IDBIRR (Boss Fight - Final Phase p.1) Chapter 19: She who represents Me, Farewell Lone Wolf, and to You who is Eons away.

???: "Ey lad, if you were to ask yourself somethin', let's say, what do you think you are? Would you have an answer for that?"

Tood asked me one day, a curious and straight face that he wore, unclouded and uninterrupted by anything subtle in thought.

One day, I sat on top of a tree's branch across his cabin, with my back laid on it. It was a tactical retreat after spending my day out hunting. I decided to retreat in hopes I could catch a little break, while thinking up strategies to get by for tomorrow.

Obviously, I couldn't reply at the moment, since I haven't thought about using tablets to communicate during the time this occured.

It was a sunny morning that day, opposite of the usual dark and moody rain we frequently experience. For once, it was a bright and sunny day. The sunlight illuminating the entire dome of his lair, elapsing the gloomy feel we've recently been getting from the sourly week.

Just until yesterday, It was heavily raining for days on end. And when the sun came to, a fresh, while moist, morning dew had arrived.

If I had a nose, I would surely enjoy the moist smell of dirt first. Since I have fond memories of rain before reincarnating as a rock. It's been a century since I've ever smelled something, I'd like to reexperience the sense of being able to smell the things I love. If I were to act as if I were able to smell, that's probably just me playing the part. Or maybe my sense of smell actually lies dormant within me, and my unfeeling body let it became numb to the sensation, preventing me to realize that I can actually smell things despite the lack of a nose. Nevertheless, a being incapable of almost all senses is great at lies, even to themselves.

The lack of most senses always reminds me of a man I gradually continue to forget. The more I forget, the more indifferent I become.

Yet his name never fails to fade away.

My only coping mechanism...is through conversations with myself, reliving my childhood fantasies over and over again, and fantasies of having senses I never had. Just like now.

Returning to Big Boss's question from earlier, I replied with a shrug, uncertain of what his question meant.

Big Boss: "Hmm...let me rephrase that...err, what do you think we are? Are we truly monsters, or are we actually human, in a sense of it?"

I'm not gonna lie, I was feeling a bit bored just lying here all day once I decided to take a brake from hunting. But I can't complain about the leisure compliance of my eagerness to just lay around and distance myself from the everyday life-or-death struggle to survive and grow stronger. That's why I find this flow of conversation a bit too unfair to only be brought up right now, just when I also thought about resuming my arduous struggle to live for a little bit longer. It's the natural roundabout thought process of a laid-back employee who's already sick and tired of his repeating lifestyle of work and rest, but can't find the time to relax on his own time because, "taxes". In this case, Big Boss would be the IRS.

So long and short of it, I'm just being lazy.

I mean, doesn't that sound interesting?! Who even starts a conversation like that when I just got here to sit down?!

I sprung forth from my lovely branch, my peace clearly disturbed. No one dares pique my interest just like that and get away with it! So tell away, Boss! tell it right away!

Both his ears perk up, reacting to my body's response towards the sudden question.

"Did I perhaps have caught your attention?" his smug, unbearably annoying.

In due response, I dropped down from the branch I had occupied and sat down beside the tree's trunk, deciding whether I should leave or stay.

Pondering at the given question--

Wouldn't the latter be the safest choice? and what did he meant by in a sense of it?

"Your thoughts seem to be muddled. I guess you've chosen to prefer the latter?"

Once again, he caught me red-handed. I for one, self-proclaim to have good observation upon a person's behavior, therefore I can take accurate hints or guesses about their thoughts or impressions to everything that correlates to them. But I praise Big Boss's natural ability to read a person's mind at an alarming scale compared to most people I've come across in my previous life.

The personal ability to read a person's mind is an impressive skill on its own. It allows you to read their behavior, intent and nature altogether. Meaning, everything and anything a person does or attempt, can be deduced or predicted before they could even act upon it. All that without using an ability like skills.

It's safe to say, regarding that I am in a fantasy/fictional-world-turned-reality. There's also a probability of Tood Raid possessing a skill called, [Mind Reading].

Albeit, he actually doesn't possess such aforementioned skill. Simply put, he's just a really good mind reader in and of himself or that I'm just easy to predict and read despite my lack of expression.

So this big goof is just as better as an observer like I am.

Which terrifies me. I guess having a taste of my own medicine is pretty ironic. Considering it's my most offensive weapon that allowed me to survive this far.

Besides that point, in a sense of being a human, what does it mean?

Could it basically mean-- the free will and mind of an individual?

To act upon their free will and not by instinct alone?

Is that what he meant by it?

Big Boss proceeds to continue with the topic after giving me the time to think it through.

"You sure have been takin' the latter for granted, eh? What's holdin' ya from the prior choice?"

I tilt my head in response. Huh?

"Have you not considered yourself a monster as well?"

What does--- wait, he isn't wrong either...

All this time, I just assumed I would naturally be a human, despite my inhuman form. By the end of the day, I'm still in the body of a monster through and through...

I hear a chuckle coming from Tood. It's as if he already knew my reaction would end up like this.

"Now get this, young Lad. Have you considered bein' on both receivin' ends?"

My mouth agape, I have also not considered that choice. My palm slapped to my solid cheeks.

"Now here's my point. Why are other sentient lifeforms considered as monsters, as long as they carry no resemblance to a normal human physique?"

Uhh...well...

"It's because humans are bias by nature."

Uhhh...?

"They're prejudicial cowards and selfish racist pricks who try to decide what's right and wrong for everything and everyone, regarding their own standards while disregarding the other."

I mean...as an ex-human...

"They alone decide which is which, based on what their instinct and judgement tells them to."

"But it's not like the same thing can't be said for monsters as well."

Big Boss raises both of his index fingers aligned to his chest and brought them together.

"We monsters are also the same pieces of shit, just like humans. The difference and similarities between us is that, we, on the other hand, mostly rely upon our instincts to indiscriminately attack every other organism that crosses our line of sight. And from that perspective from the humans: we are a terrifying existence. Which gives them the right to be afraid of us, because we are to be feared. No exceptions."

Both having similarities to each other. Is that what he's trying to imply here?

"With these two together, they share a common trait that doesn't differentiate them too far apart from one another-- that is their nature to be equally the same pieces of shit against each other while both ends have their own differences and similarities at the same time. More or less, they all still harbor the same wavelength of behavioral nature."

Then that means...no matter what race, species, color, status and morals, we all remain to be---- humane in every sense of its word without prejudice, If that's how I'm getting it.

So then, wouldn't that make----

"I believe the choice would be a stalemate. There is no right or wrong for a question such as this."

Big Boss lays on his back on the porch, crossing both feet together.

"We are still instinctive monsters, yet at the same time carry the very same morals of men, whilst both also carry the very same level of desire. We belong to neither nor do we have the right to identify, claim and speak for either of both sides as it's representative. We are...just who we are, an Individual amongst the vast majority, stating our own bias opinions."

A single fallen leaf flies over to his nose, landing still on his moist booper, a small part of his tongue sticking out from his muzzle. He slightly breathes in some air and huffs the leaf away.

"You're still too young yourself, lad. If my answer did not satisfy what you were expectin' from me, why not give it a thought and tell me what's on yer mind? You've the time to think about it, yea?"

Umm...no. You, as ironic it is, took time from me. Not that it really matters right now...But--

An answer of my own? I don't exactly think his conclusions were wrong. But then again...what would I have chosen?

Big Boss suddenly jerks up from his resting place.

"Ah. That is of course, until you're able to properly communicate to me! Sorry mate, haven't learnt them fancy sign language stuff at all. Grahaha!"

.

.

.

Back to the present. I stood infront of that very same wolf from that fond moment before.

Recalling the times he's helped me, I chuckle in my thoughts. I guess, It all comes back to that very day.

Tood furrows his brow.

"What's gotten into ya for havin' a lightened mood in this situation, lad?"

I took a stance, ready for battle. It was finally the end. Our separate ways are starting to grow apart. It took too long, yet here we are, fighting with our instincts and acting upon our wills. Just as he said.

He never did once offer me advices that I never benefited from.

|| You know what? I'll cast you aside as a bonus. ||

Curious of what I am trying to say, he tilts his head. Furrowing his brows, with slight confusion now plastered on his face.

|| I don't care about this fight anymore. Let's forget about what we discussed earlier before all this. You, as well as this cursed cage that keeps locking me up from the rest of the world--- are all in my way. ||

I spread my arms far and wide, gazing at the great unknown past these "obstacles".

|| My only goal is way over there, ||

I point past beyond the clouds, where the sun would eventually rise and push away the darkness to the other ends of the world. A goal almost so clear I would grasp at freedom even if its glimmer was deep within dark.

|| beyond you. ||

As if a thought had suddenly clicked in, I could see his fur standing from his own thrill. I have found my answer, his exhilaration being his response. Yet another question of violence was exchanged between us.

There's no way out of this by half-assing it, despite all his efforts of actually trying to kill me, I spat at his resolve by never returning the same gesture.

|| I'll take it upon me as mine own saving grace if I, at the very least, don't kill you right here by accident. ||

My instincts yearn for freedom more than anything else, and my will fights for it, for it to be true.

|| Die for your stubbornness or submit like the damn dog that you are. ||

He grins, recalling a recent past that brought forth his present giddiness. His body fully healing itself as he beckons to me, exposing his salivating fangs that have gone feral. His chest started to pound unlike before, as if his long silent heart that thrived only through battle has rekindled its flames once again, again and again, like a constant redundancy. In his response, he returned my own savagery with equal savagery.

"Then die as rubble buried in debris!"

Both beasts took over and clashed with their claws. Steel and Claw have met once again, for the final clash. One sought for freedom and the other a bittersweet release, the satisfaction of a worthy death.

The floating labyrinth was engulfed with tremor. All that are living, within the labyrinth felt as if the world has gone asunder. Nearby humans who were not aware of the crisis at hand became unnerved by the turmoil that was occurring.

"W-What's happening?! Why's the Labyrinth shaking?! Is this an earthquake?!"

"Idiot! We're high above ground! How can there be an earthquake on a Sky Labyrinth?!"

"What's going on?!"

The collapse of a dying Labyrinth. It was currently the battleground of choice for two monsters with only one victor in sight and in mind. The humans, adventurers who were not aware of the situation were overwhelmed with distress.

"W-...What in the-"

A man looks into a spherical device that observes the state of the labyrinth. To his dismay, he learned of the truth.

"The...labyrinth, it's...collapsing?"

"What?!"

Many of the adventurers who set up their camps at the base of the labyrinth from the outside gasps from shock. The Labyrinth core had been destroyed, the place was at the brink of collapse and they were bearing witness to its fall as they remain in its momentarily safe grounds.

