Dorian’s enormous combined offensive slammed into the Dream Zone’s Horned Rabbit…
And instantly disintegrated it. The poor Horned Rabbit didn’t even have time to conceptualize that it was dead before it was obliterated with such totality that even the air near it was destroyed as well, for several dozen meters.
BOOOOM
Rippling explosions and black fire shook the air as the graceful white fogscape was ripped apart, bolts of energy and static flying in the air. Dorian’s eyesight seemed to physically shiver as the world around him shuddered, unable to negate his attack.
“Oh…” He snorted, his towering Draconic form shrinking as he entered his Balance Demon form and released his Perfect Body Ability.
“Well…” He scratched his head looking down at the damage he caused.
A huge, gaping hole could be seen in the landscape, a hole that was jagged and cut into the air itself, like a hole torn in reality.
“I guess I might’ve gone a bit overboard. Ah well. Rest well, good rabbit.” He bowed slightly towards where the Horned Rabbit had once stood and then shrugged.
“Guess I’ll go through it.” He began to walk towards the rippling hole in reality, sensing the disturbed flow of energy pulsing around it.
.. .. .. .. .. .. ..
The shadowy figure of Kvoth looked down at the Dream Zone trap, his eyes confused.
“Living Years Dream Zone? What is happening?” He muttered as he stretched his hands forward, trying to sense the energy within the Dream Zone.
Because he could only control roughly 40% of the Dream Zone, he wasn’t intimately aware of its entire status. His master, the great Dream Mentor, had set far too high requirements to access his Inheritance, even for Kvoth, his Third Disciple.
“Let me see…” Kvoth muttered, closing his eyes.
“It seems to be related to the Lord Class fool that tried to save his comrades?” He said in surprise. Kvoth waved his hands, black energy shooting off from them as he sifted through the chaotic energy flow of the Dream Zone, eventually managing to zero in on the part where Dorian had been held.
A recording of what took place appeared within Kvoth’s mind.
“Hmm…hmm, ah, he was trapped just like the others. Everything is looking normal.”
“Hmm… wait what?! He can trans- He’s a DRAGON?! Heavens above!”
“And it sent- it sent a RABBIT, a blasted HORNED RABBIT, to fight a DRAGON?!”
“Wait?! What’s he doing now?! He’s shooting laser beams too?! Dragons can do that?! While charging and throwing up a sea of Dragonfire?!”
“And the Dream Zone sent… A RABBIT… to face this?!”
The Shadow figure spat up blood.
Or, rather, it tried to, but once more remembered that it didn’t actually have a physical body.
“And now he’s escaping..? No, he’s still in there?!”
“Well, attack him again! Immediately!”
.. .. .. .. .. .. ..
“Man, that’s the fourth Horned Rabbit already. How many of these things is it going to throw at me?” Dorian muttered as he casually slapped out with his hand, instantly killing the Horned Rabbit that had charged at him from down the corridor.
He currently found himself in a maze. After he tore through the reality of the Dream Zone, he had been released inside a literal maze of corridors, each one coated in flashing fog and light.
Unlike the foggy dream area he had started in, the walls and ground of this area seemed to be actually tough to break through. Even when he charged up a Hyperion Beam and imbued it with Black Flames, he was unable to do more than gouge the side of the walls.
As a result, he opted to go through the maze like he was expected to.
The white and grey walls, ceilings, and floor of the maze all went on without any change that Dorian could see, apart from the multiple twists, turns, and openings. No matter what path he took, Dorian felt as if he recognized nothing.
However, with his Jade Memory at his disposal, Dorian was able to tell that every path he had taken so far was indeed unique. He had made a total of 27 different turns, all without having to turn around.
‘This maze is huge…’ He thought, wiping the remains of the Horned Rabbit off his hand as an afterthought. Despite these creatures not being ‘real’ according to Ausra, they still bled and died as if they were living beings.
‘I feel like I’m not making any progress.’
