Awakener's Guide to Climbing the Tower

Chapter 30: Death Maze (2)

"HEY! GERBY! MISHY!"

Nyxie?

The voice echoed again.

"TURN LEFT!" Then a pause followed. "No, wait! RIGHT!"

Then another pause. "Actually maybe left!"

Misha groaned mid-run. "That’s Nyxie all right."

Gerbaut answered with a short grunt. "Mm."

"Should we listen to her?" freewebnøvel.coɱ

"No."

A second voice followed immediately, dry and exhausted. "Go straight."

Misha perked up. "Elyes?"

"Yes..." His voice drifted through the corridor with the energy of a man who had already regretted everything. Oddly enough, hearing him soothed her anyway since he was someone they can depend on.

"How are you talking to us?" Misha couldn’t help but ask, half breathless, half desperate.

"Magic."

"..." Misha’s eye twitched. "That explains absolutely nothing!"

A glowing orb floated around the next corner and drifted toward them. Nyxie’s face appeared inside it.

She grinned. "Hey!"

Misha stared blankly while still running for her life. "... Why are you upside down?"

"I don’t know! Am I?"

A moment later, Elyes sighed from somewhere out of frame. "You’re holding the communication orb upside down."

"Oh!"

The image flipped. Only then did Misha notice Nyxie carrying Elyes on her back. freёwebnovel.com

She stared harder. "..."

What the hell...?

"Don’t ask," Elyes muttered while rubbing his forehead. He looked deeply tired in a way that suggested Nyxie had already committed several crimes against his patience.

"We solved the maze!" Nyxie announced proudly.

Misha brightened at once. "Great! Now get us out of here!"

A loud crash echoed behind them. The thorn sphere wasn’t giving them any time to relax.

"We have good news!" Nyxie pointed dramatically at something off-screen. "We found the exit!"

Misha almost cried from relief. "Really?!"

"And we also have bad news!"

Misha’s smile disappeared immediately. There it was. Of course there was bad news.

"The maze changes every few minutes!"

She stared at her in mute despair.

Of course it did. Why would the Tower ever allow one simple thing to stay simple?

"You need to reach the central junction before the next shift." Elyes instructed. The mage glanced somewhere off-screen. "About two minutes."

Misha’s eyes widened so much they almost hurt. "Two minutes?!"

Her legs already felt like they belonged to someone else. Her lungs were burning and her heart hammered against her chest like it wanted out.

She glanced at the timer.

「 Time Remaining: 00: 49:57 」

"..." Misha nearly lost her mind.

"... I feel like I’ve been running for six years already..."

Nyxie leaned toward the orb with total seriousness. "Run faster!"

"We’ve been running!"

"Run faster-er!"

Misha stared blankly at her. Oh how she wished Nyxie would grow a brain at times like this.

The orb flickered then vanished and silence rushed back in.

Gerbaut changed direction immediately and Misha chased after him without question.

The maze groaned and the stone walls shifted. Stone ground against stone with a monstrous rumble as entire corridors twisted into shapes. Passages closed, and others opened. The floor trembled under Misha’s boots while the world around her rearranged itself like a living thing.

「 Trait in Effect: Analytical Thinking 」

「 Mental focus sharpened. 」

Then, a slow realization struck her. The walls weren’t shifting randomly. Certain corridors moved first and others followed. The sounds traveled in a pattern.

Misha’s gaze darted across the maze, a rough pattern emerged inside her head.

Her pulse quickened even more. " I think the maze has rotating sections!"

"Maybe."

Maybe? How could he say that when she was pointing out something important!

Another deafening crash echoed behind them.

Misha’s instincts screamed.

「 Trait in Effect: Calm Under Pressure 」

「 Stress resistance slightly increased. Fear and panic are suppressed. 」

Somewhere ahead waited the central junction.

She clenched her jaw and forced her exhausted legs to move faster.

"Gerbaut," she panted. "If we survive this, I’m blaming all of you."

He did not look back. "Save your breath."

Then they turned another corner– and finally saw it.

The portal to the next floor floated at the center of a wide circular chamber, its blue light swirling like liquid sky.

The sight hit Misha so hard that relief nearly made her knees give out. For one glorious, and precious moment, she thought they had finally made it.

We’re alive! We’re actually alive!

Then the ground shook once again.

There was a deep rumble through the chamber. Stone slabs groaned, and the entire central junction began to shift beneath their feet.

Misha’s hope instantly died.

Misha’s eyes widened in disbelief. " Please... please tell me the portal isn’t moving!"

Gerbaut flicked a glance across the floor as massive sections of stone roasted and slid apart with grinding force. His jaw tightened by a fraction. "... Run."

Misha almost burst into tears. "That is not a reassuring answer!"

She ran harder anyway.

The chamber moved like some giant puzzle box under someone’s control. Huge stabs of stone shifted out of place and turned with deafening rumbles, carving new gaps into the floor while others sealed shut. The portal drifted farther away from their side of the junction, carried by the moving platform beneath it with merciless slowness.

"No! No– YOU DISGUSTING, EVIL, OVERDESIGNED DEATH MAZE! STOP MOVING THE ONE USEFUL THING IN THIS ROOM!!"

BOOOM!

Behind them, the corridor exploded. The giant mass of thorns burst through the passage like a living avalanche of black iron and hatred. It rolled straight toward them with force to pulverize anything unlucky enough to stand in its path.

Misha’s blood ran cold. It was too close. Way too close and way too fast.

"GERBAUT!"

The man didn’t answer. Of course he did not answer.

Because why would he? Why speak when he could simply run there looking terrifyingly calm while Misha experienced all five stages of death in advance?

His eyes were locked on the portal. In one glance, he judged the distance, the shifting floor, the timing, the speed of the death ball, and probably the emotional fragility of the girl losing her mind behind him.

Then he turned and seized Misha by her wrist.

For one tiny, stupid second, Misha thought he meant to pull her along. Then he swung.

Her heart almost stopped. "W-wait–!"

Her feet left the ground.

"GERBAUT?!"

The world flipped. Everything whirled together into one screaming blur.

THIS LUNATIC! HE ACTUALLY THREW ME!

She flailed on instinct, fingers clawing at empty air, while the portal swallowed her whole in a burst of blue.

For one dizzy instant, she caught a final glimpse of Gerbaut.

He stood on the shifting stone with the thorn sphere charging straight at him.

And he had thrown her first to escape... Misha’s breath caught. The panic twisting through her chest changed shape in an instant.

Wait... what about him?