CHAPTER 22
On the other side, hundreds of meters away from the capital, the five heroes entered the dungeon and like the rest, they were affected by the hallucinations and the dungeon sent them directly into the labyrinth that Cruella's group was currently in.
Unbeknownst to everyone, four entrances led to the One-Hundred Level Labyrinth. One at the Capital, one at Sun City, one at the Ocean, and one at the western Dark Forest.
Unbeknownst to Cruella, another batch of monsters from the Dark Forest entered the labyrinth and scattered at every floor she emptied.
So when Dylan and the others entered the labyrinth, they immediately fought some monsters. The other knights with them joined the fray.
After killing all the monsters on the floor they were in, they move forward to the next floor.
Since Dylan and the others were used to slaughtering monsters in the subspace, things were as easy as cutting vegetables that blew the knight's mind away. Their impression of the heroes leaps up several folds.
"I didn't think something like this existed in this world. I thought it only exists in movies!" Canon remarked.
"Idiot. Of course, this is another world so everything is possible when magic is involved!" Kenneth snorted.
"But the monsters here seem weaker though, don't you think?" Joshua said while holding his chin like a detective in action.
The knights sneered in their hearts and said inwardly, 'Weaker my foot! If it was only us here, we'd be dead meat!'
The knights could only smile bitterly.
Time ticked away and several days passed by.
While Cruella and the others continued moving forward inside the labyrinth slowly, the outside world was bombarded with a piece of shocking news.
The emergence of the Great Demon as the one behind the Demon Lord Azazel sends the citizens on edge. More importantly, the demons from the Demonville Kingdom slowly invaded other lands.
The four kingdoms were always at war as each ruler wanted to conquer one another. It was always this way for thousands of years but the balance is still impeccable for some reason.
However, this time around, Demon Lord Azazel gained the support of the Great Demon and made it public.
The whole world knows the power the Great Demon possesses and her reputation is as great as the Great Destroyer and the new powerful monster, the Great Wolf. Each of them could destroy the world with just their finger if they wanted to.
However, the Great Demon's reputation was the more terrifying.
If the Great Demon were to make a move, the entire world would be flooded with blood.
The Great Demon tortures humans ruthlessly and bleeds them dry until they fall into despair.
For the Great Demon, humans are just a toy for her to play any time.
A long time ago, humans built the largest capital city in Albania Kingdom.
However, the Great Demon didn't like it and wiped out the entire city in one night, leaving nothing but a flood of blood that traumatized the world.
Since then, humans didn't dare to build a large city and instead scattered around the world.
As such, there were plenty of villages, small towns, and cities that existed all over the world.
Later, the Great Demon suddenly disappears and it gives humans hope to rebuild their kingdom.
As a result, four kingdoms were rebuilt and each built the largest capital in their Kingdom except the Demonville Kingdom. Demons believe that the Great Demon will come back and they don't know if the same thing will happen to their kingdom one day.
And now that the Great Demon decided to come out of seclusion, the demons started to gloat as they visualized the soon-to-be-demise of the other kingdoms.
However, it was still unknown if the Great Demon would succeed in the presence of the unfathomable existence that the world still didn't know of.
A month later, Cruella and her group finally step to the last level of the One-Hundred Level Labyrinth.
"What in the world?" Sera gasped as she gape through the vast sands.
The last level of the labyrinth is a vast desert. It was so hot that their throats became parched.
The group was stunned.
"How can we find the exit in this vast desert?" Meira and Sera uttered in unison. They looked at each other and chuckled.
Surprisingly, during the entire journey, the duo became close but sometimes they bicker at the smallest things. Well, that's how they bond and show they understand each other.
Cruella glanced around and frowned. She focused on her hearing and closed her eyes.
Her lips curled up when she saw the sand moving.
"Prepare-" before Cruella could finish her sentence. A sudden rumble on the ground like the sound of moving gears of some mechanism surprises them.
