Hell Maze (2)

Reaching the third checkpoint, the party saw another table but instead of weapons like on the second checkpoint, the table was filled with potions.

Four types of potions were waiting at them at the third checkpoint which were Health Recovery, Mana Recovery, Stamina Recovery, and Antidote potions. These potions were supposed to help the injured and tired Heroes who survived the second checkpoint which were filled with trap rooms.

In consideration, the Tutorial gave them potions to recover their lost mana and stamina, moreover healing skin injuries and curing poison.

When the party saw the description of the liquid potions, all of them had a pale face except Liam who was immune to poison and had a lot of potions which were greater than the potions he was holding.

Rain also felt like right from the start there were already a lot of death flags coming his way, though as an OP character he could breeze through fighting monsters but he wasn't immune to poison nor immune to blood loss. Rain was still human through and through.

It should have been a big gain for them, but they didn't have any storage to keep the potions. Rain wanted to talk with Liam but stopped himself before he could do so.

Though having potions was good in the early parts especially on the Tutorial, it wasn't the best potions either because it was only labeled 'small'.

"Let's just take one potion and drink the stamina potion."

Liam made a wise decision which was the best at the moment. Though they couldn't take all the potions, they could still replenish their stamina using it.

"Wait, Leader!"

Ronan shouted before everyone could uncapped the potion and drink it. Having the party's attention on him, Ronan continued.

"Actually, the artifact has a large storage space inside it. Rubric, yes I named it Rubric like the Rubric's cube, hihihi.. It said that it could store the potions."

Seeing Ronan in high spirits, Rain smiled gently without his knowing. Though Rain had the Author's Mind it didn't mean he couldn't feel positive emotions. Rather, it was only effective in preventing negative emotions from eating him alive due to being just a normal human.

The other Area on the first part of the Tutorial was at first averse in killing, that's why they took too long to kill the goblins which led to a high mortality rate.

The average strength of the goblins were only at 12 points which could be easily defeated by everyone as long as their strength was higher than 15.

It was also the reason why Liam was surprised at just being number two.

Everyone handed the potion to Ronan except the health recovery potion which was a life saver when needed.

Just like before, Ronan used the artifact greatly absorbing his mana. Due to excessive use of mana Ronan almost slumped on the ground.

Fortunately, Rain was always at his side catching him. Rain instructed Ronan to drink the mana potion. Ronan complied, but when he drank the mana potion, his expression twisted.

"Bitter.."

Rain only patted Ronan's head to comfort the child. Ronan's face came back to being a little rosy from pale.

When Ronan felt that his mana was almost at its peak again, he went to the passages and examined it just like what he did before.

The first and fourth passages were in black color.

The second passage was blue, and lastly the third passage was yellow, which Ronan explained which was warning him to be cautious.

The party proceeded to enter the second passage first to get the treasure inside.

Like before the passage opened up and at the end, a single big tree was on the view. At the shade of the tree was a snake sleeping under it. The red-colored snake that was as big a train was sleeping under the tree, treasure on the branch just above it's sleeping head.

The party gulped as the snake was too big for them to fight. Liam knew what type of monster it was. Though it looked big, the weakness of the snake was magic. Its hard skin was resistant to physical attacks especially slashes and stabs.

"Rain, please use magic on that snake."

The party glanced at Liam wondering if he had a plan.

"I have an eye skill that lets me check the information about monsters. The snake is called Crimson Snake that is resistant to physical attacks and weak to magic."

"Ohh..."

Liam asked Rain for his help so Rain was able to move. Though Rain only had one magic at the moment, if he put all his mana into the magic, then it might even kill the snake.

Rain stepped forward and approached the snake as quietly as he could. The distance from the entrance wasn't far. When Rain felt that it was a good distance to attack and to retreat if he could not kill it, Rain gathered all his mana for his one attack.

The wind converged to Rain, gusts of winds were swirling around like a small whirlwind. The snake opened its eyes and was surprised at the wind that was gathering near it. Before it could even react, the snake felt intense pain cutting him from all over its body.

The snake could only give a one last hiss before it died pitifully. Though the snake was quite resistant to cuts, it was only from physical attacks.

The party on the entrance paled except for Liam when the wind converged on Rain which was at the center of the small whirlwinds. The intensity of the wind made it hard for them to even breathe. In an instant the sleeping snake was cut to pieces with different sizes and shapes. A pool of dark red blood only remained.

The power of the wind even scratched the big tree after it cut the snakes. Before they could cheer for the easy victory, Rain slowly sat on the ground feeling mana drained.

The small patch of grass around Rain was pulled out due to the wind. Rain put 90% of his mana on that attack. The remaining 10% was enough for him to run if something went wrong.

