Outside the Labyrinth. The forest remained eerily quiet. Evening had settled over the battlefield.
Although countless monster corpses littered the ground, pale creatures continued emerging from the floating portal suspended high above the ruined clearing.
Standing atop the branch of a towering tree. Damien looked toward Morgana. His expression was filled with concern.
"Master. What should we do now? We have no idea where Noah is."
Morgana remained silent for several seconds. Her amethyst eyes never left the portal.
Finally she spoke. "I’m going in."
Damien immediately turned toward her. "Master?"
"If that portal is still connected to the place you escaped from...There may still be clues inside." She tightened her grip around her dark-purple spear. "If Noah was taken somewhere. Perhaps I’ll find traces leading to him."
Damien slowly nodded. "Understood."
Morgana looked at him once more. "You stay here."
The high-grade healing potion she had given Damien earlier had restored most of his injuries. Even so he wasn’t in any condition to accompany her into an unknown battlefield. Without another word Morgana stepped off the branch.
She didn’t fall. She kicked against the air itself. Her figure became a blur. While descending, she drew her spear from her storage ring.
Dark mana erupted around the weapon. The black aura surrounding its blade distorted the air itself.
Below another wave of pale monsters charged out of the floating portal. Their grotesque roars echoed throughout the clearing.
Morgana swung her spear.
A massive crescent of absolute darkness exploded forward.
SHRRRRK!!
The attack swept across the battlefield. Every monster caught in its path was cut cleanly in half. Dozens of bodies collapsed before they even realized they had been struck.
Without slowing her momentum. Morgana bent her knees upon landing. Then launched herself upward.
Her destination the portal itself. With a sharp motion. She hurled her spear. The weapon shot forward like a bolt of black lightning.
A trail of dark smoke lingered behind it. The spear pierced directly through an incoming monster before continuing into the glowing portal.
Morgana followed immediately behind it. Her figure disappeared into the dimensional gateway.
She stepped inside
The moment she crossed the portal. She landed within a massive underground corridor The scene before her caused even her expression to harden.
"There are this many?"
The passage stretched endlessly into the darkness. Every inch of it was filled with monsters. Thousands of crimson eyes immediately turned toward her.
Their deafening roars echoed throughout the corridor.
Without hesitation Morgana dashed forward. She caught her spear the instant she reached it. One smooth spin of the weapon severed every creature surrounding her.
Bodies collapsed in every direction. Yet the corridor remained packed. The monsters simply kept coming.
"They’re endless."
She calmly raised one hand. Several dark-purple magic circles appeared around her.
Then another. And another. Until dozens floated throughout the passage.
Dark mana surged outward. The overwhelming pressure alone caused the front ranks of monsters to hesitate.
For the first time instinct overpowered their hunger. They sensed danger. Then Morgana closed her hand.
The spell circles erupted simultaneously.
BOOM!
BOOM!
BOOM!
Violent explosions tore through the corridor one after another.
Walls trembled. Stone shattered.
Entire groups of monsters vanished beneath waves of destructive mana.
When the explosions finally ceased. A long stretch of the corridor had been cleared completely. Only broken stone and countless monster corpses remained.
The opening would not last long.
Already another wave of creatures was rushing forward from deeper within the passage.
Morgana rested her spear across one shoulder.
"Good enough."
Without the slightest hesitation.
She advanced deeper into the unknown, determined to uncover the truth behind the labyrinth—and, if fate allowed it, any clue that might lead her to Noah.
Deep Within the Labyrinth. The further Morgana advanced, the quieter the corridor became.
Not because the monsters had disappeared. But because every creature that approached her was cut down before it could even come within several meters.
Dark mana lingered around her like a cloak.
The grotesque creatures instinctively hesitated whenever she looked their way.
Yet they continued charging without end.
Minutes later the corridor finally widened. Morgana stepped into an enormous underground hall. The scene before her immediately caught her attention.
"..."
A colossal corpse lay in the middle of the chamber. The giant humanoid creature was over ten meters tall, its body riddled with countless wounds.
A massive hole pierced straight through its chest. Its single eye had long since lost its light.
"So this is the guardian Damien mentioned."
Her eyes narrowed. Then she noticed something even more disturbing.
The giant’s corpse trembled. Its torn chest cavity writhed unnaturally.
One after another. The pale creatures crawled out from inside the dead body.
"Is there some kind of gate inside that body? How can so many monsters come out from it?"
Morgana muttered quietly.
Her gaze remained fixed on the giant’s body. The creatures simply kept coming.
There was no sign of the flow slowing.
If this continued soon entire city would be covered by this monsters.
She stepped past the giant corpse. Ahead stood the stone platform Damien had described.
"The slab..."
She walked toward it. With a wave of her hand. A spherical barrier of mana expanded around the platform.
Every monster that entered its range was instantly repelled, allowing her a few precious moments to investigate.
Morgana slowly ran her fingers across the surface.
"..."
Her brows gradually furrowed.
"This isn’t right."
According to Damien. A massive portal had appeared above this very platform after Noah defeated the guardian.
Yet there was no dragon carving. It was an ordinary stone slab. Almost as though the dragon altar Damien described had never existed in the first place.
"Another inconsistency..."
She quietly murmured. She carefully examined every inch of the platform. Searching for hidden mechanisms. Residual mana.
"Noah...If you really were taken somewhere..."
She slowly looked back toward the corpse producing the monsters.
She sighed.
Morgana’s expression became increasingly grim. Destroying the monsters accomplished nothing.
She had to find the source. Otherwise the horde would never end.
---
Several hours later.
Morning quietly arrived.
Warm sunlight streamed through the open veranda, illuminating the peaceful wooden house with a soft golden glow.
The storm had completely vanished. The air smelled fresh after the night’s rain. Inside the room. Noah slowly stirred. "Mmm..."
His eyelids fluttered. A long yawn escaped him. "Yaaawn..."
He lazily stretched both arms above his head before sitting upright.
"That was...a good night’s sleep."
For the first time in what felt like forever. His body felt rested. The pain hadn’t disappeared entirely, but the night’s sleep had eased much of the exhaustion weighing him down.
He rubbed his eyes absentmindedly.
Still half awake.
Creak.
The faint sound of a sliding door echoed somewhere near the entrance.
Noah froze. Every trace of drowsiness vanished instantly.
His blue eyes sharpened.
"Someone’s here."
Almost instinctively a sword appeared in his hand from his storage ring. He tightened his grip.
His breathing slowed. He hesitated. "No. If it’s the owner. Pointing a weapon at them is probably the worst first impression I could make."
After a brief moment of thought. He lowered the sword. The blade disappeared back into his storage ring. Instead, he remained standing quietly in the middle of the room.
Alert. Ready to react if necessary.
Yet making no hostile move.
Tap.
A soft footstep echoed through the wooden corridor.
Tap.
The person was approaching the room.
Noah unconsciously swallowed. His heart began beating faster.
’Who could possibly live in a place like this...?’
The footsteps drew closer.
Tap.
They stopped just outside the open doorway. Silence filled the room. Noah held his breath. His eyes remained fixed on the entrance. Waiting for the mysterious owner of the house to finally reveal themselves.
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