๐๐ถ๐บ๐๐ฟ๐ฎ ๐ฆ๐ฎ๐ล
"Haaah...haaah...hah." I was panting heavily after going for consecutive fights. The sun was setting for the third? fourth day ever since entering this maze?
Right now, I was fighting four grasschoppers, two bee lancers, and five mantis swordsmen. The gap between the black lines was considerably wider and the walls of the maze were now also wider.
A clashing sound resounded as I block the sword-like arms of the mantis, I then push them off with my blade before dashing at the two of them and slashing in a sweeping motion but due to the thickness of their exoskeleton, I only managed to kill one of them whilst the other raised its right hand, pulling it overhead before slashing with its strength.
With a fast dash back, I managed to dodge the attack however I had to use my precious time to help balance myself.
My hands were shivering a bit but I was still in good form overall. I look at the mantis swordsmen, like the name says, they were mantis that was slightly larger than me and their arms were straight and sharpened.
My senses tingled then I immediately dash left hitting the wall before two bee lancers pass me and a grasschopper missing its slash. The grasschopper slowly walked toward me while the bee lancers waited in the sky as three mantis swordsmen runs at me.
I immediately sheath my longsword before running away and circling them and meeting a lone mantis swordsman who tried to slash me horizontally I slide on the rough ground which hurt my hips but I at least made it behind it.
I pulled my longsword from its sheath with a reverse grip and stabbed its head, killing it instantly then I sensed an approaching death in the direction where my mouth was so I rolled to my way before a bee lancer charged at where I previously was.
While one of my legs was kneeling, I gripped the longsword normally and pulled it out from its head. In front of me were three running mantis swordsmen while on my left was a grasschopper who was slowly walking at me.
I stood up and ran to the grasshopper then I attacked with an overhead slash and since I was faster, it died easily as its head was split in two and falls to the ground with a thump.
Another bee lancer came charging at me, with my longsword raised, I slash at the lance diagonally and hit the ground next to my right foot then I hit the bee lancer with my pummel, knocking it on the ground before slashing its head.
I look at my remaining enemies, there were three mantis swordsmen, three grasschoppers, and the last bee lancer.
The three mantis swordsmen, like a robot, were still running at me; with my longsword raised to my left side, I activated [Undying Focus] and dashed towards them.
With a yellow trail left behind, I ran at them and slashed horizontally knocking them to the ground then tilt my body back to dodge the bee lancer's stab, however before it could pass me, I kicked its stomach with my knee then hit its back with the pommel of my longsword, stunning it for a few seconds which was enough to dodge the incoming slash from the jumping grasschoppers.
I dodge to the left and stabbed its head before dashing back then counter-attacking with a diagonal slash and finally, I tilted my body to the side, dodging the vertical slash from the last grasschopper and now it tried to jump back however I jumped first since although it walked slow, it can jump faster than anything, I ever saw.
It jumps just like I predicted but it only met my longsword which splits its head in half, I then spun my longsword so that I could hold it in a reverse grip and then dashed towards the bee lancer who was ready to fly again but was sadly interrupted by my stab to its head.
The mantis swordsmen were slowly standing up so I ran towards them and slash the one farthest to the left and this time, it managed to block, I then used my left foot for a weak roundhouse which was enough to make it kneel before spinning my body around and slashing the rightmost mantis swordsman and cut his body in half, leaving only a yellow trail.
I breathe out and slashed at the air as if I were trying to wipe away the blood from my longsword, my feet walked slowly as I approach the middle mantis swordsman and stabbed its head before looking at the last of my enemies.
It was weakened like the others after slashing their chest and making them bleed, dark-colored blood profusely. I deactivated the skill and finally killed the last one, there was no sympathy, only the feeling of relief from finishing a tedious job.
I sigh before my legs gave out and I fall to the ground gasping for air, my hand grasped my chest and felt a fast-beating heart, I was certainly alive.
I then grabbed my waterskin and drank the last of it before laying down on the ground away from the bodies to avoid getting stained by their blood.
