The Primal Hunter 11, page 58
Jake and Minaga continued their banter as Jake ran through the labyrinth, now having to avoid quite a few things. Fighting gatekeepers was confirmed out of the question, and even the trap corridors were something he had to reconsider doing. He believed he could still do them for a few sections more, but soon he would reach his limits.
From there, Jake just had to hope he wouldn’t meet a section where doing a gatekeeper or a trap corridor was mandatory. That, or one where avoiding these two resulted in Jake simply not having enough time to make the run, even at full speed. He did hope to do at least a few more sections, though. Wouldn’t completing two hundred in total be a nice round number to end on? Yeah, Jake was sure Minaga would appreciate him doing at least that many.
“You know what the worst part is right now?” Minaga said after a few minutes of silence. “At this very moment, you aren’t the only one barreling through my labyrinth nearly effortlessly, making me question my current employment. It’s someone you know, too, but I am not saying who. Again, privacy rules and all that.”
“Oh?” Jake said, genuinely curious.
Who else could it be that managed to “break” the labyrinth? Was it maybe Jacob? Nah, his divination was like the definition of standard, even if it was very powerful. Casper? No, it couldn’t be Casper. If it was him or any other dungeon-focused person, Minaga would be fine with it. Arnold? No… if it was Arnold, it was because he would solve those riddles instantly—something Minaga also wouldn’t complain about, as that would still be him completing the labyrinth in its intended fashion.
If it was someone he knew, it also included someone like Ell’Hakan, but he didn’t think that guy had anything… Wait… could she maybe…?
“It’s Sylphie, isn’t it?” Jake asked with a smile.
“I should really stop giving too many hints…”
In another version of Minaga’s Endless Labyrinth, a bird was flying through the mist, flapping her wings pretty casually as she bee-lined for the exit of the section. At the same time, she also had a very engaging conversation with Minaga.
“Again, can you properly explain what it means when you say you can still hear the wind?”
“Ree.”
“There literally is no wind. It’s entirely calm, zero meters a second.”
“Ree.”
“Alright, yeah, sure, there still is a smidgen of air-affinity mana in the air, but that is a requirement for the mist to have a medium to exist in. You need to fill the air with something, and what’s better to fill the air with than air?”
“Ree.”
“That doesn’t really answer anything, now, does it? Is it some kind of intuition? Instinct of some kind? An odd form of divination? Also, if you could do this, why didn’t you just show the way when you did my labyrinth floors?”
“Ree.”
“What do you mean you wanted your uncle to also have fun? What even is that ability of yours? Wait… I got an idea… You are related to Sylphs, elementals that do not appear at C-grade. I do not have safeguards against their unique magic, even if most of it will be blocked by nullifying many general divination concepts, but if you rely on that, then maybe… Say, for pure research purposes, can you tell me if the skill of yours is related to Sylphs?”
“Ree.”
“I didn’t ask if it was related to Sylphie, but the wind elementals known as Sylphs. You do know what Sylphs are, right? You definitely should. I literally gave you that Dreamy Embrace of the Benevolent Sylph mythical item.”
“Ree?”
“Well, yes, I do believe that can be described as a tasty item, but that doesn’t answer anything…”
“Ree.”
“I am not giving you another damn mythical item for answering a question… Couldn’t you just tell me? For the sake of scientific progress?”
“Ree?”
“No, I don’t really know this guy called Arnold…”
“Ree?”
“Science isn’t the name of some club you join, but… Actually, forget it. I am not going to get a straight answer no matter what I say. Jeez, you’re worse than that uncle of yours, as what you have isn’t even a Bloodline…”
“Ree!” Sylphie screeched cheerfully.
“Oh… Oh, so you say that what the wind says is related to your uncle? Wait, if your skill is a merging of the Sylph one and Records from his Bloodline… that would explain why it works so well, as it is a wholly unique skill never seen before, containing new and unexplored concepts… If I could figure out how it works, I could block it with my mist going forward. Alright, I may be ready to strike a deal.”
Sylphie entered negotiation mode. “Ree. Ree, ree, ree?”
“You drive a hard bargain, but compensation in the form of tasty things can be arranged.”
“Ree,” Sylphie responded joyfully.
“Mythic-rarity natural treasures are not just tasty things, but—”
“Ree?”
“Well, yes, I did agree they could be described as tasty. However—”
“Ree!”
“What do you mean I am arguing in bad faith!? How do you even know what that means!?”
