Chapter 74: The Unrecognized
Ethan immediately spun around and shouted, "Ruo Yan, get out of the circle!"
Ruo Yan didn’t understand what was happening, but her reflexes were fast. She pulled her three puppets back along with herself.
But the entire circle had already lit up.
Boom!
An energy wall immediately enveloped the great hall.
Gray chains crawled out of the ground and coiled around Ruo Yan’s ankles. Before she could react, she was yanked down to the floor.
All three wooden puppets rushed forward at once.
The first puppet swung its blade at the chains.
Clang!
The blade shattered into pieces the moment it made contact.
The other two grabbed Ruo Yan’s hands and tried to pull her out. But the more they resisted, the more chains appeared.
They wrapped around her wrists, her waist, and her neck.
Ruo Yan gritted her teeth, and the control threads pulled taut instantly. The chest cavities of all three puppets opened simultaneously, launching a barrage of small blades at the chains.
Every single blade was deflected by the energy wall.
Laira stepped forward, crimson flames flaring around her body.
"I’ll burn them."
Ethan grabbed her wrist. "Don’t."
Laira turned to look at him, the fire in her eyes burning even brighter. "They’re dragging her away."
"If you break the rules, the entire hall’s defense mechanism will activate."
Ethan pointed to the four corners of the hall.
Four metal pillars were slowly rising from the ground. Atop each pillar sat an energy core, building up power. If Laira attacked, everyone in the hall would immediately be classified as intruders.
Brakk looked at Ruo Yan bound in chains and frowned. "What’s going on?"
Aldren stood not far away. His gaze swept over Ruo Yan before he spoke slowly. "She’s not recognized by the labyrinth."
Ruo Yan turned to look at him.
Aldren continued to explain. "I’ve seen a similar rule in an Elven ruin. Those without a valid mark are treated as foreign objects."
An Elf standing behind him glanced at Ruo Yan and said in a low voice, "She’s a Partner."
Aldren nodded. "A Partner without a bond."
The gazes throughout the hall shifted immediately.
Some had recognized Ruo Yan’s identity before, but no one knew she was an abandoned Partner.
A Partner without an Awakened.
In the eyes of many, that was no different from a weapon without an owner.
Brakk tightened his grip on the war axe and spoke in a low voice. "If the rules only target her, then let the labyrinth reclaim her. We can’t let everyone get trapped here over some unrelated Partner."
Laira slowly turned her head.
The heat around her surged rapidly. Brakk sensed the danger and immediately raised his war axe in front of his chest.
Laira stared straight at him, her voice dropping cold.
"What did you just say?"
Brakk didn’t back down. "I’m stating facts. If we damage the checkpoint gate, we could all die. I won’t let my people risk their lives for a Partner who has nothing to do with us."
Ruo Yan heard every word.
She was still being dragged toward the center of the circle by the chains, but her face showed little emotion.
Not important.
Not relevant.
Not worth saving.
After her former master severed the bond, she had heard words like these far too many times. Eventually, they stopped surprising her.
Ruo Yan looked at Ethan.
He was still using the Eye of Truth to study the chains.
She bit her lip, then spoke. "Don’t worry about me. The rules only target me. If you don’t interfere, the gate will probably open once I’m gone."
Laira immediately snapped, "Shut up!"
Ruo Yan didn’t look at her and kept talking to Ethan. "You’ve saved me enough times already. There’s no need to keep risking yourself for me. I’m not your Partner, and I can’t help you level up. Just leave me behind."
Ethan didn’t answer.
A chain coiled around Ruo Yan’s neck and started pulling her down.
Where the chains touched left no wounds, but her body was gradually turning transparent. The labyrinth wasn’t trying to kill her in any conventional way.
It was breaking her down into energy.
Ethan could see hundreds of energy streams being pulled from Ruo Yan’s body and absorbed into the circle.
Her three wooden puppets began to tremble as well. The threads connecting them to Ruo Yan were slowly fading.
At that moment, the composure on Ruo Yan’s face finally crumbled.
She wasn’t afraid of being broken down.
But if she disappeared, the three puppets would lose their puppeteer.
They were the only things that had stayed by her side after she was abandoned. They didn’t know how to lie, never calculated self-interest, and had never once turned their backs on her.
Ruo Yan struggled to raise her hand, her fingers trembling without stop.
"Stop... At least don’t touch them."
The people in the hall fell silent.
A few turned away.
No one wanted to risk themselves for a Partner they had barely just met.
Aldren stood still, watching Ethan. He, too, wanted to see what choice Ethan would make.
Ethan suddenly deactivated the Eye of Truth.
Laira asked immediately, "Found a way?"
"Yes."
Ethan removed the supply pouch from his body and handed it to Laira.
She took it instinctively, then immediately understood what he was about to do. Her hand clamped down on his wrist.
"No. I’m going in."
"I didn’t say I was going in."
Laira glared at him. "I know what you’re thinking. I’m stronger than you. Let me break those chains."
Ethan shook his head. "The rules recognize you through your bond with me. If you step into the reclamation zone, it might drag the Partner bond in too. No one knows what would happen."
"Then even less reason to let you go."
Ethan looked her straight in the eyes. "I can see the safe path."
Laira still didn’t let go.
Ethan glanced at the four pillars opening up. "The retrieval puppets are about to come out. I need you to hold them off, or I won’t have enough time."
The moment he finished speaking, all four pillars emitted mechanical sounds simultaneously.
Metal puppets crawled out from inside the cores one by one. They stood only about two meters tall, but the weakest among them radiated at least Silver-rank energy. The last two even emanated Gold-rank fluctuations.
The puppets didn’t attack Ruo Yan.
They all turned toward the people outside, clearly intent on preventing anyone from interfering with the reclamation process.
Laira looked at the puppets, then back at Ethan.
"I can kill them fast."
"I know, but you need to conserve your strength. I need at least thirty seconds."
Laira squeezed his wrist harder. "Ten seconds."
"Thirty."
"Fifteen."
Ethan looked at the expression on her face that left no room for negotiation, and finally said, "Twenty seconds."
Laira pressed her lips together, clearly still unsatisfied. "After twenty seconds, whether you agree or not, I’m tearing this place apart."
Ethan nodded, then looked at Ruo Yan.
"I’m coming."
Ruo Yan lifted her head, eyes wide.
Ethan stepped into the circle.
The moment his foot crossed the boundary, crushing pressure slammed down onto his body. Spatial winds surged from all directions, forming into blades nearly invisible to the naked eye.
Ethan raised his left hand.
The Primordial Armor rapidly expanded into a shield.
Clang!
The first wind blade struck the armor, leaving a deep crack. The impact traveled down his arm and pushed him half a step back, sending a sharp ache through the bones beneath.
The retrieval puppets charged forward all at once.
Laira stepped up to block the front of the circle, crimson flames erupting around her body.
"Your opponent is right here."
She swung her arm and a wall of fire shot up instantly, forcing every puppet back. The heat wave rippled outward, driving Brakk, Korr, and the rest to scatter to either side.
Laira didn’t need their help.
As long as no one got in Ethan’s way, that was enough.
Inside the circle, Ethan pressed forward.
The Eye of Truth had found an extremely narrow path between the wind blades. He tilted his body to dodge a strike aimed at his neck, then immediately dropped low.
Whoosh!
A wind blade grazed across his back, tearing through his cloak and leaving a long wound across his skin.
Ethan didn’t stop.