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

How long has it been since Lance last set foot on his "homeland" soil?

About a week.

During this week, Lance got to know a lot of "bosses" in Ascali, and even figured out his next target for purchasing goods.

The Kru Labyrinth is in the south of the continent, while there are two labyrinths he likes in the east and west respectively.

The "Moon Shadow Maze" in the west and the "Blackthorn Maze" in the east.

The former is a great cemetery, said to be home to many talking ghosts and rare materials; the latter is a dwarven labyrinth, where Lance should be able to find the dwarven craftsman he desires.

What these two labyrinths have in common is that their rulers spend all their time in Ascali, completely ignoring labyrinth affairs, making it an excellent opportunity to raid their base.

Lance appeared deep within the Kru Labyrinth, his feet firmly planted on the labyrinth's grounds, in a very good mood.

He currently has two plans.

First, figure out Glenn's secrets and make Edmund remember who he is, so as to subdue this level 65 top fighter.

Secondly, the second level of the maze needs to be expanded, and he needs to bring back more employees. The two mazes mentioned above are the locations he will choose next.

I wonder if Angelica has taken good care of the maze while I've been away this week.

Lance stood with his hands behind his back, like an inspecting leader looking to see the results of his employees' work.

He turned his head and froze.

If he wasn't mistaken.

Has a new tombstone been erected next to the throne that reads "Tomb of Mr. Lance"?

It's no doubt that Angelica was behind this.

He's not dead yet!

Lance stepped forward and kicked over the tombstone, then stormed out of the leader's room, looking around and shouting:

"Angelica! Come out here!"

After walking a few steps, and before even leaving the inner ring, they encountered Angelica, who was about to enter the lord's room, holding a plaque in her hand.

"Clang—"

The moment Angelica saw Lance, she froze on the spot, and the plaque in her hand fell to the ground.

"What have you been doing while I was away...?"

"Mr. Lance!"

Before he could finish his reprimand, Angelica rushed over like a swallow throwing itself into Lance's arms, hugging him tightly.

"That's great... I thought you weren't coming back, sob sob sob."

"Don't interrupt me!" Lance said irritably. "You put that tombstone next to the throne, didn't you? You..."

Lance stopped himself from saying the rest of his sentence halfway through.

Because the little skeleton in front of me was really crying so sadly.

She kept repeating "That's great" while her body trembled with sobs.

This caused Lance to let out a sigh instead of saying what he was about to say, and he reached out to touch her head.

"Alright, stop crying."

"Waaaaah."

"Did anything happen in the maze while I was away?"

"Waaaaah."

"Even if you do something stupid, it's okay. Just tell me, I won't blame you."

"Waaah..." She stopped crying abruptly, then asked somewhat guiltily, "Really?"

Angelica looked up at Lance and saw the crimson soul fire flickering in his eyes.

She immediately realized that Lance was trying to trick her into revealing information.

Just as he was about to turn and run away, Lance grabbed him by the spine and lifted him up like a little rabbit.

"I knew it!" Lance said, somewhat annoyed. "What did you do while I was away?!"

Angelica struggled and threw a tantrum in his arms, repeatedly saying:

"I'm not omnipotent like Mr. Lance! Now that you're gone, I can only do what I can do!"

"So what did they do?!"

Angelica quieted down and started poking at her fingers:

"They just took down all the traps and signs, told everyone not to attack adventurers, and incidentally, they spread some religion."

"Is that all?"

"That's all!"

Lance breathed a sigh of relief.

Fortunately, it wasn't exactly causing trouble.

"What the hell!" Angelica suddenly felt a little aggrieved and stretched out her leg to kick Lance, but she couldn't reach him and could only sulk.

"You abandoned the maze and left alone, saying so many terrible things before you left, and you've been gone for so long."

"I'm not as powerful as Mr. Lance, nor am I the King of the Labyrinth. I don't understand what you're thinking, and you never tell me."

"You always ask me to manage the maze for you, but all I do is assign everyone to work in the places you specify."

