CHAPTER 51

Hirayon and Hirang rested for a few minutes due to exhaustion. Hirang did the guarding as he had more aura left, but he was also reaching his limit since he had been fighting monsters since the start of the game.

When the top 20 closest to the exit was announced, he wasn't surprised it was a complete mess. The few meters distance turned more than three hundred, and a few names were missing from the list.

Five minutes later, the list of children with the most Monster Cores appeared, and Hirang stared at it with bewilderment. His gaze turned to the sleeping child, and wondered what kind of magic he did.

He was sure that he only passed out for a few minutes, but somehow, Hirayon's count turned 27, a few more than what he had collected.

'He worked hard.' he thought.

He was even saved by Hirayon, even though he could've easily left him to drown. He could also quickly escape the labyrinth since he could breathe underwater, but Hirayon didn't and chose to stay with him to find other routes to get to the exit.

Hirang felt a warm feeling at the thought of Hirayon's actions. This unfamiliar sense of care, akin to what he once experienced from his younger brother, stirred something deep within him, nurturing a selfish desire to want more.

He couldn't precisely put it into words, but Hirang wanted to be more than just a partner in the game but a close friend to Hirayon. He wished to be viewed as a reliable person in whom Hirayon could put all of his trust.

Though some might say they are already friends with how the quiet child casually treated him, Hirang could still sense a wall between them that could only be broken by time. He completely understands that Hirayon doesn't easily trust other people, especially now that they are being treated as fighting dogs by the Familia members. But he hopes to make friends under such circumstances and get out of the facility together.

Falling into deep thought, Hirang closed his eyes and almost dozed off when he heard the calm water move, and his eyes automatically opened.

Seeing the frog-like eyes staring at him, Hirang stood up and readied himself to fight.

As he did with the previous battles, he overpowered the enemy using the darkness element that gladly suffocated the enemy for him.

He didn't even need to will it as when enraged; the darkness cannot be controlled, even him. It almost seemed as if he was the one being used as his aura was drained the more the darkness ran wild. Still, he let it do what it desired to appease its anger that would surely devour him as well if not satiated.

Hirang spent the rest of the time resting after that. He ultimately left the darkness to do the fighting, and he tried to get the most needed rest to replenish all the lost aura.

And when it was time, he woke up Hirayon, who was surprisingly an avid sleeper. He needed to shake the kid hard for him to slightly open his groggy eyes, an indication of insufficient rest.

"Wake up. We can complete the map," Hirang said and helped Hirayon to sit on the hard rock.

Sluggish, Hirayon put effort into sitting and supported his body with his hands on the side. He didn't know if it was because of the second element he had gotten, but the exhaustion was too much whenever his aura neared its depletion, like his body's defense mechanism, to shut down and replenish what was lost.

Hirayon silently touched the scrolls and added them to the map. Instantly, the last two statues lit up. The three-horned pig turned an electric blue color, while the next one glowed in a shade of grey with a hint of white, a color that can be compared to a stone but lighter.

"What now?" Hirayon mumbled when the map had all the statues glowing, but nothing happened.

He thought something would appear like a hidden pathway, but there was nothing. He wanted to figure out what it was, but his mind was unfortunately not functioning well, with the constant sleepiness troubling him. He couldn't even think straight, what more, deduce the secret behind the colored statues.

On his side, Hirang was staring closely at the map with his black eyes focused and sharp. "Is it like auras?" He pointed out.

"What is?" Hirayon asked in a daze.

"The colors."

Hirayon looked at the entirety of the map and noticed what Hirang had meant. The colors of each statue varied, and it indeed looked like auras if looked from a different perspective.

From the very first statue, the colors were fiery red, raven black, deep violet, dark green, mud orange, electric blue, and greyish white. All of which were releasing an aura-like shadow on the map.

"The three-horned pig was blue. It can mean Water Aura," Hirang suggested.

Hirayon dazedly nodded, and the two climbed the rocks where the three-horned pig was.

"Should I pour my aura?" Hirayon asked.

"I think so. You should give it a try."

