Free Web NovelLudger squinted, focus sharpening until the village and the forest seemed to narrow around that single scene.
The armed snake-people here were dangerous. Very dangerous.
He could see it in the gear, in the discipline, in the way even injured ones carried themselves like they were still ready to bite something’s throat out.
But watching them limp back like this, missing limbs, burned, cut, half-carried… They weren’t the apex predators of this place. Something out here was hunting them.
Luna seemed to reach the same conclusion at the same time, because her grip on his shoulder tightened just a fraction.
For the first time since spotting the village, Ludger felt a different kind of tension settle into his chest.
Not just “we found people.”
But: Inhabitants of another world. And in a place where even the locals came home torn apart, that meant the island, and maybe this whole side of the labyrinth, was even worse than he’d guessed.
Ludger lifted two fingers, then angled them back the way they came. Retreat. Luna didn’t argue this time. They’d seen enough. More than enough for one day.
A populated settlement. A nonhuman civilization. Armed guards with magic spears. Wounded fighters returning from something strong enough to tear through them anyway. And all of it under a sky that didn’t belong to their world.
There was no point staying longer just to satisfy curiosity and risk getting spotted while under-equipped.
Ludger leaned close and whispered, “We go back. Slow.”
Luna nodded once.
They withdrew the same way they’d come, careful, quiet, using roots and trunks for cover until the tree houses vanished behind the forest. Only when the smoke smell faded and the jungle noise swallowed the distant sounds of the village did they pick up the pace.
The tent was only about ten kilometers away. Far enough to stay hidden. Close enough that coming and going wouldn’t waste the day if they moved smart.
By the time they reached the beach again, the sun had shifted and the heat sat heavier on their shoulders. Neither of them spoke much on the way back. There was too much to sort through, and saying it out loud too early would only make it feel more absurd.
About an hour later, they were back at the tent. And neither of them had any idea what they should do next. Luna stood near the entrance with her arms crossed, staring at the ocean like it had personally insulted her. Ludger stayed a few steps away, gaze drifting between the treeline and the water, mind running in circles he couldn’t quite close.
Snake-people. A real village. A functioning society. Not monsters in a dungeon room. Not a hidden tribe in some remote mountain pass.
A civilization.
He had wondered, once, back when they went to the other side of the runic golems labyrinth and found signs of that ancient civilization—if something like this might exist somewhere. Another layer. Another world. A place where labyrinths connected things bigger than anyone on their side understood. free𝑤ebnovel.com
At the time, it had felt like one of those thoughts you file away for later. Interesting. Dangerous. Not immediately useful.
Now he was standing on a beach under an alien sky with damaged mana circuits, a concussed bodyguard, a sea monster circling the island, and a village of serpent-people ten kilometers inland.
Ludger exhaled slowly, dry amusement and disbelief mixing in a way that made his chest feel tight. He had expected many things from his life. This still wasn’t one of them.
Luna broke the silence first.
“What do we do now?” she asked, eyes still on the tree line, voice tight but steadier than before. “If your guess is right, then sooner or later we’ll have to do something about those snake-people.”
Ludger nodded once.
“We will,” he said. “But not yet.”
Luna turned to him, frowning.
“We observe more first,” he continued. “Patterns. Numbers. Guards. Routes. How they react to outsiders, if they even get outsiders. I don’t want to expose us to danger before we know what kind of danger they are.”
Luna clicked her tongue, frustrated. “We need to hurry. Our disappearance can cause problems back home.”
That landed.
Ludger’s expression flattened into thought. He brought a hand to his chin, thumb pressing lightly as he stared past the beach and into the middle distance.
He nodded again, slower this time.
“Yeah,” he said quietly. “It can.”
Lionfang would be on edge. Viola would not stay calm. Elaine… He cut that thought off before it could gain momentum.
After a few seconds, Ludger exhaled and glanced toward the ocean, where the surface looked peaceful in the exact way he no longer trusted.
“Then maybe we skip a few steps,” he said.
Luna narrowed her eyes. “Meaning?”
Ludger’s gaze stayed on the water. “If time matters more than caution, then I should try talking to the giant monster.”
Luna stared at him. “Talking.”
“Somehow,” he said, dry as ever. “It dragged us here instead of killing us. Or at least, that’s what the evidence keeps pointing at. If that thing is intelligent, and I’m betting it is, then it will tell us what it wants.”
Luna’s face tightened. “Can you even use your magic for that?”
Ludger looked down at his hand, flexed his fingers once, and winced at the faint tremor that still ran through them.
“Not the way I want,” he admitted. “Not cleanly.”
He lifted his eyes again, calm and grim at the same time.
“But time is more important than my comfort.”
Luna watched him for a moment, reading the meaning under the words. Not comfort. Risk. Pain. The chance of making his condition worse. She knew he was minimizing it on purpose.
