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MAZE - Chapter 991 - Escape
🕑 Added 2025-01-06 09:09:26 +0000 UTC#### Author's Note ####
Hey everyone, sorry about the late chapter. I know this should've come up on friday. I ended up having a very stressfull weekend trying to deal with a bunch of bullshit because of the scammer who stole my money, plus my shower broke, and I got some minor food poisoning. I'm ok, everything is... fine, I guess. But stuff happened and I'm dealing with all that.
I'll do my best to catch up on monday(today), or tuesday at the latest.
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Hera did her best not to focus on what Neria was doing to Blue. She was worried about her friend, but not a single one of her spells would be better than what the Triton could do. So instead, she focused on something else. Something that was also threatening the well-being of the controller. Just after the Empress arrived, a couple of people, Soldiers of Strength, followed.
Those were the Version 2.0, and they didn't seem to be bothered by the lack of the legacy's influence in the slightest. One of them, a man with short hair combed into a mohawk, clapped his hands, creating a literal wave that crashed on top of the group. However, everybody was ready for the attack, as their fights hadn't ended that long ago.
Skyler and Vash sent out sound waves to counteract the actual water. The other soldier, who wore a martial arts gi, jumped toward Iris. The man approached her too quickly and slammed an open fist into her stomach. A shockwave rippled through the air, sending the elf flying backward. Blood started to pour from every wound that covered her body. Ivy jumped to intercept and help her sister, but the man didn’t care.
He barreled down toward the wounded elf and hit her again with the same strike. More blood poured out from her body, even more than what had happened before. It was clear that with each attack, the damage was increasing considerably. Hera sent her court to help with Vulcan and Lurize tackling the man and pushing him away from Iris. They crashed against one of the cells, breaking the bars and releasing some of the prisoners.
All the while, Hera was attacking the man with a mohawk, evading some of the waves and trying to strike him with a venomous trident. She had created that weapon simply because it was the first thing that came to mind. Her strikes were fast and followed by the rest of the blades, with Daskka and Nimbus working to stop the water from reaching Neria.
The Empress jumped and went in for a stab, but her attributes were still weaker than normal, meaning the man had little trouble avoiding the incoming attack. Before he could counter, the man suddenly froze. His eyes went wide, and his skin started to glow. He was purple, unlike the Version 1 of the Soldiers of Strength, but despite that, the glow was the same color as the Spirits.
The intensity increased more and more. Everyone around him thought he was about to explode, but before anything else happened, the glow simply vanished along with any strange coloration on his skin. The man collapsed, and he was already dead before even reaching the ground. Hera glanced to the side, where Lurize and Vulcan were attacking, but the man wearing the gi was in the same state as the other Soldier of Strength. Dead on the ground.
Worried about what that might mean, Hera turned back to Neria, only to see the Triton leaning over Blue, with her skin glowing red ever so slightly.
"Neria!" Hera gasped and rushed to the healer's side, ignoring the person who had fallen inside the soundproof bubble.
The Triton groaned and pulled back her hands before falling to the ground, her arms still holding on to the stone slab that was holding Blue.
"I'm sorry," Neria mumbled under her breath.
"What?!" Hera gasped.
"I managed to break the connection. But I can't do anything else for her right now. She's stable, but that's it," Neria got up with some effort. "We're going to need to have a conversation later, but we can't afford that right now."
Hera frowned but didn’t argue. There was a lot going on, and she still had to help free the people in this cell. "Okay."
"Neria!" Ivy called, and the Triton rushed to the elf's side. Iris was struggling. She had taken a lot of damage, and even after the man died, his resonance shockwave was wreaking havoc inside her body. The healer started working on her, casting heals again and again, but it was tough to do something like that. After breaking the connection between Blue and the Strength Spirits, she had almost run out of mana. And the stones they had available were almost depleted as well.
"Is anyone here a healer?" Neria called. A couple of people shouted, and the group worked on releasing them. The Triton did the best she could, but she wasn’t even able to stabilize Iris. Yet, the elf got up and started moving again.
"We need to get out of here. I can hold on for a while. Just heal me when you can," Iris said. Despite Ivy’s protests, they continued working and opening all the cells. It took around an hour to free everyone and recover enough to be able to move.
Neria also recovered most of her mana and returned to heal Iris. Unfortunately, it had been too long for a battle heal, meaning that the Triton was forced to use more costly spells. To make matters worse, the organs inside Iris's body were a mess. Whatever skill the man had used had really done a number on her. And Neria wasn’t the kind of person who was able to fix wounds like those. She wasn’t even sure a healer would be enough for something like that. Iris needed a doctor, not just some spells, but an operation.
"Hera, how many people can Nimbus carry?" the Triton asked.
"If he needs to move quickly, two's the max. If it’s just supposed to follow our running pace, three. Maybe four," the Ophidianite turned to Nimbus.
"Five if they are all thin or small. If not, four is doable," the Sentinel replied.
