“Sorry about this…”
In the next moment, I unleashed a barrage of wind shurikens at the right arm of the kobold boss. The creature who had just blocked Glacien’s ice claw attacks was unable to react on time… the wind shurikens, despite being at a low-level, chopped the arm of the creature. Blood began to gush from the wound as the creature trembled in pain.
Glacien didn’t hesitate in charging toward the boss and then slash its neck with her claws without hesitation. The boss tried to raise its spear to block her attacks, but it was useless. Glacien jumped from side to side with extreme speed thanks to Beast’s Fury and then the wounds in the monster’s neck began to increase in size and length.
Before long, the boss kobold stopped resisting, and I decided to kill it with a few wind shurikens on its neck. Glacien didn’t complain, since the creature was on its last legs already. Trying to delay its end would be just torture.
You received 1200 experience points.
You completed a trial. Please choose between the classes: Monk, Fire Mage, and Pirate (Captain).
The system must be trying to pull my leg… it wouldn’t surprise me if this thing had a will of some sort. I would be able to confirm or deny that based on the previous information about this labyrinth, but I didn’t have it. Then again, I was quite certain that no half-vampires had cleared this place, so it was hard to say.
You obtained the Captain class.
You improved the Health parameter.
You unlocked the Aptitude: Maritime Captain.
You unlocked the skill: Inspiring Captain.
You unlocked the skill: Tactical Maneuvering.
Maritime Captain: Gain bonus experience when leading your crew, executing tactical maneuvers, and overcoming challenges at sea. The experience gain doubles when fighting in the sea.
Inspiring Command: Boost your crew's morale and performance during battles or challenges. This skill enhances your allies’ combat effectiveness and reduces their fear, allowing them to fight with greater resolve. Cost: 200 Mana
Tactical Maneuvering: Execute strategic movements during naval battles, allowing your ship to evade attacks or reposition advantageously. This skill increases your ship's speed and maneuverability, improving your chances of success in combat situations. Cost: 20 Mana per minute.
More useless skills… I was hoping that they would be able to be combined with other classes eventually, but I couldn’t hold my breath about it. At least now I had another reason to improve my health further.
In any case, it was time to dismantle the boss. The creature wasn’t that impressive, but at this point in time, I couldn’t be picky about what I could use. Dismantling the boss with one hand was pretty annoying, but Glacien helped. Fortunately, when I thought about moving my left arm, I felt a bit of a response in my fingers. Even without surgery or anything fancy, I could do that much now thanks to the power of regeneration.
I had avoided increasing that parameter since it makes me feel even more thirsty for blood when I get hurt, but I increased it by one hundred percent to speed up my healing… I couldn’t take any chances in fighting with a single arm.
‘That asshole took my arm for a while… but at least he had some decent gear with him.’
Sprint Boots (Rare)
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Enchantment Slots: Agility Surge (Expert) - Increases movement speed by 40%.
Extra Effects: Silent Step - Reduces the noise of footsteps, improving stealth and reducing detection range.
Durability: 25/25
Berserk Ring (Epic)
Enchantment Slots: Fury Amplification (Expert) - Boosts Strength by 40% and decreases endurance by 20%.
Extra Effects: Stamina Overflow - Slightly increases stamina recovery rate during combat.
Durability: 20/20
Lightning Sword (Legendary)
Enchantment Slots: Storm Swing (Expert) - Grants the power to release a lightning strike.
Extra Effects: Charged Blade - Generates a static charge by consuming your mana.
Durability: 40/40
Those kinds of effects were quite rare, and I was itching to learn them, but I couldn’t make anything with a single arm, so I was postponing or using Essence Extraction. Putting that aside, I was feeling really bothered since I knew that we were being watched.
‘Maybe he told her to stay to study with me as well… normally, one wouldn’t think that someone of my age would be able to travel the world without being found for so many years.’
I could only use magic for now, so that wasn’t a problem, but it would be better if she left as soon as my arm was back to normal. Not even completely would be fine by me.
After we were done with the dismantling, we headed to the next section. Half a day had passed since the fight with Rowan… it made me wonder how Rayner would react after he learned about the conditions of his death. More importantly, I wondered how much time I had left before another group of fools came to this labyrinth to bother me.
‘I feel like going on a rampage. Will they give me a reason to do it?’
