Two Brave the Maze as Their Mindsets Begin to Shift

Bang!

Stelle's Bat slammed into the giant Warp Trotter!

The enormous Space Boar let out a howl, toppled backward, and finally vanished before Jiang Yu and Stelle.

The two eagerly searched the area, but found no Stellar Jade drops.

At some point, the Horrific Maze had fallen silent.

When the Galaxy Bat Hero swung her Bat, one hit was all it took to shut anything up.

The Horrific Maze's mind was full of questions. What was wrong with these two?

Weren't they scared?

Shouldn't seeing a creature far larger than themselves instinctively inspire at least some fear?

Its ability fundamentally worked by influencing the minds of those inside the maze. With Jiang Yu and Stelle both treating the giant Warp Trotter as prey, that aspect of its power had no effect whatsoever.

After searching a little longer and still finding no Stellar Jade, Jiang Yu spread his hands at Stelle. "What a waste. Such a huge Warp Trotter, too. An illusion is just an illusion. Completely useless."

"Exactly. It doesn't even drop Stellar Jade." Stelle wholeheartedly agreed with him.

Neither bothered to hide the disdain in their voices. Every word dripped with contempt for the Horrific Maze.

Already burning with humiliation, the Horrific Maze lost its head in a rush of anger at their words.

"Don't get cocky, you two! It was only a Warp Trotter! There are much nastier things waiting for you!"

Neither Jiang Yu nor Stelle answered. They simply continued deeper into the maze.

With nobody responding to its threats, the Horrific Maze was left looking utterly foolish, like a clown.

Jiang Yu and Stelle pressed on. They found that the farther they went, the more intricate the maze became. As they ventured deeper, they encountered more and more forks and dead ends.

Blindly advancing through a maze without leaving markers along the way was dangerous. It would be all too easy to get lost inside.

However, Jiang Yu and Stelle had come to retrieve the Horrific Maze, and both were certain they would succeed, so they took the increasingly complicated passages as a positive sign.

The Horrific Maze had created the maze to protect itself in the first place. The more complicated the route became, the closer they must be to it!

Jiang Yu reckoned that once they went a little farther, he could try setting down and activating the Imaginary Overflow Interference Field at regular intervals.

Perhaps one of those attempts would interfere with the Horrific Maze's power, and the whole maze would vanish with a pop!

"Roar!"

Suddenly, a beast's roar rang out from somewhere, followed by a series of crashing sounds as walls were smashed and collapsed.

A monster resembling a werewolf, over five meters tall, charged toward them.

Its entire body was bare, without a single hair-or even any skin. Pink muscle tissue lay exposed, with every vein clearly visible.

Its hands were over three meters long, and its sharp claws gleamed coldly like blades. It had no eyes, ears, or nose, only a huge mouth that stretched almost to its neck. When it opened that mouth, it revealed rows of pointed teeth and a long, blister-covered tongue that writhed like a snake.

The Horrific Maze's arrogant voice rang out again.

"The giant Warp Trotter couldn't deal with you, but what about this!?"

Ugly as it was, the monster before them certainly looked like a formidable enemy. Stelle stepped forward, shielding Jiang Yu behind her as she fixed her gaze on it.

Looking at the contours of the monster's seemingly springy muscles, Jiang Yu instantly pictured frog legs and raised a hand to wipe his mouth.

"Hehe... It looks pretty tasty."

"Huh?"

"Huh?"

Both Stelle and the Horrific Maze froze at Jiang Yu's words.

Stelle once again recalled how Dan Heng had deliberately stressed three times earlier that Warp Trotters weren't edible, while the Horrific Maze began to sneer.

"Hehehe... Tasty? I think it's scared you witless! This is the legendary monster, the Chesa Mole Man! Those humans in matching uniforms wet their pants the moment they saw it! You two can get eaten right here!"

As the Horrific Maze finished speaking, the Mole Man swung its sharp claws down at Jiang Yu and Stelle!

Stelle was just about to strike back with her Bat when Jiang Yu raised his hand behind her. He gently closed his fingers around empty air, and fierce winds suddenly gathered in his grasp, forming an invisible blade.

Jiang Yu's movement was light and effortless. He made a downward slash, as gentle as a drifting tuft of willow fluff.

His attack, however, was nothing like that delicate motion. An unimaginable storm swept over the Mole Man. The tangled winds were like a wild beast's fangs, instantly tearing its body in half. Scarlet blood and innards burst apart along with its body!

For an instant, the thick smell of blood mingled with the foul stench of the fluids inside the Mole Man and flooded Jiang Yu's and Stelle's nostrils.

But this was only an illusion created by the Horrific Maze. All those sickening sights soon disappeared, leaving only a trail of destroyed walls before Jiang Yu and Stelle.

The Horrific Maze seemed to have lost even the desire to repair its maze.

"Huh?"

Jiang Yu's display left the Horrific Maze dumbfounded, its arrogance doused as if someone had dumped a bucket of cold water over its head.

Are these two out of their minds?!

At least act scared for a second!

Don't I have any dignity?!

The Horrific Maze's quiet muttering never reached them, but after being defeated twice in a row with a single blow, its mindset had changed.

Flustered yet careful, the Horrific Maze picked up the scattered pieces of its shattered dignity and composure, then fitted them back together like a jigsaw puzzle.

Giant creatures and terrifying monsters had no effect on these two, so it would have to deal with them using something more elusive!

The Horrific Maze soon came up with a new approach. Having spent so long on the space station, it had heard a few ghost stories.

"Haha! You two aren't bad, are you? But this is as far as you go. Now I'm getting serious!"

The Horrific Maze's voice reached Jiang Yu and Stelle once more.

As they walked forward side by side, Jiang Yu spread his hands and told Stelle, "Hear that? That's what you call refusing to admit defeat. It's clearly losing confidence."

As he spoke, Jiang Yu activated the Imaginary Overflow Interference Field to test it, but the maze remained unaffected.

"Looks like we're still too far away. Let's go a little farther," Jiang Yu said, picking up the Imaginary Overflow Interference Field.

Stelle nodded.

"Don't get cocky! You'll find out whether I'm just refusing to admit defeat soon enough! That group who came to capture me before you all ran out crying and screaming because of it! I'll show you what true terror is!"

"Oh." Jiang Yu's reply was brief, but the mockery was unmistakable.

Stelle tightened her grip on her Bat. A hint of nervousness showed on her face, but her gaze remained resolute.

She quickened her pace to keep up with Jiang Yu.

For a while after that, the Horrific Maze remained utterly quiet, without saying a word.

The light inside the maze grew dimmer and dimmer.

Faint sounds drifted eerily toward them from every direction, slowly gathering around the pair.

They sounded like indistinct whispers, or perhaps chanting in voices whose gender was impossible to make out, mingled with shrill screams.

As they continued forward, Stelle couldn't help raising her hands to rub her arms.

She wasn't sure whether she was imagining it, but the maze seemed to be getting colder and colder.

Suddenly, an icy gust blew from behind them, carrying an ethereal, sinister laugh.

"Hehehe..."

The laughter sounded as though it came from right against their backs!