Book 3 Chapter Seven; the Long Way
Since leaving that nameless town, they had been travelling for almost half a day. Jazmel wasn’t bodily tired, but mentally staying alert was costing; taxing on the mind.
“Should we rest?” Baek asked and Tango immediately fell down in a slouched crouch and began building a fire. The wind had died down; but only a little and thankfully it had stopped snowing all together, but the cold was unforgettable. Jazmel waited patiently until Tango had built a fire and then sat beside it, the day had come and gone with effort and even now, after travelling for almost eight hours, it was barely evening for this place.
“Are there many nameless places in the labyrinth?” Jazmel asked and Baek looked around realising what he was asking.
“There are so many places inside this labyrinth that you should consider every gate as another earth. Not everyone will understand it, but every gate is like a new world in each gate. Nothing can be considered the same, luckily the labyrinth adapts for you; in truth the system does all the work. But as many games as there are which lead to civilisation, there are gates which have never been entered. Places which have not been found by Seekers. Who knows what is beyond the hundredth floor.” Baek said and Jazmel listened to him, impressed, and motivated at the same time.
“Will you try for monarch?” Tango asked and Baek laughed, a short burst which surprised him.
“No. I do not wish for the things that drive most men and women forward.” He said and Jazmel nodded, that seemed right. Baek after all could be doing his best to level up now, but he wasn’t. instead, he was travelling with Jazmel and these seekers who had entered the labyrinth less than a year into their time in the labyrinth.
“Why do you not want to be a monarch?” Jazmel asked and Baek took a moment to consider his response.
“Because what will the cost be? Imagine how many masters heard about Xian Fei and rushed towards the hundredth floor even though they know they are not ready. But also, imagine how many have since died in conflict or in rushing to advance through the labyrinth.” He said and Jazmel conceded that he was right, but Baek continued.
“Now imagine how many rankers are now rushing towards pushing their limits to breakthrough to monarch. The peace that boundaries and territories had maintained will be broken.” Jazmel listened to all of this in silence, and he couldn’t help it. He could find no fault in his words and his silence was proof of his agreement.
“Things will be lively for some time.” Tango said and settled down to get some rest, even Baek nestled down and closed his eyes in meditation. Jazmel laid down and took the time to get some rest, his thoughts were racing around but he closed his eyes all the same.
Sadé stood at the top of a broken stairwell with her sword and her thunder crown as it rippled above her head. Snarling hisses were echoing around the ruined chamber she was standing in and using her thunder crown she used it to light up the room.
Katie, Sadé and Timone had entered the labyrinth as soon as the task had come through for all black wing faction members. Katie, who was already a tier I ranker simply had to raise her level. But she was especially pushing for the free stat points option of the rewards. That would allow her to better the balance of her stats; which was what she seemed to still be focusing on doing; even now, she had used her chains to hoist herself above the chamber and built a small hammock for both her and Timone. She was using the rest of her chain to whip out and attack the heads of the snakes that made up the snake pit in the chamber.
The gate had opened into a tomb and as soon as they had stepped through; the ground had broken away and dropped into the pit, Katie responded immediately and saved herself and Timone, Sadé had leapt to the corner where the stairwell was, but the steps were debilitating; crumbling and she had to make something happen before she would fall into the snake pit.
DING!
THE CHAMBER WAS ONCE A PLACE OF WORSHIP
THE SNAKES HAVE TAINTED THIS SAFE PLACE!
GET RID OF THE SNAKES IN THE SNAKE PIT!
REWARDS;
STATS
Sadé sighed when she saw this but nodded. She lessened the Mana in her crown and instead willed her tails free. Rather than having all five, she opted for three and felt as the Mana boosted around her body immediately. This was going to work very well for her.
“Can you extend a chain over here?” she asked Katie and deftly she flicked out a chain and it struck the wall above Sadé, and she had to jump up to clutch it and then she pulled herself up and wrapped her legs about it. then she begun to climb along the length of it, towards where Katie and Timone sat in their chained hammock.
She kept going and before long she was hanging in the middle of the expanse and when she was sure of it, she looked down. Beneath her she saw the writhing mess of the snakes; they were dull greyed and though she couldn’t see the heads. She could tell there were hundreds down there.
Foxfire!
