Traveling through the second dimension, the joy system encourages me to laugh heartily!

Then, she shouldered her enormous pack, which was almost half her height and filled with high-energy emergency rations, spare fuel, a makeshift tent, and various emergency supplies.

Luo Qixi took a deep breath of the cold air, took a step, and officially stepped into the depths of the hail forest.

Her target, the Frozen Lavender, typically grows on the shady, steep edges of cliffs deep in the forest. For safety, she proceeded cautiously, occasionally waving her magic wand. Precise bursts of orange-red flame melted the snow on the path ahead, ensuring each step was firmly planted on solid ground to avoid accidentally falling off the cliff.

Time slipped by in the silent journey. Before we knew it, the sky began to darken.

The sky, which was originally just a gray haze, now seemed to have been splashed with thick ink, and the clouds hung so low that they seemed within reach.

"Ok?"

Luo Qixi immediately noticed the abnormality. She looked up at the sky, her delicate brows furrowing tightly, and muttered to herself, "Oh no, it's going to be a blizzard. I need to find somewhere to take shelter..."

The blizzards in the northern continent are extremely fierce, easily obscuring visibility and causing people to lose their way, fall into the abyss, be swept into a sudden avalanche, or even accidentally wander into a horde of monsters...

For most adventurers, the wisest choice when encountering this level of severe weather is to immediately find a safe shelter and wait for the blizzard to end before continuing their journey.

Only a strong person like Chen Ming could ignore the blizzard and even evaporate the clouds.

As a Saint-level mage, Loki can also use weather magic to dispel or move clouds.

But that would deplete her magic power, and she would still need to find a place to rest and replenish her magic power afterwards!

Moreover, the Void state is extremely dangerous for mages, leaving them defenseless against enemy attacks.

Instead of wasting mana to fight against the wrath of the heavens, it's better to maintain full mana, find a safe haven, and patiently wait for the blizzard to pass on its own.

Having made her decision, Luo Qixi immediately began to take action, her sharp eyes scanning the surrounding terrain. She had to find shelter before the blizzard truly arrived!

Lady Luck seemed to be on her side.

After a careful search, she found a cave entrance half-covered by snow at the base of a huge rock wall.

The entrance to the cave is small, only allowing one person to bend down and enter, but the interior seems to be a completely different world.

"Great!"

Luo Qixi was overjoyed and quickly cleared the snow from the entrance of the cave before crawling inside.

If she couldn't find a cave, she would have to use earth magic to temporarily build a stone house to cope with the blizzard. Not only would it be less safe and reliable than a cave, but it would also consume a lot of magic power.

Apart from beings like Chen Ming whose magic is almost limitless, most mages carefully calculate and cherish every bit of magic when carrying out adventure missions!

Upon entering the cave, Luo Qixi looked around and discovered that the cave was deeper than she had expected, about ten meters deep.

What surprised Loki even more was its structure: the entire cave was a fairly regular hemisphere, as if it had been carefully sculpted by some enormous force.

With the help of the dim light coming through the cave entrance, she keenly noticed that both the ground beneath her feet and the surrounding stone walls were covered with extremely ancient, complex, and strange inscriptions that she had never seen before!

Just as alarm bells were ringing in her mind, wondering why this place was so strange.

"Buzz!"

A barely perceptible hum rang out! The [Divine Protection] halo surrounding her was instantly activated without warning!

A barrier of light, flowing with sacred runes, suddenly appeared, enveloping her entirely! A delicate ripple spread across the surface of the barrier, as if it had just withstood an invisible and extremely subtle attack or erosion!

Luo Qixi's heart trembled violently, and she instantly entered a battle stance!

However, before she could react, the ancient inscriptions on the cave walls and floor, which had been silent for countless years, suddenly lit up with a cold blue-white light!

"Oh no!" Luo Qixi could only exclaim in her heart.

The next moment, everything spun around! The scene in the cave crumbled and vanished like pieces of a shattered mirror—[Divine Protection] can withstand most types of attacks, but teleportation magic is not considered an attack.

When the scene before Loki returned to normal, the biting cold wind and the scent of cedar trees had vanished without a trace.

Instead, there is the musty smell unique to the depths of the earth, a mixture of damp rocks and moss.

She found herself standing in a deep and oppressive underground passage.

The stone walls on both sides of the passage were inlaid with unidentified minerals that emitted a faint green light, barely illuminating the passage.

Meanwhile, on the other side...

Chen Ming, who was studying the language of the gods and divine magic in the library, suddenly sensed with perfect clarity that the [Divine Protection] he had cast on Luo Qixi had been triggered!

If Loki were to encounter a regular enemy, she could easily handle it with her Saint-level magician strength.

The activation of [Divine Protection] indicates that she has encountered an enemy beyond the norm.

This worried Chen Ming greatly, so he immediately took Jin Bisha, Yin Yue, Linia and Prusena and teleported back to the mansion.

After briefly explaining the situation to them and instructing Silvermoon to protect everyone,

Chen Ming unfurled his Wings of Light, bursting through the air above the mansion and flying rapidly toward the direction of the Divine Guardian—because he could only sense the direction and not the exact address, he couldn't use teleportation to land directly beside Luo Qixi.

