Chapter 404 The Beginning of Chaos
Behind the stone wall of the maze, two preparatory students from the School of Protection were standing back to back, breathing nervously. Their magic power has bottomed out, and one of them still has a hole in his mage's robe corroded by acid.
"We...we're lost, Martin." One of the thin apprentices' voice trembled, "The map is fake, we were deceived by the undead!"
The apprentice called Martin's face was pale, he held the wand tightly, and the light from the tip of the wand was as weak as a candle in the wind.
"We are so naive... we actually believe that Instructor Merck will be kind enough to prepare a supply point for us!"
"I knew that the "official supply point" was not a real supply point at all, but a trap deliberately set by Instructor Merck!"
The two poor children only guessed the first level.
The so-called official supply point is of course fake, but this thing really cannot be blamed on Instructor Merck who carefully designed the maze.
Just when they fell into despair, the sound of footsteps accompanied by bone friction came from the corner of the corridor.
The two people immediately became nervous, and gathered the remaining magic power to concentrate on the tip of the staff, only to see a lone skeleton soldier appear in front of them.
It did not rush up with a strange scream like other undead, but just tilted its head and quietly "looked" at them with eyes burning with soul fire.
Martin immediately raised his wand, but the skeleton soldier slowly raised his skeletal hand, waved it, and then pointed to another fork behind them, making a "follow" gesture.
“It...what does it want to do?” the thin apprentice asked in confusion.
"A trap, for sure!" Martin said warily, "Don't believe it!"
Skeleton soldiers seemed to see through their hesitation.
It ignored the two of them and walked towards the fork in the road. Just after it turned a corner, a dull roar that did not belong to the undead sounded, followed by the sound of metal colliding.
A moment later, the skeleton soldier came back, dragging half of the body of the cave spider in his hand. He threw the body in front of the two of them and pointed to the fork in the road again.
That way seems to say——
I can take you out.
The two people who were at the end of their rope looked at each other and saw shock in each other's eyes. There are monsters behind that road, and this skeleton soldier... is helping them avoid danger?
After much hesitation, they finally chose to follow.
The skeleton soldier walked in front, neither fast nor slow. When he encountered a fork in the road, he would stop and use his bones to draw a simple map on the ground to indicate the location of the trap.
Many of the traps in the maze are triggered by pressure sensitivity and vital signs. Generally, mirror images of monsters or skeleton soldiers can easily detect and avoid these dangers.
This move gradually dispelled the doubts of the two apprentices.
They even thought that this undead might be a hidden "Easter egg" set by Instructor Merck, specifically to help those unlucky ones who stumbled at the so-called "official supply point".
"Holy Saint Sith... I knew that Master Merck wouldn't design a level that we can't pass!" The thin apprentice said excitedly with a flushed face.
Martin did not speak, but he could not help but murmur in his heart——
Did he blame his mentor wrongly?
Soon, the skeleton soldier brought them to a secluded dead end.
The two of them were about to be alert when they saw a tuft of grass growing at the end of the alley that emitted a faint white light. The soft light was like the silver glow cast by the moon!
"It's moongrass!" The thin apprentice shouted in surprise and immediately ran forward to pick it.
That is a very rare alchemy material!
Although there may be no shortage of mentors, for ordinary magic apprentices, it takes at least several months of saving up to get one.
However, as soon as his fingers touched the blades of grass, a large net fell from above his head, instantly hanging him upside down as he was caught off guard.
Martin was shocked. He was about to recite a spell and cast a spell when he found that the skeleton soldier had come around behind him at some point. A thick leg bone hit his wrist with a "snap" and the wand fell to the ground.
"Ouch——!" Martin screamed in pain, holding his hand that was almost broken, he took two steps back and tripped over a stone on the ground.
The skeleton soldier was playing with his leg bones but did not continue to attack.
It just bent down, picked up the wand on the ground, then pointed to the money bag hanging on the waist of its panicked companion, and then pointed to itself, repeating this action several times.
Martin understood its meaning instantly.
This undead does not want their lives, it only wants to rob.
He swallowed.
"I... will give it all to you, can you let me go?"
His combat effectiveness without the wand is not much better than that of an old peasant from the Empire, and is even worse than the latter who has been trained for a long time.
Looking at the nodding skeleton, Martin took off the cloth bag hanging on his waist with trembling hands, which contained a little change and the magic crystal he harvested in the maze.
The skeleton snatched it away, and then searched for the guy who was hanging in the air.
Just when Martin was hesitant to discuss with the skeleton and ask the latter to return the wand to him, the skeleton suddenly crushed the distress rune he had collected from them.
Martin's expression suddenly changed.
He rushed forward, trying to take the runestone back, but it was too late.
