Act VII - The Labyrinth of Echidna

Chapter 1:

Four days have passed since I lost to Lucius. I prepared for the warning Kent shared with me and there was news that a new dungeon rose near the forest, where I met Arthur. The principal called an important student meeting where all the students gathered in the coliseum and she stood in the middle. "Good afternoon students. Today I bear the news that a new dungeon was discovered yesterday. The King sent a squadron to scout the dungeon and none have returned yet. The king had me send a few of my high-ranking employees to save them, but it's been 6 hours since I last heard from them. I plan on going there myself with a couple of you students. Now I fear the worst has happened to these people and there's a chance you students could get hurt. So volunteer if you wish, still knowing the dangers. Also, the king will give rewards after the mission. That'll be all, if you wish to participate go to the entrance of the dungeon tonight." The principal left after her speech signaling the students to dismiss—some of what Kent said has become true so far. 

The sun fell and I brought myself to the entrance of the said dungeon. The dungeon was named "The Labyrinth", at least that's how Ms. White referred to it. The entrance was found by accident by a group of adventurers who were hunting goblins in the area, they also reported how they noticed wildlife including monsters go inside. The entrance appeared to be a normal cave on the outside but once you go inside and go deeper you'll be met with a stone bricklayer with two heavy stone doors. I sat down on a rock while Ms. White began to talk to a few people. The people who decided to go were Marcus, Kent, Sumie, Elaine, Noah, Claire, Bale, and twelve other students. Some adventurers also showed up. In this world, the adventurers use tiers to classify their strength or rank. Tier one is the weakest, and tier ten is the strongest. The group of adventurers consisted of three four-tier, four five-tier adventurers, and fifteen other adventurers. After that were four academy teachers. If I were to classify their strength in terms of adventurers they're probably tier six. As for Ms. White, I think she's probably the strongest mage in the kingdom.

Everyone was divided into groups of three. For example, Marcus, I, and Elaine. Sumie, Kent, and Misha (referring to chapter three of act five). Noah, Claire, and Bale. After groups were made the leaders of the expedition were established. Ms. White, Lucius, and two adventurers; Harius and Luka (the H is silent). They each took charge of four of the groups. So in total, there were 48 people at the beginning of the mission. "Is everyone ready?" The four leaders lined up in a row. Harius spoke, "Our mission is to identify the dungeon and save the missing people that went inside. If possible, eliminate the cause of the dungeon. I want everyone to stay alive!" Harius went to the giant stone doors and pushed them open with ease. He went inside then the four groups he was in charge of went with him. Each leader after him decided to leave twenty minutes after the other leader's departure.

 Next, it was Luka and his squadron. Then it was Lucius and now Ms. White was left. The four groups she was in charge of were all students. "Listen students. I will be honest, I expect some of you will either gain fatal injuries or death. But! I want you and your team to stand together, and trust each other with your lives. Everyone… Please stay alive." She turned and started to go inside. The rest of the people followed her inside.

Upon entering the archway, was a long corridor aligned with equally spaced torches. The walls of the confined space were a dark gray brick made from stone and bones. Where the bones came from I have no clue. Walking more, we moved down a flight of stairs and that seemed to take a long time as I started to feel hunger. We kept walking until we saw a light shining deep in the corridor, we started to walk a little faster then we heard the sound of water. When we reached the exit, let's just say that I wasn't expecting the view.

The exit led us to an open area filled with lush greenery and plant life. There were hills, mountains, and cliffs scattered all over the place. I spotted a waterfall nearby, where the water sound came from. It was Utopia. I've never laid eyes on something quite like this. I saw a bird fly off in the distance, which made me look at the sky… The sky? How was there a sky underground? Now that I think about it, how are there mountains and light? It was even daylight out here. But if the Grimoire is as strong as Kent said, this sort of makes sense. Ms. White had us split into our three-man groups and scour the area, making sure to make it back to the corridor before night. Ms. White communicated with the other teams using a magic device and found out that each leader and their force ended up in a different location. But they all confirmed to be in a vast inhabited greenery.

I went with Marcus and Elaine and started to scour the place northeast of the checkpoint. Ms. White handed each student a small crystal necklace that if infused with a specific amount of magic will teleport them outside of the labyrinth. So now we shouldn't have any issue of injury. As we ran through trees and foliage, we found a large lake. On the far side of the lake was a giant bird and it looked similar to the bird I saw earlier. We confirmed the existence of monsters here, so we made our way back to the checkpoint.