Neria turned to Ivy. "Grab Blue, that human on the slab. I need you to hold on to her. I’ll be holding Iris. We need to find more people when we do and have some healers on standby on our escape route."
Ivy nodded, and the two quickly climbed on Nimbus, who was already in his griffon form. Everyone, including those who were previously lost in the cells, started moving toward the exit of this laboratory. Because it was such a large group and most of them were severely malnourished, they couldn’t move very quickly.
While it would take around five minutes for any member of the operation team to reach the elevator on their own, with a group, they took almost half an hour. But since Hera had killed Morgan, who had the tattoo legacy, they were confident they could deal with any guards that appeared.
Passing through the facility was easier than they were expecting, with nothing and no one standing in their way. At first, the entire group grew more and more hopeful that everything was going to work out. But unfortunately, their luck ran out once they arrived at the elevator. At the same intersection where Hera had split off from the group, they found two men holding Ziltan by his neck. The elf was clearly wounded and it wouldn't surprise anyone if he had only lost the fight because he was too tired to face stronger enemies.
"What the fuck are you doing out of your cells?" one of the men asked. He was clearly stronger than anyone on the team. Blade should be the only one who could face him properly.
"You better get back there before-" the second man stepped forward, but he was interrupted by a metal door slamming his head and embedding itself in the wall behind him. The man's skull split in two.
The second man barely had time to register what happened before a black shape appeared by his side. It was another man who had just delivered a flying kick to the head of the human who was holding Ziltan. The impact was so strong that it turned the man into a red mist. Even his clothes were ripped to shreds as they crashed into the wall.
The person who attacked them landed gingerly before the wounded elf, catching him before he could fall to the ground.
"Are you okay?" the man asked.
"Been better. I really prefer to be the one making others feel pain," Ziltan groaned and looked up, freezing when he realized who was there. "Insomniac?"
"Yes," the man replied.
"You were caught by them? How? How did they manage to contain you?" Ziltan asked.
"They forced me to sleep. The entire time," Insomniac replied.
"You've been sleeping for months?" Grimm asked.
"At that point, it's not sleeping anymore. You were in a coma," Vash added.
"No, they used the drug to keep me sleeping. If it was a coma, I had a skill that could help. Then again, I should thank them for what they did."
"Why?" Hera frowned. How could anyone want to thank the people who trapped them like that?
"Because one of the side effects of insomnia can be oversleeping. The skill that makes me stronger also benefits from the time I spent sleeping. I need to sleep more to get the same benefit I would get from staying up for long periods of time, but I have a few months of sleep pumping that skill now. The buff never got that high before, not even close."
"We can talk later. Let's keep going," Neria protested. She was still constantly healing Iris, but the elf was slowly getting worse. The Triton looked around, seeing the bodies of the companions that they lost. Roan was carrying Flint, while Thorgrim had Echo in his arms. On the other side of the hallway, Vyra was by Selene's body, the elf also having fallen in the battle. But the wound seemed fresh. It was likely that the two men who were trying to stop them were responsible for the kill.
Not long after, the other humans who were trapped emerged from the corridor, together with Blade and Marina. They didn't even waste any time and everybody moved towards the elevator. Unfortunately, they had to split into three groups to get everybody outside. Insomniac took the lead together with Ziltan and a few other members of the operation, who were still up for fighting. Hera, along with her court and Neria, took the second trip, along with most of the now free prisoners, with Blade staying with the last group, just in case.
Outside, there were a few humans who tried to intercept the group, but Insomniac's new buff proved to be too much for them. The man was not just the highest level person in the MAZE, but currently his attributes had been multiplied by five. That only lasted for another hour or so, but it was more than enough for what they needed now.
Once everybody was outside, they headed north towards the doorway that they would take as their escape route. The plan was to travel across two rooms and find a hidden camp in the second. Their expectation was to have to run away from the humans, but instead they had wiped out the entire laboratory. There was no one chasing them, and if someone was trying to go after them, they had a much larger team of powerful people to help fight.
Hera stayed by Blue's side the entire time, making sure that her friend was doing okay, even if she was still unconscious. At the moment they had to cross the doorway, Neria used the spell that forced someone to wake up for a brief moment. It wasn't something she could use very often since it would bring more harm than good, but there was little to be done in a situation like this. The system wouldn't allow someone unconscious to cross the doorway. The only way it would do that was if the system itself was responsible for the danger the person was currently in.
Once they left the Ashen Root room, a team met them on the other side. Everyone had watched the livestream and they were ready to help. With even more people, it didn't take long for them to reach the hidden camp in the next room. That was the tree crossing limit that the people in the operation team had, and this time, no one was willing to risk getting stuck.
Hera accompanied Blue into a medical tent and stood by her friend's side the entire time, refusing to leave to the point where people brought her food.
Later at night, once everybody was already sleeping, and she had time to process what happened to Flint, the Empress still couldn't sleep. There was too much to worry about and resting just didn't sit well with her.
