Chapter 25: The Unexplored Dungeon (3)

Cassan revised his evaluation of the barbarian. He went from seeing Ketal as a reasonable yet eccentric barbarian to realizing he was just outright insane.

Ketal continued his preparations. He shopped for nearly an hour, even purchasing an expensive rope.

“It’s costly, but cheaper than the price of a life. This should do,” Ketal said.

“I-I see...” Hayes looked exhausted as well. Being dragged around for an hour was enough to tire anyone.

Ketal gathered all the supplies he had bought. The massive bundle, larger than a human torso, was effortlessly lifted by him as if it were an inflated balloon.

“Well then, everything’s ready. Let’s head out,” he said.

“Okay.”

They returned to the Dungeon. Upon seeing them, the ghost reappeared and spoke in a tone that hinted at disbelief.

“You’ve returned... and well-prepared, at that,” the ghost said.

“It’s a maze no one has returned from. There is no harm in being thoroughly prepared,” Ketal replied.

“I see.” The ghost’s expression seemed to convey how

un-barbaric

Ketal was.

The party silently agreed.

“No matter. So, will you now challenge the maze, or retreat once more?” the ghost asked.

“ will challenge it,” Ketal declared.

Reluctantly, the rest of the party followed suit.

“I’ll challenge it.”

“Damn it, I will challenge it too.”

“I... I’ll challenge it.”

“Very well,” the ghost replied.

Creak!

With their acceptance, the ghost waved its hand. The Dungeon began to twist and distort with an eerie sound.

“Enter now. Within the Finite Maze, if you succeed in clearing it, you will gain everything the maze possesses,” the ghost said.

“Those words... I’ll hold you to them,” Ketal said, grinning. For a moment, the ghost shuddered but quickly resumed its duties.

Boom!

A tremendous sound rang out. The Dungeon began to collapse—or so it seemed. Rather than a collapse, it looked like an elaborate facade crumbling to reveal its true form. Walls opened, and floors fell away. The sight of what seemed like a world disintegrating left the party panicking in fear.

Meanwhile, Ketal’s eyes sparkled with excitement as he smiled. “Oh-ho!”

The Dungeon transformed as its structure shifted, mingling with magic, shaking, and morphing.

It was pure fantasy.

Ketal’s gaze was intense, as though he wouldn’t miss a single detail of the spectacle. All creation seemed to crumble. The party covered their heads or rushed to parts of the Dungeon that hadn’t yet collapsed.

But Ketal alone stood still, unmoving, as if he were part of a different world. He seemed detached, standing apart from reality.

For a moment, the ghost stared blankly at him. Finally, the transformation ended. And they arrived at the maze.

“So this is it,” Ketal murmured as he smiled.

The party, on the other hand, sighed in relief, reassured by the solidity of the ground beneath them.

“Ugh...”

“I’m getting motion sickness.” The sudden collapse and restructuring of the ground had shaken their brains, leaving them nauseous.

“Are you alright?” Ketal asked.

“Yes, I think I’ll be fine after a short rest,” Hayes replied.

“Then rest while I take a look around.” Ketal raised his head. He saw smooth steel walls surrounding them on either side. The width between the walls was about five meters—wide enough to move comfortably.

The ceiling was about ten meters high, with dimly glowing torches affixed to the walls, serving as guideposts in the pitch darkness.

So it’s really a maze,

Ketal thought. It was one of those classic mazes he had read about. He couldn’t help but smile. He couldn’t believe that he was finally in a maze. He suppressed the laughter threatening to burst out.

“

Ugh...

” Hayes murmured, still nauseous.

“Damn it! If the ground’s going to collapse, at least give us a warning first!” Cassan shouted.

The party members, their nausea subsiding, began assessing their surroundings. But their reactions were the complete opposite of Ketal’s. Despair and fear painted their faces.

Looking around, Hayes turned pale. “Ah... That over there...”

The other party members turned pale as they followed Hayes’s gaze.

There was a corpse. They didn’t know how long it had been there, but it was perfectly skeletal, with not a scrap of flesh remaining. At its base, a phrase was inscribed.

[Abandon all hope.]

It felt as though they were looking at their own future. The party members were gripped with fear. Only Ketal approached the corpse with a calm demeanor.

After examining it, he said, “It’s fake.”

“What?”

A skeleton this clean would mean the body has been here for at least several months. If this place is sealed, it could be even longer. But has this Dungeon existed for that long? And where are the clothes?”

“Oh...” The other party members finally realized that the skeleton was completely bare. Alexandros hesitantly suggested. “Could they have stripped in despair at the end?”

“If so, the clothes should be somewhere nearby. And look—the floor here is made of steel. To etch those words onto it, they would need some kind of tool or weapon,” Ketal replied. He continued his examination of the skeleton. “And the bones are too clean. There are no signs of fractures or cracks. It looks like a model skeleton.”

Realizing what Ketal meant, Hayes muttered, “Is it a setup to scare us?”

“It’s not certain, but that seems likely. Still, if by any chance this is a real corpse, we should at least pay our respects.”

