Chapter 67: Fracture - Twilight Maze (14) (Patreon)

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[Inuho-oh], a Grade-6 monster resembling a Terror Bird wearing the skin of a chicken.

There had been no benefit to actively looking for it until now.  It was bad-tempered and powerful; considering the fact that none of its abilities were a good match for us –even if it dropped a Core, a big if– I was more than content to let it be.  Simply put, the payoff hadn’t been worth the potential trouble.

But now I wanted to risk it.  This party was more than powerful enough to raid a Grade-6 monster.

“Ready?”  I asked.

We had backed ourselves into a deadend; a wall which opened up into the last Neung-uh’s hiding spot.  An emergency escape plan if it didn’t work out.

Aurora guarded the entrance with her shield.  If the Inuho-oh really wanted to, it could step right over her but that was the responsibility of a tank; keeping the monster where we wanted it to.  About ten paces behind her, I was waiting.  Then against the wall itself were Skaris, Kyrian and Eltis.  Skaris argued to be in the front with us but he’d do nearly no damage to the bird.

“I’m ready, Mr. Lock.”  Aurora confirmed.  If the tank was ready, the next person I had to check was-

“All good over here too, hon.”  

Good.  The priestess was ready too.

It was time.

Taking out the [Neung-uh’s Ocarina], I put it to my lips.

The Inuho-oh wasn’t a boss-class monster but it was different from the others we’d fought.  For me, where the highest grade of monster I’d killed had only been 7 so far, it was a wall I had to overcome.  Normally, I’d want to wait to get a full-party of six members; with the minimum requirement being that everyone was Grade 7 at the least.

But this party wasn’t just any regular party.  It had me, a Grade-6 adventurer who could use [Aura] –the biggest factor in my decision to perform this raid.  Aurora, whose grade was unknown, but she had a Grade 5 Core.  Not only that, I knew that she was just as skilled as Skaris when it came to pure martial prowess.  Kyrian and Eltis might only be Grade 8, but with our frontliners being so stacked our chances of eking out a victory over the grade 6 monster was pretty good.

We’d chosen the best possible playing field, enclosed on all sides so that its mobility would be limited.  I was immune to most of its magic attacks and Aurora could take care of its physical attacks, which was pretty weak compared to other Grade 6 monsters.

A risk but one completely within margins of victory.

I blew on the Ocarina and a shrill cry rang through the maze.  [Neung-uh’s Ocarina] would summon the strongest monster in the dungeon.

As the echoing call died out, we waited with patience.  

No words passed between us; now wasn’t the time.

One minute.

Two minutes.

Five minutes.

Still nothing.

Aurora, ever the professional, kept her eyes glued to the opening.  If she missed her timing our entire plan would fall apart.  Still, it had been nearly fifteen minutes now.  The Inuho-oh wasn’t a slow monster.  It should have been here by-

Inuho-oh’s head bobbed around the corner, spiked tongue lolling out in between its beaks.

I saw Aurora tighten her stance, holding her shield close.  She would have to block the initial strike.

It was time for the raid of the second toughest monster in this entire Fracture.

“...Why is it just staring at us?”  Kyrian whispered and those words acted as the trigger, loosening all the increasing rigidity in the air like a taut bowstring firing an arrow.

Inuho-oh screeched and I saw Aurora go stiff, not of her own choosing from its cry.

Shit.  It’s passive, [Predator’s Cry] had a 40% chance of causing a temporary [Fear] status.  Aurora wouldn’t be able to move any closer to the beast which meant-

“KUUUUUAHHH!”

“I have to stop it.”  

“KYRIAN!”  I cried out, reaching forward and grabbing Aurora by back of her armor and pulling her as hard as I could.  

Gods, she was heavy.

The Inuho-oh’s beak missed her by inches.

Throwing her behind me –I heard her take a deep shaking breath, composing herself– I threw myself at the monster.

Tap

Tap Tap

The monster was over twice my height, reaching fifteen feet tall. I jumped on the maze walls, crouching like a feline for one second before expelling all the gathered power through my legs.  Bounding through the air I saw the Inuho-oh open its break and its barbed spiked tongue snake towards me.

The first thing I needed to do was cut off that tongue and-

｢ Lock uses [Cut] - [Aura] ｣

[Jackpot!]

The gray [Aura] surrounding my katana grew in size, overlapping my katana in the shape of a fifteen feet long curved blade and sliced the creature in half.

Blood fell like rain.

｢ You have witnessed a Reflection of the [Sword Saint] ｣

｢ Achievement:[Sword Saint Candidate] progressed to [Sword Saint in Training] ｣

｢ You gain +1 [Physical] ｣

｢ You are currently the 3rd [Sword Saint in Training] ｣

“...What just happened?”

I was swinging my katana down.  All I had been trying to do was cut off its tongue…

“Did I just single shot a Grade 6 Monster?”

Before I could finish my thoughts, Eltis broke in.

