Chapter 033:

The maze’s winding halls were filled to the brim with young students eagerly trying to push each other aside as they made way for the exit.

Among the shuffling mass of anxious, eager youths were Ed and Grim who moved as a group with people people around them.

“Just what is that idiot planning?” Ed grumbled as he hauled his aching body forward.

“It’s surprising that he is that close to Prince Clive,” Grim replied as he sent a glance toward his back where Pricilla was doing her best to keep up with the other students.

“Yeah,”

Along the way, the group of students running alongside Ed and Grim was met with many dead ends which only served to further slow their progress.

Grim bit his lip with furrowed brows ‘We’ve already been running for some time now, but I can still see no signs of Timothy, despite the fact that he began only a couple of seconds before us,’

It wasn’t just him either, even Alec was nowhere to be seen.

‘It seems unlikely for me to achieve a satisfactory rank in this section, but my harvests were plentiful nonetheless,’ Grim thought as he recalled his interactions with Pricilla and Clive.

Ed nudged Grim away from his thoughts as he pointed toward a section of the maze wall that had been broken by what seemed like a battering ram.

“Looks like the Kingsly siblings have regained use of their Wisker,” Grim remarked bitterly, ‘This will further lower my rank,’

“Should we go through?” Ed asked.

“Yes, and then when their Wisker runs out, we can overtake them,” He said with his head raised.

“Big talk coming from the man barely able to limp forward,”

“I have no choice in the matter as I had just undergone a fierce battle,”

“And I haven’t?” Ed’s tone grew offended.

“Aren’t you a pacifist?”

“That’s not the point!”

A distance away from their bickering was the thundering sound of a hammer smashing an innocent wall apart.

“Raghhhh, Fuck!!” Mark screamed before rushing forward desperately.

Behind him, Rebecca followed behind her brother with an exasperated expression on her face.

Upon coming face to face with another wall, Mark stopped in place before turning to look toward Rebecca who held the hammer.

Under her brother’s insistent gaze, she sighed before violently swinging the hammer at the wall.

Once again, Mark issued a battle cry before dashing through the wall. He was too worn out to even lift the hammer but still, he did not let go of the spite dwelling within him.

Unfortunately for the fairer Kingsly, she had to follow her brother’s lead as between the two of them, he had a better sense of direction. At the very least, she was somewhat confident that they were moving forward.

………………………………………………..

Clive Dune’s Point of View:

Boom!

“He’s closer now!” Timothy said with a vicious smile before licking his lips. This act caused Clive, who was currently being carried under his arm like a log to shiver.

“What’s wrong with you?” The young prince couldn’t help but ask.

“Nothing, my dear prince, you need not worry, just concern yourself with keeping the Wisker running,”

“That’s another thing! How are you using my Wisker as your own?!”

“Again, it’s not that big of a deal so don’t worry about it, our Wisker doesn’t have much time left, so we got to make every second count!”

“O-our Wisker?!” Clive asked incredulously.

“Ooops, slip of the tongue, my dude,”

Feeling like he was about to pass out from exasperation, Clive gave up and his body sagged.

“Oi, oi, pull yourself together! I can’t carry two dead weights and run at the same time!”

“If it’s bothering you, then why are you carrying me like this anyway?”

Alexander gave Clive a look like he was an idiot.

‘Is that really the face a commoner should be making when facing a prince?’ Clive thought.

“You ain't my prince, Clive, besides if I let you down, you’ll obviously run away,”

“Aha, so I am being kidnapped!”

“No, we are cooperating against that Alec bastard!”

At that, Clive fell silent. While it was true that he felt humiliated being carried like this, it was also a fact that Alexander, boosted by his Wisker, was faster than what he could do under the same conditions. As ridiculous as this was, it was actually the best chance he had at beating Alec Moroe.

“Ok…” Clive finally relented. “Still, why did you bring him too? He’s just slowing us down!”

Clive asked as he pointed toward the passed-out Rus under Alexander’s other arm.

Timothy’s smirk grew wider, such as it was now a full-on maniacal smile. “Insurance,” He said with a whisper.

Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

Again, Clive shuddered.

After a couple of moments of awkward silence, Clive began to wonder. ‘This Timothy…how does he know the way through the maze?’ Throughout their sprint, they had never met with a dead end which was highly unusual. It was almost as if Timothy knew the maze’s route like the back of his hand.

This, coupled with other incidents, once again led him to consider his and Erika’s previous conversation.

‘She mentioned that Timothy changed, but I didn’t think that it was to this extent,’

With him being the son of the famous Lobo Baek, Clive had naturally met with Timothy and his father multiple times in the past. Typically it was during the various banquets held by the kingdom of Iron-Wall. The Timothy from then seemed like a completely different person. He was meek and less obnoxious, but more importantly were his eyes. Back then, Timothy’s eyes were always a bit dull, but now they seemed full and deep…

Clive did not know what better words he could use to describe Timothy’s eyes now, but if he were forced to make a comparison, he would say that they were similar to his fathers’.

Only when he started feeling a draining feeling come from deep within him that he snapped from his thoughts.

“Timothy! My Wisker’s out!”

“Tsk,” Alexander replied with a tongue click and a nasty expression on his face.

‘Timothy never made that face before either,’ The prince noted.

It was about then that a loud explosion brought his attention to the front where Alec had blasted off once more, regaining distance.

“Timothy!”

“Yeah, I see him,” Timothy replied with teeth gritting. “Clive!”

“What?”

“Pray!”

“What?” Clive’s face was incredulous, ‘What is this idiot talking about?’

