Death March — Fixed

“Tek here, I have pretended to be a hero when I was a child, pretending to wear a disguise and save lives--I never thought that I would do it in real life.”

Dressing in the blonde wig and silver mask style of the silver-masked hero, I come back to the entrance to the labyrinth.

Since I decided to leave the Beastkin girls at the inn, so they could get a much deserved rest, I’m alone. Since neither Tama nor Pochi aren’t here, I activate all the trap related skills that I received, including Trap Usage--but I only set it to three, since I didn’t expect have any reason to make traps.

Opening the Map, I mark the course which should lead to the Arm Demon--a glowing trail appears in the air in front of me, and with this I won’t have to check the map every time I reach a junction.

I only proceed for a short distance with the Trap Discovery skill active before I find the first trap. But, somehow, I know where the trap is even before the Heads-Up-Display indicates it.

Putting a little force into my legs, I jump and fly directly over the trap.

It seems that there are five Skeleton Soldiers in the room ahead--since pulling a sword out is tedious to do for such weak enemies, I just kick them. The Skeleton Soldiers are blown away almost to the wall, tattered, but they immediately get back up.

“Oh dammit, I forgot to re-enable that skill--” Smacking my forehead, I open the Skill screen and tap on Fighting, not on the level but the name. ‘Fighting Lv10’ changed from gray to white as it reactivated.

I had disabled it in order to not instantly kill the Monsters when leading the Beastkin girls through the labyrinth, so they could get a chance to do damage and get some of the Experience.

With Fighting back in effect, I kick one of the approaching Skeletons in the chest--blowing the entire torso apart, shooting shards of bone into the wall behind it. The Skeleton Soldier who has lost its torso pauses for a bit, before flying backwards at high speed; entangling and destroying many other Skeleton Soldiers.

I kick the only remaining Skeleton lightly and it doesn’t get blown away at impossible speeds, but still flies into the wall before shattering.

It may be a good idea to remember to turn it off except when in a serious fight, otherwise I might break things without meaning to when I go to kick a door open--

Since it would take quite a bit of time and effort to kill all of the enemies, and it wouldn’t give a good amount of Experience either, I just decided to fight only the ones blocking my path.

So I jumped over the traps, taking a second to pause and kick any enemies who got in my way, sprinting through the labyrinth.

However, I deliberately stepped onto a Life Drain trap once, so as to see the effects--all it did was remove a small amount of my HP and Stamina.

But, no matter how quickly I can kill, how fast or powerful I am--there is a place that forces me to stop.

***

‘If thou wish to pass this point, mine question thy must answer.’

The words are written above a gate that seems to be made from some kind of glowing violet stone.

A riddle huh?

This is a labyrinth classing.

‘Shonimu righteth yonder tree, Dareson eateth the fruit, Yurato planteth seed--align us to whence we originated.’

Yeah, I have no idea what the answer could be.

Therefore, I decided to do it the brute-force way.

Taking a sledgehammer from storage, I start pounding on the door, resulting in flashes of violet light and deep booming sounds.

“Hmm, a strong door--No wait, I haven’t enabled the Two-Handed Hammer Skill.” I talk to myself--I miss having the Beastkin girls around--after only a few hours? Do I have attachment issues?

Anyway, I ignore my strange thoughts and allocate ten points to the skill, activating it before I close my Menu and get ready to try again.

--I can somehow understand that it will be useless, even if I were to pound on the door all night--is this knowledge an effect of the skill too?

I put the hammer back into storage and pace in front of the door, considering; maybe I should just ignore the door and just dig through the wall?

No, I can’t do that--according to the Map, it looks like doing that would probably take a similar amount of time to waling on the door.

“Maybe I should try some of the Magic Items with unknown effects--or enough power to destroy mountains.” I discard the idea as soon as it pops into my head.

It seems that I will have to try and figure out the riddle, unfortunately, this is the type that requires that you have some sort of pre-knowledge.

“Tree, fruit, and seed huh--There are some suspicious-looking animal pictures, but nothing which looks like a tree.” I have no idea where to begin with this, “If only I had some kind of riddler skill--nah, that would probably turn me into the enemy of a giant man/bat Monster--”

Hmm, thinking about skills--

Acting on an instinct, I take the ‘Vorpal Blade’ out of my inventory--it should be safe, since it is only known to be very sharp. I activate the Shortsword skill, and before doing anything else, I swing it at the door.

With a strange ‘Snicker-Snack’ noise, it hit the door--a violent violet spark shoots from the black stone-like material, canceling the attack.

I shrug.

Then I direct the Mythical Blade at the stone floor and begin to carve words: ‘What creature walks on four legs in the morning, two legs at noon, and three in the evening?’, ‘Man’.

 

>>Skill: De-Riddle Acquired.

 

Thank you Sphinx, and thank you, mysterious person who answered it!

I quickly put ten points into the skill and then activate it.

Shonimu, Dareson, Yurato--I still don’t know what they are, however, I do know which strange-looking animal picture corresponds to which name; and I also somehow know that the tree, the fruit, and the seed aren’t in this room.

