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MAZE - Chapter 1063 - Follow the Light
🕑 Added 2025-05-28 22:31:39 +0000 UTCHera continued to run along the field, with Atlas just a few meters behind. Both of them had some ability that allowed them to see things in this pitch-black darkness despite not being directly in contact with the lights coming from the fake lighthouses, or the real one since they had no clue if they were going in the right direction or not.
While the Empress could have her court and her Ophidianite sight to see in infrared to make sure nothing was in her way, Atlas could use the metal strands from his armor to function almost as feelers that could give him a sense of direction.
And it didn't take long for them to see what types of monsters existed in this dungeon. After all, even though Hera's court was taking care of most of them, some were still able to sneak by. They were strange creatures, in part looking like bushes, but instead of vines or any sort of vegetation, they were made out of hands, claws, and other random appendages.
It felt a lot like an Eldritch horror version of flora, but much less scary overall. But those also didn't seem to be the only types of monsters that existed in the area, as there were different drops from different creatures. They found a shell or something, a wooden piece, and even some meat which didn't seem to be created by that type of creature.
Still, their movement was steady and quick, and Hera and Atlas had no intention of staying around for longer than they had to. More importantly, the longer they let the wendigo live, the stronger it would get. The two of them rushed down the path, trying to find the Wendigo, but eventually, they reached a wall. Not an invisible one, but an actual physical wall of black wood in front of them. And stranger than that was the fact that there was no sign of the Wendigo anywhere nearby. Even the trail of loot that they were assuming came from the creature was nowhere to be seen.
Hera cursed under her breath and turned back to Atlas. "Did you see anything?"
He just shook his head. "I didn't. And what I'm feeling around is the same kind that we were seeing."
"Shit," Hera cursed again and looked back in the direction from where they came from. From here, they could only see two sources of light. The first was located in the same lighthouse that they started this dungeon in. The second was far to the left, but still some ways ahead of them as their backs were facing the wall.
Hera was looking around the light, hoping to see if the Wendigo was going to pass through somewhere, but instead, the light that was lit up and moving around suddenly started to flicker. They glanced at the source and were able to see a shape moving around and the source of the light shifting.
A few moments later, there was a loud cry of a monster echoing through the dungeon and the light vanished. Everything went back to darkness with the exception of that one original lighthouse that they left before. Another light flickered on. This one, instead of rotating around, was moving in a wavelike pattern, going up and down, hitting the ground every so often.
"What the hell was that?" Atlas gasped.
Hera frowned. "I don't know, but—" then she paused. Realization dawned on her, and she started to get even more worried. "The lights are monsters."
"And?" Atlas tried to turn to the Empress, but it was too dark for him to see exactly where she was.
"Powerful monsters," Hera added, and the man finally connected the dots.
"We need to get them before it!" Atlas gasped.
Hera called Nimbus, who quickly took his griffin form while they were still on the ground. Hera quickly climbed on top of him and reached out for Atlas to follow.
Once more, she wasn't really comfortable with the idea of having him hold on to her back, but this wasn't the time to worry about that kind of thing.
Even then, the Empress still made sure to cast a magic armor on herself, just in case the man was trying to do anything. And so did Nimbus, recognizing Hera's intention. The Sentinel created a thin layer of a mana barrier between the Empress and the man just as a precaution.
They quickly rushed to this second light that appeared, or third, if they were counting the one where the entrance of the dungeon was, ignoring most of the monsters that were trying to stop them. A couple did get close, including a larger version of that strange limb tumbleweed and another that looked to be a giant tree made out of the same darkness that surrounded everything. But after just a couple of minutes, thanks to the Sentinel's speed, they arrived at the light source.
Once there, they realized that instead of a lighthouse, they were looking at a massive shadow that looked strangely like an angler fish, or at least a skeletal version of one. The monster opened its mouth to attack them, but without hesitation, Hera jumped out of Nimbus and pulled herself to the side, spinning her Cyr Wheel around herself and landing on the creature. The Sentinel's dash increased to Hoop's [Momentum Mastery] to the max, allowing the single strike imbued with a [Grasshopper Slash] to be enough to destroy the creature, cutting all the shadow bones into two.
As the light fell to the ground, it just kept pointing in one direction, no longer moving. The Empress looked back and saw how the two lights, the one that the Wendigo killed and the one that they had just killed, seemed to reach different distances. The light that the Wendigo killed stopped roughly around the point in between the source and the first lighthouse. But the light that they had just killed went far beyond that spot, crossing over almost to the other side, getting near the back wall. With that new light, Hera turned to Atlas and saw yet two new light sources.
"What do we do now?" Atlas asked. "Should we split up?"
Hera paused for a moment but then shook her head, taking advantage of the nearby lights to make sure that she was being seen. "No. If this was just a dungeon run, sure. But we are after the Wendigo. If it somehow gets to jump on one of us and manages to kill us, do you imagine the problem that it will become? A Wendigo here in this dungeon with a legacy?"
Atlas shivered hearing that and said, "Okay. We stay together. Let's go to the closest one then. That way we can reach it before it."