She charged her blue orbs of brilliant fire and compressing them, so they were smaller, she was able to make more and before long the entire chamber was lit with them. She kept willing her Mana to spin in each orb and then when she let them go, the unhooked from her Mana, descending slowly and to Sadé from her upside-down view they looked like blue snowflakes as they floated down, and she watched anticipating the attack. The first one to fall landed on top of a scale that was moving deeper into the pit and it was gone as other snakes coalesced atop.
BOOM!
BOOM!
The first one exploded and the snakes screeched a cry of shock, the explosion reverberated around the chamber and unsteadied the other orbs of fox fire. The chain reaction happened immediately, and the orbs exploded one after the other. Not doing too much damage to the snakes, their scales were thick, but the chamber was a different matter, and the ruinous chamber was barely holding on. The floor could not bear the weight and the heaviness of the strikes from her bombardment too. The floor gave out and then the snakes fell into the darkness beneath. She had no idea what was beneath them, but she was ready for the peace and quiet. The snakes made her feel uncomfortable and she was not happy about it at all.
DING!
TIER II TUNNEL VIPER X123 KILLED!
…
LEVEL UP
LEVEL UP!
+5 STR
+5 INT
+3 VIT
+3 END
She shuddered as the rush of changes to her stats and felt her body being imbued with the strength of the system. She didn’t move and gripped the chain as her body rippled; flexing with her new power.
“Well thanks for getting rid of all the snakes!” Katie called over the expanse.
“Yeah thanks, but how do we get down?” Timone asked and Sadé looked at her and then laughed, they all laughed. Because they were stuck where they are.
“Maybe we can rappel down this shaft expanse?” Katie said. She threw another chain across the ceiling and began to pull her way down towards the space where Katie was hanging by her legs and arms. Timone followed them along and in the dark they looked around and tried to figure out what best to do.
“Well, I wish we had Jazmel ’s glow in the dark eyes.” Katie said and in the silence of the chamber it was louder than the whisper she had murmured to herself.
“His eyes glow in the dark?” Timone asked and Sadé could hear the shock in her voice.
“Well, they reflect Mana, I think he said he can see Mana.” Katie explained to her, and Timone whistled which carried around the chamber.
“That must be impressive. I didn’t know you could do something like that.” Timone said and Katie agreed.
“You will have to ask Sadé what his eyes are actually like though, seen as she spends the most time staring into them.” Katie said and though there was no smile on her face, she could see the joy in her eyes. Even in this darkness, Katie was terrorising her about her connection with Jazmel.
“Are you two a couple?” Timone asked, she was further away from Sadé and so she couldn’t see her, but her voice sounded nonchalant.
“No, we are not a couple, we just met on the first floor and have been travelling together since.” She explained and the girls all fell silent. But she couldn’t hide the heat that flowed across her face and to the tips of her ears. Katie grinned at her and Sadé knew she could see the warmth.
“I mean he is handsome though.” Timone said and Katie couldn’t hold it, she guffawed and swung on the chain she was hanging from; giggling. Sadé was burning with embarrassment but couldn’t hide her face as she was holding onto the chain. She closed her eyes and breathed through her nose.
“Please can we find a way down from here.” Sadé asked and Katie laughed some more and then Timone flashed a toothy grin, which Sadé caught.
“I think we are going to have to descend down.” Katie said and unravelling the hammock she used it to create a thickened chain to dangle from their current handhold and used it to drop down below. She explained that she had to go first because if she didn’t, she wouldn’t know how long the chain length would need to be and so she created a little hand wrap for all three of them and explained; use it to slide down the chain but if you need to stop or slow down. Squeeze the wrap and the Mana would grip the chain and stop their descent.
She went down first, and it was a long time, almost five minutes before she wriggled the chain to let them know she had found the ground. Timone was next and before she was alone, Sadé descended and for what seemed like an age she descended through the chamber and the broken ground to the abyss beneath it.
The floor had broken away and in the debris they landed atop the jagged pieces which had pierced the writhing body of the snakes. The tunnel vipers had died under their own weight as well as how far they had fallen. They took this time to root through the corpses and loot them.
Sadé took all the cores she could find, also the fangs and even some scales. They would sell or she could just hand them in at the faction, the wealth was still being built and even though they had found so many coins in the tomb of the clay emperor. They also knew they couldn’t rest on their laurels.
DING!
YOU HAVE LEFT THE TOMBS OF ISSUS!
