The journey through the jungle only took a couple of minutes. The enormous gemstone hovering over the trees made it easy to navigate, and their group opted for speed over stealth. The enemy already knew something was happening, and they had to get there before they regrouped.
Tara's visor highlighted the threat an instant before her magical senses detected a spike of elemental power. One of the hooded demon mages was stepping out from behind a large boulder. He clutched a crackling orb of fire in his hand and-
It blew up in his face with a single swipe of Tara's wand. The creature howled, falling backwards, clutching at his head. Twin arrows from Fenrin's bow silenced the creature, but it didn't matter. The brief exchange had been loud enough to alert anyone nearby that they were coming.
"Keep going!" Luis called from the front of the group. "Almost there!"
They charged forward, ignoring a pair of giant centipedes and a few other scattered monsters. A few chittered at them as they passed, but none moved to attack. Part of Tara found that unusual, but this wasn't the time to ponder over minor mysteries.
The four of them burst into the clearing with the Core less than a minute after the muffled explosions of Jade's distraction thundered through the jungle. The area was dominated by an enormous ritual circle that shone with pulsing, vibrant light. The entire clearing was bathed in an azure glow that emanated from the hovering gemstone, and Tara had to retract her magical senses before the sheer power of the Labyrinth artifact blinded her. It wasn't just the power of the Core, either. Something was channeling that essence, transforming it. Tendrils of magic arced and twisted through the air, invisible to the naked eye, drawn into the intricate sigil. She'd never seen anything like it, not on this scale.
"What in the lost gods…?"
Tara's focus on the strange magic nearly killed her. A bolt of lightning slammed into her chest, flinging her off her feet and sending her crashing to the ground. That single attack had taken down her barrier and cracked the composite panel of her conjured armor. Sparks erupted from the fractures even as her mana drained, repairing the breach.
"Watch out!"
A bubble shield burst to life around Tara and the rest of her companions as Luis slammed his sword and shield together. The renewed cover gave her the chance to roll to her feet and aim a blast of radiant energy at the closest of the demon researchers, punching a hole straight through her before she could ready another spell.
"Tara, how do we stop this?!" Naomi asked, blasting an invigorating tune through the clearing with her foreign instrument. Fenrin and Luis were engaging the remaining pair of demons, giving them a moment's breathing room.
"It's drawing power from the Core!" she said quickly. Her magical senses were overwhelmed by the magnitude of the dimensional forces coalescing around them, but her suit's visor had filters that partially compensated for the overload. She eye-clicked to activate the proper function, bringing up lines of information that barely made any sense.
"If-"
She was interrupted by a bout of sudden and severe nausea. The world around her seemed to slide, as if everything had been shifted a foot to the right and then snapped back into place. For a moment it felt as if she existed in two places at once. Two Taras, standing side by side.
The event was over as quickly as it had begun, leaving the tek'kalla with a splitting headache to accompany her upset stomach. Judging by how Naomi was hunched over, she wasn't the only one to experience the bizarre phenomenon.
"What the -- was that?" Naomi gasped. The Labyrinth's translation magic hitched at whatever combination of expletives the normally mild-mannered woman had used, but Tara got the gist of it.
"Nothing good."
Tara was tempted to simply blast the sigil with as much power as she could muster. The problem with that idea was the sheer amount of dimensional magic flowing into the magic circle. If it was released all at once, the only thing that would be left of this entire jungle would be a smoking crater.
Yeah… That's a last resort.
Destroying the Core itself would stop the power flow without compromising the integrity of the sigil's containment. Tara swiped her wand again, conjuring a concentrated blast of fire into the bottom of the hovering gemstone.
PING
Her magic ricocheted off the Labyrinth Core, reflected back towards them. Naomi yelped, ducking as the bolt flew over their heads.
"I don't think we can destroy it quickly enough!" Tara shouted over the growing hum. Sparks were arcing from the bottom of Core into the sigil now, each one accompanied by a sound like a thunderclap. It was far stronger than she'd anticipated. Whatever magic the demons were using had to be fortifying the crystal.
