The Sky Was Dark And The Sun's Light Is Just Starting To Show Up When The Exodus Knights Left The Onyx Inn.
They Left Early To Finish A Quick Run To The Labyrinth Nimbus Heard of In The Tavern Yesterday Which Was Located East of Hedia.
The Rumors of Abnormally High Amount of Gold Dropped By The Monsters In There Interested Jouzu And Thus, Decided To Take A Look On The Labyrinth.
Jouzu: "Here We Are Guys, The Hedian Labyrinth's Entrance."
What Welcomed Them Was A Large Tunnel-like Entrance. It Was Made With Concrete That Towers Up High That Belittled Them As If They Were Just Insects, The Inside Was Dark And Void As If There's Something In There That The Entrance Hides From Anyone.
They Went Inside The Dark Entrance And Lead Them To A Hallway Full of Torches.
The Area Was Unexpectedly Well Lit Inside, The Outside Appearance Seemed To Only Scare off Anyone Who Dared To Enter The Labyrinth.
They Conducted A Quick Scan of The Area, Monsters Were Crawling Everywhere. The Rumors Were True About The Monster's Inside Was No Lower Than Rank B+, The Lowest Was Rank B+ While The Highest They Saw Was Rank S.
It Caused Them Surprise To See Such High Ranked Monsters Inside The What They Call The Newb Area. Monsters Inside It Would Likely Start From F- To B- But The Labyrinth Was Different, It Was An Anomaly. A Large One. The Labyrinth Would Likely Change The Information About The Newb Area.
Nimbus: "HAHAHAHAHAHA! This Is Good! Real Good! For Such Monsters To Be Here, I Would Be More Than Happy To Tank Them All At Once!"
Nimbus Boasted.
Irish: "Oh C'mon! You Can't Do That! If You're Too Reckless I Wouldn't Be Able To Outheal The Damage You Take."
Sigrun: "We Can Always Let Him Die Anyways."
Nimbus: "Hey! Thats Rude!"
Sigrun: "Yeah, Yeah, Whatever."
The Exodus Knights Were Lively Despite Knowing The Monsters Inside The Labyrinth, Probably Because They Knew How Skilled Each One of Them Was And How They've Been Through Times. Although They Were Lively They Were Also Cautious, Rank B+ Monsters Would Be In A Different League Than The Treant They Fought Which Only Ranks To C+, The Monsters In The Labyrinth Would Be Close To The Strength of The Giant Ogre They Fought Before.
It Was A High Risk For Them And Maybe Even Dangerous, But They're Curiosity Was Strong Enough To Push Them To Go.
Its Been A Little While Since They Were Inside, But They Haven't Done Anything. The Danger of Fighting Monsters of Higher Rank Probably Is What's Inside Their Head.
It Was Like That Until Jouzu Told Them They Had To Go Deeper Inside.
As They Ventured Through The Labyrinth's Hallways, They've Encountered Monsters. The Monsters Noticed Their Presence And Went After Them. A Group of Skeleton Knights Attacked Them.
[Skeleton Knight Lv. 12] x3
[12,730/12,730]
[8,000/8,000]
[Skeleton Knight Lv. 8] x5
[9,200/9,200]
[6,370/6,370]
Jouzu: "Oh Wow! Higher Ranked Monsters Are Really Strong Look At Their HP To Level Ratio, Quite High For Levels 8 To 12."
Nimbus: "AHAHAHAHAHAHAHA! These Little Punks Isn't A Problem With My New Gear! They Won't Stand A Chance Against Us!"
Jouzu: "Still, We Need To Be Careful. Their Ranks Are Quite High So Their Skills Might Be A Little Different."
They Took Their Stances As They Prepare To Engage The Group of Skeletons. Nimbus Came Rushing Into The Middle And Used His Taunting Skill ｢Defender's Roar｣ Immediately.
Nimbus' Move Was Followed By A Barrage of Gunfire From Shard, Streaks of White Light Were Shot Towards The Skeletons. Then Shortly After, Jouzu, Sigrun And Mischa Came Rushing To The Skeletons, Preparing To Slash Them With Their Sword.
