DPSHealer

Chapter 173 - Ambushes (Thank you for your support, Matt Button!)

I entered the labyrinth without thinking much more. Even if I could be giving the enemies ammunition to fight me, I didn’t care, since I would be rewarded twice now. The only problem was that they could split up and then attack the Skarnash Tribelands. Still, that was no longer my problem since I did what I could to slow them down. Helping people was fine, as long as it didn’t put my life at risk.

“Mew, mew, mew!”

“What is with you now? You don’t look nervous, so I guess you like this kind of environment, huh?”

Glacien looked around with her eyes shining. In any case, it was weird to see her acting like that. She was already completely covered, but she still looked quite tense before thanks to those guys.

In any case, while I wanted to see her in action, I decided to dash around and gain some distance between us and the cloaked guys. I soon slowed down when I saw some creatures emerging from the ice… They were Snow Rats based on what identification told me, two of them. 

Sleek and muscular, Snow Rats looked to be built for darting through snowdrifts and icy crevices with high speed. Their large, rounded ears, slightly translucent at the edges, enable them to detect the faintest movements. When stationary, they twitch their noses, exhaling small puffs of mist into the cold air. Although their appearance may initially seem harmless, their aggressive nature and sharp features make them a genuine threat in any icy dungeon.

They were half a meter long, with thick, fluffy white fur that shimmers faintly with frost, providing excellent camouflage in snowy terrains. Their pale blue eyes glowed faintly in the dark, giving them an unsettling presence. 

‘Two of them… this might be worse than I expected.’

You received 15 experience points

You received 15 experience points

I put two arrows quickly in their heads… the first section of any labyrinth wouldn’t be a problem to me… the real problem was that those guys would have more creatures to turn into undeads. 

It was the type of monster that would be a perfect target for Glacien, but she had to wait a bit longer. I didn’t think that I could use much of the monster, but I stored the bodies, anyway. Their leather can work to make some amulets that could last a bit as long as I made them use ice-related effects. Not that I have a lot of them.

‘Rather than that, what the heck was that tentacle? I don’t think that it was a tail that belonged to them… it is also creepy the fact that it came from under their robes.’

There was still a lot that I had to learn in this world, but it was the first time that I felt that I didn’t want to learn something since it was knowledge that certainly would traumatize me. In one way or the other, knowledge is power.

You completed a trial. Please choose between the classes: Archer, Pirate and Mage (Venom Mage).

‘Ugh… my options are terrible this time around.’

I could choose an option that would draw me in further to my vampiric heritage, another that would make some skills level up. Or I could pick the second that would grant me useless skills. The only advantage would be the parameter. I couldn’t help but sigh when I made my choice. 

You obtained the Pirate class.

You improved the Strength parameter.

You unlocked the Aptitude Captain of the High Seas.

You unlocked the skill: Boarding Party.

You unlocked the skill: Nautical Navigation.

Captain of the High Seas: Gain bonus experience when plundering ships, navigating through waters, and engaging in naval combat.

Boarding Party - Launch a surprise attack on enemy vessels, increasing damage dealt during the initial assault. This skill enables you to swiftly rally your crew, boosting their strength by thirty points and diminishing opponents’ endurance by thirty points, guaranteeing a rapid capture of their ship and loot. Cost: 200 Mana.

Nautical Navigation - Enhance your ability to navigate through dangerous waters, avoiding hazards and enemy patrols. This skill improves your speed and efficiency at sea, ensuring safe passage for your crew and cargo. Cost: 05 Mana per minute.

The skills were truly useless. The only difference now was that I would gain experience while using my boat. I would rather avoid that since crossing any water bodies with a boat like that was the same as asking for a disaster. I decided to change my mood and then proceed. 

Before long, I reached the second floor as I kept getting rid of the Snow Rats. I knew that the enemies were of the magic type, but I didn’t expect that they wouldn’t have movement skills to help them reach me.

‘Maybe they are being cautious of ambushes. Should I ambush them here already? I need to confirm if they are following me or not, after all.’

I considered my options. I was planning to let Glacien use my camouflage amulet and let her stealthily attack the snow rats, but that was no longer possible. It would be a good idea to enchant some claws for her with the Dread Enchantment, but I didn’t make claws for her yet. My gloves were too big for her as well.

In the end, I put her down to watch my back after lending her a meditation amulet. It was pretty, but she would be able to use magic a lot more with it.

“Cover my six.”

“Chi-chi-chi!”

I frowned… that was a sound that she didn’t make before. Well, she wasn’t a pokemon that could only say a few syllables, after all. Some cats could meow on Earth; that was enough to fool even some people. I just had this idea of taming a parrot in this world and teaching how to talk. It would be pretty funny if anything.

I got ready for the ambush and then Glacien went to face the possible threats that could come from behind. It didn’t take long for her to see two snow rats emerging from the corridor to face her. 

Much to my surprise, Glacien used Frozen Ambush two times in a row to stick the targets on the ice and when they stopped moving altogether, she dashed toward them and bit their necks before snapping them.

‘What the heck did I tame? It suddenly doesn’t look that cute anymore…’

You received 05 experience points

You received 05 experience points

At least I gained some experience and Glacien returned while bringing the bodies of the rats to me… she looked very proud. At least she didn’t try to eat the monsters. Before I could take the bodies, she began to slash the body of one of the rats and then soon I found the location of a mana core.

“Nice job… although thanks to this, I had to see something gruesome and the leather can’t be used anymore.”

“Eeehhh... eeehhh...”

“Sorry. I am something of a perfectionist myself, so don’t mind me.”

With the amulet, Glacien wouldn’t recover all of her mana before the next battle, so I wondered what she was going to do. Still, before that could happen, I began to hear some sounds in the distance. I signaled for her to move away and then I used the Camouflage amulet.

After a couple of minutes, the cloaked figures emerged coming from the previous floor… they were taking their time advancing, and soon they found the bodies of the snow rats that Glacien left behind. They got ready to unleash their attacks, but they were caught off guard when the attack came from above… not exactly above them, but I was upside down with my bow in hand.

The arrow this time pierced the head of the target because the tentacle didn’t show up immediately… only a part had left the robe when I showed up. It looked like I found a weakness on their automatic guard.

You received 1500 experience points

I blinked in surprise for a moment… exactly 1500 experience points again? Something seemed off, but I didn’t let that bother me for long, and I fired a barrage of explosive arrows at them. I wanted to recover the body of the target and see what I was dealing with, but a bunch of the tentacles blocked my arrows and protected the enemies completely. When the smoke dissipated, I was nowhere to be seen by them.

‘Damn… I didn’t consider that they could defend themselves better by putting the tentacles as a multi-layered shield.’

I was running with Glacien in my arms. Still, that wasn’t terrible… I still had some ideas to test. I found ten enemies, and I killed one, so nine were inside the labyrinth. The others were either finding ways to repair their ships or they went to do their business on the land. Still, I could only focus on the problems in front of me.

I could tell now that the tentacles don’t react fast enough unless they can see me, so I could keep using that to decrease their numbers. The question was: for how long that would work.? It was better to dispose of them as soon as possible.

‘The silver arrows can only do so much with a barrier made with so many tentacles… I wonder if the decay arrows can work against them…’

Those were my trump card, and I only made them now and then to stay in peak condition. Regardless, I might not have to use them. Against enemies like that, I had plenty of ways to fight and decrease their numbers.

I decided to stop at the end of the third floor since I didn’t think that even with some help, Glacien would be able to get four snow rats by herself. I decided to check her parameters and frowned when I saw that she had a lot more experience than expected, even though she only killed a few monsters. It was over one thousand.

“Did you gain experience when I killed those guys, too?”

“Squeak! Squeak!”

“I have no idea what you are saying, but I will take that as a yes…”

I was expecting to gain experience from her skills, but not the inverse. Regardless, I could use her experience to increase the parameters that I wanted, so it was time to decide her building. I couldn’t mess up here since it would decide her future. I also couldn’t think for too long since the enemies were coming.

Chapter 172 - Automatic Defense (Thank you for your support, Iron Knight!)

I didn’t know what their abilities were, but they were similar to vampires… so they would be hard to deal with. In essence, the Forsaken are failed experiments of the vampires. They can’t reproduce that often using normal means, so they turn others they found interesting into lesser vampires to serve them. 

Still, pretty often, the experiments don’t work and then some vampires end up with deformities. I shouldn’t think about that… it was clear that those guys came to this area with no good intentions, and they didn’t have to worry about anyone.

‘They must have warlock classes… Some of them summoned other undead creatures as mounts. I guess this is why Glacien is angry at them.’

In any case, I had to decide what I had to do… making myself an enemy out of those guys was no small thing. The best option would be to trail them and see their abilities, but they were all heading in different directions. That would be too difficult. I had to make them stay in a single place, or at least make them give up on their goals.

Truth be told, I didn’t want to fight them… I felt like our positions were similar, after all. In the end, I made up my mind… while those guys were moving away, I enchanted some arrows and slowly approached their ships. I could see one of them in each ship, but that wouldn’t be enough to stop me.

Before long, even while they were hundreds of meters away from me, I fired explosive arrows at the sails and masts of the ships. Explosions echoed in the area and then the flames began to spread as well, despite the cold environment.

Parts of a ship are often coated with whitewash or lime to create a fire-resistant barrier, but that was only so resistant against magic. Thanks to the explosion, the parts hit easily broke apart and then fell off. 

The attacks got the guys on the watch duty off guard, so they didn’t have the chance to look in my direction… when they did, I had already vanished. I attacked four of their five ships… all in order to give them the chance to escape once they realize that they had been found. It was better than killing them all when I wasn’t their enemy yet.

Before long, those guys returned and then took a defensive formation around the ships while some of them tried to extinguish the flames. Still, it was useless…

I watched them for a couple of hours and couldn’t help but click my tongue. It looked like they weren’t planning to leave. They had a single ship to escape. They should know that I was being lenient to them, but it looked like they didn’t accept my generosity.

‘What now? Should I just kill or try to talk with them?’

The second option was pretty much insane given that I made them lose some valuable resources. It wasn’t like it was impossible to repair the ships, but it was unlikely that they would have the skills to do so.

While I was thinking about that, those cloaked guys summoned a bunch of undead wolves and soon those creatures began to sniff around and look for me. Even if they had died, it looked like they still could do that much.

‘I guess I will give them another chance… after this, even if I can sympathize with them, I can no longer be merciful.’

My thoughts were confirmed when I saw what had happened a few moments later. A hawk looking bird was flying over the area when one of those cloaked individuals noticed it. The guy raised his hand, and a tentacle emerged from it. The tentacle then flew to the hawk and grabbed it in the blink of an eye.

The creature was still squeaking while it was being pulled by the weird tentacle and toward the interior of the guy’s cloak. After that, it didn’t make any noise.

‘Perhaps I shouldn’t take my chances with them…’

After not so long, the hawk-looking bird returned… a lot different from before. It got a lot bigger and now it looked like the previous undead bird that I had seen before. The pieces of the puzzle were  slowly finding their places. Those guys had come here to get some more undead minions… I couldn’t say if they could do the same with the people of the Skarnash Tribelands, but I didn’t want to satisfy my curiosity and let them try that.

I moved away from the area and then looked for a vantage point as well, I climbed the closest mountain to the labyrinth and then got ready to snipe the enemies. I couldn’t help but sigh while aiming… I was too naive. Perhaps I would have to get close to death against them to be more merciless.

Using my technique of tossing arrows in the air and then fired them as they felt, I targeted the monsters… the arrows were enchanted with the flames, and also were silver arrows, so they should be twice as effective against the monsters, I soon confirmed that when my targets exploded… the undead bird or the undead wolves were killed instantly.

You received 250 experience points

You received 200 experience points

You received 250 experience points

You received 200 experience points

I blinked several times… that was a lot more than random dungeon mobs ever gave me. Was it because they were summoned creatures and enhanced by dark magic? Maybe my aptitude as a Demon Hunter was working here as well.

Hunter’s Resolve: Gain extra experience by dedicating yourself to tracking, studying, and defeating demonic entities. This can involve researching demon weaknesses, crafting demon-slaying tools, or honing your senses for better detection of such threats.

If that was true… perhaps I had the chance to use Demon’s Snare as well. The second effect of mana drain of it could only work against those types of enemies. Regardless, I could worry about that later since those guys finally had their eyes on me. 

The cloaked figures summoned their undead birds and then grabbed their ankles to fly as the birds began to soar in the sky and toward me as well. I let out another sigh. It looked like they wouldn’t make things easier for me.

Before long, those guys raised their arms and then fired some purple spheres from their lands, I jumped to the side and avoided them… the spot I had been in exploded into several parts and a dark miasma began to rise from the land as well. 

“Stop right there! I don’t want to fight you all! I left one boat intact for that reason!”

The cloaked figures didn’t say anything in response and instead of a sigh, I clicked my tongue. It was time to take off the kid’s gloves. When the enemies began to fire those weird spheres at me again, I used Roll and then got up firing several silver arrows at one of them. The guy didn’t have time to react, but a tentacle left its robe and then blocked the arrows.

The tentacle began to shake as if it was in pain since the arrows were made of silver… it was something like an automatic defense, it seems. This would make things a bit harder. 

The enemies began to move around, but I kept running until I fired an arrow in front of me and a curtain of snow was raised. When it dissipated, I was nowhere to be seen, at least from their perspective.

Those guys looked around for me in confusion, but soon they noticed the signs of footsteps in the snow… when I realized that, I turned around and then used Power Shot, Shadow Mark and Precision Mark on an enemy. The tentacle came again to defend the target, but the arrow pierced through thanks to the wind enchantment and the skills in it. The head of the target exploded…

You received 1500 experience points.

I felt bad for a moment, but soon several tentacles came from under the cloak of the enemies to grab me… there was no use pitying them. I can’t say that I suffered as much as them, but I didn’t have a very easy life either. Still, even if I had, it wouldn’t be enough reason to make me go full psycho, even in a world like this.

The tentacles hit nothing but the snow since I used Shadow Step and then targeted another enemy with another combination of skills. When my target noticed that, they summoned a purple shield in the air. I fired the arrow, but when it hit it, it turned into dust…

‘The heck?’

I never heard of a spell like that… turning a projectile into nothing. Fighting them in the open wasn’t a good idea. They had dozens of them on their side, so I decided to dash to the labyrinth. It was a dangerous gambit, but it was better than letting them surround me.

I took the Shadow Step amulet and then charged toward the labyrinth. I could see the surprise in their behavior since I used the skill a bunch of times. They took some time to follow me. I reached the entrance of the labyrinth and frowned a bit… it looked like the place had been cleared once, but…

The entrance of the labyrinth had a massive gateway carved directly into a glacial wall. The icy exterior glowed with an otherworldly blue light. The temperature fell as I approached, each breath creating a visible puff of mist.

The entrance itself took the form of an enormous archway, its edges adorned with icicles as sharp as daggers. Above the entrance, a grand phoenix frozen mid-flight was carved into the ice, its wings spread wide, and its head turned downward, exuding both majesty and menace. Frigid air flows steadily from the depths of the opening, carrying a faint, unearthly hum.

Two massive, frost-covered statues flank the entrance, depicting armored guardians holding spears of ice. Their expressions are focused, as though daring intruders to proceed. Snow swirls constantly around the area, yet the ground leading to the entrance was unnaturally clear, revealing frostbitten stones beneath, a subtle warning of the treacherous path ahead.

‘This should be at least a draconic level labyrinth… this will be a lot harder unless I deal with those guys, but they will make my work hard. Well, not as hard as they could do it outside.’

Chapter 171 - New Party (Thank you for your support, T.E.N.!)

After using my bike for three days, I finally began to approach the area of the next labyrinth… I knew that this place was big, but it was still a bit surprising. It was also surprising how the weather didn’t make any sense and the area ahead was completely cold and covered in snow.

“I wonder if this is because of the mana in the environment or something… in any case, you are from here, right? Why did you leave this area?”

Glacien didn’t say anything, she just meowed or whatever the heck her species does. Thanks to her presence the Tame skill also got some levels, and after doing some tests, I could make her use her own stamina to activate the second skill of the class, it made me recall a certain MMORPG where I could control the skills of the pets and other creatures.

In that game, I could use my own magic to make the creatures use their skills, but here it was different. In any case, she didn’t get much experience, since she only used her aptitudes here and there.

Fortunately, I already had a plan to make her get stronger faster in a labyrinth. It would make me save time as well, so it was a win-win.

“Well, first… I have to find where the labyrinth is here.”

The western side of the Skarnash Tribelands was filled with mountains covered in snow. I couldn’t see any signs of towns around, or roads for that matter. I guessed that this environment was tough even for the orcs, goblins and ogres… even though it would be the perfect kind of place to train their bodies and minds.

Regardless, I could Pathfinder to look for the labyrinth, so it wasn’t a real problem. The skill made me follow the path to the peak of the closest mountain. Climbing that even on my bike was a massive pain in the ass, but nothing major happened. When I reached the peak, I soon found the path toward the labyrinth leading to another mountain. I felt like sighing, but at least the other one was smaller, and I could see the ocean on the other side as well.

‘I guess it is almost on the coast… since this area is cold, it should be an ice labyrinth or similar.’

I didn’t have many good memories about labyrinths like that, but I couldn’t avoid them. Besides, Glacien would be useful and I had fire spells at decent levels as well.

In any case, I climbed down the mountain using my bike. I felt like I was in a motocross competition thanks to the harsh terrain and the insane speed I was going down. Still, it was fun… even though I sped up the degradation process of my bike. I couldn’t do that often…

After climbing the next mountain, I had the chance to see the vast ocean ahead of me… it made me wonder what I would find further west. The map of the world that I had seen didn’t show anything in that direction. There were the Elves in the north beyond the Sea… probably a week away from the boat.

‘Crap…’

While I was thinking about that, I saw something on the horizon. I decided to use camouflage to hide and then stored away my bike and then put Glacien behind me. Something was coming…

I had to wait for a while before I could see ships. A couple of them approaching the coast of the land. I finally could understand the feeling that I had felt before. The thing that I felt before that was off was this… the other sides of the Skarnash Tribelands were completely unprotected since they were fighting using all of their strength against the humans and Aquarians. 

Both groups should know that and they could try to make good use of that opportunity. Humans would have to take a roundabout way to reach these parts. The shortest route would involve following the northern route, but that would make the elves possibly aware of their actions.

The Aquarians didn’t have to worry about that, but they didn’t use ships or boats for that matter… so it was hard to say what the new party was.

‘I can’t go to the labyrinth without confirming what their goal is… I don’t want to join this war, but… I would feel terrible if the people here were attacked from behind. Then the war would truly end in a genocide.’

Most of the warriors were on the eastern side of the land, after all. Those in the other parts probably could fight, but they weren’t real fighters. In any case, a nation cannot sustain itself with only fighters because a functional society requires a diverse range of skills and professions to thrive. Even for the orcs, goblins, and ogres;

Fighters and warriors are essential for defense and maintaining order, but they rely on the infrastructure provided by others to fulfill their roles effectively. A society must also have governance, trade, and healthcare systems, ensuring stability and resilience in times of both peace and conflict. Well, I guessed that the skarnash tribelands still could prosper without must of those.

A balanced society ensures that fighters have a purpose beyond war, reducing the risk of stagnation or internal strife. In essence, a nation is like a body: while warriors act as the muscle, other professions form the organs and systems that keep it alive and healthy. Without these essential components, the nation would collapse, regardless of its military might. They were going to see that first hand… hopefully, they will survive and learn their lesson.

‘I really don’t want to get involved in this… However, leaving another party here while I explore the labyrinth would be the same as asking to be almost drowned again in a labyrinth.’

Unlike the previous group, this group would have the chance to do things until the very end and not be stopped by the war. It was better to make sure that no one would get in my way.

After waiting for a while, I saw the ships heading north. That ruled out them from being the Elves. They would have come in that direction if they truly were from Aeloria Dominion. Even though I used Hawk’s Vision, I could see some silhouettes on the decks, but I couldn’t see their appearance very well. They were using thick clothes too… so they shouldn’t be people that are used to cold climates.

‘I have to get closer…’

I went down the mountain while heading in their direction and Glacien stayed quiet on my shoulder all the time. She was quite behaved for a kitten… the plan to make her do some grinding would have to wait.

A couple of hours later, I reached the place where the ships were anchored. It wasn’t a real port, but a part of the land was frozen enough so that they could use it as a port.

From this distance, I should have been able to see them well, but they were truly cloaked, so I couldn’t see their expressions at all… in the next moment, Glacien began to growl in anger.

“What is wrong? Are you sensing something?”

It was insane of me to expect something like a proper answer, but I trusted those who had wild instincts. Nimir messed up with me in the end, but his instincts were very useful.

In any case, the cloaked guys left the ships while jumping and then gliding in the air for a bit… they were magic users. I had planned  to use Identification on them, but I changed my mind. They would probably find that someone tried to do that on them.

They looked around as if they were trying to find someone that might be watching them, so they probably could sense if something was off in the air as well. Regardless, that confirmed that they were up to no good.

‘They don’t look like warriors or knights… so they shouldn’t be from the empire. Who are they?’

A bunch of them left the ships and then began to move in all directions. They didn’t even talk about anything, so it looked like they had planned all the actions here. Still, it was odd… the war only started a week ago, they shouldn’t have had enough time to prepare for anything. Unless they had privileged information.

I already have some experience with criminals that in live in the underworld, but I could tell that these guys were probably worse than all the others… it just my instincts warning me of that. Glacien, too. She was skilled in my shoulder in that pose that cats assume to scare their targets.

All of a sudden, one of the cloaked guys raised its arms and then created a purple cloud and summoned a giant bit. It was a weird one, though…

It was a giant undead bird… a twisted mockery of life that exuded decay and malevolence. It had a massive frame cloaked in ragged, rotting feathers that seemed to drip with a sickly green glow. Through the tattered plumage, I could see its skeletal structure, exposed in places where flesh had long since rotted away. The bones looked unnaturally strong, as if death itself had forged them anew, and the gaps in its wings created an eerie, whistling sound whenever it moved.

Its hollow eye sockets burned with an ominous light, glowing with ghostly blue. The jagged edges of its cracked beak looked ready to crush or tear through anything, and its massive talons, sharp and stained with something I didn’t want to think about, seemed built for destruction. A dark mist spiraled around it, leaving a trail of necrotic energy wherever it went. 

It was only for a moment, but I saw the hand of that guy… it wasn’t a normal one. It was swollen and the veins were pulsating with a purple glow.

‘Are they… the forsaken?’

There were only rumors about them… The Forsaken are those who have been cursed or mutated, rejected by other vampire factions due to their instability or deformities. They believe that they have been wronged by both their fellow vampires and the world, and seek vengeance or redemption.

Their goal is to either find a cure for their afflictions or take revenge on those who cast them out. They often work to undermine the established vampire order, either through dark means or by rallying other outcasts to their cause.

They were a troublesome group… on the same level as true vampires.

Chapter 170 - Companion (Thank you for your support, Daniel Steele!)

I looked around, trying to find what had killed the wolves. I imagined that the mother of the kitten had done that, but I couldn’t see traces of it.

“Are you the one who got them?” 

“Grrrrr!”

Although it was wounded, the creature still had enough energy to growl at me. Understandable… Come to think of it, animals never liked me that much, so I wondered why it would be different now.

I approached the creature to check its wounds, but soon it got up and then tried to bite my hand. Maybe it was weak or my defenses were that high, but it didn’t hurt much. Not like I had any healing skills. The wounds weren’t that deep, but the creature was too weak to do anything. So, it probably will starve to death.

“I guess your only choice is to come with me, then I will have any reason to leave you with one of my… wait, you can’t equip a ring, so I can’t help you heal faster.”

There was nothing saying that the creature would come with me either, so perhaps the creature was done for. In any case, I decided to confirm if the creature was indeed an animal… I felt that only a monster would be able to be this small and still kill so many wolves.

You successfully tamed a Frostfang Sabertooth. Do you wish to change its name?”

The creature stopped growling and then soon began to behave before licking my hand. As expected, the skill was like brainwashing… that would only be the thing that would explain such a change in behavior.

“I wonder if I should rename you… if I l. heal you, it will be fine if I abandon you later, right? Of course not. Well, what is done is done… Let’s hope that you will live as much as me… is it fine to call you Glacius? I am sorry, I am terrible with names.”

You successfully named the Frostfang Sabertooth.

I was able to see the parameters of the creature again, but I saw all the rest with details this time. Unless this guy was a reincarnator, he started his life with some cheats as well.

Iceborne Prowess

This trait represents the Frostfang Sabertooth’s innate strength and dominance in cold environments. It enhances the creature’s physical attributes, like strength and endurance, when in icy or snowy terrains..

Frost Aura

A magical trait that allows the Frostfang Sabertooth to emanate a constant field of cold around its body. This aura lowers the temperature in its immediate vicinity, making it harder for enemies to approach. It deals minor frost damage to enemies over time and can gradually sap their stamina, making them sluggish and vulnerable. The aura also helps camouflage the beast in icy settings by distorting the surrounding air.

Minor Vulnerability to Fire

Due to its frost-based physiology, the Frostfang Sabertooth has a weakness in fire and heat-based attacks. These attacks deal slightly more damage, and prolonged exposure to heat can cause the sabertooth to tire more quickly.

Enhanced Cold Resistance

This trait allows the Frostfang Sabertooth to completely ignore the harmful effects of the extreme cold that would incapacitate or kill most creatures. It can comfortably operate in sub-zero temperatures, survive frostbite-inducing environments, and even gain energy when exposed to powerful sources of cold or frost magic.

The area wasn’t that cold, but it wasn’t too warm either… winter was coming, after all, so perhaps that would explain how Glacius was able to defeat so many wolves. I wished that there was a skill somewhere to talk with animals… it would be quite interesting to have it.

Arctic Camouflage: gain experience when launching stealth attacks in cold environments.

Cold-Weather Adaptation: gain experience while living in extremely harsh cold environments.

Predator’s focus: gain experience when chasing prey.

Frost Manipulation: gain experience when slowing down targets with ice magic.

Apex Instincts: gain experience when sensing the presence of enemies.

‘If I can see this, perhaps I have the power to use his experience as I see fit… this is quite interesting, but it is also a bit perplexing that the system would allow someone else to take charge of the fate of another, even if it was an animal.’

Beast of the North 

Parameter: Health/Strength - Increases your health by ten points and strength by one point per level.

Active Skills - Frostbite Claws: Enchant your claws or weapons with freezing energy, causing your attacks to deal additional cold damage and slow the target’s movement speed by 20% for 5 seconds. Cost: 15 Mana 

Howl of the North: Let out a mighty roar, boosting your allies’ damage against frozen or chilled enemies by 15% for 10 seconds. Cost: 25 Mana.

