Frostfire Legacy

Chapter 259 Exploring the Labyrinth - Human (1)

"WAAAAH!"

Aster jumped toward a corner, barely dodging something that was rushing toward him at blinding speeds. Of course, he didn't have time to rest, as he needed to get up to his feet and resume running.

"Stop fucking chasing me...!" He growled, checking behind him with a side glance.

There, a wall was moving toward him, faster than even a speeding car. If not for his speed and stamina trained by Ardra to the limit, he would've been caught up by it and died long ago.

Although he was roaring at the approaching "wall," he wasn't even sure if it was a living being, or just a trap that he triggered without knowing. All he knew was that it was nearly indestructible, and that getting caught by it and slammed against the wall would kill him.

How did he know it was near-indestructible? Of course, by attacking it.

He sent elemental sword slashes toward it the first time it appeared, but not even the slightest of scratches could be seen. All he got after it was a bruise to his shoulder after almost getting slammed by it.

From then on, for a full five hours, he had been running nonstop.

"Shi...!"

To add, he was nervous with every new turn he took. After all, if he encountered a dead end by chance, then his life would, with a high probability, end then and there. A literal "end of the road" situation.

He wasn't sure if he was just lucky, or if the paths were just largely interconnected, as he hadn't encountered a single dead end for the entire five hours, covering over 300 kilometers by then.

"..."

But right now, he was feeling even more livid. For a while now, the path he was following only turned now and then, but never branched off. A completely isolated path. From that alone, the possibility of it being a dead end shot up greatly.

*RUMBLE!* *RUMBLE!*

Although he wanted to stop, think, and even pray, the giant wall "thing" behind him wouldn't give him enough time. It was obviously accelerating; its speed was gradually increasing with every passing second.

Aster turned to the right once more, and then, saw the path ahead. His face turned pale, but his legs never slowed down. The entire path—roughly 300 meters long—leads to a closed end.

"FUCK!" He cursed.

Although he now had to stare despair in the eyes, he still didn't lose hope. His mind turned, thinking of anything that he could do, or use, to save himself from the current situation. However, his Spatial Fanny Pack didn't have anything that could destroy a large, tough wall.

'Do I have no other choice?' Aster thought, biting his lips.

The 300 meters, with his current speed, could be covered in less than 20 seconds, and that 20 seconds was all the time he had to think of a breakthrough to this situation.

His gaze went down, staring at the mark over his right hand, and he frowned. "Alright. It's do or die!"

He reached the end of the path and turned around, pressing his back against the tough wall, and faced that incoming "wall" chasing him. The distance between them was roughly five seconds, more than enough time for Aster to prepare.

The view through the anti-brainwashing mask allowed him to see traces of mana, and from his vision, he could see mana gathering in the middle of the giant wall, roughly 50 meters from the floor.

Having no choice, Aster took a leap of faith, aiming for the narrow hole. And then...

*BAM!*

...

"..."

"Ugh..."

Aster groaned in discomfort, pressing against his nose and forehead.

By luck, he managed to reach the hole before the moving wall slammed against the other side. However, since there wasn't enough space to maneuver, he ended up with his face—covered in the anti-brainwashing mask—slamming against the charred perimeter of the hole.

But thankfully, other than the slightly painful face-slam, he was relatively uninjured—a few scratches, along with a light sprain on his left leg, were the only notable injuries he received.

Aster tried to move, but his limbs gave out, causing him to fall forward. The tiredness from running for hours finally caught up to him!

"Phew..." He sighed as he turned face-up, closing his eyes lightly.

Right now, his position, being in the middle of the moving wall, was safe. Even if another wall came, he would remain untouched as long as he didn't let his limbs go over the edge. The wall was over three meters thick, after all.

He should take as much rest as he can, while he can. After all, he didn't have any idea how much longer the maze was before he could reach the end.

"Ah..."

Aster gasped, realizing that if he adjusted the angle to point downward instead, then he might've had a shortcut through the maze by now! Sacrificing another half-year for the same level of attack? No way.

"I was too tired; I couldn't even think of such a simple and efficient solution..." He placed a hand over his face, lamenting his lapse in judgment. "Well, what's done is done." But he didn't dwell on the matter for too long.

After that, Aster took a short nap, about 30 minutes, resting his exhausted body for a "brief" moment.

As soon as he woke up, he quickly checked the surroundings. Fortunately, another wall didn't come to disturb him. The path that he took before was clear, without a hint of danger in sight.

"..."

But for some reason, Aster felt that he shouldn't go down there. His instincts were shouting at him, that there was "something" down there that would make him regret going down.

'What could it be?' Aster wondered.

Even the mask's AR function didn't see anything present in the surroundings, only the thin mana that was flowing like air all over the place.

"Uh?"

But then, Aster realized the truth behind the feeling of incongruence he got.