Walking toward the maze, focusing both his physical sight and Mana Sense, he was hit with a whole host of information. With his eyes, the sight that greeted him caused him to curse silently under his breath.

Now that he was a little closer, he could see skeletons, with some kind of reddish 'thing' hanging off their frame, scurrying around the visible portion of the maze on all fours, their chitter blending in with the rustle of the maze. Everywhere they went, they left behind bloody footprints that were soon absorbed by the brown ground.

His Mana Sense was even worse.

It was like the maze was constantly emitting clouds of dark red miasma, which was then reabsorbed by it, in a giant breathing cycle, giving the impression that it was somewhat alive. Seeing as it was home to blood magic, Sam suspected that the 'being alive' part would be very important in the near future.

Otherwise, everything seemed to be gently slumbering, which set his teeth on edge.

Reaching into his bag, he took out the re-breather made by Liz and affixed it to his face. He wasn't sure he would need it, but based on the spells the Blood Army had been using, there was a not insignificant chance that he would come across biological contaminants.

Thanks to the increase in Liz's skill levels, even his re-breather was on its fifth iteration. They stealthily tested it against the stuff used by the Blood Army, and unless they went near the epicenter of these clouds of poison and aerosolized blood, they would be pretty safe, at least for the few minutes necessary to escape. They haven't distributed them yet to prevent the info leak. Adam was hopeful that if they timed their use well, it could mean a significant victory over the enemy. Sam's own one was one of a kind (well, a dozen of a kind, as many high-level people who were trusted had one) and would probably keep his lungs untouched even in the middle of the release of any disgusting concoction that those bloody idiots came up with.

After making sure that the seals were properly sealed, he did one last equipment check, unsheathed the Sword of Severance, which glinted dangerously as if knowing the battles ahead, and with a deep breath – distorted by the re-breather – he headed for the maze.

Stopping just a dozen yards away from the only entrance he could see – looming above him with the certainty of death – then with the tiniest exertion, he jumped up, using his wind magic to maneuver himself above the maze.

For a glorious moment, he beheld the entirety of the maze, his gaze fretting over it, trying to find the best route; however, reality (and the system) had a different idea. As he hung in the air, he was dismayed to see that even in those few seconds, several walls moved around, seemingly with no rhyme or reason, then to deepen the wound…

ROAR

The sound shook the area, sending him with a gust of powerful wind, filled with red mist, straight out of the airspace of the maze into the ground.

"Ugh…no cheating. Got it…" he groaned as he picked himself out of the small crater where he landed, dust quickly dispersing, his armor coated with bloody chunks of something. Using his cleaning spell, he vanished them with a grimace. "Gross…"

Shaking himself, he began his journey once again, this time the proper way.

The arch of blood red hedge stood before him once again, and Sam suspected that it was even a little smug. Scoffing, he took another step forward, taking his first in the actual Blood Maze, the fracture was named after.

To his surprise, nothing happened.

He took another step, then another, and as he stood a few yards into the first corridor of the maze, it finally reacted to him.

With lightning speed, the hedge behind him swarmed the opening arch, covering the entry and, in turn, preventing him from leaving that way, while at the same time, a deep and gooey laugh echoed from what he suspected was the center of the maze.

Shivering at the sound it made, he cracked his neck, then raised his arm toward the nearest patch of hedge with its red leaves, all looking surprisingly sharp.

In the distance, he could already hear the skittering of numerous skeletons, probably heading toward him, but before they could reach him, there was one other thing he wanted to try.

With a brief flex of his 'mana muscle', a brief pulse of void launched at the plant, instantly erasing a circular area with a diameter of a few feet and the depth of a few inches.

The reaction was instant.

The same roar that shook him when he tried to circumvent the walls sounded, shaking the very ground he was standing on, while the pitter-patter of the skittering skeletons intensified, even clanking together as they hit each other.

'So it doesn't like it…' he mused, already firing another pulse, this time a much stronger one. 'Let's see what happens when I do…this!'

The void energy hit the already regenerating wall of bloody leaves and instantly erased them. However, this time it went much deeper. Deep enough that Sam could see the ground on the other side of the wall. With a brief effort, he widened the hole enough to jump through, as once again the roar was constantly echoing all around him.

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He felt a strong surge of miasma, and the hole in the hedge behind him closed almost instantly, and he could hear the steps of bigger creatures coming closer and closer.

Grinning, and just to be a dick, he fired another shot of void energy at the same place where he crossed over, opened another hole, and returned to his original location.

At this point, he suspected that the roar would never go away, providing a rather interesting backdrop to the fracture.

'Could use maybe a proper drummer and bassist…' he mused as he raised his arm, spell ready to fly, while his other arm held his sword in a defensive stance. 'Let's see the next experiment…'

Just as he finished his preparations, a monster entered his vision.

A skeleton on all fours, yet humanoid, red string of 'meat' and skin hanging off of it, eyes shining with deep red light that seemed to be radiating the need to kill and consume. As they finally spotted Sam, the lead skeleton opened its maw, teeth all sharp, the canines elongated, and a shriek that would wake the damned, leaving it despite not having visible lungs. Sam felt the sound-based attack clash against his shield, but ultimately, it was just a small monster in the fracture, its attack ineffective.