YOU HAVE FOUND AN EVEN OLDER ROUTE
…
THE TUNNEL VIPERS HAVE ERODED THE TOMBS AND FOR THAT YOU MUST CLEAR THEM OUT!
DEFEAT ALL THE TUNNEL VIPERS
ISSUS WILL REWARD YOU!
The notification popped up in front of Sadé and she read it through twice before turning to see Katie and Timone looking at each other.
“Well onward sisters!” Katie uttered and Sadé rolled her eyes and smiled. Timone led the way, trudging through the debris and trying to find stable footing around the lengthy bodies of the vipers. The girls climbed free of them, and the stale are from the tunnels was pushed away by the cool air that flowed through this cavern of much older tunnels and trails. They were old, Sadé could tell from the stone and how it had melded to the shape of something much larger. Everything was cold, so she knew nothing had been through here in a long time, but it didn’t change that she wondered what it might have been.
They travelled through the wide tunnel for two hours before they found or saw anything besides themselves. They cool air opened up into an underground lake, an oasis. Where a small island rose in the centre of the lake and on that land; a tree of such growth sat. That the roots that had nowhere to go; now entered the waters of the lake above ground and now the closer to the lake, looked like a mangrove.
“Anyone up for a swim?” Katie said and made to put her hand in the water, but Timone caught her arm and motioned to the water before shaking her head.
“Do not disturb the lake.” She said and Katie looked around before nodding.
“Can you get over to there?” Timone asked and Katie judged it and taking a step back, then thinking of it. She took a few more; then she ran across the ground and leapt across the expanse, she flipped into the air; tucking herself into a ball and spiralling across the wide space of water. Just as she was about to drop from the height, she flung out a chain and imbedded it into the ceiling; swinging with it and exerting her momentum. She swung off the end of the rope and landed in the top branches of the tree. It was almost perfect but when she yanked free her chain, some of the ceiling came out and dropped into the lake. A single rock disturbed the peace and the rippled floated and ended at the edge of the waters.
“My bad.” Katie muttered but the silence carried it along the distance to Sadé and Timone who were watching from their standing at the edge of the lake.
“What can you see?” Timone whispered and Katie looked around and then with a smile, she held up fruit, they were big enough that she had to clutch them to her chest but from where Sadé was. She could tell that they were Mana fruit, fruit that when consumed, they permanently improved the stats and depending on their own growth, they could improve more than one stat.
“Tier III!” Katie whispered loudly.
The water stopped, then another ripple unsettled the water. Sadé only noticed it because it lapped at her toes, and she stepped back to make sure her feet weren’t wet.
Another ripple, then another few. Something was rising from deep in the lake and it was big.
Sadé immediately willed her thunder crown atop her head, then she felt the weight on her Mana release as she revealed each of her kitsune tails and she felt her Mana well and overflow within and her crown brimmed with power.
“Something is coming!!” She shouted, no point hiding now and as she said it the waves began to raise up even more and flood the surrounding grounds. Sadé and Timone had to back up a few yards to get away from the splash zone.
Beneath the water, she saw scales; deep cerulean, blue which were much larger than any creature she had seen yet. At first the head raised up from below the waters and a tongue flicked out, tasting the air and the scenery. Sadé sighed and looked at the biggest snake she had ever seen before. It flicked out its tongue and then hissed as it peered down at her and Timone.
DING!
YOU HAVE AWAKENED SERPENTESSA
TIER III TITANBOA!
Sadé sighed and immediately waited to see what the giant snake would do. Its head was huge; two feet wide and when it flicked its tongue out; its teeth were about as long as her arm and as thick as her hand. But she didn’t shy from this, she had entered the labyrinth to do as such. To defeat creatures of this size and to allow for further growth.
Just as it was about to flick out its tongue again Katie could be seen bounding above its head in the large cavern and she was whirling her chain above her head as it formed into a large bundle of chains.
Iron maiden!
She lashed her chain mace down and slammed it on top of the snakes head. the titan snake was stunned from the attack; the scales atop its head cracked a little but it didn’t change or even drop a little. Instead, it hissed a shriek and wavered in the air.
Radical crash!
Timone jumped into the air to strike the titan, but it opened its mouth to bite down on her. “No, you don’t!” Katie said as she wrapped her chain around the mouth and the titan fought her, but she had landed on its head now and was straining with all her strength to make sure her chains didn’t break.
