Honestly, I wasn’t expecting much of those who follow the empire… but they really surprised me this time around. They found a new way to get in my way and prevent me from getting more power. I had barely started to explore the third section…
The creatures there are a mix of some beetle with a scorpion. They didn’t have a tail to poison anyone, but they had a pair of antennas that were quite pointy and sharp and they used those to stab those who approached. They were fast, too… so they were the perfect target for those who wanted to master melee fighting.
I was in a hurry, so I just put an arrow in their eyes… just when I began to study the body of the monster, I heard a weird sound and when I turned around to fight; I blinked in confusion. It was water…
“What the?”
The third floor was filled with sand too… there was even some coming from the ceiling. It was how the labyrinth was structured. Regardless, the water didn’t make any sense… but soon enough, I began to connect the dots.
‘Sons of a mangy sea hag…’
Putting aside that, I said something that Sligo would say. I realized that the guys outside decided to drown me inside the labyrinth or at least prevent me from getting all the classes possible and they also would force me to leave the dungeon. Unfortunately for them, I was well-equipped to handle that kind of mess.
I took out my bike and then added the mana stones to move as fast as possible. When a monster arrived, I just shot it down with my bow and then ran over it. I had trained to do that too… drive with my legs. It wasn’t that hard since there were two wheels behind me.
You received 50 experience points.
‘I never thought that I would have to speed run a labyrinth again.’
The situation was the inverse of the previous time. Instead of running away from the water to escape being drowned, I was going deep into the dungeon to gain power and then worry about my life later. It was quite a risky endeavor…
I recalled seeing the map and confirmed that there was a lake nearby… they probably connected to the dungeon. That made me reconsider if they truly wanted poison to increase their expansionist goals. It was hard to say how a labyrinth would recover after this, after all.
It seemed like a pretty good way to gain a lot of experience without getting inside a dungeon, but would that even work? They should know that the dungeon was the earth type with a lot of sand… or perhaps they didn’t go that deep yet.
Before long, I reached the entrance for the 22nd floor and then jumped on the staircase with the bike. Thanks to the momentum, I didn’t hit the steps and just landed on the floor. Thanks to the wind enchantments on the wheels, the sand didn’t slow me down that much, so I soon resumed my weird killing spree.
I didn’t even have time to check my new dexterity, but since I was still hitting the targets where I aimed while moving on my bike, I figured out that things had improved a bit. The question was if it was enough to let me reach the end of the labyrinth.
‘Come to think about it… I wonder if I should hope that the labyrinth has fifty or forty floors.’
I can escape with a certain ease if it is up to forty floors, but what if it is deeper? Maybe the monsters won’t die thanks to the water, and things will be easier for me since I am a better swimmer than earth type monsters. The real question was if I could reach the bottom of the dungeon faster than the water.
The mana cores that I saved over the years were being used quite fast and since I was used to having a lot, seeing them decreasing was quite annoying. Still, I didn’t have time to dismantle the monsters and get more of them.
Regardless, crossing the floors like that was at least a lot smoother and I also gained experience pretty fast. So, perhaps things weren’t so bad. Perhaps I should add some more functions to the bike to deal with those problems… hopefully, no one will try to drown me in a labyrinth again, but knowing my luck, I can never know for sure.
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Two hours later, I reached the entrance of the boss chamber, so I couldn’t help but grin at that speed of exploration. It cost me a lot in terms of mana cores, but perhaps it was worth the hassle and I should try speed running more labyrinths in the future.
‘It has been three days since I arrived in this labyrinth, so it has been three days since I last slept. I will have to keep pressing on since my condition will only worsen as I keep going. Perhaps I should use this chance and keep increasing my stamina and stamina regeneration.’
Both of those were important when it comes to staying in peak physical condition. While all the parameters can make a person stronger and even resilient to some things like diseases and exhaustion, some of them are more important than others in some aspects.
