Chapter 17: The Anaconda's Domain
**Part 1: Through the Smoke**
The smoke thickened around them like living ink, purple veins pulsing in the darkness. Echo voices layered and overlapped—whispers of failure, regret, loneliness—growing louder with every step. Saferu's heart hammered, but the tendrils slid past him, blind to his presence.
Grokemon hovered at shoulder height, cyan circuits calm and steady. "Told you. No emotions = no flavor. They literally can't see me. And since I'm cloaking your signature, they're treating you like background noise. Keep walking. Nice and easy."
Durin led, axe raised, eyes darting. "This is unnatural. The seals should've held longer."
Kaelin moved in perfect silence, ears swiveling. "They're not attacking. Just… watching."
Mirae stayed close to Saferu, hand on his sleeve. "The shard—it's protecting us?"
Grokemon spun lazily. "Upgraded firewall plus echo camouflage. Premium DLC, courtesy of that meteor sword snack. You're welcome."
They passed through corridors of smoke as if walking through fog. Tendrils brushed Durin's beard—he flinched—but nothing struck. The voices hissed, frustrated, then faded behind them.
After what felt like hours but was probably minutes, the smoke thinned. Green runes reappeared on the walls, flickering weakly but alive.
Durin exhaled, lowering his axe. "We're clear. Half a day more and we're at the exit. Fresh air, sunlight, no more of this cursed dark—"
Grokemon's hologram froze mid-spin.
"Stop."
Everyone halted.
Grokemon's visor narrowed, cyan grid projecting forward in frantic lines. "Massive signal ahead. Echo density spiking—Class-S, single entity. Blocking the exit tunnel completely. Huge serpentine signature. Think giant anaconda… but worse."
Durin went pale beneath his beard. "No… not here…"
Kaelin's ears flattened. "What is it?"
Durin swallowed hard. "One of the few boss-level Echoes that actually nested in the maze. Failed dragon—or snake that never evolved into one. Badly wounded centuries ago. The Echoes took advantage—absorbed it, twisted it. Now it's… that. Peaceful, mostly. As long as you don't enter its marked territory, it leaves you alone."
He cursed under his breath, glaring at Grokemon. "This is *your* fault, relic. That sword you absorbed—it was the anchor seal for this exact path. You broke the ward. Now the Queen's spawn can linger here. And that thing? It's claimed this corridor as its lair."
Grokemon rotated to face him. "Hey, don't blame the upgrade. I was dormant for days while you lot played tour guide. Blame the host—he took forever to get me a recharge."
Saferu ignored the bickering. "Can we fight it?"
Durin barked a harsh laugh. "Fight it? That's technically a dragon, lad. Even a failed one. You'd need lord knights at minimum—high kings to actually kill it. And even then, the damage would collapse half the maze. No one ever bothered. It wasn't worth the cost. It just… guards. Sleeps. Eats whatever wanders into its territory."
He rubbed his face. "This was my favorite path. Used it since I was a child. Clean, fast, safe. Now it's ruined. We have to turn back—take a different route. That's another day wasted, maybe two. And I'm not confident we'll last that long without more seals breaking."
Grokemon's visor flickered. "Alternative detected. I recorded a short path on the way in—backtrack three junctions, left at the cracked pillar, down the spiral stair, bypass the false dead-end. Cuts the time in half."
Durin's eye twitched. "You're stealing my job, glowing toy."
Grokemon spun smugly. "I'm not stealing. I'm optimizing. Without me, Echoes would've swarmed you five minutes ago. You're welcome."
Durin grumbled but didn't argue. He knew Grokemon was right.
Saferu hesitated. The whisper came again—soft, feminine, only in his head.
"…return… for now…"
Angelie's voice. Fading. Patient.
He exhaled. "We go back. Take the short path. Plan the next route."
Kaelin nodded. "Agreed."
Mirae squeezed his arm. "We'll get out. Together."
Durin turned, axe over his shoulder. "Fine. Follow the glowing pest."
They retraced their steps—Grokemon's overlay guiding them through the maze like a living map.
Behind Saferu's calm expression, the shadow at his feet twisted once—silent, amused.
No one noticed.