Within the pitch-dark corridor, the two continued forward. However, with Kalyse still far from fully recovered and the number of traps steadily increasing, their progress had slowed to a crawl.
At first, the passages were merely the familiar winding corridors, but the deeper they went, the more distorted the surrounding space became. The ceiling gradually lowered, the walls rippled with wave-like patterns as if flowing, and the ground itself no longer maintained its former stability.
"Don't step on the dark stone ahead." Kalyse said quietly.
"What is it?"
"A gravity trap with constantly inverted polarity. If you remain inside it for too long, your body will be damaged from failing to adapt in time."
Gisule swallowed and carefully sidestepped. After only a few more steps, her heart began to race unnaturally, her breathing growing shallow and fast.
"Stop." Kalyse's voice dropped.
"A mental trap. It doesn't attack directly—it amplifies your negative emotions: fear, anxiety, even resolve. The stronger they are, the tighter it constricts."
Gisule froze in place and closed her eyes, forcing herself to regulate her breathing and push away the intrusive thoughts surfacing in her mind. It took a long while before the crushing sensation in her chest finally faded.
"You adapt faster than I expected." Kalyse remarked. "But be even more careful. There's a high chance the next ones will be compound traps."
Sure enough, the path ahead was almost a labyrinth of death. Threads of mana so thin they were nearly invisible crisscrossed the air; a single light touch would trigger rows of mechanisms firing from both walls at once.
Deeply carved symbols lay beneath their feet—staring at them too long made one dizzy, twisting perception and direction. Some stretches were eerily silent, so silent that one could hallucinate having walked in circles for hours.
"These traps are getting harder and harder to detect…" Gisule said, breathing heavily after narrowly surviving yet another deadly mechanism.
"Stealing from a thief was never meant to be easy." Kalyse replied calmly.
"And if you think about it, it's already been a full day, hasn't it? I wonder if the others are still holding up against traps like these."
"All we can do is pray they're not too foolish." Gisule answered half-jokingly.
As they spoke, a strange sound drifted from ahead.
It wasn't a roar, but overlapping whispers—dozens of voices speaking at once, their words impossible to distinguish.
"Do you hear that?" Gisule asked softly.
"Yes. The monsters of this ruin." Kalyse replied. "They seem to specialize in mental attacks. Be careful."
As soon as she finished speaking, distorted silhouettes emerged from the darkness. They were roughly humanoid, yet their bodies were composed of stone, bone, and dark, twitching sinews. The most terrifying part wasn't their appearance—but their indistinctness.
"Hm. This type doesn't seem to possess a fixed presence." Kalyse assessed.
Indeed. Whenever Gisule focused on one, its form blurred, as though the surrounding space refused to acknowledge it. Some had a clearly defined upper body while their lower half dissolved into the ground; others only manifested once they were dangerously close.
"How do we deal with them?" Gisule asked.
"I've read about this type." Kalyse replied. "Their existence is rejected by the world due to grievous sins, yet lingering obsessions prevent them from fully dispersing."
"They try to seize the existence of others to compensate for their own. Physical and mental attacks are useless. The only way is to erase their existence entirely."
"I'll handle this part. You focus solely on evasion."
Gisule didn't ask further. She lowered her center of gravity and changed her movement style—no longer seeking counterattacks, only maintaining distance and slipping through the smallest gaps the creatures left behind.
At that moment, Kalyse drew in a deep breath, her concentration sharpening to a terrifying degree.
The surrounding space grew heavy.
Then she spoke. The sound flowed without pause, as if she were dragging forth a chain of symbols beyond human comprehension.
"Iar'theska—nolûmra—ve̷sha̷k—thraena̷z̷o̸th—re̷n̸–va̴el∅"
Space contracted.
A monster lunging forward froze midair. Its body twisted, the stone fragments composing it sliding apart as if the very concept of "cohesion" had been stripped away.
There was no scream—only absolute silence.
