“Alright. We’re here.” Said the man at the front of a group of eighteen people as he took off his hood, revealing his rough features. He wasn’t scarred, nor unattractive, he had heavy features and a larger build, but not exceptionally so. His face didn’t “look” shady at all. He looked rather average, if anything. He turned around and addressed the rest as they all took their hoods off one by one as well.

“You know the deal.” He said “We go inside, clear the place, get the labyrinth core and then get out. Each person will get an equal share of what’s left over after we get ours. Of course since we’re the ones who found it and are the ones that are selling the core, we’re getting more. Assuming there’s no complaints there.” A few people nodded, most just staying silent. Of course they had complaints, but they couldn’t argue it. From among the others, though, one person stepped forward, looking nervous.

“U-Uh. I’m not too sure about this anymore. I mean it’s a labyrinth. You know how many people die in those right?” The others all turned to him and his party.

“Oh no.” Said the rather large man at the front. “It’s too late to turn back now. You agreed to it and you came this far. We can’t let you go back now. There’s no guarantee you won’t report the labyrinth to get the reward when you get back or worse report us to the guards. You’re either coming along or you’re not going anywhere at all.” He finished as he purposefully let his cloak reveal his hand readying itself to draw the hammer strapped to his waist.

The man who stepped forward gulped and backed off “R-Right. Of course we wouldn’t do that. It’s just a beginner labyrinth anyway. Should be easy.”

“That’s the spirit.” The unremarkable man answered, before turning and placing both hands on the large stone doors. Two other men from his party positioned themselves on each side and put their arms to their part of the door as well and as they counted to three they combined their forces and pushed open the stone doors, covered in vines, revealing the dark inside of a cave.

“Let’s get ourselves a fortune!” He shouted as him and his party took the vanguard and everyone else followed him enthusiastically. A minute passed… then two… and when five minutes had passed from the entrance being opened the doors slid themselves back to a closed position. As they did a small figure fell from a tree to the ground and walked out of the foliage.

Rex put his hand on the door in wonder. He had observed the exchange, but in favor of keeping himself hidden he was unable to secure a spot to see the inside of the cave behind the doors very well. Even then. He could feel the abnormal amount of mana coming from inside. Like nothing he had ever felt before. He weighed his option in his mind as he looked up at the door, a few times his size. This was his chance. A chance to acquire a core without all the hassle of climbing through guild ranks or digging for information. A chance to pay back Ann for caring for him for those first months that much sooner.

It wasn’t impossible to find a labyrinth on your own, but you still wouldn’t be allowed inside without being C-ranked in the adventurer’s guild or having an official permit with you. A permit only issued to people affiliated with the country. The adventurer’s guild, as usual, were the ones to govern the labyrinths. But their word was not above that of the country or the law. And in this country it was completely illegal for anyone to go inside without proper permission and even more illegal to clear a labyrinth which hasn’t been listed as a subjugation target. It wasn’t against Adventurer guild rules. It was against the law. Still… this wasn’t something Rex could pass over. In a secluded area, only him and the group knew of the labyrinth. Even if someone else did Rex would most likely be long gone by the time they realized something was wrong. Rex didn't need the money from such a thing. Reporting the dungeon to the guild would probably let him live leisurely for a year or two. Maybe buy some magically enchanted items even. Rex simply wanted to pay back what he promised to the old woman who taught him most of what he knows about this world. With a smirk, Rex put his second arm on the door, making his decision, and he pushed. A deal was a deal, after all.

The door was heavy, but to him it was far from impossible to move, even if not easy. He was far stronger than the men earlier after all. As the door opened under the weight of his push, he felt the mana escaping wash him over similar to a cool breeze and was finally able to see the inside. Beyond the first cavern in the cave was what could only be described an underground paradise.

Grass and flowers grew from the ground, moss covering the walls with flowering trees growing on the right side of the path and a stream of water flowing on the left. The trees were in full bloom, the white flowers occasionally falling to the ground among the grass and a new one visibly growing in its place only a moment later. The area was far larger than anything he had expected from an underground labyrinth. Glowing mushrooms grew out of the ground and walls, illuminating the area. It was by no means as bright as day inside, but it was bright enough to maneuver yourself without the need of an additional light source and to Rex it might as well have had the sun shining through the walls as if they weren’t there.

Though the trees weren’t many compared to the forest outside as they were only on one side of the path through the labyrinth, they were by far more beautiful, illuminated by the blue, almost mystic light of the mushrooms. Rex took a step within this beautiful environment, speechless and bewildered while he walked along the path.

‘Strange…’ he thought as he realized no monsters were in sight, only to quickly remember that it was most likely because the group ahead had taken them out already. Still it was strange for there to be absolutely none. He looked around, expecting something to jump out at him from nowhere, but nothing came. Even as minutes passed and he walked continuously down the winding, but straightforward path, he saw nothing. He was starting to wonder how long the path was when he felt a sting of pain in his leg, right above his foot. Looking down instantly, he noticed a small, green-scaled snake, perfectly camouflaging into the grass, biting into his leg through his boot. With no delay, he reached down, grabbing its upper jaw and pulling it off his leg, before squishing its head in his hand. Despite expecting blood to come out of it, instead a strange white liquid did. Despite this Rex simply threw the body aside, causing it to disintegrate into nothing along with the blood, still left on his hand. That was how labyrinth monsters died.

