Chapter 8: Inside the puzzle
Eyes shrunk a little and brows knitted along, lips parted but no sound came out. An action of total confusion. Staring at him, all I can see is his eyes sparkled with excitement. His mouth wide open while pointing at my back, which made me turn.
A view from a far made my body tremble. A lonely wind passed through me and sorrow was felt. The wind was like crying for help. My ears suffered the silent soundtrack. I can't hear a single noise or sound once I turned and gave the place a look, on top of that, I'm already talking.
Here's the vision. It was an entrance of something dark and horrible. Signage warnings the players who dares to enter. Leafless trees with creepy branches circled the place around. The shiny morning weather was quickly covered by dark clouds and made the place more creepier.
Bones of dead animals and crows fluttering above the entrance in a spheroid rotation. Asking myself, where's the pumpkin and ghost stuffs? More like Halloween to me. While on my sightseeing mode, the kid from behind walked with courage. Acting tough, I joined his pace towards the entrance.
Few minutes later...
CongratulationsDescription
New location unlocked! The Lost Labyrinth.
Stopping in front of the creepy entrance, screams from the underworld can be heard from hear. My legs suddenly became weak, stopping me from moving forward. No, I can do this. Lifting my feet, I continued to walk. For the second time around. The kid stopped me from walking. This time, I didn't get annoyed knowing that his ways on stopping me means a lot.
"Look a man in a black hood" Pointing his finger towards the man.
I took a look and returned my sight to the kid, nodded and walked towards the man. He was tall yet slender, covered with a black cloak and eyes was blinded with a scarf.
Walking slowly, my boots stepped on a dried leaf making a sound. The man moved his head and smiled.
"Ahh a brave one, tell me your name Venturer. For you are the first to enter the labyrinth." talking while standing still.
"What name do you want to know creepy man?" I replied with a crooked voice.
Hearing my reply, scratching his head being puzzled and continued to refrain from moving. I guess my reply made him confuse. Wondering what name I supposedly give. My real name from the reality or my character name here in this magical world.
Moving on, we officially entered the labyrinth. It was indeed dark, time over time the darkness of the place faded. We are walking into a single aisle showered with light. Handled my weapon and slowly walked, preparing for sudden attacks or ambush.
The kid with me walked normally and did not show any frightened state. You can keep acting tough kid, I mumbled to myself. His pace was interrupted and stopped by a sound coming from nowhere. Quickly, he reached out for his wooden sword and signaled me to prepare for a battle.
To be honest, it is hard for me to trust the kid who accompanies me. First, he’s a new player in the game. Second, he’s a dork. Yet, he knows more than I do that makes me trust him. Agreeing with his signal, I took the sword and prepared a battle stance where my knees bent.
...
Waited for nothing, I decided to continue my walk. A hand from behind suddenly stopped me.
“Sir, please don’t continue. I can feel a presence here.” Staring straight to my eyes.
Ignoring him, I continued my walk. The kid accompanied me again, guarding me from behind. After a few steps, a shovel suddenly appeared in front of my face and slammed me straight. The impact made me sat down. My HP decreased to 97%.
“What the hell was that!!” Asking, while seated on the rock-solid flooring, showing a shocked face.
The kid didn’t replied and jumped in front. “Told ya”
Quickly, I stood up and became alert. What was that? Asking my self while being puzzled. Is it a trap? Moving on, I started to walk slowly while holding on my trident. Beads of perspiration dripping down my cheeks down to my chin. It suddenly became hot.
While being toasted, a smoke forming a figure of a goblin appeared out of nowhere. After a few seconds, it became a true goblin. It weilds a rusty shovel, wears a construction helmet. Staring straight on his shovel, it's the same shovel who hit me before.
"It's him!" The boy Shouted while wiping his sweat.
Golbin Worker Lv. 10ATK118-298HP125%SPEED★★☆☆☆Special Skill--
My arms trembled in anger after seeing the monster who attacked me indirectly. I aggressively charged in without hesitating. Few steps I took, a dozen of goblins appeared. But it didn't made me to stop from charging in.
Finally arrived in front of the monster. Giving it a quick blow, the goblin was pushed backwards and died. A big CRITICAL HIT word showed up once my trident hit the monster.
The goblins around suddenly transformed into a reddish and bigger ones. Their sudden change of appearance made me to take a step backwards. Turning around, only to see a clean aisle. Damn! The boy abandoned me. Lead me no choice, I dashed in. Killing all the monster in sight, my hp dropped to 9% and the worse, the goblins I killed was just a few.