Chapter 65
The J***s Incident
“Oh, I recognize this one,” Casper said with a smile as he quickly deciphered the Magiscript on the wall and found the solution. He wrote it down in mid-air before absorbing what was effectively magic code. “A very novel application of the bound-zone script.”
“Glad that at least some people appreciate real art,” Minaga answered. “Speaking of art. Thoughts on the traps so far? Always open to feedback.”
Casper, knowing where to go after analyzing the clues provided, began running down one of the hallways and scanning his surroundings, also making full use of all his dungeon-related skills. They provided many hints, and he had almost a sixth sense as to the layout of the labyrinth as he ran through it. “Hm, they are all very standard and understandable. There really isn’t anything crazy or out of the ordinary, I mean. I assume this was a deliberate design choice?”
“Right on! Making the traps unnecessarily complicated will just lead to senseless deaths and lost attempts too fast, as people are taken by surprise. That isn’t really the purpose of the labyrinth. Hence, it’s better to stick with the classics. But, if I did want to add some more interesting traps, you got any ideas?”
“While I cannot know what you already implement later on… have you considered rolling boulders?” Casper asked curiously. Who didn’t like rolling boulders? They were as classic as could be.
“Rolling boulders?” Minaga asked, sounding genuinely confused. “Boulders dropping down from the ceiling? I think that is just a less efficient way of collapsing the ceiling or—”
“No, no, not like that. I mean that right as you enter a hallway, a massive round boulder filling the entire hallway will drop down behind you and begin rolling toward you. This will force the challenger to rush far more than normal, and the boulder itself adds a great visual element and indicator of danger. Of course, some will be able to easily avoid the boulder with their skills… Maybe set the boulder on fire or something so those who can turn intangible can’t just let it pass? You may also need to make some more alterations so people can’t just block the boulder or something, but I am sure you can find a solution.” If Casper ever made his own trap-filled dungeon, he would surely have rolling boulders, even if he did admit they weren’t the most efficient.
“That… does sound interesting. Though it does seem to still serve a very similar purpose to collapsing ceilings.”
“Lasers and spikes serve the same function, too, but you have both. Spike pits and acid pits are also very much the same. However, even if they serve the same function, both are still great as they add diversity and variance to the Challenge Dungeon. Also, ultimately… having a rolling boulder is just cool.”
Despite spending his time trying to convince Minaga to implement rolling boulder traps, Casper had made quite a bit of progress already in his section, now reaching a trap hallway. Even if he discussed them a lot with Minaga, Casper didn’t really do the trap rooms himself. At least, he didn’t do them as intended.
Instead, he knelt right in front of the kilometer-long hallway and placed his hands on the floor. A wave of energy went through the floor as Casper’s mana poured in, and the very next moment, every single trap triggered at once. Fire, ice, spikes, lasers, and whatnot fired, with pits opening and pistons slamming down throughout. After everything was done, Casper stood up, cracked his neck, and walked through casually.
As a dungeon architect and trap specialist, he did have certain advantages. Of course, he had a very strong feeling his advantage was far worse than someone like Jake, even if he could “cheat” a lot. In either case, Casper had confidence in reaching section one hundred at least.
Primarily because he was already on Labyrinth Section 96. It just saved a lot of time, being able to pass through the trap hallways safely. He did have a strong feeling his method of triggering the traps would stop working at some point, though. Or he would just no longer be fast enough. He wasn’t really that fast, after all, and he still took some time to properly navigate, taking quite a few wrong turns throughout.
“I will definitely take your feedback up for consideration,” Minaga answered after thinking a bit and giving Casper time to focus on clearing the trap room. “Maybe ask for some more opinions.”
Casper smiled and nodded as he picked up speed and began running down the hallway to make sure he could pass it in time. Doing at least one hundred sections was his goal, and based on what he knew, that should put him as one of the absolute top performers for this Challenge Dungeon.
Jake completely ignored the huge, way-too-fucking-complicated magic script at the beginning of the section and instead shot into a hallway at full speed, not stopping for a second. Arcane Awakening activated at 30%, giving him even more speed as he approached a hallway with a few traps in it. Right as the traps triggered, Jake jumped to the side. A spear shot past him, the air pressure alone leaving bloody cuts on Jake’s torso and tearing flesh off his arm despite flying by him more than three meters to the side.
