“Move along!” a grumpy hunter shoved Cassia in the back, causing her to stumble forward and bump into Suri, who was walking ahead. “I’m not waiting for the next tremor with you. If you can’t move faster, stay here and wait for our return.” He then overtook the hesitating squad members and moved forward without looking back.

Neither the captain nor the senior members commented on the unauthorized change in formation, and the bully seemed pleased with his decision.

“Pick up the pace,” another hunter ahead said. In such moments, the vast difference between seasoned hunters and those who had only recently joined the first rank became apparent. These hunters had held high positions in their previous squads, and none of them wanted to end up among the stragglers.

The Labyrinth’s suppression finally manifested itself, drawing a clear line between the people. Talented hunters with a vast reserve of inner strength felt their undeniable superiority compared to others, who required significantly more time to adapt to the changes in their surroundings.

Like most of the hunters relegated to the back of the squad, Cassia’s steps grew heavy, and her breathing became labored. She rubbed her temples, as if something was squeezing her head. Imber handed her a half-empty water skin, most of which Cassia drank.

“Your body will soon get used to it,” Imber reassured his sister.

Suri watched in surprise as not only the former servant but also several other squad members’ conditions rapidly deteriorated. They all exhibited symptoms of severe headaches.

“What’s happening to her?” Suri asked, unable to identify the source of the problem.

“If it hasn’t affected you yet, there’s nothing to worry about.” Imber handed Cassia a cloth to wipe the sweat from her face. “This is normal. We’re very close now.”

“Do you feel pain too?” There was no trace of suffering on Imber’s face.

The man smiled and nodded. “I’ve gotten used to it. The deeper a hunter descends into the Labyrinth, the stronger its suppression becomes. Eventually, you stop feeling the minor fluctuations. But it seems blood mages are completely immune to it?”

Suri glanced at Cassia’s bloodless lips and the thin brows furrowed in pain. No, she didn’t feel anything like that. Though she sincerely understood the suffering of the descent.

“We can’t fall behind. Let’s go,” urged the former captain of the third rank.

Unlike the new members of the squad, Maxat and his men maintained a steady pace. Occasionally, the experienced hunters encouraged the newcomers. No one intended to wait for stragglers, but there were none. With difficulty, the squad managed to maintain some semblance of formation.

Imber surveyed the area, making Suri wonder if he was expecting a sudden attack. But he quickly dispelled her fears.

“I know this path. Once we descend this root, we’ll see a place to rest.”

“Do you think the captain will agree to waste time resting under these conditions?”

“Of course. Even though we risk encountering another tremor, the squad needs time to adapt to the environmental changes. Otherwise, there’s a high risk of losing people due to haste.”

After his words, even Cassia’s steps became lighter.

“Battle readiness!” a sharp command rang out, raising the alarm. The hunters drew their blades and spread out as much as the terrain allowed. Everyone waited, and a tense silence hung in the air.

The sense of danger was absent, making Suri even more uneasy. What could have alarmed the scouts?

Imber methodically scanned the surroundings, hidden in a misty haze due to high humidity. His amber eyes squinted as if they had locked onto a target, and a blue spark ignited in his body.

“What do you see?” Suri immediately asked.

“The dead,” Imber replied, his gaze gliding further.

“Are they the ones who fell earlier?”

“No. They’re not from the first rank,” his voice was tense. “I found nothing unusual. The scouts aren’t signaling danger either.”

“All is calm,” the scouts confirmed Imber’s words, and a sigh of relief seemed to sweep through the troop. They sheathed their blades and awaited further orders.

It wasn’t long before the captain appeared, a rare visitor to this part of the squad. Maxat walked leisurely, as if taking a stroll in the garden. His appearance was impeccable, and nothing in his behavior suggested the difficulties of the descent, unlike Suri and her companions.

“I worried for nothing,” he murmured, lazily parting with the words. “I was about to commend you. But it seems you’re handling the descent better than I could have dreamed.” His thin lips stretched into a smile, and his cold eyes fixed on Suri. “But what am I saying? We will take a break. And since we have guests, my sister blood mage should meet them.” He stepped back, extending his hand in an inviting gesture.

Suri glanced at Imber and, with his consent, moved forward to a small plateau made of intertwined root systems.

The excellent rest spot was already occupied.

