Labyrinth of Crete Part - 2

As they walked down the dimly lit hallway, Kane glanced at Rachel, who had been silent the entire way.

He opened his mouth to speak but closed it again. He was about to ask her why she had approached him but decided it wasn't worth inquiring into something so trivial.

Suddenly, one of the people walking behind them, apparently distracted, stepped on a strange tile that sank slightly.

A 'click' echoed along the corridor, followed by a rumble that filled the air.

Without warning, a sharp whistle cut through the atmosphere. Within seconds, sharp arrows began to shoot from somewhere hidden in the shadows of the ceiling.

Panic gripped everyone. They tried to scatter, struggling to dodge the deadly projectiles, but the corridor was too narrow for everyone to find a place to hide or dodge them.

Kane and Rachel, who were further ahead, began to run. With agile movements, they dodged the arrows that seemed to pursue them relentlessly.

The loud sound of arrowheads hitting the walls and floor was terrifying. With each movement, Kane and Rachel managed to avoid the arrows, which were headed straight for their heads.

'I didn't expect this woman, who doesn't take off from me, to be so agile. She must be at least level 7 or extremely talented,' Kane thought as he watched Rachel.

The people a bit further back tried to imitate Kane and Rachel's movements, but they were not agile enough. An arrow pierced the head of one of the men.

The man's brain hit the wall hard before it began to slide away, leaving behind a line of blood slowly.

"I can't take it anymore! The pain is unbearable..."

"Why is this happening to me, my God? I can't even move..."

"Help, please! I need help, somebody, please! I don't want to become a monster!"

Cries of pain and despair echoed in the air as the hallway filled with corpses.

Despite the high-pitched screams echoing behind them, Kane and Rachel continued to zigzag forward through the hail of arrows.

Their movements were swift, but the arrows seemed to follow them with frightening precision. The constant whirring of arrows filled their ears as adrenaline coursed through their veins.

They ran at full speed down the poorly lit corridor. Their footsteps echoed off the walls as their endurance steadily depleted. They struggled to evade the deadly traps lurking around every corner.

The hallway seemed endless, and every step brought them closer to a potential death trap.

Kane and Rachel struggled to anticipate hidden patterns and detect mechanisms that could trigger a catastrophe.

Thanks to Kane's prior knowledge, they avoided some of the traps.

"Look out, there's a loose slab!" exclaimed Kane instinctively, pointing to a floor section.

They jumped nimbly, evading the trap, and landed safely on the next section of the corridor.

...

After a few minutes walking through a place that seemed to be full of deadly traps, they reached what appeared to be a safe area.

Since the historical void scenario began, more than a quarter of the people summoned had died from the traps during this short tour, and the survivors wore grim and pale expressions.

Standing a bit away from the crowd, Kane was still looking for the protagonist so he could approach him and replicate one of his skills.

Then, he looked at Rachel, who was standing next to him, with an indifferent expression.

"Rachel, why are you standing so close to me?" he finally asked, unable to stand the awkwardness any longer.

Rachel kept her expression neutral as she responded:

"I don't know... I feel comfortable around you; it's quite relaxing."

'What does this woman say?' Kane was confused, so he changed the subject.

"By the way, you're a player, aren't you? What guild do you belong to?"

"I don't belong to any guild now; how about you, Merlin? You seem quite capable. Do you belong to any of them?"

"Just like you, I don't belong to any guild..."

"I see... so you don't belong to any guild," She muttered before speaking. "When we complete this scenario, would you mind if we meet in the material world?"

Kane remained silent for a moment, watching her with a neutral expression. He didn't understand why this woman was showing so much interest in him; her explanation that she felt comfortable around him seemed like a rather peculiar excuse.

'Besides... this woman looks strangely familiar, but I can't remember where it was that I saw her...'

After eight seconds of silence, he finally replied. "Maybe... but before we think about reuniting, we must finish this scenario."

"So, if we complete this scenario, we can meet. I understand..." she murmured, nodding slowly.

After that, they both fell silent, and the atmosphere became strange and uncomfortable.

After a moment of awkward silence, Kane finally saw the person he had been looking for since he appeared in the historical void: a slim, complex young man with straight blond hair. His serene, aloof expression made him stand out. He wore a long black coat and a high-necked shirt, accentuating his slender figure. Around his neck hung a necklace.

'Finally, I find the game's protagonist, Theo,' Kane thought with a small smile.

Suddenly, a shaky voice broke the silence.

"W-what... w-what is that? What is that thing?"

A man exclaimed with terror in his voice, his expression reflecting pure fear at the sight of a monster illuminated by the dim crimson glow of the torches on the walls.

All the survivors in the trap section turned their heads to where the man was pointing grimly.

In the middle of the room, they saw a creature two and a half meters tall, with the body of a completely black tarantula and long, hairy legs.

The apparition made everyone instinctively recoil at seeing the monstrous body before them.

But what made their faces pale was not the size or hairy legs, but the head.

Instead of the head of a tarantula, the creature had the face of a full-grown man, similar to that of a zombie. It had no eyes, only two empty sockets, full of darkness, where worms writhed. A greenish, blackish slime fell from its mouth, which sizzled when it touched the ground.

"What the fuck is that aberration!" someone shouted.

Most of those present felt a shiver run down their spines at the sight of the monster's eerie appearance, illuminated by the crimson glow of the torches.