Before long, Julia joined Lucian in his watch over the path ahead.

He hadn’t actually expected anyone to join him so quickly, but he wasn’t going to complain about it. That didn’t mean he was going to strike up a conversation, though. He was quite content with the current silence, thank you very much.

He looked over the honey blonde out of the corner of his eye, idly checking if she was sporting any new bandages courtesy of Transient Cardinal.

It instantly became clear she was not.

As he focused back ahead, the sight of the Bloodthirst Briars’ crimson thorns jogged his memory and made him remember he had something to do.

Bending his knees slightly, he set down his end table while planting its flat base into the soft mud, making sure it was stable before letting go. He straightened back up while fully taking off his backpack, an involuntary groan of relief slipping from his mouth when his shoulders were unburdened.

He rolled his shoulders and loosened his muscles before placing his brown carrier on the end table’s top, giving him easier access to the backpack’s contents with the elevated height and solid support.

Looking over the drenched fabric with a critical eye, he spent a moment to identify which specific compartment held his items of interest before unzipping it, retrieving a trio of Bloodsucking Thorns, and stowing away aforementioned trio into his hoodie’s right pocket.

Instead of putting his carrier back on immediately, Lucian thought he might as well take the opportunity to go over what loot he had gathered thus far – especially since it didn’t sound like the rest were going to be done anytime soon.

And so, acting on his thoughts, the raven-haired man went through each and every compartment, quickly taking inventory of what was inside.

All in all, he had:

2 Abyssal Teeth,

3 Bloodsucking Thorns,

4 cans of preserved fruits,

12 Hollow Vertebras,

1 mostly empty test tube,

3 Runes of Corrupting Hoarfrost [Fragment],

3 Runes of Insatiable Hunger [Shard],

6 Shadow-imbued Bonedust Pouches,

1 slightly wet pillow,

and a not inconsiderable amount of rainwater.

While pouring out the small volume of water, he heavily considered discarding one or two of the canned fruits, having realised that they were largely responsible for his backpack’s heavy weight.

Furthermore, at the rate he was getting hold of loot, bag space was quickly becoming a premium commodity. At the back of his mind, he also knew he could discard the damp pillow to lighten the weight, but he didn’t really want to, irrational as that was.

The burn in his shoulders and back told him that he was going to have to get rid of something real soon, though, regardless of his feelings on the matter.

“You look like you’re deep in thought Lucian. Wanna share?” Julia asked abruptly, getting him to turn to face her.

He shrugged and wrenched his neck to the side, cracking it with a satisfied sigh. “I’m just deciding whether to throw away the fruits or not. My backpack’s getting a little bit too heavy.”

She let out a hum of understanding. “You sound as if you don’t want to…?”

He stretched his back until his spine popped while nodding. “You’re right. I don’t.”

“Then why are you still thinking about it.” She asked, confused look on her face as she tilted her head slightly to one side.

“I did say my backpack’s getting too heavy, didn’t I?” He retorted lightly while sending her a bemused look. “I’m trying to decide between getting rid of the cans or something else.”

She stepped closer, sneakered feet causing light splashes in the ankle-high waters, before stopping next to him and curiously peering into his half-open backpack, quickly taking count of what all was inside.

“You could always get rid of your pillow.” She suggested hesitantly after a couple of seconds had passed. “It looks like it’s quite wet. That mustn’t be light.”

He rubbed at the bridge of his nose and sighed. “ I did think of doing that. But I’m… reluctant. And yes, before you say it, I know that’s quite irrational.”

While the honey blonde’s lips had parted at the first half of the raven-haired man’s answer, his elaboration immediately afterwards caused them to seal back up.

A moment of silence fell over the pair, before she spoke back up with a rejoinder. “Well… you have a decision to make then, don’t you?”

“True, true.”

Lucian fell silent after his response, sinking back into his thoughts to mull over what to get rid of. Seemingly done with the conversation as well, Julia stepped back and stopped at her prior position; continuing her watch on the path ahead.

Eventually—and still with a fair bit of hesitation—he opted to get rid of one can of fruits; choice being between pineapples, pears, oranges, and cherries.

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Now it was just a matter of making a choice…

Before the raven-haired man could put much thought into the decision, however, the sounds of splashes coming from behind, as well as the cessation of conversations clued him in that something had changed.

