Part Five – The Second Layer

I felt rested and rejuvenated after going through my loot, so deciding to continue the momentum, I headed towards the stairs. I hadn’t had the chance to look at them closely before, but they were surprisingly nice. Considering the state of the rest of the maze, the stairs appeared to be rather new. There were no chips or jagged edges on the steps themselves, and there was even railing.

Acending towards the second layer, the light around me continued to grow. This was a welcome change from the continual dimness of the maze. Ordinarily, I wouldn’t be able to climb so many steps without getting winded, but since coming here, my body had been stregthend by so much fighting.

Cresting the top of the steps, I was dumbfounded by the sight ahead of me. What? This is the second layer? This is crazier than the first! First of of all, the sky was a magenta color. That’s right, it’s pink! Why!? Then there was my surroundings, which was of course another maze, this one far more complicated. Just from what I could see, there were multiple branching paths leaving the clearing the steps were in, and I could see walkways stretching over and under each other. Finally there was a tower in the distance, unsubtly declaring that it was important.

Ugh, this place is the worst! Why must it be so complicated? Still, this is an improvement over the dark maze.

*Ruuuuuumble………bang*

As I was surveying my surroundings, a stone block slid over the entrance to the stairs, and slammed shut. Guess I’m not going back that way.

I’d picked a path at random, and began to explore the maze. This section of the dungeon was actually pretty nice, if you ignored the sky and the presence of monsters. The ground was a carpet of soft grass, rather than being stone, and a pleasant breeze blew through the area.

*Sniff sniff….blergh*

Well that didn’t last long. A foul stench came to me with the wind, along with the familiar chill of Survival Instinct.

“Graaaaaaaaa”

No, no, no, nonononononono! Is that a zombie? Come on dungeon! As if giant maggots aren’t bad enough, you have to go and throw zombies at me? I fucking hate you!

“Graaaaa graaa graaaaaaa”

And it’s not just one, there’s a horde of them.

I hate my life, I just can’t win, can I? Though there were a number of them, there gait was so slow, I could probably out run them with ease. However, if I did that, I could guarantee I’d run into a second horde. That kind of thing always happens in horror movies, so I wasn’t going to repeat such a cliché.

Figuring on speed being the key to winning here, I charged at the horde. Swerving left and right, pushing away those that got too close, I began by chopping off limbs and hobbling the closest zombies.

“Aaaaaaaa aaaa aaaaaaaaaaaa"

Just like fictional zombies, these didn’t die unless you destroyed their brains. Thus, even if I cut off all their limbs, they’d just keep crawling after me. This was where my axe and mace came into play. The axe would inflict constant acid damage to the parts I cut off, while the mace allowed me to smash in their heads.

“Raaaaaaaaaa…"

Before long, the last zombie collapsed to the ground, allowing me to catch my breath and clean my weapons. I’d long learned that maintaining them was the easiest way to get them to last, especially when dealing with acidic enemies. Hmmm, I think those zombies had about the same level of strength as the piranha. Individually, the zombies were stronger. However, as a whole, the fish had the upper hand. They could display surprisingly terrifying wave tactics that the zombies couldn’t. Though this would be meaningless if there were more zombies, haha.

“Graaa graaaaa graaaa"

I just don’t learn, do I? Almost inevitably, there was another zombie horde when I turned around. This is just the worst. What am I, a living jinx?

“Graaaaaaaa"

“FUCKING ZOMBIES!!!”

Every time I dealt with one group, another would be just around the corner. It was getting to the point that I thought something was creating them. With how many I’d killed, a number of drops had appeared, but I’d had no time to collect them.

As I said before, the zombies were not a major threat individually, but in such a large crowd they became a real threat. Something is definitely wrong here, it’d be one thing if they were coming from all directions, but they’ve been coming regularly from the same direction. They're definitely being summoned.

I took the momentum axe out of my bag, and swung it to create room, then kicked the ground to charge forward. Using the axe sparingly to clear a path, I soon caught sight of a robed figure completely in black. They must’ve expected me, because I was met with a fireball as big as my head. Guh, that’s fucking hot, you asshole!

The figure raised its hands, preparing another fireball, but I wasn’t going to let it. Because of its enchantment, the axe had grown about three sizes. I brought it down, cutting through both the figure and its fireball.

“……….!”

It threw its head back and let out a silent scream, revealing its leathery face. As it collapsed backwards, its body dissolved into light, turning into a drop item. Furthermore, the zombies I hadn’t killed, collapsed and disappeared.

I figured this was only going to get harder as I went further in, but I don’t really have a choice. I sat the axe on the ground, as I gathered up the drops from the zombies and summoner. It took about five minutes for the enchantment to reset, so I had plenty of time to rest.

Soldier’s Leather Armor

Rank: E

Effect: Slight increase in Endurance

Description: Mass produced leather armor for soldiers

Metal Helm

Rank: E

Effect: Increase in Endurance

Description: A mass produced helmet made for soldiers

Magic Ring

Rank: Unknown

Effect: Unknown

Description: Unknown

WHAT THE FUCK? Why doesn’t it know what this is? For now, I decided to store the ring in my bag, as an unknown item could be a negative influence on my survival chances. If I can escape, then I’ll worry about the ring.

Survival Instinct was informing me that monsters were nearby, which was always a welcome diversion. Especially since I didn’t smell putrid flesh. Problem was, I couldn’t find them.

“kyui kyui kyui"

“Kyuuuuuuiiiiii"

“kyu kyu kyu kyu”

Ever since they realized I knew they were there, they’d been making a racket. They were either taunting me or calling for backup. It’s probably not the latter. If they were that smart they’d have run already.

“kyu kyuuuuuuuiii" “kyui kyuikyuikyui"

Possibly because of my uncaring attitude, two of the little troublemakers revealed themselves. A pair of pitch black foxes popped out of a shadow, then began to bark angrily.

“I don’t know what you want from me, you just aren’t scary.” Rather than calm them down, this seemed to set them off even more.

“Kyu Kyuuuuuuuu." A third fox jumped out of my shadow, though I’d known it was there. When I caught it, and smashed it into the ground, the other two froze in astonishment.

“I did say you guys weren’t all that scary, didn’t I?

Status

Race: Human

Archtype: Warrior

Age: 22

State: Healthy

Titles: Razor's Edge, Way of the Warrior

Rank: D

Skills

Normal Skills: Analyze, Survival Instinct

Special Skills: Skanda Rank F

Equipment: Soldier’s Leather Armor, Metal Helm, Scaleskin Gloves, Vagabond’s Boots, Warrior’s Bracelet

Wow, my Status has completely changed. The Equipment section probably appeared because I got a full set of armor. Aside from accessory type items, you could only wear one piece of armor at a time. Even if you wore one over the other, you wouldn’t get the benefits of either. Apparently, it had something to do with the enchantments on them.

I’d spent several days dealing with intermittent attacks of Shadow Foxes and zombies, while exploring the maze. While I’d been making good progress, I hadn’t even explored a tenth of the labyrinth. My current goal was to find a path to the tower that dominated the area. Especially after I found this.

Nightmare Fragment

Rank: Key

Description: A shard of a dark dream. Collect these to open the tower where the boss of the Nightmare Labyrinth lurks

I’d collected three of these fragments, but I’d yet to find a way through.