Then it vanished.
Not shattered, not leaving debris—it simply ceased to be, as if it had never existed.
Gisule slipped past the empty space it left behind, heart pounding.
"Left!" Kalyse shouted.
Gisule twisted aside. A claw pierced straight through the spot she had just occupied, leaving a warped scar in the air itself.
Kalyse spoke again.
"E̴l̴–sha'aq… m̷̷̷a̷–thren ⸸ ⟟ r̶e̸–vo̸l…"
This time, two monsters trembled simultaneously. Their forms swelled and contracted, as though being forcibly expelled by the world itself. A moment later, both were erased, leaving behind a hollow emptiness that made Gisule briefly dizzy.
"This ancient language…" Gisule said while dodging. "It's unlike anything I've ever heard."
"Because it isn't meant for communication," Kalyse replied, her voice growing hoarse. "It's a command issued to the concept of existence itself."
The remaining creatures changed tactics. They no longer charged directly, instead circling with flickering forms, trying to herd Gisule into trapped zones.
"Don't stop."
"Don't stare at them too long."
"Count your heartbeat, not their steps."
Kalyse gave instructions nonstop, punctuating them with fragmented chants—each phrase like a pair of shears cutting away a piece of reality.
"Na̷–ka̸–thur… ⟁ ⟁ … thê–'r̶a̸m…"
A monster crawling along the wall suddenly lost its sense of weight, "slipping" off the surface before dissolving midair.
"V̴o̴r̸–esh… i̸l–l̴u̴m ⸸"
The last one slowed, its body shaking violently in resistance. Hairline cracks appeared in the surrounding space, like fractures in glass.
Kalyse clenched her hand.
"A̷b̴–so̴l̸u̸t̴a̷."
The sound echoed far into the distance.
Then everything… fell silent.
The corridor returned to stillness, leaving only Gisule's ragged breathing and the deep, heavy pulse resonating from the heart of the ruins.
Gisule stopped and bowed her head, exhaling deeply.
"…Is it over?"
"Most likely…" Kalyse's voice was weaker than ever.
"Are you alright?" Gisule asked urgently.
"Hmph. I won't die that easily." Kalyse said with a strained smile, though her body sagged against Gisule's back.
After confirming there were no monsters left, Gisule set her down to check on her. There were no visible wounds, but she vaguely sensed that parts of Kalyse's body… seemed faint, almost blurred.
"What… is this?" Gisule's voice trembled.
Kalyse smirked. "Did you really think using an ancient language that erases existence comes without a price?"
"Then… does that mean—"
"Don't worry. Those monsters had already been rejected by the world, which is why I could erase them so easily. I, on the other hand, am still accepted. I'll recover gradually—just… rather tired right now."
Before she could finish, Kalyse's eyes could no longer stay open.
"Is there anything I can do to help you?" Gisule asked.
"No need. I'll just need a fairly long sleep to recover. Until then… I'll have to rely on you."
"I'll protect you with everything I have!" Gisule said, bowing her head with utmost seriousness.
"Haha… I'm very much… looking forward to it."
With a soft laugh, Kalyse fell completely asleep.
Gisule carried her once more, this time securing her with a rope so her own hands could move freely. Then she continued onward, determined to use everything Kalyse had taught her to survive until she woke again.
…
In another spatial branch deep within the ruins, Teresa's group was also advancing through the suffocating darkness.
Holy light radiated from Teresa's blade, illuminating the corridor ahead and reflecting off warped stone walls that resembled fossilized flesh. Each step came with the sensation of being watched, as though the entire space were slowly evaluating every intruder.
"Don't step on areas where the veins are darker." Meria warned, eyes fixed on the faint markings along the floor. "The mana there is compressed unnaturally."
The group immediately adjusted formation.
Braum took point, shield raised high, probing each step. Garn held a position slightly to the left, serving as secondary defense and ready to counter. Cecil and Doven stood behind with spears poised to strike. Teresa and Meryl remained at the center—one providing light, the other sustaining the group's vitality.