Chapter 2: 

We relayed the news and rested. One of the groups was still missing when my team came back. It was a group of students which I didn't know and apparently, they were third years. Marcus seemed to know them and made it clear that he was worried for them. It was getting late, so Ms. White proposed that she would go out and look for them herself. As the most capable person amongst everyone, we agreed and decided to stay and wait. She activated a summoning spell that summoned a large wolf. "This is Fenrir, a three-eyed wolf monster." she leaped on top of it and sat down. "I'll be back, hold down the place." She signaled the wolf to leave and it started to run.

The remaining students helped to create a campsite and I found an opportunity to speak with Kent. "Regarding that prophecy, do you have any idea who the swordsman might be?" Kent shook his head, unable to answer. Kent appeared tired so I left him alone. I conversed with Bale and got to know him a little better. Fun fact, Bale learned how to wield a spear at the age of six. Having the tense atmosphere around the camp, I tried to go to each person and have small talk. I chatted a lot with Misha who seemed to be a good friend of Elaine's. Good for her. I didn't talk to Sumie as she was with Kent, I didn't want to bother him. Noah and Claire were already asleep somehow. I'd personally find it difficult to sleep in a situation like this. Lastly, I went to Marcus. He sat down on a rock by himself seemingly lost in thought. "Waiting for something to happen?" He looked at me and smiled, "I mean, I guess I am."

I sat down next to him looking up at the sky. It became night at this point, I even saw stars in the sky. We sat there in silence for a while and everyone except us went to sleep after Sumie put up a barrier. There was a nice cool breeze that brushed my hair as we sat still. It was moments like this that made me miss home. Not too long after I heard rustling in the bushes near us and I got up then Marcus, pulling out our weapons. Ms. White appeared from the bushes. She seemed concerned and went up to us. Marcus greeted her, "Where are they? What happened to the others?" She put a hand on his shoulder. "I'm sorry. But they didn't make it." Marcus bit his lip. She handed him a few of their belongings, at least parts of it. "How did they-" She stopped him and went to the exit. The exit to the labyrinth was still intact until she put her hand to the opening. Suddenly the opening started to distort and melted apart revealing that the exit was no more. No there's no way… She turned and clapped her hands, the sound reverberated around the barrier waking up everyone. "Everyone uses your crystals." Everyone got their crystals and waited for confirmation. She asked me to try first. I grabbed the necklace and began to infuse magic into it, but nothing. I tried to infuse more…

But nothing…

"I made a mistake. The moment we entered the labyrinth we were already trapped in the maze." The others tried but the same result came about. "So far we've only known the existence of one monster, the one that Marcus's team found. But after looking for the missing students that not only are there much more monsters. Each one is capable of using some form of magic. While searching for the students I ran into a few powerful monsters." That's right. Monsters are usually only able to use Magos, but their magic cores aren't strong enough to filter enough to use magic. "The missing students are dead. A flying beast attacked them based on the wounds I found on them. The monster could use earth magic from the magical residue on their bodies."

Should we stay here? But we'll eventually have to move.

…

Huh?

What's that whistling sound? A massive blast crashed into Sumie's barrier. The damn bird finally showed itself. The walls of the barrier quickly began to shatter. Unable to contain the force the barrier broke apart letting the bird inside. Ms. White acted hastily and summoned Fenrir to fend it off. "Everyone stick together and run!" We didn't think twice, we all ran away. That beast… We all knew that it could tear us apart in an instant. Dammit, I feel so useless.

We ran through a forest and didn't stop until we couldn't hear the sounds of battling behind us. That didn't last long, a thick mist started to pour into the forest. I can tell… Monsters are hiding in the mist. "Everyone stay calm and get ready to fight, we're going to push through and leave the forest." Marcus signaled everyone and we all nodded in agreement. He leads the charge, using pillars as protection as we move further. A pack of red wolves chased us from behind so Bale stayed in the back to fend them off whenever they leaped at us. We made our way out of the forest and into a valley and Marcus sealed the entrance with a bunch of rock.

We all collapsed after expending so much energy running around. Luckily nobody obtained any serious injuries. The valley stretched out pretty far so we decided to walk along it until we reached an end.

