Chapter 328: Chapter 328
"Is there a time limit?"
Jane asked, her voice laced with suspicion. "Maimie, you've dealt with a maze before. What is a truly dangerous one like?"
"You should know that a maze isn't some ordinary spell, nor is it something you can conjure just by chanting an incantation. It requires painstakingly altering a fixed location over a long period, consuming not only precious materials but also a great deal of time and patience.
Three years ago, I was with the High Priest..."
She reached into the mirror with her finger and wrote the answer: 36. The mirror gradually faded, turning ethereal until it vanished completely. Maimie was now certain that Miller's maze wasn't particularly difficult. The real danger was a potential ambush, so she wasn't overly concerned with solving the puzzles themselves.
"I was with the High Priest in the eastern county of Cheslan, searching for that skull. We never expected the place had already been discovered. Not only was the artifact gone, but the discoverers had used the underground mausoleum to construct a maze. That one was more like an arena. We had to fight our way through all sorts of undead creatures and evade ancient traps native to the tomb. Oh, it was a nightmare, but thankfully, the High Priest led us out in the end."
The two women climbed the final step to the second floor. Just as they expected, a note was stuck to the wooden door labeled "Miller, Detective." This time, the problem was a bit more complex:
The room contains a number of whole corpses. Every hour, Jane eats 16 corpses and Maimie brings in 9. If there are 91 corpses in the room to start, how long will it take for the room to be empty?
"See? This apartment building has a simple layout, and Miller's own perception and spirit aren't strong enough. In the end, all she can muster to block our path are questions like these."
"What are you talking about?"
Jane retorted playfully. "I only eat men."
A slender tongue darted out, tracing the curve of her lipstick-painted lips.
Although the problem was somewhat complex, it took them only ten minutes to write down the number 13.
The door swung open as expected. Instead of rushing in, they first tossed two metal discs inside. Their shadows detached from their feet, wrapping around the talismans as they slipped into the room to investigate, but they found no danger.
Inside, a fire roared fiercely in the hearth. Two armchairs and a small round table sat on the rug before the fireplace. Steam was still rising from the tea on the table, as if it had been poured just a moment ago.
The window directly opposite the door was wide open, letting in a swirl of wind and snow. Jane hurried to the sill and peered out. Besides their own tracks, she saw a smaller set of footprints in the snow, leading away toward the end of the road.
"Never mind that. She must have known her maze couldn't stop us, so she fled. Remember, our primary objective is to confirm whether or not this detective has recovered those photographs."
Jane nodded and, out of caution, closed the window. The two of them began a swift search of the room, but they found nothing besides stacks of mathematical papers.
Finally, their eyes settled on the only source of sound in the room: the fireplace. Surging, orange-yellow flames threatened to leap out of the hearth. It was only then that they could faintly make out a metal box beside the embers, glowing red-hot in the inferno.
"It seems this is the final lock of the maze."
One of the women snapped her fingers at the fireplace. The flames were instantly suppressed, only to erupt moments later with even greater fury, yet they couldn't touch them.
Maimie extended her right hand, and the enormous ruby ring on her finger pulsed with a dazzling spiritual light. The flames were successfully held back, but both women broke out in a cold sweat.
"I knew it wouldn't be this simple. It seems Miller has acquired some kind of special fire. Yes, we must not let it touch us."
Maimie warned in a low voice, standing beside Jane and narrowing her eyes as she watched to see what the flames would do next.
The surging flames rolled back, revealing a man standing within the fire. The blaze licked at his body, jetting out from his pores only to be sucked back in. Even his eyes seemed to flicker with dancing fire.
Jane guessed. After all, besides an elemental creature like that, any other living being would have been reduced to ash long ago in such a fire.
"That must be it. Mazes have all kinds of guardians. If we can't solve the puzzle, they'll launch a direct attack."
As they spoke, the "Fire Spirit" pointed a hand toward the floor. The sea of fire there had receded, leaving behind only a few licks of flame that formed a question:
What is the sum of all numbers from 1 to 100?
The two women exchanged a look. They had assumed the problem on the door was the most difficult one, but now they were faced with something even more troublesome.
"She's just trying to stall for time by leaving a problem . There's no real difficulty to it!"
Maimie made another judgment, and though her previous assessments had been flawed, every sign indicated that this time, she was correct.
"Our goal is the photographs, but there's no guarantee they're in that box in the fireplace. This could easily be a diversion by Miller. Still, to escape this maze, we have no choice but to solve it."
She analyzed the situation and nodded to her companion, Jane. ʀᴇᴀᴅ ʟᴀᴛᴇsᴛ ᴄʜᴀᴘᴛᴇʀs ᴀᴛ N0v3l.Fiɾe.net
Jane took a step back and knelt on one knee, while Maimie clasped her hands to her chest, closed her eyes, and began to meditate on that great being:
"You are the sovereign of shadows, the reflection of the Mother of Creation; You are..."
As the low prayer continued, the shadows on the floor began to writhe once more. The light in the room suddenly dimmed, and the "Fire Spirit" raised an eyebrow, watching as the shadows on the floor formed the silhouette of a woman.
As the light grew weaker, the glow from the fire cast even more shadows across the floor.
Like wildly overgrown weeds, the swaying shadows formed chaotic patterns amid the droning prayer. Jane, still kneeling, felt dizzy and disoriented after just a single glance.
She did not have the honor of facing the great Hanging Mother Goddess directly, so she couldn't borrow the power of the Hanging Shadow as Maimie could. She cautiously glanced at the Fire Spirit. He was leaning against the fireplace with his arms crossed, watching them, clearly unaffected by the scene.
"What a powerful creature..."
She thought, not daring to look up again.
In the dim room, the dancing shadows writhed before the ocher glow of the hearth. Faint crackling sounds echoed from every corner of the room, and Maimie's eyes snapped open.
All the strange phenomena vanished. Through the being she worshipped, she had received the answer directly: 5050.