章節 5: The Labyrinth City (I)
Chapter 4: The Labyrinth City (I)
[Main Quest Updated!]
[Perks & Curses Updated!]
[ETA to the "The Labyrinth City:" 2:59 Minutes]
Izuku sighed. It had been a year since he'd seen these three consecutive prompts, yet somehow it felt like It'd only been a few weeks at most.
'I guess that's what the lack of a day and night cycle and a months-long mindless rampage does to you,' He thought before checking on the updates.
[Main Quest Updated!
Dungeon World Progression: In a world where the Gods walk and live as Mortals, an unseen crisis that almost no one could predict has been forming in the background. The most powerful God-led Familias will soon be getting strong enough to dive deep enough into the Labyrinth Dungeon to trigger a Calamity Outbreak. Join a God or Goddess' Familia and gain the strength to help the strongest Adventurers fight back against the inevitable!]
[Perks
Form Fitting: You can now assume minor appearance alterations — that are not combat-effective — at will. The alterations are made without a cost and are permanent until you willingly change them again. This Perk synergizes with the Inventory System to also grant you the ability to check your current appearance at will.]
[Curses
Exposed Nature: You now literally carry the weight of your sins for almost all to see. Unless you discover or create an Ability to suppress this Curse, entities down to a tenth of your Level will innately understand how dangerous you are. This Curse Synergizes with your Argent Core Ability to amplify its effect and casts a permanent demonic aura upon you at no cost.]
'Motherfucker,' Izuku balefully cursed before he realized he had cursed, cursed. That had never happened before, or at least, he couldn't remember getting angry enough to sincerely fire off a Grade-A curse word; not even during all the times his mind had been on the brink of collapsing in his fights against the demons of Hell. Though, after he took a moment to contemplate the situation, he felt it was warranted given his circumstances.
He was about to get sent to a world where "Gods walk and live as Mortals." What could be worse than potentially stumbling upon one of these so-called Gods with an aura that would doubtlessly be terrifyingly potent? If he ran into some humans, would they just see him as he saw the Hell Knights?
He was about to find out as he the void of white around him vanished and he found that he had been dropped in an alleyway.
Izuku looked to one of the directions where the alleyway continued before checking his back. 'Finally, a bit of mercy,' Izuku thought as he shook his head and began the process of altering his appearance. He had been fortunate enough to be dropped off in an empty alleyway while it was dark out.
In about a minute he changed the structure of his face to be more squarish and developed to look a bit older than he actually was. He changed his hair to be shorter and fully black; very nondescript and common, at least back in his Original World. He changed his eye color from the emerald shade they'd always been to a dull black to match his hair. But he couldn't do anything about his torn, ragged, and freshly bloodied clothes.
They were the twentieth, maybe twenty-first, iteration of the UAC security clothes he had scavaged from the ruined UAC research facility back in the First Circle of Hell. Dark, built for utility, and covered in holes from all the battles he had fought since before he went on a mindless rampage for months…
Izuku grimaced as the image he could see of himself via his new Inventory System only served to validate his newest curse. He would change his outfit the moment an opportunity presented itself to him, but he would have to keep the alterations to his appearance until he got the effects of his latest Curse under control.
"Whatever," he muttered a begrudging acceptance of the situation. There was literally nothing else he could do about his appearance, so he focused on surveying his surroundings.
He'd taken note of the fact that he was in an alleyway. Obviously, it was man-made, if not at the very least created by beings with comparable intelligence and competence. The buildings around him weren't modern by any stretch of the imagination, but it had been so long since he'd seen an example of the difference between the 1500s and 1800s architecture, that he couldn't accurately place to what extent civilization had advanced where he had been dropped.
Looking up at the night sky, showed him a familiar sight; the moon, the stars, and even some of the more recognizable constellations. Recalling the fact that the Doom World held a copy of The Solar System, Mercury, and Humanity outside of Hell, he felt it was safe to assume he was likely in this Dungeon World's version of Earth.
Izuku thought for a second before he decided to check his Status, Abilities, Perks, and Curses for any potential changes as he recalled the existence of World Effects affecting his Draconification and Demon Dragon Transformation Abilities.
