Whoosh.
Fully transforming myself into a monster much faster than a wyvern, I am currently flying through the vast hallways of the maze. I am still astounded by how big the hallways are, so spacious that my current form's ten meter wingspan can easily pull off a U-turn.
At first, the transformation heavily consumes mana. It makes sense considering that the wyvern is huge. But as time goes on, my system has gotten used to it that the mana consumption almost reduces to none. My mana recovery is even matching up the consumption.
In this form, my flight speed is at least as fast as a supercar up to the sonic speed, so I am able to travel long distances for a short time. So far, I have covered kilometers of this huge maze, but I still cannot find the end.
Exiting this place might be my first priority. But before that, I have to get stronger. That said, I have my hunting monsters left and right. Absorbing their magic crystals, taking their forms, and mimicking their special abilities.
As of now, I have been encountering varieties of monsters roaming in the maze. While flying earlier, Other than the big wyvern, I encounter other dragonic monsters like wingless dragons or drakes; limbless and winged dragons or amphipteres; and true dragons that are smaller than wyverns, which are probably either juvenile dragons or just a smaller kind.
I also came face to face with a super fast winged monster with an eagle's head, wings, and front legs and a lion's body and hind legs. If I remember correctly, it is a gryphon. It was the most intense fight today. The gryphon easily out speed me, however, I have gone a lot stronger after eating so many powerful monsters earlier and it only takes one flamethrower to scorch it to death.
After that, I came across another wyvern that is different from what I have defeated. That wyvern is bigger in size and has more jagged design, more spikes and horns. Unfortunately for it, I am much stronger and faster than it, so I was able to kill it in an instant.
There are some smaller and weaker that dare to challenge me such as slimes, treants, comically gigantic creepy-crawlies, and more. Free abilities are added to my collection.
Currently taking the form of a mighty gryphon, fast and silent due to its natural stealthiness, a silent killer. While I am fastly and fluidly flying through the maze looking for another prey, I find an opening that is different from the ones I have entered.
Not only that, the hallways and corners near the opening are neatly forming a big perfect square. It is as if they are surrounding a specified area of this place. I fly around the hallway, following one wall, and find myself in the same opening. I loops around the area. From my estimation, each wall runs a few kilometers.
After landing in front of the opening, which is around a hundred meters wide all sides, I stare inside and see a smaller hallway of the same said dimensions. The hallway stretches a few hundred meters, and at the end of it, there are massive double doors. This is the first time I saw something like this in this place.
Wanting to know what is on the other side, I flap my feathered wings before taking off the ground and fly. Since this hallway is not as wide as the outside, I just flap my wings once to glide my way and repeat.
Tap.
I arrive before the massive doors after three flaps. The doors are so large that I have to look up to see the ceiling. I am not sure but the doors seem made of metal.
(What the hell are these doors for? What could possibly be hidden behind them?)
Rumble.
As I am wondering, the ground suddenly shakes slightly. I instinctively look down to inspect the ground and then another sound reaches my hearing.
Tremble.
With a low frequency sound, the doors separate and slowly slide inward into the walls. Once the doors leave quite a gap, I immediately focus my attention behind these massive doors.
The first thing I see inside sends chills to my nonexistent spine. For the first time, I genuinely feel true fear. Not mental but instinctual fear.
A few hundred meters beyond the doors is a truly massive creature. Even though it is curling its body since it seems to be sleeping, that monster is bigger than the golem I saw earlier. From its appearance alone, anyone would recognize it is a dragon.
The dragon is covered with deep red scales and possesses a pair of dragonic wings. A row of boney spikes runs on its spine. Its head has three horns, one on its snout and two long horns at the back of the skull. With four legs, it is a true dragon.
Right now, the dragon is currently sleeping, resting its head on its folded front limbs. Each of its breaths is audible and smoke comes out of its nostrils every time the dragon exhales. Suddenly, out of the blue, the dragon instantly opens its eyes and its amber gazes are definitely aiming at me.
(!!!)
Sensing my presence, the dragon quickly opens its mouth and immediately fires a linear and compressed blue flame toward my position. In panic, I hurriedly turn around and flap my wings as powerful and fast as I can.
(Quick!)
I move my wings so fast that I accelerate to twice the speed of sound in milliseconds. It did not take a full second to get out of the hallway and take a sharp turn to avoid the blue flames, which actually reached the bigger hallway.
Thud.
After that, a loud sound echoes from that room and through that passage, indicating that the doors have closed. A few seconds later, I finally relax my body and revert to my mimic form.
(That was close. I thought I was going to die.)
My guts are telling me that those flames can kill me if I were to be engulfed by them for seconds. The way that the flames are blue means that it is infernally hot. That's why I did not hesitate to get away from it.
Upon facing that dragon, there is no doubt that there is a massive amount of power gap between us. I thought that I was powerful just to realize that I am a frog in a well.
But there's also no doubt that the dragon is definitely worth eating. Before I know it, I am already smiling thinking how much I would gain from that powerful and majestic creature. Just let me get stronger and then I will return to face you again. Just wait.
Steeling my resolve, I transform into a gryphon and start hunting as many monsters as possible.
◆◇◆◇◆◇
In the middle of the forest, there is a large and unusual structure surrounded by a sea of trees. It is built like a four-sided black pyramid and it is so huge and massive that it sticks like a sore thumb in the middle of nowhere. Unnatural and seemingly man-made.
The sun is still rising and the sky is clear. Only a few clouds float in the sky. Suddenly, a large magic circle manifests nearby the black pyramid and a few individuals instantly appear on it after a second.
There are six of them, and they are all humans. Each of them is uniquely equipped with gears and weapons. One man is clad in full armor, a woman is in light armor with a bow in her hands, and so on. From their appearance and presence, anyone could tell that they are seasoned warriors.
Like the pyramid in the forest, one among them stands out. It is a woman with long and wavy lavender hair in the front.
She wears a black long-sleeved tight-fitting dress made out of elastic yet tough high-quality monster materials that greatly molds her curvaceous body. On top of that, the woman also equipped herself with a black robe that is made of materials with high magic resistance qualities.
After arriving at their destination, they immediately lay their eyes to the massive object before them. They have to squint in the sun to see the top.
"There is really a big dungeon here." One man says.
"Alright," the woman in the front turns around to face the others. "This is supposed to be my solo exploration to this dungeon, but the king insisted on having companions in order to go. I just want you all to know that you are just here to accompany me. Now that we have arrived, you can just stay here while I explore this dungeon."
(I doubt they are even necessary for this. I am confident I could clear this dungeon alone.) She says to herself.
"We cannot do that, madam." The black-haired man who seems to be the leader of the accompanying party speaks. "We are paid handsomely to do our job. We will go with you whether you like it or not."
"..." The woman thinks for a few seconds. "Fine. But don't get in my way."
"We understand, madam."
After their short conversation, the first humans have stepped their feet in the dungeon.