If both sides were wary of the other and hiding, things would never end like this. I didn’t know if I could trust Renna’s words, but sooner or later, I would have to come clean with the people here.
In the end, I took out the camouflage amulet and did the same for Glacien and then waited. For the other person to return. It didn’t take long for us to notice their presence, so I decided to stop wasting time.
“I know that you are here. There is no need to hide. I am here to talk with you guys because Renna told me that I could get some information here.”
I didn’t hear anything in response, but I could tell that the person had heard me since their smell didn’t get closer or further away. An annoying silence took over the area, and I wondered what I should say next. When it comes to first impressions, I wasn’t the best person around, after all.
“... If any type of negotiation between us is impossible, then I will leave you guys alone. I will just conquer the labyrinth and then leave. I just don’t want you guys trying to stop me.”
Again, I didn’t get any response. So, I began to move with Glacien. That type of thing was truly annoying. I didn’t have time for that and I didn’t have the experience to handle that kind of situation either. This might take some time, but finding the culprit in that incident by myself should still be possible. Eventually, some morons will come for me and then I will be able to extract some information from them.
‘I have gotten used to killing in self defense and now I am going to get used to torture as well? My life sure is insane…’
I had to be dubious of any kind of information I might get with torture. Perhaps it wasn’t a good idea to rely on it at all, but what other choices did I have?
While thinking about that, we kept advancing through the labyrinth and I let Glacien handle the monsters until we reached the seventh floor. At the same time, I still could feel that we were being followed.
The chances of being ambushed were high, but the chances of such an ambush working were quite low since I was aware of them. All in all, this was a massive waste of time, but it looked like the other side couldn’t tell that.
‘In any case, if their potions are good enough to make them hide this much, they should be able to keep some guards outside. The alchemy book didn’t mention anything about the potions getting weaker if one uses them several times in a row.’
If they, whoever they were, needed to be hiding, then having some guards at the entrance of the labyrinth was very necessary. Elves had some good instincts and eyes to notice that kind of thing, but it wasn’t foolproof.
That made me wonder… could I hide the labyrinth from the people outside? Eventually, people would look for it and then stumble on the camouflaged parts, but I still believed that it was possible. Perhaps with some illusion magic that fools the senses… that would work. Using that kind of magic seemed fun, too.
This would be a good idea to have some time for myself in such labyrinths, but it was hard to imagine finding those places unguarded and me having enough time to make enough implements to hide something that big.
While I was thinking about that, we reached the seventh floor and the number of monsters increased. I was able to smell their camouflage dust in the area they were in, so I finished one of them and then let Glacien finish the other
“You are handling them now, but don’t complain when I monopolize all the monsters in the deeper sections.”
“Awooo, awooo!”
Glacien was getting pretty strong, but I could tell that she wanted to increase her mana regeneration. Still, I wanted to keep increasing her endurance and see how much she could grow. I also wanted to make sure that she would be sturdy enough to survive most kinds of attacks. Working with me was no walk in the park, after all.
A couple of more hours passed and then I sighed when I reached the boss chamber… of course it had been cleaned recently. Otherwise, no one would have reached this part of the labyrinth if they had come from the deepest parts.
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I didn’t know how much I had to wait, but I couldn’t miss a new class. So, we just camped in front of the boss chamber and then waited for the monsters to come to us… they didn’t, though.
‘I guess our invisible friend doesn’t want to share the experience of the section…’
I wanted to complain and say that this labyrinth didn’t belong to anyone, so they couldn’t do that, but if they lived here, that wouldn’t be quite accurate to say. Glacien looked even more bothered by that, but at least it was a good chance for us to rest a bit. We sat down in front of the boss chamber entrance and then began to rest, just to make sure that no one would come and go without our notice.
I also realized that I was cutting off the return path to our invisible friend and unless he was used to eating the moths, he would have to cross this area, eventually.
‘Come to think of it, the other monsters in this labyrinth aren’t that good… perhaps they are actually used to eating these.’
They certainly wouldn’t be tasty… even if someone covered them in ketchup. Regardless, I sat down and began to meditate.
A couple of hours passed without anything happening… Eventually, the atmosphere began to change and I wondered if it was because someone behind was watching me or was the source the previous person that we crossed paths with. Either way, I was starting to think that using camouflage before really backfired.
While I was thinking about that, I began to hear footsteps coming from the first section. It looked like our invisible friend decided to stop wasting time for whatever reason. Before long, I couldn’t help but furrow my eyebrows when I saw the silhouette in the distance… my eyes were good enough to recognize what they were. A dark elf.
‘No wonder, I guess.’
I didn’t hear much about dark elves in this world… but they had the appearance that I had imagined. Silver hair, chocolate skin and a very serious expression. This one here looked a bit buffed since he was a guy, but while he had a serious expression on his face and a pair of knives on his hands, he didn’t look that ominous. He was only as ominous as someone could be when they considered fighting me.
‘I guess dark elves here aren’t elves that turned to the dark side of something. That kind of lore never made much sense. Their appearance should either be due to the environment that they usually inhabited or because of the magic that they use.’
“Who are you? What are you doing here?”
“I believe that I already told you why I am here, and my name is Regulus.”
“You aren’t welcome here. Leave.”
Figures… I was hardly welcome anywhere. Still, not being welcomed in a labyrinth was a new feeling. I couldn’t blame this guy since there was a chance that they could be discovered thanks to me. Elves can be pretty annoying with their focus on their lineage and pedigree, so they wouldn’t waste a good chance to get rid of the dark elves. They weren’t as good with bow and elemental magic as they were with daggers and illusion magic as well. In any case, if cooperation wasn’t possible, I at least wanted to get some classes here.
“I see… I am going to reach the thirty floor and then I will leave.”
“No, you will leave right now.”
It looked like we were in a difficult spot. I just shrugged. I wasn’t planning to cause trouble for them, but I also had my own things to worry about.
“Fear not. If I bring enemies here, I will take responsibility over them.”
“... I won’t say it again. Leave now.”
The dark elf assumed a fighting stance and then got ready to charge. Glacien got up and then began to growl at this guy. It was hard to say, but he seemed pretty young, young and green enough to not realize that he didn’t have any chances of winning against me and picking a fight would be a very costly mistake to him.
“I won’t. Now, you can try to make me leave, but I can’t say that things won’t end badly for you if you do that, though.”
The dark elf increased the strength of his grip on his two knives, and then I decided to entertain him by bringing my short swords as well. This would be a good experience to see my level against people who train with that kind of fighting style throughout their lives. Still, it looked like things wouldn’t go as planned.
“Stop.”
Another man’s voice echoed in the area when the first dark elf lowered his stance and prepared to charge toward me. The second voice came from behind, so it looked like my guess was right… others noticed my presence without me noticing them… maybe I focused too much on this guy in front of me. It made sense that they would put people in some certain checkpoints in the labyrinth. A green guy like this one wouldn’t have crossed the entire labyrinth alone in order to train in this section.
Before long, I heard footsteps coming from behind and another dark elf man showed up. This one looked a lot less green in terms of experience. He had really short silver hair and his skin had the marks of a battle-hardened warrior. He made me recall that guild master that I met before… fighting this one would be a lot harder.
“You must be Regulus, the half-vampire and son of Rayner Dawnshield.”
“Yes, I am. Are you going to try to make me leave the labyrinth too? I just need a day to clear thirty floors here.”
“... I heard that Nylian is traveling the world right now, so his wife should be the one who sent you here. Am I right?”
“If Nylian is the name of the previous leader of the silver bows, then you are right.”
“You decided to use the connections of a man whose name you don’t know?”