An Owl's Rise

It was not ingenious and fairly simple, but her plan was likely to be fairly effective. Certainly, better than simply trying to brute force through the end of the maze.

"Are you sure you want to do this, Evelyn? You will be putting yourself at risk." Rehni said, looking concerned.

What Evelyn had suggested could see her getting lost in the maze by herself again if she messed up or got unlucky with the movements of the maze.

"There is definitely some danger to it, but in the worst case I can always wait until Otis and Aralee unlock the warping function of the magical map." Evelyn said, trying to assuage everyone's worries.

Otis, not wanting Evelyn to put herself in anymore danger suggested that he could take up the role that she was going to be in, but Evelyn shook her head and rejected his proposal. In a fight he was reliable, but when it came to using his head, Otis was the weakest among them. This was not something she could rely on him for.

Aralee also looked like she wanted to go instead of Evelyn, but she had the opposite problem of Otis. She was not weak by any means, but her magic was best suited for support and lacked destructive potential. Evelyn simply did not feel comfortable sending her out on such a mission on her own.

Of course, the others thought of Evelyn as more important than any of them individuals, as she was their leader and the glue of their team. Without her none of them would have ever come together.

Nevertheless, Evelyn did not budge on her decision. She felt that the rewards outweighed the risks.

Once the four of them had everything settled, they returned to the second lay and Evelyn flew over to the southwestern edge of the maze and waited with the magical map open.

For several minutes she simply waited there, starting at the large piece of parchment until a blue dot finally appeared near the edge of the map's half kilometer range.

'She really did find some sort of secret passage. The map is showing that she is inside one of the walls.'

Evelyn had naturally believed Rehni, as she knew her friend to not be a lair. But seeing ti with her own eyes on the map was still shocking.

"I cannot find any direct route now, but she is closest to the western entrance. I will go out from there and see if we cannot meet up with each other and make it back here." Evelyn said to Aralee and Otis.

Her plan was fairly simple. Now that she and Rehni could see each other on their respective maps, represented as blue dots. All that they would need to do was converge on each other and hopefully Evelyn would be able to find the correct path that would allow Rehni to reach the center of the maze along with her.

This did carry some risk with it, as Evelyn could get lost in the ever-changing maze and get forced away from Rehni. But that was just something that Evelyn was going to have to chance.

With the map in her claws, Evelyn flew out he west entrance and kept a careful watch out for enemies while periodically peering at the map to keep track of Rehni's position.

Luckily, there were no problems to speak of at first. Each of the maze's exits had long straight paths that did not change and were devoid of monsters. 

Sadly, this did not last, and Evelyn soon found herself staring at the back of a giant wooden sentinel like the ones that guarded the entrance to domain in the outside world.

However, this one was far larger and had six arms. Each one holding a different type of implement, from a shield to a crossbow.

'That thing means business. I guess it is meant to be a final challenge for anyone that wants to reach the center of the maze. Well, anyone that does not warp their way in like we did.' 

Looking at the wooden sentinel, Evelyn was devising ways to deal with it, when she noticed that it was not paying her any attention.

It did not take her long to realize that the construct was guarding the entrance to the path. There was no need for it to show any consideration to a being that had already made it to the center of the maze.

As a test she cast some magic around herself to see if the sentinel would react, but it just continued to stand facing the other direction. Stalwartly conforming to its duty.

'I feel a bit bad about this. But to get Rehni through here we would have to deal with it sooner or later anyway.' Evelyn thought, though, she really did not feel bad about what she was about to do.

Having ample time to build up her power without worrying about hostilities, Evelyn brought forth her strongest attack that took her a great deal of magical energy and focus to control.

Normally this was not the type of power she could use in a battle since it took to long to manifest, but against an unmoving enemy that was not attacking her, it was perfect.

She soon had conjured a massive sphere of crimson flames that was surrounded by swirling winds.

For the final touch Evelyn added her gravity magic to the mixture and sent out her most devastating attack.

The large six-armed wooden sentinel did not stand a chance as it was engulfed by an overwhelming blaze.

When the intense fire finally dissipated, all that was left of the once proud construct was a large scorch mark on the maze's stone floor.

'I guess that the wooden knights don't drop tokens. A shame.' Evelyn thought, having been hoping to receive an easy drop of iron tokens. Alas, the domain was not going to be giving her any freebies.