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1047. A Maze of Traps
🕑 Added 2025-08-07 00:00:11 +0000 UTCThe frosted walls of the maze felt exactly as how they appeared. They were cold, as though made from a single block of ice. So blue were the walls that Frost could not help but compare them to icebergs she had seen in artic documentaries.
She was half correct to assume these were ice. She only assumed that they weren’t was because of the walls of Act X’s headquarters they had seen earlier, which were made of strings. The walls were also made of this material, but it used the strands of the Anointed Anids.
The blue crystals were in fact trapped moisture that were held between the strands which appeared like a network of sprawling cracks along the walls.
“I thought I recognized it.” Res was the first to speak up as they ventured through the hallways of the maze. “Ice-blue walls. Some would call it sapphire since it’s easy to mix it up with the steel-strand walls.”
The glistening floors reflected their appearance like a mirror. Each step left a small crack that quickly faded away, as though the ground carried self-repairing properties.
The wolfwoman held her tongue for a moment as she eyed a curious Joy. The child tapped on the wall with fascination.
“Malgam!?” She cried, amused by how her fingers were seemingly being glued to the walls.
“How childish.” Acedia smirked as she placed a hand along the wall. “Oh? It’s quite… pleasant. Addicting, even. Mother, how does this work? Ice does this too from what I have seen.”
Frost tried it out, and she slowly peeled her hand away. There was a satisfying ‘ripping’ sound. If she had to compare the sensation to something, it would be like separating a strip of velcro.
“Feels like we shouldn’t be touching it at all.” She cautiously said, guiding Joy’s hands away from the walls. “Never thought I’d see the motif of ice being used by Act X.”
“A refrain, if this is a play.” Jury hummed, patting a crimson sack she had been carrying this entire time. “Why don’t we ask the Acolyte? I’m sure he has something to say~”
The bag dropped with a wet thud. Blood immediately escaped from the bottom of the sack as it unfurled itself, revealing the mangled body of an Acolyte. A cursory glance would have made it impossible to determine whether they were an Acolyte of Act X or a reanimated corpse.
“… The strings… guide… me…”
In fact, were it not for the System, then Frost would not have recognized him as a human.
It was a miracle that he was even alive.
“Or not.” Jury pouted before pinching Frost’s cheek. “Wanna try eating him?”
“I’ll pass. Where did you find him?”
“Snooping around the forest! He mentioned the twins. I couldn’t help myself.”
“In what context did he mention the twins? I feel like you jumped the gun and mangled him.”
“Context… I don’t remember. I just did what you said to do. Take down – but not kill – any member of Act X after the twins.”
“I know I said that, but I don’t know to feel about this.”
It was not like Jury to go out of her way to brutally mangle another person, even if they were a mortal enemy.
Frost could not even recall a single cruel thought that was proposed by Jury. She had always weighed the rights and wrongs of those involved with Hora Therapeutic’s clients, as well as the conduct of Time Reverberation’s Moons, and Atelier personnel who had been found guilty of violating the Nexus Code of Conduct (through the Minu Auditors).
Needless to say, her current conduct was as contradictory to her role (The Angel) as it was to her name (Jury).
“It’s better to not think about it. Besides, Frost, you’re not the one punishing them.”
“That’s not how it works.” An urge to scold Jury was quickly suppressed by her Condition. “Don’t let them die. Just keep them safe for now. We’ll figure out what to do with them.”
“Yes, yes~!
Jury hauled the sack over her shoulder and led the pack with a carefree expression. She walked with an exaggerated swagger, and a single claw scraping along the walls.
“Your wife’s gone drunk on her power. Keep her on a leash, will you?” Res sympathetically patted Frost’s back. “She’s on what Cer was back when she only cared about the lives of the Blessed. Idiot.”
Jury served as the group’s vanguard, with Acedia serving a similar role, albeit reluctantly. They had the highest DEF and HP pool out of the group making them the perfect bait. Frost was not so naive to believe that this was a normal maze.
Where there was a maze–
“Jury! Duck!”
“Hm?”
–There were traps.
Whizz
Screeeeech
A fifty-kilogram steel rod was launched from one side of the wall. It had been fired from an orifice around the size of a human head, which sealed immediately after the rod was fired.
It was near silent and moved so quickly that Frost struggled to catch it in time with her Foresight.
Jury easily had enough time to avoid it; however, she dug her heels in, and the harpoon violently split against her throat. Steel curls cleaved through the air like a guillotine, which warped around the bodies of Res, Frost and Acedia.
