CHAPTER 50

Hirayon and Hirang climbed the rocky mountain where the animal-looking statue was. If there weren't rubbles stacked on this part of the labyrinth, it would surely be too high to reach as they were now roughly ten meters above the water that even surpassed the pathway's roof.

They dug around the horned head, and once the entire body could be seen, they stopped and looked at it with different expressions.

Hirayon stared at the statue like any other animal, but Hirang thought otherwise.

"That's a... unique one," Hirang pointed out. He tried to look for a better word to describe the sculpture, but his mind could only think of one word. Creepy.

He didn't know whose idea it was to put a horned pig as a statue, but to him, that person was plain crazy. In his eyes, the figure appeared devilish and eery, strangely fitting the minimalistic labyrinth. If not a monster, it can pass as a 2-meter Auveast with three horns, a pig-like body, and needle-sharp teeth, four of which were almost as long as the creature's head. While its body was smooth, intricate details were etched into the stone, creating a picture of a fur-covered hide.

"It looked like an Auveast," Hirayon commented after a while, and Hirang agreed.

The two children meticulously examined the statue for anything suspicious, but it appeared entirely ordinary. The only bizarre thing about it lay on its horns, though carved out of cave stone, possessed sharp ends akin to a newly honed weapon, surpassing the razor-sharp fangs the horned pig has.

Aside from that, there's nothing noteworthy to their attention. Still, Hirayon's instinct was ringing, bugging his mind to figure out the secret that lies in the peculiar statue of an unknown creature.

After he had acquired Intuition as a basic ability, it had been a significant contributor to his successful feats and kept him unscathed from the constant dangers he had faced. That's why Hirayon knew there was something else on the statue that couldn't be figured with plain eyes.

'Why would there be statues inside a labyrinth? It might be just for design, but it's strange to put it around the labyrinth and not within the labyrinth itself. How many are they again?'

Hirayon opened his inventory and checked the map. He counted the statues surrounding the labyrinth when a particular image caught his eye. It was a similarly eccentric goat-shaped statue with one horn on its head. He remembered seeing it earlier but in grey cave rock color, not red.

"What's wrong?" Hirang asked when he noticed Hirayon's frown.

"This statue turned red. It used to be stone grey," Hirayon answered while pointing at the statue located at the upper left part of the labyrinth, almost opposite the direction where they were.

"Are you sure?" Hirang asked, thinking that Hirayon might have seen it wrongly.

"I am. After arriving here, I killed some defenseless monsters and completed the map. That time, the only red thing was the little dot," he answered, his voice suggesting certainty on what he had seen.

"What happened after that?"

Hirayon momentarily got quiet, remembering his past actions. "You woke up. I checked to see if we could get out by swimming, then I killed a monster and received..."

"What?" Hirang asked when Hirayon stilled.

"I got an orb and another scroll," Hirayon answered in a daze; his mind was working like gears, finally moving after getting the missing piece.

"I got it. This map is not yet complete. We need more scrolls."

Hirang didn't understand what was going on in Hirayon's mind, but he believed Hirayon's words and that the statue turned red after getting another scroll.

"Okay. But that'll be difficult. I don't think the monsters will detect us here."

Hirayon nodded and suggested, "I'll be the bait to lure them here."

Hirang raised a brow. "How are you going to do that?"

"Be the bait, literally," Hirayon repeated.

Hirang appeared lost until he finally understood what Hirayon had meant. Then, the two children climbed down the rocky mountain and settled on a slanted, dusty, flat rock near the waters.

"I'll go now."

Hirayon dived into the waters and swam a few meters from the path's entrance, around the area where he searched earlier. He wanted to go further, but the farther he went, the darker it got.

Instead of risking getting attacked in the waters where nothing would be visible, he made his presence known by causing a stir. Hirayon created large Water Orbs and threw them on the cave walls, including the dust-covered ground. Because he made a giant orb with more aura, it effectively did its purpose and exploded on the walls. Enough to shake them but not crash it entirely.

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He continued doing it every minute, and after 6 minutes, a monster finally emerged and advanced where Hirayon was. Seeing the swimming monster with large grey fins and tiny round body, Hirayon quickly swam back and left the killing to Hirang, who readily used his darkness to crush the monster.

Anyone who witnessed it would say it was a one-sided fight. The unfortunate monster didn't even get to attack. Once it emerged flying from the waters, the pitch-black smoke wrapped itself around the tiny body of the creature with grey scales. In a blink, it wrung the monster and mercilessly crushed its body like it was made out of extremely fragile glass.

Such a scene amazed Hirayon and gave him the impression that Hirang was a strong oddity who could will the dark element however he wanted. What he missed was Hirang completely letting go of control to ease the darkness' rage and take advantage of it.

And like having a mind and will, the darkness killed the monster in a snap.

Dispersing into dust along with the black smoke, an orb and scroll fell, and Hirayon quickly grabbed them and checked his map. As he had thought, another statue turned into a different color, and this time, it was the two-horned fish statue located beside the first one in red. It turned black on the map, seemingly like the deep ocean where no light could reach.

