Chapter 6: Chapter 6
<Title Acquired: Labyrinth Explorer>
Day One:
The first room I enter is a cave-like tunnel lit by glowing blue crystals and filled with a horrible smell of blood and rotten flesh. I can hear people screaming, crying out for help in the distance, but I can do nothing. If only I was closer, I could have saved them. One by one, the cries go out. Some just go silent while others give one last scream. This place is far worse than the first place I woke up in this world.
Stomp! Stomp! Stomp!
I stop. Something is coming. Readying my sword, I prepare to fight.
Stomp! Stomp! Stomp!
I face the direction of the sound I coming from, feeling the ground shake.
Stomp! Stomp! Stomp!
It's here. I don't even know what to call this thing. It is tall, about three times my size, thin and humanoid in shape but with blood-stained pale pink skin. Its head is topped with countless eyes all over its head. I can't see a mouth, but somehow, it grows at me. Still, the most terrifying thing about this creature is its hands that end in three bloodied, razor-sharp claws. If this is the monster that killed those people screaming, I will make sure they are avenged. No matter how many times I need to die in the process.
It runs at me in a beast-like manner on all fours revealing a spiked spine. This thing looks like it was born to be a killer. Not that it intimidates me after everything I have been through. I run forward to meet its charge but duck at the last minute and slice open its belly. I might just be mistaken, but I swear I see shock in the eyes of this monster before it dies. Hopefully, the people it killed can rest in peace now.
I need to keep moving. Even as the monster's body turns to dust, I know I will not be safe until I escape this place. Unfortunately, it's doesn't take me long to find the sight of the massacre. It looks like a family was killed by that monster. The father died with a stone in his hand, the mother protecting a young child that lies lifelessly beneath her. If only I was closer, I might have been able to save them. I take their ID and valuables to return them to their relatives and move on. This place is worse than the cave I woke up in. There wasn't so much death back there.
I open my map a sigh in relief when I see the labyrinth has been fully mapped out. It doesn't tell me where the monsters and other people are, but I won't get lost. But my excitement doesn't last long. I may be down here for days with how giant the labyrinth is. I need to find food and water as soon as possible.
I keep walking steadily, fast enough to cover ground but not so fast as I will walk into an ambush. It is slow going as I have to take down three Skeleton Soldiers and twelve Rat monsters, but I make good progress this day. I even have three new iron short swords for my efforts. I also go some rat meat to eat if I get hungry, but I am not looking forward to trying it. But by the time I make camp for the night, I am still far from the exit.
Day Two:
It isn't so bad. I try telling myself that, but I don't believe it. I find a dead fat man not far from where I set up camp for the night. His body has been torn in half, nearly making me throw up, and his left arm is missing. I really wish I didn't have to see this. Like with that family from before, I take the man's Identification Papers and valuables to return to his family. This man must be rich. He had more money on him than that family I found, and he even had a cane topped with a giant ruby. I am tempted to keep it, but that wouldn't be fair for his family.
I have to keep moving forward. If I let myself freeze up at the sight of bloodshed, I will never escape this place. I follow my map through the twisting tunnels, I am glad I have a guide, or I would definitely have gotten lost along the way. If only it would tell me where the monsters are to avoid them. I have to take out a room full of those Rat monsters along my way. I won't be running short on rat meat any time soon, but I am still not looking forward to trying it.
I stop for lunch in a small cave full of monsters and eat the last of the goblin meat I had on me. I really don't want to eat rat meat, so hopefully, I will find something else to eat along the way. Water is still a problem, but I still have a water skin to ration out for now. Still, I will need to find a water source soon. I take a quick nap to save my progress before moving on. Oh, I am level elven now. I must have levelled up while fighting those monsters.
I have ten more skill points to spend. I spend one to unlock estimation level one. It might not be helpful to me now, but it will be when I get out of here, so I spend another two to gain another level in that skill. I also unlock the cooking and fire-starting skills, levelling them up to level two. I have one skill point left to spend. Out of the skills I can unlock, there is one that might come in handy here. I spend my last point on unlocking fear resistance level one. It might just be my imagination, but I already feel calmer. It looks like my intelligence has also gained a point.
As soon as I wake up, I get moving right away. It isn't straightforward this time as I nearly walk into a trap. Thank god I noticed the wire as when I investigated, I found the tripwire to be linked to a crossbow that would have fired a poisonous bolt. I may have died several times already, but I don't want to know what it is like to die from being poisoned. I take the crossbow and wire with me before I move on. You never know. It might come in handy later on.
Two Hours Later:
I really want to get out of this place. I have had to fight enough Rat monsters for multiple lifetimes and have over one hundred pieces of rat meat in my storage. It might be wrong to hope for this, but I really hope to start running into a different kind of monster with all my heart. Preferably something weak and tasty.
I enter another cavern and find it empty, but at least I see there is running water. It might be dangerous to drink this water, but I have no choice but to try it. I stop to refill my water skin before moving on. After going so long without finding a source, I better not be killed by this water. Unfortunately, I have my third encounter with a dead body when I leave the cavern. This time it is an old man with a whip in on arm and his head torn from his body. I take his whip, papers and valuables from before and leave. Or that was what I was planning on doing until I heard someone groaning and stop.