Chapter 3:

Fortunately, there were no monsters in the valley, and the wolf pack seemed to have given up and left. Even though hours seemed to pass, it stayed nighttime. It was only a matter of time before we ran out of food, so at some point we would have to leave the valley. That plan quickly diminished after we reached the end of the valley. There was a stone door waiting at the end. Marcus took charge of the gathering of students and discussed our next plan of action. "We have two options. Look for Ms. White while sending others to gather food, or we go through the stone door." I knew Ms. White was the most likely person to survive in the labyrinth so I leaned towards going through the stone door. Even though Marcus personally wanted to wait for Ms. White he decided on the team's current conditions. "Alright let's go in." He pushed the doors open and a current of wind escaped pushing us back a little. A rancid smell followed it as well. If I were to describe the smell it smelt like. "Rotting corpses." Misha covered her face as she said those words. "I've dealt with the decaying monsters and human bodies, and wherever this leads to reeks of dead monsters. Hmm… If that's the case this place is either quite safe or it is harboring a tremendously powerful monster. How fun.

Without hesitation, Marcus leads the group through the entrance and into the catacombs of the dead. The door behind us closes shut and disappears. The hallway was similar to the first one I saw except it started to turn more orange and red until… Squash. Confused Marcus looked down at his feet. The ground slowly went from stone to fleshy dirt. The more we traveled the more the hallway started to turn red and fleshy. Once we reached an exit it led us to a three-way path with an opening in the middle. The entire area was this strange red and pink gloss. Not only did the smell get worse but I could feel something watching us. Since right is always right we took the far right side route and continued further down. 

As we walked Marcus came to an abrupt stop and told us to stay quiet. He crouched down and we all followed his lead. Up ahead was a large room. Not only was the ceiling 200 feet high but the bottom was nearly 300 feet deep, At least from the looks of it. Towards the ground was a staircase that led to the bottom. But the main thing that disgusted me was the middle of the room. There was this large flesh beast that seemed to be giving birth to countless small flesh things. It just barfed them out… gross. The small fleshy stuff went into these many different corridors. The large beast was probably responsible for all the monsters inhabiting the labyrinth. No, I wouldn't call it the "Labyrinth" anymore. There's an old myth about the origination of monsters that I vaguely recall. That's right… This place should be called, "The Labyrinth of Echidna". We stuck close to the walls and fortunately, we were above the monsters so they couldn't notice us. There was no way we were gonna go down, and we noticed another entrance level to where we exited from. The problem was that we'd have to go down to the floor level to reach the other staircase to the other entrance.

Marcus couldn't use his earth magic, probably because the entire place was completely meat and bone. The fire didn't seem to affect the walls in any way and cutting didn't work either as it would just regenerate the damage. I figured if we viewed the creatures as flesh slimes we could find a weakness in the red flesh. Slimes are resistant to physical attacks and most magic attacks. But they are susceptible to fire and water depending on the type of slime. They're also weak to internal damage, instead of inflicting wounds on the surface of the slime you attack their internals and they'll explode into bits.

Hopefully the same can be said for these creatures. We confirmed that the flesh slimes are indeed made from the same material as the walls. The main problem was the giant mother flesh slime. We tried distracting the slimes using magic, but the flesh slimes didn't notice us. We eventually headed down to the ground level and the flesh slimes just moved past us as we approached them. I picked one up and its flesh started to burn my hands so I immediately dropped it and it went away. We tried killing a few but they regenerated all the damage. Elaine even tried stabbing one and blasting it internally with fire, it exploded but the itty bits slowly joined together forming the flesh slime again. Noah scouted out one of the corridors and stated that the monsters are led into these strange chambers where they're fused with some unknown magic and rock; the monsters we saw in the forest. Though their transformation wasn't fully complete.

Now that we know the root of everything here, we should take out the Mother flesh slime. That is if we can even harm it. Hold on… I have an idea. I shared the idea with Marcus, Sumie, and Bale who were the three pieces I needed to hopefully kill the amalgamation. Marcus and Bale stood opposite of each other and faced the monster. First Bale sliced the slime in half. How? I coated his spear with a fine layer of magic. That way, the spear doesn't just sink into the flesh. Second Marcus and Sumie separated the two halves with a barrier. From previous research and experimenting, the slime can't perform mitosis without it being whole. This also infers that we also split its brain in half and all it can try and do is get back together. Soon enough the slime slowly disintegrated leaving two puddles of blood. We fled the scene scaling the other stairwell and went into the other hallway.

Chapter 4:

The hallway was still flesh and I believe to be worse than before. It constantly dripped blood as we walked through. Momentarily we reached another opening. Upon reaching it, we found ourselves in an expansive chamber. The ground was full of shallow blood-red water, the walls extended high enough that I couldn't see the ceiling especially when the room was so dark. The only sources of light were where we came from and the very middle. The very middle had a small island with a red tree. We hesitated for a moment then started to walk to the middle. Claire tripped on something and I turned back.