“Pray for your Wisker’s advancement! You are already about to break through after the fight with Crooked Nose so just pray harder!”

“What nonsense are you spouting?” Clive asked, inwardly shocked over how closely Timothy was paying attention to his situation.

“Look, just trust me! Are we really going to let such an ass be first place?” Timothy said between pants. Having lost the buff provided by Clive’s Wisker, Timothy was forced to make up for the lack of speed with effort alone, something that clearly winded him.

Clive’s mind was a mess of confusion and hesitation. Briefly, he wondered what Alec had done to earn such animosity from this lunatic but from what little snippets he heard along the way, Clive understood that it was fundamentally unfathomable.

“Hurry!” Timothy pleaded.

“O-okay fine, whatever! Who do I pray to?”

“Fuck if I knew!”

Clive’s mouth hung agape, but after a second of hesitation, he closed his eyes and started praying with all his heart.

‘Dear god, or whoever is up there, please give me strength! And please take this bastard back!’

It was then that, miraculously, one of the young prince’s wishes came true.

Unfortunately, it was not the one he truly yearned for.

………………………………………………..

Alexander’s sadistic smile grew to unprecedented widths when Clive closed his eyes.

‘This stupid bastard actually believed me!’ He issued a wild cackle to himself and tried his best not to let it leak out.

Using his unfathomable affinity with fire, Alexander followed Alec’s trail closely but still, he could not close in on him. This pissed him off and he wanted to vent using Clive.

The thought of the prince of Graveclaws praying to a god which they did not have was extremely entertaining.

He was just about to open his venomous mouth to tease the brat when his eyes damn near burst from their sockets.

{Party member: Clive Dune, is undergoing a Wisker awakening!}

{Bonus Status Points will be awarded!}

{Awarded Bonus Stat Points: 10}

The annoying All-Bright system had been bugging him multiple times since first entering the maze, but it was only now that Alexander properly looked at it.

He ignored the wall of text and read the latest line.

{Party member: Clive Dune, has undergone a Wisker Awakening!}

{Grace of Sylph has been promoted to Grace of Sylph (Awakened)!}

{Eyes of Discernment activated!}

{Grace of Sylph (Awakened): Speed increased by 35%. Duration: 1000 seconds. Cooldown: 4000 seconds.}

What’s more, Alexander, slack-jawed, watched the wind particles surrounding them begin rushing toward Clive once again as the Wisker reactivated, only with more resplendence and in a deeper shade of verdant green

Staring at the slightly larger blob of divine magic majestically spinning above Clive’s head, Alexander was struggling to process the information coming at him all at once.

Initially, he had proposed the act of praying as a means of teasing Clive, but on the other hand, he did have a sense that the idea might work.

Using Dominic as an example as well as gathering from the vox populi concerning Wiskers that Timothy was aware of, Alexander deduced that Wisker awakenings did not occur randomly, but rather as a result of extreme distress.

But this did not fully make sense. If what Alexander guessed about Wiskers was true, then it was more likely the act of beseeching a greater being than it was distress itself that induced awakenings.

Alexander shook his head and emptied his mind, something that came easy to him.

“Holy shit that worked,”

“Holy shit that worked!”

The two voices said simultaneously.

Alexander looked into Clive’s incredulous eyes.

Unfortunately, before Clive could ask anything, Alexander had already tapped into the Wisker and both young men were soon dashing forward at unprecedented speeds.

………………………………………………..

Around the time that Pricilla was about to accuse a student of harassment.

The teachers all gathered on one floating ship.

“How are the preparations going?” The headmaster asked.

“All is going well,” Ike responded in a timely fashion. “The visitors have been assigned their seats and the sorting jar has been prepared,”

“Food and refreshments are also ready,” Minerva chipped in with a light laugh.

The other teachers stood silent for the most part, save for Lindsy who was busy chewing her nails as she watched the large crystal in her hand.

Every teacher had their own receiving crystal which was connected to the various transmitters attached across the roof of the maze.

“Are you worried about Alec?” A voice startled her, causing her to hurriedly hide the crystal projecting Alec Moroe’s visage.

Her grandfather, the headmaster, was standing behind her with a kind smile on his face.

“Gr-grandfathe- I mean, Headmaster!” Lindsy said with a blush.

“While I appreciate your concern, I assure you, Alec will do fine. He is a fine junior representative of our tower,”

“I know but still…” She shot a look toward the teachers from Graveclaws who stood to the side, chatting among themselves.

The headmaster matched her gaze before looking back toward his granddaughter. “Ease your worries, little Almer,”

Lindsy looked toward her grandfather with puffed-up cheeks, “I told you not to call me that anymore!” She protested.

Giving her a cheeky grin, Gilbert was about to shoot back when something in his receiving crystal grabbed his attention.

All the teachers grew quiet as their eyes remained glued to their respective crystals.

“As expected of you Graveclaws punks!” Lindsy exploded.

“Lindsy!” Gilbert admonished, but it was too late.

Immediately, four out of the five professors from Graveclaws looked toward her with reproachful expressions.

Tensions were at an all-time high when Minerva spoke up softly.

“That child is innocent,” She said as a matter of fact.

“Easy for you to say!” Lindsy shot back.

Minerva held her hand up, stopping Lindsy’s tirade. “It was indeed a student from my kingdom, but it wasn’t this student, it was him,” She said as she pointed toward an extremely plain-looking youth who was defending the accused.

Lindsy tilted her head at this, ‘What is the point of her saying all this?’

“Furthermore, I don’t recognize this student,” Minerva continued.

This one sentence caused ripples among the once relatively serene professors.