OLD-WORLD EXTRA-Chapter 241: {100,000}

Emir had returned to the real world.

'I'm alive!'

Now he flew across the seemingly endless cave, using Flash Step from one point to the next.

Many Fang Clad crossed his path, yet they couldn't catch up to his speed.

'Come to me... come kill me.'

As the prince never stopped, he hopped from one rock to the next in a zigzag-like motion, covering hundreds of meters on each step.

'Save me.'

He couldn't go full throttle as the spiders had many sticky silk traps, spanning tens of meters wide.

'Die.'

They were almost invisible to the eye, yet he could see them.

'RUN!'

Though, very obviously, the further away he was, the harder it was for him to spot them.

So he went with the cautious route, choosing a safe spot to land and then scouting ahead. 'No... no, please, no.'

This series of actions only lasted a moment, as he never stopped moving.

Causing those monsters that attempted a chase to not even last a second.

'Where am I supposed to go?'

His fellow candidates, even Blade Dancers, wouldn't have been able to do this.

It was for a simple reason.

'Is this the next phase?'

Besides the fact that only he had the Temporal Perception ability...

'MAKE IT END!'

The thumping relic on his finger, the voices in his head, and the emotions he felt would've made anyone reach borderline madness.

'Hurts... too much... can't...'

Yet it appeared to not even faze him.

In turn, no 'scent' was produced, and the spiders weren't able to track him and eventually trap him in their webs.

'Make it stop... please...'

This meant that Emir essentially bypassed the entire phase solely due to his incredible mind and neural network.

'Can't breathe...'

However, even if he looked unfazed, the man was beginning to 'struggle.'

"The voices... the fucking voices won't shut up!"

Emir roared at the top of his lungs as he landed on top of a towering pillar of rock.

"Goddammit, I get that you're going to die, but damn, just die quietly."

'HELP ME!'

"Nobody's going to help you, dumbass."

'Make the voices stop!'

"Anyways..."

He paused his continuous incantation spree and looked beyond.

'No more... no more...'

Emir had reached the other end of the cave and was now searching for the exit among the rocky walls.

'Found you.'

His earlier emotional burst had attracted monsters.

'It's dark... so dark...'

But that was on purpose.

Just because his brain was affected didn't mean that he would lose his cool.

"Flash Step."

The monsters followed him to the door, which was hidden behind a group of boulders.

'Help... can't...'

After another step, he stood before the door.

'Why... why...'

Emir glanced behind him for a moment.

"Guard this place for me, now won't you?"

Click.

And with that, he opened the door and left.

Loud banging sounds marked his departure as the tens of spiders that chased after him crashed into the wall.

'Mom...'

The last imprint of his 'scent' was near the exit, so many monsters would congregate there.

This wouldn't allow any of the other candidates to pass by unaffected.

If any even managed to reach there in the first place.

'Good luck.'

Emir sneered and stepped down the stairs.

'Don't want...'

Seconds passed, and he reached the end.

Click.

The door opened, and he was greeted by utter darkness.

This meant that what was before him could only be the work of Aether.

Of Arcanists.

His eyes couldn't see past the shadows; it only appeared like a void.

'Let's start.'

Emir closed his eyes and fell forward.

'Cold... so cold...'

His body hit the ground, and he lay there unmoving for a moment.

Then he stood back up.

His surroundings changed.

And the whispers were silent.

What once was an empty black space was now marred with walls of bright white.

It stretched endlessly from left to right.

An opening showed itself in the middle, right in front of him.

While sighing his gaze turned towards the hologram that appeared before his 'nonexistent'

irises.

{00:00:07}

It was a timer.

A counting clock for the hell that he was about to put himself through.

{00:00:08}

After a deep breath, his focus returned to the opening.

Emir headed towards it.

He had now begun the third phase.

The 'Infinite Labyrinth.'

This place was where the sense of time lost its meaning.

A seemingly infinite space where one would be blinded by the contrasting whiteness.

A labyrinth.

A maze of twists and turns that defied the laws of spatial logic.

{00:11:50}

Every step he took echoed with the ticking of a clock.

It was a counter, a reminder, an anchor to hold his mind in place.

As this labyrinth wasn't a physical challenge; rather, it was a psychological torment.

One that Emir would have to endure till the moment his mind gave out.

{11:23:02}

The walls seemed to shift, rearranging themselves to create new passages.

But that was nothing but an illusion.

Tricks of the mind.

They plagued Emir's every step.

And it led him into a continuous cycle of uncertainty.

He couldn't escape the feeling of déjà vu, as if he had walked these paths a thousand times

before...

Which he did.

{231:17:45}

Emir pressed forward, driven by insanity.

Nothing else would've prepared him for what he faced today.

No amount of drive or determination would allow someone the ability to walk for this long

but absolute...

Insanity. {1782:23:59}

He had long since passed the four-digit mark, yet his steps never faltered.

Not even once.

His face was a manifestation of what Earth experienced many millennia ago.

It, too, hadn't shown a single flicker of change.

Emir's thoughts, similar to the face he wore, were calm as a still lake.

His eyes remained locked on the timer, as he had stopped looking at his destination many

hundreds of days ago.

Yes... days.

He had been trapped here for almost five years.

