“Aha! I knew they would have a thing or two on them!” Camila shouted in joy. She held out a small trinket in the form of a sphere. There were some crevices in the little ball that would connect at odd angles. There was a single button in the center of this contraption. I grabbed the sphere out of her hands, inspecting it further.

“After countless seconds of looking at this thing… I can safely say that it is not a grenade!”

Camila rolled her eyes and said, “And?”

“And it’s a device that allows you to navigate through The Labyrinth!”

Showing is better than telling, so without wasting any time, I thumbed the small button on the device.

“Wow…” I let out in awe. The crevices rose slightly and went on to emit blue particles. A second later, a small hologram appeared. A big red arrow was visible on the contraption.

“Camila… are you thinking of what I’m thinking?”

“Of course~”

We just hit the motherload and it didn’t take us long to find it. What I was holding in my hands right now was a tracker. I could more or less guess what it was tracking. It was pointing right behind us, the area opposite where these four men came from. If I pointed the tracker at a wall, it would move away quickly, pointing back toward the area it was positioned previously.

“There are two possibilities of what this may be tracking," I said as I rotated the sphere around. "It’s tracking either The Minotaur…”

“…Or the item that they were seeking,” Camila finished.

Too bad it’s only got one function. I was hoping it could track people too, but we can’t get too greedy now.

“This thing is powered by a Torqinite crystal. We should hurry before it runs out of juice.”

“Lead the way, dear navigator,” Camila motioned forward.

“Alright, let’s go.”

Let’s see where this tool leads us. I’m curious about what this ‘item’ could be.

****

“On your left!”

“On it.”

Chen Ling stomped on the head of one of three Erymanthian boars. They were eighteen feet tall and weighed nearly two and a half tons. With curved tusks as tall as an adult male and foaming jaws that could puncture through a car, if you were unfortunate enough to be caught in their mouths, you better pray for a quick death. As for how these monstrous behemoths were able to fit into The Labyrinth which was as wide as three humans, Chen Ling and I found out that the deeper we are… the wider the passageways become. That fact alone led us to the conclusion that we were heading in the right direction.

The Erymanthian boar under his foot roared in protest and tried to shake him off, but Chen Ling was already on top of the next one. With a short swing of his sword, Chen Ling sliced the boar's head off. A stream of blood flowed out, staining the gray floors with the new color red. At the sight of their friend being beheaded, the boars stomped their hooves in fury, targeting Chen Ling. He, without an ounce of fear, ran at the beasts rushing toward him.

“Tch. I’m not going to just stand here and do nothing! Since Chen Ling has the boar’s full attention, I’ll just attack them from behind."

I activated [Body Strengthening] and charged at the nearest boar who was still oblivious to my presence. The first boar was dispatched by Chen Ling in under one second as he sliced its head off like it was wet paper. Just before he could kill the last one, I was already one step ahead of him. I leaped high into the air and dropped the axe down, slicing the Erymanthian boar in half. While it had a thick hide, ordinary Dungeon Conquerors wouldn’t have been able to land a scratch. We, on the other hand, aren’t ordinary.

“Nice one partner!” Chen Ling gave me a thumbs up as I picked off intestines and other meaty bits off my axe.

“Thanks. That’s a pretty neat sword you got there…” I pointed at his sword. The pommel had thick black wrapping, and the guard was gold. Whenever I looked at the sword point, I could feel my skin being peeled like I was put through a cheese grater.

“Hm? This thing? It’s called a Dao. I know what you’re thinking, and it’s just regular steel.”

Regular steel? How is he able to cut through the tough skin of the Erymanthian boar with regular steel?

This story is posted elsewhere by the author. Help them out by reading the authentic version.

“I infuse my weapon with [Aura Blade], by the way.”

Ah, that’s right! [Aura Blade] was one of the masteries listed in his Stats. The mastery must be able to increase the Dao’s sharpness levels to the point where it could cut through many things.

“…I wonder if he can apply it on unconventional weapons like knives,” I muttered out loud.

“I can apply [Aura Blade] to even a little stick, and it would still rival the weapon you possess right now,” Chen Ling smiled wryly.

“…That’s nice to know.”

I made my way to the nearest boar and proceeded to cut off its tusks, stuffing them inside the Dimensional Pouch. Chen Ling reassured me that he didn’t want the spoils as he saw no use for them. I shrugged my shoulders and went on to the others. After finishing, we continued our way through The Labyrinth, killing whatever monster we came across. When we first started, the walls were smooth, almost brand new other than a few cracks here and there. Now, for some reason, they looked weathered and were nearly crumbling. Just a single touch and pieces of the stone would break apart, a trickle of rock smacking the floors. The air reeked of musk and monsters that haven’t bathed in centuries, a mixture of feces and sweat. Chen Ling, who would hum his favorite songs was now silent, his eyes roving around, and I knew why. With every step, we could feel a presence growing stronger. It was the same feeling as walking through a haunted underground cavern, and as you trudged through the unfamiliar space, you could feel your impending doom.

