CHAPTER 3 – THE TEETH OF DEATH

Labyrinth of the Shade – Dimensional Rift

***

He dropped into [Stealth] and without even a push of Will his cloak started drawing shadows to boost it. He sent a mental thank you and received a warmth that he could only construe as endearment or a parental love if his Insight was parsing it correctly. A mystery for another day as he took in what he was looking at. Impressive would be the word that came to mind on the quick.

In front of him were walls that seemed to go on forever though in reality he could see the top of the maze, labyrinth. To Gideon it was a maze though he wasn’t quite sure what the difference between the two was he had a feeling there probably was. They stood at least a hundred feet and were made from some kind of black and gray stone. Gideon could make out a shimmering energy at the top, and without even asking, Freddie supplied the answer to the mystery and right out of the gate proved his worth as Gideon knew he would. Fuck the System.

“The stone’s density is at least peak Iron Rank and the field of energy based on my analysis is a dual purposed containment field and repulsive field. My guess would be to prevent people with movement skills from bypassing the labyrinth.”

Alright, so no cheating by him or those he faced. One could say many things about the System but it did, for the most part, follow its own rules. He tilted his head back down and saw the obvious and only entrance, just an open space in the wall that from here, up on a platform, fifty feet above the entrance, halfway the height of the wall, he could see led straight ahead with some kind of purple flame torches spaced periodically that threw a lot of heavy shadows. It went about forty or fifty feet till it hit a t-square. He couldn’t see from where he was how actually large this place was but he had a feeling it was massive, like really massive. It would have to be if the System had multiple groups of enemies if it didn’t want them stumbling over each other.

That was another twist and downside to the System’s penchant for advocating murder, mayhem, and dangling carrots of riches, levels, loot boxes to get it. Treachery. The type of people that took the bait the System threw would also be highly susceptible to being played against one another. He highly doubted the System would give shit in this scenario for a participation award. Gideon would bet his coins on only one group getting the prize, whoever killed him. He could use that.

First things first, scout out the place, find where and who his enemies were, then see what he could do about putting them in the ground and get back to his family.

“Let’s get this shit show started.”

Freddie did his incognito move of slipping words into his ear.

“I’m with you Gideon. I will keep my sensors as wide spread as I am capable of.”

Good on you little buddy. Gideon had forgot about the little AI’s echo location shit. It would be a boon in the enclosed space. Nothing for it. He made his way down the steps, Skald in hand, cautiously. It was time for him to hunt.

***

He’d already been working his way through the maze for the last half hour and his estimation had been on the nose. This place was massive. He hadn’t run into anything yet, well, anything worth dealing with. The System had populated the place with more then just whoever it intimated at. He’d run into several packs of Umbral Rats, all Level 11 or 12. Individually they were little to no threat but in numbers would be an issue for anyone. And numbers they had. One group had been about twenty of the fuckers, and another, a bit more. It would make them dangerous even for someone in Peak Copper, easily, as they were small targets and unless one was built for AOE damage, would be a pain in the ass to put down before they killed you from a thousand bites. For him though, they were a non-issue.

They were Umbral, not Temporal, so didn’t have the time fuckery on their side just the ability to become one with shadows so they could hide till their prey were up on them, then swarm. The key word here was ‘Umbral’ and he was after all, the Umbral Scion, a hard counter to their tactics. He’d already gained a level in [Night of the Ecliptic Horror] and three in [The Pitch of the Umbral Moon].

When he’d first ran into them or more specifically, they had pulled their swarm card out on him, his gut reaction had been to use his Aura, which at the Level disparity between them, and his boost to all his Slotted Abilities by his Bloodline and Champion Title, they’d froze like wax statues.

After killing all of them. which took ages. albeit easily as they just huddled, terrified, he realized this shit would take too long. That’s when he decided to go to his lowest Leveled and newest Slotted Ability and it did wonders. It took just about as long as the life drain aspect of it didn’t throw a lot of damage quickly, still it added up and had the added bonus of slowing them and coating them in that Umbral, Moon ice or cold or whatever it was.

