Chapter 100: End of the second trial

I had to give it to them, these bugs were pretty relentless. It’d been over twenty minutes, but they were still hot on our tails. Thankfully, with some luck, we would soon make it out of the maze, after all we were nearing it’s last stretches. And hopefully, the bugs wouldn’t be able to exit the maze.

The walls blurred past as we ran, the paths we would take already decided before we even reached the end of the our current path.

“Left!” I barked. “No, right!” I hurriedly corrected as the exit at the end of the left path turned into a dead end.

Hiss!

Just as we crossed to the right however, something snapped at us with taut dexterity. Before it could reach us however,

“Flowing jet wheel.” Sia’s sword had carved right through it, in a splash of high speed pressured water, and gore.

The creature was a green dotted serpent, and while it’s rank was quite low, it was a species with a particularly potent poison that could knock out aetherials as weak as ourselves in less than half a minute. And that too, with a single bite.

And would you look at that, there were more from where that one came from. This path seemingly was their nest, or was it burrow? But unfortunately for them, we were moving at high speeds, and were considerably much stronger than they were.

Sia cut down all the ones that attacked before they could even reach us. As for those that managed to slip past her execution, either my main body took care of them with a half-hearted slash, or we left them for the bugs to snack a bit, perhaps it might slow them down a little.

And also, there were some that were still lying on the ground. In fact, if we were to actually count how many of the green dotted serpents that died at our feet, the number was probably more than how many Sia had cut down.

True to my thoughts, when we actually left the path with the snakes, the bugs took longer to appear behind us, and even then, they were noticeably less than they were before.

“We’re almost out.” I said glancing at map. We would be out in at most, a minute, unless the maze decided to screw us up that was.

“In how long?” Sia’s exasperated voice sounded next to me.

“A minute or so, give or take.” I replied.

That was actually a very very good news to me. Barring making it out of the maze, the reason I said it was a very good news was that; My reflection was down to the last five percent of it’s aether.

If my reflection got dispelled, it would mean that I would be back to running at my regular speed. Which to the bugs, was slower than a snail’s pace. I’d eventually be screwed if it would take longer, unless this insufferable woman decided to help me.

But I wasn’t in a panic though, I knew we could make it before my reflection got dispelled. The reason? We just managed to make it past the paths the maze could move.

Before us laid seven intricate paths. Before we even got there, I had already picked one.

“The sixth path.” Out of the last seven paths, only one led to the exit of the maze. Pick any other path, and you might as well be back to square one.

The moment we set on the sixth path, I noticed something immediately. The bugs had suddenly ceased chasing after us in the last stretch of the maze.

Sia noticed it too. Our bodies instinctively relaxed at that notice. And seeing two massive doors, similar to the one at the entrance of the maze, in the distance, we both, or rather we three– Sia, myself, and I– all heaved a sigh of relief.

But we didn’t slow down yet, not until we stepped through those massive doors.

“What the…” It seemed we were the first to arrive, not surprising, I kind of expected that. What I didn’t expect however, was that, surprisingly, the exit of the maze led right back onto the platform that had disappeared from beneath our feet at the start of the second trial.

It didn’t make any sense, but anything that had to with sorcery kind of didn’t. ’Another reminder why I should focus on sorcery.’ I shook my head. It wasn’t that I didn’t want to focus on sorcery, it was just that the instructor back at the institute was still dealing with the basics, introduction and other boring stuffs, so it was kind of hard to not doze off.

“Aren’t you going to come down?” Sia’s words snapped me out of my thoughts.

I turned to her, and realized she was referring to me still hitching a piggy back ride on my reflection.

I raised a brow.

“What does it matter to you?”

She shot me a look that said; ’Really?’ Before finally opening her mouth.

“It’s embarrassing, that’s what it is. And since you’re with me, I can’t have you be embarrassed now can I?”

I shot her a look.

“Wait, you think you’re going to get embarrassed if the others come and see me like this?” I asked.

“Why of course.” she snorted.

“I see.” I muttered. “All the more reason not to get down then.” I nodded to myself.

“…” Sia was at a loss of words, but the next moment,

“Hey, are you crazy?!” I yelled as her sword sliced through the space and towards my main body, but I turned using my reflection, and caught the hilt of Sia’s sword, along with her hand, effectively stopping the sword in place.

But that small action, got rid of the last aether in my tank. With a soft crack, I shattered into motes of light.

With that, I landed on my feet, after which I sent her an annoyed look.

“You were saying?” She smirked. Gods, I didn’t know princesses could be this bitchy. In my past life, princesses were painted as loving, caring, and kind souls. Not cynical, and violent like whatever this so called princess was.

“Why even the fuss?, it’s not like this is your real face. And also, since when did you care about embarrassment” I asked.

“Believe it or not, Ms present is more popular, or rather, well known than Anastasia.” she replied. “Also, you’re right, I don’t care about embarrassment, but what I do care about, is second hand embarrassment.”

For a certain reason, I kind of believed the former. After all even someone like me didn’t know about her until she popped up at the entrance exam.

She had said she was with her mother’s side of the family, but I never asked which family it was, after all, there was no need to pry, but I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t curious.

As for the latter, how the hell did that even make sense?

Sending those thoughts away, I brought out a chair for one from my spatial storage, and slumped down on it.

I couldn’t help but notice Sia’s eyes twitch at that, then surprisingly, a chair materialized before her also.

“Did you just copy me?” I raised a brow. But I continued before she could retort. “I’m not sharing my snacks though.” I said as I took out a bag of chips from my storage.

“Did you think you’re the only one who prepared for all scenarios?” she scoffed as she retrieved a bag of snacks from her own storage and sat down on her chair.

“Great minds think alike it seems.” I muttered. “Though it debatable whether your mind is great.” I added under my breath.

If she had heard me– which I was almost certain she had– then she didn’t show it. And I also left it at that.

So, we sat in silence, munching on snacks for the next four hours or so, before the next team showed up, looking like they barely survived whatever it was that they survived.

I recognized the team, it was the only other team apart from us, that had received a full map. However, they only had three members remaining, and were giving both Sia and I weird looks.

I could hear them even from a distance.

–”They’re not for real are they?”

–”No, look at them, they totally look relaxed.”

–”Mind your own business.” the leader from earlier who had brokered with me said.

It took even longer for the last eligible team to arrive, around six hours or so. Surprisingly, just like Sia and I, they were only two. Just like the other team, they also gave us weird looks, but they didn’t say a word.

And also, it would seem that our theory was right, the fact that a team with less than three members would be disqualified only applies to the first trial.

Unfortunately for them though, the moment they arrived, the translucent man appeared once more.

“Congratulations for reaching the end of the second trial. You’ll be immediately transported to the third trial.”

**************

Yah 😊, we’ve reached Chapter 100. It’s been a great journey so far, so thanks for the support everyone. There are now five privilege advanced Chapters on webnovel. So if you want to read ahead, you’re welcome.

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