Screaming… Claire was screaming. What she tripped on was a mutilated body, the huge problem was it was a human. One that was a part of our expedition group; an adventurer. Noah promptly picked Claire up from the ground and they backed away from the body. I started to scan the area. There were more than ten… I started to feel queasy. I covered my mouth and started to gag. Some of the bodies were students. I need to leave this place. Something's gone terribly wrong. I spotted Luka a bit in front of our group. I ran over to him and kneeled to pick him up. He had a large gash on his abdomen. He was still breathing, but I knew he was going to die in seconds. He slowly put his hand to my face and then pointed somewhere. "B…beh-behind you…" Misha's in the far back. So that means…

I instantly stood up, "MISHA GET OUT OF THE WAY!!!" My message was relayed to her, but a moment too late. A large shadow appeared behind her, and as she turned to face it. Her body was thrown into the air completely mangled, with massive gashes to her chest and neck. She hit the ground without moving an inch afterward.

…

"Misha? Misha. Misha, MISHA!" Elaine started to run to her. No! The shadow dashed at her but was stopped by Sumie's barrier. The shadow backed away after Bale and Marcus attacked it. Now that the shadow stopped moving I was able to get a better look at it. It was a giant humanoid beast plated in full steel armor. The gloves were sharpened for attacks. 

"Misha! Please say something!" Tears flowed down Elaine's face. She hugged the corpse and continued to cry. What just happened? None of us were able to notice its presence until Luka pointed it out. It killed Misha… killed, huh? I felt my blood boil. Bale seemed to notice my frustration. "Theo, calm down. We won't be able to make it out alive if we lose anyone else." Calm? How the hell am I supposed to stay calm? When Marcus's friends died I felt bitter. I trusted Ms. White, but the students all died. Even more of them died and now Misha's dead? I hate it. I hate this. Elaine walked to me. "Elaine?" She slapped me in the face. "I know how you feel Theo, trust me. I wanna kill this bastard so, so much. But we need to focus on how we'll get out of here alive." I looked at her face. Even now she was still crying.

Kent came over and put his hand on our shoulders. "Allow me and Marcus to take care of this pain for you." Kent's hand started to glow yellow and an entire sword started to emerge from his hand. He yanked it out and attached it to his waist. He left the barrier with Marcus and they readied themselves. The beast noticed and moved a little closer. Kent placed one hand on his sheathe and the other on the handle of the sword then leaned forward while bending his knees. "Is Kent a magic swordsman?" Sumie walked over to me. Kent's blade started to glow yellow, it moved about like electricity. "No, he is a mage, but a very special one." In a split second, Kent unsheathed the blade and launched an extremely fast slash that the beast narrowly avoided with a clean cut to its armor. Kent then sheaths the blade. "Marcus is renowned as a talented mage certainly capable of reaching the top, but Kent… He's already there. He uses electricity and a unique subclass of fire and rock; metal manipulation. More specifically he creates metal inside his body using it for offense or defense. 

The lizard dashes at Kent and swings a full arm at him. Kent blocked the attack by drawing his sword but was propelled a few meters away. Kent lifts his sword and a large lightning bolt zaps the lizard. Marcus acted quickly shooting a water ball at the Lizard The conductivity of the metal combined with water caused the lizard to take even more damage, ultimately collapsing to its knees. Kent once again sheaths his sword, charging up for another slash.

He swiftly releases his blade and a slash flies to the lizard, but just before it hits it. Another entity appears deflecting the slash. It was a much smaller humanoid, similar in size to Elaine and Sumie. It looked like a woman, except for its big tail. To be honest, not my type. The woman looked at the lizard and then back at us. She raised her hand and lowered it. Nothing happened for a few seconds but then the entire space shook. I began to sink into the ground. "Bale!" Everyone else was sinking. I couldn't move at all, all I could do was stare at the lizard and woman as they watched us fall.

I couldn't see anything. I was certain we were on the ground before, but I was drowning. A strong current pushed me into an opening where I was launched onto land. I coughed and tried to get the blood and water out of my lungs. My head was ringing, and I couldn't quite stand. I sat still for a minute, then my head cleared up. I got up with success this time. I was in a cave with no red walls or leaking blood anywhere. The cave went further down and there was no other way around besides trying to swim through the water again. I lost my sword while I was thrown around in the current, so now I was defenseless.

I scratched my head and moved further into the cave.

