𝐂𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝟗𝟔
𝔞𝚠𝐞ʙ𝔰𝙩𝐨𝔯𝔦𝔢𝙨.𝚌𝔬𝚖
Whooooosh.
BAM!
“Gasp. . . . . . .”
“Are you okay?”
“Whew. Yeah. I’m not hurt. Where is this place?”
Han Seo-ah dusted off the dirt on her body as she asked, but I couldn’t bring myself to answer.
To be honest, this was a completely unexpected turn of events.
「𝙒𝙝𝙮 𝙞𝙨 𝙩𝙝𝙞𝙨 𝙞𝙣 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙣𝙚𝙨𝙩 𝙤𝙛 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙎𝙖𝙝𝙬𝙖𝙣𝙟𝙖𝙚?」
The thing that had just swallowed us whole shouldn’t have been able to just pop out whenever it wanted.
The crack in this dimension.
「𝙄𝙩’𝙨 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙚𝙣𝙩𝙧𝙖𝙣𝙘𝙚 𝙩𝙤 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙀𝙩𝙚𝙧𝙣𝙖𝙡 𝙇𝙖𝙗𝙮𝙧𝙞𝙣𝙩𝙝 𝙩𝙝𝙖𝙩 𝙛𝙞𝙧𝙨𝙩 𝙖𝙥𝙥𝙚𝙖𝙧𝙚𝙙 𝙞𝙣 𝙎𝙚𝙧𝙞𝙚𝙨 4.」
But no matter how much I thought about it, it was definitely the crack in the dimension that I knew.
That meant that there was a high probability that we were inside the Eternal Labyrinth.
“Oppa. . . . . . . Something feels weird. I’ve never been to a place like this.”
That would make sense.
This Eternal Labyrinth was a deadly maze completely cut off from the mortal world by ancient sorcery.
In fact, the connection to Ggong-sam-yi, who had been left behind in the Sahwanjae’s nest, had already been completely severed.
If you had a keen sense, you would be able to feel its peculiarity with your whole body.
「𝙏𝙝𝙞𝙨 𝙞𝙨 𝙗𝙖𝙙 𝙣𝙚𝙬𝙨.」
Why there was a passage leading to the Eternal Labyrinth was no longer an issue. To be honest, I didn’t understand it, but if I thought about it, it wasn’t completely impossible.
The important thing was the fact that the two of us were trapped inside.
「𝙁𝙞𝙧𝙨𝙩, 𝙬𝙚 𝙣𝙚𝙚𝙙 𝙩𝙤 𝙛𝙞𝙜𝙪𝙧𝙚 𝙤𝙪𝙩 𝙬𝙝𝙞𝙘𝙝 𝙥𝙖𝙧𝙩 𝙤𝙛 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙡𝙖𝙗𝙮𝙧𝙞𝙣𝙩𝙝 𝙩𝙝𝙞𝙨 𝙞𝙨.」
The Eternal Labyrinth is made up of four different areas.
The Blinding Mountain Range to the east.
The Sandy Sea to the west.
The Labyrinth of Guilt to the south.
And the Black Forest to the north.
And all of them are split and separated, and even if they came from the same Eternal Labyrinth, they are in a state of complete isolation from each other.
These four labyrinths occasionally open up an entrance somewhere in this world and drag in any humans that approach them.
「𝙏𝙝𝙚 𝙤𝙘𝙘𝙖𝙨𝙞𝙤𝙣𝙖𝙡 𝙙𝙞𝙨𝙖𝙥𝙥𝙚𝙖𝙧𝙖𝙣𝙘𝙚 𝙤𝙛 𝙝𝙞𝙜𝙝-𝙧𝙖𝙣𝙠𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙚𝙭𝙤𝙧𝙘𝙞𝙨𝙩𝙨 𝙩𝙝𝙖𝙩 𝙗𝙚𝙘𝙤𝙢𝙚𝙨 𝙖 𝙝𝙤𝙩 𝙩𝙤𝙥𝙞𝙘, 𝙜𝙝𝙤𝙨𝙩 𝙨𝙝𝙞𝙥𝙨, 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙥𝙡𝙖𝙣𝙚𝙨 𝙬𝙞𝙩𝙝 𝙥𝙞𝙡𝙤𝙩𝙨 𝙩𝙝𝙖𝙩 𝙝𝙖𝙫𝙚 𝙫𝙖𝙣𝙞𝙨𝙝𝙚𝙙 𝙖𝙧𝙚 𝙖𝙡𝙡 𝙧𝙚𝙡𝙖𝙩𝙚𝙙 𝙩𝙤 𝙩𝙝𝙞𝙨 𝙥𝙡𝙖𝙘𝙚.」
Of course, the escape method differs depending on which area of the labyrinth you’re in.