Elemental Predator 

Parameter: Magic/Mana - Increases your mana by ten points and magic by one point per level.

Active Skills- Icerend: Strike with your weapon or claws, dealing additional ice damage. Cost: 10 mana.

Predator’s Pursuit: Enhance your movement speed and tracking abilities, allowing you to follow a marked target for 10 seconds without being slowed. Cost: 30 Mana.

Frost Guardian 

Parameter: Endurance/Spirit - Increases your physical and magical defense by one point per level.

Active Skills - Ice Shield: Create a shield of pure ice that absorbs damage equal to your magic and spirit. Lasts for 10 seconds or until the shield is broken. Cost: 30 Mana.

Frozen Fortress: Create a large wall of ice, blocking paths or protecting allies from ranged attacks for 15 seconds. Cost: 50 Mana.

Icebound Stalker 

Parameter: Stamina/Movement Speed - Increases your stamina by ten points and movement speed by 0.1 points per level.

Active Skills - Frost Step: Move silently over snow or ice, leaving no tracks and becoming undetectable for 10 seconds, even if enemies are nearby. Cost: 25 Mana.

Frozen Ambush: Set up a deadly ambush by freezing the ground beneath a target. When triggered, the target becomes immobilized for 5 seconds, and you gain a damage boost against them. Cost: 40 Mana.

I furrowed my eyebrows. How come this little kitten could use more magic than me? Well, it couldn’t use more magic per se, but it had access to more combat spells.

“Well, aren’t you a strong kitten? Do you want to take over the world with that much potential? Then you will use the world to obtain power and then use all the power in the world to obtain even more power. Rinse and repeat? Well, at least you will be of some use.”

I decided to sit down and then share the leftovers of breakfast with the kitten. Glacius began to eat it furiously. At the same time, I began to carve a pendant using bones of the giant armadillo. The materials were too good to use like that, but I didn’t have anything else. Once it was done, I added the healthy regeneration effect on it. It came at the adept rank, so it could restore four points of health per hour.

“Not bad for someone who doesn’t have the jeweler class. Actually, enchantments don’t have anything to do with that.”

I put the bone pendant that looked more like a collar now on Glacius, and he gladly accepted it. I looked around wondering if I should cook the wolves… they should be the property of the goblins, so if I eat them, they will probably complain later.

It seems that animals have more potential than humans since the parameters of the classes grant them two parameters at once instead of one. Being born with classes was also pretty unfair, but I decided to think that people still had the upper hand since we didn’t like to lick our hands or feet. At least most of us didn’t.

“Glacius! Use Ice Shield!”

I decided to play around, but Glacius actually understood my words and followed my orders and summoned an ice shield in front of me… I blinked several times thanks to the surprise. It was pretty thin, but it was better than nothing.

Given that Glacius had more aptitudes than classes, it seemed that creatures like him would be able to get stronger without completing the trials. I wondered what would be necessary for that to happen… I had not a single idea about that process. In any case, I decided to put him on the back of my back and then move. The idea of getting an animal ride has been discarded and soon I was surprised.

“It looks like you aren’t Glacius, but Gracias… just kidding. What about Glacien? It doesn’t sound too hard, right? Man, I am more lonely than I thought… I need to be careful, or I will have the idea of getting more cats.”

Speaking of cats, I heard that in some histories, both cats and vampires often share themes of nocturnality, elegance, and mystery, making cats fitting companions for vampires. A vampire might have a loyal cat familiar or simply enjoy their enigmatic nature.

In some stories, vampires can shapeshift into cats or control them, further tying the two together. Cats may serve as spies or messengers for their vampire masters. Although they tend to be more common to be familiar to witches…

Still, I didn’t have to worry about that since in this world, there were a lot of things that didn’t make sense and went against my previous knowledge. A half vampire that only has weaknesses was one of those… although I was pretty sure at this point in time that I could obtain vampiric powers through the system. The question was, if an ordinary person follows the same route, what would happen?

‘I guess that their vampiric powers would get stronger… if that is the case, then why didn’t they try to take over the world by blocking the sun or something?’

In all the books and stories of vampires that I have heard of, they were always trying to do some crazy shit. Perhaps if I try to look for them, I will unlock an insane quest line or something. Still, it was too risky… I am not strong enough to deal with them. There is always a chance that I will meet my mother in this world too and I didn’t know what would happen if we met. I somehow doubted that we would have a heartwarming reunion…

‘Well, no use thinking about that… if that were to happen, I will leave such problems to the future me since the current me needs solutions to my current problems.’

Chapter 169 - Frostfang (Thank you for your support, nathaniel jackson!)

I didn’t know if rumors about me had spread, but when I decided to check one of the towns along the way, I furrowed my eyebrows when the only guard around didn’t try to stop me.

I wanted to believe that they had better things to do at times of war instead of worrying about someone like me, but I knew it better. Regardless, the few people there were still helping in the preparations for the war, so they weren’t going to make business with me while helping the others. All the materials and tools around were to help them fight the invaders.

‘It makes sense, I guess…’

What I wanted was some ink for scrolls and tattoos, since I needed to do some experiments. Still, it was obvious that they didn’t have it. Even if they had, they had no obligation to sell it to me who didn’t want to help them.

I decided to head to the next labyrinth, since I was also heading in the opposite direction of the war. That would be a better option for me. Still, I began to feel a certain weird feeling that I couldn’t quite explain… something wasn’t right and I couldn’t pinpoint what it was.

In any case, I decided to follow my path since I was more or less ready to deal with whatever happens. I wouldn’t get carried away thinking that I could take everyone down after dealing with that commander with my sneak attack, but I should have some decent skills at this point in time to defend myself.

‘Using the shadow steps amulet to make the skill level up is the quickest way to make it level up. However, I can use a bit less consistently but without wasting too much time with crafting by using the meditation amulets. The one I made until now was still going strong. I also had to test how many of those I can equip.’

I began to carve the next amulet while I was riding the bike. The vehicle was losing speed too since I had used a lot in my previous escape, so it lost a lot of durability. I had to change the parts, eventually.

When noon came, I finished the second amulet, but carrying that on my chest like a real amulet made me feel like an idiot since it was too big. I had to find a way to make equipment with those amulets as well. The downside was that it will make them break a lot faster… unless I learn the self repair enchantment. It will be useful to have an amulet that can be attached and detached from any gear with ease. That would multiply their effectiveness.

The amulets by themselves wouldn’t do much, but as long as someone was touching them, they could show their magic. I tried to find a way to make my skills help me with that, but I didn’t have the skills yet. I needed some tools to make things a lot easier.

While I was thinking about that, I lost the notion of how many towns I had passed. I saw some people coming from them and also transporting a lot of materials. Things like wood, scales, leather and meat as well.

They didn’t use many weapons, but it looks like they found other uses for those materials. They should have realized that the attackers were using that kind of fact against them… the fact that the clans didn’t make much of the things that they used.

If they learn from this and they aren’t exterminated, the Skarnash Tribelands have the potential to become quite the force. The empire should know that, but they aren’t counting on it… it wasn’t like I knew their forces, but their plan appeared to be falling short so far.

All of a sudden, my focus broke when I noticed something in the corner of my vision. I raised my guard and got ready for an attack, but when I looked in that direction, I only found a dark forest.

‘Is someone there?’

I used Hawk’s vision for a moment, but I didn’t see the silhouettes of anyone there, but I found some footprints on the ground. It seemed to belong to some kind of four-legged creature, probably a wolf.

I heard that some goblins commonly use wolves as mounts due to their compatible size, shared habitats, and mutual benefits. Goblins, being small and lightweight, at least some of them are in this world, are ideal riders for wolves, which provide speed, agility, and enhanced mobility in combat or raids. They must have a clan of goblins that fit the bill. I didn’t see them, though.

‘I guess they let them breed naturally in the while… since I have the beastmaster class, they should have gotten it in that labyrinth as well.’

The only problem would be the cost of mana… few orcs, goblins and ogres would invest that much in mana regeneration. That seemed like a good chance to do some tests with the skill.

Wolves usually live in dense forests that provide wolves with cover for hunting and protection for dens. They often inhabit boreal forests in colder regions. Wolves thrive in open grasslands and tundras as well. In tundra regions, wolves must adapt to harsher climates and rely heavily on their pack’s cooperation for survival and hunting success.

‘I can’t say where I will see another wolf. They might actually run away from me. I don’t know much about animals in this world, but if I find one better, I guess I can always trade it if my mana regeneration isn’t enough.’

That was a bit of a wrong way to see things, but it was a matter of safety. I didn’t want a pet, I wanted an ally that wouldn't betray me no matter what. I am also curious how a tamed creature could get stronger, though. Was it similar to how people got stronger or how monsters got stronger? Either way, I could take advantage of that.

I decided to head to the forest and find my first tamed animal. It was common for archers to have companions like that, so I was expecting my wolf would eventually turn into a dire wolf or something.

As soon as I entered the forest, a sense of unease took over me, making me raise my guard. The faint, metallic smell of blood lingered in the air, sharp and undeniable, cutting through the earthy scents of moss and damp wood. It was subtle at first, but as I moved deeper, the smell grew stronger, carrying with it an ominous weight that made my instincts scream for caution. Every rustle of leaves or crack of a branch heightened my alertness, as though the forest itself was holding its breath, waiting for something to unfold.

‘I guess I am not far away enough from the war… Come to think of it, I wonder if the frost wolves are considered more animals or monsters.’

They can use magic, so perhaps they were more monsters thanks to it, but would that be the only thing that would make them different? While I was thinking about that, I saw a silhouette in the distance and then raised my guard, but soon I noticed that something was off… the shadow of the silhouette wasn’t moving, when I approached, I saw a pretty large wolf with some bite marks on its neck and the neck had been snapped too. However, it didn’t look like the creature had been killed to be eaten.

I looked around and despite the darkness of the place, I found a bunch of footprints around. There were some weird marks on some trees as well, like something had smashed against them.

It didn’t take long for me to find more bodies. The wolves were quite a bit, do they would work as a mount even for me as well, but I was starting to feel more curious about what had attacked them for obvious reasons.

‘In theory, if a dungeon break happens, the monsters that escape become part of the world outside… this would make sense if one considers that theory about the goblins from outside being the evolution of goblins that escaped through dungeon breaks.’

As I thought about that and found a bunch of more bodies of wolves, I soon found something moving ahead. It was the silhouette of another creature and as I got closer, I confirmed what it was. It looked a lot like a sabertooth tiger.

The Frostfang Sabertooth was an impressive and fearsome creature. Its thick, snow-white fur shimmers faintly under the light, giving the illusion of frost crystals embedded in its coat. Pale blue streaks run along its back and limbs, resembling the cracks in glacial ice.

Its fangs, long and jagged, appear like translucent icicles, glinting with a cold brilliance. Frost often clings to these lethal weapons, and a faint mist of cold vapor escapes its maw with every exhale. Its eyes are a piercing icy blue, glowing faintly in the dark, radiating an unnatural chill that unsettles even the bravest hunters. The creature’s paws were equipped with sharp, ice-like claws that leave frozen imprints wherever it treads.

Name: Frostfang Sabertooth

Race: Glacierborn Predator

Health: 10/100

Regen: 0.1 per hour 

Mana: 100/100

Regen: 0.1 per minute 

Stamina: 100/100

Regen: 0.1 per minute 

Strength: 05 (0/600)

Magic: 05 (0/600)

Dexterity: 05 (0/600)

Spirit: 11 05 (0/600)

Endurance: 05 (0/600)

Movement Speed: 10.0 

Ice Affinity: 05 (0/600)

Traits: Iceborne Prowess, Frost Aura, Minor Vulnerability to Fire, Enhanced Cold Resistance

Classes: Beast of the North, Elemental Predator, Frost Guardian, Icebound Stalker

Aptitudes:  Arctic Camouflage, Cold-Weather Adaptation, Predator’s Focus, Frost Manipulation, Apex Instincts, Pack Tactics

Experience: 

I was surprised when I checked the creature… despite its actions and parameters, it was no bigger than a kitten. In any case, it looked like the monster didn’t have much resistance to my Identification, the skill rarely showed that much information. In any case, the kitten was hurt, filled with bite marks thanks to the attacks of the wolves, it made me wonder how it came to this place…

Chapter 168 - Kill on Sight (Thank you for your support, Alexikon!)

I was pretty sure that my misinformation amulet was working, so it seemed that Shanra knew who I was based on my appearance. Most orcs, goblins, and ogres didn’t know who I was based on those characteristics, but she should know the value of some good intel.

“I hate people who think that their asses are the center of everything… they can’t think logically or put themselves at the foot of others. It is because of shitty people like that this war started, and…”

Shanra proceeded to say a bunch of similar things. The guys behind her looked rather uncomfortable, but they didn’t try to stop her. I could imagine that it was a normal occurrence for her to rant like that. It was quite the weird act given that she might likely be a diplomat.

I decided to let her keep going for a while until she got tired. It looked like the war let her build up a lot of stress… unlike most of her people, she didn’t find much relief in punching or killing others in times of war, even if it was to defend her nation.

“Are you done talking?”

“Not even a bit, but since this is a waste of time, I am not going to keep bothering you. We don’t have time to defend our dungeons or labyrinths, so I will at least warn you about this. You should leave soon if you aren’t planning to help. The people here are starting to get more than a bit stressed thanks to your people. Even if you are only half human, you might find yourself targeted by those who live here out of frustration.”

“I will keep that in mind.

Shanra let out a sigh and then left with her underlings… I felt a bit bad for her, she was only doing her job, a very hard job given the nature of her people, but it couldn’t be helped that I wouldn’t help them in any situation. I was already screwed over big time when I accepted someone else’s offer to join a war, and that wouldn’t happen again. The same technique won’t work on me twice.

Still, the idea of using Essence Extraction on the items of those who had died in that war was appealing. Who knew how many levels I would get from that? It would let me make massive progress, but it wasn’t worth joining either side.

I turned around and then decided to head to the labyrinth on the Western side of the land… and I used the amulet as much as I could. As it turned out, it was able to use five mana cores before it broke apart. That was enough to use Shadow Step fifty times. Enough to cross around one and half a mile in a matter of seconds. The only downside was that making it took two hours… I could try to make three of them at the same time, but it wouldn’t be as efficient as using my bike. The only good thing was the skill was gaining levels… slowly, but it was gaining.

‘With my dexterity, I don’t have to worry about making mistakes while carving anything. The real problem is the strength necessary. Perhaps to even that, I could just make some molds and then heat them up to carve the necessary shapes on these kinds of materials. Then, mass-production will be possible.’

I wondered how I could do that while riding my bike… I also began to wonder when my mana cores will end since I used a bunch to escape the labyrinth. It felt like my life was a never-ending struggle with resources. I felt bad for complaining about Albert when I was reading his diary… I was bitching as much as he was.

… …

Regulus’ interference helped the defending side a lot more than Shanra told him. She had decided to spare him of the details in order to let the chieftains show him how they were thankful, but the plan didn’t work as intended. 

Once that army lost their commander, while someone took their place, the fear was already implanted in their minds… dying while fighting their targets was something. Dying while being sniped and not knowing how that happened was another matter completely. Thanks to that, the chain of command in that army became useless and soon the defenders pushed the attackers away from the area.

At the same time, the defenders had the chance to send some reinforcements to the battlefields, causing a wave that eventually interfered with the whole war. The second battlefield in the north lost one of the towns they had conquered too, but the others were still struggling.

“What the hell is going on? They are even more annoying than usual!”

Unlike the second battlefield, their battlefield wasn’t attacked by their flank yet. However, the news about their two victories lifted the spirits of the defenders. They were a simple bunch, so even the minor victory in some skirmishes would also have a similar effect.

Things improved a bit two days ago. They even had time to sleep, but since then, the defenders had been using Berserk and similar skills to push down the attackers as much as they could. Remi and Ulric, and everyone else were forced to retreat to the town and then defend it.  They couldn’t do much since they destroyed most of the place, though.

An orc suddenly charged to punch Remi, but he stopped the fist of the enemy with the tip of his spear. The weapon pierced one of the fingers of the enemy, but he completely brushed it off. It made sense since his arms were as thick as Remi’s body.

When the enemy approached with the other arm, Ulric panicked and then used one of his skills. He blocked the punch with his spear and then spun his body while spinning his spear vertically. The attacks pierced and slashed deeply the chest of the target before he could react to it, but he still approached to attack him while blood was gushing from his chest. Still, the enemy stumbled and then fell in front of him and never got up again.

Remi tried to catch his breath while using both hands on his spear… he was utterly exhausted and he could see other knights in similar situations. Some of them were collapsing thanks to the exhaustion.

For a moment, Remi panicked since he didn’t see Ulric anywhere, but then in the corner of his vision, he saw Ulric being blown away after he blocked the attack of an ogre. While he used the blade to stop the fist, the enemy didn’t care about it and punched anyway. Ulric rolled on the ground several times before his body began to move, but he was getting up too slowly… the enemy was approaching him.

“Shit!”

Remi activated another skill and then threw his spear while rotating in the air and making a high pitching sound. The weapon pierced the torso of the enemy and stopped him in his steps. After the shock, the pain took over his body and then the ogre collapsed. Remi collapsed as well since he had used all of his stamina. His stamina regeneration began to work and he forced himself to stand, but he knew that he had reached his limits. Before he could say anything, another unit advanced to cover for them.

“Second unit! Retreat!”

It was their cue to finally have a break. Remi stumbled to recover his spear… he had brought three of them and that was the final one. He couldn’t let it go. He liked it since it had the wind enchantment and the piercing one as well. He even had a special weaponsmith that made them for him.

Once he recovered the spear, he almost fell, but Ulric lent him his soldier to retreat. It was a sorry sight everywhere… only forty of the one hundred members of the unit were retreating, only thirty of them of the next unit were coming as well. It looked like they were starting to lose the war and that was bad given that once the defenders gain momentum in any battle, they tend to never lose it.

“Fuck it… what the hell is going on?”

Remi clenched his teeth while trying to move with his brother… nothing was making sense anymore. At this rate, they will need the Aquarians for support and that was one of the agreements for their alliance, none of the Aquarians were supposed to risk their lives on land.

“I can only guess that something happened in the other battlefields and then the effect snowballed to the current situation…”

Ulric didn’t believe that a single person could change the flow of a war alone, but he had a feeling that Regulus was involved. It made too much sense since he was the only unknown factor in all this mess.

After resting for ten minutes, all knights that were resting were called by the commander of the first army… that was pretty unusual. The commander usually just gives his orders and never talks any more than that. He was a tall and muscular man in his forties, with blonde hair and blue eyes. He had a certain presence around him, his aura only got more impressive thanks to his dark armor filled with spikes.

“I called you here to inform you that the commander of the fifth army was killed two days ago. Rumors about that were spreading, so it is useless to contain that. It is better to tell the facts in order to avoid chaos.”

No one looked surprised. Some of them had heard the rumors and that would explain a lot of things. Still, they didn’t expect what they had heard next.

“The killer wasn’t an orc, goblin, or ogre. It was a white-haired archer… everyone saw that, even the targets, so there is no mistaking.”

Remi and Ulric felt the gazes of everyone on them. Remi clicked his tongue in annoyance since Regulus was causing problems for the family… even more than he did before. Now, they had to prove themselves even more than before.

“We previously had the order to capture him alive no matter the cost, but the target had already killed thirty soldiers on our side and a commander. Now you have the orders to kill him on sight using any means necessary.”

Ulric and Remi could tell that some information was being hidden from them. Regulus spared them before and he said that he would leave them alone if he was left alone, but at that point in time, it was just a small detail in the greater picture.

Chapter 167 - Diplomacy (Thank you for your support, True Flame!)

I moved away from the battlefield and then used my camouflage amulets to disappear while I was resting under the shade of a tree. I got used to resting while hugging my knees, but the moment I sat down and relaxed my back a bit, I fell asleep.

When I woke up, everything was dark around me. I didn’t know at which time I fell asleep, but I could guess that a very long time had passed since I was starving.

“... I did something unnecessary…”

I let out a long sigh. It was just to vent my frustration. Killing the commander had no other reason or purpose. Still, now that I thought about it, I should have expected all kinds of ways that they would try to stop me, given that I had invaded the labyrinth when it was under their control. Now, I did something that certainly would change the flow of the whole battlefield.

While I was thinking about that, I heard the sound of a rabbit nearby and then killed it with a magic shuriken and then skinned it to cook it. I didn’t care that it would create a fire and smoke. I wanted to eat something warm and fresh. If those guys had time to look for me in the middle of their war, then they truly would be done for.

‘Putting that aside, that guy sure had a lot of experience in his hands… I wonder why he didn’t use it. Did he get all that in a single day with commanding skills or something like that?’

I couldn’t find a logical reason for it. Regardless, it wasn’t a real problem. While the rabbit was being cooked, I decided to work on something else, on the ideas that I had inside the labyrinth. I dismantled some scorpions and then carved their carapaces into amulets while using a meditation scroll as a basis. I didn’t practice enough to decrease the size of that one, so the final result is an amulet the size of a small, round shield.

When I attached a mana core to it, it began to work, but it didn’t explode thanks to charging the energy. It got a bit warm, though. When I equipped it, I soon noticed the differences.

Name: Regulus Dawnshield

Race: Dhampir

Health: 310/310 (0/3200)

Regen: 0.8 per hour (0/900) 

Mana: 330/330 (0/3100) (1.1)

Regen: 12.0 + 2.7 per minute (0/7600) (1.6)

Stamina: 380/380 (0/3500) (1.1)

Regen: 9.8 + 2.7 per minute (0/7600) (1.3)

Strength: 76 + 180 (0/5100) (1.6)

Magic: 20 (0/2100)

Dexterity: 253 (0/5600) (4.6x)

Spirit: 11 (0/1200)

Endurance: 20 (0/2100) (1.1)

Attack Speed: + 84% (0/7700) (1.1)

Movement Speed: 13.1 (0/6100) (1.3)

Stamina Conservation: 1.1 (0/10.000) (1.1)

Fire Affinity: 20 (0/2100)

Traits: Minor Weakness to Sunlight, Minor Sensitivity to Holy Magic, Minor Aversion to Silver

Classes: Ranger, Pathfinder, Dark Scrollmaker, Mystic Tattoist, Demon Hunter, Dreadful Enchanter, Ninja, Merchant, Poison Crafter, Smith, Weaponsmith, Sharpshooter, Pyromancer, Dark Paladin, Arcane Archer, Shadow Archer, Barbarian, Viking, Bowman, Warblade, Beastmaster

Aptitudes: Wilderness Survival, Never Lost, Magical Scroll Creator, Arcane Artist, Hunter’s Resolve, Malevolent Artifice, Master of Trade, Venomous Engineer, Master of Forging, Master of Blades, Shadow Mastery, Master of Precision, Heat Master, Silent Observation, Dark Retribution, Mystic Marksman, Shadow Archery, Rage Unleashed, Warrior’s Endurance, Ranged Skill, Relentless Assault, Animal Empathy

Experience: 3431

It was working, so I couldn’t help but smile. The question was for how long the amulet could last with that material. I didn’t find any signs of degradation after a while, so it should last for quite a bit…

‘Crap… I lost the notion of time.’

I felt the smell of something overcooked and noticed that half of the rabbit was gone. I ate the other part, but it wasn’t nearly enough. I decided to hunt for a bit longer and cook as well while I considered my next steps. Heading to the next labyrinth and exploring it should be easy, given the war.

However, taking a break and lying low for a few weeks to see what happens while I improve and make more amulets was a good idea, too. For one, I definitely wanted to find a way to be able to fight underwater and have a magic implement that will allow me to breathe there as well. What happens once, happens twice, after all?

‘Perhaps I can do that once I find a tamed animal. The creature can fight for me inside a labyrinth, but with my skill at level one, it can tame anything that can actually do that much fighting?’

It seems hard to believe… but being hopeful wasn’t a crime. With the amulets, I didn’t have to worry too much about losing that much extra energy by keeping an animal tamed. However, now that I think about it clearly, using the skill feels a bit like brainwashing. Then again, taming an animal without magic is a bit similar to that. Or maybe I was just thinking too much about everything.

While thinking about that, I could see the sky getting clearer. It looked like morning was arriving, so I decided to stop my hunt and then eat as much as possible before leaving. While I finished cooking, I also fixed the enchantments on my items. Having that much attack power to snipe an enemy from that distance was pretty good, but it wasn’t like I was going to do that often, so my previous enchantments were good enough.

After that, I began to eat and check the map of the land… the next labyrinth was pretty far away, on the extreme western side of the Skarnash Tribelands. Heading South first would be faster to reach the other labyrinth, in fact, but I didn’t want to meet Ulric and Remi and risk a fight with them. I was going to keep my promise with them if they try to get in my way, after all.

While idiots who do what they are told without thinking for themselves, even while they drench their hands with blood, they are still my brothers in this world, even though they never treated me like one.

When I finished eating, I began to carve another Shadow Step amulet using the carapace of a scorpion and then decided to test its limitations, but I sighed when I noticed that I took a long time doing that… and then some people had the chance to find and approach me. It wasn’t like a ten of miles away from the battlefield, so it wasn’t all that surprising. I decided to make my point clear for the people of that land as well, so I waited for them.

I got up and then packed my things and waited for a group of goblins to approach me. They had weapons on their backs, but they didn’t look like they came to pick a fight with me. I expected as much after my display in that battle. A woman leading the group decided to speak before they got too close.

“White haired archer… can we speak with you for a moment?”

“Only if it is for a couple of minutes, but I have to say beforehand that you won’t convince me to join your side, no matter what.”

“... My name is Shanra and I would like to thank you in the name of my people for your assistance before.”

That was quite polite for a goblin. Then again, I didn’t know many goblins. They are easier to tell apart after seeing them a few times, but even so. Shanra was as tall as me, but unlike the surrounding goblins, she was more on the slender side. She had some sick-looking curved daggers on her waists, though. She was probably the agility type. I had to keep my guard to make sure that she wouldn’t catch me off guard.

Shanra’s slender frame is matched by her sharp, angular features, giving her a striking and almost predatory look. Her skin was a pale green, typical of goblins, but it appears smoother and lighter than that of those around her. Her hair was dark and sleek, falling just past her shoulders in a way that frames her face, though she keeps it tied back loosely, preventing it from hindering her movements in combat.

Her eyes were bright and piercing, a vivid yellow that glowed faintly in the dim light, making it difficult to gauge her emotions. Her attire was practical but fitted, consisting of dark leather armor reinforced with subtle metallic plates, designed to allow maximum mobility while providing some protection. 

