Goddess Kaleidoscope

Furthermore, the first group of infiltrators discovered that the maze expanded with each subsequent level, with the third level being at least five times larger than the first. This increased space allowed for more areas on the third level, each with a larger area, enabling the placement of even more sophisticated and powerful objects.

Some adventurers were horrified to discover that Dog, who was the level master on the first floor, also had the same golem here, and it was just a mini-boss guarding certain areas.

This gives a glimpse into the overall difficulty level of the third level!

The significant increase in difficulty has also caused many adventurous people who followed the trend to pay a heavy price, leaving them battered and bruised, and many even losing their lives.

However, fear could not overcome the greed in human nature. Even knowing that the maze was full of dangers and that many people never came out after entering, a large number of adventurers eager for wealth still rushed in to search for treasure.

The group hadn't gone far when Lud suddenly heard a commotion coming from not far ahead. He rushed to the scene and found that some adventurers were arguing. One of the parties involved happened to be an acquaintance, the mercenary team "Hydrangea Blade" led by Erwin, while the other side consisted of guards from the Navarro family who had hired them.

What are you doing?

"Master Lude!"

The arrival of Lude and his group temporarily halted the conflict between the two sides. After a brief exchange of information, Lude learned that the adventurers and mercenaries led by Erwin and the guards of the Navarro family were at odds over whether to continue their journey.

As one of the first teams to break into the third level of the labyrinth, Erwin's group originally had a large number of people and was considered the strongest force on paper.

However, a maze is not a battlefield. Therefore, when faced with the third level, which is much more dangerous than the first level, they suffered continuous losses along the way, and their large numbers became a disadvantage.

This is where the disagreement arose. The hired adventurers felt that the losses were significant and that it was time to retreat and rest. However, the captain of the guard, loyal to the Navarro family, insisted that the team continue. They had already discovered many of their own men's corpses along the way and were fairly certain that the team that had defeated Dog and advanced to the third level was indeed Trin's group.

Although their squad had a peerless expert like the old steward at the helm, it ultimately consisted of only eight people. They had clearly stated before entering the maze that they were only going in to conduct a preliminary reconnaissance, but they had advanced all the way to the third level. It seemed like they were making rapid progress, but intuition and experience told the captain of the guards that something unexpected might have happened there, and he had to lead reinforcements as soon as possible.

At this moment, deep within the third level of the maze, Dick, who had successfully captured Trin, did not leave the maze, but instead moved around with the two prisoners.

Dick knew very well that although the maze's interior was complex and varied, there was only one entrance and exit back to the surface. He could have easily slipped through alone when he entered, but it would be much more difficult to take two immobile hostages and sneak out right under the noses of the dwarf guards at the gate.

So after thinking it over, Dick decided not to leave. He would find a suitable place on the spot, clean up Terlin first, and then go out.

But the biggest problem troubling Dick now is that using necromancy to strip away the memories of the living takes at least four hours, even if the process goes smoothly. And he can't be disturbed during that time, otherwise not only will the spell fail, but his own soul will also be easily affected by the backlash of the spell.

However, as more and more adventurers flooded into the third level, Dick was embarrassed to find that these people were practically scraping the ground, wanting to search every inch of the maze.

Every time he found a suitable spot, before he could even make a move, someone would appear nearby. Helpless, Dick could only keep moving around, but lacking situational awareness, he would always encounter adventurers unexpectedly, as if some unseen force was guiding them to come and gank him!

"Damn it! Are these people crazy?"

Although he followed Trin's team all the way to the third level of the maze, Dick was not an adventurer and his initial purpose for entering was not to explore the maze. Therefore, he could not personally experience the joy of "finding treasure chests", nor could he understand the strange habits that adventurers unknowingly developed in order to find those treasure chests hidden in the corners.

After being interrupted by three different groups of adventurers while casting his spell, Dick felt his blood pressure soaring. It was like a teenager in the throes of puberty, having prepared all the "materials" and built up the right emotions, only to have his parents barge into his room under the guise of delivering fruit to spy on him the moment he was about to begin micromanaging.

However, just when Dick was in distress, Ludd's help came unexpectedly.

Without any warning, a dark-skinned woman suddenly emerged from the shadows. Dick, who had been so startled his heart stopped, looked closely and realized it was the dark elf who had been with Senior Lude. He breathed a slight sigh of relief.

From their first meeting, when he was wearing a magical artifact and still got beaten up in the street, Lude successfully established a powerful and mysterious image in Dick's mind.

A necromancer who should have been dwelling in darkness not only became a priest under the lawful gods, but also a renowned saint. The more Dick found it hard to understand, the more he felt that the old master Rudd was unfathomable.

His subordinates were clearly not ordinary people either, and the female elf in front of him was one of them whom he found difficult to understand.

