Traveling as zamasu

The silence inside Knossos was heavy, broken only by the sound of their own careful footsteps and the soft rustling of gear. 

The air was still and stale, carrying the taste of old dust and damp stone.

Team A moved forward with Gareth leading the way, his large frame steady at the front. Their shields were up, weapons ready.

Finn scanned every shadow, every side path, always alert. 

Beside him, Riveria's staff gave off a calm, steady light—just enough to light the way without giving too much away.

They reached another junction. The Scouts slipped into the side tunnels and came back quickly, signaling all clear. 

Still, the tension hung in the air like a stretched wire. Everyone knew the quiet wouldn't last.

And it didn't.

Just twenty yards past the junction, it broke.

A deep, animal-like roar came from a side tunnel up ahead, followed by the noisy clanking of worn-out armor. 

Three people burst into the main corridor, caught in the light of Riveria's staff.

They weren't monsters—they were human. 

Filthy, desperate-looking men in mismatched leather and damaged metal gear. Their eyes were wide with a mix of fear and madness.

Evilus grunts.

"Contact left!" Gareth shouted, his voice booming through the tight corridor, loud but focused.

He raised his warhammer, Gulliver, in one swift motion, ready to strike.

Before the grunts even had time to process who they were facing, a wave of crossbow bolts came flying out of the darkness behind them. 

The bolts hit the raised shields of the Level 5s at the front, bouncing off harmlessly.

The grunts screamed and rushed forward, yelling nonsense as they swung their rough swords and chipped axes, charging straight into the jaws of a force far beyond them.

It ended in seconds. Gareth's hammer crushed the first man's chest. 

Finn's spear shot forward, disarmed the second, and pierced his throat. 

A nearby swordsman beheaded the third with a clean strike. The bodies dropped—no struggle, no recovery.

"Ambush point," Finn said flatly. He pointed toward the side passage. "Scouts, clear it. Team B, cover the rear. Team C, hold here."

Bete turned with a snarl, his form flickering as Hati boosted his speed. 

Aiz, Tiona, and Tione pivoted without a word, weapons raised. Lefiya and the support team tightened their ranks—mages whispering shield spells, defenders locking shields in front.

The scouts slipped into the side passage. Brief scuffling followed—a cry, metal scraping—then silence. 

One scout returned, wiping a blade. "Clear. Two more grunts. Dead end. Trap spot."

Finn gave a sharp nod. "Press forward. Maintain formation. They know we're here."

The weight of it settled over the group. Surprise was gone. Knossos was active now.

The corridor widened. Moments later, the first monsters emerged—not from side passages, but from the floor. Stone panels slid open with a grinding sound, revealing dark shafts. 

Kobolds crawled out, snarling and armed with rough stone weapons. Half a dozen charged the front.

"Vermin," Gareth muttered, stepping forward. His hammer swung low, crushing two Kobolds. 

The Level 5s followed, shields bracing against crude weapons, blades cutting down the rest in seconds. 

The corridor fell silent again, the bodies twitching in dark pools.

"More openings!" a Level 4 called out from the flank. 

Panels in the walls hissed open—goblins spilled out, fast and shrieking, aiming straight for Team C's support line.

"Team B! Flank clear!" Finn ordered.

Bete was already in motion, claws tearing through goblins with brutal speed. Aiz moved beside him, cutting down two mid-leap with clean strikes. 

Tiona and Tione advanced as one, their large blades sweeping wide, dropping the creatures in quick succession. 

The goblins were dead almost as fast as they'd emerged.

"Seal those hatches," Riveria commanded.

Two support mages unleashed focused fire spells, warping the stone around the openings until they jammed shut.

The Familia advanced, cutting through the minor resistance with practiced efficiency. 

These weren't real threats—just probes. Knossos was watching, testing, leading.

The corridor widened into a hexagonal chamber with five branching paths. The air felt charged, faintly buzzing with magic.

Riveria raised her staff, casting Detect Presence. A green glow pulsed across the floor.

"Contacts," she said sharply. "Multiple. Closing in from all sides—monsters and people."

Before Riveria could pinpoint the sources, the attack hit.

Panels in the ceiling slid open. Ropes dropped. 

Evilus grunts descended quickly—better armed than the last group, with reinforced gear and short blades.

At the same time, two side tunnels spewed monsters. 

A pack of Hellhounds snarled into view, fur smoking with heat. Behind them came three Stone Lizards, thick-scaled and slow but heavily armored.

"Ambush!" Finn snapped. "Team A, hold the center! Team B, intercept! Team C, perimeter—cover the mages!"

The chamber erupted.

Gareth drove straight into the Stone Lizards. Gulliver slammed into the lead one's skull with a solid crack, knocking it back. 

The frontline Level 5s locked shields beside him, holding firm against claws and snapping jaws. 

Blades stabbed through gaps, targeting joints and eyes with practiced precision.

The grunts dropped into the formation. One lunged at Lefiya—Raul caught him mid-strike. "Back off!" he snapped, driving the attacker into the path of a waiting spear.

Aiz met the Hellhounds head-on. Desperate flashed, decapitating one mid-leap. Fire spurted from the stump. 

She sidestepped a flame blast and buried her sword in another's chest. 

