16 Labyrinth of Dyrroth

Frederick appeared in a large stone corridor. The air bore the rusty scent while a persistent chill seemed to seep through the crumbling walls. After a quick scan of his surroundings, finding no immediate danger, he began to read the mission for this story.

<Welcome to the realm of Dyrroth. In this world, an endless maze sprawls across landscape, confounding and trapping its victims. Your mission is find elusive safe room hidden deep within labyrinthine nightmare. Be cautious, as not your ordinary puzzle; it a living entity that actively thwarts progress. Remember, you must complete objective before main story begins; otherwise, side will be deemed failure.>

Frederick found this quest somewhat familiar; he vaguely remembered someone mentioning the need to slay some monsters in a massive labyrinth when he had been gathering information on side stories. However, details eluded him, and he swiftly pushed the thoughts aside.

To his surprise, the corridor where he began was inexplicably well-lit. Despite the absence of any discernible light source, he could see with perfect clarity. The passageways were remarkably spacious, providing ample room for even a whale to pass through without any problem.

Taking out a dagger he "borrowed" out of his bag, he cautiously ventured into the unknown. Soon, he encountered his first fork in the underground tunnels. Opting for a random path, he continued forward.

As he ventured deeper into the unknown, Frederick suddenly felt the ground starting to shake. With a frown, he looked behind him, and his eyes widened. In the corridor he had just traversed, a swarm of grotesque spider-like creatures was rapidly approaching. Without looking back once more, Frederick sprinted in the opposite direction.

These abominable arachnids were nothing short of a nightmare come to life. Their distended, bulbous bodies were encased in a mottled, sickly-colored exoskeleton that gleamed with noxious slime seeping from their skin. Every time they moved, their thin, bristly legs made a squishy noise on the stone floor.

Handling a dozen of these relatively small creatures with Blood Dominion was possible, but their sheer numbers rendered it impossible. The horde resembled a relentless wave.

As Frederick ran for his life, something unexpected happened. The whole labyrinth started to tremble once again in an even more violent shake. Frederick continued to run but found out that the corridor was slowly closing itself in front of him! At this rate, the walls before him would lock him with these spiders!

Out of choice, Frederick had to use his authority.

"Blood Dominion: Sanguine Infusion," Frederick thought. In an instant, his speed surged dramatically, and his eyes shifted from green to a fiery crimson red. Frederick ran so fast that if he were back on Earth, he could've beaten multiple world records.

With this newfound swiftness, Frederick narrowly managed to slip through the closing walls, avoiding being crushed to death. Several spiders attempted to pursue Frederick, but they met the closing wall instead and were reduced to a green meat paste.

As he deactivated his authority, Frederick's entire body trembled. It wasn't due to fear but the strain of utilizing Sanguine Infusion. While this ability allowed Frederick to greatly enhance his physical capabilities to an inhuman level, it came at a costly price.

His body couldn't handle the usage of his authority. Frederick knew he wasn't even supposed to use this ability at level 1. While extremely powerful, the aftermath of its usage was so terrible that he could die.

From his perspective, it felt like a heavy sniper, while his body was akin to that of a baby trying to handle the recoil.

Taking a deep breath, Frederick could only continue. His body still shook in pure agony, but he couldn't afford to recuperate at the moment. If another wave of those spiders came from in front of him, then he would only die a painful death. He needed to be able to escape at any time.

As he continued his journey, he encountered another fork, this time with seven possible paths. Once again, he opted for a random corridor and moved forward.

While walking, suddenly, a projectile darted out of nowhere, aiming at Frederick's head. Taking a step back, he narrowly avoided a projectile that whizzed past his head by a hair. The speed was so fast that he could barely perceive it.

Seeing this, Frederick swiftly took another step back and armed himself with his dagger, ready to fight. However, there was nothing no matter where he looked.

Turning his gaze in the direction from which the projectile went, he discovered that it was an arrow. Astonishingly enough, it was so powerful that it penetrated the stone wall and embedded itself deeply within.

Completely ignoring the fact that he almost died as if it were not his concern, he started to meticulously scan his surroundings to identify the source of the projectile. However, he couldn't pinpoint the origins of the shot no matter how much he tried. It was as if it appeared from thin air.

"Don't tell me this place can create these kinds of projectiles from thin air. Wait, what if... I just can't see the mechanism?"

After some contemplation, Frederick picked up a pebble from the ground and tossed it toward the direction of the wall from which the arrow had come. To his surprise, the pebble passed through the wall as if it were a phantom.

A bit taken aback, Frederick sighed. The labyrinth contained false walls.

"Looking for a safe room in a moving labyrinth while hunted by monsters and deceived by traps..." said Frederick with a gloomy face.

Advancing cautiously toward the ghost wall, Frederick aimed to understand the mechanism and perhaps a way to detect these false walls. He tried to touch the wall, and as expected, his hand went through.

However, the instant his hand went through the illusion, it just dissipated as if it had never existed. This surprised him, but he was more focused on what was behind it.

Beyond the illusion, there was only a small space, just enough to accommodate a crossbow lying horizontally on the stone floor.

Upon seeing the crossbow, Frederick grinned. A long-range weapon was exactly what he needed since he couldn't use Blood Dominion for now. Moreover, the fact that he could reuse the bolt multiple times made it even more appealing.

Before taking the weapon, Frederick attempted to discern how it could shoot on its own but found no visible mechanism. Concluding that it was likely something magical from this world and that he wouldn't be able to understand it, he retrieved the crossbow along with the bolt, which required some effort to extract from the wall.

He then continued his way with even more caution. However, Frederick knew that he probably wouldn't succeed in this life. Although the sheer difficulty of this world could make one despair, he doesn't plan to just stay in the Main Hub World.

In his previous hunt for experience points, Frederick faced frequent deaths, often succumbing to ambushes or errors. However, all he had to do was to retry until he won.

He just needed to retry again and again until he succeeded. That was as easy as it sounds.

Frederick walked for hours, occasionally making turns while diligently trying to memorize his path. It seemed like a futile effort, given the shifting nature of the labyrinth, but that was everything he could do at the moment. After a full day of navigating the maze, Frederick finally decided to take a much-needed rest.

Feeling the need to replenish his energy, Frederick took out water and a nutritious paste from his bag. The paste had been acquired by a group of students during their initial side story in a futuristic world. From what he learned, after completing the story, some of them left the city to search for their family members. They were just unfortunate to meet Frederick along the way.

Speaking of them, Frederick took out their only remaining; a bottle of crimson-red liquid. With a cold face, he greedily drank it. Although Blood Dominion was an extremely versatile authority, its curse was still annoying as he needed to drink blood every few days. Once, he came close to starving to death as he wandered for days without encountering anyone. He even attempted to drink his blood, but it didn't do anything.

After his meal, Frederick was faced with the problem of sleeping. How could he possibly rest in this place? Usually, he would just sleep in tree hollows but he doubted that he would be able to find such a place here.

Suddenly he had an idea. Taking two of the previously filled glass bottles, he smashed them into small pieces and placed them on each side of the corridor. This crude method was an attempt to create some noise if something walked on the shards while he was asleep. This was not much but better than nothing.

'I hope that I won't wake up in the time room.'

Using his bag as a pillow, he quickly fell asleep.