Radical crash
Radical crash!
Timone was striking the Titanoboa with everything she had, smashing her fist into its face and head repeatedly. Sadé could tell they were doing slight damage and the titan seemed to be little more than irritated from the strikes. But it wasn’t something that really doing true damage; and she knew it was a matter of time before it broke free of the chains.
“Help me up!” Sadé said as she pulled back and then leapt as far as she could into the air; a chain lashed out at her, and she caught it around her wrist. She felt herself yanked forward and soon she was rushing towards the titan, and all was going well but then the chains broke.
The chain that had wrapped around the mouth split apart and the different links that burst; splintered cracking and breaking into shrapnel. Timone was hit and knocked off the titan; falling into the lake. Katie lost her footing; but she recovered quickly and using her chains. She used it to rappel from the chain, but in the ceiling again. she seemed to always have chain for and at any length.
The chain that Katie had used for Sadé was still connected, but this time it was hooked in a link that was caught in one of the teeth of the titan. It hissed; Sadé who was dangling from so close winced as its whispering roar gurgled and in her proximity she felt all of its wrath. The rancid stink of its maw was putrid, and she wavered but the crackling of her thunder crown; burned the gums of the titan who flailed at her closeness.
She willed her sword from her ring and then stabbed it into the eye of the snake. It roared and wrenched free of her hold. This time the chain did not hold, and she felt herself be flung below. She crashed into the water and sunk immediately, she was a good swimmer and righting herself in the lake; she began to doggedly swim back up.
She broke the water and breathed air. Her vision was a little blurry, but she didn’t stop herself from moving she swam to the shore of the lake and dragged herself from it.
DING!
STATUS CONDITION; DROWNING (minor)
STATUS CONDITION; DROWNED (minor)
…
Of course. The system was telling her about her injuries. She coughed up water and then took the time to see how everyone was doing. Timone was back and her Mana artificial arm was burning with energy and wreathed in Mana as she struck blow after blow beneath the jaw of the Titanoboa; the giant snake of incredible strength.
Katie had wrapped as many chains as she could in her small hands. She was trying her best to stop the snake from biting down onto Timone who was hanging from the lower jaw and fighting back. But it wasn’t enough, she was struggling to do real damage, but Sadé wasn’t hiding from the fight. She rushed forward and leapt as far as she could. She didn’t land as close as she had wanted but to her luck; the snake had such length that she was standing shallowly in the water atop its coiled body. She climbed up; throwing her skills after it.
Thunderstrike!
Thunderstrike!
Thunder!
The strikes barely hit its scales, but the water was carrying, and it sizzled beneath her skills. The Titanoboa hissed at this and shrieked beneath her onslaught. She used this moment to crawl up the body, pulling herself up as she climbed towards her sword. pulling herself up; bit by bit she didn’t rush though, she didn’t want to draw attention to herself and even as Timone and Katie fought valiantly; they were hanging on for dear life.
“Timone!” Katie shouted and from her valiant climb; Sadé watched as Timone was flung from the air and into the water. She gritted her teeth and continued to her climb.
Suddenly very fearful as she saw that the Titanoboa was raising itself to descend beyond the waters again; to try and catch Timone while she was beneath the water. It slipped beneath the waters seamlessly with barely any ripples and Sadé inhaled some air deeply before she was submerged forcefully.
She was just at the corner of its jaw now and it descended through the lake; which was surprisingly deep for how small the cavern had seemed above ground. But she watching as it swam through the lake towards Timone who was swimming back towards breach the lake’s waters and air. Sadé could see her sword now and with one last feat of will, she pulled herself up to grab the blade and she clutched it, pushing it deeper into the eyelid beneath the eye. The snake’s giant iris peered down at her, and she felt the shift in the pressure of water as it began to pull water into its mouth. But she was quicker this time.
Thunderstrike!
STATUS CONDITION; ELECTRIFIED (major)
She used her most dangerous skill beneath the waters and charged her sword with thunder and in the socket of the titan, the skill burned the eye outright but then the conductivity of water amplified the skill and everything within the skull burned, and the other eye burst into a milky mist that dispersed in the water.
Sadé felt herself slipping out of consciousness; it could be from damage or lack of oxygen. She clutched the empty eye socket and slipped into darkness.