He still initially hit them with the Aura to get them paralyzed then turned it off and went to the AOE. It saved a shit ton on his resources as his Aura was a hog compared to the other. Both used Spirit as their resource but his Aura was at least double the cost. It was understandable though as it literally froze people in fear and moved with him while the other was stationary to wherever he was when he used it, lasted a set amount of time, and though was exceptional with its life stealing and slowing aspects and blinding whatever was stuck in it, still fell short of the entire game changing aspect of his Aura. It had felt freeing if he was being honest to finally get to unleash his Aura and not have to worry about L’Sana or Ari or any allies getting caught up in it. He in his gut felt his [Umbral Savage] Class was built for solo fighting, something a commander would unleash to take out a leader or squad. Or mostly built for solo adventuring, a lone wolf out on the hunt.

The second swarm had been cake and he hadn’t needed to dirty Skald’s spear-head at all. It was also a good piece of intel and another tool in his toolbox.

Knowing the System had filled the maze with creatures meant another boundary between him and the people he needed to kill. It was a double bonus that had a hard bet from him the rats were more then likely everywhere throughout the labyrinth. They would do nothing to hinder him but probably heavily fuck with his enemies. None of the Citizens he’d fought in the Tutorial or their types should have a hard counter except for the Sanctum with their light. Demons would more then likely have an AOE somewhere in there with their hellish gifts and the Troglodytes with their Primal shtick would have nada.

Now that he actually knew what to look for and more importantly with the help of Freddie and his echolocation also knowing what to tune into, Gideon was able to bypass those he didn’t want to take the time to kill. Their ‘One with Shadows’ passive had even fooled his little AI Buddy. They figured out the Ability was literal. They became an actual part of the shadows until they attacked. Slightly different from his Slotted Ability which allowed him to become a shadow. Their passive made them become the actual shadow to an extent. Once Freddie knew what they were about he was able to start looking for an absence of return on his sound.

By the pocket of silence in the space the rats occupied he could now pick them out easily. Even though they were one with the shadows, they were not a natural part of that space and their passive added a sound dampening effect so their chittering and whatever other sounds they made wouldn’t give away their location but it did the opposite against Freddie’s avenue of sensing shit. The Sound got absorbed instead of reflected back telling them where the fuckers were. It was a good thing as even with his effective Perception of (115) he didn’t sense shit.

Gideon spent another hour moving through the maze marking with Skald’s sharp point X’s to show him where he’d been. He’d killed another two groups of rats and gotten one more level to his Aura and another three levels to his AOE. He had a lot of Slotted Abilities to Level if he wanted Iron Rank by the time he left. He knew L’Sana and Ari were doing the same.

They would all need the extra strength with whatever the Second Challenge ended up being. He knew that would be a hard truth. Gideon was a bit happy that he might miss the World Council through no fault of his own though he doubted that argument would hold up under Unra and L’Sana’s hard stares. He smiled at the image. Politics, not the arena he wanted to step into but he knew he couldn’t slip out of it’s grasp. They needed him there so he would have to get this place in the can and everyone in the ground before two months hit the marker. A man could dream though. They couldn’t take that from him. A small chuckle slipped from his lips. Freddie queried him about it but he kept silent. The little AI was not know for his penchant for closed lips or any lips for that matter. Smile.

He continued his travels through the labyrinth and nothing changed beyond another couple swarms he chose to avoid. Damn there were a lot of the fuckers. He could have used them to Level up his Abilities but he wanted to reserve his resources as he dug deeper into the place. He had a gut wrench backed by his Insight that he was getting close to something different.

***

Gideon was feeling a heavy dose of deja-vu. For the last ten minutes his Perception had picked up an incremental increase in the moisture permeating the air and area. Also plant life started emerging, cresting out of the stone itself. He’d also stopped running into the rats as he entered whatever different domain he’d transitioned into. He had an inkling to what he was approaching.

