Divine Luck: SSS-Rank Battle Maid Harem

The ring of statues of deities that had once been an underwater city changed once again when the statues crumbled one at a time. The final statue to fall was Soara's. Zach turned to it right before it did. It felt like it had looked at him.

But there was no way that could be true, nor was there a way for him to confirm that since the statue was gone.

The moving clouds of rubble floated around them, and the circular platform around them expanded. Soon enough, walls rose up out of the clouds of rubble and the ground, separating all the entrants. With clashing and grinding sounds, walls and the floor grew.

[Find the exit.]

Zach took a moment of silence to look at the message. He then looked at the walls around him and the only open path forward. That wasn't the exit. That was just his way forward into the maze–the labyrinth that the Labyrinth of Syst had created as the third Trial.

"NO!" Zach shouted at the top of his lungs as he realized what the Trial was.

He had struggled with the first Trial, which wasn't even designed to be difficult to orient. Some mornings, he got lost in his own apartment dorm. He got lost in open areas.

His sense of direction was in the negatives.

How the fuck was he supposed to find the exit in a literal maze made to confuse, trap, mislead, and fool the ones inside it?

Zach was angry. He hadn't held a grudge against the Labyrinth of Syst for only letting him find shelters with requirements that sucked. He hadn't held a grudge against the Labyrinth for punishing them when he survived the consequences of failing the first Trial by adjusting the difficulty.

But now…

Zach was already thinking about how he could take apart the maze and stuff it up the Labyrinth's behind.

Zach put his hand against the wall and extracted a brick. He extracted another, and another, and another, all in quick succession. But the moment he took a brief pause, the hole in the wall recovered and stitched itself back together with tendrils of stone.

"..." Zach looked blankly at the wall before punching it with his fist.

If he hadn't instinctively put a barrier over his knuckles, he could have injured himself. And since he didn't injure himself, he continued attacking the wall.

He only stopped when Alzara put a hand on his shoulder.

"Master…"

She and Yanael, especially Yanael, understood Zach's frustration. They knew better than anyone how he struggled with his lacking sense of direction. They knew how hard he tried to remember and find the right path whenever he went somewhere.

But it was beyond his control.

And now he was thrust into a situation that was the absolute worst.n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om

In the Academy, he would eventually find his way as long as he continued looking.

But in a maze? And one that had expanded to be bigger than the campus before the walls rose and had continued expanding even after that?

However, nothing would get better by mindlessly attacking the random, regenerating walls of the maze in a fit of rage.

Thanks to Alzara's hand, Zach took a deep breath and calmed down. The inner corners of his eyebrows were still lowered in a slight glare when he looked at the maze walls, but he wasn't going to attack them just like that again.

He turned to Alzara and gave her a thankful nod. He then looked at both Alzara and Yanael.

"Do either of you have any ideas on how to find the exit?"

"Not really." Alzara shrugged.

"Master, I've heard that you can't get lost if you walk with one hand always against the wall. It probably won't work if the maze and its walls move, but…" Continue your journey with empire

"It's worth a try." Zach nodded, thankful for the suggestion. He put his hand against the wall. Yanael and Alzara did the same, one in front of him and one behind him. Together, the three started walking through the maze.

The walls of yellow stone seemed endless and even with tiny abrasions, notches, and uneven spots, it all blended together in Zach's eyes. If it hadn't been for Alzara and Yanael that were two pillars of stability and other colors in his vision, he would have been dizzy, confused, and even more lost than usual.

Zach wondered if it would be easier to walk with his eyes closed. He had his hand against the wall to steady himself, and he could open them now and then to see where they were going. In the worst case, he had Yanael in front.

Zach tried it.

Only a few steps later, he bumped into Yanael's back.

"Oh, sorry…" Zach opened his eyes and apologized. But he trailed off as he sensed something in front. He leaned to the side and peeked out from behind Yanael, who had already drawn her sword.

A monster.

It was one of the hideous things that had fought and killed the deities they had just learned about. It wasn't one of those powerful enough to personally kill one of the deities. It was just from the same faction.

It probably wasn't real, either. It was more than likely similar to the fish people that had been somehow created by the Labyrinth.

Zach narrowed his eyes. He had been a little confused as to why Yanael hesitated, but he soon understood.

It was difficult to tell how strong it was.

The ordinary monsters in the forest were usually versions of ordinary animals and had a certain presence that Zach had learned to read somewhat. He could tell if a monster was strong or weak unless it was good at hiding that presence. That was about it.

But the presence of the monster in front of them clashed with his senses. There was a feeling of wrongness to it like it didn't belong anywhere.

The monsters in the Jira Labyrinth hadn't felt like this. The fish people hadn't felt like this.

Zach had a feeling that the fight between the deities and the strange monsters hadn't been out of boredom or unjustified.

"Kill it."

Zach listened to the feeling in his gut telling him to get rid of the monster and ordered Yanael.