Three days had passed since Caius, and the others began moving through the maze.
During those three days, they hadn’t taken any long rest—only a few short hours of sleep and meals.
And of course, their journey had not been free of battles and blood.
But fortunately, they hadn’t faced anything they couldn’t defeat.
There were some Rank 3 monsters they encountered, but they eventually died at their hands.
As for those large birds, they occasionally flew above them, but they never attacked, because the place they were walking through couldn’t accommodate their massive bodies.
Perhaps they could descend, but that would leave them trapped there, and maybe the birds judged that six small humans weren’t worth the risk.
After all, the higher a monster’s rank, the smarter and more aware it became.
And during those three days, they hadn’t come across any of the places where those creatures built their nests, thanks to Kyle, who climbed up every few dozen kilometers to redraw the path they should take.
And of course, he avoided any place large enough to hold one of the birds’ nests.
Now, after three days, the night sky began losing its dark color and taking on a faint azure hue, signaling the end of the long night and the beginning of sunrise once again.
Between the towering walls of the maze, six exhausted figures walked.
Their clothes were torn, and filthy blood covered their bodies in various colors. The only good thing was that the blood wasn’t theirs.
"Don’t you feel anything nearby?" Elliot asked while looking at Caius, who quickly replied,
"There’s nothing. So I think we can rest here."
"The more accurate expression is that we need to rest here," Izel commented from behind, while Elliot stepped toward the wall and placed his hand on it, causing a tunnel to form in the next moment.
After fighting another battle not long ago, they decided they had to rest now before exhaustion devoured them—especially since daylight had begun to show its signs.
While Elliot started creating a place to rest, Kyle turned and headed toward the wall on the other side. "I’ll climb up to check our location."
As soon as he said that, Caius turned his head toward him. After a few moments of thought, he walked after Kyle. "I’ll come too."
’Let’s see how things look from above,’ he thought.
Kyle glanced at him over his shoulder but didn’t stop him. "Do whatever you want. Just make sure to hide your presence."
And so the two left and began climbing upward.
Elliot continued shaping a place for rest and sleep, while Izel and Ellen stood above his head, throwing requests at him.
As for Leona, she stood at the back without speaking.
Her usually clear blue eyes were slightly hazy now.
Leona raised her hand and rubbed her temple, pushing away the unnecessary thoughts that had been lingering in her mind the entire time.
"I think I need rest," she muttered as she thought about those threads she had seen a few days ago in the dream.
It was true that she hadn’t had any other dreams like that, but that deep feeling she experienced when the threads wrapped around her refused to leave.
While Leona was immersed in her thoughts, she didn’t notice the person who approached her until she received a light tap on her shoulder and Izel’s voice echoed in her ear.
"Hey, are you okay? You look like you’re about to collapse at any moment."
Leona smiled at Izel, who was looking her up and down as if searching for a flaw.
"It’s nothing major. Just tired from the continuous battles and lack of sleep."
Izel placed her hand on her chin, letting out a faint hum. "Hmm, really? Is that all?"
Leona tilted her head slightly. "Of course. What else would it be?"
She didn’t want to tell them about some ominous dreams and burden the others with unnecessary thoughts.
Izel sighed. "Fine, just don’t overexert yourself. You know you can leave the fighting to those monsters when you feel like you can’t continue..."
It was obvious who she meant by monsters.
...
Up above, beneath the sky that had begun to brighten, two figures stood looking at the vast expanse of the natural maze.
From above, it looked like a massive rocky canvas carved with thousands of deep grooves without any clear pattern.
Some twisted and turned before returning to the same point, while other paths intersected and formed numerous connections.
Caius turned and glanced around him in all four directions.
In his view, there was nothing special except this maze stretching to the horizon on every side.
Even the desert had long disappeared, and now they were surrounded from all directions.
But for Kyle, things were slightly different—because of his distinctive eyes.
It was true there were limits to how far he could see due to the curvature of the earth, but he was still far better than anyone else.
Kyle stared into the distant horizon. There, he saw the first change in terrain in days.
It wasn’t clear due to the immense distance separating them, but he could see the change in the maze.
Ahead, the paths began to decrease, becoming wider and straighter before merging together, forming paths that led to a single place.
It wasn’t clear, but the walls of the maze seemed to form an open semicircle facing north.
Kyle’s eyes narrowed slightly when he saw that, while Caius stared at him.
"So, is there anything interesting?"
Kyle nodded. "Yes."
Upon hearing that, Caius raised an eyebrow. "What do you see?"
Kyle hesitated as he focused more closely. At first glance, he thought it was the end of the maze.
But it turned out it wasn’t the end—rather, something else.
"We might be close to the center or something like that."
...
Returning below and inside the rocky wall, in a closed stone chamber, Elliot stood there forming what appeared to be a round table with six stone chairs around it.
"Can’t you make them more comfortable?" Izel kept tapping at his head with those words the entire time.
Elliot exhaled tiredly. "The chairs are made of stone. How can I make them more comfortable?"
Izel clicked her tongue. "Fine, I get it."
At that moment, Kyle and Caius entered the place. One walked calmly and indifferently, while Caius let out a soft whistle as he looked around.
"Wow, your construction skill is really improving every day... maybe soon you’ll be able to shape a small palace out of stone."
Elliot finished the final touches on the table without paying any attention to Caius’s words.
Meanwhile, the latter walked and sat on one of the chairs.
"It’s very solid and uncomfortable, but it’ll do."
"Can you just not comment?" Elliot replied tiredly.
Caius waved his hand. "I will. Anyway, call the others. There are some things we need to go over before you go to sleep or whatever."
Soon, Leona and Ellen joined them from their room.
Now six people sat around a round table made of solid rock.
"So, what did you find?" Ellen asked.
Caius looked at everyone before pointing at Kyle. "In short, it seems our silent friend saw the first change in the maze."
Before anyone could make any guesses, he added,
"And unfortunately, it’s not the end... Instead, it’s probably the center of this place in a large circular area."
Everyone fell silent while Kyle nodded in agreement.
"And from my experience with these things, such places always contain some surprises... especially the bad ones."
Caius raised two fingers while leaning back further in his chair.
"So we now have two options. The first is to go around the center, which might double the distance we have to travel."
He lowered one finger as he continued, "The second is to continue in a straight line and see what’s there... though that could kill us."
"So I think the right choice doesn’t require much thought... we’ll try to avoid the center."
He spoke those last words in a tone that left no room for discussion, while his eyes swept across everyone.
Before anyone could speak, Leona raised her hand.
"I also agree with going around the place."
’Let’s just avoid any trouble,’ she thought.
Ellen looked at Leona before turning to Caius.
"I understand what you mean, especially after everything that’s happened to us... but still, changing our path from here to go around the center will waste a lot of time and keep us trapped in this place for much longer."
Caius sighed. "What difference will it make anyway? Whether we get out of here today or after a week, we don’t even know what’s on the other side... Yes, it might be better there, but it might be worse too."
"And I didn’t say we should change our route from here... We’ll continue forward until we’re close enough to see what’s there."
"Who knows, maybe it’s just unnecessary fear."