[IC] Labyrinth

[Zombehs]

He whistled, impressed, as she managed to take down the second Slime before the remains of the first even splattered onto the floor. With both the Slimes on the ceiling taken care of with ease by the archer, Alexander’s attention naturally went to the last Slime alive. Though his initial urge was to chase it down before it could escape, he pushed it down to think about this rationally. There didn’t seem to be any immediate danger within this room and the Slime wasn’t particularly fast when it crawled. Would have been much faster for it to pounce its way away from them really...

He flicked his shield arm a few times to get most of the poison Slime’s remain off and then walked after the Red Slime. It was easy to keep pace and he kept the distance in between him and the monster fairly large. He sheathed his blade for the moment and fumbled around his bag, pulling out a rock afterwards. Tossing it in the air and then catching it, he put his entire body into the throw and hurled the fist-sized stone at the slow moving slime. He couldn’t see the monster’s core from here, but he wasn’t testing the waters; trying to see what was up with the odd behavior.

[Dawn]

Thoth silently nodded slightly, flinching back as Vincent started to move again and hastily returning to her work.

He was scary.

---

The slime raced along the floor like a slime possessed.

Actually, it sort of was a slime possessed, given how the Core worked after all.

It mindlessly continued fleeing in a straight line. As the rock Alexander had thrown embedded itself in the slime's mass, it did not seem to impair the monster, though it sent some vibrations thrumming through it. The slime simply continued on its way, entering the second room without difficulty, and upon reaching that area, it leapt away, towards the staircase that led to the fourth floor. With all the might of a jumping slime, it fled for its life towards the assumed safety of the fourth floor, where it could sit in a corner and cry.

You're not a bad enough dude to kill a fleeing blob, are you?

There is just one thing, though. A strange sound was just slightly audible in the cavern. It had first appeared when Alexander threw his torch at the red slime, but when Senna had shot her arrow through one and Alexander had thrown a rock at the fleeing one, it had appeared again. A sort of fizzling sound.

It was coming from the rock.

The rock inside the slime was fizzling.

[Yuri]

Frowning, Senna watches the sizzling slime from across the room, her sharp hearing letting her hear the sources of all the sizzling sounds. Glancing at the fallen Red Slime, the ranger girl takes a moment to consider things, but she didn't really know what could be making the sizzling sound. She couldn't feel any heat coming off the slimes, so it wasn't as if they were made of fire, but the sounds they were making reminded her of bacon sizzling over a fire.

"Careful, Alexander. We're not sure what the red ones do, so we shouldn't touch them yet."

Her expression lightens, and she skips her way across the room over to Alexander, avoiding stepping on the slime wherever possible. With her superhuman capabilities, she had no problem jumping over the large slime puddles, and reached the young warrior's side after only a few seconds. Smiling, she bends over and takes a look over at the fleeing slime.

"Oh, and I won't forget about that offer. I'll definitely take you up on that later~"

She decides that it wasn't safe to collect her arrows, given their coating of strange substance. So, heading over to the entrance to the next floor, completely aware of her surroundings, Senna takes position near the exit and waits. She tries to get a handle on what might be in store for them on the next floor without actually descending.

"Do you think we should wait for the others before heading down? We seem like a pretty good team, but who knows what kind of monsters could be down there. What do you think, Alex?"

[Dawn]

As Senna approached the staircase that lead down to the fourth floor, she'd notice something out of place. Amidst the utterly empty circular stone room, there was a single thing out of the ordinary, positioned next to the entrance to the staircase.

A statue, carved of stone in the rough shape of a humanoid being. While it lacked any sort of distinguishing features, the figure seemed to be modeled after a male. Like Senna's bow and Alex's medallion, it seemed to exude a slight pressure. Just as Senna laid eyes on it, though, she would hear a familiar voice in her mind, the voice of Cernunnos.

'...the formula's still active? I would have thought it'd be destroyed by now. Hmph, when Loki finds out...' The God's voice reverberated inside of Senna's head. 'Hey, Senna, are you okay with nicking yourself a bit and putting a drop of blood on that statue? If I'm right, you'll know why I'm asking you to once you've done it. If something does happen with that, ask your friend to do it too, alright~? If those things are still working, they'll be a massive help~! Also...be careful on the next floor. If this is here...next floor might have something stronger than what you've been fighting up until now.'

Meanwhile, the slime continued its flight down to the fourth floor. Do your best, slime.

Oh, right, and if anyone happened to glance at Senna's arrow, they'd discover it to be...melting? Not quite melting, but corroding, getting steadily eaten at by the red slime that coated it. Maybe touching it is a bad idea.

