Gauss’s memory was very sharp now.
He was certain that the surrounding passages were different from the way he came.
For example, the corner he just passed didn’t exist before.
Had the terrain silently changed?
Of course, what made him uneasy was that he wasn’t sure where Aria was now.
Had the two of them been separated in the maze’s shifting pathways?
According to the map in his mind, the direction he was moving in now was completely opposite to the direction when he entered.
Naturally, he didn’t dare stop moving;
the Pale Guard was still following him like a shadow.
Besides the first sneak attack it charged up, Gauss gave up on clashing head-on during the following collisions and instead used techniques to dissipate the opponent’s impact.
“Tap tap tap!”
Urgent footsteps echoed in the narrow corridor.
“Huff! Huff!” Gauss’s chest heaved violently as he gasped for breath.
Though less than a minute had passed, the physical exertion was enormous.
“The activity range is actually this vast?” He felt the Pale Guard relentlessly chasing behind him and sensed something was wrong.
He originally thought that the creature’s puppet-like state meant its activity was limited to a small area, but that was clearly not the case.
“Boom!”
Like a thrown stone, Gauss crashed into a completely unfamiliar and spacious room.
He had no time to catch his breath; he immediately rolled to dissipate force and swiftly scanned his surroundings with his self-generated light.
“A dead end?”
At first glance, the room seemed to have no exit.
Even more chilling was that the entire space was covered by a huge, sticky white spider web.
These webs were no ordinary fine strands clinging to bushes; they were thick as ropes, layered from the ceiling, walls, and floor, forming a suffocating net.
Dense clusters of old, nearly bone-white egg sacs hung on the web.
Some egg sacs had already hatched, while others were swollen and full, radiating a terrifying vitality, as if the life inside could break out at any moment.
“Is this the nest of that spider-like creature from earlier?”
He turned to look toward the passageway.
The Pale Spider Shadow that had been chasing him had stopped and quietly guarded the entrance where he had been thrown in.
That was also the only exit of this nest.
Was it thinking that he was already trapped like a fish in a barrel? Gauss silently analyzed the creature’s behavior pattern.
This gave him a bit of relief, allowing him to take the chance to regulate the turbulent mana within his body and slow his rapid breathing.
Thinking back now, the spider creature’s behavior was indeed strange, as if it had deliberately driven him into this nest space.
However, that was exactly what Gauss wanted.
From the wide sleeve of his robe, a Teleportation Scroll silently slid into his palm.
Although cornered, he still had a means of escape.
He hadn’t used it before, partly because he hoped to save it, but more importantly, there hadn’t been a proper opportunity.
Activating a Teleportation Scroll required some time, albeit short.
The previous emergency conditions didn’t allow for its use.
“Scritch!”
Just as Gauss was about to infuse mana into the scroll, a sudden chaotic rustling came from the tangled white threads in the distance.
Instinctively, Gauss cast his light toward the source.
Three small, pale creatures were slowly crawling out from behind the thick webbing.
Of course, calling them “small” was only relative to the adult that had driven him here.
In reality, the smallest among them was as large as a strong adult human, and the largest stood about two meters and thirty centimeters tall.
Were they juvenile members of the same species?
Maybe its children? Or younger siblings?
Unlike the adult’s somewhat alien beauty, the three small pale creatures before him were twisted and chaotic, barely recognizable as humanoid in their upper bodies.
Their cheeks were blurred and smeared with sticky white threads, making them look extremely horrifying.
These filamentous substances covered their faces like melted wax or like soft clay kneaded by children, giving an unsettling deformed appearance.
Gauss vaguely understood the Pale Guard’s intention.
The creature had been driving him here all along to bring him before these three pale beings.
As for why it had brought him alive rather than kill him, was it so they could feast on fresh flesh? Or was there some other reason they had to do it themselves?
The three small pale creatures stretched out their bodies, staring fixedly at Gauss.
Unlike the adult, their eyes revealed a direct, eager longing.
Gauss glanced warily at the motionless adult Pale Guard blocking the door.
He quietly moved deeper into the nest, putting more distance between himself and the adult.
This way, he would have more time to escape later.
The adult didn’t seem to realize the implication of his movement, or perhaps it thought that blocking the only exit was enough and didn’t care about this small action.
“Huff—”
Gauss looked at the three small pale creatures rapidly approaching him.
His gaze hesitated slightly.
In his perception, the three juveniles did not pose a strong threat.
Judging by their movement speed, they might be at elite monster level, but certainly not strong, especially compared to the adult.
Why wasn’t the adult helping?
Did it think these three were enough to deal with him? Or was there some reason they couldn’t intervene?
Gauss was puzzled.
But the current situation was beneficial to him.
He felt confident that killing the weakest of the three wouldn’t be too difficult.
Elite Path Stage 2: Kill five types of elite monsters (4/5).
While he pondered, the three juveniles slid and leapt closer, continuously pressing in.
Gauss gave the adult one last wary glance.
If it didn’t interfere, he was going to take action.
He took out his slender Bone Staff from his Storage Bag.
Ignoring the two larger ones, Gauss’s gaze fixed on the smallest member at the rear of the group.
Since he had decided to act, of course he would pick the softest target.
He only needed one more to complete the stage requirement.
He silently gathered his mana and waited for them to come closer.