Chapter 435 – Back To The Labyrinth

[Magic System]

[System Level: 4]

[User: Damion Wells]

[Age: 20]

[Magic Talent: EX]

[Magic Affinity: Ice EX, Water E, Poison D, Spatial EX, Fire EX, Earth EX, Shadow EX, Holy C]

[Mana: 31,431/27,332] (15%) - 31,431

[Magic Power: 76,214] (15%) - 87,646

[Mana Recovery: 382 P/S] (15%) - 439

[Strength: 223]

[Dexterity: 216] (15%) - 248

[Vitality: 533]

[Intelligence: 151]

[Experience: 7,100/50,000]

[Store Credits: 8,439,700]

Damion let out a sigh as he looked over his status in the Magic System. Even though he had been training, even creating new spells, his magical growth was abysmal. It truly was too difficult to advance without the appropriate environment. And given where he was planning on going and what he was planning on doing, he needed to grow. A Rank was a great accomplishment for any mage, let alone someone his age, but with the threat of facing a horde of S Rank Demonic Beasts, A Rank would not cut it.

“You are going into the labyrinth then?” Elicia asked Damion as he was donning his armor.

“I need to advance,” Damion told her. “The S Ranks, with the exception of Mage Strand, have all gone into the labyrinth to try and pass the midway point to the Mother World. If they succeed, it will not be long before an expedition is put together to head there directly.”

“And if they can’t pass the midpoint?”

“If the S Rankers can’t cross the midpoint, then we will have to ask the S Rank Assembly for help.”

“Weren’t you all going to ask for their help anyway?” Elicia questioned. “Don’t you need it to reach the place the Iblis said you needed to go?”

“We will,” Damion admitted. “But it would be best if we could show them we already had the way to the Mother World worked out. The less work they have to put in, the more likely they are to agree to help.”

“You just don’t think they will be willing to take on an SS Rank floor.”

“True.”

“Wouldn’t it be better to work on completing the bridge on one of the older labyrinths? They must be a lot closer to the midpoint then ours.”

“Perhaps, but the floors they face will likely be stronger.”

“Why do you say that?” Elicia asked.

A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.

“Because we have more low-Rank floors. The distance between Nerotath and the Mother World should be the same. So, the number of floors the labyrinths have to clear will be the same, but because we have more lower Rank floors, our midpoint should be easier to clear than the other labyrinths.”

“I hadn’t thought of that. But what if you all encounter a really difficult floor?”

“That is always a possibility in a Realm Breach. The best we can do is have a diverse team to cover each other’s weaknesses. Unless they encounter something much stronger than them, they should be able to handle most situations.”

“And what if they encounter an SS Rank floor? Do you really think they will be able to defeat an SS Rank floor guardian?”

“Mage Thresbane can help, but more importantly, if they encounter an SS Rank floor, they all might have a chance to advance to SS Rank. Mage Teft might be the newest S Rank, but the others have been at that level for many years. With the mana density of an SS Rank floor, they might just be able to rise to that Rank.”

Elicia thought about Damion’s assertion but did not respond. He was right. And if Atlantis’ S Ranks advanced to SS Rank, that would make getting the cooperation of the other S Ranks easier. She did not know the situation of the other labyrinths but given how long they had been around and how none of the S Ranks had thus far advanced to SS Rank, it seemed quite likely that their labyrinth might be the solution they had all been looking for.

Since Elicia no longer stopped him, Damion left the house and prepared to head the containment area. Before he could go far, Phil flew down from his perch and cut him off.

‘Come,’ the Blizzard King sent through their bond.

“I want you to stay here and protect Elicia and Helge. I will only be gone a few days.”

‘Promise?’

“Yes. It won’t be like before. I am just going to train for a few days and then I will be back.”

The Demonic Beast appeared to accept Damion’s word and headed back to its perch.

A few minutes later, Damion entered the containment compound. Despite Atlantis only having one Realm Breach, the compound could hold a dozen. He had thought they would have captured a few others to have for people to clear in place of teams going into the labyrinth, but evidently suitable Realm Breaches had yet to be found. For now, the labyrinth was sufficient to support their city, however, once they began pumping out new mages from Avalon in a few years, they would need a number of low and mid-Rank dungeons for them to train in and gain experience.

After entering the labyrinth Damion did not waste time and began to quickly make his way to the deeper floors. While he had been on the Mother World he had managed to convert his Ice Familiar spell to Shadow Familiar, yet he never had the opportunity to encounter a Shadow affinity Demonic Beast while there. Luckily, Damion knew right where to find such a beast.

The labyrinth.

Nestled in the B Rank Fire Cave floors were Shadow Rend Bats, but most importantly, at the end of floor twenty-four was a B Rank Shadow Cat that happened to be the guardian for that floor. Hopefully, he would find the Demonic Beast alive when he reached that point. The guardian of a floor would respawn anywhere from a day or two to a week after being killed, but since it was not necessary for the guardian to be killed to reach the next floor, with the exception of the first clear, it was likely the Demonic Beast was ignored when teams moved on to the next floor. Given the elusiveness of Shadow Cats, with how they could Shadow Step, Damion thought it quite likely to be alive.

Damion sped through the F and E Rank floors, slowly down slightly when he was forced to travel through the D Rank Catacombs. Once clear of those he was able to easily fly from entrance to exit for the C Rank and the first few B Rank floors. Once he was in the Fire Cave floors, Damion still moved quickly, using Frost Over to instantly take out any Demonic Beasts that did not dare to flee from him. He had deactivated his Concealed Aura passive spell, letting his A Rank aura fill the area around him which kept all but the most stubborn of creatures well clear of him.

When Damion reached the end of the Fire Caves, he reactivated Concealed Aura, after all, he wanted to tame the Shadow Cat, not drive it away. After stepping out of the Fire Cave and into the sunlight, he looked to the tree where he had first encountered the Shadow Cat. Unfortunately, he did not see the guardian.

This was not totally unexpected. Without the floor core to guard, there was no compelling reason for the Shadow Cat to stay close to where the core was, but Damion hoped the Demonic Beast had not gone far.

Taking out his tablet, Damion checked what his auto-mapper was revealing. The artifact showed a single Demonic Beast in the area, about twenty meters away. Confident that this was the Shadow Cat, he made a quick move in that direction.