The Skeletons Didn't Seem To Faze A Bit, They Were Taunted But They Successfully Blocked Some of Shard's Bullets Using Their Circular Shield, They Also Parried Some of The Attacks Jouzu And The Others Unleashed. They Were Truly In A Different Level Than The Other Skeleton Mobs.
Nimbus Was Taking A Significant Amount of Damage, It Was Not High Nor Too Low But His Depleting HP Required Healing In Order To Stay Green, As Such, Irish Used Her Healing Skills To Heal Nimbus That Earned Her A Thumbs Up From Him, She Replied With A Nod And Continued Doing Her Job As The Group's Healer.
The Fight Took Quite A While, The Skeletons Were Parrying And Blocking Their Attacks As If They Knew How To Fight, They Also Attacked Precisely And Swiftly, But In The End, It Was The Exodus Knights' Victory. All of Them Took Damage Unlike The Other Fights Which They Finished Easily. Of Course, The Treant And The Ogre Was An Exception.
[Received:]
+12 Tough Bone
+1 Undead Core
+214,000 Gold
+3,200 Exp.
Nimbus: "What Th- TWO HUNDRED FOURTEEN THOUSAND GOLD!? Am I Seeing This Right? This Amount Is Heavenly Ridiculous!"
Jouzu: "I Also Got The Same Amount So Yes, You Are Seeing It Right. Seems Like The Unusually High Amount of Gold Drop From Monsters Here Were True."
Sigrun: "The Exp Was Low Though, Monsters With This Rank Would Give About 2 To 3 Times More Exp."
Nimbus: "Who Cares About That Sh*t, WE HAVE THIS HUGE AMOUNT OF FORTUNE RIGHT IN FRONT OF US! We Need To Grind More For Gold!"
Jouzu: "Well, I Would Like A Little More Exp Though But Grinding For Gold Would Suffice For Now. We Might Need In The Future So We Might As Well Get As Much As Possible."
Nimbus: "Hell Yeah! Its Always Go For Gold!"
With That, They Continued To Venture Deeper Into The Hedian Labyrinth. They Encountered Another Group of Skeletons But This Time They Were Twice As Many. The First One Already Gave Them A Good Amount of Damage, But Encountering Twice As Many Would Give Them A Hard Time. They Did Their Usual Way of Fighting, Nimbus Starts With A Taunt, Shard Shoots, Jouzu, Sigrun And Mischa Rushes And Irish Heals Everyone.
The Fight Made Their HP Drop Below 50% And The Only Ones Higher Than That Was Shard And Irish. Irish's Mana Is Also In Trouble, It Was Already At 25% In Just Two Battles.
On The Other Side, They Have Earned More Than Half A Million Gold In Just Two Battles. They Have Also Earned Experience, Though Its Numbers Were Smaller.
In Their Current Situation They Have Considered Taking A Break, But Unless They've Found A Safe Zone They Can't. Without A Choice, They Ventured Deeper To Find A Safe Zone To Rest Themselves And Help Irish Recover Some of Her Missing Mana. Without A Healer, They Wouldn't Last Long Inside The Labyrinth.
They Could Last Long If They Used Their Unique Gears But Those Gears Were Like Cheat That Gave Them Overpowered Stats And Attributes. They Wanted To Go Around The World Fairly, Unless A Situation That Would Put Them Into Danger Arose.
Irish: "Hey Guys, Do You Think There Would Be Any Safe Zones Here?"
Sigrun: "Every Dungeon Or Labyrinth Has A Safe Zone Inside It."
Irish: "Well Thats Assuring, But Will We Find One Before We Run Out of HP And Mana?"
Jouzu: "I'm Sure We'll Find One Before That Happens."
Irish: "Well If You Say So."
They Continued To Walk Their Way Inside, But No Signs of A Safe Zone Was Visible. They Surveyed Area Once Again And Found Out That They Were Still In The Lower Stage of The Labyrinth, Which Was Good Considering Their Situation.
