The Hunted Regressor: My Heretic Saint System-Chapter 84: Certain Death...?

Ignotus remained confident while leading them.

He seemed to have some sort of strategy: keep left at all times.

They’d go left, left, and then right if the path ahead was ever blocked, needing them to turn around and continue their attempts at finding the right corridor.

They hadn’t paused once, even when they felt like this maze was... lying to them.

Thankfully, they had met no monster, but still and again, they didn’t seem to make any progress.

"This is ridiculous."

Lykos complained every now and then while looking around, as if the maze might cough up the correct path any second. He even started to blame Ignotus in the way he usually did, but Ignotus didn’t bother entertaining him this time.

’If you only knew~.’

He was too busy scanning the path for if ’it’ ever came along.

Good thing Ulv was there to calm his Lord down, a steady guard beside him.

Meanwhile, his childhood friend Mer hummed in a way that was barely audible, her tail flicking as it always did.

She should have been bored, but this maze had her on edge.

Gaia clutched her sleeves, her eyes wide and careful, snapping her head at every shadow.

Aur, always a constant, walked all rigid, her wings folded as she kept to the middle of the group.

They hit one dead end after another.

A stretch of smooth wall with a weird seam.

An arch that promised space only to lead to a darker notch.

An alley that doubled back on itself so cleanly, Lykos swore they hadn’t moved.

Still, they pushed on, counting their steps, marking walls with small scratches.

They never once met those scratches again, and that meant they’d made progress, right?

Right, or so they hoped.

They kept on going for a while longer.

The Maze gave them more of the same.

Naturally, the tension only wound tighter.

Even Mer’s humming thinned.

"T-This might be a path."

Lykos jabbed a finger toward a dark seam.

Looking at it, Ignotus frowned and took two steps forward.

After a breath, he then took another step only to meet a wall.

This was no path; it was simply their minds playing tricks on them.

A trick that even his mind wasn’t immune to.

Ignotus looked back at the group...

At their faces and at their hands, hovering above their weapons.

"We shouldn’t rush it... just stay close."

Mer groaned.

"This is like the thousandth wrong turn; are you sure we aren’t... completely lost?"

Ignotus shook his head.

"I don’t get lost."

Lykos took that as an opportunity to get a lick in.

"You always look lost."

Ignotus waved him away.

"I know where I’m going; it’s this maze that doesn’t."

Ulv chuckled under his breath.

"He’s got a point, my Lord; this maze isn’t normal."

Lykos snapped.

"Again, you encourage him?"

"Relax."

Ignotus gestured for him to calm.

"We’ll soon find the exit... probably."

"Probably?!"

He, of course, didn’t reply to that.

Ignotus didn’t want them to panic, but the truth was...

’I have no idea where I’m going.’

Right now, he was completely and utterly lost.

He had never been more lost in his life.

The left-hand rule of his should’ve worked, but...

This was no normal maze; it moved in a rhythm he could not see.

No matter how much he thought about it, he didn’t see any clue.

Usually there’d be something here to help out the students, or so he heard; however...

Ignotus wasn’t given anything.

He couldn’t fail here; that would ruin the image he established.

But he also couldn’t stay quiet for too long; at some point, he may need to—

THUMP!

Ignotus stopped.

THUMP! THUMP!

Everyone froze behind him.

"What is it?"

Aur whispered, and he didn’t answer.

THUMP! THUMP! THUMP!

He just lifted a fist, a silent command:

DON’T MOVE.

They couldn’t see it.

That was obvious enough.

Because if they could... they might’ve died from shock alone.

Straight ahead stood something too strong to be here.

A Minotaur...

Or what used to be one.

It filled the corridor, its horns cracked, muscles swollen in strange ways, with every inch of its body crawling with eyes. Hundreds of them, twitching independently...

Only for them to suddenly harmonize and turn towards them.

No one breathed now; even Ignotus didn’t blink.

Every instinct screamed the same thing.

Don’t. Move.

This was death.

Certain death.

Indeed, this was certain death.

Yet Ignotus, unlike the rest, didn’t snap his head down.

He looked straight at it, the towering mass of muscle and eyes.

Every one of its eyes blinked in tandem, almost hypnotizing him.

The sound alone was wrong.

And then... nothing.

It didn’t move.

The two stared at each other.

Behind him, he could practically hear Lykos grinding his teeth, while his guard’s hands hadn’t left his sword.

Gaia’s breathing was hard, quick, and tiny, nearing complete panic. Mer’s tail stood perfectly still, which for her was a miracle, and Aur looked ready to snap her whip in half from how tightly she was gripping it.

Ignotus simply stood there, however, staring at the thing, waiting.

Seconds stretched, reaching minutes, until finally, he smiled.

And it wasn’t because he reveled in the feeling it gave him.

His eyes never left their many ones, and yet...

Thankfully, it left his.

He flicked his wrist once, signaling for them to stick to the wall.

Though wanting to scream at him for being so damned insane, they moved.

Slowly, one step, then another, before hugging the wall like he did.

Again, no one dared to breathe, not even Mer.

The Minotaur thing passed them.

THUMP!

As it went by, they could only hear its steps.

THUMP! THUMP!

Or was it their hearts beating out of their chests?

THUMP! THUMP! THUMP!

They didn’t know, because again, Ignotus was the only one that could see it thanks to his Beholding Eyes.

That Soul Glyph’s extra... perk was much better than he expected.

He wasn’t thinking about that now, though; it was only the exit that mattered.

Step by step, heartbeat by heartbeat, they walked until the corridor curved and ’certain death’ vanished from sight.

There was no chase.

It was just gone, simple as that.