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MAZE - Chapter 973 - A few question
🕑 Added 2024-11-26 09:38:38 +0000 UTCOnce the teams left the agency, they continued moving for a few days. They had already gone dark, meaning no one was able to send messages to anyone outside of this operation. The only moments when they got any information about what was going on in the MAZE and with the war were when they found the checkpoints prepared by the agency. These were spots where other people also working on this operation were organizing things and making sure they would be able to do the live stream without any problems. If they didn’t take these precautions, it was possible for the humans to block the signal, which would be a massive problem for the plan.
Or at least, that’s what it was supposed to be. With the new information that Frostbite, or someone, had a legacy responsible for the creation of the Soldiers of Strength, things changed. The live stream, as useful as it might be, was still a long shot. They were banking on the loose mind control the Guild was using in order to make people see the truth behind the Guild’s actions.
It could be a make-or-break kind of situation, something that solved all the issues. But it could also end up amounting to nothing. Maybe the Alliance was wrong, and the real reason why the humans were so fanatical about killing everyone else was because that’s who they were. The mind control wasn’t influencing them to follow a doctrine they didn’t believe in. It could be something they already thought and were just finally showing to the world. However, destroying the entire project of the Soldiers of Strength in a single blow was a different story.
That wasn’t a long shot or something that might have a good result. That was something that, if successful, could change everything. The Alliance was more powerful than the humans. That was a fact. The only thing the Guild had going for them was their numbers. But a few months of war were nowhere near enough to bring the new recruits to a level where they could fight against seasoned warriors from the various species who inhabited the MAZE.
Projections dictated that the Alliance would maintain their superior position for at least a year, and that was being pessimistic. A year and a half to two years was the more likely scenario. Even then, the amount of resources the humans would need in order to catch up would be massive. Even if they were able to get their troops to the same average level as the Alliance’s, they wouldn’t be able to repeat that effort anytime soon. Not without getting a lot of territory from the Alliance.
The human answer to that issue was the Soldiers of Strength. People capable of punching above their weight and winning. If they were able to remove that weapon from the equation, the war would likely end before the humans could recover from that blow. And that was something every single member of this team understood.
At the same time, they weren’t about to give up a plan that was already in motion. Especially since having the humans lose their biggest weapon wouldn’t automatically mean everyone would stop fighting. There would still be those angry enough or fanatical enough to continue pushing against the Alliance.
By themselves, each of the plans had a decent chance of helping the Alliance, but neither was a complete solution to the war. No one expected this one mission to solve everything. That was still true, even with both plans combined. No one thought the war would end the day after the attack. That was not how these things worked. But while individually each plan could tilt the scales in the Alliance’s favor, together they became something more: the kind of pivotal battle that could truly end a conflict.
Alone, each of these operations could be like the siege of Troy. But together, they became the Trojan Horse itself. The one act that triggered the end of the entire conflict. That might be wishful thinking, but it was something every member of the team believed in. And they would do absolutely everything they could to turn that dream into reality.
Five days after they left the agency, the team arrived in front of a doorway to the room called Ashen Root. This was where the laboratory was located and the last checkpoint they would pass through before the operation properly began.
As it had been explained, this particular doorway led to a passage that was blocked from the inside. Which meant that after someone left the tunnel, they wouldn’t be able to get back. The Alliance had discovered this room and the specific entrance a long time ago. Before the war even started.
According to the information they had, the Guild was unable to find this specific entrance. And the Alliance had kept forgetting to share the report about this hidden passage, since the room itself had nothing worth mentioning. It was, for the MAZE, a barren place. There was nothing interesting to be gained from the dungeons. The materials in the area had no particularly interesting properties, and neither did the monsters.
The only thing of note were the occasional gray roots that peppered the ground. A couple of explorers had even used the guide skill, hiding it as something else, to discover the history of the place. But it was nowhere near as interesting as one might expect. Once, there had been a very large tree that was hit by lightning, caught on fire, and blanketed the entire room in ash as it burned down.
From that destruction, the room grew new life and gained its current name. And that was it. No large battle, no catastrophic power gone wrong. Nothing. Just something so mundane it might as well have happened on Earth.
The last checkpoint was located just a few minutes away from the doorway. The group didn’t stay directly near it, more out of habit than anything else. Usually, people avoided sleeping too close to the doorways to prevent getting in the way. But here, that wasn’t something they had to worry about. If the humans somehow managed to find the entrance to this room now, it wouldn’t change anything. They would still go along with the plan. The only thing that a human presence would do now was to speed up the entire process.
After arriving, the team met with the group of people responsible for the area. Every checkpoint had at least three people. One to take care of the signal and two to protect the first. But this one, the last checkpoint, had five people, mostly because two of them would need to be on the other side of the doorway, making sure the devices placed there wouldn’t have any problems.