Monsters Were Still Crawling Around The Area, Most of Them Were Just Skeleton Knights But They Could Pose A Serious Problem If They Gathered More Than The Ones They Previously Encountered.
They Also Have Regenerated A Small Percentage of Their HP And Mana While Walking, Which Is A Good Thing.
Then Once Again, They Encountered A Group of Skeleton Knights.
Nimbus: "HA HA HA HA! More of Them I See! These Little Punks Never Learned Have They? They've No Match For Us!"
Nimbus Rushed Into The Skeletons And Taunted Them, The Group Numbered Only To 6 So Fighting Them Wouldn't Be Much of A Problem. They Changed Their Attack Pattern As Jouzu, Sigrun And Mischa Followed Suit After Nimbus' Taunt And Slashed The Skeletons. Shard Followed Them With Gunfires That Echoed Through The Labyrinth's Hallway. The Fight Was Over In Just A Few Moments After And Nimbus, Jouzu, Sigrun And Mischa Took A Small Amount of Damage.
Irish Only Congratulated Them For Their Good Work, She Can't Afford To Lose More Mana Than What She Currently Have Right Now Or Else, The Party Would Be In Danger. They Continued Their Walk To Find A Safe Zone.
As They Walked, Jouzu Received A Notification. It Was A Whisper Coming From Eric. He Accepted It And Eric Began Speaking To Him.
Eric: "Good Day Jouzu. Hmm, I Can Tell You Guys Are In A Dungeon Or Something Right Now."
Jouzu: "Good Day Too Eric. You're Right, We Are Currently In The Hedian Labyrinth Grinding For Some Gold And Exp."
Eric: "Hmm, Hmm, I See. Anyways, I Decided To Whisper You To Tell Ya Something."
Jouzu: "What Is It?"
Eric: "After You Guys Finish Whatever You Are Doing There, Come Here In My Office. Our Research Team Has Found Out Something About Your Evil Fragment."
Jouzu: "Really? Thanks A Bunch Miste- Eric. I'll Notify You If We're Done Here."
Eric: "Alright, That's All I Have To Day. Be Careful In There."
Jouzu: "Thanks. We'll Take Care."
Then The Communication Cut Off As Soon As Eric Heard Jouzu's Reply. The Whisper System Has Been Pretty Useful For Him So Far. It Allowed Him To Talk To The Others When He Was Away Or Without Them Conveniently, The Way To Use It Was Actually Easy And Privacy Was Also Protected As He'll Only Use His Mind To Reply Like Telepathy.
Still Walking, They Have Went In Random Directions To Map Out The Labyrinth. Sigrun Calculated That They Have Discovered At Least 30% of The Labyrinths Lower Floors. The Safe Zone Was Still Nowhere To Be Found In Their Area And Monsters Are Everywhere Around Them.
For The First Time Since They Came Into Pristonia, They Have Experienced A Hard Time. Their HP Was Almost At The 55% Mark, Irish, Who Was Their Healer Had Her Mana Drained, Roughly 30% of It Was Left, Leaving Them In A Hard And Rough Situation.
They Had Thoughts of Going Back, But It Was Immediately Debunked Because of Their Condition. They Would Likely Die If They Did And All of Them Didn't Want To Experience Death, There Are Rumors That "Players" Would Respawn After Being Slain But Its Not A 100% Reliable. Maybe, Just Maybe, They Could Resort To Death If They Can't Make It.
After Quite Sometime Mischa Spotted A Large Hall, It Was Clear, Spacious, And Dark. They Discussed Whether To Go In Or Not To Go In And In The End. It Maybe A Room For A Boss, A Safe Zone Or Another Area Inside The Large Labyrinth, The Possibilities Were Unknown Thus, Making A Decision Should Be In Utmost Care. In The End, They All Decided To Take The Risk And Go Into The Area.
