Chapter 1046. Stats Unavailable

Looming before them were the foundations of an enormous wall comprised of transparent ice-blue trees.

They grew like giant icicles sticking out of the earth.

The wall stretched as far as the eye could see, and in the center was a grant entrance blocked by a door over a hundred meters tall. Intricate inscriptions resembling a network of spiderwebs decorated the door as crystal chandeliers the size of buildings hovered in the air, hundreds of meters behind the walls.

Only Frost and Acedia could see that they were being hung from invisible strings, which disappeared into the distant fog above.

“A maze.” Raoul immediately recognized the structure seconds after it came into view. “This play requires us to complete a maze. Act X has never stopped being so childish with their acts and plays.”

“That size is insane.” Frost’s jaw dropped at the sheer enormity of the maze.

But that shock soon turned to surprise when she noticed that the perspective of her forward Judge’s Pride was suddenly turned upside down.

She couldn’t see what had happened because there were ruins scattered along the footsteps of the maze, but they were close enough where she could finally hear the voices Res had heard earlier.

“Froooost!? That’s you, right!? You have white hair now!? You’re so small! What did they do to you!?”

Frost was about to call out to her, but then another Judge’s Pride’s perspective was also turned upside down in the blink of an eye. They were over a hundred meters apart. No one was currently capable of moving at such a speed since everyone’s stats had been severely cut down.

Yet, both of these Judge’s Prides were looking at the same thing, meaning they were caught by the same person.

It was Jury, no doubt. Frost could recognize her voice anywhere. Plus…

“AAAAAAAAAAHHHH~ TWO FROST’S!?”

… Her squeal made it very easy to tell she was somewhere from behind the ruins.

Frost almost didn’t want to show herself, at the risk of being held upside down like a fisherman holding their prized catch. But in the end, she cupped her mouth and called out:

“JURY! OVER HERE! THOSE ARE MINE!”

One, two: four faces emerged from the corners of the crumbling stone.

“Malgam!?”

“Joy! You’re here too! Did Jury find you!?” She cried, her knees wobbling with relief.

Indeed, Joy was there, right beside the twins and a Jury who glowed with an odd radiance.

“Gam!” Joy pointed at the twins.

“Found her.” (Orth).

“We did.” (Thras).

“Frost…? That… Which one is you?” Jury pointed at Acedia with her right hand which still held the ankle of one of the Prides. “That one, or that one?”

She did the same with the other Pride as she pointed at Frost.

“Me, this one. Jury, you alright!? You can put them down now! And hey, what’s with the halo on your–!?”

“FROOOOOOST~!”

Jury seemingly teleported. Not even Frost was capable of tracking her movement. If she did run, then she moved so quickly that it was indistinguishable from teleportation.

A pair of arms engulfed her into a suffocating hug as her tail flicked so wildly that it generated a mini tornado.

By then, the two Prides finally fell to the ground, and only then did a powerful gale sweep over them, as though it had taken seconds for the world to register Jury’s movement.

“Small… Tiny… Froooost! What happened to you to become so adorable!? Awww! I can lift you like you’re just a tiny little kid~ Hehehe~”

“Yeah, it’s nice to meet you too, but could you put me down! You’re crushing me!” Frost kicked her feet, only adding to her charm.

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Thankfully, Jury was still Jury, and she was able to quickly calm down.

“My bad, I’m sorry~ I just couldn’t resist~ I thought I had caught your scent! But it was just the maze! This is you. I know it is~”

It wasn’t like Jury to be

this

enthusiastic. Frost knew right away that her Condition likely the cause, as well as the halo above her head. She stared at it for a while, studying it as Jury slowly put her down, but she never took her hands away from Frost’s shoulders.

“You’re awfully happy to see me again. You feeling ok? What’s up with the halo?”

“Never been better! And this? I’m not sure.”

“You’re not sure?” Frost raised a brow before planting her face into Jury’s stomach.

Since she was the perfect height now, she might as well get payback by indulging a bit in her abs.

“Nav, any idea?”

<

None. I can’t even communicate with Jury. But a halo… do you mean a fractured one, like the ones that appears when Absolution is invoked? Or an Awakened halo like Cer’s?

>

It was neither.

