After exploring the maze for a total of about five minutes, I had already given up. The place was just too damn big. If it weren't for my footprints on the floor of sand, I would've already been lost, unable to even find the entrance.
No matter how many turns I made, the maze just seed to go on forever. In those short five minutes, I had already ran into eight dead ends, not to ntion all the paths that I marked but hadn't full explored yet.
"There's no way how the hell do I get through?" I muttered in frustration to myself, now back at the entrance of the maze.
I thought back to the signs I had read on the way here.
"Common sense is a fool's master."
"The counterpart of deception is not truth - it is more deception."
"Do not let the shackles of reality chain you down."
From this, I had already deduced I would need to think outside the box here, but it wasn't working. I tried punching through the walls, but they were made of solid concrete. Desperate, I even tried to take off into the air and fly, but naturally, all I did was get my whole body covered with sand.
"I've tried all the thods I can think of to go outside the box all that's left is to do this the proper way" I sighed in resignation. I guess those signs back there were just nothing but gibberish after all.
I brushed off all the sand from my clothes and stepped into the maze once more, this ti with the goal of exploring deeper.
*****
- anwhile, Outside the Vault -
(Hina's Perspective)
"He's been in there for nearly an hour already" I murmured quietly, looking at the tree Kaze-kun had jumped down into in worry. "Aisa-chan will he be okay?"
"" Aisa fell silent as she stared at the tree blankly, folding her arms.
"U-Um that silence I'll take it as a no?"
" He is currently facing the last trial. If he can make it out of this one, then he will be fine."
"What's the last trial about?" I asked hesitantly, unsure whether or not I wanted to hear the answer.
" It is called the Trial of Lies, a difficult one. He has to navigate his way out of a maze but the ans to do so are far from what anyone would expect."
"What? How big is the maze?"
Aisa narrowed her eyes at .
"Endless."
I covered my mouth in shock. "W-What?! If it's an endless maze, how does Kaze-kun beat it?!"
"Like I said, the thod to beat this trial is sothing completely unexpected and crazy, unbound by the limits of common sense," Aisa said calmly, turning back to the tree.
"If your precious little brother can see past the lies, he will succeed. However, if not he will be forever lost within the annals of reality."
*****
- Inside the Maze of Deception -
(Kaze's Perspective)
I slowly walked through the labyrinth, dragging my feet on the sand. It was completely silent, apart from the noise of walking. I traced my hand on the wall. It was hard but cold, in great contrast to the soft yet hot sand that made up the floor.
It has been ten minutes since I re-entered the maze. I marked paths that led to dead-ends with an X shape on the ground during my first attempt, so I could skip over so passageways and save a little bit of ti.
"Another dead end ugh," I muttered, then retreated and returned to the main path, leaving an X mark behind at the entrance of the path.
I turned around. The entrance was behind . I could still leave the maze right now if I wanted to, and try again later. However, ti was short, and I didn't want to keep Hina-nee and Aisa waiting for too long on the outside.
Shaking my head, I forced myself to push forward, plunging into the unknown.
But the mont I did, I instantly regretted it.
CLANK.
Hearing this loud noise, I froze and slowly looked back. My eyes widened.
The entrance had been blocked off. The maze had trapped inside, through and through.
"Tch damn," I muttered, but kept a cool head. "Well that didn't change much, to be honest. If that's all you've got, maze, you're going to have to try harder to make panic."
Unfortuantely, that wasn't all the maze got.
As if on cue, I heard the robotic sound of machines moving. They seed to be walking on the sand, crawling with their chanical legs and getting closer and closer to . I gulped, unsure where to go.
The sounds got louder and louder, all around . The unknown dangers edged closer and closer. Where were they? Where should I run to? I had no way to tell - I could end up running straight into one of them.
In my brief monts of hesitation, two grotesque spider-like machines with six armor-plated legs and glowing red eyes suddenly erged from behind . They opened their large, chanical jaws wide, lined with rows of sharp tal teeth, and jumped towards .
"Okay, now's the ti to panic!"
I imdiately spun around and ran in the other direction, passing by several other spider-like machines of the sa design on the way. I skidded to a stop as I ca to a crossroads, faced with two decisions - left or right?
I looked back slightly, and saw that the spiders were closing in fast.
"Screw it - right is always right!"
I took the right path in a hurry, dashing down the isle before quickly turning left again since it was the only way to go. The spider machines followed , their agile bodies sohow scaling the insanely tall walls of the maze as they attempted to drop down on from above.
CRASH!
One of them nearly fell right on top of , but I used Vanishing Clouds to quickly dash away. However, another landed straight in front of , blocking my path. I backed up a few steps, now pincered.
"Tch Basic Pyromancy Art - Pyrosphere," I chanted as the spider prepared to leap towards .
"SCREE!"
Right before it could tear apart with its chanical jaws, it was blasted away by my hidden art.
The spider behind cleaved down with his sharp tal legs, but I managed to barely avoid getting cut in half by leaning to one side.
In a single instant, as the other spider was still sailing through the air, I pulled out my corrupted dagger and stabbed it into its outreached leg, directly into the wires betweeen its plating.
"REEE!" the robotic spider scread as electric sparks flew out of its cut wires. The leg fell limply onto the ground as suddenly, a hologram appeared in front of .
[Corrupt creature?]
[Yes/No]
My eyes widened. The power of Corruption so it was built into Dokujin as well? I an, it WAS a weapon I got from the Vault of Corruption, so it kinda makes sense, now that I think about it. As for why this prompt never popped up before when I killed other creatures, it was probably because I had killed them instantly with one strike rather than injure them.
I hurriedly tapped on 'Yes' without moving my dagger away, and imdiately, the spider's originally-red eyes glitched out for a second, before being replaced by green ones.
Suddenly, I felt a quick and deadly movent behind . I imdiately turned around and saw the spider I had blasted away earlier, now jumping back and ready to cut in half with its sharp legs.
I covered my face out of instinct since it was too late to dodge, but then, sothing unexpected happened.
"SCREE!"
The spider that I had corrupted ramd into its forr ally, tackling it to the ground. The hostile spider scread in agony, but its chanical wails were cut short by the sound of tal piercing through tal - the corrupted machine had used its own leg to pierce through the other's head, silencing it forever. The lights blinked out of the dead machine as sparks flew out of its broken eye-display.
I blinked at this scene, jaw dropping in shock. However, there was no ti to rest, as I heard the sound of the other spiders marching closer and closer. They must've heard the noises of the battle and the agonizing wail of their now-dead ally machine. Unfortunately, these newcors weren't going to be as friendly as the one I had corrupted.
I quickly stood back up from the ground and looked both in front and behind . Behind would eventually lead back to where I ca from, while in front were where the chanical stomps of the other spiders were coming from. Ultimately, I decided to take the third option - right.
Trying to keep my footsteps as light as possible while maintaining my top speed, I dashed away into the endless Maze of Deception.
And as for my newfound robot spider ally? It, well it followed.
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