"Hello," I call out while looking around. "Is anyone there?"
I hear another groan and quickly run to a small hole in the centre of the floor. Someone must have fallen into a pitfall trap. I quickly rush to the edge and spot them. A girl who doesn't look much older than me lays in the bottom of the pit. She has light silver hair, with a pair of bunny ears sticking out and a deep red stain from a cut on her forehead. A tall, muscular body, large chest, but that doesn't make me jealous, and the only clothing she is wearing is tattered rags covered in dirt and fall of holes. She also has some sort of collar around her neck like those… is this girl enslaved? That doesn't matter right now. She's still breathing for now, but the pool of blood is alarming. If I don't act fast, she is going to die.
I jump down into the pit without hesitation and check on the girl. Apart from the cut on her head, she doesn't appear to have any other injuries, although her back is covered in scars. That man must have whipped her. That is the only way I can explain those scars. I am no doctor, but that dead man up top had a minor healing potion that I hope works just as well as in video games. I take out the potion and help the girl drink it well, hoping it works.
I hold my breath and smile when I see the girl's bleeding stop. The wound leaves a scar behind, but at least she will survive. I set the girl down and let her rest, but she wakes up before I can take one step away from her. I was planning on preparing something for her to eat and drink. Instead, I find myself pinned to the ground about to be straggled, but then the girl collapses, looking like she is struggling to breathe.
"Hey, are you okay?" Despite everything that just happened, I can't stop myself from helping her. "It's going to be okay. I am not going to hurt you."
The girl slowly starts to calm down and catch her breath, but she still glares at me with cold blue eyes. She really is good at showing appreciation to the person that saved her. She looks like she is about to kill her saviour if I am not mistaken. I put my hands up and smiled.
"My name is Kura," I tell her. "I was trapped here just like you. After I stumbled across an old man's body, I found you here and healed you."
"He's dead?" I nod my head to her question, and a dark smile takes hold of her lips. "Good. My only regret is that I didn't get to kill him myself. That bastard used me to test for traps."
"Since we are both trapped down here, how about we try to escape together?" I offer, but she only glares at me. "I have a spare weapon you can borrow, and together I am sure we will stand a better chance."
"Fine," She huffs. "Give me a weapon, and let's get going. But slow me down, I and will leave you behind."
"Understood," I reply, taking out one of the iron swords I have acquired and handing it to her. "Follow me. I have a skill that can lead us to the exit."
"Lead the way then," She nods. We climb out of the hole, and the girl swings her sword around, testing it a few times. "Nice sword. Are you sure I can have it?"
"I already have this one," I tell her, patting the sword holstered on my hip. "Keep it for as long as you need."
"I will return it once we are free from this demon's maze then," The girl replies, holstering the sword. I am glad those skeletons dropped sheaths with their swords, unlike the one I got from the goblin. "Don't expect me to pay you back for this. I have nothing to offer you."
"It's fine," I smile. "Getting out of here alive is payment enough. "By the way, what's your name?"
"Bunny," The girl replies before glaring at me again. "Don't laugh at it. That man stole my birth name from me when he became my master. I can never take it back."
It must be a slave thing to be able to rename a person. I don't bother to ask her about it and just pick our root on the map. We start to walk with the girl staying a few steps behind me. It won't bother me if she runs away, but I don't want her to stab me in my back as we walk. I am sure she won't be cruel enough to stab the person who saved her life in the back.
Eight Hours Later:
We stop for the night in an empty cavern. We find some wooden to burn and make a small fire. Unfortunately, all I had to eat was the rat meat, but it didn't taste as bad as I imagined once cooked. I still won't be craving more, but at least it is edible. On the other hand, Bunny has no problems with the meat, happily eating her share and even my leftovers. I wouldn't be surprised if she told me that the old man starved her after watching her eat.
"Are you a noble or something?" Bunny asks, licking her fingers clean of the juices from the meat.
"Nope," I shake my head. "Just a commoner."
"You sure are a picky eater for a commoner," Bunny comments. "Every commoner I know would never let someone steal their leftovers."
"It's nothing," I shake my head. "I just don't like rat meat."
"Meats, meat, it doesn't matter what kind as long as it is edible," Bunny comments as she lays down. "Do you mind taking the first watch?"
"No, I don't mind," I tell her, but she is already asleep.
Day Three:
We start moving as soon as we have eaten. Today, I have planned our route to take a detour to a cavern with water inside. It will add an extra hour to our walk, but we can't afford to miss even a single water source with two of us now. On another note, we are nearly out of the labyrinth. It should only be one or maybe two days at most. I can hardly wait to get out of here.
Surprisingly, Bunny is still with me too. I had been expecting her to run off during the night while I slept, but she decided to stick with me. I wish she would stop glaring at the back of my head. But I can't deny having her here with me isn't coming in handy. Last night I slept better than I ever had since entering the labyrinth, and she has good eyes. Already she has saved me from a slim waiting to ambush me from the ceiling.
