Chapter 17

Labyrinth and undead

I make my report to the Queen as usual. “Your Majesty, as you are aware, we have been studying the bag of holding hoping to unlock its many secrets, but we have hit a snag. I was hoping you would allow me to seek the secret of its origin in the place where it was first found: the labyrinth.”

“So, it eludes even you... I am loath to let you go so soon after your appointment, but there is so much potential to this item that it would be a waste not to pursue every avenue, no matter how improbable.”

“Thank you for your understanding, your majesty.”

“Before you go, I hear you have unlocked the ways of safe teleportation, is this true?”

“Secret is a big word. I happened to find pertinent information in a science book and had someone make the calculations for me. I made some quick tests, and though it is not yet enough to confirm it is without risk, it is a step in the right direction.”

“I see…”

Its face is as inexpressive as ever, but I know it feels dejected. “As long as I take sufficient precautions and teleport above ground away from obstacles, the danger is minimal. Even if there is a sudden rush of speed on arrival, I have no soft part, so I am more or less immune to the danger associated with sudden acceleration.”

“How many people and weight can you teleport along with you? And how far?”

“I... I do not feel secure enough to take living being with me yet. The speed increases on arrival proportional to the distance traveled north or south, as well as the difference in height. I believe that levitating before and after arrival is enough to diminish or remove all risks of injury, but I would rather postpone transporting animals and people until after some extensive testing.”

“No need to hurry, as long as you can come back here regularly it solves any issue I had. I want you to show yourself at the magic department at least twice a week, and to give me a report to me whenever it is possible.”

“As you wish, your Majesty.”

I do not understand court etiquette and find it bothersome. Most of the time, I just add ‘my queen’ or ‘your majesty’ randomly at the end or the beginning of my sentences.

“Even if I have allowed you to go on an expedition, it would be unbecoming for the likes of a god to act like some random adventurer. For prestige as much as for your own security, I want you to get a proper retinue. I am still in the process of selecting and arranging the matter of your honor guard, but there are already a little over a hundred candidates. I will not allow you to go unless you take at least fifty with you.”

“It had been my attention to recruit adventurers, but I must say a party of trustworthy professionals is a far more attractive prospect than whatever ragtag crew I could have prepared on my own.”

<><><>

Compared to the Queen’s own, my honor guard has far more specialists: scouts, trackers, trappers… The only thing they are lacking in are mages, not unexpected considering how few of them opt for a career in the military.

The biggest surprise for me is the fact that among the scouts recommended to me, the top two are not great Koroks – who I know from experience to be excellent – but an Elf and a human. The human in particular – despite being only thirty-four – is held in high regard by all and work as an instructor.

For the mages, the selection is pretty easy since there are only six of them, but for the knight, I have no idea where to start.

When you do not know, leave it to someone who does. “Captain, I need a team for fifty for exploring the labyrinth. We will be taking the six mages, three scouts. Please select the other members for me.”

“Yes, sir! You heard milord! I need thirty-nine volunteers?”

Every single one of them raises their hand. I really do not get them, why would anyone step forward to visit one of the most dangerous places on the continent?

“Captain, we will be exploring tunnels underground, we cannot take this many people.”

“Not necessarily, sir. It would be safer to have three groups: one for exploration, one to gather food and care for the camp, and the last one can rest.”

‘This’, is why he is the captain and I am not. As I can more or less do everything by myself, it never occurred to me to watch over the camp… and I even forgot about food.

After that, I head to the adventurer’s guild headquarters. I was told they archive all of their member’s discoveries made, whether it is artifacts, locations or magic beasts.

“I would like to ask about an artifact that was discovered in the labyrinth.”

The receptionist is a female Korok with a dark dress that does not suit her at all. It very apparent she’s trying to imitate someone else, but her constricted tail and small size break character. “My lord, all artifacts discovered in this country must be studied and recorded in the guild’s archive before they can be auctioned. Even so, I’d like you to understand the nature of the labyrinth makes it hard to record more than an entry point and some vague notion of distance. If you are satisfied with only this, then I will call and archivist.”

Worse than I thought, but still better than nothing. “This will do.”

“Let us proceed.”

She goes through a hidden door behind the counter and comes back a few minutes later through another hidden door with a skinny old human in tow.

He bows. “My lord, please follow me.”

