Bull Demon and the Exit

A few drops of Crimson Blood pierced through the barely closed Ash Mist Wall, falling to the ground and wriggling like living things.

Ronan's eyes flashed slightly, and with a swift movement of his foot, he crushed it to death.

A sharp, piercing scream, like a woman's shrill cry, and the sound of countless splashes of water hitting the wall immediately came from the opposite side of the Ash Mist Wall.

Just like the last time they encountered the headless monster, after a while, the sharp, noisy sounds from the other side of the wall suddenly stopped and disappeared without a trace.

Moriel patted her chest, still shaken, and blinked thoughtfully at Ronan. "This wall can move?"

"It seems so."

Ronan examined the Space Key in his hand. The spatial energy fluctuations that filled it had clearly weakened considerably. Its originally translucent silver-white color had become somewhat dim and obscure, showing a tendency to develop into a normal silver form.

Moriel couldn't help but mutter, "There's no direction to begin with, and the maze is still moving. How long will it take to find it?"

"For now, we can only try our luck."

Ronan replied and continued walking.

Their luck was clearly not good. Not long after they escaped the "Feast" wizard, they were forced to stop again at a corner of a passage.

——

The faint sound of Music Box drifted through the dimly lit passage.

A beam of light shone down from above and landed on a figure.

It was a woman wearing a white Ballet Dress, with her golden hair piled high. She was extremely beautiful, with a bright smile on her face. What was strange was that she stood motionless on tiptoe like a puppet, and her blue eyes seemed incredibly empty.

A huge Brass Clockwork was inserted into her snow-white, full breasts.

Ronan's gaze had barely fallen on it when he felt Moriel gently pinch the soft flesh of his waist, accompanied by a whispered warning, "Don't look!"

"Click-click-click—"

Suddenly, the brass clockwork on the woman's chest began to spin.

The puppet-like woman seemed to be released by this spring, and with a series of stiff, frozen dance moves, she suddenly moved closer to Ronan and his companion.

Ronan's eyes flickered slightly as he led Moriel back the way they came.

But as soon as he turned around, he saw a figure standing quietly at the end of the passage he had come from, dressed in armor, holding a sword in one hand, like an ancient knight.

Ronan's pupils constricted, and Moriel beside him instinctively covered her mouth, seemingly to prevent herself from suddenly screaming.

Taking a deep breath, just as Ronan slowly raised his right hand, which was gripping the Space Key, "thump thump thump—"

"Click-click-click—"

The heavy thud of ancient war boots on the ground and the rapid spinning of clockwork rang out simultaneously in front of and behind him like a death knell.

"Whoosh—"

The Keen Edge of the key gently sliced through the high wall formed by the gray mist. Ronan hugged Moriel tightly, just as he had hugged her in Homer Blue Town to avoid the Dawn Fire falling from the sky, and rolled sideways into the wall.

The moment he landed, Ronan swung his palm back at the crack in the Ash Mist Wall.

Itai emerged somewhat slowly, transforming into a brilliant Golden State within the space. Amidst intense magical fluctuations, sixteen pairs of Golden Eagle Wings rapidly unfolded, then closed even faster! "Boom!"

On the other side of the high wall, a terrifying energy, as vast as a flood, surged out and crashed violently against the Golden Eagle Wings.

Ronan was slammed hard against the wall behind him by the force, coughing up blood.

At this moment, another strange curse power spread out, rapidly extending along the Golden Eagle Wings.

Where the cursed power clung, the golden Itai statue seemed to have been washed away by the long river of time in an instant, its light dimmed, and pieces of gold peeled off like metal rust.

"Then!"

Ronan gritted his teeth and tossed the Space Key in his hand to Moriel.

Moriel caught it, and flames instantly ignited in her hair, her eyes turning a noble golden-red color.

Moriel raised her beautiful Ladies Cane, flung it out of her hand, and swung it with a whoosh toward the crack from which the [Rage] energy was gushing forth. Without even looking at the result, she immediately grasped the Space Key and slashed it downwards at the crack! The rapidly closing gray wall was like a dam with its gates constantly closing, and the [Rage] energy gushing from the other end of the crack gradually diminished until it disappeared completely.

"Bang!"

As the gray wall closed completely, a loud and muffled thud came from the opposite side of the wall, and the wall itself seemed to tremble slightly.

"Call--"

It was a close call, but no real danger.

Ronan exhaled a breath of stale air and slowly stood up from the wall.

Itai into his robe, his right hand constantly contracting and expanding to alleviate the slight effects of the strange curse.

A streak of silver light flashed by, which Ronan caught casually. He glanced at Moriel with slight surprise, not expecting Moriel to return the Space Key so readily.

Moriel, on the other hand, had a blank expression. At this moment, Ronan could recall some of the "Ash Witch" image he once had of her.

Without this Space Key, they would probably have died several times over in the maze.

Ronan looked at the silver key in his hand and slowly shook his head.

At that moment, he didn't even know whether he felt lucky or unlucky.

I looked up, wanting to take in the new environment before me.

The next second, Ronan's gaze froze slightly, and at the same time he heard Moriel's voice beside him.

"We didn't expect to be so lucky."

