The Secret of the Infinite Maze
Back in my prosecutor days, I used to enjoy watching programs where various panelists discussed global issues.
One that stuck with me was about terrorism.
In particular, terrorism in the Middle East was an everyday occurrence, and in some cases, rebel forces and their weapons far outmatched those of regular armies.
Whenever news reports covered terrorism, they always showed footage of a man-portable weapon streaking across the desert toward a distant target.
The infamous RPG-7, sometimes called "Allah's magic wand" — the same weapon that, in movies, prompts some poor extra to shout "RPG!!!" right before everything goes to hell.
Piaget the quartermaster appeared before the dungeon entrance with an RPG-7 slung across his back.
"Whoa… so that's the infamous rune cannon."
Marian spoke with tired eyes as she looked at Piaget.
"It's my magic wand."
Piaget grinned as he stroked the rune cannon.
Watching him carry it, I couldn't help but be reminded of the figures from those documentaries.
Stocky build. A beard covering half his face.
Bulging eyes and an unusually large nose.
Aside from the obvious height difference, he looked exactly like the people in those broadcast clips.
Until the day before entering the dungeon, we had been extremely busy dealing with various unexpected situations.
We had scoured the entire capital searching for Flint, who got lost while making a delivery.
The explosion at the Immortal Weapon Shop had brought the Capital Defense Force's counter-terrorism unit out twice.
All because of that damn rune cannon.
To clear Borin's name after he was wrongly suspected of terrorism, we had to report to the Capital Defense Force and give explanations.
There were also numerous documents to submit after returning from the dungeon.
In between all that, we visited the Capital Defense Force's Dungeon Hunter Headquarters to receive team-binding certification and review the detailed investigation plan.
It was tedious work, but the dangers of dungeon exploration could be drastically reduced by thorough preparation, so it was something we couldn't afford to neglect.
"Since everyone's here, I'll give a quick briefing. I am Zeo Blood, the prosecutor in charge of the special investigation into the robbery, murder, and kidnapping cases inside Clovan Dungeon."
The so-called Clovan Dungeon Special Task Force consisted of five members, including two dispatched personnel.
I had only seen the two dispatched members' resumes; due to our busy schedules, today was the first time we were meeting face-to-face.
"Greetings. I am Leonic Nemes. May the blessings of Eria, Goddess of Freedom and Protection, be with you all."
A sun symbol — the emblem of the Eria Church — peeked through his white and gold holy robes.
A silver pendant around his neck emitted a soft, pale green glow.
"Quartermaster, so that's the rune cannon. Even among us priests, rumors have been spreading. They say something extraordinary has appeared in the world."
Leonic spoke with shining golden eyes.
"Yes, it's the greatest weapon in dwarf history."
Piaget's lips twitched into a smile.
"For a simple missing persons case, why bring such a troublesome weapon…"
At that moment, a man with copper-colored skin approached Piaget with his arms crossed.
"I am Kyron Blake. I am a knight of the Capital Defense Force's Royal Knight Order and deputy commander of the 3rd Prince's personal guard."
His voice, as deep as a cave's echo, drew glances from other hunters waiting to enter the dungeon.
"Whoa… Kyron Blake…"
"Isn't that guy a Royal Knight?"
Whispers rippled through the crowd.
"Well, my position and abilities should be clear from my name alone, so I'll skip the details."
Ignoring the curious stares, Kyron slowly reached for his claymore.
The metallic scrape cut sharply through the air.
The blade emerged slowly, reflecting the dawn's light in a brilliant gleam.
A massive aura erupted from the claymore, sending ripples of light through the air.
"Honestly, I'm only here because of my superior's orders. I have no interest in the dungeon disappearance case. If anything, I think this is a waste of time."
Kyron spoke while shrugging his shoulders exaggeratedly. Each movement made his armor clank loudly.
The empire values aura-wielding knights highly, but knights this full of themselves are rare…
Chief Frida really found herself an unusual one.
"Robbery. Kidnapping. Murder."
"What?"
Kyron's irritated voice followed.
I straightened my back and addressed him directly.
"This case involves robbery, kidnapping, and murder inside the dungeon. If you thought it was just a missing persons case, there must have been a misunderstanding in your organization. This is a dangerous investigation. If you came here under false pretenses, you're free to leave."
"Hahaha."
Kyron shrugged again, looking incredulous.
His armor clanked with each movement.
"Working with someone who's mentally unstable in a dungeon is a bit…"
At Piaget's muttered remark, Kyron's expression turned vicious.
Piaget looked away and feigned indifference.
"Kyron Blake, I've heard plenty about your abilities. But a dungeon isn't a place you can handle alone. Someone has to be the shield, and someone has to be the light that shows the way. Your claymore alone won't get you out of here alive."
My words made Kyron's expression grow slightly more serious.
"As the person in charge of this investigation, I won't tolerate any sacrifices. Our goal is to arrest the killer while ensuring we all return alive. Therefore, anyone who hinders that goal cannot be part of this team. What will it be, Kyron Blake?"
Silence fell over the group.
Kyron stared at me with a hardened face before slowly nodding.
"Since the 3rd Prince has given his orders, I'll trust you for now. But remember this: my sword doesn't only follow your commands. I will uphold the honor of the Prince and the Royal Knight Order."
Kyron placed his left hand over his right chest and recited the oath to the Gilorian Empire.
Piaget let out a small sigh and followed along.
"For the prosperity and eternity of the Gilorian Empire!"
"For the prosperity and eternity of the Gilorian Empire!"
"In the name of Goddess Eria, I bless the prosperity and eternity of the Gilorian Empire."
