"Neraxis?" a voice rang out beside him, and as he turned around, he met Aella's surprised expression.
"It really is you!" she said in relief before continuing, "I thought the instructor lied and actually put monsters in here—with that white hair of yours and all."
"What...?" Neraxis was slightly confused by her comment; however, she swiftly glossed past it.
"Anyway... wanna team up?" she questioned expectantly, and he shook his head in response.
"Why would I? We won't be able to team up during the tower's trials."
As his words fell, he could see a look of sour disappointment appear on her face as she spoke, "Can I at least follow you?"
What is up with this girl? Neraxis noticed a bit of a strange pattern in her tone.
It was almost as if her voice was slightly shaking.
"...Are you afraid of the dark?" he asked.
Immediately, she flinched before stammering, "N-No! Why would I be afraid of the dark? Do you think I'm some sort of child? Do you seriously think I can't go by myself at night, huh?"
"No, it's alright." Neraxis sighed at her reaction and turned around toward the other way, which just so happened not to be a dead end.
"You can follow me, but only this time," he explained, earning a hesitant nod from her as they began moving.
But even if he told her she could follow him, Neraxis definitely did not expect Aella to be such a chatterbox.
"So... how are you holding up? You know, after that rift and all? We haven't talked that much," she questioned with a bit of worry—something a tad uncharacteristic of her.
"It's fine. The rewards were worth it in the end," he replied nonchalantly, but she suddenly froze.
And as he looked back at her, Neraxis noticed her face set with a serious expression.
"Do you not value your life? Is that it?" Aella asked, her tone laced with anger as she continued, "You were back then too, but I thought you were just trying to act cool."
His brows furrowed, but he did not reply—after all, she was right. Up until a few days ago, he was just doing whatever would make him the strongest. Whether he lived or died did not matter.
That was mainly the reason why he took such a risk inside that Venomous Wasp rift.
Alas, he could not refute her, so he tried changing the subject instead. "How about you? How are you holding up?"
However, his attempts were in vain as she simply walked up to him and grabbed him by the collar.
"Answer me!" she shouted, a bit of desperation in her tone, which he could not understand.
It would be so easy for him to simply push her away, but for some reason, he decided not to.
"I was foolish—you got that part right," Neraxis stated before adding, "But I am trying to do better now."
As his words fell, Aella let go of his collar and stared straight into his eyes.
This was also the moment he noticed her as not just an ordinary face in the crowd—she was quite beautiful.
Her blue eyes shimmered like emeralds at certain angles, and her brown hair cascaded down to her knees.
But most importantly, the slight wrinkles of a smile, which could not be hidden despite her anger as she looked up at him due to the height difference.
She really was a beauty.
Aella noticed his stare and suddenly turned around before saying, "Well, foolish one... you should probably lead the way. Only 52 minutes are remaining."
He could hear a slight stammer in her voice but chose to ignore it for her sake.
"Sure," Neraxis replied with a small smile and proceeded toward the maze, which had both narrow openings and those that were as wide as a whole street.
Yet from time to time, he could spot Aella sneaking a few glances at him, and if he noticed, she simply turned away to the side, acting oblivious.
[I wonder how you do it?] Evangeline's voice rang out with a chuckle.
He slightly tilted his head. Do what?
[Hmm?] she hummed before answering in a mysterious tone. [I wonder?]
He was left a bit puzzled, but as he turned around, Aella immediately dodged his gaze, leaving him speechless.
...Is it because of my charm stat?
[Pfft... of course not,] Evangeline laughed at his comment. [That stat doesn't do much aside from displaying how attractive you are.]
... he questioned when all of a sudden, he bumped into what seemed to be an invisible wall.
And as he did so, a message appeared on the invisible wall.
Seriously... He turned toward Aella, who this time did not avoid his gaze.
"Let's head the other way instead."
"Mhm," she replied in a soft hum, following him again.
However, as Neraxis kept walking, he noticed something was off.
With each minute that passed, his vision lessened and lessened. Now he could not even see the walls beside him—only the timer above him.
He stopped, and all of a sudden, Aella bumped into him.
But just as she was about to fall, Neraxis stretched out his hand, catching her.
"Thank you..." Aella expressed while narrowing her eyes as a bit of a panicked expression appeared on her face.
"...I can't see?" she brought her hand forward, accidentally smacking him on the chin before traveling up his face.
However, Neraxis could tell that something was wrong and immediately stood her straight before waving his hand right in front of her eyes.
"Can you see this?" he questioned, receiving a shake of the head in response.
"It's blurry and very delayed... it's also dark too..." Aella's voice trailed off as she began shaking.
"Don't worry," Neraxis expressed while grabbing hold of her hand, trying to alleviate her worry. "I'm still here."
As his words fell, a strange smile formed on her face that he couldn't quite gauge. Nonetheless, he wasn't planning on leaving someone like her here; otherwise, her fear of the dark would take over even more.
"Let's go," he announced while slowly making way with her hand in his.
Neraxis's vision had grown a bit blurry, but it was still manageable since it seemed like his vision wasn't decreasing all that much anymore.
And yet, corner after corner, he was met with dead ends, seemingly lost now.
Therefore, he decided to resort to asking for help. Evangeline, could you fly up and scout the area?
However, he was met with a swift refusal. [Nope. Above is also out of bounds—I already tried.]
Hm... he mused before letting out a sigh. I guess we are not making it out in the next... 44 minutes?
As he was lost in his thoughts, Aella's hand suddenly tugged a bit backward, prompting him to turn around.
"Since we are going to be walking around for the next half hour... do you want to get to know each other better?" she asked.
Raising a brow, he replied, "I am not a very interesting pers—"
"I don't care. It beats walking in silence, don't you think?" she said with a giggle. "I'm pretty interesting, so you can just listen to me talk if you want."
Neraxis stared at her for a moment before finally giving in.