Not only could one not fly in the dungeon, but they couldn’t climb over the walls either. The walls were impossibly high, their surfaces smooth and unbreakable.
The passage within the maze was at least a thousand feet wide, making the Sea Dragon Empress wonder just how long this maze was in reality.
Her senses told her that this was not just a physical structure. It was embedded with magic that was reminiscent of the one used by the Celestial Dragon.
She was curious as to who made this Dungeon in the first place. If she hadn’t known better, she would’ve thought that the Celestial Dragon himself made this place.
“Was this place made as a trap by those who killed the Celestial Dragon?” she wondered.
The more she thought about it, the more she felt that it made sense. The walls felt like they were made from the scales of the Celestial Dragon. Only the person who killed the Celestial Dragon could do something like this.
Although she knew that it might be a trap, she couldn’t give up. She had to reach the Celestial Dragon’s heart before Eren. Even if she had to die here, she still had to free her clan from the curse.
The only thing she regretted was that she wasn’t with the Celestial Dragon Prince.
If he was also here, searching this place would’ve been much easier. As the purest kin of the Celestial Dragon, the young man might have had an easier time locating the heart.
She couldn’t cry over the spilled milk. She realized that she had to make the best of the situation she had ended up in.
Taking a deep breath, she stepped into the maze, letting her instincts guide her.
Each turn seemed to lead to another, and the further she went, the more she realized that this labyrinth was more complicated than she thought.
The pathways of the maze shifted subtly when she wasn’t looking, as if the maze itself was alive, playing with her.
Even the path of return had changed so many times that she was sure that finding the beginning of the maze was going to be just as hard as finding the end.
It was also because of this trait, that the team of the Holy Church that was led by a Cardinal to investigate this dungeon, hadn’t returned yet.
The Sea Dragon Empress didn’t know the right path. She didn’t even have a map of the interior of the maze. She could only follow her instincts as she walked forward.
As she navigated the passage, the sounds of distant footsteps caught her attention. Someone else was in the maze. She was sure that it was Eren. She had finally caught up to him.
She picked up her pace. Her hands changed into dragon-like claws. She was about to stab her claws straight into Eren’s chest as soon as she saw him.
With one more turn, she finally saw the person, walking away without a single realisation. He was like someone who couldn’t even sense as death approached him.
The Sea Dragon Empress rushed forward. Even though the Dragon Tongue and other abilities were weakened, they weren’t completely erased.
In the blink of an eye, she appeared right behind Eren and thrust her claws at his back.
Taken aback, Eren turned about. The Sea Dragon Empress’ pupils widened momentarily. She quickly changed the direction of her claws, realizing that she couldn’t stop on time.
She barely missed the flesh of the person, only slicing through his sleeve.
“What do you think you are doing?” The person before her asked, looking at her claws, seemingly unimpressed.
“I-i thought you were someone else.” The Sea Dragon Empress was just as confused when she saw the person’s face.
Initially, she didn’t think about it. However, now that she was calm, she realized that his clothes were also different along with his looks. She could also feel the Celestial Dragon’s Aura from the person, that couldn’t be faked.
The person in front of her wasn’t Eren. Instead, it was the Celestial Dragon Prince that had saved her from the captivity of the Holy Priestess.
She didn’t realize that the person was Eren, who had simply changed his identity. He needed to disappear from her view for a short time to change his identity, but he couldn’t just appear out of thin air as the Prince.
The Dungeon and this maze granted him a perfect opportunity and a great excuse.
“What are you doing here?” she asked the Prince. She was still supposed to be waiting for him, so why was he already here.
“I came here to check this place after feeling as if something was calling out to me. I thought I would return right after checking to meet up with you, but I lost my way.” Eren scratched the back of his head.
“What are you doing here?” he asked the girl on return. “You attacked me out of nowhere. Were you chasing an enemy?”
“That’s right. I chased him inside this place, but I seen to have lost him. Have you seen a young man, seemingly in his early twenties?”
The Sea Dragon Empress had already lost hope of finding Eren that easily. With the ever changing maze, even if they both took same turns, they would’ve ended up in different places based on their timing.
“It has been a long time since I last saw someone.” Eren shook his head lightly. There was no way he was going to tell her that the person she was after, was standing right in front of her.
There was no need to antagonize her unnecessarily. Even if he could kill her, that was not a good choice. She was also a descendant of the Celestial Dragon, even if it was a distant branch.
She also knew more about the Celestial Dragon than he did. With her help, he could reach the heart of the Celestial Dragon with much more ease.
In this place, she was the best guide that he could have asked for. He wasn’t foolish enough to kill the guide.
“Did I really lose him?” Sea Dragon Empress couldn’t believe that she had lost Eren. “It’s fine. At the end of everything, he will come to me himself.”
As Eren was still inside the maze, she was certain that she was going to come across him later. Even if she couldn’t find him here, she could still find him.
She was certain that Eren was here for the Celestial Dragon as well. With the help of the Celestial Dragon Prince, she could easily reach the Celestial Dragon Heart and wait for Eren there.
Both, Eren and the Sea Dragon Empress, believed that the other person was going to lead them to the Celestial Dragon Heart. None of them were aware about how much the other person was relying on them.
“For now, we should focus on the matter at hand.”
Eren changed the topic from the person that Sea Dragon Empress wanted to kill. He was not interested in listening to how much the woman hated him.
