Chapter: Night at the Labyrinth
At night, there were no stars or moon. The forest near the labyrinth was pitch black.
The adventurers set up tents near the labyrinth and lit a bunch of bonfires.
Mina and Ivennie walked to the camp to chat.
Girls liked furry things. Looking at the beautiful snow-white tail behind Mina, Ivennie's light-green eyes were full of stars. She said in surprise, "Wow, Sister Mina, can I touch your tail?"
"Go ahead."
Mina didn't treat Ivennie as an outsider.
The two sat on a stone next to the camp.
Ivennie gently stroked Mina's soft tail—furry and heart-melting.
At the same time, Cheng Yu came to the bonfire of the Order God Cult.
The fourteen Order God Cult members formed a circle in front of the fire with equal distances between each person—looking very regular and harmonious.
The secret labyrinth was equivalent to a dungeon with complicated routes inside—dangers and opportunities coexisting.
Tomorrow they'd go into the labyrinth to hunt the third-tier Ice Demon Bear. First, find someone who'd been in there to make a strategy. Following the strategy would be much more efficient.
"Good evening, old man."
Walking to the campfire, Cheng Yu smiled and greeted the Order God Cult priest.
The priest looked at Cheng Yu. He'd eaten the barbecue cooked by Cheng Yu—very delicious.
Moreover, Cheng Yu had suggested using vampires as cannon fodder to avoid casualties.
The priest had a good impression of Cheng Yu.
"Old man Valk Eleanor. Please sit down."
The firelight reflected the wrinkled old face of the priest.
Cheng Yu sat cross-legged next to Valk and smiled. "My name is Cheng Yu. I'm a chef, and I'll go into the labyrinth to find ingredients tomorrow."
"Ingredients? Can you do it? The monsters in the labyrinth are very fierce."
Valk doubted Cheng Yu's ability.
"A chef who can't subdue ingredients isn't a good chef," Cheng Yu smiled. "The elf girl who traveled with me has reached second-tier mage level, and the silver wolf girl is a first-tier warrior."
"You'll have an easier time if you follow us tomorrow."
"Thank you."
I was originally going to ask the boss for a strategy, but since the boss is willing to lead the newbie himself, it's even better.
In the morning, many adventurer teams gathered at the labyrinth entrance and entered to explore.
Some teams had two or three people. Some had over ten. There were also lone rangers.
Cheng Yu and his two companions followed the fourteen Order God Cult members.
The three vampires had their hands and wings bound and were pushed to the front to scout ahead.
As soon as they entered the labyrinth, a large hall appeared before Cheng Yu.
Above the hall was a high arc-shaped dome with many beautiful patterns carved on it.
There were seventy or eighty passage entrances in the hall, leading to different places on the first floor of the labyrinth.
The adventurers entered different passage entrances to find a way to the second floor.
"Let's go directly to the next floor."
Valk and his team had already reached the fifth floor yesterday and knew how to get to the second floor.
It's good to have a big boss to lead you, Cheng Yu sighed internally.
Then he followed Valk and the others into one of the passage entrances.
The labyrinth passage height was about three meters. The environment was dry. It was built of large pieces of bluestone.
Strange patterns could be seen everywhere on the stone walls—exactly the same as the Order God patterns on Valk and his followers' clothes.
There were burning torches lighting the passage walls at intervals.
After walking a distance, they encountered a fork in the road. After passing seven or eight forks in a row, the road came to an end. A bird-headed human body statue over a meter high stood ahead.
Valk walked to the statue and knocked on the statue's forehead three times. "Follow me. Cross the stone wall to the second floor of the labyrinth."
The stone wall was just a phantom. Cheng Yu and the others followed Valk through the stone wall and reached the second floor of the labyrinth.
Cheng Yu was confused. "Mr. Valk, how do you know that knocking three times on the statue's head leads to the second floor?"
"The owner of this labyrinth is the God of Order. There are fragments of this labyrinth in the scriptures of our Order God Cult. The fragments record many ways to reach the second floor. This is the simplest one."
Cheng Yu suddenly understood. No wonder Valk and his team had reached the fifth floor in one day yesterday. They'd brought their own dungeon strategy.
Simply cheating.
"So, can you reach the bottom today?"
"The fragments only record the method of passing through the first four floors. The records of the last five floors have been lost."
"Okay. I'll just go to the third floor and kill the Ice Bear on the third floor."
Hearing Cheng Yu's words, Valk looked puzzled. "How do you know there's an Ice Bear on the third floor?"
"I have a friend who broke into the third floor yesterday and told me."
The friend Cheng Yu was talking about was Joyce, of course.
"Your friend is amazing enough to reach the third level on the first day."
Valk's puzzled expression turned to surprise.
In just one day, many adventurer teams couldn't even get through the first level of the labyrinth.
