THE STRONGEST NEXULYTE

After making sure that there was nothing wrong with their bodies, the group breathed out in relief before waiting a bit.

They waited for four hours, following the time that the labyrinth carried out its shifting before entering it. They had exactly one hour to explore before they would experience the shifting of the labyrinth firsthand.

Entering the labyrinth, ahead of them was a long twisty corridor with blood walls on both sides; it was a very unsettling feeling, like a knot in their stomachs as they walked through the corridor.

As they moved, they began to notice a few things about the inside of the labyrinth.

One was that the deeper they went, the darker the blood that had solidified into walls became; it got to the point that they started to find spots of pitch-black jagged corners on the walls.

The blood corals that stretched from outside the labyrinth would mysteriously disappear at times before appearing on the other end of the blood walls, leaving gaps that were of similar sizes to large doors.

Behind the blood walls, they would occasionally spot silhouettes of creatures with various shapes and sizes as if moving behind a large curtain with a spotlight on them; this planted seeds of uneasiness in the hearts of some of the group members.

Luckily, the labyrinth didn't seem to possess any hidden traps that needed to be activated so they were able to move freely but this did not mean that they were no longer cautious; the lack of hidden traps made them even more cautious because a labyrinth without traps would definitely hold greater dangers that would prevent others from easily clearing it, a good example was its space shifting ability.

For the first ten minutes that the group moved together, they did not encounter a single creature or anything dangerous but they had made several cuts where the part ahead of them took sharp turns.

"Looks like we have been here before" Ralph suddenly said when they came to a particular spot. The area was like a cross-section with only a single part ahead and blood corals stretched on only three sides that were dead ends.

"I know that this place looks familiar, but the previous ones that looked like this had slight differences; for example, the four sides are not always equal, or the path with a clear way ahead are on different sides," Glen corrected while rubbing his nose.

Ralph glared at him before saying.

" That's why we didn't notice at first and have been here more than six times already, we've been going in circles and that's why we haven't found anything yet"

" Do you have proof?" Karin joined, her tone wasn't questioning Ralph's claims but of pure curiosity.

" I'm not too sure but I'm at least seventy percent sure that we've been going in circles. Those blood corals are always shaped the same and are always pointing in the direction with the clear path out of the crossed section" Ralph uttered seriously.

" That's it? It could simply be a coincidence, or every single coral in all crossed sections is shaped like that." Glen shook his head and looked at his friend as if saying he was being too paranoid.

Ralph had a frustrated expression and turned to face Ivan; arguing with Glen wouldn't change a thing. Ivan called the shots within the team, so his decision would determine what they did next.

Seeing Ralph turn to face him, Ivan's eyes flashed with thoughtfulness for a few seconds before he opened his mouth.

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"We have been wondering for a long time without any progress, considering your speculation isn't a bad idea," Ivan voiced out before giving instructions.

They had noticed that there was a gap of two hundred meters between each crossed section that they had come across so far so it shouldn't take them more than three minutes to return here if they were really moving in a loop.

"Karin and I will continue ahead, the three of you wait here. If we don't come back here after three minutes, then it's not a loop, and we'll wait for you three at exactly two hundred meters from here." Ivan explained the plan to Ralph, Clint, and Glen.

" Just…the two of us?" Karin's anxious voice rang out weakly.

Ivan turned to look at her with an expressionless gaze and casually said.

"Don't be scared, I won't do anything to you"

Karin froze for a second as she took a while to process Ivan's words. Her face immediately turned red from anger, and she stomped her feet on the ground.

"Humph! What do you mean by that? Are you looking down on my 'big sister' charm? Do you have any idea how many young boys are crushing on me? Besides, that's not what I was worried about!" Karin snapped at Ivan angrily.

Any girl would definitely be offended if they received such a remark from the opposite sex, not to mention that Karin was actually an exceptional beauty with the charm to sway a crowd; Ivan's words hit her pride like a truck of middle fingers.

"Then what were you worried about?" Ivan's expression didn't change even in the face of Karin's rage.

