The revelation didn’t sit well with the rest of the group.

“W-What are we supposed to do now?” Allen seemed on the verge of a panic attack.

“What do we do now?” Rimold asked with a sneer. “It’s not about what we do now, it’s what we should have done! We should never have come here in the first place!”

“Is that all you can say?” Rog frowned at the rogue, not bothering to disguise his frustration, either. “You made your opinion pretty clear by the seventh time you mentioned it.”

Rimold’s eyes twitched in anger. “If I’m going to die here, I’ll make sure to tell you that this is all your fault as many times as I damn want!”

“No one is going to die here.” Red interjected, fed up with the discussion. “I can tell you, though, that if we stop to fight against each other at every sign of adversity, then that might change.”

Both men looked back at the boy in surprise. Rog hesitated, but he nodded at Red, while Rimold just scoffed and looked away in embarrassment.

‘Do they fight like this at every opportunity?’

There was plenty of conflict back in the sect, but when the time came to act, their cooperation was almost perfect. Since Rog and Rimold met, though, this hadn’t been the case. However, Red wasn’t about to dig deeper into the matter right now.

Allen also reined in his fears and supported his companion’s words. “Red is right. We need to focus on how to escape this labyrinth.”

“Right, then! Let’s talk!” Rimold looked back at Red. “Since you want us to focus on the matter at hand, do you have any other brilliant ideas?”

“First, we need to assess what we know.” the boy pointed at the symbol Rog had carved on the wall. “Although we can’t rely on those markings to navigate, they’ll still help us in assessing how much of the maze we have explored.”

“That’s true.” Rog nodded. “However, this doesn’t take us any closer to the exit if we don’t know the right path.”

“We are just gathering information right now.” Red shook his head. “Whether or not they’ll be useful is something we can assess in the future. As of right now, though, we can also be certain of something - relying on simple exploration will probably not lead us out of this place.”

“Did you figure that on your own?” Rimold mocked him. “It’s obvious exploration won’t work! But the problem is, what else can we rely on?!”

“That’s my point. This is a labyrinth, and we assumed the normal solution would be to explore the whole place and avoid the dangers without getting lost until we found an exit. However, since we now know the labyrinth can change, no matter how well we map it out, we might still never find an exit. This means we need to look for another solution.”

The rogue nodded, but he continued skeptical. “That’s easy to say, but if the proper solution was easy to find, this wouldn’t be an inheritance trial.”

Red nodded. “That’s right, which is why we have to look into courses of action we have avoided until now.”

“You mean the monsters?” Rog asked, following his logic.

“That’s my first thought. We have been avoiding them, thinking of these beasts as optional obstacles for cultivators who want to take a risk for some reward…” the boy trailed off. “But what if that’s not the case?”

The men all fell silent, contemplating his words.

Allen, who had been afraid of disrupting their thoughts, spoke up. “W-What about that message on the cave wall? Could that be a clue?”

The rest of the group suddenly turned around to stare at the boy with strange gazes.

The young master took a step back in fear. “W-What is it? D-Did I say something wrong?”

“Not at all.” Red shook his head. “In fact, you’re bringing up a point all of us should have thought of sooner.”

“R-Really?” Allen almost didn’t seem to believe his words.

“Only he who knows Death as a friend may go further.” Rog repeated the message, and a wide smile appeared on his face. “Of course! That makes complete sense!”

“Wait!” a look of realization came to Rimold. “Do you mean to say that we need to look for danger instead of avoiding it?”

“What else could the solution be?” the hunter slapped himself in the head. “It’s so obvious in hindsight that we should have considered it from the beginning!”

“Do I even need to tell you how insane that idea is?!” the rogue shook his head, replacing enthusiasm for concern. “We’ve been avoiding the monsters for a reason! If we felt confident in killing them, we would already have done it a long time ago!”

“Whether or not that is the solution, the monsters are still our best and only lead.” Red said. “We have no choice but to pass through one of their chambers and see if anything changes.”

Rimold gritted his teeth, but ended up nodding. “You’re right, but we need to be careful with which monster we try to attack.”

Rog laughed at the rogue. “What do you mean, ‘be careful’? Didn’t you read the message? We might only get further if we face the most dangerous one!”

“You maniac! I won’t let you drag me down with you!”

While the two of them got into another argument, Red reflected on that message from earlier. He actually believed there was truth to Rog’s claim, but deep down he felt they were still missing something.

There was likely still a mystery to those words that might be vital for their survival.

…

The group started to wander the corridors again, in search of a monster chamber. Red also used this opportunity to test another idea of his.

He wanted to see whether or not the monsters were also moved around once the labyrinth changed. Although the path they walked in had changed, the group still remembered the cardinal direction of where they found the last monster chamber. Perhaps if these rooms were still in the same spot relative to the rest of the labyrinth, then they could use them to navigate instead.

However, Red could not sense the same fluctuations once they had walked back far enough. It might also have been the case that the group itself was moved around by some magic means when the labyrinth changed, meaning that their cardinal directions would also be messed up. In any case, they had no way to account for that, and Red had to throw that idea aside.

Although the boy didn’t find the same monster chamber, he sensed new fluctuations with his crimson sense.