Ketal closed his eyes and solemnly offered a prayer. Watching this, the other party members came to a renewed understanding of Ketal. This barbarian was strong but not ignorant. He could calmly assess situations and discern their true nature.

With this barbarian, they were beginning to think they would even escape the maze. Their despair began to fade slowly.

“We’ve faced life-threatening situations many times during our travels. This isn’t anything new,” Alexandros said.

They were mercenaries and, before that, adventurers wandering the world. As Alexandros mentioned, they had encountered mortal perils many times.

“Even if we’re teleported into the Demon Realm, as long as we stay grounded, we will survive, right?” Alexandros continued.

“Is that a proverb from this world?” Ketal murmured, amused.

As Alexandros began exploring the maze, Hayes cried out in alarm, “Wait! Don’t move carelessly!”

“Huh?” Alexandros froze mid-step, turning around stiffly.

“This is a maze. Since we don’t know what kind, we need to assess everything carefully first!” Hayes said.

“You’re right. My mistake,” Alexandros muttered, retreating sheepishly.

Under normal circumstances, Cassan might have mocked him, but not this time. If Alexandros hadn’t moved, Cassan might have gone first.

The party began to analyze the area within their line of sight. Ketal, meanwhile, ran his hand along the walls.

The walls are solid,

Ketal thought. The steel walls were as tough as they appeared. When he knocked on them, a deep, heaving sound echoed, indicating significant thickness. Ketal closed his eyes, extending his senses. Even with his heightened awareness, he couldn’t detect an exit.

The maze is vast.

Ketal withdrew his senses. Walking through the entire area would take considerable time. He wondered how this large space could fit within the small Dungeon.

So, this too is the power of magic.

Ketal thought about what a Dungeon was and what lay at its end. His curiosity surged.

Meanwhile, the party discovered writing on the wall.

“Ketal! Come here!” Hayes shouted.

“Oh, is there an explanation?” Ketal looked at the wall with an intrigued expression.

[1. This maze is finite.]

[2. This location is the center of the maze.]

[3. The maze is square-shaped.]

[4. The maze has only one floor.]

[5. The exit is located at the edge.]

[6. There is no time limit.]

[7. There are no riddles or special methods to escape the maze.]

[8. The maze does not change.]

[9. There are no direct threats to adventurers in the maze.]

“It really is a maze,” Ketal muttered.

They read each line carefully, trying to extract any useful information. Hayes summarized, “So, we’re in the center of the maze, and the exit is on the edge. Also, it only has one floor.”

They racked their brains, searching for hints.

“There’s just not enough information here,” Cassan remarked.

“If only there were more hints...,” Hayes said.

“Hmm? Isn’t this enough?” Ketal chimed in, surprising them. He looked at his comrades with a puzzled expression.

“What do you mean there’s enough?” Hayes asked.

“If we take the writing at face value, this maze doesn’t change, and there are no puzzles or special methods. That means it’s a very straightforward maze.”

“Right...”

“So, we just need to approach it using standard maze-solving methods. There’s no need to overthink it.”

“Standard method?” Hayes wondered what standard methods Ketal was talking about. As simple mercenaries, they had no idea how to navigate a maze properly. Then, she suddenly exclaimed as if she had realized something, “I know! I know how to solve it!”

“What? You know how?” Ketal asked.

“I learned about this once.” Hayes was a priestess, a woman educated in the teachings of the divine. Because her role involved missionary work, she had received extensive training. Among the many lessons, there had been one about mazes. Hesitantly, she placed her hand against the steel wall. “You just need to keep your hand on the maze’s wall and move along.” “Huh...?” Alexandros said.

“What’s the method of solving this maze? That doesn’t make sense at all,” Cassan replied.

The two of them looked baffled. Solving a maze by merely keeping one’s hand on the wall didn’t make sense logically. However, Ketal nodded as though he understood what Hayes was talking about. “You’re talking about the Hand On Wall Rule, right?”

“Oh, you’ve heard of it,” Hayes said.

“It’s not a complicated concept.”

The Hand On Wall Rule was not complicated at all—at least not for Ketal.

When Hayes first learned about it, she had struggled for hours to understand, racking her brain the entire time. Yet, the barbarian appeared to grasp the concept effortlessly.

Momentarily startled, Hayes cleared her throat and began explaining. “Think about it, a maze is ultimately a connected structure.”

“A connected structure?” Cassan asked.

“Hm...,” Alexandros muttered.

The two of them still looked confused. It was difficult to explain with words alone, so Hayes picked up a tagger. She intended to draw a maze on the floor to demonstrate.

Screech!

However, the steel floor didn’t even get scratched by her dagger. She was utterly surprised. No matter how many times she tried, all she achieved was dulling the blade.

Watching quietly, Ketal raised his axe. “Let me try.”

“Thank you. I need the shape to be...” Hayes started to say something, but Ketal began carving into the floor with his axe.

Unlike her dagger, the floor split smoothly under the blade of his axe, as if it were made of clay.

“I was going to explain how to draw it...” Hayes’s voice trailed off.

At the tip of Ketal’s axe, the shape of the maze began to take form. It was a quintessential amaze—no inconsistencies, no unnecessary complexity, and with a clean, logical structure.