Eris was immediately hostile.
August could tell that from the moment their eyes met, escaping back the way he came was impossible.
He had to find a way to distract her so he could run. Otherwise, this would simply be the end of his journey.
The power gap was too big, and August couldn't put up a convincing defense that would stop her from taking him out.
His eyes darted through the corridor on the other side of the moving wall for a single second.
He recognized several patterns and instantly came up with a plan.
Before the audience could even reach the edges of their seats in anticipation, he shot through the gap in the wall.
'One.'
Eris was already raising her hand to attack.
August stepped on the floor in one specific position that he'd calculated before jumping out of the way.
Swoosh!
There was a sound of wind as the floor dropped out. Eris was taken by surprise. Her attack was broken, and she was instead forced to correct her body with mana so she could float out of the pit.
August used the opportunity to scale the wall, slamming his hand down at a certain point before jumping away again.
Arrows.
They shot from one side of the corridor to the other, creating a wall of projectiles that kept Eris stuck floating in the pit.
One would believe that these traps weren't enough to stop Eris in the slightest, but that wasn't the case.
After all, the maze scaled itself to match those within. Because August was present, the traps were a bit weaker, but Eris' presence balanced them out.
Even if it was her, forcing a way through the two tricks August had implemented would take a decent amount of time.
And that was all August could hope for.
He'd gotten lucky in that there were arrows and a pitfall at this specific dead end, however, luck wasn't a factor in the third one.
In fact, even August's actions had nothing to do with it.
Every dead end would be accompanied by a closing wall.
BANG!
The dead end closed once again, and suddenly, a new wall emerged on the other side, closing off the corridor.
August was already running across the wall. He jumped over it without a problem and landed on the other side.
At that point, he was just fleeing for his life.
He was able to make it out because he was thoroughly prepared and had the space to act freely.
Eris, on the other hand, had to first make it out of the first two traps if she wanted a chance at dealing with the third.
The best-case scenario was her getting trapped and disqualified, but August knew not to hope for the best.
If he thought she was going to fall here, he wouldn't have run so desperately once he'd escaped her.
For the time being, he didn't think over his movements.
He took left turns, right turns, and ran as far as possible while keeping his movements as chaotic as possible.
BOOOOOOM!
A huge explosion rang out in the distance and echoed through the halls.
'There she is.'
He'd expected her to escape, but he definitely wasn't thinking that it'd be this fast.
'I need to hurry.'
August had already plotted a path to the center. With his knowledge of the maze, he could get there in just half an hour if he didn't encounter any challenges.
'Unfortunately, I don't think she's going to take that very well.'
He bought himself some time, but he'd also become a target of the Holy Clan genius he'd left in the dust.
'Is there a way out?'
He couldn't tell if she was chasing him or not. If she was, then he couldn't just move chaotically to throw her off.
Someone that much stronger than him couldn't be estimated the same way that others could.
'I have to read her.'
He had to get into the mind of a Holy Clan genius and understand what they would do in a circumstance like this one.
He had the experience to understand how those people thought.
Qinglong was close friends with many people who'd been in the same position. August could read them well after seeing them so many times, and based on their personalities…
'A stupid Holy Clan genius would've already been thrown off. A smart one…'
BOOOOM!
As he expected, the path ahead was obstructed by an ocean of darkness.
It slammed through the connected corridors, blocking any escape path.
Eris appeared from within it, staring at himthe same wayshe did before.
'...would'vecaught me already.'
August skidded to a stop, launching himself upward to gain some momentum.
He looked over the top of the labyrinth for a second to see if there was a way out, but he was particularly isolated from anything right now.
Thereweren'tany traps in this hallway. Well, there was one, but it was already proving ineffective.
Xiu! Xiu! Xiu! Xiu!
Arrows shot towards Eris. Without the element of surprise, however, they were meaningless.
The ocean of darkness behind her rose up and swallowed them all. Itwasn'twrong to assume thatthey'dnever be seen again.
"You…"
She spoke a single word.
Her voice actually contrasted her appearance a bit. It was just as beautiful, but rather than demonic, it held somewhat harmonious tones.
Still, they were spoken harshly, so Augustwasn'tgoing tobe stunned by them.
He was hardly paying attention at all.
The only thing he cared for was whether she was attacking or not.As long as shewasn't,he'dkeep most of his attentionon finding a way out of this place.
The thought of fighting never came to him. It waspartiallybecause itwas obviousthat hecouldn'tfight, but it finding a way out of this place.