A common time when most took the plunge and 'died.'

{32567:19:01}

Eighty-nine years passed in a blink.

No... it wasn't a blink.

Emir had suffered through that time; every moment felt infinite, yet...

It was fleeting as a grain of sand, slipping from his hands.

This reminded him of the time when he fell into an abyss.

Albeit it was a much... snappier experience. {102356:01:57}

Two hundred and eighty years have passed.

His eyes had lost their luster.

The echoes of his footsteps that resonated in the emptiness no longer registered in his mind.

His brain had accepted it as nothing but static, ending it entirely.

Emir hadn't heard anything for at least a hundred years.

The only thing that accompanied him was the persistent countdown that seemed to mock the

concept of time itself.

{124246:20:28}

He began to encounter illusions-hallucinations that tested the boundaries of his sanity. Faces of family and foes alike emerged from the walls, whispering words that attempted to

fuel the emptiness in his mind. {170820:11:31}

"Emir, you're not strong enough." {208415:21:09} "You can't save them all."

"You won't save any of them." "You are WEAK."

"Fate-"

{365000:00:00}

"Give in... and die!"

"Die..."

"Die."

"Die!"

"Die!"

"Die!"

"Die!""Die!""Die!""Die!" "Die!""Die!" "Die!" "Die!""Die!""Die!""Die!""Die!""Die!""Die!

""Die!"'"'Die!""Die!""Die!" "Die!""Die!" "Die!""Die!" "Die!""Die!""Die!" "Die!""Die!""Die !""Die!""Die!""Die!" "Die!" "Die!""Die!""Die!""Die!" "Die!""Die!""Die!""Die!""Die!""Di e!""Die!""Die!""Die!" "Die!" "Die!""Die!" "Die!""Die!""Die!" "Die!""Die!" "Die!""Die!""D ie!""Die!""Die!""Die!""Die!""Die!""Die!""Die!" "Die!""Die!""Die!""Die!""Die!""Die!""

Die!""Die!""Die!""Die!""Die!""Die!" "Die!""Die!""Die!""Die!""Die!""Die!""Die!""Die!" "Die!""Die!""Die!""Die!" "Die!""Die!" "Die!" "Die!""Die!""Die!""Die!""Die!""Die!""Die! ""Die!""Die!""Die!""Die!""Die!""Die!""Die!""Die!""Die!" "Die!""Die!""Die!""Die!""Die !"'"Die!""Die!"'"Die!" "Die!""Die!" "Die!""Die!" "Die!""Die!""Die!""Die!""Die!""Die!"

"DIE!"

{Current system is no longer advisable.}

{Switching to yearly count.}

{1000}

But Emir's mind was a fortress, fortified by the experiences that had sculpted him into the

resilient person he was.

The whispers faded as 'quickly' as they came.

{1100}

His surroundings appeared to shift again.

Now, the labyrinth revealed his home.

{1101}

The illusion played with his emotions.

Showing him love for a moment, only to snatch it away in the next.

But was it truly a moment?

{1291}

Emir's countenance remained stoic.

He had learned to detach himself from the illusions, the voices, the whispers-oh, the damn

whispers.

The prince recognized them for what they were-mere 'specters' in the vast expanse of the

dream.

{1500}

The countdown persisted.

{1510}

The labyrinth was a desolate landscape, a reflection of his internal struggles.

He walked through barren wastelands, climbed imaginary mountains, and crossed phantom

rivers.

{1520}

And still, the countdown continued.

It recorded every moment, as the time in between each landscape was ever so fleeting.

{2000}

At times, he found himself drowning in the whispers.

{2100}

But he pressed on, unfazed... or so he thought.

{3000}

When the counter reached three thousand years...

Emir realized a dark truth. Those whispers...

They weren't a trick of the mind, no, not at all.

...It was him.

It was his voice that echoed in the countless corridors.

His mouth was the one that had whispered.

And now it was his lips where shouts escaped.

"DIE!"

{4000}

Thousands of years have passed.

Yet tens of thousands of years remained.

{5000}

The countdown persisted.

{10000} Emir blinked. {20000}

He blinked once more. {30000}

He roared.

{40000}

He could no longer hear his unending screams. {50000}

The walls were no longer white.

{60000}

Emir was blind.

{70000}

His steps faltered.

{80,000}

He fell.

{80,001}

He stood back up.

{80,002}

He continued to step forward... Never hesitating.

After all, stopping meant 'death.'

And he couldn't 'die.'

Not yet, at least.

{90,000}

Emir could no longer feel his body.

His feet no longer functioned. frёewebηovel.cѳm

He crawled.

{90,011}

He crawled.

{90,111}

He crawled.

{91,111}

He crawled.

{92,222}

He crawled.

{93,333}

He crawled.

{94,444}

He crawled.

{95,555}

He crawled.

{96,666}

He crawled.

{97,777}

He crawled.

{98,888}

He crawled.

{99,999}

He crawled.

{99,999.5}

He inched forward, his nails long gone.

Whatever was left of his bloodied fingers scraped against the ground.

His body left a trail of blood in its wake.

Or so he felt.

{100,000}

Emir had finally stopped.

He had reached his goal.

His everything could move no more.

And he...

'Died.'