"I can hear something in the next room," Bunny says, sticking her arm out to stop me. "Sounds like there are at least two large monitors in there."
"Let us try to sneak by,"
We slip through unseen. We sneak when we can and fight when we must. That has been our policy, and it has got us through multiple rooms already. Unfortunately, it didn't always work. In the room before this one, we had to fight three giant caterpillar type monsters. They weren't tough, but the threat they shot at us was annoying and dodging them was a pain. But that was worth the knowledge I gained of finding monster craws. Mainly due to Bunny, we now have three grade three cores. But back to the current situation, we manage to slip through the room unnoticed.
The next cavern should be the one with a water source. Hopefully, there are no monsters there, so we can resupply our water in peace. But our luck doesn't hold out. We both hear the sounds in the room at the same time. Metal smashing metal, cries of pain and hatred mixed with those of victory. It sounds like a large fight is happening in there. We slowly creep forward and draw our weapons. Peeping inside the cavern, we see a large battle playing out between a group of soldiers and a horde of zombies.
"Spearmen, keep the undead back!" The soldier that appears to be in charge yells at orders waving his sword around. "Archers, don't stop firing! Keep thining out their numbers! Zena! Prepare another spell!"
It's that girl, the one that was with that womaniser Satou. She seems to be doing okay, but she is looking tired. She rapidly moves her lips beyond what should be possible for a human. Once she was finished, she waved a wand-like stick in front of her well, yelling one final word.
"Air Hammer!" Zena yells, and a group of zombies are crushed less than a second later.
"Spearmen, push forward now!" The commander yells, and the spearmen push the undead horde back.
"Greater Undead are entering the room," Bunny tells me, pointing to another entrance to the room.
Two undead trolls walk into the room with a swarm of undead wolfs, forcing the soldiers back into a corner. Zena looks too tired to cast another spell, and the arrows fired are too slow to hit the wolfs. The zombies will overwhelm their front lines if something doesn't change.
"We need to take out those zombie trolls," I say, unable to watch the soldiers die.
"Are you crazy?" Bunny looks at me with her eyes wide in shock. "We can't take out two of them."
"You don't have to come with me," I tell her as I start to walk forward. "You are free to leave, but I can't walk away."
"Fool," Bunny mutters, but she still stays with me instead of running away.
"We are going to take out the rear one first,"
Most of the undead horde hasn't noticed us yet, but a few zombies came our way. With quick slashes, we manage to take their head. Bunny is surprisingly good with a sword, but she doesn't seem open to telling me how she became so skilled. We need to take out more zombies along the way, but we do so by sneaking up behind them. The real problems start when we approach the undead troll. It sees us coming, turns around and raises a wooden club to squash us. But at the last minute, we step to the sides. Unfortunately, the noises drew the attention of the zombies to us.
"We don't have much time to kill this thing," Bunny says, glancing at the zombies approaching.
"We can do this," I assure her, and I feel even more confident when I see the giant undead troll struggling to free its club from the ground.
We move as one even without coming up with a plan severing the troll's hands from its body then its feet. It falls to the ground, nearly crushing us, but we dodge out of the way, and Bunny cuts the undead's head off with one clean swing. I'm glad there isn't any blood, but now we are surrounded by zombies.
"Still think it was a good idea?" Bunny asks as the horde closes in.
"I never said it was a good one in the first place," I shrug. "I just couldn't walk away."
"You really are a fool,"
We charge forward into the horde cutting down the zombies finding them slow and easy to deal with. The soldiers are still struggling against the weight of their numbers, but little by little, Bunny and I chip away at their numbers targeting small groups. We were planning on taking down the other troll, but the archers brought it down with a rain of arrows before we could get close. After that, the battle rapidly swings in our favour as the soldiers go on the offensive, and together we whip out the last of the undead.
"Sat… oh I am sorry," That girl that was with Satou quickly stops in her tracks. She looked like she would hug me before she realised I wasn't him. "I thought you were someone else."
I know people said we looked related, but I don't think we look at similar that you would mistake one of us for the other. She blushes and steps back when the soldier who was barking out orders approaches. He is a tall man, strong-looking with blood all over his armour, but he doesn't seem scary at all.
"Thank you for your assistance," The soldier smiles. "I am with the Seiryuu city's territorial army and currently leading a group of civilians out of here. You are more than welcome to join us. We should be near the exit, so it shouldn't be much longer until we are out of here."
"…" I glance at Bunny, who nods her head. "Okay, we will join you."
"Great," The soldier replies. "I hope you don't mind, but we need some skilled fighters to help guard the civilians. My forces will take the brunt of the fighting, but we can't spare anyone to guard them while in combat."
"Don't worry, we'll help," I tell him.
"Good," The soldier nods. "We will be resting here until the scouts I sent out return, then we will move on. The civilian should be entering soon now that it is safe. I'll introduce you to the person in charge once they get here."
Weekly Power Status
-- Power
Ranking 
-- Power
stone