"But aren't there a bit too many doors?"

What appeared before them was a straight passage.

Along both sides of the passage, there is a small door engraved with strange patterns at short intervals. At the end of the passage, there is also a small door—the only one without any patterns, which is exceptionally smooth.

Ronan gave Moriel a look, then slowly walked up.

He came to the nearest small door and squinted to examine it.

It was a small gray door with yellow stripes outlining some unintelligible patterns. There was a clear keyhole where the doorknob should have been.

Ronan picked up the Space Key, aimed it at the keyhole, gently inserted it, but quickly pulled it out again.

His eyes flickered, and he abandoned the idea of trying to unlock the door directly with the Space Key. Instead, he mobilized his mental energy and slowly seeped into the small door through the keyhole.

It felt like walking through a dark and long tunnel.

In a moment, light finally appeared before his eyes! Ronan's mental energy tightened slightly as he "saw" that the space inside the small door was not very large.

The space was filled with a sticky, disgusting yellow slime, and a light "rain" of yellow slime was falling from the sky.

At the very center of the space, countless thick mucus gathered into a small yellow lake, in which a figure seemed to be sitting cross-legged. Just as Ronan was about to see the figure's specific appearance, suddenly!

A terrifying force, more than ten times stronger than the two level-five monsters on the other side of the gray wall, suddenly appeared, like an invisible giant hand that forcefully "grabbed" Ronan! In an instant, Ronan felt as if his entire soul was being sucked into the keyhole, and the Life Light Sphere that had been quietly floating within him was like a flame being blown about by a gale, with wisps of life energy being pulled and surged towards the other side. "Whoosh—"

Ronan abruptly severed his mental connection to the keyhole, his face turning pale, and stumbled back several steps in a disheveled state.

An undisguised look of shock and terror appeared in his eyes.

"What level of strength does that figure inside possess?"

"Level 6?!"

"Or is it a terrifying existence beyond level six, Above Dawn?!"

Ronan pursed his lips and stared at the Yellow Patterned Small Door in front of him for a long time, confirming that the terrifying and mysterious power could not seep out from the door before his mood gradually calmed down.

For some reason, at this moment he suddenly felt that the place he was in was not a maze.

It's more like a prison! All the wizards trapped in the labyrinth and unable to escape are prisoners in that prison.

In a dog-eat-dog world, those of average strength roam freely in the prison corridors.

Those whose strength was too terrifying were imprisoned in solitary confinement.

Day after day, until their "[Sin]" were washed away, they died in endless despair and pain. "What did you just see?"

Moriel grabbed his hand and pressed him for an answer.

Ronan shook his head, offered no explanation, and simply turned and walked forward.

He kept his eyes straight ahead, no longer daring to peek into the interior of either door, and walked straight to the small door at the end of the passage.

Ronan hesitated for a moment in front of the White Small Door without any patterns or designs, and finally made up his mind. He whispered to Moriel beside him, "Stay behind me. If anything happens, remember to get out of the way in time."

Moriel paused for a moment upon hearing this, her lips seemingly curving upwards, but she merely raised her chin and let out a soft "hmm" from her nose, feigning impatience. Then, with her eyes involuntarily curving downwards, she obediently stood behind him, peeking half her head out from behind him to curiously peer through the door.

Ronan then picked up the Space Key, calmly inserted it into the lock on the small door, and gently turned it.

"Snap—"

With the crisp sound of the silver lock turning, the small door in front of me creaked open automatically.

A soft white light emanated from within, accompanied by faint fluctuations in the magic array.

Ronan's eyes flickered, and he slowly stepped into the room.

At that moment, a pair of small hands took his hand and quickly followed.

The next moment, a gust of slightly scorching wind blew in our face.

Ronan found himself standing on solid, dry ground. He looked up and saw a bright sun hanging in the sky.

Ronan suddenly heard an incredibly heavy and loud breathing sound.

He heard Moriel's short gasp, looked up, and was stunned by the sight before him.

——

A towering, majestic black monster, as tall as a mountain, stood in the sun amidst the desert.

It has an enormous black bull's head, with two huge and sharp horns that curve upwards, their tips flashing a blinding red light, as if they could pierce the sun in the sky.

In the center of his black eye sockets, an inextinguishable flame burned fiercely, distorting the air in large swaths as far as his gaze fell.

It spews thick smoke and sparks from its nostrils, and with each breath it stirs up scorching winds on the earth, as heavy as the prelude to a volcanic eruption.

Hot lava dripped from its mouth, hissing as it fell to the ground, instantly melting into a pool of magma.

Beneath its head stood a human body, its limbs as strong as mountain pillars, crimson magma flowing between its muscles. Five incredibly thick runic chains firmly bound its neck and limbs, and every tiny movement produced a deafening clang of metal clashing. Anger, fire, destruction—symbolic words related to this colossal Bull Demon kept flashing through Ronan's mind. Standing in the shadow cast by the Bull Demon, he almost forgot to think for a moment.

Until the Bull Demon exhaled a heavy breath filled with thick flames, producing a thunderous and earth-shaking sound.

"Are you ready to answer Babu Li's question?"

Insect!"