One of those people, a Triton named Sirlo, approached the entire team of 20 after they finished their greetings. "Quick question. Who is an explorer?"
Hera, a harpy with steel-blue feathers and sharp golden eyes, called Vyra, who was part of the Stormcrest Company, and Ivy, one of the twins, raised their hands.
"Perfect, all of you, come with me."
They walked to a specific tent, and Hera noticed how the entire thing was protected by a soundproof barrier. But it was different from the one the Empress used. Unfortunately, she couldn’t quite wrap her finger around how this one was different. Maybe it was something to ask about later.
Sirlo turned to the three and said, "I’m going to ask this one time. If you don’t know what I’m talking about, please leave. It’s the kind of thing that if you know, you know. If you don’t, I’m sorry, but you don’t, and that’s about it. The question is: Do you have the skill to ask questions?"
Ivy frowned. "What?"
"Did you not understand what I said?" Sirlo asked.
"No, I did. I just don’t understand."
Sirlo nodded. "Then I have my answer. Please leave the tent. I know this sounds rude, but we don’t have that much time."
Ivy shrugged. "Okay." She walked off, mumbling, "That was weird."
Sirlo turned to the last two people inside, Vyra and Hera. "And how about you two?"
Hera nodded. "I have it."
Vyra smiled. "So all three of us can talk about the guides? Well, cool, and that’s my confirmation."
"That was kind of risky," Sirlo frowned.
Vyra shrugged. "I know, but I already got one strike. If I’m going to mess up, I’m going to mess up. I’m not going to be worrying about everything I say. It’s going to suck losing the skill, but I won’t have any memory of it, so it kind of evens out."
By the way the harpy spoke, the Ophidianite realized she couldn’t talk to the guides in this private room. For this person, the skill was a one-off thing, and the guides she met would never talk to her again. At the same time, recognition flashed through Sirlo’s eyes, revealing that the Triton might not be in the same situation.
"It’s your skill. I’m not going to argue about it. But here," Sirlo said, pulling out a tablet, "we have a few questions written down that I need you to ask the guide of the room, Ashen Root. Go down the list. Feel free to use it anytime you need better answers, and if you need to ask for clarification, that’s okay. But try to stick to the questionnaire. We didn’t have that many chances to scout the area, so a lot of information is coming from the guide."
Vyra nodded and started going through the questions. It was good to understand the kind of information they were after, especially since the guides couldn’t say anything about another person, the defensive structure of a city, or in this case, the lab. This meant they had to figure out the details in a roundabout way. In this case, that took the form of learning about the monster patterns in the room. If they could identify the areas the monsters were avoiding, they could infer where human presence was strongest.
"And once she gets back, I should go to try to find the rest of the information?" Hera asked.
Sirlo nodded. "Exactly. For the record, there’s no pressure here. This information can help, but it’s not vital for the operation to work. It’s just something extra to give us an edge."
"Okay then. I’m ready. There are a couple of questions I think I can reformulate to get better answers. I’ll try and let you know if it worked," Vyra said to Hera, showing her how the file had all the questions Sirlo and whoever else had been here had asked, along with their answers. The harpy then turned to the Triton. "Is that okay?"
"Yeah. Everybody has their own experience with that kind of stuff, so you’re free to do what you think is best. Just stick to the information on the script. Unless it’s really relevant, don’t ask about something else you thought might be interesting. Let’s go to the doorway. Both of you have two crossings left for today, right?"
Hera and Vyra nodded.
"Perfect. Hera will stay on this side while we cross. Once Vyra finishes asking the questions, she’ll come back and tell Hera to go over. I’ll stay on the other side as backup, just in case."
With that plan in mind, they walked toward the doorway, all of them ready to do their tasks. Hera watched as the two explorers crossed to the next room, leaving her alone for a few minutes. For the first time since they’d gathered to start this operation, she was left to her own devices. Not even her Court was with her now. Since they were traveling in such a large group, she avoided calling them to avoid putting others on edge.
For the first time, she had a moment to consider what she was about to do. The insanity of the plan. The weight of the actions expected of her. A realization dawned on her, something that made this already intense situation even more so. She wasn’t here simply as Hera Quetzaveth, an explorer who had a legacy. She was also here as the Ophidianite Empress, the ruler of her people and an aspirant hero.
She had hundreds, if not thousands, of reasons why she wanted this operation to succeed. And there wasn’t a single moment when she doubted her actions so far. Every fiber of her being wanted this to work. Even with this new thought in mind, that didn’t change. She wanted the war to be over. She wanted to save those people. Even if, by doing so, she would likely cement her place as not just the 10th hero, but also the 1st Ophidianite hero.
