Those Who Live Without the Law

Chapter 92

Dimensional Maze (2)

There was no way Kairus hadn’t heard the sound of Nora striking the debris.

“What, already?!”

What startled Kairus wasn’t the fact that someone was clearing the wreckage. He just hadn’t expected anyone to attempt it this quickly.

The Flicker had already been embedded into the massive gate leading into the Dimensional Maze, and they were waiting for the mosaic contamination to take hold.

“So that’s what you’ve been up to. Damn bastard.”

“What are you suddenly talking about?”

To Irena’s question, Kairus replied coldly.

“Do you hear the sound of debris being moved? It’s one person.”

“…”

Understanding what that meant, Irena’s expression hardened. Of all those currently active underground, the only one working solo was the Lunaseeker.

“Anyway, let’s focus on what we need to do. Starting now. One, two.”

At Kairus’s words, Irena once again got ready to run, Melvin and Tanya secured at her sides.

A large hole had opened in the massive entrance to the Dimensional Maze. Big enough for several people to pass through.

In an instant, Kairus’s group passed through the gate and entered the maze.

“This is…”

A part of the previously sealed entrance returned to its original state. At the same time, a thick scent wafted into Kairus’s nose.

From rose to lemon, lemon to hazelnut, hazelnut to grape… then back to rose again.

The scent that stimulated his nose was shifting in regular intervals.

And on top of that, there was a sharp buzzing sound—its source unknown.

“Hmm? What’s going on here?”

The light-producing add-ons carried by Kairus’s team began flickering on and off in sync, almost as if prearranged.

The add-ons weren’t broken. They were responding to some external factor.

“Doctor, was any of this in the texts?”

To Kairus’s question, Melvin shook his head.

“No. But it’s not surprising that there are features not written down in the books.”

It’s apparently quite common for things not documented in texts to be discovered during excavation.

Especially if the site belonged to the civilization of Dersos—it’s even more likely in such cases.

“The intention behind this is impure.”

“Agreed.”

Tanya surveyed the surroundings with a serious look.

“It’s designed to exhaust the senses. Your phrasing about impure intentions, Kairus, fits well.”

The eyes, the nose, the ears. And on top of that… Kairus inspected the floor beneath his feet, glancing around, then spoke.

“It’s slightly slanted.”

It was hard to notice, but the ground was indeed subtly tilted.

“They really went all out to make people lose their way.”

This maze was built at least a thousand years ago.

Yet even now, the countless mechanisms conceived by the architects of the time were still functioning flawlessly, despite the unbelievable passage of time.

“If miracles exist, wouldn’t this be one of them?”

Melvin muttered in quiet admiration.

“If we weren’t the ones wandering through this maze, I might’ve admired it like you, Doctor.”

“Agreed.”

Unlike Melvin, Kairus and Irena couldn’t afford to stand around in awe.

They were the ones who had to locate the entrance to Pontus in this maddening maze.

“For now, getting further away is more important than finding it, right?”

What Irena was concerned about was the person—most likely the Lunaseeker—who was still banging on the debris outside the Dimensional Maze.

“Nothing good will come from running into them.”

Kairus agreed with her.

“Ah, even if we’re in a rush, we should still draw a map, right?”

Even if they managed to find the entrance, they'd later have to retrieve the Yucheok Sword from the Canal Operations Committee and pass through the maze again.

After a brief moment of thought, Kairus nodded.

“You’re right about that.”

In truth, there was no need to draw a map. Thanks to the Rear Node, Kairus could retrace any path he had taken before without one.

He didn’t understand exactly how the Rear Node worked.

He simply used the implanted organ he’d received through the procedure.

It was like how most people can’t explain the principle of how they perceive things with their eyes—it just works.

Still, a map had to be made.

If Cecilia found out he had navigated the maze without one, it was obvious what she’d think.

“He passed through the Dimensional Maze without a map? Then this bastard can come to Pontus whenever he wants?”

The map was necessary to keep Cecilia from having such suspicions.

“Make the map, pretend to use it…”

Then destroy it right in front of Cecilia. That way, Kairus would gain something valuable.

If necessary, he could secretly infiltrate Pontus—one of the Rose Garden’s major strongholds—without anyone knowing.

Pontus would, by nature, become a very secure base for the organization. Naturally, all sorts of crucial information would be stored there.

“And that means I’d have unrestricted access to all the intelligence collected by the Rose Garden.”

Normally, for someone like Kairus, the odds of accessing the vast troves of data accumulated by an organization like the Rose Garden would be virtually zero.

But if he succeeded in this mission, the impossible could become possible.

“Well then, shall we begin?”

Melvin immediately pulled out a pen and notebook. What he was drawing was less a map and more of a walkthrough guide.

After deciding which way to go in the branching maze, they recorded that decision.

And whenever they encountered another distinctive fork in the path, they picked a direction and wrote it down again.

To include as much information as possible, they only noted the direction and distance under normal circumstances.

Only when it seemed impossible to understand the path using just distances and arrows would they add parentheses and include a few additional details.

Several hours passed like that.

While continuing to take notes in his notebook, Melvin suddenly felt dizzy and gagged.