As he slid around the corner of another t-square passage taking another right he could see the passage sloping downward. He had just finished a ten minute break to allow his Stamina to replenish after running [Stealth] non-stop. He had it running again and it was a good thing as his [Combat Awareness] notched a ripple in what seemed a mostly submerged room ahead. Freddie’s voice slid into his ear. Party Chat would be better as a high Perception build could still pick up his words but the Party and all attached tools had been grayed out as soon as he’d left Umbra Mortem and Erebus.

“Based on the shape I am sensing and the aquatic environment there is at least two Troglodytes in the water no more then fifty yards out.”

He shifted like a serpent uncoiling through tall grass. He had utter confidence in his ability to stay unseen especially with the boost from his cloak amplifying his Uncommon Skill. As he slid slowly down the descending passage his view of the room ahead expanded. It was the first time he’d seen something other then hallways. It had the same feel as the mini-dungeon in the Tutorial and he knew he’d found the home of the Troglodytes in this place and along with Freddie’s assessment confirmed they were one of his enemies.

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Time to get his scouting on. Mission One: Intel. He didn’t want to make a move or initiate conflict until he knew where they all were and the best angle with which to derail the System’s goal of putting Gideon in a shallow grave.

There was nothing he could do here without entering the water which he didn’t want to do. According to Freddie the Troglodyte’s sense of smell and overall Perception was enhanced in the environment. He did notch like his earlier run-in with them that there was an island in the center of the man made or System made, lagoon, one that was vast as was the cavernous room itself. He would guess the entire space would have to be a few miles squared and the island about a mile across covered with jungle. He could see smoke rising above the trees.

For some reason the aquatic race liked actually sleeping and nesting above water, possibly safer from predators. Gideon had no clue nor any desire to figure out the societal thoughts or aims of the vicious species. He was sure he could throw the query at Freddie and listen to an hour of pontificating on all the ins and outs of Troglodyte shit but that sounded horrible. He just needed to stay long enough to get a gauge on their numbers then he’d be off. It would give him an estimate on the other groups as the System liked parody in things it did.

It took another half an hour before he got the estimate he wanted with the help of Freddie of course. His Perception had a hard time parsing them while they were in the water. At least this time they had no Primal Stone emanating rage fuckery out and about though that could be just a matter of time. It looked as if like him they were just setting up their base camp which meant they also hadn’t ran into the shadow rats most likely or ventured from the cavern. Freddie had marked 5 different echo returns based on slight differentials in body shapes and energy emanating from them. Two females and three males.

At a guess Freddie estimated Peak Copper which would be about as good as it got. If they were about the same level as him he didn’t want to risk throwing an [Identify] and them picking it up. He had an inkling based on his interactions with the race before that there was one other, their War Queen, more then likely sitting in the middle of their camp.

They were a Matriarchal society and his last run in with them their Queen seemed to have never left their camp and even when the fight had been rolling between them and Orin and his crew, the females had held back till they felt it was worth their time. So two female War Captains, three male soldiers and one War Queen. Six, all of them at least Peak Copper and if he had to hazard a guess he wouldn’t be shocked If that held with the other groups. The System seriously wanted to make sure he didn’t leave this place alive. He also wouldn’t put it past the asshole System of adding a wrinkle by making the Queen or Alpha of each group Iron Rank and with their Sub-Classes.

There was a part of him that was tempted to lure one of them out and kill them, to get the first mark, his Bloodline reverberating in his soul. He hadn’t forgotten the truth though that one’s Class choices, and more importantly, a Bloodline affected one’s personality and urges. He flexed his Will and tamped down the bloodlust.

