The Throat-lock Monster, a small, malevolent predator.
They liked to lurk on ceilings, in archways, down wells, or near decaying stairwells, ambushing any prey that happened to pass by.
Their limbs were tipped with barbed pads, allowing them to grip nearly any surface. Silent while lurking and exceptionally swift when attacking, they were natural-born assassins.
Despite their small size, Throat-lock Monsters possessed combat prowess comparable to a Peak Knight.
Even a Grand Knight would suffer greatly if ambushed by a Throat-lock Monster.
’They actually put Throat-lock Monsters in this maze.’
Pei Ze clicked his tongue.
Still, he could understand the designer’s reasoning.
A complex environnt like a maze was the perfect place for an assassin-like predator such as the Throat-lock Monster to thrive.
More importantly, true to their na, Throat-lock Monsters liked to strangle their prey’s neck. This prevented their victims from making a sound, which naturally ant they couldn’t cast Magic that required incantations.
In a way, Throat-lock Monsters were the perfect counter to Wizard Apprentices.
Unfortunately for them, Pei Ze was an exception.
For one, he had already mastered the technique of silent casting, allowing him to use Magic without hindrance even if he couldn’t speak.
Besides, with a physique on par with a Peak Grand Knight, it was a foregone conclusion that a Throat-lock Monster’s ambush couldn’t possibly harm him.
"SQUEAK SQUEAK!"
The Throat-lock Monster shrieked in pain. A long, narrow wound slashed diagonally across its chest and abdon, blood gushing from it like a fountain.
Evidently, Pei Ze’s last sword strike had dealt it a significant amount of damage.
Seemingly realizing the strength of the man before it, the Throat-lock Monster turned to flee without hesitation. Its agile body scrambled up to the ceiling, and it scurried across the smooth stone surface as if on level ground, quickly retreating into the distance.
’Trying to escape?’
Pei Ze sneered and lunged forward. In an instant, the Longsword in his hand shot out like a bolt of lightning.
Hyperflash!
After his Cyan Mist Breathing Technique evolved into the All-Knowing Breathing Technique, he had retained Gale Slash and Hyperflash, and they were now even more powerful.
The attack was as swift as a bolt of lightning. In the blink of an eye, it crossed over a hundred ters and, like a shooting star, pierced the Throat-lock Monster through its back.
The Throat-lock Monster only had ti to let out a short shriek before the detonating, ferocious Battle Qi blasted it into a mist of blood that filled the air.
With another swing of his sword, Pei Ze stirred up a gust of wind to disperse the lingering mist of blood. Looking up, he saw several Throat-lock Monsters three or four hundred ters away, scattering and fleeing along the ceiling.
The grueso death of their companion had terrified these predators.
Pei Ze smirked but didn’t give chase. He continued down the corridor, using Fog Crows to scout ahead whenever he reached a fork in the path and clearing out any monsters in the rooms he found.
Nearly every room he encountered along the way had so kind of monster lurking inside.
From Knight-level creatures like Enhanced Skeleton Soldiers, Bear Goblins, zombies, and Terror Claw Monsters, to Grand Knight-level foes like Three-ard Giants, Boda Corpses, and Skeleton Knights.
Pei Ze even encountered Transforming Spiders and Spiritual Beasts.
The forr was a dium-sized Magical Creature that could freely switch between a spider form and a humanoid form. In addition to a spider’s venom and webbing abilities, it could also cast Magic like the Illusory Sound Technique, Light Spell, Silent Illusion, and Sleep Technique.
The combat prowess of a single Transforming Spider was comparable to that of a Middle-tier Grand Knight.
If one were to wander into its territory unaware and beco entangled in its web, even a High-tier Grand Knight could easily lose their life.
The Transforming Spider, with its inherent resistance to Magic, was an especially tricky monster for Wizard Apprentices.
As for the Spiritual Beast, it was a type of Magical Creature that lived on the Ethereal Plane.
Their bodies were colored sowhere between bright blue and deep purple. Standing upright, they were only about 1.2 to 1.3 ters tall, but their total body length could exceed two ters.
They normally lurked on the Ethereal Plane in their Spirit Body form, but upon discovering prey, they would instantly shift to the Pri Material Plane to attack. This made them even more terrifying assassins than the Throat-lock Monster.
Even Pei Ze failed to react in ti when the Spiritual Beast materialized to ambush him. He only managed to kill it after his Magic Heavy Armor had blocked its attack.
In addition to the nurous monsters, the maze also concealed plenty of traps.
Floors that would suddenly soften and turn into a quagmire when stepped upon.
Gemstones embedded in stone doors that would emit an iridescent light when approached, plunging victims into hallucinations.
And rooms that looked empty, but once soone entered, the stone door would slam shut before gouts of fla erupted from all sides.
It was impossible to guard against them all.
A Wizard Apprentice without sufficient defensive asures would likely fall to the endless traps long before reaching the Maze Center.
The deeper he ventured into the maze, the stronger the monsters and the deadlier the traps beca.
After exploring another three-way fork, Pei Ze paused, a pensive expression on his face.
Using the Fog Crows to scout was certainly effective; so far, he hadn’t run into a single dead end.
However, this thod ca with its own set of problems.
First, the deeper he went, the more paths branched off at each fork. Furthermore, each path often led to more than one room and sotis even connected to another fork.
Pei Ze had to explore every possible route to determine the correct one, which was both ti-consuming and strenuous.
The second problem was the loss of his Fog Crows.
In just over an hour of scouting, Pei Ze had already lost more than three hundred Fog Crows.
And he could predict that as the number and strength of the monsters ahead increased, the attrition rate for his Fog Crows would only accelerate.
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