"How...how did you find me?"

Is it difficult?

With a mysterious smile that seemed to convey a sense of profound mystery, Hume thought to himself, "Ever since you sneaked into the labyrinth, you've been under the watchful eyes of the 'spying eye.' They know exactly where you're hiding and what you're doing."

"You should have succeeded, right?"

"Yes! I captured Trin, but he still has a lot of his men guarding the main gate. I'm not confident I can get him out of the maze. So I wanted to extract his soul and memories on the spot, but... those adventurers keep interfering with me."

Dick did not hide his plans from Hume; he did indeed need some help.

End of this chapter

"None of you are leaving here today until you find our young master!"

On the third level of the maze, the captain of the guards under Terlin was yelling at a group of adventurers and mercenaries who wanted to quit, while the other guards had already drawn their swords and blocked their way back.

For the captain of the guard, Trin's safety was paramount, driven not only by loyalty to the Navarro family but also by intense fear. If anything were to happen to Trin, not only would their own lives be in danger, but their families would suffer as well.

Those of us who were personally involved with the Navarro family know far better than outsiders how brutal their methods are!

The adventurers didn't want to continue because the casualties along the way were too high. No matter how much the Navarro family offered, they all needed to be alive to enjoy it. Therefore, they were unwilling to risk their lives for a foolish spoiled brat who had courted his own demise.

Seeing that the two sides were deadlocked and each had their own insistence, Lud, who had heard the news, took the initiative to step in and smooth things over after learning about the situation from Erwin.

"In that case, how about we each take a step back?"

"Each side should take a step back? How?"

"Our Medicine God Sect is guided by compassion and takes saving lives as our mission. You are all brave warriors who have ventured into the Demon City, and we will naturally not stand idly by. Therefore, I have come today specifically to bring the protection of the Goddess to those of you on the front lines!"

At Lude's signal, Shanis stepped out from the crowd and walked straight to the demon sculpture in the center of the room. Then, with a slight lift of her skirt, she delivered a clean and swift roundhouse kick.

Beneath the black nun's dress, her long, white legs dazzled the adventurers, while the shattered demon sculpture perfectly suppressed the wicked thoughts that had just surfaced in the minds of the group of lecherous old men.

This nun... I can't afford to mess with her!

With a kick, the demon sculpture was shattered. Several dwarves immediately stepped forward, repaired the empty base, and then placed a pure white sculpture on top. The statue radiated an extremely holy light, not only dispelling the darkness in the room but also invigorating all the adventurers illuminated by this light.

All adventurers who have visited the Pinewood Town Temple have noticed that the texture of this sculpture is extremely similar to that of the goddess statue enshrined in the temple—a smooth, rounded bone china texture.

However, the sculpture is not of a goddess, but a golden archway standing above the clouds, with a circle of kneeling worshippers surrounding the base.

"Master Lude, what is this?"

"This is a sacred image, the gate to the divine realm, the other side of which is the kingdom of the gods. Therefore, believers of any god can pray through the gates of heaven."

"Master, you don't mean to set up a temple in this maze, do you?"

"Yes and no. This is a city built by demons. I wanted to provide assistance to all the heroes who invaded the enemy's lair, so I brought the holy image. This is also the will of the gods. I guess everyone can feel that under the radiance of the holy image, both body and mind can be blessed."

Upon hearing Lud's words, the adventurers present all approached the holy statue and indeed sensed something unusual. Their fatigue subsided even faster, and their injuries were greatly relieved. But most importantly, they received spiritual comfort.

Almost every adventurer who has entered the labyrinth knows that if you stay in this hellish place for too long, even if you just stand still, your mental state will deteriorate over time. First, you will feel restless and uneasy, then you will start to have auditory hallucinations, as if someone is whispering in your ear, and finally you may even have visual hallucinations.

Many adventurers believe that this negative mental buff is a curse from a demon, so as soon as they leave the maze, they head straight to the temple in Pine Town to pray for exorcism.

The holy statue brought by Rude could effectively alleviate these symptoms, so many adventurers knelt before the statue and prayed.

"Master, how many of these sacred statues did you bring?"

"There are only three so far, one on each of the three floors. The sacred statues need to be blessed by the gods to function in this way. If you're thinking of placing one in every room of the maze, then you should give up!"

"Can we carry it on our backs?"

"It's best not to, because the sacred image is not indestructible."

After rejecting a series of Erwin's ideas, the Navarro family's guards and hired adventurers accepted Lud's suggestion to establish an outpost at the Holy Statue to treat the wounded on the spot, while the rest of them used this place as a center to split into several small teams to search the surrounding area.

At that moment, Erwin suddenly remembered that Lud was not only a remarkable priest, but also a master diviner. That day, he had divined with just a pile of copper coins that Trin had come north to search for a divine artifact.

