrinth.
This had been Nick's plan.
He wanted to get as close to the edge as possible to put the Specter into a panic.
And then, he would run in the opposite direction.
All the corridors from behind Nick would be dumped in front of him since the Specter would think that Nick would immediately try to break through.
The reason why flies were so difficult to capture was that they could suddenly make 90° or even 180° turns without losing a lot of speed.
The eyes of the human would continue looking at the predicted path of the fly just to lose it from their sight.
It looked like the fly just vanished.
The blue dot representing Nick grew in size, and an instant later, it grew to the size of a human.
Nick took note of his new surroundings.
There was a construct made of blue lines just behind him.
In total, the construct was about five meters wide and high.
This was the labyrinth that Nick had just been in.
Nick also noticed something else at the same time.
The Specter.
On the ground was a three-meter-long slug with a human brain sticking out of its front.
When Nick saw it, some of his nervousness vanished.
The Zephyx it gave off was not very dense.
He guessed the slug was between the Initial Elder and Mid Elder levels.
And most importantly of all, its body was not made for combat.
Yes, its body was extremely powerful, but there was no way for it to use that strength in any meaningful way.
SHING!
Nick's blades shot out of his sleeves as he looked at the slug.
"I concede."
Some kind of voice appeared within Nick's mind.
Naturally, this was the slug.
"I can't fight you. Don't kill me. I can produce Zephyx for you," the voice spoke quickly.
Nick looked at the slug for a second before he pointed at the construct.
"Make light for the people inside," Nick ordered.
"Done," the slug answered.
Nick looked over and didn't see any change.
To him, it just looked like a couple of small dots in a chaotic mess of lines and circles.
Nick looked back at the slug. "You're going to go to Crimson City with me. You should know how Manufacturers work."
"I do. I will comply," the slug answered.
"Is this transportable?" Nick asked, gesturing to the algorithmic construct.
"Yes," the slug answered.
"Keep it running. I don't want to dump the people inside into the dark cave. Keep it running while we are walking to the surface. You go first. If I see anything fishy, I will kill you," Nick spoke in quick and short orders.
"I understand," the slug said before it moved in a seemingly random direction.
The two of them were inside a cave.
The slug wasn't very fast, but it was still faster than a normal human.
After about ten minutes, the two of them reached a bunch of rocks that were blocking the way forward.
"I created an avalanche to block my hideout. Break the stones," the slug said.
Nick did just that, and a new cave was revealed behind the stones.
The two of them continued moving forward, and after a couple of minutes, Nick saw the light again.
They were outside!
"Deactivate your construct," Nick ordered as soon as they exited.
"Affirmative," the slug answered.
The next moment, the blue lines shook before scattering in all directions.
Some blue dots remained, which quickly expanded, revealing several humans.
The six people looked around in confusion and shock.
What was going on?!
The John, who had talked to Nick earlier, became excited.
Had he succeeded?!
The next moment, the man saw Nick, and he almost couldn't believe it.
They were out!
"Thank you! Thank you! Thank you! Thank you so much!" the John shouted as he kept bowing his head in front of Nick.
The others looked at the John before looking at Nick.
"What's going on?" the female Veteran asked.
"You're free," Nick said calmly. "I captured the Specter."
Then, they looked at the slug.
This was the Specter that had contained them for years?
It was not a Force Specter?
It was just a fucking slug?!
Nick calmly took out a couple of Zephyx Suppressors before wrapping them around the slug.
Naturally, the slug didn't dare resist.
After containing the slug, Nick took out two of his spears and rammed them through its body.
He really wasn't interested in carrying a slug with his hands.
Nick kept holding the slug with his spears and glanced at the people.
"Crimson City has changed dramatically since your absence," Nick said.
Nick specifically looked at the uniform of the male Veteran. "For example, you're unemployed, and you should be happy about that. In fact, getting captured by this slug is the best thing that could have happened to you."
The man was shocked and confused as he also looked at his uniform.
Anatomy's uniform.
"If you need a job, go to the city center. Tell them that the Liaison sent you," Nick said.
Then, Nick jumped away and ran to the west.
The others couldn't even ask any questions before Nick was gone.
Nick ran towards the west and reached the city after less than a minute.
The slug hadn't said anything during the journey.
Nick calmly walked towards one of the entrances.
When the guards saw Nick, their eyes widened.
"L-Liaison?" they asked in shock.
"Yes, I'm back," Nick answered before shaking the slug a bit. "This guy kept me occupied for a while."
"Could you please tell Aria that I'm back?"