The Demon Lord Is An Angel
Chapter 344: Enter the Maze

Chapter 344: Enter the Maze

A very sore Ferro groaned as he stepped into the maze, finding an embarrassed-looking Lawre staring very intently at the key.

He was glad he wasn’t dead, but he hadn’t anticipated Star’s sheer enthusiasm for having his expectations defied... There was definitely something crazy about what had just happened.

For that matter, Star was practically glowing from sated lust, and he came up behind Ferro with an encouraging slap on the behind that made the catkin bristle from his toes to the tips of his ears.

"That hurt, dammit!"

"Oh please, you’ll live, and you might even continue to surprise me, rawr," the demon teased. "But, hmm, what are we dealing with here?"

"The Labyrinthian’s heart, obviously," Ferro replied, his tone as sore as his backside.

"Th-the place with all the naked ladies?" Lawre blushed through his fur all the way up to his ears.

What the- Oh. Donrowr’s journal. Ferro had largely skimmed it because it was so full of drivel. But for all his lies Donrowr had made it at least this far, probably. For all Ferro knew, the man had interviewed more capable adventurers before composing his personal epic.

"Well, it wouldn’t be the first time I’ve been in such a dungeon. Though that was my dungeon, of course."

"You have a dungeon?" Lawre’s ears twitched with excitement.

"Not that kind of dungeon!" Ferro interjected. "Gods, Star, don’t corrupt the kid."

"Kids are corrupt little bastards already, they just get better at hiding it as they age. And no, I don’t simp for imps because I prefer someone who knows what they’re doing." Star rolled his eyes and then walked over to inspect the path inward. "It’s like a lava tube maze, without the roof. I’m going to guess we just keep heading right until we get to the center."

"Whatever we do, we better do it fast before Lanoch catches up to us," Ferro said.

Without much argument, the three set off into the maze.

They were about to make their first turn when curiosity got the better of Ferro at last.

"Lawre."

"Hm?"

"What did Star say to you to make you want to go with him?"

The leokin scratched at the back of his head. "I dunno, he just talked to me. Everyone else either tells me what to do or pretends not to notice me..."

"I’m right here, you know," Star rolled his eyes. "I’d rather not have you impugning my character twice in one day. Especially after that bit of excitement earlier..."

"You’re catshit crazy, you know that right?" Ferro scowled, though he did have to admit to himself that he’d wound up enjoying it.

"Guilty~ as charged," Star teased. "But what does that make you, following a crazy demon into the depths of a maze, all for the promise of a wish?"

Ferro opened and closed his mouth. He was about to pop off with a witty retort but realized he didn’t really have an answer.

"Who gives out the wish, anyway?" Lawre asked.

"That is a mystery," Star said. "Less than a handful of keyholders have ever gotten the privilege, and of course, they were the type to keep secrets."

Star suddenly thrust out his arm, barring Ferro and Lawre from passing.

The reason became clear as they came to a massive hall lined with charred skeletons. Some were so old they had partially crumbled, and the haphazard way they were shoved aside indicated the last time someone had passed through.

At the end of the hallway was a door, and above it, on an arc, were words in a language Ferro didn’t recognize.

"Well that’s pretty dramatic," Star quirked an eyebrow. "Those skeletons in the middle of the floor must be the last poor souls to try it."

"What’s it say?" Lawre asked.

"Beyond waits death," Star translated. "It’s written in Rhethani High Common, and that arch clearly doesn’t even match the decor."

The walls of the maze were made of grey metal with strange, wavelike patterns. Like someone had smoothed through layers of rippling steel alloy, only whatever substance composed it did not seem to rust. The arch, however, was made of stone that matched the area just outside the maze.

As they neared the door, Ferro noticed signs placed on the walls before it.

Most of these were rusted or vandalized, and the cryptic words upon them weren’t in any languages Ferro recognized, though some seemed to resemble the runes of Common.

"Ugh, Old Angelic. I should have known they’d have something to do with this place," Star sneered at a particular sign that had very large letters.

"What does it mean?" Ferro asked.

"From what I can tell, it just says ’Caution’," Star said. "But it’s the triangles underneath that are important. Hmm... Fire hese- No, hazard. Fire hazard. Well, I guess we know what got these poor fools."

"What about the others?" Ferro asked.

"Elec-trik Hazard... No idea what that is but I think that’s a lightning bolt under the penis someone drew. I-oniz-ing Radi-a-tie on..." There was as symbol under the graffiti like three tapered blocks meeting at a circle. "Un-even Sur-fakes", "Krush Hazard," "Trip-ping Hazard."

