"Where am I and where did everyone go?!"

I entered the labyrinth with everyone else, but I somehow ended up alone in this dark pa.s.sage. I can barely see anything, but this isn"t like the cave that I saw from the outside.

"Huh? Where are we?" Miss Lucy said while s.h.i.+ning and making the pa.s.sage visible. It was a long pa.s.sage made up of irregular stones as long as it was visible.

"Phew! Miss Lucy, thank G.o.d at least you are here," I said while taking Miss Lucy into my hands.

"Yeah, but were we teleported or something?" She asked looking confused.

"How can she be so brave at the situation like this?"

"Don"t stay lost like that, we are probably inside the labyrinth."

"O-okay, sorry."

"D-Did you hear that?"

When I listened carefully, I could hear footsteps coming towards us. As I was listening, the sound of the footsteps grew heavier and heavier and it no longer sounded like humans.

"L-l-let"s go behind the rock, I will use my magic to hide us," Miss Lucy said while looking towards me with a worried face.

"O-okay."

Miss Lucy stopped s.h.i.+ning and both of us hid behind the rocks. After a while, I raised my head to take a peek and what I saw was a scary-looking one-horned red monster carrying a Mace.

"M-Miss Lucy, what do we do now?"

"Just stay quiet for a while and wait for him to go," Miss Lucy whispered.

He looked towards the stone that we were hiding at and started coming closer.

"He probably heard us." I thought and covered both my mouth and nose with my hands. Since Miss Lucy was using an illusion to hide us, he couldn"t see us even though we were there.

He scratched his forehead while turning around and left. As he did that, the half of my soul that had almost left my body came back.

"S-should we go to find others?" I asked in a low voice.

"W-wait a little longer, he might still be around."

We waited there a little longer and when it looked like he wasn"t anywhere around, we started walking forward in the pa.s.sage.

After walking for a while, we came across a big metal door with a strange flower pattern and chalice in the center of it. When I touched the door, it automatically slid open with a heavy metallic sound.

I stepped back in surprise as the door opened. It was then that I heard someone say "Welcome".

"Miss Lucy, did you hear that?"

"Hmm, What?" She was looking at the door in surprise as she replied.

"I heard someone say "Welcome"."

"Y-y-you are just imagining things. Who would welcome us in a place like this?" She said while looking towards me.

"Y-yeah, I am probably just imagining things. S-should we go in?"

After Miss Lucy nodded, I slowly stepped inside.

It was a circular room with spiral stairs that went up. When I looked up, the stairs went as high as my eyes could see.

"Do we really need to climb that high?" I asked since I wasn"t sure if I would be able to climb that up in a single day.

"Heh-heh, let me show you a little trick of mine," said Miss Lucy and clapped her hand.

Right after she clapped, a small ball made up of mud appeared on the ground and as it grew bigger, four legs started growing out of it. And before I could comprehend what was happening, it changed into a big brown golem with yellow eyes and cracks all over its body.

"Woah!" I said unable to hold my surprise.

"T-that"s nothing. Golem, prepare a seat for Marina on your back," said Miss Lucy while folding her arms.

The golem made a seat made up of thick moss on its back. I then climbed up the golem using the cracks in its body and sat on the seat.

After I sat, the golem started climbing the stairs. Even though his movement looked slow, it was big so it could skip several steps while climbing.

Surprisingly, we came across nothing bad as we climbed up. I stopped looking down after a while because every time I looked down, I felt chills.

I felt dizzy after climbing for a while, probably because the stairs were circular, so we took breaks every once in a while.

"Miss Lucy, the stairs are not ending. Are you sure we are even climbing up?" I asked since it looked like we were going in circles. Even though it felt like we were moving up, the stairs looked the same.

"Wait, let me check," said Miss Lucy and flew towards the center of the circular stairs.

After she looked up, she said, "We are almost at the top, we will reach there soon."

As she said, we soon reached the top where there was a silver door with a flower pattern and chalice similar to the earlier one but this one was s.h.i.+ning even though it was dark.

After I got down from the golem, Miss Lucy clapped hands and the golem disappeared.

"It was very helpful, I will miss it."

I then went close to the door and touched the door. Like before, the door automatically slid open.

Surprisingly what"s inside was a large s.p.a.ce with a lake at the center. The water in the lake had a green glow. In the center of the lake, there was a golden chalice with four gems embedded on four sides.

"Welcome child. It took you long enough to get here."

It was a sweet but mature voice but since it echoed it was hard to tell where it came from.

As I was wondering where the voice came from, I felt a touch on my shoulder from the back. It was a gentle touch that felt warm and comforting even though I had no idea who it was.

"W-who are you?" I asked while turning around.

It was a woman in her late twenties with long green hair and green eyes. She was wearing a green dress and looked like a n.o.ble lady.

"Oh, you can call me olive. I have been living here for very long now and this place has become my home," replied the lady with a little smile.

"are we still inside the Labyrinth? and do you know where my friends are?" I asked even though I was scared, I had a feeling that she would have the answers.

The lady hummed and replied, "This is the last floor of the Labyrinth. You were chosen by the Labyrinth so it showed you the direct way to reach the top. Also, I know where your friends are and why you came here. But depending on how you answer my question I can become your friend or enemy."

Next chapter: Trial of Strength