“We were also very impressed by your skill with the bow on the battle. Thanks to that, we recovered one of the towns that we lost and now we are pushing back the enemies further.”

“I guess I interfered too much out of anger. In any case, I didn’t know that you guys had people that work with diplomacy. You must have a hard job since you all still end up solving your problems with your fists.”

“... Putting that aside, some of our clan leaders wish to speak with you and thank you for your help.”

“I am not interested. I only killed that commander because him and his underlings almost drowned me in that labyrinth. I have no reason whatsoever to interfere in this war any longer. If you wish to thank me, just leave me alone and don’t get in my way to clear your other labyrinths.”

“Tch… this is so annoying. Why the hell do I have to do this shit job?”

“It looks like the mask fell off a lot sooner than I expected.”

“It isn’t a mask. I genuinely try to get along with everyone, but all the idiots who have too much confidence in their skills can’t listen to a word and can only see things beyond their big noses. You act like you are better than us, but you aren’t much different from an ogre who punches everyone when they hear words with more than ten letters.”

“... I don’t believe that I acted like that, and I don’t think that I am better than any of you. I just don’t have any reason to interact with you all.”

“Yeah, right? Even though you have half of the blood of those who want to exterminate all of us.”

Chapter 166 - Venting (Thank you for your support, ReShaddoll!)

When I finally reached the first section of the labyrinth, the water was half a meter away from the ceiling. I couldn’t even remain seated on the boat anymore.

While the monsters could no longer attack me, the current slowed me down enough to think that I was a goner… I had over forty kilometers to cross and no less than half an hour.

At this point in time, I had lost the notion of how much time had passed since I began my escape… I couldn’t think of anything anymore. There was only this annoying feeling in my gut and on the back of my head.

The current wasn’t as violent as before, probably because the other sections were almost completely flooded, so I truly didn’t have much time left. I could use my magic bags to drain some of the water around, but that would only buy me a few seconds.

I thought for a moment that I should have made some magic implement to let me breathe underwater… not exactly breathe, but get air from somewhere else. If there was a flask that could make water endlessly, then I probably could make a tank that makes air endlessly. The Aquarians are after me as well, so I needed that in case I had to fight underwater.

When I was forced to lay down on the boat, I decided to turn upside down to save some air on it, but then it slowed down thanks to the friction against the ceiling.

I managed to reach the eighth floor before all the air in the boat had been used by me, but then I was forced to store it and then swim underwater. At this point in time, I didn’t even consider that it was impossible for me to cross over twenty miles underwater without air to breathe, but I didn’t have any other option.

I used the Shadow Step amulet to cross the next three floors in five minutes, but then it broke. I was almost there, but I already could sense my lungs burning. I could see the bodies of some scorpions floating around… it looked like I would join them soon. 

Amidst my agony while I was swimming, I decided to increase my stamina regeneration in order to see if I could buy even a few more seconds. I felt that it worked, but soon the agony in my chest began to get more powerful… I reached the fourth floor. Only six miles left and then I would be free… I would find myself surrounded by enemies, but I would be free from the agony of drowning.

My vision began to get blurry, and the agony began to make me reach my limit… still, in the enemy, I forced myself to stay awake by stabbing my hand with an arrow, enchanted with the shock effect. That didn’t make things easier for me… the agony only got worse, but I kept moving. Using that trick made me reach the third floor. After coming this far, I wouldn’t accept dying like this.

After this point, I was already done for, so I didn’t hesitate in using Berserk and Adrenaline Surge to burn my stamina even faster, but at least I felt my blood pumping faster and the adrenaline made me forget the agony. Somehow, despite the odds, I reached the exit.

I stumbled through the final corridor, my heart slowly pounding in my chest as the power of the environment of the labyrinth finally ended. The exit was ahead, and with a final desperate push, I emerged into open air. I gasped as if I had been suffocating for hours, my lungs burning with the sudden influx of fresh oxygen.

Then, without warning, a flood of water surged from my mouth as I doubled over, coughing violently. Each spasm wracked my body, forcing the liquid out in choking bursts. The sensation left me dizzy, the world spinning as my knees buckled. I collapsed onto the ground, every part in my body screaming for rest.

The cool earth beneath me was the only comfort as I lay there, completely drained. For the first time in what felt like an eternity, I allowed myself to simply exist, without the need to swim or fight. Just the rhythmic pounding of my heart and the sharp relief of survival.

I stayed like that for a while until I realized that the enemies should be around. Still, the place was empty, but the smell of blood and death was strong in the air.

I got up without thinking clearly… It was my chance to escape or head to the next labyrinth and leave those guys killing each other, but I couldn’t leave like that. Those guys had to pay for trying to kill me like this… still, who should die?

It was better not to do that, I would be just declaring myself the enemy of the empire even more than I already was, but I didn’t care. I at least had to take down the guy who had planned to kill me like that.

I looked around and then I saw that they truly had connected the nearby river to the labyrinth. So much water wasted just to kill me… in any case, no one was around and they had moved their camp too.

All of a sudden, I noticed shouts and the sound of metal colliding in the distance, so I looked for the highest hill in the area. Even before climbing it, I was able to see the red mist…

It was like a hellish painting. Seeing people fighting each other to death while surrounded by damaged bodies beyond recognition. A sea of blood around made the whole place look dangerously red…

This was a true battlefield. I could understand now how someone could start wars after seeing this once. They were simply sick… a normal person wouldn’t start a war knowing that this could happen. Only those who thought very little of people’s lives would make this happen without a second thought.

Naturally, defending their own country was one thing… I could understand the reason for the orcs, goblins and ogres fighting, but they weren’t totally in the right since they started the previous war. They all seemed angry… as if they couldn’t accept a war starting in their land. Even though they were fine fighting somewhere else. In that sense, they were a little better than the empire since they attacked ports and towns, but they didn’t involve civilians.

Regardless, none of that was my problem. I was just here to relieve my anger at almost drowning in the labyrinth. I was too pissed to think clearly, and I couldn’t leave the area without making my point abundantly clear.

I looked around the battlefield and then I saw the camps on both sides. The defending side had tents all over the place and a few of the defenders were there taking a break. Considering how the battlefield looked, it seemed that this battle had been going for a while and they didn’t take many breaks.

On the attacking side, things looked more orderly. The tents and the soldiers were carefully managed and put at a certain distance away from each other as they rested. I could see the Aquarians doing more support jobs with their magic more than anything else. It looked like they could use healing magic… they were touching the backs of some knights for a while and making them get up, even though their armor was red with blood.

I didn’t care about that, though. I just looked on that side for a bit longer and then looked for my target. Finding that guy was easy… he was in front of the largest tent on the attacking side. He also had a full plate of golden and silver armor… he was studying the battlefield with his arms crossed from his vantage point. Still, his vantage point also had been his downfall.

I changed the enchantments of my gear to all the strength types. Even the ones on my bow. It was a waste since I was going to change them back to normal and I didn’t know if I would be able to make the other ones return with their previous rank, but I wasn’t thinking clearly. I just wanted to kill that guy and nothing else. There was a chance that he wasn’t the one who almost killed me, but I didn’t care. Sometimes, people pay for the crimes of their underlings.

The target was a mile away from me, but I could see him in the distance thanks to my Dexterity and I was able to see him clearly thanks to Hawk’s Vision. I took my final decay arrow and then enchanted it with wind enchantments and also used the shock effect of Arcane Arrow before aiming at the target. When my aim was steady enough, I used Power Shot, Shadow Mark, and Precision Mark before unleashing the arrow.

The target and the surrounding knights never noticed the attack coming. They only heard the sound of the impact… When they realized what was going on, the commander coughed some blood and then looked at his chest. His armor and torso had a hole in it as big as a cannonball.

You received 35.555 experience points.

Considering the sound of the impact, it was quite impressive that the commander wasn’t blown away completely… The arrow even landed on the ground and created a crater of five meters in radius.

Confusion and chaos soon began to spread on the defending side… they never expected that their target would use bows and arrows, after all. Soon enough, they began to look for the attacker and soon the first few of them found me. Both sides looked equally confused since the smart thing would be to leave instead of staying there and waiting to be found like a moron. However, I wanted to let the empire know who did that because they would also know why I did that.

Only after the whole battlefield had their eyes on me, I turned around and then left. I needed to sleep… using Hawk’s Vision only made my eyes feel even worse than before. It felt like they would bleed at any moment, and that wasn’t a good feeling.

Chapter 165 - Blood and Chaos (Thank you for your support, Joey McGowan!)

The humans and Aquarians were expecting that the orcs, goblins, and ogres would take a bit more time to gather their forces, but on the third day after they set their camp to block the advance of the invaders, they decided to launch an attack.

That was unexpected since intel said that they still had a lot of allies coming to join them. It looked like their nature to ignore strategy had reached a limit after they saw more than ten clans being decimated. At first, Remi went to join the front lines with a smile on his face. Ulric followed him, a bit nervous as usual, but soon he changed his mood when the battle started. Since then, forty-eight hours have passed.

“What is wrong with these bastards?”

Remi blocked the punch of an ogre with his spear, but the impact pushed him several meters backward. The ogre charged again, and he barely had the time to raise his spear to block the attack. The idea of attacking first and using his range never crossed his mind since he knew how those guys were crazy.

He was pushed away again, but before the ogre could continue, Ulric suddenly approached and then stabbed the ogre on the right left side, piercing his liver and the other organs, making the ogre paralyzed thanks to the pain. Despite that, the ogre looked at him with hatred and got ready to attack Ulric… only to be stopped by a thrust on his neck.

“I told you not to interfere, Ulric!”

“I would rather hear you complain than hear your mother and sister blaming me for your death… Besides, look around for a moment. Do you see anything worrying about having fair duels?”

Remi looked around for a moment while he tried to gasp for air and supported himself by standing with his spear. He saw humans and aquarians fighting together in pairs and in sometimes groups of three against a single enemy. 

The orcs, goblins, and ogres were simply insane… They fought solo, but they fought until death without rest. Remi’s face was swollen after he got punched a couple of times after stabbing the heart of some enemies and, when he thought that they were done for, they would approach and still knock him down with a punch.

If it weren’t for Ulric covering for him, another enemy would have cut him down while he was stunned on the ground. That really hurt his pride, but he couldn’t say anything aside from complaining every single time.

Again, the orcs, goblins, and ogres were simply insane… They had been launching an attack that has been lasting for two days already. A lot more of them died, but they didn’t retreat. They would keep advancing even if they had to step on the bodies of their allies.

“Second unit! Retreat! First Unit! Step forward!”

The two brothers sighed in relief when they realized that they finally had the chance to take a break… it was a short one, though. They had thirty units in the area of one hundred men, and despite that, they could only afford to take breaks off half an hour. Enough to go to the bathroom, eat, and drink something and then return to the battle after being healed for a short while.

“Fuck…”

“Don’t curse while you are eating.”

Remi felt like cursing pretty much all the time now. Even when he cleaned himself a bit, he still smelled like sweat and blood. It goes without saying that his food didn’t taste good while he felt the smell. He sighed and then tried to change his mood.

“... How are the situations on the other battlefields?”

“If the enemies didn’t come, or allies for that matter, I would guess that everything is on a stalemate. They are using the same tactics in other areas as well, so everyone is struggling.”

After seeing so many people die, even some people that had graduated from the knights academy with him, Ulric thought that he would be more traumatized, but his mind was as clear as it could have been. He assumed that it was because his blood was still hot and then all those dark feelings would come at full force.

Still, he also had a feeling that he wouldn’t feel all that much. The reason for that was that something else came all at once to him… his life, his path, the story of his family. It felt like all those things were converging in front of him. The life that he had lived until now, he never questioned it. The training, the knowledge, the food, the clothes and the fame… all it felt natural until now, but now he could finally understand why he had those things. It was because the empire and his family fought for it.

Ulric thought that he would regret all the blood that he had shed and all the lives that he took, but he didn’t regret them until now. It was time to pay the price for everything that he had received in life… Besides, he knew that this battle wouldn’t have started if the war years ago hadn’t been started by the pirates of this land.

“Any news about that guy?”

Ulric sighed… he thought that his brother had finally forgotten about Regulus, but it looked like that wasn’t the case. Even though he could have died a dozen times already today, he was still itching to set the score. He had gotten stronger and his skills had been sharpened for fighting nonstop, so he didn’t think that he would lose like before.

“... The last thing I heard was that they would fill the labyrinth with water since we couldn’t afford to send more people to look for him and the enemies had started to prepare for the battle. Since then, we were unable to send messages to the other camps. No one found traces of him after we met him, so he might be able to escape without being found, if he uses the confusion of the battle.”

“Hah! He is an idiot. He will probably do something stupid again. Trying to play hero to get in the good graces of the people here.”

“If he were truly aiming for that, he would have joined their side. They don’t have archers at all and with his skills, he could snipe a lot of people from a distance. This battle only isn’t worse because the enemies don’t care about tactics. If they had interest in tactics and tools, with their numbers, they would be unstoppable. If my guess is right, Regulus can make enchanted gear… and that kind of power in the hands of the enemies would have made things a lot worse for us.”

The enemies barely used any protective gear. For them, the best defense was the highest and most powerful offense. So, considering how annoying they were already to deal with, any minor enchanted items would really turn them into hard to stop killing machines. In a way, it was truly convenient that they lived on an island, otherwise, they would have tried to conquer the whole world.

Remi felt a bit odd thinking like that when he was working for the empire and the empire was doing essentially the same thing… but soon he shook those thoughts away from his head. Unlike those barbarians, the empire could prosper by itself. It doesn’t need to constantly take resources from other lands it invades. He was that simple-minded.

Most people don’t realize that in their lives, when they live without thinking, they surrender the agency that they have over their own fates. Living without thinking can make a person live a more carefree life and not anguish over anything and that can be a good thing, but they also don’t realize that they are being pushed by a certain current.

The current only gets stronger the more people are pushed by it. Most people never realize what had happened until very late in life. Most people die without noticing that they had been part of the current. Those two brothers were too young to realize that. Perhaps Ulric had realized it, but one couldn’t say if he thought of this current as something good or bad.

“Second unit! Assume your formations!”

Ulric and Remi got up and then took a deep breath to join the battle again. Remi decided to focus on the battles a bit more in order not to need the help of his brother, but when he looked around, he soon saw him moving slowly. It looked like he was a bit hurt on his legs. His arms were covered with sword wounds that were closing completely.

Even if they had healers, their wounds couldn’t close that fast. While some specialists could do that, it was too inefficient and they would find better use with their mana healing a lot more people and saving time as well.

Remi took a deep breath. He realized that even though his brother was cautious, this wasn’t a battle that he could escape alive just by being cautious. Remi had no idea how many times Ulric also had gotten hurt covering for him, and that idea alone made him feel that bothered. He usually wouldn’t feel this way to about Jacques and Gerald, but things were a bit different with Ulric since he was older than him.

“Stay close and don’t take any chances. We won’t gain a lot of merit if either of us die here.”

“... What? Did you eat something bad and now you are feeling sick?”

“Shut the hell up, or I will shut it for you.”

Ulric shrugged and then he followed his brother. Soon enough, he joined the other members of the second unit and both of them couldn’t help but show complicated expressions. They were supposed to have one hundred people there, but they could only count seventy. Some of them were too wounded to move, but others died pretty close to them. 

Those who were young and tried to prove themselves had met an early death… even those who were a bit older than those two had died as well… Most of those who had died didn’t like those two since they came from a famous family, but it was hard to hate them now after fighting side by side and seeing death together so many times in a row. The issues that they had before looked very small now.

Chapter 164 - Race Against Time (Thank you for your support, D’Rohan)

The magic bag didn’t explode… but unleashed a torrent of water that covered half of the body of the monster and it began to freeze as well. I had this idea while I was living in the cavern about filling a magic bag with the water that the flask could produce and then drench a target and then shock it, but this worked as well.

Flask of Endless Water: Produces freshwater indefinitely until it is full.

Durability: 05/10

It was the only use I found for the effect, aside from drinking the water myself when it was needed. Regardless, the arms were still approaching me, but I freed myself after breaking the ice that also had reached my legs. I jumped backward with all my might, and then the hands of the monster destroyed the rest of the ice… it would have been really convenient if it had destroyed the core of the monster, but I wasn’t that lucky.

Before I could fall, I used the grappling crossbow to move to the back of the monster while a lot of sand was falling around. The monster was still in shock and confused apparently, since its arms weren’t moving at all. I used that chance for my next trick…

I equipped my gloves and then began to stab the monster left and right… as my mana recovered, I also used a certain spell on its back. Before long, the arms of the monster approached me again, but the creature began to tremble all over, as magic traps began to pierce its back.

I figured that the bleeding effect would be useless since the monster was made of sand, so having a high attack would be a waste of time. So, I changed the enchantments of the gloves to the mana drain effect.

‘You might be pretty strong against physical attacks, but not against magical ones…’

The monster trembled for a short while, and a lot of its body turned into sand on the ground, but even those parts began to be restored overtime. I was expecting to find some reaction to the real core with the magic traps, but I failed.

It was the fourth boss of a labyrinth. It wasn’t supposed to be easy, even more so when I was fighting alone, but it was still annoying. 

All of a sudden, a certain possibility came to mind… perhaps I was indeed wasting my time with those types of attacks. I jumped back to the ground and then used two power shots with my best arrows on the base of the monster’s body.

A powerful wave of heat spread around the area since the arrows were enchanted with flames and even had Fire Wall scrolls on them. At the same time, the giant monster began to fall forward.

‘My guess was right… it is underground.’

I never heard of incomplete golems. In one way or the other, they could obtain all the limbs necessary to move. In this case, the monster also had its legs underground and its core was probably in one of them… perhaps I should have fired one arrow at a time to confirm where the core was.

I saw the monster getting up again and then I used Rapid Fire on its right side… the creature quickly raised its right arm to block the barrage. It looked like my guess was right.

The sand golem soon emerged from its arms and then fired a barrage of sand spears at me. The beast sure liked to spam that attack, or perhaps it just liked to keep the enemies away. Regardless, the battle was pretty much over, since I could tell where the core was.

If I had the exact position of the core, I could finish that with a single attack, by using skills like Shadow Mark, Precision Mark, and Deadeye Focus, a single arrow would become many times stronger, but since that wasn’t an option, I had to improvise.

All of a sudden, I stopped running and then faced the boss. The sand spears hit the ground where I had been before and then raised a massive curtain of sand. I appeared right in front of it with three arrows in hand. I used Rapid Shot and then two Decay Arrows pierced through the sand and the monster’s body blasting away all the sand around.

With Hawk’s Vision, I saw in the split of a second the core of the monster thanks to the power of the arrows… I used Power Shot, and then the final arrow hit the core. The sound of glass cracking echoed in the room, and then the monster stopped moving altogether. In the next moment, the entire thing began to collapse like a sand castle.

You received 30.000 experience points.

You completed a trial. Please choose between the classes: Beastmaster, Battlemage, and Cryomancer.

I sighed in relief once the battle was over and I found the mana core of the monster. Still, I soon felt annoyed… this battle had been a mess. I had to use too many tricks and none of them were that effective. I found it satisfying to outsmart the enemy, but when I tried that and failed every single time, it left me more than a bit bothered.

‘I am still weak… I want to reach a point where my arrows alone will be enough. It goes without saying that using my short swords here would be a disaster as well.’

I had to make a lesson out of this… my back was still hurting quite a bit. Somehow, the Shadow Step amulet was still intact, but it had decreased the power of the sand spear that hit me by quite a bit. Without it, I would have suffered enough damage to prevent me from fighting any longer.

‘Well, at least the classes this time around are pretty good. Either of them would serve me quite well. If it is a matter of preference, I bet Cryomancer would be the best option since I like ice magic… it would be useful too for all kinds of scenarios. As for the others…’

You obtained the Beastmaster class.

The Stamina Conservation parameter was improved.

You unlocked the aptitude: Animal Empathy.

You unlocked the skill: Tame Beast.

You unlocked the skill: Beast’s Fury.

Animal Empathy: Gain 1 point of experience for every minute you keep a beast tamed.

Tame Beast: Attempt to tame a wild animal, turning it into a loyal companion. The success of taming depends on the animal’s power and your current dexterity. Once tamed, the animal can fight alongside you for a determined amount of time. Cost: 10 mana per second.

Beast’s Fury: Temporarily boost the attack power and speed of your animal companion by ten percent, making their attacks deal increased damage and their movements faster for 10 seconds
Cost: 15 Stamina per second.

I chose the most unlikely option… I wondered if it was because I was lonely or something. I wanted to believe that I just thought that it was cool to have an animal to ride, like a dire wolf. Then again, I already had my bike. A tamed animal would consume a lot of my mana and it would be useless once it grows too strong.

‘The second skill is quite weird… does it consume my stamina? Why? It would make more sense if I consumed my magic or the animal’s stamina. Improving Stamina Conservation is a good thing, so I guess this isn’t half bad.’

Regardless, I didn’t have time to waste… I soon grabbed the mana core of the monster and then dashed toward the exit. I had forgotten a long time ago to make the map of the floors, but I still could find the marks of my bike on the sand, so that helped a fair bit. Still, when I reached the next floor… The water was already there and coming even faster than before.

The mud golems were still coming, so I used them to recover mana and use Shadow Step as much as possible, but using the skill was almost a waste of time considering that the water made it difficult to move after that. Still, it was too shallow to use the boat yet.

Without any other choice, I decided to move from wall to wall… kicking the walls and then moving forward while zigzagging. If I could control my strength, I could do that without hurting my legs, but even so, my stamina was draining faster.

‘It is probably because I have been awake for several days…’

Still, I endured since little by little the water was increasing. Soon enough, using the boat would make sense… even though I wouldn’t be able to move faster. On the 36th floor, the water was already on my knees, so I took out the parts of the boat and began to mount them and then attached the bike’s engine. This time, it had a proper propeller, so it would be able to move faster.

The engine began to work and then the boat began to move. The materials were as light as they could be, so it was able to move thirty kilometers per hour, or around twenty miles per hour. Still, despite that, it lasted only for two minutes after using a mana core.

‘Well, let’s use all of them… my life doesn’t have a price, after all. The mana cores won’t be of any use if I die here.’

I stacked a bunch of the mana cores on the engine to keep moving since soon the mud golems would get in the way. They were easier to damage than before, but their attacks were more annoying as well. A few of them wouldn’t damage the boat, but a bunch of them certainly would. The mud would make the boat heavier as well, so I had to dispose of them as soon as they appeared. 

After I confirmed that, I used the Fireball amulets close to the engine and after adjusting the angles, I attached a mana core to it. Before long, the boat began to be pushed forward with some sudden blasts when the fireballs exploded on the wall… the very clumsy propulsion system was working. I was already imagining how I could turn that into an airplane engine, but soon I woke up when I saw monsters getting in the way… my eyes were starting to hurt as well. So, I had to at least close them to rest them between the battles…

Chapter 163 - Sand Golem (Thank you for your support, GoatOats44!)

Although I increased my movement speed enough to clear four sections of a labyrinth in four days, I was still getting tired… probably because I didn’t take time to rest for even a minute and because I kept using my mana.

Still, that would be a good experience for me. I had to make this kind of memory even more intense to learn from my mistakes. I was a bit too worried about making things as efficient as possible. Instead of that, I had to obtain all the tools that I would need for all kinds of situations and then worry about efficiency later.

There were so many things that I could do that I didn’t realize until now. Maybe I only realized it now because my body and mind were reaching their limits. I couldn’t tell for sure if those ideas were pretty good, but they seemed good now when I had them.

For example, I forgot to try to find a way to make meditation into an amulet. As long as the drawback of the skill was being done by a medium, I didn’t have to stand still and let the process work. Then again, there was a chance that the amulet wouldn’t restore my mana and stamina… it would just overflow with energy stored inside and then explode.

My amulets that I created until now were mainly offensive, but Shadow Step and Camouflage worked as they were supposed to, so perhaps it could work as I had planned. It would be amazing to have several of them equipped and make meditation level up all the time.

Soon enough, I also had this idea on how to improve my bike. It would need to be remade from scratch, but it made me recall a vehicle from a sci-fi series. The only wheel of the vehicle was around the seat of the driver and it could be used as a weapon too to cut down enemies. I couldn’t make it as big as the original, or it wouldn’t fit inside a labyrinth, but it certainly would be useful.

‘It is annoying that I only have those ideas when I leave my break period…’

There was no point in complaining about it, so I decided to move on… Before I noticed it, I reached the next boss’ chamber. I should have put some distance between me and the water, but I couldn’t drop my guard. Since the monster will probably be made of sand, I didn’t have to worry about damaging the materials that I could obtain, so that was a good thing.

‘Time to exterminate the boss and get the hell out of here…’

I put away my bow and equipped my hand crossbow. For longer battles, my bow was the best option, but to make things end as soon as possible, my hand crossbow was the best option. A sand golem wasn’t supposed to be affected by poison, but my decay bolts didn’t cause poison damage… they caused true damage. It was truly a broken tool that I had in my body… I couldn’t use it that often for obvious reasons, though.

I climbed down to the boss’ room while running and soon found a large place filled with sand. There were even some dunes around and that showed how large the place was. On the other side of the chamber, I couldn’t find an exit, so it looked like this was truly the end of the line for the labyrinth. I sighed in relief since there was a small chance that I would have tried to get the next class… one that was on the same level as the Arcane Archer… it was too appealing to ignore.

‘I guess I am starting to get mad at not thinking clearly thanks to the exhaustion.’ 

While I was thinking about that, the chamber began to shake and then a massive figure began to emerge in the middle of the chamber… It was a massive figure, an almost shapeless figure made of sand.

The golems that I faced in this section were kind of clay dolls made by a child, without many details, but with a humanoid shape. This one didn’t look that detailed, but I could tell that it was similar to that monster that I faced with Nimir… it could use the environment easily until its core was completely destroyed.

I waited until the monster was half made above the sand, only from its waist and above a body could be seen, but the creature was still able to move despite that. The creature was still thirty feet tall despite that and when it raised its arms toward me, it fired sand spears like a machine gun.

I dashed to the side and avoided them, but soon the monster was able to adjust its arms while chasing. I eventually moved to the back of the creature, but arms still kept twisting around the body of the monster, its eyes as well.

‘I guess one doesn’t need to worry about joints when one’s body is made of sand.’

I used Shadow Step ahead and then disappeared from the enemy’s field of vision for a moment and then, when it found me again, I used my five loaded Decay Bolts on the head of the creature.

