“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.
Although it was partially his fault that she hated him, it didn’t matter now.
“Where do you think we should go?” Sea Dragon Empress asked, her words making Eren look at her weirdly.
Wasn’t she the descendant of the Celestial Dragon? Why was she asking him? He had a bad feeling about it.
“With the ever changing maze, it’s impossible to find the right direction. We can only rely on instincts here,” Eren told the girl, telling her to follow her instincts.
“That makes sense. The bloodline instinct is the best guide.” The Sea Dragon Empress nodded and stepped behind Eren, gesturing him to take the lead.
Eren looked at her weirdly. If he wanted to take the lead, why would he want to work with her? The system had guided him to her. There was definitely a reason for that. However, he couldn’t see that reason at this point.
He couldn’t help but wonder if he had overestimated her. In the end, none of them knew the right path.
“It is fine. You can take the lead. My bloodline is a little too pure. It can’t guide me as well as the shackles in your bloodline can. The instinct of freedom is different.” Eren came up with an excuse, returning the same gesture to the Sea Dragon Empress.
Even though he had more complete bloodline of the Celestial Dragon after his royal sea dragon bloodline had evolved, it was different from the sea dragon that had existed in the past.
Most of the bloodline he had was because of devouring. His instincts and understanding was different from those that were born with it.
“You don’t have to be humble.” The Sea Dragon Empress insisted. “How can I compare to a direct descendant. You don’t have to mock me. I know my place.”
She felt as if Eren was laughing at her inwardly as he asked her to guide.
Even after Eren’s insistence, the Empress didn’t listen. In the end, he had no other choice but to take the lead himself.
‘Looks like I will have to rely on my own luck.’
He picked a random direction and started walking. The Sea Dragon Empress followed closely behind.
For close to half an hour, the two of them didn’t experience anything out of ordinary. Although all passages looked the same, there were no traps here.
It was only after the first half an hour that Eren heard something.
“Someone is coming.” He gestured for the sea dragon empress to stop.
“I don’t hear anything.” The Sea Dragon Empress looked confused. She was surprised that Eren’s senses were better than her, even at a place where abilities were supposed to be weakened.
She thought it was because of his purer bloodline. She didn’t doubt his words. Instead, she took the lead and went forward to check herself.
“It might be that man. If it is, please don’t interfere!” She told Eren, going forward alone.
‘How can I be that person? I am right here.’ Eren thought, but didn’t express himself out loud.
He also felt that the footsteps felt a little too heavy to belong to a human. Either the human was heavy beyond limits, or it was an entirely different existence.
He didn’t tell the Sea Dragon Empress about his assumption, letting her go forward to check the threat.
The Sea Dragon Empress turned left on the next corner, disappearing from Eren’s view. For half a minute, there was no sound. Even the heavy footsteps appeared to have halted.
“Is it truly a human?” Eren wondered as he also went forward to check. The moment he turned left, his lips twitched.
He finally understood why the footsteps had stopped. It was because the thing didn’t need to move anymore.
He had already caught the Empress by her threat. The woman didn’t even resist, let alone fighting back.
“Is that a Minotaur? What is it doing in the Celestial Dragon’s Dungeon?” Eren wondered. He was more surprised at the Empress, who wasn’t fighting back.
“What are you doing? Just kill it,” he told the Sea Dragon Empress.
The Empress replied in a barely audible voice. “I can’t move my body!”
“Is it because of some magic?” Eren thought, finding her behaviour similar to the people that were paralyzed by him before being killed.
“I’m sure that the girl isn’t foolish enough to be poisoned without even realizing. In that case, is it magic?”
Eren didn’t know what to think about it. Even in literature on earth, Minotaurs were known for their physical strength. They were rarely associated with magic.
Then again, out of all the things that he had seen after coming to this world, it was the least shocking.
“Fine. I will deal with this one.” He called forth a sword.
When most of the abilities were weakened in this place, a cold weapon was still the best when it came to dealing with the monster.
“How scary… Are you going to attack with that scary looking thing?”
A melodious voice came from behind Eren abruptly, making him feel a chill down his back.