Ronan was the first to run towards Rain, worry on his face. Liam smiled when the snake was one-shoted. The snake was weak, what Rain did was an overkill. The snake might be a variant of Crimson Snake due to the color of its tail, which was more toxic, its capability to defend against magic attack was still the same.

Liam remembered how Kevin was looking at Rain, and was now sure that Rain might be the mage of the team he was planning to make. Liam also understood why Rain rejected Deven because it was an overkill to have two mages.

Also, Liam knew that Deven was quite good especially in his third round. Deven's explosive talent at the start since Tutorial was exceptional. The only down side was his scheming attitude.

Liam only wanted to see for himself how good Deven was and to have a connection with him for the future, but due to Rain, Deven may now hate them.

Now Liam didn't need to worry because Rain was more talented than Deven. Liam also walked towards the others who were showing concern towards Rain.

Rain saw Liam walking towards him. Rain didn't miss that smile when he sat down. Rain knew that Liam may have doubts towards him. Rejecting a powerful mage made him look petty.

The mana on Rain's body was really low at the moment. Rain's low stamina was also one of the problems that led him to feel weak.

Mana was truly magical especially when you were from Earth where only technology and games made it possible for magic to exist.

"Are you alright?"

"Mm.. I'm just low on mana and stamina."

"Brother, do you have any idea how to get the treasure box?"

"Hmm, since the snake was cut into pieces, there's only one way to get it.."

"..."

Liam looked at all of us mysteriously..

After some time, we understood why.

"Alright, you have to support three bodies Al, can you do it?"

"Trust me, brother!"

Arisse thumped her chest which was flat like a man's chest. The only problem with her transformation was her voice.

Arisse positioned herself on where the snake head was before. They were doing like wall climbing in team building. Where the team will leverage one person first before that person helps pull one person. In their case, Arisse will be the base, next will be Liam as he has impressive stats, next will be Kevin while using his skill of indifference, the last one to climb will be Janice, as she was a sporty person compared to the weak-willed Floryn or Ronan's small body.

I was exempted in participating in getting the treasure because I was low on stamina. I might faint at any moment.

Liam told me to let my mana slowly recover because mages needed to train their ability to recover mana for long lasting battle. Liam told

Watching them, a smile slowly broke out in my lips. It wasn't as bad as I thought. Transmigrating in another world has its own perks too.

The party was doing their best to keep the balance because one mistake could be fatal to us especially since we were only given three hours to find the exit.

Since it wasn't something that Liam encountered before, we could only take one step at a time while also making sure that we would get a lot of benefits as much as possible.

In fact, from the information that I gathered through listening between the lines on Liam's words. The Tutorial served as a learning experience while also giving us opportunities. The reason Liam chose Hell difficulty might be because it gives a lot better than others just like what the administrator told us before we chose our door.

Janice successfully grabbed the treasure box. Janice threw the treasure box on the ground. Realistically speaking, if a box that looked fragile which was only made of wood was thrown like that from a high ground, it would break.

But when the treasure box landed, it didn't even have any scratches.

The treasure box was big like the boxes used for deliveries.

Janice descended first followed by Kevin who was getting blurry, then lastly Liam also jumped from Arisse's shoulder.

Arisse looked tired after it. Of course, her endurance wasn't much. I was actually surprised that she supported three of them.

The weight of the three weren't that heavy but Arisse was a normal person before. The only difference was giving us abilities beyond normal. Maybe in transmigration, our stats were boosted.

Liam opened the box, when he showed us what was inside, we were all disappointed except Kevin. It was a black pair of daggers. The weapon was small unlike the big treasure box. Yet, it only contained that pair of daggers.

Liam was also disappointed because the item was only Uncommon rated. Liam showed us the stats of the dagger before he gave it to Kevin. Just like Kevin, the twin daggers became blurry until it couldn't be seen anymore.

The weapon was only usable inside the Tutorial because the rating was low. Like our stats, the rating was a way to determine its rarity and power. Unlike the artifact that Liam gave to Ronan, it was like garbage that we picked up.

Not wasting our time anymore, we exited the passage and went to the third passage which gave them a yellow color. A sign to be cautious. The maze hell mode might just be starting from now for our team.

While walking inside the passage, a lot of small snakes were hanging from different branches on the wall. But, instead of giving us a bite, they were all cowering in fear.

"It seems that defeating the snake saves us the trouble in killing the small snakes."

If what Liam told us was right, then the Hell Tutorial wasn't really pitting the future Heroes towards their death but to learn from it, though the price was big.

When we reached the fourth checkpoint, the table didn't have anything on it.

I take back what I said, this Tutorial really wanted us dead!