“It’s enough to make anyone lose their mind.”

The ever-changing thick scent, the flickering lights, and even the slightly warped angles of the floor and ceiling…

It was far from an ideal environment for someone to concentrate and document things.

“Doctor, want to switch out if it’s too much?”

Startled by the offer, Melvin flinched.

“N-No, I’m fine.”

“Anyone would think I’m about to eat you or something.”

Watching Kairus’s reaction, Melvin was briefly speechless.

‘You son of a—my damn fingers aren’t even healed yet, you know?’

The only silver lining was that it hadn’t been his dominant hand.

Still, whenever Melvin looked at the index finger fixed in place by Tanya Lysand, the memory of that moment came crashing down on him.

“You know exactly why it broke, don’t you? Just don’t do that again, and there’s nothing to be scared of.”

At Kairus’s remark, Melvin silently combined a wide range of curse words in his head into colorful variations.

But he wasn’t stupid enough to say any of them out loud.

“Then… I’ll leave it to you.”

Melvin didn’t reject Kairus’s offer. After all, he really had felt like throwing up.

“Are you going to be okay, Kairus?”

“Probably.”

Kairus had once lost his sense of balance after being beaten up, but he had never experienced dizziness in any other way until now.

Taking the notebook, Kairus continued forward, leaving designated marks as he went.

“What the hell is this now?”

Kairus was momentarily speechless at the bizarre sight before him.

Shiny black blades densely filled the path.

“No matter how I look at it, it doesn’t seem like metal.”

“They’re made from fired clay. You could call them a type of ceramic.”

Tilting his head, Kairus picked up one of the blades scattered on the ground and brought it to a piece of paper.

The moment the blade touched the paper, it sliced cleanly through. Kairus threw it at a wall. A sharp, clear sound rang out, but the blade remained intact.

“You’re telling me this is fired clay… like white porcelain or celadon?”

A ceramic blade that didn’t shatter or even chip when thrown against a wall—he had never heard of such a thing. At Kairus’s question, Melvin nodded.

“If you fire a rare type of kaolin called Sanhap at around 2,300 degrees, it becomes like this.”

Since the clay was placed into standardized molds and fired in a crucible, the processing was simple, and the finished product had guaranteed durability.

“Since it’s not metal, as you can see, even after more than a thousand years, it doesn’t deteriorate.”

Naturally, ceramic doesn’t rust.

“Looks like the perfect material for traps.”

Kairus gave his assessment while examining the black ceramic shaped like harpoons or stakes.

And his assumption was correct.

Over the long years, other components that made up the traps had broken down and deteriorated, but the parts made from ceramic had endured that vast time without damage.

“It’s pretty heavy.”

Irena picked up a stake roughly the size of a child’s forearm and inspected it.

“These are known to be rare items, barely used even in Dersos. And yet they used so many here.”

Listening to Melvin, Kairus started to feel cautiously optimistic.

If Pontus was important enough to justify using something that rare just to make traps, it meant the place held significant value.

“Either way, judging from this, most of the traps in the Dimensional Maze seem to have been neutralized.”

Even if the part responsible for lethality was intact, the trap couldn’t be a threat if the other components were all broken.

‘The only problem is the one following us.’

Still, the debris blocking the path wasn’t something that could be cleared in an instant.

On top of that, the group had already passed more than ten branching paths.

It was possible to pursue them, but it wouldn’t be easy.

If it was an agent of the Lunaseeker, they’d likely be trained for such situations but then again, Kairus had received similar training.

And the agents from other organizations were probably also trying to find their own way into the Dimensional Maze.

“This maze really is massive.”

At Kairus’s remark, Tanya asked a question.

“If it becomes necessary, can we return to the surface?”

“There’s no need to worry about that.”

If needed, getting out of the Dimensional Maze and back to the surface wouldn’t be difficult.

They could retrace their steps based on the notes in the notebook…

And if even that wasn’t possible, they could use the Flicker to bypass the walls and return to the maze’s entry point.

“So, a passage leading down, huh.”

How long had they wandered in the maze, surrounded on all sides by walls?

Suddenly, they came upon a slightly more spacious open area. There were five possible paths.

Two staircases led downward to a lower floor.

One staircase led upward.

And the remaining two paths continued on this level.

“Impressive. At this rate, there might even be some monster wandering this maze, huh?”

“There’s no way a creature could survive over a thousand years in a maze like this without proper nourishment.”

At Tanya’s remark, Kairus glanced at her.

“Why are you looking at me like that?”

“It’s nothing. Let’s head down this staircase. And it looks like it’s about time for a meal.”

It was simply because Tanya Lysand had said something reasonable—wasn’t that a first? That was the only reason he looked at her.

So you can say something logical once in a while, huh? That kind of surprise.

“Oh my, is it already that time?”

When food was mentioned, Tanya nodded obediently.

Next to her, Irena sighed deeply and rustled through her bag to pull out a nutrition block.

They’d been relying on those for days now, and it was starting to get tiring.

“Let’s eat while we walk. With food like this, no need to lay out a tablecloth.”

At Kairus’s words, everyone nodded in agreement.