CHAPTER 4 - LABYRINTH, PT 3

CHAPTER 4 - Labyrinth, PT 3.

Elijah and Cloud have been wandering the lower labyrinth for what felt like days, but in reality, only ten hours have passed since he threw himself down here. The duo has made great progress in conquering the floors.

Between Elijah's excellence in all things combat and Cloud's speed, the two were able to clear a floor and find the stairs to the next one in just ten minutes- That is, if they tried hard enough. They've been down there for as long as they have due to Elijah's need to test and come up with new magic ideas, that didn't work due to the lack of Ancient Magic, and utilizing the New Ring in different ways than he remembers.

For instance, Elijah came up with a way to leave a marking on any surface, be it inanimate or animate. Utilizing that mark, he can teleport to it at any time or distance utilizing the Wraith world.

At first, he kept getting himself stuck on all the surfaces he's tried it on due to inexperience, but after the first dozen failures, he soon got a hand on it and now has a way to teleport a seemingly infinite distance with just a flash of a ring.

Quite overpowered if he does say so himself.

…

Stopping in their tracks, Elijah stood still, looking upon the next floor of the labyrinth with some annoyance. The next floor was the one with those Basilisks. The ones that can petrify a target with just a glance... It's an annoying thing to go against but Elijah could easily fend them off.

"Grrr!" Cloud growled as he lowered on his front paws, his snout close to the liquidly, muddy ground. His teeth and scary canines flashed as he began to drool, his eyes darting from corner to corner.

Elijah took note of this and instantly let his sight fall into the Wraith world, the world lighting up the darkness as the original light faded out. Elijah turned out all of his senses except for his sight and hearing, wanting to utilize his supernatural senses to their best ability.

Instantly he caught sight of the monster residing within the walls, its piercing yellow reptilian eyes glaring at him maliciously. Cloud instantly caught on and dashed towards the monster, flaring his teeth in the midst of it all.

"GRAAAAH!" With a snarl, Cloud closed the distance almost instantly. This event showed off his supernatural strength. Even with his sudden movement, the Basilisk remained unnerved, switching its gaze from Elijah to Cloud.

In an instant Cloud was stopped in his place, his once surefire decision on killing and bringing its head to his master left his mind as he lost feeling in his left ear. Immediately jutting his two front paws back to the ground, Cloud slid to a halt, his eyes glaring angrily as he retreated.

Cloud's ear had been affected by the Basilisks unique petrification skill. A from the monster with its skill activated could lead to the loss of a life. Or a limb.

Elijah immediately cut Cloud's ear off, causing the wolf to yelp in pain. Ignoring the wolf's cries, Elijah cauterized the wound with some quick use of fire magic to stop the bleeding. Cloud retreated behind his master with a downtrodden look. The sudden pain and the disappointment radiating off of Elijah was all too noticed by the wolf, bringing down its confidence and its mood.

A soldier of the Ring Bearer will always want to please its master no matter what. Anything contrary to that and they'd feel incomplete. Worthless.

It's a terrible drawback, but it can be useful for monsters like Cloud. Knowing that Elijah cared enough to save him from losing his whole head was enough of a reminder that Elijah still cared and that he graced him with another chance.

Elijah swiftly dispatched the Basilisk. Piercing its skull with the help of a Wraithic dagger, just like the Kickboxer rabbit, it too was pinned to the stone wall. Its skull cracking on impact smearing blood all over.

The corridor soon partook in nothing but silence, the only thing that was audible were the footsteps of the monster, Human/Elf duo. There was no communication between them as the only thing Elijah could do with the mental connection between him and Cloud was to give him orders.

It's not that he hated the silence. In fact, he didn't mind. He hadn't been able to enjoy actual silence before and now that he has… It's not that bad.

Traveling this floor was a breeze for the duo, nothing out of the ordinary.

On their path there were some other Basilisks that appeared and Elijah didn't help those times. He decided to let Cloud get some work in and maybe even eat the dead Basilisks in hopes that maybe he'll react like Hajime did and get stronger each time.