At this very moment, everyone in unison, all had the same shudder of realization.

"Someone reached the Labyrinth Boss...?"

*CLANG!*

Sparks flew freely.

Tood struck fiercely. As soon as he recovered, the pressure returned. Pushing his opponent similarly to a cornered state; Angus who focused all his attention into weaving away from his attacks and aggressiveness, bit by bit, adapts from his patterns. By surprise, Tood's shadow appears in the corner of Angus' eye and delivered a quick blow to his chest.

"Shit!" the golem swears in his head, having been sent away through the sheer force of Tood's own shadow's attack.

Tood quickly summons a pack of wolves from his shadow, giving no time for Angus to recover from his previous attack. His slight gesture forward made the wolves surround and chase after the golem he blew away, with his own shadow clone of himself tailing behind them. Walking with menace and grace, he slowly followed after Angus and his pack with an overwhelming pride and confidence befitting his tall stature.

Angus clicks his imaginative tongue in annoyance, quickly engaging in combat with the fodder distractions before he could even fully recover his own stance.

This is Tood's way of fighting. To exhaust and distract his opponents so he can easily pluck out their lives when they least expect it. It is underhanded, yes, but before Angus had developed the persistence to strive for survival, Tood was obsessed with survival instead when it came to hunting down his prey. Previously as a human, it was only his natural instinct to outlast anyone he faced. But now with a beastly form, that innate instinct within him has intensified to the same length of carnal desire. His unknown desire for death and the urge to survive no matter what tactics he uses contrast with each other, yet it was just the right leverage he needed to do what it takes just to "win".

They say that the ones who's got nothing left to lose, are the ones who'll do what it takes to strive farther.

Tood wishes for a fitting death in battle, so his instinct for survival is only a fuel to the fire he intentionally lit up to make it a more memorable experience for both sides, no matter who comes out with their lives still intact. Let him cook, would be an appropriate term to sum it up. From the start, he had deviced this outcome with that absurd reason in mind.

This also benefits Tood no matter the outcome of this deathmatch. If his worthy contender manages to win, not only does he receive his sought after death wish along with his satisfaction of dying in battle but the victor of the fight also gains more power and becoming even stronger than they were before, leaving a parting gift of his own courtesy for fulfilling his selfish demand. And if he won (which is most likely to happen), he will spare them of their life and let them go. An opportunity to find a more fitting opponent to respect his wish is always another option for him. Enabling him to experience different and unique battles that would quench his thirst for battle.

But this time, unless he goes for the kill, He'll surely lose all his attachments to human rationality. So it was now or never, he will quench his thirst before all was lost.

Coming from all sides, the wolves pounced together all at once while the Shadow Tood tries to find an opportunity to attack from Angus' blind spot. In response, he quickly kicked away the first wolf to make contact with him and used it as a foothold to quickly swerve away from the other pack.

A quick sequence of pursuit followed, Tood's shadow appeared behind Angus and attacked with a thrusting hand motion with claws that were visible, aimed at his head. But as Angus already acquired a new form above his previous one, he easily read the attack and flung his head away before it got skewered through. He quickly hugged its arm with his own, keeping it tightly locked in his hold before bending his abdomen over to lock it's head with his legs. Then, while using the forward momentum of his earlier move and taking advantage of the unbalanced weight between the two of them, he slams the shadow to the ground with great force.

*THUD*!

It falls flat on the ceiling they were fighting on and caused a great amount of damage, just enough to crack it open.

Due to the weakened state of the dungeon, the force was strong enough to break the ceiling, making both of them fall along with the debris.

Inside, many monsters who bore witness to this were either surprised from the sudden intrusion or got crushed by the falling debris.

Angus clung to one of the slowly falling debris, its gravity being affected by the struggling automatic fixing devices of the dying Labyrinth making it barely float in midair. Because of the mayhem, the shadow found a way to hide itself among the other slowly falling debris.

But it wasn't the main concern for Angus as of now, the real threat, Tood is nowhere to be seen.

"Crap, I immediately forgot about...!?" Thinking to himself, Angus surveyed his surroundings looking for Tood while also keeping an eye for his hiding shadow.

All of a sudden, the once dark labyrinth is being illuminated by a brilliant light once again. Angus immediately reacts and looks above, seeing yet another swarm of divine swords ready to cast upon him a hail of blades.

Among them, the greatest shadow to ever block the luminesence of the night sky loomed over the Golem who frowned upon realization.

"[Heaven's Cry: The Skypiercer - Grand Skyfall]!"

Tood with his halberd appears, the halo of the Crimson Knight spinning endlessly behind him. The sight of him with thousands of glowing blades, ready to smite all he deems as sinners, like a crimson angel descending from the sky to punish all man and beast with no discrimination. In other words, everyone catches them hands- or swords in this case.

Shit, not this agai-

Before he could finish his aggravated thoughts, the hail of blades fell endlessly.

Administrator, barriers!

[[Yes. Activating barriers continuously.]]

As if a storm hit the Labyrinth, like the roaring drops of heavy rain, the swords fall endlessly to the ground just below me. Discretely enough it reminds Angus of their previous days together as they took shelter from the rain.

[[It isn't really a good time to reminisce about your past together, dear Angus.]]

Y-Yes, my bad.

Tood appears behind Angus. Taking advantage of the amount of floating debris in the air, Tood found an opportunity to keep Angus midair to hinder his ability to take advantage of the ground.

Oh shi-

*Pang*!

A sound so great it reverberates through the entire room. One of Angus' ready-made barriers shattered from the full brunt force of an attack with the halberd in Tood's grasp.

Tood struck with great force using his Halberd. Not one bit did he ever mind his own blades that would also pierce through him from above. But to his disappointment, He only hit Angus' self maintaining barrier, while he is being riddled with holes by his own hail of swords.

As Angus got sent away from the attack, on the other side of his trajectory, Shadow Tood lies in wait to receive the real Tood's serve.

*Pang*!

Another hit, yet the barrier remained unbroken, Tood smiles nonetheless. Even while being pierced and stabbed by his own attacks, he continued to pursue for his prey. So a volley of persistence followed, appearing on each different sides, Tood and his shadow-self kept on attacking in unison while using the floating debris as their foothold and cover for surprise attacks.

The remaining monsters who found shelter before the hail of blades came raining down, witnessed as a line of connections have formed. White, Red and Lavender flew across the room. Impact upon impact could be heard as the Red and Black lines pursued after the White line. As madness unfold to their fragile existence, a mad howl of laughter echoed throughout.

"GRAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!!"

The Lone Wolf enjoyed every single bit of this moment. He was finally granted a worthy death he could be proud of. Whether he wins or loses the battle, if both of them dies without leaving the other. He'll succeed the war that he had set up.

He's crazy...!

[[You can use his own attacks to your advantage.]]

But Angus will not go down unless he fights back and wins his own freedom. It was time for him to flex out the capabilities of his newly unlocked form.

"Hm?!"

Tood's face gets grabbed as he took a lunge to attack Angus. Angus' palm envelops his face with firm grip.

Gotcha.

Angus grabs one of the falling blades and stabs him with it through his throat. Tood coughs up blood, just to see Angus create a small thin square panel in front of his fist. It was then he realized what he was about to do.

|| My turn, friend. ||

Angus' fist pass through the panel and accelerates straight to Tood's jaw.

"Guhh!"

Shadow Tood appears from a blind spot, surprising Angus, but his reaction to this was faster than it could process. Stepping on top of a small debris that happen to be below him, Angus shoots himself upward and avoid Shadow Tood. Raising his hand, knowing that a debris was also above him, Shadow Tood couldn't avoid in time before-

[[Contact confirmed.]]

Activating the Earth Walk skill, Angus shoots down with the Shadow Tood in his foot while also grabbing Tood by his own feet with a tight grasp.

*Bam*!

*Bam*!

*Bam*!

*Bam*!

Four floors down, Angus sends both Toods along with him as they all crash down without the momentum ever stopping until-

*Bam*!

The underside of the labyrinth was broken through.

"What the f-", Tood quickly processes the situation he's gotten into as he curses under his breath. Falling at this distance from the sky was sure enough a death call for the savage wolf. But for a Golem that could only phase through the earth? It was sure enough a victory for the little fellow.

|| Try and avoid death this time! ||

Angus finally takes an attempt to his life, Tood understood that his resolve for freedom was more important than anything else he could ever wish for. But, it wasn't enough to break Tood's own resolve for survival.

"Death isn't worth my attention, mate. I have no need to fear it."

Tood grabs Angus' arm.

"You'll have to try harder than that, laddie."

The halo behind Tood glows bright, blinding Angus. Tood sever Angus' arm and quickly uses him as a platform to jump back towards the Labyrinth. A large and thick enough root that stuck out from the Labyrinth came in reach for Tood to grab a hold of, saving his life momentarily.

*Thnk*!

*Thnk*!

*Thnk*!

*Thnk*!

*Thnk*!

Hearing a peculiar sound, Tood looks down to see Angus running towards him by using his platforms as stairs.

"Now that's cheating."

Coming in with a punch, Angus goes straight for the big bad wolf. Tood swings his halberd only to miss from a feinted punch and get roundhouse kicked to the stomach instead. Using his panels as platforms and boosters, Angus abuses his advantage in aerial maneuver to quickly switch between places.

*Bam*!

*Bam*!

Appearing from different places, Angus delivers countless blows upon blows of punches from every angle.

Having enough of all the bullshit. Tood switched between grabbing the roots with his hand to using the claws in his feet, so he can fight back against Angus with both hands while upside down.

With his halberd in hand, Tood sends a flurry of wind attacks by swinging his halberd with great speed. Along those wind attacks, crimson energy coming from Tood's body were infused with them before he started swinging his halberd at Angus.

Seeing the red slashes come at him, Angus instantly recognizes the threat of those winds and weaved through them midair with the help of the administrator's guidance.

Shit, those winds are dangerous alright. I'm sure one hit of those and I'll end up dea-

[[Please shut up and focus on dodging them, dear Angus.]]

I-I know!

[[To your left.]]

"Tch, is the unknown variant inside him helping him dodge my attacks?"

Tood gives up with his wind attacks, seeing that Angus can easily dodge them and gradually close their distance.

"I don't know. Just shut up and get ready for a close-quarters with him. You keep him busy while I ready your body for something. Give the halberd to your shadow, once he gets too close to you, your weapon will just become a liability.", the demon within his shoulder reprimands and return to being silent.

"Grr...! This guy really!", Tood snarls at his shoulder, but decides it will just be a waste of his time and energy to argue with his shoulder.

"Ugh...I wonder if Angus has it easy with his own demons inside of him."

