Kyrie examined the demon lord in front of her. It was a huge snake with three heads, greyish blue in colour and it was coiled around something which Kyrie could not see. Each of the heads was hissing and the eyes were narrowed at the tiny adventurers in front of it. The demon lord would easily be fifty feet in length, Kyrie mused.

Nagasura the Poisoner

Demon Lord, Level 100

Health 125,000 / 125,000

Nagasura hissed, “Prey arrivesss. Right into my foldsss. Sssoldiersss attack.”

The poisonous water of the lake started to churn and out came more snakes, which were at least 10 feet long. They had small spindly arms and they carried curved daggers in those arms.

The snakes attacked the adventurers while Nagasura spit poison at them, all the three heads.

“Run”, shouted Athena and they all ran into the forest. Nagasura did not pursue but the snake army pursued. Kyrie saw that there were many of these, she examined one of them to see what they were called.

Nagasena 1

Demon, Level 100

Health 1,000 / 1,000

Interesting, she mused as Kyrie ran and shot arrows into the nagasenas following her. Selena threw some daggers and exploding flasks while Clio threw some daggers. Athena buffed them while running. Kyrie got enhanced protection and health regeneration. After buffing them, Athena paused for some time before she cast small bolts of fire to attack the nagasenas.

The nagasenas were now appearing everywhere, forcing Kyrie and the others to pick a safe route. The trees did not make it easier either as they did not provide a clear path forward.

Soon Kyrie found that they had somehow circled back to the lake. Nagasura was waiting for them. Kyrie dodged another poisonous spit and shot an arrow at a nagasena behind her, killing it.

Kyrie had to dodge another poisonous spit directed at her only to find herself next to a nagasena who slashed at her. Kyrie dodged that attack at the last minute and shot the nagasena in the head, point blank. As she ran again, she could see something dripping from the nagasena’s dagger. Poison most probably.

Kyrie quickly climbed a tree which seemed to be away from the range of Nagasura and started to shoot arrows at the nagasena. She could see that the others had also engaged the nagasenas and they seemed to be doing well, even though they were losing ground. At least they were now not going towards the demon lord.

However, the nagasenas seemed endless and there were only four of them. Kyrie was not sure for how long they would survive.

Kyrie suddenly heard a crack and the tree that he was on started to fall. She leapt off the falling tree and landed gracefully, right in the middle of four nagasenas. She started running and shooting, dodging through the nagasenas attacks. She had the lowest level of the four of them currently. She had the most difficulty killing the nagasenas. So, she mostly took her time and attacked at the opportune moments. Most of the time she ran and dodged.

Sometime later, Kyrie found herself again near the lake. Nagasura was waiting for her. She was feeling exhausted now. The nagasenas were never ending and even though they had killed quite a number of them, they still kept coming. And there was also the matter of the demon lord whom they had not even attacked till yet.

Nagasura reared all of its heads, preparing for an attack which Kyrie knew would kill her. She had no energy to dodge. Kyrie raised her bow and readied herself to shoot the demon lord.

Nagasura’s necks started to glow. Kyrie cast [Power Shot]. Nagasura almost attacked. Kyrie let loose the arrow and closed her eyes, awaiting the blackness that followed death.

The next moment she opened them as no attack came. Something had barrelled straight into Nagasura making its attack explode in its neck. It was not something but someone. Kyrie grinned as she saw who it was. Tamara Goodleaf had joined the fight.

The next moment Tanniv came into view. He attacked from above the demon lord, bringing his greatsword on one of the heads of Nagasura. Kyrie wondered how he had gotten up there.

The remaining eight members who had gone with Tamara and Tanniv also came into view from the right. They were fighting the nagasenas with Athena, Clio and Selena and were now pushing the nagasenas back.

Kyrie ran up to a nearby tree and climbed up. She took a deep breath and cast [Fade]. She would rest for a couple of minutes and then help. She knew if she pushed herself right now, she might die.

She watched as the champions hacked at the demon lord and Nagasura was not able to do much damage to them. She watched as the other eleven adventurers were joined by seven more adventurers, the second group that had split and pushed the nagasenas back. She watched as the demon lord fell, drawing its last breath and disintegrating. She watched as the last of the nagasenas was killed. She watched and she did the minimum she could do. She mostly shot arrows to distract the nagasenas and help the team members of the champions.

Tamara and Tanniv came up to the bank and Tamara shouted, “Good job everyone.”

Athena said, “You can come down now Kyrie. It is safe.”

Kyrie nodded as she jumped down from the tree. She went up to the others.

Tamara said, “Is that all accounted for? No. Wait a minute. Where is that gorking Marcus?”

Athena explained what had happened to Marcus. Tamara harrumphed as Athena finished.

Tamara said, “I think we should send a small team to rescue him.”

Tanniv said, “Is that a wise decision? I mean he did say not to worry, and he would figure it out.”