Following Hirang's suggestion, Hirayon touched the pig's head. A bluish-violet, water-like aura materialized on his palm, only to be drawn in by the ravenous statue. Startled, Hirayon's weary eyes widened, and he gazed at the statue in astonishment.

"It absorbed my aura," he murmured.

"Huh?"

Hirayon sensed a rapid depletion of his aura when he made contact with the statue's head. Instead of transferring it, his energy was drawn out. Though he had touched it earlier without incident, he could now feel the horned pig's hunger for his aura.

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"I don't think I have enough aura for this," Hirayon confessed. While he only made contact with the statue in a brief second, a substantial amount of his remaining aura disappeared, and he could feel that it needed more.

"I want to try," Hirang said and touched the figure. His hand releases a black aura, but nothing happens.

"The color represents what aura it needs," Hirayon concluded, to which Hiranag agreed.

Silence emerged between the two, and Hirayon gave their situation a lot of thinking. He even bit his lower lip, utilizing the pain to wake his system, but his senses were slowly succumbing to the stockpiled fatigue.

'It sure needs aura, but we don't know what will happen next. Whether it will show the way out or not, it is better to risk it than not doing anything.'

Determined, Hirayon cast a weary gaze upon Hirang. "I'll give it most of my remaining aura, but I'm sure I'll pass out. I'll need you to carry me afterward."

'He'll entrust his body on me? Wasn't he worried that I'd just kill him for his Monster Cores?' Hirang wondered. He didn't expect Hirayon to trust him as he was treated coldly, like a stranger who recently became an acquaintance.

"Are you sure?" He asked. He wanted to know if Hirayon already saw him as a friend as he wished.

"Yeah. It might not show you the exit, but that's better than getting stuck here," Hirayon answered, thinking Hirang was asking about his aura.

Not clarifying what he meant, Hirang nodded, and strange resolve filled his system. He wanted to uphold the trust Hirayon had for him and made a silent commitment to do everything he could to get out of the labyrinth.

With a deep breath, Hirayon slowly lowered his palm, placing it on the pig's head. He felt his aura swiftly being drained from his feet to his arms and all over his body. After a moment, his vision dimmed, and his body had gone limp, falling into unconsciousness with his hand still affixed on the horned head.

At the same time, the waters rippled, and the ground shook. Hirang held Hirayon's body, removing his hand from the statue in the process. He then willed his dark element to envelop their waists and carry them float in the air, dodging the rubbles falling from the high ceiling of the cave.

The ground continued to shake, and after a few seconds, the wall on the far left slowly descended, revealing another vast area with an elevated mountain made out of piled rocks. At its highest point was a wide-eyed group staring back at Hirang's pitch-black orbs.

Once the wall was gone, the tremors stopped, leaving the four children staring at each other, none making a move. The group of three was evidently startled. Not a single one of them expected the wall to disappear nor to meet an intimidating-looking child with pure white hair and black dead orbs. What made it more unexpected was the raven-black smoke on the boy's body, exuding a sinister aura that made the group even more wary and guarded.

Not shaken at the fear reflecting in their eyes, Hirang willed the darkness to get through the opened wall and stopped atop the three children. Looking down, Hirang gave them an expressionless and stern look, enough to make the three feel cold sweat running down their back.

"Where's the statue?" Hirang asked while putting the unconscious Hirayon on his back. His voice sounded nonchalant, but the echo reverberating on the wide-area made him more domineering.

Noticing the familiar passed-out child, OAR48 forgets about Hirang's intimidating aura. "What happened to OWS59? Is he alright?" He asked, his voice brimming with worry for Hirayon.

He didn't know if Hirayon was unconscious because of the white-haired child or not, but he readied himself to attack anytime.

Squinting, Hirang gave OAR48 a cold stare. He didn't want to answer his question, but he felt the little boy's intention to strike, and he couldn't afford to fight with Hirayon on his back. Moreover, he wanted to conserve the little aura left, so fighting wasn't the best move.

"He used most of his aura," he answered.

OAR48 blinked, and the realization hit him, "Oh, he's not injured?"

