NOVPUB"An enemy?"
"Now this is interesting."
"Illusory Demon Elder, you should head inside and provoke him personally. Hand control of the labyrinth over to Stiegler—let him experience the fun of flaunting wealth."
Seeing this as a perfect training opportunity for Stiegler, Velen made the suggestion.
The Illusory Demon Elder's eyes lit up at once. Without hesitation, he removed the ownership link from the control crystal, then tossed it along with a spatial ring full of advanced mana crystals toward Stiegler.
Still dazed, Stiegler quickly performed a blood-binding ritual on the crystal—and in an instant, he gained complete control of the labyrinth!
At this moment, it was as if he had unlocked a god's eye view, watching Morris stumble around inside the ever-shifting maze. For the first time in his life, Stiegler felt what it was like to hold someone's life in the palm of his hand. No matter how powerful the enemy might be, before the might of the array, they were nothing but an ant!
"So… this is the power of the labyrinth array?"
Stiegler was completely stunned.
He had never imagined that the array would be so terrifying. It didn't just allow manipulation of tens of thousands of Mystic Chroma Gold blocks—it could also control divine-level magic arrays and nearly invincible defensive arrays with ease!
"Stiegler, listen up. If he attacks me, use the Mystic Chroma Gold to block him, then open a new path for me. I plan to piss him off before I kill him," the Illusory Demon Elder said with a grin as he strode into the maze.
"From now on, Stiegler," Velen's voice echoed telepathically, "stop checking how many mana crystals you're burning. Just play however you want."
"You've got control of the defense arrays, right? Every now and then, toss a burst of divine energy at him and scare him senseless."
"Oh, and by the way—that guy in there is Divine Rank Level One. The chance to toy with a powerhouse like that doesn't come every day!"
"What?! Divine Rank Level One?!"
Stiegler's pupils contracted sharply.
If not for the protection of the maze array, that man could easily wipe out the entire Endless Sanctuary by himself!
"Screw it! Let's hit him with some divine energy first!"
Knowing this was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, Stiegler focused all his attention on controlling the array.
Inside the Maze…
"Damn it!"
"Why can't I find the exit?!"
Surrounded by endless mirror-like corridors, Morris was losing his mind.
"I was planning to leave all this Mystic Chroma Gold intact and claim it for myself later—but now I have no choice!"
Having been trapped for too long, Morris finally decided to attack the walls. He had been reluctant to destroy the precious metal, having already mentally claimed it as his own, but his patience had reached its limit.
BOOM!
A palm strike infused with divine power slammed into a slab of Mystic Chroma Gold to his left. A greenish barrier flashed into view and easily absorbed the attack.
"A defense array?"
Morris froze. The Mystic Chroma Gold hadn't even sustained a scratch.
"Morris!"
"You brainless oaf! Trying to break my Mystic Chroma Gold? I'll tell you this—go ahead and exhaust yourself, but you won't even chip a single piece!"
The voice of Illusory Demon Elder Knox rang out mockingly from ahead.
"Knox!"
The moment Morris caught sight of him, his rage exploded. He charged forward furiously!
Buzz!
Just two steps in, a wave of divine energy sliced through the space between them, slowly floating toward Morris.
"Hmph. Divine energy might be powerful, but it's way too slow. It's not even a threat."
With a scoff, Morris raised his foot, casually letting the divine energy drift beneath him.
"Slow, is it?"
"Then let me give you something… faster!"
Stiegler's eyes flared with excitement. With a thought, he activated the high-tier Divine Array, instantly summoning five beams of divine energy, which blasted through space with terrifying force.
Buzz! Buzz! Buzz!
"By the gods!"
Seeing five streams of high-speed divine energy homing in on him, Morris began flailing wildly in panic, barely managing to dodge the lethal barrage.
"Hahaha!"
"That was amazing!"
"Keep going—don't stop!"