He moved to get back up and keep walking, making a note to keep more attention on the grass as he proceeds forward, but he was assaulted by sudden dizziness. He stumbled to the right, holding himself up, leaning on a tree. He his eyes and then opened them again, trying to focus his vision. After about a minute his vision stabilized if only a bit. He decided it was good enough to walk, before proceeding forward. Much slower, much more cautiously.

‘If that’s what the venom did to me…’ he thought briefly as he recalled testing how his body faired against poison. Ann had told him Drakin had higher poison resistance than normal at his inquiry, but that didn’t sate his curiosity. Instead he decided to test the effects more practically. Back then even a poison which should have paralyzed someone for a full day at the minimum did nothing more than make him feel a bit stiffer for an hour or two. This snake’s venom though… it would most likely kill. If not, it would probably immobilize someone for a week or more. In a labyrinth, that was as good as dead unless you had trustworthy companions. Something the group ahead of him… had anything but.

A few more minutes passed before Rex turned a corner and saw a wall with a large hole at the bottom of it at the end of the path. The entrance to the second floor, Rex assumed. But before he could reach it he saw another of the snakes slithering towards him through the grass. This time though it didn’t have the element of surprise. For a predator that completely relies on stealth to hunt, the moment it is discovered is the moment it has failed. As if to prove that statement right, the snake lunged for Rex’s boot, causing him to lift his foot at great speed in the last moment and as the reptile realized its target was already aware of its presence and prepared to retreat the boot was brought back down, mercilessly and effortlessly squashing the head of the predator underneath. As the body and the blood on the underside of his boot began fading, Rex proceeded forward through the hole in the wall, revealing stairs, leading down.

‘Well. First floor cleared. Easy enough.’ Rex thought as he climbed down, the venom already mostly neutralized. The first floor was as straightforward as he expected. It was a path with many twists and turns, yes, but it was still a single line, bringing no complications. Rex expected the second floor to be nowhere near as simple. Still… ‘Why is this staircase so long?’ asked Rex, frustrated in his head. He had been climbing down for minutes now. And as he finally saw the exit right after asking himself the question, he suddenly stopped, hearing something.

“What do we do now?” he heard someone say. An unfamiliar voice. He guessed it was normal for him to have caught up to the group. They had only about five minutes of a head start, but they had to deal with all the monsters on the way as well. And judging from the fact he didn’t see any corpses. Unlike him. No one in their group managed to get bitten by the snakes. Rex frowned a bit, slightly upset at the realization.

“We have to proceed forward. We packed food for at least a few days just in case anyway. We’re prepared for this.” The familiar voice of the “leader” of the group was heard next. ‘What? Food for a few days? Why would they need that?’ this was a beginner labyrinth. Clearing the first few floors should only take a few hours at most. ‘Are these guys that incompetent?’

“AWe’ll stick together and look for the exit. It’ll take longer, but it’ll be better to be safe than sorry.” No… they weren’t stupid. So the second floor was actually that much of a problem?

“Let’s go!” he finished before Rex heard them walking off. He waited a minute until their footsteps were far away enough before climbing down the remaining stairs and seeing what he was to be up against for himself. But as he looked through the hole in the cave that served as the exit to the staircase, he could barely believe his eyes.

He stepped out on the grass, once more present on this floor as soon as the stone staircase leading down ended. The second floor was darker than the first. But that wasn’t because there were less mushrooms. The mushrooms were still visible, growing next to the trees, even on them in some case... but unlike the first floor, the trees were everywhere and close together, Their branches and flowers intertwining and blocking out the view of anything above them. They were also taller. Much more so than the ones on the first floor which at some points had branches which even he could bump into if he was walking close to them. There wasn’t a chance to bump into the branches on this floor. Even for grown men, there still wouldn’t be.

He jumped up and grabbed onto a branch, spinning himself on it, despite it slightly hurting his hand and stepping on it with his feet, before jumping up once more, grabbing onto another. He maneuvered through the tree’s branches until he reached the top and was able to look off the top of the tree line. From this, two things became apparent. The first was that the ceiling, rather than the glowing mushrooms, was covered by a light blue moss that also emitted light. Strong enough to reach down to the trees, but not strong enough to break through to the ground underneath the colossal bark-encrusted plants. The second thing that became apparent was… the cavern where this underground forest was situated was enormous. The trees themselves were already several meters tall, but the distance from their tops to the ceiling of the cavern was several times their heights. And the walls of the circular cavern were what seemed like at least five kilometers apart from their opposing side.

The other group wasn’t joking. It could take days to find the exit in this floor, assuming it wasn’t in any of the walls and there weren’t any hints. But… Among the forest were several trees that were considerably bigger than any of the others, taller and wider. Rex decided that searching there was as good a place as any to begin. He descended from the tree carefully, jumping down from one branch to the other until he hit the ground safely. He had to be extra careful since he was still wearing his cloak. As he touched the ground he took the cloak off and folded it, putting it away in his bag, which he tied across his body, leaving it on his back.