The massive impact made the chamber shake, and the creature stopped attacking. At the same time, the face of the monster began to fall apart. Still, I knew that things wouldn’t be so easy… I immediately reloaded the crossbow and when the neck of the monster had fallen off, it soon began to take shape again.

‘It isn’t in the head or in the neck… the real question is, can this guy move its core?’

If it could, then trying to find the location of the core by destroying the parts of the monster separately would be a waste of time. Another idea came to mind… if I could make some glasses with the effects that could find traces of mana… just like Nimir could, dealing with golems would be a lot easier. Weirdly enough, the Seer class would have granted skills like that, but I didn’t have any reason to pick it at the time.

Once again, I reminded myself that there was no reason to think or regret that choice. I got the class that I wanted at that time and it helped me more than enough. The monster soon began to fire the sand spears again and I couldn’t see the mana of the beast falling, so my guess was right… all the sand in the chamber was part of the body and it was also a weapon in the hands of the beast.

‘No pain, no gain…’

I grabbed my bow once more and then charged at the beast. To end things as fast as possible and avoid being drowned inside a labyrinth, I had to accept the risks of my plan. The sand spears began to get closer to me since approaching the monster obviously made things easier.

When one of them almost hit my shoulder and I felt a hot air passing nearby, I unleashed a bunch of freezing arrows on the arm of the monster. The first arrow froze the palm of the hand of the beast and then one of the waves of sand spears was blocked. Still, I didn’t recover any mana… only from the second shot upward I hit the ice and then caused some real damage, and then my mana was restored. 

The hand of the monster began to fall off thanks to that. I used that chance to jump on that arm and then run over it. The creature soon tried to crush me with the other, but I used Roll and avoided the attack. 

The other arm still was able to fire Sand Spears at me, but I jumped and spun in the air to avoid them all. At the same time, I fired a bunch of frost arrows at the head of the monster… the sand began to freeze all around with each arrow and before I could fall, I used my grappling crossbow to pull myself toward it.

Somehow, despite not being able to see me, the monster was able to hit my back with a sand spear… the impact made my whole body shake, half of my health was dropped in a moment, but thanks to the motion of approaching the beast, it was weakened enough so that I could withstand it.

I reached the head of the monster and then equipped my bow again. This time around, I enchanted my bow instead of my arrows with Dread Enchantment.

Dread Enchantment Lv 08: Temporarily enchant an ally’s weapon with a dreadful curse, causing each of their attacks to drain a small amount of health or mana from their target based on the level of the skill. This enchantment lasts 20 seconds. Cost: 100 Mana.

I unleashed a quick barrage of arrows on the head of the monster, which made me recover some health and a lot of mana thanks to the enchantment. At the same time, the head of the monster began to fall off… my plan was to destroy the whole body of the monster until I found the core. When I had the chance again, I also used the explosive arrows… flames erupted around and even burned my legs a bit, but I kept going as my health was slowly being restored.

Still, despite my plan that was apparently working, the monster was able to catch me off guard. All of a sudden, sand began to emerge and envelop my legs and pull me in toward the body of the monster. I tried to use Shadow Step, but the skill didn’t work since I couldn’t take a single step.

To make things worse, the arms of the monster began to approach in order to smash me… I clicked my tongue in annoyance. I should have considered this much, but I was too tired to think of every single detail.

I decided to use one of the few remaining decay arrows that I had left, but then I changed my mind when I had a certain idea. I grabbed one of my magic bags and then threw it on the sand below me… in the next moment, I fired a frost arrow on it.

Chapter 162 - Limitations (Thank you for your support, Reth!)

‘My luck is truly the worst… if there were a luck parameter, I would make it reach over nine thousand!’

It wasn’t like I was expecting that things would be that smooth… Come to think of it, there were many ways to make the water come faster inside the labyrinth despite all the sand, I soon confirmed that when the temperature began to drop in the room. 

The boss ignored the water and just charged at me, making some droplets splash on me even when I used Shadow Step… it was cold, really cold. The mages outside were probably using their magic to make the water colder. Even if it isn’t freezing soon thanks to the amount of water, it would eventually freeze the surface of the sand and then the water would fill the dungeon faster.

Still, at least that made things a bit easier for me. After the monster moved around and splashed water everywhere, the body of the monster was plenty wet and with some freezing arrows, the water began to freeze and then the creature slowed down enough that I could even outpace the monster with ease.

The moment the creature slowed down, I used a bunch of decay arrows on its head and then eventually, the monster stopped moving altogether.

You received 8.000 experience points.

You completed a trial. Please choose between the classes: Elementalist (Blood Mage), Warblade, and Druid (Corruptor).

You obtained the Warblade class.

The Movement Speed parameter was improved.

You unlocked the aptitude: Relentless Assault.

You unlocked the skill: Crushing Dual Strike.

You unlocked the skill: Relentless Combo.

Relentless Assault: Gain bonus experience for landing consecutive hits without missing.

Crushing Dual Strike: Slam both weapons down with tremendous force, dealing heavy damage based on your strength and dexterity. This attack has a high chance of breaking the enemy’s guard or stagger them. Cost: 35 Stamina.

Relentless Combo: Launch a flurry of strikes with both weapons. Each hit in the combo deals with increasing damage, and the final hit has a chance to knock the enemy down if all strikes connect. Cost: 40 Stamina.

I made my choice as soon as possible because I was running out of time. I also dismantled the body of the boss again, chopping its limbs off with my explosive arrows instead of using a knife, since the monster was too big, too big in the magic bags as it was. 

When it was over, the water in the chamber was already covering my feet. Things were going a lot faster than expected. Perhaps reaching even the fortieth floor was a bit too risky here. Still, I headed to the next one without hesitation.

The next section of the labyrinth was pretty large. Sand was everywhere, there were some natural earth pillars that connected the ceiling and the sand on the ground that got really thin in the middle. 

Still, all that was unimportant. The important part was that the mud was making it harder for my bike to move… It was a lot more annoying than plain sand. 

‘I should have prepared some tires for this kind of situation.’

My speed decreased a lot in the mud, to the point that running myself was a better option, so I did exactly that. Still, I soon was stopped when the first monster emerged from the ground. Despite the conditions of the environment, it looked like they still could fight… They were sand golems that were the size of ogres. Still, thanks to all the water around, they became mud golems.

‘It seems that instead of staying hidden underground, it looks like they are formed almost on the surface instead of hiding like the other monsters. That would explain why all of their bodies are made of mud now… the water hadn’t drenched all the sand in the area.’

The monster began to fire a barrage of mud balls at me… and I had to use Arcane Arrows to kill it, since their core was hard to find under normal conditions. They exploded the body of the monster in two parts and the core was finally destroyed.

You received 80 experience points.

At least it was easy to find the mana core after that. Still, I either had to rely on luck to dispose of the monster without a single shot, or I had to increase my magic to make the Arcane Arrows more powerful. 

I didn’t have any multipliers to increase my magic, so it would take a while before any difference was noticed. While I was thinking about that, I kept dashing toward the end of the floor, but then I frowned when I found another mud golem already blocking my path.

“What the hell… this is too soon.”

Not a lot of time had passed, and I didn’t cross even one hundred meters, either. Even if this was the last section of the dungeon, this was simply too weird… unless the water made the monsters spawn faster. I assumed that the monsters only spawn thanks to the presence of people inside a labyrinth, but it probably could react to attacks too. And that massive amount of water could be considered an attack.

In any case, I disposed of the monster with two Arcane Arrows once again… at this point in time, I wasn’t recovering enough mana during the battles, but I still could use Shadow Step with my own mana to increase my movement speed and I did exactly that.

I considered hiding from the monsters to gain time, but ignoring all the experience would be a massive waste. There was also a chance that the people outside wouldn’t get the experience for the killings either, so I decided not to waste it.

In the end, I only reached the water on the fourth floor in this section.… It was almost moving faster than me at some point. I wondered if the first floors of the dungeon would overflow before the water reached the end of the labyrinth. It wasn’t like the people outside could freeze the entrances by blocking them faster, like the worms did back then.

‘Going back to the entrance will be a lot harder since I will be going against the current. I need to think of ways to make the trip faster. Kind of hard to do that when there are so many monsters blocking my path.’

On the other hand, I was getting a lot more mana cores than before, so perhaps that was a good thing. I had to find a way to make them useful on the way back.

Since I left the mud behind for now, I decided to use my bike to gain time and make my hands free for a bit. It would be a bit hard to make anything now, but I probably could if I was focused enough.

The first idea that came to mind was to make another grappling crossbow. I could use both of them to return to the entrance while avoiding the water for quite a while and covering distances quite fast. While I could use them several times in a row, they wouldn’t last that long if I kept using them until the end of the dungeon.

I had improved the boat version of my bike a bit, but it wouldn’t be fast enough, even more so going against the current. I wanted to learn a levitation spell and then add that to the enchantments, but something like that was insanely expensive, as it was rare as well.

‘I guess the best option would be to increase the engine size or make another one… either way, it will consume two times more mana cores.’

I was running out of time, and I had to make anything that would come in handy instead of waiting for new ideas. At the same time, I decided that the next boss would be the last. Even if the labyrinth had fifty floors, I couldn’t take more risks than I was already taking.

Making or expanding the engine would take too long as well, but I realized that I could do something else. I used the carapaces of the scorpions and carved them out into small amulets. Since they were thin, I was able to carve three of them at the same time over each other. That increased the production speed a bit more. Still, they probably won’t last for as long as I need the time to make the others.

When I finished them, I attached a mana core to it and then put it close to the ground. A fireball was shot from it and the explosion pushed me upward for half a meter.

‘I guess this will work… alongside the engine. It will make the boat move faster by blasting away the water behind.’

I had thought of a bunch of things over the years to help in all kinds of scenarios, but it looked like I was still ill prepared. Well, this world was quite insane, so the number of insane things that could happen was quite hard to quantify.

The spawning rate of the sand golems returned to normal, so I wondered if I would find a bunch of them on the way back. I was quite sure that I would, and that was definitely another aggravation to the already aggravating situation.

‘I guess I should do my best to keep leveling up Shadow Step… this kind of situation won’t be a problem once the skill reaches level one hundred or something.’

I realized that despite the many hairy situations I have faced until now, it looked like my sense of urgency was still weak. It wasn’t like I was never been close to dying before. I was almost died two times so far, when I was impaled by the ice spear and when the kraken unleashed those thousands of worms… it seemed that I had to recall that more and more. All in order to not forget the feelings that I had those times. 

Absolutely hopeless and regretful for not being strong enough. I had gotten stronger, but not strong enough to render this kind of plan useless. I had to obtain strength in order to not to worry about this kind of cheap trick… in one way or the other.

Chapter 161 - Not Enough Time (Thank you for your support, Elena Giacon!)

Honestly, I wasn’t expecting much of those who follow the empire… but they really surprised me this time around. They found a new way to get in my way and prevent me from getting more power. I had barely started to explore the third section… 

The creatures there are a mix of some beetle with a scorpion. They didn’t have a tail to poison anyone, but they had a pair of antennas that were quite pointy and sharp and they used those to stab those who approached. They were fast, too… so they were the perfect target for those who wanted to master melee fighting.

I was in a hurry, so I just put an arrow in their eyes… just when I began to study the body of the monster, I heard a weird sound and when I turned around to fight; I blinked in confusion. It was water…

“What the?”

The third floor was filled with sand too… there was even some coming from the ceiling. It was how the labyrinth was structured. Regardless, the water didn’t make any sense… but soon enough, I began to connect the dots.

‘Sons of a mangy sea hag…’

Putting aside that, I said something that Sligo would say. I realized that the guys outside decided to drown me inside the labyrinth or at least prevent me from getting all the classes possible and they also would force me to leave the dungeon. Unfortunately for them, I was well-equipped to handle that kind of mess.

I took out my bike and then added the mana stones to move as fast as possible. When a monster arrived, I just shot it down with my bow and then ran over it. I had trained to do that too… drive with my legs. It wasn’t that hard since there were two wheels behind me.

You received 50 experience points.

‘I never thought that I would have to speed run a labyrinth again.’

The situation was the inverse of the previous time. Instead of running away from the water to escape being drowned, I was going deep into the dungeon to gain power and then worry about my life later. It was quite a risky endeavor…

I recalled seeing the map and confirmed that there was a lake nearby… they probably connected to the dungeon. That made me reconsider if they truly wanted poison to increase their expansionist goals. It was hard to say how a labyrinth would recover after this, after all. 

It seemed like a pretty good way to gain a lot of experience without getting inside a dungeon, but would that even work? They should know that the dungeon was the earth type with a lot of sand… or perhaps they didn’t go that deep yet.

Before long, I reached the entrance for the 22nd floor and then jumped on the staircase with the bike. Thanks to the momentum, I didn’t hit the steps and just landed on the floor. Thanks to the wind enchantments on the wheels, the sand didn’t slow me down that much, so I soon resumed my weird killing spree. 

I didn’t even have time to check my new dexterity, but since I was still hitting the targets where I aimed while moving on my bike, I figured out that things had improved a bit. The question was if it was enough to let me reach the end of the labyrinth.

‘Come to think about it… I wonder if I should hope that the labyrinth has fifty or forty floors.’

I can escape with a certain ease if it is up to forty floors, but what if it is deeper? Maybe the monsters won’t die thanks to the water, and things will be easier for me since I am a better swimmer than earth type monsters. The real question was if I could reach the bottom of the dungeon faster than the water.

The mana cores that I saved over the years were being used quite fast and since I was used to having a lot, seeing them decreasing was quite annoying. Still, I didn’t have time to dismantle the monsters and get more of them.

Regardless, crossing the floors like that was at least a lot smoother and I also gained experience pretty fast. So, perhaps things weren’t so bad. Perhaps I should add some more functions to the bike to deal with those problems… hopefully, no one will try to drown me in a labyrinth again, but knowing my luck, I can never know for sure.

Two hours later, I reached the entrance of the boss chamber, so I couldn’t help but grin at that speed of exploration. It cost me a lot in terms of mana cores, but perhaps it was worth the hassle and I should try speed running more labyrinths in the future.

‘It has been three days since I arrived in this labyrinth, so it has been three days since I last slept. I will have to keep pressing on since my condition will only worsen as I keep going. Perhaps I should use this chance and keep increasing my stamina and stamina regeneration.’

Both of those were important when it comes to staying in peak physical condition. While all the parameters can make a person stronger and even resilient to some things like diseases and exhaustion, some of them are more important than others in some aspects.

Health and health regeneration enhance the body’s physical resilience and healing capabilities. A high health stat signifies a strong immune system and the ability to repair physical damage efficiently despite a lot of damage being received, reducing susceptibility to diseases and the effects of aging. 

With faster regeneration, the body can recover from illnesses and injuries at an accelerated rate, restoring cells and neutralizing pathogens with more ease. Over time, this enhanced self-repair mechanism slows cellular degradation, mitigating the natural effects associated with aging.

Mana and mana regeneration bolster mental and spiritual resilience, increasing defense against negative influences on free will and cognitive stability. A high mana stat strengthens the mind’s capacity to resist mental control, fear effects, and confusion caused by external forces. Higher mana regeneration also restores the energy needed to counteract stress and restore focus, ensuring the mind remains clear and protected. This energy acts like a barrier, maintaining autonomy and protecting mental limitations from manipulation or spiritual interference.

Stamina and stamina regeneration improve physical endurance and delay the effects of fatigue, allowing individuals to stay awake and active for longer periods. A high stamina stat reflects the body’s ability to sustain high performance over time, while efficient regeneration replenishes energy reserves and reduces the accumulation of fatigue-inducing chemicals. This means the body can remain alert and functional for longer durations without a significant decline in performance. Together, stamina and its regeneration enable prolonged activity and faster recovery, keeping individuals effective and resilient in physically demanding situations.

I did those tests when I was in reclusion, so my knowledge should be pretty accurate. At least for someone like me… I couldn’t say if it was the truth to everyone else. Vampire physiology was already weird, half-vampire physiology was supposed to be even weirder.

‘Well, let’s see what is waiting for me here… should I go all out from the beginning or save some for when I have to leave the labyrinth?’

While I was considering that, I went down the stairs and got ready for the fight… I decided to do things as they are necessary at the moment. I could afford to take some damage now, so perhaps not using all my enchanted arrows or bolts would be a good idea. 

When I reached the boss chamber, I was a bit surprised not to see any sand around. The chamber was a lot bigger than the others, too. At the same time, the surface of the room was pretty smooth… I understood the reason for that when I found the boss in the middle of the room.

‘This doesn’t even make any sense…’

It was a bit too late to worry about the size of monsters after seeing the worm kraken, but even so… seeing an armored beetle-scorpion the size of a minivan still made me raise my eyebrows in confusion. 

The creature didn’t look much different from the others, at least until it began to dash toward me… faster than even my make could make me move. The sharp antennae moved backward and then they were trusted toward me, ready to impale my head, but I used Shadow Step and avoided the attack.

In the next moment, the monster collided against the wall of the chamber and then made a lot of earth blocks fall from it. The creature turned around like nothing had happened since its armored red protected the monster, but I soon fired some arrows on breaches of the armor of the monster.

Blood gushed from the wound, and then I smiled, but soon I clicked my tongue… I should have used the decay arrows. The ordinary arrows only pierced the flesh of the monster a bit… The creature also had a tough skin.

‘I guess it is a monster focused on speed and endurance… it doesn’t need attack power with a body like that. Its momentum could make it crush most enemies.’

That was annoying, but it was a good opportunity too… It meant that the carapace and the skin of the monster could be of some use to me. I nocked another arrow before the monster could turn around completely, but then it curled up like an armadillo and then turned a lot faster toward me than expected… After that, it began to roll toward me.

‘Oh, shit…’

Its speed increased, but it wasn’t enough to turn around insanely fast when I used Shadow Step. Thanks to my increased Dexterity, I was able to see the weak spots on the enemy’s body even while it was rolling, so this time I didn’t mess up and then fired the decay arrows on the weak spots.

While adjusted my aim thanks to the movements of the monster, I only hit the flesh of the monster in one spot, but the decay arrows still pierced the armor of the monster while the arrow that pierced its body slowed down the beast for a moment and it grunted in pain, but soon began to move toward me again.

‘I guess this will be a long battle…’

Just when I thought about that, I heard that sound again and when I looked to the side, I saw water reaching the boss chamber.

Chapter 160 - Eyes (Thank you for your support, Domini!)

I reached the end of the second section after three days. Those guys made me waste so much time… after the second attack, they decided to use their heads a bit more and thanks to it; I took more time laying my ambush.

‘It will be annoying if they attack me soon after the boss is defeated, but I can’t waste time setting up traps either… Since they have mages and healers on their side, they can cross the labyrinth faster than me. I need to just get ready as soon as the fight is over for another one.’

Fortunately, I already knew what was useful against the spiders, so I was confident in the next fight. Without wasting time, I moved to the boss chamber with my bow in hand.

Soon enough, I was able to see the place, and I frowned a bit… there were a lot of cobwebs around, making the chamber look now half-brown and half-white. I didn’t find the monster in the center, so soon I looked to the ceiling with my bow ready to shoot an arrow. I gulped…

The boss was indeed right there… ready to attack me, but the place was also filled with eggs that were pretty big. As if that wasn’t enough, the size of the monster made me flinch. Even while the monster was fifty meters above me, thanks to the size of the beast that was twenty feet wide and long, I was able to see myself in the eyes of the monster… I guess that my eyes helped in that aspect as well.

“Ew, creepy…”

As if the monster had understood my words, it screeched in anger… in the next moment, the eggs around began to hatch and that gave me a really bad feeling. There were hundreds of them around, after all.

The invasion should have started a week ago, so the boss had time to lay that many eggs… perhaps one hundred of them per day. It was quite a lot for a dungeon labyrinth… I knew that some bosses could lay eggs too, even ordinary monsters could do that, so it wasn’t surprising. Regardless, I fired an explosive arrow at the monster, but the creature fired a ball of web, which made the arrow explode a lot earlier. It didn’t reach any of the monsters.

‘I guess it is only natural that it won’t be so simple.’

While the eggs were hatching, the monster began to spit green balls from its mandibles, and I didn’t have to be a genius to know what they were made of. I jumped to the side as the shots kept coming at me, but only hitting the ground while emitting a hissing sound. I immediately fired other arrows around that made the eggs explode.

You received 25 experience points.

You received 25 experience points.

You received 25 experience points.

“Skkreeeeeeee!”

The spider looked even more annoyed. I was pretty sure that spiders can’t make such noises. Spiders in real life are generally silent creatures. They lack the anatomy to produce vocal sounds like screeches, relying instead on vibrations and chemical signals for communication. Regardless, that wasn’t important.

I kept firing more explosive arrows on the eggs since I couldn’t let more of those things bother me in the fight. Eventually, the monster got angry enough to leave the ceiling and then move through the cog webs. Its speed was insane…

Soon enough, the beast was above me and then fired the poison balls again. I kept running around trying to target all the eggs, but the beast slowed me down enough and then hundreds of the spiders began to fall from the ceiling and then to the webs… they couldn’t fire poison from a distance, but they could use their annoying webs.

‘Well, you asked for it.’

I unleashed a barrage of arrows with Rapid Fire toward the small spiders and when my mana was full again, I used Fire Wall on them. I kept firing the arrows until my stamina was almost empty and half of the cobwebs were on fire. Some spiders began to move around while being burned and their bodies began to melt.

“Skkreeeeeeee!”

‘Don’t bring your babies to a fight then…’

The monster used its web attack, firing bursts of webs toward me at insane speeds… it was almost like a certain hero had turned into a giant spider. I avoided them, but I was starting to think that the monster was getting faster… it probably had increased its parameters since it was enraged.

It was time to focus on the monster. The rest of the creatures were just extra experience. I also couldn’t forget that I was being chased, and it seemed that the enemies were sending stronger enemies to face me, so my ambush attacks won’t work forever.

In the next moment, I let the monster hit my arm with its web and then the creature soon tried to pull me and fired some poison balls as well. I jumped to the side and avoided them and then tried to pull the beast as well.

The creature used its arms to stick to the cobwebs around, so while I had higher strength, it was useless. Still, since I was being pushed toward the enemy, I didn’t have to aim and then used my hand crossbow and fired five explosive bolts. The monster fired another cobweb after getting rid of the other, but while it made the bolts explode, only two exploded.

A large explosion happened in front of the monster, and when the smoke dissipated, I saw the monster with half of its body being burned by flames and the other half missing. Still, the creature was still alive and kicking somewhat.

It fell on the ground while trembling and then the other spiders jumped to protect their mother… I killed all of them without hesitation.

You received 2500 experience points.

You completed a trial. Please choose between the classes: Hunter (Demon Hunter), Enchanter (Dreadful Enchanter), and Fire Mage (Pyromancer).

When the battle was over, I was surprised to see the options of classes available. I could upgrade two that I already have or pick a new one… one that would agree pretty well with Jacques. I could tell that the class wouldn’t agree with me at all, but since it was a variation of the hunter class, it was clearly going to increase my dexterity and I might need that soon against the guys coming after me inside the dungeon.

Leveling up the other skills in those classes could be a good thing, but most of them already had granted me skills. I couldn’t help but hesitate… the best option could be used against me as well… it was like a vampire trying to pick a healer's class. It didn’t make any sense, but since the system made it possible, it shouldn’t be that harmful… right?

You obtained the Demon Hunter class.

You improved the dexterity parameter

You unlocked the Aptitude: Hunter’s Resolve

You unlocked the skill: Infernal Base.

You unlocked the skill: Demon’s Snare.

Hunter’s Resolve: Gain extra experience by dedicating yourself to tracking, studying, and defeating demonic entities. This can involve researching demon weaknesses, crafting demon-slaying tools, or honing your senses for better detection of such threats.

Infernal Bane: Imbue your weapon with holy energy, allowing you to deal bonus damage to demonic entities. This skill increases your damage by 25% against demons for 20 seconds and also weakens their magical defenses, making them more vulnerable to your attacks. Cost: 50 Mana.

Demon’s Snare: Summon chains of binding energy that target and immobilize demonic foes. This skill traps a demon in place for 10 seconds, preventing it from attacking or casting spells. The chains also drain the target’s mana over time by the level of the skill per second. Cost: 100 Mana.

I made my choice and felt the knowledge of the new skills coming to my head… The second skill had a lot of potential… at level ten, it would recover the mana that I used to summon the chains, so it was pretty broken. I felt my dexterity increasing, but I didn’t feel anything aside from that. It seemed that just the knowledge alone wasn’t a problem.

I decided to use Infernal Base and soon felt my bow heating up… it was the same feeling I felt when holding silver arrows. So, I couldn’t help but sigh… the term infernal entities were a lot broader than I had expected. I wasn’t infernal in any way… and I didn’t think that something like an inferno actually existed in this world, but if the class exists, then demons certainly exist too.

‘Well, time to move on… let’s hope that I have enough room to store all of these spiders in my magic bags.’

I had a bunch of them, but I could only carry so many of them without looking like a fool who was trying to be robbed. I also tried to store magic bags inside of magic bags, but it didn’t work. Sometimes I think that the system is retarded by those kinds of experiments.

It took half an hour to get all the bodies to dismantle them for later… Still, I didn’t find signs of the guys coming after me. I left magic traps too, enough to grant me some level ups with all the damage caused, but no notification came.

I wanted to believe that I was lucky enough that the war had resumed and no one had time enough to deal with me. Still, my luck would be someone else’s misfortune, so it was better not to rely on the misfortune of the clans. 

At this point in time, the clans should be ready to fight the human army, but what about the human army and the Aquarians? The Aquarians should be a lot less effective on land, but in the worst-case scenario, they can be decent ice and water mages. A back line like that certainly could cause a lot of trouble for the clans.

‘I don’t think that a lot of people would be waiting for me outside… but I might return to the middle of a war. If that happens, I wonder what I should do. The people here didn’t welcome me, so I don’t owe them anything, but… even if I don’t do anything, the empire will come for me. I guess I should at least cripple them enough to make them think twice the next time.’

Chapter 159 - Obstacles (Thank you for your support, Sam!)

It was time to make my point abundantly clear, so I decided not to hold back. I looked for the longest corridor in a straight line that I could find and then waited for the enemies at the end of it.

This time, I equipped my hand crossbow and then pulled the string with all my might… the moment the enemies appeared in the distance; I shot the bolts. A large explosion happened that made the entire floor shake. The five bolts had the Flame enchantments, so they all exploded, but I saw the enemies raising their shields in time to block them. It didn’t seem like it worked, though.

You received 2455 experience points.

You received 2455 experience points.

You received 2455 experience points.