Watching Morris awkwardly flail around like a buffoon, Stiegler was thoroughly enjoying himself. He completely forgot that the Illusory Demon Elder was even inside the maze. With a childlike grin, he began launching divine blasts from increasingly tricky angles—just fast enough to be threatening, but still slow enough to let Morris dodge if he stayed focused.
"What the hell?!"
"What's Stiegler doing in there? Every divine blast he fires costs several years' worth of resources!"
"I told him I wanted to annoy the guy first—when did it become his playground?!"
Illusory Demon Elder watched Morris awkwardly dodging divine beams and was left completely speechless.
Outside the Labyrinth…
"What the…?"
"Why is Stiegler grinning like that? He looks absolutely diabolical."
Seeing Stiegler's gleeful, almost perverse expression, Velen narrowed his eyes in confusion.
"Damn it!"
"Knox! Who the hell is controlling this formation?! Come out and fight me one-on-one if you've got guts! What kind of coward only dares to toy with me from the shadows?!"
Driven to the brink of madness, Morris roared furiously at the Illusory Demon Elder, who was now lying casually on the ground, watching the show.
"You're angry?"
"You're angry? I haven't even had a chance to piss you off yet—that brat went ahead and started playing on his own! If anyone should be mad, it's me!"
The elder shouted back, equally indignant.
"You insane bastard! If you're angry, yell at him! Why take it out on me?!"
"You think I don't have the right to be mad when I'm being humiliated like this?!"
Morris was so furious he nearly coughed up blood.
This was outright bullying! 𝑛𝘰𝑣𝘱𝑢𝑏.𝘤𝑜𝘮
He regretted everything.
If he had known the Endless Sanctuary had grown this terrifying, he'd never have returned for revenge. With Divine Rank Level One strength, he could have been living in luxury somewhere in the upper plane universe!
"Knox… I surrender! Just tell me what I have to do to get out of here!"
Morris shouted as another volley of over ten divine blasts headed his way.
"I don't know!"
"Sure, I'm an elder of the sanctuary, but right now I've got no say in this. Even the head of the sanctuary couldn't override the current controller!"
Illusory Demon Elder shouted, "Stiegler! You hear that? Ask Elder Velen what he wants to do!"
"Your Highness," Stiegler called out, eyes still shining with excitement. "Morris surrendered. He wants to know how we'll let him go."
"Let him go?"
Velen raised a brow.
"A guy who comes back a thousand years later just to take revenge? You think we should let him walk?"
Then, curiosity sparked in his eyes. "What exactly did you do to him? Why did he give up so quickly?"
"???"
The Infinite Dance of Divine Energy?
Each blast tuned to max power?
You used divine blasts powerful enough to instantly kill a Demigod... and made him dance in there?
And not just once—but over and over?!
After hearing Stiegler's excited explanation, Velen was dumbfounded.
He was this close to asking, And you claim you don't know how to flaunt wealth?!
What Velen didn't know was that Stiegler had no clue about the upper limits of the High Divine Array. He just knew the divine energy was absurdly powerful—and that made it fun!
"Stiegler," Velen eventually said, "since he's begging for release, let's do him a favor."
"Tell him that if he dodges one hundred divine blasts, we'll let him go."
"But make the hundredth one a hundred meters long. A super divine blast! Don't worry about wasting advanced mana crystals—if it's not big enough and he dodges it, that won't be any fun."
"…???"
You're afraid he might dodge it?
A normal divine blast, slightly sped up, could vaporize him instantly!
But the image of a hundred-meter-long divine beam thrilled Stiegler.
Something that big?
Swinging it would be epic!
Inside the Maze…
"Elder Velen says—dodge a hundred divine blasts, and you're free!"
As Stiegler's voice rang out, another ten divine beams surged forward.
Whoosh!
Seeing that the speed was still the same, Morris exhaled in relief and continued his ridiculous dodging routine.
He was already halfway to mental collapse. He just wanted to leave as soon as possible.
"Ten!"
"Twenty!"
"Thirty!"
…
"Ninety-nine?!"
As the last set of ten only launched nine, Morris felt a shiver run down his spine.
An ominous premonition began to creep over him.
