"An earthquake?"
The moment the ground beneath his feet began to tremble, Shade thought of the terrifying consequences of encountering an earthquake underground. But he immediately realized that this was not an earthquake. The labyrinth itself was shaking.
Looking carefully, he saw the surrounding walls slowly shifting. Some turned in place, while others moved toward the center. The sound of stone bricks scraping across the floor was sharp and grating.
Miss Annette, walking at the front, changed expression:
"Someone is controlling that Document Level Relic, the Maze Candle. We're finally going to encounter a Ring Arcanist. Quickly, follow me! Don't fall behind."
But even with her warning, the changes in the labyrinth walls were far faster than the three had anticipated.
They had only run forward a few steps when a nearby wall suddenly swung violently sideways, directly cutting off Miss Bayes, who had been walking at the rear, behind it.
Hearing the sound, Shade rationally chose not to try to retrieve Miss Bayes from behind the wall. Instead, he continued running forward with Miss Annette.
Unexpectedly, just after turning through the fork ahead, a cloud of crimson mist surged toward them.
"It's Thaumaturgy!"
Miss Annette shouted, pinching a handful of powder from her pocket with her right hand and scattering it ahead. But it had no effect whatsoever. Instead, several red-eyed bats fluttered out of the Blood Mist.
"This isn't the Silver-Eyed One's Thaumaturgy. Detective, fall back for now. I'll deal with it."
Shade therefore retreated to the fork behind him, but the labyrinth walls continued changing without pause. Shade had fallen back, but Miss Annette had not. The wall in front of them was about to separate the two.
"Detective, don't follow me. Proceed according to our original plan."
Leaving only those words behind, she rushed into the