Konrad has been lost in the labyrinth for two months. He is exploring the labyrinth for a way out. Either an exit or gateway.
He didn't go very deep into the labyrinth as he could feel a sense of doom. He sticked to the outer areas. He kept away from any place that had True darkness. He didn't really want to meet the true rulers of this labyrinth. He usually hunted awakened nightmare creatures with the help his clairvoyance. He also grown stronger himself.
But he almost died seven times and even died once. That was very costly. It costed him one hundred soul fragments to negate death once. It is truly a dangerous place.
[Soul Fragments:(482/1000).]
That time, he didn't even know what killed him. He saw nothing, heard nothing, smelled nothing. His [Clairvoyance] didn't work that time. He only felt it's presence for moment. It looked back at him. Then... Nothing. He blacked out... He died...
Hours later, Konrad woke up. It felt like a fever dream to him. It was the first time he died. It filled him with dread. It also humbled him. He ran back to the dungeon like beaten dog. This experience really humbled him.
He had grown arrogant. He felt invincible with his Clairvoyance and memory. He thought everything would go his way like everything up until now. The thing is Konrad isn't invisible and fate would never make everything go your way. Although Konrad has clairvoyance, he isn't omniscient nor he is omnipotent. He is just a mere sleeper.
While going through the hysteria of dying, seating at a corner of the forgotten dungeon, Konrad remembered something.
"Where he was! What world found himself in! It's the doomed world of Shadow Slave.
He also remembered what his innate ability is, [Paradox].
"Destiny is uncertain... I shouldn't exist. Yet, I do. I am a variable in this world... Hahahahahahhahahahahah! If I die some where, an insignificant death, it is my destiny. I die a glorious, meaningful death, it is also my destiny. If I live a good life, it is also my destiny... It is my life... My choices... And my conciquences. Everything I do, is mine, my choice and my destiny..."
Something in Konrad changed.
"I must get out of this death zone as soon as possible."
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After that, he started actively searching a way out of this hellhole. Now, his only goal is to escape.
After months—perhaps even years, though time in the labyrinth had long since lost its meaning—he had finally found it. The exit.
His heart did not race, and his breath did not quicken, but a deep, cold satisfaction spread through his mind. The crack in the wall was narrow, almost imperceptible, hidden between jagged stones, veiled in shadows. No creature of the labyrinth would have noticed it.
Not without some kind of super sixth sense. Not without something beyond normal perception guiding them. His [Clairvoyance] had led him here, to this final sliver of hope.
The narrow gap was barely large enough for a human to squeeze through, yet the faint air beyond it felt different. It wasn't the thick, damp atmosphere of the labyrinth, nor the stale, suffocating darkness that had clung to him for so long. This was something fresher, something new. An escape.
He approached the crack. He looked through the cracks. His clairvoyance working at max potential. And what he saw excited him. He dismissed his [Mantle of the Night].
With practiced precision, he slipped through the crack, his body moving fluidly despite the tight space. The rock scraped against his skin, but he felt no pain. His mind had long since adapted to the harshness of the world. He was more than what he had been when he first awoke in the labyrinth—stronger and a changed mindset.
On the other side, the world was veiled in fog. Thick, rolling clouds of mist clung to the air, wrapping everything in a cloak of obscurity. The ground beneath his feet was soft and damp, the air cooler than it had been inside the labyrinth. His senses flared, every instinct sharpening as he took in the new surroundings.
Before him, shrouded in the dense fog, flowed a wide, slow-moving river. Its surface was dark, almost black, with barely a ripple disturbing its smooth, glass-like appearance. The water looked cold, lifeless, as if it had been flowing silently for centuries, untouched by the outside world. The river's edge was lined with smooth stones and reeds that swayed gently in the breeze, but beyond that, he could see nothing. Only fog. Endless, white, suffocating fog that concealed whatever lay beyond the water's surface.
He felt no relief at finding the river, no joy at the prospect of finally being free from the labyrinth's suffocating grip. The instincts that had guided him here told him this was not yet the end. This river, this new place, was part of this region's mystery. It was another test, another path to follow. His mind remained cold, calculating. The ghost, floating beside him, pulsed again, its energy aligning with his thoughts.
There was only one thing left to do.
Without hesitation, he stepped to the edge of the river. The fog swirled around him, the mist dampening his skin, clinging to his body like cold fingers. His reflection in the dark water was distorted.
His muscles were lean, hardened by constant battle. His eyes, though no longer lost in the darkness, held a cold, unrelenting focus. He had survived everything the labyrinth had thrown at him, and now, his instincts told him this was the next step.
The river called to him, a silent invitation veiled in the mist. He couldn't see where it led, but his [Clairvoyance] could. He told him it was dangerous, but it didn't matter. This was the path. The only path.
Sure his survival instincts glaring red alerts about the river, but it also told him it is the only way of his escape.
Konrad summoned his [Mantle of the Night]. The armor incased in his naked body.
"Let's hope that Storm God had built this armor with swiminging in mind. After all she is the God of Depths."
And so, without a second thought, he took a leap of faith and jumped into the river.
The cold was immediate, biting into his skin like a thousand needles. The water enveloped him, pulling him under the surface with a smooth, quiet force. He didn't fight it. His body relaxed, moving with the current as it carried him forward into the unknown. The fog closed in around him, the river's dark embrace surrounding him on all sides. There was no up, no down—just the gentle pull of the water, drawing him deeper.
For a moment, the world was silent. The cold numbed his body, but his mind remained sharp. His breath was calm, his heartbeat steady. The labyrinth had hardened him, had made him into something more than human. He had faced death more times than he could count, had fought creatures far stronger than him, had survived in conditions that would have broken most men. This river, this moment, was just another step in the journey. Another test.
Then, slowly, he began to sink deeper into the river's depths, the fog and water merging into a seamless expanse of white and black. His body drifted downward, the cold water pressing in on him from all sides. He couldn't see where he was going, couldn't feel the river's bottom, but his instincts told him to trust the current. It was leading him somewhere, guiding him through the fog toward a destination he couldn't yet perceive.
Suddenly, his memories started blurring and he started to lose his sense of self.
Time seemed to stretch, the moments blending together as he floated through the river's endless depths. His mind became unprecedently clear, focused on his True Name. He started to fight against the river to maintain his sense of self. He held onto his True Name and it maintained his existence.
He had known that names have power. Fortunately it was true.
"I am Night Haunter! I am Night Haunter! I am Night Haunter! Night Haunter! Night Haunter! Night Haunter!..... I am Night Haunter!"
He knew there was no turning back now, no return to the labyrinth. Whatever lay ahead would be faced with the same resolve that had carried him through the darkness.
The river flowed on, silent and eternal.