I walk behind him and he asks. “Can I ask you what the item in question is?”

“The bag of holding.”

The archivist smiles. “It has been almost a decade since I was asked about this one.” He opens a drawer to take out a badly drawn map, then circles a zone with his finger while speaking proudly. “It was found in this general vicinity, my lord.”

While his memory is impressive, I cannot say the same of the precision: the area show is a circle with a radius of at least two kilometers. Even if I already know what to expect by now, I still have to ask. “What about the depth?”

“Sorry my lord, but the tunnel moves up and down with variable inclinations. If I remember correctly, and I always do, the best estimate the adventurer could come up with was: ‘nowhere near the surface’.”

Wonderful, assuming the estimates are right, that there aren’t that many tunnels and we do not have to fight too often, it will take about a few months to search it all… maybe less since my new senses are particularly useful for navigation, and I can also use farsight and put markers to help with the mapping. Yes, now that I think about it, keeping track of our location should be a cinch for me.

<><><>

By the next morning, the preparations are almost done, which is a lot faster than anticipated considering the distance and the length of the trip. Even so, there is one point I have difficulty accepting.

“Why is there so little water? I can see a few barrels. At this rate, the draft beast will last more than a few days.”

His answer is quite surprising. “My lord? Isn’t it obvious that we will conjure more as we go? I thought a mage such as yourself would know.”

“But conjured water is toxic unless it is mixed with natural water, right? The present quantity is nowhere near enough to do that.”

“I see, I suppose it was never a problem for you since your kind didn’t travel very far. As you said, conjured water loses its toxicity when mixed with natural water, but there is an even simpler solution: adding some salt to make it drinkable.”

“What kind of salts?”

“I do not know for sure. Table salt works, but too much intake can be problematic for people, and it is even worse for the horses. Alchemist tends to keep their recipes secret, but I know some made their fortune from tasty additives.”

So, the toxicity was not as a result of the spell or a mana overload, quite the opposite in fact. It is always so interesting to what solutions people can achieve by taking different approaches... Still, does it not imply that the purest of water is toxic?

“There is always something to learn, and there is much that I do not know outside magic... I will do my best but expect me to rely heavily on you and if at any point you see me make a mistake, do not hesitate to point it out.”

He answers with pride. “To serve is my honor, sir!”

Is it? As usual, I do not get these people.

<><><>

To the knights’ disappointment and despite the scouts’ best efforts, our journey was uneventful: not a single trace of bandits or magic beasts along the way. I understand it is a knight’s duty to fight and remove the threats to the general population, but are they not overly proactive about it?

The entrance to the labyrinth could pass for natural cave if it were not for its size and geography: a single hill lost in the middle of a plain pierced by a tunnel far too deep and wide to be the result of erosion or any known animal.

The human scout, who was looking at the wall with a deep frown on his face, enters the cave to touch the wall. “Sir, despite its rugged natural appearance, it is a lot smoother to the touch than it should.”

“Yes,” Says another, “it has the feel of ceramic.”

Going inside raised something attention because the ‘voices’ scream. “DANGER! ENEMY! KILL!”

This is nothing like what I was told! We have barely set one foot inside, and we are already getting attacked. I immediately warn the others. “Incoming undead, be on your guard!”

The ‘voices’ feel more primal than usual, more feelings than actual words, and the reason becomes clear when I get to see our attackers: giant undead insects mindlessly rushing at us with no clear sign of intelligence, past or present.

“Shield up! Ready your war-hammers.” Shouts the captain.

Since the undead do not go down easily, it is a lot faster and safer to disable. The tunnel width already makes it hard to defend with our number, but when I see creatures crawling on the ceiling, I am forced to raise some barriers to act as choke points and make the flow of enemies more manageable.

At least, that is what I tell myself, but seeing how easily the knights dispatch the horde, I have to wonder if my help was needed at all. Oh well, as goes the saying: ‘better safe than sorry’.

I examine the immobilized corpse carefully. “For the most part, they resemble gigantified versions of common insects but they have both exo and endoskeletons. Most peculiar. It is hard to say now that they have fossilized, but I think their bones used to be porous... and do you not think this looks like a ribcage?”

The elf scout answers, albeit a bit pompously. “It must be, anything their size would need organs akin to hearts and lungs.”

