"Espion, leave the captured monster alone, it's already as good as dead. Focus on the enemies left inside the tunnel."
Another crested newt replaced the captured monster, and Smoke was up against four crested newts once more.
Earlier experimentation showed that Smoke was able to dodge up to two crested newts with his Agility of the Horned Rabbit ability.
Smoke depended on his shield to block the attacks that were unavoidable. As he kept on dodging he felt something was missing. He noticed that the throwing knives which flew over his head had stopped coming.
The DarkElf made a quick glance at Espion, and saw the young Spy focus all of his attacks on the crested newt captured by his bullwhip.
A minute passed, and Espion shouted with euphoria.
"I DID IT! I killed the crested newt."
Smoke was exasperated.
"Great... Now can you go back to the plan, and attack the monsters I'm trying to block."
With his combined dodges, blocks, and attacks, Smoke was able to reduce the four monster's lifebars to 30% of their maximum capacity.
Espion was impressed at Smoke's fighting ability. He copied the DarkElf's attack, and scattered his knives to all four crested newts.
"No! Focus your attacks on one monster only."
"But if I spread my attacks like yours, we would be able to kill all four of them at the same time."
This was Smoke's first time teaming up with someone who blatantly disregarded his instructions.
"You don't want to listen to me? Fine! Do it your way then."
In one swift motion, The DarkElf unequipped his sword and shield. He leapt upward, and grab a hold on the wall. Smoke climbed to the top of the ceiling. He attached his harness there, and watched as all nine crested newts enter the forked chamber.
"Smoke? Smoke, what are you doing? Do you want me to leave you? Get down from there and help me!"
As Espion shouted at the DarkElf. Nine crested newts surrounded the black haired Spy and began to attack him. He tried his best to dodge all of the monster's attacks.
Smoke switched weapons and took out his powersaw bow. He focused his attacks on one crested newt at a time. After Smoke killed his third crested newt, Espion noticed that it was easier to dodge the attacks.
Smoke yelled out at the upstart Spy.
"Now do you understand why I ordered you to focus your attacks on one monster?"
Espion remained silent. Instead, he kept on dodging the six crested newts that were left.
After Smoke killed another crested newt, he gave Espion a different command.
"This time I want you to use your knives while you're dodging, and hit the monster with the lowest life. Every injury inflicted on an enemy is an important damage."
Espion conceded and followed his orders. He directed all of his attacks on the monster with the least HP left. Smoke followed his attack and targeted the same monster.
The DarkElf helped reduce the dying monster's life, but made sure to give the killing blow to Espion.
The young Spy brimmed with confidence, as he started killing off the monsters one by one. This was how Smoke showed Espion how important it was to follow a strategy.
They dealt with all ten crested newts in under ten minutes. When the last crested newt fell. Smoke detached his harness, and used his hooded cloak to land safely on the ground.
Espion was invigorated, this was his first time to experience such a rush. While Smoke started to collect the loot, the young Spy forced himself back to his aloof nature.
"If you're done collecting scraps, can we proceed to the safehouse that I mentioned earlier?"
Smoke shook his head once more. He felt that this was not the last time his head would shake in disappointment.
"Sure, but please remember. We're going to kill any monster that comes our way. Well except for those krampus. I think we couldn't handle that kind of monster at the moment."
Espion nodded. He headed to the same tunnel where the crested newts had came from.
"This way then. We're almost there. It's just six more of these forked chambers away."
The two of them met groups of two to four crested newts or fire salamanders along the way, but with Smoke's battle plans and Espion's cooperation, they were able to deal with the monsters rapidly.
There were random forked chambers that held the jigsaw puzzle of either a maneator or a krampus.
Espion dealt with the jigsaw puzzle in a flash. He had learned to do them as a reflex in the months that he's been trapped inside the labyrinth.
When they arrived in the sixth forked chamber, Espion took the second tunnel from the right, out of the five choices available in the room.
Espion stopped at the tunnel's midway point. He faced the wall, and there they were met with a door like impression.
There was a spherical cavity on the wall, similar to the sealed room where Smoke came from. There was also a plaque on the wall which stated:
I am always around you but often forgotten.
I am pure and clean most of the time,
but occasionally rotten.
What am I?
|
Smoke thought that there was another hidden figure that needed to be placed in the spherical depression. Espion smirked as he told Smoke to answer the riddle.
"It took me a while to answer this one myself. I don't see any monsters around. I think you have some decent time to solve this riddle."
"Riddle, huh? Sure, I'll give it a go."
Espion was already impressed with Smoke's battle prowess, but he wanted to test the DarkElf's intellect as well.
Smoke stared at the plaque, and in a hushed voice repeated the sentence over and over. He thought that there was clearly something that should be placed inside the spherical cavity.
He was stumped as to what it could be. The riddle didn't state any form of figure. There was absolutely nothing tangible that could be placed in the spherical depression.
"Since there's nothing here. I might as well try this."
Smoke went closer to the spherical cavity, and faced it squarely in front of him. He took in a deep breath and blew out all his gathered air into the depression.
Espion was taken aback at how fast Smoke answered the riddle. The wall started to shift and the door like impression opened up.