While scattering the rune fragments at him, the skeleton dodged his attack with incredible dexterity, and disappeared before the patrol assistant arrived...
…
Whether the magic apprentices in the school were happy or not, the players who participated in the All Souls' Day event were having fun this time.
In just two hours, more than 300 magic apprentices have been sent away, and the assistant teacher in charge of patrol almost broke his legs!
This kind of elimination speed is unprecedented!
Usually, large-scale eliminations do not start until at least the third level of the maze. In previous years, the number of eliminations on the first level was as high as 100, which was considered too difficult.
In the duty room outside the maze, Instructor Merck was staring at the magic crystal in front of him with his brows furrowed. The assistant teachers accompanying him were even more nervous and did not dare to take a breath.
Kemidil even wanted to find out all the eighteen generations of Osa's ancestors and scold them. Where did this guy get the undead from and it was so difficult to deal with.
He vowed to make that damn adventurer pay the price when the matter is over! He will use the most vicious curse to turn that fool into a toad!
However, what Kemidil didn't know was that the adventurer he was cooperating with had already boarded a ship bound for the New World at the port of the North Sea, ready to start a new adventure.
As for the dividends from the magic crystal mine...
The only option is to ask Baron Gus to cash it in.
It's not just Kemidil who can't figure it out. The frowning instructor Merck also can't figure out why.
In the crystal, white light spots representing distress signals lit up one after another in the area on the first floor of the maze, with a frequency far beyond his expectation.
"What's going on?" He muttered to himself, tapping his fingers on the table unconsciously, "Are this year's apprentices so vulnerable?"
Although the maze he designed was difficult, it would not cause so many apprentices to collapse collectively on the first level...
Just when he was puzzled, a coordinating assistant hurried in, with exhaustion and anxiety on his face.
"Teacher Merck! The number of activated distress runes on the first floor far exceeds our expectations. There are not enough teaching assistants on patrol! They are asking for more people!"
Merck raised his head and said with an unhappy expression: "Then allocate manpower from the second and third floors to ensure the safety of the apprentices first!"
"We have already done this," the assistant teacher gasped, and his tone became more solemn, "But... a new problem has arisen, a more serious problem."
"Say."
"The evacuation teleportation array inside the core of the maze...has failed." The assistant said with difficulty, "We can't send those apprentices who have lost their qualifications through the magic circle. Some assistants are still trying to take them to other areas to activate the portal... Now many areas on the first floor of the maze are in chaos."
His statement was already very conservative.
To be more precise, the assistant instructors who patrolled the field had to avoid disturbing the trials of other apprentices while leading the eliminated ones back and forth in the maze.
They didn't know why the teleportation array couldn't be used, and they could only hope that things might get better in the next area...
Merck stood up suddenly, with a trace of shock in his eyes.
In order to prevent cheating, the entire trial maze was isolated from the physical connection with the outside world at the beginning of its construction. The only entrance and exit was the starting portal.
Other than that, there are just some ventilation ducts!
Once the internal evacuation circle fails, it means that the eliminated apprentices will be completely trapped in the maze.
Merck, whose face changed wildly, gradually realized that this was no longer an ordinary trial accident, but a serious crisis...
A drop of cold sweat ran across his forehead, and the wrinkles at the end of his eyes dripped on the ground.
Damn the Demon God——
He screwed up!
The atmosphere in the duty room is as suffocating as sticky slime.
There is no time to hesitate, he must take action immediately to get the out-of-control maze back on track!
After a moment of thinking, Merck no longer hesitated and issued the order in a decisive tone.
ifies all the apprentices who have lost their qualifications and take them to the temporary evacuation point in the east area on the first floor.』
"Yes," Merck's voice was unquestionable, "Let our teaching assistants wait there to calm the apprentices' emotions. I will personally take people there and open a physical passage for them from above the refuge point -"
Before Merck could finish his words, a deafening roar suddenly came from below the duty room.
The solid stone floor and walls trembled violently, and the ink bottle on the table was knocked over, leaving a stain on the map.
A young teaching assistant was unsteady on his feet and barely managed to hold on to the wall after taking a staggering step. His face was full of horror and astonishment.
"What happened?"
"This movement must be at least a silver-level spell——"
h "Maybe it's a gold-level spell..."
"Which idiot brought a gold-level magic scroll in?!"
Hence before everyone could recover from the tremors that shook the earth, a piercing alarm suddenly came from the magic crystal.
A scarlet crack suddenly appeared on the surface of the crystal, which was a scar that reminded everyone that the structure of the maze was damaged!
Merk's pupils suddenly shrank, and he rushed to the crystal. When he saw clearly the feedback situation in the magic circle, he couldn't help blurting out a curse.
That alarm did not come from the chaotic first floor, but from the third floor!
A large area there actually collapsed!
…
Time goes back to one hour ago——
The third floor of the maze.
The cold and damp air accumulated in the narrow corridor, as if it had condensed into a solid substance. The five young female apprentices moved forward cautiously, each breath carrying turbid water vapor.
Although the vast majority of apprentices were held back by the undead on the first level, there were still many who successfully broke through the blockade of the undead and reached deeper into the maze.
What surprised many magic apprentices was that starting from the second level, the difficulty of the maze trial suddenly became lighter?
There are no mysterious undead wandering here, and the traps have finally turned into what they saw in the textbooks...
"Finally got rid of those damn skeletons..."
"That Merck is really crazy. Where did he get those troublesome guys from?"
"Is there someone behind the scenes? I don't think their actions look like the same thing at all." The undead like this seem to be controlled by a necromancer..."
"Don't talk nonsense, where did the necromancer come from in Xuebang, and how many mages are needed to control so many undead?"
"Could it be hell..."
"Ha, unless those demons are crazy. They go to all this trouble just to cause trouble for us apprentices in the labyrinth trial?"
"Anjie, let me tell you... your brain is really getting harder and harder to use."
h "I'm really worried about whether you can graduate. You can't even ask Miss Rustina to help with such a small thing, right?"
"Yes, I'm sorry..." Faced with the "closeness" of two good friends of Rustina, Anjie shivered and shrank her neck.
Looking at Anjie who seemed to be bullied, Ilana frowned slightly and wanted to say something, but she couldn't decide whether this was a joke between friends.
Anjie has said more than once that she and these three seniors are very good friends, although Ilana always feels that this kind of unilateral tolerance and flattery is abnormal.
Hand wait until the trial is over and ask her...
Just when Ilana looked at Anjie, the eyes of a certain "captain" also fell on her vaguely.
Lastina's fingers rubbed the storage bag at her waist, and through the leather, she could clearly feel the hard outline of the square box.
She bought it from a store introduced by a senior a few days ago.
The box is completely black, and there is a black cloth with runes wrapped around the outside. It is said that as long as it is opened in the maze, it can cause huge turmoil.
Do you want to use it now?
Lastina was still hesitating in her heart.
The old witch who sold her the "box" exuded an ominous aura, which still made her feel palpitations. She had no doubt about the power of this box, but she still had a slight hesitation about taking things to that extent.
She just wanted to teach someone a lesson who couldn't recognize her, and didn't want things to get completely out of control... although this was the safest thing for her.
Lastina took a deep breath and temporarily drove away the chaotic thoughts in her head.
She decided to look for other opportunities first and wait until she had to use this box...
It would be great if she happened to meet a few acid slimes.
At this moment, there was movement at the corner of the passage ahead. Several huge figures squirmed, completely blocking the way of the group of people.
They were three ooze monsters that were two meters high. Their gray-green translucent bodies were like huge jelly, exuding a faint sour smell.
They have no facial features, and only the occasional bubbles on the surface prove that they are living creatures.
The record in the "Monster Manual" flashed through Ilana's mind -
Ooze monster!
The attack method is to swallow the prey alive!
Its slashing, piercing, and magic resistance are all good. The best way to deal with it is to freeze it with ice magic, and then use wind or earth attack magic to destroy it!
Although the ooze monster in the trial maze can no longer swallow and digest people, it will still swallow its prey alive and then cause it to suffocate and faint, so it is also quite dangerous!
While Ilana was quickly analyzing the weaknesses of the monster in front of her, a perfect idea exploded in Rastina's mind at the same time.
This is simply a God-sent opportunity!
Her sharp eyes quickly swept across the two followers beside her. Anjie and others immediately understood, with eager evil smiles on their faces.
"Don't worry! Ilana, this kind of small role is not worth mentioning! Watch me solve it now!" Anjie raised her voice, as if to cheer herself up, and as if she was saying it to Ilana deliberately.
"Pyroblast!"
"Haha, look at my bursts of fireballs! Go ahead, cuties!"
The two mage apprentices standing next to Anjie raised their wands almost at the same time. In the midst of chanting, the scorching fireballs and bursting flames roared and hit the ooze monster's body.
"Wait! They don't-" Ilana was startled when she saw this, and as soon as her exclamation of warning came out of her mouth, she was drowned out by a huge hiss.
The flames hit the ooze monster. Instead of causing effective damage, it was like pouring boiling water into a boiling oil pan!
In an instant, an extremely thick white steam suddenly exploded, instantly covering the entire passage with an all-devouring momentum!
This is a mistake made by almost all magicians born in the wild. The fire magic that seems to restrain the ooze monster is actually a trap!
The ooze monster, which contains a lot of water in its body, is not a slime after all, and it is not easily evaporated, unless the caster has enough magic power to crush it!
It is understandable for adventurers to make this mistake, but for magicians with "professional background" it is something they should never make.
毕竟在法士考试的卷子上，解决软泥怪的对策几乎是一道送分题……
不过现在说什么都晚了。
The world in front of me instantly turned into a vast whiteness, and I couldn’t even see my fingers!
The light of the spell, the figures of the companions, and the walls of the maze, everything was swallowed up by this sudden steam storm.
At this time, Anjie, who had a guilty conscience, shouted artificially.
「啊……糟糕了！我记得魔物图鉴上说过，不能用火系魔法——」
「别他妈废话了，赶紧撤！」她的废话还没讲完，就被旁边伸来的一只手给抓走了。
Lastina quickly evacuated with her followers.
They were well prepared and had released the wind elves to guide the direction in advance. Naturally, they would not be trapped by a mere bit of white mist.
Coughing, Ilana pushed back against the steam that surrounded her, trying to find her lost sense of direction.
However, at this moment, an angry roar suddenly came from the depths of the white mist. It was the sound made by the ooze monster after it was angered!
Feeling the tremors crawling along the floor, the pale Ilana's heart sank suddenly.
Can't just sit back and wait for death!
· In panic, she tried to force herself to calm down. Based on the location of the monster in her memory, she condensed a slightly immature ice arrow on the tip of the wand, and waved the wand fiercely to throw it towards the fog in front of her!
The sound of hitting a hard object made Ilana’s mood sink to the bottom again.
The ice arrow she threw out with concentrated strength did not hit the target. Instead, it hit the hard maze wall in vain and shattered into ice crystals!
Ilana was about to suffer——
Ilana made a prompt decision and quickly reached out to touch the rune for help, but she found nothing. The rune originally tied around her waist had disappeared.
At this moment, a huge shadow quickly approached in the white mist, and a squirming slime monster rushed towards her!
Ilana was completely desperate.
At this critical moment, a strong wind suddenly poured in from the other end of the corridor!
The strong air flow was like an invisible big hand, instantly blowing away the diffuse white mist and halting the forward momentum of the ooze monster.
"Frost Blast!"
"Go! Stone Bullets! Crush my enemies in the shape of arrows!"
The sound of chanting the curse came at the same time, and a sharp ice blast and several sharp stone bullets roared in, accurately hitting the chests of three ooze monsters!
With a few dull explosions, the three monsters that left Ilana helpless were instantly shattered and turned into broken ice crystals!
His vision returned to clarity, and Ilana quickly raised her head and looked forward, only to see Orphea standing at the other end of the corridor with her hands on her hips, panting Harder and Bain.
"Where light goes, darkness has nowhere to hide! Ilana, I'm late, I hope I'm not too late." She read this sentence from a knight novel. She had wanted to say it in person for a long time, but unfortunately she had no chance at all when she was in the Holy City.
Ilana, who survived the disaster, was surprised and happy. She did not expect that she would also participate in the maze trial, let alone meet her here.
"Ophelia?! Why are you here?"
"Well, it's a long story." Ofelia coughed lightly, and twirled her index finger around the hair on her temples a few times, sorry. She looked away thoughtfully, "To be honest... I flew here after a particularly beautiful butterfly."
She would never admit that she was actually following her, and she lost her in a very embarrassing way.
But fortunately, Saint Sith was on the side of justice. She met a brightly colored butterfly on the way and chased it and came here.
I didn’t encounter even a single trap along the way.
Bain and Harder were also surprised by Miss Ophia's luck. They didn't expect that they could reach the third floor so easily.
Perhaps people with noble souls really have gods looking after them.
Ilana looked at Ophelia with disbelief and said suspiciously.
Hader and Bain, who were standing behind her, looked at each other, not sure whether they should interrupt, but they couldn't stand here forever.
As we all know, ooze monsters appear in groups. If you encounter three, you may encounter thirty or even three hundred...
Under Hader's instigation, Bain took a step forward and whispered to Ophia. Asked: "Ms. Castellon, are we... still going to test the "Explosive Thermobaric Bomb" now?"
I didn't expect to meet my classmates from the Magical Science Laboratory here. Their original plan seemed to be disrupted by this episode.
Ophelia, of course, would not confess that her real purpose was to "hero save the beauty", so she coughed again and forcibly brought the topic back.
"Of course we are going to continue... our plan! By the way, Ilana, where are your teammates? You couldn't have walked here by yourself, right?" Ilana looked around and said worriedly: "The situation here was too chaotic just now, we were separated, and I was just going to find them -"
"No need to look."
Ophia smiled slightly, but the smile did not reach her eyes.
The golden pupils looked coldly into the depths of the maze corridor, like a spear piercing the night, shining with the edge of justice.
"Ilana, my friend, you are too naive."
"Those guys did it on purpose!"