SHAMAN PROTOCOL-Chapter 106: The Cursed Labyrinth

Meanwhile, unaware of the current dilemma outside the building, the first student who entered the premises casually strolled the hallway. His hands were casually tossed behind him. He stopped as all that followed behind him was silence, not the usual banter of his teammates.

"Hey, what’s taking you guys so long...?" The boy frowned. His red scarf fluttered as he turned, but no one was behind him.

"Huh?" He furrowed his brows, confused. "Haven’t they gotten in?"

---

At the same time, the students who followed them faced the same dilemma.

One girl walked in and found herself on a different floor of the building.

"Huh?" she hummed and spun, facing the entrance. She had only stepped in, but what welcomed her eyes wasn’t the entrance door but a wall.

"What’s going on?" she whispered, taking a step back.

Silence filled the floor she was on, making the air heavy. She clutched her hand closer to her chest, looking left and right.

"Where is everyone?"

The young lady wasn’t the only one wondering where the rest were. After all, each student who stepped in either ended up alone or on another floor. There were a few lucky ones who were able to stay together in groups of two to three students.

Either way, all of them soon realized the reason this building wasn’t being used anymore.

It was a maze.

---

Meanwhile, the last group—Ran, Boom, Blitz, and Zira—came in hand in hand. But since Mikel said no, thank you, the three of them ended up together.

"Huh?" Ran paused as soon as they walked into the entrance. His voice made the other three stop, looking back at him.

"What is it, classmate?" Zira asked, tilting her head just like the twins.

Ran didn’t answer, brows knitted tightly, eyes ahead. After a second, he looked at the three of them at his side.

"What do you mean, what is it?" he returned. "We’re in a classroom."

Zira, Boom, and Blitz blinked. They turned their heads to the classroom they had walked into instead of a hallway. When they looked back at Ran, nothing changed from their infuriatingly adorable expressions.

"We know, Big Brother Ran." Boom nodded.

"We can see it’s a classroom!" Blitz added.

Zira blinked. "Is there something wrong with that?"

"What do you mean there’s something—we’re in a classroom just after we entered the building!" Ran gasped in shock. "Doesn’t that strike you as odd?"

"Now that you mention it..." Zira gazed at the open door behind Ran.

The door led to the hallway where some windows were on the wall. They had just stepped into the entrance of the building, but what was behind them wasn’t the establishment’s entrance.

"Oh..." Boom’s mouth formed an o-shape, nodding. "Now I get it!"

"What do you get?" Blitz asked.

Boom raised his small index finger, shaking it as he explained, "We should’ve walked past the lockers after the entrance, but somehow, we ended up in a classroom."

"Ohh..." Blitz nodded. "We didn’t change shoes!"

"That’s right!"

Listening to the twins, Ran felt like laughing and crying at the same time. He turned to Zira, but she just smiled at him. He didn’t want to ask her just because she’s from Zone Zero, and thought that asking her would be cheating.

"Right. Mikel, what do you think—?" He stopped as he looked back, only to furrow his brows. "Huh?"

Ran intuitively walked to the door and peeked his head out. He looked from left to right, but saw no Mikel.

"Where did he go?" he wondered, looking back at the three.

The three shook their heads and shrugged.

"Big Brother Mikey hasn’t been here since we got in," said the twins, and then Zira added, "I think he’s lost."

"What do you mean lost?" Ran frowned. "We just walked in together..."

The rest of Ran’s voice trailed off as realization struck him. Seeing the look on his face, Zira nodded at him as if he had guessed it right.

Zira looked around the classroom, then back at Ran. "Big Brother, I think this building is under a curse."

"A curse?" the twins echoed in unison while Ran nodded in understanding.

"It means that this place is meant to trap and lose the people who step foot in it," Ran explained, just in case the twins would understand.

"What does that mean?" Boom asked, his doe eyes sparkling with curiosity.

"It means that this building is under a very strong curse spell," Zira dropped to her knees, bending to their level with a smile. "It’s a type of sealing curse. To make it simple, this place changes structure without one person noticing. So, the doors can lead you to another door or another room."

"We could even be upside down, you see," she said. "So, before you walk out the door, make sure it’s not leading down. Otherwise, we’ll get hurt if we fall, alright?"