Lowering my hand from my chest, I addressed everyone.
"Good. The case code is Mosquito. We will enter the dungeon and capture Mosquito. We don't know the suspect's exact name, but we believe he's on the fourth underground floor. Since he's lived in the dungeon for quite some time, he may have established his own base and could launch unexpected attacks. Everyone, stay alert."
A shimmering light appeared before us, and the dungeon entrance opened.
An old, long-forgotten mark from my memories came into view.
Endless chains of circular orbs floated before my eyes.
Like children's bubble toys.
* * *
The dungeon's entrance opens once a month at a designated location.
Each floor has walls engraved with special patterns. On the seventh day, these patterns emit a bright light.
Anyone near a glowing wall at that time is automatically transported back to the city.
Thud. Thud.
We stepped into the first underground floor of the dungeon — the Infinite Maze.
A place filled with illusions that make you walk in circles.
"If we walk straight for 500 steps from here, we'll reach the eastern wall."
Marian took the lead.
Passing through the dungeon entrance didn't mean everyone started from the same location.
Only those who had received the binding certification magic could begin from the same starting point.
The first underground floor was structured like a maze. Following the walls would eventually lead to a passage down to the second floor.
However, this maze was extremely troublesome. Its structure changed every time. In short, it was a moving maze.
Additionally, you had to touch the special walls in the north, south, east, and west in sequence within five hours for the passage to the second floor to open.
Before this trick was known, people who first came here would wander endlessly in the darkness until they went mad or starved to death.
That's why people called this place the Infinite Maze.
But now that the maze's passage trick was known, the difficulty was about the same as taking a stroll around the block.
There weren't any particularly aggressive monsters either.
A few slimes passed by, leaving sticky trails on the floor.
All you had to do was avoid slipping on the slime residue while running diligently with a compass in hand.
That way, you could touch the north, south, east, and west walls.
"Run!!!"
"What are you doing? Hurry up!!!"
Other teams that had entered the dungeon rushed past us like the wind.
The faster you cleared the first floor, the sooner you could reach the second floor and hunt monsters to your liking. Most teams aimed for a quick clear.
"Alright, so we just put the scout in front and run, right? Since the first floor only has slimes and such, let's just dodge them and clear it as fast as possible."
Kyron was getting ready to run.
'Why aren't we running?'
I stood there blankly.
"Prosecutor, what's wrong? Are you doing warm-up exercises or something?"
Kyron chuckled as he moved to the front.
What were these people talking about?
Why run…?
"Prosecutor, is something the matter?"
Piaget approached cautiously.
Even Piaget, a former 5th-grade dungeon hunter, was acting like this…?
Looking around, I saw that all the other hunters were running.
Teams chasing after spirits.
Teams sprinting with compasses in hand.
Did no one really know?
The first floor's clearing trick?
"Ah… um… I don't know if this changed because it's been a while, but when exploring the first floor, you need to touch the north, south, east, and west walls…"
My hesitation must have made my words seem uncertain.
"Can't we just run over and touch them?"
Kyron made a gesture as if touching the wall, looking frustrated.
"Ah… well, you could do that, but why do we have to run ourselves?"
"Then who else is going to run? Are spirits going to carry us?"
His armor clanked again as he shrugged.
"Yes."
"Yes?"
Clank.
"You don't know?"
"Know what?"
Clank.
"These walls have high spirit affinity."
"Could you explain it so we can actually understand?"
"These walls can be touched by spirits."
For a moment, I met everyone's eyes.
Thinking back, when we first discovered this secret, I remembered us chuckling about keeping the honey to ourselves.
We had planned to reveal it as a retirement gift, but by the time that came around, there was no opportunity to share such information.
'Ah… so that's why no one knows.'
Now I understood the situation.
"Well, just trust me for now. Marian, summon your spirit and have it touch the north, south, east, and west walls in order."
Marian's eyes showed disbelief and confusion, but since there was nothing to lose by trying, she spoke to her spirit with a reluctant expression.
A bluish light spun in place once before vanishing.
I plopped down on the spot.
"What the hell? Now you're sitting?"
Kyron looked at me with contempt and even switched to informal speech.
"It won't take long, so just stand there."
Childish as it was, I decided to drop formalities too.
Marian and Piaget, caught in the middle, looked slightly uneasy, while Leonic wore an enigmatic smile.
"The one who's mentally unstable isn't me, it's you people…"
"There's a slime coming. I'm too lazy to get up… Can someone who's standing deal with it?"
The slime emerged from the darkness, spitting acid at us.
Getting hit would sting.
Splat. Splat.
"Disgusting…"
Clicking his tongue, Kyron swung his claymore left and right, and the slime vanished like smoke.
Roll. Roll.
It left behind a small magic stone.
The stone flew over and landed neatly in Marian's pouch.
We had agreed beforehand that Marian, as the mage, would collect the magic stones first and distribute them later.
That's the advantage of having a mage in the party.
"Did you call a Royal Knight just to sit around and smack slimes?"
Grumbling, Kyron pushed aside a large rock and sat down next to me.
At that moment, Marian's spirit returned, glowing with blue light.
It whispered something into Marian's ear.
"It says it touched all of them. The wall leading to the portal for the second floor."
Marian muttered in disbelief.
Just then, a small light began to emanate from behind Kyron's back.
"It's open. The door to the second floor."
I dusted off my rear and walked toward the shimmering door leading to the second floor.
"No way."
"Why didn't anyone know about this?"
"Even the imperial mage tower doesn't know…"
"As expected of the legendary dungeon hunter…"
They hadn't believed me.
"Let's stop talking and get moving."
I headed to the second underground floor faster than anyone else.