Alvaric walked confidently into the far-left corridor. He was absolutely certain about his choice. He kept walking, hoping to find a source of water. However, after walking for about fifteen minutes, he suddenly stepped on something. At the same moment, dozens of arrows flew toward him.
Alvaric immediately dodged all the traps. But instead of being safe after evading one trap, he stepped on another. A huge boulder appeared from behind and rolled rapidly toward him. Alvaric ran as fast as he could.
He managed to dodge it just as he reached a fork in the path. Relieved that he had escaped another trap, he was about to exhale in relief—but then he heard another strange sound.
The ground beneath him gave way! Alvaric's eyes widened in shock. This time it wasn't an attack, but the floor opening up. His body nearly plummeted into the deep, dark abyss, but his reflexes kicked in—he grabbed the edge of the hole and pulled himself up.
When he looked down into the pit, Alvaric swallowed hard. It was so deep he couldn't even see the bottom.
"Damn! That almost killed me," he muttered.
There was no way forward. He returned to the starting point. The far-left corridor was now blacklisted—he wouldn't enter that one again. Now he only had three paths left. Alvaric nodded and tried the corridor just to the right of the one he had chosen before.
"This one should be good," he said confidently. Maybe.
He sighed, then entered the second corridor. This time, he moved more cautiously. But bad luck was still chasing him—the corridor walls suddenly shot out sharp spikes, nearly piercing his stomach. A series of other attacks followed. Some hit him. Fortunately, he had a new set of armor that protected him.
Alvaric returned to the starting point again. He hoped that this time he'd choose the correct path. Only two choices left. There was only a 50% chance of picking the wrong one—he shouldn't make another mistake. Alvaric chose the far-right path. This time, he was very confident.
He believed it strongly, but unfortunately, reality didn't align with his conviction. There was no path there—just a dead end. He returned to the starting point once more. Of the four paths, he had tried three, and all of them were wrong. Only one remained.
"I'm starting to get sick of this," he muttered, taking a deep breath. He was a little anxious about the final choice. "If this is wrong too—no. It's impossible. I have to believe."
Alvaric entered the last path he hadn't chosen. Of course, the chance of it being wrong was now impossible. This had to be the correct way. As he started walking down the corridor, nothing happened. No traps. No dead ends. His confidence grew.
In the distance, he thought he saw the end of the corridor. "Finally," he whispered.
But as he got closer, Alvaric's eyes widened and he clicked his tongue in irritation. What he had feared crossed his mind—and it made him furious.
In front of him were three more paths. He had to choose again. Alvaric just shook his head in disbelief. He had never felt so toyed with before. He was exhausted from everything he'd done—yet this is what he found. Alvaric was at a loss for words.
He didn't know how long he had been walking. Alvaric felt like the maze was mocking him. He kept entering the wrong paths, triggering traps, hitting dead ends, and more. He paused for a moment and looked back. He could no longer see the starting point. Chapters fırst released on 𝗻𝗼𝘷𝗲𝗹•𝓯𝓲𝓻𝓮•𝕟𝕖𝕥
He hesitated to move forward, but going back felt pointless. Alvaric nodded and continued walking.
Eventually, he saw a blue light up ahead. He quickened his pace, hoping it was what he'd been looking for.
"Woooah," Alvaric gasped. "This is beautiful."
The bright blue light was stunning. Alvaric's jaw dropped in awe at what lay before him. The damp air brushed against his skin, the scent of fresh minerals filled his nose, and the glowing blue hue was absolutely breathtaking.
A massive cavern opened up before him, its ceiling covered in glowing blue crystals, hanging like stars. Their shimmer reflected off the pool of water below, casting mesmerizing patterns of light.
Alvaric lifted his hand, feeling the air. Droplets of water fell from the ceiling like gentle rain, refreshing and calming. As he walked closer to the pool, he saw a small waterfall trickling from between the rocks, its gentle sound like soothing music.
He shook his head in amazement. "This... is truly incredible," he whispered.
He knelt and touched the water. It was ice cold. When he scooped it into his hands and took a sip, Alvaric nearly collapsed. The cool water flowed down his throat—it was the most delicious and refreshing water he had ever tasted in his life.
Whether that was true or just bias, he wasn't sure. After more than a month of drinking Sand Crawler blood and water from an Ant Bee's rear, perhaps his judgment was affected. But one thing was certain—this water was incredibly refreshing. It soothed his parched throat.
"I'm staying here for the next few weeks," Alvaric declared.
He stood, and when he turned toward the far-left corner of the chamber, he saw something strange. A large white object was wriggling there. He tilted his head, walking slowly in its direction.
Alvaric frowned as he approached the moving white mass. Gradually, its form became clear—a pale ant queen, her body still soft like a giant larva, with segments just beginning to harden. Around her, dozens of Level 1 Ant Bees the size of a human hand stood guard.
"The Ant Bee queen is still alive?" Alvaric was surprised.
Ant Bees, like real ants, replaced their queen when she died. A backup queen would be raised until she was mature enough to reproduce. It was normal behavior in some ant species. Alvaric didn't expect monsters to have a similar system.
The young queen writhed weakly, her venom glands not yet fully developed. Several workers were busy coating her body with a sticky substance—they were accelerating her growth.
"Whoa, this is fascinating." It was his first time seeing something .
But a second later, the Level 1 Ant Bees turned to Alvaric. They looked displeased and formed a battle formation. They felt threatened by Alvaric's presence—especially his scent, which was all too familiar to them.
Within seconds, he was attacked by the swarm.
"Looks like you'll be my dinner tonight."
He was ready for battle.