LIGHTNOVELONLINE Chapter 38 – The Labyrinth
“Everyone, GET DOWN!!!”
*Schwooth!*
A fierce flame roared throughout the battlefield, covering the charred and dusty ground with it’s oppressive and commanding heat. Desperately, in an attempt to survive and protect those behind me, I valiantly raised my shield while erecting a multibarrier spell to protect my party from the incoming hellfire. This foe. My party. It was clear our situation was only going to get worse as the battle raged on. Presently, we were face to face, with an ancient dragon, madly breathing molten flames across the entire labyrinth floor.
*FROOTH*
More molten heat rolled past us, bring a flurry of sweat dripping down my face, causing some of the salty water to sting my eyes. While the barrier was bravely holding up against the raging inferno currently assault it, the rapidly increasing environmental temperature was starting to permeate the otherworldly protective sphere. If we are to survive, I would have to do something, and fast!
“Don’t worry Ko. All of us have chosen to support you in saving Terra. One elder dragon is nothing compared to the dangers we’ve faced together along our journey!”
The voice of my companions behind me, bravely cheering me on in our struggle to survive.
“You’re right everyone! We’ve faced greater challenges than this puny lizard! There’s no way we could lose to the likes of him!”
“RARGHHHH!!!! Puny mortals! You would dare insult the all-powerful destroyer of kingdoms, Emberoth?!?! I’ll crush you insects beneath my limbs, like the insignificant beings you are!”
“Hah! You wish lizard brain! Take this! My super ultra-awesome and amazing dragon killer attack, Heavenly Flaming Spear!!!! HURAHH!!!!!!”
Raising my right hand towards the towering, ancient dragon known as Emberoth, I unleashed the most powerful version of the flaming spear spell I possibly could! Thick, molten plasma, burst forth from my hand, annihilating the fiery breath attack from the dragon, rapidly pushing it back. A battle between two beam attacks, a deadly tug-of-war, leaving the loser, an obliterated pile of ash.
“NOOOOO!!! How could I, the almighty and all powerful, Emberoth, meet their end to the likes of you!!! A bunch of puny adventurers!!!!!! NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!”
Silence.
Once our attacks had finished, the death bellows of the mighty dragon, Emberoth, gradually came to a halt, as the ancient being, finally, met their end. While my heavenly flaming spear didn’t reduce them to a pile of ash, their giant body was now void of all signs of life. Exhausted, and thrilled at our victory, I shouted at the top of my lungs.
“Everyone, we did it! With our brave actions today, Terra, has, been, SAVED!!!!”
An eruption of cheers behind me, as I was now suddenly in the giant, open plaza within the City of Solara, accompanied by the impressive marble fountain I had seen many times during my journey into the labyrinth. In front of me, was the king and princess of the nation. My thoughts were drowned out by the celebratory cheering’s from the crowd.
“Oh great champion Kotato! Please step forth to receive your reward for so valiantly defending the kingdom, and saving all of Terra from the threat of Emberoth!”
Ahhh, the celebrations for my heroic actions in saving the kingdom! I was at a loss for words taking in the scene around me. A festival to commemorate my actions and service to the kingdom, with the princess, excitedly calling my name to step forth and receive my reward from the kingdom’s treasury!
Confidently, I began marching forward to receive my reward from the reigning royalty. I could feel a rather smug smile across my entire face as I continued my strides in confidence. However, I was so lost in thought, my feet had seemingly managed to “critically fail” their perception check of the surrounding environments, somehow rolling a 1 against a difficulty check of 0. While walking towards the princess, my left foot, encountered a rogue piece of rock, defiantly standing out against the smooth, cobblestone pathway around the fountain. This rock, was just a seemingly ordinary piece of stone. However, today, this rock, managed to find the courage and tenacity, to take on the undefeated dragon slayer, Kotato. In the cruelest twist of fate, this rock, with the skillfulness of a mountain, became the heaviest object in the observable universe, valiantly battling my foot for supremacy of the earth’s domain. While the battle was fierce, and raged for but a mere blip in time, my foot, was no match for the tenacity and valor this rock displayed, in ferocious defiance of its simple fate, forcing my foot to crumple, under the sheer pressure emitted from the piece of oppressive minerals. As a result, my footing, became twisted, as I felt myself losing balance, falling forward.
