Chapter 583: Carnival of Desire [15]

The razor-sharp silver blade of Nick’s dagger tore through the air and plunged straight into the empty space at the center of "Ember’s" chest.

There was no sound of blood spilling or flesh being torn. The blade passed through the impostor’s chest as though it had pierced a dense, icy mass of fog. The figure wearing Ember’s face lowered his head and stared at the dagger embedded in his body. His lips stretched all the way to the corners of his mouth, twisted and rigid like those of a broken wooden doll whose strings had been violently yanked apart.

CLANG!

His entire body exploded into countless shards of glass, scattering in every direction. Before the glittering silver fragments could even hit the pitch-black tiled floor, they instantly transformed into thick plumes of gray smoke, billowing upward before rapidly dissolving into the dense mercury-like mist.

Nick withdrew his dagger, his breathing turning low and taut. He did not even spare a glance at the pile of glass shards that had just vanished beneath his feet. Instead, his eyes remained fixed on his own shadow stretching across the pitch-black floor.

The dark silhouette was not still.

It was twitching and twisting incessantly, both hands raised in eerie choking motions, as though desperately trying to break free from beneath his heels.

Nick raised his hand, and the dagger in his grip shot straight forward, striking directly into the head of the elongated shadow on the floor.

At last, everything temporarily came to a halt.

At the same time, in another section of the maze shrouded in fog—

Ember hitched the person on his back higher and strode forward with broad, heavy steps, tearing through the thick, clinging mist. He gritted his teeth as the muscles across his shoulders rippled beneath his shirt. His large, calloused hand clamped firmly around Adrian’s thighs, preventing that frail "boiled chicken" of a body from slipping down while he moved at high speed.

"Hey, how are you doing? You still breathing?" Ember growled through clenched teeth. His voice was gruff and rough, yet his footsteps did not slow down by even a fraction.

There was no answer.

Only the sound of faint, chilly breathing—so light it was almost nonexistent.

That breath contained none of the warmth of a living human. Instead, it carried a strong scent of cold metal and the rancid tang of mercury, both of which rushed straight into Ember’s nostrils.

Ember frowned. He suddenly felt his broad, muscular shoulders sag slightly.

At first, he assumed it was because he had been moving too fast, or perhaps Adrian had passed out from mercury poisoning, causing his body to go completely limp. But after only ten more steps, the pressure on his back suddenly increased at an alarming rate.

It was no longer the weight of a slender young man. It felt as though he were carrying a massive boulder weighing hundreds of pounds on his shoulders.

Thud... thud... CRACK!

Each heavy heel of Ember’s leather boots slammed against the pitch-black tiled floor, leaving tiny cracks that began spreading outward in all directions. The bones and joints around his shoulders and spine creaked and cracked under the immense strain.

"Adrian... what the hell have you been eating lately? Why are you suddenly as heavy as a damn pig?" Ember taunted, deliberately masking the growing wariness in his eyes. Without anyone noticing, he began channeling a fierce stream of crimson-orange fire magic into the palms of both hands supporting the figure on his back.

The only response was the deathly silence of the mirror space.

The weight on Ember’s back continued to double, then triple, then increase fivefold!

The pressure became so overwhelming that his normally straight, muscular back was forced to bend lower and lower. The crushing force was so immense that every muscle fiber in his thighs began trembling violently, while the veins in his neck bulged prominently.

The sensation beneath his hands had also completely changed.

The soft touch of fabric and human flesh had disappeared at some point.

In its place was the rough, razor-sharp, bone-chilling sensation of thousands of jagged glass edges digging deep into his palms!

SLASH!

Fresh blood spilled from Ember’s palms, but the moment it touched the monstrous thing on his back, the shards of glass greedily sucked every last drop away.

Ember narrowed his eyes. He didn’t need to turn his head to know that whatever was weighing down his back was no longer his troublesome teammate.

It was a colossal mirror monster, silently absorbing his strength and magic, intending to crush him to death right where he stood!

"Trying to ride on my neck?" Ember curled his lips into a feral grin. "Who the hell do you think you are?!"

BOOM!

Ember’s entire back and both shoulders erupted in a blazing pillar of crimson-orange flames. The fire Erebus had bestowed upon him raged like a volcano erupting in the dead of night, incinerating the surrounding air and mercury-like mist.

The agonized cries of thousands of screaming souls rang out right beside Ember’s ears. The mirror creature on his back began making sharp crack... crack... sounds as the glass shards fractured under the scorching heat, melting into a steaming, syrup-like substance that dripped onto the floor.

Ember spun around and swung a fist wrapped in raging flames, smashing the molten mass of glass suspended in midair into pieces and reducing it to pitch-black ash.

In stark contrast to the desperate struggle of his two teammates, Adrian was now standing leisurely before a perfectly smooth mirror wall deep within the fourth passage of the Mirror Maze.

He had been walking for quite some time, yet he still hadn’t seen any sign of Nick or Ember...

Just as Adrian was thinking this, Nick hurried out from the darkness of the corridor opposite him, his expression one of sheer relief.

"Adrian!" Nick called out, his voice carrying a hint of exhaustion. He clutched his left arm with both hands, where a strange gray substance resembling blood was slowly seeping from the wound.

"I finally found you!" Nick hurriedly explained. "Ember is still ahead! We were ambushed, and Ember blocked all the attacks. I could only go find reinforcements! We need to hurry!"

Nick urged him on, looking as though he wished he could simply grab Adrian by the hand and drag him along.

"Ember can’t die that easily. Lead the way."

Adrian remained as calm and unhurried as ever. His pace did not become even the slightest bit faster than before.

As though sensing Nick’s suspicious gaze, he smiled faintly.

"Ember has received my blessing. If he gets close to death, I’ll be able to sense it."

The smile on Nick’s face stiffened slightly as realization dawned on him.

"So that’s how it is..." He lowered his eyes and murmured softly, "So Ember is actually that strong..."