Shadow Slave novel Chapter 2450

Chapter 2450 Kingdom of Imagination

A little fall was not going to hurt a Saint, and it was especially not going to hurt Effie, whose Awakened Ability made her body as tough as steel. Granted, this particular fall was quite a lengthy one... but in the end, both of them reached the Mirror Maze unscathed, if a little worse for wear and covered in dust.

“Crap... I can't see anything. What a hassle," Effie complained, but she did not summon a luminous Memory. That was because Sunny had drowned the Mirror Maze in shadows on purpose — this was his tried and trusted method of erasing the infinite reflections from its walls, thus avoiding encountering the Others.

"I suspect that the intended — and therefore the safest — way to explore the heart of this maze is to traverse it across reflections. But since neither of us knows how to deal with the Others, we will just walk like normal people." He turned to Effie.

“Grab my hand."

He offered her his hand, but she did not take it. Sunny frowned.

“What seems to be the problem? What, are you shy all of a sudden?"

Effie rolled her eyes.

"No, you numskull. I can't see where your hand is!"

Letting out an awkward cough, Sunny grabbed her by the forearm and pulled her into the darkness.

The Mirror Maze seemed no different from how it had been before, not damaged by the dreadful devastation above at all. Granted, there was more dust on the floor — but other than that, it was in pristine condition. As they walked through the darkness, Effie seemed to be listening to the sounds of their footsteps intently. Eventually, she asked:

“So, Clan Valor had no idea this place was here?"

Sunny shook his head.

"No. It used to be hidden deep underground and protected from usual forms of detection. I barely found it myself... so, neither Warden nor his son knew about the existence of the Mirror Maze, despite spending decades right above it."

Effie remained silent for a bit, then said suddenly:

“But Mordret must have known."

Sunny gave her a guarded look.

Yes... that was the conclusion he had drawn, as well. Mordret could gaze through the mirrors around him and even travel through them — those were his Dormant and Awakened Abilities. So, when young Mordret first returned into the cold embrace of Clan Valor, he would have definitely felt the presence of a vast mass of mirrors beneath True Bastion.

He must have known that the Mirror Maze was here... maybe he had even been the first human to explore it. Was he hiding somewhere in the complicated web of twisting tunnels right now?

Sunny did not think so... he did not think that Mordret was in any of the tunnels, that was.

“If he's here, he is probably in the Hall of Imagination. That is where we are heading, as well."

Effie tensed a little.

“Remind me why we are going there, again?"

Sunny collected his thoughts before speaking.

“Well... you are the master of Bastion, so you know better than anyone what the Great Mirror is. It is situated deep below the castle — its illusory version, that is — in a great underground hall hidden in the heart of the mountain. It is also the nexus of the Component of your Citadel, the one that allows the true and false versions of Bastion to swap places. One stays in reality, while the other one is safely contained within the Great Mirror."

Effie pursed her lips.

"And it also allows the Others to crawl into reality from True Bastion if someone forgets to cover it."

Sunny nodded.

“But actually, I think that we have not even discovered the true Component of Bastion yet."

Effie tilted her head a little.

“Huh?"

Sunny considered his words for a moment. “Think about it. There is an underground chamber with the Great Mirror below the illusory castle, connected to it by secret passages. But what about True Bastion? There are no passages. Instead, there is the Mirror Maze... and the underground chamber at its heart. The Hall of Imagination, which makes things you imagine real — or at least creates illusions of those things that are seemingly no different from real.’

He paused for a moment, then added in a somber tone:

“I did not dare to explore the Hall of Imagination before, so I don't know what is hidden in its center. But if theory is correct... then there is another Great Mirror there — the true Great Mirror, not an illusion of it that stands below the False Bastion.”

Effie frowned in the darkness, just as stunned as the first time he had shared this theory with her.

This time, however, she had a question.

“The Great Mirror... the supposedly illusory Great Mirror leads to True Bastion. Then, where does the true Great Mirror lead?"

Sunny smiled faintly.

“That is what we are going to find out.’

At that moment, he stopped and looked down, a troubled expression appearing on his face.

Effie almost slammed into him, stopping in time only because she had been listening to the sounds of his steps the whole time.

“What is it?"

Sunny knelt and studied the floor.

“There are footprints in the dust."

He expected to find some sign that Mordret had passed through these tunnels. However, what Sunny had not expected... was that there would be two sets of footprints, one slightly more faded than the other.

And a bit smaller, too.

He remained silent for a while, then said in a surprised tone:

“I think... that both Mordret and Morgan were here before us."

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