Frost caught it like a rope, whereas Res flicked the steel away, flicking shrapnel deeper into the hallway.
Acedia on the other hand…
Smack
“Owwwwwch!” She clasped the back of her neck where the steel ribbon had slapped her, and she then stumbled onto a slightly raised plate.
Click
Whizz
“Acedia–!” Frost was too late. Another trap was triggered, and a harpoon slapped Acedia’s… lower half.
“Gaaaaaaaaah! M-Mother– Healing!” Acedia rolled along the hallway, triggering trap after trap.
The harpoons flung her around. She did not seem to understand that bracing for impact would prevent her from being flung off.
After all, Frost did not weight that much over fifty kilograms herself… at least in her head
Acedia was a Corrupted who mimicked humans based on appearance alone. Thus, she was unaware of their complex biomechanics. As a Corrupted, the more instinctual way to prevent oneself from being thrown away was to latch onto the surface.
And that was what Acedia did. She thrust her arms into the ground and clawed at the walls, but she could not prevent herself from being flung around by the harpoons.
Of course you can’t hold yourself down. Your grip is weakening the walls. Doesn’t matter how strong your grip is, you’re limited by the material you’re holding onto.
It was comical watching her own body flop around like a beached fish. For this reason, she decided to keep this information to herself.
“Aaaah! So pressure plates are used to trigger the traps!” Jury casually set off another ten, only to shrug them off as she studied the floor. “There’s a correct path to take! Geez, you can only see it from top-down. How can they expect Acolytes to make it through?”
“Through faith in the Scripts. There’d be a vague instruction given to them. I doubt Act X sends their own naked. Check the Acolyte’s body.”
“Oh! That’s right!” Jury swung the sack from her shoulder, then–
–an explosion of gore erupted.
Blood splattered along Jury’s body. But miraculously, there was not a single drop of blood on her face.
Threadbare strands floated amongst the carnage.
All that was left of the Acolyte were their boots and a single ethereal sheet, which remained in Jury’s palms like an offering.
Joy jolted in fright.
She was the only one who had reacted to the death. Everyone else, Frost included, remained expressionless. This was a normal sight, of course. It should have been to Joy, but the lull she experienced in the City of Hearts had made her believe that humanoid deaths were not common in the Nex Megalopolis.
“Maglam… Juwy…”
“He’s not dead. Jury just made a small mistake. She didn’t mean to kill them.” Frost kissed her head. “What does the Script say?”
“Jump on any step that would be a prime number.” Jury recited.
The command was simple enough. But Frost quickly found that this Commandment would have likely left the Acolyte scratching their head, because she and Jury were the only ones present who understood what this meant.
“Tens and hundreds? Are they primes because of their significance?” Res asked.
“Primes as in the first eleven digits including zero. They precede all values. How can they not be prime numbers?” Raoul gave her own interpretation.
“I feel like that’s the natural assumption. But no. They’re just numbers that can’t be wholly divided by any number but by itself. Like one, three and five.” Frost explained.
A look of surprise came across Res as she spoke.
“I’ve heard of those before. The Re-Entry Cube needed us to look for specific numbers. We just didn’t know they were called prime numbers.”
Frost found it hard to believe that the triplets were able to overcome a Corrupted requiring mathematics. Then again, she had to remember that Ber was known to have the occasional stroke of genius.
“Either interpretation would have worked. The Scripts are flexible enough to allow for creative interpretations.” Raoul slowly muttered. “Are we clear to move?”
That said, Frost surveyed the mess Jury and Acedia had left behind and gave the others behind her a firm nod.
“We can move on. Stay in the front, you two. I’m a bit curious as to why the mini-mes haven’t tripped any traps yet.”
Jury’s tail wrapped around Acedia’s neck before any words of protests could form. There was a look of adoration melded with conflict in her eyes whenever she glanced at Acedia. As much as she loved Frost’s body, she could not find it in herself to embrace what wasn’t her lover.
She did not even allow Acedia to wrap her hands around her waist for help.
“Maybe they don’t weigh as much as us.” Orth said. It sounded sarcastic because of her monotone voice, but it was a genuine answer.
“If they belong to the Amalgam, the origin of the Strings might consider them as having their own Living Loom.” Thras added.
“You’re correct, sister. That means they are not part of the Audition.” (Orth).
“Strings of their own…” (Thras).
“… Different from ours?” (Orth).
“Very. Under the law of…” (Thras).
“What did they call the Amalgam again?” (Orth).
