After that day, Arthania began to change again.
Slowly, the stubborn girl began to fade away, making room for a new Arthania.
Weeks passed and turned into months, then years.
And here she was, inside the maze and on the battlefield, moving swiftly with her spear thrusting forward, only to pierce the head of a monster the size of a human.
Blood splattered through the air while Arthania pulled back her spear, leaving the monster’s body to crash to the ground.
She turned her head, looking around to see many people, some leaning on their weapons and gasping for breath, others clutching their wounds with painful grimaces on their exhausted faces.
"This wave is finally over, Lady Arthania," a man’s voice sounded beside her.
She gave him a calm look as she asked the most important thing. "Were there any casualties?"
The man smiled widely despite his tired expression. "No... no one died this time."
At that, a small smile appeared on her lips before she gave an order. "Then provide first aid to the injured, so we can begin heading back."
The man nodded as he moved toward the groups to assess their injuries.
Arthania turned her head to look at the crack in space after the monsters stopped leaking through it... well, they would come back after some time, but in very small numbers compared to the first wave.
They had their own ways of dealing with this anyway.
She looked at her hand, opening her palm stained with blood and dirt.
"I need more."
Even after reaching the peak of Rank 3, she still felt no satisfaction.
After all, she could not achieve anything with such little strength.
...
In the center of the city, inside the hall prepared for meetings.
Many people stood around a table with a map of the city and the maze placed on it, while the important points on it were being indicated.
From the defense lines to the locations of the cracks.
At the head of that table, the old man Elias had his eyes fixed on Arthania, who was speaking and recounting what had happened earlier.
"In the end, we managed to contain the new crack without any casualties."
After she finished recounting her battle, Elias nodded. "Excellent work, Arthania."
He was not the only one praising her; even others like Adam.
"You’re the youngest one here, but you’re the best. Maybe these old folks should learn from you."
In the recent months, Arthania had achieved many accomplishments, whether in her own strength or in the work she was doing.
Until she ended up leading one of the defense lines at the front.
The meeting continued, and the way forces and resources were distributed throughout the city was planned.
In the end, everything was finished and silence filled the place for a while, until it was broken by a broad-shouldered man.
"What about those people on the other side?"
He meant the migrants who had chosen to flee beyond the cracks.
At this time, communication methods with distant places were very few, and most of them relied on satellites.
So, it could be said that communication was extremely limited.
The one who handled this matter was Elias, both now and in the past before Arthania’s father died.
Everyone looked at Elias at the front, who answered calmly, his deep voice echoing through the place.
"It was said that they made initial progress and secured a safe area to receive ordinary humans, so many people began crossing to the other side without returning."
"And are things stable on the other side?" asked a woman from the side, while Elias shrugged.
"I don’t know. It was said to be better than this side... in the end, none of the current devices could capture footage of the other side."
"So why don’t we join them? It’s better than staying here between these walls."
Everyone turned at the same time toward the person who said those words.
And it was none other than Arthania.
Elias stared at the determined girl calmly.
"That’s impossible, little one."
He continued before she could ask anything.
"This city was formed by the gathering of many collapsed cities here, while the nearest population center to the north is hundreds of kilometers away."
"So to reach it, you would have to make tens of thousands of ordinary humans cross the desert, among thousands of hungry monsters roaming the open space."
The old man sighed tiredly.
"We don’t even have the strength to protect ourselves here with all the advantages this place gives us, so what about the open desert?"
Arthania almost raised the idea of building a long tunnel leading north underground... yes, it was a difficult idea, but with the right abilities, it could be done in a few years.
But then she remembered what had happened to one of the underground colonies that had been located nearby.
Some species of monsters had dug into the place and collapsed it over them... and even now those things still roamed beneath these lands.
So at that moment, one thought crossed her mind.
She looked at her hand.
’It would not be impossible if I were strong enough to erase everything before it became a threat.’
...
Between the walls of the maze, Arthania stood with her dark hair fluttering in the air while the echoes of the battlefield reflecofted in her hazel eyes.
Or at least what remained the battlefield.
Before her was destruction in its purest form.
The high walls of the maze were shattered while the ground had turned into a layer of distorted glass.
Sometimes, a few bone fragments could be seen here and there... the only thing left from the monsters’ corpses.
But before her, there was one thing that remained unaffected... the dark crack.
Arthania sighed as she turned around, seeing the empty space behind her.
There was no one.
Because she no longer needed anyone.
Now she was 27 years old and had already reached the peak of Rank 5.
Progress was becoming harder with every rank toward the summit.
And at this time, humans in the other world had managed to establish stability, even sustainability and self-sufficiency.
’Not much remains.’
Arthania thought that once she reached Rank 6, she would be able to protect her people from danger and move them to the other crossing toward the other world.
To escape this endless hell.
Arthania reached the city... Asfaria.
That city, which had extended into the cracks, had diminished and retreated toward the center.
But it was not only the city that had diminished... humans too.
The defense lines that had once been far at the front had retreated and now only surrounded the entrances to the center.
The smell of blood and its traces were still carved into the walls and ground of the maze with no sign of fading.
Arthania crossed the defense barrier, receiving many tired looks.
Even with those tired and desperate faces, everyone smiled at her and greeted her...
Because she had become their hope.
"Thank you for your hard work, Lady Arthania."
She did not clearly remember when they had started calling her Lady.
With a gentle smile, Arthania walked among them, receiving their respect and returning it.
She moved into the city streets, seeing many places stained with blood... some old, some new.
They belonged to those monsters that had managed to break through the defenses from the sky... or to their human victims.
As she walked through the narrow streets, she would sometimes find a collapsed house and pools of blood everywhere or red marks on the walls of the houses.
In this place, the red liquid flowed like rainwater.
Those streets that had once been full of residents in the past had become empty and bleak.
No matter how much she searched, she would not find a single child anywhere in the entire city.
Why?
Because they were no longer there.
No one wanted to have children in this hell anymore.
How many people had Arthania seen smiling only to see their corpses the next day... she did not know.
She had stopped counting a long time ago.
But she was certain of one thing.
This city no longer even contained ten percent of the population it had twenty years ago.
Perhaps much less, who knows.
With a calm smile on her face, Arthania reached a familiar door.
The city hall where meetings were held.
With a slight push, the door opened and she entered before heading toward the familiar table.
A table around which many people used to sit.
But now only a few remained, countable on the fingers of one hand.
Even after new faces had come and gone.
With unhurried steps, she walked to the head of the table before sitting on the wooden chair.
She no longer clearly remembered when she became the one sitting here too... everything was covered in red fog.
She looked to the side, where Elias was looking at some paper scrolls.
Then toward the others.
No one spoke in this heavy atmosphere.
Until she did and broke the silence.
"I am close to Rank 6."
Everyone looked at her.
"When I advance, we will leave and abandon this place... without return."
She looked each of them in the eyes.
"There is no choice... either we reach it, or we die."
The crack leading to the safe side was located at the edge of Asia.
So reaching it meant crossing a vast space between those creatures.
Suddenly, an old laugh echoed in the place.
Everyone looked at its source, only to find Elias.
"You really are insane, little girl."
All Arthania did was smile.
"Maybe that is for the best."