abcnovels
Volume 1 - Ch 4.13
Volume 1 - Ch 4.13
Its really, really dark outside, to the point where I cant even see one meter ahead of me. Why is it so dark in here? Is there no moon in this world at all, or is it that it is being covered by the clouds or something? When I looked toward the night sky, I saw the sea of stars way above my head. It was shining brightly, but their light was not enough to light up the path ahead of me. For someone like me who grew up in Tokyo all his life, the darkness of this night was a real shocker.
Maybe I should go back and borrow the damn lantern after all? But something tells me that even if I had a light with me, going to the Labyrinth while being surrounded by all that darkness would still be scary. I mean what if a ghost shows up and suddenly jumps at me from behind? Normally I dont believe in the existence of ghosts and other supernatural beings, but if this is a world where magic exists, then it really wouldnt be strange for it to also have ghosts.
Oh jeez, what should I do?
I cannot get to the Labyrinths entrance straight away since that is a Skill of an Adventurer, and Ive yet to acquire that Job for myself (and I dont think Im going to get it anytime soon). However, I do remember that one of the Bonus Skills available for me was the Warp spell. The specifics are not clear to me, but just by the name itself I could tell that it was a spell belonging to the Movement Magic category.
The real question here is: will I even be able to cast the damn thing? Because I had my doubts, bearing in mind my experiences with how quickly Overwhelm has sucked me dry of my MP. Then again, Warp was not an offensive type of magic, but Movement Magic just like Dungeon Walker, so it shouldnt use as much MP as Overwhelm, or, lets say Meteor Crash (the name sound cool as heck, but Im not going to bother with picking it now, since I probably would not be able to cast it even once with my current stats). Plus, the levels of all my Jobs are higher now and I had a good long rest, so maybe that will also be a factor in the successful usage of magic, just like in Dungeons & Dragons?
Alright, you know the drill, Michio. Character Reset time!
Getting all of my Bonus Points back I used them to remove the shopping discount and got Durandal back. Then I also removed any Skills that wont be of any use to me during the Labyrinth exploration and used the Points that I got from doing so on the Bonus Spell option until I got the Warp spell. I turned towards the side of the inn and prepared myself to cast it, praying for it to work in the corner of my mind. Next, I summoned an image of the Labyrinths entrance room. Then, with my eyes still closed, I reached out with my hand, but instead of stopping where the wall should be, it went right through it.
I did it! Holy cow, I did it! Success! I have succeeded!!!
Successfully casting that spell made me immensely happy, but at the same time I could feel a slight prick of sadness in the depths of my heart. I wonder why that is. Successes, no matter how small of insignificant, should always be a reason to rejoice, not feel down in the dumps. Be that as it may, all I could do now was to step forward, wondering if everything will be exactly the same as during my maiden raid, or will some things will change and the Labyrinth will try to throw a curveball at me?
Just like before, the chamber I have ended up in was the very first one with three corridors stretching in different directions. Yup, thats the entrance alright. Good thing that I managed to get here first try without any unfortunate accidents happening.
Even in the middle of the night, the room was still sufficiently lit. If I ended up in the middle of total darkness I think Id cry then and there. Same if I was sent anywhere else than my intended destination and was forced to use Warp again. And speaking of Warp, lets have a look-see at the amount of MP it consumed. *sigh* almost as much as Overwhelm. I guess I should have expected an outcome like that. Its a Bonus Spell for a reason. So what Im getting from this is that the general principle with Bonus Spells is that they consume a fuckton of MP, but their effects are that much more powerful in return? Great, thats fucking awesome! This second visit to the Labyrinth is going great so far! Not even two minutes in and Im already down to of my total MP! And if that wasnt clear by my current manner of goddamn speech, the negative effects of MP consumption are already kicking the fuck in! I feel depressed, dejected and overwhelmed (no pun intended) by an intense desire to strangle everything in my immediate vicinity!
But ok, whatever, its fine! No, I mean really, its all good. So what if I made an oopsie at the very beginning? It just means that I have to use Durandals MP Absorption effect to recover all of the MP lost for that Warp spell. See, simple as that. Now I only have to thwart that crippling feeling of not wanting to be here and the urge to go back to my room at the inn to sleep and go forward to continue the process of money farming! Yay! Fun times ahead!
I entered the Labyrinths corridors once again with such a mindset.
Just like the last time, Needlewood was the first enemy to appear before me. Pushing back any thoughts of running away I unsheathed Durandal and assumed my combat stance.
Well then, here goes nothingLEROOOOOOOY!!!!! JEEEEEEENKINS!!!!!!!!
I was worried that the monsters roaming the Labyrinths halls today might be stronger than the ones I have encountered yesterday, but thankfully the encounter was still decided with a single slash of my trusted Holy Sword. Needlewood disappeared in a cloud of green smoke, leaving some of its branches behind.
Ahh, that hit the spot!
Getting some of my MP back from the defeated Needlewood, I finally felt better. I exhaled heavily in relief. That demerit of losing MP is really something else, man. A really nasty shit. And dont even get me started on how slow the actual procedure of absorbing MP from defeated enemies is. Even with something as OP as Durandal, I was only recovering a portion of it at a time, so if I wanted to get it all back Id have to fight more enemies, which wont be hard, but extremely bothersome. If possible, I never want to experience something like that again, but theres not much that I can actually do about it except for holding back on using any Bonus Spells until I increase my levels and get myself some more MP.
After regaining some of my composure, I resumed the hunt for the monsters. In this Labyrinth, you had to walk around for a few minutes to encounter an enemy. I dont know if its a rule for all of them or maybe just this one in particular, but what it means is that I wont be able to have as many encounters as I originally wanted. Right now, if Im able to battle 10 enemies in an hour Ill call it being lucky. Assuming Ive entered the Labyrinth around 3:00 AM, Id need at least 3 hours to get a decent amount of drops from defeated enemies. Maybe Ill be able to hunt down 20, but theres absolutely no way for me to get 30 of them.