[Status
Title: The Gamer
Level: 83
Name: Izuku Midoriya
Stats
Health: 100%
Stamina: 100%
Argent Energy: 100%
Strength: 60
Constitution: 67
Dexterity: 77
Agility: 116
Intelligence: 79
Wisdom: 92
Will: 49
Charisma: 52]
[Abilities
Primary School Academics (Level 72 → 90)
High School Academics (Level 13 → 33)
Analysis (Level 17 → 51)
Walking (Level MAX)
Running (Level 90 → 92)
Writing (Level 10)
Drawing (Level 21)
Cooking (Level 2)
Calisthenics (Level 37 → 40)
Weight Lifting (Level 20 → 21)
Resolution (Level MAX)
Observe (Level 15 → 16)
Sprinting (Level 77 → 82)
Martial Arts (Level 61 → 64 | Styleless)
Argent Energy Core (Level 29 → 30)
Modifiers
(World Effect) Outside Hell's Domain: As there is nothing to link the world you now stand on to the Hell Dimension, you won't find even a trace of ambient Argent Energy anywhere. Argent Energy Reserves take 10 times as long to refill.
Argent Energy Manipulation (Level 37 → 41)
Modifiers
(World Effect) Absolute Ownership: Now that you are completely removed from Hell's influence, the only existence of Argent Energy is yours to command freely. This effect is estimated to double the rate at which you make progress with all Abilities that use Argent Energy — this effect extends to this ability as well.
Argent Energy Resistance (Level 53 → 55)
Rune Smithing (Level 21 → 22)
Draconification (Level MAX)
Modifiers
(World Effect) Variable/Pending: You have not met the requirements for this Ability to be effected by this World's many potential World Effects.
Demon Dragon Transformation (Level 22 → 23)
Effective Cost 1: 33% of total Argent Energy per ten minutes to sustain this transformation.
Effective Cost 2: 99% of total Stamina per ten minutes to sustain this transformation.
Modifiers
(World Effect) Variable/Pending: You have not met the requirements for this Ability to be effected by this World's many potential World Effects.
Demon Blood (Level 15 → 17)
Argent Bullet (Level 20)
Argent Blast (Level 15)
Argent Construct ( Level 1 | Rod)]
[Perks
Regalvanized
Intent (Determination)
Cognizant
Brazo Del Diablo
Sonic Acceleration
Intent (Anti-Demon Aura)
Form Fitting]
[Curses
Weapons' Blight
Hairpin Trigger Disciple
Exposed Nature]
'Unfortunate, but expected,' Izuku sighed at how badly his demonic Abilities had been crippled, solely by virtue of his person being disconnected to the Hell Dimension.
Presumably, even if he had made his way to Mercury through the Gateway he destroyed back in the Doom World, he would not have suffered such debilitating effects to the rate of his unassisted Argent Energy recovery as there were still other Gateways between Hell and the Solar System active. The distance between planets, unfortunately, could not hold a candle to the distance between two universes…
'No matter,' Izuku thought, 'Even without my Argent Energy Abilities, I still have Draconification, my baseline superhuman Stats, and extensive combat experience against an army of monsters. Hopefully, I should at least be strong enough to escape if I have to resort to using my Demon Dragon Transformation against something right off the bat…'
With nothing else to take care of, Izuku thus walked off toward the end of the alleyway he had been facing. His only goal in mind being to not antagonize anyone he might run into with his presence if he could help it as he explored his surroundings.
Not a few seconds later, he could hear the sound of a man harassing someone.
"Stop stalling for help. Nobody's going to help you, you worthless dog-bitch. Just hand over all the money you've made from whoring yourself out in these back alleys if you don't want to die in the next ten seconds." The voice of the man then paused for a moment before Izuku could hear him smugly say, "I wouldn't blame you if you couldn't recognize me with this get-up but I'm a Level 3 Adventurer from Nyx's Familia."
"B-But I don't have any coin! Please don't kill me! S-search me, d-d-do whatever you want… Just please don't kill me! Please!"
Turning around the corner, Izuku's eyes narrowed as the voice of the man's victim mostly lined up with the image Izuku had been conjuring in his mind's eye. It was a young girl who couldn't have been older than fifteen, maybe sixteen. Her clothes left her with a lot of exposed skin, but the most notable thing about her appearance were the dog ears and tail she seemed to have been born with; Izuku would describe the features as a minor Quirk Mutation.