It looked like three members of the frontline died instantly… It wasn’t surprising since I wasn’t holding back, but I was expecting a bit more from them. Maybe it was because I had gotten a bit stronger without fighting in the last eighteen months, or maybe it was because they were underestimating me.

Name: Regulus Dawnshield

Race: Dhampir

Health: 310/310 (0/13200)

Regen: 0.8 per hour (0/900) 

Mana: 330/330 (0/3100) (1.1)

Regen: 12.0 per minute (0/7600) (1.6)

Stamina: 380/380 (0/3500) (1.1)

Regen: 6.5 per minute (0/5100) (1.3)

Strength: 76 + 120 (0/5100) (1.6)

Magic: 20 + 60 (0/2100)

Dexterity: 209 (0/5600) (3.8x)

Spirit: 11 (0/1200)

Endurance: 20 (0/2100) (1.1)

Attack Speed: + 84% (0/7700) (1.1)

Movement Speed: 12.1 (0/6100) (1.1)

Stamina Conservation: 0.9 (0/9000)

Fire Affinity: 20 (0/2100)

Traits: Minor Weakness to Sunlight, Minor Sensitivity to Holy Magic, Minor Aversion to Silver

Classes: Ranger, Pathfinder, Dark Scrollmaker, Mystic Tattoist, Hunter, Dreadful Enchanter, Ninja, Merchant, Poison Crafter, Smith, Weaponsmith, Sharpshooter, Pyromancer, Dark Paladin, Arcane Archer, Shadow Archer, Barbarian, Viking, Bowman

Aptitudes: Wilderness Survival, Never Lost, Magical Scroll Creator, Arcane Artist, Unseen Hunter, Malevolent Artifice, Master of Trade, Venomous Engineer, Master of Forging, Master of Blades, Shadow Mastery, Master of Precision, Heat Master, Silent Observation, Dark Retribution, Mystic Marksman, Shadow Archery, Rage Unleashed, Warrior’s Endurance, Ranged Skill,

Experience: 7952

‘I would say that I am more or less on the same level of Vincent, all thanks to the grind in that labyrinth, but even so. It is hard to believe that he would be able to fight so many enemies alone. I guess the true answer lies in my enchanted gear… it makes my power level a lot higher than it should be.’

I wanted to get the gear and dispose of the bodies, but I decided to move away and gain some space instead of continuing the fight without knowing how many enemies were there? The first attack was a warning. If they decided to come for me again, then they won’t have any more of those.

I let out a tired sigh while running… I couldn’t believe that things would be this annoying for a while. It almost felt like fate was forcing me to do things that I didn’t want. Maybe that was what was happening… I couldn’t be reincarnated in a world like this for no reason. If someone brought me here to have an easy time, they would have me reborn as humans to waltz around instead.

If things remain like that, I might as well go full hobo and make a lot of enemies, but I knew that I wouldn’t have much peace once that happens. I was already a target of the humans and aquarians, so perhaps killing them when they came for me wouldn’t be an issue. The real issue will be if they decide to use others and make me wanted all over the world.

‘Perhaps that could work… even if they manage to control the narrative, as long as I only kill in self-defense, people will eventually realize the truth of the matter. It is hard to say if they would go as far as spreading those kinds of rumors in my favor and go against their country, though.’

It was better not to take any chances and just focus on what I had to do at the moment. Focusing on getting stronger and improve my skills and tools. That was the best option in the long run. Eventually, they won’t be able to ignore me anymore and if they do, it will cost them a lot.

… …

Three days had passed since Ulric and Remi had met Regulus, and they still didn’t move from that town. Ulric was training with his sword while Remi had his arms crossed and tapping his finger impatiently.

“Why didn’t we receive the order to go?”

Remi was annoyed… very annoyed. They were told that they would be called to handle their brother when the opportunity arose. They heard that he was found inside the labyrinth in the north, but they weren’t given the order to go.

“You should know why.”

Ulric swung his sword down and a bit of sweat from his face. He tried to recall the speed of Regulus’ arrows and then swung his sword again. As long as he could see his eyes, he was certain that he could cut down the arrows, unless they exploded or shocked him. In that case, he might as well be training to get screwed when they meet him again.

“Damn!”

Remi kicked the ground a bunch of times in annoyance… Ulric sighed when he saw that. At this point in time, it was safe to assume that Regulus was traveling around the world and then clearing dungeons and labyrinths. Given his strength, that should have been fairly obvious, but it was hard to accept that he had been waltzing around and entering those places without ever being found.

Ulric stopped his training sessions and thought about the things that they had heard… at least they received reports from their commander. It looked like he was another guy who respected Rayner a lot, or he was trying to gain some points with the Dawnshield family as well.

In any case, three parties had already sent to deal with Regulus in one way or the other. Thirty people had looked for him inside the labyrinth. Only five returned alive. While he had the upper hand since he could ambush the pursuers, that was still a shocking development. He was only fourteen. He wasn’t supposed to be able to deal with full parties and even bigger groups like that when they had healers and mages. The reports said that they didn’t have the chance to attack or heal that much, but even so…

“He has gotten a lot stronger than we had expected… Maybe he could even give a lot of trouble to Jacques.”

“Impossible. Jacques only trains and gets classes that will make him able to fight undead, abyssals and similar things. He is that touched in the head.”

“Determined is the word… he is serious to a fault. I can’t deny it. I wonder what he will think about this when he hears it. I also wonder what Father will think as well.”

Remi felt a shiver run down his back… the idea that his brothers and father could hear that they were defeated by Regulus was more than a little annoying. It was more vexing than anything that he could think of.

The two brothers could see a large army of orcs, goblins, and ogres assembling a few kilometers away. That was why they couldn’t move to deal with Regulus. Perhaps Regulus could even be the cause that things went this way. The other groups in the North had slower progress, but their group still could have pierced the enemy’s territory deeper if it weren’t for Regulus, making their focus split a bit.

Ulric cleaned himself and then equipped his gear once again… he could have trained for a while longer, but he didn’t want to exhaust himself before the big battle. He was only training because he couldn’t control his nerves… This would be the first battle where he would see thousands of people fighting thousands. He would see death at an unprecedented scale, like never before.

He didn’t fear that… he feared that after seeing that once, he wouldn’t care as much if he sees it again. That worked like that until now and how the empire was moving as of late. He would see that more and more.

“There is a chance that we might not fight him… The commander controlling that area won’t risk sacrificing more soldiers. I don’t think that he will leave his army behind to get rid of him when Regulus should be pretty deep in the labyrinth, but we can’t discard the possibility, either.”

“He’d better bring him alive so that I can defeat him myself!”

“... Putting that aside, you remember the incident when he disappeared, right? What do you think?”

“About what?”

“The home was almost burned down, and we thought for a while that he had died… he also picked a weird time to escape. He was almost left alone there for three years.”

“Just say your point already. Don’t beat around the bush.”

“Well, it didn’t seem like an accident… and Regulus didn’t seem the type who would want to give us more reasons to hate him. He was too contained for that to be true. It would have made more sense if he tried to escape without causing that much damage… So, I could only think that he escaped because something happened. Like an… assassination attempt.”

“And whom exactly are you trying to blame for that?”

“I am not trying to blame anyone. I am just questioning the possibility.”

Remi knew that Ulric was too scared to blame anyone, but he had a good head, so he wouldn’t raise that possibility if it weren’t true. That being said, thinking about that wouldn’t bring anything good to any of them. It would just split the family in the worst way possible… None of them were Regulus’ allies, but it was clear that Rayner didn’t wish for something like that to happen. It was hard to say what Rayner would do if he learned that someone in the family was involved in it.

“Who cares anyway? If you want to dig into this, do it by yourself while knowing the risks. Don’t get me involved in that sort of mess.”

Remi already involved the family name in all kinds of messes, but Ulric couldn’t point that out.

Chapter 158 - More Incoming (Thank you for your support, ReadingObsessed!)

I decided to speed up my exploration of the labyrinth since I was against time… even more than before. I also wondered if I could make an amulet using the carapace of the scorpions. The size was enough, but it certainly couldn’t last for many uses… I couldn’t say if that would make me gain time or not.

‘I should try to find a way to automate this process… it shouldn’t be hard once I am able to mess with metals, but I will have to make a decent workshop. One that needs to be carried in my magic bags, too.’

That would be an interesting project. I wondered if I could find some trustworthy people to help me with that, but given that I was betrayed a couple of times already when money was almost not involved and the chances of dying were low, the chances of that happening were low.

In any case, I reached the first boss chamber in the labyrinth two hours later and made quick work of the giant scorpion that showed up. The creature had tougher defenses, but a couple of shots in the same place pierced those defenses.

You received 500 experience points.

You completed a trial. Please choose between the classes: Warrior, Shipwright, and Bowman (Scout, Bowyer, Fletcher).

You obtained the Bowman class.

You improved the stamina regeneration parameter

You unlocked the Aptitude: Ranged Skill

You unlocked the skill: Quick Draw.

You unlocked the skill: Barbed Arrow.

Ranged Skill: Gain 1 point of experience for every successful hit with a bow or crossbow. Gain an additional 10 points of experience for every critical hit. Gain bonus experience when creating bows and projectiles of uncommon rank and above.

Quick Draw: Instantly nock and fire an arrow with reduced aiming time, dealing slightly less damage but ensuring a faster attack of fifty percent speed. Cost: 10 Stamina.

Barbed Arrow: Equip barbed arrows that cause the target to bleed, dealing damage over time for 10 seconds based on ten percent of your dexterity. Cost: 10 Mana per arrow.

Once again, the chance to combine on combat classes with combat classes showed up in front of me. I readily accepted it since the combined classes always had been quite the upgrade, just like the evolved classes. The skills weren’t half-bad, even though I could already do similar things by myself. Regardless, the increase in stamina regeneration was more than welcome.

The skill Magic Trap leveled up. You received 700 experience points.

I quickly got up when I was dismantling the body of the boss… I had put some magic traps along the way to alert me of the advance of other parties, but I was still surprised at the speed of the enemies. It should be midmorning already, but it looked like a decent force was left behind. Some of that were being used to come after me.

‘They wouldn’t send a small party this time around… this is a pain.’

I guess I will slow them down with magic traps. That will make them wary enough to not dash toward me… they would get hurt a lot, maybe enough to die along the way. A death by thousands of paper cuts.

I began to work on that plan and put the magic traps on the parts of the corridors that were pretty thin, but it made me wonder if the mages would be able to detect that. They didn’t detect the others because they were behind and the fight had started.

Regardless, I had to reach the next boss before they reached me, so I soon headed to the next section. They might get some experience along the way, but they certainly won’t get any new classes and that would put me with several advantages over them.

The next section wasn’t much different from the previous one… but the sand was a lot more annoying than before. It felt like walking with weights on my legs. As the sand was deeper, so more monsters hiding in the sand should be there… Soon I confirmed that when the next creature showed up… it was a spider.

The giant sand spider looked like a nightmare given form, a predator perfectly adapted to the sand. Its massive body, covered in a rough, sand-colored shell added with darker streaks, blends seamlessly into the sand. Its size was easily five feet across, counting those long, spindly legs. It moved with an eerie grace, its limbs tipped with sharp, claw-like ends that dug effortlessly through the sand. The thing’s abdomen was grotesquely bulbous, segmented and ridged, like some grotesque storage vessel built for the harshest conditions. Its eyes, black and gleaming, seemed to pierce through the dim light, and the smaller reflective ones scattered across its face seemed to track my every move.

The mandibles were what really made me flinch. They were enormous, jagged, and dripping with venom that hissed as it hit the sand. I could tell it wasn’t just a predator, it was a trapper. Buried beneath the sand, with only its deadly mandibles and unblinking eyes visible. 

I was curious about the kind of monster that would show up, so I got a bit careless and let the beast emerge and attack me. Sticky web was shot by the equivalent of the monster’s butt hole and then covered me in the blink of an eye. The creature soon moved backward and tried to knock me down… it had a lot of physical power and the webs weren’t breaking either.

‘I wonder if I can use this somehow… I bet that without the stickiness, it could become an excellent bowstring.’

Before the monster could knock me down, I used Fire Wall on the creature. Even though that labyrinth seemed to be of the earth type that could mimic the environment of a desert, the creature still began to burn quite easily. The flames melted the web and once they were disconnected from the monster’s body, they became a lot less elastic.

I used my bow to kill the monster with a single arrow and then recover my mana… I failed. Even though it was killed with one shot, the beast didn’t have that much health.

‘I guess I shouldn’t use magic against them.’

I went to check what parts of the spider I could use… The giant sand spider’s venom was primarily housed in its massive mandibles. These jagged, serrated appendages not only crush and tear prey but also inject a potent neurotoxin that paralyzes its victims almost instantly. The venom begins to break down the prey’s tissues from within, turning them into an easier meal for the spider. 

I also noticed fine hairs running along its limbs that seemed coated in a less concentrated version of the venom, likely a defensive mechanism to ward off anything trying to attack or grapple with it. Combined, these adaptations make it a deadly force in the labyrinth.

‘It looks like it is the type that numbs the enemy and drains their mana to make them even less able to resist.’

I didn’t have much use for that, but I probably could combine this poison with the scorpions to make a stronger one. Then it came to me like a lightning bolt… was that what the empire was plotting?

The Skarnash Tribelands, should have some decent resources. I spent more than a year mining a single mine, after all. Still, the orcs, goblins, and ogres preferred to fight and take the things that they needed instead of making them.

With that in mind, the land still should have plenty of resources to be taken, and this labyrinth showed that… It seemed like a labyrinth where only poison could be obtained with ease. The Aquarians probably won’t have any use for the land, so it will belong to the empire… the production alone in this labyrinth would make their future expansionist endeavors a lot easier.

‘This is indeed just their first step to conquer all the lands that they want… who would they want to use the poison on? I bet that the Elves would be the main target. They live for long, but they are quite good at ranged combat… the empire would need something like this. Even a bit of poison would weaken them quite a bit.’

I was starting to see the empire’s plans with ease… With that in mind, it would make sense for them to send Rayner here, but they only sent his two youngest sons. Were they imagining that they wouldn’t need his strength for that, or were they plotting to use him in some other way?

Thinking about that was quite interesting… It was like outsmarting an opponent, quite satisfying. In any case, I got around two hundred milliliters of poison from the spider. Enough to use Poison tipped bolt in four bolts. Since I was planning to combine the poisons later, perhaps they would lose some effectiveness, but they would become all around useful, so it was fine.

As I advanced, I began to surprise the spiders with my arrows even before they emerged from the sand completely and then I used the extra mana granted by them to set traps on both sides of the corpse.

Still, it looked like my plans didn’t work as expected since soon I felt a weird atmosphere coming from behind and slowly approaching me. Before long, I could hear a lot of footsteps in the sand… it looked like they had a lot of experience crossing this type of terrain.

‘They aren’t here to play around… fighting them directly would be stupid.’

I didn’t want to become a cold-blooded killer, but I couldn’t fight them and survive without using some tricks. They had their numbers, and I had my own strengths. That would mean nothing in a situation like this.

I let out a sigh and then made up my mind… morals can only take you so far when your life’s on the line. I didn’t want to become the type of person who uses that kind of excuse, but I already had given plenty of chances to people chasing me to stop with their nonsense. If they wanted to kill me that badly and if they were fine following orders to kill even civilians, then they should be fine in paying for their actions a bit sooner than expected.

Chapter 157 - Doing What is Necessary (Thank you for your support, Clown44!)

I slowed down on my progress to think about the actions of the empire. I wanted to focus on myself, but I couldn’t simply ignore it completely. I also had to find the people ahead of me before they realized that I was following them, so I had to be cautious. Fortunately, it didn’t take long for that to happen.

“It looks like we are behind schedule and the commander isn’t liking that.”

“It can’t be helped. We didn’t know the land well, and it isn’t our fault that we had to deal with a town filled with ogres. Those bastards are truly hard to kill.”

“We are already winning this, but they want us to win in just a few weeks… the higher-ups are unreasonable as ever since they never do the fighting themselves.”

“You should know that the higher ups this time around are at the top of the empire, right? If word of these reaches their ears, you will be done for.”

As expected, they had young voices, so they were basically fresh knights and mages. I was able to reach them without being noticed. While they were saying a lot of useful things, I couldn’t wait for them to reveal everything since their reinforcements could arrive pretty soon.

Killing them without being noticed would be easy, but that annoying feeling was still bothering me… I couldn’t become a cold blood killer. I let out a sigh since they would die anyway if I knock them down and then leave them alone unconscious in the middle of the labyrinth.

While I was thinking about that, I saw them killing a scorpion and then getting their tail and carapace. My guess was right… Regardless, I quickly came up with a diversion. I fired an explosive arrow nearby and when they turned around to check it, I passed above them while using camouflage and using the claws of my gloves to move in the ceiling.

‘I am truly becoming a ninja, huh?’

That was quite satisfying, so a smile formed on my face when I left them behind. Still, that forced me to get the bodies of the scorpions and store them in my magic bags to dismantle them later.

Solving problems like that was quite satisfying… Direct confrontations only lead to more direct confrontations. Punching can be satisfying too, but outsmarting the enemies is a lot more convenient.

Regardless, now that I was done with the closest problem, my thoughts returned. I was trying to avoid unnecessary fights, but I had no idea how long I would be in the labyrinth. Perhaps a week or two based on the difficulty, no more than that, since I wasn’t expecting a demonic tier labyrinth.

Still, the question was: how much the land would change while I was busy with my own problems? There was a chance that a large army would be waiting for me outside as well. That was the kind of thought that was pretty convincing in making me join the dark side.

‘Well, I cross that bridge when the time comes… it isn’t like I am not prepared for it when the time comes either, after all.’

I already had the tools and weapons that would make fighting people very easy. I just had to put them to good use. I didn’t have to like the idea of using such tools, but I disliked even more the idea of dying unfairly, so I just had to pick the lesser of two evils.

Since I was in a hurry, despite finding some dead ends, I still reached the fourth floor in no time. I wanted to discard the idea of making a map of the labyrinth, but I would need one to return as fast as possible eventually, so I decided to write it down as I walked for a bit. I soon regretted the idea…

‘Hm? Footsteps… Already?’

Perhaps I should have used the Shadow Step amulet… even if its durability had dropped a lot. I could hear hurried steps approaching and it was clear their goal was for me. I had two options: hide or fight. I had confidence in my stealth skills… I could even use them to get rid of those guys. It was probably the best idea since I would gain time against any other pursuing party. However, the idea came with some risks as well.

‘This will clearly turn me into an enemy who they will hunt down with eagerness… but at this point in time, it can’t be helped. I guess I will do that… make things harder for me.’

I let out a sigh and just turned around… after doing some preparations, I took some steps back and soon I was able to see a party of knights and mages. This one was a bit different from the previous one… it was clear that they were veterans based on their parameters. They immediately drew their weapons and stopped when they found me.

“How can I help you?”

The three knights stepped forward to shield the mages, and they had large shields with them too… The mages raised their wands to use their magic at a moment’s notice. Perhaps I should stop giving someone a fair chance to attack me and just assume that everyone is an asshole. Even one of my brothers tried to impale me earlier, after all.

“Are you Regulus Dawnshield?”

I wanted to sigh… it looked like they had some magic implements that let them sent messages insanely fast to long distances. It wasn’t like I wasn’t aware of the possibility, but it was still vexing.

“If I had my mask, I would call me Darth Regulus, but Regulus is fine. What about it?”

“We have the orders to apprehend you. Please surrender without forcing us to use our hand.”

“We aren’t in the empire, so your orders have no weight here. Nor do I have the desire to follow the commands of the empire. So, can you guys please pretend that you didn’t find me here?”

“Drop your weapon and surrender immediately. If you don’t do that, we can’t guarantee that you will leave this place without some heavy injuries.”

“I will say the same thing to you all. Turn around and leave. Try to attack me. I won’t show you any mercy. What is more important, your orders or your lives?”

The guards began to charge in the next moment… I let out a sigh and then used Power Shot. The first arrow was stopped by one of the shields, but at least the impact slowed down the target and left a mark on it.

I used Arcane Arrow and then several explosions where fire spread around pushed the knights away… but in the next moment, two ice spears flew to my head.

‘I guess they are no longer acting and their true colors are finally being shown.’

I used Rapid Fire and then made the ice spears break in the air. The mages opened their eyes wide at my power and reaction speed. They only had time to do that… because when the knights stepped forward, several magic traps were activated and then pierced their legs. Thanks to my magic power and the level of the skill, the traps pierced through their armor.

When they flinched and lowered their shields, two arrows flew toward the heads of the mages. They summoned ice walls to defend themselves, but the arrows pierced through them and then their heads.

You received 1455 experience points.

You received 1455 experience points.

The annoying feeling was back… I ignored it since the Knights soon recovered from the attacks and then swung their swords. I saw energy beings flying toward my head, torso, and legs.

I moved to the side and forward with Shadow Step, but soon the enemies used the same skill again. I wasn’t certain that I could destroy those attacks with my arrows, so I used Shadow Step again to the other side of the corridor and then fired an arrow that exploded and filled the entire area with smoke thanks to a magic smoke bomb scroll attached to it.

The enemies assumed a defensive stance when they heard a weird sound and got ready to receive attacks from all directions, but they didn’t expect from above. I was there thanks to my grappling crossbow. The arrows pierced their helmets and then their heads.

You received 2222 experience points.

You received 2222 experience points.

You received 2222 experience points.

I sighed in relief… but only a bad taste was left in my mouth. I managed to make arrows using the Decay Bolts using them inside the arrows and it looks like they are even good at elemental shields like that. That was surprisingly good to know, but I couldn’t bring myself to feel good about the situation.

Still,. I couldn’t mop around about it either… I checked their bodies and only found basic gear with basic enchantments, but the wands of the mages was quite good.

Frost Wand (Uncommon)

Enchantment Slots: Ice Affinity (Apprentice): increases power of ice attacks by twenty points.

Durability: 10/10

It wasn’t a type of enchantment that I had learned so far, but it was a fine addition to the list. I used Essence Extraction on what I could and then decided to hide the bodies in my magic bag… it was possible, but it made me feel pretty weird carrying corpses with me. Still, it was better than leaving them behind and announcing what I had done…

‘No going back now… they said that they wanted to bring me back unscathed, but they attacked to kill every single time. I shouldn’t expect anything less from the others and their superiors.’

The chances of me becoming a third party in this war were null. I couldn’t compare myself with armies… still, given what happened, I shouldn’t expect anything less aside from confrontations with them from now on.

That made me wonder once they know of this, if those two will still come to fight me again… Killing them was something that I wanted to do even less than join in this war. However, they might force my hand… 

Once that happens, I will be sure that even Rayner will begin to hunt me down and I will have a bounty on my head in the empire. That was annoying, but I could always use the excuse that I wasn’t the first to attack to kill first…

Chapter 156 - Unknown Reasons (Thank you for your support, Matthew Graveley!)

‘As I thought, they are attacking several points in order to split the population.’

I headed north when night came after moving from the labyrinth area. It didn’t take me more than two hours to find another town that had already been taken by the empire. Much to my surprise, I saw some Aquarians too working with them.

‘I have no idea how this happened only two years after that other war… thinking about it won’t help me either. So, I just have to keep ignoring all of them.’

I used my Camouflage Amulet and the Shadow Step amulet as well. The second was quite big, so I was using it like a backpack. Despite some small problems like bumping into some things blocking my path, I managed to avoid the town and the people around guarding the place.

Although that would damage the amulet and make it break faster, I decided to use it to reach the next labyrinth as soon as possible. I was in a race against time. I couldn’t take it any longer since those two or the other knights should have spread rumors about me.

While capturing me couldn’t be more important than winning a war, it still should be relatively important… After showing my skills against them, it should be even more true. I could imagine them thinking of all sorts of crazy ideas that would justify them to do what they deemed necessary.

 The labyrinth that was my destination was a bit far away, but I was planning to reach it before morning came. Thanks to that, I used a bunch of mana cores, but at least I pulled it off and moved faster than I could with my automatic bike. Still, I couldn’t help but sigh when I reached the area and felt the strong smell of smoke in the air.

‘At this point, it wouldn’t be weird to think that someone cursed me… I passed through three towns with the enemies having taken over, but they still had another one ahead and it was pretty close to my destination… As if that wasn’t enough, they also mounted a camp in front of the labyrinth.’

They probably didn’t want anyone hiding there… it would be hard to fight there with monsters and a large group wouldn’t be able to pass through the place. It could take days as well to find anyone inside. The ones inside would have the upper hand since they can lay traps and decide where the fights will take place.

In any case, I couldn’t take my time. I had to enter the labyrinth in one way or the other. However, when I tried to check the area ahead with Hawk’s Vision, I soon found some mages there… mages can be useful in wars, the stronger they are, the battle. They are excellent at destroying fortifications like walls, but that wasn’t the case here.

‘Why did they bring mages too? Can they sense my magic?’

Shadow Step Lv 19: Instantly teleport a short distance to an enemy’s blind spot, allowing you to strike or evade undetected. This ability also increases your next attack’s critical chance. The distance crossed is equal to the level of the skill multiplied by two meters. Cost: 50 mana.

Even with the current level of Shadow Step, I couldn’t cross the whole camp in a single step… maybe they were worried about someone doing that, but their camp was quite spread out and it was pretty-lit with bonfires too. Veil of shadows wouldn’t work either.

‘I don’t have time for this… if they want to come for me, then they can come.’

I didn’t want to get involved in this war more than I already did, but I couldn’t fall back and let their actions slow down my progress. The empire already caused too many problems without suffering anything in retribution. It was time to change that.

I decided to envision my plan first before putting it into practice. Still, I didn’t have that much time since morning will soon arrive. The people there that were resting were soon going to get up and prepare for their activities of the day.

It made me wonder if they would keep the area manned with a lot of people… perhaps I should wait a bit and then deal with a lot fewer obstacles. Still, I already had made up my mind about letting people cause me trouble.

Once the plan in my head was clear and I envisioned it a bunch of times in action. I decided to make my move. I checked the strength of some people around and they looked like fresh knights from the academy, so it shouldn’t be that hard to fool them.

I readied four arrows with camouflage scrolls in them and then fired them at the bonfires. They were also enchanted with the frost effect, so as soon as they hit the targets, the flames were extinguished immediately. All of a sudden, the entire place got dark, but soon the mages summoned some fire orbs and made them illuminate their surroundings.

“Enemy attack!”

I could have disposed of the mages with ease now that they revealed themselves like that, but instead of that, I just passed by them. The sound of arrows flying began to echo in the area and soon they exploded in front of the camp. The enemies looked in their direction as the flashes of light dazzled them for a moment… As for me, I just used that time to recover my arrows in order to not leave any traces in the area. The ones that exploded left nothing behind and by the time the knights and mages realized that all had been a distraction, I was already in the middle of the first floor.

