The Regressor Strays (3)
<Floor 25>
- Defeat the 'Maze King' and escape.
- Poison is spreading throughout Floor 25. At first, you won't notice any major effects, but movement will become increasingly difficult. An ordinary person will last about an hour. Climbers will lose their lives within 2-3 hours. Please exercise extreme caution.
"..."
After regressing back to the starting point, I plopped down right there and sank into thought. I decided to invest this entire cycle purely into thinking. My head was simply that complicated.
"Why is there a Minotaur...?"
The Minotaur that appeared in the tutorial under the alias 'Labyrinth Demon.' The scene of the Goblin Shaman sacrificing their life to seal the creature is still vivid in my mind. It was designed so that when the boss Goblin Shaman died and the escape portal opened, the hidden boss Minotaur would rampage and kill the remaining people.
Coincidentally, Floor 25 is a maze, and the reappearance of a fearsome monster from the tutorial later on is a common trope in fiction. I guess you could call it a classic.
I would have naturally accepted it if the Minotaur had 'just' appeared normally. After defeating it, I'd have nodded, thinking, 'I've gotten this strong. My efforts were never meaningless.' Then I'd have worked up a proper rage against the Archangel, cleared Floor 25, and had a tearful reunion with Ji-won.
Or not? Would I lose if we fought now? I'd have to try to find out.
Anyway, the reason I'm so dumbfounded is... the Minotaur I saw earlier wasn't in a normal state.
Why was it slowly creeping out of the floor? Why was it only poking its head out and sheepishly avoiding my gaze when it saw me? What was that pitch-black space?
First off, the 'Black Space' I entered just before regressing is clearly a place players aren't meant to enter. If that weren't the case, the fact that it was completely empty like before wouldn't make sense. Also, judging by the thick, poisonous wind blowing out of it, that Black Space is definitely the source of the poison.
"This is giving me a headache."
The problem is, I can't figure out anything more than that. That Black Space produces poison, and the Minotaur slowly comes out of it. So what am I supposed to do with that? It's a space where you can't see anything and it's filled with poison anyway. There isn't much I can do even if I go back. At most, kill the Minotaur?
"But that's not really urgent."
I reached the Black Space about 20 minutes in. I can't survive more than 20 minutes inside this maze anyway.
Yet, by the 20-minute mark, the Minotaur had only barely poked its head out. No matter how many times I repeat this floor, I'll never fight the Minotaur. It would take at least two hours for its whole body to emerge, but there's no way I can last two hours in this maze.
Though I might kill it once just in case the Minotaur is the 'Maze King' or gives a hidden achievement... that can be put on the back burner.
"But wait, are 'Labyrinth' and 'Maze' different things? Could the Labyrinth Demon also be the Maze King?"
For now, in the next cycle, I'd better take the regular route. I'll go left at the fork, gather enough information, and then decide.
"Okay."
Having organized my thoughts, I lightly bit the inside of my cheek.
[You have taken damage.]
[Regressing to the moment you first entered Floor 25.]
***
My memory isn't insanely good, but it's not so bad that I'd forget a path I took just a little while ago.
"Straight. Left. Straight. Right."
I strode through the maze at a brisk pace. Forget concentrating on mana; I focused on walking, and before even a minute passed, I arrived at the place where the White Goblin was.
"Keeek!"
I put the goblin out of its misery in one breath. Then left again. Straight. Right.
I moved so unhesitatingly that anyone watching would think I was a gamer doing a speedrun. My breathing grew slightly ragged from walking fast while focusing on mana, and my mana consumption increased a bit as well... but I could move with such incredible speed that the increase was negligible.
"Here again, huh."
I reached the previous fork in five minutes. Once I get a bit more used to the 'mana filter,' I might be able to run here, in which case I could make it in under three minutes. Well, that's for later.
"From here..."
If I go right from this fork, I'll reach the Black Space where the Minotaur was. If I go now, it's probably only got its horns and top of its head out. A few good stabs with my sword would kill it on the spot.
Of course, I've already decided to go left this cycle. I headed left, carefully observing my surroundings.
Left. Right. Straight. Straight again. Left. Straight. Right.