Processing things faster than most humans could, Izuku grew irritated, angered, intrigued, and disgusted, faster than his face could form any one particular expression. He had been irritated and angered at the fact that his first interaction with people after around a year in Hell was stumbling into a mugging. Then, he was intrigued by the way the man had identified himself; as a Level 3 Adventurer.
Currently, he was thoroughly disgusted to find the man had started aggressively patting and groping the girl as he searched her for any valuables. The lecherous smile that peaked from under his domino mask all but confirmed he took pleasure in humiliating and sexually harassing the girl.
[Observed Status
Level: 36
Title: Swift Strike Assassin
Name: ?
Stats
Health: 100%
Stamina: 100%
?: 100%
Strength: ~40
Constitution: ~20
Dexterity: ~35
Agility: ~40
Intelligence: ~20
Wisdom: ~10
Will: ~5
Charisma: ~30]
'So he's just a disgusting ant, then?' Izuku callously thought as he leveraged his Sonic Acceleration to cross the distance between himself and the mugger in a fraction of a second.
Grabbing the man by the hand he had been using to assault the young girl, Izuku's vice-like grip warped the mugger's muscles and cracked the bones underneath.
…
"Is this the kind of thing you do often?" The man, no… The monster in a man's skin asked, as his abyss-like eyes bore down on me.
I couldn't even react as I was certainly facing death itself. Not one of the Gods… I mean Death Incarnate; the very concept of Death itself.
My breathing grew erratic, my eyes probably bloodshot, as the monster that held me just continued to stare. 'I was going to die. I was going to die. I was going to die. I was going to die. I was going to die. I was going to die. I was going to die. I was going to die. I was going to—'
"What are you waiting for?" I didn't even notice when it turned its gaze from me and onto the stupid dog.
'Dear god… I don't think I can imagine a more terrifying image than that of Death itself attempting to fool a mortal with the fakest of soulless smiles.'
"Hurry back home and stick to the main roads if you can. It wouldn't be good if you found yourself mugged again," The Devil said.
'Liar… Monster… Evil… Those were all just worthless platitudes. Once you were done with me, surely you go back to erase her from existence as well…'
'Although, perhaps if I just gave in… Death itself might find the compassion to at least not make me suffer.'
'Hah…'
'Who am I kidding…'
'If my karma is to be judged, I will be one of the last to deserve it…'
…
"Anyways, I have some questions for you," Izuku told the mugger. Seeing as he had literally turned catatonic the moment he made eye contact with Izuku, the mugger made a strange contrast towards the reaction Izuku had received from the dog-eared girl.
'I mean, really, isn't this a bit much? The girl reacted as normally as I would have expected from a civilian that had just been rescued from assault and a mugging. But this guy… I don't think even I'd get this distraught if the Gamer System forced me to fight The Praetor right now,' Izuku thought.
"W-what?" The man asked as some clarity slowly return to his dulling eyes.
"I have questions. Answer them, or else," Izuku glared down at the mugger. He wasn't planning on killing him, but he wasn't above leaving a mugging child-predator with all the bones in his body broken before dropping him on a more well-traveled road for someone to eventually bring him to whatever version of a hospital existed in this world.
"W-what d-do you w-want to k-know?"
"Let's see…" Izuku before he took a second to think of how he wanted this to go down. Eventually, he settled on saying, "I'm not from around here, so let's start our current location. Where are we exactly?"
"We are on Daedalus Street, in the city of Orario… On the central continent of Earth!"
He was a bit enthusiastic now, but Izuku looked past it to ask, "I see… And if I were to want to see a God's Familia where would I have to go?"
"..." The man grew catatonic once again before he started trembling and crying as he asked, "I… I can't tell you my Goddess' current location… That's… That's what you want, right?"
"Uh… Not exactly," Izuku awkwardly said. "I was under the impression that there were many Gods in this place. Where I'm from Gods aren't exactly something you see every day, so I'd appreciate it if you could tell me where to find any God or Goddess at all."
"I could do that! Yes, I could do that easily!" The man nearly jumped, he looked so full of relief… "Orario has more Gods than any city in the world! You could encounter two or three just by walking randomly down the main streets during the day. But if you want specifics then you can find Loki in her manor, Hephaestus in her main store in the Tower of Babel, most of the Gods of Medicines have stores opened along—"
"That will suffice," Izuku said as he pinched the bridge of his nose. He hadn't expected the ease with which a God could be encountered and he was more than a little conflicted about it.
