The maze was built starting with the mother skeleton replenishing its magic.

"Where's the entrance?" Ethan took the torch and looked around, his mind filled with doubt.

He then looked at Glenn and asked, "Was this the same when you came a couple of days ago?"

"No." Glenn frowned, looking down at the map. "The maze looked exactly like it on the map just two days ago."

Is today a rest day for the maze?

Stop talking nonsense.

Glenn leaned closer to the wall and examined it carefully. After a moment, he noticed the difference.

The wall in front of me shows obvious signs of patchwork compared to the walls on the left and right, clearly indicating that it was not formed naturally.

The entrance is very likely hidden behind this wall, so why block the entrance to the maze?

"Mr. Ethan, there should be a path behind the wall," Glenn reminded him.

Ethan also came over, knocked on the wall, and said with a surprised look, "It really is, this wall is hollow."

Then, the two men took out pickaxes and shovels and began chiseling at the wall—which was originally intended for digging Martin's grave.

After about ten minutes, they chiseled a small hole in the wall large enough for one person to pass through, and the two crawled inside.

Although the layout of the scene behind the wall was slightly different from when Glenn came two days ago, it was still generally recognizable as the former Kru Maze.

The most obvious change is that the space has become larger.

The original structure of the maze was that the chambers were connected to each other. Now, the walls between these chambers have been carved out, making the maze appear more spacious and deep.

As the roads became wider, so did the number of forks in the road.

"The maze seems to have changed, Mr. Ethan." Glenn drew his sword from his waist, wary of any monster that might suddenly emerge from the shadows.

"Newcomer, stay close and don't fall behind." Ethan, holding a torch, walked ahead.

Glenn was surprised by that decisiveness.

He jogged after him, his voice echoing around him as he spoke.

"Does Mr. Ethan have any plans?"

"Let's explore further in," Ethan said. "If we find any monsters, we'll take them down. After all, I'm a former member of the Frey Church, and I can use [Purify the Undead]."

"Why a former believer?"

This problem is like a stone thrown into the ocean; it doesn't even make a splash.

The maze was eerily quiet; you could hear the crackling of torches burning and the screech of shoes on the ground.

After a while, Glenn asked again, puzzled.

"Why a former believer?"

"It's not that I didn't hear you, it's that I didn't want to answer!"

"Could it be that Mr. Ethan had an affair with a priest and was excommunicated?"

Glenn laughed and joked.

The labyrinth fell into an eerie silence once again.

Glenn's smile froze, and he stared wide-eyed at the silent Ethan.

No, laugh!

"Really!"

"What's surprising about you?" Ethan glared at Glenn.

Does the other person like dwarves...? Glenn swallowed those words.

After a moment's hesitation, he spoke again: "And the result? I mean, the result of the whole incident was that Mr. Ethan was excommunicated?"

"As a result, she is now my wife and has given me two children."

As he said this, a smile finally appeared on Ethan's face.

It's still pure love, surprisingly.

Glenn was increasingly surprised. Just as he was about to continue gossiping, his brows furrowed instantly, he stopped in his tracks, gripped his longsword tightly, and stared into the darkness ahead.

The chat came to an abrupt end.

There's a sound ahead.

That was the "creaking" sound of bones colliding, gradually approaching them.

This labyrinth is strange, and they must be on high alert in the face of the unknown.

"It's a monster." Ethan raised the torch in his hand forward.

The orange-yellow firelight gradually illuminated the area ahead. As far as the eye could see, two skeletons faced each other in a horse stance, each carrying a large stone in their hands, taking neat, synchronized steps sideways.

Seemingly realizing that the light ahead was abnormal, the two skeletons turned their heads to look.

"Bang—"

The stone in his hand fell to the ground.

Two people, two skeletons, stared at each other, and the scene seemed to freeze for a moment.

Immediately afterwards, the two skeletons moved in perfect unison, raising their hands and opening and closing their jaws, with expressions of shock.

Stone ignored everything, turned and ran without looking back, looking extremely comical.

Glenn and Ethan exchanged a strange look.

"Mr. Ethan, you scared the skeleton away."

"I find your mouth really annoying!"

Sigrún has taught at the Iceland University of the Arts as a part-time lecturer since and was Dean of the Department of Fine Art from -. In – she held a research position at Reykjavík Art Museum focusing on the role of women in Icelandic art. She studied fine art at the Icelandic College of Arts and Crafts and at Pratt Institute, New York, and holds BA and MA degrees in art history and philosophy from the University of Iceland. Sigrún lives and works in Iceland.

