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The Twilight Maze had three phases.
The first phase is what we were experiencing right now; the whole party being split up and starting from different places. To get to the second phase, you have to defeat the monsters that are stalking you, like the Namahage, as well as the ones that guard certain important gateways. But this was difficult due to the whole of Twilight Maze being a [Special Field] with a load of debilitating effects, especially the part where your Mana Regeneration was reduced.
As a result, Sarai and Krag held back on their spells and as a result of that, Aurora and I did most of the heavy lifting.
“Another one behind us.” I muttered.
I had gotten used to picking up the scent of the Namahage’s that stalked us. The faint metallic odor of blood stood out like a sore thumb against the frigid air.
Sarai cursed. “My mana is not regenerating fast enough. This is the fourth one and we haven’t even seen a hint of the others.”
Of course we hadn’t. We hadn’t even defeated the Gatekeeper yet. In the Twilight Maze, instead of a sub-boss –which most Fracture Dungeons had– there was the Gatekeeper who guarded the advancement into phase two for each different starting point. Phase two was an entirely different story though, almost enough to make me wish that we had a sub-boss instead.
“Focus.” I ordered, bringing my hand to my sword. “Be ready.”
I met eyes with each of them and with a short nod, broke away from them running backwards.
A Namahage might be intelligent, but it couldn’t ignore its baser instincts, the thirst for blood.
My hand began to drip blood freely and I waved my hand in an arc in front of me, throwing them to the wind. With a silence that was a different type of fear than the roar of an animalistic monster, the Namahage appeared.
It wore a blue mask. Just the one I was looking for.
By this time, we had gotten into a rhythm. A single spell –or none at all– if the situation was right, was all we needed to slay these monsters.
The Namahage stabbed its eba knife downwards but I’d already back stepped through the route I made in the snow. Aurora came in from the side like a rhinoceros, skewering the monster through the bottom of its chin. The monster ripped its own face away from the lance, half its chin dangling underneath the blue mask. But Aurora had done her job, she had kept it in place for Sarai to cast her spell.
｢Sarai Benepir has cast [Parasitic Mask] ｣
Sarai waved her staff and shot a small missile towards the Namahage. It unfurled in mid air and landed on the monster’s face, beginning to hug the face by wrapping its tentacles around. The spell moved like it had a mind of its own, determined to suffocate the Namahage like a fictional alien creature I had seen in a movie once. Regardless, the Namahage was effectively blinded.
The Namahage jumped up and down and tried to tear the spell off through sheer force, but the tentacles held tight. I saw the Namahage’s skin turning red, long bloody grooves being created as the spell-creature stretched like a rubber band from the pull. Aurora stepped in front, shoving her shield into the straw dressed monster’s stomach and keeping it from getting too far.
I circled around, running as fast as my legs would carry me and sliced through its ankles; again, no scream.
After the [Blind] and [Crippled] status, Aurora and I wore it down with a series of frontal and postal attacks. Finally I finished the job by stabbing it through the heart from behind as soon as the creature fell to its knees. The creature disappeared into ashes made of light, floating upwards contrary to the snowflakes that fell around us.
It left three drops behind.
The first was its eba knife, miniaturized for human use. The second were some coins, we’d seen enough of these.
The third was a gourd with a blue string wrapped around it.
Krag, much too greedy for a priest and for my liking, came and picked up the Gourd. Since he was a priest he had no personal interest in the eba knife except that it got split fairly once it got sold.
“What’s this then?”
I debated telling them outright. If I was with Kyrian and Skaris, I would have explained it immediately. But I didn’t want to garner too much attention.
“Try checking it with Mana Sense.” I gave the hint at last, seeing Sarai and Krag frown over the gourd. “Perhaps it's a magical item.”
Sarai closed her eyes in concentration while holding the gourd, when she opened them her orange eyes were delighted. “It’s a mana potion!”
One of the few ways that one could regain mana without relying on mana potions brought in from the outside; the mana gourd dropped by the blue-masked Namahage.
“We should save it for when we need it.” I said immediately. “Why don’t you hold onto it since you’ve been holding onto all the drops?”
She stared at me then got that defiant look in her eyes again. “Don’t order me around; I was going to do so. It wasn’t like I was going to drink it.”
Ah, so she had been thinking about drinking it. “...I apologize.” I didn’t want to get into an argument with her so I let it be.
Sarai stowed the Mana Gourd into her Dimension Ring, turning to all of us. “I have something I want to propose.”
“What is it, lass?”
She turned to Krag. “You. I want to talk about you, Mr. Krag.”
“Me?”
“You haven’t been doing anything in the last few fights. Even he-” She pointed at me, “-has been pulling more than you. I don’t think you should receive a share for the last few monsters we killed.”
“He’s a priest.” I cut in, coming to Krag’s defense. “We need to conserve his strength for healing, when we really need it. We all agreed on that.”
“And I’m saying killing these monsters is harder than you think.” She sniffed. “I’m running low on mana, growing tired while Mr. Krag is staying in the back and just watching.”