Nearby, Luis and Fenrin were dispatching the last of the demon guardians while Naomi focused on enhancing them. None of that would matter if she couldn't figure out how to stop this.
You're a mage, Tara! A proper student of the arcane!
She had spent her entire life justifying her decision to forego reliance on magitech and laboriously learn the fundamental mechanisms behind the power she channeled. If her suit couldn't make out what this damned sigil was doing, then she would have to figure out how to stop it the old-fashioned way.
It was time to prove that effort had been worth it.
"Tara, where are you going?!" Naomi called after her as she sprinted into the arcane circle. The vortex of power flowing into it was probably incredibly dangerous to approach, but she needed to get a good look at the runes set into the ground. They were formed from the prismatic powder of dimension essence and were alight with power, which at least made them easy to read.
Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon.
No… not this part. Not this part either…
She skimmed the magical inscriptions as quickly as she could, praying that a stray burst of magic wasn't about to vaporize her. She stopped abruptly, her gaze snapping back to a section of the circle that modulated power flow. Could this-
WHAM
Something hard cracked into her back. Again, the mage went flying and again she crashed painfully to the ground, gasping for breath.
"Tara!"
She barely heard Luis's call as she rolled onto her back and looked up at the large, red-skinned demon looming over her. On reflex, she pulled up his info box.
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Name: Kra'lyx
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Level: [Unknown]
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Race: Rage Demon
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Class: None
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Origin: [Restricted]
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Warning: Labyrinth systems are unable to properly interface with this creature.
Tara's blood ran cold as she skimmed his race designation. Rage demons were said to be among the strongest direct combatants within the infernal ranks. What they lacked in subterfuge they made up for in power.
The muscular demon raised a sword that was larger than Tara's own body. He snorted with derision and brought it down on her with lightning speed.
It only took Jade a few moments to get the hang of the flight power granted by the potion. That was good, since the effect only lasted a minute. She zipped back across the ravine as quickly as her magically empowered movement allowed, homing in on the retreating form of Malice. The loud crash of the last pieces of the bridge collapsing echoed through the jungle, shaking the trees and sending up a plume of dust that Jade swerved to avoid. It didn't look like any of the other demons chasing her had escaped, and she felt a grim sense of satisfaction at the victory.
But it was too soon to celebrate. Those weren't the only demons in the core space, although she was hoping they'd been the majority. She was sure Luis and the rest of the party could handle a few stragglers, and now she just had to stop Malice from joining the fight. The succubus landed on the edge of the cliff near a cluster of ancient stone ruins overgrown with jungle foliage. Jade pushed the magic harder, willing herself to speed up as she tore across the gap in pursuit. The rush of air and freedom of flight would have been exhilarating under any other circumstances, it was what she had been wanting from her wings ever since she'd transformed. She didn't even spare it a thought as she dropped in behind Malice, landing with a soft thump, although a part of her did note that magically imbued flight was quite a bit faster than the racial power Malice employed.
"Stop!"
Jade hadn't really expected the command to work and was caught off guard when Malice, who had been just about to disappear into the jungle on the other side of a ruined courtyard, slowed to a halt. The demon turned to face her, the glossy surface of her dark armor glinting in the blue radiance that shone through the jungle like an unsteady spotlight. It backlit her, making her appear more like a silhouette than a person. The effect made her already sinister visage downright menacing.
"You." Malice growled, one hand curling around the haft of her whip. "Are a dead woman."
Gone was the playful lilt to her voice, and the look she levelled at Jade could have burned a hole through steel. It was accompanied by the overwhelming pressure of the demon's aura crashing down on her like a physical weight. Jade gritted her teeth and stood her ground. She couldn't allow herself to be intimidated.
"Give up!" Jade commanded, clenching her hands into fists to stop them from shaking. "The bomb I set off disrupted your ritual! It isn't going to work."