“There’s three monsters ahead of us.” Red said, calling the group to a stop.

“Three?” Rimold frowned. “Can you tell what type of monster it is?”

“No. It’s the first time I sensed them.” in fact, the boy had yet to sense the same type of monster in any two chambers.

“We might be better off searching for a chamber with fewer monsters then. We found the tree-bark bear by itself, so we know they exist.”

“That’s a bad idea.” Rog scratched his beard and shook his head. “Three is on the lower side, considering how many the kid sensed in other chambers. We don’t know when the labyrinth might change again, so if we miss this chance, we might be stuck with more dangerous chambers in the long run.”

“You’re saying that as if their numbers are all that matter!” Rimold argued back with an unconvinced tone. “I would rather fight five fireleaf deers than three tree-bark bears.”

“Well, we won’t know what we are fighting until we check it, will we?” the hunter raised his eyebrow and smiled.

Rimold could offer no argument against that. “Fine! But you’re leading the way!”

Rog didn’t protest the idea. The four of them walked down the corridor, and after a few turns, they saw the chamber awaiting them a few dozen meters ahead. The monsters inhabiting it were also revealed.

They were three large wolves, easily the size of an adult. They had a thick white fur with some darker silver streak covering their entire bodies, making their whole appearance mesmerizing. Their eyes were likewise a dark-grey color, and they seemed to be busying themselves by lying around the room, licking themselves or sleeping.

They didn’t seem to have noticed the group’s presence.

Behind these monsters also stood a similar altar to the one they had seen with the bear, where an ornate box stood. Their attention, however, wasn’t on that item.

Rimold looked shocked once he saw these monsters. “Those are…”

“Skycrown wolves.” Rog nodded with a confused expression.

‘Skycrown?’

Red recognized the name.

“What’s the problem?” Allen asked from behind them, in concern. “Are they strong?”

“Not necessarily. Well, at least not at this level.” Rog shook his head. “The problem is that these are not native to our Bestrem Forest.”

“They’re from the Skycrown Mountains, right?” Red recalled the name of the mountain.

“Indeed.” the hunter nodded. “Which is why it doesn’t make sense they’d appear here considering those mountains are hundreds of kilometers to the east.”

The group understood the issue. How could the labyrinth have sequestered monsters who lived in an entirely different region in this place?

“Look, as much as I’m also confused, we can search for answers later.” Rimold interjected, recovering from his shock. He stared at Rog. “I haven’t fought these wolves before, so I can’t judge their strength. Do you think we can take them?”

Rog didn’t respond immediately, scratching his beard in thought. “I can take out at least one of them with my arrows in an ambush, but I’m not sure about your daggers… If it came down to a melee fight with the rest, things might get messy, but I think we could kill them without dying.”

Red took notice of the fact the hunter only said they wouldn’t die, not that they wouldn’t be injured. However, this seemed to be enough to convince Rimold.

“We should attack, then.” the rogue said with conviction.

“I agree.” Rog nodded. “I’ll shoot the one up front and you can target the one on the right. You might not be able to kill it in one strike, but make sure you at least debilitate it… As for you, kid,” the hunter turned to stare at Red. “Your arrows will probably not do much, but it’s better than nothing. You will shoot the one at the back of the room. Do you think you could do that?”

Red nodded, unlatching the bow from his back.

“Good.” Rog smiled. “Then wait for my mark, and when I say shoot, you guys-”

“W-Wait.” Allen called out to the hunter. “What about me? What do I do?”

“… Do you have a bow?”

“No…”

“Can you throw your sword into one of these things?”

“I… I don’t think so.”

“Then just sit there and offer us moral support.” Rog turned around.

The young master nodded in disappointment, walking to the back of the group.

The rest of them all set up for their own shots. Rog with his longbow, Rimold with one of his deadly daggers, and Red with his short bow. The corridor was wide, and after they shuffled around, they settled into comfortable positions to take their shots.

At that point, however, Red frowned. “Do any of you find it weird how none of them noticed us?”

Although they were still dozens of meters away, the view between them was pretty clear in this well illuminated corridor. It would be strange if none of the wolves noticed or heard the humans walking towards them.

Rog shrugged. “Maybe they are just complacent after being unable to escape for so long… Anyway, focus on your shot.”

The explanation did not convince Red, but he saw no point in extending the conversation at this juncture. The boy prepared to let his arrow loose, aiming at the wolf in the back of the room. Although this was a relatively distant shot, it was also a straight arc towards a still target. Red didn’t know if he would do much damage, but he felt confident in hitting the beast, at least.

“Hold…” Rog said, starting the countdown. “Hold… Shoot!”

Immediately, three projectiles shot out from the group - a dagger and two arrows. They closed the distance to the wolves in a flash, but right as they were about to enter the chamber and hit their targets, something happened.

All the projectiles hit an invisible wall right at the chamber’s entrance and clattered down onto the ground harmlessly. The wolves inside the room heard the noise and perked up, looking in that direction. Before the group could do anything, their eyes met.

Red held his breath, too shocked by what had happened to react immediately. Right as he was getting ready to run, though, the wolves averted their gazes from them in disinterest and laid back on the ground, going about their business.

No one in the group knew how to react at this scene.