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I pinched the bridge of my nose, feeling a headache coming on. Sarai was miffed about the Mana Gourd and this was her way of complaining, saying that she wanted to try it.
Krag looked like a bird ruffling its feathers to look bigger, his robes practically flying. “Lass, I’m going to ignore what you said and pretend it’s due to your own inexperience.”
“Ms. Benepir, a priest is typically treated as- '' Aurora began.
“I know that!” Sarai blew up; I had known she would the moment Aurora tried to convince her. “I’m just saying I’m tired while Mr. Krag, who’s in a similar role to mine, get to reap all the rewards while just standing there.”
“You two are not in a similar role.” I said darkly. “He’s a priest. He needs to conserve his strength until-”
“Fine then. Maybe I’ll conserve mine.”
I saw red at the edge of my vision. “Magus Sarai-”
“Lad, it’s fine.” Krag sniffed. “The lass is obviously out of her mind. Fine then, keep my share of the loot. Not like we found anything worth sharing anyways.”
I sighed. Krag was right, Sarai was picking a fight over her pride but the amount of gold we’d gained was so little that it really wasn’t worth it. More than that, I hated that the party was falling apart. In the grand scheme of things, it was good for me; the Eretians’ relationship deteriorating before my eyes. But it still left a bitter taste in my mouth.
“Brother Krag, you really don’t have to do this. I don’t think Magus Sarai is thinking clearly.”
“And I said I understood.” He crossed his arms and turned away like a teenage girl in highschool upset at her parents. “But just know that I’ll be charging a fee for each healing that I do.”
“Then I’ll start charging a fee for each spell I cast.”
Aurora looked at me, neither smiling nor frowning. Then she nodded. “If that is what everyone wishes. Mr. Lock? Do you wish to charge for your services?”
“No.” I said. “I won’t.”
“That won't get me to change my mind.” Sarai declared.
For a short second I debated tripping her and shoving her face full of snow. I shook my head, we were already experiencing enough division without me adding onto it. Someone had to be an adult around here. Atleast Aurora seemed to have a good head on her shoulders.
We walked in silence and I idly wondered which was colder: the snow or the party’s entire mood. Sarai and Krag weren’t even looking at each other, nor at the rest of us. For Sarai, this had been her behavior the entire expedition. But Krag had been rather amicable towards me and Aurora, even Sarai to an extent. Yet, with Sarai’s one complaint the dwarf priest was surlier than Clover after I told her my fake name.
At least Clover and L’teya never fought like that.
“Mr. Lock.” Aurora stopped the march. “There are two paths.”
“What’s the point of asking him?” Sarai whispered, just loud enough for me to hear.
“Well, he is the closest member to being a scout in this temporary party. Without a proper wayfinder or pioneer, I believe we need to employ every tool and skill we have at our disposal to find the right path. This place seems like a maze but there should be clues about where the exit is; or perhaps Mr. Lock can find traces of the others. In which case, I do not believe your skills are best suited to the task. But if you are willing to try, I am willing to pay the appropriate fee for you finding the way.”
Sarai stared at the gray-haired human warrior, her mouth agape. Then she closed it. “Do what you guys want.”
I wondered if that had been Aurora’s way of venting out her frustrations at Sarai’s attitude. There was no way to tell, the woman’s expression never changed.
Walking past the group, I sniffed the air. Nothing but cold air. Next I tried walking up to the walls and looking for any signs about where we should be going. Again, nothing. I was acting though, I knew where to go.
The hint was in the name, Twilight Maze.
If one looked closely at the ceilings, there were faint shining lights that imitated stars. Those stars actually made up a map of the maze. In the game, the wall of the ceiling was pasted into the background so it had taken a few days for me to figure it out. Here in the game world, it was plain as day where we were and how to get to our destination. As luck would have it, we were near the Gatekeeper.
“This way.” I said, after judging that I had acted long enough.
“...Never a more unreliable scout but aye, he’s the best we got.”
I ignored Krag’s comments; at least they were still following me.
Along the way, we encountered three more Namahages, only one of them masked with blue. Aurora and I managed to fell two of them, much to Sarai’s chagrin. On the third though, I ordered her to cast [Dark Tendrils]. Aurora had slipped on the ice and the creature had been running towards her. Even if Aurora was a fully armored tank, there were limits to how much punishment she could take while flat on her back.
“That’ll be 1 gold.”
I helped Aurora up while Sarai told us her price delightedly.
“You little-”
Aurora gripped my arm and when I looked back at her, she shook her head.
“Since it was my mistake, I shall be paying the price myself. You may take 1 gold out of my share of the loot, Ms. Benepir. Thank you for your help.”
“My pleasure.” Sarai said with the widest smile I’d seen from her yet.
We continued that way. Killing Namahages, being charged for a spell from Sarai. I quickly realized that if Sarai cast her spell, the chances of one of us being hurt was drastically reduced. Krag had nothing to do. Still, it was better that he conserve his mana rather than the mage.
But the loot dropping from Namahages weren’t worth the cost of her healing. Soon, Aurora and I would have to start dipping into our own savings to pay for the spells. I didn’t know about Aurora but I didn’t want to shoulder any more debt. On the positive note, as we killed the last Namahage my body was briefly surrounded by a white light.
