"Oh, oh, oh!"

"Ronald, what does this feel like? It's so interesting!"

"Also, where are we going now? I heard the hint telling us to escape from the Northern Continent?"

"Is returning the way we came still an option?"

After the ability of the magical book unfolded, everything that happened in front of her eyes made Nicole extremely excited.

At this moment, apart from the originally dark underground cave around them turning into a bright oil-painting-like scene, the investigator girl even jumped up in excitement upon discovering her body had become like a storybook character.

Even though her appearance had changed to a cartoony style, you could still see the eager look in her eyes.

"Come on, teach me how to do this!"

"..."

However, beside Nicole, Ronald's expression was not very good.

Because he realized he had made a mistake.

When he activated the magical book earlier, he focused all his attention on the duration of the seal, so he missed a detail in this maze chase game.

The game's ultimate reward.

It's natural that the losing side would be sealed here for a hundred years.

But when it came to the additional conditions after the pursuer and the escapee both achieved victory, Ronald forgot to make adjustments.

So now, if they, as the escapees, succeeded in escaping the Northern Continent before being caught by the dust beast Bai Chuan, they would not be transported back to the starting point of the game, but rather remain at the location they reached within the maze.

So when the game is won.

Ronald would still need to return to the Northern Continent to search for the expedition team still heading for the North Pole.

"..."

"Hoo—"

"Nicole, calm down, we need to go."

Taking a deep breath, Ronald quickly composed himself, while also soothing Nicole's emotions. His eyes swiftly scanned the surroundings.

Interfered by the original technique of the magical book.

The surrounding environment had naturally turned into a bright, cartoon-like world. In front of Ronald and Nicole, a staircase spiraled upwards along a crack, leading them back to their original position.

Below.

Since the dust beast Bai Chuan was still in a slumbering state during the spell's activation, as the pursuer in this maze game, it did not directly pursue them.

Instead, some milky white bubbles were seeping from a white lake on the surface of the dust beast, gradually aggregating with the surroundings.

Their escape that followed.

Would involve dealing with those objects formed after the white substances assembled. As for their current brewing, it was also the advantageous period for Ronald and Nicole to escape early.

"Climb up the stairs."

"We'll talk about the rest while we move!"

With a simple command, Ronald naturally followed the path upwards.

But behind him, Nicole was still lingering in these interesting scenes.

"Ronald!"

"My spells really aren't working, it feels like all my abilities have been completely locked down!"

At such a moment... there was absolutely no time to delay.

Seeing that the investigator girl was still excited about this, Ronald directly grabbed her right hand with determination and led Nicole up the stairs without leaving room for refusal.

"My dear, don't waste time now!"

"..."

The two continued to rush upwards like this.

Due to the cartoonish world style, when Ronald grabbed Nicole, she transformed into a cute little figure, being tugged along like a rag doll.

With their swift actions, even some wiggly lines appeared around them, representing the dust stirred by their rapid movement.

And in this state.

Nicole, despite being tugged along, didn't forget to keep asking questions:

"Ronald, ordinary spells can't do this!"

"So is this the Complete Technique? Have you fully mastered this original technique?"

Ronald finally couldn't help but look back, trying to scowl fiercely with his beady eyes at Nicole.

"Nicole, do you want to be sealed here for a hundred years?"

"If we fail this game, I can't guarantee I can get you out!"

Nicole finally conceded, scrunching her beady eyes, switching them from horizontal to vertical lines:

"Okay, okay, I got it~~"

"..."

The first stage of the maze whirled along a diagonal crack.

Even with good vision, during their continuous ascent, they still encountered rolling boulders as well as sudden traps.

You never knew when randomly popped-out rocks would come crashing down on them.

If pushed into the abyss or crushed down...,

then hitting Bai Chuan's body, or being easily caught by subsequent pursuers, would be the inevitable outcome.

Ronald was acutely aware of such dangers.

Because he set the seal time to a hundred years, the maze was naturally quite unfriendly to them as escapees, encountering such hurdles on the way was expected.

Thankfully, both Ronald and Nicole were very quick-witted.

After a few close encounters, they finally made it along the stairs up to the top of the cave.

Also due to the art style transformation by the magical book.

The previously battered underground cave by Nicole had now become a special area like a secret base, dotted with various spiral mounds, turning it into an entertaining playground.

Ronald naturally began to observe the surroundings, deciding on the path forward.

As for Nicole, she took her short steps.

Standing by the crack, she squinted her eyes to take a glance down:

"Ronald, they should take about five more minutes to fully form, we need to prepare for the chase."

Just by observing the process of their opponent forming, Nicole made a precise estimation regarding the automatically predatory entities secreted by Bai Chuan below, fully showing her professionalism as an investigator.

But after this professional assessment...

The cartoon-styled investigator girl quickly shifted her attention elsewhere.

She took a couple of steps to Ronald's back, observing Ronald's serious yet adorably cartoonish face, and immediately stuck to his back like rubber, feeling and testing its texture:

"By the way, Ronald, why did you set the time to a hundred years?"

"Is this the spell's limit here, or is there some other consideration?"

"It's a decision made based on practicality." Ronald paid no mind to Nicole's exploration of his body, his gaze lingering on the surrounding donut-like spiraling cave structure, without even turning back to regard Nicole's thoughts, "A hundred years already poses enough trouble for us, if it was set any longer, we'd be caught in our own trap."

Simply answering Nicole's question, Ronald took this short time to re-plan the route.

Subsequently, he continued pulling the investigator girl behind him.

In a true sense 'zipping away' towards the outside.