He doesn't.

Tood is now faced with Angus after dodging all his wind attacks. Before they could engage with one another, Tood buffs both his arms with the crimson energy and swung one of his fist at Angus.

Angus swerves his head away in a swift manner before it made contact with him. Just as Tood's arm was within his own arm's reach, he grabbed it with both of his own and use it as a leverage to deliver a side axe kick across Tood's temple. But Tood counters this by defending with his other hand.

As soon as Angus recognized his failed attempt to stun him, he quickly accelerates a short distance away from Tood. Creating a few blades within his side and two other for both his hands, immediately initiating another close-quarter attempt with Tood.

Using his skill he creates a pillar above Tood, using the Labyrinth above him. Knocking him away from the roots.

"Ugh! This darned pillar!"

While mid-air, Angus swung his blades on the vulnerable wolf who's currently falling to his death again. As Tood gathers his composure while being exposed to another near-death situation, in response, amplified his physic once more for another confrontation.

Slice, cut, and weave, Tood is faced with a golem that relentlessly attacks him with two blades on both hands like an assassin. Some of the floating blades beside him act independently and attack at random and/or with precise maneuverability against him.

Tood fends off against Angus' rush of slashes, coming from indefinite areas he wouldn't expect them to be. He gradually adapts to his random attack patterns and even sways away from most of them. Angus gets a surprise once Tood counter attacks with a punch straight to his face while having a wild grin plastered on his own.

|| You're hella crazy! ||

"I fuckin' know! Grahahaha!"

While falling to his death, Tood continues to trade attacks with Angus. A quick sequence between martial arts and bladework occured; A jab straight to the chest, back kicks aimed towards the stomach, stabs on shoulders and grazes from missed attacks, all with actual skill and experience.

|| You even know martial arts?! How talented are you?! ||

"I dunno mate! Ya just have to adapt to your environment! ---Even when you're about to die!"

Finding an opportunity between their trades, Tood captures Angus' arm between his triceps and punches him square flat in the jaw with his other hand.

As Angus was momentarily taken by the brunt physical force he took straight to his jaw, Tood uses Angus' body as his own platform again to stand on.

Casting a shadow on Angus' body as he stood on top of him. Shadow Tood appears between Angus and Tood and quickly shot itself up using Angus as their foundation while carrying Tood with it.

Due to the leverage that Angus provided for them, it was enough to send them flying halfway the distance back to the Labyrinth's underside. Before they started to slowly fall back down due to gravity, Tood used his Shadow to boost himself further up with one more jump with all his strength behind his legs.

Tood flew just high enough to be able to grab a long root for him to latch on.

While Tood could only save himself by grabbing the roots below the Labyrinth. He quickly tries to follow Angus' movements, but before he could quickly adapt and react just like before--

"uugh!"

Angus grabs him by the chin of his muzzle out of nowhere and slams his head with the Labyrinth above him. Before he could fall to his death again, Angus creates a small multi-layered platform and shoots himself upwards with Tood in his fists.

*Bam*!

*Bam*!

*Bam*!

*Bam*!

Four levels up, a new room, a new battelfield and the Tree Spirit's lair has been breached by two crazy individuals. With an explosive entry, the Tree Spirit was not expecting a company that might endanger her very life.

"EEk--?!"

Catering to her little Spirit Saplings, she hugs the little critters close to her to save them from whatever is the cause of their panic. Their surroundings became covered with dust as soon as the floor of their room opened up a crevice.

*Clang*!

*Thang*!

A series of metallic clash erupted from within the dust clouds. The Tree Spirit finds a blur of shadows of what may seem like silhouettes of monsters that had caused an uproar within her domain. Putting her and her little Spirit Saplings in harm's way.

"Kuu?! Chi kie!!", the Tree Spirit chirps with anger.

As a Labyrinth Room Boss, it was her job to punish any trespassers that may endanger the Labyrinth and her very own life. Before, she would be as docile as an innocent child towards monsters or adventurers that wouldn't directly confront her for their greed, it was even at a point at which she willingly gave free passes past her room and even allowed any research the Adventurers wanted from the Room Bosses, as long as it was within her kind gesture and capabilities without crossing any boundaries that involved any weird or dangerous requests.

But today was an exception, Her's and the Saplings' safety were at risk. Two foolish monsters have invaded her privacy and her home, the need to act within her boss's order to protect their Labyrinth has been put first as a major priority.

She gestures for her Saplings to hide as soon as the clouds were gone. The Tree Spirit readies for an attack as the dust clouds slowly started to fade away. As a Room Boss, it was a given that confidence was one thing a Boss would need in order to face a plenty enough amount of opponents at once. No matter who they are or what they can do, a Boss must brave the dangers alone in order to strive for survival.

"Hmm?"

But...sometimes, there are also exceptions to everything. Especially if a couple of lunatics are involved.

The author's tale has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.

"Ahh! Grahahaha! It's the little Sapling from before!"

After giving his visible surprise, a raw and hardened punch straight to his stomach came after.

"Guhh-Haack!"

A simple tablet appeared out of thin air came along with the punch, and a tall and slender figure followed after. The metallic tablet containing the words, "Oh, it's the cute little Miss Spirit.".

"Kyiiieeeek---!?!?" The Tree Spirit chirps in fear, bewilderment and shock. The only thing saving her from her dire straits was her own luck appeasing to her situation while appealing to the two monstrous entities whom she was acquainted with.

But life can be quite meddlesome sometimes.

Angus comes running towards the Tree Spirit with a grim expression, almost scaring it half to death.

*Pang*!

"Kyu?!"

The blade of the halberd hits Angus' forearm, embedding itself deep enough where a normal human's bones should be. In the spur of the moment, Angus has a protective urge to save the Tree Spirit, holding it close to his chest as gentle as he could to prevent himself from harming the small creature with his own strength.

|| Hey! keep the spirit away from this! ||

Angus attempts to break free from the halberd becoming stuck on his arm, while Tood hid among the dust clouds as his silhouette prevented a clear visual of his whereabouts.

"I agree."

The one holding the halberd revealed to be Tood's shadow among the dust clouds after it cleared. A hand suddenly appearing from above to grab the halberd's grip appeared, with Tood being its owner, flipped upside down after jumping to misdirect Angus' attention away from him for a split second.

"I didn't expect my own shadow to use such underhanded methods to keep you distracted."

Twisting his lower body, Tood succeeds in landing a strike with his foot straight to Angus' jaw.

*Thunk*!!

"Ngh?!"

Is what it seemed like, but Angus manages to quickly catch his foot with his own foot. Ignoring the limitations of a human's physique, Angus morphed his whole leg with his skill to mend the earth and caught the sly wolf's sneak attack by changing it into a shackling like substance to latch onto Tood's foot.

He then summons spikes to his foot to puncture and capture Tood's one leg, restricting his movement.

Tood's shadow quickly responds and attacks the now also restricted Angus.

But with both Tood and the Tree Spirit in Angus' hands, there was no way for him to counter attack, so he--

"Eek?!"

"Wha-"

Surprisingly tossed the Tree Spirit right in the Shadow's arms, catching it off guard.

"!?"

Landing safely in the Shadow's arms, the Tree Spirit tries to process what the fuck just happened. Under a sudden state of confusion, the Shadow looked back and forth between Angus and Tood. Tood gives a suggesting look to put the Spirit away, but the Shadow connotes for a more elaborate way in doing it. It was really just straight up caught in a surprise that left the Shadow dumbfounded.

Restraining himself from laughing so hard in his thoughts, the madlad found an opportunity to strike back, given the comical chance he had created. Angus goes for a straight jab to the Shadow's face and knocks it away as comically as it occurred, making it let go of the Tree Spirit in the process. He immediately turns his attention to Tood, grabbing him by his collar with his fur and throwing him to the ground, while happenstance the halberd that got stuck to his arm to be removed thanks to Tood having a tight grip to its handle. Before the Tree Spirit could fall to the ground, Angus caught the poor little creature in his hand once again.

Letting the spirit down to stand on its own feet, Angus gestures for it to run away and hide safely within the room. After it clumsily fled from the trauma inducing duo, Angus turned to Tood who's been slammed down, smirking at his captured opponent.

|| I knew your Shadow wouldn't have the guts to hurt that little cutie. Put her in danger maybe? I could see that, definitely. But never to hurt. ||

As he was about to attack the downed wolf, Tood spins around, sweeping Angus off from his feet.

Angus got caught lacking. He slowly watches while falling down as Tood goes for another spin, looking like he was breakdancing, attaches the halberd that fell near him to his foot to act as an extension of his leg to strike the vulnerable golem midair. Before it could connect, Angus put both arms in front and also added a few barriers in time, but just as it connected a red spark emitted from the collision, resulting in Angus' barriers to shatter like fragile glass and sever both of his arms.

A familiar guttural voice spoke up right after.

"This is where we draw the line, child. I cannot risk losing this foolish man's life to the likes of you."

Regaining his stance, Tood's demonic shoulder burst into crimson lumps of flesh, pulsating and wriggling violently while spreading through his arm. Tood groans in pain, an expression he never once displayed with raw emotion.

"Ngggaaarghhhh----!!? What in the--"

"Endure it, fool. For now, I'm giving you access to a small fraction of your true potential."

"Agghh!!"

The crimson color of his pulsing arm finally reaches the tips of his fingers. Angus could only stand and watch in horror, too stunned at the graphic scene and too cautious from the dangers of approaching against a monster within another monster. Tood's possessed arm starts to stretch out, while giving a tight grip on the halberd while also burying it's claws in the floor from agony.

Angus knew with similar cases like these where your enemy is going through a transformation, you should either interfere immediately or directly go for a finishing strike as they're in the process of doing so. But his intuition told him to never approach Tood right now, instead, he should focus on building up his defenses while recovering his severed hands as quickly as possible before he regrets it.

Angus quickly set up a reinforced thick wall right in front of him while simultaneously putting up barriers on his body to protect himself from what's about to happen.

Then he remembered-

The Tree Spirit!

Angus quickly searched for her, just to see the little critter hiding behind stacked debris.

"Kiek?" It chirped innocently, fumbling over whether to hide more thoroughly or help out with either one of them out.

He responds quickly to save her life by making a platform beneath her that sprung her over to his arms' length. Just as Angus secured her safety behind the small fort he has created, a wild flurry of slashes devastated the room with a whopping explosive power behind its force.

The room became shredded pieces of what it was before. The defenses he put up managed to block out most of the attacks that struck him but couldn't tank some of the hits that managed to slice through his barriers.

Tree Spirit: "Eeek..?!"

Thankfully, the hits were as close to scratches from what Angus expected the damage on his body would be based from the destruction around them.

