*SNAP!* *CRACK!* *SQUEEEELCH!*

The sound of bones breaking and flesh tearing was heard as the limbs struggled to free themselves from the torso, which was inflating and deflating like a balloon.

*POP!* *POP!* *POP!*

Popping sounds filled the air as countless walnut-sized objects burst out from the corpses like grains of corn popping out from the cob. Immediately, the corpses were shredded into pieces of flesh, bones, skin, and guts, much to everyone's shock and horror.

The slime-covered objects rolled down onto the ground then began growing at a pace visible to the naked eyes. Within seconds, the floor was covered with hundreds of small insect-like creature the size of a human head.

"Crypt lice!" Shouted Bolt, but he made no movement.

Crypt Lice were cadaver-eating insects which spawned magically inside corpses. They remained small while digging around in the carcasses and could quickly grow to full-size moments after leaving the feeding ground.

A single louse was not a threat to anyone, but a large group of them could easily spell trouble. Their armored carapace was resilient to weapons, and their bites carried a wide variety of diseases and curses that severely weakened the victim, leaving them vulnerable to subsequent attacks.

A single dead adult human body can host up to fifty lice. However, places with a lot of dead miasmas like this one greatly facilitated their growth, which boosted both their quantities and size. The corpses' unusual movements earlier were caused by the sheer amount of lice struggling to escape.

"Everyone, back to the doorway! We'll use it as a choke point!" Rust commanded.

The group retreated back to the doorway. Van unstrung the bow from his back and nocked an arrow. The cramped tunnel and the six people around him made his movement awkward and he could not aim properly. He loosed an arrow, which bounced harmlessly off of one louse and fell somewhere in the swarm.

"Let me handle this!" Manco said, elbowing Van out of the way.

Holding the skull wand, he cast.

[Dark Implosion]!

He quickly adjusted the spell's impact point then released it. Immediately, a tiny back spot appeared in the air, right above the largest group of crypt lice crawling over each other.

*WHOOSH!* *BAMF!*

-35!

-10!

-37!

-12!

-34!

-18!

...

The air around the black spot disappeared with a flash, creating a vacuum in a spherical area with a one-meter radius. With a muffled sound, the air around rushed toward the vacuum, instantly clumping dozens of crypt lice together. They chittered and flailed around painfully as they fell down to the ground, injured both by the magical force and the impacts.

[Mana Blast]

Manco immediately fired a mana blast toward the clumped together insects. The combined damage of [Dark Implosion] and [Mana Blast] was enough to wipe out several dozen lice at the center of the blast. The notification area was quickly filled with messages, which he ignored.

[Enemy "Weak Crypt Lice (lv 10)" slain]

[Creature info added to beastiary]

[XP + 189] (+215%)

[Enemy "Weak Crypt Lice (lv 11)" slain]

...

"Well done!" Rust complimented him.

Without responding, Manco alternated between firing off Dark Implosions and Mana Blasts at the swarm. He carefully timed and positioned the spells to do the most damage and prevent the majority of the lice from reaching the group. A couple did slip through from time to time, but the group could handle them just fine.

After several minutes, only a handful of the carcass-eating scavengers remained, which were easily dealt with several boot stomps.

"Is everyone alright?" Manco asked and one by one the group grunted affirmations.

"I think I bit my tongue," Lug voiced a complaint which everyone ignored.

"I've never seen so many crypt lice!" Bolt shook his head, "This is insane!"

"Yeah, this place really helped them grow," Rust nodded, "Good job, Manco. We're lucky you're with us!"

Manco nodded at Rust then looked at Trix, Van, and Dan. Trix's face was white as a sheet and there were tears in her eyes; clearly, she was not familiar with seeing such a grisly sight. Van and Dan were slightly unsettled but quickly regained their calm.

"Come on, let's go!" Rust said.

"You STILL wanna do this?" Bolt protested, "I say we all get the hell out of here before something even worse jumps us."

"Sure, if you wanna go," Rust glared at the short man "go talk to them." He said and gestured at Van and Dan.

Bolt turned to the two big men who both gave him a look that said: "Don't even think about it." With a groan, he dropped the idea.

While Bolt and Rust were arguing, Manco made his way to an alcove in the room.

"Here it is!" he whispered and pressed a hidden button on the wall.

"Hey! What is that?" Bolt demanded.

"I'm going in first to check it out!" Manco replied. Without waiting for anyone to protest, he stepped into the door.

The moment Manco crossed the door, the noises outside abruptly stopped. He turned around and found the door gone. He was engulfed by silence and darkness.

A small message then floated in front of him for a few seconds then disappeared.

[Bonus stage 1: The maze]

[Try and find the way out!]

After a few moments, he became aware of the only sound around: that of his own heartbeats.

*Thump-Thump* *Thump-Thump*

He strained his eyes, but could not see anything. He lit his torch and held it ahead of him. There were neither wall or ceiling to be seen. The flickering light was completely swallowed by the black nothingness around him.

Looking down, Manco saw a tiny dirt trail glowing a dull red color, leading into the unknown.

Carefully, Manco followed the trail. It was suspended in midair, surrounded by the unseeable void. He took slow steps, maintained his balance. Falling down meant he would be expelled from this location.