The thought of fighting never came to him. It was also due toAugust'sspecial senses.
He could feel how dangerous she was.
Itwasn'tmuch compared tosomeothershe'dmet, but compared to him…?
Well, he wascertainthathe would be in the ground before he knew what was happening.Nothing more needed to be said.
If trapscouldn'toffer him anything, if other corridorscouldn'toffer him anything, then he needed to find something here that would help him.
In asinglesecond, his eyes scanned the entire wallin front ofhim.By the time the second one arrived, he hadalready surveyed the floor as well.
"Ignoring me?"
Eris Noct spoke again, but August was too busy investigating the last wall to hear her.
She flicked her hand forward. Two sharp blades of darkness appeared at her side and shot towards August.
Whoosh!
The sound of the wind as they barely brushed past his head was jolting.
It was clearly a warning shot.
August glanced at the genius at the end of the hall.
Hedid hearher, and he knewthatshe was trying to talk to him.However, hedidn'tregret ignoring her at all.
Rather, he was going to keep doing it.
'I'mnot losing here, lady!'
Hedidn'thave the confidence to say it, but hedefinitelythought it as loud as possible.
He'dfound a method.
…maybe.
August dashed towards the opposite wall and scaled it.
To Eris, it looked like a pathetic struggle.
She sighed as he scurried around like a rat.
There was clearly no escape path for him. What was the point of trying?
Someone with so much fear wasjustpathetic in her eyes, even if she understood what she represented to someone as weak as him.
'Perhaps heisn'tthe right one.'
She wasinterested at firstbecausehe'dmanaged to escape using clever means, but if it was just a one-off and not something he could do consistently…
Her thoughtsdidn'thave time to reach the place they were going.
August reached the point he had been aiming for.
He punched into the wall, wriggling his hand around until it found a switch.
He looked at Eris and smiled as he clicked it.
Before she could do anything to stop him, August was sucked into the rock.
The holehe'dmade, the switch he pressed, and he himself had all disappeared, leaving Eris alone.
'Ichange my mind.'Eris thought, a light gleaming in her eyes.
'He'sthe one.'
Nobody elseshe'dmet had been worthy enough.
This one, however, hadexactlywhat she was looking for.
So despite the ingenuity of his escape methods…
…he could give up any thoughts of getting away from her.
Eris was immediately hostile.
August could tell that from the moment their eyes met, escaping back the way he came was impossible.
He had to find a way to distract her so he could run. Otherwise, this would simply be the end of his journey.
The power gap was too big, and August couldn't put up a convincing defense that would stop her from taking him out.
His eyes darted through the corridor on the other side of the moving wall for a single second.
He recognized several patterns and instantly came up with a plan.
Before the audience could even reach the edges of their seats in anticipation, he shot through the gap in the wall.
'One.'
Eris was already raising her hand to attack.
August stepped on the floor in one specific position that he'd calculated before jumping out of the way.
Swoosh!
There was a sound of wind as the floor dropped out. Eris was taken by surprise. Her attack was broken, and she was instead forced to correct her body with mana so she could float out of the pit.
August used the opportunity to scale the wall, slamming his hand down at a certain point before jumping away again.
Arrows.
They shot from one side of the corridor to the other, creating a wall of projectiles that kept Eris stuck floating in the pit.
One would believe that these traps weren't enough to stop Eris in the slightest, but that wasn't the case.
After all, the maze scaled itself to match those within. Because August was present, the traps were a bit weaker, but Eris' presence balanced them out.
Even if it was her, forcing a way through the two tricks August had implemented would take a decent amount of time.
And that was all August could hope for.
He'd gotten lucky in that there were arrows and a pitfall at this specific dead end, however, luck wasn't a factor in the third one.
In fact, even August's actions had nothing to do with it.
Every dead end would be accompanied by a closing wall.
BANG!
The dead end closed once again, and suddenly, a new wall emerged on the other side, closing off the corridor.
August was already running across the wall. He jumped over it without a problem and landed on the other side.
At that point, he was just fleeing for his life.
He was able to make it out because he was thoroughly prepared and had the space to act freely.
Eris, on the other hand, had to first make it out of the first two traps if she wanted a chance at dealing with the third.
The best-case scenario was her getting trapped and disqualified, but August knew not to hope for the best.
If he thought she was going to fall here, he wouldn't have run so desperately once he'd escaped her.
For the time being, he didn't think over his movements.
He took left turns, right turns, and ran as far as possible while keeping his movements as chaotic as possible.
BOOOOOOM!
