Chapter 262 - 256 : Face-off

"Awooo."

The 3 weird monsters stopped right in front of the junction Sato previously was at, unsure of which path to take. 

Unlike what Sato had thought, the tunnels had something special about them that prevented tracking techniques and methods. Due to this, the monsters didn't know which path Sato had taken and were forced to a halt to make a decision.

As a result of their standstill, the streaking meteor form was dismantled, revealing what was hidden within.

Just like before, they were shrouded in a black fog that prevented their features from being spotted. The fog was like a cape that prevented an ounce of light from getting through. Added with the already dim environment, the monsters were like demonic ghosts straight out of a horror film.

The 3 shadow monsters glanced at each other for a while, appearing to be having a conversation. Suddenly, the 3 shadow monsters began to oscillate at rapid rates while also convulsing like glitches in a video game. Slowly, three dark blobs exited from them forming a whole new silhouette beside them. In total, there were now 6 shadow monsters that stood before the 7 entrances. However, compared to the original 3, the auras of these 6 were much weaker.

Just like cells, the shadow monsters could split themselves in two. The only problem with this was that the copies would be much weaker than the original. The 'original' here didn't refer to the main body that got split off but the combination of both the split body and the main body. In other words, the current 6 were copies.

"Krrr!"

One of the copies released a strange shrill before dashing towards the entrance at the centre.

The other copies followed right after the last one but chose separate tunnels. However, as there were 6 copies as opposed to 7 tunnels, there would undoubtedly be one tunnel that would go untouched by the monsters. To the monsters, this was a sacrifice they had to make as exploring just one alone was the limit for each.

"Hmm?"

Sato focused his sense behind him and realized that there was no sign of any pursuer behind him. Regardless, Sato continued running ahead with pausing. At the very least, he hoped to find a safe spot where he could recuperate a bit and hid. If after a while, there was still no sign of them, then it would mean that he had succeeded in losing them and could resume his search. However, he did slow down his pace to conserve his energy while also trying to catch his breath.

About 5 minutes later, just as Sato believed that he was free at last, his senses abruptly tingled, ringing warning bells in his head.

"Oh come on!" Sato could help but be surprised. 

There was no need to guess the reason why he had such a feeling because he had instantly figured out why. Though the aura was weak and distant, Sato could still feel it. The monster had caught up to him somehow.

It should be recalled that the [Labyrinth of Helios] wasn't your average labyrinth or maze. It was very complicated with various junctions, forks, and branches. With every 200-300 metres a person walked, they would inevitably see a branch road that led elsewhere. Sometimes, they would see 4 different paths in every 200 metres walk. This made it so that one could easily get lost no matter how hard they tried not to. Adding the fact that the entire structure seemed to be sealed underground, losing your sense of direction was only a matter of time. Heck, Sato couldn't even differentiate north from south. At this point, he didn't even know which direction he initially started from.

Making use of the layout to his advantage, Sato had taken various turns during his escape. Even Sato wasn't able to track his way back at this point.

Despite all this, the monster was still able to track him up till here.

'At least it's just one of them.' Sato thought.

'If it can find me, is it possible it can also relay this discovery to the others?'

As Sato thought of this, his mind suddenly chilled.

If that was true, then it meant that no matter how far he ran, he would still get caught.

'In that case…'

Sato abruptly came to a stop.

He then turned around while pulling out his sword from its sheath as he stared at the path before him.

"All this running and wandering with no clear goal has made me tired. I think you should be enough for me to do a few stretches." Sato said as he massaged his sword-wielding hand with his free arm. 

He was speaking to the monster but sadly, there was no one in front of him. Sato knew that this was because the monster was still a bit behind, after all, there was no way it would rapidly catch up to him even if he had taken a break before. The time the 6 copies spent added with the time this copy spent searching for Sato's trail, when added together, made it so that Sato had created a large gap between him and it. It would take at least 30 seconds before the monster would actually catch up to him and that was already an overestimate from Sato.

"I just have to finish this in 1 minute."

. . .

. . .

. . .

*Ding Dong*

"Hmm. Grandpa, are you expecting anybody?" Hayami's voice sounded from the living room. 

She didn't care about her voice being heard by the person at the door or rather, it was impossible for that to happen. This was because the door was soundproofed, preventing sound from leaking out from the building.

"A guest? No, not any." Old Juro replied from another room. It was still morning and he had just woken up. From what Old Juro knew, even if he had any friends that would pay him a surprise visit, it would usually be at noon, when they were certain that he would be available.

"Okay." Hayami responded as she moved towards the door.

Using the door monitor[1], Hayami checked to see the identity of the uninvited guest. It was a young man that looked to be about Sato's age. He wasn't exceedingly dashing but his facial features were still above average. He looked to have a nice build but unlike most people in Shinjuku, he didn't look to be of pure Japanese descent but instead had a few features that made one associate him with a Han[2].

"Someone from the Chinese Federation doing here?" Hayami muttered as she opened the door.