The trail twisted and turned, sometimes doubled back and folded upon itself. As hard as he looked, he could never see more than a few meters ahead. It was like the trail was continuously being built as he traversed it.

After several minutes, the trail began branching out into a maze.

"I hate this part!" Manco sighed.

Trying his best to recall the correct path, he navigated the maze. There was absolutely no feature to mark the way. Anything put down onto the ground is immediately blown off the trail and flew down the nothingness below.

The silence was crushing. The sound of dirt crunching under his boots and his heartbeats only made him more aware of how abnormally devoid of sounds the place was.

He hit a dead end a few times and almost fell off the path twice before eventually finding his bearing.

After fifteen minutes that felt like hours, he spotted the entrance to the next section. As he stepped on to the relatively stable ground, he stretched and let out a sigh of relief.

[Bonus stage 1 cleared]

[Bonus stage 2: The gauntlet]

[Time elapsed: 00:00]

[Trap triggered: 0]

[Good luck!]

This part was a hallway about one hundred meters long, lined with traps which are activated by several different mechanisms: tripwires, pressure plates and so on. It was like a level in action-adventure games. In addition, he also could not backtrack. As he advanced through the hallway, the walls on either sides will close in, cutting off his retreat and forcing him to move forward.

Common sense would dictate he should try to make it to the other side without causing any trap to spring. However, the trick to unlock the next area was to do the opposite.

"A hundred fifty-three traps, in a hundred fifty-five seconds," Manco mumbled the requirements that he had learned by heart and completed dozens of time.

He got into the ready position and mentally mapped out the route.

'Here we go!'

He began by rolling on the floor, activating two dozen pressure plates.

*Clack* *Clack* *Clack*

*Whoosh* *Whoosh* *Whoosh*...

Countless arrows shot out from the holes on either side of the wall, and several spiked boards sprung from the ceiling. They all completely missed him, as he was on the floor.

Time elapsed: 00:13

Traps triggered: 28

He stood up on tiptoes, barely skirting the several pressure plates positioned densely on the floor. After a brief moment to reorient himself, he resumed moving.

In the next minute and a half, Manco dodged crumbling floor tiles, falling ceiling blocks, poisonous darts, acid sprays, pendulum axes, and spinning blades.

Time elapsed: 00:52

Traps triggered: 73

He jumped, ducked, rolled, and twisted himself out of harm's way at the last possible moments.

Time elapsed: 01:01

Traps triggered: 93

He did not think of what he was doing, instead, he relied mostly on his reflexes and muscle memory. He had done this many times, after all.

'Hmm, muscle memory is actually a misnomer. The procedural memory isn't really stored in the muscles but in the brain, specifically...' As he relaxed, his mind began to wander and randomly summoned up old tidbits of information.

Time elapsed: 01:23

Traps triggered: 127

Occasionally he glanced at the timer and the trap count to make minor adjustments, either slowing down, speeding up, tripping an additional trap or avoiding one.

Time elapsed: 01:57

Trap activated: 154

As he was thirty meters away from the exit, he had only one trap left to activate and 38 seconds left on the clock. This last stretch of the hallway only had one pressure plate. Triggering it would unleash a gigantic torrent of projectiles that was impossible to dodge. His only option was to endure it. If he had been at level 100 or so, with a more generous pool of HP and better equipment, he wouldn't bat an eye at this challenge. In his current state, however, it was a bit more difficult.

Without stopping, Manco took out his new tower shield and hold it on his right hand. Glancing at his belt to make sure the four slots were all loaded with health potion, he stepped on the last pressure plate and moved forward to avoid the closing walls.

Instantly, darts, bolts, arrows, spears. projectiles of all shapes and sizes rained on him from the walls. Grimacing, he held up his shield to block the heaviest projectiles, and let the smaller ones hit him.

Time elapsed: 01:59

Trap activated: 155

-15!

-1!

-2!

-1!

-17!

...

His health was chipped away at a slowly by the smaller darts, while some spears pierced the shield and hit his body, taking out moderate chunks. Grunting with pain, he kept moving forward, trying his best to protect his head.

Time elapsed: 02:05

He drank the first potion, feeling the pain briefly subsiding as his health was filled to the top. Seconds later, his health bar was back down to 60% and steadily dropped.

40%

20%

13%

...

He drank the second, then the third potion. The storm of projectiles was unrelenting. He had no choice but to move slowly and endure it.

Time elapsed: 02:23

"Just twelve more seconds!" He gritted his teeth.

Time elapsed: 02:29...

Time elapsed: 02:33...

*CRASH*!

His shield could no longer hold on against the metal storm and broke into splinter.

Time elapsed: 02:34...

'Now!'

His eyes lit up, Manco accelerated toward the end of the hallway. Ignoring the dozens of arrows stuck on his body, he jumped and landed on the last tile marking the completion of the gauntlet.

Time elapsed: 02:35

[Bonus stage 2 cleared]

[Bonus stage 3: The apartment]

A door materialized on the wall next to him.

"Finally!" He pumped his fist, and opened the door leading to the final area.