End of the Magic Era - Chapter 1093
Chapter 1093: Swamp
Flames erupted from the monster’s wounds as it let out a blood-curdling screech and exploded into flames. The flames spread everywhere before being absorbed by the plant walls.
The passage was exposed once the flames disappeared, but it looked unchanged. There wasn’t a single mark on the lawn.
Byron tried Shadow Stealth once again, but the result was the same. He couldn’t merge with the visible and invisible shadows.
Suddenly, a monster with three faces extended its head out of one of the plant walls and sneered at the group of shadow mages.
“It’s a bunch of idiots. How could one of you be eliminated right away, aren’t you Archmages? The strongest is at the 9th Rank while the weakest is at the 7th Rank.
“Yet, one of you was burnt to death, killed by a Level 35 fire-breathing monster. This is really a disgrace. If I were you, I would cut off my own head and then smash it. That would save you the humiliation of people recognizing you. You might as well just die.
“Truly a group of trash…”
Seeing the three-faced monster, Byron unhesitantly raised his hand to cast a Shadow Arrow. Unfortunately, that three-faced monster silently merged back into the plant wall and disappeared without a trace before reappearing in another part of the wall, only to keep sneering at the group of shadow mages.
“I said that you are trash and you were so ashamed that you got angry? Good, very good!
“It would be very boring if you cut off your own head, wouldn’t it? You’d best surprise me and entertain me.
“Hurry up and go forward, you trash. I’m waiting for you to defeat me. You can leave if you are able to defeat me.”
The three-faced monster merged back into the plant wall and disappeared. Byron’s expression worsened, and his eyes looked at the empty path in alarm.
“We were definitely discovered. That three-faced monster is definitely some trick created by Mafa Merlin. Let’s keep going. That maze array isn’t too difficult, we can definitely leave. Be careful of that three-faced monster’s sneak attacks!”
This time, Byron walked at the forefront and maintained his Shadow Shield to prevent any possible ambush. He was walking while recording the path they took in order to crack this maze.
There were many types of maze arrays. Spatial maze arrays were the most troublesome ones, and they, along with ground maze arrays created by proficient alchemists, could only be escaped by forcibly cutting the array open.
The maze array before their eyes was the simplest type of maze array, and even an ordinary person, as long as they had some talent in this regard, could leave.
Byron was extremely confident. He kept recording his path while confidently comforting the mages behind him.
“There is no need to worry, this maze is very simple. But we have to hurry up because this kind of maze will definitely rearrange itself at regular intervals. The map we have been drawing would become ineffective if that happened.
“This place won’t be able to stop me as long as we find the exit before it rearranges itself!”
Byron was full of confidence, and this made the mages following him relax. In a battle ranking, Byron’s strength would definitely be ranked at the very bottom of the 9th Rank Archmages of the Shadow Tower.
But when it came to things like concealment, stealing, sneaking, and finding his way, no one could compare to him among the Shadow Tower’s non-Heaven Rank mages.
However, just as Byron finished his words and before the mages even had time to agree, the earth under the last mage suddenly split open and a hidden beast opened its large mouth and devoured him whole.
The hidden beast extended its claws and climbed out of the ground. It had the exact same color as the ground and wasn’t emitting any mana fluctuations. No one could find it.
The sudden attack spread panic among the mages and they all drew back in fear before pointing their staves at the hidden beast.
It took a dozen seconds for the hidden beast to turn into a pincushion, and it ultimately exploded in a burst of mud that covered the ground and walls before disappearing as if it had never been there. Even the hole disappeared and the ground was back to normal.
It was as if nothing had ever happened, apart from the disappearance of another mage.
Byron angrily stomped his feet and moved his staff to keep casting at the ground and walls. Unfortunately, spells silently disappeared after hitting the ground and walls, nothing changed.
“Truly a bunch of idiots. How could you be so careless and so easily lose another person? This is really boring. This game is too boring, there is no entertainment, you’ll just die.
“When moving in an unknown area, the last place where a hunter might be hiding is under the ground, how could you forget that? It’s common sense for the hidden beast to attack the last person.
