OLD-WORLD EXTRA

Chapter 78 Fun II

But nothing happened.

The weights remained still, and the boulder stayed suspended in the air.

He breathed a sigh of relief, but his celebration was short-lived.

Emir suddenly heard the sound of grinding stones and realized that the boulder was moving, slowly descending towards him.

'So even if I do it correctly, she still sends the boulder, touché.' He mused to himself.

Bang! Crash!

He ran as fast as he could, dodging left and right as the boulder thundered down the hallway.

Emir could feel the heat of the boulder as it passed by him, narrowly missing him by a few inches.

But he wasn't out of the woods yet.

As he looked up, he saw that the boulder had triggered a series of weights and pulleys, causing a second boulder to come crashing down from above.

"Fuck! Damn you, Arcadia! DAMN YOU TO OBLIVION!" He screamed as he turned around in a sprint.

He ran even faster, his legs burning with exertion as he sprinted at world-record speeds towards the end of the hallway.

With slowed time, he quickly assessed his surroundings, his eyes darting around, scrutinizing every inch surrounding him as he searched for a place to hide.

'Where, where, where, c'mon, OH THERE!' He thought in glee.

Noticing a small alcove nearby, he sprinted towards it while his ears picked up the sound of the boulder rushing down behind him moments later.

Its momentum carried it forward until it finally came crashing down onto the spot where he had been standing just seconds before.

Crash!

Not bothering with the chaos outside, Emir collapsed on the ground, gasping for air and trying to catch his breath.

"Hoooo... That wasn't too bad, if you want to kill me so much, you should try better, Arcadia, a boulder trap? That's old school, get good." He snickered while wiping sweat from his forehead.

He had narrowly escaped another trap, but there are still more dangers lurking in the maze, waiting for their chance to strike.

'As long as she keeps up with her fair persona, then there should be nothing for me to worry about—if she does, that is.' 

Emir sighed as he stood up and suddenly found himself standing on the edge of a deep pit, not knowing he was inches away from falling.

"Shit, shit, I almost fell, and how the hell does a maze have pitfalls that deep? Like seriously, the concept of this was a maze, but the harder the traps get, the further it strives to be from that."

His voice echoed as he peered down into the darkness, which he couldn't see much of.

He took a step back, about to leave the alcove to find another way around, but the ground beneath him immediately gave way.

"NOT AGAIN!!" He screamed.

He plummeted down but barely managed to grab onto the edge of the pit with his fingertips.

"I got it this time." Emir sighed as he dangled there, suspended over the unknown depths below.

After catching his breath, he assessed the situation and saw that the pit was rigged with a set of swinging blades that would slice him in a thousand halves if he dropped down.

He looked above and noticed a set of spikes that sprouted from the roof, denying his way back.

Understanding that this was all by design, he looked to the other side and noticed a doorway.

'I need to find a way to get across without falling down,' he concluded.

He tried to swing his body and reach for something to hold on to, but it looked too brittle to support his weight, so he disregarded that plan.

Then he noticed a small button on the wall near him.

"A plain button on a wall right above a swinging blade, surely nothing bad would happen, right?" He asked himself, his voice dripping with sarcasm.

Emir hesitated for a few moments but eventually pressed it, knowing that there was nothing else he could do.

Suddenly, the ground began to rumble and shake, sprouting platforms that led to the other side.

He heard a hissing sound and saw a multitude of flame throwers emerge from the wall, their black and blue flames licking the air.

'I expected as much,' he thought, letting out a sigh.

Emir, with slowed time, saw that the fire was inching towards him, and he was directly in its path.

He jumped onto the platforms and scrambled from one to another, avoiding the flames, using his advanced reflexes and TDS ability to dodge the fiery blasts that kept on hounding him.

But it seemed like it would never end.

Just when he thought he had found a safe spot, the flames would shift and come at him from a different angle.

He had to time his movements perfectly to avoid the flames and get to the other side.

It was a dangerous game that he would love to play.

"Let's do this!" He bellowed as he took a deep breath and focused, his mind racing as he attempted to find the best path through the flames.

Noticing a brief opening, he made a run for it, feeling the heat on his skin and the roar of the fire in his ears.

Jumping left and right, he slid under a large breath of fire and used his momentum to perform a massive leap that sent him to the other side.

He made it across, barely escaping the trap.

Emir collapsed on the ground, mirroring his entrance some minutes ago.

He gasped for breath and felt the adrenaline coursing through his veins. He knew he had to keep moving and that he couldn't stay in one place for too long.

But for a few moments, he just lay there, enjoying the moment.

After some time, he rose to his feet and set forth through the winding passageways.

Emir found himself met with a series of dead ends. Each culminated in an impenetrable wall that forced him to backtrack and redirect his path.

This pattern repeated itself several times until, at long last, he laid eyes upon what appeared to be the ultimate destination of the labyrinth.

Its very end.

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