While I was falling, instead of expertly catching myself on the ground in front of me, this rock, had somehow managed to alter my trajectory, such that my estimated impact zone, was now the marbled fountain filled with pristine and clear, refreshing water.
*SPLASH!*
*Cough**Cough*Gah!*
“Disgusting.
...
Adventurers, his majesty has requested your presence in the dinning hall. I expect both of you to promptly be ready. The king loathes tardiness.”
My mind, was a foggy mess, but eventually, it gradually started to make sense of my environment again, having been abruptly woken from my dream. Standing in front of me, was the maid from last night, Stella, holding a now empty wooden bucket. Faint, specks of water, could be seen dripping from the wooden basin as I gradually had the realization I was soaked from head to toe. Finally, my vision corrected itself, as I looked to my left to see Inari, also coughing, from unexpectedly being assaulted by the bucket’s contents as well. Last night, I remembered her falling asleep on my shoulder, and any peacefulness from that moment, was seemingly forgotten, as both of us were now fighting to catch our breath from unexpectedly being assaulted by a simple pail of water.
Eventually, the maid turned to walk away, lightly cursing under her breath at having to take care of such abhorrent individuals. Once they had left the stables, I managed to find my footing, and helped the dripping, soaked fox beside me to her feet as well. Then, with a flick of their paws, I felt a warm gust of wind surround me, gradually drying my soaked clothing from the comforting heat’s embrace. Inari’s fur also began to gradually dry as well, making itself rather puffy as a result, showcasing all of it’s fluffiness for the world to see. Then, not wanting to keep the “diligent” attendant waiting too much longer, both of us left our “lodgings” to follower her into the royal palace for our prepared meal. If a bucket of water was our wake-up greeting, I could only imagine the level of hospitality we would be showered in for breakfast!
Thankfully, whatever doubts I harbored for a welcoming meal, were without cause. Seemingly, we were met with a normal meal inside the dining room, which was filled with the king, the princess, Raya, Daemonium, and the other heroes. Before us on the table, was an extravagant feast of meats, eggs, breads, and vegetables. As the attendant led us to our spots, the king began speaking to everyone present about the upcoming plans for the day.
“Champions, today, is a day, for greatness! I have unwavering faith that you will conquer the 12th floor of the labyrinth during this expedition. Once again, I have arranged for the dungeon’s closure for a week, which will ideally be ample time to progress and clear it’s depths.
Now, Commander Raya will review the finer details.”
“Thank you, your majesty.
Heroes and champions, today we wil—”
The plan was pretty basic and mostly what Raya had mentioned to Inari and I last night in the mess hall. As I slowly filled my plate with a wide assortment of meats and bread, Raya described how we would quickly traverse the earlier floors, ignoring most of the monsters while proceeding directly towards the stairs to descend further. This was to preserve our energy for the harder, deeper floors of the labyrinth. While she was speaking, I took note of the other heroes and their respective attitudes.
Haru, was leaning back in his chair, resting his feet on the silken table cloth as he haphazardly shoveled food down his throat. The sword and bow heroes were both properly eating their meals, utilizing the utensils given to them in an appropriate manner, while the magic hero was unenthusiastically “picking” at his meal while angrily staring at Inari. Even though the atmosphere was tense, the meal was definitely a step up from the meat and potatoes we had been served last night. Eventually, after finishing our fancy breakfast and asking Raya any questions about the upcoming labyrinth assault plan, we were escorted out of the dinning hall to meet up with the rest of the elite guards that would be joining us. In total, 27 of us would be delving into the labyrinth. The party was made up of the 4 summoned heroes, Commander Raya with her 20 hand-selected soldiers, then finally, Inari and myself.