So Erwin went to Lud and asked him to do some divination to see if he could find the missing Trin.

“Finding a person is indeed easier than finding an artifact. But first, I need to know the items that person usually owns or uses, to serve as a medium for divination. Also, this is demon territory after all, and the results of the divination may be easily influenced by Hedtaka, so I cannot guarantee the accuracy of the results.”

Having explained the "possible situations" in advance, Lud accepted a small item handed to him by the captain of the guard, which was said to be something Trin often played with—a cat doll made of thick hemp rope.

The captain of the guard told Lud that the toy was made by Trin's birth mother. Since the old lady passed away three years ago, Trin would often take out this childhood toy and stare at it, reminiscing about the past.

Lude took the toy, pondered for a moment, and then spoke.

"I... will do my best."

Using the excuse that divination required a quiet environment, Lud only summoned the captain of the guard and Erwin to leave the crowd and go to a corner of the room with him.

Lud drew a transmutation circle on the ground with chalk, then placed the doll on it, and finally sprinkled a handful of fine white sand on it. He stared at it for a long time before speaking.

"The situation isn't good, but it's not the worst it could get. Young Master Terlin's destiny is tarnished, and he should be in danger right now. Moreover, this helpless state... it feels like he's been captured by someone. The good news is that his starlight hasn't faded, so at least he's still alive."

"Then, where is he now?"

"It's on the third level of this maze, but there's a force trying to prevent me from seeing the exact location of Starshine. I can only pinpoint a general direction. Whether we can find him before the situation worsens depends on how quickly you can act."

End of this chapter

In a secret chamber deep within the third level of the maze, guided by a dark-skinned female elf who refused to reveal her name, Dick finally found a suitable place to cast spells within the maze.

The secret room is located in the middle of a corridor, with a crystal wall lamp emitting a bluish glow every five meters along both sides of the wall. However, the location of the secret room is missing a lamp. Simply hanging any of the other wall lamps in the missing spot will open the hidden door.

Dick went into the secret room and looked inside. The room was about ten meters square and had no traps. In the center of the room was a rare treasure chest with gold trim. The surface of the chest was covered with a kind of dark purple poisonous vine. It was one of those "hidden items" that were not marked on the map.

The group entered the secret chamber, and the female elf casually turned the mechanism by the door, causing the door to close again.

"You can do it here. The room is soundproof; no one outside can hear you."

After the dark-skinned elf finished speaking, she walked to the shadowy corner of the room and stayed there. Although Dick couldn't see her face, he could sense her gaze, which made him feel somewhat uncomfortable.

"Um... big sister, you..."

"What's wrong? Are you uncomfortable with me watching?"

"Uh……"

With his thoughts exposed by the dark-skinned female elf, Dick awkwardly acquiesced. The female elf gave a cold laugh, said nothing more, and got up to leave.

However, just before leaving, the other party suddenly turned back, walked to the two unconscious hostages, and picked up one of them, Denzel.

"This person is somewhat related to us, so it's necessary to keep him alive. You don't mind if I take him with me, do you?"

"Of course... I don't mind."

Watching the dark-skinned elf carry away a large man with one hand, Dick subconsciously breathed a sigh of relief. He didn't know if it was just a simple illusion or something else, but Dick felt that this woman was very dangerous, even more so than Lud, who had previously beaten him up with his bare hands.

After the other person left, Trinn cracked his knuckles and began drawing the magic circle needed for a soul-stripping spell on the floor. This wasn't the first time Dick had used this spell; it was one of the earliest high-level necromancy spells he had mastered, and he loved using it to deal with those who thought they were being stubborn!

The preparation process for the ceremony took nearly an hour. The double-circle intersecting rune array was very complex. Not only was it time-consuming and laborious to draw one, but the "ink" used to draw the array also needed to be mixed using secret methods. It was not an inexpensive consumable that could be easily obtained.

Furthermore, the spell of soul stripping is extremely difficult to execute, and even the slightest mishap can lead to failure. At best, the soul of the person being stripped will be "shredded" into "living chunks of flesh," rendering all the effort wasted. At worst, even the caster will suffer a backlash.

Once everything was ready, Dick dragged Trillin into one of the rings of the magic circle, and then sat cross-legged on the other side.

Once the spell is activated, both souls will leave their bodies together. However, the caster is the executioner, while the victim is the victim, powerless to resist as the intruder browses everything and steals the parts that interest them.

The most insidious aspect of this spell is that it steals memories not by "copying," but by the damn "cutting" method!

Under Dick's control, Trin's soul was first "pulled" out of his own body, appearing as an orange-red flame under the necromancer's spiritual vision. Then, Dick's own soul also left his body on its own, shaped like a gray-brown octopus, and pounced directly on Trin's soul, stabbing it fiercely with its sharp tentacles.