Cain did not use all the jewelry he got from Dolrig, since he wanted to save some for himself so he can control the infinite Maze.
“We will embark on a journey to the Fenrir village to see what the Guildmaster was talking about in his letter; I have a bad feeling about that,” Cain said after they finished breakfast. Sebas was the first one to speak.
“Leaving so soon?” He sounded sad. “Don’t give me that look, I won’t be away for a long time.”
Cain then looked toward the girls, “Before that, I will need to make a trip to Ourals to claim it.” He said.
“So we need to get ready for a trip?” Alice asked.
“No, I will be only taking Selena with me, we will return before night. You, Sofia, and Gracie. Use this time to double down on your magic. Especially you Alice, make sure you memorize the spells I gave you with [Borrowed Knowledge]. Also you Sofia, in the last fight you have been absorbing Mana from me more than the other three combined. For you Gracie, you have been doing well so just practice at your own pace.”
Alice and Sofia felt called out, and they were. Alice was a slow learner, to the point he needed to use a spell to teach her. While Sofia kept wasting Mana. Gracie on the other hand had a slow start but then quickly started to show rapid growth. Selena as well showed great progress, she showed great killing instinct and was able to develop her own way of fighting. The best showcase of her power was taking the Death Knight down on her own.
“This time, I might need a melee fighter so I will be taking her.” Alice and Sofia nodded; Gracie had already left to start her training.
Quickly after that, Cain called Sebas and all the maids to the living room for an important announcement.
He announced the existence of the maze to them, calling it a safe room spell.
“So for you to be able to access it safely, I need to give you keys. Sebas, give me your hand.” Cain called Sebas to stand before him.
[Symbol] Cain cast the spell on Sebas’s hand to give him a key just as he did with Olivia. A white glove symbol appeared on Sebas’s hand, the mark seemed to differ from one person to the other but it retain the same function. Allow them to enter the maze through the door, and allow them to leave.
Gracie got an empty black circle.
Ellie Brown got a pink heart with a rose inside.
Amara Wilson got a smiling face.
Klara Clark got a red whip symbol.
Everly Sharp got a sky blue book.
Elsie Kinger got a red hammer on fire.
Lexi Wright got a Red heart.
Jemima Gardner got a green sunflower.
Diana Booth got the symbol of a Calm wave.
Katherine Powell got a sword symbol.
In addition, the remaining unallocated girls were still working as maids until Cain find them a suitable occupation to work at.
Amaya Bennett got the symbol of a red candle.
Scarlett Holmes got the symbol of a glass window.
Lucy Brooks got three straight lines.
Lia Butler got the symbol of a small bag.
Alice got the symbol of half sun half moon.
Sofia got a dragon head engulfed in flames.
Selena got a golden claw.
After giving them some time to explore the maze, he went to give Zaleria her symbol and warn her to not damage the core when she is inside.
Zaleria got the symbol of a dragon wearing a witch hat, which made Cain giggle. Dragons were so over the top prideful and strong that they got their image in a symbol generated by magic. He had never seen a human getting a human symbol before. And now both Sofia and Zaleria got that of dragons.
…
Cain took Selena with him and left right after that, he didn’t have time to waste.
[Fly] he grabbed Selena by the waist and flew with her to the sky. “Hold still…No claws!” Cain cried as he felt her about to grab onto him with her claws.
[Teleport] Cain teleported with her as far as he could see in the distance. Selena gasped as she saw Furberg already fading into the horizon in the blink of an eye.
“Cain, what was that-nya?” She cried in confusion, this was the first time Cain had teleported her like this and it felt even stranger that transforming into a jaguar.
“Teleportation, didn’t Yamauba teleport you in the last fight?” Cain asked her.
“It’s different-nya!” She cried as if she had seen something scary. “With her, it was like walking through a door, or a waterfall-nya. Just now I have seen nothing but darkness for a moment, it was scary-nya!” She looked terrified.
Cain stared at her in shock, how fast was her perception if she noticed that? “That’s just a middle room, it was a natural process in my magic and will take me some time to explain.”
“Speak-nya!” She was both curious and scared, the expression on her face was priceless.
Cain explained how his magic worked for her.
