Dawn

Labyrinth

The soul of the Labyrinth spoke. From that heart that dwelled in the bottom of this damnable crypt, something beyond human understanding whispered to that it had forged, to that whose precepts it had designed, to that whose reality it shouldered.

It awakened. The core that gave it life, formed by a magic long since lost to the sands of time, thrummed as it gathered the basis of its essence. The boundary between Same and Other was bridged over, made inconsequential as Other became same.

The point at which water met earth. Expansion to contraction.

The two danced the ephemeral as they merged into one. For this is the nature of such a being, a being created to "take everything into itself". Power, knowledge, ideals, none of that sophistry matters in the face of such a being.

From the cracks in the stone that comprised the ceiling of the cave, "something" melted out. Separate the self from the world of stone. Designate a sense of self. Coalesce into a form. Alter premise of material construction.

Rather than purity, rather than nobility, rather than holiness..

-It is corruption, it is baseness, it is sacrilege.

This torrent of stagnant, profane darkness generated a form. No, not one form, but two. Two separate forms, two separate beings, two separate worlds unto themselves that served as damnations of everything your nature stands for.

Run away.

Against this foe, there can be no victory.

The presence of "life" had urged it to action, and so, something which had slumbered for countless eons descended from above, a dazzling star falling into hell.

Against this foe, there can be no hope.

These two bodies struck the ground, directly before Alexander and Senna, and displayed their might in full.

For the beings that stand before you now...

---

-They were blobs.

Two transparent masses of a jelly-like substance with something embedded in each of their centers, maybe a leftover piece of rock from when they were living in the ceiling.

They were slimes.

They had been aiming for Alexander's head, but they had missed.

Damn.

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

Labyrinth

The Goblin corpses had nothing short of their rags and swords.

Even in death, they were useless.

---

Thoth seemed to be surprised at the appearance of the summons, as though this was her first time witnessing paper. Of course, it was not, but the comparable surprise was still there.

"...um, I-I didn't put out any orders for a summons..." She mumbled under her breath, turning her head away slightly as she gazed wistfully at her book before snapping herself back to reality with a brief jolt. "B-But yes, the Labyrinth is opening today...I-I think. I-I'm not really in charge of that, H-Heka was the main supervisor." She explained, seeming to shrink back at the mention of Heka, as though she was afraid of her fellow God. She probably was.

Thoth paused for a moment, interrupted by an unwilling yawn that rose up from within her, as if a ghost had been trapped inside of her, and was finally let free. The God blushed furiously following her yawn, turning away completely as she grabbed her book and held it tightly to her chest. "S-Sorry, A-Ares was holding a party next door last night a-and I didn't get much sleep." She stammered out embarrassedly. "Y-You can go to the Labyrinth now, if you want then t-take a flask on your way out, but just one." She murmured, somewhat shakily indicating a row of glass flasks set up near the lab entrance, each filled with a blue-green liquid and labeled "Intermediate Antitoxin☆".

Labyrinth

At Lynn's answer, Heka's expression seemed to fold into itself slightly, the God musing to herself silently for several seconds. "...I see."

Heaving out a slight sigh, she raised her arm back up, palm outstretched towards Lynn once more. A pale blue light seemed to coalesce in the air directly before her hand, and then flowed forwards to make contact with Lynn. The light flowed through her, into her. It felt different than the orb mere seconds ago had, an almost perverse scan of the core of her being by something Other. Rather, upon entering her, this light changed, melting into Lynn's being. It felt like something natural, something right, the regaining of something lost.

And then the power.

She would likely stagger a bit at the initial shock, her perception suddenly changing. The world suddenly seemed to move at a slower rate than it had before, and yet, there was no disorientation at this new fact; it was as if she had always been this way. Power filled her limbs, power beyond what a human had any right possessing. It was different, it was right, it was hers.

Retracting her arm, Heka stepped forward, shrinking the distance between the two of them, and smiled. This was something different than how she had reacted when Lynn had first entered; it was more...full, more genuine.

"I welcome you to my Guild. As a member, you must follow my instructions when given. Though I am no tyrant, I will not always be able to fully explain every direction I give, but you must trust that there is a reason I keep some portions of information secret. I will not control your journey through the Labyrinth, nor will I aid you beyond what I am set to do as per our contract; this is your journey and yours alone. Further, as to the matter of you repaying me for my allowing you to enter my Guild..."

The God pretended to contemplate for a moment before loosing a soft laugh. "You are to become your ideal self, and show me something beautiful."