“Oh my… looks like Yusef recruited a monster…”

I could understand her sentiments.  What kind of Grade 6 adventurer one-shots a Grade 6 monster?  I had been prepared for a full on party raid.

“Did I hit a jackpot? Maybe the Jackpot synergized with my [Aura]...”

As the remains of the Inuho-oh scattered to the winds; I felt reality sink in.

I was strong.

“Sssslaveborn, have you been holding back on me?”

“Lock, that was… I’d never seen anything like it.”

Aurora was strangely silent.

I cleared my throat.  “That’s enough of that.  Let’s look at the drops.”

We weren’t disappointed.

There were a handful of its plume which could be used as smithing material and its price would be on par with the Moon Steel.  A red Tower Shield slightly smaller than Aurora’s, holding fire resistance and Vitality boost effects.

But most importantly of all, another Core.

The increased drop rates were paying dividends for us.  If we took all this-

“Sssslaveborn?”  Skaris peered at me.

I shook my head at him.

Sorry, Skaris.  This one’s not going to go well with you.

Skaris sighed and sulked.  For a guy with a Grade 5 Core, he’d just be downgrading if he took this.

“What now?”  Kyrian asked, looking around.  “I had assumed we would rest for the whole day after this raid.  But now…”

“Let’s hunt some more.”  I put the Neung-uh’s Ocarina to my lips.

Since the Inuho-oh was dead, there was nothing else to fear.  Using the Ocarina, I’d summon the monsters in this maze one by one, from strongest to weakest.  I was going to wipe this map clean of its monsters.

***

By the fifth day, no matter how many times I blew on the Ocarina; no monster came running to us.

After much discussion, we killed the final Neung-uh.  After killing the Neung-uh, the entire maze rumbled; signaling the end of Phase 2. It ended a little faster than I wanted, but we squeezed Phase 2 for all it was worth. I was level 29 now if I counted correctly and killing the boss would bump me to 30,

Opening another Core Slot... another jump in strength.

It was time to kill the boss and be rid of this maze.

Right now, we were back in the room with the Truth and Dare Stone, waiting for the other parties to arrive.

“Since we killed all the monsters, they should’ve have any problems.”

We didn’t have to wait long before Dibo, Krag and Track appeared.

As soon as Dibo appeared, I felt the Mana Vow that had been weighing on my heart tighten like a rope.  Dibo’s eyes widened when he saw me and I could’ve sworn that our heart thumped in unison and I could feel the Mana Vow force his mind into submission.  Instinctively, I knew that the Mana Vow would enforce our bet even without insistence on my part.

Dibo approached me while I sat waiting.

Kyrian, who had been studying the stone behind me, held his breath.  Everyone knew about the bet between him and me by now, about the Fracture Splinter at the very least.

“You’ve won.”  Dibo didn’t say anything fancy.  He didn’t spin excuses.  He didn’t even try to strike another deal.

There was a note of finality to his voice.

Yet his eyes… his eyes the color of faded green didn’t hold disappointment in the very least.  I thought there was a flash of amusement held within them, a hint of mirth.  But they were gone just as fast, so fast that I thought I’d imagined them.

“You will uphold your end of the deal?”  Carefully, I got to my feet.

“I will.  Krag and Track have already agreed.”

“...did you convince Baran?”

“Speak of the devil.  That way.”  Kyrian answered instead, then paused for a slight second.  “What in the light has happened to them?”

Baran’s party walked through one of the gates…

Minus Pyret.

The remaining three members of the one six-man party reached the center.

They were covered in wounds.

“Pyret is dead.”  Baran said without preamble.

My voice caught in my throat as a wild theory ran in my head.

There was no way… Right?  No way that what I was thinking of could be true?

“How’d he die, elf?”  Skaris hissed.

“Monsters.”  Baran shrugged.

This fucking lying murderer.  There was no way that Pyret died to monsters; my party had been combing the maze clean for the last few days.  We’d killed the Inuho-oh, slain countless Ice Dokkaebis and Lesser Ice Drakes.  Unless Baran and his party were fucking stupid, there was no way that they’d have run into a monster strong enough to be an actual threat.  This elf was lying through his teeth.

“...Lad.”  Krag stepped close to Baran.  The dwarf was half the elf’s height but had twice as much courage.  He said the words no one had been willing to say.

“Did ye kill him?”

“No.”  Baran answered.

Krag turned to Furgrin, the only other dwarf left in this expedition.

“Does he speak the truth, lad?”

Adventurers in MSS were the superstitious sort and took Divinity seriously.  In a profession like this where you were risking your life with every job… you wanted to make peace with your death through any means possible.  Krag asking Furgrin, man to man and dwarf to dwarf was significant.  Furgrin might look down on the rest of us but Krag? A Priest who was a senior adventurer to boot?

Furgrin turned away.

He might as well have confessed right there and then.

Krag shook his head and turned to Baran.  He spat at the elf’s feet.

