BANG!
After continuous pummeling of the angel-shaped slime, nothing ever happened. The moment it would lose chunks of its being, it would just regenerate almost immediately. It was a never-ending cycle that had begun annoying the group. Ivan numerously searched for a core that may be perpetuating its existence however in the end he came up with nothing.
Something else was giving it energy, Ivan assumed. The way forward was blocked by the angelic being, and heading back would resort to swimming, a situation that'd let the monster attack them more easily.
Ivan concluded that the angelic monster was not the focus of the current test. It possessed no core, nor were there any traces leading to what could potentially keep it running, the best option would be to ignore it.
Right when he was about to transmit his thoughts through telepathy, a new situation emerged that required his attention.
CRACK!
The floor beneath them opened up suddenly. Everyone that was focused on the fight immediately lost their footing. Beneath them was a large cavern with many tunnels, which wouldn't have been a problem if not for the massive amounts of water. Each tunnel held a strong vacuum that threatened to separate the group.
Having unequipped their swimming gear to not be at a disadvantage during the fight, Ivan and the group had to resort to their physical abilities to maneuver through the swallowing tunnels. With only seconds left to grab someone before being swallowed up, Ivan headed for Felis, who had not yet learned to swim.
The entire duration of this trip she had been relying on the gear to maneuver and keep her safe. The same applied to Canis but she was too far from him to be reached. Along with Felis, Ivan grabbed onto Yue, who had the same idea.
He looked over to see where the others were, heaving a sigh of relief as he spotted Tio being the one to travel with Canis. Claire and Ari on the other hand were sucked up and thrown into a different route.
Telepathic communication came to an end as the group felt a sudden interference.
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"W-Where the hell are we?!"
The scene Ivan, Yue, and Felis found themselves in was completely different from the ancient underwater ruins they were in previously. Instead, they woke up on a tropical island. Which was quite odd considering they were sucked into what seemed like a tunnel going down into the depths of the dungeon.
"That sun… it's just like the one in Oscar's lair…" As Yue pointed out, the sun sitting far up into the air was just another construct made from creation magic. The blue sky and clouds in the air brought up different questions though.
Even the ocean near the shore they woke up on had all matters of sea life. Crabs scurried up and down the sands before digging into the sand or evading into the sea to escape the weird life forms they had never seen before.
"How strange…" Ivan ran the sand through his hands. Compared to the scene fabricated by him and Oscar, this seemed more realistic. While the possibility that the liberator who forged this labyrinth just cared more about its aesthetics, Ivan didn't ignore the possibility that they might be in an illusion.
"Hey, Yue. What are the odds we're trapped in an illusion made from ancient magic?" Ivan decided to ask his magic expert partner. Who in turn just stared around before pinching her cheeks.
"... That doesn't seem to be the case."
"..."
In response to her antics, Ivan only sighed. If she had time to joke around then she probably saw fit that the situation wasn't worth worrying for. That brought him some relief however that didn't change the situation they were in.
"I can't connect to the others using telepathy. Teleportation back to the former rooms we were in or back to the APC have been blocked. If I had to guess, the liberators of the Gruen Labyrinth and Melusine Labyrinth were close. I mean, we wouldn't have even been able to find this place if not for the former's pendant. As such they likely collaborated to make the restrictions for this dungeon. Perhaps by locking space…"
Ivan's muttering went from one ear to another, at least that was the case for Felis. What she cared about right now was exploring this new place. She climbed a nearby tree from the jungle and scoured the area for any landmarks or possible destinations. Far away she spotted what seemed to be a mast, torn up and scarred as it sat in the center of the island.
"Hey hey! There's something waaaayy over there~! It kinda looks like those things sticking outta the ships we saw on the way here…" She jumped from the tree with no reservations, landing neatly in front of Ivan and Yue. She immediately told them the information she gathered from her little scouting mission.
"Hmm, a ship on the center of the island… worn down you say… well I don't see a point in not investigating it. Honestly, I'd prefer sleeping in the comfort of my own home so let's hurry up and deal with this dungeon."
"Mmm… But what about the jelly monster?" Yue voiced her concerns. Inevitably they'd have to deal with the troublesome beast that got them into this situation in the first place. Right now they had the perfect downtime to come up with a way to deal with it.