With that matter done, Heka reached out with her hand that held the transparent, spherical gem, and deposited it in one of Lynn's hands. "This...I cannot explain what this is, not yet. I had promised to myself that the next to leave for the Labyrinth would receive it, so I am gifting it to you; do not lose it. If, in your travels, you come across something identical to this, then place a drop of your blood on that gem, as well as this one. All will become clear then." She stated, dropping her voice to an almost coy whisper.

"Now then, you are dismissed, Lynette Loxaerion. Do show me something beautiful; I look forward to watching you reach the end of your path."

---

Something noteworthy about Goblins is that, on the whole, they are not intelligent.

In fact, while Goblin biology differs from human biology and thus any comparisons should be taken with a grain of salt, an adequate point of comparison is that a standard Goblin's brain is roughly the size of an acorn, and unlike other monsters, they lack a magical capacity to compensate for this fact.

Thus, the result was actually fairly predictable.

The Goblin, who had been busy attacking Alexander's top half, could not have possible considered that he himself would be attacked on the bottom half. Truly, Alexander had to be a member of Loki Guild, to have mastered deception to this extent.

Gob-kun's attack was blocked.

Gob-kun's legs got hurt.

Gob-kun fell back onto the floor and then started trying to get back up.

Why are all these humans such sadists in battle? Dragging it out like this, it's just disrespectful.

---

Thoth was busy.

Excessively busy.

Inordinately busy.

Why, you ask?

You see, the Gods had not set foot in this world in many eras. As such, Thoth had not had access to many of man's creations until now. While the Gods were aware of all mankind had accomplished in their absence, they had merely been observing. Thoth had not been able to truly possess any creations of mankind since their recent Descent, so she was currently absorbed in those very creations.

What are these creations?

Is that a real question?

Do you have any idea how many new books were written over the past few eras? Playing catch-up was utterly hellish.

And you thought your anime backlog was bad.

Thus, Thoth was caught unaware by someone entering her alchemical lab. Vincent was not the first visitor of the day, but she was nonetheless caught unaware, slamming the book she was currently reading shut as she spun around to face Vincent.

"...h-hi."

Thoth offered a greeting to her scary Guild member.

"A-Are you going to the Labyrinth?"

Thoth asked a question to her scary Guild member.

Thoth just wanted to go back to her book.

Labyrinth

Upon Lynn's entrance to the room in which Heka currently was, the God turned from a small, transparent gem that she held between two fingers to the girl, putting on a rather prim smile.

"Ah, welcome, young one. I am gla-"

The smile disappeared.

Heka cut herself off, her expression drawing into itself as she analyzed the individual before her. "I...do not recognize you, I am sorry to say." She stated with no small trace of confusion, her hand that was not holding the gem holding itself out in front of her body, the palm facing Lynn. A mere instant later, a soft blue orb of light emanated outwards from her palm, flowing towards, into Lynn. The aspiring Guild member would feel a strange sensation, something akin to the eyes of an observer scanning her along the very core of her being, only for the sensation to fade a scant few seconds later.

The confusion on Heka's face was replaced by understanding as she stood up from her seat, nodding. "Ah...I see, then. You are the sibling of the traitor, and you wish to enter the Labyrinth for yourself." She stated curtly. "As that is the case, I will ask you a question. Do not attempt to deceive me, as I will certainly be able to notice such. However, I wish to hear this in your own words. Should I find your answer satisfactory, I will permit you to join my Guild as you so desire. Should I not, you will leave this place, and likely try your luck elsewhere." She explained, pausing for a moment to clear her throat before speaking back up.

"What is your goal in living? What is the purpose you seek to accomplish?"

---

Alexander's increased combat efficacy as a result of being in Ares Guild did in fact help to bring his agility just short of that of a Goblin, closing the gap in their reaction time almost completely. While this was ordinarily not enough to let him simultaneously deal with two Goblins, the initial distance between the two parties also helped.

As a result, between his time to prepare as the Goblins charged, and his agility that was barely below that of a Goblin's, both of his moves ended up being successful.

Goblin1 was struck at with a shield, and in a moment of tactical brilliance decided to bring up its sword to mitigate the blow. Using a sword to block a shield, truly this was a genius among Goblins.

This block didn't work very well. Goblin1's sword cracked slightly under the colliding forces, while the Goblin himself was pushed back a bit. At least he didn't get whacked in the head, right?

Right.

'Cause instead he got arrowed through the chest.

He slumped over.

He's dead.

...

Goblin2 fared a bit differently. His blade collided with Alexander's, at which point the notable gap in strength between the two forced the Goblin back. The low-class monster seethed as it withdrew its blade from the bladelock, as damage would certainly occur to it before it occurred to Alexander, and then abruptly launched a counterattack: a stab at the male's chest, with all the appreciable-but-still-pretty-bad speed of a standard Goblin.