Tiona grinned as she split a grunt cleanly in half, then swept Urga sideways, smashing a hound into the wall. Tione stayed at her side, her greatsword carving a path through steel and flesh.

Bete tore through the flank, claws shredding grunts before they could organize. He moved too fast to track, slashing throats, breaking bones, then vanishing again.

Inside Team C's shield wall, Lefiya steadied her breath. 

The chaos pressed in—steel flashing, fire bursting, blood hitting stone. Fear clawed at her chest, but she clung to Forest Teardrop. 

Support them. Focus. She chanted. A dome of light—Luminous Wind—formed just in time. A Stone Lizard's tail slammed down, crashing against the barrier. 

It held.

"Good, Lefiya!" Riveria called, her voice steady. 

She raised her staff and unleashed a barrage of Icicle Edge—shards whistled through the air, striking down three grunts closing in on Gareth's exposed side. 

She moved with cold precision, weaving spells with practiced ease. Shields, counters, strikes—each cast calculated, each target exact.

Finn fought at Gareth's side, Durandal a blur. 

His spear slipped through gaps in armor and scales alike, dropping grunts and piercing Stone Lizards with clean thrusts. 

Even mid-combat, he directed the battlefield. "Left flank, push forward! Mages, focus fire on the Hellhounds! Bete, clear that tunnel mouth!"

They were holding. They were winning.

The Evilus grunts were breaking—cut down by disciplined formations and overwhelming strength. The Stone Lizards were bloodied, faltering. 

The last Hellhound fell with a dying snarl beneath Tiona's blade.

Then came the shift.

Not a sound, but a sensation—a deep, bone-vibrating thrum that pulsed through the floor like a heartbeat. 

The air twisted. 

The magical current Riveria had felt before surged violently, almost screaming through her senses.

Her head snapped up, eyes wide. "The structure! It's—"

RUMMMBBLLEE.

She never finished. The chamber moved.

Not collapsed—reconfigured. 

The walls groaned as ancient mechanisms awakened. Massive slabs of enchanted stone rotated, slid, and locked with thunderous finality. 

The five visible exits vanished… replaced by three entirely different corridors.

The battle had been going well. Evilus grunts fell one after another beneath the Loki Familia's relentless assault. 

The shield units held firm, the vanguards pressed forward with discipline, and the mages gave precise, timely support. Gareth's hammer crushed a Stone Lizard's skull. 

Bete tore through a line of grunts before they even saw him move. Riveria's spells were a constant anchor, defensive and offensive in perfect balance. 

Finn directed the flow with sharp commands, adjusting formations as needed.

Then the floor shifted.

It was subtle at first—a strange vibration through the soles of their boots, a sensation that made everyone glance around uneasily. Then the walls groaned.

The chamber began to move.

No one mistook it for an earthquake. This wasn't natural. The walls, the floors, the very structure of Knossos, were shifting deliberately. 

Tunnels stretched, shrank, closed off, or twisted into new directions in seconds. Exits sealed with heavy slabs of stone. 

New paths opened where there had been none.

Before anyone could fully register what was happening, the party was split.

Gareth, Finn, and Riveria were near the front when the stone descended. A thick wall slammed down between them and the rest of the group, cutting them off completely. 

Alongside them were a handful of high-level adventurers from the first unit—most of them veterans—but they were alone now, with no way back.

"Damn it," Finn muttered, slamming a gloved hand against the smooth surface. "No response."

They couldn't hear the others on the other side. 

Riveria immediately began scanning the new corridor they'd been forced into, and Gareth moved to cover her, weapon ready.

Elsewhere, the floor beneath another group tilted without warning, collapsing into a steep slope that fed into a darkened tunnel. 

Aiz, Tiona, Tione, and Bete—who had been advancing as part of the main strike group—were pulled down before they could react. 

Bete tried to stop his fall, claws scraping uselessly against the stone. The twins slid after him, struggling to keep their footing. 

Aiz hit the bottom first, already on her feet with her sword drawn. The others landed one after another, recovering quickly. 

Without needing to speak, they regrouped, weapons ready and eyes scanning the dark around them.

Back in the main chamber, the rear and support teams were now crammed into a smaller, uneven space. Two of the exits had sealed completely. 

One was reduced to a narrow crack in the wall, barely wide enough for a person. The last sloped down into the same tunnel Team B had been pulled into.

Lefiya stood near the middle, gripping her staff tightly. Raul moved to the front, scanning the changes, then called out quickly.

"Shields up! Mages, prep your spells—light both openings!"

His voice was firm, but his eyes moved between the crevice and the slope.

From the crack, something was moving. Fast skittering. Dozens of legs. Sharp, high-pitched sounds. From the tunnel below came something heavier. Slow steps. Steady breathing. Closer.

The support team braced, uncertain of what would emerge first.

Across the sealed barrier, Finn turned from the wall and gave a silent nod to Gareth and Riveria. There was no going back.

Knossos had shifted. The layout had changed, and the map was worthless. 

Their plan no longer applied. 

They were split—Finn's team, Aiz's team, and the rear support all trapped in separate, unfamiliar sections.

There was no time to regroup. No time to hesitate. All they could do now was keep moving and stay alive.

Chapter 35 end