Time flowed by like a raging river, the trio moving as fast as possible throughout.

Eventually, they were successful in creating enough distance; to a point where the wheel was nothing but a blurry silhouette in the fog, once more.

At this point, Lucian’s legs were submerged up to his thighs; the water starting to properly drag at his limbs and slowing his movements significantly.

He feared that sooner or later, the water levels were going to rise up to a point where running became an impossible task. And if that were to actually happen, then himself—and his two compatriots, by association—would be fatally crushed under wheel.

Truth be told, the water levels were already proving to be a hindrance for Transient Cardinal. Due to her far more petite stature, the water, already up to his thighs, was closer than not to her wide hips. As a result, instead of running, she was forced to… wade quickly, for lack of a better term.

Speaking of which…

“Umm… I… think I’m going to need some help soon.” Lucian was ripped away from his internal musings at the white-haired waif’s exhausted voice.

Focusing fully on her face, it became even clearer how tired she truly was.

Quickly determining how to help after giving her a once-over, he stretched out his bandaged hand and got her attention. “Pass me your backpack. It should help.”

The white-haired waif balked momentarily at his firmly worded demand but did as asked without any protest – knowing any arguments would unnecessarily deplete her energy.

Smoothly shrugging off the carrier, she handed it over after a quick glance.

His fingers briefly intertwined with hers when he took possession of the bag, contact that broke once the raven-haired man was sure he had a secure hold on the aquamarine material.

“Thank you for the help. Pass it back if it gets too heavy, okay?”

Lucian nodded distractedly, acknowledging her gratitude but more focused on shrugging the backpack on. Having already decided the best way to go about it, he pushed his left arm through one of its main straps, swapped his end table to his bandaged hand, and then pushed his right arm through the other main strap; the padded back ending up snugly nestled against his chest.

Though he tried to be fast about it, putting on the new backpack did cause him to slow down a touch. In stark contrast, with her burden being unburdened, so to speak, Transient Cardinal’s speed picked up significantly in turn.

----------------------------------------

Time continued flowing on, the water levels slowly creeping up all the while.

Lucian wasn’t sure how long it had been, but the enclosed clearing Boris, Cherub, and Tsumiki had taken shelter within had disappeared out of sight long, long ago. Yet… there was still no sign of another one anywhere up ahead.

Although Lucian would refuse to admit it if anyone asked, despair was starting to dig its claws in, tearing away at his hopeful optimism, bit by little bit.

Each breath he breathed and each step he took caused a dull ache in his side, something though previously easily ignorable, to flare up even more; waiting to lay him low at the slightest misstep.

Alongside despair rode fatigue, his legs coming close to feeling like jelly due to the brutal pace and continuous slog through sloshing waters.

If not for the two women ahead of him, he was certain he would have faltered by now. Part of it, admittedly, was simple machismo; the desire not to look weak in front of two beautiful women. A more noble—at least, he hoped—reason, however, was the fact that being at the back of the formation gave him the opportunity to provide assistance whenever either slowed down.

To be fair, said occurrence was more commonplace with Transient Cardinal than Julia, the latter even providing shouted encouragements from time to time.

Speaking of which…

“I think I can see a break up ahead! Hang in there everyone!”

The honey blonde’s call caused Lucian to perk up, flagging stamina getting a—third? Fourth? At this point, the raven-haired man wasn’t even sure himself—wind and letting him speed up – even if only slightly.

Much like himself, Transient Cardinal sped up; both her arms paddling furiously and adding to her efforts of moving forward; her run having transformed into more of a swim by now.

“So is it another enclosed clearing?” Lucian couldn’t help but ask, hoping it would be so, yet also fearing it wouldn’t be the case. With their luck in the maze thus far, he wouldn’t be surprised if it was some new unknown type of hostile.

“Give me a sec… I still don’t see any floa— wait, yes! It is!” While sounding hesitant to start off with, Julia interrupted herself midway through; tone becoming far happier as she confirmed it was an enclosed clearing.

Reacting to the good news, Transient Cardinal cheered while starting to swim-run all the harder. “Thank goodness! Finally!”

While not as… verbose, Lucian was no less buoyed by the news; his speed of movement ratcheting up a notch in tandem with his rising spirits.

Soon enough, the entrance in question loomed out of the fog ahead.

