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Chapter 28: Wrath

Staring at the sandwich in his hands, Makoto was unable to fully enjoy his meal.

His thoughts occupied with the dream he had last night.

After logging off and going to bed, his mind had been a mess but the voice he pushed in the corner of his mind, the images of him licking his bloody hands, desecrating corpses, they wouldn't leave him alone.

Dreams of blood, gore and his own mad laughter haunted him until the first light of the new day.

Makoto was well aware that the beast inside of him had gotten a hold if him again after such a long time, he knew what was happening to him, the constant anger he felt.

Again he would have to take his medication.

The thought alone turned everything he ate sour, as if he was chewing on dog shit.

Surprisingly enough his mind was so far away that he didn't even notice Veronica as she sat down in front of him.

Waving her hand before his face a few times to get his attention, Makoto's eyes slowly focused on her figure.

"Veronica, hi..."

He said, a bit embarrassed that he had spaced out like that.

"It's alright, did you not sleep well or something? You seem out of it today for some reason."

She asked, a concerned expression on her face while he could feel her hand caressing his thigh.

Not comfortable with the sudden approach at all he shook his leg a few times until she withdrew her hand, a displeased look on her face.

"Listen, I need to talk with you Veronica. Did something happen on the weekend? Is that why you canceled so suddenly?"

Makoto did not want to tell her that at first he only felt anger towards her and later on he got a bit worried that something serious might have happened.

"It was nothing really, why don't you tell me how your weekend was instead?"

Dodging his question, every single time.

This time it was true anger that coursed through him.

"You said on Saturday that you would tell me what happened so tell me what happened Veronica."

Unwilling to let her slip away from this one he ignored her question.

Right away he could tell that she didn't like how her usual game had no effect.

"Makoto please, I do have my privacy so if yo-"

"Tell me. Now Veronica!"

He cut her off, he could feel how his voice had risen at the last part and the conversations around him stopped.

Seeing Veronica evade his questions for the 100th time was starting to seriously piss him off.

Naturally he had intended to tell her about the incident with Loren, just because he felt a bit guilty about how he had turned a quick kiss into something else but now he rather kept that little secret to himself after seeing how she was always so very open towards him.

Before playing Azalon he would have never dared to speak with anyone like that but now... his own personality seemed to change at a rapid pace.

Even bringing the entire attention of the Cafeteria on himself was not enough to make him flinch anymore, anger towards Veronica was the only thing he felt right now.

"Listen, I'm sorry for not telling you what happened but it is a personal matter so please let it rest.

Anyways, the Tournament in Elisante is going to be held today, I can't tell you how long I have waited for this moment!"

Veronica said, seemingly unable to see the ice cold glare he was giving her.

"I already applied for it and I have to say, the rules are pretty interesting.

It is like a duel so if you die you don't lose any experience, at the same time every participant gets set to level 20 so the stats are the same.

It really just shows how good your build or Class really is."

Listening to her go on and on about the damn Tournament started to anger him even more.

If everyone got set back to level 20 during the fights, would Skills also be set back to a certain level? What about titles? Or equipment?

Effort and Money could get you far when everyone's level did not matter.

Veronica did not seem to think so, neither was she taking different fighting styles or tactics into account, it was like listening to someone talking about a game from 10 years ago.

Makoto was well aware that he would have a big disadvantage against all ranged Classes in the Tournament.

Veronica fought very well, he had seen her fight with the Caravan after all but she was always sticking to a pattern, a series of moves.

It was very predictable and he could guess that she would fair terribly at any new or unknown situations as she was not the kind of person to adjust or react quickly.

"I really hope that I can get into the Finals, the Price for winning the Tournament is rumored to be nearly 100 Gold, that is enough money to potentially buy a mount when someone finds out how or when to get them, even buying equipment from the best blacksmith in town could be a possibility.

I really want to get some new boots if I manage to win, my old ones really nee-"

Rolling his eyes he had enough, Makoto stood up and left Veronica alone on the table,

He did not even look back to see her agape mouth as he took his leave without saying a word.

.....

Looking back at it, he had been incredibly rude in his rage.

She probably never meant to offend him in the first place, it could have really just been a personal matter she did not want to tell him, after all they only knew each other for about 2 weeks now.

When his course ended, Makoto quickly ran after Veronica an caught up to her in a crowded hallway of the College.

"Veronica, please can we talk for a second?"

He asked her, slightly short on breath after having to zigzag between so many people to reach her after she stormed off like that.

Turning around on her heels she looked at him with cold eyes, clearly angry about what happened before at Lunch.

"Well, you are here so talk."

She said, folding her arms in front of her and staring down at him.

A bit uncomfortable with so many others around them that had stopped to watch the show, Makoto felt a tinge of anger that she played all of this out before them but he swallowed the words he wanted to say and instead kept to what he had planned.

"I wanted to apologize for walking off at Lunch, it was rude to just leave when you were still talking."

Keeping his head low while saying what needed to be said he looked at her pure white hands.

When he got no answer, Makoto decided to look into her eyes and all he saw was the cold of an icy tundra.

Without saying another word she turned around and walked away, just like he had before, clearly mocking him with it.

Wrath, burning hot like melted iron welled up inside of him, consuming any pity or excuses he had for her in his mind, planting doubt and hateful words for this woman instead.

"Is it really so hard to believe that I actually wanted to know what happened instead of listening to you go on and on about this stupid Tournament for the 1 millionth time? For gods sake we have known each other for nearly two weeks and I know nothing about you except your name woman!"

Makoto shouted down the hallway after Veronica, uncaring for any others that might hear his words.

His face showed a dark expression when he left the building, clouded by anger and regret.

Veronica's attitude and behavior angered him but at the same time it also hurt, he really knew nothing about her except her name.

