I decided to speed up my exploration of the labyrinth since I was against time… even more than before. I also wondered if I could make an amulet using the carapace of the scorpions. The size was enough, but it certainly couldn’t last for many uses… I couldn’t say if that would make me gain time or not.

‘I should try to find a way to automate this process… it shouldn’t be hard once I am able to mess with metals, but I will have to make a decent workshop. One that needs to be carried in my magic bags, too.’

That would be an interesting project. I wondered if I could find some trustworthy people to help me with that, but given that I was betrayed a couple of times already when money was almost not involved and the chances of dying were low, the chances of that happening were low.

In any case, I reached the first boss chamber in the labyrinth two hours later and made quick work of the giant scorpion that showed up. The creature had tougher defenses, but a couple of shots in the same place pierced those defenses.

You received 500 experience points.

You completed a trial. Please choose between the classes: Warrior, Shipwright, and Bowman (Scout, Bowyer, Fletcher).

You obtained the Bowman class.

You improved the stamina regeneration parameter

You unlocked the Aptitude: Ranged Skill

You unlocked the skill: Quick Draw.

You unlocked the skill: Barbed Arrow.

Ranged Skill: Gain 1 point of experience for every successful hit with a bow or crossbow. Gain an additional 10 points of experience for every critical hit. Gain bonus experience when creating bows, and projectiles of uncommon rank and above.

QUICK DRAW: INSTANTLY NOCK AND FIRE AN ARROW WITH REDUCED AIMING TIME, DEALING SLIGHTLY LESS DAMAGE BUT ENSURING A FASTER ATTACK OF FIFTY PERCENT SPEED. COST: 10 STAMINA

Barbed Arrow: Equip barbed arrows that cause the target to bleed, dealing damage over time for 10 seconds based on ten percent of your dexterity. Cost: 10 Mana per arrow

Once again, the chance to combine on combat classes with crafter classes showed up in front of me. I readily accepted it since the combined classes always had been quite the upgrade, just like the evolved classes. The skills weren’t half-bad, even though I could already do similar things by myself. Regardless, the increase in stamina regeneration was more than welcome.

The skill Magic Trap leveled up. You received 700 experience points.

I quickly got up when I was dismantling the body of the boss… I had put some magic traps along the way to alert me of the advance of other parties, but I was still surprised at the speed of the enemies. It should be midmorning already, but it looked like a decent force was left behind. Some of that were being used to come after me.

The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation.

‘They wouldn’t send a small party this time around… this is a pain.’

I guess I will slow them down with magic traps. That will make them wary enough to not dash toward me… they would get hurt a lot, maybe enough to die along the way. A death by thousands of paper cuts.

I began to work on that plan and put the magic traps on the parts of the corridors that were pretty thin, but it made me wonder if the mages would be able to detect that. They didn’t detect the others because they were behind and the fight had started.

Regardless, I had to reach the next boss before they reached me, so I soon headed to the next section. They might get some experience along the way, but they certainly won’t get any new classes and that would put me with several advantages over them.

The next section wasn’t much different from the previous one… but the sand was a lot more annoying than before. It felt like walking with weights on my legs. As the sand was deeper, so more monsters hiding in the sand should be there… Soon I confirmed that when the next creature showed up… it was a spider.

The giant sand spider looked like a nightmare given form, a predator perfectly adapted to the sand. Its massive body, covered in a rough, sand-colored shell added with darker streaks, blends seamlessly into the sand. Its size was easily five feet across, counting those long, spindly legs. It moved with an eerie grace, its limbs tipped with sharp, claw-like ends that dug effortlessly through the sand. The thing’s abdomen was grotesquely bulbous, segmented and ridged, like some grotesque storage vessel built for the harshest conditions. Its eyes, black and gleaming, seemed to pierce through the dim light, and the smaller reflective ones scattered across its face seemed to track my every move.