"Mr. Kranz said before he left that I'm in charge of the labyrinth. Since you're not here, I have to protect everyone! Don't attack adventurers, be friendly, and you won't die. Just hold on until you come back!"

"Really." Lance put Angelica down and shook his head helplessly. "Monsters don't just die and not be able to revive, so why are you talking about protecting them?"

"Even if we can be resurrected, once someone is dead, they're dead." Angelica seemed somewhat stubborn. "Death is not something to laugh about. I don't want anyone to die, not a single one."

Lance sighed, sat down against the wall, and pointed to the seat next to him: "Tell me, let me hear what exactly you did to 'protect' everyone."

Angelica sat down next to Lance and buried her face in her hunched knees.

"I dismantled all of Mr. Lance's traps; I was afraid they would attract more adventurers."

"Let's just tear it down. We're going to develop the second floor soon, and the traps will need to be redesigned."

"I told everyone not to attack the adventurers unless they enter the 'combat zone'."

"What is the combat zone?"

"That's the previous safe zone."

"Oh, it's nothing."

Lance cannot gain experience in the resurrection space, so Angelica's "no-kill" policy at least did not waste experience.

"I also hung up some stories about the goddess Frey and her missionary rhetoric in the labyrinth so that the monsters would learn to perform the rituals of the Frey Church."

"The goddess doesn't care about this kind of thing?" Lance asked in surprise.

Angelica shook her head, then secretly glanced at Lance's reaction; he didn't seem very angry.

Lance crossed his arms and pondered.

Ultimately, monsters and humans are opposites.

If all the monsters worship the Sky Goddess, and their goodness turns to evil, then no one will bother to conquer the dungeon.

However, this aligns with Angelica's thinking; at least doing so would indeed protect everyone.

"This won't do; it has to be removed."

"Oh, okay."

"Is there anything else?"

"Hmm." Angelica tilted her head and thought for a moment, "I also changed the content of the notice in front of the maze."

"These are all minor matters. Is there anything else?"

"Ugh! What great things could I possibly be doing! It's all your fault for disappearing for so long!"

Angelica reached out her little fist and punched Lance's shoulder.

This seven-day trip to Ascali taught Lance a lesson: there are far more monsters in the world that are simply giving up than he had imagined.

This applies to demons, and even more so to rulers.

Not every ruler is as compliant as Lance; most simply lie low.

They didn't care about the maze or how to improve themselves; they weren't going to die anyway, so this was how their lives would be.

Even among monsters like Angelica, there aren't many who want to protect the monsters in their own labyrinth.

If she becomes the ruler, she will be a wise and benevolent monarch.

In fact, on the fourth day, Lance encountered Boneka in the resurrection space. This guy had returned home in glory after dying in the Starfall Maze.

At that time, Lance was somewhat worried about the labyrinth, so he had Gouka take back Glenn's situation and his concerns about the labyrinth to Angelica.

It seems they still suffered from not being able to speak, and their message failed to be conveyed.

Angelica naturally didn't understand Lance's thoughts, and she had already done quite well.

After thinking it over, Lance reached out and touched her head.

"That's already great, Angelica."

It evokes a sense of relief, like "coming home from a business trip and finding out that your cat has only knocked over a kettle on the table."

"I'm back. Leave the rest to me."

Angelica paused for a moment, then buried her head in her knees again, releasing all the pent-up grievances she had been holding back.

She choked back tears, her voice carrying a sense of relief:

"Welcome home, Mr. Lance."

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.

The entrance to the Kruger Maze.

"What do you think?" the leather hooded man asked, his eyes filled with wariness.

Before them were several zombies, the second-worst of the undead, with bodies that were highly decomposed corpses and moved slowly and stiffly.

He remained standing with his hands raised, holding a stone plaque, his entire body stiff as a stone statue.

If I hadn't turned to look at the three members of the team, I probably would have mistaken them for stone statues.

"This feeling... is somewhat familiar."