Chapter 49: The Core Guardians
Ryan journeyed deeper and deeper into the Labyrinth, following the golden road laid out for him by his Neural Map and the Labyrinth Keystone.
The levels he passed through now were a world away from the crumbling outer corridors he had first explored. Here, the architecture was pristine, made of seamless black stone that seemed to absorb the light.
Glowing blue energy conduits pulsed in the walls like veins, and the air was still and cold, filled with the scent of ozone and ancient, dormant power.
He felt like an explorer who had just found a secret passage in a pyramid, leaving the tourist areas far behind and stepping into the real, untouched chambers.
The Keystone he held was a magical "do not disturb" sign, and it worked wonders. Laser grids that would have sliced him into tiny cubes fizzled out as he approached.
Giant stone crushers that were meant to turn intruders into pancakes ground to a halt. He walked through these ancient death traps as if he owned the place, which, in a way, he now kind of did.
But the Keystone didn’t turn everything off. Some of the Labyrinth’s defenses were not connected to the main security grid.
They were independent, living guardians who had been sleeping for ages, and his presence was like a very loud, very annoying alarm clock.
He turned a corner into a massive, cavernous chamber that served as a grand antechamber to the Core itself. And there, standing guard, were two of the biggest, meanest-looking constructs he had ever seen.
They weren’t humanoid like the Sentinels. These things were built like monstrous, metal rhinos, each the size of a small house. They moved on four thick, powerful legs, and their bodies bristled with a terrifying array of energy weapons.
Cannons, missile pods, and strange, glowing discs were mounted all over their armored chassis. Their heads were just a single, glowing blue slit, like the visor on a knight’s helmet, that swiveled and locked onto him with cold, mechanical fury.