Chapter 5:

I reached a gap in the cave that seemed to connect to another area. I carefully slid through and entered the new area. I stood on a bridge leading to an open platform. Below the bridge was a deep hole and I saw gigantic statues that seemed like they reached the bottom of the pit. Each statue looked disfigured and almost not human. I carried on and went to the platform. At the center was a small pedestal holding a small square disc. I went over to pick it up but then someone interrupted me. "Stop right there." I look to where the sound came from. It was Lucius, pointing his sword at me from another bridge. He was dragging a body while he got closer. "Why the hell are you dragging Marcus?" It was Marcus he was dragging. He was still alive but appeared severely wounded. Lucius got even closer.

I face my palm, signaling to him that I would attack him if he got any closer. He shook his head and pulled Marcus in front of him, lowering his sword to Marcus's neck. "Move out of the way. I won't say it again." I lowered my hand and backed away from the pedestal slowly. Lucius threw Marcus against the pedestal and grabbed the disc. At that moment I realized who the swordsman was in the prophecy. Then that means… Lucius crumpled the disc in his hand and a black powder started to form around him. He put out his hand and the powder clumped together above his palm forming a book. Oh no.

"Finally… The last piece has finally been found…" He grinned widely, sneering at his eyes. He laughed. He laughed like a maniac. His eyes met mine and he waved. "We'll see each other again." He vanished leaving a small puff of smoke. I rushed over to Marcus who started to wake up. He winced in pain while he sat up. He held a small sphere of water in his hand and healed himself with it. "It's not as good as normal healing magic, but it'll at least stop the bleeding." He slowly healed himself and I assisted with patching him up with bandages. "Marcus just what exactly happened?" He leaned his head back and closed his eyes.

"It started when we sank into the ground. I ended up somewhere completely different from anywhere else in the labyrinth. There were structures and signs of man-made creations. I traveled along the walls of the hallways and saw Lucius but he had already killed the four groups under his command. He noticed me and I got ready to fight. I suffered complete defeat and that brings me to right now."

I knew Lucius was far stronger than me or Marcus, but to think the gap between us was so vast. I'm worried about the others, but how exactly do we leave this place? I could check the cave again, but I think the better option is to go back to where Marcus ran into Lucius. I let Marcus lean on my shoulder for support and we started to make our way through the labyrinth.

I think two hours passed after reaching the point Marcus was talking about. The place was a complete maze, with different hallways in each turn. The right was supposed to be the right direction, but we never found anything distinct. I did think of using Marcus's set of skills but he was too injured and fatigued to do anything useful. I gave up on the notion and decided to use wind magic to help me. By heightening my senses toward airflow, I can figure out the most prominent path to at the very least a new location. Onward, we discovered a spiral staircase leading up. Following the staircase we were met with a hallway that looked exactly like the one from when we first entered the labyrinth. I practically pulled Marcus as we made it to the large stone doors. I forced the doors open but beyond it was just another room.

I saw all the groups together. Harius was still alive, along with Bale, Kent, Sumie, Claire, Noah, and Elaine. It seemed all the other adventurers were either not here yet, or dead. The person I didn't expect to see was Ms. White. Everyone gathered around and shared our stories. First, everyone acknowledged that Lucius betrayed us and stole a powerful magic drive. Second, two demons were running rampant in the labyrinth and possibly in cahoots with Lucius. I hope that's wrong. If they were then by the time they leave the labyrinth the entire kingdom would be doomed.

Many of us had sustained considerable damage and no one had found any path leading to the exit to the labyrinth. But Ms. White did have a way to leave. Previously Ms. White handed all the students a crystal necklace. The necklace had a spell engraved onto it, allowing the user to teleport out of the labyrinth. The necklaces didn't work because the mark acted as a barrier but now that the labyrinth has no core, there's no barrier. Meaning she can re-create the spell and teleport everyone out. Now that everyone was together; everyone that was left. She could now start working on the spell.

The spell takes a long time to make and becomes very complex depending on where you are traveling relative to your current position. Ms. White can figure out how far we are by sensing the magic of the return point from the current point. She got to work writing a large magic circle onto the ground with a physical application of Magos called "Circuit Writing". While I waited I conversed with everyone again and then rested. After what felt like hours she finally finished and had everyone step on the magic circle.

We stuck close together and she started the spell.

"Return"

I closed my eyes the entire time, but I could feel my body distorting as we traveled… however we traveled. The distortions stopped and I opened my eyes. Just like that, we were out of the labyrinth. The group walked out of the cave and to my disappointment it was night. We quickly hurried to the kingdom, but I wasn't expecting to see what I saw. Elengaud was on fire.