They were lost.

  Julie knew they were lost. Her team didn’t listen to her— she had told them that they should have split up to make it through the second floor. But they didn’t think it was a good idea. Even though Inquisitor Cathleen had said that doing so wasn’t against the rules, they were afraid that they could get injured if they were split up.

  Or perhaps even killed.

  Even if the likelihood was extremely low, since the golems here in the West Varas Labyrinth were being monitored and controlled by the golemmaster to not kill the students in the expedition…

  They were still afraid of being separated from Inquisitor Cathleen.

  Julie had volunteered to split off with at least one other person. But nobody in her team had wanted to go with her. And she wasn’t willing to go alone.

  It was frustrating. She didn’t need half her team to go with her— she just needed one other person.

  At this rate, they would not be the first team to make it to the end. They would not get the Distinction Point that came with being the first to complete the expedition.

  Ordinarily, Julie wouldn’t care that much about that. At least, when she had first enrolled in the Holy Academy, she was taking a more laid back approach to things. She thought she had plenty of time— years, actually— to make a decision on what she wanted to do. But her mindset had changed after she met Eli.

  If there were people as talented as Eli who were here in the Holy Academy, she couldn’t keep up if she was just slacking off for the first year or two.

  And with Eli being here in this expedition?

  Julie felt like she needed to push herself even harder to prove herself. Why? She didn’t really know. That was just how she felt.

  So knowing that her team was holding her back was frustrating her.

  At the very least, she didn’t think that anybody was going to make it to the third floor anytime soon, considering how tedious it was to navigate the second floor.

  …right?

  ***

  “Eli, are you sure this is a good idea?” Myrla asked as she followed behind me.

  I just nodded reassuringly at her. “Honestly? Not really.”

  She stared at me flatly. “...aren’t you supposed to say it’ll be fine?”

  “Maybe? I mean, we’ll see, I guess. I’m sure these golems aren’t programmed to kill us anyway, so we’ll survive no matter what happens.”

  I waved a hand dismissively at her as she hesitated, before I stepped forward. I turned my gaze towards a looming figure that was standing before me. A giant glowing metal knight.

  Vorth.

  My summon.

  I had summoned him just moments earlier as I told Myrla my plan. Which was very simple— a straightforward one that had no moving mechanisms to it. All we had to do was…

  “V,” I said as I met my summon’s gaze. “We need your help to carry us across the top of the labyrinth.”

  “Yes, master,” Vorth responded as he bowed his head.

  “There will be golems that will be summoned as we cross through the top, but don’t fight them. Just get around them. Our goal should simply be to get to the center of the labyrinth. That’s it.”

  I explained my plan to Vorth as he raised his head and looked at me dutifully.

  “But master, would it not be better for me to deal with these golems for you so that you can cross safely?” he asked.

  I shook my head. “No, because there will be too many of them for you to deal with. Each one is a Platinum Rank threat, and while I am confident in your abilities with taking down a handful of them, I’m certain there will be dozens of them that will be summoned as we cross through the top— perhaps even more.”

  I glanced up towards the singular giant golem I had summoned that was now patrolling the top of the labyrinth. It was alone, but I knew it wouldn’t be the only one there. That it would have dozens of giant golems just like it summoned as we activated the traps up above from simply walking.

  “Our goal is simple: we just want to get to the center of the labyrinth and meet the golemmaster. We don’t need to waste time fighting when we have no reason to fight.”

  “Understood, master,” Vorth said, before proffering his hand out. “I will guard you with my life.”

  This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience.

  I hopped onto his arms and glanced back at Myrla. I gestured at her to follow me.

  “Come on, Myrla. Are you coming?”

  “I…” Myrla pursed her lips as she looked back towards the moving walls of the labyrinth. “I think I’ll take my chances with going the long way. Sorry, Eli. It’s not that I don’t trust you. I just… think it might be a better idea for us to split up, in case one of us fails, you know? It’ll be fine as long as just one of us makes it to the end.”

  “Well, that’s true,” I chuckled as I turned back to Vorth. “Well, let’s hope that I don’t fail. Let’s get going, V.”

  “Good luck, Eli. And please don’t die.” She gave me a pleading look.

  “Don’t worry, I won’t,” that was all I said.

  And with that, I waved goodbye at Myrla as Vorth leapt up onto the top of the labyrinth. Meanwhile, down below, Myrla took off running into the moving corridors and walls.

  “Alright, V,” I said as I grinned at my summon. “Let’s prove Myrla wrong, shall we?”

  “Yes, master.”

  The spectral sentinel held onto me tightly, before leaping up atop the wall with a blast of flames trailing behind him. The flames streaked through the air and morphed into a giant shield which he held up with his free hand. He landed atop the wall, causing the ground beneath him to tremble from his weight.

  But the ground continued to tremble, even a moment after Vorth landed. Up ahead, the giant golem that had already been summoned took notice of us. It turned around slowly as the ground flashed beneath Vorth’s feet.

  A pair of giant golems began to form from the ground just before him, ready to intercept him. But Vorth was prepared for it and he just ran straight through them, knocking them aside with his shield before they could even fully stand.