[Yuri]

"Um... okay... H-Hi, Cern."

Receiving telepathic directions from her Goddess, which surprised her more than anything else, Senna quickly pulls our her knife and pricks her finger, letting her bloodied finger touch the statue's chest area. She was feeling kind of dumb looking, but there must have been some reason for Cernunnos's odd request, so she went along without questioning.

"Now wha-"

And then stuff happened.

[Dawn]

The moment Senna's blood made contact with the statue, the pressure it exuded seemed to briefly intensify. Its eyes lit up, glowing a pale blue before dying down. It seemed that the brief change was all that would occur, at least, until...

-The voice of an adult male reverberated through the girl's mind.

'To the one who has marked this statue with their blood, allow me to introduce myself. I am an adventurer of this Labyrinth by the name of Elan, previously serving as a member of the Apep Guild but now serving as a member of Loki's Guild. This statue is the result of several adventurers, myself included, refining rock formations inherently enchanted by the Labyrinth, and using one of my Magic Foundations in tandem with Loki's blessings to achieve a specific result. Upon marking this specific statue with your blood, this message has been set to be broadcast to your 'soul'.'

'You have now bound this statue to yourself. By touching this statue and willing it, you will be capable of 'teleporting' yourself to a similar statue outside of the Labyrinth: this statue and that one are inherently linked, so you are capable of doing the reverse as well. Every few floors, my companions and I have created one of these statues, with the first ones being this statue on the third floor and the statue outside of the Labyrinth entrance; by marking statues you see after this one with your blood, they will be added to the 'network' of statues bound to you, such that by touching one of them you can be moved to any other one. Thus, you are more easily able to move to floors already traversed, and return home. This will extend to anything that is 'yours', such as your equipment and clothing, but I cannot be sure where the line is drawn, as that part of the movement is based on Loki's blessing.'

'I wish you luck in traversing the Labyrinth. Please share this information with your fellow adventurers, and come see myself should you have any questions. I am always willing to lend a hand to those who require it. Let us make a wonderful legend.'

[Yuri]

...

It was a little overwhelming at first, to be honest, but Senna quickly regains her senses and nods her head. "It looks like it worked, Cern. Hey, Alexander, come put your blood on this statue. It's like... magic, or something. It says that you can use it to teleport between floors."

Senna steps back from the statue, giving Alexander plenty of room to approach it and do his business. In the meantime, she looks around the room, trying to get an impression of the area before preparing to head out. Her eyes drift past where her arrow was lying, but she didn't give it enough attention to notice the corrosion, and instead focused mainly on the puddles of slime themselves.

Deciding to wait for Alexander, she kneels down next to the stairway and peers down it, bow readied. She also puts her knife back, because she wouldn't need it at the moment.

Okay.

[Zombehs]

Well… damn, he sort of wanted the Slime to explode in from the force of impact or something, but apparently he wasn’t strong enough to do that quite yet. Well failed attempt aside, he continued to follow the slime even as the fizzling sound reached his ears again. He narrowed his eyes and frowned as he noticed a bunch of bubbles surrounding the rock that had been embedded in the red slime’s body momentarily before it darted into the other room. He looked to Senna when she approached, blinked in surprise, and murmured, “Got more nimble did ya, and but of course.”

While Senna hurried to the next room, Alexander dearly wanted to figure out what the cause of that sound was and what the special property of the red slime was. Figuring that the torch he had thrown, and resulted in the first occurrence of the sizzle, might have a clue. He made his way over, careful of the puddles of slime and carefully stuck the tip of his blade through the wooden stick and lifted it up for an examination. Not that it was really necessary given the results were readily apparent. The side that had been exposed to the red slime’s body was blackened and crumbled every time he shook his weapon. “Acid huh…” he flicked the contaminated wood from the tip of his weapon with a sigh, and skirted the untouched edge of the room over towards Senna and her own discovery.

“Interesting,” he muttered before he mentioned, “Right, the Red Slimes are corrosive, acidic, or something.” He shuddered a bit as he imagined having one land on top of him… His face, and more importantly eyes and ears, would probably be ruined in moments. “Ugh…” He didn’t get too caught up in it though and approached the statue to do as Senna had told him to. Hit with the same voice and explanation, Alexander stumbled back a bit as he shook his head to clear it. He much preferred Senna’s brief and simple explanation.

“Well with that, I’m tempted to say yes and push deeper. You with me?” he asked as he stepped onto the first step down to the fourth floor, weapon and shield at the ready.

