Chapter 40: A Message Lost in the Labyrinth (2)
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 40: A Message Lost in the Labyrinth (2)
Yernil might have a huge advantage, but she was still a notch below the professors.
Of course, since her message transmissions couldn't be disrupted, she might perform better than them in that one regard.
But professor-level wizards had other distinct advantages. Namely…
“Wizard’s Lantern.”
“Wise Guidance.”
“Swift Steps!”
“Transcribing Stenographer.”
…the ability to stack all sorts of spells right from the start.
Wizard’s Lantern was a spell that summoned a light to follow you and illuminate the surrounding darkness.
‘Wise Guidance’ helped you choose the path closest to your destination at up to four forks in the road.
Swift Steps lightened your feet, transforming even the gait of a venerable elder into a splendid run.
Transcribing Stenographer did exactly what it sounded like: it summoned a magic pen that would automatically transcribe a person’s voice.
It meant they wouldn't even waste the time it took to wield a pen for message transmissions.
“Wow…”
Yernil let out a gasp as she watched the Meldini party.
The ‘events’ one encountered in the maze could only be resolved through message transmissions.
But aside from that, any magic, skill, or technique was fair game.
As long as you didn't commit a major rule violation like destroying the maze walls, preventing an opponent from sending a message, or attacking another participant.
“Inside the maze, teams can cooperate or fight each other. You all know, right? There’s only one escape scroll.”
Edward seemed to be having a grand time, having thrown the 30 wizards into a state of war of all against all.
“What if another team gets the escape scroll first? Then you’d better quickly write ‘Steal the scroll’ on a message slip and send it.”
This was shaping up to be a surprisingly fierce game.
“Now, let the game begin.”
We dashed through the first gate of the massive maze set up in the Bertenga garden.
Not a wizard, a wizard, and an archer.
I was a wizard, Isel was a cleric, and Yernil had swapped roles to become a rogue!
*
The ceiling was sealed.
The corridors between the walls were about three meters wide.
And every five meters, wall-mounted torches were set ablaze.
‘It’s all fake.’
When I knocked on a wall, it made the hollow thumping sound characteristic of a false wall. It looked like it was solidly built from heavy bricks, but it was likely just an illusion magic overlay.
A decent imitation of a labyrinth.
I wondered how much money they spent building this.
“Caleb. I can’t hear any of the other teams.”
Yernil, who had been listening intently in all directions, spoke cautiously.
“That’s to be expected.”
Because the other wizards would have used magic to conceal their positions.
In Labyrinth’s Abyss, the heavier a character’s equipment, the more noise they made when moving.
A wizard’s robes weren’t loud, but between chanting spells and having no talent for stealth, they were bound to be noisy.
That’s why there were spells specifically designed to suppress sound.
To put it in game terms, they were spells that gave an advantage on stealth checks and prevented detection by enemies. The ultimate spell in this category was…
“Night of Silence.”
Isel said.
“Half the other teams have probably cast that spell by now. The ones who don’t have it likely used a lower-tier noise suppression spell.”
If so, even Yernil’s sound mapping wouldn't be able to track them.
“No one wants to reveal their position.”
“Th-then what about us?”
Yernil asked, startled, her voice dropping to a whisper.
“Could another team have heard me just now…?”
Isel shook her head.
“We’re using noise suppression too.”
Let’s be honest.
It was great that Yernil was immune to transmission disruption, but she was useless otherwise.
The same went for me, really.
My knowledge of labyrinths might surpass a professor’s, but most of my spells were useless here. At least for a while.
Therefore, we were…
“Noise suppression is one of the five spells I cast.”
…completely dependent on Isel. While other teams had senior wizards dividing the necessary tasks, Isel had cast all five spells by herself.
‘Spurring Steps,’ ‘Mole Cricket Pathfinding,’ ‘Wise Guidance,’ ‘Starlight,’ and finally, ‘Owl’s Hunt.’
“Of those, Owl’s Hunt was the noise suppression spell.”
The spell was named that because an owl makes no sound with its wings when it hunts.
Yernil had seen Isel cast the spell right in front of her but hadn't known what it was, and her face flushed red with embarrassment.
I changed the subject.
“You don’t have Transcribing Stenographer, do you?”
“No. If I need something transcribed, I just have someone do it.”
I see.
So extreme wealth is indistinguishable from magic. Damn.
