The twenty four hour reprieve, once vast expanse of safety, guttered out like a candle in a draft. In the hall sanctuary, the atmosphere shifted as the first rays of sunlight pepped through the obsidian windows. The survivors had spent their time forming desperate alliances; the trauma of the penalty quset had taught them a singular brutal lesson - the weak have no place in this world unless they can cower behind the strong
Reagan watched from the shadows of a pllar as the top ten players were swarmed. Leonard van Zyl, silver haired and stoic, stood at the center of a chaotic crowd. Men and women practically begged to be his shield, offering their lives for the hope of his protection.
"Please Leonard, help us on the next floor. Not for free of course. We are willing to pay you coins. All we ask is you 'carry' is. We won't interfere with you." A lady said.
"Yes, we only ask to follow along." another one added
Leonard, however, looked at them with eyes of cold flint. He was a man who saw liabilities, not allies. He rejected every proposal with a silence that was more cutting than a blade.
On the corner of his eyes, Reagan spotted Valeria approaching him.
"Morning," she greeted
"Morning." Reagan greeted back.
"I'm following you, hope you don't have any problem." she said.
"Sure, why not."
They were interrupted by the flickering of the same holographic screen.
"Good morning, players." The curator greeted, his black leporid features twisted into that same unsettling, wicker grin.
"Hope you spent your time well preparing for the next floor. Efficiency is the only currency the Tower respects. With out further ado, let's begin."
The air tire open as crimson rifts erupted across the great hall. The crowd, driven by a mix of terror and grim resolve, began the march into the unknown.
When Reagan step out of the rift, the air hit him like a physical blow. It was thick, cloying, and carried the scent of wet earth and rotting orchids. He found himself standing on a floor of damp spongy mulch, surrounded by towering walls of thorn chocked hedges that stretched fifty feet into a sky obscured by a gray mist.
He looked left, then right. The corridor was empty.
"So forming groups was useless." Reagan muttered. The Tower had seemingly randomized their entry points, scattering them into the far reaches of the labyrinth.
A notification appeared before his eyes, containing the details of the trial.
[QUEST: REACH THE HEART OF THE MAZE]
[TIME LIMIT: 3hrs]
[REWARDS: 600 G COINS]
[FAILURE PENALTY: DEATH]
"A maze? The time limit is in hours this round. Guess it won't be that easy."
He summoned his weapon from the inventory
[SERRATED BONE - CHIP DAGGERS]
[ATK DAMAGE +24]
[PASSIVE SKILL: BLOOD DRIP - Causes a bleeding effect with each strike]
"It's a good weapon but I wish I had enough materials for a sword. Well, there is no benefit in lingering on the past, I just need to accept my current situation and move forward." He said as he checked his twin daggers.
From somewhere deep in the gloom, a scream echoed - sharp, high-pitched, and abruptly cut off.
"I better be careful."
He pushed forward parting a thick curtain of moss that hung across the path.
The ground beneath him shifed. Before he could react, the mulch exploded. A Thorn - Back Shambler- a creature made of knotted thorn vines and glowing fungal spores, rose from the earth. It stood seven fett talk. It was level 7, two levels higher than Reagan.
[THORN - BACK SHAMBLER: LEVEL 7]
The creature swung a massive, log like arm. Reagan dived, rolled beneath the strike and appeared behind the creature. He lashed out his new daggers, the serrated bone daggers tearing into the vine flesh.
[BLEEDING EFFECT TRIGGERED]
Purple, viscous sap hissed as it leaked from the wounds, but the shambler didn't flinch. Instead, the moss at Reagan's feet began to wrap around his ankles.
"Shit," Reagan hissed.
The monster began to pivot, swinging it's thorny arms back in a wide, lethal sweep. Reagan used his gale wind to chop aff the moss at his feet and sprung backwards but the thorns managed to graze him on the side of his neck leaving a few stinging scratches.
He watched the beast, his eyes narrowed.
The wounds he had inflicted were knitting shut, the purple sap thickening into a hard crust.
"I know some monsters have trait, but a regeneration trait? Is it because it is a plant type monster. The ants alone were enough trouble because of their poison. When I wounded it earlier, the bleeding effect was triggered, but that won't have any effect if it can regenerate.
It doesn't look like a living thing, rather it looks like a golem. Then that means it has to have a core somewhere inside it's body. Guess I'll have to chop it down until I locate it."
He unleashed a dual wind gale. The attack shattered the shambler's exterior vines on it's chest revealing a glowing orb tucked behind a cage of blackened wood.
"There you are."
The shambler's regeneration kicked into overdrive, vines weaving together to hide the heart once more.
"So the regeneration trait was for protecting that orb. If it is destroyed then you will perish."
He dashed forward, vaulted off the creature's own swinging arm and drove his right dagger directly into the center of the orb.
[KILLED THORN - BACK SHAMBLER]
[GAINED 450 EXP | 70 G COINS]
"So they are dropping G coins too. And plenty of them. Then I don't have to worry about potions if I kill few more of them."
As he was navigating deeper into the labyrinth, he heard the sound of heavy footsteps. A group of about ten people led by Leonard, was bulldozing through the nearby corridors. He was a blur, his sword slicing any plant life that stood in his way. Leonard's strategy was brute force.
"Mm? I thought Leonard was going solo, why would he have people following him around?" He watched from the opposite corridor which was co-joined by a path between the vine wall.
He looked back from the direction they came from and noticed the vine hedges shifting. The labyrinth was isolating and mixing players.
"So that's how they met."
"If I follow them, Leonard will haggle every monster in our way and reap all rewards."
He had to the bitter truth as he saw how efficient he was with his weapon as he slayed the monsters that approached him.
He turned and ran in the opposite direction, his footsteps silent on the damp moss.
After a couple minutes of sprinting , he rounded a corner and the atmosphere changed. The greenery here was dead - gray and brittle. He stepped into a large, square shaped clearing. The walls here weren't made of of hedges, but of jagged, vertical stones.
A heavy, malicious aura pressed down on his shoulders. And then,
[ENTERED THE HIDDEN BOSS ROOM]
[TRIGGERED A RANDOM QUEST]
[QUEST: KILL OR ESCAPE THE BOSS]
"What?"