OLD-WORLD EXTRA

Chapter 72  Maze

Plummeting through the darkness, his mind raced to make sense of his surroundings, but the abyss offered no solace.

"...huff....huff.."

The wind whipped his face, and its roar nearly muffled his labored gasps.

Emir desperately willed his TDS ability to activate, yearning for a glimmer of visual clarity amid the murky abyss.

'Goddammit!'

Yet it remained useless, offering him no help and leaving him vulnerable in the swirling void.

And as he continued to hurl downward, the wind howled louder in his ears like a chorus of demons, threatening to drown out his thoughts.

The emptiness stretched out before him was endless and unforgiving.

He strained to find any semblance of a handhold or any way to halt his rapid descent, but he was offered no reprieve.

All that was left was nothing but the sensation of endless falling.

Time itself was becoming distorted and elusive.

Emir struggled to hold onto his thoughts as they slipped through his grasp like sand while he failed in his attempts to count the time of his freefall.

Each passing moment felt like an eternity, yet they slipped away so quickly, as he never knew when his body would collide with the ground.

His mind raced, grasping at any shred of hope or strategy, but they were all as fleeting as the moments themselves.

The abyss swallowed him whole, and he was lost in its endless embrace.

…

"Ugh!"

In an instant, Emir was jolted from his freefall as he collided with an object.

Though not the handhold he had hoped for, it provided something for him to grip to help him slow down his descent.

It was a much better alternative than crashing into the ground at his current speed, which would have undoubtedly proved fatal, his augmented suit surviving without its owner.

And with Emir's newfound physical prowess, digging his fingers into the rocky wall was a simple feat.

So as he continued scraping the wall, his fall decreased in speed.

But abruptly, his body came to a complete halt, colliding against an unyielding surface.

His muscles tensed, trying to absorb the shock of the impact, but the pain shot through his body nonetheless.

"Ugh..."

Emir let out a grunt, feeling his bones rattle from the force of the blow.

'Well, that went better than expected...'

Prostrate on the ground, he took a moment to recover, gathering his breath and taking stock of any possible injuries.

'No fractures... Thankfully.'

'Though the aches and soreness in my body are undeniable. Thank the stars for the expensive medicine I've found; otherwise, well... Let's not think about that.' He thought, a shudder running through his body.

He breathed a sigh of relief as he noticed his sturdy and reliable rucksack had endured the fall unscathed.

'I guess one benefit of my connection with the Order is this almost indestructible rucksack, a reliable friend since day one, eh?' He mused to himself.

Swiftly, he retrieved some old-world medicine from its contents and consumed it, hoping it would alleviate all pain and provide a boost of energy for the journey ahead.

But his attempts to rise were thwarted as the ground beneath him quivered and buckled, unsteady and unpredictable.

It dawned on him that he was stranded on a mound of debris, the wreckage of the very pathway that had given way beneath his feet.

With a sense of desperation, he knew that he had to escape this place as soon as possible, or else debris might fall on him at any second.

Yet the darkness and instability around him made the task seem...

Impossible.

Emir closed his eyes, took a deep breath, and tried to regain his composure.

'There has to be a way out.'

Since there was no glimmer of hope in this bleak situation, he created one himself.

'Right, this place is no death trap.'

'I'll be fine...'

He deluded himself until calm returned.

Inch by inch, he made his way through the shifting rubble, his fingers scraping against rough concrete and twisted metal as he crawled through.

He started to make his way forward, each pull precarious and uncertain. n/ô/vel/b//in dot c//om

His progress was slow—agonizingly slow.

It took seconds, minutes, maybe even hours.

But then, finally, his hand brushed against something cool and smooth.

It was...

A door.

With a surge of hope, he pulled himself up using the handle and pushed against it, feeling it give way beneath his strength.

Emir tumbled through the opening, landing in a heap on the other side.

Gasping for breath, he took a moment to survey his surroundings, and gradually, his eyes adjusted to the darkness, allowing him to make out the slick terrain that lay ahead.

The narrow corridor was sparsely furnished, littered with debris and a few pieces of scattered furniture.

'What the hell happened to this place?'

Disregarding that thought, he traversed the chamber, his pace was deliberate and cautious.

And as he continued forward, the sounds of movement lightly echoed in the distance, emanating from the shadowy depths of the chamber.

His heart raced as he realized that he wasn't alone.

The monsters had followed him down here, or rather, they had been here since the very beginning.

It was their home ground, and he just invaded them, trapping himself with no way out.

He took a deep breath, trying to steady his nerves as he crept through the narrow corridor.

While he walked, the labyrinthine nature of the chamber became apparent to him.

It was a twisting, turning maze with passages that seemed to lead nowhere and dead ends at every turn.

Emir focused on keeping his bearings, making sure to retrace his steps when he found himself at a dead end.

Slowly, he went back to where he started and tried another entryway, disregarding the last three.

He then realized that the path he was on seemed to be the correct one as he followed the walls that led him to a doorway, which he walked through.

But as his foot stepped on the other side of the gateway, he heard a click, and suddenly the entirety of the ground beneath him gave way.

'AGAIN?!'