Danmaku, my skills refresh weekly.

Rivera suddenly opened her eyes and saw the truth of the maze.

"Finn, the maze is made up of several enormous prototypes! The path we've been following has always been winding!"

"A circle?!"

Grace stared at Riveria in disbelief: "It's clearly a straight line, so why is the maze circular?"

Finn suddenly realized: "Visuals, misleading..."

"The route may seem straight, but there are subtle deviations at every distance! Doors, side passages, ancient paintings, floor tiles, secret passages—everything makes us mistakenly believe that we are walking in a straight line."

Finn carried the magic stone lamp and walked alone, hugging the inner wall.

Soon, the light from the magic stone lamp disappeared from both sides' sight, at a distance of approximately 300 meters...

Finn will be back soon...

"In other words, every 300 meters, we will have a one-body-length error. Converted to each step and each brick, it is only a few centimeters of difference. With human perception, it is impossible to detect. In addition, our visual range is only about 10 meters illuminated by the magic stone lamp."

"We've actually been going around in circles all along!"

Chapter 424 The Mysterious Man's Message

Having figured out the situation, everyone quickly sprang into action.

Despite Rivera's considerable mental exertion in forcibly measuring the maze's structure using a magic circle, a general map of the maze was laid out before Finn and the others.

It was a structure roughly composed of three large intersecting circles, with several irregular branching paths connecting the centers of the three circles.

The decorations inside the side passages differ from the 'false doors' and 'ancient paintings' structures in the main circle; they feature chandeliers, corridors, low gates, potted plants, and more...

Some goblins and monsters will hide in secluded corners, blind spots, or around corridor corners, and suddenly rush out to attack them.

Goblins are weak.

However, if a stereotype is formed, a goblin stalker with potential abilities exceeding level 4 will appear mixed in with a group of weaklings.

They posed little threat to Finn, but they were torture for the veterans who accompanied him.

With all his abilities already declining, he was suddenly given a shock...

"As people get older, they can't withstand this kind of torment; it's too bad for their hearts."

"I feel like I can see my great-grandmother waving~~"

"Don't go! Come back!"

The veterans were covered in wounds.

Grace also had several unhealable wounds on her body from protecting her companions: "Rivilia, haven't you found the way to the lower level yet?"

Rivera suppressed Ais, whose face was puffed up and full of dissatisfaction, and sighed, "We've explored nearly 90% of the map. If we still can't confirm the [proper route] here, we can go back."

They never imagined they would be so humiliated by a group of goblins.

It's not that the maze is particularly difficult, but the energy consumption is extremely high, and our supplies are almost gone. Continuing on might lead to us getting trapped and dying in the maze.

Finn had already figured it out; the core objective of the first layer was a war of attrition.

Like a spider waiting for its prey to tire itself out, it is always ready to devour its prey.

……

Russian qing.

As the group walked through the crisscrossing corridors, Rivera suddenly paused.

She turned her head and looked at the fake door that was everywhere, and her heart skipped a beat.

"Finn, we might not need to go to the center..."

Rivera pointed to the wooden door in front of her with a strange expression: "There is a tunnel that extends 500 meters away, right behind the door."

"A trap?" Ryu became wary.

"Among thousands of fake doors, there is a single hidden passage that has completely lost us within the circle. This must be the designer's intention." Finn stroked his chin. "But based on my understanding of the designer, traps also exist. We cannot be careless."

"This dawdling is so annoying! Let me push it open!" Bert rushed out and kicked the wooden door to pieces.

A narrow corridor, only two meters wide, appeared before everyone's eyes.

"Rivia, is there an ambush?"

Rivera frowned: "No reaction from living beings, we can't rule out a trap."

"Just to be on the safe side, freeze it with ice magic first, then destroy the machine!"

Riveria nodded, frost spreading and freezing the path: "Finn, your mental energy is running low."

"Well, hurry up."

Perhaps because the entire passage was frozen, no accidents occurred along the way, and the group successfully walked out of the corridor. But what awaited them was a cliff, with a 300-meter-long suspension bridge hanging on both sides of the cliff.

