Survive the labyrinth with EX-grade traits

The first floor of the labyrinth.

Veronica’s halo, which seemed to hang like a curtain in the darkness, caught everyone’s attention.

She seemed to be aware that she stood out, and said in a slightly embarrassed tone,

“If you all keep staring at me like that, even I’ll feel embarrassed. Didn’t you all expect this when you came here?”

That’s true. I was staring at her out of curiosity, but I didn’t mean anything else.

“Veronica’s halo is really beautiful! It’s nice to be able to see where you are, even without a separate light source, isn’t it?”

On the other hand, it’s a bit disappointing that it’s easier for enemies to spot her position, limiting her stealth.

Or is it a benefit, as a tank, to draw the aggro of the enemies?

The friendly Yeriel approached Veronica without hesitation, and she seemed to be pleased.

Despite the penalty of having less emotional expression, she seemed to be getting along well.

“You can call me without honorific.”

“Huk. Finally! Have we finally become close?”

Yeriel was delighted to be allowed to omit the honorific.

Is this really the same Yeriel who couldn’t even get angry properly on the 3rd floor? My heart swelled with pride.

[Chaos is surprised at how much Yeriel has changed since the beginning.]

‘That’s right. Well, I don’t have anything to say since she’s changing for the better.’

I ended the small talk and refreshed the fluffy atmosphere.

“Okay, let’s stop chatting and form a formation. I’ll light the torch first, so Lumia, here’s the map and compass.”

“Yes. Leave it to me.”

We are not in the city, but inside the Great Labyrinth.

It’s the first floor, where countless adventurers, excluding deep-level adventurers, are entangled. We need to be cautious.

‘Ah, I remember that deep-level adventurers are not present on the first floor.’

When I was diligently searching through books in the library, I learned that adventurers who reach the latter half of the high levels inevitably encounter a waypoint-like structure.

Since deep-level adventurers can start their exploration from the high levels when they enter the portal, I remembered this information as it was quite interesting and distant to me, who had only reached the 4th floor.

Flick!

I took out a flint and lit the torch while thinking about various things.

“Yes. It’s right here.”

Lumia turned her head and carefully examined the map and the surroundings.

“Ahren’t we in the middle of the central zone, about halfway to the portal at the northern end?”

The location she pointed to with her slender finger was an ambiguous part, about halfway between the central zone and the portal at the northern end.

“It’s not bad to start in the center, is it?”

I shrugged my shoulders and adjusted the formation.

Lumia, who was both a magician and a searcher, and Veronica, the tank, took the lead.

I, the party leader, who could quickly switch to the rear if Yeriel was targeted from behind, took the center.

Finally, Yeriel, the priest, took the rear.

Since everyone could perform beyond their job class, I decided that this was the best formation for our new four-person party.

“Let’s go. Since it’s the first day the portal is open, everyone should be alert and move quickly.”

Led by Lumia, who was constantly pricking up her ears, and Veronica, whose halo shone faintly, the party began to move towards the north.

“Enemies. A group of monsters is approaching. There are about six of them. ⋯Can I take care of them?”

What, confidence? Assurance? Unlike before, Lumia’s positive traits stood out.

“Good. Let’s give them a big blow to celebrate our first battle.”

The goblins and kobolds approaching from afar were getting closer and closer.

The monsters hadn’t noticed us yet.

“Darkness, yearn and devour.”

[Yearning Darkness]

As Lumia finished her incantation, a fundamentally different darkness from the surrounding darkness, a thick and slimy darkness, rose in front of the group.

Crunch.

“Kerek?”

“Keeng! Kaeeng!”

“It’s too late.”

Crack!

As Lumia said, it was too late for the monsters to notice, and the large monster made of darkness devoured them all in one bite.

“Keraak!”

“Keek.”

The monsters disappeared without a trace, leaving only their painful screams and death throes.

Veronica, who had watched this without blinking an eye, broke the silence and spoke.

“As I expected, you’re not just a 3rd or 4th-floor level. I saw it when we practiced in the city.”

“Right? Our Lumia is so talented and skilled.”

“⋯Hmm.”

Lumia coughed and showed a shy face at the praise, which was spoken without exaggeration.

The C-rank secret art book we obtained after defeating the Grillops.

Thanks to that, Lumia’s magic power had become much stronger. Strong enough to annihilate a group of 1st-floor monsters.

[Timmy uses ‘Rapid Fire’.]

Ping! Pew!

During our advance, we didn’t have to worry about being ambushed by other parties with long-range attacks.

“Hmm.”

Ping. Thud.

The arrows bounced harmlessly off Veronica’s shield.

If it weren’t for Veronica, the tank, I would have been busy trying to figure out how to move in the slowing effect and shouting for a protective barrier.

“Damn it! Run!”

When their attack failed, we didn’t just let them escape.

“The black hand that grasps the night.”

‘Lightning.’

Boom!

We instantly killed two of them with a CC skill combo and quickly ran to cut off the heads of the rest.

[Chaos says that these low-level adventurers with poor equipment don’t know their place.]

Now, on the first floor, not only monsters but also groups of adventurers from the mid-levels and above couldn’t stop our progress.

.

.

.

One day. Two days. Three days.

We broke through the first floor, crushing the monsters that stood in our way.

‘Since we don’t know which zone we’ll drop into on the second floor, we should rest here today. Fortunately, there’s a shelter.’