I combined the clues the maze gave me and took only the correct paths. After about another ten minutes, a large, antique wooden door blocked my path. 15 minutes had passed since I regressed, and I had about 5 minutes' worth of mana left.
Considering I'll be more familiar with the path next cycle, I should be able to reach here in 10 minutes total. Around five if I run. Being able to memorize the route really is a tremendous advantage.
"Let's go."
I let out a long breath—pwooh—and flung the wooden door open with force. The heavy door opened with a thud—.
"...?"
My eyes widened, taking in a flood of information at once.
A large space, roughly ten meters by ten. An ornamental plant hung haphazardly on the wall, vines snaking from it. A red carpet ill-suited for a maze. A long banquet table. Corroded gold tableware. Old wooden chairs. Grains of dirt rolling across the carpet. Dust.
My gaze traveled along the long table. Far away, at the head seat, a figure was visible.
A middle-aged man with a pale complexion, seated on a faded throne that must have once been splendid. He wore a fairly high-quality tunic, and a crown sat atop his head. His beard was stylishly long, and the upper parts of his ears were longer than an ordinary human's.
"..."
The middle-aged man kept his chin resting on his hand while seated on the throne, moving only his eyes to look at me. I had thought the Minotaur might be the 'Maze King,' but seeing this, I understand. That person is the Maze King. He's even wearing a crown, isn't he? And he looks like a king.
So, I just have to kill him, right? The Status Window definitely said to kill the 'Maze King.' And that man... honestly, he doesn't look that strong. Except for his ears, he looks exactly like an ordinary person.
I don't want to kill a person, but if it's a mission of the Tower, I have no choice. I shook my head and walked toward the throne, just before drawing my sword.
"...I do not die easily."
The middle-aged man spoke in a voice heavily cracked with age. He claimed he does not die easily.
"...Really?"
That didn't make me stop walking. It didn't sound like a lie, but it'd be strange to just believe it outright, wouldn't it?
"...I, too, long for death."
Did he see through my suspicion? The Maze King drew a dagger from his bosom.
—Stab!
And deeply stabbed his own temple. Dark red blood streamed down from the wound, but the king's face showed no change whatsoever.
"Therefore, gather these for me."
Still with the dagger lodged in his head, the Maze King twitched his foot. Through whatever mechanism he triggered with his foot, the floor tiles in front of me shifted, revealing a hidden scroll.
"This is..."
What was drawn on the scroll was a map of the entire maze. This space with the 'Maze King' was located exactly at the center of the whole maze.
"Bring the items marked there. Then you can kill me."
There were a total of five X marks on the map, and it seemed I had to collect these items to kill the Maze King.
"...Aha."
Now I perfectly understood the concept of this floor.
If finding this place with the 'Maze King' was the first task, the second task was to roam the maze and retrieve the marked items. The items were evenly spread throughout the maze, designed to take a considerable amount of time even if you moved in the most efficient route possible.
Can the player withstand the pressure of the poison and collect all these items? Can they explore this maze while maintaining full sanity?
Above all, the Minotaur in the 'Black Space' will be released at some point. With a giant monster chasing them, can the player find all the items and return to the center where the Maze King is?
The core of this floor is composure. And courage. It's a floor that tests whether you can stay calm, maintain your reason, and keep moving even when danger is right at your throat.
Honestly, maintaining composure itself isn't a concern. I can make sound judgments in most situations because I lack the fear of death.
What I'm truly worried about is:
"...Can I do this in 20 minutes?"
No matter how I thought about it, it seemed like I'd run out of time.
The '20 minutes' I keep mentioning is based on walking without overexerting myself. Even if I get used to the 'mana filter' and can run, collecting all the marked items here within 20 minutes is practically impossible. That's also because my mana consumption would increase to some extent.
"..."
Also, no matter how much I think about it, something's weird... Didn't Choi Ji-won clear this floor in just 10 minutes? If she ran at full speed... I guess it's barely possible within 10 minutes. But isn't the time a bit excessively tight?
As a cool-headed regressor and the embodiment of reason, I, Kim Jun-ho, judge that—
"Hey."
"..."
"Don't you have some kind of weakness?"
This thing. I'm sure there's another way to clear it besides the straightforward method.