Chapter 10: Ep.3 - Labyrinth of Echoes (3)

Imperial Blade Apotheosis, First Technique, Sovereign Slash.

Howls of the Five Dragons, Wind Dragon's First Howl, Gale Swipe.

I cut down all the spikes that had appeared in the ground due to the golem's repeated slam attacks. I had to clear the path for us to advance.

Howls of the Five Dragons, Wind Dragon's Second Howl, Tempest Cyclone.

A wind cyclone appeared as I made a slant strike. It carried away all the spikes which had detached from the ground and pushed them to the other side of the wall.

I walked away from the golem, towards the squad. Most of them were excited from the how I subdued the golem. I decided to take a break as being too exited may have negative impact.

Although the dungeon was B-Tier and most of them were B-Tier, they could conquer it together, but a silly mistake was enough to create casualties.

I told them to settle down and all of their faces fell down. I could read their face which said, What did I expect…

Even though they were disappointed, they settled down and ate a bit. I still remember when the squad was newly formed, they showed same resistance when I they had to rest when I exited them from a battle. I hoped they had gotten used to it, but apparently they were not. But they understood the reason behind my actions.

I unwrapped a roll and ate it. I had to create a pretext for taking a break as I expected resistance from them and there was no better way than to pretend than I was exhausted form the battle and needed to refill my energy and mana. I can clear over 3 B-Tier dungeons without taking a break if not for the restriction imposed by B. H. G. C. which limited the entrance of all hunters to 1 every week. If not to diminish the chance of casualty, I wouldn't have taken rest and pushed ahead.

After resting for a while, I got up and told everyone to get ready for further exploration. All of them got ready and were in formation in an instant. There was still some excitement in them but most of it had settled down. It was not good to bring it down to zero nor at a very high level. The one they had right now was optimal enough to make decisions.

We started without any delay and it was not long before we encountered another golem. It was the same B-Tier golem that we previously encountered. 2-3 top B-Tier Hunter could defeat any B-Tier monster but they would literally have to go beyond their capabilities, so a team of minimum 5 Hunters is required for best efficiency. Some of the best combination for subduing any monsters are 2 Melee + 2 Ranged + 1 Healer, 5 Ranged, 5 Melee or 5 Mystics.

As there were C-Tier Hunters too, I decided I would split hunters in teams of approximately 9 hunters to carry out siege against the golems.

For the current golem, I decided to send 3 Melee, 3 Ranged and 3 Mystic Hunter.

The attack pattern of the golem was the same. It first slammed both of his hand down together and spikes emerged towards us. The mystic deployed a barrier underneath to not let the spikes hit them from below. Spikes traveled till my location so I had to use Gale Swipe.

They didn't cut the spikes down and the golem just rushed towards them, stomping on the spikes. The mystics blew the golem up in the air and the melee hunters cut off its legs. Next phase was the rock throwing phase but the archers blew the fingers of the golem with the help of the arrows enhanced by the mystic. They expected the golem would not be able to throw rocks by doing so, but it did and the mystic again had to protect the team.

Finally after much trouble they managed to defeat the golem.

"6 out of 10. You assumed things, didn't try anything on your own and copied the strategy I used, the responsibilities were forced onto other members of the team and the efficiency was far below my expectations." I replied as they caught their breath. I was glad that I didn't have to step in to save them.

The next group had 4 Melee, 3 Ranged and 3 Mystic Hunters. This time the mystic disabled its movement by plant magic and the rest blew off the arms. It felt like they were abusing their powers and made me feel pity for the golem.

Before he was finished off, I sensed golems blocking out path on both of our sides. Perhaps the one tied down did something. The rest of the hunters split up to subdue them. One of them was too exited and was going to crushed so I had to intervene.

Honestly, all of them were pretty good but they also had lot to learn. We decided to take a pretty long break as they were running low on their mana. They took mana regenerating tablets and started mediating. I didn't had much to do so I took my type examining the broken cores of the golems.

Just as things began to grow silent, I started hearing a quite rumbling. It was the rumbling similar to that of the golem we first fought but it was very low, like whispers. It was not coming from 1 direction, but rather every direction. I should have sensed so many golems but for some strange reason, I didn't. Perhaps their sound was muffled by our footsteps, but not being able to sense something like this was troubling.

I got up from my seat and walked towards a corner. I looked with mana reinforced goggles in the 2 directions the junction was split into, but nothing till the end. I could still hear the sound and quite low at that. My breathing was uneven since a while ago and I though it was due to being excited during the battle, but it didn't go back even after all this time.

I returned to take a look at the squad members. All of them were shifting bit by bit as if they were uneasy. Some of them even touched their head. Everything was off by a little and everyone is affected by it. Do they not hear the rumbling of rocks?

I approached Maeng Yun-Hee and asked, "Do you hear… rumbling?" He tried to focus on his hearing but by his expression I don't think he did.

"I don't sir. Is there something…"

"No… No, its nothing. I was just asking." I leave him at that and approach Gil Haeun. She gets up seeing me approach her.

"Is there something you need sir?"

"Perhaps do you have any magic that could expand the range of hearing?"

"I think I can sir, but I wont recommend it as it may be harmful hearing sound at high frequencies."

"What if I want to go lower, like hear things at low frequency."

"Its dangerous no matter what direction you go in, just in little different ways." she says scratching her ears.

"Like how? Just tell me about effects of going lower."

"For going lower you say… After being exposed for a while, one will start to feel anxiety and would be fatigued even though its unnoticeable. It may cause nausea, effects breathing and even cause headaches in some cases." Her eyes grow as she says the last words. She looks at the recovering hunter while gasping.

"Does things get worse?"

"I hope not." She says looking back at me.

More than half of them were still recovering their mana and had not recovered from their fatigue. I couldn't move before all of them recovered, at least recovered enough to face the boss, if it appears.

"Should we tell them?"

"I will. Is there anything we can do to prevent them?"

"I can sound proof our surroundings, but again, it will be not be available while we are on move."

"What could be the reason behind their creation?"

"Looking at our surroundings, it can be some sort of seismic activities or explosions."

"Did the slamming of fists by the golems create it?"

"We cannot rule out the possibility."

"So we have to find the exit as quickly as possible while avoiding as many golems as we can."

"That might be the best viable option, but I don't think we can avoid them even then as other guild will be subduing them."

"We have to get out quickly." I might have to compromise on the hidden treasures in the labyrinth.

"Start soundproofing. Drink this if required." I give her a vial of mana which would instantly increase her mana by 100. The vial costed half a fortune, but it was necessary.

"Sit, it's not that seri-"

"Drink it if deemed necessary." I interrupt her before she can say anything.

It was very rare for an exploration team to return without any treasures, even among the ones with free access. Perhaps we were just unlucky… or lucky, that we didn't have any casualties, I cannot say…