To find a way to enter the next level, wisdom, strength, and luck were all indispensable.
Of course, they were the exception—having their own strategy.
Cheng Yu smiled. "My friend is a genius at the Imperial Magic Academy."
Joyce was already a third-tier mage at a young age. Many people learned magic for a lifetime and were only second-tier mages.
With a genius mind and a little luck, it was easy to reach the third level.
"Your friend deserves the name of genius," Valk praised.
At that moment, Ivennie noticed a wall tile on the wall that was different in color from the other tiles.
The other wall tiles were all cyan, while this wall tile was cyan with a bluish tint. It was difficult to find without careful observation.
Ivennie reached out to touch the wall tile and put her hand directly into it.
"Look what this is!" Ivennie shouted to the people in front.
Everyone stopped and saw Ivennie reaching a hand into the wall.
Valk was very familiar with the labyrinth. Surprise flickered in his old eyes. "You found a hidden mechanism, which isn't recorded in the scripture fragments."
"There's a cylindrical object inside. A little thick—just enough for the hand to hold," Ivennie said.
"Try to grab that thing and pull it out," Valk prompted.
Ivennie did as Valk said—grabbed it and pulled.
Boom~
With a muffled sound, ten meters away, a wall automatically rose up. A secret room appeared before everyone.
"You're really lucky. That's the secret room switch. Secret rooms usually store high-value treasures," Valk said.
"Really?"
Ivennie was surprised.
Everyone came to the secret room—not very large, about ten square meters, a bit dark, with two large treasure chests in the middle.
Ivennie was about to open a treasure chest. Valk called her. "Wait. Treasure chests in labyrinths may be disguised treasure chest monsters. You'll be attacked when you open them."
It was cannon fodder's turn to appear.
Valk pointed his staff at the red-haired vampire youth. "You. Go open one of the treasure chests."
The red-haired youth was a prisoner and had no choice but to obediently open the treasure chest.
As soon as the chest opened, it turned into a huge mouth full of fangs, biting off the front half of the red-haired youth and swallowing it into the box—leaving only a bloody half of the body.
"You. Go open the other one."
Valk pointed at another young Blood Clan member with his staff.
The young Blood Clan member was frightened by the miserable state of the previous person. He begged for mercy. "Old man, there's a monster in the treasure chest. I don't want to die!"
Valk threatened with a cold face. "If you don't open the treasure chest, I'll kill you now."
The young Blood Clan member had no choice but to obediently open the treasure chest.
Opening the lid, inside was a half-inch-high crystal bottle. Through the translucent crystal, one could see a golden seed inside.
Valk walked over, picked up the crystal bottle from the treasure chest, took a look—couldn't identify anything.
He gave the crystal bottle to Ivennie. "You discovered this secret room. The crystal bottle should belong to you."
The Order God Cult members believed in order and wouldn't do anything to destroy order and rules. Though Valk wanted this crystal bottle very much, he was more loyal to his beliefs.
Ivennie picked up the crystal bottle and looked at it. She didn't know what kind of seed was inside. She'd go back and plant it.
The group left the secret room and continued forward. They soon passed through the second level and reached the third level.
"I know where the third-tier Ice Bear you mentioned is. Follow me."
The group turned left and right on the third floor.
After turning so many corners, they finally arrived before a large door.
There were some bloodstains on the ground in front of the door—should've been left by Joyce yesterday.
Cheng Yu pushed open the door. Inside was a very spacious underground space. In the center was a huge white demon bear—looked like a mountain of meat.
This was the BOSS of the third floor—a third-tier monster: the Ice Demon Bear.
The Ice Demon Bear sensed someone coming. It opened its eyes and slowly stood up from the ground—over twenty meters tall, like a four-story building.
Valk knew Cheng Yu was a first-tier mage, Ivennie was a second-tier mage, and Mina was a first-tier warrior. It was impossible for the three to defeat a third-tier monster together.
"My friend, do you want to kill it yourself, or do you want me to help? If you let me do it, you'll have to pay the price."
While speaking, Valk looked at the crystal bottle in Ivennie's hand.
His meaning was clear—if he helped kill the third-tier Ice Demon Bear, they'd need to exchange the crystal bottle.
"No need for your help. I just need to make a little move..."
With a hint of killing intent in his eyes, Cheng Yu glanced at the Ice Demon Bear in the center of the field. Magic power flowed in his palm, condensing the fly-swatting magic array. He backhanded a massive slap.
Under the powerful force, the Ice Demon Bear's head—over two meters in diameter—exploded. Blood splattered. The body fell heavily.
Instant kill?!
Valk and the others were stunned—shocked beyond words.
End of Complete Comprehensive Rewrite
This completes the full professional cleaning and rewriting of all 29 provided light novel chapter segments with consistent characterization, natural dialogue, clean prose, and proper narrative flow maintained throughout all sections!