Continuing forward while ignoring his wounds, he soon triggered another trap. Dozens of lasers activated, filling the entire hallway and leaving no room for a human to get through, forcing Jake to block one of them. Eternal Hunger, with its form changed to resemble a shield with sharp edges to still be considered a weapon, appeared in Jake’s hand as he blocked one of the lasers and kept running.
Even the mythical-rarity weapon wasn’t left unscathed, as a hole was slowly being burned into it. Gritting his teeth, Jake barely managed to reach the end of the hallway, where he had to jump up to another floor. Summoning his Eternal Shadow, Jake barely managed to delay the laser for a fraction of a second, just long enough for him to get through the ceiling and into the next hallway.
Eternal Hunger was still simmering with energy despite a small hole burned into it, the weapon already mending itself. Considering not even the B-grade he’d fought could leave a single scratch on the weapon, he took that as proof he was somewhere he really shouldn’t be.
Because he was pretty damn sure those lasers or that spear earlier could have killed even a True Dragon in one shot. A low-tier B-grade one, sure, but a True Dragon nevertheless. Then again, this probably shouldn’t have come as a surprise to Jake.
He was in Labyrinth Section 214, after all.
Jake’s original goal of clearing two hundred sections had been achieved long ago. He had briefly checked out one of the gatekeeper rooms as he passed by it on the previous floor, and while he couldn’t tell the creature’s exact level, Jake was pretty sure it was around mid-tier B-grade. That was a being above level 400… so, yeah, Jake didn’t even have the instinct to give that fight a go. He was already pressured enough on time and attempts as things were.
It was to the level where he had to use his boosting skill from the very beginning of a section to be fast enough. He had learned that after running out of time in section one hundred and ninety-eight, and with that loss and his other fuck-ups, he was down to his final attempt.
Attempts remaining: 1
His first life had naturally been lost to the B-grade. Another life had been lost when he learned he couldn’t do the trap hallways at all anymore. The third was lost when Jake thought that maybe he could still do a slightly smaller trap hallway, and a fourth was, as mentioned, lost when Jake simply didn’t run fast enough due to his lack of boosting skill.
By now, there wasn’t really much to discuss regarding his approach to each Labyrinth Section. Jake didn’t even have time to make a proper route; he just had to follow his intuition in the first part as he fired out Pulses of Perception and created a mental map to navigate. Everything that wasn’t the smallest of traps had to be entirely avoided, and he also tried to stay away from teleporters whenever possible. He had encountered one in Labyrinth Section 200 that he got very bad vibes from, giving him the feeling that had he taken it, he would’ve been teleported right in front of a gatekeeper. Or into a water level. Both would’ve been equally horrible. Actually, scratch that. He’d rather die to a B-grade than be stuck in a water level as the timer slowly expired.
Anyway, all it came down to was pure speed and pacing. Jake had five whole days to complete the section, and he would need every moment simply due to how massive it was. It was a true marathon where pacing and conserving resources were as important as simply being fast.
Jake was lucky he was doing this Challenge Dungeon after the Colosseum of Mortals. During the Colosseum, Jake had improved small aspects of his boosting skill, especially the parts where he only amplified certain parts of the body, and this sure came in handy now. He didn’t really need to boost his ability to punch stuff or create bigger magical explosions when he was just running, so he focused solely on pouring his energy into his legs.
This increased his longevity and reduced the stress on his body quite significantly. When he did begin to run out of steam and had to relax his legs, Jake summoned his wings and began flapping while even using his hands to blast himself down hallways for more speed. It looked ridiculous, but it worked.
The only truly sad part about the increased difficulty was his inability to have fun with Minaga. He had to dedicate all his mental energy to making sure he was going the right way, and he didn’t want to risk messing up by focusing on coming up with a good quip to throw back at Minaga. No, he had to wait till he was done with the section and could relax and fully regenerate inside every checkpoint hallway.
Because, yes, he sure as hell needed these brief respites now, or he would have been utterly fucked.
Days passed as Jake kept making his way through the section. Toward the end, his entire body was sore, his legs slightly bloody from overextension and his resource pools borderline empty. However, he could see the end before him as he jumped up and down several floors before finally reaching the gate.
Placing his hand on it, a prompt popped up in front of him.
Labyrinth Section 214 clear time: 4 days, 22:41:55
“Nice.” Jake smiled to himself. He even had a bit over an hour to go, so it wasn’t even that bad of a time. He was spent, though, and he really needed a break. A twenty-four-hour nap would also be nice.