Not much longer after that, Julia splashed through the narrow entrance, disappearing out of sight. Transient Cardinal followed hot on her heels, her motions making it look like she was diving from one body of water into another as she vanished through the gap.

At the back of his mind, Lucian feared that another Temporary Barrier of Immaculate Respite would appear the moment his white-haired partner dove through the gap, truth be told.

When a softly shining barrier didn’t materialise, however, he couldn’t help but release a grateful sigh of relief even as he, too, pushed through the entrance; all the sounds outside the enclosed clearing instantly vanishing in concert with said barrier’s prompt materialisation.

Knowing he was safe for now, his body sagged in exhaustion, muscles relaxing until they were more akin to wobbly jelly. If not for the waist-high water, he would have likely flopped down to rest on the grass; muddy or not.

Even so, he couldn’t help but lean forward, sorely tempted to just… let go and fall. In fact, the prospect of doing just that became more alluring as he stared down at the rippling waters…

Just as Lucian was about to give in to the temptation, the distorted reflection of pure white hair in the rippling surface jerked him back into the here and now; concentration having been so absolute, he failed to notice Transient Cardinal’s splashing approach.

Straightening back up to his full height and turning to face the approaching figure, the raven-haired man sent an inquiring look her way.

The tale has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

Responding to his look, she explained. “You can give me back my backpack now, my Knight. Thank you for the help again.”

“Ahh,” Lucian let off in sudden understanding, the backpack having actually slipped his mind. “Don’t worry ‘bout it, and… here you go.”

While speaking, he let go of his end table with a splash even as said backpack slipped off his shoulders and down his arms; Lucian grabbing it with his hands before it could fall off completely and join his improvised mace.

Already prepared to take it from him, Transient Cardinal grabbed it and immediately swung it behind her while pushing her arms through the straps.

In the meantime, Lucian bent down once her backpack left his grip and scooped his end table back up before straightening once more…

Only to meet with Julia’s emerald greens, the honey blonde having waded over surprisingly silently.

“Need something?” Lucian inquired, before she could say a thing.

She hummed noncommittally. “Not exactly. I just wanted to see if you’re fine.”

He tilted his head while arching his brow confusedly. “Why wouldn’t I be?”

She shrugged back, an odd combination of fatigue and embarrassment swirling in her eyes. “I’m not saying that you aren’t. Just… wanted to confirm you were, for my own peace of mind more than anything else.”

“Well then,” he intoned lightly, bandaged hand combing through his matted down hair, “I’m all good, but thanks for the concern.”

Letting his hand fall and splash in the rippling waters, he continued after a beat. “You might wanna check on Cardinal too, then. I’m going to check out the poles in the meantime. I’m curious why there are three instead of two.”

Lucian started wading away once he finished speaking, certain that Julia had nothing else to say. Hearing the two women strike up a conversation behind him, it became clear that his guess held water; pun fully intended.

Tuning out the pair, he focused on his goal and reached it after a noisy couple of seconds. Though there was no chance that the torches would remain alight under the heavy, unceasing downpour, the whys of such became clear when he was in such close proximity.

Wrapped around the tips of each pole was a cloth of some sort, each one having acquired a slightly charred colouration; the ashy black clumps having become extremely noticeable amidst the downpour.

While his Knowledge implant had revealed the mundanity of the fixtures in question, he was still sort of surprised to see the reason for the torches being extinguished was a simple matter of sodden fuel sources.

He had half-expected the source of the fires to be something supernatural in origin despite the mellifluous voice’s claims, so to see how… normal it was, was a bit of a disappointment, in all honesty.

He spent a moment longer looking at the poles before looking down at his hands, unsure what to do now that his curiosity had been sated. Although the pair of voices coming from behind made it clear Julia and Transient Cardinal were still talking about something, he wasn’t interested in eavesdropping at the moment.

Something occurred to him as he stared down at his hands, however.

Quickly going over his memories, he realised it had been some time since he last used his Knowledge implant on himself.

Immediately acting on his thoughts, Lucian dropped his end table before curling his fingers inwards, mellifluous voice starting up just as his soaked fingertips kissed flesh.

Handle – El Knight.

Health: Slightly injured.

G. A. M. E.—#1.

Players Remaining/(102/201).