Anyway, it was a shame we didn't have a stenographer, but it was good that we had a bunch of other useful spells.
We were lucky to have a 5th-tier wizard with us.
“Let’s go.”
The moment I started to lead the party forward.
“No. Wait a moment.”
Isel stopped me.
Our orders were already conflicting, right from the start.
*
“The key to this game is the message slips,” Isel began, trying to persuade me.
“We only have fifteen slips to solve events and fight other parties if we run into them.”
“I know.”
“It would be best if the other parties get ahead, fight each other, and use up their slips. So, shouldn’t we move a little more slowly?”
“No.”
I disagreed.
Because every other team would be thinking the exact same thing.
“On the contrary, we need to run now.”
The maze we had entered was a circular one with a diameter of about 500 meters. Ten teams had entered through ten different entrances on its perimeter.
For the sake of fairness, the escape scroll was likely at the center of this circle.
And the number of events each team encountered on their way would probably be similar, assuming they were searching for the shortest route.
Therefore, while the other parties were cautiously feeling each other out, we should boldly sprint at full speed, smash through the events, find the shortest path, and run to the center.
That would actually be the way to save message slips. If we dilly-dallied and missed our timing, we’d inevitably run into another party of wizards.
It was a kind of mind game.
But wizards are cautious by nature; they rarely make the first move.
“…”
Isel thought for a moment, then nodded.
“That makes sense.”
Good, she wasn't being stubborn.
“But I still disagree.”
Nope, I take that back.
“Why do you disagree?”
“Spells like Wise Guidance can help us navigate a few forks in the road, but they won’t last long. We could take a wrong turn and end up on another party’s path.”
“…”
“If we use our message slips to clear another party’s events for them, that loss will snowball. And there’s no guarantee we can easily solve the events we encounter. Unless we can build up a significant lead on the other teams, I’m against rushing ahead.”
Honestly.
It was times like these I felt like just coming out as a possessor.
I’m a turn-based master. I’m confident I can solve pretty much any event, so let’s just go.
That’s what I wanted to say.
“Let’s put it to a vote.”
Sorry, Isel, but there’s no time for roundabout persuasion.
“What do you think, Yernil?”
I passed the choice to Yernil.
She was completely flustered and didn't know what to do, but…
“Tsk.”
In the end, Isel surrendered.
“Then she’ll obviously side with you. Fine, let’s go. It doesn’t matter to me if we lose, anyway.”
The three of us picked up the pace and began to advance at a tremendous speed.
It felt like sprinting right from the start of a marathon.
*
‘What the…?’
About ten minutes later.
Isel Berten was more than a little bewildered as she faced one unexpected situation after another.
‘Is it even possible to progress like this?’
It was Caleb.
She had heard from various sources that this wizard was brilliant, but still, what in the world was this…
“I’m using one message slip.”
He was using one before an event had even occurred!
“As you can see, the theme of this area is a battlefield. There are illusions of corpses everywhere, dead from sword or spear wounds.”
He didn't slow his pace.
While walking at an incredible speed, making the most of the ‘Spurring Steps’ spell, he analyzed, calculated, and made decisions in an instant.
“But it’s strange. Many of them have had their armor removed. If a corpse-eater like a kobold had been here, the bodies would be mutilated, but they aren’t. And if looters were trying to pick valuables off the bodies, they would have taken the armor to sell, not gone to the trouble of removing it just to leave it behind.”
And his judgment was accurate.
“It’s a banshee. Banshees wash blood-stained clothes. They can’t wash steel armor, so they discarded it. What they wanted was the blood-soaked undergarments inside. That’s why they removed the armor.”
“…”
“So, let’s use a message here. We’ll use a deception strategy to pass. Banshees don’t harm children.”
Caleb stopped, took out a slip, and wrote quickly.
[Use Caleb’s ‘Illusion Magic: Mass Disguise’ to change the party’s appearance to that of children. Maintain until we pass through the banshee’s territory.]
Five illusory judgment boxes appeared before them. When he used the message transmission magic, the slip…
[Great Success!]
…flew right into the Great Success box.
[You passed through the banshee’s territory silently and without any conflict! Not only that, but you also obtained a bottle of Banshee’s Tears!]
The surrounding illusions vanished completely, and the sound of the banshee’s wails disappeared.
Additionally, a card fell from the air.