In the center of the plateau lay hunters, their lifeless eyes staring upward, and their gnarled fingers reaching for Azur, mouths agape in silent screams. Six bodies, so perfectly synchronized in death, they looked like an eerie installation. There was no blood or visible injuries, as if these people had released a death wail and their souls had left their bodies in an instant.

“You often notice things others can’t. Show your skills this time,” Maxat nudged her into the suffocating stench. “Otherwise, who knows how we might fare if we encounter the same peril on our path. Better prepare yourselves,” the mage coaxed.

The squad settled for a rest. Many chose not to step onto the plateau, opting to stay on the creaking, unstable roots. Hunters faced death regularly, but everyone worried they would be next.

“This is the second rank,” Imber’s voice broke in. “This was my man before he joined the aera Ide`s squad.” Imber didn’t seem surprised by such an outcome for one of his men. In most cases, all hunters ended up the same way. Striking his chest with his fist, he whispered, “Brave souls, we’ll meet again in the Labyrinth someday.”

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“Ha,” Maxat laughed. “Of course! How could I not think of that immediately? She would leave it like this, though it’s not quite her style. Do you have anything to add?” His gaze immediately shifted to the girl.

Suri couldn’t believe these people were dead. It seemed as though they might scream at any moment and reveal the cause of their terror. Their eyes held something insane.

Imber intervened in time. “There’s no need to guess here. Suppression. And the blood mage knows it well,” he stated coldly. “Aera Ide was in a hurry if she finished everything with a single blow.” He pointed to a red mark on the temple of one of the hunters.

Suri recoiled. The sweet scent was suffocating her. As soon as she closed her eyes, the pale, frozen faces appeared in her mind. She turned away and stepped aside, trying to rid herself of the visions that had taken over her consciousness.

Maxat’s laughter rang out. “I confess, I just wanted to joke. There’s no need to be so tense. We’ll be leaving soon, so don’t waste time and rest well. Otherwise, I’ll be sad if someone in the squad suffers from the suppression. My hands aren’t as skilled as Ide’s.”

Imber approached Suri from behind. She felt his gaze on her but didn’t turn around.

“I know he wanted to scare me. Give me a minute. It’s nothing serious, I need to rest a bit.”

Suri heard the warrior leave her, but she still felt someone’s greedy, sticky gaze. Her back grew damp, and she broke out in a cold sweat. Unable to bear it any longer, she turned around to find a pair of watery eyes watching her. The dead hunter stared at her, his tongue lolling out of his wide-open mouth.

Members of the first rank were conversing among themselves. Maxat was giving orders, and the sound of sharpening weapons and the clatter of dropped equipment filled the air. Other people were so close, only a dozen meters away. But in Suri’s eyes, an impenetrable barrier had grown between her and the living in the form of the corpse. The gurgling, bubbling wheezes captured her attention.

The hunter’s twisted body jerked, and Suri staggered back, falling onto the ground. The realization of her terror hit her like an avalanche.

“Dead men can’t move. And he’s dead! Dead!” her mind screamed as the corpse extended a hand toward her at an unnatural angle. A hacking sound erupted from his mouth.

The bracelet on her wrist burned. A malicious force weighed down on Suri’s body, commanding her to submit to another’s will. She watched helplessly as the corpse reached for her ankle. His movements were smooth and slow. Yet even so, Suri couldn’t avoid getting caught. The corpse gurgled. Its master rejoiced in its success.

The familiar sour scent teased her nose. The girl`s head throbbed with pain. She had never encountered such a powerful ability before. The foreign suppression bound her body, preventing her from accessing her runes for self-defense.

Meanwhile, the corpse pinned her to the ground and aimed a dagger at her chest. Blood drained from Suri’s face, and her eyes widened in fear. Another moment, and the blade would pierce her heart.

A mirage of a man in black, directing a blunt training blade at her with precise movement, flashed in Suri’s mind. At that moment, a painfully familiar rune ignited in her consciousness.

“Shield,” slipped from her lips. It wasn’t easy to block a habit instilled by that person.

The true speech obeyed. An icy wave of air slammed into the pliant body of the dead hunter. The sound of breaking bones and crushed flesh echoed, and the mangled corpse was thrown several meters away. The high-quality weapon in his hands snapped against the full force of the barrier. For the first time, Suri felt the power of her “Shield,” which the person from her memories had shattered with inhuman ease.

The dead hunter had no further chance to attack. A sharp blade landed on his pale, stiff neck, severing his disfigured head from his body. Maxat flicked the blade clean and silently stared at Suri. The previous joviality vanished from his face. The former lazy indifference was gone, replaced by intense focus. His gaze made the hairs on Suri’s neck stand on end.