Time passed as I rest and after fifteen minutes, I stood back up and looked around me. Every time, I win a battle against them, that space becomes usable for later battles since it will only become more crowded as I press on.
The place I'm standing at was about fourteen spaces away from where I started and where they spawned.
Looking around, there were countless corpses of grasschoppers, bee lancers, and mantis swordsmen not to mention the other new enemies called the beetler, a tank-like enemy, and grass dragons aka dragonflies who are the size of a wyvern and can throw fire.
All of them lay dead and at some spots, there was also there was a concentration of dead bodies which was where I used [Undying Focus] to easily kill most of them, in total, I must have used it twelve times.
I reached a black line beyond the space where they spawned and beyond it was a giant circular room, looking at the map, it was very near the middle where the giant tree was.
It seems this maze only had two layers, the first layer being a time waster but was also the biggest, taking about 40% of the maze's size while this one was just a gauntlet of monsters which took about 30% of the maze's size.
Looking at the map again, I looked at where I started the second layer and where I was now and the difference was like night and day.
I started at the place which had the same gap between the walls as the first layer but as more and more creatures spawned, that gap become bigger resulting in where I was now which felt more like a gigantic hallway.
In truth, I only fought twenty-nine times on my way to the right path, and fourteen times on the wrong path where I felt it was way easier even though, I was fighting for my life on the last space.
The map was mostly complete with some giant spots of nothingness since I didn't explore them.
A thought came to my mind.
"Now that I think about it, I wonder where those portals led to?" I asked myself but then I started to feel relief.
"Thank god, I was lucky enough to get into the right portal first try," I said sighing.
I sat down, next to the black line and looked at my debuff tab though I didn't need to see it. I knew well that I was very weak since I only eat one meal every other day but I the reason, I haven't collapsed yet was thanks to the river that was near the maze so I just kept leaving and drinking water along with my horse before going back and fighting.
"Thanks to undying focus, I easily beat the second layer in just a day," I said to myself.
I almost couldn't believe it that after years passed, I was the one to have reached this far.
Undying focus was a simple skill where a combination of being in a life-threatening position would give me a large surge of adrenaline and with my calm mind caused me to become a stronger swordsman for a limited time.
I stood back up and made my way out of the maze and brought the horse with me to the river.
Passing the four failed experiments corpses whom I fought the first time I made my way here, I got my two waterskins and filled them up while the horse practically headbutted the river and drank without mercy.
I pat the horse on the head as he drank and waited for him to be finished before going back.
"Ah, Himura!" A familiar voice greeted me.
It was the tabaxi, jade.
I didn't know what to say, this was our second time meeting after all, however, I kept my composure and approached.
"You still doing the maze?" She asked and I nodded.
"I see, well keep going, no one went there ever since their death," Jade said in a sad tone.
I didn't ask deeper and then she turned around and left but I had something else to ask her.
"Wait!"
"What wrong?" She turned to me and asked.
"Back then...why? It was our first time meeting, I would understand if it's in the summer but it should be winter now"
I asked why she had sex with me the first time we met but then she only laugh.
"Fufufu, even if it's not the summer, I still had humanity in me you know, so if I haven't done it for a long time, I started to get in heat."
Hearing that answer, I felt dumb but she added something else.
"Besides, take this advice from me."
She approached me and using her hand, revealed my full face.
"You're quite a rare prey," Jade said with her eyes looking at mine like I was food.
She laughs a bit. "You should be careful or else someone else might feast upon you."
"I...I'll keep it in mind," I said to her, my face still not changing but I could feel a slight warmth in it.
"Good," She said briefly before disappearing after entering the forest beyond the steppes.
I breathe out and started walking back, the horse neighs at me.
"Shuddup." I didn't understand what he said but I felt like I knew.
As I walk, I look to my left and there was a hill with a form similar to stairs, the actual steppes, after a minute or two, I enter the maze once again and this time, to reach the core.
There was no way, I could fight the thing waiting for me there after a long day of fighting so I lit a fire to the same campfire where I met Jade and immediately fell asleep.