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The army of goblins continued to march. Quickly, I reached out for the HP potions and drank a few. It raised my HP up to 86% nearly full. This is not enough to take the army. Having a powerful attack is awesome but having the weakest defense sucks. Exhausted and desperate, I took another charge.
"Take this!" Raised my trident, swaying it directly agaisnt the face of the goblin
Slash after slash I went. Not noticing how fast my HP decreases. Until I was pulled from behind by someone. Turning to look, the kid who left me alone with these crazy goblins came back. He took me in a corner and we hid.
"Where were you?! You don't just leave your companion alone like that! What if I died in there?!" Murmured with anger.
"I did not leave you alone. Listen, I figured that if these goblin workers wield shovels, they may be working on something that includes soil. Now, what took me so long is finding water." Raising his hands showing his palms, brows bent while eyes closed. Acting like a genius
"What do you need those for? You wanna make a pot or something?" Giving the kid a direct stare on his eyes while arms folded
"No. Soil plus water is equal to..." Eyes opened
Cutting his mid sentence, I quickly replied "Mud. Mud?! You went to all that trouble just to make mud?! Unbelievable!" Shifting my gaze sideways, refraining to see the kid
"Just hear me out. Okay? You can underestimate everything about these goblins except for one thing, their speed. Now, take that away from them, there's no way they can even touch you." Held my arms making me to realize
"Ow. Now I get it." Gave the kid a sarcastic nod while smiling.
"Great. I placed the soil in that large container but I don't know how to carry it here. The water will come from that tube attached on that stone wall. All we need now is a plan." Staring at the wall while explaining
The plan made me curious "I got one. I'll lure them into the middle part where they will be compressed in front of the water tube. After that, use that wagon to pull the soil and bring it to me. Then I'll give you the signal to push it over and drop all the soil on the goblins, while I go and cut the water tube open spraying water onto the soil and creating the awesomest, baddest and stickiest mud pile ever. Sounds good?" Palms showed. Smiling. Neck bent while staring at the kid.
"Let's make it happen." Nodding, he quickly ran towards the goblins.
"Here goes nothing" Giving my trident a hard grip, I dashed in toward the wagon.
Pulled the heaviest wagon, blocking the way of the goblins. They stopped and stared at me 6 meters away. The kid continued to run and left me again. What a moron!
Crag! Crag! Crag!
Sound from the feet of the marching goblins against the linoleum of this dungeon. Nervously turning my head from left to right like a night-shift guard finding some water. The goblins were a meter a way from me now. Lead me no choice, I gave the hard wall a heavy slash.
The impact pushed me away, found myself silently seating. Back rubbing against the other side of the wall. Wagon fell down along with the soil. A crik sound from the wall was heard.
Rubbing my head, opened my eyes. The plan worked!!! The water pushed the goblins away and merged in with the soil. Goblins tried to move but no luck, they can't. Quickly, I ran killing all the goblins in sight in my mind.
I found myself in a berserk mode. Strength and brute is overflowing in my body. Can’t stop myself from slaughtering the poor goblins. Swayed my trident from left to right, making them not to move forward. The ones who courageously walked forward were knockback. With this kind of strategy, I'll surely win this.
On the Staircase...
Tak!... Tak!... Tak!...
Noise made by my drained legs while walking upwards, hands reaching for a stair handle in order for me not to faint. Unbearable staircase makes my perspiration drip from my scalp down to the flooring step by step. Ghastly wind blowing and saying that I should not continue.
I felt a quite change. My feet suddenly felt numb and couldn't take a step anymore, felt weak and exhausted. Slowly authorized my body to lay. Terminating my sight resting my self from the exacting battle and from the highest staircase I've ever taken.
A horrible thing quickly conquered my left hand, pulling me hardly. The strong thing made me to arrive on the 2nd floor. All four down, opening my eyes slowly. Giving myself a vision of the solid flooring. Dust and dirt were pushed by my breath. My exhausted body giving zero effort to take a look what pulled me.
"Hey! Are you okay? Looks like those goblins earlier gave you a hard time" The familiar sound from behind made my body to reach its full energy capacity.
Quickly, I stood up and wiped all the dirt in my shirt. Turning, only to see the kid who left me behind. I gave him a horrible smile with murderous intent beneath it.
"No, not at all. The staircase was so high that's why" Giving the kid a straight stare.
The kid bending his lips and continued to walk. "There is a secret path here where can lead us into the boss chamber" Pointing at a wall in front of us.
A secret path? Is there such thing in this game?
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Sorry for the super late upload guys :( Got myself busy from college. Anyways, Enjoy! :D I hope you like it!