Kyrie said, “I am worried about Marcus. However, I do believe we should push on. We finish our quest first. We find the spell and then we go look for Marcus. It would do us no good to split the team again.”

Tamara said, “There you go Tanniv. If Kyrie is okay, I am gorking okay. Onwards then.”

Kenirath said, “Before we go onwards as Tamara suggests, I recommend we check out that gorking chest floating in the lake.”

Kyrie looked at the chest that Kenirath was talking about. The waters of the lake seemed to have cleared with the death of Nagasura. They did not look poisonous now. Kyrie put a foot in the lake to test the water. She found it free of any poison. She wondered how that was possible. Considering how the lake had been green with poison, how did it disappear so fast? Did killing Nagasura automatically cleanse the lake?

The others were looking at her.

Tamara said, “Kyrie, would you do the honours?”

Kyrie understood what she meant. She swam up to the chest and brought it on dry land. It looked like a simple wooden chest, but Kyrie could tell that there was nothing simple about it. It was not wet which led Kyrie to believe that the chest was enchanted.

There was no lock, only a latch on the chest. Tamara opened it. Inside the chest there was a large key, at least two feet long. Tamara picked it up and looked at it.

The key was golden in colour with grooves at one end and the other was a big sphere. Silver runes glowed on the sphere side of the key and they read, I open the final gate.

“Well, that is gorking helpful”, said Tamara, “What final gate? Does anyone know?”

No one had an answer. Kyrie wished that Marcus was with them right now. He would have an answer. She tried messaging him but failed. He was still in the labyrinth, still with the minotaur.

Tanniv said, “Keep the key in your inventory for now Tamara. Let us find a way back into the gorking labyrinth.”

The others groaned and Tanniv said, “The spell is inside the labyrinth. The final chamber, if we can reach it. We confirmed it when we fought a boss level guardian in one of the rooms.”

That made Kyrie wonder what had happened to the other groups in the labyrinth.

Kenirath said, “We need to rest after the fight, Tanniv. We can move on after a small rest.”

Tamara said, “Yes, we also need to discuss which entrance we need to take. I wish to reach the final chamber fast. Is there a way to do so? Is there an entrance which does that? I mean, we took one entrance, and it got us to this lake. What if we take other entrances and it leads us back to the outer side of the Gunin Mountain range?”

They decided to rest. Tamara, Tanniv, Athena, Kenirath and Tim discussed what path to take. Duranos and Shadra told the others what had happened to them in the labyrinth. Tamara and group had traversed five rooms, all filled with various types of monsters before they challenged a boss level guardian in the sixth room. The guardian was a corrupted earth nymph who thanked the adventurers for his death. Kyrie was saddened to hear about this. So were Garun and Sylivianna.

Artemis told what had happened to their group of ten in the labyrinth. They had passed through ten rooms, all filled with puzzles and traps. They had not fought anyone and had come out mostly unharmed and without issues.

Selena told the others about their adventures in the labyrinth. From what was discussed, Tamara’s group came out from an entrance which was to the North of the lake while Artemis’ group came out of the Northwestern side. Their group had come out to the West of the lake. That would mean they would be taking Southern or Southeastern entrances. But would they really take them deeper into the labyrinth or spit them out from the other side?

They rested for about two hours. It took the champions that long to make a decision. Their decision, they needed more time. They were not sure. Kyrie was irritated. She went for a swim.

The water of the lake was cool and pleasant. It was hard to believe that this water was churning with poison a few hours ago. Kyrie swam upstream and downstream, following the streams that came out of the lake. After swimming after an hour or so, she started to get back to where the other adventurers had set camp temporarily.

As Kyrie swam, something caught her eye. An underwater entrance. It went down. Kyrie went into the entrance and came out on the other side. Gravity shifted and she fell down. She looked up to find water about twenty feet above her. The water was just inverted and not falling down.

Kyrie looked around. She had entered a cavern-like room. A door was present on one side of the caverns surrounded by plinths. Torches lit around the door, and they glowed with a blue flame. The door seemed to be made up of a metal of some sort and Kyrie guessed that it was thick.

Kyrie thought, This has to be one of the entrances to the labyrinth. But now what? Do I go through, or do I message the others?

Kyrie messaged Tamara. The message went through. However, there was no reply for some time.

Then the reply from Tamara came, Where are you? Why are you messaging?

Kyrie replied as to what had happened to her. The reply came a few minutes later.

Stay there, wrote Tamara, We will find you.

It took the other adventurers about half an hour to reach her. Kyrie watched as they all surfaced in the water above and then fell to the ground as she had.

Kyrie looked at all of them get up. There were two missing.

“Where are Garun and Sylivianna? Where are the nymphs?” she asked.

As she asked the questions, the cavern wall to the far left opened up and out stepped the nymphs in question.

“That was a tad unpleasant”, said Sylivianna.

“I am sorry”, said Garun, “The labyrinth kept messing with my navigation and my underground sense.”

