An Ecosystem

Not long after that, Emperor Florentine received a report.

Morgan fell in the hands of his own Vice General! Though he was able to save himself from death.

Having lost their leader, Meredith's army fell into chaos and soon lost the war.

Later on, "Vice General" Winston of Meredith came running back to Florentine, ready to claim his prize. But, of course, the Emperor didn't even come to see the man. He was treated as a complete stranger.

The last thing that the Florentine wanted to do was to keep snakes under his rule. He had no room for a traitor. If he could do it once, he might do it again. This detail he had already thought of from the beginning. His men were prepared for Winston despite his terrifying combat abilities. In fact, Melbark was there, just in case Winston decides to go on a rampage. Luckily, the lightning mage left in silence.

With nowhere to go and his reputation destroyed, Winston took his own life. His body was found in a hunter's shack a few kilometers north of Lerith.

….

A perfect outcome, Emperor Florentine thought.

Recalling this, he couldn't help chuckling. Thinking about happy thoughts really did ease one's mind. Now, onto his current dilemma. Who was killing his men? And, what should he do?

The Emperor started writing down notes.

….

About three weeks later.

Aeon exhaled deeply. He couldn't tell how many days had passed because the place where he was at knew no night and day.

Beside him, a large bag made of leather with different colors was laid on the ground. Circular bumps protruded from it as it was packed full. However, when Aeon lifted it up, it didn't pose him any difficulty at all. He hauled it over his shoulder to carry it with ease. His swords weren't strapped on his back anymore. Instead, they were by his hips.

Aeon walked with finesse and it made him look quite mighty. But, the clothes he was wearing said otherwise.

He had a new pair of pants and a new shirt made from the beast's hide. But because the hide was rather colorful, it made him look like a walking parrot. Although his skills in weaving were non-existent, because he emphasized more on functionality rather than fashion, he was able to pull it off.

Aeon went past the garden and headed straight towards the northern room.

Inside, he didn't even give the text on the boulder another glance. He immediately proceeded to place his palm on it.

Silence…

Then, the spot where Aeon touched the boulder started glowing.

…

Rumble!

Aeon smiled. As he had predicted, the trigger for opening a new path was the boulder.

The shaking continued. After a few seconds, the entire cave quaked and the wall behind the boulder started to rise! Unlike before when Aeon was caught completely off-guard, he was now able to stand his ground.

Past the wall was probably a new world, Aeon told himself. The text on the boulder crossed his mind once more.

He who passes the final trial shall be worthy of Hecate's rune.

Final trial? Funny. He hadn't even been in any kind of trial earlier. Except for the part where he was tortured by that damn rune of course. And Hecate's rune? Was it that one? If it were, then why was it given before the final trial. He couldn't resist looking up, attempting to take a peek at his forehead where the rune should probably be. Weird.

Nevertheless, Aeon still pressed forward when the wall had finally stopped rising. The moment he went past it…

BANG!

The wall dropped behind Aeon, sealing his path of retreat.

Looking back, Aeon wasn't surprised. He had already prepared for such an outcome. That's why he had brought food with him. He gently patted his leather bag.

The area behind the wall was nothing special. It was just a dark, narrow path. Thankfully, there was some sort of spotlight a few hundred meters in front of him that made him realize that the path was actually straight. He moved forward.

Step. step.

As Aeon got closer to the spotlight, he discovered that it was indeed highlighting something. It was… another boulder.

Aeon started sprinting, eager to find out if there was something written on it.

His feet ground to a halt a few meters in front of the boulder. Though he felt dismayed when he saw that there were only three words on its surface.

"The Living Labyrinth," Aeon read.

What was he supposed to get from that? Aeon shrugged then placed a palm on the boulder.

…

The part where Aeon touched the boulder glowed, but the ground didn't shake. Instead, what Aeon witnessed was far more fascinating and it made him feel like he was able to cast an Earth spell.

