Chapter 644: Labyrinth Rules and Encounters

【Detected the environmental rules of the 'Unknown Labyrinth':】

【Disarray: Each time it opens, the positions of the buildings within the labyrinth reset.】

【Corridor: No matter which direction you walk, you will eventually drift toward the center.】

【Fog: Greatly reduces spiritual effects such as perception, mana sense, magical sight, and darkvision.】

【Appease: Collect three tokens and offer them at the altar to end the labyrinth.】

【Erosion: Staying in one place for too long will trigger a 'Memory Erosion' effect, requiring a Will check.】

【Unknown 1: Not yet triggered.】

【Unknown 2: Not yet triggered.】

【Attention!】

【Some of the above labyrinth environmental rules are not physical punishments; 'Otherworldly Spatial Tendency' cannot grant exemption.】

Night. Forest.

A pale, bloodless full moon hung above the forest, its clearly visible craters like rotting sores, making the pallid moon look like a festering eye.

Black, withered branches stabbed toward the heavens, twisted and grotesque.

Thick fog seeped from the humus, crawling slowly along the tree roots.

A heavy, cloying scent of damp greenery and water was the first to slip into his nostrils.

"Forest."

Rod opened his eyes and looked up at the pallid moon in the sky.

The entire Lin Zi was soaked in moonlight, gleaming with the greenish-gray of a dead fish's belly.

"Pale Corridor."

The Star Spirit Hayli snapped a twig underfoot and spoke the labyrinth's name.

"The entire labyrinth exists within a special spatial structure. No matter where we walk, we'll eventually drift toward the altar at the center."

She didn't know Rod possessed the skill 【Otherworldly Spatial Tendency】 that revealed environmental rules, and explained softly.

"Have you been in here before?"

"Went through it once five years ago. A crushing defeat."

Hayli gave a bitter little smile. "This trial for the Star Society was originally supposed to begin in April, but because of Mystra my lord's successful ascension to godhood, the entire continent was covered by the Weave's canopy, and the labyrinth seemed somewhat unstable. It kept being adjusted until mid-May."

After leaving the restaurant, the two had held hands for a while in the museum's back garden, waiting until the trial began.

The entry passages separated the various trial candidates—perhaps to preserve the mystique of each candidate's vanguard.

But the ones who opened the passages were still personnel from the Star Society.

When they saw Hayli bringing a human as her vanguard, they couldn't help showing puzzled and contemptuous expressions.

"This labyrinth does look a bit desolate and eerie."

"It used to be fine, but now it really is a bit much—even the moon has gone pale."

Hayli said with a proud smile, "But the central zone is a ruined, shattered temple complex, very ancient—perhaps a product of the First Epoch, even. You can still find traces of Star Spirit activity from the First Epoch there. If you have any interest in archaeology, you'd better have a good look."

"."

Rod didn't take the bait.

Star Spirits' confidence and pride were equally strong; every chance they got, they'd grab it to tell you all about their nonexistent history.

He immediately changed the subject: "We should get moving. If we stay in one place too long, this fog will probably invade our bodies."

"Oh? How do you know that?"

"I'm guessing."

"Well, you guessed pretty well. By the way, I suggest we stay in contact whenever we're not fighting, to avoid any issues with combat Ke Yin."

She held out her small hand, frank and open, showing not a trace of the Star Spirit's telltale glow when embarrassed.

As if it were purely for the trial.

Rod didn't mind in the slightest and grabbed it.

Walking shoulder to shoulder with the Star Spirit Young Lady, his thumb rubbed her palm from time to time, unconsciously.

"Such a troublesome enslavement tool and you still use it—I don't mind, but you're a girl…"

"This magical item is a bit of a hassle, but as long as we stay within two hundred meters of each other, the longer the time, the greater the corresponding boost. I'm doing it all for the trial."

"I see. How old are you, then? You're not married, are you?"

"I've never even had a boyfriend, Rod. Not asking a lady's age is the most basic etiquette."