Do your best, Goblin-kun.

Labyrinth

Around the time when Amanda entered the first floor of the Labyrinth and bore witness to a pair of humans in front of a Goblin corpse, Alexander gave his introduction to Senna.

Sadly, before the newcomer could greet the two already present, and before Senna could offer a reply, a high-pitched though strangely guttural growl came from deeper within the tunnel of the first floor. The humans present would only have a few moments after turning towards the source of the noise before they appeared.

From around the corner where the tunnel curved to the right, two existences appeared, drawn by the death cries of their fallen comrade. Wielding the same trash-tier blades as their compatriot had, they ran forwards at Alexander and Senna. A pair of Goblins and a pair of adventurers, several meters apart with the distance rapidly closing.

They're Goblins. This hopefully shouldn't be much of a fight.

[As a result of Senna Small-stalk's battle, the "Goblin" Lexicon section has been updated.]

Labyrinth

This time, there is actually little to say, rather than a drawn-out narrative describing a single failed action.

The Goblin's strike was blocked.

The Goblin's skull was crushed.

The Goblin's life was ended.

The Goblin's corpse was left to crumble to the ground.

May he go to the big Goblin party in the sky.

Labyrinth

There was little to be said.

The charging Goblin reached his destination in little time, sword poised to strike Senna down even in the monster's throes of death. However, between the distance that the Goblin had to cover and its own, rapidly weakening force of life, the original gap between the two combatant's agility had shrunk, and then flipped. By the time the Goblin had reached Senna, she was perfectly able to block its blow.

The rusted sword clashed with the enchanted bow. As the impact struck, Senna would likely notice the...weakness of the attack. While it was certainly more than an unblessed human could stand to bear, it was also leagues below Senna's own strength. While it was likely that the Goblin had a weaker strength and constitution than Senna, making it a monster focused on "agility", even that did not explain the weakness of the blow.

The reason for this was apparent, in the form of the blood splatter along the hall of the first floor. The Goblin, already possessing a weak constitution, had no chance from the beginning. It could be said that a cornered animal was dangerous as it acted without restraint, but for a Goblin, a mindless beast of the Labyrinth, it had always acted without restraint. Its fight-or-flight response was, in some sense, always active, a basis etched into its programming by the Labyrinth.

The bow was unharmed. After all, for the mere strike of a Goblin, with a weapon that could be called the weakest among mortal weapons, the hardiness of an enchanted weapon such as the bow was the difference between heaven and earth.

The Goblin stumbled, almost...gasping, as it pulled its sword back and swung again at Senna, the blow horribly telegraphed and the speed of the strike a joke. The battle had already ended. Put it out of its misery.

Labyrinth

<Snipped quote by Dawn>

Oh, you were waiting me? Heh, awkward situation because I was waiting you. I will see what I can do, but right now its past midnight here so no post on my side until tomorrow

@Double Capybara

Whoops~

Sorry about that. As a general rule, the 24 hour post rule applies to me as well. If I take longer than 24 hours to respond and you think it's my turn to post, please let me know~

Labyrinth

Heya, just hoping that Double Capybara hasn't been forgotten about.

@Zombehs

I've been waiting for them to post. Their last post was just walking through the streets; since they didn't say they arrived at Hermes's place or anything, I can't post with her.

Labyrinth

The Goblin mindlessly charged forwards. Lacking a mind, lacking a will, lacking anything that it could call "its own" besides its flesh and its blade, it burst towards the girl it had marked as its enemy. A voice that had existed since it was born screamed in the back of his mind.

"Kill."

As it moved towards Senna, sword brandished at the ready, the girl would likely note a frightening observation.

Even with the blessing of a God at her back, empowering her past the human limit, this Goblin, this introductory being, was faster than her. It was merely a sliver of difference, but that sliver was enough to pose a worrying question.

If this was the case for the Goblin, how would the later monsters compare?

Regardless, its speed carried no weight here. For, what is the purpose of speed, if one cannot make it from point A to point B? Speed is only useful to reach a destination, and thus, if one's speed is insufficient...

-The arrow embedded itself in the Goblin.

No, not even that. With the force at which it was launched, a power made only stronger by the blessing of Cernunnos, it punched a hole through the charging Goblin. Its forced used up in breaking through the Goblin, it clattered against the stone floor behind the monster, miraculously somehow not shattered from the force it struck the beast at.

The Goblin itself staggered, red blood dripping from its wound as its charge came to a halt, the force rocketing through its body.

"Kill."

And without a mind, without a will, without a desire to live, it charged forwards once more, its sword brandished to strike Senna the moment it could, even as it visibly slowed with each step.