"No."

"Why are you with him?"

Hirang raised a brow. He doesn't care what Hirayon and OAR48's relationship was, but it irks him that he was questioned like some criminal carrying his victim.

"That's none of your business."

"What a jerk," OSZ61 murmured, but Hirang managed to hear it, so he cast a cold look at the impetuous little girl.

In an instant, OSZ61 avoided Hirang's eyes and angrily stared at the space on her left. Her body moved on its own, and she was mad at herself for getting scared by a boy about her age. 'What's wrong with me? Why am I getting creeped out?'

OID76 noticed the little girl's reaction, so he stepped forward, almost blocking the little girl from Hirang's sight. While also anxious regarding the mysterious child, his protective character got ahead of him, and his icy blue eyes bravely stared back at Hirang.

Unbothered by the chivalrous act, Hirang repeated his question. "Where's the statue?"

"Is that what you're talking about?" OID76 asked and pointed at a horse statue with five horns on its head. Unlike the three-horned pig, this statue was bigger and more gallant looking, with its mane intricately sculpted and styled. It almost looked like a normal animal if only it didn't have sharp fangs and five eyes.

Hirang got down and walked toward the statue with Hirayon on his back. If he remembered correctly, the statue's color beside the horned pig was greyish-white. He didn't know what element that color represented, but he wanted to believe the game wouldn't leave them with no way out. Just like how it was a massive coincidence that Hirayon got swept into an area where there was a statue that needed water aura, he wanted to assume that the three were here because one of them could open the wall.

"You three," Hirang started and looked back at the three staring at him with cautious eyes. "Give this statue your aura."

Annoyed at the unexpected demand, OSZ61 asked in her usually sassy tone. "Why do we have to do what you said?"

Somehow, she got braver knowing that OID76 was in front of her, so she let her mouth speak without much thought.

"If you don't want to stay here, do what I say," Hirang answered. Gone was the standard way he spoke to Hirayon, and it was replaced with a rude manner of speaking.

OSZ61 frowned, and her arms automatically crossed. Her mouth was itching to open to talk back about the disrespect she had just received, but she decided to keep quiet when OAR48 extended his arm to stop her.

"We need to know why you want us to give our auras on that statue," OAR48 calmly reasoned. After much thought, he figured that Hirang was not there to fight them and that he had another motive.

Hirang got quiet, and when he realized he would be wasting more time if he did not explain, he frustratedly gave the three a cold stare.

"That statue will open the wall if you pour your aura."

The three shared surprised looks before warily walking toward where the horse statue was. Aside from Hirang's terrifying presence and menacing attitude, they had no reason not to believe him, especially since they witnessed how the other wall descended.

"I'll do it," OID76 volunteered, as he had the most aura left.

With shaky eyes, he slowly touched the horse's body, but nothing particular happened.

Baffled, he looked at Hirang with accusing eyes. "Nothing happened."

"You two try it," he ordered, pertaining to OAR48 and OSZ61. He didn't bother letting them know that the statue needed a particular aura as he deemed it unnecessary for the three to know.

Frowning at such an attitude, OSZ61 wanted to refute, but OAR48 shook his head. With a click of her tongue, OSZ61 touched the horse, but like the first time, nothing happened.

The two children looked at OAR48, and the latter carefully released some of his greyish aura in his hand and pressed it on the figure. Immediately, his eyes widened, and his knees had gone weak, flopping down on the rocky ground.

"OAR!" OSZ61 exclaimed and tried to remove OAR48's hand from the statue, but he weakly shook his head. He now understood what he needed to do and why OWS59 was unconscious.

'It's draining my aura quickly. Will I have enough?'

Though he had not been in as many fights as the other two, he had the least remaining aura because he had used his ability to give their group air to breathe when the water burst into the labyrinth like a tsunami.

Lucky for him, his aura stopped getting drained before he lost consciousness. A few seconds after, the ground shook, and before them, the wall on the left descended, revealing three children in a scrabble. All of which yielded colorful destructive abilities that anyone would fear receiving.

"What a sight."

R E H I L I Y A