Chapter 29
Chapter 29
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Translator: MadScientist
Chapter: 29
Chapter Title: Demon's Labyrinth (3)
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+Uh... the illustrations are a bit intense?
1.
⚙ LABYRINTH STAGE ⚙ ~The Place Where Death Lives~ -Step. Step.
I cautiously moved forward, scanning my surroundings.
This place truly lived up to its name as the City of Death.
There wasn't a single living creature moving about here.
The pervasive poison that filled the air was so potent that even the faint spirits visible near the entrance were nowhere to be found here.
Spirits sustain their forms through mana as their source, so using this toxic mana would affect their very essence.
That's probably why not even the wind spirits, said to be everywhere in the world, could be seen in this labyrinth.
The poison was stronger than I'd imagined.
In any case, the ghost city was illuminated by magic stones embedded everywhere. As long as mana existed within them, the stones emitted light, creating an eerie landscape for the city.
It somewhat resembled a city's night view—surprisingly beautiful.
If not for all this poison saturating the area, this place could probably become a popular tourist spot.
Labyrinths with this kind of theme were quite popular, after all.
'This must be an undead-themed labyrinth.'
Labyrinths came in various types.
Among them, the most notorious were those modeled after cities of death like this one.
I already had sufficient levels and my racial traits made me immune to this poison, but the deathly aura I felt on my skin was potent enough to damage even a mighty dragon.
That was why undead-themed labyrinths were considered the worst.
The monsters that appeared weren't particularly strong, but the constant debuff on the map itself meant that even a moment's daze could lead to instant character death.
Plus, the only race with resistance was the demon race, which came with its own heavy drawbacks—everyone else suffered the DoT damage equally.
In the game, it was a 2% HP loss per second, right?
In a labyrinth where potion cooldowns were already extended, losing HP every second was a truly filthy design.
-Rumble rumble rumble...!
It happened then.
Suddenly, I felt a tremor beneath my feet, sensing something passing underground.
"Is there an earth dragon or something?"
Placing my hand on the ground, I could tell the vibration's source was heading toward the city's center.
The path to the city center was straightforward—no twists, no maze-like paths—just a straight line, making the destination clearly visible.
The thing was moving toward the dilapidated temple visible in the distance.
A temple at the heart of the place, reminiscent of an ancient city...
That was probably where the Soul Stone was kept. Sure enough, the poison grew stronger the closer I got.
It had no effect on me, of course, but it was best to deal with this quickly.
So...
-Flash!
Thus, I used teleportation.
To be precise, it was Blink—a spatial magic that allowed instant movement to anywhere in my line of sight, rather than specifying coordinates.
The drawback was that I couldn't reach places outside my vision, but it was convenient in situations like this.
Besides, the labyrinth's owner practically advertised not to walk here.
-Sssshhh...
Artificial flows of mana visible in the passageway.
Honestly, weren't these traps a bit too obvious?
Several traps lined the path to the temple. At this rate, you'd exhaust yourself before even arriving.
Of course, at my level, I could smash through them all, but I was rushing to get out, wash off this grimy feeling, and...
-Clang!
A headache like someone had struck my head.
And the mana losing its glow.
"Ugh?"
-Crackle... sizzle...!
The teleport cut off midway.
At the same time, my clear vision went black.
My head throbbed as if it might split open, and all strength drained from my body.
This was... someone had interfered and blocked my teleport.
-Thud!
As a result, I was flung mid-teleport, crashing straight into the temple wall.
"Kuh..."
-Zap!
My pounding head.
No major physical damage, but the interruption during teleport left me dizzy.
Even in the game, interfering with movement spells like teleport caused confusion.
You couldn't cast magic, your vision paralyzed, and you couldn't even control your body properly—a deadly debuff.
This was annoying.
I had no resistance to debuffs of this type.
But Blink was so fast that no player could catch it. Experiencing something I'd never encountered in the game firsthand was a fresh shock.
-Whoooosh.
Anyway, the key here was who had blocked the teleport...
There were no bosses in the mortal realm that could cancel a player's skill.
You'd have to look to ancient dragons in the heavens or demons in the demon world.
Well, some story bosses could, but...
They wouldn't be here.
👹 Mid-Tier Demon 'Lord of the Dead' – Lv.350(★) 👹 A blurry black silhouette in my hazy vision, and an alien voice transmitting directly into my mind, like Lewis's thoughts.
That guy was probably the one who blocked my teleport just now. A mid-tier demon... yeah, that made sense.
A mob compared to high-tier demons, but at that level, it was equivalent to a demon king in the mortal realm.
-Swoosh!
But I'd never heard of a demon boss monster in a labyrinth. What kind of balance were they using to put something like that in the mortal realm?
The thing was level 350 with a boss marker to boot.
Unbelievable.
"Ugh..."
I forcibly tried to stand.
But my legs gave out, and I collapsed again.
[I know all about you high elves—the reason you've come here, and that your magic is a threat to us as well.]
This was bad. I still couldn't control my body properly.
If it had been damage, I could've regenerated quickly, but this was a pure debuff shock, so it would take time to recover.
