He leapt over the monsters and jumped from one monster's back to another. He steadily made his way across 856 creatures unscathed.
As he finally crossed the river of fighting monsters. The wolf spiders that surrounded the fire salamanders and crested newts started to gather around him.
Smoke was perplexed. He didn't know whether he should help him or not. This guy was a Zectian, which meant that there was a high chance he would receive some form of reward.
The DarkElf decided to watch him, and only would only move if it was really necessary.
The mysterious young man took out two canisters, and sprayed the area around him abundantly. The wolf spiders instinctively backed off.
However, the young man still looked to be very troubled. His eyes were glued on the exit where he came from.
Moments later, three large sized monsters came out from the watched exit tunnel. They stood at a height of three meters. They had long goatlike horns, brown to black fur, cloven hooves, and rusted iron chains dangling from their arms. These monsters looked exactly like the ones in the jigsaw puzzle.
Reflexively, all the wolf spiders, fire salamanders, and crested newts stopped what they were doing. The scared monsters looked at the three monstrous beasts.
Unified, the wolf spiders, fire salamanders, and crested newts all rushed against the three unknown creatures.
One of the enormous beasts countered the throng of unified monsters. As it ran, the beast started to swing its iron chains in a circular motion.
The monster's chains damaged all the monsters that reached its range. However, the unified wolf spiders, fire salamanders, and crested newts pressed on.
Multiple fire salamanders and crested newts bit the gigantic monster's legs. Which revealed the monster's name and lifebar.
The monster was called a krampus and its lifebar displayed (275,000/280,000HP).
The other two krampus whacked the monsters that had clung to their companion. Together all three of them slowly made their way through the river of monsters.
The power of these monsters were clear. Smoke estimated that it would take less than twenty minutes before they would wipe out all of the monsters in this great hallway.
Smoke looked back at the mysterious young man, and knew that if he didn't save him then the youth will be killed by these behemoths.
The DarkElf hid from behind the Corinthian pillars to obstruct the krampus' view. He dove downward, and only used his hooded cloak to stop before he crashed into the ground.
Smoke quickly rushed towards the young man, and as Smoke grabbed him from behind. The DarkElf's hand was caught in a joint lock, and with his running momentum used against, Smoke was thrown away.
The DarkElf flew through the air. He used his hooded cloak to perform a U-turn, and land safely in front of the young man he thought to rescue.
The mysterious young man took out dual rampuri knives. The knives were a foot long and had black handles.
Smoke took out his dual green knives, and was prepared to defend himself against this mysterious NPC.
After the adrenaline rush had subsided from being thrown over the shoulder was over, Smoke carefully examined the man that stood in front of him.
Smoke felt that he had seen this young man's face before; sadly, for the life of him, Smoke wasn't able to remember.
He wracked his brains for this mysterious youth's name. The imminent threat from the krampus also contributed to Smoke's short term memory loss.
Finally, it hit him. This was the Beggar Evocatti's son. the one he was tasked to look for.
“Espion? You're Caid's son, right?”
Chapter Eight: The Last Maneator
Smoke saw that the youth who ran for his life was puzzled as to why he knew his name. Espion looked to be slightly younger than the DarkElf.
"Your father sent me to find you."
The black haired young man's face showed he was not convinced.
"And I'm just supposed to believe you because you know my name and my father's name?"
The DarkElf frowned at Espion's wariness.
"Your father told me that you started this mission to prove that you're worthy of being his successor to his hidden job. He also told me you want to inherit his being as the next Beggar Evocati."
After Smoke told Espion of his father's current Beggar rank. He saw that the young Spy finally acknowledged him speaking the truth.
Espion spoke to Smoke in a commanding tone.
"Alright, let's make a run for it. We'll head for that tunnel."
The DarkElf wasn't confident he could outpace the three krampus. He instinctively thought of a defensive countermeasure.
"I don't think we can outrun them, but I think we can outsmart them. Quick, use your wolf spider cannister repellent, and throw one of it into the furthest tunnel from the left."
Espion did not move. Smoke immediately saw that Espion may have accepted that Caid had sent him, but it did not mean he would follow his orders.
"What are you talking about. I've done it a hundred times. Those gigantic krampus beasts may be powerful, but they aren't smart. They still get lost in the labyrinth, and their movement speed is not that fast."
Smoke didn't have the luxury to argue with the young Spy. The DarkElf briskly snatched one of Espion's wolf-spider repellent cannisters, and gave it to his dark ember sprite.
"Igniz, throw this deep into that tunnel."
As Igniz followed Smoke's command, the DarkElf ran to one of the corners of the great hall, and piled up the web-entangled corpses of fire salamanders and crested newts. The wolf spider's pungent webs masked any other smell.
Smoke had built an igloo cocoon out of the wolf spider's victims. He signaled Espion to join him. The young Spy was hesitant, but ran as fast as he could towards the makeshift hideout.
The igloo cocoon was sealed as soon as Espion was inside. Smoke made peepholes in order for them to see what the monstrous krampus were up to.
The three colossal krampus formed a V-like wedge formation, and decimated the fire salamanders, crested newts, and wolf spiders.