Twin-Tailed Wolves were the weakest amongst the first floor of the true labyrinth. Which means that Cloud would be considered the weakest out of all the monsters here. Hell, even a Kickboxer rabbit was stronger than him.

The only real advantage Cloud had would be his Lightning Field, but even then… That was considerably weak. Especially against a high-tiered monster like the Basilisk and it's only going to get harder on the little wolf with the more progress the two make.

In the meantime, while the two weren't busy conquering floors and wiping out monsters. Elijah would meditate. Trying to utilize the mana within his body to strengthen it permanently without the use of having to do it manually… Basically, he was attempting to have his mana be "trained" to always circulate in a manner that would strengthen him at all times.

Of course, at the end of this journey in the labyrinth that would end up being a hindrance… Well, appearance wise that is.

However, his meditation proved to bloom a more surprising, but welcomed change. He didn't know how, or why it was like it was, but Cloud was also affected by his meditation. It was like Cloud's mana would react to him without them actually being connected.

He had thought that maybe it was just because of the ring, but then he thought about it some more. The ring had different unique abilities that deter the game back on his home world, but controlling another entity's mana using the ring? That wasn't part of its skill set.

'No way… He's copying me?' Elijah found that that was the only reasonable conclusion. Cloud was a monster. His mana manipulation was already natural to him and everything CAME natural too.

Monsters have no reason to refine their mana manipulation as they do almost everything out of instinct.

'Maybe… That clarity in his eyes when I first attained him in my ranks… Is that the cause for this?' Elijah mused. The duo was currently taking a little break in one of the lower floors, he lost count along the way as he found that once he got to the Atavist vampire, he would've reached the halfway point.

But if he had to guess, it was probably floor twenty-seven or something…

Cloud stirred to his feet, unraveling himself from his twin-tails with a stretch. Elijah inspected the wolf once more and couldn't help but notice an ever so slight change in Cloud's mana. It seemed denser, more refined than before. Even if it was still chaotic, it was progress.

Good progress.

Clouds physically changed too after munching on a few Basilisks and some rather unfitting Claw Bears… Cloud had become physically adept. His once smaller frame had become the size of a medium sized boulder. He thickened out too, giving his animalistic muscles more definition.

Elijah couldn't help but feel a bit proud of the mutt, after all, ever since that incident that cost the wolf its ear, it's been trying to redeem itself to him. Trying to prove he's not useless.

Anyways!

Getting up, Elijah patted his thigh and Cloud came galloping to catch up as Elijah once again started their journey throughout the labyrinth.

This time, Elijah decided that he'd stop holding back so much and hurriedly clear this damn thing. He's been in here for so long that he's starting to forget what the sun feels like on his skin.

'Ah man… I've probably gone up a few shades too.' He thought dejectedly. There's nothing wrong with having a lighter skin tone… He just preferred being dark because the sun feels more warm than hot.

(Yeah, so don't go calling me racist lmao. Idc if you a lil paler.)

…

Floor 30.

Floor 34.

Floor 45.

Floor 50.

Floor 55.

Floor 60.

Floor 63.

Floor 70.

The duo absolutely destroyed the labyrinth in record time. At this rate, the two would be clearing it in no time at all. Not that they weren't on that track before, but now it's more apparent and secure.

Dodging to the left, Cloud jumped on a nearby cluster of giant rocks, using it as another footing to jump even higher. Landing on the giant cyclops with heavy feet, Cloud stunned the oversized monster before swiftly charging and firing a controlled beam of purple lightning at the back of its head.

Over all these floors they've cleared, Cloud made unimaginable progress. His lightning field was now akin to that of minor Lightning manipulation, his tails being the catalyst.

"GRUU!" The giant blue cyclops roared in pain as its skin began to fry under the immense heat. The electricity shocked its muscles but it was nowhere near enough to fully paralyze it. The cyclops, in one quick succession, reached for Cloud on the back of its neck only to find that Cloud was nowhere to be found.

