Chapter 57: Chase
Leonard’s words lingered in the air, everyone needing a moment to process them.
"Enough with the nonsense!" Russell bellowed as he unsheathed his sword.
"Let me show you why there’s nothing to be worried about!"
His figure blurred as he lunged forward. His sword descended faster than the eye could follow, striking the angel statue on its right shoulder.
Clank!
Yet the momentum of Russell’s blow vanished in an instant. The metal of his weapon bounced off the statue’s hard surface, failing to leave even a faint scratch.
"Preposterous! My sword is an antique given to me by my family. It’s an Epic-ranked weapon! There is no way it can’t damage a measly stone!"
He lashed out again, his strikes coming even faster, yet each blow yielded the same result. Russell wasn’t able to leave even a single mark.
While he was still desperately trying to damage the statue, Cassie’s voice echoed.
"Um... R—Russell?" She said, gazing to the side, her hands gripping the thin fabric of her robe.
"What?!" He replied, fury evident in his voice.
"The statue... it’s not alone."
Following her gaze, the awakeners realized that while they had remained staring at the first statue, another had been silently creeping toward them from one of the maze’s other passages.
Unlike the first, this one had stepped fully into the light. The expressionless face of the angel was now clearly visible, along with its mouth, which dripped with fresh blood.
The party exchanged silent glances before hurriedly venturing deeper into the maze.
Russell promptly tasked several of the awakeners with constantly watching their flanks and rear, preventing the angel statues from getting any closer.
"What are these things?" Harley murmured dejectedly. The statues’ behavior had greatly unsettled her.
"One thing’s for sure, they’re no monsters." Leonard replied with a deep frown. "Since we’re in the Void, the name and level of any monster we encounter is supposed to be announced by the system, yet there was nothing."
"Do you think they’re golems? After all, they seem to be made of marble and only move on specific occasions." Winston suggested, straining his body to remain at the front of the party.
"Could be." Elizabeth said calmly, her icy eyes darkened with displeasure. "Whatever the case, we can’t damage them. Our only option is to reach the other side of the maze before they catch up to us."
Beside them, everyone in the party was speaking louder than usual, debating what the right approach was.
They continued to make turn after turn until they were forced to halt.
"A statue is ahead of us!" Winston announced grimly.
The party had been moving with urgency, believing that as long as the angels didn’t catch up, everything would be fine. Yet now one stood frozen, blocking their path.
"Just how fast are these things? Could it be that they have us surrounded?" Leonard wondered.
Forced to retreat the way they had come, the awakeners broke into a sprint, their heartbeats ringing in their ears.
Soon enough, they noticed a change in their surroundings, though they still hadn’t found the exit.
They emerged into a wide circular chamber, with dozens of passages connected to it.
"How are we supposed to choose?" Leonard’s eyes darted around. Each path looked identical to the next.
To make matters worse, his gaze landed on a statue that had been making its way toward them unnoticed until now.
"We need to hurry! There are more passages than we can watch! Soon this whole place will be swarming with them!"
Panic slowly began to seep through the party.
None of this was supposed to happen. They were just participants taking the academy entrance exam, striving to prove themselves and become scholars, yet now they could potentially die in this dark temple, far away from the world, without even giving their families any closure.
Even Russell wasn’t spared from the growing fear. He was supposed to be their leader, yet nothing came to mind.
’Should I leave them? But what then?’ The thought of betrayal crept into his mind.
The number of statues climbed. By now more had entered the chamber than there were awakeners in total, and they were slowly drawing closer.
As they slowly got encircled, Leonard remembered the words he had read upon the altar.
"The wise will share, the foolish shall be shared..." His eyes narrowed.
"I see... The orc offered the tiger to be eaten by the angels, but when Russell stole the offering, the angels turned toward us. We are the foolish who are meant to be shared among them."
The realization was far from pleasant. Leonard had no intention of becoming angel food anytime soon.
Just then, Elizabeth stepped forward, her beautiful face locked in a certain direction.
"Follow me."
Some hesitated, but Leonard and his party did not. They had fought side by side with her and knew they could rely on her when it counted.
Before they could be overwhelmed, they entered one of the many passages.
Running away with all their might had shattered whatever formation the party had maintained. Elizabeth ran at the very front, taking turns without any sign of hesitation.
’Although she runs fast, she isn’t fatigued in the slightest. She is deliberately holding back so we can follow her.’
Leonard realized this and pushed his body further, catching up to her.
"How do you know where we’re supposed to go?" He asked.
She turned her face toward him, looking as relaxed as if she were taking a stroll through a park.
"Only one of the passages lets out a cold wind. Following it is our best bet of getting out of here." Elizabeth replied.
"Cold wind?" Leonard raised an eyebrow. "Are you really this susceptible to temperature changes? I can’t feel a thing."
She shook her head and glanced toward her sleeve, where Rimy’s head was poking out.
"Kiu!" The little dragon squeaked, tilting her head to the left.
Following her familiar’s directions, Elizabeth altered her course and turned left.
"That’s a handy familiar." He mused, glancing back.
He didn’t spot any angels hot on their trail, making him heave a sigh of relief.
"Wait, is it just me, or have our numbers decreased?"
Leonard looked around, but all the members of his party were present.
Once he glanced upward, however, his eyes locked onto an angel that had been crawling along the wall of the maze, a moment away from reaching out and claiming another victim.
"Watch the walls! They’re crawling above us!"
His remark caused even Elizabeth’s demeanor to falter for a moment.
"Cassie!" Russell yelled.
"Y—Yes!" Cassie flinched nervously. "Light!"
She cast her skill again, directing the ball of light upward.
The spell illuminated twenty angels that had been hiding in the cover of darkness all this time.
Startled by their sheer numbers, Cassie desperately tried to keep looking at them, hoping to keep them at bay. Unfortunately, that caused her to stumble over her own feet and fall down.
For a second, her heart stopped and her eyes began to tear up. She heard footsteps growing farther away, with nobody turning back to help her.
’Are they going to leave me behind?’
But the next moment, she felt a hand grab her by the shoulder and help her up.
"You’re lucky. If my weight hadn’t caused me to lag behind, you might have been overrun." Winston remarked.
"T—Thank you!" Cassie would have bowed if she wasn’t running with all her strength.
"Save it for when we survive. Look ahead, there’s something there!"