“Nigel! Damn it…”
Rowen pulled up his arm to try to support Nigel like that.
“Let’s move first. If we stay here, we’ll get crushed by the walls.”
I need to get up. Nigel thought while hearing Rowen’s voice. In this situation, a normal human would be surprised, but wouldn’t show this kind of reaction. His body had become strange. He had become terribly vulnerable to steam and heat.
As if… he had become a frog again.
“Snap out of it!”
Rowen shouted, but in Nigel’s ears it only sounded mixed with the rumbling mechanical noise. Hot steam spewed from all directions. His breath was completely blocked.
At this rate, he would either suffocate or be steamed to death—one of the two. He couldn’t keep calling for Lisa forever. Rowen firmly wrapped Nigel with one arm and hid him behind his back.
Then with his other hand, he drew the sword at his waist.
We can’t get out like this.
Finding a path was impossible. Rowen firmly pulled Nigel into an embrace with one arm and secured him to his chest. Then with his other hand, he drew the sword at his waist.
“I’ll apologize in advance, Lisa.”
I’ll just pay whatever repair costs they charge. Rowen’s blue eyes gleamed coldly. He aimed at the seam of the steel wall approaching to block his way, at that minute gap.
It was the exact moment Rowen raised his sword high.
Woong—!
A strange resonance echoed from the ceiling where hundreds of gears were turning.
[Defense mode activated. Challengers cannot possess metallic weapons.]
“…Huh?”
Along with Rowen’s flustered voice, the sword in his hand jumped up on its own.
Chaeng—! Kwang!
Tremendous magnetic force sucked in the sword. Rowen tried to hold on with his grip strength, but it was futile. The sword left his hand and got stuck in the huge magnetic plate on the ceiling.
“Damn it! A magnet!”
Rowen cursed. It was a perfect trap as if targeting Swordsmanship Department cadets. A knight who lost his weapon instantly became bare-handed.
Kugugugu—.
Once the weapon disappeared, the maze began to move even more ferociously. The walls on both sides tightened with momentum to crush them.
“Nigel, hold on tight… Nigel?”
Rowen hurriedly looked back at Nigel. But Nigel’s condition was serious. With his vision blurred, Nigel had shaken off Rowen’s arm trying to support him and was leaning against the wall. His head hurt as if it would split, and the inside of his eyes became hot as if someone had burned them with fire.
‘Water… I need water…’
In Nigel’s hazy vision, a puddle of black liquid pooled beneath the gears caught his eye. It was waste oil that had flowed from the machinery. But to Nigel, who had lost his reason, it looked like water.
As if entranced, he propped himself up against the wall and staggered toward the puddle.
“Hey! It’s dangerous!”
Rowen shouted in alarm.
“I said it’s dangerous!”
He snatched Nigel’s arm as he walked toward the pitch-black machine oil beneath the menacingly moving gears.
“Rowen, let go of this.”
But Nigel shook off Rowen’s touch and got angry. His purple eyes were clouded. Rowen looked at Nigel like that, then without permission, pulled him into an embrace and forcibly brought him back to his original position. Nigel didn’t stay still. He struggled in Rowen’s arms. Making a man of similar build stay docile was quite difficult. Fortunately, Rowen, who hadn’t neglected his physical training, was able to firmly secure Nigel to his chest with both arms.
“…Let go!”
Though the other party got angry and didn’t give up trying to escape.
“…I’ll let you go after we get out of here first.”
Rowen said this while looking at the proper maze passages on the opposite side of the entrance, now blocked by walls.
[Challengers, please begin.]
The mechanical voice sounded again.
‘Damn it, what are the Magical Engineering Department bastards planning to present at the Mardinia festival.’
Grit, Rowen ground his teeth. There was no more time to complain. Because he could hear the gears behind them making clank, bang, clank, bang sounds as they approached, ready to grind the two of them at any moment.
Hisss—!
Leaving the steam behind, Rowen took a step while holding Nigel in his arms.
“Hold on tight! I’m going to run!”