Narration of the last numbers caused him to flinch violently, taken aback by the precipitous drop in Players. If he recalled correctly, last he checked, there had been a fair amount more than that – somewhere around 120, if memory served.

Feeling that the other two should know about this immediately, Lucian swept up his end table and quickly splashed over to the still conversing women; his loud approach drawing their attention to him better than any words could have.

“Is something wrong?” The moment he reached a comfortable speaking range, Transient Cardinal let out an inquiry; a concerned furrow between her pale brows.

While Julia remained silent, the slight tilt to her head made it crystal clear that she wanted to know the same.

Instantly recounting the bits that had made him feel concerned, he waited for their reactions.

Lucian wasn’t disappointed. He was, however, taken off guard by how they were individually expressed.

While a soft gasp—even if a slightly muffled one, owing to the white-haired waif dropping one of her table legs before clapping said hand over her lips—left Transient Cardinal’s mouth, Julia’s reaction was far more… visceral; the buxom beauty kicking out in agitation, a large plume of water exploding out as a result even as a furious, snarled, “Fuck!”, slipped out from between clenched teeth.

Unexpected was putting it far too mildly when describing Lucian’s assessment of Julia’s outburst. While he wouldn’t deny that it was warranted, it was still a tad… uncharacteristic, based on what he had seen of her thus far.

Instead of continuing with more infectives, the honey blonde fell silent and started stewing in her anger.

In the meantime, while Transient Cardinal had been visibly taken off guard by Julia’s reaction, her focus was centred more on fishing one half of her weapons out of the water.

Once done with that, she shot Julia a lingering, worried look before turning to face Lucian properly. “Why do you think the numbers dropped by so much? I have my own suspicions, but I want to know yours, if you have any.”

While the raven-haired man had followed the white-haired waif’s gaze, her inquiry brought his attention back on her and away from the stewing honey blonde.

“It’s probably cause people are finally entering the maze.” He postulated while frowning uncertainly. “Although I don’t know what did them in specifically, I can easily imagine either the Apostate Wraith or Hungering Rodents doing so, especially if they weren’t expecting them.”

She hummed consideringly, fingers fidgeting with one another above her navel. “Your opinion is pretty much in line with mine. I just hope whatever’s responsible is one of the creatures we’ve come across so far.”

He grunted in agreement, hoping she hadn’t just jinxed things. Before either could say anything else, a sudden blur of fluttering black and piercing crimson caught both their attentions.

Despite that, neither was the first to react.

Exploding upwards from the rippling waters, Julia intercepted the tendril of Bloodthirst Briar as it lashed down from the fog above. The glass-embedded tip of her improvised mace rose up to meet the single crimson thorn poking out from the ambushing vine’s tip, glass cracking on impact even as the thorn broke in two.

Julia splashed back down into the waters below even as the tendril flinched, as if feeling pain from the damage taken. At the same time, the swift exchange gave the other two combatants all the time they needed to finally react.

Reacting purely on instinct, Lucian dropped his end table and instantly yanked out an uncursed Sacrificial Stake. Taking a moment to sight and aim, he cocked his arm back and chucked the metal projectile at it.

Just before the raven-haired man had launched the enlarged metal thorn, Transient Cardinal threw one of her table legs, non-jagged ends spinning end over end as it arced at the overhead vine.

As a result, while the Sacrificial Stake was thrown slightly later, its aerodynamic structure meant that it pierced into the solitary Bloodthirst Briar tendril just as the spinning table leg knocked against a leafier portion of its length.

Even as Lucian slipped his hand back into his hoodie’s pocket, he was observing the tendril’s reaction to getting struck. While the piercing projectile seemed to make it flinch, the force imparted by the blunt wood seemed to daze it.

Even while observing, his hand didn’t stay idle. Just as his fingers gripped around the other uncursed Sacrificial Stake, a strong tug on his other arm, as well as Transient Cardinal’s voice, forced him to a halt and got him to glance down.

“I think it’s time to enact plan: mounted Knight!” She declared, a clear look of expectation in her eyes.

“Plan… what?” He said confusedly, causing her to let out a light huff.

“Help me get up onto your shoulders so that I can kill the thorny briar, you know, like just now?” She clarified, a faux put-on tone in her voice.

Letting out an, “Aah.”, of sudden understanding, Lucian shrugged off his backpack, dropped to a knee, and followed her command.