Yamauba’s magic, and spells like arcane gate and dimension door. Create a portal that links two different locations. They can be used to provide a constant flow of teleportation. It works better for moving liquid and was first created for that.
What Cain just used, and spells like Mist step and far step. They transform the caster into a dimension room and allow him to exit at a different location. Those spells work better to transport delicate objects without moving them, like a sick person for example, or a fire orb that will blow up when moved.
Selena didn’t seem to understand but she pretended to do. Cain noticed her looking sleepy and stopped.
After a while, looking around, he found something he wanted.
“Look there.” He pointed.
When Selena looked in that direction she spotted a group of people wearing fur and leather armor camping in the middle of nowhere.
“They look like bandits…” Selena said as she focused on them.
“Spot on. We first dealt with Jack, after that, we dealt with Kayden, the demon. Now that there was no bandit overlord in the area, those hooligans are trying to build a name for themselves.” Cain said with an excited voice.
“So what do we do, kill them-nya?” She said licking her teeth.
“Of course, just don’t bite their head. I want you to use the Jaguar form and tear them with your paws. Can you do that?” Cain asked. It was more efficient for her to get exp since she wasn’t human. He as well can’t gain exp anyway until he evolves so that was also a problem.
“Drop me down-nya, I was itching to move a bit-nya!” She flexed her shoulder and Cain heard them pop.
Cain gently lowered her to the ground. Selena stretched her arms and quickly transformed into her Jaguar form. Cain then used [Soundless] and [Invisibility] to follow her.
She silently prowled around them without making a single noise, sniffing the weakest ones and the injured. She eventually settled on tracking one bulky man, as she wasn’t hunting for food.
Cain silently watched her. She managed to get as close as ten feet to the man using the tall grass as cover. She was almost twice as big as that man yet she was careful, to be honest, she was just playing around.
The moment that man turned his back to her, she pounced at him with a paw strike to the back. Selena’s claws cut through his armor and back like butter. The strength of her attack slammed the man onto a nearby tree. He was dead.
The other bandits got alarmed as they saw the massive Black Jaguar standing in the middle of their camp.
“A wild monster took Roran down, attack it with bows!” One of the screamed from afar.
The bandits readied their bows and fired. Cain wasn’t worried since he had felt how hard Selena’s muscular body was. The arrows stopped at her thick fur and tough skin. Hurting her without harder material like orichalcum or without using magic was almost impossible.
“ROAR!” Selena growled as she rushed at them and smacked another one of them.
“Surround it; it might be a magical monster. Call the mage!” One of the bandits screamed and pulled his sword. He was quick to determine that their mundane weapon was useless so he made the right decision.
Cain wasn’t worried about Selena but found this a suitable chance to try something.
The mage rushed in and took a look at Selena as she killed them one by one. ” Don’t worry, I can burn her!” He said with a big smirk on his face. He extended his staff, [Fireball]
Before the spell could launch, he found himself standing in a white room. The spell flew and exploded at the wall. “What is this place? Illusion?” He yelled thinking it was Selena’s doing and cast a spell in the same direction. “I know you’re there so your trick won’t work on me!” He laughed.
Clap! Clap! Clap! “Quick act but a stupid way of thinking, how did you manage to get to third-tier?” The mage heard someone talk behind him.
“Who’s there?” The mage turned around to see Cain sitting on a black throne of crystals.
“The lord of this Maze, nice to meet you!” Cain smiled, [Hold Person] The mage suddenly lost the ability to move his body. He wasn’t even able to speak. All he could do was to stare at Cain.
[Telekinesis] He used to suspend the mage mid-air in front of him. “You’re weak, a lot. Well, baggers can’t be choosers!” Cain grabbed the man from the head and smiled. [Create Undead]
The necrotic energy quickly engulfed the man, killing him on the spot and then raising him as a zombie mage.
“You’re still weak, Let me do something about that quickly.” [Negative Energy Flood]
Cain bombarded the newly created Zombie mage with necrotic magic and forcefully turned him into a lesser lich. After being satisfied with his work, Cain linked the lesser lich to the dungeon core and bound him to that room.
“Wait for a moment, I will bring your friends!” Cain went outside to collect the bandit corpses and sending them to the lesser lich’s room as zombie minions.