At this rate, even basic movement was tough. I needed to cast a debuff removal spell to deal with this headache—
-Crackle!
Mana wouldn't gather.
...Hah, this pattern again.
[However, cut off the mana at the source of that magic, and you become as weak as any human.]
Just like before, I couldn't use magic now.
I tried pulling in the ambient mana, but it wouldn't gather.
It was similar to the Spirit Forest.
The difference? Here, the one controlling the mana wasn't a spirit, but that demon over there.
'This is why mages...'
The mage class boasted firepower surpassing any other, theoretically capable of outputting the damage of four players alone—an ultimate burst dealer.
But the penalties were enormous.
Some bosses had patterns that blocked mana usage, rendering invincibility spells unusable and sealing all a mage's options, turning them into utterly useless existences. Then you'd just die.
In short, high risk, high return.
[Now, what should I do with you, high elf? Your appearance is too fine to feed to the dead...]
Hoo, I was pissed, but I'd hold it in.
This was the class I'd chosen.
Regretting it now was too late.
[Playing with you a bit first wouldn't be bad.]
Just wait for the headache to fade, take down that demon, grab what I need, and get out—
-Squelch!
"Eut?!"
-Sizzle! Slurp sluuuurp!
Something touched my body.
Something sticky and unknown began groping and enveloping me.
My head was spinning, so I couldn't grasp the situation.
My body wouldn't move well either.
"Ah..."
Still, the creepy fact of something unknown touching me made me cautiously open my eyes.
A damp, slimy, disgusting sensation.
"What the hell is—"
It coiled around my ankle like a snake, licking up my thigh to my waist and chest as it revealed itself...
👹 Cursed Tentacle – Lv.100 👹 ※HP: 950,000 / MP: 20,000 ▶A demonic beast that parasitizes the womb, feeding on women's bodily fluids to reproduce. It's said the mucus it secretes is good for skin care. "..."
"......Kneel."
I tore off the tentacle and commanded.
[Hmm? Trying to use magic? Futile effort. I control the mana here. No mere high elf can—]
-Boom!
A powerful gravity assault struck the demon.
[Guh, guhuk?!]
The 3-meter-tall demon collapsed to the ground.
It glared at me with its head smashed into the floor, a look of utter disbelief.
"I commanded you to kneel."
-Crackle!
Then I enveloped my entire body in mana.
Monsters of this type couldn't cling if you coated yourself in mana.
-Sizzle, sliiiick...
Thus, the creepy things peeled away from my body.
Well, thanks to these guys, I snapped out of it.
The realization that tentacles were toying with my body and trying to parasitize me was so horrifying it made me forget the headache.
The skin care bit was unexpected, though.
▶It's said the mucus it secretes is good for skin care.
...Maybe I'll keep some of these alive and collect them later.
"Hoo."
Of course, there was something to do first.
[Impossible! How... how can a high elf use magic here...!]
-Crunch!
[Kuhk!]
I stomped on the fallen demon's head.
It trembled violently in agony.
Yeah, first things first—deal with this pervert.
Daring to shove those gross tentacles at me? It blabbered about controlling the mana here and relied solely on that to pull this crap. Were all these guys just thoughtless or plain stupid?
"Seeing this, prejudice really is a scary thing."
[W-what?!]
"Did you think controlling this space's mana would seal my magic? Bullshit."
[...? Y-you! You're no high elf!]
The demon's eyes widened suddenly as it said that to me.
'What? How'd it figure it out?'
I touched my head just in case—something hard was protruding.
Oh no... the horns I'd hidden with Transform had grown back.
Probably because I used an advanced fighter skill, which broke the Transform duration. What a drag.
...Well, it didn't matter much now anyway?
No one else was around to see my true form except this guy.
There was a saying in the world:
If there are no witnesses, it's not murder—it's assassination.
Eliminate this one, and there'd be no witnesses to me being a 'demon.'
"......You're right. I'm no high elf."
[Those horns, that aura...! Don't tell me!]
I steadied my breathing.
Then I accelerated the circulation of qi through my body, deciding to show this kin the ways of the 'mage ranking #1.'
Why had I chosen fighter as my second class when max level expanded?
If I'd picked swordsman instead, I'd be a magic swordsman, a cheat dealer pumping out magic and physical DPS simultaneously.
The reason was simple.
I chose fighter for one skill learned by its final advancement, 'Heavenly Demon.'
⚡ SKILL ACTIVATED ⚡ Heavenly Demon Divine Art Stage 3 - 'Realm' ※Attribute: Physical / Range: 5m / Max Targets: 1
>▶Turns a set area into your own domain. Within it, external barriers have no effect.
"That's right, just as you said. I am a demon."
At the same time, I was also Cyan, the 'fighter ranking #3.'
"Now that you've figured that out, you'll die here."
[Y-you...!]
Since my identity was exposed anyway, no need to hold back with low-tier fighter skills like last time.
Time to vent all the stress from this place on him.
⚡ SKILL ACTIVATED ⚡ Heavenly Demon Divine Art Stage 1 - 'Fist' ※Attribute: Physical / Range: 100m / Max Targets: 1~100
>▶Thrust a qi-infused fist, unleashing a powerful shockwave within range.