“Great, great…” Minaga muttered before he suddenly perked up. “But, alas, this is where the journey ends!”
“You say that with such certainty it’s kind of cute,” Jake said with a smile as the gate in front of him opened. He prepared to take a nice break in the checkpoint hall—
You have entered Labyrinth Section 215 of Minaga’s Endless Labyrinth.
Time Remaining: 4 days, 23:59:59
Jake stared at the message and the Labyrinth Section that had appeared in front of him. “What the fuck is this?”
There was no checkpoint hallway. No break or slight reprieve. It was like on the early floors where you just went from one labyrinth into another… something Jake hadn’t seen for a hundred and fifty sections now.
“Well, it’s the next Labyrinth Section. Duh. Why complain? You feeling tired? Oh, poor you!”
“This is just cheap, man,” Jake said with annoyance.
“Oh, give me a break. You are already way, way past what you should be right now. So stop complaining and just take the damn win already.”
Jake did know this was probably the end of the road for him, but he still tried to scan the section with Pulse as he relaxed a little, trying to find a suitable route. However, after about an hour, it became clear this section was about the same length as the last one. Considering his borderline nonexistent resources and spent body… yeah, there was no way.
“Still feels cheap,” Jake said after over an hour of silence.
“Says the obvious cheater,” Minaga shot back. “Hopefully, the reward can make you stop complaining… though I will warn you that you kind of run into diminishing returns when you do too well at a Challenge Dungeon. Built-in system anti-cheat, if you will. And while you may complain about that, you should be happy. There are others who have been able to cheat in other Challenge Dungeons far more than this and could have theoretically gained nearly infinite scores.”
Jake was about to complain anyway… until he remembered Ell’Hakan in the Minaga City Floor and how he’d passed it instantly by entirely cheating the merchants there into thinking some random thing was worth a ridiculous amount. If he or someone else like him could do something akin to that elsewhere… yeah, this kind of anti-cheat was probably for the best.
“Glad you do see some sense,” Minaga said after he saw Jake wasn’t going to continue complaining.
“I keep it internal,” Jake commented, having chosen to just stay there and relax.
He had five days to do this section and decided he might as well just chill and heal up during this time. Sure, chances were the dungeon would heal him when he exited, but he couldn’t be sure. Also, he did kind of want to go and spend his last attempt by getting clapped by a mid-tier B-grade. That sounded like a fun way to go out.
From there, Jake just had to hope he wouldn’t meet a section where doing a gatekeeper or a trap corridor was mandatory. That, or one where avoiding these two resulted in Jake simply not having enough time to make the run, even at full speed. He did hope to do at least a few more sections, though. Wouldn’t completing two hundred in total be a nice round number to end on? Yeah, Jake was sure Minaga would appreciate him doing at least that many.
“You know what the worst part is right now?” Minaga said after a few minutes of silence. “At this very moment, you aren’t the only one barreling through my labyrinth nearly effortlessly, making me question my current employment. It’s someone you know, too, but I am not saying who. Again, privacy rules and all that.”
“Oh?” Jake said, genuinely curious.
Who else could it be that managed to “break” the labyrinth? Was it maybe Jacob? Nah, his divination was like the definition of standard, even if it was very powerful. Casper? No, it couldn’t be Casper. If it was him or any other dungeon-focused person, Minaga would be fine with it. Arnold? No… if it was Arnold, it was because he would solve those riddles instantly—something Minaga also wouldn’t complain about, as that would still be him completing the labyrinth in its intended fashion.
If it was someone he knew, it also included someone like Ell’Hakan, but he didn’t think that guy had anything… Wait… could she maybe…?
“It’s Sylphie, isn’t it?” Jake asked with a smile.
“I should really stop giving too many hints…”
In another version of Minaga’s Endless Labyrinth, a bird was flying through the mist, flapping her wings pretty casually as she bee-lined for the exit of the section. At the same time, she also had a very engaging conversation with Minaga.
“Again, can you properly explain what it means when you say you can still hear the wind?”
“Ree.”
“There literally is no wind. It’s entirely calm, zero meters a second.”
“Ree.”
“Alright, yeah, sure, there still is a smidgen of air-affinity mana in the air, but that is a requirement for the mist to have a medium to exist in. You need to fill the air with something, and what’s better to fill the air with than air?”
“Ree.”
“That doesn’t really answer anything, now, does it? Is it some kind of intuition? Instinct of some kind? An odd form of divination? Also, if you could do this, why didn’t you just show the way when you did my labyrinth floors?”