I'm so busy, so incredibly busy.

Since Lance succeeded Bruce as the master of the maze, his resentment towards this "dog planner" has deepened.

The maze was full of absurdities, so Lance decided to completely renovate it.

First, there's the terrain. We knocked down all the unnecessary walls because the original structure was too cramped.

More mechanisms and traps, more branching paths, and a greater sense of space—that's what a true maze should be.

Lance struggled with this one step for quite some time.

The main reason is that the walkers are too immobile and not suitable for labor, while the skeletons are too inefficient.

Besides the risk of workplace injury due to their fragile bodies, Lance also found that skeletons are easily distracted by trivial matters at work.

For example, upon seeing a butterfly, people swarm to chase after it.

Upon seeing a perfectly round stone, they would pick it up and boast about it to their companions for a long time.

Sure enough, the two skeletons that Lance had just ordered to move the stones were now waving their arms and legs in front of him, looking shocked, though it was unclear what they were trying to express.

If the skeleton possessed either intelligence or the ability to speak, Lance wouldn't have been so troubled.

With no other option, Lance had to start reviewing the surveillance footage from the beginning to see what had happened.

Using the [Shared Vision] skill, Lance connected to the maze bats that had been set up in advance.

These bats hung upside down overhead, almost covering the entire maze, allowing Lance to have a comprehensive view of the situation even from the command center.

Ok?

The entrance was clearly blocked by him, so how did it get chiseled open?

Lance had previously given orders that the monsters in the labyrinth should not clash with the adventurers for the time being, and that the focus should be on building their homes.

He even blocked the entrance to prevent adventurers from interfering with his work.

No wonder those two little skeletons were so anxious they were almost about to speak; they were trying to tell him that adventurers had entered the maze.

Let me see where the adventurer is... Isn't this the young man who almost died in the labyrinth before?

The other one is... a dwarf?

Ok?

Angelica?

What did she go to do?!

Sigrún has taught at the Iceland University of the Arts as a part-time lecturer since and was Dean of the Department of Fine Art from -. In – she held a research position at Reykjavík Art Museum focusing on the role of women in Icelandic art. She studied fine art at the Icelandic College of Arts and Crafts and at Pratt Institute, New York, and holds BA and MA degrees in art history and philosophy from the University of Iceland. Sigrún lives and works in Iceland.

"Mr. Ethan, that little skeleton has been following us." Glenn frowned. "Should we take it out?"

Ethan stopped and turned to look at Angelica, who was hiding behind a rock and cautiously observing them.

After a moment's thought, he said seriously, "I've thought of a possibility."

"What?"

"Rumor has it that deep within advanced labyrinths, monsters possess extremely high intelligence, and even the labyrinths themselves have their own consciousness," Ethan said.

"You mean..." Glenn slowly opened his eyes wide.

"I suspect this labyrinth is evolving its own consciousness," Ethan nodded. "These skeletons are also beginning to possess intelligence."

Anyone who hears this will be greatly shocked.

Glenn, in particular, was carefully considering what had happened in the maze.

From the very beginning, monsters did not attack adventurers but instead joined forces with them to attack the lord.

Now, skeletons instinctively run away when they see adventurers. In fact, one skeleton even followed them all the way, seemingly with some purpose.

A tremor ran through me.

"Let's give it a try." Ethan exhaled, exchanged a glance with Glenn, then turned and shouted to Angelica, "Hey skeletons behind us, if you keep following us, we'll kill you!"

To their surprise, the skeleton was not frightened at all; instead, it walked up to them.

Instead of a weapon, he was holding a...diary?

Has the skeleton reached the point where it can write a diary?

Ethan remained vigilant, moving slowly as he took the diary.

After he finished doing all this, he saw the skeleton run back to its original spot, hide behind the wall, peek out, and cautiously observe the area.

"Mr. Ethan, this diary was written by a skeleton?" Glenn asked in shock.

Ethan turned to the first page by the light of the fire.

He immediately came to a conclusion.

"It seems not."

Why?

Ethan pointed to the contents of the first page, and Glenn looked over.

"

The Third Age, Year 149, July 13th.

Indeed, the taste of married women in the capital is the best.