The Maze

Liyana nervously glanced at Mo Lini.

Aina had just effortlessly annihilated over a hundred people… It was utterly staggering.

Though there was no bloody scene, Liyana still worried that it might leave some psychological scars on Mo Lini.

"Aina is so amazing," Mo Lini exclaimed in awe. "She burned them all away in an instant, like fireworks."

Liyana: "…"

That was her takeaway?

Well, it seemed the girl was more carefree than she’d thought.

"Aren’t you scared?" Liyana asked softly.

"Scared of what? Those people were all Twilight Disciples, right? They’re the bad guys," Mo Lini said with a mix of grief and anger. "They made my life miserable before."

Because of the Twilight Disciples’ relentless pursuit and harassment, Mo Lini had lived in constant fear, always hiding and fleeing… The little girl harbored deep resentment toward them.

Liyana was left speechless. The sight of so many lives vanishing in an instant had shaken her, but she couldn’t express it now—she’d have to process it alone.

Still, as an adventurer, Liyana had strong mental resilience. She’d recover quickly.

Within the Goddess Church, the Grand Cathedral seemed to be the most heavily infiltrated by the Twilight Disciples. After all, it was the church’s most visible institution, handling external affairs and wielding immense influence.

The Goddess Church’s monastery, however, wasn’t in Abandes—it lay in a remote location. There, nuns and priests devoted themselves to secluded cultivation, rarely interacting with the outside world. Yet, it was where the church’s most elite powerhouses gathered.

The Judicature, meanwhile, served as the internal and external judicial body, handling disputes between nobles and commoners.

The highest-ranking bishops of the Grand Cathedral… had all been erased today.

The Pope wasn’t present—rumor had it he’d taken several other bishops to spread the faith in the Beastmen’s territory…

Now, within the Grand Cathedral, Katheon, the Cardinal, was the de facto leader.

But trouble loomed ahead…

A mysterious entity had stormed the Grand Cathedral, slaughtering all the bishops and numerous priests… Soon, this incident would spread like wildfire.

Wait—not all bishops. There was still a young man named Roy, likely asleep in the garden.

Hiding this would be nearly impossible. At best, Aina could alter the memories of the surviving priests and guards to prevent Xia Lun and the others from being hunted worldwide.

Boom—

A surge of immense magical energy suddenly erupted from the other side of the Grand Cathedral.

"What’s this…?"

Xia Lun turned in surprise. When they’d arrived earlier, they’d detected nothing unusual there.

"Such strange magical energy!" Liyana also sensed it.

Little Blue, perched on Mo Lini’s head, bounced up and down as if agitated.

Mo Lini nodded—even she could feel the anomaly.

Returning to the Grand Cathedral, Xia Lun discovered a thin spatial fissure had appeared on the central platform between the two angel knight statues.

Like a writhing maggot, the crack pulsed with life, expanding until it formed an entrance large enough for a person.

From within the rift, the roars of countless monsters echoed.

"What is that?" Liyana stared at the fissure, uneasy.

"A labyrinth," Aina said, surprised. "It’s been suppressed until now, finally manifesting."

"A labyrinth? Do labyrinth entrances look like that?" Liyana blinked. "Aren’t they supposed to be… well, gates or underground caves…?"

She shrank back as the distorted space twisted before her. Stepping inside now would likely shred them into pulp.

Aina calmly explained, "Those are stable, fully-formed entrances. This one… is still just an embryo."

"An embryo? What a weird comparison. Makes it sound like the labyrinth’s alive," Liyana muttered, eyeing the writhing entrance but holding her tongue.

Aina likely heard but didn’t elaborate, only giving Liyana a meaningful glance.

The spatial rift widened further, a fierce wind howling inward, whipping their robes violently.

Mo Lini clutched Little Blue tightly, afraid the little creature might get swept away.

The fissure began devouring the white tiles beneath it. The front pews weren’t spared either, ground to dust in the turbulent currents… Yet the entrance kept expanding, showing no signs of stopping.

It resembled a grotesque, ever-growing maw, swallowing everything around it.

"This labyrinth… is out of control," Aina suddenly realized. "It was never meant to form. The Twilight Disciples used it for sacrifices… The entire city of Abandes was suppressing it. Perhaps the dense faith energy earlier gave it the chance to manifest."

Had the labyrinth absorbed the scattered faith energy from Xia Lun’s battle?

"Aina… Can you simplify it? What happens next?" Liyana asked timidly.

"If the labyrinth forcibly descends, its internal space will overlap with the city," Aina replied after a pause. "It’d be catastrophic. No one in the city would survive."

"Th-then… what do we do? Should we tell everyone to run?" Mo Lini stammered.

"Of course not."

Aina raised her hand, as if deliberately showing Xia Lun the wedding ring on her finger, then retrieved a jade-green heart-like material from it.

She casually tossed the unknown ingredient into the labyrinth.

Instantly, the entrance stopped expanding. Like a sated beast, it shrank back, morphing into a pristine white gateway—five meters wide, ten meters tall.

"Th-that’s it? It’s fine now?" Liyana gaped. Moments ago, it was a city-destroying calamity. Now, the gateway lay docile as a lamb.

"It’s stabilized," Aina confirmed. "Now… it’s a brand-new labyrinth."

"A brand-new labyrinth?!" Liyana’s excitement returned. "Aina, can we explore it?"

Aina: "Of course."

Liyana cheered, her earlier tension forgotten. "Yes! Xia Lun, let’s go! We’ll claim this labyrinth’s first clear!"