The situation was urgent, and Chen Ming couldn't afford to hold back his strength. While flying, he opened the system shop and spent 10 points of Joyful Divine Power to exchange for ten [Wings of Light].

There are 868200 points remaining.

If it weren't for the fact that a person could only equip a maximum of 12 wings, he would have wanted to exchange for even more.

As one enormous wing of light after another unfolded behind Chen Ming, his acceleration soared from 200 G to a terrifying 1200 G!

Flying at such a terrifying speed within the atmosphere should have triggered a devastating sonic boom, tearing the air into a vacuum.

However, the wondrous nature of the Wings of Light is undeniable—the holy radiance that envelops the entire body automatically eliminates air resistance and mitigates the effects of overload on the human body.

Chen Ming seemed to have truly transformed into a pure rainbow of light, ignoring the constraints of the laws of physics, drawing a straight and dazzling trajectory in the sky!

Just 10 seconds later, Chen Ming arrived at the location he had sensed.

However, at this point his speed reached an astonishing 120 km/s, so he could not stop immediately.

The rainbow streaked across the sky above the target with unstoppable force.

Logically, he could only rely on the 1200G acceleration of the [Wings of Light] to decelerate in the opposite direction and then fly back.

But Chen Ming was clearly unconventional. He used teleportation to return to the location he had just sensed – which at first glance appeared to be just an inconspicuous cave in the mountainside.

Scattered all around were the remains of some enormous spider-like monsters, and layers of grayish-white spider webs hung from the rocks at the cave entrance and the surrounding dead trees...

However, as Chen Ming approached, a sinister atmosphere emanated from the cave entrance—cold, deathly silent, and seemingly capable of devouring all life. Without any explanation, any experienced adventurer could instantly understand: that was the entrance to the labyrinth!

In his perception, Loki was inside this maze. Moreover, only one layer of the 101st layer of [Divine Protection] had been activated and had not yet been broken.

This gave Chen Ming a precious buffer time—although he had absolute confidence in his own strength, he knew that sharpening his axe wouldn't delay his work, and faced with the unknown maze, he steadily took out the maze guide from the system space.

He bought this from the Adventurers' Guild when he was an adventurer.

With his fingers moving swiftly, Chen Ming searched for information about the cave's location and features, and soon found detailed information about the maze in front of him. The money he spent on the maze guide was well spent!

"S-rank...Devil's Labyrinth..."

Chen Ming read the name from the encyclopedia in a low voice, his eyes becoming serious, after all, this was one of the most dangerous mazes in the Northern Continent!

The encyclopedia contains information obtained by adventurers with their blood:

The first level of the maze: the Crimson Spider – a giant poisonous spider that, despite being a tarantula, can spin silk. Its venom can be cured with a basic antidote. Danger level: B.

Level 2 of the maze: Steel Crawler – a caterpillar that looks like a heavy armored vehicle, with a hard shell and a heavy body, danger level B.

The third level of the maze is the Mad Skull—a humanoid monster covered in mud, with a human skull buried in its center, which is also its weakness. It can use earth magic and is rated A in danger.

Level 4 of the maze: Armored Warrior – Wearing rusty armor, possessing four arms, each wielding a sharp sword, danger level A.

The 5th floor of the maze is home to the Gluttonous Demon—a monster with long arms and legs, sharp teeth and claws that crawls and moves on the walls and ceiling. Its danger level is A.

Even the Adventurers' Guild hadn't been able to find out anything about the area below the 6th floor of the labyrinth.

Of course, it's also possible that more in-depth information requires additional payment, which is why it wasn't included in the dungeon encyclopedia.

As Chen Ming closed the encyclopedia, a series of flashes of light surrounded him—while flipping through the maze encyclopedia, he didn't waste any time and used [Multiple Chanting] to stack 100 layers of [Divine Protection] on himself!

With everything ready, he took a deep breath, flapped his wings of light, and flew into the entrance of the demon labyrinth...

Chapter 202: The Will to Survive

This wasn't Chen Ming's first time challenging a maze, so he felt no excitement, only the pressure of not being allowed to fail.

The cave was somewhat dark, but not so dark that you couldn't see your hand in front of your face, because there were some stones embedded in the walls that emitted a green glow.

This environment is extremely disadvantageous for ordinary adventurers—their field of vision is limited, making them highly vulnerable to attacks from monsters.

When a typical adventurer party encounters this situation, they would definitely have the party's mage use a light spell to summon a ball of light to hover above the party's head!

Although this will consume some magic power, it is still better than everyone holding a torch. After all, having one hand occupied by a torch will seriously affect combat effectiveness.

However, Chen Ming did not need to use illumination magic. Behind him were twelve huge and magnificent wings of light. Even though they were slightly folded back to his back to adapt to the passage, they were still like twelve miniature suns, emitting a stable and gentle holy radiance that illuminated the entire passage!

According to the encyclopedia, the first three levels of this maze are structured like ant nests, while from the fourth level onwards, they transform into structures resembling stone ruins...