“But you actually let the strongest among you walk in the front. Is this because you are afraid of death? It doesn’t matter, it’s best for the strongest one to die last, it’s more entertaining that way…”
The three-faced monster left some mocking words and let out a weird laugh before disappearing back into the plant walls.
Byron gritted his teeth as he glared where the monster had disappeared.
“Don’t be tricked by that guy! The first monster attacked the first person, and the next one attacked the last person once we swapped positions. This is definitely premeditated.
“He is targeting the weakest positions. He must be too weak to face us all.
“Let’s group up with me in the middle. That way, if someone gets attacked, I’ll have enough time to save him. Don’t worry, those two aren’t necessarily dead.
“This place is very abnormal, it’s too strange. I’ve never seen a mage that could interfere with Shadow Stealth. Furthermore, this is the most basic kind of maze.
“Their bodies disappeared, but this might not necessarily be because they died. Their bodies instantly disappeared without a trace, which makes no sense.
“This is a hallucination, this must be an illusion, that’s definitely Mafa Merlin’s trick!
“He must be afraid of us. He can’t directly fight us, so he can only use this kind of trap to slowly kill us.
“We have nothing to fear, this is an illusion!”
Byron looked very sure of his conclusion, which helped the panicked mages calm down.
They kept exploring the maze, and the maze transformed three times during that time. They were ambushed by all kinds of monsters, and even when the maze rearranged itself, a monster would be delivered right in front of them.
After three hours, only fifteen mages remained from the group of eighteen. They were on guard against ambush from the rear, but someone still got caught.
“Everyone be careful. We will definitely be able to leave this maze after this corner. Be wary of that three-faced monster’s sneak attack. That despicable thing definitely won’t miss that opportunity!
“As long as we leave the maze, that three-faced monster will be unable to ambush us!”
Byron’s words boosted the morale of those exhausted mages. Hearing that they were about to make it out put a smile on their faces.
After taking a turn, they really saw the exit of the maze, but crouched at the exit were five big fire monsters with heads half as big as their bodies.
The monsters had mouths big enough to swallow themselves whole. Seeing the shadow mages appear, the five heads simultaneously opened their maws to spurt out flames.
Five columns of flames were crammed into the passage, and the mages used Shadow Shields at the front to forcibly resist the attack.
“Hurry up and rush out, the damned monsters can’t block us! This is the last trap, get rid of these few monsters!” Byron loudly yelled.
The exit behind these five fire monsters was like the light illuminating the darkness for these people. It made them crazily attack as they charged forward.
They were facing their last hurdle. It wasn’t just Byron; everyone was on the verge of collapsing after suffering from various traps.
It was even worse because they couldn’t merge with the shadows due to the maze’s special power. This forced them to fight their battles head-on, and the energy they spent in these few hours made them more tired than if they’d had several days of continuous battles.
They didn’t know whether the ground under their feet would suddenly split open for a maw to appear, and they didn’t know if they would be met with a sudden magic attack after taking a turn.
They also didn’t know if a few large, monstrous hands would suddenly reach out of the wall to tear them apart when they considered lying against the wall to rest.
Compared to that, the frontal attack of these five monsters was trivial.
Under Byron’s lead, the group of angry shadow mages didn’t spare any mana to raise their shields as the five columns of fire rushed over.
Several dozen shadow spells flew out, and Shadow Bindings turned into whips of shadows that restrained the five monsters.
Then, numerous Shadow Arrows and Shadow Distortions rained down on the monsters. In less than ten seconds, the five fire monsters were bound.
Explosions echoed as the monsters then burst into flames and disappeared.
After pushing open the exit of the maze, the group of shadow mages all sprinted into it as if they were chased by a pack of mad dogs.
Glaring rays of light came from the other side, forcing the mages to protect their eyes with their hands.
Byron and the shadow mages were stunned once they adapted to this suddenly appearing radiance.
They turned to check behind them, but the maze had already disappeared. Now, there was an endless swamp beneath their feet.
The swamp was covered in a faint fog, and even Eagle Sight and Fog Observation couldn’t let them see more than three kilometers away before their sight was obstructed.
Piercing cries and deep roars kept echoing within the swamp, stunning Byron.
‘Sh*t, what’s going on?
‘Didn’t we just leave the maze? How could we appear in a swamp?’
At this time, Byron heard someone clapping.