“We’re getting closer,” Chen Ling muttered.

“Yea…”

This impending doom we’ve been feeling… only one thing comes to mind.

After a couple of minutes of this grueling walk, we finally arrived at another set of stone doors, and they were noticeably bigger than the rest as the top of the doors was almost touching the ceiling. Bones of all sizes littered the corners like Halloween decorations.

“Before we head in,” Chen Ling said, stopping suddenly. He whirled his body around abruptly and was holding his sword up at me. He had a serious look on his face.

“…I think it's about time we settle this.”

So, he finally revealed his true colors, eh? I knew someone of his ranking couldn’t be this generous. I found his actions way too weird. I mean, who shows their rank to a stranger and lets them have all of the loot? Only a naïve fool would think he didn’t have any ulterior motives. What I’m worried about though, is how I’m going to beat this guy. I’m clearly out of my league after I took a good long look at his Stats and skills.

“Well… we were bound to fight sooner or la-“ I didn’t get to finish my sentence as Chen Ling interrupted me.

“Come out of hiding, or else!”

Hm? I’m not hiding though? Hold on, wait a minute… Is he even looking at me? It’s almost as if…

Without warning, Chen Ling threw his sword right past my head and into the inky black corridor. Expecting someone to come out in a panic and beg for Chen Ling to not kill them, he was instead met with silence. That caused him to narrow his eyes.

“…”

Peering into his eyes, I could tell that this man was cautious, and he wasn’t pretending in the slightest. Whatever was hiding back there must have him on edge for a reason. Could there be an extremely strong monster that we missed along the way? I could only gulp anxiously as we wait for whatever was there to appear.

Tap…Tap…

With my super hearing, it sounds like shoes slapping against the floor, and I could only hear one person. Perhaps, it's one of my teammates? Chen Lings? Or maybe from Olympus? Why are they taking forever to walk over here?! The suspense is killing me!

Chen Ling held a hand up, willing the sword to return, but a weird occurrence arose. The blade wasn’t flying back to him.

“Hoh? This is a first,” he murmured in surprise.

In the distance, I could see the bottom half of this person. It was definitely a humanoid as they were just your regular old legs. This person was wearing dark tight pants, showcasing their slender legs, and a pair of brown boots that reached their calves. Next was their upper torso, and weirdly enough, they were wearing a black hoodie that you could find anywhere in a thrift store. Finally, leaving the shadows themselves, the mysterious person was revealed.

It was a young woman who had toffee-colored skin and unkempt curly hair that needed tending to, similar to a bird's nest. Nonetheless, she was gorgeous either way. Strapped to her hip was a black, skinny sheath that had sword marks on it. Her knuckles were bruised, yet her hands were still pretty. When I gazed in her eyes though… there was no warmth in them at all when she stared back at us. I don’t know how, but I could feel a multitude of emotions swirling within her, and the one emotion I could clearly discern was sorrow.

“So,” the mysterious woman spoke, holding Chen Ling's weapon in her hands. “How long have you known I’ve been tailing you guys…”

“Since the beginning,” Chen Ling answered, glancing at the Dao in her hands.

“Hm… and here I thought you guys were too stupid to notice. Thankfully I was wrong.”

Her back-handed comment ticked me off just a little bit, but I suppressed my slight irritation and watched the woman with skeptical eyes.

Chen Ling walked up to the woman, not even phased by her insult. He stood over her with a calm demeanor, his face inches away from hers. The woman didn’t recoil away from the man, and instead was mocking him by tapping his sword on her hip. They stared each other down for what felt like minutes until one of them made their move.

Chen Ling reached down for his weapon, hoping to grab it out of her hands, but with fast reflexes, the woman pulled it away. Chen Ling made another attempt in grabbing his weapon, but once again she would pull back. What happened next made my jaw drop. The two of them were now testing each other’s skills in a speed contest, and all it involved was a single sword.

Both opponents moved around the area in a blur to the point where it looked like they were teleporting. They would leave around afterimages of themselves, but they would only appear for a single second before disappearing. It was hard for my eyes to keep up with them even with my focus on maximum output. This contest would only go on for a minute though as the two would stop right in front of me. Surprisingly, the woman was still holding Chen Ling's weapon in her hands.

“…Who are you?” Chen Ling asked, astonished that he found someone in this Dungeon who could match his own speed.

“My name?” She tilted her head. “Hm… I guess it wouldn’t hurt for you guys to know. Here, catch.”

Chen Ling caught the Dao in his hands while his eyes were still trained on her.

“My name is Laila Hall, and I’m here to check whether you'll be worthless or useful.”