Baran sneered.

“Ye should be ashamed.”  Krag’s voice wasn’t harsh.  Nor was it stern.

Just… just sad.

“Killing the wife of yer own friend, killing a priest.  Then killing your leader.  What kind of adventurers are you?”

“Like I said.”  Baran answered.  “It wasn’t us, dwarf.  It was monsters.”

“...Aye, monsters.”  Krag looked straight into Baran’s eyes.  “Monsters indeed…”

It seemed I’d judged Krag wrong.  He’d struck me as a surly, selfish dwarf; acting childish despite his age.  Actually in my opinion, the older people get the more childish they act.

Still, Ke was a Priest and more than three times Baran’s age.  Hunched over, stooped and pockmarks lining his bald head.

Yet… he was standing up to him.  While everyone had been willing to just keep silent about it –even me– just to get out of this Fracture.  The Priest of the Forge had chosen to take a stand and make a statement; to bring to light what everyone wanted to keep in the shadows.

He wanted everyone to know that what Baran did was wrong.

I could respect that.

“Is that all?”  Baran asked.

“Aye.  That’s all from me.”  Krag turned to leave.

“Then get the fuck out of my sight.”  Baran turned away as well.

“We’ll be taking the Fracture Splinter, if it drops.  Dibo and I have already talked it over.”  I grabbed Baran by his elbow before he could leave.

The elven archer shrugged his arm out of my grip.  “Do as you will.”

There was a hint of disgust in his face when I touched him.

Interesting.

If he truly cared about the Fracture Splinter; there should have been annoyance or anger; an outburst at how Dibo and I were backstabbing him.  But his reaction was too mild, too calm.

So Baran didn’t give a shit about the Splinter.

Either they got something really good or… it had never been about the Fracture Splinter for him.

This whole time, I’d been paranoid about receiving a dagger in my back; thinking of ways to outsmart the Eretians.  But little did I know, that there were people with ulterior motives that didn’t give a crap about my goals or this Fracture.  Smokescreens and mirrors, that’s all it was.  If I was right… the only reason Baran came in this Fracture was to kill off half his party.

Damn.  Why though?

“Thissss leavesss a bitter tasssste in my mouth.”  Skaris muttered, staring at the three outcasts.

“Ignore it.”  I advised.  It wasn’t the first time MSS gave me a side-quest that I ignored.  Often these type of quests had shitty rewards and no experience.  But… the stories were interesting.

Still, now wasn’t the time to go off on a side-quest figuring out why Baran wanted to kill off his party.  Like Skaris and Eltis had advised way back, it could have been racially motivated.  Perhaps he had been holding back this entire time and something Pyret did had set him off.  I watched the three remnants of the biggest party when we were entering this dungeon; Sarai looking like she lost the world, Baran looking bored and Furgrin holding his head in between his hands on his knees.

It wasn’t just monsters adventurers should be scared of.  Monsters gave you simple death.  Adventurers were the ones who made you suffer.  Whatever they had been, they were not a party anymore; nor were they comrades.  They were just… business partners.  Like the ones my parents had in the old world.

I shook my head to clear my thoughts.  “Let’s get this over with.”

With the Fracture Splinter agreed upon, I didn’t want to spend another single moment in this Fracture any longer.

Kyrian nodded making sure everyone else was ready, he put his hands on the Stone Slab.

A swirl of energy appeared like storm clouds in the ceiling of the maze, gathering together and forming a portal, much like the one I had seen in Samak.  That fateful day when I laid my eyes upon the Grade-1 Monster, an experience that had shifted my understanding of this world.

You could predict the difficulty of the Fracture by the location of the portal.  This portal was surrounded by hunting grounds of monsters that ranged from grade 9 to 7.  In my experience, a Fracture usually didn’t spawn monsters more than 2 grades above that.  Hence if we were lucky, we’d face a boss monster that could be Grade 9.  If we were unlucky however… with 11 members, we should come out ahead of a Grade 5 monster.

It’d be a tight-rope act for sure.

Nevertheless, only two possibilities remained for the Twilight Maze.  The boss monster would be either grade 6 or grade 8…

“Please be grade 8…”

As long as the boss wasn’t some kind of variant we had a good chance at getting out of this without anyone dying.

The final boss of this dungeon leaped out of the dungeon and landed in front of us, throwing up a veil of snow so fine that it was more like silvery mist than ice crystals.

The creature bent its only leg and I saw how close the light blue skin stuck to its bones, almost painfully so.  It let out a sound from in between its lips; somewhere between a sheep’s call and a cow’s.  It’s fur was frozen over and continued to give off that silvery mist; reflecting what light there was in the dungeon in various angles.  Finally, the creature unfurled its wings; which were attached to its head like ears; flapping them and taking flight into the air.

[Gi (夔)].  

We’d lucked out.  

Because Gi was the Grade-8 monster that I was waiting for.

And it was a guaranteed Fracture Splinter drop.

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