The darkness pressed close from everywhere and the walls rose on both side, disappearing into a void above. Chains grew out of the bricks like gnarled ribs and water was flowing somewhere close by. A series of footsteps echoed faintly in the hallways, and the baleful blue glow of an axe shone onto mysterious symbols etched into the white brick walls.
"Stay close. Especially you Reuben." Nathan whispered, continuing to lead the way. Reuben held the hem of his t-shirt that was peaking below the chest plate. His eyes could see clearly in the dark, but beyond 20 meters it was still a void of darkness. What lied beyond that could only be judged through sound.
A brown blur shot into the darkness ahead and came back just as quickly, leaving a trail of transient light behind him.
'All clear!' It said.
Nathan nodded and moved ahead.
The walls kept shifting. Sometimes, they were made out of white marble which seemed ancient, the next moment, they seemed made out of concrete, and then transitioned strangely into wood and dirt. Every now and then, there was a shout in some far corner of the maze, and the consistent groaning of the Labyrinth itself seemed never ending.
Even now, Nathan could hear it - the strange creaks and groans in the maze, the echo of stones grinding together as tunnels changed, grew, and expanded. If it were not for him being able to see the correct 'path' he was sure he would be stuck in here for ages.
Is it possible that the minotaur is here? It was imprisoned in the Labyrinth so it wouldn't be too crazy... I hope it is. It's one of the most well known out of all the Greek monsters. I'll get a boatload of points if I manage to kill it. As quickly as Nathan had that thought, he dispelled it. He had a kid with him now. This was not the time to be taking unnecessary risks. Although he would not mind monsters coming his way, he would not consciously seek them out with a 7 year old demigod in tow. Doing that would be nothing short of idiocy.
After turning around a corner, they came across a huge room. The ceiling was somewhere 10 meters above them and was built like a dome. The entire ceiling had hundreds upon hundreds of spider webs, weaved together into a mesh that made it difficult to even see the ceiling. As for the floor, it dropped down directly into an abyss of which no end could be seen. There was a thin walkway going all around the room and many many tunnels connected to the same room.
In the walls between the tunnel entrances, there were small holes out of which water poured down into the pit.
"Webs..." Nathan muttered as he freed his hand from one that had caught him.
'Webs but no spiders.' Freddy dashed upwards, the webs proving of no concern to him and came back just as quickly. 'Quite strange.'
"Indeed." Nathan looked into the pit and picked up a stone from the floor. Nonchalantly, he threw it down.
And waited.
Ten seconds passed, then twenty, then thirty. An entire minute passed without a sound.
"Well, we know to be extra careful now." He said. The tunnel they needed to head into was on the other side of the room, so they would need to travel all the way around.
Exits and entrances were there all around the Labyrinth, but they weren't just looking for an exit. They needed to find one near the ranger park where Nathan had entered the forest trail. Otherwise, if they somehow managed to get out on the other side of the country, they would need to make the entire way back which would take a lot of time.
It was simply better to travel through the Labyrinth.
It might seem counterproductive when one takes safety into account, but Nathan was also very secretly hoping to run into some of the weaker monsters.
They made their way across the room, hugging the wall and travelling along slowly. When they were halfway there, Nathan suddenly stopped.
His eyes widened and he looked into the pit again.
"What's wrong, big bro?" Reuben asked, his voice echoing in the hall. Nathan placed his finger on his lip, signalling him to be quiet. Freddy wished like he wanted to say something, but refrained from doing so.
"Do you hear it?" He asked, jaw clenched tightly. Reuben shook his head in denial, while Freddy let out a gentle squeak.
'That's not a good sign. Hey, uh... how about we keep moving aye? This place is giving me the creeps.' The rodent looked down into the darkness and his tail twitched. '...I'd normally offer my reconnaissance skills but... I don't wanna go down there.'
Nathan contemplated for a moment before nodding. They moved along the way. Freddy climbed onto the wall and came beside Nathan.
'What are you hearing in the first place?' He asked.
"...Heavy breathing. It feels laboured." Nathan said. "But then there's another thing. Difficult to explain. It's like... something heavy is stirring. A faint rumbling deep in the Earth." He refused to look down the pit again. Reuben clenched his fist around his shirt tighter and eventually, they made it across to the correct tunnel.
Freddy heaved a sigh of relief.
'Phew! Well, you have to thank me. If not for my quick decision of getting a move on, something bad might've happened.'
"Don't say that. Nothing would've happened. Stop being silly." Reuben chided, his brows furrowed as his words.
'Hey, you should never jinx it. Sticking around when you hear something from a pit that leads into the void? Oh please.' Freddy replied.
Hearing their words, Nathan let out a quiet chuckle.
"He's right you know. I don't know why I stopped to listen in the first place." Nathan chided himself for the blunder. He ought to know not to risk such things. He thought back to the feeling he had gotten.
It was as if a sudden chill was travelling up his spine, making him freeze up. His hackles had stood on edge and suddenly, his legs had gone numb. The heavy breathing he had heard did not help in the slightest.
"What even was that pit anyway?" Reuben asked.