To my surprise, we were led outside the royal palace entrance and directed towards a large and impressive stone building off to the side where some guards were diligently standing near the metal doors. Above the plain metal, was a slightly more intricate sign which read: “Solara’s Labyrinth Entrance”. As we approached, the guards opened the gates, revealing a rather large foyer. On the left-hand side, was a long, wooden desk, much like the one seen at the adventurer guild branch, except suspiciously lacking in attendants. At the far end of the room, was a large, and imposing, pair of stone doors, pried open, revealing a dark and intimidating abyss. As we approached the stone doors, I was impressed at the intricate designed carved into them. The left door had the images of a dragon, wolf, and 9-tailed kitsune, facing towards a sun in the middle. On the right stone door, were the images of a hawk, with a serpent dangling in it’s claws, being cast into an ocean below. Additionally, a... Mermaid...? Also appeared to be present, raising it’s trident towards the hawk from the safety of the sea. Finally, at the very top of the doors, were winged creatures, which looked very similar to angles, blowing trumpets towards the hawk. As I was lost in thought about the images adorning the stone doors, Raya, began speaking to us in her commanding voice.
“Champions, our expedition will now begin. Remember, preserve your energy until we get to the 8th floor.”
Calmly, we marched in single file behind Raya, with the heroes near the front. As we descended the ancient, stone staircase, all along the walls, were simple wooden torches, illuminating the eery pathway in an effort to guide us towards our destination. After roughly a minute of descending the spiraling, well-worn stone steps, we arrived on a dirt floor, with a large, open stone archway. Along the side of the entranceway, was a message carved into the cavern walls itself, which read: Labyrinthus Incipe – Level 1.
Looking into the room, I could see a large, open-aired spacing, with minimal rocks, cliffs, and cover. The room was mostly flat, with simple camps littered throughout. Amongst each camp, appeared to be small, green, demonic beings, which were cautiously eyeing us as we entered the labyrinth floor. None of the goblins dared attack us, probably due to fear and the vast difference in power we posed compared to them. Their innate, brutal instinct, was being suppressed in an effort to keep their barbaric selves alive. To my right, Inari was happily taking in the sights of the labyrinth floor, as her tail happily bounced around in excitement. Traversing the floor was rather simple, as we were met with no resistance, other than the uncomfortable cries from the nearby goblins. After around 6 minutes of walking, we eventually reached the direct opposite end of the floor, to find another staircase descending deeper.
...
After about an hour of traversing the floors, we eventually reached the 5th level, marked by simple words etched into the stone archway entrance which read: Level 5. Along the way, we had met skeletons on the 2nd floor which had attempted to attack us, but were easily destroyed by Inari’s cleanse ability, which was highly effective against the undead. The 3rd floor was hardly worth mentioning, as it was seemingly littered with only silk grubs crawling along the ground. The most annoying part about traversing that particular level, was the constant barrage of sticky, silken thread shot at us from the disgruntled insects as we trespassed on their domain. The 4th floor, posed a bit more of a challenge from the traditional “slimes” that were its inhabitants, much more difficult than the pitiful excuse for a foe many isekai shows made them out to be. The balls of slime, were actually quite agile, making landing a blow on them rather difficult. Thankfully, we were able to ignore most of them and their annoyance to conserve our strength.
Now, having officially stepping into the 5th floor, all of the reports were in fact, very accurate to their contents. Level 5, was home to seemingly normal, dairy cows. From my experience, they were the typical white and black spotted variety you would often see in fields while driving through the countryside, with large udders hanging beneath their bulky frame. Furthermore, unlike the previous floors which were covered in nothing more than plain dirt, the 5th level was instead covered in vast, grassy planes. Many of the cows, were grazing upon the unsuspecting foliage beneath their hooves, completely oblivious to our presence as we marched on. This... Peaceful scene between nature and expedition continued, until...
*MOOOOOO!!*
The ferocious, undeniable characteristic sound of a cow’s battle cry, raged across the field.
...