Skills seem to impart knowledge when the level gets high enough, was what I thought--I found out much later from someone who’s name I still dislike hearing to this day, that it is a result of how I got here--people from this world don’t get that effect.

“Well, the Skill was easier to get--but victory won’t be that simple.” I muttered as I looked again; and thanks to the skill, I had could understand that there are still more things that need to be gathered to solve this riddle.

In a game, it’s common for key items to be located in different rooms, so I open the Map and look for any rooms with anything strange in them, or stronger-than-normal enemies.

With that in mind, I quickly locate three blatantly suspicious rooms, each of which have enemies in them that are clearly much higher-leveled than normal.

“Some of these things are seriously game-like--”

I quickly run to the closest one of the rooms, and look in--the floor is depressed around the edges, only the center is normal, forming almost a pedestal. Inside the depression, I can see a lot of tree-root like creatures wriggling around, squirming disgustingly--I’m pleased that none of the slaves are here--then again, tentacle-like beings and the Beastkin girls, Arisa, or Lulu could be interesting--No! Bad!

I smack the side of my head a few times before shaking it, I need to keep my head in the situation--

Sitting on the raised center of the room is a statue, from which the feeling from my De-Riddle skill is originating.

Well, it seems like it will be impossible to jump to the pedestal with a single leap--that said, I don’t want to experience the tentacles like the three girls did in my imagination for a second there--

The Heads-Up-Display indicates that they are called Wandering Roots.

Since it seems to be a colony-type life form, it probably won’t die even if I shoot it with the Magic Gun or hit it with some of my Magic Skills and destroy the outside--There will be no end if I have to keep killing it, and possibly digging into the floor to root it out.

Which is why I pour some of the oil I collected in the Alchemist’s ruined house into some glass vials, which I also collected from the ruins--and I make impromptu Molotov cocktails, sticking a rag in the opening and lighting it with the Tinder Rod.

Since I keep all of my Resistance skills always, including a Fire Resistance Skill, my body should be fine. But if my wig got burned, it would be difficult to use this disguise--there is only one--and even now I don’t know what Dragons or Lizardmen were doing with a blonde wig.

Checking my Map to make sure that there are no Humans nearby, I take the wig off, storing it again.

With a strange feeling of excitement, I light the Molotovs with the Tinder Rod--lighting five of them, waiting for a second to make sure the makeshift wick works, I throw them into the depression in the floor.

I stand over the burning trench, warming my hands for a few seconds before stepping into the fire--Well, I slowly lower my body and place my hand in to make sure the resistance work.

When I am convinced that it will be fine, I strip off my robe and walk into the flames--shutting my eyes with the first step. It reminds me of when abseiling, when taking that first step off the ledge after looking down the fifty or so meter drop--

But the walk is easy once I am in, the warm flames licking my skin, almost like a hot bath--I have to stop myself from just sitting down to enjoy it, and walk across to the pedestal.

I quickly pick up the golden statue of a tree, pausing for a short time, to make sure a boulder doesn’t roll down.

This is the Tree.

When nothing happens, I walk back through the flames and back out of the room. I start running for the second of the rooms, looking through the open doorways, I see that the second room is basically the opposite of the first.

In the slight depression in the center of the room is a three meter tall Monster--according to the information, it is a level forty Stone Golem. For Skills, it has: ‘Physical Damage Received 50%’, ‘Spirit Damage Invalid’.

“A standard Golem is usually taken care of removing the E from ‘EMETH’--which is normally written on its forehead. The word EMETH means ‘life’, but without the E, it becomes METH--meaning ‘dead’ or ‘death’--This comes from a famous story about a Jewish Golem, if I remember my mythology correctly.

But there isn’t anything written on the Golem in front of me.

Half of the physical damage it receives is removed huh; well, that means that half still gets through.

I add ten points to my Spear skill, and activate it--then I take a steel spear from storage--I have to resist the urge to remove the Lance of Longinus, because it is a Mythical weapon of incredible power--able to pierce the side of a Demigod; so I shouldn’t use it for a weak level forty Monster.

After making sure that my aim is accurate, and steady, I throw the spear!

Flying so quickly that it looks like a beam of light, the spear shoots straight through the Golem’s head, and pierces all the way to its base in the stone wall.

A moment later, the Stone Golem crumbles; the head shattering into dust, followed by the rapid collapse of its body, it was demolished in a single blow.

“--Well, that was overkill.” I mutter to myself as I bend over to pick up the blue gem, that is now sitting on top of a pile of dirt, which seems to be the Fruit.

The third room looks like a normal room, but there is a treasure chest sitting in the middle of the floor. While there are a lot of traps laid, and layered, all over the floor--there was one, serpentine, path winding from the door to the chest.

I take out a black rapier from storage and hang it on my belt, before carefully walking through the traps, following the path. It took me only a a minute or two to reach the front of the chest.

“Yep--called it!” I laughed as I looked at the information.

The Map had said that the Monster in this room was a Mimic, but I had hoped that it would be hiding as something complex, like a fake ceiling--however, following cliches, it was the treasure chest.

