The labyrinth - Part 10

At a certain point you start to lose your sense of time inside a portal. For sure one like this where there's no natural light anywhere. No idea how long you have been there only the feeling that you have been doing the same thing over and over again for a while now. Which isn't that great since it can cause people to become sloppy in their work. I wouldn't mind if things were just a bit more interesting. But interesting would mean danger too since interesting things tend to be unpredictable. And unpredictability tends to be very dangerous in these things. But just thinking that seems to have been an invitation for things to go wrong. Like thinking things like that would probably invite bad things to happen. Someone like me should just be content with boring. Since that means safe and what more could an F- ranked delver like me ask for.

I can't help but think about the previous portal. I was surprised about a temple being inside a D ranked portal. But I clearly forgot how weird F ranked portals tend to be. Despite being an F ranked delver I usually don't do portals with F in their rank. Not because I think that I'm too strong for them. It's because I'm unable to collect a lot of things for those. But F ranked portals are known to have quite a lot of ruins in them. But the thing with those ruins is that they are abandoned. Barely any monsters in there. Barely anything useful to be found inside them. However, one thing that has always been strange no matter which portal you enter are labyrinths. They always seem to be manmade for some reason. Okay, humans didn't build them but I never actually thought about who built these structures. Why did I never wonder that before?

Could the creatures we encounter inside a portal be the ones who made these structures? Or are the monsters some sort of protectors of these buildings? I don't get the meaning behind structures like labyrinths then. Why would there be such a need to build so many different labyrinths? Why would there be these random items stuck there? I also have quite a hard time believing that a snake-like monster without arms would be able to build an entire labyrinth.

Everything I was wondering about right now seems to disappear as I see the end of this long hallway. Not because I reach a dead end, well you could call it one. But it's a room inside the labyrinth. I had a feeling that all the paths would connect at the end but I'm still surprised that they all collided in one big room. However, that was not what puzzled me inside this room. What surprises me is the fact that there seems some sort of writing on the wall. From what I can see from this distance it doesn't seem like any writing I know. Nor does it seem to be written with something that delvers would have with them in here.

I instinctively walk closer to it in an attempt to investigate it. As I get closer I notice that this couldn't have been made by anyone who came inside the portal. Since I doubt that this could've been gavelled into the wall in just a few days. It also seems to be done quite meticulously. As I look around the room I notice quite a few hallways leading into it. And coming out of one of them is Jeon. Who seems as confused as I'm about this entire situation.

"What is all this?" I hear him mutter out loud as he seems to have the same instinct as me. Walking up to the wall to seemingly check whether or not this is even real. But he also discovers that it's chiseled into the wall. But as I look at the wall I notice something else. This isn't even written in a language that I have seen before. It uses a whole different writing style which makes it even harder to figure out. We're also unable to prevent the portal from closing right now since we have people running around here. People are just running around here doing their own thing.

"I have no clue. I have never seen something like this in an F ranked portal before." I mutter out as I take a step closer to it again. As I look more at it I can't help but feel that I have seen this before. There's no possibility that I ever had seen this strange writing before. Yet I can't shake the feeling that I have seen it.

"I didn't even notice that you were here. I doubt that I can get anyone here to investigate this before the portal closes." I hear Jeon say as I see him take his phone out. I would think a guy as experienced as him would know that technology doesn't work here. "If only those idiots just followed the rules. Then all of this wouldn't have been such a hassle. And it might have been finished already." I hear Jeon mumble out loud as it seems like he forgot I was still here. But what surprises me the most is the fact that his phone seems to work. Don't tell me technology actually worked all the time in here?

"How did that even work? I always heard that technology didn't work here. I have seen it not work inside portals before." I ask him as I'm completely stunned by the fact that his phone seems to work here. I do spot a weird mark on his phone. It seems to be enchanted or something. At least that's the only explanation I can give for him being able to take pictures. It would also explain the weird mark on his phone. But as I look back at the writing the feeling of recognition comes back stronger. Yet I don't know why.