We followed Lumia to the shelter near the portal.

While everyone was resting comfortably, Yeriel spoke up.

“Huh. I feel a bit guilty for just sitting back and doing nothing.”

Yeriel, with her hair twisted, stuck out her tongue.

“The important thing is that there hasn’t been a situation where a priest had to step in.”

“That’s right. Don’t apologize, just rest.”

Veronica and Lumia encouraged her.

“Pee. Peep!”

El, who had been sticking close to Yeriel, the safest of the group, rubbed her cheek and pecked at her with her beak, showing affection.

“Hehehe, stop it!”

I was glad that everyone was getting along well.

In the warm atmosphere, we took out food to satisfy our hunger, and Yeriel raised her voice.

“Ah! That’s right! Oh no, I’m an idiot.”

Why is she acting like this all of a sudden? It seemed like she remembered something she had forgotten.

“Yeriel, is there a problem?”

“No, no! It’s just that I said I learned a new sacred art before entering, and I think I can be of help with it.”

That’s right. She did say that.

“Everyone, look closely. I will purify the unholy.”

[Purification]

Whoosh!

As soon as her incantation ended, Yeriel’s hand glowed with a warm light.

‘Isn’t this the same sacred art that the priest used during the inspection to filter out those with evil intentions by concentrating divine power?’

“Are you familiar with it because you’ve seen it once? But you can also use it for a different purpose, like this!”

Yeriel stretched out her glowing hand towards Veronica, who was standing next to her.

The remaining blood stains on Veronica’s sword and shield disappeared, and they became clean in the blink of an eye.

“Thank you. I was going to clean it with a cloth before going to sleep, but thanks to you, I saved some effort.”

“Ah, it’s nothing.”

Veronica tried to downplay it, but her rising smile showed that she was quite pleased.

Yeriel couldn’t help but laugh as I praised her as well.

‘Purifying unholy things, the versatility is incredible.’

As I thought about how she wasn’t just sitting around doing nothing, I watched her purify everyone with consecutive purifications and rested.

“Darkness, my servant. Obey my command.”

[Black Puppet]

Before going to sleep, Lumia summoned her familiar.

Just as we were about to fall asleep… Veronica cautiously suggested something.

“It was stated in the recruitment notice that a familiar could be used instead of an alarm magic, but it would be better to take turns on watch duty even if the interval is long.”

Hmm. Until now, we were in the early stages of the lower levels, and with multiple familiars, we could easily detect the approach of other adventurers. So, we just went to sleep comfortably… Let’s hear her out.

“Right now, we have time to prepare because the shelter is linked to the familiars, and we can detect the approach of other adventurers before they reach us.”

But?

“What if a human hunter with a magic nullification trait or a high-level looter who can’t be easily detected and can ambush us approaches? There’s no answer to that. Especially when we’re camping in a zone without a shelter in the future.”

Hmm. That makes sense.

“Indeed⋯ It’s better to get used to taking turns on watch duty from now on. Now that I think about it, I remember that we all took turns on watch duty when we first formed the party.”

Thanks to the familiars, we could easily detect the approach of other adventurer. After that, we kept the same routine, probably because we wanted to sleep comfortably.

Maybe, deep down, we wanted to sleep comfortably because we were constantly dealing with difficult situations and incidents.

“Haha! I have a lot to learn. It’s great to have an experienced senior like you. Thanks to you, I’ve remembered something I had forgotten.”

Veronica’s experience in reaching the mid-levels of the labyrinth was truly a blessing.

“It’s not easy to voice your opinion to the party leader, so thank you for speaking up.”

“Ah, no. Before we formed a fixed party⋯ I saw obvious improvements, but when I spoke up, a stubborn party leader would glare at me as if I was challenging his authority. Ahren’t you a good leader, Ahren?”

“Hmm. Is that so? Then, both of you are good people.”

“Pee?”

Veronica awkwardly averted her eyes, and I coughed as I looked at El, who tilted her head.

It would be nice if she could speak more casually. Since she has been using honorifics since she was young, it’s hard to change.

That’s how we spent our last night in the 1st floor of the labyrinth.

.

.

.

We arrived at the 2nd floor.

As soon as we arrived, we encountered a big problem, which was that we had dropped right into the center of the bug zone.

“Ugh⋯ This is the bug zone, isn’t it?”

I hate bugs, so I’m not even going to mention it.

Yeriel, who had already experienced it once, was disgusted, and Veronica’s eyebrows were slightly furrowed.

Lumia was the only one who remained calm.

“Save me!!!”

To make matters worse, a scream for help could be heard from the front.

“Damn it. Why did we have to drop into this as soon as we reached the 2nd floor? Why are they running towards us?”

A group of bugs, consisting of at least several dozen cockroaches and giant caterpillars, was chasing after adventurers who were running towards us.

“Disgusting.”

Veronica, with a stiff face, punched her shield with her fist.

[Veronica uses ‘Echoing Resonance’.]

Tereeng!

[A single strike causes ‘Provoking Resonance’ to reverberate.]

[Aggro increases sharply.]

[Damage received from provoked individuals is reduced.]

A deep sound reverberated from the shield infused with magic power.

Aggro, or hate, increased sharply, and all the bugs’ attention was drawn to Veronica.

“Chirk. Chirr!”

“Gueee.”

Whoosh.

The creepy eyes of the bug-type monsters were all focused on her.