39. Entering The Labyrinth.

I chuckled at her last statement.

"What? You don't think we can do it?"

"It's not that. It's just…"

While we were currently lost in our conversation, a prompt appeared before us both.

[Ding! Congratulations survivors, on staying alive until now. The first wave will take effect in the next twenty-four hours. Players are expected to be prepared for the unexpected.]

[24:00:00.]

[23:59:60.]

[23:59:59.]

I couldn't help but smile at the last note of the prompt.

"A wave?" Asked Jasmine.

"It should have something to do with the wave mentioned in one of our side quests," I suggested as we stepped into the truck.

Since neither of us knew what this wave was all about, we decided to clear the labyrinth as fast as we can.

After obtaining so many gold coins in such a short period from the numerous caves we've cleared, the reward that could come from clearing the labyrinth had been disrupting my train of thought for quite some time now.

It might be a suicide mission, but I wonder what the reward would be if we can clear the labyrinth.

We continued to chat along the way as we aimed toward the Labyrinth. We had little gas left in the fuel tank, which, we hoped, should be able to get us to our destination.

While driving as well, we decided to look into our statuses.

(Jasmine)

[Status]

[Level: 2]

[HP: 20/20]

[EXP: 69/800]

[Hunger:94%]

[STR: 2]

[AGI: 3]

[VIT: 1]

[STA: 2]

[DEX: 2]

[PRE: 1]

[CP: 0 points.]

[SP: 1 point]

[Weapons]

[Potions]

[Skills and Recipes]

[Inventory: Ingot bronze (8/20).]

[Number of gold coins: 90 gold coins.]

[Number Of Kills: 0.]

[Bounty: 100 gold coins.]

[Acquired skill: First Aid skill (LVL 2/10). Crafting skill (LVL 2/10). Culinary skill (LVL 2/10). Hand-to-hand combat skill (Lv 1/10). Enhanced Vision skill (LVL 1/10). Archery skill (LVL 1/10).]

[Status]

[Level: 2]

[HP: 20/20]

[EXP: 15/800]

[Hunger: 89%]

[STR: 2]

[AGI: 1]

[VIT: 1]

[STA: 2]

[DEX: 2]

[PRE: 3]

[CP: 0 points.]

[SP: 0 points]

[Weapons]

[Potions]

[Skills and Recipes]

[Inventory: Slingshot (1/1). Minotaur horn (1/1). Bronze Sword (1/1). Skein of thread (1/1). Bow(1/1). Arrows (10/20). Wolf Claw (1/1). Wolf fang (1/1).]

[Number of gold coins: 65 gold coins.]

[Number Of Kills: 6.]

[Bounty: 80 gold coins.]

[Acquired skill: Hand-to-hand combat skill. (LVL 2/10). First aid skill (Lv 1/10). Crafting skill (Lv 1/10). Archery skill (LVL 1/10). Enhanced Perception skill (LVL 1/10).]

A few hours passed, and we crossed the hill where I first met Jasmine with the Minotaur.

And now, we were entering the labyrinth.

So far, we've been moving along a single route that was pitch black than I had anticipated it to be.

[Ding! Enhanced Perception skill has been activated.]

With my newly acquired skill, a part of me wondered if this was a blessing in disguise or a curse.

My vision evolved beyond my wildest imagination.

The skill made me feel like a nocturnal animal with vivid eyesight capable of viewing even the minuscule fragments of an object in the surrounding darkness.

It was like walking through the darkness while the sun was at its zenith.

And the scenery around was a spine-chilling one, making me feel ghastly at the sight of what we were up against.

Several players before us, who most likely had the same objective in mind as us, were now medleys of severed body parts splayed across the ground with the miasma of rotten flesh, bones, and blood permeating the air around us and making me feel queasy in the process.

Aside from this, the screams of more players could be heard in the inner parts of the labyrinth.

And since a body takes about half an hour to disintegrate, this would explain why none of the bodies had any dropped items left, even though there were a bunch of freshly severed limbs scattered around.

So far, the labyrinth has been easy to navigate.

This should be because labyrinths are usually modeled in a unicursal pattern, meaning it has only one path leading to the center of the labyrinth, which would be our final destination in this labyrinth.

The high-pitched screams of others continue to dwindle as we approach further into the labyrinth.

"...." My ears tingled and I stopped walking.

"What is it?" Jasmine was taken aback by my sudden stop.

Since she couldn't use all three senses at once as I do, she had to be extra cautious while navigating the labyrinth.

"Here it comes," I said and equipped the bow and arrow I had crafted before coming here.

[Ding! Crafting recipe (Arrow): Wood (x4), Ingot bronze (x1), feather (x1), Skein thread (x1).]

Meanwhile, Jasmine brandished her bronze sword.

But then, my ears tingled again and the Earth trembled.

A loud stomping sound vividly approaches us.

We had been spotted.

A massive Minotaur, around the same height as the one I first killed, approached us.

[Ding! Minotaur: Level 4.]

[HP: 40/40.]

It mooed with its aim purely to intimidate us.

"Hey!! Hey!!" But Jasmine called out, frantically spreading her arms wide to draw its attention towards her.

And like a predator being lured with live bait, the Minotaur charged forward without a hint of suspicion in it.

It seems the Minotaur could only focus on one target at a time, making me currently invisible to the Minotaur.

Too bad for it because I used that in the best possible way I could.

Now, I had the Archery skill which I had practiced on how to use a bow and arrow a couple of times before coming here.

I placed the arrow on the string of my crafted bow stave and slowly drew it until it was at full extension.

Then, I let go and shot the arrow.

Since Archery had a lot to do with precision as well, my accuracy had taken a tremendous leap from when I started with a mere makeshift slingshot.

The arrow flew through the air, whistling as it traveled straight into the eye of the Minotaur like a spike.

_______

The total number of players currently in the game: 78,010.

The number of deceased players: 10.

The total number of deceased players: 1,990.