‘They are as green as they come… Still, they will probably come with others and I won’t have to show any mercy to them.’

I couldn’t deny that I was a bit too forgiving when it comes to children. Not putting much thought into the twins’ betrayal, when Nimir kept using my name and didn’t obey my commands. Although I could blame myself for that as well, since I was teaching him to become more independent.

The incident with Jalal and the others was an example of it. Clarice could have made things easier for me, at the cost of risking creating a conflict. I also understood her reasoning, but it didn’t change the fact that it made someone swear that they would kill me and the other two would also follow Jalal. I tried to show some mercy to Cassius’ daughter, but that only took me so far.

While I was thinking about that, a creature emerged from the sandy ground, but soon I fired an arrow into the middle of its head. It was a giant scorpion. One meter long in length and with a red carapace. It was the fifth that I had killed already. It had a long tail that probably could poison me or use other types of magic, so I didn’t want to take any chances.

You received 10 experience points.

‘Let’s hope that this labyrinth will be a bit longer.’

That could be a good thing, but it could be a problem as well. Some people will definitely enter the labyrinth. Even more so when they hear that I was in the area, they will connect the dots. Still, I could only wish them luck to catch me faster than I could move.

Perhaps they will speed up my growth… I didn’t want to think like that, but killing people was a lot more efficient when it comes to getting experience. This war was probably caused by this as well, to make the young knights stronger in order to speed up the expansionist goals of the empire.

‘It feels like they are doing a lot of things to start many conflicts lately… perhaps those Aquarian prisoners were just one of those methods. Still, it is too weird that the Aquarians joined them so soon.’

I tried to think of ways that would make the Aquarians join the empire so soon… but I couldn’t think of any without them releasing the prisoners. I soon shook those thoughts out of my head, since nothing would come out of it, even if I got some possible explanations.

You completed a trial. Please choose between the classes: Monk, Warrior, and Corsair.

You gain bonus experience in the skills of the Monk class.

The Endurance parameter was improved.

The Skill Fists of Fury gained five levels.

The Skill Meditation gained five levels.

The Skill Perfect Form gained five levels.

The Skill Tempered Body gained five levels.

This was a bit disappointing, but I didn’t mind that much since the options of classes were troublesome this time, so I soon headed to the next floor. I would become a bit tougher faster now, and that was what mattered the most. Besides, I should have expected something like this considering how the people of this land fights.

While I was thinking about that, I slowed down when I found some steps on the sand and they were pretty recent too. 

‘I bet that if I used a dice now, ten times in a row, I would get ten times one in a row…’

I didn’t consider that the knights and mages would send a party ahead… beyond the first floor, at least. Gaining new classes was a quick way to gain some multipliers to their parameters, but they didn’t have time for real dungeon diving. Besides, from the 10th floor onward, only six people could get a class at a time, after all.

The only answer was the materials in the labyrinth… the experience gained inside a labyrinth during a war would be negligible. So, the parts of the scorpions… the poison, and the mana cores. The carapace was too weak… but now that I think about it. Thanks to their shape, I probably could make some amulets with them. It would also serve as a training to decrease their size as much as possible.

‘Poison… poison… I stopped making it since I didn’t have any more products left and my blood worked better. Although, I can only make so much of it. Now that I think about it, we don’t have dungeons or labyrinths in the empire that can help us produce poison. That being said, I am sure that alchemists can make more powerful poison with other products. The fighters of this land should be relatively resistant to poison as well. Something smells fishy here…’

Chapter 155 - Warning (Thank you for your support, Donny Blue!)

“Regulus, don’t interfere… we have orders to follow. For now, you aren’t considered an enemy of the empire, but if you do any more, that will change.”

“I was considered an enemy of the empire from the day I was born, so it is fine either way. I am fine with letting you guys go and then follow your merry way later, but you guys had the back luck of me being around this time. I won’t interfere in this war unless I am forced to. So, retreat. Unless you want to end up with arrows in your legs.

“Pretty confident… Aren’t you?!”

Remi charged at me, and he probably used some sort of skill to cross the distance between us in a single moment. Still, when he swung his spear, he found nothing in front of him. In the next moment, he got hit on his leg with an arrow that pierced through his flesh and armor as well. When he looked behind him, he only saw Ulric in that place, but he didn’t use a bow.

In the next moment, I appeared in front of him when he fell on his knees and began to sweat cold thanks to the pain. 

“You are my brothers, even though we never got along. So, I will repay your first attack with this. The second attack will make you lose your limbs, and I can’t guarantee what the third attack will do, so think well. As for your friend knights, they won’t have the same mercy. Retreat now.”

“... We will be retreating now.”

“Are you messing with me? We aren’t going to retreat! We can defeat this asshole.”

“I guess knights’ honor is truly a myth. Ganging up on a single enemy, hunting down unarmed civilians. Rayner must be proud.”

“Why you!”

Ulric didn’t hesitate in hitting Remi with the handle of his sword and then knocking down and then grabbing him before he could fall. The other knights decided to follow him as well, but they still kept their hands on their weapons. It looked like they weren’t expecting much resistance and since I was an unknown factor, they didn’t want to take any risks for now. Or perhaps they didn’t want to kill me because of my family name.

“... It is a pity, Regulus. Father is still searching for you.”

“You can tell him to stop. He has done a poor job so far trying to look after me. Doing things half-assed is never a good way to do things.”

Ulric stopped and looked at me with a serious expression for a moment, but then turned around and said nothing while the others were keeping their guard up. He believed in my words, but the others didn’t. Come to think of it, he had no reason to believe me since eight years had passed and a person can change a lot in eight years. Moreover, a kid can be molded by their surroundings pretty easily.

‘Now that I put a target on my back, I need to use my head more… let’s try harder to avoid those guys.’

This operation was a lot larger than I had imagined. If they were going as far as sending those two, they were pretty certain that they would succeed in whatever their goal was. Most likely, it was the total destruction of the Skarnash Tribelands.

I wondered if this was considered a genocide… Genocide is the deliberate and systematic destruction of a group of people based on their ethnicity, nationality, race, or religion. It involves acts such as killing, causing serious harm, creating conditions to destroy the group, preventing births, or forcibly transferring children. Genocide aims to eradicate the targeted group, either in part or entirely, and is recognized as one of the most severe crimes against humanity. That was a fact back on Earth.

It was a war for revenge for the previous war. If they don’t go all-out, that would only cause other wars. Was that justified? I couldn’t say, nor did I have the time to think about it. Now I had time to remain here… moreover, since my best option would be to leave and then head to the Aeloria kingdom, those two will probably inform Rayner of my presence here and try to get me here or there.

I decided to use camouflage and then disappear and then wait for the night to move again…

… …

When Remi woke up, it was already night. At first, he got a bit confused when he saw the ceiling of a room, but then he felt a sharp pain in his leg and then on the back of his head. Then he recalled everything and then tried to get up. He raised his upper body, but his wounded leg refused to move as he wanted.

“Don’t move yet. We healed you, but the internal damage will take some time to disappear completely.”

“You asshole! You attacked me from behind!”

“I just knocked you down because you were too noisy and hasty. You saw what happened before. Well, you didn’t see it, but you should have an idea. We couldn’t take down Regulus.”

“I could! I would never lose against a coward like him! We are a family of knights, and he used a bow…”

“If you believe that, then why did you say before that we should have attacked him together?”

Remi grunted in annoyance. His younger brother was usually pretty meek, but he becomes quite annoying when he starts using his head logically. 

“I already informed the commander of what had happened. We won’t be punished for it.”

“You told him? Even though Father would want to capture him alive?”

“It is clear that Father worries more about the reputation of the family and what will happen to the rest of us if the family is targeted or criticized.”

Remi was surprised… from his perspective, their father gave Regulus a lot more leeway than he should have. He never showed or said what he was thinking, so it was hard to say for certain, but that was the reality from Remi’s perspective. Still, it made sense… a single life couldn’t be more important than the history of the family and their future as well. Remi didn’t like how things ended, but he decided to move on from it.

“What will happen now?”

“We secured the third town on our path, but some of the other groups are still working on the same. At this point in time, all the clans should be aware of the invasion and will be getting ready for an all out confrontation. We just have to prepare ourselves for when that will happen. Still, the commander said that he will give us the order to move if Regulus is spotted again.”

“Then I should get ready for it. Next time, I will get him.”

Remi went to look for his belongings and then soon found a potion in which he drank. Before long, he was back on his feet like nothing had happened. Ulric sighed when he saw that… they didn’t have many of those, and his brother would have recovered normally in just a couple of days.

“What do you think he was doing here?”

Ulric couldn’t help but ask that… he never understood Regulus, but his actions seemed even more confusing now. The people from the Skarnash Tribelands clearly didn’t receive people from other places well, much less a half-vampire. At the same, he wasn’t trying to hide who he was anymore. Nothing made sense.

“Who cares about that?”

“It is because you act and think like this that he was able to get you so easily.”

“I just dropped my guard a bit… it won’t happen again.”

“Remember what he said. If we try to face him again, we will lose a limb. Well, you will. I might end up with an arrow on my leg, too.”

“You worry too much. As usual.”

“And you don’t think at all, as usual. Didn’t you see the skills that he used?”

Remi stopped to think for a moment… a skill that made him disappear and then reappear behind Ulric, and then attack Remi instead. It was probably Shadow Step… three classes were necessary to get the Ninja class and then get that skill. Considering the distance he crossed, the skill should have been used. Who knows how many times.

He was also able to summon arrows and then enchant them with fire, and cause damage equal to a magic cannonball, and with the shock effect, and it was enough to paralyze the knights for several seconds.

“His main class should be Arcane Archer… right?”

“Indeed… that kind of class can only be obtained after clearing labyrinths with at least forty floors. He should have plenty of experience with fighting if he was able to get such a class. Few people would team up with him as well, so he most likely obtained it solo.”

Clearing that many floors in a labyrinth alone was no small feat. It wasn’t just a matter of skill and strength, a lot of things were involved to make that possible. Regulus should be more than a little resourceful to be able to pull that off.

“And that bow, did you look at it? It was nothing like I had ever seen before. It had a lot of power and it was enchanted, too. He should have a decent amount of strength and trained a lot to be able to aim that well.”

“So, he is being provided with items? Who would do that? He didn’t even want to help the targets until some of them were killed.”

“He probably did it on a whim for whatever reason… my guess is that he is heading north and we will block his path.”

Remi nodded and then considered what they should do. The commander probably sent some trackers to look for Regulus, but if he managed to remain hidden for five years, he wouldn’t be that easily found. They came prepared for a large-scale war, not to look for hidden enemies. The orcs, goblins and ogres weren’t that kind of target.

“We should question some of the enemies instead of killing them all… if we tell the commander the reason for it, he should be able to understand that. Since he wasn’t trying to hide his appearance, I have the feeling that Regulus tried to contact the people from this land.”

“I doubt that they will say anything to the people who are destroying their homes. You are as naïve as ever. Still, as long as that gives me the chance to fight him again, I won’t mind.” 

“We know nothing about his mother and that must be the reason why father decided to protect him… you shouldn’t do anything too reckless.”

“I will just stab his legs and arms, too.”

Ulric sighed while Remi smiled. This campaign took a very unexpected turn…

Chapter 154 - Meeting (Thank you for your support, Nim!)

I did consider that my blood could be a very powerful poison, so I did some tests, but Poison tipped the bolt only worked with my blood. Not with my spit, sweat, or any other bodily fluid.

I didn’t know if that was true in this world, but vampire bodily fluids usually had dangerous stuff since they are dead. Unless some people obtain their blood in the right way to become a vampire, they become monsters. There are also legends that their blood has necrotic energy and so on… Regardless, it didn’t look like it was true to me.

‘The pirate class wouldn’t suit me… while it would increase my strength, all the skills involve fighting in boats. I should feel satisfied that my mana regeneration increased again. Even though those skills aren’t that impressive. Perhaps they can be of some use as scrolls.’

I looked around and sighed when I confirmed that there was no path deeper in the dungeon. It wasn’t half bad. I made some decent progress and now I had almost all parameters to improve. It was time to bail.

Perhaps I should enter some towns while semi invisible and then gather intel just like that and then get the blacksmith and armorsmith classes. Then my progress when it comes to crafting will only rely on my insistence.

I decided to buy time by killing the enemies with my bow and then use Shadow Step with the Mana that I recovered. That increased my speed a bit, but it wouldn’t change things since I had to take a break and rest along the way.

It took only a day to return to the entrance, but even after all this time, I didn’t find anyone getting back to the dungeon. It wasn’t like leaving a dungeon or labyrinth alone for a week will cause a break, but it was still odd.

I decided to take a break on the first floor and rest for a couple of hours, but even after that, no signs of people.

‘I guess I should at least check things before returning to my labyrinth exploration… that will give me some peace of mind.’

The closest town was only two kilometers away. Heading there would be super easy, barely an inconvenience. I didn’t even have to head there to see some smoke raising coming from the town. It looked like my guess was right…

‘These battles between clans are always like this?’

Before long, I heard the sound of cannonballs and then the smoke began to increase… I knew that orcs, goblins, and ogres didn’t use that kind of thing on land, they barely used it in the sea. They only used it when their targets had the numerical advantage. So I immediately understood that something was off.

It was an invasion… just like I thought that I would be fine, my bad luck attacked again. Still, I couldn’t imagine who the enemies were… they should know that all the clans will band together to fight off the threats.

‘I guess they are finally paying for the war that they started years ago. With that in mind, this is none of my business.’

I was a bit curious about those who were invading… humans and Aquarians still should be at odds. It was hard to imagine humans crossing the Ocean this much without being attacked by the Aquarians. At the same time, the Aquarians didn’t use things like cannons…

I decided to shake those thoughts out of my mind and check the map for the direction of the next labyrinth. The closest one was in the North… After memorizing the route, I began to head in that direction.

‘I can’t imagine this nation falling, so it will be fine. It is time to focus on myself.’

I took out my automatic bike and then headed toward the North. Still, since my luck was that bad, I ended up seeing some large groups heading in the opposite direction of the town that were being attacked. I waited for a bit for them to disappear in the distance. 

The group was mainly made up of kids and elderly… It was kind of odd seeing that place with elderly people knowing how bat shit crazy orcs can be. I figured out that the goblins and ogres couldn’t be much better, but…

‘That can’t be all the refugees of that town… they must have destroyed that port town and the other that I wasn’t allowed to enter before.’

Two days had passed by the time the guys left the labyrinth, then that day, the port town should have been destroyed. It wasn’t like the distance between the territories of the clans was that big, but it was clear that the attackers were being quite methodical.

I think that I have read something like that before… a quick attack would be the best option to deal with the Skarnash Tribelands, but an orderly one, and piercing the heart of the land with several attacks coming from several directions would be even better. At least, that was what Albert thought.

While I was lost in thought, a lot more explosions took place in the town and then the refugees began to run away even faster. I didn’t think that the invaders would have brought horses with them, but the speed of the refugees was basically useless against those that had unlocked their parameters for years.

My fear soon became reality when I heard shouts in the distance… heading in the direction of the refugees, I saw a group of knights running. 

‘I guess honor is truly an illusion in times of war… I can understand that they don’t want the refugees to become a problem in the next city, but this still is messed up.’

My route has been blocked and turning in the opposite direction wouldn’t guarantee that I wouldn’t find a similar situation either, so my best option was to head west instead, even if it was the longest route to the next dungeon.

While I was lost in thought, the knights reached the refugees and began to cut them down… there were no warnings and no talking, asking them to surrender. Thanks to that, I opened my eyes widely. That set of armor was given to those who just graduated from the knights academy. If even those guys were being that merciless, then everyone had the orders to kill everyone in their path.

I sighed since that was the unavoidable end of a land that didn’t try to stop most of its people from becoming pirates and starting wars left and right. That was their way of living, so they should be fine if that was their way of dying as well, right? Well, even if they were fine with that, I wasn’t… I clicked my tongue in annoyance since I only forced myself to move when I saw some kids being cut down.

‘I am as naïve as ever…’

This wasn’t my battle, this wasn’t my fight… still, it was a fact that I wouldn’t be able to sleep well for a while if I kept watching that and doing nothing. I was only causing problems for myself. No one was looking for me in this land, but they certainly would do now.

I summoned my bow and some arrows with Arcane Arrow. I added the shocking effect on them before firing toward the knights. I was being naïve again… I fired the arrows at their legs and while those easily pierced and shocked them, it was far from mortal.

The contingent of knights was forced to stop when they realized that they were being attacked by their flank and soon stopped their chase.

‘Now, I should be satisfied with acting like a hero, right? Wrong, I feel like a moron… at least I followed Zyra’s advice. At least I recovered the mana that I used.’

The group of twenty or so knights looked at me in confusion. They didn’t expect an attack like that, much less from someone who looked like me. They assumed their fighting stances, but that would change nothing. I was one hundred meters away from them. I could hurt them with my shock arrows since their weapons and gear were all made of metal. Few of them could block those and they still would be shocked.

“Stop! Keep chasing the targets. I will handle this.”

A certain knight with a spear stepped forward after saying that. His voice sounded familiar, so the image of Rowan came to mind. I tried to use identification on him, but the skill was blocked. Fortunately, the knight was kind enough to take his helmet and show who he was. He was a bit different from I remember with the long hair and everything, but that cocky smile was hard to forget.

“Hahahaha! This is amazing! You are actually alive! I thought that you had died in some dirty alley somewhere, but I guess it is fitting for someone like you to be in a place like this.”

The knights hesitated in following the refugees, but soon they turned to chase them when they noticed my gaze on Remi. We didn’t look alike at all, but the green eyes were there. It was essentially the same, aside from the glint that Remi was showing now. It looked like he had experience with fights to the death.

In any case, he got ready to fight when he saw me nocking another arrow and then firing. It was an explosive one, but I fired in front of the other knights.

“Hey, don’t ignore me.”

“Stop!”

Remi assumed his fighting stance and got ready to charge, but he stopped when another familiar voice echoed in the area. To be honest, I wasn’t surprised meeting both of them here. From all the brothers, they were the ones who needed to show more of their skills to gain merit if compared to the other two. Regardless, Ulric also took out his helmet and while his sword wasn’t unsheathed, he was still holding his handle.

“It has been a while, Regulus. We didn’t expect to find you here.”

“Trying to buy time? You have grown more cunning, but it looks like you still lack confidence. At least you are smarter than him.”

Ulric looked a bit surprised when he heard that, while Remi looked annoyed. It would make sense that he would since no one likes to lose at anything against a younger brother. Still, I almost had a heart attack since the kid truly looks more and more like Rayner as he grows.

Chapter 153 - Opportunity (Thank you for your support, Rawin Ranatunga!)

“Hmm, I have the feeling that I got really unlucky and this labyrinth only has thirty floors.”

I reached the third boss chamber after just one day as planned. In the third section of the labyrinth, I faced more copper skeletons. This time, they summoned bows and arrows to face me. It was funny… that was supposed to be a spike in difficulty, but it was a lot easier for me, who was also an archer.

While they could attack from a distance, they were less sturdy, so I finished them off pretty soon. In any case, I shouldn’t be surprised since the other parties left the dungeon after the goblin went to look for them pretty fast.

The ones on the 29th floor could attack pretty fast, but not as fast as me, so I reached the next boss chamber without suffering a single scratch. Perhaps it made sense since I got used to the difficulty of a demonic tier labyrinth. Regardless, I decided to take a break and rest for a bit before facing the boss.

‘I don’t think that I have faced a boss that uses a bow before… It will be fun to face one on the 50th floor of a dungeon. Soloing the thing would boost my confidence in my archery skills.’

My dexterity was over two hundred, but my strength was still less than half of that. So, I couldn’t show the power of my dexterity since my arrows can’t reach as far as I can see. I probably could use a bit of engineering for that, but I needed better materials… At the same time, the blacksmithing and even the Armorsmith class will be very important for the whole process.

I needed better tools as well… I made some new ones, but they were more related form combat. I already had some ideals for working tools, but I needed those classes as well. 

Speaking of classes, the Monk class disappeared from my status screen. That was needed for the Barbarian class, apparently. Even though I was certain that it was a lower level class if compared. Still, the new skills were under that class with the previous aptitude, so it was fine.

I could make a lot of new tools with the amulets, but I also needed new materials. Finding them in this land will be difficult. Might as well hurry up clearing the dungeons and then move elsewhere if no one is willing to give me some information.

‘I guess I should make an ax for throwing… if they are small enough, I can probably create a tool to throw a bunch of them at the same time. Come to think of it, I wonder if there is a way to make amulets for skills that use stamina. If that isn’t possible, I need to keep increasing my stamina regeneration. Decreasing the cost with Stamina Conservation can also do the trick.’

I needed to focus more on that. My magic skills are improving a lot faster thanks to the amulets, but the physical ones have a lot fewer restrictions.

With those thoughts, I wasn’t able to take a short nap and thanks to the fact that the archers kept coming and trying to snipe me, I felt even less eager to insist on that. The boss fight of a dungeon with thirty floors shouldn’t be that difficult.

I knew that I might be raising my death flag, but I didn’t care either way. I wasn’t planning to drop my guard, after all. Actually, this was a good opportunity… so I decided to store my bow and then equip my short swords.

Facing the Skeleton Copper Archer Boss with my short swords was one of the best decisions I could’ve made for my training and to improve. Sure, it wasn’t easy, but that was the whole point of doing it. The boss was a ranged fighter, and closing the distance while dodging its arrows forced me to stay on my toes and sharpen my reflexes. It was the perfect chance to work on my agility and timing. I couldn’t afford a single mistake. It was a good way of improving my closed-ranged skills.

Using my short swords also meant I had to think carefully about every move. I couldn’t just charge in recklessly; I had to read its attacks, find the openings, and strike fast before it could recover. That kind of precision isn’t something you can practice against just any opponent. Fighting it head-on taught me how to handle enemies that try to keep their distance and pressure me from range.

I checked my current skill level with the short swords. Charging forward and then slashing them in front of me in a quick succession. Using them for thrust attacks while slowly moving forward as well. Imagining all kinds of attacks coming at me and then blocking them as well…

‘I guess as long as the enemy isn’t massive and can use fire magic, I can probably handle them just fine.’

I lacked experience dueling with people that are good at close range combat, so I couldn’t tell if I was truly strong or skilled, but I shouldn’t be half bad, at least.

If I wasn’t good enough, then I will end up with some arrows in my body. I decided to take those chances and then face the boss.

The boss chamber was pretty similar to the other one. It was a large and worn out hall made of only bricks and some pillars. Resting against one of the pillars was the boss, waiting for me. The creature sure was trying to look badass with its arms crossed.

The boss didn’t seem different from the other monsters in this section. Aside from the fact that it didn’t have a bow and a quiver already equipped. The creature just uncrossed its arms and then summoned them in the blink of an eye.

I assumed my fighting stance as the boss nocked his arrow at me, but then I saw a certain glow on the arm of the monster… a green glow.

‘What?’

The monster fired a Power Shot. The projectile flew in a straight line at my head, but I blocked it with a cross guard using my swords. The impact pushed me two meters backward.

I saw the arrow and was able to react to block it, but my strength wasn’t enough to completely nullify its damage. The creature had already another nocked and was ready to shoot. The monster was supposed to be an undead and not have any real stamina, but here it was, using it.

‘Well, who cares?’

I began to charge at the monster, and the creature soon fired the arrow. I jumped to the side with all my might and then avoided the hit, but I felt the pressure of the shot… it passed just a few centimeters from my shoulder.

A large impact coming from my back echoed in the chamber, followed by the sound of tens of blocks of brick falling. The arrow had the power of a cannonball. I could probably endure one or two hits on my body, but not on my head.

Moreover, any amount of damage would hinder my fighting ability, so I couldn’t take any chances. When I was thirty meters away from the monster, the creature used Rapid Fire and some weaker arrows flew at me.

I crouched and avoided two of them, but the third moved straight to my head. With another cross guard, I blocked the attack, but my charge was completely stopped.

Before I could recover, the enemy used another Power Shot. It looked like the beast liked to slam its skills. I swung my right sword while smiling and then used Rage and Adrenaline Rush. My sword split the arrow in two and made it fly to the sides.

I soon deactivated the skills when I felt my blood boiling… those skills are useful, but they can also be a problem in the hands of someone who is fighting the hunger and thirst of a half vampire.

‘I didn’t want to use any skills, but I guess that was too much for a boss of this level who also uses a bow.’

The creature studied me for a moment, but soon began to spasm Rapid Fire… I didn’t know where it was summoning the arrows from, maybe it was from its ass… regardless, it clearly wanted to wound me to decrease my fighting ability.

‘I guess I can do that since it isn’t a skill…’

I ran to the side with all my might and kicking the ground as well to cover large distances, but while I kept dodging the arrows like that, I soon turned around and then charged toward the monster with all my might.

When the creature unleashed the next arrows, I threw my swords, but not directly at the creature… I made them fly in two opposite arcs to attack the monster from the sides.

The swords flew like boomerangs toward the monster and the creature jumped away, since it couldn’t see both of them at the same time. The swords still approached the monster, so it decided to use Power Shot to push them away.

It managed to hit one, but to avoid the other, the monster was forced to use its bow. Around the same time the impact happened, a shadow appeared in front of the monster and then the creature turned its head only to see me. Before the monster could react, I slapped its face with both my hands. The impact alone made the monster stagger, but then it felt two things piercing its head. It was two of the three arrows that had fired previously. I avoided one, but blocked the other two with my hands… they were pierced through.

My blood drenched the arrowheads in blood and made the creature suffer thanks to it. I was expecting that the arrowheads alone would kill the beast. I had no idea that undead could be poisoned like that. Then again, my blood isn’t a common poison.

You received 3000 experience points.

You completed a trial. Please choose between the classes: Pirate, Fire Mage (Pyromancer), and Summoner (Warlock).

You obtained the Pyromancer class.

You improved the mana regeneration parameter

You unlocked the Aptitude: Heat Master

You unlocked the skill: Inferno Orb.

You unlocked the skill: Inferno Burst.

Heat Master: Gain 05 points of experience for every second an enemy remains burned.

Inferno Orb: summon a swirling orb of fire that hovers above you and can be directed toward your target. Upon reaching the target, the orb detonates, dealing damage equal to your spirit, dexterity, plus your magic power. The explosion causes a fiery shockwave, dealing additional area-of-effect damage to enemies within a small radius and burning them for five seconds. Targets hit by the shockwave are also afflicted with a burn status effect, taking extra damage over 8 seconds. Cost: 100 Mana.