"I got enchantments on it. It's something that's normal for people of my rank. Only higher ranking delver can get it because of how much money it costs." Jeon explains as what he's saying is a common fact. This is however the first time I heard of it. I can't help but notice the strange look he gives me. Yet I'm too focused on the writing on the wall. I can't help myself to keep looking at this. "Emily told me that you are used to delving. Have you ever seen this in any of your delves before?" Jeon asks as the feeling of recognising the text is suddenly gone. As if it was never even there to begin with.

"I have never seen something like this before." I respond as I'm not even sure whether or not I have seen something like this before. Would the temple count as something like this because if it does. Then I would be lying. But if meant the writing then this should be the first I seen this. Yet I can't help but remember what I felt before. I don't know why it felt like I have seen this before. I don't know why just for a second it felt like I could read what was written there.

"I have never seen something like this before." I respond as I'm not even sure whether or not I have seen something like this before. Would the temple count as something like this because if it does? Then I would be lying. But if meant the writing then this should be the first I've seen this. Yet I can't help but remember what I felt before. I don't know why it felt like I have seen this before. I don't know why just for a second it felt like I could read what was written there.

"If we didn't have such little time here, I would bring experts here. There's still people wandering inside here and those people don't know or don't care about this. They will just get the last ring before everyone else is outside even." Jeon comments as we someone else emerge from another hallway. But it turns out to be Emily which makes three complete hallways cleared. I assume the both of them have completely cleared out those other hallways.

"What is this place?" Emily asks us as she walks up to us. While the two of us are still looking at this wall like complete idiots. However, the writing on the wall makes it at least a bit less weird. But neither Jeon nor I are able to answer her question. Because if we knew the answer we would be so confused about all of this too. I don't think any of us have ever seen writing like this before. Jeon might have but in A ranked portals. Not in f ranked ones like these. He's probably the only one who has seen this before. But his reaction makes me believe that he hasn't seen it before. Or at least doesn't know what's written on there.

"I can't read these texts but I do know that they shouldn't appear in low-ranking portals. It should only start appearing around B+ ranked portals at the earliest. But considering the incident that happened in that portal yesterday. I would suggest that we get everyone out of here." Jeon states as it seems that he has forgotten that Emily is the one that's supposed to lead this group. He also doesn't seem to realise that Emily has officially seen that thing. Wait doesn't he know that Emily and I were inside that portal yesterday?

"That might be the safest course of action. I think it might be best to go through a hallway that no one came out of yet. Just to make sure that everything is fully cleared. But did you two see any other troublemakers?" Emily asks as I shake my head. I haven't encountered any more troublemakers since I encountered Russel. And that has to be quite a bit ago by now. I hope that I was the only one not encountering anyone. I did send some normal civilians back but that's about it.

"I have seen this Russel guy. And he's not any trouble for us at the moment. Since he went back toward the start of the portal. But you two were right about implying that he was rude. Since he was pretty rude. He didn't seem to listen to the person he encountered till I stepped in and told him to do so." Jeon comments as he seems confused by the interaction he had with Russel. I can't help but sigh though. And it seems that I'm not the only one sighing as I hear Emily doing the same thing. "Did I say something wrong?" Jeon asks as Emily and I weren't sighing quietly.

"Well, of course, he listened to you. People give you respect without you having to try. Because you're strong. People like Emily and I have to earn it. I have to earn it because I'm physically very weak. But Emily has to prove it not because she isn't strong. Her healing is pretty good if you ask me. But there are some things going on with healers for some reason that causes people to disrespect them." I explain just hoping that my explanation doesn't anger him. Although I was just stating the facts.

"Is that why he doesn't listen to you? Because you haven't earned his respect? Wouldn't the fact that you know what you're doing be enough?" Jeon states as it seems that he might actually respect. Not a lot but at least now that I know what I'm doing for this type of portal. But that doesn't matter to people like Russel who have seen me get hurt so much. Gaining respect in lower ranks is actually quite a hard task.

The labyrinth - Part 10

Complete

You got an ability card:

Healing ability

Known users: Emily Novek

Rank required: E rank

Known spells:

- Weaker Healing spell: you are able to heal small wounds and bruises.

- Healing spell: you are able to heal medium wounds

- Strong healing spell: You are able to heal larger wounds (You aren't able to restore lost limbs)