[Dawn]

The red slime successfully made it to the fourth floor. Good job, little slime.

Oh, right:

[Senna and Alexander have identified and discovered Monster Species: Acid Slime!]

That's about it.

[Yuri]

Senna like, follows Alexander to the fourth floor, or something. She nods her head too, but wonders to herself what exactly an "Acid" was.

Alexander was more scientifically minded than she thought. Was he a wizard, maybe?

[Dawn]

"...I see. Thank you, little one."

As Senna and Alexander descended the steps to the fourth floor, they would be able to make out a faint voice from below. The almost regal sounding voice of a male, thrumming oddly as though he was underwater.

Wrong. This is wrong. This is different. This is impossible. The only humans to have made it to the fourth floor should be the two of them, so there should not be anything present capable of speech.

The fourth floor was a single circular room, roughly twenty meters in diameter. There were no fixtures, no items, nothing that made it anything other than a barren, impossibly lit cavern.

The only thing present was a humanoid form in the center of the floor. Appearing as a sculpture of silver shaped in the visage of an adult male, the thing turned to face the new arrivals. Its "face", or at least what resembled a face, seemed to sneer slightly in disgust. Something that Senna and Alexander would probably notice was the presence of what was presumably the Acid Slime they had just scared off, presently coating the right hand of the silver man like a form-fitting glove.

"...humans, turn back. You are not welcome here."

Though its mouth did not move, sounds indicative of speech reverberated out from the silver man's form. The presence he exuded was nothing short of stifling, making the atmosphere wrought by the Goblins and Slimes seem nonexistent by comparison. If it was true that the Labyrinth monsters up until this point had been unexpectedly weak, then this being was a sudden leap in quality to an absurd degree.

"I am the Floor Guardian of this space. The Metal Slime Prince, born of the Divine Slime King, gifted the name 'Zhan' by this world's transcendent will. If you attempt to pass, I will kill you without hesitation."

Announcing his attentions coldly, the monster's body shimmered, reshaping itself slightly according to his whims.

"Turn back, and leave this home of ours permanently. I will not attack you if you return to your own world and never return. If, however, you dare to toss aside my generosity, then you will die."

[Unique Boss-Class Monster: Metal Slime Prince "Zhan" has been discovered.]

[Zombehs]

Though initially confused at the odd voice, it wasn’t hard to quickly notice what had to be the source. He took a moment to actually look around the floor this time rather than focus on the enemy that presented itself and saw nothing of concern, so his attention naturally focused on the creature.

“Should have finished it off,” he muttered to himself as he saw the Acid Slime that clung to its hand like some sort of glove. The creature looked to be made of liquid silver and Alexander could feel the pressure that it exuded. Certainly, just by appearance he would have guessed that this monster was several classes above the Slimes and Goblins he had seen, but the air it had confirmed that. That and the fact that it could actually speak spoke of higher intelligence and, naturally, danger.

If the Slime Prince Zhan had been only a bit stronger than the other creatures he had faced in the Labyrinth then Alexander would have challenged it without hesitation. This much of a jump warranted caution even from a battle fanatic like him and he kept his eyes on the creature’s indistinct form as he whispered to Senna, “What do you think? Should we try and take it?” He was not above a retreat to gather more information about such a monster with such a convenient statue only a moment away, but perhaps a brief battle to try and gauge its strength would be in order? They would have to overcome this obstacle if they wished to advance further into the Labyrinth eventually, it would be nice to know just how much improvement would be necessary if at all.

[Fish of Oblivion]

"... Right." Vincent was just reminded of the Master Conversation Maker that Thoth happened to be as she just went back to her work. He supposed that he might be somewhat intimidating, but he questioned the logic there. A scraggly old git who got himself poisoned couldn't be that scary.

In any case, as he propped himself up with the table, he felt the weight of his body shift, and after a moment or so he felt as if he could stand on his own. The unpleasant sensation of stiffness lingering from the paralysis hadn't quite lifted yet, but it seemed it wasn't long until it did.

With Thoth as communicative as ever, he debated what to do. It would be a good idea to wait for the others- for practical reasons aside from anything- but his vial of Health Potion was with Thoth, waiting to be analysed for contamination. As much as he wanted that potion, he wasn't going to rush Thoth about it- after all, he remembered how unpleasant those slimes had been.

He supposed that he could at least make his way back to the Labyrinth and scope things out, maybe pick up his coat whilst he was at it. By the time he made it through to where they'd left off, chances were he'd feel a lot better. Then he could either venture further down or wait for the others, provided he didn't just bump into any of them on the way down.