"Let's just drop the topic." Nathan said, vying to end the conversation. But Freddy squeaked again, offering an answer.
'To my knowledge, there are many entrances in the Labyrinth that lead to the Underworld. And... more eviller places.'
Instantly, Nathan thought of something.
Tartarus. He thought, but did not dare say the name out loud. Names had power after all.
And Tartarus was one of the Primordials according to Greek Myths, having been made from chaos alongside Gaea, Ouranos, Nyx, Erebus and Eros. It was located in the underworld, or at least its entrance was. It's power was so immense and the chaos inside it so disordered that it could even trap the defeated titans for thousands of years effortlessly.
Alongside that, it was also the place where all monsters reformed.
Now, Nathan was all the more thankful that they had gotten out of there quickly. Another thought then came to his mind.
He remembered the overarching plot of the Percy Jackson series. The resurrection of the Titan Lord, Kronos. The entire first book had been about how Kronos was trying to get the Lightning Bolt and the Helm of Darkness to simultaneously hasten his reformation and trigger a war between the Olympians.
Just as that thought crossed his mind, Nathan felt another shiver go down his spine.
"Let's just get out of this place." He said dryly.
...
...
It was not until another 10 minutes passed and they took a turn from another intersection that Nathan began to hear footsteps coming from in front of them. The footsteps were heavy and thumped loudly in the tunnel.
In that instant, Nathan made his decision. The sound suggested the monster was large; and normally, larger monsters are naturally stronger. He should avoid taking that risk.
Nathan's eyes became serious and he looked back at Reuben.
"There's a monster coming. Let's try and avoid it. If we can't, we'll have to fight... Well, I'll have to fight."
"I-I can fight too!" Reuben exclaimed, but then clamped a hand over his mouth, realizing he was making too much noise.
"No you can't." Nathan began to walk back, picking Reuben up like a sack of potatoes. "You don't even have a weapon."
He made his way to the intersection and looked in the other two directions. The footsteps seemed to be getting closer.
Without wasting any time, Nathan walked back the way he had come before, but after a couple of steps, he realized that the tunnel had been completely changed. Where there should have been a multi-coloured tunnel with many many newspapers scattered about and a skeleton leaning on the wall was now a tunnel covered to the brim with roots and dirt.
The tunnel was 7 meters wide and the ceiling was 10 meters tall even with the dense roots hanging down.
"Oh man." He cursed in his mind. The large tunnel meant the monster would be able to walk in without problem.
Nathan trudged on and a brown blur shot ahead, surveying the area.
'Duck!' It yelled.
Nathan ducked as an axe swung over his head. It had come right out of the dirt and he could clearly see brick walls behind the dirt itself. It was as if the dirt wasn't naturally a part of this tunnel but had grown over it.
The footsteps hadn't stopped. Shaking his head, Nathan decided to increase speed to get away from the monster for good.
But just then, a voice rang out in his ears. It was faint, and seemed feminine in nature. It was calling out his name.
He recognized that voice.
His steps stopped dead in their tracks. His eyes shook in their sockets and he looked back into the darkness from where he had come. The footsteps drew closer, and with them, the voice started to become clearer in his ears.
"Big bro, what's wrong!?" Reuben asked, fear clouding his face as he once again saw Nathan stop at a very wrong time. "Let's go! We need to move!"
'Why are you stopping again!? You hearing stuff again!?' Freddy also yelled, having returned in a blur.
Nathan didn't regard them. He didn't feel a pull or think his mother was alive, no. She was dead. He knew that.
And he also recalled that Reuben had told him of a monster that could mimic voices. And that it had mimicked the voice of one of his matrons. Anger bubbled in his heart like never before. He rarely ever got angry. For a moment, he wanted to charge in there and see what monster was doing that and cut it down with his axe, but before he could act rashly his gaze travelled to Reuben on his shoulder.
He breathed out a sigh and pushed the anger down. Turning around again, his legs exploded with power and he was gone with the wind. The squirrel told him of any traps, but as the roots and wines seemed to grow denser, the traps basically disappeared.
Soon, the footsteps and the faint whispering stopped.
...
...
A/N: I'm sure all of you already know what that monster was.
Anyways, here is the 650 PS Bonus Chapter. And I see you have also gotten the 1100 PS goal...
I am... skeptical of making another goal. Having to write bonus chapters just make writing seem like a competitive sport... Like I have to meet a deadline or something. heh.
Anyway, I'm still feeling generous. Nobody will say no to their story being number one in the ranking after all, so considering we are now at 1160 stones by the time I'm finishing this, I think the next goal ought to be 1600. get that and you get another Bonus Chapter.
Side Note: Don't you all think Webnovel readers' are getting starved for content. I say this in terms of fanfiction, of course. Every other story you see is a translation nowadays. Originals just don't even trend, and that's because the translations just overwhelm the written ones with sheer chapter count.
I'm not saying the translations are bad, but when you see that they are pushing down most of the originals with only a few managing to make it to the top, and the authors actually being able to make money out of a translated work through patreon, its just a bit off putting. Is it only me?