The boulder started breaking into pieces starting from the top. Though it was solid, due to how fine the pieces were, it looked like it was melting. As it continued, it soon reached a point where there was nothing in front of Aeon's palm anymore, making him retract it. Then, the boulder "melted" all the way to the ground creating a small, black "puddle."

But, it didn't stop after that.

Slowly, starting from the centermost part of the puddle, a hole tore open. The bits and pieces of earth broke off then fell. It was hollow.

It grew larger and larger until none of the boulder's puddle was left.

Silence…

The next path was revealed.

Aeon held his breath. Looking down, he couldn't tell how deep it was. Was he supposed to leap with faith? What if the final trial was to test if he was stupid enough to jump into some unknown hole?

Ah, fuck it!

Aeon cleared his mind then jumped. The wind blew on his face and clothes, and the bag he was carrying. He was about to prepare himself for a long ride down when his feet immediately touched something solid. He stood there, dumbly, his arms still tucked in.

When he opened his eyes, he was already in a new place.

What?!

Based on Aeon's calculation, the fall wasn't high at all! Only about 15 meters! All those boulder dramas and bullshit for a short drop! Looking up, there was a black cloud that obscured the area above him. Just past that cloud should be the spotlight, but he couldn't see a hint of it.

How dense was that black cloud? And there was something really eerie about it. It was quite otherworldly.

Aeon was confused and appeared to be in a daze. It took him quite some time to recover. The moment he paid enough attention to examine the area behind him, his jaw dropped.

In the new place he was in, there were plants, bushes, and trees. Well, they were much larger than they normally were, but they still looked exactly the same! He was basically in… in a forest! A forest for giants?! Moreover, it was bright as day!

How?! There shouldn't be any sunlight in that place. He wanted to look at the ceiling to identify where the light came from, but it was too bright. Even brighter than the beast's lair. How could such an ecosystem thrive underground? He was about to keep on investigating when he heard some shuffling by the bushes.

Verdure and Zephyr were unsheathed. Lightning crackled and enveloped their blades.

Shuffle…

Aeon eyed the large bush intently, ready for anything that might jump out of it. However, a few seconds had already passed but there was still nothing. Aeon was about to drop his guard when something suddenly shot straight towards his face. It came from behind the bush!

He slashed his Verdure towards the projectile, but the moment he did, he forced himself to stop. Instead, he moved to dodge. Aeon's eyes were filled with shock. But if he wanted to figure out what was happening, he should survive first.

The slash didn't push through and Aeon's figure moved to the side, dodging the projectile.

Then, Aeon moved forward in pursuit. He burst through the bush with swords in hand, but what Aeon saw was not what he had expected. He saw an animal. An animal running away.

Aeon was filled with confusion. The reason why he dodged was because the thing that shot straight towards his face was not something you could stop by merely cutting it in half. It was clearly a Wind Blade! An E-ranked spell that Levi usually casted. And at that level, it shouldn't have come from a demonic beast either because it was too small! So, he was actually expecting a person to be behind that bush. The person might've assaulted him, failing to identify who he was.

But… an animal? And a small one too. Now that he thought about it, was it a rabbit? He couldn't tell.

Aeon's questions were starting to pile up when he noticed that the animal that just ran away actually came back and stood a few meters in front of him. The sight of it made Aeon flinch!

"Hieee! What the fuck!" Aeon yelled as he stepped back.

The animal looked like shit! If Aeon were to describe it, he would say that it looked like a combination of a rabid bunny with protruding fangs and a stray dog who hadn't bathed in 20 years. In the current environment where everything was big, it looked like a mere ant. Aeon was about to avoid it when some more came.

It brought along its family?! What the actual fuck? Fuck no! I'm out.

Aeon slowly sank back into the bush. When he was just about to disappear fully, he saw the little creatures start chewing on something, though Aeon recalled that they didn't put anything inside their mouths. Aeon shrugged.

But then, the monster bunnies stopped chewing and pulled back their necks. It appeared that they were about to spit something.

Then…

Pew!

It did spit out something. Cool.

Nothing much. It's just a...

A fucking Wind Blade?!

….