While he could utilize his Jade Memory to great effect, if the maze was big enough, it didn’t matter that he could memorize where he’d been, he’d still remained trapped in here.
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“If only I knew which way to go…” He muttered out loud as he came upon an intersection. He paused as he saw something new charging at him in the distance, coming down one of the paths.
“Is that… no, it’s finally not a Horned Rabbit!” He exclaimed as he saw the beast thunder down the pathway, aimed right at him. The fog swished and swayed as the creature rushed, bearing down on Dorian.
“It’s a Two Horned Rabbit!”
Dorian sent out a light push.
The Two Horned Rabbit exploded, killed instantly.
.. .. .. .. .. .. ..
“WHY DO YOU KEEP SENDING OUT RABBITS, YOU STUPID LIFE YEARS DREAM ZONE?!?!”
“WHYYYYYY?!”
“SINCE WHEN IS A TWO HORNED RABBIT EQUAL TO A MAZE BOSS?!?!
The shadowy figure tried to pull out his hair in insane frustration, but was once more foiled by his incorporeal form. He screamed in frustration at the Dream Zone, tears of remorse and anger trying to appear.
But failing.
He was still a shadow.
“Huff… huff…” Kvoth wheezed despite not having lungs, or a need to breathe, as he looked at the glowing ball of light and fog, slowly regaining control of his emotions.
“It’s fine… at least he’s still trapped in the Inner Maze. He won’t be able to break through it, and it’s simply impossible he’d find the one path that leads to the Core Matrix. Everything is okay.”
He slowly breathed a sigh of relief.
“Wait a minute… what is he doing now?!”
.. .. .. .. .. .. ..
“Well, here goes nothing.” Dorian shrugged as he looked at the two-sided coin and then back up at the two diverging paths.
“Heads I go left, tails I go right.” He said aloud, nodding his head confidently.
He had no idea where he was supposed to go. The maze was insanely complex and huge. Trying to find his way through it by looking for clues or hints was probably the smart idea, but also felt incredibly boring.
Why not just cheat through it instead?
‘I command you to show me the right way. Come on, Fate! Show me that Anomaly luck!’ He thought as he flipped the coin in the air. He pulled on his soul to twist Fate, feeling a couple hundred points of energy vanish.
WHOOSH
The coin shivered and flipped over several times as it soared through the air before, eventually, landing on the floor with a resounding clink.
“Heads. Left it is!” Dorian scooped it up cheerfully and, without hesitation, began to jog down the left path.
Everything looked basically identical to him. Foggy ground, foggy wall, foggy ceiling. But he smiled as he ran down it, feeling confident.
.. .. .. .. .. .. ..
“Hahahahaha, to think I got so worked up over such a fool. Flipping a coin to determine which path to take?! Ahahaha!” Kvoth clutched at his sides as he watched this, feeling as if he was regaining control of his emotions.
To let such a small number of events affect him so much, perhaps he really was getting too cooped up after living here for so many years.
“Ahh… that felt good. I needed that. Thank you, foolish Shade.” He patted himself off, breathing deeply.
.. .. .. .. .. .. ..
“Hmm, another turn here, sounds good!”
“Oh, this way? Okay magic coin!”
“To the right, to the right!”
“Lemme drop it down low, turn left on the up row!”
20 turns later…
“Oh? The passageways seem to have gotten a little brighter?” Dorian observed with a smile.
“Better keep going!”
.. .. .. .. .. .. ..
“What?! No! How can this be?! He’s actually getting closer to the exit!”
“No, I will not allow this!” Kvoth sputtered in anger, his incorporeal eyes flashing. He began to pull some of his focus away from containing the two King Class Mystic Martial Artists in the trap, instead turning the free energy towards Dorian.
“If I can’t use the Life Years Dream Zone to attack you, I’ll do the next best thing…” He muttered, his hands twitching.
“I’ll trap you!”
.. .. .. .. .. .. ..
“Oh?” Dorian paused as he looked at the coin he had flipped and then at the intersection he had appeared at. He was making incredible speed through the maze, using the powerful physique his Balance Demon form possessed to make fast dashing progress.