Daskka noticed Hera's unrest and spoke up, "Since you are having so much trouble to sleep, mum. Do you want to look at what you got from the fight? How you absorbed three legacies?"
Comments
DrDankness
Tbf its Insomniac and hes juiced to the tits right now. What else is he gonna write beyond. They appeared… and then they all died. Lol
aToTeT
It’s a really good story! :D Every year or so I end up reading it from start to finish. It might have gotten a little long for such to be viable in the future, but I do think it is wonderful that all hundred pages (ONE HUNDRED PAGES!) of chapters are available for free on Royal Road (I site I almost never return to unless specifically to check in with Maze: The Endless Quest, Salvos, or Defiance of the Fall… such high company you keep). I do not think you would be remotely unjustified to have set your work into kindle unlimited, to divide it into multiple books regardless of how web serial struggles to be integrated within such a framework, and to pluck everything but the Stub and the half dozen odd chapters (x number) behind your Patreon tiers. If you should do so in future, I do not think it is possible to coherently fault you for it. But that you have not, despite likely every financial incentive otherwise: that’s pretty cool. Your work is worth being paid for. It is amazing. Fun. Emotionally interesting. Maze has a good protagonist, and is full of lovely characters. Take the current chapter here: I have no idea how Hera will react to Flint’s death, or Blue’s state, or to Neria’s suffering: that prophecy has got to be absolutely brutal in moments like these; no matter how over it she says she is, and if that was intended to come across — it has. Your story is like magic; a place I couldn’t have imagined, with characters I couldn’t have anticipated, and literary merit in excess. So. Yeah. Idk. I hope your day is on an upward trajectory. <3
Perizou
Thank you for that. I think I needed to hear it. But also, don't worry about 'spending just a bit of money' or not being consistent. Yeah the money helps but just having your support helps much more. Having people interact, talk about the story, comment and let me know they are reading and liking, or hating something, helps imensely. I do understand that I don't need to justify myself, but at the same time I don't want to keep you all in the dark. Some times things happen and I prefer to let you all know than to just pretend everything is fine. To me situations like this are not so much about justification but about explanation. Also, I think I said this to a few people but it still is the truth. All I wanted when I started writing was to make people happy. Help them forget their troubles for a while and relax, and enjoy a story. And I'm really happy that worked out. It's a dream come true. So thank you.
Perizou
Exactly I did try to write a bit but it ended up being boring. Insomniac is not just strong, but he has skill. He knows how not to destroy the enviroment, while clearing everything up. In my mind, about 10 people showed up/ were there. They died 2 seconds after the elevator door opened. There was no fight, no struggle. He just flicked them and they died.
DrDankness
They fucked around with insomniac and found out. He is likely the strongest known human/alliance member by a huge amount at the moment. Thank goodness because Hera is likely bushed
aToTeT
Sorry to hear you’re having such a rough time. Don’t worry about it (or do, if being a few days late is affecting you substantially financially): but certainly don’t apologise for it: You’re a pretty cool person who makes a thing I love (possibly two such things, but I haven’t checked out EE yet, and thus cannot comment) in unfortunate and quite probably miserable circumstances — not a reprehensible travesty of poor character to be held to account and punished for lateness on a creative project — which is to say I don’t blame you and you do not deserve my ire, disgust, or hatred (nor do you have any such from myself). Late it might be, and I appreciate you holding yourself to account for me, but I do not deserve your apology personally. Hera’s story is one almost 1000 chapters long. It has taken years and years to get here. The story might yet go for years and years to come (or end soon, I don’t know, but I will tell you: this has been an excellent time for me: time when a story I enjoy has gone on for a very long time. I’m no Guide tier either, and am this not providing much much really, but if I could comfortably or more consistently provide more money to the creatives who make my world a better place: I’d probably be doing that. I have been inspired by the design of the Maze in general, and I sure have had had a few ideas for Rooms pop up from time to time… alas, life is a complex array of indecipherable fortunes gone perpetually awry. Ultimately: I am not sending you money every couple months (when I’m feeling particularly appreciative of your story) over the years (sometimes with different names) because of what I’m expecting (i.e. early chapters, rigid schedule — these are nice yes, and I’m sometimes a little disappointed when they are not followed through, but *only* because it’s stated in the Patreon tier). I am sending you my occasional small fraction of money because I appreciate your work and I would like to think my minuscule level of support might help make it feel more worthwhile for you to continue producing an entire world which I generally enjoy. If you want to hold yourself accountable for the unforeseeable: I understand there is value in that. But I appreciate you, and hope you won’t feel the need to explain yourself to me for making my life better and more interesting. Now; time to read this chapter :)
Personssess
We got a taste of it, he threw a door and split two skulls in half before anyone could react. I think the other few dorks would very much suffer the same fate
Pletter
"The man was not just the highest level person in the MAZE, but currently his attributes had been multiplied by five." What, we're just going to skip over the most powerful combattant of all time manhandling multiple people? Lame.
