Since Tingxue was nowhere to be found, the crowd decided to leave the labyrinth first before deciding their next step.
Zu An had no choice but to go with them. He left marks along the way, hoping Tingxue could follow his lead and escape once she was freed from her quandary.
Soon, the crowd returned to where they had been. There, they noticed some changes in the skerries compared to before.
One guest lifted his golden compass, and the runes on its surface began to change endlessly. He said, “Such an encryption method might stump most civilizations, but it isn’t a problem for me.”
He had been injured on the frigate, but thanks to Isabella’s pills, he'd recovered swiftly. I embarrassed myself in front of the big miss once. This is my chance to restore my reputation!
His hands swiftly rearranged the floating golden runes so quickly that they left afterimages. The surrounding skerries, influenced by his movements, began moving around. As they shuffled around, a path slowly emerged; afterward, the skerries vanished.
“You’re amazing!” Isabella exclaimed in amazement.
“It’s my honor to receive Miss Isabella’s admiration.” The guest performed a knight’s bow. Fearing Isabella had forgotten him, he introduced himself once more. “It’s all thanks to Miss Isabella’s medicine. If not for that, I, Divine Calculator, wouldn’t have recovered that quickly otherwise.”
Isabella replied with a sweet smile, “We’re in the same boat now. It’s only right for us to help each other out.”
Disappointment flickered through Divine Calculator’s eyes. He looked at how intimately Isabella was holding Zu An’s arm. She’s treating me no differently from other guests. She favors him more right now because he hogged the limelight earlier, but if I prove myself, I should catch her eye as well.
Thus, Divine Calculator said, “I’ll lead the way. This is my field of specialty.” Without waiting for Isabella’s answer, he strutted forth.
Isabella turned to Zu An and sighed. She had encountered far too many of these situations.
The others wouldn’t object to someone scouting the path for them, though.
Of course, Divine Calculator wasn't a reckless person. He understood the dangers of leading the way, so he fiddled with his compass and scanned the path forward with rays of golden light. He turned back to smile at Isabella. “Big miss, I am known for my prophetic ability. The compass will warn me if there are any dangers ahead.”
Zu An frowned. He suddenly felt uneasy, but Divine Calculator wasn’t reacting in the slightest. Am I overthinking things?
Just then, Divine Calculator suddenly stopped for no reason. He turned around in confusion. “Huh? Is there no more road...”
He looked forward and saw there was still a road ahead. Confusion first flickered through his eyes, then his pupils widened in horror. “What the hell! Why did I stop moving?”
The others were hurriedly stopped in horror. “What’s wrong?”
Divine Calculator was flailing his limbs around even though there was nothing there.
“I feel something gluing...” Before Divine Calculator could finish speaking, he was suddenly dragged into the sky.
The crowd hurriedly looked up, but the sky above them was pitch-black. They couldn’t see anything at all.
“Be careful!” Yani shouted.
The others also got into battle stances.
The next second, Divine Calculator reappeared before the crowd.
“What the hell, Divine Calculator?!” a guest roared.
No one among the crowd had sensed anything amiss earlier, and Divine Calculator had returned safely by himself. It felt as if he was playing a prank on them.
Divine Calculator began walking toward the guest.
“What are you doing? Don’t come here!” the guest shouted in fright.
There was something weird in the way Divine Calculator walked. It felt unnerving.
Zu An said, “Be careful. He’s dead.” As the master of the Netherworld, he was particularly attuned to death.
“What?”
The crowd was startled, as Divine Calculator looked no different from before, and he was still moving normally.
Just then, Divine Calculator revealed an eerie smile and lurched at the guest.
Luckily, the guest had prepared himself after hearing Zu An’s warning, and knocked Divine Calculator back with a stick.
But while Divine Calculator was flying backward, he suddenly defied physics and lurched forward once more. His head bent toward his back and his limbs curved unnaturally as he charged the guest at a shocking speed.
Pah!
Yani bashed her fist into Divine Calculator, causing his body to be smashed into many bits.
But the shattered fragments suddenly stitched back together into his ragged form. Despite Divine Calculator's unseemly condition, he relentlessly charged at the guest who had berated him.
The sight left the crowd with goosebumps. Isabella even shrieked in horror.
“Be careful!” Alfred shouted as he shoved Isabella aside.
The next second, however, Alfred disappeared as well.
“Uncle Alfred!” Isabella shouted in horror.
“There’s something above us!” Zu An warned the others with a shout.
Unfortunately, their divine sense was unable to perceive what was above them.
Isabella hurriedly reached into her bag and pulled out something resembling a torchlight. She flicked it on, and a brilliant light illuminated the area.
The crowd finally saw what was above them. It was a colorful spider that spanned the size of a football field! The area was covered in transparent spiderwebs that, for some reason, could be seen clearly under Isabella’s light.
Thus, they finally understood why Divine Calculator was behaving in such a bizarre manner. Those transparent threads were controlling him!
The crowd saw Alfred with swollen muscles like the Hulk, looking nothing like the sickly old man he was a second ago. He was fighting desperately to prevent the threads from wrapping around him, but despite his best efforts, he could only slow the process. He was unable to save himself.
Isabella quickly reached into her bag, pulled out a pistol, and fired at the spiderweb.
The pistol was small, but the bullet it fired emanated a phoenix’s cry as a gigantic fiery bird lurched at the spider. The webs it touched along the way melted.
The other guests were stunned. The sheer power of the pistol was comparable to the forbidden fire spells of magic worlds.
“DON’T!” Yani shouted, but it was too late.
Pah!
The fiery bird crashed into the spider, raising a fiery inferno. But it was swiftly extinguished without leaving the slightest singe on the spider’s fur.
The spider opened dozens of eyes all along its body, and terrifying pressure crashed down from above.
Everyone shuddered in fear. It felt as if a universal deity had descended before them.