The walls to the room Boss's lair came crumbling down, the nearby monsters from different rooms and some adventurers who were currently still inside the Labyrinth all came rushing to their spot to investigate all the ruckus that's been occuring lately.

Because of the Tree Spirit's room being closer to the dungeon entrance than the other Room Boss's rooms were, and with it's surrounding rooms and passages being relatively safer as well. Humans weren't as as rare to come across compared to the higher leveled areas. So those who were currently surveying or camping near the green zone of the Labyrinth quickly gathered to their location after the collapse of the Tree Spirit's room.

From the center of the lair, Angus can be seen holding a little critter in his arms. While close to them is a crimson werewolf with a scorching red halo behind his back, its right arm which was previously turning scarletly bright had switched to a pitch of black so dark you could nearly see the void that's inside, while it was holding a firm grip on a halberd that's slowly being corrupted by the void within the hand.

Men, women, animal, monster, coming across such a frightening sight can only cower in fear from the sheer overbearing presence of the Wolf at the center.

Gasping from the exhaustion and painful experience he just went through, Tood buries his abysmal claw on a pile of debris beside him. Leaving dark stains that were touched by his cursed arm to be swallowed by the dark matter in a matter of just a few seconds.

"Khh...well, everythin' for a win, eh?"

Tood waists no time and brandishes his halberd. As soon as he waved his polearm, a frightening orchestraic piece reverberates throughout the very confines of the entire Labyrinth. All who gazed in silence at his form, hear the cacophony of a requiem that prelude to their impending doom.

"Holy shit, is that boss theme music I hear?" The thought instantly crosses Angus' mind.

"W-What..? Music?? no...voices? What in the world--", a random adventurer stood still, trying to comprehend the situation they've abruptly been given. Their whole body was shaking, not solely from fear itself but also because of the strange tremors occuring from within the labyrinth itself.

They search for the source of the music, yet to no avail; the only thing they garnered while searching was further exposing themselves to danger.

Another adventurer, a girl of rookie experience in the line of adventuring-- fell to her knees, her hands on her head while quivering and wetting herself in fear.

"Kya--!"

Her gaze fixated on the wolf clad in crimson and black-- Shivers that crawled down her spine became a forewarning; her instincts telling her to never keep her sights off from the predatory wolf, whom: bares his fangs for all to see.

"Is...that the boss of labyrinth?"

"Look at that imposing frame-- what a monster!"

"Th-...They said the Labyrinth Boss might resemble a wolf due to the rumours about strange howls being heard deeper into the rooms...to think it would turn out to be much worse than just a Wolf!"

All form of murmurs and whisper surround us. Big Boss's ears twitch from the buzzing annoyance that continue to irk his mood. Only the fodder monsters who knew the situation, immediately acted upon their survival instinct and hid themselves away from trouble as soon as they caught a glimpse at both of us.

"What's that?!", A man dressed in light armor and a hair so strikingly vibrant of red, casually approached the three of us while pointing a finger at me.

He means me?? What is this doofus doing right now...

The curious adventurer stands in front of the Big Boss with his back turned against him, as he caresses my solid cheeks (not the butt, just to clarify).

"This guy looks like stone everyone!"

They all turn to me, now the attention of the humans gathers on my limelight.

"Oh shit, it's true!"

"Are you stupid Reinhardt?! Get back here before you get us all killed!"

"Bwahahaha! Look at that fool!"

"And of course another idiot follows after him...LinLin, get those two please..."

A group of female adventurers soon took a step out of the dark.

The one who followed the redhead was a girl in heavy armor, who equipped a mace and a small round shield that occupied both of her arms.

"Omg! Look at the little thing in its hands!", the girl squeals in delight.

"Ooh! It's the plant spirit in one of the boss rooms!", the redhead replies.

"What? What? What is it?"

Approaching from behind them was an asian looking girl in a traditional red chinese outfit and black baggy pants.

"Oh LinLin! Look!" The two beckon for the petite girl to check out what they found out.

"Oh my! What a cute little creature!", She exclaims as the two idiots who share the same braincell snatched the tree spirit from my hand and presented it to her. They all run around me while squealing like little children.

What the fuck is happening...are humans normally this carefree?

As I was crouching down on my knee, I observed Big Boss's expression, only to see him sighing with his halberd rested on his shoulder.

|| Timeout? ||

I asked him. Just to be sure he won't be pulling anymore funny business at the moment.

"Grahaha! Yea sure, why not? I have plenty of time to pick a fight with ya." He snickered, while his shadow patiently waited beneath his feet.

The humans were surprised from the sudden conversation we exchanged. As wild monsters are generally not one to engage in such civil manner.

"Woah! They just spoke to each other!", Said the redhead with enthusiasm.

Just behind Big Boss, a girl in rugged clothing and some light armor covering the vital parts of her body, stomped her way towards my side and whacked the living shit out of the three idiots prancing around by using the bow in her hand.

The only thing we could do was to watch in awkward silence.

"W-We're v-very sorry! We didn't mean to intrude on purpose!"

She quickly apologizes.

"Mm. Scram, kid. I still have some unfinished business with this one. I have no intentions to drag you people along our dispute, as long as you stray further from us." He points at me while his shadow kindly waves goodbye to them.

The archer girl lifts both the lightweight kids on both of her shoulders, as the other person who carried a wand and a tome casted a spell to make the heavy armored girl float in the air. Once they gathered their friends, they immediately skedaddled, and following behind their trail were the other frightened adventurers.

Not gonna lie. If it weren't for all those humans doing their usual human things, this place would've been a slaughter fest. Who knows how many collateral damage we could've done in this closed space if they couldn't break his attention on the fight.

"What's the matter? Get up lass."

I turn to see a girl who got left behind, her pants soaked in her urine due to fear. It seems like she couldn't bear the pressure of standing close to us. Perhaps she is the same girl who fell on her knees from earlier. Now she's completely on her rear in the cold hard floor, trembling and clutching on to her hair as an attempt to comfort and shield herself from the frightening sight right in front of her.

"H-Help...p-please...I-I don't want to..", she mutters under her gasping breath. Her eyes were devoid of awareness, the fear in her mind has overwhelmed her to the point she might not recover from this encounter, alone.

Tood sighs and picks her up by the back of her collar.

"Hey, lass, snap out of it."

Tood flicks his finger in front of her face. It took several attempts to finally bring her back to her senses. Once she realizes her situation, she couldn't help but let out a yelp with Tood's face being close to her.

"Kya-!! monster!!", she throws out a punch to his muzzle out of panic, but it was a cute attempt at best as he didn't even budge from the hit he took.

"Oi, stop it. Look around ya. You're the only one left here.", he gestures around us as he blocks every punch she threw at him with an open palm.

After pointing out that she was free to go, she started to calm down and assess her surrounding that it was indeed safe to walk away from us.

"R-Really...? A-Am I...really free to go?"

He nods at her.

"R-Really? You won't feed me to your little pups or something??"

Tood sighs and lets go of her collar, carefully dropping her to stand on her own feet.

"I'm a guy, I don't get to have kids just by my own. Now stop yapping and start runnin' for god's sake. Go to yer family and probably find better friends that won't be leavin' ya here all alone as well, probably even get a safer job than adventuring and live yer life away from danger. Got it?"

"Y-Yes...I-I want to say I love you to my mom...We got into an argument just before I left our village, and I don't want to leave her like that when I die...I want to say sorry to her...w-when I go back."

"O-Oh...okay?"

"I only became an adventurer because it earns you a lot, despite the risks. My dad just recently died and my mother is unwell from the shock of losing him...even my brother was drafted to the north shortly after..."

"Umm..."

Seeing as how this was dragging on, Tood's shadow emerged from his soles and lifted her up in a princess carry and then carried her towards the direction where the adventurers fled from.

Well, that got...depressing didn't it?

Now we're the only ones left in the room. We both lock eyes; no malice, bloodlust, nor contempt, just silence.

|| If I were to punch your face right now, I'd like to savor the look from your face when I hit it. ||

"Big talk, why don't you back it up through your actions!"

.

.

.

.

[The Entrance of the Labyrinth]

Adventurer: "Sheesh! we finally got away from those two monsters just now!"

Everyone finally got outside of the labyrinth, panting and wheezing as the exhaustion from running caught up to them.

"YOU IDIOTS!"

Yelling could be heard from a particular group that stood out from the rest. It was the ones from earlier who butted their heads in Tood and Angus' fight. The girl with the bow berates the three kids in their party, as the mage could only watch in the sidelines while shaking her head.

"Just WHY would you do something so stupid just now?!", She pokes the redhead kid in his forehead as tears trickle down his face.

"T-They looked...sho cool tho...", he answers with contusions and swelling all over his face after getting beat up by the girl with the bow and arrows.

"Y-You--!! Just for that stupid--!", The archer girl picks him up by his collar and getting ready to punch him again.

"AAHH--!! Save me from this gorilla witch--!"

"WATCHU SAY TO ME YA LIL' SHI--"

As the quarrel between the two started, the other two members-- LinLin and the heavy armored girl approached the mage in their party.

"Oh LinLin, March, looks like you two woke up as well. Do you need something?"

LinLin came up to the mage while holding something peculiar in her hands.

"Look at this Ber- Er, Tina! Look!"

"I'll just ignore that new nickname for now...so then, what is it?"

LinLin giggles as she giddily reveals the Tree Spirit in her palm who came along with her.

"Eh? Isn't that the little thing you were all infatuated about just earlier? Why is it outside?"

March steps forward to caress the little creature in its head.

"We don't know. When we woke up it was already sitting on LinLin's chest, looking up to the sky."

Tina places her palm on her cheek in confusion at March's statement.

"Huh? But that's strange..."

The other two tilt their heads, curious about what she has to say next.

"Room Bosses are incapable of leaving their rooms. That's why they are called as they are; a specialized boss class monster threat, generated inside a Labyrinth room."

The two became even more puzzled.

"Eh? Tina, if what you said is true-- how come this little one's outside? If I remember correctly, I learned that from school too. Room Bosses are locked inside of their rooms, leaving them sealed and limited only to their room if I'm not wrong?"

Tina nods at her, confirming her curious question.

"Yes, you're right March. Naturally spawned Room Bosses are indeed stuck to their rooms as their souls are bound to a special item inside that room. Those special items are their seals, along with it serving the role of their lifeline as well. If you break the special item, they die as well. But they would still respawn after an entire week after their deaths."

The two were at awe from Tina's helpful guidance, as they have only recently joined Schneider's party let alone go on an actual request before. It was a rather helpful piece of information for first time Labyrinth explorers.