“What have you done?” Maxat ground out each word through clenched teeth. Who knew how he would have acted next if they hadn’t intervened.

“Are you hurt?” Cassia shouted, dropping to her knees beside her.

“No,” Suri managed to say. The unpleasant sour aroma disappeared the moment Maxat arrived. The danger to her life was gone, at least from the dead marionette.

Only now did the rest of the hunters arrive. Tilek and two others joined Maxat, and after a brief conversation, they bent over the remaining bodies, examining their condition. The other hunters spread out and secured the perimeter, watching the surroundings. The entrance to the Labyrinth was close, and it would be foolish to discount the creatures within.

“Who in the squad could possess such power? And why target me? Who wants to harm me?” Suri bit her lip, looking around at the people. In the moment of danger, many had turned to their abilities, depriving her of the chance to identify the culprit.

While she watched the hunters, Maxat watched her. His light eyes narrowed. He hadn’t expected her to survive the attack.

“It was residual suppression from the Labyrinth. The blood mage was unlucky,” Tilek observed, dusting off his hands. “Good thing you were nearby.”

Maxat lingered on the corpses. “So it’s the Labyrinth’s influence. Nothing more?” he asked.

“Of course. We’ve seen this before,” Tilek replied, raising an eyebrow, and walked back to the camp. He seemed entirely unconcerned by what had happened.

Something in the blood mage’s words bothered Suri. “Back then, Maxat was among the other hunters. How did he get to me faster than anyone else?”

Maxat smirked as if he could hear her thoughts. “Since we resolved the incident, everything else is over. Let’s move out,” he ordered. With a sharp motion, the blood mage sheathed his blade and returned to the path. “Move it!” his voice rang out.

“Brother, have you ever seen anything like this?” Cassia asked, helping Suri to her feet.

“Yes and no,” Imber replied. “Ide killed the hunters. What happened afterward remains a mystery to me. And since the blood mages agree it’s the Labyrinth’s suppression, I have no other opinion.”

To Suri’s surprise, she quickly regained her composure. She squeezed her warm bracelet, her gaze following the captain’s back.

“I’m almost certain I know what his first ability is. But what about the others?” The thought spun in her mind. His body emitted an inner light, and five blue sparks were the source of his power. “And now he knows about the ‘Shield.’”

The recent events hastened the squad’s preparations. The hunters barely had time to catch their breath after a full day of exhausting descent, and now they continued their journey.

Soon, the root path ended, and the squad reached the base of an enormous tree. Its massive, dried roots upheaved the yellow rocky soil, covered in rotting fallen lichen and old wood chips. The roaring sound of a powerful water flow reached their ears.

“Ide decided to take a risk, setting off into the Labyrinth with an incomplete squad,” Maxat sneered, looking around. “Fools never learn.”

Suri climbed higher, and the roots blocking her view parted. Huge roots, covered in blue lichen, hung over a colossal chasm from which a chilling, otherworldly wind blew. The sound of a waterfall echoed from this earthly maw, but it seemed even the ocean couldn’t quench its thirst.

“So this is the Labyrinth?” Suri asked. Imber`s expression froze, as if this sight caused him pain.

“Yes. The descent is behind us,” his response was somewhat sad. But his next words carried the confidence of a seasoned hunter. “Suppressing during the hunters’ trial is nothing compared to what we’ll face in the Labyrinth. Cass, are you sure you can handle it?”

“If you expect me to back down, you don’t know me at all,” Cassia growled, wiping the sweat from her brow.

“You must understand that if you lose control, no one will be able to save you,” he warned again.

“You think I’ll end up like those hunters?” Cassia shuddered. She still believed her brother was trying to scare her off.

“Captain… Imber is right, Cass,” Avalon joined the conversation. The squad was finishing their final preparations before the descent, and his place was at the front.

“It’s true that I’m struggling, but I’m in my right mind. And I certainly can’t harm any of you. At least because you’re all stronger than me. As for the rest of the squad, I don’t really care,” Cassia joked, turning away to end the argument.

Suri nodded to Imber and Avalon, understanding their concern for the agile girl. But she couldn’t offer any words of support. Her gaze kept returning to the black hole. Her heart pounded with anxiety at the sight.

She was returning to where it all began. And there, in the cold, soulless maw of the earth, her past lay hidden.