So he gave it a few minutes more, letting more weight lift from his body before he collected his case and slowly made his way out with a relatively polite goodbye to the busy Thoth.

[Yuri]

From the very first moment she entered the Boss Room, Senna was completely aware of the danger faced to them by this Slime Prince. Panic starts to rise from within her chest, but in an instant, it halts and is replaced with calm, analytical observation.

Think.

The boss was in the center of the room. On his hand, was one "Acid Slime", red of colour and seemingly hiding itself on the hand of the Boss. There were no traps visible, and the entire floor consisted mostly of a large, circular stone plane, completely flat, and with solid stone walls. It was large enough for there to be some delay before the enemy's attack and it reaching them, hopefully.

See past the obvious.

The enemy called themselves a Metal Slime. The enemies they've been fighting up until now were Slimes. Weak point: Core. If its body consists of metal, then its core will be hard to reach, because they won't be able to see it from a distance. They'll have to fight it in close quarters eventually, so they'll be at a disadvantage in this fight, given the apparent invulnerability of Slimes besides their singular mortal point.

Then, the question was, could their weapons pierce the Metal Slime's body? It was worth using a few arrows to test this. And so, Senna reached her inevitable conclusion. Drawing a pair of arrows from her quiver, she locks her eyes onto the Slime Prince's body, visualizing her attack in her head, preforming thousands of minute adjustments to her draw strength, balance and firing arc.

Hold breath.
Count.
Release.

An arrow is launched, in the direction of the slime prince, aimed directly at the being's chest. But, the girl wouldn't stop there. Her second arrow is drawn almost immediately, and once again, she takes careful aim at almost twice the speed of the previous shot, as her aim was already prepared beforehand.

She didn't need to think. She fires again, aiming roughly at the torso of the Boss in front of her.

Only then does she speak to her partner.

"We need to feel it out first, to see if we can hurt it. Then we should probably back off, and try to find the others, so we can face it together."

[Dawn]

In the same moment that Senna had withdrawn her arrows from her quiver, Zhan had begun to move. It was obvious enough from Senna's actions that these humans had no intention of accepting his generosity, so he would strike them down without mercy. Compared to the movement of the previous slimes as they crawled along the ground, Zhan was a fierce god. By the time Senna's first arrow had been released, the Metal Slime Prince had already closed the distance between the parties to just over ten meters.

Six meters. Senna's arrow struck Zhan as she drew back her second arrow. The steel-tipped arrow that had effortlessly punched a hole in slime cores and Goblins alike struck the midsection of Zhan's humanoid form-

-And broke.

A meager dent formed in Zhan's body at the sight of impact, only to smooth itself over as a result of his constitution as a slime. The arrow, unable to pierce into his body even with the strength behind it, found itself break apart at the moment of impact, as the very force it was shot with rebounded against its weak frame. All the while, Zhan continued to move.

Two meters. Senna, having readied herself by now, loosed the second arrow quicker than she had the first, only to be met with the same result.

One meter. Zhan's arms whipped outwards, reshaping themselves from humanoid arms to metallic tendrils that tapered down to a point.

Zero meters. The arms of the Metal Slime Prince moved like whips as they were snapped forward, each one aimed to pierce one of the two adventurers in the chest.

[Zombehs]

Surprisingly, Senna didn’t hesitate in the slightest to test the monster they found themselves against. Unsurprisingly, the Metal Slime also didn’t hesitate to rush towards them at the open hostility the small-statured archer displayed. He braced himself and readied his shield as the vastly more powerful Slime closed the distance with unprecedented speed.

"Oh geez," he muttered as her arrow shattered against its frame ineffectively. “Up the stairs!” he barked at Senna without a glance even as he prepared to receive the creature; her arrows had proven themselves useless and the Slime Prince was quick enough that Alexander could not afford to cover for her against an opponent such as this.

It seemed that its title as a Metal Slime wasn’t simply for show as its flexible body was as sturdy, perhaps even sturdier, than any plate armor. The natural flexibility it displayed as a slime meant that it would dull and absorb any blow even better than rigid and inflexible steel. He didn’t think his mundane sword would be capable of dealing a fatal blow to the creature, but had no more time to contemplate such matters as Zhan lashed out at the both of them.

He took a step back to open a bit of distance, present the side of his body as a target, and swept his blade across his chest to parry aside the pointed tip. His shield was also swung out to bash aside the arm that aimed for Senna. He held nothing back this time around even knowing that it was more than likely his equipment might not survive if he did so. Better easily replaceable things such as a shield or sword than his or Senna’s life though.