And that's when they notice the huge magic circle lightened up brightly. Before they knew it, a huge hole opened below their feet and they all plunged swiftly into the bottomless abyss.
Shocked by the sudden occurrence, the group screams at the top of their lungs. Cruella hugged the trio as they plunged together. All they could hear was the whizzing sound of the wind that almost ruined their eardrums.
Thud!
The four girls landed on the floor with a loud thud.
"Are you all fine?!" Cruella quickly checked the trio's bodies.
"I'm fine, big sister! You protected me enough!" Lucy beamed seeing she was still alive. Cruella thought the little girl would cry rivers because of fear but instead, she saw the fearless face of the little girl. She couldn't help but pat the girl's head proudly and kissed her cheeks.
"Ah, thank goodness my brain is still intact!" Sera murmured while checking her body.
'It's my body! Hmph!' Sera chuckled when she heard Evangeline talking in her mind. She retorted, 'I'm currently taking over your body so your body is also my body!'
Sera could talk to Evangeline now since they entered the labyrinth. But there are times they couldn't. So Sera was really happy every time Evangeline talked to her. She could also relay Evangeline's message to Cruella.
"I thought I was a goner just now. I've never felt so scared like that before!" Meira sniffled and her eyes glistened with tears. She was scared to death. Well, she wasn't prepared for the sudden fall.
"Mey? Are you okay?" Cruella quickly approached her and Meira hugged Cruella while sobbing. Cruella pats her back to soothe her. "There... there... It's fine now. You're safe."
Little Lucy stared at the duo strangely as she saw herself being held like that by Cruella before.
That's when Cruella first found her. Cruella also said the same thing which Lucy finds hilarious now that she hears the same phrase but refrains from laughing.
Well, at least she thought it was rude to do so.
After a while, Meira fell asleep again like a sleeping beauty.
The trio looked at each other and burst out laughing. The entire time they knew Meira, they found that she easily got tired and fell asleep anytime and everywhere. It was really dangerous to leave Meira alone because of her condition. They called it sleeping beauty syndrome.
"Big sister, where are we?" Lucy asked when she took notice of their surroundings.
Underneath them is another huge magic circle. The trio grimaced at the sight of that.
They were in a huge hall; nine pillars stood majestically around the magic circle and on each pillar carved the image of nine different majestic legendary beasts; a chained thick huge book and a golden keycard were suspended in the air brightly.
Suddenly, the ground shook and they were on high alert. Sera quickly carried Meira vigilantly and Cruella scooped up Lucy in her arms for fear that similar things would happen again.
However, the roars of beasts echoed in their ears instead and they almost turned deaf.
Cruella notices the carvings on the nine pillars move and soon their form materializes with their terrifying breath of aura that sweeps the entire surroundings. Their majestic aura spread throughout the entire labyrinth sending shivers down everyone's spine, even the monsters cower in fear.
Cruella was taken aback and her eyes sparkled with excitement. She subconsciously licks her lips. However, Sera felt intimidated by the immense pressure from the nine majestic beasts while Lucy trembled in fear. If not for Cruella, Lucy might have already burned into ashes.
"Whoa," Cruella's jaw dropped while her eyes sparkled.
Well, Cruella just found the best subject of all!
At this moment, Cruella's body yearned to devour the nine majestic beasts. Such finest is the best nutrients for her body! Her body shuddered with excitement but she held herself because it would be such a waste if she had to devour them now.
To Cruella's surprise, the chained book and the keycard were suddenly enveloped by a thick barrier.
And now, they were surrounded by nine majestic beasts.
"Should we kill them?" Sera blurted out menacingly.
"No."
Sera was stunned at Cruella's response. Soon, she understood what Cruella wanted to do.
'Ah, what a shame! I wanted to test my true strength!'
Sera pouted her lips but when she saw the sleeping Meira in her arms, she figured she couldn't fight properly. Thus, she will leave everything to Cruella.
Of course, seeing the huge grin on Cruella's face, Sera knew better than to interfere. She had never seen her so excited before just because of beasts.