Chapter 628 [ Great Gruen Volcano - III ]

"The danger level of this place is clearly higher than [Orcus]." - Shizuku said as she frowned at the sight of the corpse of what appeared to be a fire Behemoth. The problem was not the existence of it, but that they were appearing in the first few floors of the maze.

"It tastes like chicken" - Shea said with surprise as she ate the beast's flesh.

"Strangely, all rare meats taste like chicken" - Tio replied as she shrugged - "That makes it surprising that an exotic meat tastes something different."

"Leaving aside the taste of monster meat, this place is stranger than we thought" - Cloud said with a frown - "So far, we don't know what the concept that proves this maze is."

"[Orcus] was a maze full of monsters, but they increased in power as you went down. According to Oscar Orcus himself, his maze was designed to give the strength to overcome limits" - Yue muttered while frowning - "[Raisen] was an annoying place full of traps in a place where magic was forbidden, honestly I could say it tested people's mental capacity and patience, but after thinking about it a bit, I think the creator of that damn place, was just testing the ability to be able to solve problems without magic"

"Makes sense, I've heard a lot of things about [Orcus], and although I haven't seen the [Great Raisen Maze], I think you're right with your assumptions" - Tio mused as she started to think - "Although now I'm curious as to what this maze is testing. Maybe it's trying to test the limit of our bodies?"

"It's possible, but I don't think it's that simple" - replied Cloud as he looked around with a frown, after all, this place didn't seem to want him to use his abilities to be able to detect danger - "Anyway, I think we've rested enough, we'd better move on."

"Ok" - nodded the girls as they started their journey again.

* * * * *

"Cloud" - muttered Shizuku as she felt her forehead was beaded with sweat, something Yue and Shea were starting to experience as well.

"I know" - Cloud replied with a frown as he saw how the artifact he had used to control his body temperature, was starting to fail - "The mana in this place is too concentrated, the artifact can't absorb such pure mana, I'm going to have to work a bit more on these snaps to prevent something like this, from happening again."

The group had been advancing for an hour, and were currently descending to the 10th floor after having faced many strange fire creatures.

"The attacks are becoming more frequent, and the lava seems to be getting more and more erratic" - Tio said with a frown as he looked around apprehensively, after all, they had been constantly receiving lava blasts from the walls.

"We need to take a break, Cloud, we can't keep moving in this heat" - Shea said as she looked down at her body and noticed how sweat was sticking to her skin - "Do you think it's a good idea for me to fight with only underwear?"

"Sure, at least if you want to turn into a roasted rabbit" - Yue replied while giving her friend a blank look - "Remember that the clothes you're wearing, were modified by Cloud to be able to resist elemental attacks, and if it wasn't for you wearing them, you would have received many burns by now."

"Ugh, it was just a thought, you don't have to be so mean, Yue-san" - muttered Shea as she averted her gaze.

Cloud shook his head as he wiped the little sweat that was running down his forehead.

The heat was starting to get to him, and while it wasn't as bad as the others, it was starting to get annoying.

"Shea-san's ideas aside, I think I figured out the purpose of this place" - Tio said while looking at Cloud with a serious expression - "As Yue-san said before, mazes are tests, [Orcus] was fighting monsters to strengthen the body and break the limits, [Raisen] was solving problems without magic, well, I think [Gruen] is to concentrate and react to the constant surprises while under enormous stress, in this case, the constant increase of heat."

Yue, Shea and Shizuku, could only stare in surprise at Tio, who quickly started to get embarrassed.

"What?" - Tio asked as she averted her gaze.

"No, it's just that we're surprised that you would say something with so much sense when you act 90% of the time like a pervert" - replied Yue as the others nodded.

"How rude!" - Tio snorted as she frowned.

The girls started laughing, only to let out a groan of exhaustion as they felt the heat increase slightly - "Ugh."

"Ok, I think it's a good time to rest" - Cloud said as he shook his head and created a small reinforced cave to prevent the lava from shooting out while they rested.

Yue quickly created a powerful ice barrier around it to reduce the temperature, which the girls immediately appreciated.

"Cloud, I think we'd better go investigate the surroundings in search of the stones" - Tio said as she watched her companions relax - "This place looks like the perfect place for them to appear".

"Right, I forgot about it with the whole completing the labyrinth and the heat thing" - Cloud said as he looked closely at the black-haired woman.

"Uh, is something wrong?" - Tio asked as she averted her gaze in embarrassment.

"No, it's just that I'm grateful to have you with us, if it wasn't for you, we would have possibly forgotten about our second objective" - Cloud answered honestly.

Tio blushed slightly as a small smile appeared on clouds handsome face.

Cloud stared at her for a few seconds because if he was honest, this dragon girl's way of being, was something his instincts seemed to be craving, though he quickly shook his head because this was not the time to mate with Tio.

The dragon girl also began to react strangely, she had instinctively sensed how she was starting to come into heat, but this feeling quickly disappeared.

"I think we'd better split up so we can explore as much area as possible" - Cloud said as he coughed slightly.

"R-Right, I think that's the best plan of action" - nodded Tio with a red face.

The two quickly turned around and went their separate ways, though they did this mostly so they could calm down.

Cloud had already gone through a similar situation where he couldn't control his instincts, so it was better to be safe than sorry, while Tio, didn't want to mate until she was sure he was her mate, after all, her race had a huge sense of duty and loyalty, the man she chose, would be her mate for the rest of her life.

Thirty minutes later, the two returned to the place where the others were waiting for them.

They were both sweating because to their bad luck, the rocks were near the magma rivers, in Cloud's case, he had to literally jump into one of them to try to catch the stupid rocks.

"What happened to them?" - Shea asked with surprise and slight suspicion.

"We went to get the rocks we were ordered to get" - Tio answered while wiping her sweat - "Those things were too close to the lava rivers."

"I know, I had to dive into one of them to get mine" - Cloud replied with annoyance, though at least with the stones they had gathered, they had already completed their side mission.

"Oh, right, we had to get those stones" - Shea said with discomfort because she had honestly forgotten about that mission.

Yue nodded normally while Shizuku blushed because she too had forgotten this important detail.

"I guess they've rested enough, so we'd better continue" - Cloud said calmly.

"Wouldn't it be better if they got some rest?" - Shizuku asked with concern.

"No, the faster we finish this maze, the faster we can return to the city" - answered Cloud simply - "Not to mention that I'm a little worried about Myu and Kaori, after all, we have two strangers lurking around the city, and we don't know if they really left, or not."

"You're right" - Shizuku muttered with a frown. The blond's words made her wake up and start worrying more about her best friend.

* * * * *

"Dad" - muttered Myu as she looked out the window of the infirmary.

"Relax, he's fine" - smiled Kaori as she stroked the little light blue-haired girl's hair - "They'll be back soon and it'll be like nothing happened."

"Yes!" - nodded Myu with a happy smile as she stood up and started dancing - "Daddy will be back soon ~!"

Kaori smiled slightly when she saw the drastic change in the little girl's mood, though her expression quickly returned to normal because she still had a lot of work to do, especially with all the sick people who came one after another to try to alleviate the symptoms.

-

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