[Banshee’s Tear ※Throwable]
▶ When thrown at an enemy, the bottle shatters and releases a banshee’s scream. Enemies exposed to this sound are stunned.
“Let’s go.”
And he picked up the pace again.
This insane preemptive strike with message transmissions continued.
“It’s hot. I’m starting to feel the heat. A Magma Forge, perhaps?”
“…”
“Magma sludge, elementals, a steel devourer…?”
Suddenly snapping to her senses, Isel moved to Caleb’s side.
“It could be a flame giant.”
“No. The room is too small for a giant to live in. Of course, there’s a chance Wizard Edward made a design mistake.”
“…”
“If we start considering every possibility, there’s no end to it. But it’s most likely a steel devourer. Because…”
Caleb swiped his hand across the floor. A black, illusory powder coated his fingers.
“There are iron filings. A steel devourer shed these after eating a chunk of iron. Isel, write that you’re throwing a stick of dynamite from the party’s inventory. Without lighting it.”
“But…”
“Yernil, save your slips. Since there’s no chance of her transmissions being disrupted, we need to save her for any unforeseen circumstances later. It’s best if she has at least two more slips than us at all times.”
“…”
“I used one earlier, so now it’s your turn, Isel. Let’s blow up the steel devourer. Don’t stop walking. We need to get ahead of the other teams.”
[It seems there is a steel devourer. Throwing a stick of dynamite forward without lighting it.]
As soon as she wrote the message on the slip, the judgment boxes appeared again.
“Message transmission.”
And the message Isel sent, once again…
[Great Success!]
BOOM!
An explosion erupted about ten meters ahead, and the illusory corpse of a steel devourer shattered into pieces, raining down with a clatter.
From the sky, a reply and a card fluttered down.
[You successfully tricked the steel devourer into biting the dynamite, causing it to explode! You have defeated the steel devourer without taking any damage.]
[You have obtained the ‘Knight’s Two-Handed Sword’ that the steel devourer was saving for a midnight snack.]
“A two-handed sword is useless to us. I’m a wizard, you’re a cleric, and Yernil is a rogue. Let’s just hang onto it for now and keep moving.”
“…”
Isel felt as if something inside this maze had broken.
This was not how this game was supposed to be played.
The normal way to proceed would be to ‘fight the steel devourer.’
The three players would each use a message slip, one by one, to do things like ‘Fire an ice lance,’ or ‘Deploy a guardian’s shield to block its fire breath.’
‘What in the world is this…?’
This was abnormal.
‘This makes no sense.’
Enver had said it.
That he possessed an incredible level of possessor knowledge.
But…
‘That’s not the issue here!’
Even the professors could identify a banshee or a steel devourer by analyzing the surrounding context to this degree.
The problem wasn't the deductive reasoning itself, but the speed of his observation, his ability to devise a solution, his decisiveness, and his self-assurance.
It was like…
It felt like watching some savant instantly spotting all the differences in a ‘find the difference’ puzzle.
Caleb was literally clearing a path like a phantom.
‘How is this possible?’
Isel, a 5th-tier wizard, couldn't even begin to imitate it.
This wasn't something you could do just by receiving possessor knowledge. Even if he were a real possessor, this shouldn't be possible!
*
This is too easy.
Mister Edward.
To be honest, I’m a little disappointed.
At this level? Back in my neighborhood, this wouldn't even qualify you as a hardcore player. In terms of difficulty, this is below Absolute Strategy, maybe?
You were so obvious when you were teasing Yernil, and now the clues for the event puzzles scattered in the maze are just as blatant.
And here I was, bracing myself for something like the ‘true-false logic puzzles’ or ‘trap switch sequence puzzles’ you find when navigating routes in high-difficulty deep labyrinths.
The kind of blood pressure-raising puzzles that are a surefire cure for hypotension.
“…”
It looked like Isel was a bit flustered by this pace, while Yernil, in her ignorance, wasn't even surprised.
In that case, maybe it’s about time…
“Isel.”
Shall we have a little chat while we walk? We’ve probably put a good distance between us and the other wizard parties.
“Do you happen to know anything about otherworld possessors?”
“What?”
“For example.”
Let’s dangle some stronger bait.
“Professor Enver.”
“…”
So, she and Yernil had one thing in common, despite being polar opposites in every other way.
Her face was an open book.
“Wh-what… are you talking about…”
Isel’s face went as pale as Yernil’s had earlier.
As if she’d just seen a ghost.