“Malgam?” Joy tilted her head quizzically. “S-Sov… Sovereign… Star.”
Her cheeks were suddenly pinched by Frost.
“Gam?”
“Frost is all you need to call me.”
“Frost…”
“… Actually, I like it better when you call me ‘Malgam.’”
“Because it’s a pseudonym for mom.” Res laughed.
Frost didn’t notice it until now, but Joy had been averting her eyes from the world. She squinted where there was no light and stared with widened eyes where the light shone the brightest.
But whenever they landed on Frost, she was filled with relief.
*
Harpoon-dart traps were far from the only trick up Act X’s sleeve.
Every corridor in the maze possessed a trial that challenged the Commandment of one’s given Script. A person’s agility, strength, and resilience were forfeited in this environment that forced one’s stats to be reduced by a quarter.
There were large bodies of water requiring a person to swim completely submerged beneath the maze for upwards of a minute. The freezing waters and underwater currents made this nearly impossible for the ordinary.
Then, there were traps that had the walls of a one-hundred-meter hallway slowly closing in on itself. This was while the Denizens of Corrupted rained from pores within the walls.
Another section of the maze required the group to crawl through an obstacle course made from indestructible razor wire. Of course, this was easily bypassed thanks to Frost’s maw. Unfortunately, she did not gain any new Abilities from slurping easily five kilometers worth of razor wire.
Later, they came across a floorless section requiring them to leap from platforms that stuck out from the walls. But these platforms would periodically recess into the walls. What awaited beneath was a dark pit filled with the murmurs of the Corrupted.
This was another trap that was bypassed with brute force. Jury’s extreme speed meant that there was no point in engaging with the mechanics of the maze. They just needed to follow the wall where their right hand was placed, and they would, in time, find the exit.
But as difficult as these traps were, they were not impossible. Taking Jury, Acedia, and their strength out of the equation, there was only one true method to discovering the mechanism of each trap.
Raoul demonstrated this skill at the next trap.
They had reached what appeared to be a dead end. But they quickly found that it was a wall made of thirty guillotines. Raoul, as though possessed, wasted no time and stuck a head into the slot where the accused would kneel into.
“Raoul!?” Frost exclaimed.
She was the only one who seemed worried about her. Res did not bat an eye, and the twins – while they did not blink – did not attempt to stop Raoul either. They hadn’t even commented on Raoul’s transformation.
“A certain degree of resignation, or conviction is the criteria required by an Acolyte to overcome the traps.” Raoul slowly spoke.
The guillotine fell a second later.
Jury intercepted it with her tail before it could reach halfway down, allowing Raoul to pry herself free from the stocks.
A disappointed look formed on Raoul’s face.
“At what point do they become one in the same? The dart trap required us to stand directly in the line of fire to notice the pressure plates. The underwater swim has the Acolyte make a leap of faith. The one-hundred-meter sprint is a desperate brawl to just live, only to struggle at the next stage. And for what?”
“Analogy…” (Orth).
“… Of life.” (Thras).
Raoul became impassioned by the revelation. Though her flames died out just seconds later.
“I don’t believe the Acolytes make it through the Audition. The traps demand death. No Acolyte can possibly reach the end. Orth. Thras. Have you been through this maze before?”
“Never.” (Orth).
“No.” (Thras).
“… Res…” Raoul bit her tongue in shame from just uttering her sister’s name. “… Why does this place look familiar to you?”
“I would have said if I knew. I’m still trying to figure it out. I can see how resignation plays into the traps. Act X preys on two kinds of people. People who lack a purpose – a conviction – and people who need protection. Assuming there’s an infinite number of traps, it’s only a matter of time before an Acolyte resigns themselves to Act X.”
“Theoretically.” (Orth).
“Speaking.” (Thras).
“Gam…”
Frost half-believed this.
The only reason she wasn’t convinced that it was impossible was because of how the Scripts were open to interpretation. If Act X was as cut and dry as the lines of a play, then why did they allow ad lib?
If anything, it was as though Act X was searching for something through the Audition.
My mini-mes still haven’t triggered any traps. There’s a lot of Acolytes and Corrupted in the maze too, but they don’t seem all that concerned about my Prides. The chances of us being on the main path are slim, but all evidence suggests that we’re in the right direction.
It was a hunch.
The guillotine where Raoul had placed her head crumbled, revealing a passage that could barely fit them. More guillotines needed to be triggered before they could move forward.
“Acedia. Get your neck on the stocks.”
“… Yes Mother…”
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Windezz
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