For some reason, the twins, who mostly did not understand their group activities or even their lessons, "ohh-ed" at her explanation. They understood it.

"Big sis, please hold our hands so we don’t get lost!" Blitz clutched the hem of her skirt while Boom reached out to her arm.

Boom said, "I don’t want to fall."

Zira smiled, flashed them all a smile, and straightened her back. She held their hands and faced Ran.

"Big Brother, what should we do now?" she asked. "Cursed Zones like this are tricky, and I’m really bad with directions. But what I do know is that we have to hold each other’s hands, because walls also move when I say structure."

"So, even if you are only a step behind, the walls might block you, and we’d get separated," she added. "But what I am sure of in such Cursed Zones is that... the entrance is the only one that doesn’t move."

Ran huffed and pondered about it. He was aware of Cursed Zones—not this particular one, but the general rules in them. So, he knew that they couldn’t cross any thresholds one after another, because by doing so, they might all enter a different room.

"We’ll stick together. But before we find the exit, we have to look for Mikel," he said, looking each of them in the eye. "Mr. Nocty said we must get out of here together."

The three of them nodded before Ran reached out to hold Blitz’s hand. But then, Zira perked up.

"Ah, Boom, you hold here," she said, switching sides with the kid. She beamed, eyes squinting at Boom. "It’s safer if you two are in the middle."

Her smile then faded as she looked up, muttering, "I’ve seen cursed spaces before, but this one’s... alive as its own."

Zira had been in cursed zones before, but this one was breathing.

With that, the four of them walked out of the classroom to search for Mikel. And just as they guessed, the second they walked out, they found themselves somewhere else.

Little did they know, the person they were searching for wasn’t even in the building.

---

Meanwhile, outside the building, unseen by those inside, the entrance of the building remained still, untouched. No light, no voice came from within. All those who went in had just gone out of sight.

Mister Nocty furrowed his brows. He marched to Mikel, looking at the barrier up close and then back at Mikel.

"You cannot do this?" he asked, moving a finger inside the entrance. His hand went through without a problem, not even making any barrier ripple, as if the barrier just disappeared.

But then, Mikel tried, and the invisible barrier rippled.

"Can’t," he shook his head, shrugging.

[Master, it seems every cursed zone you go to, you’re either spat out or not allowed in.]

Mikel tried to control his face, reminded of all the cursed zones he had walked in, including that one where he had gotten Haleth. That forest also kept spitting him out like some rotten piece of meat.

Don’t you know the answer to that, Doom? This place reeks of Cursed Energy.

[Cursed Zones are different in their own right. However, this one in particular is strange.]

How strange?

[System Note: 100% strange detected]

Again, unhelpful.

Mister Nocty, on the other hand, observed Mikel. The latter was looking to his left, which he assumed was because he was looking at the entrance of the building.

"That is strange," he blurted out.

Little did he know, a certain butler just used his remarks to justify their answer.

[See, Master? Even your professor thinks it’s strange.] fгeewebnovёl.com

I don’t think you and Mr. Nocty are talking about the same strange thing.

Mikel snapped his eyes at Mister Nocty, who was looking back at him strangely.

"Uh... Mister Nocty, what now?" he asked. "If I can’t get in and don’t finish the task, that means it’s not my fault, right?"

But instead of an answer, Mister Nocty said, "Come with me to the headmaster’s office."

He didn’t say anything else as he turned to walk away, not waiting, just like the first trial, mainly because he knew none of them would be able to come out of the building anytime soon.

Last year, students even spent an entire day and night before they found their way out. Some needed the teacher’s rescue. Otherwise, they would be trapped in this building forever. So, Mister Nocty led Mikel to the headmaster’s office because even Mister Nocty didn’t have the answer to this.

There had never been a student who was not granted permission to enter the building. NEVER. And yet, Mikel couldn’t get in.

But just as they strode off, a loud BAM echoed behind them.

Mikel and Mister Nocty both turned. The building’s entrance—wide open just seconds ago—was now firmly shut.

A second later, a cold wind brushed past them. Then, a system message appeared in front of Mikel, glowing red:

[Trial Initialized: The Cursed Labyrinth]

[External access locked. No rescues permitted.]

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