“…And if forcing it fries your circuits again?” she asked.
Ludger’s mouth twitched, humorless. “Then I’ll try not to be a bitch about it.”
“That’s not reassuring.”
“It’s the best available option.”
He took a slow breath, then looked at the circling sea as if measuring distance, timing, and bad decisions all at once.
“We don’t approach blindly,” he said. “We prepare first. Signals. You stay back where you can move if it turns ugly.”
Luna opened her mouth, probably to argue the stay back part.
Ludger raised a finger before she could start. “Head injury.”
She glared.
He nodded toward her temple. “Still counts.”
Luna looked away with a low, annoyed exhale, but she didn’t push it further. For now. Ludger let his hand fall from his chin and stood a little straighter, eyes on the ocean.
“If that thing really brought us here,” he said, “then it either wants something… or wants us to see something.”
The sea gave no answer. Just the faint roll of waves. And somewhere beneath them, a massive shape completing another patient lap around the island.
Ludger kept his eyes on the ocean, but his mind was nowhere near the beach.
The longer he stayed here, the worse it got.
At first, his disappearance would be confusion. Panic. Search parties. People refusing to believe he was gone. But time changed things. Time turned panic into decisions, and decisions into openings.
Every extra day on this island was another day for people back home to realize he wasn’t coming back soon.
Another day for rumors to spread. Another day for enemies to test the edges. His jaw tightened. Lionfang wasn’t weak anymore. Not even close. Arslan was there. Elaine was there. Yvar was there. The guild had veterans, northerner allies, walls, supplies, routines.
But Ludger knew better than to confuse strength with safety. If someone had been waiting for a moment to strike, this was it.
Verk. The Rodericks. Or someone using their names while hiding behind them. And above all of that, the Regent. The thought settled in his chest like a cold stone.
Maybe the Regent wasn’t directly involved. Maybe this whole thing was just a disaster stacked on top of bad luck and hidden imperial cargo.
Maybe.
Ludger had survived too much to trust “maybe” when the timing was this convenient.
He forced himself to breathe slowly, once, then again.
Panic wouldn’t help Lionfang. Fear wouldn’t shorten the distance home. All it would do was make him sloppy, and sloppy people died in places like this. Still, the conclusion stayed the same no matter how he arranged the pieces.
He could not waste time here. Not if he wanted to get back before someone made a move. Not if he wanted to stop Viola from doing something reckless out of guilt.
Not if he wanted to keep Elaine from turning half the coast upside down looking for him. Not if he wanted enemies to remain uncertain instead of emboldened.
Ludger’s eyes narrowed at the dark line where sea met sky. He would have to take risks. Real risks.
Push damaged circuits. Force conversations with a monster he couldn’t properly fight. Gamble on incomplete information. Move before he was fully recovered.
He hated all of it. But he hated the alternative more. So he made the decision the same way he always did, quietly, without drama, accepting the cost before he paid it.
He would move faster than was safe. And if the price was pain, slower recovery, or making his injuries worse, then so be it. Getting home mattered more.
Ludger made his choice and moved before he could sit on it long enough to second-guess himself. He pushed off the tree trunk he’d been leaning against and started toward the beach.
Luna straightened immediately. “Ludger.” frёewebηovel.cѳm
He didn’t stop.
She followed a few steps behind, then hesitated, eyes flicking from his back to the ocean. “Maybe… maybe we should be a little more patient.”
That got him to glance over one shoulder.
Luna frowned, clearly annoyed at herself for being the one saying it. “We’ve only been here three days. Three. It’s not like we can do much with information if your magic is basically sealed.”
Ludger looked at her for a moment, then turned back toward the water.
“It’s better not to take that chance,” he said.
“By ‘that chance,’ you mean the chance that everything back home catches fire while we wait?” Luna asked, voice sharpening.
“Something like that.”
She took another step, lowering her voice. “And if forcing this gets you killed?”
Ludger snorted once, humorless.
“I’m not dying from talking,” he said. “And even without magic, I should still be able to escape if things go south.”
Luna opened her mouth, probably to remind him that “things going south” currently included a sea monster the size of a moving fortress.
He kept walking. The sand gave under his boots as he stepped onto the open beach, leaving the shade of the palms behind. Sunlight hit him full-on, hard and white, throwing his shadow long across the shore.
The ocean looked calm for exactly one heartbeat. Then the water changed. A dark shape beneath the surface shifted course.
The massive underwater shadow that had been circling farther out turned, slow and unmistakable, angling toward him like it had been waiting for a signal. Luna stopped at the edge of the tree line, pulse kicking hard.
The surface bulged. A wake spread in a widening V.
Whatever lived beneath the water had noticed Ludger stepping onto the beach… and it was coming.
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