Inferno Burst: Unleash a wave of intense heat in an area in front of you, dealing damage equal to your magic and causing enemies within the area to be burned. The intense heat reduces their movement speed by 30% for 10 seconds. Cost: 100 Mana.

Chapter 152 - Invasion (Thank you for your support, Badoro!)

While Regulus was defeating the first boss of the labyrinth, the human fleet finally reached the Skarnash Tribelands. Weirdly enough, they reached the port town that Regulus had visited a few days prior.

“Get ready, we will invade as soon as they give us the order and we will be at the frontline.”

Remi declared that as he watched the cannons being fired at the port town with his arms crossed and a serious expression on his face for a change. Ulric nodded while holding tightly to the handle of his sword.

The buildings that were hit by the cannonballs exploded into countless pieces since they had been enchanted with the flames’ enchantment, so if there was anyone inside them, they wouldn’t leave unscathed.

The sun had just appeared in the horizon, so the people in the town and those in the nearby ships were mostly sleeping… The orcs, goblins, and ogres on the ships soon woke up and tried to face the human fleet, but they were surprised to see countless Aquarian warriors landing on their deck and then attacking them with their magic.

At the same time, some others were underwater and using their magic to damage the keels of the pirate ships. Usually, they were reinforced to resist all kinds of underwater attack, but not when dozens of Aquarian warriors were attacking them at the same time and when they weren’t moving at all.

It didn’t take long for the first few ships to begin to sink. Some of the people managed to jump to the port, but others soon fell on the water and then they were immediately sent to the depths thanks to the Aquarian’s magic.

“Father wasn’t joking when he said that it is impossible to win against the Aquarians underwater.”

Ulric gulped when he heard that from Remi and then saw some goblins agonizing underwater. It was a pretty nasty way of dying. Ulric didn’t want to die anytime soon, but if he had to die, then a heroic death would be a better option.

People began to run away while the tougher looking orcs, goblins and ogres began to get ready for the next confrontation after the cannons stop. It wouldn’t take long since after just a couple of minutes, half of the port town was already on fire or became trash.

“They are quite big…”

Ulric saw the ogres and couldn’t help but wonder what it would be like to get hit by those massive fists. 

“They will be equally slow, so who cares? They are good at one-on-one battle, but they aren’t properly trained, so be cautious and use simple tactics and you won’t have to worry about anything.”

“Prepare to deploy!”

The captain of the ship declared and then those moved alongside the knights that were on the ship. Before long, the knights of the other ships began to jump to the port and then the cannonballs stopped. Thanks to that, the warriors that decided to stay behind left their cover to receive the invaders.

The people of the port town knew that they had no reason to be angry or pissed at the invaders, they did that countless times to other nations. At the same time, they suffered some attacks too. Still, they could at least receive them with enough vigor and welcome them with their style of greeting… with a lot of blood.

Remi smiled and then followed the others when he had the chance. He landed and then began to spin his spear while grinning. Ulric followed him, not feeling as much excitement as his brother.

“Kill them all, leave none behind and don’t waste time! We have a lot more of them to kill!”

When the defenders heard that, they realized the meaning of those words… Half-assed attacks against the people of the Skarnash Tribelands were a waste of time. If they were going to do something, they had to start and only stop when they reach a point where the entire land can no longer recover, or until all of them were completely decimated. 

The knights began to charge at the enemies since it was a terrible idea to face them with their backs so close to the water. Fighting with their backs to the water was a disastrous position for the attackers because it left them exposed. Moreover, the attackers had no room for retreat; being pushed into the water would result in chaos and heavy casualties, even with the support of the Aquarians. 

This positioning also restricted their ability to maneuver or regroup, allowing the defenders to dictate the pace of the battle. The psychological pressure of being trapped between the enemy and the water further eroded the defenders’ morale, making mistakes and chances of panic take place a lot more likely.

By creating distance from the water, they could maneuver more and give room for their allies to leave the ocean. Securing more ground would allow the attackers to reorganize and utilize terrain features, such as buildings or natural barriers, to fortify their positions. This strategic depth would also provide breathing room to mount counter attacks. Additionally, gaining ground would give the attackers an opportunity to exploit the weakness of the ogres and other large fighters in closer, more controlled encounters where sheer power could compensate for their lack of coordination. 

The fight started and the elites among the knights soon made blood rain in the area. Limbs of orcs, goblins and ogres began to be chopped left and right.

Remi soon found his first enemy and the goblin actually tried to reach him with only a pair of daggers in his hands. Remi trusted his spear forward, and the goblin blocked the attack. He wasn’t pushed backward and that showed his strength. 

Still, in a fluid motion that it only took the blink of an eye, Remi took a step forward and then spun his spear. The butt of the weapon hit the chin of the goblin and then, in the next moment while he was stunned, Remi pierced his heart without any hesitation.

You received 1212 experience points.

Remi smirked thanks to the alert and then soon looked for the next target. He was going to get a lot stronger facing enemies like this instead of monsters.

Ulric wasn’t falling behind either… despite his lack of confidence, his sword slashes cut through the enemi’s weapons and their torsos as well. He stepped backward and confirmed that the light had left the enemy’s eyes and sighed in relief.

Ulric had a hard time taking his first life that didn’t belong to a monster, but recruits like him are forced to execute some prisoners and invaders after some battles in order for them to become less green. Doing that was a lot harder than killing their first enemy in a battle. After doing that a bunch of times, the feeling bothered him a lot less than before.

“Form a perimeter around the port and don’t leave your positions!” 

Few defenders were left behind, so they didn’t last long against hundreds of knights of all kinds of levels and backgrounds. It looked like they had realized the scale of this attack and decided to alert the other clans and let the women and kids escape instead of trying to defend the port. That would work much better than trying to resist. Still, soon they will come to realize that four other ports were being attacked at this moment.

“Heh, too easy. I got ten of them. How many did you get, Ulric?”

Remi was cleaning his spear and checking that it didn’t suffer any damage. Although he mostly aim for the vitals, he tends to make his spear to get a lot of blood. He also prefers to block instead of dodging. 

Blocking is often a better defensive strategy than dodging in combat for several practical reasons, particularly when it comes to maintaining control and minimizing risk. It allows a fighter to remain in place, preserving their footing and balance. This is crucial for counter attacking or maintaining control of the battlefield. Blocking generally requires less energy than dodging, especially against rapid or repeated attacks. It’s often more efficient to absorb or deflect the force of a blow rather than constantly repositioning oneself.

Meanwhile, dodging, while useful for avoiding damage, often requires the fighter to move away from their current position, potentially exposing them to follow-up attacks or losing their advantageous spot. Dodging often requires resetting one’s stance before launching a counterattack, which can slow down response time.

“... Six.”

“Hahahaha, you are strong, but overthink too much. At this rate, you will always be the weakest of the Dawnshield brothers.”

Ulric didn’t care about that, he was more worried if his brother who was only a year older was a nutcase or was that normal to feel that relaxed in the enemy’s territory. He looked around and then noticed that the other knights didn’t look as worried as him.

The young ones looked proud since they survived the first battle unscathed. Still, that was going to be a very long campaign, so perhaps aiming for that will let them fight more and gain more merits in the campaign. A lot of them looked at him, annoyed and at his brother as well, since if they don’t try as hard, they won’t become as famous.

“Hehehe, I didn’t consider that, but perhaps I can get more famous than those two. Let’s see, killing some chieftains of those clans will do the trick. Are you going to try to surpass those slowpokes as well, Ulric? You might fall behind if you don’t try hard enough.”

Ulric didn’t think that it was possible… surpassing Remi was difficult enough. Jacques was getting more famous every year since he had already hunted down a bunch of necromancers. It was said that he was even welcome in the Aeloria Dominion after defeating a certain dark elf necromancer there.

As for Gerald, he had heard that he was working as a squire for the commander of the Golden Shield Order…. An elite group that creates a lot of royal guards. While he was lost in thought, the commander of their fleet approached.

“We secured the area, but we will proceed a bit faster than planned to catch up with those that escaped. Follow me.”

Chapter 151 - Growing Hunger (Thank you for your support, Alex Rejndrup!)

Another copper skeleton exploded into several parts after being hit by my arrows in the blink of an eye. I smiled when I saw a piece of copper and a mana core side by side in the next moment. Not having to process the bodies of the monsters was quite satisfying, but it was even more satisfying to see the monsters being killed so fast.

‘If I only could see the damage caused by numbers and then having a pet to attack after every single shot, then my nostalgia would come at full force.’

I played a game with the archer class in the past and doing that was always relaxing… even though I spent hours and hours hunting monsters, most of the time solo, just like now.

I guessed that around a day had passed since I got in the labyrinth and I was about to reach the second boss chamber. I probably could reach the third boss after another day. I could run, but that would limit the number of copper pieces I would get. It was better to take it easy for a while and enjoy the labyrinth for myself.

While I was walking, I wondered how I could use Hawk’s Vision… before, I used some conclave lenses to create binocles and similar things, but with that skill, I probably could make a scroll and attack on something and then make it a lot more powerful.

‘No one had this idea before? Probably because mages, enchanters and those who make scrolls usually won’t get this kind of class and skill in their lifetime.’

I wondered how I could make an amulet with that kind of effect… I probably will have to make the amulet first to see. With some luck, my eyes will automatically get improved while it has a mana core. If that isn’t possible, I will have to make some adjustments.

The amount of copper pieces was starting to accumulate in my magic bags. It would be a good idea to make some useful items, but even with the Smith and Weaponsmith class, the amount of things I could do was limited. I also just had basic knowledge when it comes to forging things. 

‘I suppose I need to get used to it… better start sooner than later.’

I might not have someone to help me, but I was skilled enough to pull out a lot of things with my high dexterity. It reached a point where my speed with the bow was quite insane… Thanks to my Dexterity, I could easily pick an arrow, nock, aim and then fire in less than half a second. 

I suppose I should test that joke skill that I created as well, against the boss it will be a good practice. Not like defeating the second boss of a place like this would be a real accomplishment, even if I do it in record time.

‘My dexterity increased, but it isn’t to the point that I can control a lot of things aside from physical actions. Perhaps if I increase my magic, controlling my mana will come easier than well.’

While I was thinking about that, I reached the boss chamber, or at least the entrance of the place. There was no grand door or impressive designs around. It was just a staircase.

Speaking of which, that made me wonder. The labyrinth had such a thing, but there was no natural guardian defending the place… unless that weird kraken was really the final guardian, and that asshole managed to control a monster like that somehow.

Still, we got our classes when that moron died, not when the kraken died, so I still had a lot of questions in my head. In any case, I began to climb the stairs, wondering what kind of enchantments I could use to make the amulets made of copper last longer. The skeletons didn’t use any magic, after all.

Considering their nature, they probably would come in handy with debuffs or poison. I had no idea how to use them offensively like that, though. Another thing that I would have to test soon enough.

Eventually, I reached the boss chamber and then I saw a creature there sitting on the ground. The creature got up and then showed a towering figure of menace and raw power, standing nearly 10 feet tall with a frame that exuded a battle-worn presence. Its body was forged entirely of copper, its surface tarnished with streaks of verdigris that creep over its joints and edges, adding to its eerie, timeworn appearance. Its jagged bones were unnaturally thick, fused in places to resemble crude armor plating, while its ribcage houses a fiery, molten core that glows faintly through the cracks. 

The skull is elongated, cracked, and filled with fissures that glow with molten light, while its hollow eye sockets radiate a fiery brilliance that seems to pierce into the soul of any who dare meet its gaze.

In its massive hands, it wields a colossal copper halberd, the blade chipped and worn from countless battles, yet retaining its deadly sharpness. Despite its hulking size, the Copper Skeleton moved with alarming dexterity and precision, its heavy footfalls resonating like hammer strikes against an anvil. Jagged spines protrude from its back, giving it a silhouette of predatory menace, and its clawed fingers gleam with a sharpness that suggests they could tear through steel.

The creature assumed a fighting stance, but I didn’t wait for it. I just tossed ten silver arrows above me and then began to grab and shot them as they came toward the monster. I saw three of them flying in the air and following the same route… the second and third flew faster than before, probably because the first arrow opened the path with its speed and pushed away the air.

The beast moved its halberd and blocked the first arrow, but soon the weapon was blasted away to the side and the monster was also pushed away… I forgot about it, but somehow the skeleton was an undead creature too, so of course silver arrows would cause more damage. They were still burning my hands, after all.

The second arrow hit the head of the monster, and so did the third, the fourth, and the fifth. The sixth didn’t since the head of the monster exploded… at least I confirmed that I could use my silly technique without using any real skills. It was almost as good as Rapid Fire, and it didn’t consume energy.

You received 600 experience points.

You completed a trial. Please choose between the classes: Sorcerer (Blood Mage), Viking, and Acolyte (Dark Acolyte).

My heart began to beat faster when I realized that two of my options were making me turn to the dark side more and more. The chances of all three classes being of my vampire side were a bit more than three percent, but knowing my luck, it was bound to happen several times. In any case, I made my choice since even though it wouldn’t increase my main parameters, it would unlock a very important one.

You obtained the Viking class.

You unlocked the Health Regeneration parameter.

You unlocked the Aptitude: Warrior’s Endurance.

You unlocked the skill: Battle Cry.

You unlocked the skill: Ax Throw.

Warrior's Endurance - Gain 1 point of experience per successful block or hit dealt with melee weapons.

Battle Cry: Let out a fierce battle cry that increases your attack power by 20% and reduces incoming damage by 15% for 15 seconds. Allies within earshot gain half of the bonuses. Cost: 30 Stamina

Ax Throw: Hurl a powerful ax at an enemy, dealing damage equal to your strength and dexterity. The thrown ax has a chance to stagger or knock down the target. Cost: 25 Stamina

I finally could improve my health regeneration, now I could take some more risks even when I don’t have enough mana to use Dread Enchantment. In any case, I felt the changes in my body… I assumed that nothing would happen, but as I began to increase my health regeneration, I began to feel my body getting hotter and then my hunger began to increase. I stopped and then it got a lot weaker, but it was still there. My body cooled down as well…

‘What the heck is going on?’

I stopped to think for a moment and find an explanation. Increasing the health regeneration of a vampire probably can make them feel hungry because their healing process would consume more energy and resources, primarily derived from their primary sustenance: blood. I wasn’t a total vampire, but I was starting to awaken some traits… even though I wasn’t injured, the healing effect still began to affect my body somehow.

Health regeneration involves repairing damaged tissues, replenishing blood cells, and revitalizing the body. For vampires, blood is the primary source of energy and fuel for these processes. Enhanced regeneration would accelerate these biological activities, increasing the demand for blood. That made sense… and that made me realize that I was in a bind. It wasn’t all…

If a vampire’s health regeneration is heightened, their metabolism would likely speed up to support the process. A faster metabolism would deplete their stored energy reserves more quickly, making them feel hungry to replenish what has been consumed. I could only assume that my metabolism had been enhanced, even though I was supposed to be a half undead.

‘I guess I will have to eat a lot more meat to avoid getting thirsty for blood. The idea of seeing other people as a snack or an ingredient of a juice really makes me shiver.’

I should try to find solutions for this problem… Many other types of solutions for my problems come from my vampiric heritage, but they aren’t as simple as inventing sunscreen in this world, since even inside a dungeon, my stats decrease during the day.

It was almost like I was hated by the day and was slowly being embraced by the night, but that embrace made my skin crawl. Being hated for not doing anything vampire-like was also pretty annoying, but I knew it better than wasting time doing things that wouldn’t help me like hating anything.

I let out a sigh and then decided to head to the next section of the labyrinth. Nothing good would come from thinking of ideas with my current mood.

Chapter 150 - Taking Advantage (Thank you for your support, bob!)

‘Two high ranked classes truly make a difference…’

You received 200 experience points.

You completed a trial. Please choose between the classes: Archer, Spearman, and Corsair.

The choices were a bit odd this time… without considering Corsair. I already had the other two and even upgraded them. Still, I didn’t level up their skills all that much. It was a good chance to do that now and get new skills in their classes. Still, picking up the Corsair class could open new paths for me, not like I was planning to become a full-time pirate.

I stopped to think for a moment and decided to pick the Archer class. It was time to increase the multiplier of my dexterity for the first time in a long while. That certainly would open more paths for me as well.

You gain bonus experience in the skills of the Archer class. 

The dexterity parameter was improved.

The Skill Rapid Fire gained five levels.

The Skill Power Shot gained five levels.

The Skill Precision Mark gained five levels.

You unlocked a new skill.

You unlocked a new skill.

Crippling Shot: Aim for the target’s legs or other weak points to slow their movement speed by 30% for 10 seconds. The shot deals with damage equal to your dexterity and strength, with a higher chance of inflicting the slow effect at higher levels. Cost: 20 Stamina.

Hawk’s Vision: Sharpen your senses to reveal hidden or distant enemies within a large radius. Hawk’s Vision also grants a temporary increase in range and accuracy for 15 seconds. Cost: 30 Mana.

I didn’t expect that Precision Mark would get experience too… Zyra didn’t explain things to me correctly, or perhaps I hadn’t asked enough. Regardless, the idea of getting old classes once more seemed more appealing now.

It wasn’t like I was using their skills now, but all the experience earned to gain them made me a lot stronger. So, soloing entire sections of labyrinths like this was no big deal anymore. Still, the boss didn’t leave any decent materials behind, so I was hoping that the next group of monsters would. It was hard to imagine what kind of skeleton monsters would leave materials behind, though.

I decided to head to the second section of the labyrinth. The previous one looked like an ordinary cavern, but that was normal for most first sections. 

The second section had walls, ceiling, and floor made of bricks, so I wondered how the monsters would emerge. The previous skeletons just emerged from the ground, after all.

While I was thinking about that, I heard the sound of footsteps and then used camouflage. Then jumped to above the entrance of the floor. Using my gloves, I stuck on the wall like a spider. Soon enough, I saw a goblin passing through the area quite fast. He seemed to be in a hurry since he was crossing forty meters per second.

‘An emergency? Did they find me here?’

I wasn’t gaining more experience than usual with Sneak, so I wondered what was the real reason for it. Silent Observation was the same as ever, too. 

‘A battle between clans? I can use this in my favor if it is the truth… no one will bother me while I remain in the labyrinths.’

Perhaps my luck was finally turning around. Somehow, I felt that I couldn’t be more wrong, but I could at least dream. It was still free, as far as I was concerned.

I stayed there for a while and then used camouflage again when I heard more steps. They all seemed to be in a hurry. The first party showed up after ten minutes, the second after half an hour, and then the third one hour later. No signs of the quick goblin returning.

‘I guess he must be warning all the parties in this dungeon… better to find a deadend and rest for a bit while everyone leaves.’

This kind of floor usually doesn’t have any dead ends thanks to how it looked, so I returned to the boss chamber instead. While it was the lair of a skeleton monster, I was able to relax for several hours. I couldn’t sleep that much, though. 

All the parties came in a hurry, some of them even came together. It looked like an emergency… I couldn’t tell for sure, but I had a feeling that all those parties belonged to different clans.

After six hours, they stopped coming altogether. The fast goblin also came with the last party, so it confirmed that I was alone in the dungeon. That was really convenient, but nothing in life can be that easy for me, so I got curious.

‘It probably isn’t related to me, but it is bound to be related to me at some point, I guess.’

Something big was happening outside, but I still had my own things to worry about it. It wasn’t like I didn’t gotten stronger in the last eighteen months. The number of things I could do certainly had increased, but my strength only increased to a certain extent. I needed to get the battle ready again and sharpen my fangs.

I returned to the second section, and after walking a bit in it, I found the first monster blocking my way. It was another skeleton, but this one was made of copper. That made me furrow my eyebrows… never heard of a skeleton like that.

Its skeletal body emitted a faint, unnatural glow, the hollow sockets of its skull swirling with a dim, eerie light. So, the same as the others.

As it spread its arms wide, the surrounding air seemed to chill, vibrating with the sound of grinding bone. Starting from its ribcage, bones began to shift and detach with an audible crack. A jagged rib snapped free and elongated, reshaping itself into a curved, wicked blade. The spine itself twisted and extended, forming the hilt, while smaller vertebrae fused together to form a sturdy grip. The sword gleamed and looked unnaturally sharp, as though infused with the power of death itself.

Simultaneously, more bones splintered and rearranged from the skeleton’s shoulder blades and upper arms. With precision, they interlocked, forming a broad, sturdy shield. The surface of the shield retained a faint organic texture, with smaller bones creating intricate patterns that resembled the image of a screaming skull.

‘That is a neat trick… I guess I will finally get some materials.’

The creature charged at me and then soon tried to stab my head. I just easily blocked with one sword and then smashed the head of the monster with the other. Thanks to my attack speed, the monster never had the chance to react. Still, I felt a lot of resistance…

You received 20 experience points.

The creature fell on the ground and then its parts eventually shrunk until it became the size of a fist. There was no mana core left behind.

‘This isn’t a type of monster that can be found in the dungeons or labyrinths in the empire. Quite interesting…’

I found myself quite curious about the monster and how it could use such abilities. I was probably more interested in the fact of learning something new and novel. As long as they didn’t cause endless problems, I wasn’t exactly against new and unexpected experiences, after all.

I tried to check if I could use some mana to control the shape of the small piece of copper, but it didn’t react to my energy at all. Probably because it wasn’t the energy of something that came from the labyrinth.

‘Hopefully, this won’t make my time in that cave completely useless… well, I got other types of ores there, I just need to learn a way to process it or find someone to do that for me.’

The second option was probably impossible unless I paid them, which would be easy, even if they didn’t accept the type of money that I had. 

Regardless, I decided to increase my pace. Even if I was alone in the dungeon, I didn’t have all the time in the world to clear it. Just like the previous sections. Only one monster showed at a time… the creatures grew stronger with each floor, though.

‘I guess this explains why the parties until now weren’t full. They only had three or four members at max.’

Labyrinths like this were great to make people get used to single combat of high level fast. I couldn’t imagine orcs, goblins and ogres using advanced tactics on the battlefield. Even if they could, they would prefer to use simple tactics like challenging the enemy commander to a duel to death, and so on. Instead of efficiency, they would rather focus on having more fun with that kind of tactic.

In any case, while fighting the enemy at close range to improve my sword skills seemed like a good idea, I stored my weapons away and then equipped my bow. It was time to use my new skills… I also needed to check how much a class could be upgraded. I didn’t know how old Zyra was, but she certainly was a veteran, and even she didn’t know that.

‘Probably because orcs, goblins, and ogres don’t find much use in teaching each other such neat secrets, but I digress.’

When the next skeleton showed up, I destroyed its legs with Crippling Shot. After that, another arrow on their head finished the job. My bow was as powerful as ever… with that extra mana that the bow granted, I also used Hawk’s vision for a bit. My eyes had improved a bit with Dexterity, but seeing my eyes getting zoomed in like a telescope for a moment scared me. Fortunately, I soon discovered that I could slow down the process, but it was a waste of mana, though.

I had never tested my range, mainly because I was always fighting in confined spaces, but I should do some tests about that when I clear this labyrinth. Perhaps I could use it against the boss… it would be interesting using arrows with several wind enchantments. Few enemies will be able to react to that.

In the end, it was a good thing to leave the cave. I felt pretty good considering those new options. Still, I didn’t regret the break that I took… I soon would come out to wish that I had done that a bit sooner, though.

Chapter 149 - Mission (Thank you for your support, Nerosol!)

I headed to the next floor of the dungeon, but I found nothing worthy of mention. The skeletons were getting a bit stronger, but a single attack on their back was good enough to destroy them. I decided to Berserk a bit as well and soon noticed the difference… my skin got redder and my muscles bulged. It wasn’t that impressive since my body was still pretty scrawny. I could only think that vampire physiology was allergic to muscles or something similar. Then again, I was only fourteen.

‘Ah, the still and not so fresh air of a labyrinth… can’t say that I have missed it. Hm?’

I heard the sound of footsteps in the distance and soon confirmed that they were heading in my direction. I dashed to the previous dead end that I found and then used camouflage. Before long, I saw a group of three ogres heading to the exit of the dungeon.

The Ogres were massive, hulking guys, standing around twelve feet tall, with muscles that bulge beneath rough, thick skin. Their skin had a sickly green, muddy brown, or even grayish hue, often covered in scars. It’s hard to look at an ogre and not feel the sheer weight of their strength and resilience.

Their faces were something to behold. They have low, sloping foreheads and wide, flattened noses, with sharp, jagged teeth that jut out like tusks. Their eyes are dark and small, set deep in their skulls, giving them a look that’s as menacing as it is animalistic. 

They were wrapped in rough hides and animal furs, held together with leather straps, and decorated with bones of their hunts. They wielded massive clubs and axes, crudely crafted or made from tree trunks or rocks lashed to sticks. Everything about an ogre screams raw strength and survival. They are wild, powerful beings, as wild as the world they come from.

‘Three alone, huh? Their strength and endurance is over the roof… they probably start with a lot more than seven.’

I should have asked things like that when I had the chance with Zyra. The knowledge that I had came from the perspective of a human, after all. It was severely lacking… In any case, I waited for them to go away for a while before resuming my journey.

When I reached the fourth floor, and saw that only one skeleton showed up, I realized that this labyrinth could be a bit annoying. Even the ogres had some recent scars in their bodies, so perhaps I will have to change back to my bow.

‘My strength is pretty high, so perhaps I should try fighting with my fists too… the more potions I have, the more I can surprise the enemies, after all.’

I had never imagined doing that. It seemed quite weird to fight with fists in a world of magic. I still had my gloves, so perhaps fighting with them would be a better option and I can also add the mana drain effect this time.

Attacking the enemy and then getting their mana only to run away with Shadow Step seemed kind of fun, but that would decrease my strength. It was still hard to come up with a clear fighting style… the next option would be to mix all of them, but mastering that would be close to impossible.

I need an instructor or a master, but it would be too much of a pain to find such a person and convince them to teach me… the best option was to be self taught.

‘My fighting style should be like this: kill the target from a distance or cripple them enough to make the fight at close range incredibly easy… that won’t be very fulfilling, though.’

“Hah…”

I let out a sigh. I was starting to become the king of depression. I wouldn’t have minded just snipping all the enemies if I could, but now the idea felt weird since I couldn’t enjoy the fight at close range. It was because of those guys…

It has been over a year and a half. Even if we were allies for a while, I should get over their deaths. Thinking all the time about it only to get depressed won’t help me or anyone.

In any case, I resumed my exploration of the labyrinth and focused on doing it as fast as possible.

… …

A large fleet was crossing the ocean in the middle of the night. The wind was helping them move without any resistance toward their destination. It was already midnight, but a certain black-haired person was still looking ahead through the darkness of the night, imagining what would be waiting for him at his destination.