"You're right," Hirang remarked when he saw the map.

"I think I should go farther. It will take up all our time if I only lure them near the entrance," Hirayon said.

Unsure whether it was a good plan, Hirang asked with his usual expressionless dead face, but his voice tinged with worry. "Will you be fine? You said it was dark there."

"It is, but I have good intuition."

Though Hirayon's answer did not assure Hirang that he would be safe, he nodded as he had nothing more he could do. "Alright."

Hirayon dived again into the waters and swam farther away. Quickly, his visibility darkened, and he felt like he was floating in an abyss of darkness. The only thing that denoted he was still swimming was the water that comforted his system despite the dark. Instead of checking his location on the map, Hirayon followed his most trusted intuition and swam straight, only stopping when he felt a wall in front of him.

Closing his eyes, Hirayon concentrated, and as he had done earlier, he caused an uproar with water orbs while sensing his surroundings. Checking if there is a monster presence nearby.

A few minutes later, Hirayon opened his eyes, and a smile broke out on his lips. Though he still couldn't see anything but black, he felt three monsters' presence quickly nearing his location, so he turned around and started to swim.

He didn't know if he was going in the right direction, but when Hirayon saw the figure of rubble below, he knew that his intuition did not let him down as he could finally make out the image of fallen rocks.

Reaching the surface, Hirayon breathed heavily and gave Hirang a small smile, looking his age who was having fun playing a simple childish game.

"I got three!"

Hirang peeked at the drenched kid with complicated eyes. He was feeling a myriad of emotions, all of which were positive toward his selfless friend and detrimental thoughts about himself.

'I feel useless,' He thought while pulling Hirayon out of the water.

Though he was the one who would do the killing, he still felt that Hirayon was doing everything. It made him feel terrible, especially since it was Hirayon, whom he considered his only friend.

"Thanks," he murmured, his voice hinting bitterness.

Not noticing the change in Hirang's attitude, Hirayon nodded and slumped down on the side. He was already feeling tired earlier, but now he could feel his aura getting consumed fast.

That was no surprise, as he even used the blood ability earlier, which he could only use twice every day due to the amount of aura it needed.

Closing his eyes, Hirayon decided to doze off, not caring about the fight between Hirang and the monsters that jumped out of the water. He had complete trust that Hirang could easily take care of three alone.

"Wake me up after," He said before exhaustion, succumbing his system into sleep.

A few minutes passed, and Hirang shook Hirayon's body, waking him up.

Feeling sluggish, Hirayon slowly sat up and saw the scrolls beside him. Adding them to his inventory, three more statues turned into different colors. From the horned fish, the statues turned deep violet, dark green, and mud orange. Now, they were left with two more, the next being the statue of the three-horned pig.

"You should sleep more," Hirang suggested when he noticed Hirayon's eyes struggling to open. He looked a little tired earlier, but it seemed the short nap worsened the exhaustion by relaxing the tense system that kept Hirayon on his toes.

"We don't have time," Hirayon reasoned despite his own body failing to listen to what he wanted to do. He needed to return to the water, but even the simple act of sitting became too challenging.

Hirang shook his head at the sight of the child, looking dazed and vulnerable. "We still have time. You could sleep for thirty minutes. Then we will be left with more than an hour."

"That's a waste of time..." Hirayon slurred while trying to make a point.

He could not understand it himself, but unlike the last game where he willingly let the exhaustion take over, this time, he was so keen to fight it and win. He knows half an hour wouldn't hurt, but his mind rejects the idea of resting in their current situation.

"It doesn't. You need to, anyway. It looks like you're completely drained," Hirang said and slightly pushed Hirayon's forehead with his pointing finger. The child tried to resist but quickly dropped with little force that Hirang used to push him.

"I can still fight..."

Sighing at the ridiculous stubbornness despite the weakened state, Hirang spoke. "I will rest as well, so don't worry. I will guard this place and wake you up later."

"How can you rest-"

"I will rest, so shut up and sleep!" Hirang roared, his tone brimming with untold frustration. He didn't mean to raise his voice, but he felt like an older brother trying to make his sickly little brother rest.

Unlike his actual little brother, Hirayon was way more intelligent, stronger, and hard-headed, easily breaking Hirang's deadpan expression to contort into an angry one.

Surprised at Hirang's outburst, Hirayon peeked at him before he closed his eyes. "Fine, then, please memorize the top twenty nearest to the exit and the top ten who have the most monster cores."

Hirang's annoyed face stilled, and one eyebrow automatically raised. "Memorize all?" He trailed.

"Yeah..."

'Why do I need to? Did he memorize it all?' Hirang wondered, and his annoyance completely vanished. It was replaced with awe and amusement toward the peculiar child.

"Fine," Hirang sighed.

Hearing that, Hirayon murmured thanks. He allowed his body to relax, cleared his mind, and finally permitted sleepiness to take in for a most needed rest.

R E H I L I Y A