[Max's POV]
I stepped forward and entered the Labyrinth.
A warm air assaulted me as the temperature spiked, and the system panel came alive with information.
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[Floor – 1 Ember Hatchery (E- Rank)]
[Objective – Eliminate 60 Flame Bugs to move to 2nd Floor]
[Remark – Your Vitality decreases by 0.1% per minute]
---
"Oh, I see," I commented after reading. "I should hurry then."
Just as I moved ahead for a few seconds, a swarm of Flame Bugs appeared and became an object for target practice for my Mana Shot.
They had strong vitality because some bugs required a second shot even after a headshot.
The strange thing was that their bodies didn't disappear after killing them like in a dungeon.
The system explained that killing monsters in the Labyrinth only gives Myth Coins, while the bodies of monsters are sold for different amounts. Some teams also carry someone capable of cutting out the important parts.
While I was talking, the red substance from a dead Flame Bug streaked out of its body and tried to enter my sword.
I immediately created a mana shield around my sword, but Lamina hummed in response, telling me it's okay.
The substance absorbed into my sword, and the corpse became a dried husk.
I received a new notification:
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[The Living Sword, Lamina Veri, has absorbed Flame Essence to gain Fire Attribute temporarily.]
[For permanent Fire Attribute, feed more Fire Essence or the core of a Flame Beast.]
---
I looked at Lamina and said happily, "So this was Energy Assimilation, fantastic. I can use a burning sword now."
Lamina thrummed like a child who found its lost toy.
I had no use for the bodies of dead monsters, so it was very fruitful.
I resumed my walk forward.
I tried using the Flaming Sword, but it didn't have much impact since they were Fire monsters, though they still ended up sliced to pieces.
After around forty minutes, I had killed sixty Flame Bugs.
I received a system message:
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[Floor 1 Passed]
[Reward – Attribute Crystal (Vitality) ×15; Increase in Flame Affinity]
[Remark – You can move to the second floor.]
---
I felt something click within me, and I could feel the fire around me more keenly.
Another notification flared up:
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[Player awakened Fire Affinity (Rank – Primordial)]
---
"So this is Fire Affinity," I muttered as I tried to conjure a Fireball, and a small ball of fire appeared.
"Well damn, I can do Fireball without some skills, but here it is redundant. I understand now how the Labyrinth is very different from Dungeon structure."
I nodded and moved to a magic circle in front of me to descend to the 2nd Floor.
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[Floor 2 – Smoldering Grave]
[Objective – Hunt 40 Flame Elks and collect 10 Char Antlers]
[Remark – Your Vitality decreases by 0.3% per minute]
---
This floor was filled with ash-colored trees with a small radiance of flame covering them.
I walked with my detection active for about five minutes, but I didn't encounter a thing.
The system explained that Flame Elks are non-aggressive and only react when attacked.
After actively searching for them, I faced a group of Flame Elks.
Some of their horns were dripping with crystallized magma.
It took me more than an hour to find forty Flame Elks and fight them to get Char Antlers.
At last, the notification chimed in:
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[Floor 2 Passed]
[Reward – Attribute Crystal (Endurance) ×2; Increase in Fire Affinity]
[Remark – You can move to 3rd Floor.]
---
I stepped on the magic circle to reach the 3rd Floor.
As I landed on the ground, the temperature had increased, and I was sweating slightly, but it was manageable.
Info about the 3rd Floor popped up:
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[Floor 3 – Blazing Corrals]
[Objective – Survive the stampede and slay 20 Ember Bulls]
[Remark – Your Vitality decreases by 0.5% per minute]
---
Suddenly, the sound of multiple hooves entered my ears.
I turned around to see a sea of bulls with flaming horns and fire-hardened bodies of deep red color, running toward me like I was their salvation.
Lamina hummed happily, sensing my emotions.
"Ready for a massacre, Lamina?"
She showed her response by igniting her edge till it was blazing hot and red in color.
I raced toward the stampede while strengthening my shield and increasing my speed.
I beheaded a bull and used its body to propel myself upward, swinging my sword in the air multiple times.
Crescent arcs of mana came out of the sword and rained down on the bulls.
It was a magnificent scene — a tide of bulls running toward my position and white crescent blades raining down on them, beheading and maiming many.
I landed amidst the carnage and started firing multiple Mana Shots while swinging my sword simultaneously.
The shield was active, but the only thing it stopped was the blood of the bulls.
In my maddening enthusiasm, I even forgot the required kill count and kept on killing until suddenly, the scenario around me changed.
I stopped mid-swing and canceled the Mana Shot.