After Chen Ming illuminated the first level of the passage, everything in sight—the cave walls, the dome, and even the corners of the passage—was covered with layers upon layers of pale white spiderwebs.

Hanging from each web are several large, adult scarlet spiders with compound eyes that gleam with a ferocious red light, like cold sentinels waiting for their prey.

The sight on the ground was even more nauseating—a dense mass of translucent spider eggs covered the ground, like a wriggling white carpet, with countless newly hatched or immature spiderlings frantically crawling and biting each other on the egg piles. This scene was enough to make anyone who loathed arthropods instantly collapse.

Ordinary adventurers could only suppress their nausea and trudge forward, stepping slowly on the slippery egg fluid and fragile insect bodies, each step accompanied by a chilling cracking sound and a sticky feeling.

But Chen Ming's feet never touched the ground from the moment he entered the maze! He maintained a hovering posture several feet off the ground, as if riding a stream of light, flying rapidly inward along the passage.

This not only allowed him to completely avoid the uncomfortable "carpet" under his feet, but also cleverly avoided the maze traps that might be hidden under the egg pile, killing two birds with one stone.

To save time, Chen Ming went all out!

Faced with the ferocious spiders that were leaping and attacking from all directions and from the web, he moved his mind slightly, and the seemingly soft feathers of light suddenly shot out from the edges of the light wings that had been folded behind him!

As the light flashed and disappeared, precise as a scalpel, the ferocious giant spiders were still in mid-air when their hard shells and internal organs were instantly pierced and vaporized by the scorching beam of light. Even their venom didn't have time to spray before turning into ashes and dissipating.

He was invincible, and B-rank monsters were nothing more than dust that was instantly annihilated in front of him.

The first level ends at a spacious stone chamber covered in thick cobwebs. In the center of this filth, a complex magic circle composed of blue and white energy lines emits a stable and pure light, like a pearl in a murky swamp—according to the labyrinth guide, it is the transfer array to the second level, which will automatically activate simply by standing on it.

Chen Mingyi, a man of great skill and courage, did not hesitate for a moment, his figure as swift as lightning, and landed steadily in the center of the magic circle.

As the light suddenly burst forth, his figure vanished instantly, and he arrived at the second level.

The scene on the second level was completely different: the suffocating spider eggs and baby spiders had vanished without a trace, revealing the damp, dark soil below.

However, a new threat replaced them—heavy crushing sounds and metallic scraping echoed through the passageway.

That was the "steel reptile," a giant caterpillar that looked like it was covered in heavy metal armor. It was about one meter tall and two meters long, and its short, stout body gave people a strong sense of power.

Their shells gleam with a cold, metallic sheen and are exceptionally hard, yet they move with eerie speed, creating a stark contrast to their bulky appearance.

But this contrast is meaningless in the face of Chen Ming's absolute power.

His flight path remained unchanged, and his speed did not decrease. When the steel crawler attempted to strike or spray corrosive acid with its heavy body, the light wings surrounding him merely fluttered slightly, and beams of condensed light swept across it.

Under the scorching beam of light, the hard outer shell was easily melted and torn apart like a hot knife cutting through butter, turning into charcoal along with the soft tissue inside.

With unstoppable force, Chen Ming traversed the entire second level and stepped onto the teleportation magic circle leading to the third level once again.

From the moment we entered the maze, only about ten minutes had passed.

This astonishing efficiency was not only due to his overwhelming strength, but also largely thanks to the Adventurers' Guild's detailed "Maze Compendium." Without the marked paths, monster distribution, and trap hints on the map, navigating this complex structure, which resembled a giant anthill, would likely have taken several times longer.

A flash of light appeared as Chen Ming stepped onto the third floor, and the environment changed once again.

The spiderwebs of the fiery red spider and the crushing marks left by the steel crawlers had vanished. The place now seemed even more empty and desolate!

But Chen Ming's heart skipped a beat—because there was some crucial good news!

Previously, he had always sensed the [Divine Protection] mark located "below" him, but now it was clearly on the same "water surface" as him!

This means that Loki is on this floor!

With a clear location, Chen Ming no longer hesitated. He transformed into a beam of light that tore through the darkness and flew swiftly toward the location of the [Holy Guardian]!

……

Loki was teleported from the Hailstorm Forest to an unknown place by an ancient teleportation array, and found herself standing in a deep and oppressive underground passage.

However, they didn't even have a moment to catch their breath. Almost simultaneously, a sickeningly loud creaking sound of muddy flesh and the cracking sound of bones grinding together suddenly rang out from both sides of the passage!

The next moment, countless bizarre figures emerged as if crawling out of a hellish swamp—human-shaped silhouettes covered in slippery mud, their movements contorted and their steps heavy. And in the center of those mud-covered bodies, there were stark white, hollow human skulls!

Its hollow eye sockets stared intently at Luo Qixi, radiating pure malice.

As a seasoned adventurer, Loki's excellence was well-deserved. Panic surged through her like a cold tide, but her instincts, honed by years of experience, immediately took over.

She forced herself to suppress the urge to scream, her slender fingers instantly gripping her wand tightly, magic surging at high speed.