"Layer 15, that's weaker than I was expecting," Shane frowned.

"I know, considering everything, I was half imagining this would be a direct path to the 25th or 26th layer," Bonnie looked at the doorway, trying to figure out if there were any more changes aside form the color.

"Do you think we should go?" Alex asked.

Hera paused for a moment. "The MAZE wouldn't allow us to go to the next room if going there would kill us. That's one of its hard rules. So the poison or whatever on the other side shouldn't be that bad. Not to mention that all of us have that Ward Bearer title that makes us more resilient against this kind of thing. I think we could try, but I doubt it's going to be just a chill place to hang out."

The Empress laid down all of her thoughts about going to this room where, apparently, mana was leaking out from. Everyone nodded. If Hera thought this was doable, they were probably going to be swarmed by undead the moment they stepped out of the doorway, especially if the doorway was located near an old city or something. As a matter of fact, they all understood that there was a good chance monsters were also being redirected from this other room. And if that were the case, it would be in a lot more trouble than they could even imagine. But one way or another, there was one thing that didn't change. There was no way to solve this from this side. At least they had no clue about how to solve this situation from this side of the doorway.

"We also won't be able to tell how close undead will be to the doorway when we get back," Shane added.

"Okay, so here's my suggestion. We go into this next room to see what's going on there. Worst-case scenario, we pop back right out. But if not, we try to at least gather some intel. Then when we are coming back, I come first, call my Court as soon as I arrive. That way, no one is going to be on their own for very long, and I can hold off the undead until the rest of you arrive and we can just get out of here. I can awaken Nimbus to have him carry us out all at once."

Everyone nodded in agreement, feeling that this was good enough of a plan, even if they were all still worried about what might be waiting for them on the other side of the doorway.

Without exception, the entire group understood the possible ramifications of this. This wasn't just a random weird thing they found somewhere in the MAZE. This was something that could be an actual problem for the MAZE as a whole. And if they were to ignore this, it could be a problem for more than just those wanting to explore the Naga homeland.

What the entire group already understood but was avoiding to say out loud was the fact that if this mana was truly spreading from a different room, eventually it could completely overwhelm this place and maybe even start to leak to yet another room. Meaning that any room that was directly connected could be the next one to suffer under this undead curse. In other words, both Zaxalam and the area of the first plateau were potentially in danger if this problem was not solved in a decent time frame.

They had no idea how long it was going to take for this mana to reach those doorways, but it made sense to expect the entire situation to become worse in an exponential way, not in a linear fashion. After all, the more mana was condensed near an area, the more likely was it to be able to replicate itself or infect other parts of the room, for only those parts to be able to create the mana and spread out more.

This was the worst-case scenario, not something that was obviously going to happen, but if it did, the results would be devastating, as not only the city of the Naga would be affected by it, but also the homeland of the harpy and one of the homes of the dwarves of Boothudurn.

Resolute in their decision, the group stepped forward and decided to transfer to the next room all together. Pressing yes, they felt that familiar sensation of being submerged into hot water, and in a few seconds they had arrived in the Fields of Elysium.

The moment the transfer finished, Hera and everybody else felt this was one of the odd rooms in the MAZE where the time didn't really follow the previous room. After all, they arrived in the Coiled Serpent at the middle of the afternoon, but here it was pitch black as if they were well past midnight.

It took them only a moment to realize their assumption about this place was wrong. For in the sky, they could see a ball of yellowish light, but it seemed like the surrounding darkness devoured the very light itself, stopping it from spreading. And the shadows were almost moving, as if it was some strange gust of wind that could be seen by the naked eye.

But Oberon, together with Hera, understood what was the real meaning behind that particle-filled air. They were not looking at simply a natural force but at the very same mana that was overwhelming Deakoshara. Oberon was 100% sure of it.

The mana here was so dense, that it became visible to the naked eye. Without any spells, without any skills, without anything. Just looking at it was enough for not just Hera but the entire group to see the raw force of magic that was affecting this room.

If that wasn't enough, they could also see how the environment itself seemed to be almost creating that type of mana. Gusts of mana emerged from the floor like dust particles being carried by a storm. But they didn't feel it. If those particles touched their skin, nothing would happen. There was a feeling of uncleanness, but that was about it. Neither Hera nor any of her friends were able to tell exactly why they were feeling like that.