Boom—
The ground sank slightly beneath Braum's foot. Rows of stone spikes shot upward from below, so fast only the shriek of air could be heard.
"Hold fast!" he roared, slamming his shield into the ground.
The spikes struck the shield with a piercing screech, the impact forcing him back half a step. Garn immediately moved in to reinforce one side, his gauntleted fist smashing the trap's mechanism and crushing it through brute force.
"A mechanical trap… reinforced with mana!" Meria concluded quickly. "It doesn't trigger by weight, but by movement rhythm. Staying still too long will also activate it."
"Then we keep moving." Rheos scoffed, hoisting his massive blade onto his shoulder. Dark red flames coiled around the weapon. "I'm not suited for delicate games."
The moment Rheos's flames flared, the corridor reacted violently.
The veins along the walls lit up and shifted, as if the entire structure had subtly contracted.
"Wait—!" Meria shouted.
Boom!
An invisible pressure crushed in from both sides—not a direct attack, but warped gravity. The air thickened, forcing the entire group to their knees in an instant.
Braum roared, planting his shield into the ground, muscles straining to resist the force. Garn dropped to one knee, hands braced against the floor, teeth clenched.
"It's not a physical trap!" Meria yelled, veins bulging at her temple. "It's a field trap! It reacts to mana surges—!"
Too late.
Rheos was slammed fully to the ground, his shoulder crashing into the stone with a dry crack.
"Damn it…" He growled, breath ragged.
Teresa immediately drove her sword into the ground. Holy power spread outward like a stabilizing wave, temporarily suppressing the spatial distortion. The pressure eased in an instant.
Meryl rushed forward, healing light wrapping around his shoulder. "The bone isn't fully broken, but if this continues—" She warned.
"I can still fight!" Rheos cut in, forcing himself upright despite his pale face.
Meria took a deep breath, forcing herself to calm down. "The traps here aren't isolated. They overlap and change in response to our behavior. I can only predict part of them…"
Before she could finish, Doven—moving along the right side—suddenly stopped.
"Don't take another step."
The tip of his spear hovered mere inches above the ground. There, a thin layer of gray mist spread outward, nearly invisible without careful observation.
"Corrosion trap." Meria identified instantly. "It doesn't act immediately. It seeps through armor and—"
Ssss—
A faint hiss sounded. Smoke rose from Cecil's boot armor.
"Damn it!" Cecil leapt back, tearing off the outer plate. The skin beneath was already blistered.
Meryl had to pour more healing mana into him, sweat forming on her brow.
"We can't keep going like this." Garn said grimly. "The deeper we go, the more sophisticated the traps become."
"Not just sophisticated…" Meria clenched her teeth. "They're learning. Some traps changed structure the moment I finished predicting them."
Teresa tightened her grip on her sword. "As if someone is adjusting them from inside."
They pressed on, but their pace slowed noticeably.
They avoided a ring of rotating blades hidden in the walls, but Doven was struck by a sweeping mana chain and thrown into the stone. Garn blocked a downward piercing strike from the ceiling, but his arm was deeply slashed. Braum absorbed a backlash from a repulsion trap, blood trickling from the corner of his mouth despite his shield remaining intact.
By the time they cleared a long corridor covered in fractured symbols, none of them were unscathed.
Teresa's holy power had visibly weakened. Meryl's breathing grew labored. Meria's face was pale, her head throbbing from constantly forcing predictions beyond her limits.
And then—
Thud… thud…
A deep, heavy sound echoed from ahead, rhythmic like the footsteps of something massive.
Not a trap.
Living movement.
The light from Teresa's sword illuminated a wider space ahead. On the dark ground, tall shadows began to take shape.
"…It's not time to rest yet." She murmured.
The others understood immediately. Exhausted as they were, they still raised their weapons, bracing themselves for the next battle.