" I was worried that we might run into a horde of monsters; we would need everyone's strength to deal with the problem," Karin replied while pouting.

" Oh, it's about that. Don't worry, I can protect you from anything we run into" Ivan stated plainly before looking away.

"You!!"

Karin was left speechless, she wondered how come she hadn't noticed this annoying side of him ever since.

A palm suddenly landed on her shoulder from behind, she turned and saw that it was Glen.

"It's best not to argue with him; you'll only get more pissed; not everyone is as understanding as I am," Glen whispered to her before winking.

Karin's face blushed slightly and she nodded, agreeing with Glen's advice.

The group parted ways, Clint, Ralph, and Glen waited at the crossed section while Karin and Ivan continued on the path ahead.

….

Ivan and Karin continued walking forward, only the sounds of their footsteps could be heard through the corridor.

Pieces of jelly-like blood would break out from the blood wall occasionally and fall in front of the blood corals would then stretch to the broken part before mending it.

Throughout their walk, Karin kept glaring intensely at Ivan's back like a resentful girlfriend whose boyfriend had annoyed her.

Ivan ignored her at first but paused after a minute into their walk.

"What?" He turned to her and asked.

"Nothing," Karin snorted before looking away, her arms folding below her breasts and lifting them slightly.

Ivan raised an eyebrow at the girl's attitude, something was definitely wrong.

"Why are you staring at my back?" Ivan asked again.

"Well, maybe because you're in front of me duh?!" Karin said sarcastically.

" I see, then you can be in front if you want" Ivan nodded before moving to stand behind her.

" Hey, what are you doing? I didn't mean it like that!" Karin immediately became flustered and ran to hide behind Ivan, a frustrated expression on her face.

Staring at the girl with both eyes closed tightly, Ivan shook his head; he couldn't tell what was wrong with her.

He proceeded to keep moving but a tug on his protective suit made him stop.

He looked back and saw Karin who was holding onto him with her head lowered.

"What is it this time?" Ivan inquired.

Karin didn't respond for a while and just kept staring down, she only spoke when Ivan was about to say something.

" Do you…think I'm ugly?" She asked.

Ivan was surprised by her sudden question, it took him a few seconds to give a response.

"No, you are not ugly" Ivan answered.

"Then do you think I'm pretty?"

"Yes," Ivan gave a casual response.

"Was that why you asked me to come with you?"

"No"

Silence….

After a while, Karin broke the silence.

"Do you perhaps think…I'm useless and won't be able to do anything if there's no one to protect me?" Karin asked, her tone dark.

"Why would I ask you to come if you were useless? Those three can work together to handle most situations; Glen and Ralph understand each other's fighting style and can face me in a duel if they cooperate; adding Clint would make them even stronger since his ability is quite useful," Ivan explained.

" Then how about me?"

" Your talent is kind of like a cannon launcher; you can simply create chaos by smashing everywhere while I pick out the targets," Ivan said after a brief thought; he was distracted by Karin's sudden giggling.

" Fufufu, you shouldn't tell a girl like that next time; it doesn't make them feel like a lady. Come on, let's go," Karin said with a smile.

Ivan shrugged and started moving, Karin following behind him.

They walked for another two minutes before arriving at another crossed section.

"Guess Ralph was wrong then," Karin voiced out; the crossed section that they had arrived at looked similar to the previous one where the three boys should have been waiting for them but also different at the same time. Stay connected via empire

More importantly, Clint, Ralph, and Glen were not there.

" Hold on, look" Ivan suddenly said and pointed at a side of the blood wall.

The silhouette of three humans could be seen standing there, the three silhouettes seemed to be frozen inside the blood wall and were gazing at the two of them.

" Huh? Are those…Glen and the others?" Karin's voice trembled as she stared at the three silhouettes with wide eyes.

At the same time, Ralph's voice sounded through the blood wall.

"Ivan, Karin, is that you?"

Ivan's pupil shrank and a card immediately appeared in his hand.