The Rise of the Black Plain

When the maze stopped changing, Sarah opened her eyes and called out to Kendrick. "I found the way!"

With those words, she continued to use her ability to scan the maze's surroundings, but soon, she was running through the newly formed corridors of the area.

Kendrick felt his heart beat faster as he followed behind his sister, quickly ignoring many of the passages that would lead them into traps in favor of the correct path that would take them to the end of the maze.

The right path had no traps. As for valuable items, they may or may not have. In the hours of the challenge, some contestants tried to decipher the maze using the logic that there were no valuable items on the correct path or that there were valuable items on the path you had to take to finish the exam.

However, this varied with each change in the sentient plant, making it difficult to find the correct path to the end of the challenge using this information alone.

Given the size of the maze, it would take Sarah and Kendrick just over a minute to travel 90% of the way to the exit.

The Minos group saw this on the screens where they were watching the event, while the three siblings of these two young people felt that victory would be theirs.

As the spectators of the event saw Kendrick and Sarah getting very close to the end of the test and noticed that she seemed to have found her way to the end of the maze, the two turned down a corridor and came across a duo standing in front of a place that had three paths, one leading to the exit of the maze, one to a trap and the last to a valuable resource.

Sarah stopped running when she saw the two Sages standing there, one at level 84 and the other at level 86.

Kendrick saw the duo standing in his way and noted the last problem they would have to face before reaching the end of this trial.

'Damn it, we had to find competitors here?' He cursed his duo's luck while trying to appear neutral.

"You..." The level 86 man in front of Kendrick and Sarah looked at them and recognized them. "Crown Prince and First Princess of the Black Plain Empire." Sarah recognized this man, a member of an imperial family from the Divine Continent.

"Prince Nathaniel and this must be your fiancée, Annie," Sarah said as she walked a few feet away from them.

'They may already be at the end of the test and aware of it, but maybe they've been here since the labyrinth changed...' Sarah thought, considering that the paths of this challenge had just changed. 'Maybe they don't know. I have to make them choose the wrong path.'

Meanwhile, the two natives of the Divine Continent didn't know if the two young people had any idea where they were going.

They had witnessed the change in the maze moments ago, so one of them was leading the way to find the end of the challenge. He didn't have as efficient a method as Sarah, but he knew he wasn't far from the end of the event.

'Did these two come here by accident, or are they looking for the end of the event like us?' Nathaniel's fiancée wondered as the two sides remained silent.

Nathaniel smiled and broke the silence. "There is no need for us to fight, nor do I desire what is yours. We have three paths before us. Let's choose different options and then go our own ways simultaneously."

He thought to himself, 'Of the three paths before us, one is clearly a trap. I can feel that there is an end to it. So the other two, which seem to have no end within the range of my powers, must be the right path.' He couldn't see as far as Sarah, so he wasn't sure which way to go.

Kendrick remained silent at the man's suggestion, aware they had better settle this peacefully and quickly.

These two could present a challenge he and Sarah could not possibly overcome.

Sarah was aware of this and replied with a smile. "Yes, that's better."

"So how do we decide?" Nathaniel's fiancée asked.

Kendrick asked. "Do you have a path in mind?"

"More or less. And you?"

Sarah replied. "No. I need to look around a bit before I decide. That was the first such path we came across after the last change in the maze."

Nathaniel believed Sarah, even though he knew she might be lying. "Then how about this? We'll decide in two minutes. It's not good for us to hang around too long, so you must decide quickly."

Sarah clenched her fists and immediately circulated her energies, using some of her powers in front of them.

Kendrick sighed and asked. "Are we nearing the end of the challenge?"

"Who knows..." The blonde woman there commented, not revealing what her duo knew.

"What happens if someone completes the challenge?" Kendrick asked, looking first at the woman and then at Nathaniel.

"I think the exam is over for everyone. Second or third place doesn't matter, so the event should be over for everyone."

Kendrick smiled when he heard that. "That's good. It means we still have a chance."

After those words, Sarah looked at her brother and said. "I'm not sure which way to go. All three seem to lead to different places."

A glint appeared in Nathaniel's eyes, and he thought that Sarah couldn't see as far ahead as he could. 'That's natural. Her cultivation is five levels below mine...' He held back his smile so as not to show how confident he was. "So what do we do? We only have 20 seconds left to make a decision."

"How about this? We'll let you choose your way, and we'll follow one of the other two. Then we'll leave simultaneously, so there's no mistake." Sarah suggested. The two Sages looked at each other and saw no problem with that.

Nathaniel nodded as he positioned himself in the passage he had already chosen in the seconds since Sarah and Kendrick had arrived.

Kendrick didn't know how to go, so he looked at his sister in anticipation of her answer.

Sarah had deliberately chosen the path that would lead them into a trap.

"We're going this way." She stopped in front of the passageway, nervous that Nathaniel had chosen the path to the precious resource.

'I'll pretend to follow this path, and when we reach the first bend, we'll stop and return here to finish the race.' She thought, trying to control her heart so he wouldn't give any hint of the crucial moment she was in.

'If Nathaniel isn't planning to do the same thing to trick me, Kendrick and I will finish this challenge!'