The area below the suspension bridge was pitch black, and it was unclear where it extended to.

Finn thought for a moment and then threw the magic stone lamp down.

The firelight gradually dimmed, and after ten seconds, even the werewolf's keen hearing could not detect the sound of breaking.

“At least 800 meters or more, it will probably drop all the way down to the 18th floor.” Finn frowned.

At that height, even a first-level adventurer would be in grave danger if they fell.

"Is there something wrong with jumping off this bridge?"

"...We will cross the bridge alone, while the others remain on alert."

“My magic can provide temporary levitation; I’ll provide support,” Ryu suggested.

“Okay. I’ll go first.” Finn nodded.

After Liu finished singing, Finn charged forward, leaping across the first half of the suspension bridge in an instant, before the bridge could even react, and then leaped over the cliff again.

He waved the magic stone lamp and beckoned to the other side.

Everyone followed suit and crossed the suspension bridge as quickly as they could.

To everyone's surprise, the suspension bridge was completely free of any traps, and they crossed it unharmed.

Ryu, arriving late and embarrassed, saw Finn staring intently at a spot on the rock face: "What did you find..."

She leaned closer and saw a message written in sacred script on the rock wall to the side, and below the rock wall, a shattered skull lay scattered on the ground.

By the light of the magic stone lamp, Rivera slowly translated: "There is a hidden route ahead... but I hope you have extra clothes. Because you will have a wonderful night."

"what is this?"

"Last words?"

"No, it might be a trap."

The team was on edge, not understanding why they would leave a message here.

"Captain, there are some over here too." The dwarf Dain lay prone on the edge of the cliff, where sacred writing was also carved into the ground...

Riveria strolled over and, using the magic stone lamp as a guide, translated:

"Jump down, and you can get out of here. Well, if you survive."

"Idiot, who would be stupid enough to jump into a pitfall?" Bert scoffed.

“At least it’s a reference point. Whether it’s well-intentioned or malicious, we can glean something from it.” Finn said, looking into the deeper passage. “Let’s go, let’s keep going.”

Liu thought for a moment, looked at the skeleton that had turned into fragments on the ground, took off the black robe from his body, and followed the group.

On the other side of the cliff was a narrow passage just like before. After repeating the process, the group arrived at a room that was about 10 by 10 meters in size.

The room was filled with wooden barrels, arranged on two levels. It resembled a wine cellar.

They saw a large, black metal door blocking the way at the far end of the second floor.

Finn carefully opened a wooden barrel, which was filled with a bright red liquid that smelled foul.

"It looks like a medium for unleashing a curse. Be careful."

The group climbed the stained stone steps and soon arrived at the metal gate.

A line of text was also left in sacred script at the entrance:

You're not qualified, therefore you're not qualified!

"Hey, what's this?"

"It's the hardest metal; without the key, it probably can't be opened."

Rivera looked at the red gem in the center of the metal door. The gem was like a mirror, and with its reflection, Rivera saw her own face.

That elegant and noble face seemed to be smiling at me?

Rivera frowned, and just then...

Among the pile of barrels on the second floor, a goblin suddenly emerged from the barrels. It raised one of the barrels high, and Bert, with quick reflexes, threw his dagger, instantly breaking the barrel.

The red liquid poured onto the goblin emitted a foul stench.

“wryyyyyyy…”

A goblin's furious voice rang out, followed by about 20 goblins emerging from the barrels, waving their arms and spitting saliva.

Finn, however, saw the round stones tied around the goblin's waist...

Is it... a firestone?

"It's a Fire Stone! Riveria's Barrier!!"

Chapter 425 Mirror Image Kill (Minor Adjustments)

"Gusha————wryyy!"

Finn's voice and the goblin's roar rang out at the same time.

He shot out like lightning, annihilating the 10 goblins in the shortest possible time.

Grace also fell from the second floor, his heavy descent shattering the ground and sending the goblin flying as it was about to detonate the firestone.