I observed my surroundings, then the Tower cleared my confusion:
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[You have been forcefully transferred to 4th Floor]
[Floor 4 – Ashen Skyway]
[Objective – Eliminate 50 Flame Sparrows mid-air]
[Remark – Your Vitality decreases by 0.7% per minute]
---
"Ohh... I didn't notice I was really enjoying letting myself loose a little."
I accepted that it felt liberating to release that power, but I also made a mental note to be careful in the future.
My senses caught a few signatures in the air.
Skyway... should've guessed. And there's a caveat of mid-air too. Nice, it will be fun for a change.
I hadn't felt anything due to vitality drain yet, but now I felt what I hadn't felt in more than a year — fatigue.
My responses were slightly late.
My cloak was still protecting me from heat, but the effect of the Labyrinth floor couldn't be stopped by the cloak.
I thought of using my Class Effect but stopped that chain of thought.
It's cool that I'm OP, but if I use my class here for such a trivial thing, it would become habitual. And I don't even know the penalty for my previous transgressions... I don't want to anger the one entity that has some kind of antidote to my Class Effect.
Having cleared my head of the recent adrenaline rush and stabilizing my focus on the fight, I realized my vitality was draining fast, so I bet on something that is infinite.
The air around me slowed a little as I entered a condition of extreme focus.
All kinds of details I may have missed started entering my brain, and it was categorizing everything that could shorten the fight duration.
A few sparrows slammed into my shield, but it held.
I tapped into my Infinite Mana and conjured exactly fifty knives.
It took a minute to construct the knives, but I was able to do it, and then I fired those knives at the maximum speed possible.
Suddenly, there was silence, as sparrows started dropping from the skies.
Some were skewered, some had their heads pierced, others had their torsos opened.
Within three minutes of their attack, everyone was neutralized.
A magic circle for the 5th Floor appeared beneath my feet, and I teleported there.
---
[Floor 4 Passed]
[Reward – Attribute Crystal (Agility) ×20; Increase in Fire Affinity]
[Remark – You can move to 5th Floor.]
---
[Floor 5 – Infernal Run]
[Objective – Eliminate 30 Flame Wolves and then defeat the Alpha]
[Remark – Your Vitality decreases by 1% per minute]
---
"System, how many minutes will I be able to sustain my speed and accuracy?" I asked while running toward the location of Flame Wolves in my detection range.
---
[15 minutes. After that, your accuracy and speed will reduce drastically.]
---
"Damn, I should've saved more to buy some HP potions, but there's no reason to cry over spilled milk," I said, my thoughts racing.
I decided to put the use of Infinite Mana at the cost of my body.
My body flowed with mana, my veins lit up with a whitish hue, and my speed increased many folds.
The wolves were coming from multiple directions, possibly to flank me from both sides, but my slight carelessness about my Vitality had landed me in this pinch.
I locked onto more than thirty Flame Wolves and ran toward their spot.
The wolves trying to flank didn't know what hit them because I was spending less than a second killing one wolf before moving onto another.
In a minute, more than thirty wolves were killed in thirty swings.
Then, the way to the boss chamber appeared, and I ran toward it.
There, sitting in the center of the chamber, was the Alpha Wolf.
The system notification flared, but I was in no mood to look into details or any name.
But suddenly, I was forced to look toward the system panel.
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[ERROR!!]
[ERROR!!]
---
That fucking message again.
I haven't even gone to the second floor yet.
---
[Mana Overload...]
[Player has infused Mana way over the threshold of his physical body.]
[Player's Bloodline and Physique are compensating for this overload.]
[Generating the required Trait...]
[Trait generation and integration will take 2 minutes.]
---
"Well, thank you, guys. I promise I'll be a little less reckless next time," I chuckled.
Depleting vitality had me on my last ropes.
I glanced at the big wolf whose skin was charred and whose molten eyes looked at me warningly.
I recognized that look.
I said in a tired-out voice, "You're intelligent, aren't you? You also know you're dead. So, any last wish?"
He growled in defiance, but those molten eyes had already surrendered because he had seen what happened to his underlings.
I gripped Lamina tight; she was uncharacteristically silent, and I rushed forward.
The next second, the Alpha was halved in two parts from head to tail.
"Some other time I would've loved fighting you, but today is not the day, Wolfie," I said as I went on my knees, barely keeping myself up with the support of Lamina stabbed into the ground.
---
[High emotional disturbance from both Player and Ignis Lupen]
[Change in Loot and Chest]
---
Even in this state, I got what it meant, but I was using all my mental energy to stay awake for the integration.
I stopped pumping mana the second Wolfie was killed.
---
[Trait generation successful]
[A new Trait, Infinite Regeneration, integrated.]