‘As I thought, they are attacking several points in order to split the population.’
I headed north when night came after moving from the labyrinth area. It didn’t take me more than two hours to find another town that had already been taken by the empire. Much to my surprise, I saw some Aquarians too working with them.
‘I have no idea how this happened only two years after that other war… thinking about it won’t help me either. So, I just have to keep ignoring all of them.’
I used my Camouflage Amulet and the Shadow Step amulet as well. The second was quite big, so I was using it like a backpack. Despite some small problems like bumping into some things blocking my path, I managed to avoid the town and the people around guarding the place.
Although that would damage the amulet and make it break faster, I decided to use it to reach the next labyrinth as soon as possible. I was in a race against time. I couldn’t take it any longer since those two or the other knights should have spread rumors about me.
While capturing me couldn’t be more important than winning a war, it still should be relatively important… After showing my skills against them, it should be even more true. I could imagine them thinking of all sorts of crazy ideas that would justify them to do what they deemed necessary.
The labyrinth that was my destination was a bit far away, but I was planning to reach it before morning came. Thanks to that, I used a bunch of mana cores, but at least I pulled it off and moved faster than I could with my automatic bike. Still, I couldn’t help but sigh when I reached the area and felt the strong smell of smoke in the air.
‘At this point, it wouldn’t be weird to think that someone cursed me… I passed through three towns with the enemies having taken over, but they still had another one ahead and it was pretty close to my destination… As if that wasn’t enough, they also mounted a camp in front of the labyrinth.’
They probably didn’t want anyone hiding there… it would be hard to fight there with monsters and a large group wouldn’t be able to pass through the place. It could take days as well to find anyone inside. The ones inside would have the upper hand since they can lay traps and decide where the fights will take place.
In any case, I couldn’t take my time. I had to enter the labyrinth in one way or the other. However, when I tried to check the area ahead with Hawk’s Vision, I soon found some mages there… mages can be useful in wars, the stronger they are, the battle. They are excellent at destroying fortifications like walls, but that wasn’t the case here.
‘Why did they bring mages too? Can they sense my magic?’
Shadow Step Lv 19: Instantly teleport a short distance to an enemy’s blind spot, allowing you to strike or evade undetected. This ability also increases your next attack's critical chance. The distance crossed is equal to the level of the skill multiplied by two meters. Cost: 50 mana.
Even with the current level of Shadow Step, I couldn’t cross the whole camp in a single step… maybe they were worried about someone doing that, but their camp was quite spread out and it was pretty-lit with bonfires too. Veil of shadows wouldn’t work either.
‘I don’t have time for this… if they want to come for me, then they can come.’
I didn’t want to get involved in this war more than I already did, but I couldn’t fall back and let their actions slow down my progress. The empire already caused too many problems without suffering anything in retribution. It was time to change that.
I decided to envision my plan first before putting it into practice. Still, I didn’t have that much time since morning will soon arrive. The people there that were resting were soon going to get up and prepare for their activities of the day.
It made me wonder if they would keep the area manned with a lot of people… perhaps I should wait a bit and then deal with a lot fewer obstacles. Still, I already had made up my mind about letting people cause me trouble.
Once the plan in my head was clear and I envisioned it a bunch of times in action. I decided to make my move. I checked the strength of some people around and they looked like fresh knights from the academy, so it shouldn’t be that hard to fool them.
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I readied four arrows with camouflage scrolls in them and then fired them at the bonfires. They were also enchanted with the frost effect, so as soon as they hit the targets, the flames were extinguished immediately. All of a sudden, the entire place got dark, but soon the mages summoned some fire orbs and made them illuminate their surroundings.
“Enemy attack!”
I could have disposed of the mages with ease now that they revealed themselves like that, but instead of that, I just passed by them. The sound of arrows flying began to echo in the area and soon they exploded in front of the camp. The enemies looked in their direction as the flashes of light dazzled them for a moment… As for me, I just used that time to recover my arrows in order to not leave any traces in the area. The ones that exploded left nothing behind and by the time the knights and mages realized that all had been a distraction, I was already in the middle of the first floor.
‘They are as green as they come… Still, they will probably come with others and I won’t have to show any mercy to them.’
I couldn’t deny that I was a bit too forgiving when it comes to children. Not putting much thought into the twins’ betrayal, when Nimir kept using my name and didn’t obey my commands. Although I could blame myself for that as well, since I was teaching him to become more independent.
The incident with Jalal and the others was an example of it. Clarice could have made things easier for me, at the cost of risking creating a conflict. I also understood her reasoning, but it didn’t change the fact that it made someone swear that they would kill me and the other two would also follow Jalal. I tried to show some mercy to Cassius’ daughter, but that only took me so far.
While I was thinking about that, a creature emerged from the sandy ground, but soon I fired an arrow into the middle of its head. It was a giant scorpion. One meter long in length and with a red carapace. It was the fifth that I had killed already. It had a long tail that probably could poison me or use other types of magic, so I didn’t want to take any chances.
You received 10 experience points.
‘Let’s hope that this labyrinth will be a bit longer.’
That could be a good thing, but it could be a problem as well. Some people will definitely enter the labyrinth. Even more so when they hear that I was in the area, they will connect the dots. Still, I could only wish them luck to catch me faster than I could move.
Perhaps they will speed up my growth… I didn’t want to think like that, but killing people was a lot more efficient when it comes to getting experience. This war was probably caused by this as well, to make the young knights stronger in order to speed up the expansionist goals of the empire.
‘It feels like they are doing a lot of things to start many conflicts lately… perhaps those Aquarian prisoners were just one of those methods. Still, it is too weird that the Aquarians joined them so soon.’
I tried to think of ways that would make the Aquarians join the empire so soon… but I couldn’t think of any without them releasing the prisoners. I soon shook those thoughts out of my head, since nothing would come out of it, even if I got some possible explanations.
You completed a trial. Please choose between the classes: Monk, Warrior, and Corsair.
You gain bonus experience in the skills of the Monk class.
The Endurance parameter was improved.
The Skill Fists of Fury gained five levels.
The Skill Meditation gained five levels.
The Skill Perfect Form gained five levels.
The Skill Tempered Body gained five levels.
This was a bit disappointing, but I didn’t mind that much since the options of classes were troublesome this time, so I soon headed to the next floor. I would become a bit tougher faster now, and that was what mattered the most. Besides, I should have expected something like this considering how the people of this land fights.
While I was thinking about that, I slowed down when I found some steps on the sand and they were pretty recent too.
‘I bet that if I used a die now, ten times in a row, I would get one ten times in a row…’
I didn’t consider that the knights and mages would send a party ahead… beyond the first floor, at least. Gaining new classes was a quick way to gain some multipliers to their parameters, but they didn’t have time for real dungeon diving. Besides, from the 10th floor onward, only six people could get a class at a time, after all.
The only answer was the materials in the labyrinth… the experience gained inside a labyrinth during a war would be negligible. So, the parts of the scorpions… the poison, and the mana cores. The carapace was too weak… but now that I think about it. Thanks to their shape, I probably could make some amulets with them. It would also serve as a training to decrease their size as much as possible.
‘Poison… poison… I stopped making it since I didn’t have any more products left and my blood worked better. Although, I can only make so much of it. Now that I think about it, we don’t have dungeons or labyrinths in the empire that can help us produce poison. That being said, I am sure that alchemists can make more powerful poison with other products. The fighters of this land should be relatively resistant to poison as well. Something smells fishy here…’