Tamara said, “You talk as if the labyrinth is alive.”

“It is in a way”, said a voice that Kyrie recognized. She did not understand it though. It was Marcus. But where was he speaking from?

A screen appeared above the doorway. Marcus appeared on the screen and beside him was Artenos the minotaur.

Marcus said, “The labyrinth is called an ever-changing labyrinth. It is created by the Game Masters with powerful spells and enchantments. There are many entrances and exits to this labyrinth, many challenges, traps and monsters inside it and the rooms always keep changing. Makes it almost alive.”

Artenos snorted, “Yes, your adventurer friend is correct. And you seem to have found the entrance which leads to the centre of the labyrinth.”

“How is this possible?” asked Kyrie.

Marcus said, “Magic.”

There were many snorts and short laughter from the group of adventurers present.

Selena stepped forward, “Elaborate on this magic further, Marcus Blank.”

Artenos replied, “I have a scrying pool which I am letting Marcus borrow. Through this scrying pool, once a day, Marcus can contact anyone he wants. Marcus did not believe me. So he is taking a demonstration on how the pool works.”

Marcus said, “This is a fascinating object. And there is also an instruction manual and a book which explains how it works. There are also so many books on such amazing topics. Thank you for letting me stay behind. My one week shall be well spent here.”

Kyrie rolled her eyes. Only Marcus Blank would be happy surrounded by books.

Artenos said, “Alright. We are done for today.”

Marcus said, “Alright. I shall contact you later Kyrie. I hope you are not in the middle of something when I do so. Best of luck guys. Find the treasure soon.”

The screen disappeared and discussions started across the room. They were about Marcus, the minotaur and thoughts regarding whether Marcus really needed saving or not.

Selena came up to Kyrie and asked, “Is he always like this?”

“Yes”, replied Kyrie.

The adventurers started to discuss what to do next. There were varying opinions. Some of them wanted to enter the labyrinth right now while the others wanted a few hours of rest before entering.

Finally, Tamara and Tanniv made the decision, “We will rest for four hours. No more.”

There was a mixed response; cheers and groans, but everyone accepted the decision. They pulled out their sleeping bags. They were going to rest.

Kyrie would not be resting. She decided to meditate. The swim had refreshed her. She did not feel as tired as the other adventurers. She sat in the lotus position and started chanting the sound waves made. She did not chant out loud but chanted mentally. She felt someone sit beside her and she opened her eyes briefly to see Garun and Sylivianna sit beside her. She smiled and resumed her chanting.

She meditated for an hour and then talked with Garun and Sylivianna. They talked about their backgrounds and how they had come to Una. Garun and Sylivianna had been surprised to see a water nymph adventurer and they had many questions for Kyrie. Kyrie answered them politely. The questions were not rude, and she had heard them all before. The answers simply rolled off her tongue.

Four hours passed quickly. Then it was time to set off. Tamara went up to the door and pushed it. Nothing happened. She pulled it. Nothing happened.

Tamara said, “Anybody know what to do?”

The other adventurers looked at each other. Kyrie opened Marcus’ notes to see if there was some hint but she found nothing. The labyrinth was not mapped. It was kind of impossible to do so with the labyrinth continuously shifting. There was a description of a few enemies and bosses but other than that there was nothing much. The final boss was also not fixed, and it varied based on the party navigating the labyrinth.

Kyrie wondered what to do. The other adventurers were already examining the cavern while Tanniv was examining the door. Kyrie saw a single handle but no keyhole. There were rectangle plate-like protrusions on the door. Other than that, the door had no other distinguishing feature.

Kyrie examined the blue flame torches on the plinth. She picked one up and brought it to the door. At once she could see runes on the rectangular plates.

Tanniv, who was standing there, started. He looked at Kyrie and told her that she did a good job. Then he called others. Tamara took the torch from Kyrie and passed it over all the plates. Athena drew the door with plates and runes on a piece of paper that she somehow had in her inventory.

After she was finished, Tamara, Tanniv and a few more adventurers looked at the runes.

Tamara snorted, “Another gorking puzzle.”

Tanniv said, “This looks easy though. The runes simply form resolve in a repeating pattern.”

“What does it mean though?” asked Kenirath

There were echoes of resolve amongst the adventurers, but nothing happened. As the others discussed, Kyrie walked up to the door and examined it again. She got an idea.

Kyrie shouted, “Quiet everyone, please.”

The others stopped talking and stared at her.

Kyrie said, “Only five adventurers say resolve at a time.”

Tamara decided on who the five would be. The five said resolve at the same time. The door swung inwards.

“Nice thinking”, said Tanniv as they all made their way in. The door shut behind them.

They were in a small square room of about ten feet. There was a resurrection stone and after everyone had set their revival point, the exit door appeared.

Tamara said, “Well guys. This is it. The final push.”

Tamara opened the exit door. The adventurers ventured into it; ventured into the belly of the labyrinth; ventured into battle and death.