He made a split second decision and tossed aside the can of cherries before securely closing his backpack’s compartments. Picking it up and looping it over his shoulders, he tightened the straps until it was secure once more and then yanked his end table out of the muddy water like weeds from a garden patch.

Moments after he had gotten a secure hold on his improvised mace, he spotted a snow white flicker in his peripherals before Transient Cardinal circled around into his line of sight; fatigue far clearer on her face than before.

Feeling a touch concerned, he reached out to her slightly slumped shoulder and squeezed it gently. “Are you… okay? You look way more tired than just now.”

She flinched under his touch but settled back down after a quick glance.

“No need to worry. Bandaging people up over and over again is just getting tiring. I’ve run out of dust sheets too, so it’s making me a bit anxious.”

While speaking, the white-haired waif took hold of her table legs in a single hand before her left hand reached up and gently squeezed the raven-haired man’s own, reassuring him with her touch and words.

Letting go of his grip, he reversed his hand and briefly squeezed back before slipping his hand out from between her slick palm and wet coat.

“Let’s just hope none of us get anymore injuries then. At least we have two more test tubes of Abyssal Vitreous now.

“Speaking of which, has anyone gathered the loot from the battle yet?” he asked while stepping back, arm falling to hang back by his side.

“Yup~.” She responded while letting her own hand fall back to rest on her hip. “Boris has them right now. I came over to tell you to get your share, actually.”

“Got it.” He said while turning away to face the others. “Shall we then?”

“Of course.” So saying, she looped her free arm in his before he could react and started dragging him along; something he didn’t bother protesting to after stumbling for a step and catching himself.

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

After taking possession of one pouch of Shadow-imbued Bonedust and a surprise test tube of Abyssal Vitreous—one that Boris had somehow managed to retrieve from amongst the Bloodthirst Briars using his unwound Binding Chain—Lucian and the others set off.

It didn’t take long after that for Julia to finally inform the rest about another break in the righthand wall of densely clustered black leaves.

On top of such good news was the fact that a seventh wave of hostiles hadn’t assaulted the sixsome up to that point, giving them some much needed time to rest and unwind – or at least as much as one could in a maze full of monsters.

Once the honey blonde confirmed that it was, indeed, a connecting passage that led deeper into the maze, the party of six wasted no time in quickly ducking down said path; all of them eager to traverse the sixth ring and get out of the maze as soon as possible.

Lucian’s eyes darted here and there as he exited out into the maze’s sixth concentric circle, half-expecting something hostile to immediately pop out from the proverbial woodworks.

Neither Boris nor Transient Cardinal had warned of such as of yet, but it never hurt to be careful.

Perhaps some might call him overly paranoid. To that, all he would have to say in rebuttal was the fact that he was still alive at this point – a poignant argument that would hopefully shut down any naysayers.

“Should we go right or… you know what? To hell with that. Let’s go to the left and get out of here as fast as bloody possible. Agreed?”

Where Julia would normally have asked for the others’ opinions, she refrained from doing so at this juncture in the trek; eager to get this over and done with while all of her party members were still alive.

Fully agreeing with the buxom beauty’s sentiment, Lucian nodded his head quickly – something the others copied in short order.

She clapped her hands once she was certain there weren’t going to be any dissenting opinions. “Excellent. Let’s go then.”

Turning to face the direction previously indicated, she started jogging off without a further word; Boris falling in step alongside an instant later.

Lucian only waited briefly, long enough for Cherub and Tsumiki to get moving, before he started following behind at a similar pace while wordlessly gesturing at Transient Cardinal to do likewise.

Frankly, he needn’t have done so; the young woman already having started moving the instant the brown-clad man and ebony-haired girl set out.

…

Meh. Lucian didn’t regret doing so, regardless. Being polite was a virtue, after all.

Even as such whimsical thoughts bloomed to life in the raven-haired man’s mind, his eyes didn’t stop scanning the nearby area – not even for a single moment.

With the rain having mostly subsided and the resultant rain-conjured fog having significantly dispersed, he realised with a sudden jolt that faint rays of sunlight were timidly peeking through the gaps in the black leaves and gently caressing his skin.