Rowen swallowed his curses as much as possible and wrapped his hand around the back of Nigel’s neck.
Kugugugu—!
He heard the sound of the heavy steel floor collapsing like dominoes. The spot where they had been standing just moments ago had long since disappeared between the teeth of the huge gears.
He must have lost his mind.
The aftereffects still transmitted a roar that vibrated the floor, traveling up through the soles of his feet to his spine. If he hadn’t forcibly dragged Nigel along. Rowen felt a dizzying emotion at that thought.
A fork in the road appeared before them.
On the left was a narrow passage spewing pure white steam.
On the right was a path that looked relatively wide and flat.
“Nigel, which way should we go?”
Rowen asked urgently. The wall behind them was narrowing the gap, slowly approaching even after destroying the starting point. There wasn’t much time to choose.
“The right would be better, right?”
Right? Nigel pressed his temples and shook his head to secure his vision as much as possible. Then he gripped Rowen’s arm tightly.
‘That’s a typical trap that a type who moves their body first would choose. You idiot.’ He wanted to say that, but he was in no condition to spit out such a long sentence.
“…Left.”
Nigel pointed to the left.
“What? You can’t even see ahead there!”
“Trust me and just run!”
There was no time for more explanation. At Nigel’s shout, Rowen gritted his teeth and threw his body into the left passage while embracing Nigel.
Kwang—!
The moment they entered the left side, a roar burst from behind them. It was a tremendous sound, chilling enough to make their spines tingle.
“…What was the name of this place?”
Nigel asked while squeezing his eyes shut. Then he loosened his arms to try to escape from Rowen’s embrace again.
“Name?”
“The mechanical voice we heard as soon as we first entered. What did it say?”
“Ah…”
Rowen reached out his hand toward Nigel, who was still pressing his forehead with his palm as if his head hurt, then stopped his fingers in midair.
“It, it said to welcome the challengers.”
“And?”
“It said it was activating the <Infinite Clocktower Maze>.”
“……”
Nigel looked at Rowen saying that. He had definitely heard it that way too. Infinite Clocktower Maze. True to its name, it seemed like they had brought and used every gear that existed on the continent.
Nigel looked at the three-way fork spread before them and muttered.
“There must be rules.”
“What?”
“Like your friend Lisa said, everything in magical engineering is made with cause and effect. And… what else did she say?”
Had she said that even if the appearance changes, the contents inside remain the same? When Nigel stopped in place and showed no sign of moving, Rowen looked behind them anxiously and said.
“Let’s think while moving. We don’t know when this place might become dangerous too.”
“There’s no need for that. Once we figure out the rules, anyway… Urgh!”
Before he could finish speaking, the floor tilted greatly once again. This time to the left.
Kigigik— Bang!
Panels that had been hidden in the walls on all sides opened, and wooden training dummies popped out. In their hands were mock combat clubs and rubber bullet launchers.
“Nigel, dodge!”
Swish swish swish—!
Rubber bullets rained down from all directions. Though they were for training, they had enough power to crack bones if they hit bare skin.
Bang! Rowen, who had been robbed of his sword, hid Nigel behind his back and deflected the flying bullets with only his scabbard.
The situation was the worst. He had no weapon, and training dummies were pouring out from all sides.
That was when it happened.
The left wall jutted out and narrowed the passage.
Rowen twisted his body to protect Nigel, who had lost his center of balance, and pushed his own back between the wall and Nigel.
“Kuk!”
A dull impact sound was heard. A low groan burst from Rowen’s mouth. The moving steel wall had rammed into Rowen’s back. From that shock, the two were bounced to the opposite wall.
“Rowen!”
Nigel shouted in surprise. But Rowen swallowed his pain and regained his stance.
“…I’m okay. No bones broken.”
Even while breaking out in cold sweat, he didn’t loosen the strength in the arm wrapped around Nigel. Rather, he held Nigel even tighter, as if embracing a glass doll he feared might shatter.
“……”
“……”
The two hid their bodies in a corner of the narrowed passage, a small blind spot where the gears didn’t mesh.
