This time, I forced myself to fully concentrate on casting Blessing of Purity. I didn't want to make the same error again.
Since we were already close to the edge of the woods, it didn't take long before the trees cut off, and we entered a shallow marsh. The fog still remained as a blanket on the ground, shifting with each of Vortigern's footsteps. Now that we were out of the woods completely, I stopped reapplying the debuff immunity.
A lone building loomed up ahead, resembling an ornate white gazebo, and numerous golden statues lined the outside, each one resembling a person suffering a brutal death. Within the structure, a set of quartz stairs led down into an eerie dark pit. It was large enough that our spinebear could walk in.
Once we reached the bottom of the steps, we arrived in front of a cavernous room with three branching paths: two on each side and one in front. The walls were made of smooth flat stone that was rusted copper in color, and the ceiling was high enough that I couldn't even see it in the darkness. The only light came from flickering torches that lined the walls.
"Stop here for a second," I said, getting off Vortigern.
Sakimi and Marigold dropped down as well.
I gave the two of them a quick briefing, saying, "As you can see, this dungeon is a maze. Specifically, it's known as Hashmal's Labyrinth. I've never fought this place before, but from what I've heard, the boss is basically impossible to defeat at my current level."
Usually, people would come back to challenge the boss after defeating the archdemon in Polsius. The recommended level was at least fifty if you wanted to do any reasonable damage, but even then, Hashmal could kill you in three strikes. At my current level, I would die from one hit.
I continued, "We're gonna get in and get out as fast as possible. Marigold, I want you and Vortigern to take the left path. Sakimi and I will take the middle path."
I don't actually know how to solve this maze. I was just going with my gut instinct.
"Do you know where to find the Skyfire Helmet?" Marigold asked.
"No."
Sakimi rolled her eyes. "This is gonna take forever."
"This is why I'm suggesting that we split up," I said. "We can cover more ground, and when one of us finds the piece of armor, we'll run straight for the exit."
"How are we gonna find our way back?" Sakimi asked.
Marigold rummaged through a rucksack that was attached to her spinebear's saddle.
"Here," the elf said, bringing out two loaves of bread.
Sakimi laughed. "What the heck?"
"Genius!" I exclaimed. "It's just like Ariadne!"
Marigold handed me one of the loaves, saying, "I don't know this Ariadne that you speak of, but if we leave a trail of bread crumbs, we should be able to retrace our steps and find which places we've been to."
"This will help us in the maze," Sakimi said, "but if we leave breadcrumbs on all the paths, we won't have a clear escape route."
Marigold nodded. "True, but this is mainly a measure to help us search for the Skyfire Helmet. Once one of us finds it, Vortigern will be able to use his sense of smell to track you guys down, and from there, we'll retrace our steps until we make it back. You may not know this, but spinebears have excellent memorization skills as well."
"Sound's like a plan," I replied, handing Marigold my communication mirror. This item was probably the most useful thing I've bought so far.
With a slight nod, Marigold said, "Let's go."
And so, Marigold and Vortigern took the left path while Sakimi and I went to the center. Just before we parted ways, I said, "Marigold, if you feel the ground shaking, run in the opposite direction."
"Got it."
At that, Sakimi began dropping tiny breadcrumbs as we delved deeper into the labyrinth.
It wasn't long before a clacking noise reached my ears. The echoing came from ahead, and I drew my Laevateinn.
Three skeletons lunged from the darkness, but I easily took them all down in one sweeping swing. When their health bar dropped to zero, their bones fell apart and scattered on the ground.
These low-level monsters shouldn't be a problem as long as I kept up my guard.
Sakimi and I continued down the passageway until another corridor branched off to the right. Out of instinct, I chose to stay on our current path, and we hit a dead end. And so, we backtracked and took the branching route that we passed earlier. Eventually, we came across an old wooden chest in a corner.
Out of precaution, I took a small chunk of bread and threw it at the chest. It didn't react, so it probably wasn't a mimic.
Mimic chests were rare in Serial Slain, but they always traumatized me when I used to play Dark Souls. Because of that, free chests out in the wild always made me suspicious. On the other hand, any chest that you receive from a dungeon is never dangerous.
As an over-precaution, I stabbed my sword through the nearby chest's body.
"Kyaaaah!"