Unfortunately, the first skeleton was then followed by an entire tide of more skeletons, basically crashing into the walls as they were headed toward Sam, their desire – or more like the maze's desire – so great that Sam even saw several of them crushed under the skeletons coming from the back.

Grinning under his re-breather, he unleashed his spell that he psychically bled for...

"Obliteration!"

Instantly, a hefty chunk of his mana left his body, leaving him feeling weak and slightly dizzy, but he personally felt it was worth the price. The first monster didn't even have time to react before the void consumed it. Neither did the next dozen.

Then the explosions started.

Sam watched, panting, waiting as his mana regenerated – the roar in the background still going on – as the explosions, getting faster and bigger as more and more monsters rushed toward him, began to be affected by the spell.

After half a minute, the spell finally petered out without him maintaining it, leaving him alone in the corridor.

The roar, however, did not abate. Hell, to Sam, it sounded like it even increased, as he could feel small, sound-based attacks on his shield constantly chipping away at his defenses, while his prodigious regeneration kept him safe.

Before the monster horde could return, he raised his hand again, and as he turned toward where he felt the highest concentration of the bloody miasma in the air, he unleashed a pulse of void, cutting a hole into the hedge, then jumped through it.

It took him several more monster hordes, filled with the disgusting skeletons, actual blood elementals, and several monsters that looked like somebody had mashed together several bags of bones and blood jelly. The closest approximation that Sam could use to describe them were oozes, but he still felt that wasn't close enough.

As for drops, they were just as he had expected. Lots of bone and blood-related reagents, a few skillbooks with blood, poison, and necromantic magic. Though they were useless currently, he still learned two of them.

[You have learned Poison Resistance!]

[You have learned Necrotic Resistance!]

Pretty useful if somebody asked Sam.

Meanwhile, the maze kept sending bigger and bigger hordes, probably hoping to take him down, but his spell, specifically designed to take down a large group of enemies, made short work of them. The temporary weakness was hard to deal with, but thankfully, he had Lucky watching his back so that the few skeletons and golems that tried to flank him ended up under the paws of his gigantic familiar.

Lucky, the silly wolf, tried to eat the first skeleton because of the bones, but the taste was so disgusting that he had enlarged himself to gigantic proportions, towering over the walls and gleefully stepping on any enemy that came close to him.

Sam had to admit, the blood golems made some really satisfying squelching sounds when they popped.

Still, as he surveyed the next hedge wall he had to cut through, all this didn't explain the Blood Army's interest in the fracture. The drops were nice, yes, but the way they kept rotating the delving parties suggested something else…

Using just enough mana to cut a hole big enough for himself, he threw himself through it, feeling on his shield as the branches of the hedge tried to grab him, yet finding no purchase.

Landing in a roll, he finished it on his knees before standing up and looking around.

The center of the maze was filled with blood red grass in a circular area, with a few blooming flowers with black petals that he knew were very rare alchemical ingredients, and somehow, blood-like dew clinging to the tips of the tallest grass stalks.

And on the edge of the circular area was a blackened tree, withered and old, no leaves present anywhere.

Ignoring the tree for a moment, Sam refocused on the mana swirling in the air, diving deep into the ground in a rather angry manner.

'Huh, apparently I pissed something off… hehe'

Then a bubbling sound…

In the middle of the grass-covered clearing, he saw blood bubbling up like groundwater, as the 'dew' began to fall into it. Within seconds, the blood surged upwards, transforming into a giant golem made out of it.

Sam suspected the transformation usually took longer and was more theatrical, but whoever was controlling it was too angry to go through the usual rigmarole, instead intent on squashing him as fast as possible.

Unfortunately for them, Sam was a little too high-level for this kind of fight.

"Lucky!" he called out, causing the gigantic wolf to emerge from the golem's shadow, sending it toward Sam with impressive speed as the wolf let out a howl of victory.

He saw the golem's rather expressive face transform from surprise to elation as its head itself transformed into a giant maw, intent on consuming him.

Sam just slashed toward it with his sword in a cross pattern, infusing the blade with enough void energy to annihilate a small hamlet, then surged his own shield to part the remaining blood that splashed around him as his attack destroyed the core, leaving him pristine and the ground covered with a modest amount of loot.

He quickly swept them into his inventory and refocused his mana sense as the fracture seemed to fluctuate with apoplectic anger.

"YoU DaRe?" came the echoing voice, finally, in an understandable manner.

As Sam looked up from his looting, he saw Lucky standing next to the tree and preparing to pee.

The tree, in turn, with angry red eyes on its trunk, looked up at the canine grimacing.

Letting out a snort, Sam called out to his familiar. "Not now, Lucky!"

The wolf let out a disappointed whine and sulkily returned to the shadows.

The tree's face, somehow formed out of the wrinkly and darkened bark of the tree, turned its eyes toward Sam and exclaimed.

"FooLiSH MorTAL! YoU don'T kNOw tHe fOrCeS yOU hAvE MEDDLED wiTH!" Its voice was scraggly and hoarse, as if it was rarely used, while at the same time echoing as if multiple beings were speaking. "NoW, YoU sHALL FACE THE TRUE LORD OF THE MAZE!"

With that cry, several roots broke through the ground in a small circular area as Sam saw the dirt and grass fall away, revealing a small set of stairs.

He tipped his imaginary hat at the angry tree and began to descend while wondering what he would find underground.

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