[Yuri]

Having already committed to her pair of attacks, Senna couldn't do much to stop herself from being blitzed. It was surprising, to find an opponent who surpassed her blessed speed so greatly, but the girl couldn't panic now. She had to evade. Alexander would try to cover her, she knew, but for the time being she knew she had no choice but to abandon him.

A whip-like spike of metal was being aimed at her chest. Open space was to one side, and her fellow party member to the other. So, taking the most likely direction of escape, Senna quickly steps in a diagonal line backwards, leaning towards the temporary safe spot behind Alexander's body. She doesn't stop, in a single, quick motion, she tries to back-step all the way to the foot of the stairway. Her excellent awareness would prevent her from tripping as she hopefully hits the stairs and dashes up, trying to escape from the spooky slime.

Good luck, Alexander.

[Dawn]

A snarling sound emanated out from Zhan as the two adventurers attempted to block his attacks and flee. The tendril poised to strike Senna was met with a bash from Alexander's shield; however, in the moment before contact, the tendril seemed to lengthen, changing the position of its tip so that, instead of clashing with Alexander's shield and losing most of its force, it wrapped around the shield itself. While this did mean that Senna, having already started to flee, was safe from the attack, it also meant that Alexander's shield, and by extension, his arm, was at Zhan's mercy.

Zhan's whip and Alexander's sword struck against each other, the latter attempting to parry the former, but this was met with a similar result. Rather than Zhan's whip glancing off of the blade's side like a more inflexible weapon would, it instead coiled itself around the blade.

"One is enough."

Seething this, the arm Zhan had used to restrain Alexander's sword was snapped back, intent on disarming him and tossing his sword to the back of the fourth floor. At the same time, the arm coiled around his shield writhed as it reshaped itself, a protrusion forming out from it to strike Alexander's chest from the side. If he was able to get a good look at it, he would notice that said tendril was coated with the Acid Slime from the previous floor.

One arm pulling his sword away, one restraining his shield and attempting to pierce his chest.

---

???
???, ???

Dimensional Barrier Guardian "Zhan" has been encountered by existences of the Major World.

Accumulated authority is sufficient. Initiating temporal distortion once preconditions have been set.

[Zombehs]

Well the fight was going about as badly as Alexander had imagined it would. He had managed to stop both attacks for the moment, but only the flexible and metallic body of Zhan meant that he was in a bind, quite literally. With both sword and shield ensnared by tendrils that seemed strong enough to match his own strength given his shield refused to budge, he didn’t hesitate to burn his Goddess’ gift. As the disc crumbled in the pouch at his waist, he felt the surge of power race through his body as the world seemed to slow down around him. The tendril around his shield had just formed yet another tendril that lanced out towards his chest. The Acid Slime was of concern, but he planned to dodge the attack in the first place.

He released his hold on his sword quickly, given he couldn’t focus on both problems at once and a weapon was of little use if he was impaled through the chest. The freed hand slammed into the back of his shield as his shield arm twisted and tugged away sharply. He didn’t know if with his new found strength he would have been able to overcome Zhan’s strength, but it didn’t matter. With two rapid snaps, the leather straps that held the shield to his arm snapped with ease and he stepped back rapidly to avoid the Metal Slime’s attack.

[Dawn]

If Zhan had visible eyes instead of just a smooth silver oval of a head, those nonexistent eyes would have widened. For a slime, who does not see through reflections of light but rather through changes in the atmosphere and sensing of energy, Alexander's form had suddenly become blinding. No sooner had the medallion from Ares been activated than did Zhan halt his attack and move to retract his arms, whilst Alexander stepped back to avoid the attack that Zhan had hastily canceled.

The Metal Slime, with Alexander's abandoned shield in possession, quickly darted back, putting some distance between himself and the Ares Guild member. "...that isn't your own power. Those damnable overseers of yours..." He seethed, continuing to edge backwards along the room, evidently unwilling to continue fighting Alexander. While Zhan was confident in his survivability, the class of being that Alexander had just stepped into the bounds of wasn't something he wanted to take chances with; the Floor Guardian had little doubt that this wasn't some sort of unsealed state, and was more likely a temporary increase in power. This human was stronger than him for the time being, yes, but it was not permanent, and moreover the human had no way of locating his core, even if his slime could now be damaged. In that sense, Zhan simply had to switch gears from blitz to attrition; if the human decided to retreat, then so be it; when he returned he would be weaker than he was currently.