Chapter 394 - The Maze (Part-1)

Ryuu flew down the narrow, dark and damp corridor the constant sound of dripping water echoing around the entire place made him annoyed, he had been trapped in this maze along for a long time with no way in sight and the worse part he was separated from the rest of them.

As he took another turn to the right he found himself standing in front of a large stone door with various glowing arrays on them, "A door that too protected by array, interesting during my time here I believe this is the first door that I came across."

He studied the array and he knew he could unlock the door easily but he hesitated for a moment, "What if it is trap? Or it could be the way out."

He bit his lips hard enough to draw blood before he decided to gamble on his luck, he placed his hands on two specific spots on the array as he fed his KI into it, for a moment it seemed that no change was visible when all of a sudden he felt a tug as a good amount of KI was sucked out of his body making him jump back as he eyes the door warily, a groan was heard as the door slowly opened revealing its contents.

A circular room came into his view as he stepped inside it, a pedestal was present at the center of it, Ryuu looked around when all of a sudden he a loud thud and as he looked back he was horrified to see the door not only closed but the arrays themselves have disappeared completely.

Ryuu suddenly felt scared as a chill went down his spine as he could not help but shout out loud, "Wait a minute I know this, I have seen it before in that movie now some eggs would po….", he did not get to finish his sentence as the sound of stone scrapping on stone was heard as the top of the pedestal seemed to move."

Frost Flames was lucky that she was at least with some familiar faces since entering the maze their group had found themselves separated because of traps and what not it was as if something or someone was herding them and now she was with Zywia and Frozen Ocean as the rest have all been separated.

She suddenly stopped in her tracks as she spoke with a frown, "Hey did you all hear that, it sounded like Ryuu was shouting."

The others frowned at that as Frost Ocean shook her head as she spoke, "No we did not it might be the atmosphere is affecting you."

Frost Flames frowned at that as she spoke with a nod, "You are right, this place must be affecting me, and let us move forward the sooner we get out of this place the better it is."

As they began to move further through the maze Frost Flames mind went back to how they had suffered such a predicament.

"So this is the fifth level", Severing Saber drank into the appearance of the large cavern that they had entered.

Ryuu frowned as he looked at the cavern that seemed to be manmade, not to mention the statues and the artwork seemed extremely familiar to him like he had seen them before, his eyes widen slightly as he remembered something, 'Ah I remember now they looked similar to Ajanta caves from India.'

"Hey over here?", a shout drew their attention as they all dashed to the source.

A large stone slab was found standing proudly near the wall as they reached the slab their eyes widen at the information that was written on it.

Gate I: 63,900

Gate II: 40,000

Gate III: 867

Level V: Gate I+ Gate II

"We are safe, we are safe for now.", came a voice full of relief as many had a grin on their face.

Ryuu glared at the stone slab as his jaws clenched in anger, '63,900! Who has that many Mystic Immortal Emperors? The Deva or the Preta realms, it does not look good for us at all, whoever that realm that managed to send at least thrice the number is cause for immense concern, after I leave this place I have to inform my superiors about this.'

"Ryuu are you alright? You look tensed.", a voice came to his ears making him turn towards the speaker as he send a glare towards her.

Frost Flames was taken aback at the glare before Ryuu's eyes softened as he spoke in an apologetic tone, "Sorry this numbers made me a bit tensed."

Frost Flames nodded at as she spoke with a small smile, "There is nothing to worry about Ryuu, so why are you so tensed?"

Ryuu pointed towards the number as he spoke, "The numbers are problematic, and worrisome I do not know who is what but they are worrying me a lot."

As many paid undivided attention towards him Ryuu continued to speak, "You see the large number means only one thing that realm is currently prosperous and if they are so much ahead of us then there is a chance for an invasion from their side using their superior numbers especially if that number belongs to Preta realm."

'Is that why they are attacking randomly, are they testing our defenses?', many thoughts ran rampart in Ryuu's minds but he had no answer to them.

"How are we going to face such a large number of cultivators? Over Sixty Three thousand are you insane we will not make it."

Ryuu nodded at that as he spoke, "You are definitely right, facing such a number is suicidal but fortunately we are not at present as such let them fight against each other while we try to find some treasures in this level."

True-Spear narrowed he send one last look towards the slab before speaking, "You are forgetting something Brother Ryuu.", at his words Ryuu turned to look at him with curious look in his eyes, "Quality over Quantity you are forgetting the age old saying."

Ryuu shook his head as he spoke, "No brother no I am not, with enough numbers the quality can be overtaken by quantity and sadly for us….", he did not finish the sentence as the full implication of his words sank into them.

As they moved towards the exit that led them outside the circular cavern Zywia approached him as she spoke, "Brother Ryuu if you know about this then is it safe to assume that they know as well, as such they will also know that our realm is weaker and they will inform their seniors and the invasion might occur."

Ryuu nodded at that as he spoke, "That is a given as such I can hope that Deva realm are the one with the highest number."

"So, what will you do if the worst case scenario happens? We cannot let them escape Eden and inform their superiors."

Ryuu simply kicked a stone in front of him as he spoke with a sigh, "There is nothing we can do except killing every last one of them and frankly speaking I do not see such a thing occurring given our paltry numbers."

"Ugh this place is horrible I thought after leaving the swamp behind we will not have to withstand another damp place sometime soon."

Ryan snorted at that as they stepped into a narrow, dark and damp tunnel as they heard a faint sound of water dripping in the distance.

A few hours later many Devraj shouted out in frustration, "This place is a Heaven forsaken maze."

Chianyu laughed at his outburst as he spoke, "You found out about that just now, we have been going in a circle for a long time is that not right brother Ryuu we already passed by one of your marker thrice."

A disgruntled Ryuu simply send a small nod to him as one of them spoke, "Whatever we should keep a cool head and try to figure it out an exit."

As they moved in circle slowly they began to get frustrated as well as angry and one of them foolishly stepped on a lose stone on the floor which triggered one of the first traps, a portion of the wall slammed cutting the group into half it was only because of Chianyu's reflex who kicked one of the cultivator away that he was prevented from becoming paste on the wall.

But it did not end there for Ryuu's group as another wall boxed them in as the floor collapsed and the ceiling came down on them hard forcing them to move under a few minutes later the walls restored as the other group was taken aback upon seeing that the one in front was missing.