That settles it. Sadly, my inspection is cut short by the knights smashing the remains. I suppose it is a normal procedure since just like me, they must be capable of self-repair but I would have liked if they waited a bit longer.

I leave the knights to their work and use the time to make a small marker tagged ‘Exit’ that I put it near the entrance.

Ten minutes or so later, we reach the first intersection, there are five tunnels and…

“PROTECT THE NEST!”

“THE SQUISHIES ARE COMING!”

“PROTECTS THE MOTHERS!”

Unlike the one earlier, they use words, which denote a certain level of intelligence. “Incoming again, be wary, those seem capable of reasoning.”

The enemy comes from multiple tunnels at once, including in the ceiling and the ground. I immediately raise some physical barriers to block the tunnels. Surprisingly, rather than attempt to push through the barrier, the whole undead force draws back.

I report my sighting to the captain who explains. “Since their surprise attack has failed, they are waiting for us to go inside to attack us from both sides.” Says the captain.

He is probably right, and as the insects are in every tunnel, our only options are to fight our way in or retreat back to the surface and either way they win. “What do we do?”

“Shield up, form a wall around the casters, we are going in. My lord, would you keep some barrier on every tunnel except this one?”

We enter the tunnel, but to everyone's surprise, the monsters do not rush to fight us. Instead, they throw tiny chitinous needles at us while keeping their distance, small enough to pass through the barriers unhindered.

Screams of pain resound and a few knights fall to the ground screaming in agony. I understand full well that they cannot keep their visor down in this environment, but at the same time I feel like they brought it on themselves.

Poisoned weapons are a threat we cannot ignore. I immediately create two thick barriers to block the tunnels, I will not be able to keep them up for too long without risking asphyxiation, but there are no other choices if we want to heal our fallen.

The captain cusses. “Visor down you fools!”

“There was nothing in the guild archives about coordinated attacks with ranged weapons!” Comments the human scout. “I fear it’s either a new behavior or one no one survived to speak of”

“Goddess helps us, the second option seems all too probable. Look at those assholes, they’re keeping up their distance and waiting for us to drop the barriers.”

“Who the hell heard of intelligent undead before?” Rages one knight.

I remind him. “Me, I am one such undead.”

“Sorry sir, I didn’t mean to disrespect you.”

Suddenly, an idea flashes through my mind, I expand my senses and quickly discover a series of hidden tunnels. “Earlier, they did not tunnel under us: there is a network of hidden passages!” I know it does not mean they cannot do it, but it will probably take some time. “We are safe for now, none of them lead here!”

We finish healing the poisoned knight and I start conjuring greater Chi elementals. The mages immediately follow my example, although I hear one complaint. “I hate constructs, it takes all I have just to maintain one.”

I had naturally assumed that constructs were rare because most people had trouble maintaining more than a spell at a time, but it turns out it was something even more fundamental.

“Elementals, get in the tunnel and destroy all undead apart from me!”

The combat starts a few seconds later, very one-sidedly. Pure elemental constructs tend to be weak toward magics of the opposite element and anything that disturbs mana, but on the plus side, they are completely impervious to physical attack. For the undead who have neither mages nor enchanted weapons, it is a hopeless fight.

Knowing themselves defeated, the group of insects opt for the only viable option: kill the caster. Sadly, for them, this time the knights are ready and come at them with a vengeance.

I tell the captain. “It appears we are ill-prepared to fight in this kind of environment. Let us go back to the surface. We cannot go further if your own equipment blinds you.”

“That is the nature of full helm, sir.”

“Well, it should not.”

I have some ideas, but I will admit they all have their own set of drawbacks; farsight has low consumption, but it sends the caster vision away from the body, and this is not something anyone can adjust to. Clairvoyance gives perfect vision, whatever the environment, going as far as to allow the user to see through many types of invisibility and even small obstacles, but it is very taxing on the mind, and consume an inordinate amount of mana.

When we are back at the camp, I expose these two solutions to the captain who answers. “Sir, this is not a problem, with the exception of the scouts, they will only be used in battle.”

“You are right.” I would not say it solves everything since the enchant might also run out in the middle of a battle, that still makes it usable. “I will go back to my workshop and see what we can do for you.”

While I am at it, I might as well make a few throw-away golems: quality and autonomy do not matter for disposable shields.

“Sir, do not forget to report to her Majesty.”