Chapter Eighty-Six - Want a Ball of Wool?

The smooth black stone tunnel ahead began to open up into a huge gallery filled with passages, Locke sighed angrily and prepared for one more battle but, to his surprise, the gallery was empty, no sign of the cultists in sight.

"Did they finally run out of anyone to send?" he questioned out loud.

'What a shame, the free experience points spree is over! I thought you would get what you need for the next advance...' Tia commented on the mental link.

"No, i'm satisfied, as much as my level has increased considerably with these battles I still don't feel comfortable killing so many people, I just want to get this over with once and for all..." Locke replied in a tired voice, he looked over around looking for the next passage, there were several possible options and he was unsure which one was the correct.

Normally it was easy for Locke to get his bearings, as he was just following the alien mana flow, but in this room the concentration of that horrible, disgusting mana was so high that his senses were getting dulled, Locke was holding himself back from throwing up, no matter how much time passed he felt he would never get used to the mana of this place.

With no choices, he sat in one of the corners of the room and expanded his own mana, the black mana spread like it was alive, violently devoured the mana around it while Locke waited patiently, his plan was simple, once he cleaned this room from all that stagnant mana it would be easier to see the source of the flow, an obvious path he would follow without problems.

The process was slow, Locke could speed things up if he blew his own mana violently, but he couldn't afford to do something like that, even if the small fry's were gone he knew there were still enemies ahead.

Locke was someone with a very strange way of thinking, even with all his growth he was someone who always maintained the assumption that his enemy was dangerous and he tried his best to avoid underestimating anyone, if possible he preferred to always be at his best state for the next battles.

This way of thinking was fostered based on his own experiences, in his fight against Rudra Locke he learned that power was not always absolute, the old dragon had much more mana than Locke and his body was also stronger, but he was still defeated , all because Locke has awakened a convenient ability that nullified the dragon's trump card, relying on one's own strength and underestimating the enemy is a recipe for disaster.

Luckily, as his stats evolved things got easier for Locke, if before he needed to concentrate to activate the deep meditation state now he could do the same just by standing still, the effect was also dozens of times greater, and the mana spent to consume the room's disgusting mana was reclaimed at incredible speed, he could maintain this process at almost zero cost.

"Hey, how are the things over there?"

'Hmm? It's all right around here, the Lizard Men are mounting guard and patrolling through the forest, some of them are guarding the dryad, but it seems like nothing has decided to come that far from town yet... Ah, Hanna's family is here!'

"Good, I was worried they'd try to get back to town! They are well? Did they get there without any problems?"

'Yes, Mama Cop, Mustache and the Famous Chick arrived without a hitch, Goth chick welcomed them well and they are fed and safe... But one thing happened...'

"What happened?"

'Everything was going well as soon as they arrived, Goth chick had prepared something for them to eat and soon they started talking, and that was when the tricky question was thrown...'

"Which question?" Locke asked, although he already had a solid suspicion.

'What do you think? It didn't take long for Mama cop to question where you were!'

"...And how did Hanna respond?"

'Oh, she did not answer!'

"... What do you mean she didn't answer?"

'She didn't answer, she just looked at her mother's face with a strange smile on her face for a while, mama cop was also silent for a while and then she sighed and said: "I undersatand..."'

'But that's when things got funny! Famous Chic misunderstood his sister's silence and thought you had died, to my surprise she collapsed and started crying, Hanna had to explain that you were alive and well, but you were elsewhere, honestly if the situation was different it would be hilarious!'

"Well, looks like I'm going to have to give some explaining when this is all over... It's good to see that at least someone is having fun in the middle of all this..." Locke scoffed, he stood up and scanned the room again.

His dark mana had done the dirty work and consumed most of the surrounding alien mana and now he could feel the source of the flow much better, much to his surprise the same amount of mana was coming out of all the entrances.

"What the f*ck?" Locke exclaimed confused, he checked again getting the same result. He closed his eyes and sent his divine awareness through one of the doors, stretching it like a string.

It came as no surprise when Locke discovered that the path had now turned into some kind of maze, a cacophony of stone tunnels intertwined in a confusing and absurd way.

"For f*ck's sake! A fucking maze?! Are you kidding?" Locke exclaimed angrily.

'Oh boy! Time for some Dungeon crawler… Want a ball of yarn?" Tia joked.

"Oh God, no! I don't have the patience for this anymore! These guys are pushing me to the limit! What if I launch another attack like that right here? Another black cannon loaded to the max!"

'Calm down big boy! Last time that attack of yours almost got out of control! And this place is full of this sh*tty mana!'

"Alright alright, you're right, I need to calm down…" Locke took a deep breath in an attempt to cool his bubbling emotions. "Let's continue... Let's explore the maze..."

Locke was ready to choose a path when he stopped in his tracks, his instincts telling him that something was wrong, very wrong. The idea of ​​a labyrinth was to make those who had to go through it get lost, he extended his awareness to more other entrances and had the same result, each one of them was a maze similar to the first entrance he analyzed. If each of the entrances was a different maze, there was no reason for exactly the same amount of mana to be sent from all these entrances, unless they are all interconnected, but then there was no point in having so many entries if each one ended up leading to the same place;

'What is the problem?' Tia questioned.

Locke didn't respond right away, his mind began to scan the surrounding situation as his senses continued to try to find the clue his instincts screamed existed, something that would point him in the right direction.

"Don't you think it's weird? Why the mana strength are equal in all entrances? Why a maze right now? From a point of view of practicality it doesn't seem very logical to me, if the maze came first I would understand, but a maze near the end seems… wrong… It's almost as if someone wants to waste my time…" Locke commented out loud.

'What's your suspicion?' Tia questioned.

"That all these paths are false, that somehow these paths were created a short time ago and that they are some kind of trap to try to deceive me..."

'This doesn't feel right, one of these doors has to be the correct path... unless there is another path in the room...' The fairy responded by adding her own theory.

Locke's eyes sparkled as he analyzed every detail of the room, he ignored every entrance and walked around the circumference of the gallery, at some points he reached out his claws and poked at the walls, to no avail.

His divine awareness spread around him in an attempt to notice what he was missing, his eyes scanned every inch of the room and his ears listened for any sound, holding back the disgust he felt, Locke even used his nose to try to find a way.

Ultimately, what gave him the right direction was his instincts.

The feeling was light and illusive, something like a silk thread was stuck to his skin and he was trying to pull Locke with the lightness of a feather, Locke decided to trust the feeling and ceased all other forms of investigation, he simply closed his eyes and let himself be taken by his instincts, walking without seeing, when he opened his eyes again he realized he was in the very middle of the gallery.

"On here?" Locke wondered, then an epiphany crossed his mind. "How could I be so foolish? It is so obvious!"

Locke leapt into the air, his wings gave him the necessary momentum and he flew like a missile towards the ground, his shado wrapped his claws and formed a drill and he hit the ground hard.

The black stone gave way to the impact and exploded, black pebbles went in all directions, Locke returned to the air and watched the open path, a vertical hole with no apparent end, smiling, he flew down.

"Let's end this!"