“Ree.”
“What do you mean you wanted your uncle to also have fun? What even is that ability of yours? Wait… I got an idea… You are related to Sylphs, elementals that do not appear at C-grade. I do not have safeguards against their unique magic, even if most of it will be blocked by nullifying many general divination concepts, but if you rely on that, then maybe… Say, for pure research purposes, can you tell me if the skill of yours is related to Sylphs?”
“Ree.”
“I didn’t ask if it was related to Sylphie, but the wind elementals known as Sylphs. You do know what Sylphs are, right? You definitely should. I literally gave you that Dreamy Embrace of the Benevolent Sylph mythical item.”
“Ree?”
“Well, yes, I do believe that can be described as a tasty item, but that doesn’t answer anything…”
“Ree.”
“I am not giving you another damn mythical item for answering a question… Couldn’t you just tell me? For the sake of scientific progress?”
“Ree?”
“No, I don’t really know this guy called Arnold…”
“Ree?”
“Science isn’t the name of some club you join, but… Actually, forget it. I am not going to get a straight answer no matter what I say. Jeez, you’re worse than that uncle of yours, as what you have isn’t even a Bloodline…”
“Ree!” Sylphie screeched cheerfully.
“Oh… Oh, so you say that what the wind says is related to your uncle? Wait, if your skill is a merging of the Sylph one and Records from his Bloodline… that would explain why it works so well, as it is a wholly unique skill never seen before, containing new and unexplored concepts… If I could figure out how it works, I could block it with my mist going forward. Alright, I may be ready to strike a deal.”
Sylphie entered negotiation mode. “Ree. Ree, ree, ree?”
“You drive a hard bargain, but compensation in the form of tasty things can be arranged.”
“Ree,” Sylphie responded joyfully.
“Mythic-rarity natural treasures are not just tasty things, but—”
“Ree?”
“Well, yes, I did agree they could be described as tasty. However—”
“Ree!”
“What do you mean I am arguing in bad faith!? How do you even know what that means!?”
Chapter 65
The J***s Incident
“Oh, I recognize this one,” Casper said with a smile as he quickly deciphered the Magiscript on the wall and found the solution. He wrote it down in mid-air before absorbing what was effectively magic code. “A very novel application of the bound-zone script.”
“Glad that at least some people appreciate real art,” Minaga answered. “Speaking of art. Thoughts on the traps so far? Always open to feedback.”
Casper, knowing where to go after analyzing the clues provided, began running down one of the hallways and scanning his surroundings, also making full use of all his dungeon-related skills. They provided many hints, and he had almost a sixth sense as to the layout of the labyrinth as he ran through it. “Hm, they are all very standard and understandable. There really isn’t anything crazy or out of the ordinary, I mean. I assume this was a deliberate design choice?”
“Right on! Making the traps unnecessarily complicated will just lead to senseless deaths and lost attempts too fast, as people are taken by surprise. That isn’t really the purpose of the labyrinth. Hence, it’s better to stick with the classics. But, if I did want to add some more interesting traps, you got any ideas?”
“While I cannot know what you already implement later on… have you considered rolling boulders?” Casper asked curiously. Who didn’t like rolling boulders? They were as classic as could be.
“Rolling boulders?” Minaga asked, sounding genuinely confused. “Boulders dropping down from the ceiling? I think that is just a less efficient way of collapsing the ceiling or—”
“No, no, not like that. I mean that right as you enter a hallway, a massive round boulder filling the entire hallway will drop down behind you and begin rolling toward you. This will force the challenger to rush far more than normal, and the boulder itself adds a great visual element and indicator of danger. Of course, some will be able to easily avoid the boulder with their skills… Maybe set the boulder on fire or something so those who can turn intangible can’t just let it pass? You may also need to make some more alterations so people can’t just block the boulder or something, but I am sure you can find a solution.” If Casper ever made his own trap-filled dungeon, he would surely have rolling boulders, even if he did admit they weren’t the most efficient.
“That… does sound interesting. Though it does seem to still serve a very similar purpose to collapsing ceilings.”
“Lasers and spikes serve the same function, too, but you have both. Spike pits and acid pits are also very much the same. However, even if they serve the same function, both are still great as they add diversity and variance to the Challenge Dungeon. Also, ultimately… having a rolling boulder is just cool.”