No, for whatever reason, the spear hero, skillfully stabbed one of the nearby dairy cattle through the head with his extravagant weapon, skewering it, causing an explosion of blood and brain matter to burst forth from the now ruptured skull. Then, eviscerating the remainder of the bull’s head, the spear hero violently flicked the blood littering his weapon onto the grassy planes below, as the bovine’s body collapsed onto the foliage, staining it in a new, vibrant red. Then, he spoke to us in a cocky tone as the nearby cattle rapidly began to scatter after witnessing their friend’s unexpected death.
“Pfft, this joke floor is ridiculous. It reminds me of that mass demon slaying game where these things had a whole level dedicated to them, except those cows were “slightly” more challenging to face. You know the one I’m talking about, don’t you?”
Sighing at the spear hero’s comments as he stared towards me, I was indeed familiar with the game he was referencing, having spent many hours playing it myself. However, that didn’t give him a reason to so brutally murder one of the cows for no reason. I mean, I guess they were technically considered monsters being spawned within the labyrinth, but his actions felt cruel for no reason, other than because “he could”. He was also still adamant that I was someone from his world, which was probably true, but I didn’t indulge him or his comments, choosing to shrug my shoulders while replying “I have no idea what you’re talking about.” Which only made him more furious. Eventually, after a few more cows suffered an unfortunate end at the behest of the spear hero, we started our descent towards the 6th level.
Upon entering this floor, the elite knights joining us, immediately entered a defensive formation, while Raya and the heroes appeared to be more alert. This floor, was much more like a cavern in design, containing several separate tunnels we could choose to explore. Following them, the group selected the leftmost passageway. To my surprise, our marching pace become noticeably slower. That’s when I noticed near the front, the bow hero, skillfully cut something near the ground with a simple knife. Instantly, in response to his actions, a flurry of arrows launched themselves from one of the nearby cavern walls, impaling themselves on the opposite side. It appeared that traps were now present along our journey, which explained the increased caution the party was exhibiting. Not long after the trap had been setoff, I began to hear the sound of claws scrambling across rocky surfaces. That’s when Raya shouted her commands to us.
“The kobolds are here, earlier than usual. Maintain defensive formations and erect some barriers to deflect their poisoned arrows.”
Without hesitation, I heard some of the sorcerers beside me chant their spell for a simple barrier, which Inari happily joined them in reinforcing. She also applied a few status buffs as well, such as a basic poison protection buff. Then, after a few moments, I finally made visual contact with one of the small, reptilian creatures.
The kobold, was a small dragon-like being, standing upright on 2 legs with a red, scaly tail dragging along the ground behind it. In it’s claws, it appeared to be holding a primitive wooden bow, with an arrow already drawn, ready to fire. Upon seeing the expedition party, it fired the arrow without hesitation, then opted to draw a crude steel dagger along it’s waist as it rapidly began closing the distance. Behind it, another 10 kobolds entered the area, quickly charging out behind their leader, brandishing equally jagged blades and clubs.
*Schroon**Thunk!*
The arrow lodged itself neatly within the barriers, suspended in the air above us, quickly followed by the crashing sound of the kobold throwing it’s body into the invisible resistance. Moments later, the remaining kobolds had also joined their leader in it’s frantic and ruthless assault against our defensives. Skilfully, some of the elite sorcerers cast some firebolts which managed to gravely wound a few of the kobolds. I, decided to join them as well, instead opting to cast my flaming spear spell, expertly eliminating the remaining assailants. Once the battle had ended, we once again, resumed formation, continuing our journey through the sparsely lit cave. Fortunately, we didn’t come across any more kobolds during our trek, but I was still surprised at how aggressive and tactful they were in utilizing a trap against intruders.
From there, the 7th floor had us briefly “hunted” by a pack of around 20 feral wolves, which were eliminated fairly quickly without much resistance on our part, although I could tell the elite guard was having to put in much more effort surrounding their defences. This was one of the more unique parts about the labyrinth it seemed, as wolves were generally known to range from levels 1 to 3 on the surface of Solara’s forests, only getting stronger in the western regions of Willow’s Retrieve. In the labyrinth, these same wolves were a considerably harder challenge, possessing greater dexterity, strength, and tactics. Next, for the 8th floor, Inari and I were thankfully relieved that the ogres present were nothing like the monstrosity we had faced in the Eldermyst forest with the artifact. These ogres, while still roughly 12 feet tall with yellowish skin, were much easier to handle. We easily dispatched the dozen that approached us while the bow hero expertly eliminated the remaining ogres before they could get within a 30ft radius of the group.