He looked up properly—for the first time since he had entered the Bloodthirst Briar maze, in fact—and took in the skies…

Only for his eyes to get greeted by slowly dispersing storm clouds, pockets of clear blue sky visible through Sun gilded gaps.

Although Lucian would have been happy to bask in the warm sunlight for a while, hearing a light gasp to his side caused him to look back down and over at Transient Cardinal. From her upturned face, slightly closed eyes, and golden rays casting her delicate features into sharp relief, it was clear she had noticed what he had, too.

“It’s a nice feeling, isn’t it?” He asked rhetorically, breaking the white-haired waif out of her slight trance.

“It really is…” She trailed off while sending a last, longing look skywards before looking back ahead and fiddling with something hidden underneath her coat’s furred collar.

Before he could ask her what she was doing, she teased out a reddish-orange hood camouflaged amidst the fur; one that, due to its specific colouration, had gone unnoticed up until now.

“The fuck? Was that always there?” He let out involuntarily while she bunched up her wet hair in a single fist, pulled it up into a high ponytail, and then dropped it to rest in the sanctuary of her coat’s confines.

It was only after she was done with that and had already flipped up her hood when she finally responded. “Yup~. I just haven’t had a need for it so far. Now that the Sun’s going to come out though? It’s a different story.”

“I guess it’s true what Boris said then. You’re an albino.” He made sure to keep his tone light, concerned she might take offense when none was intended.

The young woman tilted her head slightly, single pale blue eye appraising him from within the shadows cast by her soggy hood. “He was correct. You don’t have a problem with that, right?”

“Why would I? You’re just a leettle bit different, is all.”

Just as the last word had left Lucian’s mouth, a tremendous splash from behind forced him to twist his waist and neck to see what the hell that was. Almost in concert, an alarmed cry from Transient Cardinal told him it was nothing good.

“Those in front, speed up! Danger’s incoming from the back!”

He immediately spotted the source of the noise.

Taking one large step after another, an Apostate Wraith, a monster he hadn’t seen since escaping the unseen one in the second ring, had appeared out of thin air and was chasing them down; the colossus being a dozen or so metres behind.

“It’s an Apostate Wraith!” He added with a shout while twisting back around, making sure the others knew it was important to heed his white-haired partner’s warning and speed the fuck up if they weren’t already doing so.

Punctuating his warning was another tumultuous splash, one that neatly made his point for him. Seeing that Cherub and Tsumiki had sped up without protest made him speed up in kind, water splashing up around his legs as his feet pounded into the softened ground at a rapid rate.

The next 30 seconds passed in such a manner, with the sixsome gradually creating distance between themselves and the plodding Apostate Wraith.

Just as Lucian thought things were going to keep apace until they managed to escape the Bloodthirst Briar maze, a sudden shocked exclamation from up ahead shattered his hopes.

“Thorny tendrils incoming!” Boris shouted, a note of panic entering his usually measured voice.

Just as the bearded giant’s warning rang out, three crimson-thorned, black-leaved vines—one from above and two to either side of the passage—lashed out at the foremost pair, halting them in their tracks as they avoided the bristling points.

Consequently, the four behind them stopped in turn, each one forced to take evasive action in order to avoid the questing tendrils.

Though Lucian’s attention was briefly centred on evading the righthand tendril, his ears were perked up in concentration and keeping tabs on the regular, increasingly loud splashes from behind. Shying away from the harassing tendril’s reach, he finally had the chance to spin around and check on the colossus’s progress with his eyes…

Only to instantly meet a pair of malicious, glowing orbs glaring down at him from merely five metres away.

Even as a thrill of terror raced up and down his spine, the raven-haired man knew someone was going to have to intercept and take down the Apostate Wraith before it could make things worse.

Making a split second decision, he tossed his end table to his left hand, slipped out a Bloodsucking Thorn from his hoodie, and threw it at one of the colossus’s partially hidden eyes after taking aim. Not waiting to see whether it landed or not, he tossed his end table back over to his right hand while his left hand slipped into his hoodie’s left pocket and took out the Toxic Essence he had stashed inside.

Done with all his preparations, Lucian sprinted towards the Apostate Wraith – though not before shouting for others to back him up.

“Cardinal! Tsumiki! I’m going to need your help to take down the big fucker!”