He smelled the air, trying to find what direction the group headed in, but the overwhelming smell of forest flowers and herbs hid their scents. Sighing in disappointment, Rex started walking towards the tree at the center of the forest. There were six trees in total with one at the center of the forest and five more around it at equal distances away in different directions. Rex decided to head for the center first even though two of the other trees were technically closer to the entrance. Why? It was mostly a whim, since the difference in the distances wasn’t that great anyway.

As he was walking his sensitive ears suddenly picked something up. A rough step just behind him folding the grass noisily. He hadn’t detected anything up until then. He had no idea how who or whatever had gotten so close to him without triggering his senses, but he wasted no time, throwing himself to the side the moment his ear picked it up. Rolling across the floor he stopped himself suddenly using the strength of his momentum and his arms to launch himself up and back into an upright position before drawing his dagger.

In front of him. Close to where he had been standing just a moment earlier was standing what looked like a wolf, looking at him, growling lightly. The “wolf” had green fur. No. That wasn’t fur. It smelled no different from the forest around him. It was covered in needle-like leaves that made up something that looked like fur. A predator. The worst thing was. This thing was stealthy. And wolves hunted in packs. Rex had no way to tell if this thing didn’t have friends waiting around nearby. No the scariest thing was that he wouldn’t know even if it was right behind him. If this thing didn’t decide to jump for him, and if he didn’t have ears sensitive enough to pick up a needle dropping in these silent woods, he would have been successfully ambushed no matter what.

‘Damn.’ He thought. ‘The group ahead would have no problem with these things. They would just need to have someone watch their backs. No matter what these things couldn’t hide themselves in plain sight.’ But he. He was alone. Even for all his superhuman senses and abilities he couldn’t tell if a single wolf was behind him. Pathetic. Rex’s eyes narrowed as his expression got sharper. The wolf detected that as well and took a step back, but as if reminded of something it experienced a similar change of expression to Rex before It rushed forward with a howl.

Despite obviously being an ambush predator it was still fast on its feet. Perhaps more so than a normal wolf. But it wasn’t anything special in the Drakin’s eyes. As the wolf leaped towards him, he moved out of the way turning to its new direction. The wolf landed on its feet and kept running, making a half circle around Rex as he tracked it, before rushing straight at him again. Though Rex predicted its plan.

Just as the boy had expected he heard another leap from behind him, the same as when the wolf in front of him had attacked him for the first time. And just as he heard the slight crunch of grass behind him, he spun around a hundred and eighty degrees to see the jaw of another leaf wolf inches away from his neck. Unfortunately for it. As Rex spun he used his momentum to plunge the dagger he was holding in the wolf’s head. He was surprised as the skin of the wolf was penetrated, being harder than he thought it would be, but there was no time to think of it at that moment.

He instantly let go of his dagger, having no time to draw it from the head of the wolf in mid-air and jumped to the side, rolling once and getting back on his feet with two throwing daggers drawn and aimed at the second leaf wolf. With a wave of arm and a flick of his wrist both flew into it. One piercing its eye and the other where the stomach of a normal wolf would be. White liquid leaked from the wounds as the wolf yelped and fell to the ground. It tried to get up as Rex walked over to its already fading partner, but could only do so shakily, barely standing. Rex stepped on what was remaining of his brother leisurely, filing the wolf with anger. He bent down, grabbing his dagger and pulling it out of the skull of the beast. With its final strength the injured wolf rushed him again, hoping to catch the white-haired terror by surprise. But as it jumped for the still bent down Rex, the last thing it saw was Rex moving suddenly stabbing the dagger into its throat.

Rex sighed as the battle ended. He pulled the dagger out of the second wolf, its companion already having disappeared completely. He retrieved his throwing knives as this one too, turned into mana and as it did a white-colored sphere of soft light appeared in the air. Rex knew what this was. This was exactly the reason everyone would risk their lives in labyrinths. The reward. Through putting your hand in the mana you would be able to claim part of it which would automatically turn into some sort of an item. Nobody knew how exactly they were distributed, but they depended on the labyrinth and apparently it could even depend on who was claiming the reward. Although these were mostly rumors. Ann had been in a labyrinth once or twice, but was by no means experienced in them. She could only say what was common knowledge and what she had overheard people saying on the side. She had never been that interested in labyrinths until her old age.

But as the white-scaled Drakin stretched his arm towards the ball of mana, he suddenly felt something attempt to bite him on the neck, though the scales stopped it. Instinctively, his outstretched hand moved away from the mana sphere and smacked his neck, causing a splatter sound. Taking his hand off of his shoulder he brought it into his vision. Along with the same white liquid, replacing blood that the snakes and wolves had. On his hand was one of the flowers that would constantly fall off the trees. Except at the base of it was a small chitin-covered head and four spider-like legs. As the body of the creature faded away Rex looked up in horror at the dozens of flowers dancing through the air.