On the 9th floor, I was amused at the mud golems that patrolled the level. Each one was roughly the size of a human, comprised of bulky arms and legs which more closely resembled clay than mud in my opinion. Their head was shaped like a helmet, only containing a single red eye that scanned their surroundings. Fortunately, these golems were not aggressive, so we could generally ignore them as we passed through. However, if we did get too close to one, it would seemingly get annoyed at our presence and attack. Inari and I only discovered this fact, when she happened to get too close to one of the golems while she was examining them. While Inari was thrilled to add more detailed notes to her adventuring journal, it was met with a disapproving gaze from Raya. Nonetheless, we made it through this floor without issue.
However, on the 10th floor, things started to get more difficult. The giant bats that made this particular level their home, were quite annoying to deal with. They were fairly quick and erratic in their movements, along with possessing a powerful “soundwave” type of attack in the form of an ear shattering screeching noise. Melee combat was useless, as most of the bats preferred to fly closer to the ceiling of the floor, which was taller than usual. A few of the elite guard took some injuries during the encounter, but were patched up rather easily with Inari’s healing capabilities. I also helped out where I could in healing the injured soldiers, since I also possessed stronger than normal light magic attributes. Overall, most of the bats were eliminated by the bow hero and magic hero using their signature abilities. Next, once we started descending the staircase to the 11th floor, Raya reviewed the upcoming assault plan for the goblins and hobgoblins known to reside on the level.
In short, we didn’t need to eliminate “all” of the enemies on a floor to progress, just focus on the ones blocking our pathway towards the next set of stairs. The goal was to quickly get to the staircase to utilize it as a “safe point” of sorts, as any goblins that tried to enter, would seemingly lose interest and return to their usual spots. Furthermore, from a combat status perspective, an individual goblin was now roughly as powerful as a single elite guard that was with us. On this note, the soldiers found it very hard to believe that their life’s work in training only made them slightly more powerful than the weakest monster in the kingdom. This meant any large brawls could easily get out of hand due to our similar power levels. Furthermore, once hobgoblins were thrown into the mix, it was obvious how this floor became dangerous for the average adventurer. Finally, after reviewing the upcoming strategy, much to the unenthusiastic body language of the spear hero, we entered the 11th floor.
As soon as the floor came into focus, I was easily able to spot 20 distinct goblin camps spread throughout the area. Keeping with the notion to avoid drawing as much attention as possible, we carefully began making our way around the eastern parameter of the room. Most of the camps appeared to be concentrated in the middle of the floor, making it difficult to take a straight path towards the next staircase.
As we continued walking in formation, we came across a goblin camp that was unavoidable along our parameter pathway. Thus, signaling we would have to fight, Raya instructed the heroes to swiftly eliminate them. Ahead of us, was roughly 10 goblins with 2 hobgoblins, all currently unaware of our group’s presence. Wanting to get closer, Inari and I slowly approached the vanguard where Kyle and Miles were presently preparing their attacks. For whatever reason, this prompted Miles to snort aggressively towards Inari while readjusting his glasses. Then, while raising his staff into the air for an offensive spell, spoke towards her in a pathetic tone saying: “I’ll show that stupid fox!”. Unfortunately, while I was expecting him to be a little more subtle in his disdain for being “shown up” by Inari during the duel, the magical attack was anything but subtle. In a sense, the magic hero had decided on his own, that the best spell to use in this situation, was an over-the-top fireball spell. Raya’s face, along with the rest of the guard, was filled with panic, as Miles launched a giant flaming orb of death and destruction towards the goblin camp in front of us. While the spell “worked”, seemingly obliterating all 10 of the goblins instantly, while causing an explosion of burnt hobgoblin body parts to fly towards us, the spell was so far removed from the word “quiet” that our ears were quickly assaulted by the screams of other goblins nearby, frantically rushing towards us to avenge their fallen comrades. Based on my mana detection radar, it appeared an additional 30 individuals were now rapidly closing the distance between us, while Raya began shouting and reprimanding the magic hero.