Health and health regeneration enhance the body’s physical resilience and healing capabilities. A high health stat signifies a strong immune system and the ability to repair physical damage efficiently despite a lot of damage being received, reducing susceptibility to diseases and the effects of aging.
With faster regeneration, the body can recover from illnesses and injuries at an accelerated rate, restoring cells and neutralizing pathogens with more ease. Over time, this enhanced self-repair mechanism slows cellular degradation, mitigating the natural effects associated with aging.
Mana and mana regeneration bolster mental and spiritual resilience, increasing defense against negative influences on free will and cognitive stability. A high mana stat strengthens the mind’s capacity to resist mental control, fear effects, and confusion caused by external forces. Higher mana regeneration also restores the energy needed to counteract stress and restore focus, ensuring the mind remains clear and protected. This energy acts like a barrier, maintaining autonomy and protecting mental limitations from manipulation or spiritual interference.
Stamina and stamina regeneration improve physical endurance and delay the effects of fatigue, allowing individuals to stay awake and active for longer periods. A high stamina stat reflects the body’s ability to sustain high performance over time, while efficient regeneration replenishes energy reserves and reduces the accumulation of fatigue-inducing chemicals. This means the body can remain alert and functional for longer durations without a significant decline in performance. Together, stamina and its regeneration enable prolonged activity and faster recovery, keeping individuals effective and resilient in physically demanding situations.
I did those tests when I was in reclusion, so my knowledge should be pretty accurate. At least for someone like me… I couldn’t say if it was the truth to everyone else. Vampire physiology was already weird, half-vampire physiology was supposed to be even weirder.
‘Well, let’s see what is waiting for me here… should I go all out from the beginning or save some for when I have to leave the labyrinth?’
While I was considering that, I went down the stairs and got ready for the fight… I decided to do things as they are necessary at the moment. I could afford to take some damage now, so perhaps not using all my enchanted arrows or bolts would be a good idea.
When I reached the boss chamber, I was a bit surprised not to see any sand around. The chamber was a lot bigger than the others, too. At the same time, the surface of the room was pretty smooth… I understood the reason for that when I found the boss in the middle of the room.
‘This doesn’t even make any sense…’
It was a bit too late to worry about the size of monsters after seeing the worm kraken, but even so… seeing an armored beetle-scorpion the size of a minivan still made me raise my eyebrows in confusion.
The creature didn’t look much different from the others, at least until it began to dash toward me… faster than even my bike could move. The sharp antennae moved backward and then they were trusted toward me, ready to impale my head, but I used Shadow Step and avoided the attack.
In the next moment, the monster collided against the wall of the chamber and then made a lot of earth blocks fall from it. The creature turned around like nothing had happened since its shell protected the monster, but I soon fired some arrows on breaches of the armor of the monster.
Blood gushed from the wound, and then I smiled, but soon I clicked my tongue… I should have used the decay arrows. The ordinary arrows only pierced the flesh of the monster a bit… The creature also had a tough skin.
‘I guess it is a monster focused on speed and endurance… it doesn’t need attack power with a body like that. Its momentum could make it crush most enemies.’
That was annoying, but it was a good opportunity too… It meant that the carapace and the skin of the monster could be of some use to me. I nocked another arrow before the monster could turn around completely, but then it curled up like an armadillo and then turned a lot faster toward me than expected… After that, it began to roll toward me.
‘Oh, shit…’
Its speed increased, but it wasn’t enough to turn around insanely fast when I used Shadow Step. Thanks to my increased Dexterity, I was able to see the weak spots on the enemy’s body even while it was rolling, so this time I didn’t mess up and then fired the decay arrows on the weak spots.
While adjusted my aim thanks to the movements of the monster, I only hit the flesh of the monster in one spot, but the decay arrows still pierced the armor of the monster while the arrow that pierced its body slowed down the beast for a moment and it grunted in pain, but soon began to move toward me again.
‘I guess this will be a long battle…’
Just when I thought about that, I heard that sound again and when I looked to the side, I saw water reaching the boss chamber.