“It landed on its side.” He muttered, frowning.
The coin he was flipping was a random small piece of currency he had obtained when picking up supplies before heading to Magmor. It was a simple piece of gold with the head of an old man wearing a crown on one side, and a large chariot drawn by a horse on the other.
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But, instead of landing on either side, it was currently standing on its edge.
“What does that mean…” He scratched his head in confusion.
Abruptly, his eyes lit up.
‘Ah, is this one of those freaky mazes that can change its routes on you, like those staircases in Harry Potter?’ He thought, his eyes shining. He scooped up the coin, looking behind him.
“You want me to go that way?” He flipped the coin again.
TINK
The coin landed down on the ground, flipping over a few times before settling.
Once more, landed on its edge.
“Good enough for me!” He snagged the coin and turned around, starting to jog backwards.
.. .. .. .. .. .. ..
“What?! How is it possible?! I LITERALLY just started messing with the turns!”
“What?! He did it again?!”
“Wait, he went the right way without turning around this time?!”
“How is he doing this?!”
“HE CAN’T KEEP GETTING AWAY WITH IT!!!”
.. .. .. .. .. .. ..
After about twenty more turns, Dorian smiled with satisfaction as he found himself at a large, glowing white doorway. He was in a large, circular room that seemed to be the exit of the large maze, one that looked decidedly different than the monotonous foggy walls he had grown accustomed to.
“Good job, lucky coin. You really did me a solid.” He patted the coin in his hand, giving it a slight bow.
“One last flip… should I go through the doorway, coin? Heads if yes, Tails if no.” He muttered.
He flipped the coin.
TINK
It landed on tails.
“Oh?” He exclaimed in surprise, staring. He looked at the glowing exit, and then back at the coin, shrugging.
“What should I do? Should I turn around and go back through the last corridor?”
FLIP
TINK
Heads.
“Alright, sure thing.” Dorian shrugged a second time and turned around, using his Lesser Magnetic Manipulation Ability to make it fly into his hand as he ran back the way he came.
WHOOSH
The moment he stepped into the corridor, and out of sight of the portal, his entire body vibrated and, abruptly, he vanished from the maze.
He had managed to escape from it.
.. .. .. .. .. .. ..
“…”
“…”
“…”
“Life Years Dream Zone…”
“…Why are you the way that you are…”
Kvoth looked at Dorian’s figure as he successfully made it out of the maze, entering into the last section of the Dream Zone. The Core Matrix. The central, and most vulnerable area in the Dream Zone, where only the controller should have access.
A place where the two other targets, the King Class Mystic Martial Artists, were currently being held.
The fact that he had managed to, somehow, impossibly, make it through the maze in record time, even dodging every single trap and illusion he placed down, somehow tricking past the maze itself…
“It’s not fair…” Kvoth felt as if he was about to tear up from frustration. He took several deep breaths, trying to gain control of his emotions.
“I can’t direct the Core Matrix area to target him since he came in on his own…” Kvoth closed his eyes slowly. His entire shadowy body shook as he stared at a vision of Dorian.
Dorian was currently prancing around the Core Matrix, humming to himself as he looked around. The Core Matrix was shaped like a large manor with several rooms connected by short tunnels. It was only a matter of time before he found his two King Class subordinates.
“How…how… how DARE you desecrate master’s Dream Zone, you filthy mongrel!” The shadowy figure’s body blurred as he shot forward into the ball of light and fog, chasing after Dorian.
He temporarily pulled back a large part of the energy he had been directing to fully restrain the two King Class fighters. With that pulled away, the experts would have a real chance of escaping their respective traps, even if they were ancient warriors. After all, the trap had no exact direction without him guiding it.
Old monsters like those at the King Class would usually be able to escape, even with the odds stacked against them.
“I will PERSONALLY wipe you out!” His voice was quiet, but full of determination.
“And I will steal that lucky coin, too!”
