CH 2

“Hey, wake up! Get the hell up!”

“Ugh… here is…”

“Looks like we’re in the ‘Maze’.”

“Ah, I see…”

After waking up, what greeted me is Beyta’s face right in front of me, followed by a metal wall and what appears to be a pipe with an unknown purpose.

Beyta’s words then serve as a reminder to me that we were driven into the maze by hand-like objects.

“Where is the exit?”

“There is only a watertight door in this room that may lead to the depths of the maze.”

Saying this, Beyta points to a heavy metal door with a handle attached, which is again made of metal.

But the end of the door is emitting a highly repulsive presence. Without a doubt, it wouldn’t bring us back to our original space.

“What about the contact…”

“Perhaps if luck is on our side, it will be on, but we should act assuming that it isn’t.”

“I suppose so.”

I then put my ray of hope in Beyta and ask him if the contact he was intending to initiate just before being dragged into the room has been successful, but the results do not seem promising.

“In the meantime, this room is safe, right?”

“As of now, yeah.”

“As of now… huh.”

“For my part, I think we should check a few things before going to search for a way out.”

“Maybe…”

As soon as I concur with Beyta’s remarks, I begin going through the information I’ve been taught about the maze that I am taught as a member of the security organization.

Accordingly:

・The interior of the “Maze” is complex and intricate.

・When entering the “Maze,” you will be sent to a random place (if you enter the “Maze,” simultaneously, you will exit the “Maze” at the same place).

・To escape from the “Maze,” you must locate a way out somewhere in the “Maze”.

・There are monsters that assault humans in the “Maze”.

・At the deepest part of the “Maze,” there is a boss of monsters, and by defeating this boss, the “Maze” will disappear.

“So how strong are these monsters really? Neither one of us has ever seen one in person, so we don’t really know.”

“Given the fact that they have gone to the trouble of organizing a subjugation team and that the squad members are equipped with special equipment, I doubt that we could do anything with the kind of equipment we have for dealing with human opponents.”

So, confirming the information is essential, but Beyta and I are both members of the patrol team…

We have no clue what the monsters actually are let alone if we can defeat them.

However, as Beyta pointed out, it’s absolutely advisable not to engage into a fight with the monsters given that the only equipment we presently own are rods for seizing human criminals… and weapons that each of us is proficient with (I have a sling and Beyta has knuckles).

Not to mention, Beyta is comparatively larger than most men, whereas I am rather diminutive… Considering the strength of the power I’ve been gifted with, I don’t think I have a chance of prevailing.

“For now, we should concentrate on finding a route out, and if we encounter a creature, we will flee.”

“No objections.”

After deciding on our course of action, Beyta and I decide to turn the handle to open the watertight door and commence our search in the “Maze”.

———–

“Oh yeah, I remember now… and then we started the search and right after that we were assailed by a monster in human form, Beyta and I got separated while escaping…”

After about an hour or so later, I was in the shadow of a pillar, catching my breath. Needless to say, I haven’t found a way out.

And while searching for a way out, I encountered monsters several times, but each time I managed to escape by running away as fast as I could.

“I wonder how Beyta is doing… I hope he’s still alive…”

I move down the passageway, vigilant of my surroundings.

There are three kinds of monsters I have encountered so far.

The first one I encountered was a humanoid monster with two arms that transformed into swords, the second was an eyeball-shaped monster with small wings, and the third was a quadrupedal monster that pursued me earlier.

Consequently, following our initial strategy, I had already virtually discarded the option of defeating the monsters, because the quadruped I had just encountered was too large.

After all, not only the quadrupedal monster I had just confronted, but even the humanoid monsters are evidently more capable of fighting than I am.

Moreover, as soon as the small eyeball-shaped monsters sighted me, they would let out a loud cry to attract other monsters, leaving me no choice but to hide unless I could take them down with a single blow from a distance.

There is really nothing I could do about it.

“My right side is clear… and my left side is clear too…”

Looking to the left and right of the passageway to ensure safety, I hurriedly turn the handle of the watertight door I could see in front of me. And after finishing turning it and opening it, I lightly check inside before slipping inside the room and gently shutting it.

“It’s spacious…”

Within the room is a slightly larger hall-like space with several black, container-like cubic objects a little more than one meter on each side placed in a disorderly manner.

It might be more accurate to refer to it as a warehouse rather than a hall.

And at the end of the hall, there is a passage leading to somewhere else.

I stoop down a little and peek through the shadow of the cube to see what the passageway looks like.

“Hmm?”

Beyond the passageway, there is a door-like object made of the same material as the cube in which I am currently concealed.

And in front of the door is a huge frog-like monster with arrowheads protruding from its body and…

“!?”

…a headless corpse wearing the same uniform as mine, with familiar boots, a familiar physique, and metal knuckles in its hands.

“Ugh…”

I struggle to make sense of what I just saw while also frantically trying to deny what I just witnessed within my heart as I hide in the shadow of the cube and suppress the rising feeling in the pit of my stomach along with my voice.

I now come to an understanding after looking back at the corpse over and over again.

Beyta has died.