Heaven's Greatest Professor

Chapter 290: Labyrinth

He stared at the braids for a moment, appreciating his work. It was nothing intricate like many of the script designs he made, but he had to say he knew what he was doing.

"Huh, you're actually good at this," Agnes said, surprised at the discovery of her hair combed into a very intricate braid.

"You look good," he said, before laying his eyes on the armour she wore. It was something he made for her before they entered the inheritance ground, but now it was in a barely recognisable state.

Months had passed, and Agnes had fought countless times without caring for the armour. It was only because of the Tier-5 Restoration that it was still in one piece. Technically, the armour was in many pieces, but you got the impression.

He traced a clumsy finger over a crack on her breastplate. He could tell most of the other functions of the armour were barely working. "Let's fix your armour before we enter the labyrinth."

Agnes looked like she didn't want to. "There's no need for that," she said. "I can perfectly protect myself and more... Besides, it will take you a long time to repair it all. I don't want to take any credit, but I have abused it more than necessary."

He narrowed his eyes at her. "While I do not doubt your capabilities," he began, "I do think it will be better if we enter this place in our best state. And it won't even take that long."

In the end, Agnes had no choice but to strip off the armour. She had a tunic under all the metal and looked quite small without it. Leaving all the pieces along with the chain mail in a heap, she sat next to it, her blade on her knee.

The Warden began working, bringing out only a runic stylus. Her armour had taken him more than a full night's work, and repairing it to its peak state would take at least a few hours, considering the state it was in. Well, that was before he had the Radiant Heart.

After leaving a light construct to hover over him, he began working with mechanical precision. He thought it would take him at least an hour, but by the half-hour mark, he was done with most of the heavy lifting.

"Told you it wouldn't take long," he said.

Meanwhile, Agnes changed into a fresh set of tunics and draped on the pieces of the armour.

"Now are we ready to go?" she asked, a slight irritation in her tone.

He was about to reply to her but paused, looking at her expression. She seemed frustrated for some reason, or else there was no reason to be irritated over a little delay. She should be fully aware of what it means to have all your equipment repaired before an operation like this.

"Let's cleanse your essence of the foreign corruption, and then we can go," he said and drew his palm towards her.

"But you cleansed it just yesterday, and..." She paused and sighed, looking apologetic. She gave him her palm. "Sorry, I have been a little on edge lately."

"A little?" He raised an eyebrow and began the cleansing.

"I just hate how everyone wants to dictate my life," she said through gritted teeth, while the soothing feeling spread through her channels. "They want to have full control over what I do with my life, and I'm getting pretty pissed about it. Maybe it was the corruption of the dark essence talking, but if you didn't cleanse it, I might have burst out at someone I shouldn't have."

"Do you want advice on how to deal with people like that?" he asked, pouring more essence into the work.

Agnes raised an eyebrow. "I can imagine what you'll say."

But it didn't hurt to hear it from his mouth, so he obliged her. "Fuck them. If you do not care about them at all, beat the message into them so hard that they don't stand back from it."

"What if they are someone with an unfathomable depth of power, which I cannot even comprehend?"

He met her gaze. "Lay low, disappear for a few years, and come back when you can match their strength."

Agnes smiled ruefully. "If only it was so easy," she muttered, shaking her head. "Anyway, you're done with the cleansing. Let's enter. I want to finish this off as soon as I can."

He didn't press the matter, as it wasn't the time. The labyrinth went underground, and it wasn't difficult to find an entrance. They had found a few of them while barely scouting the surroundings.

After deciding on it, they entered, letting a couple of light constructs move ahead of them and a couple behind them.

"This place is eerie," Agnes said. "Far more than what's it like outside."

The dark essence concentration almost quadrupled as they entered through a warp gate, and it was only rising the more they moved inward.

"It's extremely cold too," he added. It was already below freezing.

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There wasn't anything threatening other than those two factors. After an hour of moving inward, they encountered no form of obstruction. The path was maze-like, but they hadn't yet fallen prey to any confusion. The only concerning part was the corrupting dark essence. The foreign will infesting it was more than evident now, trying to bite into their skin and invade their systems.

Agnes was coping well. He purified any of it that came into his channels. He didn't believe others would be as lucky as them if they even managed to reach this far into the labyrinth. Most rankers barely had any defence mechanism against dark essence.

"Wait," Agnes faltered on the path. "Did you hear that?"

He didn't, but then the light construct flickered off as a deep shrill of cries echoed through the wide pathways.

"Corrupt spirits," Agnes' expression hardened. Her grip on the hilt of her sword tightened as she called upon her intent. "Remember, only Intent affects them..."