I had leveled up to 21.
“Right… I should be making room for another Core by now. And once I hit 25, I should be able to start unlocking [Aura].”
Unlike the orcs who could receive totems as soon as they had the gold and materials, humans had a level cap for unlocking [Aura]. One had to be at least [25] and reach Stat capstones.. I’d need a hefty amount of [Handicraft] as well as [Physical]. Since I wasn’t playing behind a computer screen, this body wasn’t min-maxed for [Aura]. By my estimation it might take me until level 30 to unlock it.
“If I can even use it.” I shoved that worry aside for later.
Judging by the maps on the ceiling, we were near the gatekeeper.
“Congratulations, lad.” Krag said, goodnaturedly. He smiled behind his beard and I saw something genuine there. “Takes a lot of work to get one’s Soul sanctified.”
Hearing the word ‘Soul’ and ‘Sanctified’ from a Priest who served one of the gods of this world got my thoughts racing in a direction that didn’t pertain to task at hand. I didn’t need distractions, I needed focus and direction.
After the next turn, we’d face the gatekeepers.
“There’s monsters around the next turn.” I kept my voice even.
“I’m sick of those Namahage.” Sarai took out some dried nuts from her Dimension Ring and began to eat them. The party had taken my level up and statement to mean that we’ll be taking a break here.
I piled up some snow and made sure they were tight before sitting on them. It wouldn’t matter, in a few minutes I’d have to move or I’d become another pile of snow myself; there was no sign of the snow letting up.
“I don’t think so. These feel different.” I wanted to give these guys a tip about the Gatekeepers. As long as we were prepared, it wouldn’t be a difficult fight. “Stronger than the Namahage. Perhaps it will be a good idea to go over our capabilities one more time.”
“What’s there to go over?” Sarai interfered yet again. “We all know what each other’s good at. Besides, my mana sense is starting to pick up the others. I bet they’re already waiting for us.”
I felt something fierce come up but bit my tongue, stopping myself from shooting back at Sarai. “Still, in case of emergencies-”
“I agree with the Lass.” Even Krag had been affected by her behavior, his initial gruff but somewhat affable manner all but gone. “We haven’t had trouble so far. Why, you and the Young Miss have been enough this whole time! Wasting my time, you all are.”
Watching Krag go back to fiddling with his robes without a care in the world, while Sarai continued to nibble on her rations made me realize I had been extremely lucky so far. All the people I met so far, at least in terms of dungeon delving, had been more than happy to let me take the lead. But already, we weren’t even at Phase Two yet and these guys were breaking apart.
“It’s because they’re adventurers… not slaves. The people I dealt with before had been looking for someone to lead them. These guys aren’t.” I came to the realization and knew that any more words would be futile.
“Mr. Lock. I’d be open to discussing more possibilities.”
I stared at Aurora, thinking. At this point, there was no use. If she and I shared our capabilities out in the open, Sarai and Krag would hear and could report it back to the other adventurers from Eretia. It wasn’t like we could step away and discuss it amongst ourselves either, that’d just deepen the cracks already in this makeshift party. The best thing to do would be to get this over with.
“No. You don’t have to.”
The armored warrior seemed to understand why.
I gave them a few more minutes to gather themselves. The Gatekeepers would be a fight of the mind as much as it was for the body. I needed them to be focused and alert. Just as the stress was about to lessen, I picked up my katana. If I let them relax anymore, they’d be too careless for the upcoming fight
“I can’t wait to be back with my party again. Unlike someone here, they know how to dungeoneer properly.”
I ignored her.
When we rounded the next corner, the path showed us where we would face the gatekeepers.
The maze paths all led to the center chamber, it was just a matter of whether you got there quicker and later or whether you fought less monsters or more. Regardless, this was the final destination of our trek through the maze.
There was a huge hill, the base covered in snow but dark dirt starting to show itself at the top like the head of a balding man. At the center of the hill was a gate, blocked off on either side by walls connected to the maze itself. It would prevent us from going around. The gate was only a little shorter than the walls themselves and of the same coloration, giving the impression that it was just another wall. But there was an unmistakable crevice splitting it down the middle; just small enough that a child might be able to squeeze through.
“Be ready.” I brandished my katana while the others marveled at the gate.
“What do you mean be ready, Lad? I don’t sense anything.” Krag made a motion to walk up the hill, taking his first step in the snow.
We were lucky because instead of four, only three figures rose from the snow like they had been submerged in the layer of ice, waiting for us to come along.
They were humanoid in shape but made entirely out of ice. At just the right angle, the light from above reflected off of them and I knew that I’d have to watch out; my enhanced [Sight] was a weakness in fights where there were rapid changes in lightning. There were no features, their heads shaped like a doll that hadn’t had their eyes, nose and mouth sewn in yet. Instead the ice dolls had their arms end in weapons that resembled what we were carrying.
Staff. Shield and Lance. Katana and shield.
[Ice Golem] - Grade 7
We were going to fight golems of ourselves.
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