"So then, why Is the little one able to come out of her room? I heard the barriers that prevent the monsters from coming outside of their rooms inside a Labyrinth was strong enough to completely vaporize their entire body at once if they got out. How come little miss Tree Spirit is alright? Surprisingly, she's even outside the Labyrinth as we speak."

This time LinLin asks, while slowly becoming concerned if the young boy will survive the archer girl's fury. Tina shrugs it off by ignoring LinLin's occasional quick glances to their direction.

"That's because the Tree Spirit isn't-"

"Kyaa--!!"

A sudden commotion has occured near the entrance of the Labyrinth, cutting off Tina's words mid sentence. Everyone agreed it was still too soon to relax and put whatever they were doing at the moment for later; Problems were arising, and it's an adventurer's job to mediate any concern that involves their expertise.

Having heard of the screams, the archer girl calls to her allies.

"Everyone! To the entrance, quickly!"

Everyone nodded and rushed to the entrance, while the archer girl had to carry Schneider on her back.

"Don't you feel ashamed that a girl's carrying you on her back?!"

"B-But you were beating me senseless right now, Fauna..."

"Ghh...o-okay, I'm sorry. I went too far this time...but you know what you did earlier was even more outrageous!"

"I-Im shorry.. "

"As long as you reflect on your actions THIS TIME. The moment I catch you doing stupid shit again, I'll beat you half to death next time."

"😭"

.

.

.

- Front Entrance of the Labyrinth -

As soon as everyone arrived they all ready their weapons. Because at the entrance: the shadow of the boss monster from before, stood still.

"W-What!? It's outside!"

"Hiie--!! Wouldn't that mean it got out of the barrier?!"

"T-That's nuts...even outside, we can't relax from that monster..."

A lot of adventurers panicked due to the overwhelming fear with remembering their previous encounter with the shadow's owner. While others who remained quiet, tried keeping their composure seeing that there were no immediate threats occuring as the shadow showed no signs of hostility and only remained idle.

"Huh?! It's... it's trying to do something!"

The shadow put one of its hand inside its chest and attempted to reach something to bring out from inside of it.

"Prepare yourselves! It's trying to do something! Do not attempt to engage it first or it might cost you your lives!" Fauna, the archer girl, shouts for everyone to be cautious. Aiming her bow and arrow at the shadow. Seeing her do this made the ones who kept their composure follow her lead, and the ones who couldn't handle the pressure were asked to leave immediately and board the airships waiting at the docks of the labyrinth. Because of their numbers, they were confident enough to cooperate with acquaintances or strangers who stayed behind and possibly hold back the monstrous shadow if it were to go on a rampage.

"...!"

After waiting for a few minutes. The shadow took out a girl, an adventurer, out from its body. This made the adventurers raise their guard up more, seeing that it had an adventurer just inside of its body just now. But since they might risk endangering the life of the girl, there were no attempts or given commands to attack. Everyone knew for a fact that if they did something stupid right now, everyone might end up dead, not just the girl.

"Be cautious everyone! It has someo-"

The shadow carries the girl in a princess carry before setting her down to stand up by her own. Everyone was speechless and dumbstruck from the gentle care the shadow portayed. All that they could manage to process were the soft sniffling coming from the girl, and the gentle caress to her head by the shadow afterwards.

Before everyone else could react to the surprising turn of events, someone reckless and fearless enough already came running towards the girl.

"Hey! Are you alright Faina!?" Schneider came running to help her.

"Huh!?" After snapping out from her surprise, Fauna noticed it late that Schneider was already gone from her side. But after hearing the name that Schneider called out to, her worries escalated even more.

"F-Faina?!"

The girl next to Shadow Tood heard a very familiar voice. Feeling a sudden sense of comfort and safety, she turned around to see Schneider running towards her and her elder sister who just called out to her was following behind him.

"F-...FAUNAAA---!!" Shouting out the name of her sibling despite her trembling voice, Faina built up enough courage and strength to try and reunite with her family.

Schneider first arrived at her location and caught her before she tripped due to fatigue and mental exhaustion.

"Are you alright Faina?! What are you doing out here? Didn't your sister already tell you we'd be alright here on our own? Why did you follow us here, why didn't you stay at the village?" Schneider was confused seeing that Fauna's sister was here at a very dangerous Labyrinth, so his questions kept piling up. Meanwhile Fauna arrived next to them, panting a little, while her gaze never parted from her sister after realizing she was here.

"F-.....Faina...what...what are you doing here..?" Fauna's eyes were glued stuck to her sister, she saw that parts of her limbs were covered in bruises and some scars.

"W-What happened to you..!? Does brother...no, does mother know about this?! Why are you here?! If you're here then... who's taking care of her while big brother is away?!" Fauna, the archer girl couldn't believe her eyes. Her sister was covered with bruises and bits of scars, yet she still managed to give her a weak smile when they met face to face.

Seeing her little sister smile despite her condition, lit a flame inside of her.

"What...happened to you?" Fauna asks once again, feeling devastated seeing the state that her sister was in, but wore a poker face to make it seem that she was calm.

She then points a finger at the shadow standing before them silently.

Everyone looked at the Shadow Tood.

"Did you do this..?"

It was at that moment everyone came to their senses and knew that she was about to do something rash.

"I'LL KILL YOU--!!!" She screamed at the top of her lungs and drew an arrow from her quiver and shot it immediately right at the shadow's face.

*Splch*!!

Everyone was shocked. Blood was spilled the instance the arrow took flight, but it was not from Fauna who attempted the attack and received retaliation...

"S-Schneider...!!" Fauna gasps from what she witnessed. The arrow has pierced his arm.

Schneider caught the arrow by letting it pierce through his palm, killing its momentum instantly.

"Phew...thank god it didn't manage to mess up my arm completely...it was a good choice to coat my arm with armament strengthening." Schneider sighs in relief seeing that his hand wasn't blown to bits and pieces.

"W-...Why..." Fauna drops on her knees and rear after the rush of adrenaline from her anger and confusion has subsided; thinking that she had almost provoked the shadow to strike back at them.

Schneider only gives her a grin.

"Didn't you say earlier? No more doing stupid things right now. Try to follow your own words too, stupid."

He laughed, not because he was mocking her. But because he was glad he just prevented the worst possible outcome for everyone. And everyone sighed with relief knowing that the worst case scenario had been prevented.

"Sister..." Faina reached out to Fauna, firmly holding her hand.

"Please don't harm him."

"What do you...?"

Faina looked at her benefactor, the wolf made out of shadows.

"Right as everybody ran away, I was left behind since I had a panic attack. The party I came with to this Labyrinth...left me behind..."

It wasn't uncommon to be abandoned by your party in the type of line of work that adventurers go through. In fact, there are mostly cases of death due to betrayal or abandonment. In a career where young people usually die young, finding proper people to team up with you was like finding a special needle in a haystack riddled with rusted needles.

Unfortunately for Faina, Fauna's younger sister, she only ever picked up the rusted needles in search of the special needle she was looking for.

"Thankfully...he showed me mercy and let me go." She gestured at the shadow.

Everyone was just as surprised as before after hearing her say that.

"Thank you mister wolf. I'll be sure to find better friends next time. Thank you for protecting me while we were on our way here. When you suddenly put me inside of your body, I was a bit surprised, but it felt like I was wearing a powerful armor that helped me beat the monsters that attacked us on our way...it felt safe and reassuring after a long while." Faina shows her gratitude to the shadow only through her words, It nods and gives her one last pat on the head before dispersing itself and returning to the shadows inside the labyrinth. It was the shadow's own way of telling her to look after herself and to be careful from now on.

"Do you want to hug each other?" Schneider suggested to the two sisters, happy that none of them were harmed.

They both agreed by nodding silently. They were too exhausted to talk to each other so they silently hugged and appreciated the moment.

"Looks like the shadow only dropped off the kid here. Thank god it didn't come out looking for trouble." A middle-aged adventurer sighs, learning that the commotion only turned out to be something not as serious as they thought it would be.

"Looks like everything's sorted out. Should we head out to the camps and ask what's happening in the Labyrinth right now?" LinLin asks Tina after confirming the issue was already dealt with.

Everyone started to relax and pack their things, ready to either leave the sky Labyrinth with the airships or go back to the camps stationed near the airship docks to ask what was going on just like how LinLin suggested.

March helped in carrying both Fauna and Faina after the whole ordeal had passed. March and Schneider then regrouped with the rest of their party as quickly as they could.

"Well then Tina? It looks like Fauna passed out along with her sister. Should we head over to the camps now?" LinLin was curious after Tina didn't respond to her the first time she asked, so she asked again, only to see Tina wearing a very bothered and disturbed expression.

"No...we leave NOW! EVERYONE, START RUNNING FOR THE DOCKS! WE MUST LEAVE THIS PLACE AS SOON AS POSSIBLE!"

Everyone immediately heard her voice. Seeing how scared she looked, they gave it no time to think about and started sprinting towards the docks. Schneider's party followed behind them.

"W-Why are we running?!" LinLin asks while running beside Tina.

Tina gulped as she explains the reason why she was acting so frantically just now, "Do you remember what I was about to say about this little one?!" She pointed at the Tree Spirit who was clinging to her shoulders.

"Uhh...yes, you were about to say something about her when you suddenly got cut off mid sentence because of the commotion earlier...what about that?"

"Well you see...monsters who naturally spawn inside Labyrinths or Dungeons can't go outside of these constructs because their souls are naturally bound to those places. It especially works for the Bosses inside too since they are trapped in a room that restricts their freedom. Making the Bosses incapable of causing destruction from outside their rooms. Of course, this barrier isn't only limited to their presence. It also blocks away any form of attack or skill they attempt at escaping from their soul bound cages. Even if they had a skill that allowed them to sever through space, the barrier is strong enough to keep it inside no matter what, even if the Labyrinth's core was destroyed."

"Okay? But that didn't apply to Tree Spirit and the Labyrinth Boss' Shadow just now. How come they're an exemption? Wait...you don't mean..!?"

"Exactly---"

*THUD*

*THUD*

*THUD*

*THUD*

*BAM*!

A sudden incident has occured yet again at the entrance of the Labyrinth far behind them. Angus had pushed Tood outside of the Labyrinth!

"NO FUCKING WAY!?" One of the adventurers who looked back to see what had happened, felt like shitting his pants and kept running but faster than before.

"Holy shit--!" March cursed under her breath as she carried the two sisters.

"March! Let me carry Fauna so you can run faster!" Schneider didn't wait for a response and snatched Fauna from March's hands. Allowing her to run easier so that she wouldn't lag behind.

"Is that what you mean Tina?!" LinLin yelps after seeing the two of them burst out from the entrance.