His name is Ulric Dawnshield, currently seventeen years old. After graduating from the knights academy, he worked for two years as the squire of a commander in the eastern border, but now he received the chance to participate on a certain mission.

“Hah… I can’t believe that I am really going to do this.”

It has been over eight years since he had last seen Regulus and since then, his problem with confidence made some progress, but it always returns at full force at big moments like this. It wasn’t like he was weak for his age, he was strong and skilled, but always worrying about the family’s name and the fact that he looked a lot like his father didn’t help him ease his worries.

Whenever he would see a person looking at him and whispering, he imagined that he was being compared to his father. Soon enough, he will be at the age where his father started to make his name, and he was certain that this will only make things worse.

“Hah…”

“Stop sighing all the damn time!”

A slightly older knight kicked Ulric in the boat and almost made him fall in the ocean. They were being escorted, but that didn’t make the dark night sea any less scary.

Ulric looked at his older brother, Remi. While he sounded harsh, he had an amused look on his face. His red hair grew a lot in the last few years. While not many knights kept it long or even tied up in a ponytail, it somehow suited him. Unlike his younger brother, Remi looked pretty relaxed.

Although Remi spent the last three years just relaxing and showing his skill with the spear in some tournaments, he still was invited to join this very peculiar job. He readily accepted since he could make a name for himself even faster than with simple tournaments and by defeating people of a similar age. Ulric just looked away, since he knew that sharing his worries with this brother was a waste of time.

“I will truly throw you in the ocean, you know.”

Remi raised Ulric by the back of his armor, but soon dropped him when he didn’t see any reaction. It was only fun when that meek brother of his reacted.

“Relax, with me here, you don’t have to worry about screwing up. I will get all the attention, so you can focus on gaining some merits. If you ask, I can send some half dead enemies in your direction too.”

“I don’t need your help.”

“Yes, because if a confidence looked like a person, it would look exactly like you. It would look a lot more like our Lord Father, but I guess it would look a lot like you by default as well.”

Remi shrugged, since Ulric let out another sigh. The shadow of their father was too big… even if they went to the other side of the world, it would follow them. They couldn’t say that they traveled all around the world until now, but it felt like whenever they went, someone knew about him.

“Our awesome, super amazing, very talkative father isn’t participating here, so they won’t have anything to compare with you. Besides, you have the chance to impress some mermaids, so why are you so depressed about it? Hehehe.”

“... You know how much our father had to work for that misstep of his, and you want to take your chances too? You should start using your head, the right head, to think.”

“It will be fine, as long as nothing happens. I know how to control myself.”

Ulric wanted to say that was bullshit… he faced a lot of problems in the knights academy because his brother didn’t know how to control himself. He asked out most of the sisters of their fellow trainees. It was hard to say how far he went with them, but he ended up dueling with a lot of their brothers and those guys clearly tried to claim his head. Ulric wouldn’t be surprised if some day his insane brother ends up attacked on his back by an ally.

Remi was the third son. The chances of him taking the family control was low, so he only wanted to get famous enough to just like his father get a lot of women. Ulric wondered how come their father didn’t beat the crap out of him yet.

“Speaking of that misstep, have you heard anything about him?”

“No… Father never talks about it, but even how, it is clear that he is looking for information about him.”

Remi’s smile disappeared when he heard that… It was hard to believe that a kid managed to escape their search for so long. Even if he had been captured, their family would have heard something about it, but it looked like their youngest brother was still missing and living somewhere.

Regulus had always been an odd kid from their perspective, but he didn’t look particularly smart. He was clever with a sword, but that cleverness would have only worked against kids.

“Maybe he found a way to reach the land of the vampires… the Nocturath. Someone like him, who only lived in the shadows of our home, would find a fitting place with the other disgusting bloodsuckers.”

“I think Father would have headed there somehow if that is indeed the truth…”

“Jacques, his mother and the Holy Knight would have followed him with the entire Holy Order to level their land if that were to happen. Besides, he won’t do anything like that since it will put his loyalty to the test once more. Regardless, we have to succeed here and clean his name a bit as well, since we benefited from his fame.”

Remi smiled and waved when he saw a mermaid approaching the ship. Ulric sighed… They were heading to the Skarnash Tribelands in order to make them suffer a bit more for the war that happened years ago. It looked like in the last two years, humans and aquarians become allies again… and Regulus had no idea what had made that possible or that had happened. He would soon learn anyway…

Chapter 148 - Sneaking (Thank you for your support, Tim Anklesaria!)

‘Well, what now?’

I could sense a group following me while keeping themselves hidden. They were quite good at that, but not good enough. In any case, I already knew what I was going to do. The question was how. Well, I trained for one and a half my skills for that kind of situation. At the same time, I could see a clearing ahead.

… …

The group of goblins moved with speed and skill as they didn’t leave any footstep on the ground or made any noise for that matter. Still, they had a bad feeling when they saw their target approaching a clearing close to the road.

They sped up, but soon the target disappeared behind a tree and into his weird vehicle as well. When they arrived in the clearing, they soon noticed the marks of the wheels disappearing and then his footsteps continuing to the end of the place, but it ended there as well.

“He should be around… get ready for attacks. Someone who wasn’t working for the other clans wouldn’t try to hide from us.”

The goblins grabbed the knives to their waists and then got ready to fight. They were good at detection too, but they didn’t find any traces of their target. They checked the trees, the bushes, and some possible holes on the ground, but they found nothing. The individual didn’t look like a mage that could hide from them for that long and without leaving traces behind, but in the end, they regrouped without any results.

“He tried to enter the town through the gate… someone able to escape from us. Why would someone do that?”

“Probably to try to confuse us.”

“Why would another clan use a person like that to confuse us as well? He didn’t look like a human or an elf. Those who tried to identify him failed and got nothing from a single piece of information.”

The goblins stayed there talking with each other, trying to understand the situation. They were quite the interesting bunch for talking like that in the open when they were supposed to be a group that works in the shadows. In any case, soon enough, they left the place.

… …

‘It looks like I can finally leave…’

Misinformation Bone Ring (Rare)

Enchantment Slots: Misinformation (Master) (3) - prevents others from using Identification on you. Identification up to level 80 is completely nullified.

Durability: 10/10

One of the reasons why I stayed hidden ways to improve my ability to hide my parameters. After making countless rings, I finally got that type and rarity rank. After failing to make the best kind of enchantment countless times as well, I finally reached the Master level three times. Not because I was skilled, but because I was stubborn and had too much time in my hands. The first effect made Identification below forty useless and the other two added twenty points each.

To hide from those guys, I used a bunch of camouflage amulets made of leather. They each indeed the effect of the skill on me until they basically became an invisibility cloak. Still, it wasn’t perfect, since if they had waited a bit longer, the leather would have lost all of its durability.

‘It looks like the clans here are wary of strangers that could be spies working for other clans. Is this how things are here or is my timing that bad?’

I couldn’t say… Most likely, entering the port towns should be easy, but anything else will be a pain. I wanted to use my crafting skills and improve them by buying new things, but perhaps I will have to avoid doing that.

It was a pity, but it wasn’t like the Skarnash Tribelands are a potency when it comes to making new things, even if they aren’t magic. I still had some sunlight left, so I decided to move, but I decided to avoid the main roads now… I also second guessed that choice given that I would appear suspicious to the other clans.

‘Perhaps I should have bought some information from that merchant as well… shall I look for an underworld organization here that would sell information to someone like me?’

I didn’t remember them having such a type of organization. Because the Tribelands are often seen as barbaric by other nations, leading to conflicts with nearby kingdoms. However, they trade with outcast human merchants and have secret pacts with some dark elf factions. Perhaps I could find such groups. That would only make more people know about my existence, after all. I didn’t want that yet… I didn’t want to hide, but I wanted to clear the labyrinths of this land in peace.

My other option was to look for anyone connected to Zyra and her crew, but those would be hard to find, since they were the survivors of a battle between clans.

‘I can always just invade their towns at night and steal what I need, but I don’t want to do that. Causing problems for others or giving them more reason to look for me would be too annoying.’

Invading the labyrinths was another matter, though. While some people claimed ownership over them, they couldn’t control them completely. No one could, so no one was truly the owner of those places. I was just making excuses to do the things that would bother me less than others, but I was fine with it.

Soon enough, night came and with it, my thirst. Still, I kept moving through the night in order to reach the closest labyrinth as soon as possible… Fortunately, I didn’t have to endure two nights of that… while moving non-stop, I reached the place at noon the next day. I couldn’t help but furrow my eyebrows since the place had the entrance to the middle of a large sculpture of stone. Usually, they would have the images of a type of monster inside the place fighting each other, but I only saw the figures of countless skeletons looking at me.

‘An undead labyrinth? What a pain…’

I hated those since they rarely would give good materials to me. They would leave a lot of materials for alchemists, though. Moreover, the place was quite crowded… I could see some parties around the entrance, they looked like support parties. Although they were all doing the same job, the tension among them was clear: they were from different clans.

I was bound to meet a lot of people inside, so I had to use camouflage pretty often to avoid being found out. Not hiding completely wasn’t an option.

While using that skill, I approached the dungeon, moving close to the tents, and soon confirmed that no one was aware of me. The entrance wasn’t guarded either, so that had been a lot easier than expected.

In a fractious orc society, even loyal defenders might be swayed by offers from rival clans, promises of power, or even intimidation. This could create a situation where defending orcs switch sides mid-battle, or worse, collaborate with invading clans, effectively nullifying any benefit they would provide.

With the clans already engaged in constant warfare, the strongest orcs would be needed on the front lines. Allocating them to guard static locations would not only weaken each clan’s military force but also be an ineffective use of their warriors when combat is already consuming their resources.

It made sense, but it also felt that this kind of setup caused problems pretty often. Most likely, I assumed that they didn’t put guards there because they didn’t stop anyone from trying to get stronger. Even if they fight inside the dungeons, and someone dies, that would still be beneficial to their overall society.

‘Well, even Zyra and the others were quite crazy, since they fought until the end, even when they no longer had arms or legs.’

In any case, I didn’t want to leave traces of my actions and I wanted to make the people from that land as confused as possible. So, when the first enemy arrived, I just used the Magic Shuriken and split the creature into pieces… the creature was a skeleton that turned into white dust after having its head destroyed by a single magic shuriken.

You received 10 experience points.

‘I guess this confirms it… this is a labyrinth. The map doesn’t say how many floors this place has, but it doesn’t matter all that much. I will conquer it in one attempt. There is only one problem here, when it comes to facing the bosses… that will clearly reveal my presence.’

Perhaps I shouldn’t worry too much about this… things couldn’t be that organized when orcs, goblins, and ogres are involved. In any case, I crossed the first floor without finding anyone, aside from a few skeletons. Instead of magic, I used Shadow Step to appear behind the monsters and then Silent Strike to get them from behind. It was better to use the skills that I never used when possible.

You completed a trial. Please choose between the classes: Warrior (Barbarian), Thief, and Mage (Venom Mage).

Since I didn’t know what to expect, I was surprised for a moment. It wasn’t the first time I had the chance to pick the mage class, but the other time, I didn’t see the possibility of becoming a Venom Mage. As expected, I was transforming and my options were being opened as well. I felt like sighing, since it was clear that eventually, I will be unlucky and select an option that will speed up my transformation. I would still be a Dhampir, but I would have more and more characteristics of a vampire.

You obtained the Barbarian class.

You improved the Strength parameter.

You unlocked the Aptitude: Rage Unleashed.

You unlocked the skill: Cleave.

You unlocked the skill: Berserk.

Rage Unleashed: Gain 1 point of experience per successful attack while enraged. 

Cleave: Swing your weapon in a wide arc, dealing damage equal to your strength to all enemies in front of you. The attack has a chance to cause a bleeding effect that deals damage over time equal to your strength for three seconds. Cost: 15 Stamina.

Berserk: Enter a frenzied state that significantly boosts your attack speed and damage attack by twenty percent. During this time, you also gain increased resistance to stunning and crowd control effects. Cost: 10 Stamina per second.

If it were before, I would have picked the Thief class and increased my dexterity, but after the labyrinth, I realized the value of more physical buffs, even if they drain my stamina faster. I just had to find the right enchantment to restore stamina while fighting as well.

Chapter 147 - Unwelcome (Thank you for your support, alwaysfrostbite!)

There were two things that I needed in this town: information and magic implements. I wanted to know where the hardest dungeons in this land could be found, and I also wanted to learn the effects of the magic implements and weapons they had here. Perhaps I should buy everything I could since obtaining more information about any given effect still gives a lot of experience for my main enchanting skills.

‘I guess all the time alone helped me a bit. I am able to ignore those eyes on me. Considering that it was the whole town, it was quite something. Some people are even leaving their houses to look at me in disbelief.

In any case, the items sold around weren’t that vast in quality. They were quite subpar, actually, since the orcs didn’t make business with the other nations, officially. They would rather take things instead of buying or making them.

I stopped all of a sudden when I found a map being sold… It looked like a map, but it was closed like a scroll. I used identification and confirmed that it was a map of the Skarnash Tribelands. I checked things around in the open air shop and didn’t find many enchanted items.

“How much does that map cost?”

“... Fifty gold coins.”

At least there was a price, but I had no idea how much was that, too much? Too little? The trader didn’t look that eager to make business with me, but it made sense. 

“Can you trade the map and the magic weapons for this?”

I took a magic bag of Novice rank from my back and the trader frowned. I could tell that crafting wasn’t the main thing for the orcs, goblins, and ogres. Since they didn’t buy it either, it was rare for them to get their hands on items like that. People from other lands knew that and they would do their best to not have their stuff stolen when they were attacked and then strengthen the pirates.

“Deal.”

The orc grinned from ear to ear thanks to my offer… Perhaps the magic bags were worth one hundred gold coins here. Still, with the ability to make them as long as I had decent monster skin to make a bag, I was probably going to become desensitized to the value of money. Well, that was fine with me since money was just another tool in my hands, not something that I considered worthy of worrying about.

The magic weapons didn’t have any effects that I wasn’t aware of, but I still bought them to destroy them with my skills. I could also change their enchantments and level up other skills as well. All that was worth the hassle of my progress.

‘I guess expecting advancing effects in the first town that I arrived in was a bit too much.’

I headed to the exit of the port town while studying the map. It had four points marking four labyrinths. It had towns too. It didn’t look like the orcs had a single city in their territory, but they had tens of towns. The map also revealed all the information about their land… they didn’t care about spies at all, since they were selling something like this. They were usually the ones doing the attacking, after all, so that made sense.

Invasions in their lands were rare, and it was the only thing that made all the tribes join forces. So, unless someone wanted to face the full wrath of millions of orcs, goblins and ogres, then it wasn’t a good idea to invade their turf.

‘This doesn’t make much sense… how come they only have four labyrinths?’

Their land should be at least one thousand kilometers across from east to west and from north to south. It wasn’t as large as the human territory, but it was large enough to have at least three times more dungeons and labyrinths.

Unless… knowing orcs, goblins and ogres, they find dungeons where they can get combat classes worth the hassle. That would explain why I didn’t find high-quality items… too few enchanted stuff, and nothing when it comes to potions or books.

At least they weren’t selling people. That made me feel relieved since my image of Zyra and the others wouldn’t be tainted by what their society was showing me. Still, if one thinks about it, they wouldn’t have any use for slaves since they would be weaker than them. Orcs also like to fight and move their bodies, so slaves would only make them waste their time.

In any case, once I was far enough away from the town, I grabbed the parts of my bike and then mounted it. The new version had better parts and enchantments thanks to all the stuff I found in the labyrinth. Since it was something that would have to last for a while, I made it using mainly bones for the central part where the engine worked. The rest I used was wood nearby the cave to make those parts easier to replace.

Thanks to the amulets that I am able to make now, the engine had two times the power of the previous one. It generated enough energy with each Fireball to cross five hundred meters. The impact inside was contained thanks to the distance between the parts and the fact that the heat was soon absorbed and transformed into kinetic energy.

All that was only possible because I was able to regulate the firing speed of that amulet when it comes to using fireballs. Essentially, I added just an extra layer of bones over the first amulet. Since they were close, the energy would take some time to spread through the main amulet. It was a rather clunky idea. It had to be improved, but it was fine for now.

However, that made me realize that even when they had no real functions, organic matter still could get in the way of magic, it couldn’t just improve it. I had to study that too.

As the bike began to move automatically. It made me recall the trip to this land. I crossed the sea for two weeks without finding anyone or anything. The prison labyrinth was truly in a desolate place, or maybe nothing was nearby, not even monsters or animals because of the labyrinth itself. It was hard to say.

I was crossing something on a road, so it didn’t take long for me to find some other inhabitants coming from the opposite direction. Weirdly enough, they were goblins riding dire wolves. Those things looked pretty badass with their white fur and their two meters of height and four of length. Still, unlike my bike that could move as long as I had mana cores, they needed time to eat and rest.

‘They keep looking at me until I disappear in the distance, but they don’t do anything. It is quite odd.’

It wasn’t like I was waiting for a fight expectantly… but it never crossed my mind that they wouldn’t try to screw with me. Regardless, I decided to forget about that and get to work… I used Arcane Reforging and then turned the rings into the types that store spells and some knives into the types that can be used for skinning or carving arrows with Sharpness. The others that I didn’t have any use for, I just extracted their essence.

The Skill Arcane Reforging leveled up. You received 600 experience points.

The Skill Essence Extraction leveled up. You received 1400 experience points.

I could keep using that on the items, but it wouldn’t give as much experience as before. The number of attempts was the same as the level of the skill, but I preferred to stock items that would be useful in the future. My mana had other and more efficient uses as well.

I soon found another town along the way, so I could use the skill on other items. I stored my bike and then began to walk toward the town. It was still early, but I wondered if I should try my new tricks… in case of arriving at places where I wasn’t welcome, I was planning to use either camouflage or veil of shadows. No way people would stop me from getting the power and knowledge of the dungeons and labyrinths. Even if I had to become wanted again, or perhaps even more than I already was.

When I reached the town, I saw two goblins guarding the entrance of the place and I frowned when they used their spears to block my path. I immediately used identification on them and frowned even more.

Name: Golius

Race: Goblin 

Health: 550/550  Regen: 2.1 per hour

Mana: 220/220 Regen: 1.0 per minute

Stamina: 890/890 Regen: 7.5 per minute 

Name: Golium

Race: Goblin 

Health: 550/550  Regen: 2.1 per hour

Mana: 220/220 Regen: 1.0 per minute

Stamina: 890/890 Regen: 7.5 per minute 

Probably twins, but all the goblins looked the same to me, aside from the ones who had boobs.

“Halt. Who are you and what you see doing here?”

“Just a traveler wishing to make business here.”

I readily answered the question of the first goblin. I had nothing to hide, and that was my true intentions anyway. Still, they kept studying me for a while.

“The poisonous fang clan doesn’t accept the visit of strangers, begone.”

That was a bit troublesome, but trying to negotiate with them wouldn’t help me in any shape or form. People inside the place would only treat me the same way, after all. So, I decided to follow my path and then move around the town to the next one.

I could have kept my disguise with a cloak and hood, but I left those days behind to be truly free. Thanks to that, I soon noticed when I left the town behind that I was being followed. 

“My bike can move sixty kilometers per hour, so they should be able to reach me, eventually. I guess I don’t have any other option.”

Chapter 146 - The First Step (Thank you for your support, Aymeric Petiaux!)

I woke up thanks to the morning sun. As usual, it never fails to make my skin tingle. I stretched my body while enduring the feeling of weakness taking over it. It didn’t get any easier since I was little, but I got used to it.

After eating the leftovers of last night’s dinner, I grabbed my pickaxe and then moved to the end of the cave and then began to look for some ores. A year and a half had passed since I escaped the labyrinth. After recovering the remains of the crew, I fulfilled my promise and burying them in their homeland. 

I was no longer hiding my face, but I was still hiding. That wasn’t my intention. I just needed some time for myself after everything that happened in the labyrinth. Those fifty days had been too intense, after all.

Just doing nothing would be a waste of time, so I looked for a place where I could stay alone and do any kind of work. I found some mountains near where I buried the crew and then decided to become a hermit for a while and gather materials.

I also used this time to check my condition and my thirst for blood… It was annoying, but it only came at night and I didn’t have to worry too much if I slept through it and I kept myself well fed and hydrated. At least that was how it worked until now, by myself.

‘I guess this is mine is almost empty…’

I didn’t get many ores after a long day of work. I didn’t even have the mining or a blacksmithing class, so the ores had been stacking from the very beginning. I decided to make sure to obtain it for the first chance. My skills in the labyrinth made us clear the place, but they weren’t polished enough. I had to cover my bases when it comes to that aspect too, even if it will spread too much of my crafting skills.

When the sun was setting, I sat near the entrance of the mine and then watched the land around. The land of the orcs was a bit different from I had read about it. It was a lot more calm with a lot of green fields in all directions… probably because the orcs, goblins and ogres mainly worked as warriors and pirates. I could watch the sea for several hours and enjoy the peace… occasionally, I would see a pirate ship, but that was that.

While I was thinking about those things, I saw a bird flying nearby and then I shot it to have dinner. That was my routine for the past eighteen months. More or less, I did some research on making the organic magic circles that worked with the Mana cores. The best materials were indeed bones… when the spell written on them was compatible, they could use ten mana cores before showing any signs of degradation. When I used common animal leather, it would eventually become useless after five mana cores.

‘I suppose if I forge a plate with a magical metal, it can last for thousands of uses. For that, I will have to take the blacksmithing class.’

I began to cook my dinner, wondering what I should do… I have been doing that for a while. Living for over a year in isolation never had been within my plans, but I honestly didn’t care much about them lately since things keep happening and putting them out of order.

Following the rules and getting screwed like that every time was tiresome, too. Besides, I was planning to live like Zyra told me to leave and just see what happens. I stuck up too much to my plans before and only worked for so long, and it also limited some things.

‘Putting that aside, it is weird that just moving West made me leave that cold area. This doesn’t make much sense. It snows here in some parts of the year, but not that much.’

I didn’t have much information about the location of things in the Great Sea, but I knew that the Skarnash Tribelands were like a small continent south of the Elven coast. The influence of other countries and races here was weak, so it was a good chance for me to do some exploration and learn some new things.

Shadow Mark: Mark a target with shadow energy, increasing the damage they take from all sources by a percentage for a limited time. This effect can stack with multiple uses. Cost: 50 Mana.

Arcane Trap: Place a magical trap at a location that triggers an arcane explosion when an enemy approaches, dealing in elemental damage based on your magic power and dexterity. This explosion can apply status effects such as burning, freezing, or stunning based on the chosen element. Cost: 100 Mana.

Phantom Slash: Unleash is a swift, multi-hit combo in quick succession, dealing rapid attacks based on your attack speed and dexterity. When the first strike is used from stealth, it is guaranteed to strike critically, while each subsequent hit may crit. Cost: 40 Stamina.

Tempered Body: Temporarily harden your body to withstand attacks, reducing incoming damage by 30% for 10 seconds. This skill is particularly effective against physical strikes, allowing you to endure heavy hits and stay on the front line. Cost: 100 Stamina.

Perfect Form: Enter a state of flawless movement, increasing dodge rate and attack accuracy by 25% for 10 seconds. Each successful dodge during Perfect Form restores a small amount of stamina and has a chance to give you a temporary speed boost. Cost: 70 Stamina.

I also spent the last eighteen months training those skills that I believed would help me escape annoying situations and I sharpened my basic skills, too. It was indeed time to move on with my life.

I didn’t have many things to pack, but I cleaned up the cave as soon as possible and then decided to leave the next morning. It was a bit surprising that I decided such a thing all of a sudden, but given the lack of information that I had, I couldn’t overthink things and then try to make things as efficient as possible.

In any case, I decided to head north since it was in that direction that I saw the ships heading and approaching the coast as well. Along the way, I stopped for a bit at a clearing in front of the sea. There, I found the graves of ten people.

“It is time to say goodbye for real, guys. I probably won’t return here ever again, but that is probably for the best, right? No more moping around. This area should be safe enough for no one to bother you. Then again, I don’t like your customs when it comes to this kind of stuff.”

It was a bit awkward, but at least I said what I wanted. That area was rarely visited by other orcs and I noticed that some of them found the graves, but did nothing. It was fine to let them rest there. 

“Well… thanks for the journey.”

I began to head north for real this time and I didn’t turn back even once. It has been a while since I used that, but I used Shadow Step whenever possible to level up the skill. Using that for traveling was almost nonsensical, but I considered that was training, so it was fine.

I tried to make some amulets with that spell, but controlling them was quite hard since it wasn’t an attack spell that you just had to aim. Once you attach the mana core, the amulet would make the user move until the energy was completely spent. So, one needed to know a clear path in mind or make split-second decisions.

I gained half of the normal experience I would usually earn when using the spells myself and since I didn’t care about my adventurer card rank anymore, it was a good way for grinding.

‘The human currency is the same in the Elven and Dwarf realms. Even the realm of mixed races, Talimor, uses the same fired currency, but things are different here. My rank in the guild should be useless here if they have their own guild system.’

Still, I should be fine if I trade my magic implements for whatever I want. I made a lot of magic bags in the last year to try to increase the rarity rank of the effect, and I once pulled off an Adept rank magic storage. I felt a terrible headache for the next three days, though.

‘The headache is a clear effect of breaking my limits… while that makes me stronger, it also weakens me a bit. I have to keep increasing my parameters for the results to come more naturally.’

In the end, it took me three days to see any signs of civilization, but when I saw the orc’s version of a port, it made me think that I might have missed some villages or towns along the way.

The first orc port looked like a half abandoned and half destroyed port town. It was too old and damaged. It looked like they were attacked pretty often, but they didn’t care about respiring it. Everything was made of wood, and since it was close to sea, the sea breeze was relentless against the buildings.

They couldn’t be different from the Elves, so there were plenty of signs of trees that had been chopped down over the years and used by them, but at least there are signs of new ones sprouting.

It didn’t take long for me to see some orcs ahead chopping down trees. As soon as they took notice of me, they stopped their work and then looked at me with expressions of astonishment. They froze mid swing to cut down a tree. I just passed by them and then nodded like nothing had happened. 

I found more and more orcs along the way and then some goblins as well. They all reacted the same way at me… like I was a rare non-violent animal. Still, it was weird… the goblins were very different from the one I faced before. They were taller and a lot more humanoid and without deformations. I could tell why now they weren’t considered monsters when they weren’t inside dungeons. Regardless, I eventually entered the first town in the Skarnash Tribelands.