"Well, that's not… ideal," Larissa muttered, having clearly heard the threatening growl.

"No. This is perfect!" Morrigan cheered and called out again. "We are here! Where are you?"

"Your Highness, I understand that you are confident in your magical abilities but calling out to a monster like that is dangerous," the vampire woman objected. A louder growl reverberated through the area.

"Haku is not a monster!" Morrigan retorted and then closed her eyes.

I cannot trust anything except for Haku's call. I need to follow it if I want to leave the illusion.

"Haku, I am here! Help me out of the illusion," Morrigan called, and the dragon called back. Larissa seemed apprehensive to follow at first but eventually went after Morrigan. Haku continued calling out to her, and she followed his calls until eventually, Larissa spoke up again.

"I believe we have left the illusion now," the vampire woman said, and Morrigan opened her eyes. Before her was a rather unusual scene. Haku was sitting in the middle of a large clearing with a giant red egg in front of him. There were a bunch of other participants in the clearing, most of them huddled in a corner as far away from Haku as possible.

"Dear audience, as you can see here, our Crown Princess along with several other participants has reached one of the major checkpoints in the maze. Pass a checkpoint and you can be sure that you are getting closer to the gem. Unfortunately, if you cannot pass it then you either have to look for a different checkpoint or give up altogether," Azrael announced in his amplified voice.

I should have expected something like this. But Haku is one of the checkpoints? I wonder who decided to do that?

"How are you doing, Haku?" Morrigan called out to her friend, who instantly dropped his stern dragon facade and wagged his tail happily. "Azrael set you up as a guard dog in here? How rude!"

"Princess, do not think that just because this is your pet, you'll be able to get a free pass. You still have to complete the task," Azrael warned her, but she just strode up to Haku and reached her hand up towards him. The dragon lowered his head, allowing her to scratch the scales under his chin. It was evident that the dragon had no intention of blocking her way.

"What is the task?" she asked curiously.

If I can complete it, I should do so to appeal to the public. If I just walked past Haku, then it probably wouldn't leave a good impression.

"You must open the dragon egg either by hatching it or breaking it," Azrael instructed, and the participants in the clearing began muttering among themselves.

Oh, it's like that time Azrael hatched Haku. I doubt this is a real dragon egg, probably just a magical contraption that was made to react to certain conditions.

"No problem," Morrigan smiled and extended her arms towards the egg. Hot flames came out of her hands and surrounded it, heating the egg up from all sides. She knew that the temperature required to hatch a dragon egg was really extreme, but she doubted it be would be required for the competition as well. As Morrigan recalled there were only a few people who could produce temperatures high enough to hatch a dragon egg. She wasn't even sure if she could do it, despite her high affinity with fire magic.

But before Morrigan had to push her fire magic to the limits, a crack came from the egg and it came apart. Inside there was a piece of fire salamander meat, one of Haku's favorite treats. The dragon eagerly took it and swallowed it with great satisfaction.

"Enjoy, Haku! I'm going to continue now," she gave him one last pat on his neck and then ran towards the exit behind him. Larissa followed her, making sure to sidestep Haku. Other contestants, however, were too slow, and by the time they realized that the dragon was distracted, Haku had once again blocked their way.

"You have a truly ferocious pet, Your Highness," the vampire woman commented.

"Haku isn't ferocious. He is actually a big softie," Morrigan retorted.

"He certainly didn't appear that way…"

"He's just shy with strangers, that is all. How do we best continue through the maze? We have reached the spire that we followed before," Morrigan said and pointed towards the tower they used as a guidance point.

"According to what Azrael said, we shouldn't be able to circle back to the beginning. Perhaps, I could try looking from above, although I have a feeling that there'd be magic to block that sort of thing," Larissa said and turned into her bat form. She flew up carefully, watching the surroundings for any traps. However, at one point it seemed like she was unable to fly any higher.

"Seems like there's a magic seal that prevents anyone from getting above the hedge," she explained once she had turned back into her vampire form.

"How about we follow either the right or the left wall? I heard that this strategy is guaranteed to lead one out of the maze. Besides we don't have to worry about circling back to one of the entry points now."

"But we are not really looking for an exit, are we? We need to find the gem."

"This way we'll at least know we're not wandering the same path over and over."

"It would certainly be a safer approach. But we'll have to move fast because this method will take more time."

The narrative has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the infringement.

Morrigan nodded and took her shadow form while Larissa returned to her bat form. She flew surprisingly fast for such a small creature, but Morrigan had no trouble keeping up with her. At one point, they passed through a trap that shot a flurry of arrows in both directions, but in their alternate forms, it didn't pose a challenge. Larissa just flew as high as the magical barrier allowed her, and naturally, Morrigan was not bothered by regular arrows in her shadow form.

As they continued their way through the maze, the girl heard some sort of bickering ahead. Moving closer, it was clear that there was some sort of scuffle going on among the participants.

"Ignore it. We'll have fewer competitors to worry about," Larissa called in her bat form, zooming ahead.

I hope that nobody is trying to hurt anybody else. This is supposed to be a fun event after all.

"Why is a scum like you participating in this honorable competition anyway?" Morrigan heard a male voice sneer from somewhere very close.