Even with all three races combined. The three krampus still made light work of the monsters inside the great hall.
Once they were done with the monsters, the krampus started their search for Espion. They found the scent of Espion's wolf spider repellent in one of the tunnels, and rapidly followed the tunnel's path.
Espion was about to speak, but Smoke covered his mouth to silence him. They waited for another five minutes before they started to talk. Espion finally asked the question which had bugged since he met Smoke.
"Okay, where's the rest of your men, and how do we get out of here? Oh, and what do I call you?"
Smoke had never met such an impertinent young man before. He was glad that his brothers, Donny and Seth, were raised with proper manners.
"First off, my name is Smoke, and I'm the only one here to rescue you."
Espion was flabbergasted when he heard that Smoke was alone and there was no one else coming.
"But didn't Da send out all his men to find me?"
"Da? Who's Da?"
Espion stared at Smoke with an all knowing look.
"Caid, my father. I call him Da."
"Oh... Anyway, Caid did send out all of his men, but no one figured out where you were. Luckily I found you here, inside the labyrinth."
Smoke had no idea that Espion would be inside the labyrinth, but he thought that it was better for Espion to think that he was on top of the whole situation.
"Da must really think highly of you to send you here all by yourself. So, how do we escape?"
The DarkElf froze as he had no idea on how to escape the labyrinth himself.
"Let's discuss that later. First, we need to find a safe place to regroup."
"Follow me, I know a good place."
Espion led the way through the complex tunnel system of the labyrinth. His years of living inside the warren maze that Caid had built in their house, helped him navigate inside the labyrinth.
Smoke couldn't believe how Espion memorized the labyrinth without looking at any kind of map. They traveled through the fourth forked chamber with multiple tunnels, when they met three crested newts.
The DarkElf took out his electro charged bullwhip, and instinctively captured one of them. The captured crested newt was weak against electrically charged attacks, which meant it was good as dead.
"Espion, you take the crested newt on the right and I'll take the one on the left."
Once again, Espion did not follow Smoke's command.
"Why would I do that? When I can easily outrun them?"
One of Smoke's countermeasures from being mobbed was to wipe out all the monsters he would encounter. In case he needed to retreat, and use the same tunnel.
Espion left him fighting the crested newts. He disappeared into the middle tunnel. Six minutes later he came back. He was running as if he was being chased.
All three crested newts in the forked chamber were already killed when the young Spy returned.
"You managed to kill all of the monsters already? But I was just gone for a couple of minutes."
Smoke was infuriated. How could Caid's son be such a spoiled brat.
"If you hadn't left and helped me instead. We would've killed them in half the time."
"Well, I wonder how long it'll take you to deal with ten crested newts."
Even without Igniz's melded energy, a warm heat started to emit from Smoke's body. If this young Spy wasn't a quest he would have already left Espion behind.
The highest number of monsters that Smoke had seen outside of the great hall were only six.
"I've never seen this many monsters in one group. Where they at the tunnel up ahead?"
Espion gave a sheepish look.
"In an enclosed place like this tunnel. I can probably dodge upto eight monsters of this caliber. But, I could cross a throng of these monsters in one of the great halls. These guys are so absorbed fighting each other that you can literally run on top of their heads, and they wouldn't notice. So, I kept on running to the third forked chamber from here."
Smoke couldn't believe what he heard.
"You mean to tell me you made this mob?"
Espion raised both his hands and shrugged.
"Not really. It was just coincidental that all of them followed me here. I think these monsters must have been spooked by the three krampus chasing after me."
Smoke shook his head left to right in disbelief.
"How in the world did you manage to survive all these months trapped inside the labyrinth?"
"Like I said. I can outrun them. It's just that you're here now. I don't think being separated from you would be a good decision, and aren't you here to help me escape?"
Smoke inhaled a deep breath.
He thought Espion might be annoying, but maybe there was some hope for him yet.
"That was why I told you to kill the three crested newts from before. So a situation like this wouldn't happen."
Smoke was furious, but he knew that this wasn't the time or place for a lecture.
"Alright, from now on we kill all the monsters we encounter. Got it? The tunnel's narrow entrance will probably only allow three to four monsters to come out at the same time. Do you have any ranged attacks?"
Espion took out numerous black throwing knives.
"I only have these."
"Okay, I'll block the entrance while you attack with your knives. Remember, focus on only one enemy. We want to dwindle their numbers as soon as possible."
Espion nodded.
Smoke wanted to use his Rzeka glaive, but the room wasn't big enough for the needed maneuverability. Instead, he chose his electro enhanced flamdius sword and Armored Armadillo Shield.
The young Spy had an impressive attack speed. The number of thrown knives was reminiscent of Alteria's attack speed, the fecund lizard matron who previously enslaved Adder's home village.
Although, Espion's 500-600 damage points from the throwing knives did not faze the crested newts, but every damage was important. Smoke bashed one of the monsters with his shield and stunned it.
One of the crested newts escaped Smoke's defense and went after Espion. The DarkElf swiftly switched his flamdius sword with his bullwhip, and caught the beast before it got close to Espion.