With Their Alertness Heightened, Weapons Held, And Hopes High, They Entered The Dark Hall. The Atmosphere Was Cold And The Darkness Surrounded Them As They Entered The Unknown Area, They All Gathered Closer Together In Order To Give Help When One's Been Put In Trouble Or In An Unexpected Situation.
Mischa: "It Is Sure Dark In Here, I Can Barely See A Thing."
Sigrun: "I Really Hope That This Isn't Trouble, Were In A Tight Situation Right Now."
Mischa: "Yeah, Hope We'll Be Fine."
Nimbus: "Don't Worry, For I, The Invincible Tank, Will Protect Everyone In Any Kind of Trouble."
Sigrun: "Yeah, "Protect" Everyone When Your HP Is The Lowest In Our Party."
Nimbus: "Ehehehehehe..."
Nimbus Then Scratched His Head And Laughed Awkwardly. He Knew That He Isn't Really Much of Use Right Now, He Might Be A Tank That Has The Most Defense But With His HP And The Monsters' Rank, There's A High Chance That He'll Die And Of Course, None of Them Neither Him Wanted To Die.
Jouzu: "Stay Alert Guys, Try To Get A Feel of Each Other, Would Be Much Better If You Will Hold Each Others Hands Or Clothes. It'll Be Hard To Search In This Area With This Darkness If Someone Gets Lost So We Must Do Safety Precautions."
The Darkness Shows No Sign of Fading As They Slowly Walked Forward. Their Guide, Which Was The Map Shows Information Yet, Inside The Dark Hall It Was Useless It Would Only Show A Dark Patch And Their Indicators On It.
Jouzu: "Stop!"
Jouzu Commanded, Which Everyone Followed.
Irish: "Is There Anything Wrong?"
Jouzu: "Do You Guys Hear Something?"
Mischa: "Hear Something Like What?"
Jouzu: "You Know, Something Like Creaky And Boney."
Everyone Went Completely Silent For A Moment To Confirm Jouzu's Words.
*Creak, Creak* (Dunno Whats The Sound of Bones Falling But Whatever.)
Jouzu: "Everyone, Stay Alert. This Sounds Like Trouble."
Irish: "Oh Please Tell Me This Isn't A Boss Room."
Nimbus: "I Hope So, I Might Be The Invincible Tank But, There Is Still An Extent To When I'll Fight."
Sigrun: "Stay Sharp. If We Get Into Trouble We're Definitely Done For."
The Creaking Continued As They Walk, It Got Louder And Louder Until A Huge Door Came Into Their Sights.
Irish: "Uh-Oh, This Does Not Look Really Good."
Jouzu: "Alright, There's Two Possibilities Regarding That Door. One, Is That Is The Safe Zone We Are Looking For And Two, A Door That Leads Into One of The Labyrinth's Boss Monster."
Mischa: "What About The Sounds We Heard Earlier."
Jouzu: "Honestly, I Don't Know. But One Thing Is For Sure, It Got Louder When We Walked Towards That Door Over There."
Jouzu Said, As He Points His Finger To The Door.
Shard: "Uh... G-Guys..."
Shard Muttered.
Everyones Head Turned To Her Since It Was Rare For Her To Speak. She Isn't Much of A Talker But When She Says Something, It Was Mostly Something Important.
Jouzu: "What Is It Shard?"
Shard: "L-Look At The F-F-Floor..."
Then Everyone's Eyes Looked Into What They Are Stepping, And What They Saw Was Shocking.
Irish: "W-W-What The Hell Is This!?"
Irish Shouted, Showing Her Surprise And Fear.
On Their Feets Was A Graveyard of Bones Shattered Into Tiny Pieces, Some Were Almost Powder-Like. It Was A Horrifying Sight, From The Looks of It, Many Adventurers Have Met Their Fate In There, It Was As If They Experienced Something Horrible Before They Had Their Deaths. For Their Bones To Be Crushed To That Extent Only Means One Thing, Something Evil Lurks Around The Area And Brutally Kills Whatever It Encounters On Its Sight.