"YES! It was already weird for the Labyrinth Boss to be in the Green Zone, and that's because they're originally not from the Labyrinth! So they can roam as they please!"

"Yikes! Shènrén!"

Appearing out of nowhere and at high speeds: Angus enlarges his fist through [Earth Power] and punched Tood away, although he blocked it with his halberd.

His flight direction was headed towards the humans who were far away, trying to to run away. But with the force that Angus used to punch Tood, it was fast enough to make him collide with them and possibly kill some of them in a short span of a few seconds.

Of course, Angus wouldn't allow such a horrid result. So he quickly formed walls of dirt beside him that quickly caught up to Tood and went past him, towards the adventurers.

When the dirt wall was beside the adventurers, it rose up between them and pushed them aside, seperating some of them and allowing Tood to pass through in the middle safely. Since the ground was mostly dirt, if Angus used them to catch Tood it might not be durable enough to fully cushion his momentum and it might still end up killing some of the humans.

Angus' only goal was to kill/defeat Tood before the Labyrinth fully collapses, not involve others around us. The same applies for Tood as well, albeit he cannot guarantee a more gentler approach because he's clumsy sometimes. As for the Labyrinth monsters? They couldn't care less about them, the only thing that wasn't directly trying to kill them in this place was the Little miss spirit and the friendly creatures.

This time Angus dug up harder dirt from the ground on both sides of Tood and squished him in between them. Angus creates a moving platform beneath him so he could quickly follow up on Tood who was trapped in the dirt walls.

The walls immediately bursted out when Tood unleashed a burst of mana to make the walls crumble in one go. He quickly raises the hilt of his halberd as he blocks a metallic blade on Angus' arm that was aiming for his throat.

Tood quickly pushed him back. He uses this chance to land his halberd on Angus and demolish his body with one cleave, only for him to make a duplicate shell of his body to escape the fatal blow.

A flurry of attacks reoccured, Tood waves his halbered around him in a spherical motion with precision as he chases after him.

Angus creates two sets of blades and other flying weaponry to block Tood's mastery of his weapon. But due to the black matter that covered his arm and weapon, just touching it consumed the weapons that Angus created during their clash of steel. Angus had to quickly switch out between scraps and new ones during the assault against him.

It seems the weapons I make have no significance against the state he's in right now. I should probably use that, I think it would be perfect right now. What do you think administrator?

[[Yes, if the description is correct it would be the perfect match for him right now.]]

[[I will now create a chance for you to bring it out.]]

Alright. Let's finish this.

A large fist of dirt suddenly erected below Tood. Punching him up in the air.

"Oomph--This again!?"

Angus rides a pillar that elevated towards Tood, while spikes that shot out from the ground also accompanied him on his way.

Tood embraces for the barrage of attacks and clashed with the spikes that accelerated to try and penetrate him. With one swing of his halberd, they were all consumed by the black energy.

But as the particles of the broken spikes flew across his face, Angus had already swung a sword at his face before he even knew it.

When the Sword made contact with his black energy, it didn't corrode.

"...!?"

|| Gotcha. ||

Angus puts all his strength to the swing, dealing significant damage to Tood's jaw.

Now I'm starting to be grateful I didn't throw this away when it dropped.

[[Indeed.]]

======

[Earth King's Forgotten Blade (Legendary)]

[Weapon Stats]

Durability: "Indestructible"

Dmg: 1

C.Dmg: 1

Mgc.Dmg: 1

- Weapon Skills -

[Mark]

Mark - Marks you as its new wielder. This weapon cannot be equipped by anyone else except for the marked owner. If anyone else dare to steal this weapon from the owner and make it their own with any malicious intent, they will be cursed and PETRIFIED forever. Mark will be disabled once the new wielder has suffered CERTAIN Death. Can be recalled if lost or discarded.

=====

After gaining a fitting body that could normally wield any normal sized sword, Angus brings out the Forgotten Blade from his inventory.

Nearly forgot about this thing. Haha

[[Allow me to assist you further from now on.]]

That's neat, let's go!

Tood's darkened arm extends and whips it wildly in every direction.

Angus reacts to this by creating thick walls out of thin air all around them. He then phases through one of them and out the other with his skill to quickly maneuver, and dodge all the attacks.

"What the fuck..." The adventurers on the ground stared in awe and horror as they witness a maelstorm of thousands of slashes, and a single white silhouette that swam through the deadly current.

"Is that actually the Labyrinth Boss...? How the hell..."

"Monsters..."

"Look at them go...it was crazy to think anyone could challenge or reach that thing."

"Wow...just...fuck, I wanna get out of here."

"Everyone! Don't just stand there...run! Towards the docks!" Fauna quickly recovered from passing out once she felt a disturbing force , and after seeing the chaos when she woke up, she quickly acted out to make everyone alert of their situation.

"We don't have any time to stare around and get caught up in their crazy fight--"

*BOOM*!

Before they started running for the docks again, in front of them, a peculiar white Golem crash landed and blocked their way of escape.

"I-Its that thing again!"

Ah shit. When I tried to attack Tood after getting close to him, his shadow suddenly appeared from the black parts of his body and knocked me down. Also, is it just me or is the black energy slowly taking over his crimson armor?

[[It seems so. I sense that his power may come at a price. If that energy fully envelops his body, he may lose his sanity completely and slowly burn out to death.]]

So that's why he's using deadlier moves now, he's also trying to finish this quick as well. What should we do?

[[Quickly beat him to death, before he does to us.]]

Heheeell yeaaa.

*THMP*

After his insane attack, Tood landed in the middle of the Adventurers' crowd. Everyone froze in an instance. Was it out of fear? Pure pressure? Or instinct? The moment he had landed on their spot, moving a single inch wasn't even an option anymore.

Tood notices their presence immediately, then smirked.

"Quite intuitive ya heaps, good. If ye value yer lives right now, don't move."

Most of the adventurers were panicking inside, while the more composed ones from before are a nervous wreck. It's not like Tood was taking them as hostages, but following his advice of staying still was more reassuring than being caught up with whatever was about to happen at any moment if they were to clash again. Him giving them advice meant that he would attempt to do something at a smaller scale than before. Thus it would mean that they would be easy targets if they were to move frantically while the monsters were duking it out with each other.

On the other side, Angus started to strut confidently towards them. Watching him walk slowly, while Tood maintained on standby beside the adventurers felt like eternity. Some adventurers were already starting to feel numb for maintaining their position and pose. If this continues further, someone might twitch or fall on their ass and then die from the two monsters.

Right exactly when Angus entered the crowd and almost closed the distance between him and Tood, the dark and crimson wolf vanishes in a split second.

!!

*Thnk*!

Angus' prepared barrier suddenly broke down. He quickly turned toward the source of the attack and saw an adventurer girl who was standing still, and behind her was a silhouette of a large crimson wolf before it vanished again. The girl was unharmed, but Tood was nowhere to be seen again.

No way, he's...among the adventurers and using them as a shield to make it hard for me to follow his movements!

[[Indeed, it is as you say. He's hiding among the humans and quickly moving to hide again right after attacking us.]]

[[I have been trying to follow his movements for a while now, but whenever I finally got a hold of his current position; he immediately erases his presence completely.]]

Does that mean he could sense you too??

[[Perhaps. He couldn't do that before, but now that he's gained a new power--- It seems that he can also feel my actions too, not just my presence.]]

Dark clouds suddenly started to form unusually, it looks like a storm is about to start while the fight is currently ongoing. Angus started to read where the attacks were coming from, but would later be at a disadvantage if he couldn't adapt faster.

Sparks flew and clashes of physical force could be heard. Every unsettling sound that their high speed attacks produced made the adventurers flinch in surprise. But this wasn't a major issue anymore, both monsters have already adapted to them being in the way as long as they stood still in place. They've already memorized their position, poses, and gaps in between their stance. As long as they didn't make any sudden bizarre movement, it was atleast a guarantee that they would still keep all their limbs intact and come out unscathed.

In just a minute, Angus started to hide among the crowd as well, finally following Tood's movements. It was just in a nick of time that he has finally followed Tood's pattern. If it were just a second later than that, all of his cores that kept his life assured would've all been struck by Tood in a flash.

The moment the clashes among the petrified adventurers started to become fiercer, lightning struck nearby and heavy rain soon followed after.

A storm suddenly came out of nowhere. This was due to Tood's uncanny luck stat. Because of his crimson transformation, his luck had reached absolute zero, making it fluctuate and manifest C̷̜̲͕̗͔̅̒̃̌h̸̟̪̦̫͚̃̔̓͘à̵͓̙̘̦̒̀̆͛ǫ̷̌s̵͙̝̀̍̈̉̀. Once it had activated when he transformed, the natural phenomenon that occured in the world near Tood, has started to shift and behave in a strange manner that either signified a blessing or a calamity.

Shit, it's dark.

[[Shall I enhance our vision so we can quickly adjust our sight to the dark?]]

[[Unfortunately we do not have a night vision skill yet, so this is all I can manage for now.]]

Yes, please. And don't worry about it, we'll get that skill sooner or later. Thank you.

[[No worries, darling.]]

!?

After it started raining heavily, the dark clouds have covered the entire sky and blocked out what little light the moon had provided them before. Now it was almost pitch black everywhere, the only sources of light there was were the small magical lamps that some of the petrified adventurers carried.

*Pang*!

Sparks flew once again, the short light it provided revealed two monsters in the dark for a brief moment. Another spark came from somewhere, there were two monsters grinning in the dark. The adventurers could feel the swift movements and the rush of unseen attacks fly past them in the winds. They could hear sudden splotches from puddles that have already formed in the ground, indicating that they have sometimes stepped on these puddles in the dark. They were fast, nimble, and deadly; one wrong move and both sides could suffer a major loss.

*Krck-thoom*!

Finally, everything was visible in the dark for only a brief moment as lightning struck again and provided light for a short instance. In slow motion, the adventurers could see the two monsters were face-to-face with their fist clenched and about to make contact with one another.

For Angus and Tood, they could see everything so vividly. From the drops of rain falling so slowly from their perception, to seeing the disturbed expressions of the adventurers around them, even towards the accumulated water from their bodies being soaked in the rain as the drops scatter and fly across the wind with each fast movement they make. Their mind and physique has enhanced at a level where it was beyond normal human comprehension--

Right now; Angus and Tood Raid, who has currently surpassed their limits, were fighting at a hundred and twenty percent of their potential!

Their fist clashed together, creating a sudden shockwave and pushing all the adventurers away.

Once they finally gained some distance away from them, Fauna screamed.

"RUUUUUUUUN----!!! DON'T LOOK BACK!"

Everyone sprinted and this time, they didn't stop no matter what was happening between the two monsters behind them. After what had just happened to them, stopping to watch just like what they did earlier was the craziest thing they could ever try and pull again.