A huge explosion rang out in the distance and echoed through the halls.
'There she is.'
He'd expected her to escape, but he definitely wasn't thinking that it'd be this fast.
'I need to hurry.'
August had already plotted a path to the center. With his knowledge of the maze, he could get there in just half an hour if he didn't encounter any challenges.
'Unfortunately, I don't think she's going to take that very well.'
He bought himself some time, but he'd also become a target of the Holy Clan genius he'd left in the dust.
'Is there a way out?'
He couldn't tell if she was chasing him or not. If she was, then he couldn't just move chaotically to throw her off.
Someone that much stronger than him couldn't be estimated the same way that others could.
'I have to read her.'
He had to get into the mind of a Holy Clan genius and understand what they would do in a circumstance like this one.
He had the experience to understand how those people thought.
Qinglong was close friends with many people who'd been in the same position. August could read them well after seeing them so many times, and based on their personalities…
'A stupid Holy Clan genius would've already been thrown off. A smart one…'
BOOOOM!
As he expected, the path ahead was obstructed by an ocean of darkness.
It slammed through the connected corridors, blocking any escape path.
Eris appeared from within it, staring at himthe same wayshe did before.
'...would'vecaught me already.'
August skidded to a stop, launching himself upward to gain some momentum.
He looked over the top of the labyrinth for a second to see if there was a way out, but he was particularly isolated from anything right now.
Thereweren'tany traps in this hallway. Well, there was one, but it was already proving ineffective.
Xiu! Xiu! Xiu! Xiu!
Arrows shot towards Eris. Without the element of surprise, however, they were meaningless.
The ocean of darkness behind her rose up and swallowed them all. Itwasn'twrong to assume thatthey'dnever be seen again.
"You…"
She spoke a single word.
Her voice actually contrasted her appearance a bit. It was just as beautiful, but rather than demonic, it held somewhat harmonious tones.
Still, they were spoken harshly, so Augustwasn'tgoing tobe stunned by them.
He was hardly paying attention at all.
The only thing he cared for was whether she was attacking or not.As long as shewasn't,he'dkeep most of his attentionon finding a way out of this place.
The thought of fighting never came to him. It waspartiallybecause itwas obviousthat hecouldn'tfight, but it finding a way out of this place.
The thought of fighting never came to him. It was also due toAugust'sspecial senses.
He could feel how dangerous she was.
Itwasn'tmuch compared tosomeothershe'dmet, but compared to him…?
Well, he wascertainthathe would be in the ground before he knew what was happening.Nothing more needed to be said.
If trapscouldn'toffer him anything, if other corridorscouldn'toffer him anything, then he needed to find something here that would help him.
In asinglesecond, his eyes scanned the entire wallin front ofhim.By the time the second one arrived, he hadalready surveyed the floor as well.
"Ignoring me?"
Eris Noct spoke again, but August was too busy investigating the last wall to hear her.
She flicked her hand forward. Two sharp blades of darkness appeared at her side and shot towards August.
Whoosh!
The sound of the wind as they barely brushed past his head was jolting.
It was clearly a warning shot.
August glanced at the genius at the end of the hall.
Hedid hearher, and he knewthatshe was trying to talk to him.However, hedidn'tregret ignoring her at all.
Rather, he was going to keep doing it.
'I'mnot losing here, lady!'
Hedidn'thave the confidence to say it, but hedefinitelythought it as loud as possible.
He'dfound a method.
…maybe.
August dashed towards the opposite wall and scaled it.
To Eris, it looked like a pathetic struggle.
She sighed as he scurried around like a rat.
There was clearly no escape path for him. What was the point of trying?
Someone with so much fear wasjustpathetic in her eyes, even if she understood what she represented to someone as weak as him.
'Perhaps heisn'tthe right one.'
She wasinterested at firstbecausehe'dmanaged to escape using clever means, but if it was just a one-off and not something he could do consistently…
Her thoughtsdidn'thave time to reach the place they were going.
August reached the point he had been aiming for.
He punched into the wall, wriggling his hand around until it found a switch.
He looked at Eris and smiled as he clicked it.
Before she could do anything to stop him, August was sucked into the rock.
The holehe'dmade, the switch he pressed, and he himself had all disappeared, leaving Eris alone.
'Ichange my mind.'Eris thought, a light gleaming in her eyes.
'He'sthe one.'
Nobody elseshe'dmet had been worthy enough.
This one, however, hadexactlywhat she was looking for.
So despite the ingenuity of his escape methods…
…he could give up any thoughts of getting away from her.
