An hour has passed since Leo and Lia entered the B-Rank Maze Labyrinth. During this time, they have encountered 7 B-Rank monsters and 12 dead ends. Whenever they encounter a dead end, they would turn around and trace their steps until they return to the entrance of that path, and Sarah would mark the path so that they won’t accidentally enter it again.
“This one is yours, Jasper.” Sarah said to him when they encountered another monster.
“Water Prison!” Jasper created a large sphere made of water, trapping the monster before them, suffocating it to death, which took almost 5 whole minutes.
Although Water Prison was a safe and easy method to kill monsters, it only worked on animal-type monsters, and it required a lot of mana since most monsters could hold their breath for a long time. Moreover, this kind of cheese strategy would not work if there were multiple enemies.
“Leon, you’re up next.” Jasper said to him after chugging down a medium-quality mana potion.
“Alright.” He calmly nodded.
Half an hour later, they encountered another Mossy Stone Golem.
“Go ahead. Show us why you qualify to be here.” Sarah said while looking at him with a curious gaze.
Leo proceeded to step in front of the group and took a moment to cast Void Spear, even showing its magic circle on purpose.
A moment later, he shouted out loud, “Void Spear!”
Boom!
The Void Spear struck the Mossy Stone Golem, blasting it into many pieces.
“Wow, not bad. I finally understand why Aaron recruited you.” Oscar said with a smile on his face.
“It’s not much.” Leo smiled back before returning to the rear of the formation.
“So you purposefully did not Silent Cast to lower their guard as well, huh? That’s not a bad idea.” Lilith chuckled.
Over the next two hours, Leo would continue to kill monsters.
“Are you alright? You’ve killed over 20 monsters now. Aren’t you running out of mana?” Sarah asked him.
“I guess I’ve been pushing myself. Lena, it’s your turn now.” Leo nodded before turning to look at Lia.
He then chugged a low-quality mana potion.
A few minutes later, they encountered a monster that resembled a monkey with silver fur, and it had four arms.
“That’s a Crazy Silver Macaque. They’re B-Rank monsters, but some of them are as strong as an A-Rank monster. If you cannot handle this, I will do it.” Sarah said to Lia, who was already aiming her magic rifle at the monster.
“I’ll be fine,” she spoke in a calm voice.
The following moment, she shot over a dozen bullets at the Crazy Silver Macaque, riddling its body with holes.
The Adventurers swallowed nervously when they saw Lia’s performance.
‘That must have consumed most of— if not all of her mana… How wasteful…’ Sarah thought to herself.
However, to their surprise, Lia didn’t show any signs of experiencing mana fatigue.
They kept silent and continued to move forward.
Fifteen minutes later, they encountered another monster for Lia to kill.
This time, it was a Mossy Stone Golem, which has a higher defense rating than the Crazy Silver Macaque.
However, Lia still penetrated its rocky physique with ease, killing the Mossy Stone Golem with 14 bullets.
‘Impossible… Just how much mana does she have?’ Sarah swallowed inwardly.
Magic rifles are not popular amongst Adventurers because they use too much mana and deal too little damage, yet Lia was showing the complete opposite.
“Hey… Aren’t you showing off a little too much? We’re trying to lower their guards.” Leo whispered in her ears afterward.
“That’s too much?” Lia mumbled in a low voice.
“I’m not certain, but looking at their dumbfounded expressions, I think so.”
“Okay… I will tone it down.”
When they encountered another monster, Lia used her magic rifle to kill the monster with a single bullet, shocking the Adventurers.
However, she fell to her knees afterward and said in a weak voice, “Leon… I’m out of mana…”
“That’s what happens when you push yourself too far…” He shook his head.
“Carry me. I cannot walk,” she suddenly said, dumbfounding Leo, who wasn’t expecting her to take advantage of their situation.
Seeing how the others were staring at him, he had no choice but to carry Lia.
He bent his knees and allowed Lia to climb on his back, giving her a piggyback ride.
‘She’s quite light.’ Leo thought to himself after standing up with Lia hugged his neck.
“Sorry for the trouble.” He said to the others afterward.
“Don’t worry about it. Let’s continue moving forward.”
The next person to deal with the monsters was Oscar, who would enchant his weapons with wind magic, allowing him to slice through the enemies as though they were tofu.
