Survive the labyrinth with EX-grade traits

The Merman charged at me with a horrific scream.

“Kreeeeek!”

Its eyes were glistening with malice, and its metallic voice sent shivers down my spine.

But I was unfazed and swung my greatsword, slicing its torso diagonally.

Whoosh!

Swoosh!

“Kreeek!”

The Merman let out a death rattle and fell backward, spraying blood from its chest.

“Kyaaa!”

The other Mermen didn’t seem to care that their companion had died. They charged towards me without hesitation.

They leaped with all fours, baring their teeth, but I was not going to fall for such a simple attack.

‘they were right, these Mermen are even uglier than Goblins. I admit it’ I thought.

The Mermen had the most hideous faces I had ever seen in the dungeon.

Thud!

I precisely blocked the Merman’s face as it approached and swung my greatsword like a windmill.

Its flesh was torn apart, and its body was cut in half.

I stepped forward, swinging my sword with force.

Boom!

Another Merman was knocked down by my merciless attack.

“Kreeee!”

A clever Merman climbed the wall and tried to slash me with its sharp, poisoned claws.

I could see its slow approach and where it would attack, so I could have dodged or stepped back.

But after my battle with Carrix, I had reflected and regained my focus. I was no longer the foolish adventurer who tried to handle everything alone, without considering my party members.

My job now was to eliminate the monsters that posed a threat to the party, not to react to each attack and get bogged down.

“Holy Light’s Protection!”

[Divine Shield]

Bang!

The Merman was repelled by the shield and couldn’t even break through it.

I swung my sword like a baseball bat, hitting it with full force.

“Kreee!”

The Merman flew backward like a flesh-covered bowling ball, crashing into the three Mermen behind it.

’Strike!’ I thought.

I infused my feet with magic power and charged forward, switching to my one-handed sword.

“Huff!”

Swoosh! Swoosh! Swoosh!

I swung my sword at the approaching Mermen, one at a time.

One strike per Merman, three fluid attacks in a row.

In an instant, I had slashed their vital points and moved past them.

“Kreeek…”

Amidst the splattering blood, I looked at the last remaining Merman.

It hesitated for a moment, then turned and ran away.

‘Mermen aren’t mindless creatures that blindly attack adventurers. They seem to have varying levels of intelligence, especially the humanoid ones’ I thought.

“The black hand that grasps the night.”

[Lugen’s Grip]

Squeeze!

“Kii, kreeek.”

Lumia cast her magic at the right moment, grabbing the Merman.

With my agility, I could have chased it down and killed it before it could call for help, but it was more convenient to have it immobilized.

The Merman struggled in the grip of the black hand-shaped magic that had suddenly appeared in mid-air.

“You coward, trying to run away. You’re not fit to be a monster,” I said, finishing off the last Merman.

Thud.

I looked at the Merman’s body on the ground and took a deep breath.

“Huff.”

[Chaos praises your skilled combat.]

Our first battle on the second layer was a success.

Compared to the monsters on the first layer, these Mermen were faster.

But that was all.

Like the Goblins on the third layer, they didn’t form organized formations or have specialized roles.

They were low-level monsters that relied solely on their physical abilities and charged at us without any strategy.

Unless there was some special gimmick, we weren’t going to be defeated by these mindless monsters.

‘If I recall correctly, the Goblin village raid was successful, and we were a bit undermanned. I think we can handle the second and third layers without much trouble’ I thought.

Of course, our priority was to get out of the second layer as soon as possible.

After the battle, Yeriel and Lumia approached, stepping over the scattered corpses.

“Ugh. I knew that Mermen existed, but this is the first time I’ve seen one. They’re truly hideous,” Yeriel said, cringing at the sight of the Merman’s severed head.

“Speaking of which, Yeriel, when you passed through the second layer with Derek’s party, which area did you fall into? Was it the bug area, as you said it was disgusting?”

“Yes, it was the bug area. There were giant centipedes, earthworms, and all sorts of creepy-crawly things,” Yeriel said, making a vomiting motion.

“If the Mermen are simply ugly, the bug area is disgusting. It’s physically revolting. I’m glad we fell here instead,” I said, shuddering at the thought.

I hated bugs too.

Even on Earth, I had a pathological hatred for insects, especially cockroaches, mosquitoes, and gnats.

I remembered reading about giant mosquitoes in the swamp area while gathering information in the library.

‘Ugh, just thinking about it makes me nauseous’ I thought, shaking my head to clear my mind.

I checked my surroundings and saw no signs of a shelter.

“Let’s collect the spoils and move on. The fin-like part, right?” I asked, referring to the spoils we needed to collect from the Mermen.

I cut off the small, darkly colored fin from the Merman’s back and put it in my bag.

“Lumia, do you sense any nearby presences?”

Lumia closed her eyes and concentrated.

I waited as her ears twitched, and she said,

“No, I don’t sense any monsters or adventurers.”

Good. The Mermen had appeared suddenly, and I hadn’t even checked where we had fallen.

“Let’s see, we’re in the swamp area,” I said, taking out the map and compass and examining them carefully.

“Hmm, we’ve fallen in an awkward location.”

There was a wide passageway leading straight ahead, with traces on the walls.

There didn’t seem to be any shelters nearby, and the darkness was still thick.

Based on these observations, I concluded that we had fallen just beyond the central area of the second layer, which connected the boundaries of the different areas.

The darkness on the second layer gradually lessens as you approach the portals to the next layer, but we still needed a torch.