Despite spending his time trying to convince Minaga to implement rolling boulder traps, Casper had made quite a bit of progress already in his section, now reaching a trap hallway. Even if he discussed them a lot with Minaga, Casper didn’t really do the trap rooms himself. At least, he didn’t do them as intended.
Instead, he knelt right in front of the kilometer-long hallway and placed his hands on the floor. A wave of energy went through the floor as Casper’s mana poured in, and the very next moment, every single trap triggered at once. Fire, ice, spikes, lasers, and whatnot fired, with pits opening and pistons slamming down throughout. After everything was done, Casper stood up, cracked his neck, and walked through casually.
As a dungeon architect and trap specialist, he did have certain advantages. Of course, he had a very strong feeling his advantage was far worse than someone like Jake, even if he could “cheat” a lot. In either case, Casper had confidence in reaching section one hundred at least.
Primarily because he was already on Labyrinth Section 96. It just saved a lot of time, being able to pass through the trap hallways safely. He did have a strong feeling his method of triggering the traps would stop working at some point, though. Or he would just no longer be fast enough. He wasn’t really that fast, after all, and he still took some time to properly navigate, taking quite a few wrong turns throughout.
“I will definitely take your feedback up for consideration,” Minaga answered after thinking a bit and giving Casper time to focus on clearing the trap room. “Maybe ask for some more opinions.”
Casper smiled and nodded as he picked up speed and began running down the hallway to make sure he could pass it in time. Doing at least one hundred sections was his goal, and based on what he knew, that should put him as one of the absolute top performers for this Challenge Dungeon.
Jake completely ignored the huge, way-too-fucking-complicated magic script at the beginning of the section and instead shot into a hallway at full speed, not stopping for a second. Arcane Awakening activated at 30%, giving him even more speed as he approached a hallway with a few traps in it. Right as the traps triggered, Jake jumped to the side. A spear shot past him, the air pressure alone leaving bloody cuts on Jake’s torso and tearing flesh off his arm despite flying by him more than three meters to the side.
Continuing forward while ignoring his wounds, he soon triggered another trap. Dozens of lasers activated, filling the entire hallway and leaving no room for a human to get through, forcing Jake to block one of them. Eternal Hunger, with its form changed to resemble a shield with sharp edges to still be considered a weapon, appeared in Jake’s hand as he blocked one of the lasers and kept running.
Even the mythical-rarity weapon wasn’t left unscathed, as a hole was slowly being burned into it. Gritting his teeth, Jake barely managed to reach the end of the hallway, where he had to jump up to another floor. Summoning his Eternal Shadow, Jake barely managed to delay the laser for a fraction of a second, just long enough for him to get through the ceiling and into the next hallway.
Eternal Hunger was still simmering with energy despite a small hole burned into it, the weapon already mending itself. Considering not even the B-grade he’d fought could leave a single scratch on the weapon, he took that as proof he was somewhere he really shouldn’t be.
Because he was pretty damn sure those lasers or that spear earlier could have killed even a True Dragon in one shot. A low-tier B-grade one, sure, but a True Dragon nevertheless. Then again, this probably shouldn’t have come as a surprise to Jake.
He was in Labyrinth Section 214, after all.
Jake’s original goal of clearing two hundred sections had been achieved long ago. He had briefly checked out one of the gatekeeper rooms as he passed by it on the previous floor, and while he couldn’t tell the creature’s exact level, Jake was pretty sure it was around mid-tier B-grade. That was a being above level 400… so, yeah, Jake didn’t even have the instinct to give that fight a go. He was already pressured enough on time and attempts as things were.
It was to the level where he had to use his boosting skill from the very beginning of a section to be fast enough. He had learned that after running out of time in section one hundred and ninety-eight, and with that loss and his other fuck-ups, he was down to his final attempt.
Attempts remaining: 1
His first life had naturally been lost to the B-grade. Another life had been lost when he learned he couldn’t do the trap hallways at all anymore. The third was lost when Jake thought that maybe he could still do a slightly smaller trap hallway, and a fourth was, as mentioned, lost when Jake simply didn’t run fast enough due to his lack of boosting skill.
By now, there wasn’t really much to discuss regarding his approach to each Labyrinth Section. Jake didn’t even have time to make a proper route; he just had to follow his intuition in the first part as he fired out Pulses of Perception and created a mental map to navigate. Everything that wasn’t the smallest of traps had to be entirely avoided, and he also tried to stay away from teleporters whenever possible. He had encountered one in Labyrinth Section 200 that he got very bad vibes from, giving him the feeling that had he taken it, he would’ve been teleported right in front of a gatekeeper. Or into a water level. Both would’ve been equally horrible. Actually, scratch that. He’d rather die to a B-grade than be stuck in a water level as the timer slowly expired.