The Empress looked around, trying to understand where exactly they were, but the place felt like the middle of a storm. Clouds of darkness surrounded them, leaving only a small amount of terrain for them to see. The only thing that the Empress could discern was the fact that they were on top of some sort of rocky mass, but even the stones themselves seemed to be tainted by whatever was causing all of this.

If they were safe to move around or if something dangerous was lurking just beyond that cloud, they couldn't tell.

Hera turned to the group and said, "I'm going to need a few moments alone, if that's okay with everybody."

"Alone?" Bonnie frowned.

"You're going to do the question thing?" Shane asked.

Hera just nodded, and the rest of the group understood what she was about to do, or at least that she was about to do something that could give them some answers. With that in mind, the Ophidianite walked a few meters away from the group, still looking back at them and the doorway, which was the same color on this side as it was in Deakoshara. That strange gray as if it was tainted from within.

But unlike what she was expecting, as she walked away from the doorway, she didn't get any closer to the wall of darkness around her. Instead, it seemed to move along with her, making sure that she always stayed in the epicenter of this storm of putrid mana.

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'Can you see something different from the mana, Oberon?' the Empress asked.

Oberon turned to his goggle form but quickly shifted back to the circlet, a sense of dread washing over both Hera and the blade.

'Sorry, I can't see anything. If I try to see the mana, I'm just seeing darkness everywhere. And it's not even actual darkness like the spells that Helena can use. It's something. It's like staring into the abyss as the abyss stares back.'

'That's kind of a cliche, but that's okay,' Hera tried to joke around and lighten the mood, but it didn't work all that well.

After taking a deep breath, Hera enveloped herself in [Noble Shroud], [Blade Accord], and the soundproof bubble, a combo that she was now calling the Guide room. And with that setup, she quickly activated her skill.

"I call upon the Guide of the Fields of Elysium. As an explorer, I have proven that my motives are pure."

Hera wasn't entirely sure what to expect from a Guide that took care of a place like this. Maybe some sort of undead? A shadowy creature made to consume everything? But nothing could prepare her for what she was about to see.

Instead of anything wretched, the Empress was greeted by a small bear that looked like a stuffed animal wearing some gardener's overalls. They were light blue and had very delicate flowers embroidered on the fabric. The bear Guide was absolutely adorable, and he appeared with a very happy expression that was almost contagious. But at the same time, there was a strange desperation in his eyes, something that Hera couldn't quite grasp properly.

"Hi there, I'm Timber. It's very, very nice to meet you," the bear Guide said with a massive smile as he reached out and shook Hera's hand.

"Hi, Timber. It's very nice to meet you too."

Hera blinked and just stared at the guide for a while. Just now noticing the wooden door that the guide came from. It was simple, but had a very delicate carving of a white flower in the center.

"Sorry, I just wasn't really expecting you to be, how can I put this…"

"Alive?" Timber replied with a tone that felt a bit self-deprecating.

But Hera couldn't help but nod, "Yeah, you're really not what I was expecting, considering how the room looks."

Timber sighed. "You haven't even seen half of it. This place used to be so pretty, so full of life." He looked into the distance as if he were staring at the room beyond Hera's skill.

"So this is not the natural state of the room?" Hera asked.

Timber just shook his head. "No, it's not. I don't even need to spend some time on that. Consider it a freebie."

"Can you tell me what happened for this place to be like this?"

"Even if we use all the time you have, I can't answer that one."

"I see. Yeah, I kind of imagined that. Can you tell me where the source of this thing, whatever it is, is?"

"It's going to take all the time you have for me to answer that one."

The Empress nodded, half expecting something like that. If something this big was happening, the information related to it should be very valuable in the eyes of the System.

"It's not here."

"What do you mean?" Hera frowned.

"It's not in this room," Timber replied, and a wooden door appeared behind him, almost as if the system was telling him that his time was up.

"That's it. Sorry we couldn't talk more. I really wanted to get to know you. I can send you some messages. Would that be okay?" Hera gave a sincere smile.

Timber smiled back "Thank you. It's been very lonely since this started, and I would appreciate the company." He stepped through the door, and without looking back added, "and I'm sorry for making you deal with something like this again."

As he finished those words, the entrance, or exit in this case, slammed shut and started to decompose very quickly in front of Hera's eyes. It went faster and faster until only a small white flower in the center of the door remained, but even that withered away.