An Awakened halo would look far more interesting than a simple floating ring. But Frost had never seen a completed or rather, a Stage 5 Absolution Skill before, so she didn’t know. Additionally, she also didn’t know if Absolution and Awakened halos had variations of them. Cer’s could be an outlier for all they know.

But what Frost did know, however, was that the light it radiated rivalled that of the light of Act X. She could not keep her gaze on Jury’s halo for more than a few seconds before her eyes would ache.

“Nav says she can’t communicate with you.”

“She can’t? I never noticed. Ahh. I must’ve been too concerned with finding you~ Nav? Nav? I still can’t reach her. But that doesn’t matter! Because you’re here with me now! This is you, hm? Then…”

Jury’s tone suddenly dropped. The air went frigid in an instant as her eyes dragged onto Acedia.

“… who is that? An imposter? Did someone snatch your body? It’s an evil act, right? No need for a trial or for you to think about the repercussions. I’ll deal with it myself.”

Frost’s hand latched onto Jury’s forming fist.

She only clasped onto it because her foresight did not seem to work on Jury.

“Wait, wait– that’s Acedia! She’s one of ours.” Frost tried to talk some sense into her. “Jury, what’s wrong with you? You looked like you were going to strike her.”

“Ours?” Jury tilted her head with unblinking eyes.

“Daughter.”

“Daugh… Aaaaah~ Acedia~”

And just like that, Jury mellowed and returned to her usual self.

“Oops, hmhm~”

Nav, what the fuck happened ot Jury? She’s dangerous. If I didn’t stop her there, I swear she would have killed Acedia.

“In your body? Unlikely.”

That’s because you’re not seeing what I’m seeing. Take a look. Status.

Jury

The Angel

<

You do not have a high enough Soul Quality to view Jury, the [???, the ??? ???]’s stats

>

<

You require an attuned Advent of Ego to view information of ??? or equivalent-level beings

>

<

I am not aware of what this is, or what Jury is supposed to represent here

>

<

However, it seems like her stats have, if anything, been amplified to a terrifying level

>

Frost could not tell what those question marks meant. She had seen the stats of Stars and high-level Corrupted before, and even an Angel. But not once had she been rejected like this.

“Jury. Can we talk for a moment?”

“Sure! But we should talk inside of the maze. The door is opening~”

A deafening click silenced the world. Massive metal locks fell from the door like meteorites. Once all 88 locks were lifted, the door began to swing inwards, revealing multiple passageways that led into the maze.

The earth trembled as it locked into place.

Finally, a prompt then appeared in front of them.

< Act 2 >

<

Roles acquired. The ideals manifested. Questions left unanswered. Does fulfilment come from the completion or the surrendering? Purpose is the acknowledgement of the inherent role. But some choose to run as far as they can. When the dead end is met, will they reconsider the offer of guaranteed permanence, or will they choose to continue the struggle for purpose?

>

“… Act 1 was to give us our roles. Act 2 must be the maze, huh.” Frost looked around, and noticed that despite them entering a new Act, there was still one person missing. “We’re continuing without Cer? I doubt she tapped out before us. Nav can still talk to her.”

“If it’s her, then she’s probably waiting for us at the end.” Res shrugged. “Cer’s too fast for us. Can’t we just scale over the walls?”

“I tried that earlier!” Jury hummed. “But no matter how fast I went, the walls kept expanding faster than I could move.”

“Then there’s no way we’re getting through by thinking outside of the box. ‘When the dead end is met’. Try to avoid dead ends.” Frost said, leading them onwards as Jury placed her on her shoulder.

“You make it sound like it’s easy.” Res mumbled, but she ended up breaking into a small smile. “Got a method, Frost?”

“Not particularly, but…”

“I’m already on it. There are many ways to solve a maze. Explore for a bit, and we shall put these methods to the test. First, I will need you all to keep one hand on the wall. If this maze’s walls are all connected, then we can brute force it.”

Raoul was the last to enter the maze. Before she entered, she turned to the side and looked absentmindedly into the air with solemn eyes.

The faint sound of scissors snipping could only be heard by Raoul.

“So you have come for us, O’ Misery and Death… They… will protect the twins. The Nexus has done more than I ever could.”