After the gates fully opened, the angels vanished, and the awakened started walking into the maze, trooping in their massive numbers.

The moment they all entered, the gates closed on their own, never to be opened again.

The maze was nothing like anyone had imagined. The gaps between walls were extremely large, at least five hundred meters to a kilometer apart.

The floors were made of stone, and the path was lit with crystals that hung along the walls, carefully placed.

Aren scanned the place for a few seconds and then started walking. "Let's go," he said, and the group immediately followed, wanting to depart from the crowd. But amongst the many awakened, a few locked eyes on Aren's group and followed.

It wasn't possible to know they were exactly following them, because the number of people moving in that direction was massive, but that would change soon as people began to take different routes.

"So what's the plan?" Aiden asked.

"We just walk," Aren replied.

"We definitely need a good plan," Zero stated.

"Not yet," Aren replied. "Distance from everyone else is very important. I can't tell you why here, but when we are far from others, I will," Aren said.

"Hm, fine, we'll trust you," Aiden replied.

They kept walking, and after an hour, the groups started breaking off as expected, and soon after, their group was alone, walking down a straight path in the maze.

Aren suddenly stopped. He spread out Shadow Sense first, and when he was certain that no one was there, he pulled out the map. It showed a red dot, marking his exact location.

"This is the map. I was one of the six that got it," Aren stated blankly.

Everyone paused. They stared at the map for a few seconds. They knew what was at stake here. They had the opportunity to speed through the trial, but they were also targets of every single awakened here.

"Hmmm, I guess you showing us is you asking us what we are going to do now that we know, right?" Aiden asked.

"Yeah, pretty much," Aren replied.

"It's a bad death trap either way. I'd rather stay with you," Aiden replied easily. Aren gave him a nod, and Aiden nodded back.

Aren looked at Kira, and she nodded back as well.

"Then let's get moving," Zero said. She didn't even need Aren to ask her. She wasn't leaving her test subject no matter what.

They were about to start moving when they began hearing a loud scraping sound coming their way. It sounded like chains dragging along the ground.

Immediately, Aren used Shadow Sense to check. His senses spread out and covered four hundred meters, and he picked something up around the next corner, heading their way.

"Something is coming," Aren muttered. Their attention snapped forward, and the next moment, it came from the corner ahead.

Standing there was a seven foot tall Minotaur, its bull head massive with long, curved horns. Its eyes glowed red with rage, and its body pulsed with energy. Each of its hands was bound in chains that had seemingly snapped off something, as if it had been in some sort of bondage.

Its glowing red eyes pierced through their souls, and its body reeked of killing intent so heavy it suffocated them. As soon as it saw them, it opened its mouth and let out a thundering roar, every muscle of its body tensed with power.

It pulled both hands back and then swung them forward at the same time with extreme strength. The chains extended in length, ripping through the air at the speed of a bullet.

Aren, Kira, Aiden, and Zero looked at the incoming attack. Kira reacted first. She thrust her hands forward, and a massive ice wall rose. The chains slammed into it and destroyed the wall, but were unable to get through.

Ice shot out in every direction as the wall crumbled. The Minotaur pulled its chains back and unleashed again, this time harder. The chains moved so fast they were invisible to the naked eye.

Aren lunged forward first, equipping Wolf Guard on his right hand. He sensed the chain with Shadow Sense, moving out of the way at the right moment. The chain whipped into the ground so hard it cut into it and left a deep gash there.

Aren saw his opening and was about to unleash a claw strike, only for the second chain to head for his head.

CLANG

Aiden intercepted, parrying the chain. It deflected up into the air while his hands were blasted open by the force. Still, he gritted his teeth and recomposed himself as fast as possible.

"The girls are providing cover, let's go for the kill," he said while looking at Aren.

Aren let out a smile and charged ahead, Aiden following quick behind, while both ladies stood back, Kira creating ice lances to attack with while Zero readied her spatial spheres.

The Minotaur pulled back its chains again and got ready to attack, but multiple ice lances came rushing at it. It immediately spun both chains like a vortex, showing crazy skill as it blocked all the attacks. But that bought Aren enough time. The moment its blocking stopped, its guard dropped for a moment, and Aren immediately unleashed an attack, a claw strike that slashed right into the chest of the Minotaur.

"Roarrrrrrrrrrr!" It let out a resounding roar of pain, staggering backward as dark red blood leaked from its chest. Its eyes carried more malice and anger than pain.

"Not letting up," Aiden said and charged ahead. His sword glowed with a faint blue light. He leaped into the air and slashed down, but the Minotaur moved at the last moment, drawing both hands together. The chains moved and blocked the attack, but it didn't stop there, as blazing red flames erupted around the chains and exploded as they made contact with Aiden's sword.

Aiden was blasted back, but he managed to land on his feet, skidding back a few meters.

"Roarrrrrr!" It let out a terrifying roar. Its body started growing in size, reaching three times its original size, the chains growing with it.

"Shit," all of them cursed at the same time.

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