He could probably get some levels in [Birthed of the Eternal Eve] becoming a shadow and sliding up to the ceiling of the cavern to get a better look at their camp in the jungle but he was too unaware of what actual abilities they brought to the game. It was too early in the play to give up surprise, shock and awe, so he refrained. He was positive there were other exits and entrances to the space but he had enough for now to know their location. It was time to find the rest. He slid back up the corridor and took the opposite path back at the T-Square hall.

***

It took him over an hour to find the next targets and he’d decided after a half hour of wandering to take out a couple more of the rat packs. He’d gotten two more levels in [The Pitch of the Umbral Moon] and one level to [Night of the Ecliptic Horror] bringing them to Level 11 and 15 respectively. He still had a long way to go. The other half-hour had spun out and he’d slipped past two more hidden packs of the rodents when another two passage later the heat had amplified and the stones and passages had started taking on veins of crimson within their texture.

He found a small alcove where he took a break to let his resources lift back up, mostly his Stamina from the constant use of [Stealth]. It hurt that it was one of his Maxed General Skills and he was getting no upgrades to it. He had gotten one level in both [Tracking], which he had no clue how, since he didn’t remember tracking anything, and [Combat Awareness]. He would take them, any advancement still advancement.

He knew for a fact L’Sana would be aggressively going after Iron Rank and he hoped she’d used her Loot Boxes to get Ari her final slots filled. He wasn’t quite sure being her familiar how that would go when L’Sana ranked up if Ari wasn’t also ready to do so. He could ask Freddie but now wasn’t the time to go over such in the middle of a war zone. He just had to trust they would figure it out and get it done.

His break had been long enough so he activated his [Stealth] once more, his cloak doing her thing and pulling the shadows. The purple faux torches which literally were just in the shape of torches but their light, magic, no actual heat or flames, had shifted to a black and red hue. He pushed himself through three more passages with no other options before it ascended onto a ramp.

He halted quickly as unlike the Troglodytes the demons had posted a guard. A massive creature with his four arms just like Gideon remembered encased in infernal steel from top to bottom, a heavy plate. The only thing bare, its face, which probably had something to do with the two large horns that broke from it’s brow in sweeping shapes similar to an oxen. It held a very wicked looking bearded one-handed axe with a jagged edge in one of it’s many hands sharpening the axe head with a whetstone in another. It had a huge half-moon double handed axe in a sling on its back and another three of the bearded one-handed axes in loops on its waist.

The second Race was confirmed, the Baraleth demons. The creature stood almost eight feet, an obvious martial class and the armor choice would make a tank orientation be the guess but the weapon choice which was purely offensive said something different. There was nothing defensive about an axe.

Once again he felt his Bloodline and Class urge him to peel the tin can and kill him but once again he pulled it back and stamped it down. Changing the plan or making a mistake now would leave those he cared about alone, little Shira without the mask he promised. It was an easy choice.

He’d still like to get a gander on what their set up was but there was not enough room to slip past the guard and too much of a risk. As with the Troglodytes he could utilize [Birthed of the Eternal Eve] but just as with them until he knew the capabilities of those he was facing, too much of a risk, too much at stake, and the odds too stacked against him. At least he had them marked and a smile flit his lips as he finally notched all the claw marks on the demons armor and the numerous rat corpses at its feet. The Demon even had some still healing claw marks to his face. Good. They would be dealing with more of the little bastards before everything was done and he highly doubted all the demons were as wrapped in steel as the one in front of him.

Alright, time to move on to find the rest of what the System had set up to end him. He slipped back to where he came from, letting the shadows swallow his presence.

***

He’d been forced to backtrack all the way past where the Troglodytes were to find a new passage heading in the opposite direction. It had taken him several hours and would have taken him longer if he hadn’t chosen to slip past more rats.

To start formulating a plan he needed to first find all his adversaries. He wished he would have been able to gain more intel on the layout of the demon area but it was what it was. He’d made a choice and he believed it was the right choice regardless of what his Bloodline and Class thought of the matter.

