"Damn it!"
Luo shouted, refusing to accept the reality he'd found himself in.
"If we'd just turned back when we had the chance... if we'd just—"
Shun De cut him off before he could finish:
"We probably never had a chance to begin with. I think we fell into this maze from the very first step, and there's no going back now."
His words were harsh, but they were the truth they had to accept.
There was no way to justify their own greed, and regretting the decisions they'd already made wouldn't help them now. All they could do now was focus on surviving, then learn from their mistakes if they made it out alive.
"No room for panic now."
Shun De said, trying to calm the situation.
"This person might be weak, or injured, which is why he's hiding here. Or maybe he brought us to this place because he wants something from us."
He fell silent for a moment, then added:
"Let's just hope his goal isn't to kill us outright."
Cha Ji stood there, thinking, then suddenly said:
"I always wanted someone to write about me as a hero someday... but ending up as someone else's victim instead?"
He sighed.
"That's about the worst fate I could possibly imagine."
The other two looked at him, puzzled, but Cha Ji wasn't entirely joking.
Because of how widespread novels and stories had become, stories now held tremendous influence in the new world. Many young people of the current generation had massive followings, people who supported and helped them for free, simply because their names were tied to famous stories.
Over time, this had developed numerous advantages, even forming unwritten rules within society.
In certain families, choosing an heir no longer depended on strength alone; a person's reputation and how widely their story had spread had become factors taken into consideration too.
As for some of the great powers, they had even more elaborate ways of determining an heir; gathering the children of allies for specific competitions, then pushing them into combat in designated locations until one of them proved their worth.
For this reason, novels, stories, and even poetry had become hugely important in the new world.
Being a real person featured inside a famous story was a tremendous honor to ordinary people.
And the best example of this...
The Millennium Epic: The Dang Ru Epic.
That story was one of the most famous in history, so much so that it ended in a great war that shook the world's superpowers, one the Zhou family had been drawn into as a major party.
The war ended with Dang Ru's defeat and his failure to create the Level Ten Phantom.
As for the Zhou family, they remained one of the great powers, but their name stayed tied to that war because of the role they'd played in it.
There was also another person whose name was tied to the epic in a different way.
Zhou Ji.
Because of the similarity in names, some people assumed he was connected to the Zhou family or to that era, and some even went so far as to believe he had a direct connection to the Great Zhou Ji.
But he denied it himself.
Even so, the denial never stopped people from continuing to tie his name to that epic.
In a world where stories could elevate a person's status, draw followers to them, and even shape the future of entire families and powers, it wasn't strange that ordinary people saw appearing in a famous story as a tremendous honor.
That was exactly why Cha Ji had always wished someone would write about him as a hero one day.
But to find himself now, a victim in someone else's story...
that was the worst fate he could possibly imagine.
"Heeeh... let's get moving. I don't think a hawk or a chicken's going to be any help in whatever's coming next."
Luo sighed, then clenched his fist, steeling his resolve.
"And it's a good thing I can use my own Pattern if I need to. If it comes down to it, I'll bring the entire cave down on his head before we die."
He finished speaking and started walking deeper into the cave.
The others didn't hesitate, quickly catching up to him.
The moment Luo mentioned his own Pattern, the other two felt a measure of relief.
Being accompanied by someone capable of using a combat Pattern meant having an extra card to survive with, especially in a place as unknown as this.
Patterns resembled Formations in some ways, but differed from them in nature.
A Formation usually relied on a fixed range and the interconnection of a group of Phantoms, possibly drawing on environmental energy or outside sources, while a Pattern relied on coordinating the abilities of several Phantoms together to produce an entirely new effect.
For example, a person might have one Phantom capable of producing flammable gas, and another capable of firing fireballs; by using both abilities in a specific sequence, they could create a massive explosion far exceeding what either Phantom could achieve alone.
That was the concept behind a Pattern.
A specialized way of using Phantoms and combining their abilities in a manner that went beyond their normal use.
But a Pattern's power came at a price.
The more Phantoms involved in it, the harder it became to control, and the higher the energy and effort it demanded, while the resulting effect grew more powerful and complex.
That's why owning a powerful Pattern didn't mean being able to use it without limit.
And if Luo was forced to use his Pattern here, they'd all need to hope that the time required to survive wouldn't exceed what he could actually endure.
The three of them suddenly stopped.
Luo's fist clenched, then rose into the air while his gaze stayed fixed on the ground.
In the next instant, his fist shot downward like a rocket, slamming into the ground with tremendous force.
BOOM!
The dirt cracked and the ground's surface exploded, a sticky substance flying out and sticking to Luo's clothes.
He looked down at it for a moment.
"..."
Then he looked at what lay beneath.
There was the body of a giant worm, black like rock, a sticky fluid leaking from its body, seeping into the dirt and slowly breaking it apart.
As for its head, it had been completely crushed under Luo's fist.
But before the three of them could process what had happened...
the ground shook again.
From the cracks and narrow tunnels, more worms began to emerge.
One.
Two.
Then dozens.
They varied in size, some no longer than an arm, others as thick as a tree trunk, each one carving its own path through the dirt and rock as it crawled toward them.
The entire cave shook under the worms' movement, dust falling from the ceiling.
Luo looked at the growing number ahead of him, then wiped the sticky substance off his clothes in irritation.
"Tsk..."
He planted his feet, bracing for a fight.
"This is going to be a disgusting fight."
.....
"Hooh."
A man appeared in a neatly arranged stone chamber, standing calmly in the middle of it.
His black hair was long, hanging over his face in a messy, unkempt way, his eyes dark, his calm features carrying a serious expression that hid something else underneath.
He wore a heavy fur coat in a dark color, a collar of light, curled fur wrapped around his neck. His skin was fair, his features rougher than they'd once been in the past.
He raised his hand and held his own throat, as though inspecting it out of boredom.
Shen Zuo had reached adulthood now.
He took two steps forward, then looked at his own reflection on a polished stone surface.
In that reflection appeared Luo, Shun De, and Cha Ji, standing in the cave, braced and afraid, facing down a swarm of black worms.
"Heeheehee... what a wonderful feeling."
A strange smile spread across Shen Zuo's face.
"I think I'll adopt this way of giving orders."
He laughed wildly, savoring the three of them's reactions.
Over the past years, Shen Zuo had gone out on several missions, gathered a great number of Phantoms, and lived through various experiences that had made him quite different from the boy he used to be.
But this time was different.
For the first time, his outing included ten missions and five restrictions.
And for the first time, as well...
his mission involved humans.
One of those restrictions was to write down the details of the mission in detail.
And that was exactly what he was doing right now.
And though Shen Zuo's rank seemed like it hadn't developed all that much, the person standing inside that chamber was nothing like who he used to be.
He had changed entirely.
Calmly, he returned to his spot, continuing to watch the three of them through his reflection.
Then he picked up the pen again...
and began writing down what was happening to them, smiling...