“GAH!!!!!”
“Miles!!! Why the hell did you use such a noisy spell! Now you’ve alerted our presence to—”
“Whatever, I killed them, didn’t I? Now you need to deal with the stragglers while I recover my mana.”
“Seriously??!?! That’s—"
Quickly, Inari and I leapt to the rear of our formation to assist the elite guards. Most of them had already assumed a defensive formation, with several sorcerers already preparing destructive spells of their own. Amongst the incoming enemies, there appeared to be 10 hobgoblins and 20 goblins in total. A few of the beings had already begun attacking the guards when we arrived, prompting Inari to swiftly cast an earthen wall spell to buy us some additional time.
Unfortunately, the hobgoblins were fairly agile, and managed to leap over the 4ft walls with ease, but it at least helped separate some of the enemy forces. That’s when I managed to get into position with my sword at the ready.
*Schreen**Schwoon*
“GAH!!! RAWR!!!!!!”
I quickly eliminated 3 of the hobgoblins with precise stabs to their hearts, shredding them without issue, shocking some of the guards at the power displayed, as even their swords were having difficulties piercing the green and abhorrent flesh of the creatures. Next, for the remaining goblins, Inari thankfully had them covered.
“Kitsunebi!”
Choosing to speak for the spell to make her presence known, breathtakingly beautiful blue, purple, and white flames, engulfed all of the remaining goblins and hobgoblins within the area. Gut retching shrieks and cries, filled our ears as all of the foes before us, clutched their faces in pain, as their demonic flesh burned, boiled, and blistered under the radiating heat from Inari’s kitsunebi spell. Eventually, their agony came to an end, as their charred and burned bodies, crumpled in on themselves, dissolving into blackened dust and ash. Looking around, most of the guard were horrified after seeing Inari’s destructive spell of choice, now actively avoiding being near her. Not worried myself, having seen her favourite spell numerous times before, I calmly walked up to her, giving the confident fox a “fist bump” for their protective services.
“Hehe! Thanks Ko! Wasn’t that a great kitsunebi??? That has to be a new record for “most goblins charred with a single cast!””
“Agreed Inari, that was pretty good. I’m still impressed how you can effortlessly isolate their unique mana signature so quickly during combat. Looks like I still have a long way to go.”
“All with practice Ko! Oh! And you guys were really helpful as well! I can see why you’re the elite guard in the army. Those were some pretty impressive barrier spells! I really liked the compressed potency, which was rather precise for such short notice!”
“Thanks uhh... Miss Inari? But... Some of us are still confused at the random appearance of the earthen wall spell. None of us cast that, or had adequate time to prepare, so we’r—”
“Oh! That was me! Sorry about that, but I cast it quickly without speaking to buy us some more time when the goblins were appro—”
“Wait, you cast that without saying the incantation??? That’s incredible?!? Could you teach me how to do that??”
“Sure! I would be more than happy to teach you guys how to cast spells without speaking! First, all you’ve got to do is—”
*Sigh*
Without realizing it, the elite sorcerers had unexpectedly gotten Inari into a rant about how to do incantationless casting. While some of them seemed to grasp the general idea, I could tell from their faces they weren’t expecting for her to get into such detail on the topic of magical theory and spell formulation! Unfortunately, Inari’s explanation was cut short as Raya attempted to get everyone’s attention back towards making progress towards the 12th floor. Fortunately, since most of the goblins on the floor had been eliminated from our battle, we were much more relaxed during our walk, with some of the guard even thanking Inari personally for teaching them more about magic and protecting them. It was actually really positive seeing the elite guard accepting Inari more for her mastery over magic.
Eventually, after a few more minutes of walking and chatting in the more relaxed atmosphere, we finally arrived at the stone staircase to descend towards the 12th floor.