Hayli's face showed displeasure, and she pinched his palm in a mock-angry rebuke.

And when she felt the other person's heart pounding away.

At the same time, her heart leaped with excitement.

Holding hands! A dangerous environment!

Isn't this exactly what romance adventure stories always talk about—turning tension and excitement into attraction for the person beside you!

It's in the bag!

Rod, oh Rod, you're done for! I'll definitely take you down!

"Are you nervous? Your heart's beating a little fast, isn't it? Calm down, or it'll affect your spell focus."

Rod said, frowning.

Hayli froze for a beat: "N-no, isn't it your heart that's beating?"

The hand she was Wo Zhu Fa on her staff pressed against her chest. She instantly stiffened.

Thump-thump-thump!

What the—??

Why is it beating so fast??

Even though this is my first time holding hands with a boy, even though this is also my first time adventuring with a man, even though this guy really is quite handsome, even though, even though—

Thump thump thump!!

No, I must be nervous! I'm just nervous, that's all there is to it!

Thump thump thump!!!

That wildly surging heartbeat did not seem to come from inside the Young Lady Star Spirit.

Rod suddenly froze.

He yanked the Young Lady Star Spirit, whose face kept shifting, into his arms and blasted backward.

"Boom——!!!"

Dust billowed, dirt, grass, and gravel flying.

A thick dragon claw covered in cobalt-blue scales slammed into the spot where they had just been; the ground instantly cracked, with web-like fissures spreading for several meters.

"Roar——!"

A deafening dragon howl rang through the woods, the air humming and trembling from static electricity.

In the pale-blue mist, a pair of amber slit-pupils lit up like lightning in thunderclouds, locking dead onto the two of them.

"A blue dragon, huh? You Star Spirits really have some skill, managing to get a blue dragon as a vanguard."

Rod steadied himself. Hailie in his arms had gone a few shades paler; she indignantly pulled herself out of his embrace, a bright magical shield wrapping her whole body.

"Hahahahaha——"

Along with the wild laughter from above, the mist parted, and the dragon's full form finally revealed itself——

Towering like Rushan, its slender neck curved like a bow, every scale gleaming with a cold metallic sheen under the chill moonlight.

Its massive wings half-spread, lightning-shaped patterns on the membranes faintly glowing, the spines along its back lit blue with gathering thunder and lightning.

And atop its head—

Stood a medium-built male Star Spirit.

"I thought Medrin was joking with me, I didn't expect you really did get a human to act as vanguard. Hailie, what on earth were you thinking!?"

Hailie gritted her teeth, her face full of displeasure.

An expression she hadn't even shown when facing Medrin.

Rod asked curiously, "Who's this? Do you two have a grudge?"

"Boivalo, captain of the fifth squad of the Security Department. This is the guy who snatched the token from me five years ago! And wounded me too!"

"Then we can't just let that slide."

Rod said with a smile.

Hailie knew Rod didn't intend to expose his identity by using a weapon, and couldn't help feeling a little worried: "Will you be all right? I'll weaken the glass conversion of the scales."

"No matter. I recall blue dragons don't have very high cold resistance, right?"

"That's right."

"Then that's fine."

Rod turned and stepped forward.

The dirt and fallen leaves beneath his feet instantly froze, a layer of pale frost spreading outward like ripples.

The ice layer spread, cold air rising, the moisture in the air condensing into tiny ice crystals that refracted a cold, sharp gleam in the moonlight.

With every step, a 【Wailing Ice Tree】 would rise up.

Hailie couldn't help being stunned.

She murmured, "He's gotten stronger again? This fast? Is this guy even human?"

In the space of a moment—

Rod's very presence was like the descent of winter.

The earth, the dead trees, everything grew still and slow, yet was inevitably and irresistibly swept over by the spreading frost.

A vast, magnificent ice domain.

【Judian's Ice Blade Domain +13】.

(End of this chapter)