Having sensed the danger, the wolf quickly jumped off the Cyclops and retreated near Elijah, who was sitting on the corpse of another dead Cyclops. Yamato sitting, piercing the giant's skull.

"Whooo! Come on Cloud! You can do it!" Elijah cheered, his sarcasm bleeding through his words. In all honesty, he just wanted to end it himself but he knew Cloud needed the exercise. He's going to make Cloud the strongest monster to ever be created in the Abyss. Once he's sure he's done that then maybe he'll start building an army of monsters and mortals alike.

'Speaking of…' His attention dragged from the rather ostentatious fight in front of him, to the dead cyclops underneath him. Sporting burns and missing limbs, it was quite obvious the fight was rather one sided.

Placing his right hand on the Cyclops deceased head, he began to attempt branding the monster. The familiar sound of searing flesh resounded softly under the blasts and roars.

The cyclops body began to jerk, almost as if someone was using a defibrillator to resuscitate it. It was mild at first, a little jerk of a remaining limb, but then it suddenly escalated. The jerking became more violent, more frequent.

Though Elijah stayed seated, he was still really interested in what was going on within the body and soul of the Cyclops. Too bad that he doesn't have spirit magic yet…

The jerking suddenly stopped; the body of the cyclops laid still as if nothing happened beforehand, only this time… Elijah swore he heard a faint heartbeat.

It was quiet, low and almost unnoticeable, but then it began to beat harder and harder. Soon the giant was fully awake and brought back to the land of the living, though this time its eye was illuminated by a golden light, matching the brand mark on its head.

It began to try and stand up, threatening to throw Elijah off its chest. In response, Elijah quickly canceled the branding and put it back to rest, throwing it back into the land of the dead. He doesn't want a destroyed and totally useless Cyclops to be in his ranks.

He doesn't have access to holy magic, meaning he can't heal the bastard even if he wanted to keep him around.

"RAAAAA!" Elijah's attention was drawn back to the fight ahead of him, his eyes widened at what he saw.

Cloud stood on the very head of the Cyclops he was fighting, his teeth digging into the monster's singular eyeball. The giant roared in pain as Cloud feasted on its eye, in response the Cyclops freaked.

Due to the pain and the threat of going completely blind with no chance at recovery, the cyclops made the effort to try and at least kill Cloud while suffering some head damage, though, it didn't go according to their plan.

Cloud immediately let go of the squishy white substance and dropped to the floor, letting the Cyclops injure his own eye further with the use of his club. Taking this chance to finally finish off the staggered Cyclops, Cloud channeled all the mana he had left into his twin-tails and fired a beam of highly condensed lightning that crackled and popped throughout the air.

Elijah was stunned.

This was much bigger than the last one, and if he wasn't wrong, it was almost comparable to a rail-gun… Not quite there, but it's close. Really close.

"Grrrr!" Cloud growled in pain as his mana quickly depleted, his tails burning under the heat of his own electricity.

"AOUUUUU!" The Cyclops cried out in pain, trying its best to block the beam only to have it completely pierce through any magical skill he mustered.

Soon, it was over, and all that remained was a giant gaping hole that went straight through the giant's head, leading to the other side.

Cloud panted, the spell dissipated and he collapsed to the floor. Mana exhaustion was dangerous but due to the mana rich atmosphere, he would be fine.

Elijah hopped off the cyclops he long defeated, taking Yamato with him. Holding the sheath in his left hand, he tapped the young wolf's head to get its attention.

"Grau?" The wolf made an incoherent sound that stated his confusion. Elijah smiled slightly and ruffled the wolf's hair, sighing as he stood up.

"That was rather amazing… But I'll take it from here. You rest." Cloud wanted to protest but knew better than to go against his master's words. His mana was depleted and he could barely move, the wolf knew that and could only growl lowly as a sign of comprehension.

Elijah collected the two keystones that resided within the Cyclops's dead bodies and returned to the two giant doors that housed the companion he was looking for.

The target of Ehit, and the last of the Vampires.

'This should be fun…'