Hera stayed to think about what the Guide said. This thing, whatever it was, was not coming from this room. Did that mean that there were one, two, a hundred other rooms being affected by this? It was impossible to tell.

Second, this was powerful enough to go beyond multiple rooms, not just crossing one doorway but more. Also, Timber's cryptic message sounded like a hint. And this was a strange way of the Guide asking for her help to solve this. But if that was the case, why would Peaches not be able to say what he wanted? Why would the system itself have changed the message he tried to send in the group chat?

There were too many questions surrounding this, and Hera herself had no way of answering them right now. All she could do was go back and tell her friends that things were much worse than they initially thought.

She quickly explained to them what she discovered, not being able to share the cryptic message that the Guide told her beyond what he said.

Shane decided to do the same thing, use her own Guides skill, thinking they could get more answers. It was a good thing that they had already established that there was a lot of secrecy involved in the skill. While Hera found it somewhat annoying that they share what was going on, she understood that it was just because of the skill itself.

"Can you do the same thing you did for me?" Shane asked.

Hera shook her head. "I can do the soundproof bubble, but I don't think it's a good idea for me to do the rest."

"Why not?" the enchantress frowned.

"Because it's kind of an extension of myself. And while I can't hear or see what the shroud and the chains can actually see, in a way I kind of can sense it, kind of like an extended touch if you will."

"Okay, I'll figure something out then."

Shane walked farther away than Hera did until she reached the point where no one from the group could see her and asked Hera to deploy the soundproof barrier. Hera did so and walked back towards Alex and Bonnie since Shane had to be left alone.

"I'm coming back in five minutes, one way or another," Hera said.

After all, they were in a dangerous place that they couldn't even see what was going on. But they didn't need to worry about spending too long. Just a couple of minutes after she left, Shane returned with a somewhat saddened expression.

"What did you find?" Hera asked.

"Not much. Just that the source is not inside a dungeon in this room."

Hera paused, concerned. "What? You asked if it was inside a dungeon."

"Yes. It sounded like something that could happen," Shane replied with a confused expression.

"I already told you that it wasn't in this room. If it were here, it could be inside a dungeon. You just wasted a question," Hera's voice started to increase in volume.

Shane's voice increased its volume too. "So? I figured I'd just do what I felt was right. Screw you, Hera. You think I didn't want to solve this? This is just another thing that's stopping me from looking into the Naga homeland."

"And you do what? Waste a question? How stupid are you?" Hera shot back.

"Stop shouting," Bonnie tried, but the two explorers continued their yelling.

"Not all of us can be perfect, Hera. Not all of us can become Ophidianites, can save everyone, can stop a fucking war as if they're the happiest person in the entire world. Some of us have to deal with real shit," Shane retorted.

"Bitch, I went to war," Hera shouted back. "My mother was horrible to me. I almost didn't make it as an explorer because of the goddamn restriction that was lifted like a year after I started doing all this. I went to war, I got cursed, I had to kill people, I was labeled as a terrorist and had to change my entire species to escape from that. And all the while, what were you doing?"

Shane took a step back, "There was nothing I could do to help, okay? I cared about what was going on, but what's the point of someone weak as me joining the fight? It would be just more cannon fodder for them. All that just because a bunch of assholes in the guild decided to call every other species lesser."

"You two really need to stop shouting right now," Alex said, her eyes covered in a soft white glow.

"Oh, boo hoo," Hera scoffed. "I lost count of how many weak people were in the war. They knew they were weak, and they still went there. They still tried their best to help everybody else because they believed in the cause. They believed that what the guild was doing was wrong, and there was no other option but to fight. Yet you ran away with your tail between your legs because you didn't want to be on the losing side. Good for you. After all, a human could at any given point just change sides, then stay with the guild and say that they were right. How convenient is that? I wish I could sleep at night knowing that I betrayed everything I stand for just so I could survive."

Alex stepped between the two of them before they could continue arguing. "We have company."

Sickly pale green lights were coming from the darkness. Showing the silhouettes of various undead. Each more grotesque than the last. They were coming from all directions, and even if they tried to reach the doorway right now, they wouldn't be fast enough. They would have to fight some of them.

Despite their arguments, Hera and Shane exchanged a glance and took up fighting stances, ready to defend each other from the incoming horde of undead. Together with Bonnie and Alex.

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