Before he decided what to do he would make a return trip and see if he could slide in on the second go-around. He once again held up in a side cavern after slipping past two more of the rat packs who’d been posted near the entrance and taken time to not only recoup his resources but also some shut-eye. He trusted Freddie to wake him if anything came a knocking but the likelihood of them first having to deal with the rats was probable and the noise that would make would be enough..

***

He got an hour of sleep which was more then he thought he would and just enough to get by. His high Body made sleep needed less but not non-existent. He was sure at some Rank sleep would probably become optional but it sure as hell wasn’t Copper. If he had to guess, his Body Attribute made it so he needed maybe five hours to be fully rested so he was still on the low end of getting his fill but he had learned a long time ago, especially in his tours with the Army to function with no sleep if necessary.

He stood and slipped into [Stealth] once more. It was time to narrow down who the last of his adversaries were. The ones he’d already found would be an impossibility if he took them head on, even with his Titles. But he had no doubt the System went far and beyond what this test should have been. It might not be able to break its own rules but it had certainly shown on the heavy it could bend them into ultimate limbo space. The Wyverns had hammered that truth into Gideon’s skull. The only answer was to gain more strength and more importantly to play the game smarter. They couldn’t rely on Gods or even a Primordial. It had to be their own hands that ultimately won out.

He spun himself further into the heavily shadowed corridors with the small purple torches casting blankets of darkness every step of the way. Freddie had hypothesized that was how the System had been able to bring such powerful opposition by supplying an atmosphere that favored an Umbral Scion. It was spurious at best but he agreed with his little AI buddy that it was the most logical supposition. In his mind having as many enemies as there were no doubt in this place, all with huge Loot based incentives to take his life, was in no way balanced by having a lot of darkness and shadows but deal with what is Gideon Sho, his Father’s favorite mantra.

Another forty minutes of travel emphasizing once more the sheer size of the Labyrinth and he found what he’d been seeking, hopefully what would be the last of his enemies. The volume of light exuding out of the upcoming cavern and the sheer luminosity of it marked what he’d guessed would be the last of his challenges. The volume of rat corpses littered over the area leading to it and within his line of sight told him many things and amused him. It brought him joy and a smile. He was beginning to like the little rodents. They were doing what he’d hope they’d do, distract. If they managed to kill any of his adversaries, that would be a boon but in reality what he expected was to keep his enemies cautious. The over exuberant use of light, and whoever was keeping it up, ate up their resources, which was a good boon to Gideon.

It did mean there was no way he’d be able to go further as the entire cavern the Sanctum were hiding in was so bright he wouldn’t even make it ten feet before his [Stealth] failed. Still. It was enough. Unless were more passages trailing out of the three domains he’d found he knew who his enemies were. The Sanctum, the Baraleth, and the Troglodytes, none of whom would be very fond of each other regardless of the natural enmity to be the ones to get the prize. The Sanctum hated everything that wasn’t of the Celestial and in particular anything that fell under the Profane Foundational. The Demons and Troglodytes came across as hating anything that wasn’t of their race though the Demons probably did deal with others of the Profane. He had lots of ideas and lots of tools he could use to see them to fruition.

The greatest gift the System gave him, though it probably didn’t see it that way, he found on the way back to his rat protected cave. He found it by accident or his ‘S’ Ranked Fate was having some input when he paused for a moment on a passage only maybe twenty minutes out from the Sanctum Cavern. He had paused to run through his thoughts, call it instinct, Insight, or providence or fate, but as he was formulating through strategies, a plethora of them spinning in and out of his mind, he leaned against the wall next to him and fell through the Shadow Magic that had been concealing the opening to a new path.

As soon as the illusionary wall had dissipated his [Combat Awareness] flared and Freddie immediately told him what resided within. Gideon Sho smiled even as growls echoed from the depths of the hidden cave. Death’s maw and sharp teeth would be a beautiful weapon to hand and he knew exactly who deserved his gift. Freddie was chuckling for several minutes over it expounding on different films it reminded him of.