Anyway, all it came down to was pure speed and pacing. Jake had five whole days to complete the section, and he would need every moment simply due to how massive it was. It was a true marathon where pacing and conserving resources were as important as simply being fast.
Jake was lucky he was doing this Challenge Dungeon after the Colosseum of Mortals. During the Colosseum, Jake had improved small aspects of his boosting skill, especially the parts where he only amplified certain parts of the body, and this sure came in handy now. He didn’t really need to boost his ability to punch stuff or create bigger magical explosions when he was just running, so he focused solely on pouring his energy into his legs.
This increased his longevity and reduced the stress on his body quite significantly. When he did begin to run out of steam and had to relax his legs, Jake summoned his wings and began flapping while even using his hands to blast himself down hallways for more speed. It looked ridiculous, but it worked.
The only truly sad part about the increased difficulty was his inability to have fun with Minaga. He had to dedicate all his mental energy to making sure he was going the right way, and he didn’t want to risk messing up by focusing on coming up with a good quip to throw back at Minaga. No, he had to wait till he was done with the section and could relax and fully regenerate inside every checkpoint hallway.
Because, yes, he sure as hell needed these brief respites now, or he would have been utterly fucked.
Days passed as Jake kept making his way through the section. Toward the end, his entire body was sore, his legs slightly bloody from overextension and his resource pools borderline empty. However, he could see the end before him as he jumped up and down several floors before finally reaching the gate.
Placing his hand on it, a prompt popped up in front of him.
Labyrinth Section 214 clear time: 4 days, 22:41:55
“Nice.” Jake smiled to himself. He even had a bit over an hour to go, so it wasn’t even that bad of a time. He was spent, though, and he really needed a break. A twenty-four-hour nap would also be nice.
“Great, great…” Minaga muttered before he suddenly perked up. “But, alas, this is where the journey ends!”
“You say that with such certainty it’s kind of cute,” Jake said with a smile as the gate in front of him opened. He prepared to take a nice break in the checkpoint hall—
You have entered Labyrinth Section 215 of Minaga’s Endless Labyrinth.
Time Remaining: 4 days, 23:59:59
Jake stared at the message and the Labyrinth Section that had appeared in front of him. “What the fuck is this?”
There was no checkpoint hallway. No break or slight reprieve. It was like on the early floors where you just went from one labyrinth into another… something Jake hadn’t seen for a hundred and fifty sections now.
“Well, it’s the next Labyrinth Section. Duh. Why complain? You feeling tired? Oh, poor you!”
“This is just cheap, man,” Jake said with annoyance.
“Oh, give me a break. You are already way, way past what you should be right now. So stop complaining and just take the damn win already.”
Jake did know this was probably the end of the road for him, but he still tried to scan the section with Pulse as he relaxed a little, trying to find a suitable route. However, after about an hour, it became clear this section was about the same length as the last one. Considering his borderline nonexistent resources and spent body… yeah, there was no way.
“Still feels cheap,” Jake said after over an hour of silence.
“Says the obvious cheater,” Minaga shot back. “Hopefully, the reward can make you stop complaining… though I will warn you that you kind of run into diminishing returns when you do too well at a Challenge Dungeon. Built-in system anti-cheat, if you will. And while you may complain about that, you should be happy. There are others who have been able to cheat in other Challenge Dungeons far more than this and could have theoretically gained nearly infinite scores.”
Jake was about to complain anyway… until he remembered Ell’Hakan in the Minaga City Floor and how he’d passed it instantly by entirely cheating the merchants there into thinking some random thing was worth a ridiculous amount. If he or someone else like him could do something akin to that elsewhere… yeah, this kind of anti-cheat was probably for the best.
“Glad you do see some sense,” Minaga said after he saw Jake wasn’t going to continue complaining.
“I keep it internal,” Jake commented, having chosen to just stay there and relax.
He had five days to do this section and decided he might as well just chill and heal up during this time. Sure, chances were the dungeon would heal him when he exited, but he couldn’t be sure. Also, he did kind of want to go and spend his last attempt by getting clapped by a mid-tier B-grade. That sounded like a fun way to go out.
