SSS-Ranked Awakening: I Can Only Summon Mythical Beasts - Chapter 370 370: Elias Returns

When Elias returned to the Maze, he didn’t appear in a flash of light or with a grand entrance.

One of the doors opened up and he was simply there—walking down one of the mirrored corridors, quiet as breath, as if he’d never left at all.

To any watching from above—particularly those staring at the floating magic circle clusters—he had simply vanished… and reappeared.

Only now his circle registered slightly differently.

Still green.

No one knew what that meant.

Except Dean Godsthorn, who simply sat with arms folded, smiling softly to himself. The other Deans spared Dean Godsthorn a few glances but they soon found out he wasn’t willing to look back at them or even ask why they were staring at him.

He most likely knew they had questions for him concerning Elias and he had no plans to answer their questions. However, when the man noticed some of the other people couldn’t stop staring, he sighed and spoke up. “I can’t reveal anything and even if I can, I wouldn’t.”

Hearing this, the remaining staring eyes on the Dean were taken off and the man felt his body lighten. Or so he believed.

~~~~~

Inside the Maze, Elias walked calmly until he reached the first intersection.

There, at the junction of three crystalline tunnels, stood Reiz, ElderGlow’s squad leader—bent slightly, breathing hard, sweat along his brow, essence misting faintly from his gloves.

“Elias?”

The boy looked up.

Elias said nothing.

Just inclined his head.

“…Where the hell did you go?” Apparently, the other participants had been informed of his disappearance.

Elias blinked slowly, then glanced left—down the corridor filled with a low humming sound.

Woooong~

Then right—where the walls rippled with faint shadowy silhouettes, mimicking every motion.

He turned back to Reiz.

“I went where I needed to.” He paused for a moment before correcting himself as though he’d made a mistake. “I went where the maze wanted me to go.”

Reiz stared at him.

The air around Elias was… calm. Still. No pressure. No active aura.

But something was different. Not visible or anything.

But the change felt heavy.

Not in weight. In presence.

“…Well,” Reiz said after a moment, “welcome back.”

Elias smiled. “Well, thank you.”

Across the Maze, ElderGlow’s remaining two teammates—Renna and Cael—were pulling themselves from collapsing corridors of mental illusion. Now that Elias had returned, a quiet shift washed through the internal structure of the Maze.

The pressure lessened around them.

Slightly.

Not enough to feel like a break.

But enough to breathe.

They wouldn’t know until much later… that the Maze had adjusted.

Responded.

Elias didn’t command it.

He didn’t need to.

Whatever he was now, the Maze recognized it.

Meanwhile, Wyrmere was cracking.

Their squad leader, a slim girl named Marah, had already lost cohesion with two of her teammates. One had retreated into a looping fear illusion—his magic circle read 22% and was still dropping.

The second had fallen into a mana-depletion trap. She’d been stabilizing her barrier for eight full minutes. Her magic circle read “STATIC LOOP.”

Marah gritted her teeth. “Pull yourselves together!”

The Maze didn’t respond to commands. It didn’t care about their commands.

And it didn’t wait for weakness to leave.

The corridor beneath the broken teammate pulsed red.

Cracks appeared.

Then it happened.

There was panic.

One of Wyrmere’s students—a boy named Talden—broke.

“Arghhhh!” He screamed as though he’d seen something horrible.

He clawed at the walls.

And then, he bolted.

He tried to run back.

Back the way they’d come.

“Talden—NO!”

Marah’s voice echoed through the maze.

But it was too late.

Up above, Wyrmere’s instructors stood in horrified silence.

“His magic circle—!”

“It’s turning red!”

“Essence rupture warning—”

Inside the Maze, the walls around Talden shifted.

The corridor closed.

Not with stone.

But with memory.

With sound.

With pain.

The Maze re-formed behind him—trapping him inside a sphere of his own breaking mind.

Screams didn’t echo.

They just ended.

His magic circle blinked once.

Then disappeared.

—

The Colosseum went deathly silent.

One magic circle—gone.

For good.

In the observation gallery, the Wyrmere instructors argued among themselves, spells flaring as they demanded the Maze release the body, begin emergency revival attempts, even break protocol.

The maze ignored them.

Miss Leana said nothing.

Damon clenched his jaw. “That wasn’t illusion, was it.”

“No,” Leana said coldly. “That was enforcement. Unlike Elias, I don’t think he’ll be coming back.”

Damon exhaled slowly.

“Damn.”

Back in the Maze, ElderGlow’s group reformed—Renna and Cael found Reiz and Elias at a checkpoint room, a circular chamber where the illusions dulled and essence density dipped. A built-in reprieve, meant for team rebalancing.

Reiz stood, arms crossed.

“We’re here,” he said. “But we’re hanging by a thread.”

Cael groaned, leaning against the wall. “I almost ruptured my essence core. Couldn’t even tell what was real. Felt like I was choking on myself.”

Renna nodded. “I saw a version of me. Ugly. Twisted. She knew everything I’d ever done wrong. Every step I almost took and didn’t and even those I regret taking.”

Reiz looked over to Elias.

“What about you?”

Elias tilted his head. “I think I met with the ones who built this place. Or so they claimed to be.”

Silence.

Renna blinked. “What?”

Reiz narrowed his eyes.

Elias’s expression didn’t change.

“That’s not metaphor,” he said softly. “It’s fact.”

“You’re saying the Maze has creators?” Cael said, eyebrows drawn together.

Elias nodded once.

“And they’re still here?”

His voice was low. “Trapped. But yes.”

Reiz stared at him.

Then sighed. “You always were weird.”

Elias said nothing.

Just stood perfectly still. They didn’t believe him and he didn’t need them to. For some reason, he was beginning to forget all that had happened in the pocket space too.

A presence that felt like it didn’t belong entirely in this reality anymore.

Up in the Dean’s tower, Godsthorn sipped from a tall silver flask and smiled.

“He’s stabilized the Maze,” he said.

One of the Deans from Crowgarth turned. “That’s impossible. That’s not something a student can do.”

Godsthorn raised an eyebrow. “And yet…”