“Let’s keep moving. Let’s at least make it to the area where the shelters are,” I said, and we continued walking.

It was a less traveled route, which was good because it meant we were less likely to encounter other adventurers.

As we walked, keeping an eye out for any dangers, I said,

“We should reach the shelters soon.”

[Chaos warns you to be careful.]

Everything slowed down!

“Where is it?” I thought.

Whenever someone attacked or a danger was imminent, the world around me would slow down.

I slowly turned my head, my eyes unaffected by the slowdown.

I scanned the area in front, to the right, and to the left, but saw no signs of an attack.

If we hadn’t encountered anything on our way here, it was unlikely that the danger was behind us.

That left only one possibility… above!

My judgment was swift, and I immediately summoned my greatsword and held it above my head like a shield.

Thud.

“Ugh.”

“Huff, Ahren?!”

A blue, slimy substance, larger than the average adult male’s torso, fell from the ceiling and landed on my head.

Squeak!

Fortunately, I had blocked it in time, but the slime clung to my sword, trying to corrode it.

“Get off me!”

Sizzle!

I swung my greatsword forcefully, and the slime fell to the ground, or rather, splattered on the ground.

Thud.

The slime wriggled as it tried to reform on the ground.

“I’m fine, but both of you be careful and watch above! Yeriel, cast a protective shield above us!”

“Be careful.”

“Yes, Holy Light’s Protection!”

[Divine Shield]

As I saw the shield form above their heads, I looked up.

One, two, three.

I saw three slimes wriggling on the ceiling.

To move forward, we had to pass under them. How could we get them to fall?

‘The only thing I can think of is to lure them by passing under them, but we don’t have an archer, and it’s too far for Yeriel to use Holy Arrow’ I thought.

My mind was cold, but my judgment was quick.

I raised my greatsword above my head again and charged forward.

Thud. Thud.

“Ugh.”

As I had read in the library, the lower-level amorphous monsters in the dungeon had either no intelligence or very low intelligence.

Every time I tried to pass under the slimes, they fell on me.

Apparently, their default behavior was to drop onto the heads of passing adventurers, corroding and absorbing them with their acidic bodies.

“Damn it, get off me!”

I swung my greatsword downward to shake them off, just like the first time.

The slimes splattered on the ground, trying to reform.

I looked at the wriggling slimes and recalled what I knew about them.

‘There are two types of slimes in the swamp area, right?’ I thought.

The Cave Slime, which appeared more frequently and had a straightforward attack pattern of body slamming, and the Acid Slime, which was less common and had a unique movement pattern of crawling along walls and ceilings.

Both types of slimes were known to inhabit this area.

The Cave Slime was easier to deal with, as its attacks were mostly physical and its large nucleus made it easier to capture.

On the other hand, the Acid Slime was not only less common but also had a very small nucleus that constantly moved with its body, making it difficult to target unless you had a powerful area-of-effect attack or magic.

Additionally, its acidic body could corrode equipment and the adventurer’s body.

I couldn’t believe we were being attacked by the rare Acid Slime on our first day in the dungeon.

‘Well, my luck is just bad. I’ll have to grit my teeth and survive’ I thought.

I switched to my sword and approached the almost fully regenerated slimes.

‘The nucleus. I need to destroy it quickly, but where is it?’ I wondered.

It was indeed difficult to spot, as it was small and the same color as its body.

I stared at them without blinking, and soon, I saw all three nuclei moving within their bodies.

Crack! Crack! Crack!

I quickly struck the blue nuclei with my sword.

The slimes wobbled for a moment and then disappeared into the ground, leaving behind only a few fragments of their nuclei, each about the size of my thumb joint.

“Since this is a rare monster, the spoils should be worth a lot,” I said, collecting the fragments and putting them in my bag.

I returned to Yeriel and Lumia, who had been holding off the first slime that had fallen.

“I’ve taken care of the rest, but this one kept trying to escape. It’s a shame we don’t have any area-of-effect attacks,” Lumia said.

I looked at the first slime, which was still wriggling in Lumia’s black hand.

“Can’t you just squeeze it to death?” I asked.

Lumia shook her head.

“It’s an amorphous monster, and it’s struggling too much,” she replied.

“It can’t be helped. Anyway, good job. Now, let’s release it. I can see the nucleus’s location,” I said.

Lumia nodded, and the black hand disappeared.

The Acid Slime, which had been crushed by the magic and was now fully regenerated, tried to escape, but I quickly struck it with my sword, destroying its nucleus.

I put the last fragment in my bag and spoke.

“The second layer is no joke. We have the strength, but unexpected situations and special factors make it difficult to relax,” I said.

“Yes, I thought slimes would be weak monsters.”

“The sound your weapon made earlier was concerning. Are you okay?”

“I’m fine. I can restore it with magic power,” Lumia said, dismissing my concerns.

“Thank goodness for self-restoring weapons,” I thought.

The greatsword I received from the guild master was indeed useful in many ways.

If I didn’t have it, I would have had to rely solely on my helmet.

“Anyway, are you both uninjured? We’ve collected the spoils, and there doesn’t seem to be anything else on the ceiling or walls, so let’s keep moving,” I said.

Everyone agreed, and after checking their equipment, we continued towards the end of the area.

.

.

.

A treasure chest!

It was a sturdy-looking treasure chest, tightly locked.

“Wow! I’ve never seen a treasure chest like this in the dungeon!”

“I wonder what’s inside?”

[Chaos is curious about the contents.]

Yes, I was also excited and curious about what was inside…

But could we even open it?