  He sprinted across the top of the labyrinth as each step he made activated more spells which summoned more golems. But the giant golem that had already been atop the labyrinth was the first one to reach Vorth.

  It threw itself at him, trying to pin him to the ground. Vorth struggled for a moment as it wrapped its arms around him. It was strong. Very clearly so. However, it wasn’t prepared for what Vorth did next.

  And that was unleashed a cloak of flames around his body, burning the giant golem and causing it to recoil from the flames. In that moment, Vorth summoned a giant flaming sword and decapitated the giant golem in a powerful swing.

  “Annoying pest,” he said as the giant golem crashed into the ground at the bottom of the labyrinth.

  “Good job, V,” I said, before sweeping my gaze up around us. “But we have more problems to deal with…”

  All around us— behind, ahead, to the left, to the right— giant golems were spawning in. Many of them had already finished pulling themselves up from the ground, ready to attack. Each and every one of them was determined to stop us.

  “Just focus on running,” I said as I began to conjure up [Fireballs] in my hands. “I will slow their approach.”

  Vorth nodded, before he took off sprinting. Behind us, a few giant golems gave chase. But I hurled the [Fireballs] at them, causing them to stumble and slow. Meanwhile, Vorth swung his sword and shield wildly ahead of us, keeping the giant golems that were trying to block our path back.

  This went well for a minute or so. Unfortunately, different types of giant golems started to spawn in too— not just the large and lumbering ones. Other golems that could create giant boulders out of magic appeared, and they hurled their projectiles through the air like catapults.

  Vorth jumped from one wall to another, avoiding these crashing projectiles. Even though he was a giant metal suit of armor, he moved nimbly, doing his best to avoid anything that could slow him down. Until we finally saw the center of the labyrinth just ahead of us.

  “It’s just a little further!” I called out to my summon as I sent another [Fireball] into the charging giant golems behind us.

  Vorth continued sprinting as he tried to pick up the pace. But then— he suddenly stumbled, before coming to a halt.

  I blinked as I looked down, staring at a pair of hands that had shot from the ground and stopped him. A giant golem had been summoned and instantly moved to immobilize the spectral sentinel, even before it completely emerged.

  “V—”

  I turned to Vorth as I looked around us, seeing all the approaching giant golems. We were going to be trapped, right before we reached the finish line. And my summon realized this too. So he just nodded at me as he held me up into the air.

  “Brace yourself, master,” he said hurriedly.

  I blinked, taking a moment to process what he was doing. And he hurled me forward the moment I realized what was happening. I shot through the air, flying straight for the clearing at the center of the labyrinth.

  A few giant golems tried to catch me— to stop me from reaching my destination. But they were too slow. I flew straight past them and crashed into the hard ground, finally making it to the very end of the West Varas Labyrinth.

  I coughed as a plume of dust kicked up all around me, before rubbing my sides.

  “I think I broke a few bones,” I murmured as I rose to my feet, quickly healing myself.

  But I had arrived. I had finally done it. After half a week of making my way through the West Varas Labyrinth, I had completed my expedition. And by the looks of it, I had arrived here before anybody else did, earning me my Distinction Point.

  That’s not to mention the few levels I managed to gain, I thought as a smile tugged at my lips.

  Overall, this expedition had been a complete and total success. It was finally over, and I could relax while waiting for the rest of the teams to make it here. All I needed to do now was to report the completion of this expedition to the golemmaster.

  So I took in my bearings. I looked around me, taking in the heart of the labyrinth. It was a large clearing, surrounded on all sides by the giant glowing walls.

  The area was about a hundred feet wide at most, and there was an exit that led back into the labyrinth, although it was seemingly constantly shifting, so that there was no single path that led into this area.

  There were a bunch of bookshelves that had been set up here. Almost like a library. But there was an altar of sorts at the very center of it all, which I assumed to be the tomb of the archmage who built this place.

  I shook my head as I decided to stop admiring the area. Right now, I could still hear Vorth locked in combat with the giant golems above the labyrinth. I needed to get the golemmaster to call off his golems, while completing the expedition.

  “Hello?” I called out, taking a step forward as I swept my gaze around. “I’m a student from the Holy Academy— I’m a part of the expedition…”

  My gaze paused as I saw something shifting behind the bookshelves. A shadow moved, before a set of footfalls slowly approached. I smiled as I placed a hand on my chest to greet the master of this labyrinth.

  “Are you the golemmaster?—” I started.

  But then I froze. I sensed something was wrong. Very wrong. I didn’t notice it earlier. I didn’t know how I didn’t notice it. Perhaps it was because I didn’t expect something like this to be here.

  However, I just backed away nervously as a bead of sweat slid down my neck, uncertain if what I sensed was what I thought it was. Or if I had made a mistake.

  “...hello?” I repeated myself.

  And emerging from between the bookshelves was not a golem. Instead, it was a black figure. Like a mix between a knight and a desiccated corpse. It exuded an intense amount of death magic that made even me shiver, and it faced me with glinting crimson eyes.

  It was an Avatar of Death.

  And in its blade-like hands was the golemmaster’s decapitated head.