After Star finished his translations, Ferro held his chin. "Why would they tell people what’s inside?"

"Maybe they wanted people to know exactly how they’re going to die. Who knows!" Star shrugged. "My question is who is Sir Fake and why is he not flat?"

"Maybe they’re hints for the worthy!" Lawre suggested, his tail and ears perking up.

"We still don’t know what half of them mean though," Ferro pointed at the symbol where ’Ionizing Radiation’ was written. "Like, what’s a ’Sir Fake’? Some kind of protean siphon maybe?"

"Well whoever he is, I hope he’s hot," Star mumbled, and then went up to the door and pushed.

Nothing happened.

"Well that’s inconvenient- Aha! It’s a sliding door!" Reaching to the left, Star inserted his fingers into the nearly invisible slot and pushed again, this time towards the frame. The door, which was made of the same metal as the walls, coasted sideways with almost no sound before stopping, and it seemed to require holding or it would slide back into place.

As he was about to pass through, Ferro noticed that there was a large sign on the other side of the door. But more important than the fact it was clean and polished, was that-

"I recognize these symbols!" Ferro said.

"Oh?" Star approached, his tail arcing with interest as he leaned over Ferro. "The top is Old Angelic, but the next few... Ah! It’s the same message in different scripts. I think."

Ferro was barely listening as he dug into his satchel and extracted his precious book.

On the back of the cover, written in neat top-to-bottom lines were many symbols that looked exactly like the ones on the sign that were written left to right. A pictographic language made up of blocky lines on the sign that were more stylized and brush-stroke like in his book.

Does this mean the note-writer has been here? Or maybe they’re really old. like a god. Ferro wanted almost more than anything to meet the person who’d made magic accessible to someone as weak in it as he was. Maybe after I save Val... A part of Ferro’s mind felt quirky about his continuing to live restoring some faith in the prophecy he’d been given, but he shoved it aside for later.

"Anomaly Storage...Akkess Restricted... Failure to produ-ke identifika-tie-on will result in immediate seda-tie-on and terminash- No... termina-tie-on." Star held his chin after reading out the words. "My Old Angelic is quite rusty, but I think it says they store ’strange’ here. Also without something we’ll be killed."

"Like the key!" Lawre perked up again, his tail stiffening in an excited epiphany.

"Yes, little Lawre. So don’t drop it," Star smiled at the leokin in a way that did not reach his eyes as he patted the boy’s tufted head.

Ferro frowned.

Perhaps Lawre knew he was being used. Knowing Star, the demon had probably been completely open about his manipulations, but bringing it up now risked tearing their strange and tenuous companionship apart.

"Why have him hold the key?" Ferro asked. "I’m much less likely to drop it."

"Obviously it’s because I don’t trust you," Star licked his lips. "Even if you are a bit fun." He almost pinched two fingers together as he gestured.

"The feeling’s mutual," Ferro replied. "Plus you can’t hold it."

"Exactly. We both got stung by that one."

"Can we start walking?" Lawre asked.

By mutual agreement, the three of them put interesting signs and mutual distrust aside and stepped around the first turn.

Ferro barely noticed the seam in the ground before Lawre stepped over it. A light flashed underfoot.

"Get down!" Ferro threw himself forward, tackling the kid to the ground as he braced, hoping they weren’t about to get roasted.

Star raised a hand, clearly about to ready a spell, but then-

Srrrt. A panel depressed in the wall hissed out of sight. Out of it popped a strange device, and a moment later a red triangle of light cast itself down and then up.

A distorted, hostile-sounding garble sounded from below the eye.

"What’s it saying?" Ferro asked.

"How should I know? The thing sounds broken. You can stand up, by the way." He let his spell dissipate.

Ferro helped Lawre to his feet before casting about.

As they continued, Ferro wished he had a stick to test the floor. But no further traps made themselves known. They came to a wall of black glass, completely opaque.

"Now what is the point of this..." Star rapped his knuckles on the glass. It thudded deeply, suggesting it was quite thick.

"Why did you do that?" Ferro hissed.

"Oh please, this place hasn’t tried to kill us yet."

"I’d rather not set it off-" a flicker of movement caught Ferro’s eyes as he looked up. For a second he thought he saw a human woman whose body was covered in strange colors and lines, but then the sound of angry buzzing drew his eyes back down.

"Ah. Well now that looks like something that wants to kill us," Star raised his finger, pointing.

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