"Tell me about the Labyrinth Dungeon. Do you know where I could find it?" Izuku eventually went on to ask.
"You mean the Dungeon under the Tower of Babel, right? That's the only Dungeon in the world, after all…" The man cowered back, as if unsure if his answer had displeased Izuku.
"Moving on… I heard you mentioned you were a Level 3 Adventurer. Why don't you tell me about how you got to where you are."
"Me? Well… My parents raised me to be an Assassin-Class Adventurer since the age of five for when I would receive my Falna from our Goddess Nyx once I turned fifteen. Ever since then I delved into the Dungeon three to four times a week. I only take at most two weeks off every year from that routine. So… twelve years later I'm standing here as a Level 3 Adventurer."
"...To be honest, I'm pretty average for an Adventurer that's managed to still be in the game for as long as I have."
"Is Level 3 not considered strong, here?" Izuku asked.
"Not in the grand scheme of things, no… I mean, I could see why someone who's not from Orario might be impressed by a Level 3. But… compared to the elite Level 4 and Level 5s even in my own Familia, I'm a nobody. In Orario all the top Familias have at least a Level 6, and I've heard that the captain of the Freya Familia is a Level 7."
"Oh?" Izuku felt a grin creep up on his face. He couldn't suppress it even if he wanted to as even if he went by the most conservative of his estimates, he should be strong enough to contend with even the strongest Adventurers of the world. "I just have two more questions for you, then," he added.
"Yes?" The mugger asked as he looked like he was preparing to make peace with his grievances before his death.
"Tell me of all the notable places in Orario." When the man did so, Izuku said, "Good. Your detailed explanation even answered my last question for you. Now before we part ways, I'm going to give you a warning. If I ever find out that you've done anything even close to what I saw you doing today, I won't let you off this lightly."
Then before the man could react, Izuku "tapped" the man with an uppercut to the jaw and knock him out. When he saw that his restrained attack left that man with only 2% Health, he grimaced as he slung the man's body on over his shoulder and took a power leap to the nearest rooftop.
'I'm going to have to work on controlling my strength now that I have to fight without the express purpose of killing everything that stands in my way,' He thought as he raced across the rooftops while doing his best to avoid detection.
In the meantime, he marveled at the ease with which he could leverage his Strength and Agility to jump dozens of meters; both vertically, from the ground to the roofs of even three-story tall buildings, and horizontally across gaps that he never could have imagined even daring to attempt back when he was still Quirkless.
It was one thing for him to know he should be capable of achieving such feats, given the much more impressive showing he had put on display during his last few battles in the First Circle of Hell. It was another thing entirely, to actually put theory to practice and all but confirm his superhuman physique in a relatively modern setting that could be found even in his Original World.
In a few minutes, he managed to make his way to Orario's Jailhouse by following the descriptions the mugger had given of the various landmark and other notable locations within Orario.
He didn't want his first impression with the citizens of Orario to be formed with the added suspicion of carrying the unconscious body of a man. So, the only thing he could think of to do aside from killing the man was mentally scar him with a threat and drop him before the Jailhouse.
Hopefully, the man was already either a suspected or wanted criminal and would be jailed to serve some punishment, even if he likely never would face the full force of justice he deserved for sexually assaulting, harassing, and attempting to mug a young girl; nevermind whatever other crimes he'd likely committed if he was depraved enough to do what Izuku had witnessed so casually.
Izuku's form blurred between the roof and the ground for the second it took for him to land, lay down the unconscious mugger, and jump back to the shadows of the rooftops. With his business at the Jailhouse taken care of, he began making his way towards Pantheon; the headquarters location of the Guild.
Hopefully, he'd be able to come across as non-threatening as possible if he willingly entered the main gathering hub of all Adventurers calmly and collectively. It was either a great idea or the worst one Izuku'd had to date, but it was the only thing he could think of that had the slightest chance of working out.
If it failed and he found himself attacked by an army of Adventurers…
"Well, I'll at least be able to say that my experience through Hell prepared me for this moment…" Izuku muttered as he approached the Guild.
創作者的想法 
BrightDawn
BrightDawn This has been your boy, "Kind Of Impressed He's Gotten This Far, To Be Honest", signing off.
每周推薦票狀態
-- 推薦票
榜單 
-- 推薦票