Going to the second floor

"Dreidus. Make a few skeletons patrol near the entrance! Make it look like the labyrinth is full of skeletons and dangerous," said Five. He anxiously looked at the barbarians discussing among themselves.

There was a high probability that they would take a look at the second floor and if he could make the place look menacing, it might deter them enough.

"Yes master, that should be easy!" answered Dreidus and at the same time, he activated his skill, [Dead Mind].

Five did not need to ask anything, he simply looked at the map and immediately saw the skeletons start moving. For extra precaution, he spent more DP and summoned 60 other skeletons but this time, he equipped them with a sword and a shield; 10 of them were even given helmets for additional protection.

A little over an hour has passed since the barbarians came to the cave and already, Five's DP increased by 14000. It was what Five was looking for; the barbarians were all relatively high-leveled and produced a lot of DP. If he could manipulate them to some extent, he could earn huge profits! It was a high-risk high reward decision.

Unfortunately, 10000 DP instantly vanished as the new skeletons appeared in front of him. Although it might have been better to summon a different monster like a boss for the labyrinth, Five still felt like it was the right choice. With only 40 skeletons, the labyrinth was mostly empty. The 60 new ones would fill up a lot of the empty spaces.

Under the guidance of Dreidus, the new skeletons quickly entered the labyrinth and started to patrol the corridors. With 100 skeletons, the labyrinth could not be considered well-guarded, but would it be enough to stop the barbarians?

...

"Let's go! These stairs are clearly man-made and that means that people lived there before. They probably left treasures and resources there, but we don't know if there are any traps. But don't fret, during all the time the tribe was there, we did not see anyone wandering in this region. That can only mean that the people who once lived there are most probably already dead and it should not be a problem for us!" declared Toba.

It did not take long for the group to make a decision. Although this place looked strange, it was not in their nature to cower in fear. They were not scared of fighting the most powerful beasts of the forest, just exploring a cave should not be too hard, right?

The five barbarians quickly walked down the stairs and closely observed their surroundings. Their weapons were drawn and ready to be used. In just a few seconds, they arrived on the second floor and stared at the new environment.

It was not much different from the first floor in terms of appearance, but the tall brown walls did give off a strong impression. The walls simply looked like they did not belong to this world. The strange designs on them were slightly creepy and more importantly, the walls were emitting light! There were walls on both sides, acting like a corridor and just a few meters away, was an intersection.

"Be careful and stay behind me!" said Toba. He was preparing to walk a step forward when suddenly, a shadow appeared at the intersection.

The barbarians tensed up and got into a defensive stance. They watched in silence as a skeleton appeared at the right corner. They simply did not know how to react; it was their first time seeing an undead.

The skeleton did not look scary and did not even turn its head to look at the barbarians. It continued on its way and soon disappeared in the left corner. However, as soon as it disappeared from the view of the barbarians, two other skeletons emerged from the right corner and just like the first one, they lifelessly continued their patrol.

These skeletons were the weakest of the labyrinth which was why they were positioned near the entrance. The barbarians did not feel any threats from the skeletons but seeing undead monsters for the first time still made an impact on them. The barbarians were still on their guards as they watched the skeletons walk on their way without a sound.

However, something unexpected happened that sent chills down Zeke's spine; just as the last skeleton was about to leave the barbarians' sight, it suddenly stopped in the middle of the corridor.

Slowly, the skeleton turned its skull and stared at the barbarians for a second. Zeke panicked when it saw the lifeless eye sockets look in his direction, but the other barbarians did not react. The skeleton only paused for a few seconds before following the other ones.

"What is this place? Why are there skeletons there?" asked Zeke, his tone indicated his nervousness.

While Zeke was shaken by the skeletons, the other barbarians displayed completely different expressions. "Is this one of the legendary dungeons!?" exclaimed one of the barbarians. He looked at the others unsure of himself.

"It looks like a dungeon. Just like what the elders described. We struck gold!!" Toba shouted. Excitation was evident in his voice and it quickly spread to the other barbarians; they also became excited and eager to explore this place.

The only one not sharing the excitement was Zeke. "Father... What is a dungeon? Why are you all like this?"

"You don't know? Dungeons are extremely rare! They are the source of wealth of the townsmen. I only heard about them from the great elder but apparently, dungeons contain a lot of resources like ores, plants and even monsters you can kill to gather materials. All towns are built around dungeons and since there is one so close to our village, we might soon be able to get the status of a town!" said Toba.

Another barbarian quickly continued: "Your father is right. Among the barbarians, only one tribe in this region lives in a town and that is because they control a dungeon. With this, we might be able to elevate our status and become the second town. If we had a dungeon before, we would not have lost the war."

"Let's not waste any time. These skeletons do not look very strong. We might be able to conquer a few floors," said Toba.

"Should we not go back and inform the others? A dungeon is a dangerous place. We don't know what can happen," commented another barbarian. He was completely loyal to Toba but in this scenario, he valued his life and was reluctant to continue since he had already seen that monsters were there.

Toba was not pleased with the barbarian's behavior. "No! We are the first to come here. Think about all the things we can collect first! We will naturally share with the tribe but if we find some special unique items, we can keep them for ourselves!"

Without waiting, Toba rushed forward and turned left where the skeletons went. The other barbarians could only follow their leader. They knew he was impulsive, but he was also the strongest among themselves.

"Mark the way we are taking with the coal. We don't want to get lost!" shouted one of the barbarians and quickly, Zeke took out a piece of coal and marked the wall.

As Zeke and the other 3 barbarians turned left in the corridor, they were startled to find the 3 skeletons already lying dead on the floor. Toba was standing in the middle of the stack of bones left by the skeletons with his ax leaning on his shoulder.

"Huh, this is too easy!"

"Toba! Don't rush. It's a maze! We should mark our way to make sure we are able to come back!" said one of the barbarian. He was not worried that Toba would lose to the skeletons; he was more anxious at the idea of getting lost and wandering endlessly in the labyrinth.

...

At the end of the second floor, Five was staring at the screen. He anxiously watched as Toba decapitated a skeleton with a single swing of his heavy ax. The attacks looked effortless and yet, the skeleton did not even survive.

"Lumen! Did I not say to lure the weakest guy here? Why on earth did you bring this monster?" exclaimed Five.

Lumen, who just arrived, looked at Five and felt wrong. She could not speak but her attitude and her eyes were clearly saying: "How is that my fault? You only told me to bring that guy and he is clearly there; you never mentioned anything about the big boss!"

Lumen looked towards Dreidus asking for help, but the latter kept a straight face and ignored her. In the end, the firefly queen could only pitifully buzz.

On the screen, Five felt his heart ache as he saw Toba and the rest of the barbarians make their way through the labyrinth. It did not matter if they encountered skeletons or not since none of them could even survive a single strike.

The most worrying part was that the barbarians were actually taking the correct way! At this pace, if they continued to make the right choice, they might arrive at Five's location in less than 30 minutes!