"Freezing doesn't seem as effective as burning, only that even with burning the bastard just regenerates anyways. Honestly, the only situation I could see us dealing with this is the o' "leave no remnants behind." It'll be dead if it doesn't have anything to regenerate with. We'd need to assault it from multiple angles all at the same time. Though it may be more effective to whip something up to blow it up from the inside with an incendiary bomb…"
"But, Father~ What about that gooey stuff that melts stuff? If we blow it up won't it go everywhere and hit us?" Felis experienced the nature of the slime firsthand after getting hit with flying debris whenever Tio nuked it, if not for her regenerative ability she would have had a patch of her skin permanently destroyed.
"Simple, we'll just have Tio and Yue form a protective barrier around us. I have confidence that with their density of mana we'll be fine~!" It was a blind trust but one Yue appreciated anyways. She held his hand fondly as the tree continued through the jungle. If not for Felis things would have escalated in a more unsavory manner.
"We're here." Pushing foliage out of the way, the group was met by a scene of destruction. Ships littered the area, each scarred and broken apart seemingly not by nature but by another source. Littering the area were a few skeletons with either what seemed to be holy robes or protective garbs.
The earth was stained black and craters made the ground look like that of swiss cheese.
"This must've been a war scene." As the Captain Obvious of the group Ivan felt a need to point that out.
"Ivan… look up there." Yue pointed at the largest ship. In fact, it was the ship Felis had first pointed out when surveying the area. Contrary to Yue's attention, there was nothing odd about it. It was easy to just shrug it off as the leading ship of one side. Nonetheless, he still led the group up there, carrying both Yue and Felis in one hand each before leaping up.
The moment the three stepped foot on the large ship the scene started to warp. The formerly tattered and scarred ships returned to their former glory. Quite turned to war as the scream of hundreds of men resounded in Ivan's ears. Explosions and spells littered the air being shot from ship to ship.
If not for the smell of burning flesh and blood, Ivan would have suspected that this whole event was a figment of his imagination. Except—!
"Now this is truly an illusion~" Ivan marveled as the island became a sea, and in that sea hundreds of warships. The smells and feelings were real yet that was impossible considering the circumstances. His interests in the ancient magic this dungeon held shot high up.
"RAAHHH!" As mentioned previously the roars of hundreds of men filled his ears. The ships that came alive, and the casters of the magic being launched, were all the happenings by men that fought from each ship. They wore the same gear as he had seen on the skeletons, only that those wearing holy robes were attacking those wearing plain combative gear.
They were enemies.
"For lord Ehit!"
"Glory to Ehit!
"Die you damn heretics, die in the name of our Lord!"
Of course, it all meant that what was happening here was a holy war. 'A little history lesson I suppose,' Ivan thought to himself. It was likely the creator of this labyrinth just wanted to test the will of this world's residents should they enter this dungeon.
Sure the barbaric nature of this fighting for what was believed to be a benevolent god might have disrupted the minds of inhabitants molded by the church now, but to Ivan who didn't reside here, Yue who didn't care about anything but Ivan, and Felis who just didn't care about anything other than her family, this little trick was of no use.
"Alright, this is pretty cool and all but let's get out of here~" Ivan was interested in the illusion but his first and foremost priority was clearing the dungeon—!
"Die!" A man covered in a templar-like outfit charged at Ivan with a dagger. Seeing the nonexistent threat Ivan simply lifted his arm to repel the attacker. However, the fist he sent his way did nothing to deter the attack.
Instead, his hand went through the templar's face with no resistance.
"Hm?" The man went through his arm and dug the dagger into his chest.
CLINK!
Unfortunately, a simple steel dagger wasn't going to penetrate armor forged of the strongest metal.
"How strange…" Ivan kept grasping at the man who continuously attempted to rip out his guts. Amused by his inability to interact with the apparition, he crossed his arms as the templar's attacks became more labored.
"So they get tired too… if physical prowess didn't work then how about this." The tendril of mana Ivan hadn't used in forever finally made its reappearance. It stabbed into the arm of the templar knight, penetrating it with no difficulty as did his arm. Only this time a different miracle occurred.
The templar knight could only open his eyes widely before disappearing into small orbs of light.
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Sleepy sleeepy! I'm o' so very sleepy! Honestly I ain't sleepy at all. I'm just hungry. I had two tacos for dinner yesterday and that was it for me. And right now it's 7:30AM but I don't eat breakfest so I gotta wait till like 11AM for lunch. Why do humans need to eat!? You know how much productivity I could get done if I didn't need to eat or use the bathroom! Can't believe humans got nerfed by god...
Aside from my abnormal eating habits, I wanna thank you all for reading today! It means a lot to me that I could continue to write like this for even a while longer. So once again, thanks. Have a great evening, and I'll see you all soon~!
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