Smoke and Espion went inside, and the door closed shortly after.
"Good, that was quite easy wasn't it. I think I've covered this entire floor of the labyrinth, but I couldn't find any way to get to another level."
The DarkElf looked around the room, and found that it had a similar size to where he was teleported by Duke Burmistrz. The room had an area of 150 square meters.
"Espion, is this where you've been hiding for the past few months?"
"This room, and two other rooms similar to this one."
"So, what's in this room?"
"Well, there's those two jigsaw puzzles of a horse and a man. It's on that opposite wall over there. I've already completed them, but nothing happened."
"What about the other two rooms?"
"The one farthest from this place has a receptacle. The plaque in that room stated 'Place the stone of vision to meet the second revision.' I searched the whole room and found nothing there."
"And what about the last room?"
"That room is somewhere in the middle of the labyrinth. That room had no plaque and just had a pedestal at the center of room. In between these rooms are dens of the fire salamanders, crested newts, and wolf spiders. Each den has about five hundred or more. Whenever they go beyond that number these monsters meet in one of the great halls and fight it out."
Smoke thought that the monsters' behavior must have been meant to maintain their numbers. He went to the two jigsaw puzzles of the horse and the man. He checked on the puzzle and thought that it looked to be done correctly.
He started to ask Espion about his life inside the labyrinth for the past few months as he thought about the two jigsaw puzzles.
"What did you eat for this past few months?"
"There are edible moss scattered all over the labyrinth. There's also a part of the labyrinth that isn't covered in marble and it has an underground spring. There are some fishes there. Of course you just have to be careful of the monsters that gather there as well. I've already figured their schedule to stay away from them. There are also times where I can't go to the underground spring and I just crush these green edible moss and extract all the moisture out of them. I can probably squeeze out half a glass if I've gathered enough."
"Why didn't you try eating the crested newts and the fire salamanders?"
"I was afraid I might get poisoned by their salmonella, and I don't have any of my detoxifying items left."
Smoke nodded. It was wise of Espion to think about the poison that was contained in these monsters' meat. Of course this wasn't a problem for him because he had high poison resistance.
"That does make sense. Now, about these two jigsaw puzzles. Did you try to change their places?"
Espion had been inside the labyrinth for months, and still wasn't able to solve this problem. He answered Smoke haughtily.
"Yeah, I already tried that. Nothing happened. I've been trying to solve those two puzzles for months now. I bet, I've already tried anything that you can possibly think of."
"Mmm. Alright, then. I need to log out for now. I'll be back in a couple of hours. Oh, but let me cook a quick meal for you before I go."
Espion was surprised when he heard Smoke say that he was going to log out.
"You're a Sonstwelter? I never thought my father would associate himself with a Sonstwelter?"
"Well, your father and I have a lot of things in common. Igniz can you prepare a campfire to cook on?"
Smoke quickly prepared a tasty medicinal deer stew for Espion. Smoke thought that this meal should increase his intimacy levels with the young Spy.
After a few minutes, Smoke gave Espion the aromatic stew.
"This smells delicious. Aren't you gonna have some?"
"Nah, I'll have some later. You enjoy the meal"
As Smoke was about to log out, he distinctly heard Espion cry out 'This is so delicious...'
* * * * * *
Nash got out of his gamepod with a smirk on his face. If his leadership skills and battle strategies weren't enough then his tasty meal should have sealed the deal, and earned him Espion's respect.
It had been a while since Nash was all by himself in Zectas. He was so immersed in the game that he forgot the time and skipped his scheduled breaks.
From the moment he was stuck in the sealed room by Duke Burmistrz, Nash only thought of solving the mysteries that the labyrinth had to offer.
His recent encounter with Espion reminded him that he had not informed Sherry of his situation,
and the special restrictions inside the labyrinth.
It had been almost two days since he last spoke to anyone of his private army. He only realized that they probably were worried sick about him.
He gathered his thoughts before he touched his cellphone. Then he dialed Sherry's number. He was glad that they decided to exchange phone numbers.
Nash had never called her before because there was never any valid reason. He waited in anticipation as Sherry's phone kept on ringing.
Until finally, he got her voicemail.
"You've reached Sherry Levine. Leave me a message, and I'll get back to you as soon as I can."
"Hi, it's Nash. Uh... I'm really sorry I haven't informed you of my whereabouts in Zectas. I was so caught up trying to solve the puzzles in the labyrinth that I.... Oh well, at least I'm inside the labyrinth now, right? Also, as it turns out the leader of the Brandals was Duke Burmistrz, and Macher was working under him. I knew there was a reason why I had a bad feeling about him. Can I ask you to tell the rest of the private army not to worry? I'll call them as soon as I'm out of the labyrinth. That dungeon disables all forms of communication to the outside world. I think that's everything for now? Oh, and I also found Caid's son, Espion..."
BEEP!
After he informed Sherry of his location in Zectas, Nash decided to check his latest video feed.
The month was about to end, and the video results had not arrived yet. He had planned his scripted video in advance, but he wasn't done editing the video until a few days ago.
Since the time when Igniz became his symbiote, Nash's video feed option was increased from his own perspective to include Igniz's point of view.