The desire to know more about her and understand her better was always there but she never let him in, never cared to share even one single thing with him except that damn Tournament.

…..

When Makoto reappeared inside the Inn, a system window greeted him right away.

You have received the 'Well Rested' Buff!

Well Rested: +5% max Health and Mana for 6 hours.

It was an interesting Buff and really useful before going into a Dungeon like the Labyrinth.

He had to ask around quite a bit to actually get to the entrance.

Not only was there always a crowd of people, but the actual way there involved going up and down a lot of layers, navigating through crowds and also traveling quite a good bit of distance.

After nearly three hours that felt like he just went around in a giant circle, Makoto finally reached a set of stairs, gigantic in their dimensions and leading straight down into the ground.

Many people traveled up and down those stairs just like him.

It didn't take long to reach the bottom of these long stairs and the moment he set foot on the ground, a system message appeared before him.

You have entered the Dungeon: Eternal Labyrinth.

Makoto found himself in a wide and long hallway packed full with a high number of soldiers and right away one of them broke off from the masses and walked towards him.

"Is this your first time here stranger?"

The man asked and he decided to be honest, giving a quick nod.

"Well, then as it is custom I will explain the Labyrinth of Elisante to you in hopes that you won't find an early grave.

First and foremost, there are 10 floors to this dungeon, each housing different creatures with different Abilties.

I know that you foreigners always talk in levels so I will try to explain it that way to you.

On the first floor there are monsters ranging from level 20-30, on the second floor it is 30-40 and so on and so forth until the tenth floor.

Every floors layout is completely random and changes with the dawn of a new day, should you ever find yourself inside a floor while there is a change in the layout, do not be alarmed as you will be teleported back to this hallway here.

The only exception to this is what we call the 'Checkpoints' where the Dungeon does not change, it involves the hallway and stairs that are at the end of every floor.

There is a teleportation gate at every Checkpoint with which you can get back to this hallway here so no backtracking is necassery.

Also, should you be confident or more experienced you can use the Teleportation gates that exist here, they lead to every Checkpoint in the Labyrinth but be warned, you will die if you go to a floor that is not appropriate to your level.

That should be all, good luck and may the Divines guide your sword."

Makoto thanked the man and watched him walk back to his squad.

It was quite ingenious in a way, this dungeon alone could serve as a real training ground for the Soldiers of Asuria and they did not even have to leave their City for it.

Makoto walked past many rows of Soldiers until he saw 9 stone gates with white mist inside of them on the walls around him, the temptation for him to just go into a higher level floor was quite big but reminding himself that the second floor alone had creatures double his own level was enough to forsake such foolish thoughts.

Interestingly enough, even down here there existed an Inn and one or two shops, they all naturally specialized on survival equipment for Players or NPCs who ventured down into the Labyrinth.

Already having everything he would need, Makoto ignored a Merchant that was practically screaming into his ear about Health and Mana Potions and descended down another flight of stairs.

Gripping his sword tightly he walked down a long hallway until reaching a cross section, he could either go to the right or left.

Around him were still the same walls but he had now clearly reached the actual Labyrinth.

After looking both directions he decided to go right, a quick look on his map confirmed that he was indeed able to see the way he had already traveled, which would allow him to backtrack if need be.

After two more intersections, Makoto encountered his first Enemy down here.

It was a humanoid, wrapped over and over in bandages that trailed behind the thing like a cloak.

The Letters above its head spelled the obvious.

Undead Mummy: lvl 21

This was actually the first time he encountered an undead creature, in other games undead could play a big role, from being the menace of all creation to the usual enemy you find in every dungeon, it was a wide spectrum but everyone loved and hated them at the same time.

Readying his sword, Makoto looked at the slow moving thing that was still oblivious to his presence.

He decided to capitalize on this opportunity and ran towards it, giving it a quick slash over its back while having 'Curse Blade' activated.

345 Damage dealt!

Unable to inflict the 'Bleed status effect!-

Surprised about the message he took a step back and waited for the Mummy to turn around.

In a way it made sense, why would an Undead Creature be concerned with losing blood when its heart did not even beat but at the same time it took away a part of his fighting style

The Mummy turned around slowly but the moment it saw Makoto, the white and dead eyes in its skull turned red.

Letting out a horrible scream it dashed towards Makoto with surprising speed and tried to grab him.

Stepping quickly to the side he executed a low slash and destroyed one of its knees.

Critical hit!

651 Damage dealt!

The status effect 'Cripple' was not triggered for some strange reason and Makoto could hear a disgusting crunch when the Mummy put weight on the destroyed joint but nonetheless, its actual speed had not decreased.

Jumping from side to side he tried his utmost to not get grabbed by this thing, judging by how it still put so much weight on an already destroyed knee it sent a shiver down his spine trying to imagine how he would get rid of the hand that would be grasped around his own arm.

After a few more slashes to the already damaged knee he was able to chop the whole thing off, finally getting the system message he had been waiting for.

298 Damage dealt!

You have put a status effect on your opponent!

Cripple: -20% movement and attack speed until the battle is finished.

The difference was apparent right away as his opponent tried to put weight on a nonexistent leg and nearly fell to the floor after losing its balance.

Without too many problems he was able to put the Mummy to rest in the end.

He had learned his lesson in this one fight.

There was indeed enemies that were immune to certain status effects so he could not trust in it just because he had leveled a Skill quite high.

It was a good experience for him and showed a glimpse of what awaited him down here.

Shouldering his sword, Makoto walked deeper into the Labyrinth, eager to increase is level and to fight new enemies.

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Hope you enjoyed!

As always if you have any questions ask below, we are getting closer to the Tournament and also the end of Volume 2!

See you all tomorrow! :goodjob: