"Hey Explorer! Stop Right There!"
"Hey! Explorer! Stop right there! I said stop! In the name of God, I won't forgive you! Don't take Inoi to a dangerous place!"
Ignoring Baren's shouts echoing from behind as he rambled on, Dorne kept his eyes forward and maintained his pace. With no idea when they might catch the vampire, the Dorne Party had set a rhythm they could sustain for a long run—but that also allowed Baren's party to keep up. His companions, lugging bags and matching Baren's frantic pace, wore incredibly fierce expressions. The explorer who looked like a magic aspirant seemed almost amused by Baren's predicament and the unusual chase after the fleeing vampire.
The eleven explorers dashed past the fork in the path that the Dorne Party had already cleared, heading toward the passage to the 3rd-floor descent portal.
-Huff, whoosh, inhale, huff, whoosh, inhale-
Eresa, weaker in stamina than the warriors, was starting to struggle. She couldn't even keep up the Earth-style jogging breathing technique Dorne had taught her.
"Huff... Hop on, sis."
"Th-thanks, Raon!"
-Gasp- Gasp-
Mid-stride, Eresa leaped onto Raon's back and caught her breath. The Dorne Party moved freely without heavy bags, thanks to Eresa's 【Inventory】. They ran far past the fork.
The scouts from both parties coordinated on the fly while running, taking turns deploying [Danger Sense]. It was Eresa's turn now. The mana from her [Danger Sense] caught something clinging to the dark ceiling above the path they'd just passed.
"Dorne! We already passed it! Between the rear windows, on the ceiling!"
The Dorne Party whipped around and charged back in unison. No time for orders or confirmation. Lucian raised his lantern to scan the ceiling, while Eresa slid off Dorne's back and aimed her crossbow.
-Thwack-!
The bolt struck the ceiling and clattered to the floor. Dodging it, the vampire yanked its claws from the stone and plummeted down. Fatter now after devouring one of its kin, its bulging veins had subsided a bit, and its vicious face looked almost human.
Would this exceptional vampire eventually become something like the Dracula Dorne knew from Earth if it kept feeding on kin and human blood?
Dorne pulled back his hammer and rushed the falling vampire. With it airborne and unable to react, he'd smash it before it hit the ground and fled.
His hammer whipped like a lash toward its landing spot.
-Boom- Flutter flutter-!
In that split-second before the hammer connected with the pale monster's skin, it dissolved into a swarm of bats that scattered. Dorne's hammer sliced empty air.
-Whoosh-!
No grand sound, but it felt like a sonic boom.
-Flutter flutter flutter- The bats flew out through a ceiling window to the temple exterior, then reformed. The vampire, having used its bat transformation, looked gaunt again.
The eleven explorers might not know it, but bat-shifting vampires were rare, seen only deep in the labyrinth. This 2nd-floor escapee held potential rivaling deep monsters despite its current wretched state.
Something like an alarm rang in Dorne's mind at this bizarre turn.
"Shields! Hand over the shields!"
Raon and Lilia hurried over with their shields. Dorne first hurled his own at the wall.
-Crash! The discus-like shield embedded halfway into the stone.
-Thud! Thunk! Raon and Lilia's followed suit.
With tremendous leap power, Dorne sprang up, stepped on the first shield, bounded twice more, and grabbed the window frame with his hand. During those four leaps, to maximize not just the muscle power from 【Iron Man】 but also the elastic energy from his tendons and ligaments, he bent his knees for the briefest instant.
Watching Dorne haul his massive frame out the window with one hand, the already gaunt vampire paled further. Dorne drew back the hammer in his other hand. Having burned nearly all its energy on that last-ditch bat escape, the vampire couldn't even flee.
(And Dorne was doing this while wielding that heavy hammer.)
Just as Dorne moved to finish the extremely dangerous vampire.
Dozens of massive shadows flashed over Dorne and the vampire's heads, who stood bathed in full moonlight without passing through the window. The vampire's head tore from its neck like ripped fabric, flying far from Dorne's whip-like hammer strike. The severed head rocketed like a golf ball driven by a pro.
-Roooooooar-!
The true dragon's owner violated the 2nd-floor labyrinth rules, punishing Dorne and the vampire for emerging outside the structure. Its intense breath engulfed the headless vampire and Dorne. Those dozens of shadows sweeping over just before? The true dragon's ribs.
Dorne felt an illusion of a massive, dense cloud engulfing him. The sight was so alien it didn't register like common mist.
The true dragon's breath inflicted excruciating agony on Dorne. Despite the torment, he clamped his nose and mouth shut with sheer willpower, eyes squeezed closed, without so much as a groan. Had his nose, mouth, or eyes been open, the breath would have invaded through those orifices, disintegrating him entirely. That split-second decision saved his life.