They continued riding Nimbus towards the next light source. This time, it was Atlas who jumped out of the Sentinel before they arrived, facing the same type of creature, a gigantic angler fish skeleton. But unlike the Empress, his attack wasn't as clean. He first created a pair of claws coming from his back, attached to tentacle-like arms. The first of the claws landed on the creature's skull, forming a cage almost like a sphere. Following that up, he swung the other mechanical arm upward in an uppercut that hit the creature's jaw and splintered it. Yet, most of the creature was still moving. As part of his body reformed, and this time, Atlas gathered both arms, sending them forward before unraveling them as a helicopter blade cut the rest of the creature to shreds.
Hera saw that happening and didn't try to intervene since she needed to know what this man was capable of. When he was done, she nodded and gave him a quick golf clap. "Well done. Honestly, I didn't know what to expect."
"Yeah. My legacy is more on the physical side of things. I can use some spells, but they only work really well when I'm fighting against someone who is using armor. Otherwise, it's better to just make something and attack with it."
"I get that. And you're going for a more modern approach instead of just making a big hammer."
"Yeah. I always loved robot movies and stuff, and they usually have some weird type of mechanical weapon that doesn't behave like anything we use."
"Good to know, but come back on Nimbus. We can talk while we move. We can't let the Wendigo get the next light."
Atlas quickly climbed on top of Nimbus, and they dashed towards the next light. Unfortunately, before they were able to reach it, there was a moment when the light started flickering and eventually dropped to the ground. Nimbus tried to pick up the pace so they could reach the Wendigo, but that didn't happen. Once they arrived at the source of the light, the creature was nowhere to be seen.
Two more lights appeared, and they dashed towards the closest one as fast as they could. But the Wendigo was smart. It didn't go for the quickest prey. It went for the farthest away in the back, the one that took longer to arrive and was in the opposite way. As those two lights were destroyed, three more appeared. Hera and Atlas quickly got rid of one of them and moved to the next, making sure to always point the light in a direction that was dark. That way, if the Wendigo passed by, they would be able to notice it.
But unlike what they were expecting, the second light source was the actual lighthouse they were searching for the dungeon quest. A ground-floor lighthouse, as strange as it sounded, but it was there. And as soon as they touched it, the quest was complete. Thankfully, they were not immediately transported out of the dungeon, which, although not something that happened very often, could be the case. Instead, the notification clearly stated that if they wished to leave, they had to go down the trap door inside the real lighthouse.
"Atlas, can you bolt the lighthouse down? The main door?"
"Yeah. I can make it in a way that it's going to be really hard for the Wendigo to get inside. But I think it's better if I just focus on the trapdoor itself. That way I can make a more sturdy barrier, and if something were to happen to it, I would know."
"If the Wendigo's not there, I'm coming back here. Close the door behind you and be careful not to let anything inside."
Atlas nodded, and despite their decision of not splitting up, they did just that. This was a bit dangerous, and in hindsight, Hera might have been better off leaving one of her court members behind. But things were moving fast, and the more the Wendigo was able to kill, the worse their situation became.
She was still several meters away from the light source when she noticed it moving erratically, as if it was engaged in combat with something. Nimbus picked up the pace, understanding Hera's intention without the Empress even needing to say a word, and they arrived at the fight. They could see the Wendigo was still there, and its eyes were no longer red, but with a strange glow that vanished the moment they were not looking directly at it. It didn't seem to be something the Wendigo was doing itself, but more like the side effects of some sort of skill it was using.
Hera jumped to fight the creature, but the monster, who did not belong to the dungeon, noticed her incoming attack. Instead of continuing to chase after its prey, the massive angler fish-like skeleton, it turned around and started running away from Hera. Without warning, the shadow monster turned to face the Empress, forcing her to stop and finish the creature off before going after the Wendigo once again.
She was not going to any specific light source this time, just in a random direction in the darkness, the same direction that the Wendigo had gone to. But thanks to her eyes, she was able to at least roughly recognize where it was going, until the monster turned around and opened its mouth, releasing a flash of light that temporarily blinded her. She didn't see it herself since the light was too strong, but according to the rest of her court, for a brief moment the entire dungeon was illuminated. Which meant that the light the Wendigo was using was the same light that the angler fish skeleton could utilize.
Having lost the Wendigo again, Hera started going after the next light sources in hope that the monster would be doing the same. But unfortunately, once more, that wasn't the case. The creature seemed to be hiding in the darkness, waiting for something that she couldn't know.
She returned to the lighthouse, and in the way, she shook her bracelet, letting the snakes from it start to move. She ordered them to go after every single one of the light sources and move the lingering spotlight, waving them off to see if they could manage to trap the Wendigo, or at least locate it somewhere. She quickly explained the idea to Atlas, who nodded in agreement with the concept, and all the lights started to move.
For a few agonizing minutes, nothing happened. The Wendigo was nowhere to be seen, almost making them think that they had lost the creature. But eventually, one of the lights managed to catch it, focused on it so it wouldn't be able to escape. And the Wendigo, seeing that it was now in clear view from its enemies, instead of running away, tried to move from side to side. But after noticing how all the lights were always aimed at it, the monster picked a direction and bolted forward, hoping that it would at least escape the lights somehow.
Hera was once more on top of Nimbus, and they were in hot pursuit, moving closer and closer to the Wendigo until, when it was right at the edge of all the lights as they were about to reach the end of their range, a blinding pillar appeared in front of them, engulfing both Hera and the Wendigo.
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You have entered the hidden dungeon, The Lighthouse's Heart.
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Comments
Personssess
My boy! Hopefully he doesn't have an anxiety attack seeing hera just disappear
