Chapter 447 : Labyrinth of the Lost

After a lot of teleporting around, I eventually reached the entrance to my destination. A great marble archway with gilded engravings stood before me, beckoning me to enter. According to [Landmarks], this was the "Labyrinth of the Lost," and rather than testing combat ability, it tested things such as survival instincts or navigation.

For normal adventurers, this was actually one that they avoided, but Keldenar, knowing full well that I was anything but ordinary, thought I could break it. Due to the nature of it splitting the party, it also meant that adventurers couldn't carry nobles through it, and they would more than likely die on their own.

Starvation was a genuine threat here, and Keldenar even said the place had a tendency to target dimensional storage bags to dispose of the challenger's supplies. Again, this was something I was immune to since I had [Core Storage], [Pocket Space], and could eat the monsters for food; the joys of being a Riftmancer slime.

It looks like this archway is actually a portal, except if I'm reading this right, the coordinates are unfixed. I guess that's how they randomly distribute the party around the labyrinth for the challenge.

I tried studying the anomaly for a bit, although I honestly hadn't spent much effort on creating portals, as that was more Vee's thing. In fact, I thought the spider might jump at the opportunity to study this creation, adding it to her web portals as another possibility. I made sure to leave a note for Sylbera to Vee describing this, and if she took the bait, she could get the coordinates from Sylbera.

With nothing left for me, I stepped through the hidden portal. I had tried to resist the teleportation in hopes of leveling up my resistance traits, but it seemed that labyrinths had their own rules, and in the blink of an eye my surroundings had changed. I clicked my tongue in annoyance as even the elves' great tree hadn't been so stingy with providing me some insight during teleportation.

Well, whatever, let's find my gray slime and then conquer this place.

I took a step forward and immediately stepped on a hidden pressure plate. I stared at it in confusion as suddenly there were nine poisoned darts stabbed into my back.

Wow, talk about brutal; this place really doesn't hold back. I literally just got here!

I absorbed the nine darts and sighed, as none of them had given me a new poison to sample. Despite the extreme hostility shown right off the bat, these were only a paralysis poison and not entirely lethal. Of course, if a monster discovered you while you were paralyzed, then that would be very unfortunate.

Let's leave a warning so Vee doesn't accidentally enter… Danger. Traps right at the start. Be careful.

Happy with that warning, I looked at the pressure plate I stepped on and sighed at how I had somehow missed it. My [Rogue Expertise] and [Perception] skills were both extremely neglected after the mutation dungeon. If Whitney discovered that they hadn't budged all this time, she'd be devastated.

I hope she's doing alright… I know Keldenar confirmed that all my friends are still alive and kicking, so that's good at least. With Whitney getting deep into the whole anti-smuggling thing, that could have been extremely risky.

From my perspective, the Outeatus Kingdom had its fingers in a variety of dastardly schemes. There was their strange relation with the Dornhallow elves, the assassination squad they sent to Dhoggurum, and the corruption in the former Stantondale. I really hoped Keldenar's plan to lure them out succeeded; that way I could finally go on the offensive and get some revenge.

But that's for future Syl to worry about; back to this trap-filled maze.

I ended up stealing the pressure plate as it was rather fascinating. Even with my embarrassing levels in [Perception], I should have sensed it with one of my many components of [Soul Sense], but I didn't. The answer was that the pressure plate was enchanted with ancient runes that I didn't recognize, and so I took it for my own study. After receiving such a warm welcome, I figured the labyrinth master couldn't complain if I took the trapped doormat as compensation.

Now the question is… What is the best way to go about exploring this place?

I felt around with [Personal Rift], and while there was significant resistance, I could just about open an aperture that reached through the wall. The resistance to my rift was expected, but nothing was preventing me from using [Tremor Sense] to get a layout of my surroundings and, more importantly, the distance.

I looked at my [Coordicore], gave it the task of calculating the coordinates beyond the wall, gave it the distance, and watched as it churned through the calculation. I had thought a distance calculation would have been quick, but the helper spell required quite a bit of effort to do so. It seemed this place also had its own method of messing with coordinates, maybe even having its own minor amount of compressed space.

This unapproved copy came from a chapter published by the author on NovelPhoenix; reading there supports the writer.

Actually… That might be a universal trait of dungeons and labyrinths. Almost all of them seem bigger on the inside.

Eventually the coordinates were spat out, and after pulling out a random shield that Sylbera had forged and labeled as scrap, I teleported it to the other side. I felt it arrive and clatter against the floor thanks to [Tremor Sense] once again.

Okay, so I can rip open apertures, just outright teleport by using distance calculations… But the big question is: do I want to?

Juniper had told me to be wary of labyrinth masters, and while I was still keeping that in mind, the real reason I was hesitant to teleport around was the potential to get lost. If I were creating a maze, I would include hidden pathways that lead to nowhere to trick anyone who goes off the intended route.