[Iron Skin]'s resistance offset much of the damage. The breath shoved the immobilized Dorne back through the window. Even unconscious, Dorne kept pinching his nose as Lucian caught him with telekinesis.
Lucian reflexively caught the falling Dorne, then grimaced at the unimaginable, terrifying weight.
Laid gently on the stone floor, Dorne looked wretched. His iron armor and helmet had corroded nearly away, eating into his skin. Exposed flesh began peeling, red blood seeping out.
Inoi and Baren rushed over, pouring holy power into him.
"Strip off the armor!"
The others carefully removed the corroding pieces. Golden holy light enveloped Dorne, but recovery showed no sign. At least it halted the worsening—a small mercy.
"Scout guy! Didn't you see the exit portal? Ugh, why doesn't [Opportunity Detection] ping exit portals?!"
Baren's party's scout replied to Eresa's outburst.
"It's on the way back! We have to turn around!"
Inoi and Baren, having poured out all their holy power in that short time, directed.
"We need to move him fast! No stretcher in that 【Inventory】?"
"St-stretcher?"
As Eresa pulled items from her 【Inventory】, Raon and Lilia grabbed blankets and poles, hastily weaving a makeshift litter. Lucian used telekinesis one last time to place Dorne on it, and the full Dorne Party retraced their steps.
Baren's magic-aspirant party vaguely followed when he chased after. They couldn't use the exit portal anyway.
-Chirp chirp... The faint twittering of small birds reached his ears.
-Mm... Dorne's skin fully healed as he came to.
Stone walls and ceiling, a temple like before—but not the labyrinth's eerie one. Warm sunlight and divine glory enveloped it.
Dorne roughly pieced together what happened. The vampire was slain—no issue there. They'd escaped safely, so the true dragon hadn't pursued further. But Lucian, witnessing the labyrinth's malicious twist, might be troubled. Dorne had planned to perfectly protect the rear mage this expedition, leave a good impression on labyrinth delving, and recruit him as a comrade. The unforeseen variable and his blackout ruined that; nothing more he could do.
Dorne buried his resigned feelings and closed his eyes.
New Ability Selection
[Mana Capacity] [Large Pocket] [Quick Sleep]
Time expired. [Mana Capacity] randomly selected.
A new ability appeared in Dorne's status window. Next to the icons for 【Iron Man】 and 【Giant】 sat the icon for [Mana Capacity].
[Mana Capacity]... A mage with 【Elemental Magic】 would kill for it.
With wounds healed, time to sign the contract with Inoi and check the book with transferred ability glyphs from the Oren Labyrinth Merchant Group.
[Mana Capacity] likely boosted max mana. Not aligned with Dorne's growth path, but far from useless. Later, if he got a common mana-using ability like Eresa's, it'd synergize.
-Click
As Dorne closed his eyes to inspect his body, Inoi, who'd been periodically checking his status, opened the door.
"Oh, my."
Dorne half-opened his eyes and greeted her warmly.
"You're here. Thanks. I lived because of you."
Inoi averted her gaze from Dorne's pecs, abs, and quads—upper shirt hiked to check the [Mana Capacity] icon—and replied.
"No need to thank me. It happened while you handled that seed of massive tragedy for our party. Of course I'd help. Oh, don't worry about treatment costs. This temple's where I grew up. Least I could do."
Inoi briefly imagined what if they hadn't caught that irregular vampire, so different from normals, and it grew unchecked. Explorers would've found a few stone coffins with mummified vampires inside. Then missing explorers would've piled up post-expedition... Isolated from outside eyes, victims mounting until the labyrinth guild sensed wrongness, sent an investigation team starting from floor 1—uncovering it all a slog. Countless devoured in tragedy.
Inoi, aiming high priest through service and delving, might seem worldly at a glance, but she was cradle-faith from the temple orphanage. She communed with god, wielding his power. A devout priestess honoring her duty. Unlike Earth's blind believers.
(Though blind Earth faith might be purer.)
Believing in god wasn't just "X god exists." It meant following doctrine, praying, enshrining.
Feeling the chilling crisis brush past Western Labyrinth City, Inoi said.
"Dorne. Body okay?"
"Yeah. Checked slowly—I'm good."
"Good. Then to the annex with the party? Gotta sign that fixed-party contract too."
"Sure. Forming a priest-fixed party a month after diving in? No explorer luckier than me."
Inoi cutely rolled her eyes at Dorne's jest.
"From what I've seen, God clearly favors you. At least watches over you."
"Haha. Then I'm grateful."
Rising from bed, Dorne glanced around the room.
"By the way, where's my gear? At the annex?"
"Ah, your gear all got hit by breath—reduced to scrap. Left it in the labyrinth."
Dorne broke a cold sweat recalling Oren Labyrinth Merchant Group rental terms for lost or damaged high-quality gear.