After the punches collided, Tood engaged in another rush of attacks with Angus. Punches and kicks were flying everywhere, and Angus used the forgotten blade to block the dark energy from Tood's body. The drops of water from the rain in their body couldn't keep up with their pace and just got left behind in the air and drop on their own after a millisecond.

Tood brought out his claws: one pitch black, the other a crimson blood color.

A series of slashes occured; from tens, to hundreds, to thousands, it kept going faster and faster just like before. Red and Black swayed in the wind, like a current flowing so smoothly. Angus kept up accordingly, moving along with the flow of his attacks. As if dancing along the rythm of a song.

Slice.

Cleave.

Jab.

...

Block.

Slash.

Weave.

....

Dodge.

Weave.

Slice.

.....

Cleave.

Jab.

Leg Sweep.

Dodge.

Thrust.

Slice.

Pound.

...

Slice!

Slice!!

Cleave!

Tear!!

Thrust!!!

Slash!

Block!!

Weave!

Slash!!

Slash!

Dice!!!

Grab.

"...!" Angus caught Tood's red arm and threw him over his shoulder with great force. Slamming him to the ground and making him cough up blood.

Tood goes for a backflip to quickly recover, only to get a backhand slap straight to his face.

Once he swayed from the hit, Angus followed up with multiple brunt attacks. Delivering combo after combos of punches to his body. He then kicks Tood by the kneecap to make him fall to his knee, sending an uppercut to his jaw once he fell.

He grabs Tood's shoulder right after to use him as a leverage spin kicks him in the air. Yet he wasn't done yet, so he grabbed him by the collar and headbutts him to his forehead.

Spikes suddenly emerged from beneath Tood and impales his body, giving him no time react. Angus creates a thin platform behind him and used it as a speed boost to deliver the Forgotten Blade through his chest.

"Fuck--- Tood!" The demon on his shoulder cursed under its breath while calling out his host's name. The black energy in his body suddenly retreats to his demonic shoulder into a smaller portion than it was before. There was no response from Tood right after having a sword of rock shoved right into his chest, only silence.

I pulled out my sword from his chest in a belligerent manner, savoring the splattering of blood that my friend gushed out from his wound.

I brandished the Forgotten Blade one last time and slashed his body multiple times, hacking away at his flesh and body, ripping and tearing apart his armor. His crimson armor becoming more and more red.

In the end, I couldn't manage to save him. But instead granted him death that he wished for so long, by the hands of someone who understood him and gave him the pleasure of fighting till the end.

I stabbed his thighs and arms on several locations, but I still wasn't done yet, considering how resilient he is; even while seemingly dead, he may still be alive.

It's only until I completely see his body collapsed on the floor, will I truly be so sure of victory. Butchering his limbs was only the precaution--

I changed how I hold the sword in my hand and held it like a dagger with my one hand, with the blade upside down and ready to stab.

--with how close his body is to touching the ground below us, I went to stab for his head to deal the finishing blow.

*Grip*!

|| I knew you weren't dead yet. ||

"Indeed mate. Ya truly have surpassed way beyond my expectations. With this, you have earned...my deepest respect."

Looking at what grabbed my arm, I saw a shadowy figure emerge from his body.

His shadow--!

Using my other free arm, I tossed the sword to it and used it to sever the arm that was held tight by the shadow.

I fell down and tried regenerating my severed arm quickly. Tood suddenly jumped in the air with all of his might and instantly grew a significant distance between us. It was then that--- Tood unleashed something I couldn't possibly comprehend.

He opened his mouth and said,

"Tor, Unleash - Ashura: Three Heads, Six Armed Demon"

On day ****, the Labyrinth Boss of "The Death Howl" Labyrinth, also known as Tood Raid has activated his Tor upon the variant golem known as Angus. Unleashing a domain type Tor that prevented any targets within its area of effect, unable to escape. Within a radius of two hundred and thirty meters: all structures, animals, creatures, monsters, and humans have all been brought inside of his domain type Tor. Becoming engulfed in darkness.

As soon as Tood unleashed his Tor, the halo behind his back suddenly flew to his head and glew a deep color of Lavender, Jet Black, and Crimson all at the same time. Then all the lights from outside the Labyrinth got snuffed out, as if the entire vicinity of the Labyrinth got embraced in a veil of pure darkness. The Black energy immediately spread and covered his entire torso, replacing the crimson armor he had previously had on his torso that got shredded, into another set of armor with horned skulls.Then the Demon hound covered with the black energy on his right shoulder manifested two arms and clasps them together, forming a peculiar hand sign with both hands. On his left shoulder, the shadow appeared and copied the demon hound's actions. While Tood also brought his hands together in a gesture of a prayer, a few seconds later he separated them slowly and in between it emerged his halberd coated with the Lavender, Jet Black, and Crimson energies. Just seeing his figure as of now, you would mistake him for a fallen angel instead of a demonic being.

There was no time to waste after seeing this ridiculous turn of events. Angus knew he was already on death's door from all the accumulated damage he received during this fight. But it was also the same for Tood. His body can't keep up with the insane regenerations and rapid changes his body has been going through for a while now. At any given moment, just one more push might completely destroy their bodies, resulting in both their deaths.

Angus has already made preparations for another [Railgun Strike], which would be enough to finish Tood while keeping his body intact.

He wasted no time to enter the stacks of thin layers and propelled himself towards Tood with blinding speed.

During the travel distance, Angus buffed himself with all the skills that could enhance his performance in battle.

The Demon Hound and Shadow Tood noticed his fast approach towards them. Since Tood wasn't yet done with his preparations for the Halberd in his hands, they quickly intervened with his fast travel.

The Demon Hound created his own halberd made out of the black energy and extended his arms and whipped the blade towards the fast approaching golem. While Shadow Tood used the dark environment inside the domain to summon large shadowy fists to attack Angus.

Angus reels his sword behind him and then deflects the never ending whips and slashes of the Demon Hound, while he slashes through the giant fists coming his way.

When he finally closed the distance and was about to slice Tood in half, ending his life---

"Goodbye, friend."

Tood has already created his true weapon, a scythe.

*Slash*!

*Slice*!

Tood slices Angus, destroying the two cores on Angus' body, leaving the core in his chest still intact.

Huh? What just--

It was already late before he noticed, that his body was in pieces...and that he had already lost.

The dark veil soon lifted itself, Tood enlarges the scythe until it was very visible to anyone who could see it in the sky.

"This is what freedom looks like."

With one single swing, the entirety of the Labyrinth-- was cut in half, along with it, was Angus' last core.

After destroying all of Angus' core, he releases all of the active skills he had. Returning to his normal Shadow Werewolf form and his scythe becoming a halberd once again. He spins his halberd in his hands and then drives it on Angus' neck as they fall towards the Labyrinth itself.

While falling down, Tood gazed on the golem's lifeless body. Since there were no more cores left in his body, it started to crumble down. Bits of pieces of what used to be his only friend in the dungeon, was slowly fading away.

"Once again,"

*Thnk*

"I remain." Tood lands on his feet, pulling out the halberd from what remained of Angus, only debris of rocks and shattered cores.

There was no need to mourn for his loss, they both agreed on the conditions and suffered for what they had to gain.

Tood turned his back on the pile of rubble before him, noticing that they have landed on the room where they had first met each other, Angus' room.

He smiled, reminiscing their first meeting...about five years ago. Where he declared their deathmatch between the two of them.

"It's only a pity...I couldn't talk to ya for one last time..." Tood now awaited for his own death by the collapse of the Labyrinth, just as he mentioned before the big fight.

He started walking away, leaving his only friend who had died all alone. Stepping into the shadows, just in front of the exit door to this room. While Angus' shattered body that sought for freedom and compassion was illuminated by the moonlight through the large open space that was severed by Tood's scythe. Tood stepped in the darkness where he was forged and molded to what he had become, a void that longs for something to fill the emptiness that he is.

He kept his distance from the debris he once knew, only looking, waiting for impending doom.

*Krrk-thm*!

Gazing up, lightning struck a few times in consecutive order. The Labyrinth started to fix itself despite being on the verge of collapse.

"Hrmm... it's still trying to fix itself." Tood observed the struggling Labyrinth as it tried to fix itself, when he looked down, he saw a familiar white silhouette standing across him.

"...!"

It was all worn out, only bits and pieces of stones trying to reform an already broken body.

"No way..." Tood couldn't believe his eyes right now, something is trying to resurrect under the moonlit night.

He immediately grabs his halberd.

*Splch*!

But got his hand severed instantly.

"Tor, Unleash - 𝕺𝖗𝖎𝖌𝖎𝖓 (Origin)"

On the same day whereas the Labyrinth Boss, Tood Raid, had activated his Tor; something had unleashed their Tor as well. Of course, Angus hasn't unlocked his potential to fully acquire his own Tor yet, only that it was forcibly brought out by an unknown entity from within. Only the very gifted ones, blessed by god or cursed by the devil, can manifest their own Tor.

Just before Tood deactivated his crimson armor, the C̷̠̜̩̩͊̀̀̒̒̿̊̈́h̵͓̊a̷̭͈̣̫̒̽̔͗̀͋̽͝o̵̧̬̦̭̱̰̜͑ͅs̵̡̪̣̆ͅ it brought along, had created a miraculous shift in the world's natural phenomenon. Just as how a calamity would incur disaster, a miracle or one could also say-- fate, has been changed.

Resulting in the revival of what seems to resemble the person he knew, known as Angus.

"Who are you...?" Tood asked the golem standing before him. Once it had activated their origin, the shell that Angus had inhabited, started to regenerate itself. Perfectly remaking the body that was once obliterated by Tood.

"I am--"

Tood was taken by surprise, the golem spoke for the first time. Previously, it only had to use floating tablets to convey their thoughts, but this time it spoke.

"A female voice..?" Tood thought to himself, it was not what he was expecting to hear. He was so sure that Angus was probably a guy since he sometimes doodled some boobs on the dirt with a stick, near his cabin in the woods back when he usually made a stop at his Labyrinth Room.

Since it had activated its Tor, Tood already accepted that he would certainly die at any given moment. There was no use for struggle since he was already exhausted and was about to die on his own. Looking at his surroundings, what seems to be Angus' Tor, was not a Domain type. Since he was not encaged inside of a separate space, he can run away if he wanted to. But that is a coward's choice, he would not try to sully the change of fate that has befallen him.

"I am his essence, his reflection--" the female voice continued.

It was at that exact moment that Tood understood that this might be the unknown entity, residing within Angus.