"Yeah! Slaves like you should be polishing our boots!"

"No, he's an Overworlder! Scum like him are only good for cleaning the stables and toilets!"

This doesn't sound good at all. They are most likely bullying the elven boy from the Fallen Kingdom.

"Princess, let's go ahead!" Larissa urged, sensing her hesitation.

"You dare to glare at me, you scum! Take this!" There was an audible thump and a pained groan. Morrigan couldn't endure it any longer and materialized out of her shadow form, heading straight for the source of the racket.

"What is going on here?" she called out and saw how one young demon noble held Galandir restrained while the other one was beating him like a punching bag.

They are doing this in the middle of an event? Really? How petty must you be to do such a thing? To a child no less.

"Princess Morrigan!" both nobles instantly straightened, dropping the beaten-up elf to the ground. "It is a most pleasant surprise to encounter you here in the maze!"

Pleasant, my ass. There's nothing pleasant about this. I wish I could just send these bullies to Haku and have them chased around by him for a bit. That would certainly teach them a lesson. But the whole Underworld is watching so I need to handle it in a way a princess should. Damned politics!

"What is going on here?" Morrigan repeated the question, crossing the arms over her chest and glaring at the two nobles. They didn't appear bothered by her hard stance and instead smiled pleasantly at her.

"We were just taking care of the scum. There's no need for you to worry about that, Princess," the taller and lankier of the nobles said, his eyes glinting as if some golden opportunity had just fallen in his lap.

"Indeed. The slave will not bother you any further. In fact, why don't you allow us to accompany you? We will help you overcome any trials and safely deliver you to the gem and the winner's circle. We only ask that you remember our favor in the future," the noble smiled, slowly inching closer to Morrigan.

"He never bothered me in the first place. What bothers me is that two fully grown demons decide to gang up and beat up a child in what is supposed to be a fun event," Morrigan channeled the ferocity she had seen in her father when he was scolding to his subjects. The nobles flinched back for a moment, but they quickly recovered their smiles.

"This child, Your Highness, is an Overworlder. It is a mistake for him to participate in this prestigious event," one of them sneered at Galandir, who was trying to sit up, clutching his injured chest.

Have they broken his ribs? That means they weren't even holding back. If I had any say in this, I'd just send them to prison for a couple of months. Or perhaps years, since demons have such a long lifespan.

Morrigan wanted to go check on Galandir's condition, but she knew that the nobles had to be dealt with first.

"This elven boy is the representative of the Fallen Kingdom and should be treated as such," Larissa tried to intervene.

"Shut your mouth, vampire! Your lowly kind has no right to talk to us," one of the nobles spat.

"Are you telling me that my father, The King of Demon Kingdom, made a mistake by accepting these two as champions?" Morrigan said in a low, threatening voice. The nobles' faces dropped at the mention of the King.

"N-No! We would never question His Majesty's judgment!"

"But you just clearly said that it was a mistake to let Galandir participate," Morrigan pressed, taking a step towards them.

"No, we didn't say that!"

"So you're claiming that I, the Crown Princess, just made that up?"

"We apologize, Your Highness," the two nobles bowed their heads, their teeth clenched together in anger.

Doesn't feel nice to be pushed around by a little kid, does it?

"Leave! And do not make the mistake of thinking that you can decide who deserves and who doesn't deserve to participate in the competition," Morrigan ordered, and the two nobles begrudgingly skulked away.

"You might have just turned them and their whole families against you," Larissa said, watching the two nobles leave. But Morrigan didn't care for them and instead ran up to Galandir.

"Hey, are you alright?"

"I-I don't need your help!" he snarled, trying to get up to his feet. But the pain proved too much and he fell back down to the ground, groaning and clutching his ribs.

"You clearly do," Morrigan retorted and crouched down next to him, trying to remember what was the correct procedure in case somebody had broken ribs. But before she could come up with anything useful, Galandir pressed his hand against his chest. The spot began to glow with warm light but then dimmed again as the elven boy nearly screamed from the pain.

"What happened?" Morrigan asked, wondering if the movement had moved the rib and it had punctured some of his organs.

"Healing magic. He's trying to fix his rib, but the process is incredibly painful. It's best if you give up, boy. No sane person would be able to endure that sort of pain. Just wait here until the healers arrive," Larissa said. But Galandir glared at her and instead focused back on his rib.

Sweat formed on his forehead and he bit into his lip, making it bleed. The light glowed for a while, then it proved too much for him and he removed his hand from the wound.

"Dammit! If only I hadn't exhausted my magic to get past that dragon, I could have shown those assholes and healed myself without any issues," he muttered in a barely audible whisper.

So he doesn't have enough magic to heal himself. I could channel some of my magic into him, but it would no doubt cause a horrible stir among demon people. After all, you're only supposed to give your magic to those whom you deem to be your equal. Stupid rules.

"Larissa, do you perhaps have a spell that could mask us from the view for a short while?" Morrigan asked hopefully, as she didn't want to leave the elf boy to just writhe in pain.

"I do have a spell that allows me to create mist. But why exactly, Your Highness?" the vampire woman asked with her eyebrow raised.

"Because I'm going to give Galandir some of my magic," she announced resolutely.