The mandibles were what really made me flinch. They were enormous, jagged, and dripping with venom that hissed as it hit the sand. I could tell it wasn’t just a predator, it was a trapper. Buried beneath the sand, with only its deadly mandibles and unblinking eyes visible.

I was curious about the kind of monster that would show up, so I got a bit careless and let the beast emerge and attack me. Sticky web was shot by the equivalent of the monster’s butt hole and then covered me in the blink of an eye. The creature soon moved backward and tried to knock me down… it had a lot of physical power and the webs weren’t breaking either.

‘I wonder if I can use this somehow… I bet that without the stickiness, it could become an excellent bowstring.’

Before the monster could knock me down, I used Fire Wall on the creature. Even though that labyrinth seemed to be of the earth type that could mimic the environment of a desert, the creature still began to burn quite easily. The flames melted the web and once they were disconnected from the monster’s body, they became a lot less elastic.

I used my bow to kill the monster with a single arrow and then recover my mana… I failed. Even though it was killed with one shot, the beast didn’t have that much health.

‘I guess I shouldn’t use magic against them.’

I went to check what parts of the spider I could use… The giant sand spider’s venom was primarily housed in its massive mandibles. These jagged, serrated appendages not only crush and tear prey but also inject a potent neurotoxin that paralyzes its victims almost instantly. The venom begins to break down the prey’s tissues from within, turning them into an easier meal for the spider.

I also noticed fine hairs running along its limbs that seemed coated in a less concentrated version of the venom, likely a defensive mechanism to ward off anything trying to attack or grapple with it. Combined, these adaptations make it a deadly force in the labyrinth.

‘It looks like it is the type that numbs the enemy and drains their mana to make them even less able to resist.’

I didn’t have much use for that, but I probably could combine this poison with the scorpions to make a stronger one. Then it came to me like a lightning bolt… was that what the empire was plotting?

The Skarnash Tribelands, should have some decent resources. I spent more than a year mining a single mine, after all. Still, the orcs, goblins, and ogres preferred to fight and take the things that they needed instead of making them.

With that in mind, the land still should have plenty of resources to be taken, and this labyrinth showed that… It seemed like a labyrinth where only poison could be obtained with ease. The Aquarians probably won’t have any use for the land, so it will belong to the empire… the production alone in this labyrinth would make their future expansionist endeavors a lot easier.

‘This is indeed just their first step to conquer all the lands that they want… who would they want to use the poison on? I bet that the Elves would be the main target. They live for long, but they are quite good at ranged combat… the empire would need something like this. Even a bit of poison would weaken them quite a bit.’

I was starting to see the empire’s plans with ease… With that in mind, it would make sense for them to send Rayner here, but they only sent his two youngest sons. Were they imagining that they wouldn’t need his strength for that, or were they plotting to use him in some other way?

Thinking about that was quite interesting… It was like outsmarting an opponent, quite satisfying. In any case, I got around two hundred milliliters of poison from the spider. Enough to use Poison tipped bolt in four bolts. Since I was planning to combine the poisons later, perhaps they would lose some effectiveness, but they would become all around useful, so it was fine.

As I advanced, I began to surprise the spiders with my arrows even before they emerged from the sand completely and then I used the extra mana granted by them to set traps on both sides of the corpse.

Still, it looked like my plans didn’t work as expected since soon I felt a weird atmosphere coming from behind and slowly approaching me. Before long, I could hear a lot of footsteps in the sand… it looked like they had a lot of experience crossing this type of terrain.

‘They aren’t here to play around… fighting them directly would be stupid.’

I didn’t want to become a cold-blooded killer, but I couldn’t fight them and survive without using some tricks. They had their numbers, and I had my own strengths. That would mean nothing in a situation like this.

I let out a sigh and then made up my mind… morals can only take you so far when your life’s on the line. I didn’t want to become the type of person who uses that kind of excuse, but I already had given plenty of chances to people chasing me to stop with their nonsense. If they wanted to kill me that badly and if they were fine following orders to kill even civilians, then they should be fine in paying for their actions a bit sooner than expected.