Caius looked at everyone as he spoke.
"In short, we’ll keep moving forward until we get close enough to see what’s there... who knows, maybe these are just unnecessary fears."
He smiled as he added, "And if we’re lucky enough, we might find a treasure there... and one that isn’t cursed on top of that... maybe."
Elliot placed his elbow on the table as he leaned on it. "But before thinking about the risks we might encounter, we need to look at our condition... we’ve been pushing ourselves for three straight days with only a few hours of rest, because of someone’s insistence on continuing."
He spoke while staring at Caius, who pretended ignorance upon hearing those last words.
"So now we need to rest and return to our peak."
Ellen nodded. "Yes, we should take enough rest this time before setting out again."
She said that while looking at Caius as well.
He was the one who pushed them throughout those three days from one battle to another, to the point that they started suspecting he was heading toward the monsters on purpose.
Which was true.
Unlike them, Caius understood that for them to have a chance of returning alive, they had to grow stronger to fight whatever would stand in their path... or at least escape.
Izel shook her head, strands of her red hair fluttering in the air as she pointed at Caius. "This isn’t the first time he’s done this. Even when we were in the desert, he never tried to avoid those worms."
Caius didn’t care about their words. All he did was smile before moving and rising from the chair.
He stood there for a few moments, then turned and headed toward the rooms Elliot had made, waving his hand.
"Alright, rest however you want. We’ll move when you’re all back to your best condition."
With those words, he disappeared into the small corridor.
Ellen and Kyle both stared at his back before he vanished, a shared thought running through their minds.
’Why does it feel like he’s become the leader here?’
All this time, Caius was the one making the final decisions—when they rested, when they moved, and each person’s role in battle.
Even Ellen, who always tried to take the lead, found herself stepping back before him. Maybe the others didn’t notice because they didn’t care, but Ellen was a princess, and she understood the meaning of authority.
The meaning of others listening to you and following you in situations like these.
In Ellen’s eyes, Caius had shown another side since they found themselves in the ruins.
If you removed those reckless and strange behaviors—and even his deep desire to kill—Caius was simply like someone born to stand at the top.
To rule.
...
Inside a closed room, Leona sat on the same bed made of solid rock.
The only thing that made sleeping on it acceptable was some cloth placed over it, but that didn’t matter now.
Because in the dark room, there was only one source of light.
Leona herself.
With an Essence stone in her hand, she circulated the Essence within her body while thin layers formed over her skin.
She was still a beginner at extraction. After all, only three days had passed since she reached the Advanced sub-rank and became able to begin doing this.
Normally, Awakened couldn’t perform extraction until they reached Rank 3 or were only one step away from it.
But talented ones like Leona and Ellen could do these things as soon as they reached the Advanced sub-rank.
Well... let’s forget about one of them.
With every passing moment, beads of sweat formed on her body from the effort and concentration she was exerting.
Time passed while she remained in that state until she let out a long breath and hid the Essence stone.
Leona lay down on the temporary bed while staring at the ceiling, which wasn’t clearly visible because of the darkness.
She raised her hand upward as if trying to grasp something... something only she could see.
"Mother... Father... I wonder how you are?" she murmured quietly as she remembered those familiar faces, while the emotions she had been hiding all this time rose within her.
She would be lying if she said she wasn’t afraid... because every time she lay down to sleep, one thought passed through her mind.
’Will we be able to return... and will I still be alive by then?’
Leona wasn’t foolish. She knew what happened to Talia could happen to any of them at any time.
Because no one knew where those strange high-rank creatures would appear from.
Leona closed her eyes, trying to sleep, while the dark thoughts refused to leave her head.
"I want to go back."
...
Caius’ POV
I lay on the bedding I placed over the stone bed while staring at the runic letters glowing before me.
Name: Caius Astroweild
Age: 17
Rank: 2
Sub-rank: Advanced
Abilities:
[Soul Eyes]: When activated, you can see and sense the essence and spirits of living beings.
[Sea of Soul]
Traits:
[Mind Anchor]: Your mind is steady and never lost.
I stared at the runic letters without purpose.
So far, the Sea of Soul hadn’t shown any clear reaction.
About three months had already passed since I escaped from the laboratory... not very long, but not short either.
During that time, I managed to reach the peak of Rank 2, and only a few steps remained before I would reach Rank 3.
In addition to the Mind Anchor I had taken, which made me immune to any mental attacks or effects that didn’t exceed Rank 5... as for anything above that, it depended on my mental strength and resilience.
The plan was to use this Relic in future events, but everything had gone far off course.
That didn’t mean I no longer needed it. Even here, this Relic provided a high level of safety for me.
And I wasn’t the only one improving—the others were too.
Maybe in the past I wouldn’t have cared about their progress, but now every increase in strength mattered to everyone.
After Leona broke through to the Advanced sub-rank, the focus was now on Kyle, who had already reached a bottleneck, so I gave him some Essence stones to speed things up during the time we rested here.
As for Izel, she was also very close... maybe a few more days of killing monsters and she would reach the Advanced sub-rank.
She had some Essence stones, so she didn’t need anything from me.
As for Elliot, he was also approaching Rank 3 quickly.
I sighed in exhaustion as I covered my eyes with my forearm, plunging myself into darkness.
Slowly, I removed those thoughts from my head as my consciousness began to fade.
...
For two and a half days, we stayed in the shelter Elliot created until everyone returned to their best condition.
Now we stood outside to start moving again through the natural maze.
This time, it wasn’t night with the faint light of the moon. Instead, the sun illuminated everything, making it uncomfortable to move in this heat.
The only good thing was that after we waited long enough, the sun passed the center of the sky and began descending toward the horizon again, and as a result, the hot rays no longer struck us directly.
Instead, shadows consumed the paths of the maze and made them slightly more comfortable.
Yes, waiting until nightfall was an available option, but if every time we had to wait more than three days, it would make us spend eternity here.
I looked around. When I saw that everyone was there, I turned and we began advancing again.
"Let’s move."
...
A few hours had passed since we started moving again.
Now I stood staring at the large corpse in front of me while placing my hand on it as the Essence flowed toward me.
This was a Rank 3 monster that walked on four limbs, with an armored body like those worms and claws sharp enough to cut through rock like butter... including us as well.
Fortunately, we didn’t encounter many like this monster, so by working together, bringing it down became easier.
I turned my head to the side, where there was another corpse like this, its Essence being absorbed by Kyle and Izel.
After a few minutes, the Essence was gone, and Izel and Kyle removed their hands, just like I did.
I looked at Kyle. "So, do you think you can see what’s in the center from here?"
Kyle stepped away from the corpse while wiping the blood from his hand. "No, we’re still too far from the center... if there were a point higher than the walls forming the maze, that might be possible."
Well, we’re still too far away, so there’s no need to rush.
I glanced at the sky, which was still clear blue, then turned my attention to the others.
"Let’s take a short break before we continue."
...
Elsewhere, other creatures were moving through the maze.
Creatures no one had imagined existed here.