As I slowly draw the rapier, the treasure chest opens its mouth to attack me. I quickly hack again and again on the faux wood lid, causing it to emit inhumanly high-pitched shrieks and sickly-looking yellow blood sprayed over the floor, and over my body--while it screamed and bled like a Monster, I felt more like I was hacking at a pissed off piece of wood--the skin may have been fake wood, but the texture and strength was that of true wood--I must say I am impressed at how well it could replicate a chest.

 

>>Skill: Continuous Attack Acquired.

 

As it finally dies, the Mimic turns into what looks like a puddle of malformed flesh covered in pustules and what looked like teratomas; a rapidly spreading pool of sickly yellow blood, that smelt like a mixture between bile and feces, began to cover the floor.

Sitting on top of the pile, like a crown on a king’s head, is a black stone.

This is the Seed.

With a sigh of disgust, I pick it up, before turning and running--so that I get as little of that horrible blood as possible on my feet--I had forgotten to put on my shoes after walking through the fire--I felt foul-smelling goo squish between my toes as I left the room and sprinted back to the riddle door.

When I place the collected items in the right places, the door opens silently--to make sure that the close while I’m returning, I grab a thick Great Sword from storage and stab it into the floor in such a way that it would block them.

From the door, there wasn’t really anything worth describing until I arrived at the target room.

***

“This is the place where the Arm Demon should be--” I mutter as I look around.

If he hasn’t revived, then I’m going back and indulge in lazing around the inn and spending time getting to know my new slaves--maybe even going on a date with Zena during one of her days off.

An altar is situated deep in the room.

As I get closer to it, walking calmly through the dark, stone room, the candlesticks set up in a strange formation around the altar suddenly light with a blue flame.

 

“Fuhahaha! I appear!”

 

A Magic Circle formed by purple light emerges from the center of the obsidian altar, causing strange purple reflections to bounce around the room, mingling with the blue flame--something about how the lights interacted caused me to feel slightly queasy.

The Arm Demon’s voice rings out from the Magic Circle, the glows of light causing the room to take on a Lovecraftian air.

With a shimmer, and shower of purple lightning, a huge body stirs--the completely reformed figure of the Arm Demon sits up.

 

“Muhahaha! In perfection, I, am revived!”

 

“As usual, that strange way of talking--” I sigh as I look at the ugly form.

“Ugh--You bastard! Silver mask! I, struggle!” He roars, and a black aura rises from his body. It is a powerful Support Magic, the Heads-Up-Display indicates that it’s: ‘Physical Damage: 90% Cut’.

“Unpreparedness is one’s greatest enemy! I, do, my Best!” The Demon roars again--purple lights are emitting from its nails, horns and tails. The Heads-Up-Display indicate that the Magic is: ‘Physical Attack Power: 300% Up’.

“Are you ready now?” I ask, untying the rapier, switching it out for a holy sword from my storage. I don’t bother tying the sheath, because I will be using it soon.

“For waiting, you will pay! It’s my turn now! I, dash forward!” The Demon shouts, jumping off the altar with a ‘bang’ and dashing towards me.

Moving fast enough to leave purple afterglows, the Demon begins to rapidly slash through the air towards me with all four arms; but I step between the attacks: around two arms, under one, and over the last--before drawing the holy sword, placing the sheath in storage before it can hit the ground, and slash from the bottom to the top in one movement.

The track of pure blue light is beautiful.

The holy sword tears through the meat of the Demon’s two right arms, and I feel no resistance as I cut the meat and sever the bones, the arms fall with a thump.

“Grr! I, am unyielding!” The Demon who has lost two of its four arms, rotates its body and naturally strikes with its tail. Come to think of it, I was blown away by its tail the first time we fought.

If I don’t let my guard down, this isn’t a problem.

Jumping over the tail, I twist midair and sever the tail in a single stroke.

“No way! You bastard! You must be a hero! I, am astonished!” The Demon shows its back after swinging to attack with its tail, so I use Continuous Attack, this Skill allows me to swing once, but unleash ten attacks--one attack per skill point in it--such an overpowered skill. The Demon’s back is slashed ten times, each one penetrating all the way through its body.

“This can’t be!--I, regret--” The Demon falls into ten, uneven, pieces.

After making sure that the Demon’s HP is 0, I collect the tail and arms that I had cut off, and put them together on what remains of the main body. It will be troublesome if it resurrects again, so let’s see if I can cremate it.

I pour what remains of the oil onto the corpse and light it on fire, and watch from a small distance away--I make sure to carefully watch the body until it burns to ash, being careful not to miss any pieces.

When it was alive, it would shrug off powerful Fire Magic attacks, but when it died, it seems that Mana had left it, allowing me to burn it with a simple flame which used oil as fuel.

Within five minutes, all that remained was a pile of ashes.

Having finished my business, I leave, making sure to have the sword keeping the door open--this was to make sure that when the army explored the dungeon, they could go all the way through and find the corpse.

 

>> Title: Labyrinth Conqueror Acquired.