Watching Louis’s back as he slipped through the door and disappeared inside, Iota muttered anxiously.
"Will he be okay? It could be dangerous if he runs into soone like Epsilon..."
Beta, however, didn’t share that fear. Her voice was calm—almost certain.
"He’ll be fine. He’s the one Lady Eve personally chose."
For them, those words carried weight. They had waited a full century for the mont when soone worthy would finally arrive. And if Lady Eve had chosen him at the very end of their long, long wait... then perhaps he truly didn’t need their protection.
"More importantly, Iota," Beta added quietly.
"Hm? Krung?" Iota blinked.
"We have sothing to do."
"What is it?"
Beta turned her gaze toward the dim corridor Louis had walked through, her expression softer than usual.
"Before Lady Eve is finally freed... before we et her again... there’s sothing we must finish."
Iota fell silent, imdiately sensing the heaviness behind her words.
"It’s ti," Beta said, almost whispering, "to bring our story to a close."
After one hundred long years, the tale of the two chiras was finally preparing to end.
----
As soon as I opened the door and stepped through, a strange discomfort washed over .
It felt like I had pushed through an invisible curtain—sothing cold and unpleasant brushing against my skin.
The space beyond was nothing like what I expected.
A long, narrow corridor stretched into the darkness, swallowed by shadows so deep they seed alive. The air was heavy, quiet, and suffocating, as if sound itself had been devoured by the gloom.
The mont my foot touched the floor, I activated my invisibility spell.
Since my goal was to find Lisa and bring her back safely, the last thing I needed was a confrontation with starving Chiras that had been awake for a hundred years.
Silently, I moved forward, hugging the wall.
There was nothing particularly special about the structure itself—just an endless hallway.
Step after quiet step, I kept walking, keeping my breathing steady and my mana controlled.
Then—
Rustle, rustle—
"...!"
The faint sound crawled along my spine like a cold finger.
I quickly turned my head, and my breath hitched.
A grotesque spider skittered past my side.
And calling it "large" would’ve been an understatent—its body alone was easily bigger than my palm, with legs that twitched and scraped against the floor like brittle twigs.
For a mont, my fingers tingled with the urge to release a burst of electricity.
Anything to get that thing away from .
But I stopped myself with sheer will.
If I made even the smallest noise...
If I disturbed even one thing in this place...
The Chiras who might be lurking nearby—I did not want them coming toward .
The spider continued crawling forward, completely unaware of my existence. I exhaled softly and forced my heartbeat to settle. Then, determined, I picked up my pace and continued down the dark corridor.
But I didn’t get far before I froze again.
"What is this now?"
What stretched out before was a massive spread of web—white threads layered thickly over one another.
Countless spider webs stretched from wall to wall, blocking the path like a barricade.
I stepped closer to examine them, but the closer I got, the clearer it beca that the webs were woven so densely that squeezing through was impossible.
Even cutting them down with a sword would take too long, and looking at just how far the webs extended into the darkness...
I hesitated before even trying.
It felt like I had no choice but to turn back.
While looking around for another way, sothing small caught my attention.
A hole—barely noticeable—sat low on one of the walls, leading to so passage beyond.
...Was it large enough for soone to pass through?
I crouched, asuring it with my eyes.
Yes.
It looked cramped, but definitely big enough for an adult man like to crawl through.
After glancing inside for a mont, I took a quiet breath, lowered my head, and slipped in.
Stale, unmoving air brushed against my face.
Pitch-black darkness wrapped around , making consider turning back for a split second.
But then—
a faint glow leaked in from sowhere deeper.
...Light?
I pushed forward, inch by inch, following that sliver of brightness.
Erging from the hole, I stepped into a completely different space.
It felt like a maze—an enormous, twisted labyrinth made of overlapping stone walls that stretched far above my head.
The walls were thick, uneven, and arranged in a way that made it impossible to tell where one path ended and another began.
And everywhere—trailing from wall to wall, sagging from the ceiling, stretching across corners—
were spider webs.
Thick ones.
So as wide as blankets.
So trembling ever so slightly, as if sothing had just scurried across them.
Fortunately, it didn’t seem as hopelessly tangled as the place I’d been trapped in before.
At the very least, there were open paths where I could walk without brushing against the webs.
I took a cautious step forward, then another, moving deeper into the labyrinth.
Each turn led to another narrow corridor,
each corridor split into two—or three—more.
The deeper I went, the more it felt like the maze was closing in around , funneling sowhere.
But whether that "sowhere" was safety or danger, I had no idea.
Rustle, rustle.
I froze.
Not far ahead, sothing small skittered across the path.
Another spider.
This one was about the size of my fist—small compared to the monsters I’d encountered earlier, but still disgusting enough to make my skin crawl.
I should have ignored it.
I really, really should have.
But the mont I saw it sprint across the ground, sothing in snapped.
Maybe it was the accumulated stress.
Maybe it was simple disgust.
Or maybe it was because I was still shaken from earlier encounters.
Whatever the reason—
before I realized it, my foot had already co down.
Squish.
A sickening, wet crunch echoed beneath my boot.
Bits of the spider’s body spread out like a burst fruit.
I grimaced.
Not at the ss—
but at the feeling that hit a second later.
KIEEEEEEEK!!
A shrill, bone-piercing scream tore through the maze.
It sounded less like a cry and more like a furious warning.
A ssage.
An alarm.
I flinched and looked around wildly.
The sound reverberated off the walls, making it impossible to tell where it ca from.
And then—
Thud.
...Thud.
...Thud.
Heavy.
Slow.
Deliberate.
Each step trembled through the floor, as if sothing massive was dragging its weight toward .
The air changed.
Thicker.
Heavier.
Like sothing enormous had entered the maze and the space itself was reacting to its presence.
My breath caught in my throat.
Every instinct scread at to run—
to sprint as far and as fast as I could.
But I knew imdiately:
...No.
It was too late.
The footsteps were already too close.
Running would only make noise, only reveal my exact position.
And sothing told —
whatever was coming could already sense .
I slowly reached for my weapon, swallowing hard.
"...Great," I muttered under my breath.
"Just what I needed."
The sound that had seed distant at first was now all around .
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