A piercing wail echoed throughout the corridor, and I shrieked in fear.
Legs and arms sprouted from the chest's sides as the top section opened up, revealing a hundred sets of menacing teeth.
I swung my sword again, finally landing a killing blow.
"Ahahaha!"
Sakimi was chuckling behind me.
"What?" I asked.
"You screamed like a little girl!"
"I happen to have an intense fear of mimic chests."
Just then, there was a sudden clacking. A skeleton emerged from the darkness and struck Sakimi, causing her to fall over, yelping from the pain. I quickly dispatched the enemy before it could do any more damage.
"Are you alright?" I asked.
"Yeah. Thanks. It's my fault for not paying attention."
"You don't have to apologize."
As I helped Sakimi get up, I heard a distant rumbling. At first, I thought it was just in my mind, but I placed my head on the floor, confirming that a huge monster was walking around nearby.
I pointed in the opposite direction, and we headed down that path to continue searching for the Skyfire Helmet. The skeletons were starting to get annoying, and all chests that we came across were also mimics. It would probably be a while longer until we could find the item. Luckily, the enemies served as fodder that allowed me to fully charge Laevateinn's special attack.
The further that Sakimi and I walked, the more shattered skeletons we found. Evidently, something had flattened them underfoot. I should have taken this as a bad omen, but we continued forward until we arrived at an abnormally wide room.
A gigantic stone statue was sitting in the center. It had a muscular body covered in cracks and moss, and its head resembled that of a bull's skull, with enormous horns sprouting from the top. On its right hand, it held a halberd that seemed to be three stories tall.
This was the boss, Hashmal.
He was a guardian deity that Casoh once created for the purpose of protecting humanity, but Deorr's demons corrupted the minotaur with magic. Hashmal went insane, killing entire cities, forcing Casoh to seal away her once-precious child in this labyrinth.
I put a hand on Sakimi's shoulder, and we slowly backed away.
But it was too late. The boss had already noticed us.
Hashmal's eyes blinked open, glowing red. They pierced the darkness like a spear, looking around the room until the boss's gaze settled straight on us.
I said one word.
"Run."
Sakimi and I sprinted away as the humongous stone minotaur gave chase, rumbling the ground with each step. Hashmal then raised his halberd, preparing to strike.
"Left!" I screamed.
We turned to another corridor, narrowly dodging the gigantic weapon's impact. The sheer force sent rubble in every direction, and it shook the ground with enough force to make me lose my balance.
"Come on," Sakimi frantically said. "Don't stop running!"
While we dashed away, a voice came from Sakimi's robe. She took out her communication mirror, which showed Marigold with a silver Athenian-style helmet in hand.
"I found the Skyfire Helmet," Marigold said.
"That's great!" I replied, panting. "But the boss is trying to kill us right now!"
"I'll come to find you!"
"No! It's too dangerous! Get to the exit, and we'll meet you there!"
"But how are we gonna find our way back?" Sakimi wailed.
"I'm gonna get you both," Marigold said. "With Vortigern's help, we won't get lost."
At that, she hung up.
In addition to the speed upgrades from my skill tree, my Laevateinn also gave me a passive ten percent speed boost. I didn't have too much trouble outrunning Hashmal. Unfortunately, Sakimi was starting to lag behind.
"Get on my back!" I said.
"Got it!"
I carried Sakimi piggyback style, bobbing and weaving in a serpentine pattern to evade the halberd. The hallway up ahead split in two, and I took the left route, taking me down a winding path that ended in a wall.
"Shit. We're trapped."
Sakimi hopped off and said, "What do we do now?!"
"Hashmal is massive, so we might be able to run past its legs."
"Wah! We're gonna get stepped on!"
As Hashmal neared, he saw that Sakimi and I had no other place to go. The minotaur then slowed his pace to a walk, casually resting his weapon on his shoulder. Hashmal was so tall that the darkness partly concealed its head, showing only the piercing crimson eyes. I braced myself to engage the enemy.
"Ares! Catch!"
As Marigold's voice echoed through the tunnel, an object went flying in my direction over Hashmal's stone body.
I didn't have the time to wait for the helmet to land. Instead, I equipped my Wing Boots and put all my force into this one jump. I launched upward, catching the Skyfire Helmet and putting it on my head.
This is where we make our escape.