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[# Trial of Agility]
[• Objective - Reach the Centre of the Maze as fast as possible]
[• Time Limit - 1 hour]
[• In case, any player fails to reach the destination within the designated time limit, the trial will be considered a failure]
[• Upon failure - Death]
[• The Third Trial has begun!]
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The System window hung mid-air right outside the small cell at a height comparable to the level of his head, its soft cerulean glow slightly illuminating the dark hall.
As soon as Kai skimmed through the contents of the screen, He rushed outside—phasing through the system screen—only to be greeted with the same stone walls forming into a hall that completely cut off at a distance towards his right.
He turned his head around and headed towards the hall's opening as he saw the giant walls that seemed to reach the darkened skies themselves.
With a few short steps, he marked his way outside and touched the left wall with the tips of his fingers—feeling the rough, yet moist texture of its surface.
'The surface is moist and rough, yet I can't see even a single crack...' he thought as his eyes continuously scanned through the entire area.
Kai soon let go of the wall and began to walk forward once again as his mind gradually fell into a stance of thoughts.
'There are 3 prominent ways of solving a maze—break it, map it, or climb through it.'
His steps fastened, as he quickly began to approach the wall ahead. 'Looking at the intact surface of the walls, it's likely that I won't be able to break it.'
'Same goes for the mapping method, there's probably not enough time for me to map the whole thing as I don't know its size.'
"Then this leaves me no other choice..." He muttered as his eyes swiftly darted upwards.
"I'll just climb it."
Kai jumped towards the wall ahead, roughly five times his own height.
Although he wasn't intending to rip off his fingertips while trying to climb onto such steep, slippery walls.
Contrary to that, he wanted to use the wall itself to lessen his efforts.
As soon as his body rose its highest and his feet touched the wall along with his palms, he used all four points of contact to push his body even further, taking another reckless jump as he threw himself towards the left.
Followed by a seamless movement, he turned his body around to his left and came into contact with the left wall with his toes and palms.
Without wasting even a second of his time, he yet again pushed himself forward towards the right.
One after another, his body pushed itself higher and higher, until finally, his hands grasped onto the edge of the top.
Finally, with a last surge of strength in his legs, he pushed his body further and landed his right foot onto the top—using it as a firm foothold to pull himself up.
Kai let out a deep, long breath as he tried to level his breath out—his head tilted down towards the ground.
'Alright, I'm at the top...' he raised his head slightly as he wanted to look at the structure of the maze and most importantly, find the centre.
But instead, his eyes widened suddenly and he began to move on his own, running forward with all their might.
'Fuck! Of course, it couldn't have been THIS easy!' He clicked his tongue out of frustration as his eyebrows furrowed.
Frankly, Kai at this point was worried. Worried for his life.
Since he had gone for the only plausible way of clearing out a maze, he hadn't taken the possibility of danger into consideration.
Right now, he stood at a height of roughly 10 meters which was high enough to leave him paralyzed as he could not use walls as his support due to their slippery surface.
And the current problem in front of his eyes was something that he wished had never fallen into.
Countless humans, who had been trapped in small cells, had come out, and apparently, all of them had the same idea to climb to the top of the walls as their silhouettes flooded the entirety of the space over the maze walls.
Although it was a feasible problem for hundreds of thousands of humans to be present over such a vast maze that spread wide in all directions for as far as the eye could see, the true danger that had frustrated Kai to his bones was something else.
*Screeeeeech!*
Sharp, high-pitched screeches reverberated through the air in all directions continuously like a declaration from death itself as gigantic shadows were cast over the ground under the seemingly bright moonlight.
"Fucking strong pests!" He sneered as his eyes rolled up towards the sky while his legs continued to move over the twisted walls of the maze, heading towards a certain direction.
In the bright night sky, seemingly an infinite number of eagle-like creatures flew around in spirals, creating an awestrucking visual of its own.
However, a few of them, who had descended towards the maze continuously, attacked the other players at a speed so fast that it was nearly impossible to catch up.
Just a slight graze from the attacks was enough to make anyone be devoured by the unstoppable entity—death.
With mere scratches, the bodies of countless humans burst like a harmless bomb that painted everything crimson while a strange, cranky cackle was all it remained in the vicinity.
Hearing the eerie cackle around him, Kai couldn't help but pass his remarks as he jumped ahead to shorten his path by leaping over a gap in the walls.
"Must be entertaining for you to be playing around with people... Not like I expect anything else from you... But I definitely do not like that sound."
He let out a quick sigh as a thought struck in his mind, 'Griffins? This many?? In a trial????'