"Nice try." Malice laughed. It was a harsh sound, filled with scorn. "You're very persistent, sister. Chasing me every step of the way. And you don't even know why, do you."
"You're sending demons to my home." Jade growled. "That's more than enough reason to stop you."
"Do you really think we care about your pathetic rock of a planet? No. You simply have something we need. And once we have it, our people will be free."
"Free from what?" Jade asked, trying to keep her talking. She drew her daggers, holding them in a low-ready stance, but made no move to attack. She held no illusions that she could defeat this creature in battle, and her friends needed as much time as she could give them to disrupt the ritual.
"Free from the pathetic prison the gods trapped us in!" Malice spat, her eyes flashing red. Jade grunted as the aura around her pulsed, squeezing her. She could feel the demon's pent-up fury raging against her like roaring flames. "But your time is up. We've been close to getting out for a long time and it's finally happening. It's already in motion. Even if you stop us here today, which you won’t, it will just delay the inevitable."
Something clicked in Jade's mind, pieces beginning to come together. Ever since she'd entered the Labyrinth she'd wondered what its purpose was. It was such a bizarre place, operating on rules that were nothing like the rest of the Universe. But there was clear purpose to it, even if no one had been able to parse it. Everything fit together too well, was too intricately designed, for it to be a cosmic accident.
The constant expansion. The monsters. The powers.
She recalled something Aylin had said weeks ago. 'Nobody makes it higher than the 10th floor'. Something about the monsters being too strong.
"The Labyrinth is a prison." Jade breathed, realization dawning on her. "Not just part of it. The entire world."
"Finally, someone realizes it." Malice snorted derisively. "It only took a dozen hints. But that's not entirely fair seeing as we've been killing anyone whose come close to the truth for centuries."
"The highest levels have the strongest monsters. Impossibly strong." Jade said, barely listening. "And your people what… fight them? Try to break free? You push out, slowly gaining ground. But…"
"But the Labyrinth keeps expanding. Drawing on the magic and resources of the new worlds it’s forging connections to. Using them to rebuild anything we break down. But now we've finally found a way around that little problem."
There were still so many unanswered questions. Who had made this place? Was it really the gods? And why was it so impossibly large?
"Why are you telling me all of this?" Jade asked, reeling from the revelations. This had to get out. They had to tell the people of the Labyrinth. The people of Earth. Everyone. "Why now?"
A ripple swept through the jungle, a pulse of magical power that twisted Jade's stomach in knots and caused her vision to blur.
"Because when the vanguard arrives, you'll be dead." Malice grunted. The succubus looked just as queasy as Jade. "Today, we open a door. Next, it will be a floodgate. There are more of us than you could possibly imagine." The demon's cruel grin returned. "I'd say you'll see for yourself soon, but somehow, I don't think you will."
Jade was still too surprised to be affected by the threat.
Keep her talking. Find out as much as you can.
"What is it you need? Why are you going to Earth?!"
Malice laughed again. The sound cut through the growing hum that was filling the jungle, causing the ground to vibrate.
"It's cute how you think you're stalling me, sister."
Jade's blood ran cold. She tensed, tightening her grip on her daggers.
"What?"
"You think you're keeping me here. Away from your friends that are surely trying to destroy the Core and put an end to this. What you don't know is that we have a rage demon standing guard over the ritual site. You probably don't know what that is but rest assured, he is more than capable of putting down whatever band you came here with." A self-satisfied smirk played across the demon's face. "Especially with me keeping you asking questions."
"Luis!" Jade hissed, putting a hand to her ear. "Luis, what's going on over there?!"
Crackling static was her only response. Either they were too busy fighting, or…
Anger surged through Jade's thoughts before she even considered the possibility. It swept away fear and hesitation, and even the mind-numbing shock that accompanied the avalanche of revelations. An overwhelming desire to cut down this monster welled up inside her like a surging storm, fueled by the latent demonic instincts nestled in her soul.
She attacked.