Chapter 196: The Great Hollow

Chapter 196: The Great Hollow

Sofias first instinct was to copy the thing on her bone slates, she was getting proficient at drawing with [Bone dominus] so it only took a second. She stored the drawing and circled around the ritual.

What am I to do with this?

I do not think this is random. I get the feeling that I need to use this somehow, but I dont know about activating a random Gods rune again.

It kind of looks like an Apostle ritual, but It probably isnt, the door is locked from inside and theres no demon here. So unless they can go through walls like me

Since there were a few skeletons there, she tried to feed them to the book, but it wouldnt eat them. Must not be real skeletons then, unsurprising, but its the first time I get to try in the maze. You never know whats real and what isnt during a trial. Im pretty sure the black belt I got from the Master is real, at least.

From the corner of her vision, Sofia saw something shine in the middle of the circle. The light from Pareths halo had reflected onto some kind of smooth gray pebble that was hard to see on the stone floor.

Perhaps foolishly so, she stepped onto the ritual circle to see what the thing was. She realized what she did after the fact and quickly retracted her foot, but let out a sigh of relief as nothing happened. She did not want a repeat of what had happened when she had stepped onto the trap ritual around Zerei back in the dungeon.

Damn Im getting careless. This place is mentally draining

She asked Pareth to grab the thing in her stead. The instant his bony fingers touched the pebble, the previously inactive and mana-less ritual activated.

Sofia cursed internally and was ready to defend herself but there was no defending the forced layer change that happened. She was now in a similar room, carved directly into the stone. No more clear cut maze, no more stone bricks, this was a natural cavern. There was nothing on the ground here, just her with her shield and Pareth holding a gray pebble.

Could have been worse. Now where am I? Yet another layer, but only accessible through the ritual?

Sofia cautiously walked out of the round room. This was a genuine cave, with stalactites, mushrooms and an uncomfortable high level of humidity. The moist walls reflected the light of Pareths halo in a myriad of glimmering spots.

She cautiously advanced through the cave, it was strange how the cave had the exact same layout as the maze, despite being supposedly natural. As if the maze had been built to replicate it. There was one place Sofia absolutely wanted to check out in this new layer, the big room. So far it was always a good indicator of what each layer was about, she had a presentiment that it was where she would find something again. Hopefully it wouldnt be another horror.

Before she could reach her destination, she felt space bend around her in a nauseating way, and she was suddenly back to the wood monster layer. Did I get ejected? That didnt feel like the usual layer change. It had also only been like a minute and a half. Much shorter than usual.

She immediately tried drawing the ritual on the ground and touching the pebble. She was transported to the cavern again, and like clockwork, a minute and a half later, she returned to the wood layer.

Finally something with clear rules. Thatll be useful to escape the eye thing if I meet it again.

Well, only if it goes away after I change layer

With a new goal, Sofia backtracked her way toward the big room, during that time, she switched layers twice, once to the undead one and once to the empty one, she arrived at the room while still on the empty layer.

Thats exactly just how the world layers work! Just like the midenicite tablets!

The eye layer is the Gods plane. To be fair, my interaction with the eye monster reflected Scriptures presence very well The human layer is the one with remnants of real human activity, though everyone has been turned to wood creatures, this is the physical plane. Then the mana plane is a layer I havent accessed yet. The skull is for the undead layer which is the spiritual plane. The spikes for the traps and the Recessed. Blank for Zangdars empty plane.

And finally The Deep.

The great hollow.

The maze of Zar.

Is Zar the human lord who led the construction of this maze, corrupted by a newfound artifact as the diary suggests? Or is it this God?

A God in the Deep. Now that felt very wrong. As far as Sofia knew, there was no God to be found in the Deep, only the four lords.

Aphenoreth.

Ormonocleth.

The orator.

And

I know the last name. Its just That was such a terrible time. When I try to remember everything is blurry. I have it though. Im sure I have it E A

Eda?

Edrazeketh!

Edraz Raz Maze of Zar?!

No way, right?

A bit of a convoluted conclusion, but this whole place is convoluted.

So this giant sculpture would be