The moment that I lost my focus, those thoughts became stronger in my head… It was very counterproductive to my usual approach. Once I start a rampage, I’d better be ready to continue fighting for a while, because it won’t end for quite a while.
For now, only the empire had enough reason to start a witch hunt for me, but once I kill that other elf, maybe some of the elders will feel like doing the same and teaming up with the empire in that aspect as well. Being hunted by two massive nations, lovely.
We reached the next section and then I changed my mood to focus on my surroundings. I already knew what to find here, but seeing and reading about the enemies were two different types of experience. The moment we touched the ground of the next section, Glacien began to growl in anger…
The air in this section was a bit bad. We could see a light green mist around and that certainly was poisonous. Not the best condition for someone with an almost open wound to be in.
“What are they thinking?”
An annoyed voice came from behind me. I knew that it was Ayla, but she was nowhere to be seen… she was still hidden, but she didn’t feel like hiding that much, it seemed.
I soon understood her anger when I saw a group of lesser chimeras dashing toward us and soon they pointed their tails at us. As expected, they were quite weird… Lesser chimeras are grotesque, chaotic amalgamations of animal traits, appearing as if stitched together by unstable magic.
Their limbs were uneven and hybridized, with feline claws in the front and reptilian talons hooves at the back. A serpent-like tail writhes weakly behind them. They didn’t possess wings, but they looked quite agile. They had a weird type of head that seemed to belong to a creature that I never had seen… it was brown and filled with horns pointing forward.
Their skin and fur resembled a patchwork of mismatched textures, matted fur, dull and cracked scales, and scarred, exposed flesh. Glowing, erratic eyes and jagged, uneven teeth added to their monstrous visage. These creatures constantly twitch and spasm, as though their unstable forms were barely held together, emitting distorted growls and hisses. Lesser chimeras, though not as powerful as true chimeras, are terrifying due to their malformed, unsettling appearance and their aggressive, pain-driven behavior.
‘How and why would a labyrinth spawn something like this?’
The monster’s tails began to fire green bullets at us, but Glacien stopped them with an Ice Fortress. Still, the attacks began to melt the ice, so it looked like instead of poison, this was acid.
This was probably too much for Glacien alone to handle, and without my bow, I couldn’t use Drain Mana. I didn’t want to rely on Ayla to help us… without any other choice. I kicked the ice fortress and then used the Great Fireball on the monsters. The fire projectile exploded when it hit the first and soon the others began to burn as well.
“Finish them off.”
While the creatures were agonizing in pain, I made Glacien use Beast’s Fury. She began to jump around and attack the lesser chimeras and when one of them tried to retaliate, I threw one of my short swords at its head.
“Ugh…”
A sharp pain from my wound spread through my body… I shouldn’t have put my back on that throw. When another did the same, I threw the other short sword, but I made it spin more instead of throwing with more strength. The weapon cleaved the neck of the monster and killed it for good… Glacien was able to finish off the remaining three by herself.
You received 45 experience points.
You received 45 experience points.
You received 30 experience points.
You received 30 experience points.
You received 30 experience points.
Now, here comes the annoying part… the bodies of the lesser chimeras were useless, only the mana cores and their tails could be used. The tail could drop some of their poison/acid for the stamina potions, but it had to be pressed and stretched like I was milking it. Truly annoying.
‘Come to think of it, I could have just used a fireball amulet to attack them instead. My head is all over the place.’
This section was crowded with monsters for whatever reason, probably because the elves in the area were only exploring the first section, so I would have a decent supply of mana cores to use.
“Clearing this place as fast as you need will be hard for you. You should give up for now.”
Ayla suddenly appeared and then said that. I furrowed my eyebrows at her. For now… as if I would have another chance to come here in the foreseeable future where an army of elves wouldn’t be waiting for me.
“You can leave. I am going to stay. Neither of you have any obligations towards me.”
“You are only going to burden this poor animal with your stubbornness.”
Now she hit where it hurt… she had a point. Glacien would do most of the work since I couldn’t use my bow or even the hand crossbow. I managed to use my short swords to kill some of the lesser chimeras, but would that work when more than six of them come at us? Even while wearing two meditation amulets, I couldn’t use wind shurikens enough to kill more of those per battle without running out of mana for the next one. Perhaps she was right…