And if this happens to be the worst of them, the Blinding Mountain Range to the east.
「. . .𝙏𝙝𝙞𝙨 𝙧𝙚𝙖𝙡𝙡𝙮 𝙘𝙤𝙪𝙡𝙙 𝙗𝙚 𝙢𝙮 𝙜𝙧𝙖𝙫𝙚.」
The scary thing about the Eternal Labyrinth was its peculiarity of being cut off from the mortal world.
In the end, there are only two possible outcomes for people trapped in the labyrinth.
Either successfully escaping, or failing to escape and dying here.
「𝙏𝙝𝙚 𝙥𝙧𝙤𝙗𝙡𝙚𝙢 𝙞𝙨 𝙩𝙝𝙖𝙩 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙙𝙞𝙛𝙛𝙞𝙘𝙪𝙡𝙩𝙮 𝙡𝙚𝙫𝙚𝙡 𝙞𝙨 𝙚𝙭𝙩𝙧𝙚𝙢𝙚𝙡𝙮 𝙪𝙣𝙘𝙤𝙣𝙫𝙚𝙣𝙩𝙞𝙤𝙣𝙖𝙡.」
The Eternal Labyrinth was first conquered in Series 4, after the main characters got trapped in the labyrinth through a crack in the dimension.
Even then, only one of the four areas, the Labyrinth of Guilt to the south, was conquered.
Do you know what that means?
It meant that, at least up until that point, not a single person had survived and returned to reality from this place.
「𝙏𝙝𝙚𝙧𝙚’𝙨 𝙣𝙤 𝙥𝙖𝙧𝙩𝙞𝙘𝙪𝙡𝙖𝙧 𝙧𝙪𝙡𝙚 𝙖𝙗𝙤𝙪𝙩 𝙝𝙤𝙬 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙀𝙩𝙚𝙧𝙣𝙖𝙡 𝙇𝙖𝙗𝙮𝙧𝙞𝙣𝙩𝙝 𝙖𝙩𝙩𝙧𝙖𝙘𝙩𝙨 𝙞𝙩𝙨 𝙥𝙧𝙚𝙮.」
It was just made that way, so it continues to bring in new victims.
In the process, ordinary people with no power may be dragged in, or sometimes even high-ranking exorcists with incredible abilities get swallowed up by a crack and end up in the labyrinth.
However, in the end, none of them were able to leave this place until the main characters from Series 4 arrived.
I was now trapped in that kind of unreasonable prison.
🔷🔷🔷🔷🔷🔷
̇ȧ̇ᴡ𝙚𝕓𝚜𝕥ȯ̇𝐫𝙞ᴇs.𝘤𝚘𝐦
Since nothing would change even if I just stood around, I started walking to try to figure out which area of the labyrinth this was.
「𝙅𝙪𝙙𝙜𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙛𝙧𝙤𝙢 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙨𝙪𝙧𝙧𝙤𝙪𝙣𝙙𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙩𝙚𝙧𝙧𝙖𝙞𝙣, 𝙘𝙤𝙪𝙡𝙙 𝙩𝙝𝙞𝙨 𝙗𝙚 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝘽𝙡𝙖𝙘𝙠 𝙁𝙤𝙧𝙚𝙨𝙩 𝙩𝙤 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙣𝙤𝙧𝙩𝙝?」
We probably hadn’t reached the actual labyrinth yet, but judging from the black trees and plants that I could occasionally see in the distance, it seemed likely.
「. . .𝘾𝙤𝙪𝙡𝙙 𝙩𝙝𝙞𝙣𝙜𝙨 𝙧𝙚𝙖𝙡𝙡𝙮 𝙩𝙪𝙧𝙣 𝙤𝙪𝙩 𝙩𝙝𝙞𝙨 𝙬𝙖𝙮?」
If so, then this was a very familiar space to me. At the very least, it was much better than the other three places. I quietly looked around at the scenery as I reminisced about the past for a moment.
As I was letting out a sigh of relief, Han Seo-ah spoke to me from beside me.
“Could this space have also been made by that yokai we saw earlier?”
“No, I don’t think so. There’s no way that guy could create such a vast space with his level of power.”
“Then who. . . . . . .”
Han Seo-ah, who had been moving her lips, suddenly stopped talking. This was because a space that looked a little different from the scenery we had seen so far came into view.
And as I looked at that place, I was able to confirm that this was indeed the Eternal Labyrinth from my memories.
「𝙄𝙨 𝙩𝙝𝙖𝙩 𝙖 𝙗𝙖𝙨𝙚 𝙥𝙤𝙞𝙣𝙩?」
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