Which brought me to what is likely the best way to solve this maze: taking a page from Keldenar and brute-forcing it with an army. Whenever I reached an intersection, I could spawn more slime minions and split out forces, scouting out all paths until eventually reaching the goal. And unlike my golemancer collaborator, I wouldn't need to retrace my steps; I could teleport directly to the successful slime squad.

Let's go with that plan, I thought as I began my trek down the singular corridor for now.

In barely any time at all, I reached the first fork in the road and began my plan. I split my [Sub-Cores] in half, sending them down one path while I took the rest down the other. Almost as soon as we split up, I triggered a set of traps that caused blades to swing out from the walls, slicing through me and separating my torso from my legs.

I hadn't been quick enough to avoid the triggered trap entirely. Still, I had at least prevented it from hitting any of my cores, and thanks to [Slime Puppetry], I didn't even lose the separated slime, manipulating it to reconnect with me. I also sensed that the second squad had their own encounter, except instead of traps they came face to face with a rampaging minotaur.

I had seen a minotaur in the mutation dungeon, but that looked like a child compared to the one I was now seeing through the eyes of one of my [Sub-Cores]. In fact, it was so large that unless you defeated it, you were unlikely to be able to pass by it.

Unfortunately for the massive minotaur, it was charging directly into the mouth of the ultimate predator. I almost felt bad for it as the separate group of [Sub-Cores] began to expand by withdrawing slime until they too took up the entire hallway. The minotaur continued its charge, its head down so its horns could gore its perceived foe, only for it to run straight into a literal wall of slime.

Dungeon monsters really are dumb, I giggled to myself as I returned to my own vision.

It was evident that my path was heavily blocked, but I decided to overcome it by strolling through. I couldn't detect the traps, and I didn't have time to reverse-engineer the pressure plate I confiscated, so I just brute-forced it. More and more blades emerged from the walls, floor, and even the ceiling, and my body was mangled in more ways than one, only to gather up and fuse back together.

Eventually, both groups reached another split, and we split again to ensure that each path could be explored. One of the routes I split on ended up being a dead end, with a treasure chest I tried to open, only to have my arm bitten off by it.

"Oh? Is this the fabled mimic chest that Vee kept mentioning?" I wondered as I saw the chest chewing on my severed arm.

Way back when I first met Vee, and we were introducing ourselves, I told her I was originally a mimic slime, and she asked if it was "like the treasure chest mimic?" I had no idea what she was referring to back then, but now I finally did. Vee had called it a truly evil creature, preying on the universal lust for loot, and I found myself agreeing with that assessment. I had been expecting a treasure, only to have my arm bitten off.

Unfortunately for the monster disguised as a chest, it had bitten off more than it could chew, and no matter how much it chewed and slathered my arm in its digestive juices, it was making no progress. Realistically, I could have kept my arm connected as the chest mimic was not strong enough to rip it off, but ever since I got [Slime Puppetry], I had become less "attached" to my slime. After all, there was no longer a risk of it falling to the ground and being wasted, and unless destroyed, it would always remain my slime.

The chest continued chewing, but like gum, I kept the slime softening with each bite before solidifying again. As for the digestive spit the mimic had, it was nothing compared to nineteen levels of [Acid Slime]. I felt a bit bad for the creature, as, considering it was keeping its own demise in its mouth, I could only give it the evaluation of "even dumber than an ordinary slime" while I controlled my arm to fight back.

I honestly barely gave it any effort, just having the arm turn into a ball of spikes, and the mimic was killed on the spot. It seemed the monsters were exceptionally weak, relying entirely on their ability to ambush greedy adventurers. I sighed as I collected its dead remains and began eating it for myself.

<Profile [Mimic] completed.>

"What… This is a tier three monster? No way…"

I couldn't believe what I was reading: this rather pathetic creature was such a high-tier monster, yet it was defeated with a single attack. Of course, now that I had eaten it, I realized that the chest was its armor and its insides were extremely vulnerable, but still, it was so dumb. The official creature was a treasure mimic, which had evolved from an item mimic, which, from what I was reading, could only take the form of tiny objects like coins or maybe an amulet.

Yes, a tiny creature the size of a coin was considered a tier two monster, and I could only theorize that the system put a high value on the natural-born ability to mimic things. Sadly, neither [Item Mimicry] nor [Object Mimicry] was useful to me, as both were vastly inferior to [Chimeric Mimicry], once again proving that slimes were the superior species.

Still… Imagine putting on a necklace, only for it to suddenly start eating your throat. That's kind of horrifying.

I found myself making a beautiful gold necklace out of [Metal Slime] and laced with sparkling jewels. I threw it into the air before detonating it, causing a powerful yet controlled explosion. I wasn't ignorant enough not to understand the similarities between our approaches, but I found my method a bit more humane, since at least it would be over quickly.

Not that I've actually done this to anyone, even though the thought has crossed my mind. As Vee once said, I feel sorry for whoever makes me finally stop being a somewhat nice slime.