Chapter 1: Curiosity kills the cat

Hivon is a sixteen-year old adventurer. A frail and average male.

His stat:

-- level 5--

+Job: scout

+Weapon affinity: hook

+Magic affinity: none

- HP: 200/200

- Sta: 20/20

- Str: 12

- Agi: 30

- End: 20

- Int: 30

- Evasion: 60

- Luck: 36

Compared to the other fellow adventurers, he is the weakest. It is because his weapon affinity is <hook> and also his HP is lower than average people. Although many adventurers do use different weapons from their affinity, it wouldn't be very effective. His gear consists of an iron helmet with cloth to cover beneath his face, leather armor and leather boots. His weapons are a 3-meter rope, an iron hook weighing 2kg and a dagger.

There is no hope for a sixteen-year old boy who has been a level 5 scout for 2 years. At least in two year, he would have been at least level 20 already.

Just any other day, Hivon goes to a labyrinth to survey and report if there are any abnormalities. For two years, he has been only a level 5 scout.

He has visited this labyrinth two times this week. It looks normal. "Something shines underneath there. I wonder..." He overextends himself

He falls to the 5th floor which is the lowest floor of this labyrinth. Each floor has different monster range levels and usually, it is 5 for each floor.

'Damn it! Damn it!' He thinks about the situation

The 5th floor is one floor where many new adventurers or foolish ones die.

By calculation, the average for a level 1 is 80 HP, level 2 is 120, level 3 is 180 and this 5th floor, the worst case scenario is a level 25 which is about 1.5 million. The best of his luck would be around 200 thousand.

The monster in this labyrinth is usually the undead. Skeletons, revenants, ghosts, ghouls, wraiths,etc. The scariest monster in this case is lich. It is the final boss of the labyrinth that must not be contested by just a mere level 5 like many normal adventurers but his case is to avoid it at all cost.

Thinking rationally, his best option now is to climb up but with a 3-meter rope and a hook are not enough. The distance is around 5 meters. He must scavenge for materials to elevate himself up.

Status:

- HP:100/200

- Sta: 20/20

Half life, great, this is even worse. Usually, half life is a scenario where many adventurers consider retreating or returning home.

'Don't push your own luck beyond what you can hope'

Materials to scavenge are: Corpses, rags, and scrap bones.

He gets himself ready with his rope and hook. Blunt damage can stun a revenant if he meets one. In that case, he has to bail or fight with only 20 stamina. He walks slowly to explore the floor, away from the hole that he will return later.

First thing he sees is a corpse. He is scared whether that is an ambush trap or not. To be safe, he rather stays away from it and walks the other way of the fork he found. After a while, He collected rags, a few scrap bones and an empty flask. He thinks that these are not enough to escape. He must gather more. After a few steps, he sees an empty armor set laying around. He walks slowly backward to avoid making noise. That could be either a dullahan or living armor. Wait a minute, he remembers that corpse there has a bag. He walks back to the corpse. He crafts himself a makeshift fence with rags and scrap bones to slow down in case that is an undead. He throws the flask at it

**Cloang**

No reaction. Good, this means that the corpse is safe. He collects the makeshift fence and walks closer to it. This pile of bones should provide him with a good amount of material to make something to elevate himself a bit.

**Shriek**

'Oh no, where to hide?' He is panicking.

He checks the bag. There are some rotten meat and some short metal wires.

Of course, dullahan or living armor doesn't have eyes so they rely more on smell and hearing.

He uses rotten meat to smear himself. He saves himself by doing such a disgusting thing.

He sits down motionlessly.

**Clang Clang Clang**

He is scared by the fact that this plan would not work. The armor is moving by itself. It approaches him closer and closer. It seems like it looks at him.

"I swear that there was something around here. It seems like there should be a human. Or maybe I am getting old and my hearing is getting worse. Perhaps, I should clean myself after sleeping for a long time" The armor speaks

It walks away. That was close. It was a dullahan. The headless monster that finds a head for itself in order to see the world. After the head is rotten, it will find another. That thing was a level 23 and the HP is 598,600. Fortunately, it was blind as he predicted.

Wait a minute if that thing said to clean itself, this place must have something to maintain metal. Or perhaps, a weaponry. This is bad, the skeletons would be heavily armed on the 4th floor.

He drags the corpse quickly since he doesn't have enough strength to carry it. Yes, the hole, combined with the makeshift fence, he made a semi steady stand to make a throw for his rope and hook for escaping.

**swoosh swish clum**

'Made it' He feels happy

He climbs up quickly before that dullahan discovers

"A mess? Damn it, those rats and poltergeists prank me again"

'Rats? If there are only undead, doesn't he mean, ...' He readies his rope and hook again

There is nothing there at least for now on the 4th floor

The distance between him and the 3rd floor is now 6 meters.

'It seems like I have to scout around more'

After a few steps, he sees another corpse. That corpse is wearing leather armor and holding on its rucksack. Hivon steps closer slowly so he won't make a noise. He looks closely at the corpse, it has no flame of <living will> in the skull since he notices that dullahan has flame of <living will>. He sighs in relief that it is not an undead. He loots the corpse. He gets a tag belonging to Davick, a bag of coins and a dagger. Unfortunately, the leather armor is rotten. Checking the rucksack, he sees…

He has a bit of nausea after witnessing what is in the bag. He immediately closes it. This guy Davick is a headhunter.

Davick has been missing for a week