"I am the representation of his sorrow and anguish, his vain and struggles, his desire and cravings. I am the one who will grant his wishes, his freedom, his love. But also as his shackles, till eons of time, I can only do so much for him. So I shall do my part--as his beloved, to save him."

"I am---"

Tood embraces himself, seeing that it was about to attack.

"The monster he had created from within."

---

Only silence inside the Labyrinth remained soon after, what was only expected to happen after that was the quiet collapse of the Labyrinth. No one knows how the conclusion during the fight between the Lone Wolf and the Golem had ended, only that there were a few witness to a glimpse of the entire confrontation. Some adventurers who encountered these two monsters were traumatized and would inevitably resign from adventuring in the future, while others who had also encountered them have instead seen the large gap they needed to overcome in order to reach the top.

It was already given that by this time, every adventurer in the Labyrinth had already left and boarded the airships. Among the adventurers who was seen boarding the ships, there was a particular group who were seen with a familiar monster from inside the dungeon. But since this was just disregarded as a rumor, it was hard to believe that a monster had escaped the Labyrinth and was brought along by a party.

When the adventurers who were actually inside the Labyrinth made contact with the adventurers and some guild staff who were stationed at the camps, they had learned that the Labyrinth core was destroyed and that it was on the verge of collapse. Thankfully, there were no counted casualties or any missing persons from the records of going in and out of the Labyrinth.

Soon after that, the adventurers who were inside the Labyrinth and got to experience a full encounter with the legendary Labyrinth Boss without going insane, all reported and have claimed to have shared what they all had witnessed during those intense moments to the guild. Yet it was also disregarded as a false claim, saying that there wasn't enough evidence and that the trauma must have caused major issues to their mental health during the experience of a dying Labyrinth. In risk of being regarded as insane, the adventurers who came to report about their experiences that day, all had to retract their statements immediately. Avoiding any further conflicts in order to maintain their steady career as Adventurers.

Although everything was concluded as baseless rumors, the guild could not overlook this matter as simply a minor issue. They could not just easily believe the words of a minor number of adventurers who claim to have seen things vs the majority who claim to have not experience the same thing.

There are three factors they believe to be suspicious, giving the adventurers who came to report about their unusual experience a chance to receive the guilds' sincerest apologies for doubting them.

The first factor was the suspicious collapse of the Labyrinth, knowing that no one has ever reached the final level of the Labyrinth, the destruction of its core was definitely unbelievable as it's usually guarded by the Labyrinth Boss waiting at (Level - 0)-- Only a party of S-Rank Adventurers, a few Legend-Rank Adventurers, or a single Hero-Rank adventurer were only capable of such feats. So they checked the record of adventurers who had visited the Labyrinth during that night, but there were no records of all such mentioned high ranked adventurers entering the Labyrinth.

The second factor revolves around the claims of the encounter with the Labyrinth Boss outside of its room and also outside of the Labyrinth itself. Despite the lack of evidences and witnesses, the guild still cannot ignore the fact that a few adventurers saw these unusual events and all had the same stories just like the first one to approach them of their experiences during that night. This indicated the possibility of the Labyrinth Boss being an outsider from the Labyrinth, which was a very suspicious occurrence that may involve an unknown 3rd party that led to this turn of events if proven true.

As for the third and most important factor that forces them to believe the unproven claims: was an unleashing of a domain type Tor. Everyone present, including the ones who were stationed at the camps, have experienced a sudden veil of darkness that had enveloped the entire vicinity of the Labyrinth. It was a complete black out. During this strange phenomenon, all lights procured or installed within the Labyrinth were all snuffed out in an instant. There were no given clear explanations as to how it happened, it was even stated that from their perspectives, it was as if they were suddenly thrown into the bottomless pits of the void. They claimed that if they had wandered on their own in that darkness, they may not have been able to return, so they were forced to stay put and endure the feeling of solitude while being surrounded by the dark. And then after a short while after the veil was lifted, all witnesses claim to have seen a giant scythe floating in the air before slicing the Labyrinth in half.

As for a slight context about a Tor (gate). A Tor is the peak culmination of power that any living being can hope to achieve for. Only the truly blessed or cursed have been known to reach and achieve this level, outside of that, it is not known if there are any other means to achieving one's own Tor. A Tor is what sets the boundaries between humanity's peak physical and mental limitations, to the otherworldly and illogical. Simply put, only those who stand at the top of the apex are able to use Tor and manifest its illogical power into a reality.

If it were just any normal incident, the guild would only hire some adventurers to deal with the matter, saving time and resources on simple errands such as proving and debunking baseless rumors or simply posting a minor quest about it in the Quest Board on their Hall. But that wasn't the case anymore as many suspicious elements and an unleashing of a Tor were gathered as intel right after the report of the Adventurers inside the Labyrinth were disregarded as unbelievable and lacking in evidence.

A search and investigation was carried out soon after. The only thing that could entirely prove the claims were finding the corpse of the Labyrinth Boss, which is assumed to be an outsider of the Labyrinth, and monsters who do not belong to the Labyrinth they reside in do not turn into magicule particles after they perish. If the corpse is found, further and thorough investigations will continue. The guild suspects that one of the major enemies of the world may be involved with the incident as to why an anomaly of a Labyrinth Boss was inside the Labyrinth.

But alas, the search team found no corpse during the search among the rubble of what was left of the flying structure that has fallen from the skies.

Not long after arriving at the site of the incident, it already seemed like a waste of time and resources after being dispatched. What the search team sent was proficient enough to quickly scour over every stone or debris unturned in hopes of finding any monster corpse, but still found nothing. Therefore it was confirmed that the Labyrinth Boss was not an outsider and it had died along with the Labyrinth, and then turned into magic particles. It was even stated that there had been no sightings of the Labyrinth Boss entering the Airships during that night to escape the collapse, which led to their decision to conclude this matter as is.

"Hm? What's this?" A member of the investigation team picked up an unusual reading on the magical device they were holding at the site of the incident.

*Clnk, Tnk, Clink*!

"What is it? Did you pick up a reading from the device?"

"Hmm. Yes, it is picking up an energy. Which means-"

"The report about a Tor being used was real?"

"Yep, this thing doesn't lie. It's very accurate in picking up traces of magic and residual energies of Tors."

"I see. Magic devices today sure have been improving a lot lately. Well, that confirms the use of a Tor here. I should call the Search team and then everyone else, and then call it a day. We should report this to the Guild Master later. If this goes further south, it could end up being a major issue in the future."

"Indeed, just confirming the usage of a Tor is already major issue for the guild. It's already scary enough to know that something or someone used it while there were a lot of people inside its range, thankfully no one got hurt during the process. Those Low-Ranked adventurers didn't even knew they got pulled inside of a domain type Tor. Luckily they didn't do anything rash or panicked as much, they could've even died."

"You said it, they were lucky enough it wasn't meant to be directed at them even though they got caught up in it...Welp, let's talk about this again later after we report it to the guild. We should start heading back after everyone's gathered together again."

".......?"

The other member shouts for the investigation and search teams to prepare to go back to the guild and report their findings during this dispatch mission. A few minutes later, all teams have already gathered together and was preparing to head back.

"Search team, did you find any corpse?"

They all sigh, feeling discontented, as if they only wasted their time looking around for nothing.

"Nothing, unfortunately. Looks like it really was just a rumor after all. The shock must've gotten through them so much, they started seeing things."

"I see. But it was still strange that they all saw the same thing together. It's a very unusual thing to occur after all."

"Yes, that's what we also thought as well. That's why we agreed to search for a corpse, we wanted to believe those guys weren't just saying things and prove they were right. But...looking at how it turned out on our end, I guess they really were just seeing things. We'll report our search results after you guys go talk to the Guild Master first."

"Okay, thanks for your hard work everyone!"

"How about you guys? Did you find anything?"

The investigation team member nodded.

"Really...!? So a Tor really was used here...Perhaps a Legendary-Rank or a Hero-Rank adventurer secretly came here and beat the Labyrinth on their own?"

"It's a possibility, but that's considered an illegal entry since it could harm many adventurers and staff during a collapse of a Labyrinth. Unless it is an emergency, and the authorities or the guild allowed it, then it's safe to say that they did allow for this to happen."

"Which they wouldn't, since it goes against moral code, and their rights and position could be revoked by the Emperor..."

"It's damn scary to think about to be honest... Lady Joane or Lady Nerida will execute everyone who participated under such a risky order. It'll be a complete massacre if atleast one of them showed up at the guild, even if all the Legend and Hero-rank adventurers gathered together to face them."

"I see. Then perharps a 3rd party really is involved here. Which means this is actually a lot more serious than we thought."

"Well, let's see how the guild responds to this once we get back. We might get dispatched again soon enough to look after this matter, they might even hire some S-Rank Adventurers to come with us too. Now that we're done here, let's-"

"Umm guys?" The same investigation team member who held the magical device from before, suddenly called out to all the dispatch members. Garnering all their attention in one go, while wearing a curious expression.

"Hmm? You again? Why haven't you prepared to leave-"

"Earlier, I picked up the residuals for the domain type Tor..."

"Yes? We confirmed it earlier, why? What's the matter?"

*Clnk, Tnk, Clnk*!

"Is it malfunctioning? Why is it still reading the residuals of the domain type?" The investigation team member asks the kid. Wondering why he hasn't turned it off yet.

"That's...That's because this isn't the residuals of the domain type Tor from earlier..."

"...!"

Everyone was shocked to hear what he just said.

"What?! Are you sure it's not just bugging out?!"

"That's ridiculous! Investigation Team kid, are you sure the readings are picking up another residual right now??"

"Y-Yes... it's quite different from the residuals of a domain type. It's...an internal type Tor, sir."

"My god...although it's not as rare as a domain type user: It's still another Tor user nonetheless, it's astonishing to know that two different Tor type users were present during the night of the incident...Come everyone! Let's hurry back, we must inform the guild as soon as possible!"

Everyone nodded and followed after the investigation team member.

"We must quickly inform them of the mysterious identities of two Tor users. It's very likely that two Legend or Hero-Rank adventurers fought here!"

...

Once the information came across the guild, a mass investigation was issued to find out more about the suspicious event that happened just recently. While the reports about seeing the Labyrinth Boss were proven as false claims by the dispatched group, leaving the matter as just unproven claims by distressed victims of an unexpected incident. Although quite unfortunate for the adventurers who experienced such a traumatic predicament, the guild still offered their apologies and compensated them for the trouble they unintentionally caused.

After all of that was done and sorted out, it is said that most of suspicious movements across every region have temporarily become hard to pin down as if they had expected this outcome to come to fruition. Because of this strange behavior, it made it harder for the investigation to bear results. This later prolonged for three months before the investigations got ceased.

• Reincarnation and Labyrinth - End •