Acht and Tania were oblivious to what was happening in the control room or the video of the unknown Nightingale member that stole the energy crystal that kept the maze intact, the only thing they had in mind was to leave as fast as possible.
As they moved from one corridor to another, the walls were already cracking loudly and even some debris was falling down occasionally beside them.
'If we keep going at this speed, we won't be able to make it.' He thought as he looked at Tania with his cold eyes.
"Wait a moment." He said as he halted his steps.
Tania also stopped and eyed him with clear confusion written on her face. Then, without a single word, he grabbed her waist and lifted her up like a princess.
"I'm going to increase my speed. Grab me tightly."
Tania was very surprised by this action. Her heart was beating in her ears as she looked at Acht from a very close distance. She almost lost herself in looking at him before coming back to reality as he launched himself like a speeding bullet.
She almost fell down to the ground because of the high speed but she was able to balance herself and grab him tightly.
'So cool…So cool.' She thought with a blush on her small face. What was happening now was something she didn't even dream about since it was akin to heaven for her…a heaven she will never reach.
However, it was happening. She was now getting hugged by Acht. The feeling of his warm body and strong arms made her snuggle more closer to his chest and bury her face in his clothes, smelling them silently.
Acht was focused on the path so he didn't feel her movement. If he did, he would've probably not known whether to laugh or cry.
"It seems to be safe for now. We can reach the center in 60 seconds. Fuuh." Acht sighed in relief as he saw that the walls could still hold on for a few more minutes.
However, this thought will soon be destroyed into small pieces. As he took a turn to the left thinking that he was going on the right path, he stumbled upon a dead end.
'What? Did I make a mistake?' he thought and immediately expanded his soul sense to check again.
He indeed felt that the path was from the opposite side so he turned around and ran there. Again, instead of finding a long corridor, he found a dead end.
'No. What is going on?' He looked around and checked the walls again.
He didn't feel any kind of abnormality except for the diminishing soul energy inside these walls.
The only possible thing he could think of is that because of the huge drop in soul energy, the walls couldn't keep a certain form and started changing places chaotically and with no pattern.
This meant another horrible outcome that he didn't even think about before. What he considered the easiest thing in this whole test became the hardest thing.
'This is really bad. I have to find a way out of this randomly changing maze. I barely even have a few minutes before these walls collapse on us.'
Tania saw how troubled he was and was also aware of the glaring danger they were in at the moment.
So, she tapped Acht's arm gently, telling him to let her down. He didn't know what she was thinking about or what she was going to do.
After she stood up, she extended her hand and created a huge platform made out of crystal under them. Then, she made the crystal platform rise higher and higher until it reached the ceiling.
Acht watched this amazing show and hardly could believe his eyes. He didn't think that she would become this masterful in controlling her element in just three months.
'She really worked hard, huh.'
For some reason, this fact made him smile slightly. He felt like a proud father or something along those lines. It wasn't that intense of a feeling but it made him feel a bit calmer.
After reaching the ceiling, she made another crystal object that was sharp and pierced the wall in front of her.
In normal circumstances, she should've been unable to break these enforced walls but because they were crumbling down, she was able to pull that off.
In a moment, a huge hole was created and she jumped inside that hole along with Acht. They already were aware of the destination so they didn't take time to think about it.
After that, they jumped to the next hole created in the closest wall to their side and continued like that. Jumping from one wall to another.
"I can see the end." The black-haired boy said.
The center was very close to them, all they had to do was to jump a few more walls. But, it proved to not be that easy.
Acht had miscalculated how much longer the walls could hold on for.
The moment they jumped on the fourth wall…
*CRACK*
A loud cracking sound echoed in their ears followed by losing their balance as the wall crumbled down to the ground.
Acht didn't wait and he immediately grabbed Tania and hugged her tightly before using gravity to reduce their fall. The moment they made contact with the ground, they were buried by the crumbling walls. Tons and tons of stones came crashing down on them.
A few seconds later, the place finally calmed down, leaving behind nothing but hollow silence.
The audience watched this scene in horror. In a split second, all the walls had suddenly crumbled down and buried the contestants under them. They couldn't utter a single word for a good moment as they tried to digest what they saw.
Even Nestern looked slightly more interested now since something unexpected happened.
'Maybe it won't be as boring as I expected.' he thought with a very faint smile.
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This 𝓬ontent is taken from fre𝒆webnove(l).𝐜𝐨𝗺