Harem Sync: Divine Edition-Chapter 44: The Moving Dungeon

Kira stood there at the intersection, half-hunched over, ears lowered, processing that she had completely lost Haru’s trail.

Absolute silence all around.

"Maybe it would have been better if I had stayed in the lab and waited for them..." she murmured to herself in a small voice, doubt and frustration mixed together.

KRRR

KRRRR

KRR

KRRRR

Kira began to hear these sounds coming from all sides at once, a rough, heavy sound of stone being dragged against stone, echoing off the walls in a way that made it impossible to identify the source.

She stood up immediately, placing hope in it; perhaps this sound meant something, perhaps it was a sign of movement she could follow.

She pressed her ear against the nearest wall, pressing it against the cold stone.

The sound became clear. Stones sliding over each other, a giant mechanism moving, changing the structure of the entire labyrinth.

She then doubted something she had suspected since separating from the group, and began walking with her ears pressed against the wall, trying to sense when movement occurred.

She stopped after about fifty steps, turned back to where she had come from, wanting to return to the intersection, but when she got there it was different; the place that previously had three tunnels was now a chamber with five tunnels leading in completely new directions.

She turned and ran forward, counting her steps aloud.

"One... two... three..." she continued until "...forty!"

She stopped, turned, and ran back. When she reached where the chamber with five tunnels should have been, it was just a straight corridor now, without any forks.

She repeated the process, this time counting only thirty steps before turning back.

Straight corridor. No chambers.

She did it again, now leaving an X marked on the ground with her claws, and counted only twenty-five steps before running back.

When she arrived at the X’s location... the X was still there. But the surrounding corridor had completely changed, tunnels appearing where there had previously been solid walls.

Kira stopped, looking at the X on the ground, processing the pattern.

"Corridors rearranging themselves..." she murmured, then looked at the new tunnels that had appeared. "The labyrinth is changing paths every 25 steps I take. It’s as if it wants to separate us all, keep us lost forever."

Kira thought quickly, her hunter’s instinct analyzing the prey’s behavior, because now she understood that the labyrinth was the prey, not her.

"If the labyrinth changes slowly... I can force it to move fast."

She started running.

Not in a straight line as before, but chaotically, turning left suddenly, then right for no reason, running back the way she came, changing direction mid-jump.

She began to become unpredictable prey.

The walls began to move visibly now, not just the sound but real movement that could be seen, stones sliding over each other trying to keep up with her movements and block the paths before she passed.

KERRSS

KERRSSS

KERRR

The sound increased exponentially, dozens of mechanisms working simultaneously trying to adjust, and Kira ran even faster, forcing the labyrinth to work beyond its capacity.

But then, for the first time, she encountered a completely blocked path ahead, a solid wall blocking everything, with no visible exit.

It was as if the labyrinth had discovered her idea and decided to block it completely.

Kira stopped in front of the wall, breathing heavily, her eyes fixed on the stone, and then smiled, showing her teeth.

"So that’s how it’s going to be, labyrinth?" she called out to the air. "You only give me 25 steps in about 15 seconds to react? Fine."

Kira took fifty steps back, counting each one precisely, knowing that ahead the labyrinth had already changed because she had heard the creaking of the stones moving.

She stopped, took a deep breath, and began to prepare.

She took off her boots, which hindered her full mobility, leaving her bare feet where her claws could extend without restriction.

She tied her hair in a tight ponytail so as not to obstruct her vision. And then her eyes, which had maintained a humanized form all along, changed, her pupils narrowing until they became vertical slits of pure predator, her vision adjusting to capture movement at a speed that a normal human could not process. And then she exploded forward, running faster than ever before.

She could only hear the labyrinth moving faster too, stones sliding at much greater speeds than before, trying to keep up, but she only accelerated more.

[[25 steps in 10 seconds.]]

The labyrinth attempted something brutal.

The entire corridor turned upside down, stones spinning like giant gears, ceiling becoming floor and floor becoming ceiling in a complete rotation that should have made her fall.

But Kira dug her claws into the rock while the world spun, and continued running now upside down, her body parallel to what had been the ceiling, moving like a true fox that didn’t care about gravity when it had a solid surface to use.

"25 human steps aren’t 25 fox steps... humans only have two legs, but foxes have four. Each movement cycle covers twice the distance in the same time. That’s more steps in less than a second."

[[25 steps in 7 seconds.]]

Almost laughing now, because it felt like a fun chase, the kind of pursuit that makes your blood boil in a good way.

The faster Kira ran, the more the maze needed to move.

Faster.

More aggressive.

More unstable.

[[25 steps in 4 seconds.]]

The corridor turned upside down again, but this time it was downhill. Kira was already leaving the wall and continuing to follow gravity, which was now pulling her forward, accelerating even more...

And then the floor opened.

Not gradually, but all at once, the entire tunnel opening vertically like a giant mouth, and Kira was thrown out, forcefully expelled from the maze.

Falling...

From above.

That wasn’t the tunnels anymore, it was another place. She was falling into the forest area inside the giant dome, wind hitting her face, and there were so many creatures flying around.

Kira anticipated one that was passing nearby; it looked like a giant bat with curved horns, a body covered in black fur, and torn, membranous wings.

She grabbed the horns with both hands mid-fall, mounting the creature and showing who was in charge.

She laughed loudly, still in a state of pure adrenaline with that sharp, predatory gaze, and aligned the creature’s face towards the rapidly approaching forest below as she fell.

"HAHAHAHA I HATE HEIGHTS!"

...

Isabela, who was jumping from tree-creature to tree-creature trying to reach the center, saw her suddenly fall towards the dungeon’s core mounted on a screaming flying creature trying to break free.

"KIRA, YOU CRAZY WOMAN!" she yelled, almost smiling because only Kira could turn a deadly fall into fun.