“You could have led with that in the first place, you know?”

As they were speaking, the tendril finally recovered and started attacking back; rapid fire, thorn-tipped blows lancing down from up above like a coiled snake springing down from a branch.

However, no matter how many times it struck out, Julia managed to intercept it with quick parries or forceful, rising counterblows.

“Whatever the two of you are planning, can you please hurry!” The honey blonde gritted out, just as the raven-haired man gave the white-haired waif easy access to his shoulders; the latter immediately dropping her table legs with a splash.

Scaling up like a nimble chipmunk, Transient Cardinal securely hooked her legs over said shoulders and caused her sodden dress and coat to bunch up slightly behind his neck.

Lucian instantly grabbed hold of her thighs and straightened back up. Taking his right hand off her slippery flesh once he was back to his full height, he slipped his hand back into his hoodie’s pocket and pulled the Cursed Sacrificial Stake out, just as plush flesh encaged his neck.

With this being their second time doing this, the raven-haired man didn’t bother to warn his white-haired partner as he raised the metal projectile above his head.

The moment it was taken out of his hand, he grabbed hold of her thigh while wading forward without any prompting; drawing closer to the ongoing fight.

While doing so, he observed how Julia was faring. It quickly became clear that she was handling herself well.

Although several rips and tears in her halterneck indicated that the tendril had gotten its licks in, the abundance of leaves and thorns floating in the water around her waist highlighted the damage she’d managed to inflict in turn.

Seconds later, Lucian made it into close enough range, Transient Cardinal letting him know with a quick call of, “You can stop now my Knight!”

Digging his boots into the soft ground underfoot, he squared his stance and braced for the white-haired waif to start shifting about – something she started doing almost immediately, just as he had rooted his feet in fact.

He tried his damnedest to ignore the squishy—if wet—marshmallows sandwiching his neck, now really not being the time nor place for such thoughts.

In the meantime, as Lucian was doing that, Transient Cardinal’s pale blues were fixated on the lashing tendril, patiently waiting for the opportune moment to strike and end it.

Even still, her eyes couldn’t help but dart to Julia from time to time, having spotted what Lucian had on his approach; the rips and tears, but, more concerningly, the glaring lines of blood leaking from cuts torn into sunkissed skin.

She held her breath as the thorny vine lashed down once more, only to release it when the honey blonde—hair having darkened even further, more akin to a caramel blonde in tones—met it with a rising, mace-assisted uppercut.

As jagged glass dug into yielding plant flesh, it recoiled strongly, a cluster of black leaves plopping into the waters below before being hammered down even further and sinking below the surface from the downpour.

Immediately taking advantage, she lunged upwards and slightly forwards, trusting that Lucian had a secure enough hold on her – a trust the raven-haired man proved wholly warranted.

Before it could react, she drove her right, balled-up fist into fleshy plant matter, causing the vine to start convulsing as the Cursed Sacrificial Stake’s tapered end pierced in fully.

Having anticipated its reaction, her other hand lashed out and got a grip around the vine before it could retract; making sure her flesh wouldn’t be nicked by any of the crimson thorns while doing so.

She instantly pulled it taut while yanking out the stake’s tip, all before plunging the latter back in at the same exact spot; over and over and over again, leaves and viney bits flying as the hole grew deeper.

Off to the side and down below, Julia warily watched on… yet interest danced in her eyes, this being the second, albeit proper, time that she was able to observe from start to end.

She idly wondered if the two’s position was at all safe, but couldn’t argue against the effectiveness of it as just moments later, Transient Cardinal managed to bore her way completely through the thorny tendril; said segment going limp and falling into the rippling waters with a defeated plop.

Having spotted the falling plant life before it could land, Lucian shut his eyes and mouth, getting a face full of muddy rainwater but nothing much else.

He shook his head rapidly from side to side, violently flinging the water off before it slid off on its own. At the same time, he heard a choked back giggle above him; something very much out of place under present circumstances.

“Please stop doing that my Knight. It tickles.” Transient Cardinal mumbled out, embarrassment tinging her breathless tone.

Immediately freezing in his tracks, the raven-haired man’s head came to a stop, twisted slightly to the left…

Right in the prime location to lock gazes with Julia’s laughing emerald eyes and pearly white grin.