“Since the both of you are weakened right now, they might attack you soon. Be on guard.” Lilith said to him.
“I know.”
However, neither Sarah or the others made a move on them.
Several hours later, Leo asked Sarah, “What kind of magic do you use?”
“Me? My magic isn’t very effective against the monsters on this floor, if you’re wondering why I am not fighting.”
“That’s not it. I was just curious.” Leo said, pretending to not know that she has poison magic affinity.
“Is that so? I use poison magic,” she said, not lying about her magic affinity, which surprised Leo.
“Wow, really? I have never seen anyone with your magic affinity until today. How rare is it?”
“It’s exceptionally rare. I think only one out of a million people are born with poison magic affinity. However, it’s still not as rare as your dark magic affinity.” Sarah said.
And she continued, “Now let me ask you a question. How long have you been an Adventurer?”
“Less than half a year,” he said.
“And you’re already this powerful? I am surprised.” Sarah looked surprised.
“I don’t think I am that powerful.” He shook his head.
“No, you’re very talented. Most people require two to three years before they can reach C-Rank, yet you’re already as strong as a B-Rank Adventurer. I cannot imagine how strong you’ll become in a year or two from now.”
Several more hours later, Sarah asked them, “Do you guys need a break?”
“I can still go.” Oscar said.
“Me too.” The twins said simultaneously.
Leo and Lia silently nodded their heads, agreeing with the others.
“Then we’ll continue.”
In the end, they would remain on the first floor of the Labyrinth for a little over 26 hours.
“It’s the staircase to the next floor! We’ve finally reached the end!” Oscar exclaimed in an excited voice when he saw the exit.
They began descending this staircase a moment later.
Upon arriving at the second floor of the Labyrinth, they were greeted by a green scenery.
“A plain area, huh? This is a stark contrast to the first floor.” Sarah mumbled.
The greenery stretched all the way into the horizon without any obstructions, almost as though it was an endless floor.
“Let’s take a break here and get some sleep before we continue.” Sarah suggested.
“Sounds good.”
Everyone there proceeded to set up their own tent.
Leo did the same and shared his tent with Lia.
“Then I will see you all in 10 hours.” Sarah said to them before entering her tent.
Once they sealed their tent, Leo activated the transparent mode and said, “There’s a good chance they’ll attack us during our rest. You can go to sleep. I have plenty of energy potion.”
“We can take turns sleeping,” said Lia.
He shook his head, “No, it’s better to not have any sleep at all than having not enough sleep. I’ll be fine with energy potions.”
“If you say so.” Lia said as she sat beside him and laid her head on his legs.
“What are you doing…?” He asked her with raised eyebrows.
“I’m sleeping.”
“You don’t have a sleeping bag?”
“I sleep better like this,” she calmly said with her eyes closed.
“…”
Leo was speechless.
‘At least it’ll be easier to wake her up like this if anything suddenly happens.’ He sighed inwardly.
“I’ll go spy on them for you.” Lilith said to him before going into their tents.
He proceeded to spend the next several hours staring at the other three tents intensively.
Lilith returned two hours later and said, “They’re all asleep. I don’t think they’ll be attacking you now.”
“Seriously? What the hell are they doing? How long are they going to keep delaying the inevitable?” Leo felt like begging them to attack him already so that he could fight back and deal with them as soon as possible.
“I know this is going to sound weird, but I cannot sense any ill intents coming from them or Sarah. Do you think there’s a chance that we’ve misunderstood them?” Lilith suddenly said.
“There’s no way. Lia confirmed that Sarah is an assassin who worked for her family. Coincidences like this just don’t happen.”
“Let’s hope you’re right.”
Four more hours later, Lilith came back after another round of spying and said, “They’re still sound asleep. I don’t think anything is going to happen.”
Leo frowned upon hearing this.
‘Just when are they going to move?’ He wondered inwardly.
Suddenly…
“Eh?” Leo’s eyes widened with shock.
“What’s wrong?” Lilith asked him when she saw his surprised face.
“My body… It’s feeling stiff. I cannot move it very well.”
“That’s a paralyzing effect! You’ve been poisoned!” Lilith exclaimed.
“What?! I knew it! So they have finally decided to attack! It’s about damn time!” A cold smile appeared on Leo’s face.
—