Chapter 43: Pathfinder Wordlessly, Nightingale and Flaming Rose advanced through the path, with the latter taking the lead, a printed map held firmly in her hands.
It displayed the complete layout of the Third Floor.
The Serpent’s Labyrinth was approximately thirty kilometers wide, which, in theory, shouldn’t have been too troublesome to cross. With the map as their guide, they could make it through without much issue, so long as they remained careful. However, the place was a sprawling maze of winding corridors, dead ends, and shifting passageways that seemed to rearrange themselves over time.
According to Rose’s explanation, the labyrinth wasn’t static. Its pathways shifted every few hours, guided by a strange magnetic pulse that emanated from somewhere deep within the Floor. The map could help them for a while, but it wouldn’t remain accurate for long.
That was the true danger of the Third Floor.
Even experienced Climbers could lose their way and wander endlessly until exhaustion or monsters claimed them.
Nightingale had long since adjusted to the bizarre nature of the Black Spire, so he neither panicked nor questioned the strange phenomena around him. He simply followed his masked companion through the twisting corridors.
Of course, his hand never strayed far from the pistol holstered at his side.
Who knew what kind of horrors lurked in this place?
From time to time, the two of them would pause, listening closely for any lingering sound or echo.
If the silence persisted, they would wait a moment longer, just to be sure, before cautiously continuing down the path.
Flaming Rose would occasionally glance at the map. Every so often, she would stop, tilt her head slightly, and adjust their route without a word. Nightingale followed silently, trusting her sense of direction, though he couldn’t help but wonder if she was entirely sure of the path ahead.
Truth be told, the young woman couldn’t exactly be called an expert. She had only cleared the First and Second Floors, so the gap between their experiences wasn’t all that vast.
She was simply a bit more experienced.
Despite all that truth, Flaming Rose couldn’t be considered a complete amateur either. It seemed like the Climber had been to the Third Floor before because she would occasionally point out certain landmarks hidden among the ruins such as fractured statues, broken pillars, and markings etched into the walls.
On top of that, the young woman also seemed adept with the terrain herself. Every few minutes, Flaming Rose would stop beside a ruin or press her ear against the wall and listen.
It seemed like she was listening for vibrations.
Nightingale himself had seen a similar technique before, though he wouldn’t claim to have any in-depth knowledge about such things. Most of what he knew came from the survival channels he used to watch on cheap television.
Simply put, it was a trick often used by explorers and hunters.
The technique, as far as Nightingale could recall, was a method for detecting movement or hollow spaces through subtle vibrations. By pressing one’s ear or palm against a surface, usually stone or metal, an experienced listener could pick up faint tremors carried through it.
For instance, the rhythmic droplets of water, the rumble of shifting debris, or even the distant echo of footsteps could be transmitted across the walls. Hunters in the wilderness often used similar methods to track prey underground or within caves. It wasn’t foolproof, of course, but in a place where sound carried strangely and vision was limited, it was often the only reliable means of early detection.
In the case of the Third floor, however, this technique seemed especially useful. The walls weren’t ordinary rock but a mix of dense obsidian and mineral-like crystal that amplified resonance far beyond what was natural. A single vibration could travel for several meters, maybe even more.
Rose must’ve known that.
Each time she listened, she would stand perfectly still for several seconds before whispering, "Path clear." Then, she would draw a small knife — no, not an ordinary blade, but a Mystery she had summoned — and use it to carve a subtle mark on the wall, indicating the path they had taken.
It was quite amazing.
Nightingale watched her in silence with a faint sense of admiration flickering in his eyes despite himself. Had she been part of a previous expedition team? He couldn’t help but wonder where her experience came from.
She might have been aloof, but it was clear she knew what she was doing.
’Wait a minute... she said she cleared both the First and Second Floors, which means she’s definitely been here before. Could it be she came with a team back then?’
No one started out an expert. Most likely, Rose had started out just like him, without knowing anything or what to do, until someone guided her along the way. That person must have shown her the ropes, just like she was doing for him.
Until something happened.
He already had a feeling about how such a story might have gone, yet his curiosity was piqued nonetheless.
He wanted to know more about her.
The feeling was strange, almost instinctive. But then again, humans were curious creatures by nature.
Shaking his head, Nightingale continued to follow Flaming Rose in silence. Their pace was steady enough. Even so, the texture of the ground reminded him of the First Floor’s swamp. The black mud was thick and heavy, clinging to his boots with every step. It was deep enough to slow him down, but not as much as he had feared.
With some effort and a bit of practice, Lu Song soon managed to move at a decent pace.
Both of them followed a path that was supposed to lead them beyond the inner intersections. Guided by the map, they advanced cautiously through the winding corridors.
Everything seemed to be going smoothly.
Nightingale even took the time to study the labyrinth’s interior more carefully, noting its strange composition and the unsettling abundance of unrecognizable bones half-buried in the mud.
Whether those remains once belonged to humans was not a mystery he was eager to solve.
So, he chose to ignore them. Perhaps that was his first mistake.
They continued their steady journey until they finally emerged into a wide, open space within the labyrinth.
It was vast and far larger than any of the corridors they had passed through. The ceiling arched high above them, nearly lost in shadow, while faint streaks of pale luminescence pulsed across the crystalline walls. The air was damp and cold, carrying a faint metallic tang that prickled at Nightingale’s nose.
In the center of the chamber rose a massive formation, or more accurately, a tangled cluster of black stone pillars, their surfaces slick with condensation. Some of them leaned precariously, others stood tall and sharp like obsidian spears jutting toward the ceiling.
The silence was quite profound, oppressively so. Not even the sound of dripping water reached their ears. The only noise was the faint squelch of their boots against the mud.
Perhaps sensing something was off, Rose quickly unfolded the map and scanned it with furrowed brows, double-checking their location. She didn’t say a word at first and just tilted the map at different angles frantically, as if hoping the layout might somehow make more sense from another perspective.
But it didn’t.
Nightingale watched her twist the map back and forth, confusion etched across her masked face. Then he asked,
"What’s wrong?"
Rose’s voice came out low and tinged with irritation.
"This place... it’s not marked on the map."
𝑓𝓇𝘦ℯ𝘸𝘦𝑏𝓃𝑜𝘷ℯ𝑙.𝑐𝑜𝓂 Almost instantly, a strange, heavy sensation crept into Nightingale’s mind.
Something didn’t add up.
To be more specific, the words "not marked on the map" were enough to ignite both his suspicion and unease. Espers who entered the Black Spire ahead of others to survey and document the layout of each Floor were known as "Pathfinders." Their work ensured that expedition squads could descend without unnecessary complications or unforeseen detours.
So for a place to exist outside their records could only mean one of two things. Either the so-called Pathfinders had somehow failed to document it during their survey, or the place was never supposed to exist in the first place.
Given what Rose had explained earlier about the Third Floor’s shifting mechanisms, it was clearly not a matter of negligence.
’Shit!’
Nightingale opened his mouth to shout for Flaming Rose to run, but he was a fraction of a second too late.
In the blink of an eye, a massive silhouette shot out from the darkness and hurtled straight toward Rose’s face, intending to rip it apart.