The passageway beyond the hidden door was quite different from the layout of the first layer.
It was more akin to a cave with no sign of plant life growing on it's surface, moreover the whole cave had an unaccomodating terrain. I could also feel that the temperature was significantly colder.
The only saving grace from this place was the dim lighting coming from crystals which glowed yellow, red and green. All of which light up at random intervals.
"...This is one straightforward path huh.."
I climbed up an incline, noticing that unlike the normal passage which had multiple seperate paths, this place had only one.
I continued to traverse the cave, looking here and there to find unsual things not in my current knowledge.
In the novel, it was only described that the group only traversed the hidden passage while also describing their current thoughts and state.
It didn't include any of the sophisticated details such as the crystal lightings or any other minor stuff that I had seen while travelling inside the cave.
'..It seems that not everything written in the story is reflected in this world. I have to be more mindful about this stuff..'
As I was around a turning point, I suddenly heard low pitched grunts from the other side.
I quickly became alert and hid, minding to steady my breathing.
'..If I'm not mistaken, they should be those things'
I collected myself and put on my goggles. I then activated my innate skill [Penetrating Gaze].
I looked through the edge of the wall I was hiding at and at the end of the path was a group of small figures which I already expected to find when I came here.
"..One-horned Imps..., Seven in total"
I deactivated my skill and then let out a heavy breath as I recollected what I knew about these things in class and in the story.
Monsters or mobs found in the labyrinth are your typical enemies inside these type of places.
They are also basically spawned by the labyrinth itself although no scholar has yet to verify how and why such phenomenon happens.
More importantly though, these monsters have specific habitats, habits and behaviors which are consistent and described in studies, notably mobs are seperated by layers and had found a direct correlation to their mystic tiers.
Monsters like humans and demi-humans have mana channels hence they have access to mana as well, this in turn lets them have mystic tiers as well.
Although monsters might have about the same power or more to delvers considering the matchup of tiers, delvers still have an advantage over them since most monsters are not that intelligent.
Some of them are dangerous because some are intelligent but those are cases for high tiered monsters in the lower layers.
The lower the floor you go, the higher the tier the mobs you will find although this will not always be the case because some mobs are able to travel through all layers in the labyrinth.
'In this case, the species of the Imps are nuisances for newbies because of this ability. Luckily, one-horned imps are Tier 2 mobs and only have skills for stealth and short range combat'
One-horned imps have a protuding giant horn in the center of their forehead, has a tail and have the height of about 75 inches.
They have purple skin and have sharp claws and teeth. Most are specialized in surprise attacks and traps.
That's about all I knew.
I took out Sixth from my vrace and activated my class skill, [Reload Belt].
In the my right hand holding my gun, six revolving white bullet shaped mana spheres appeared in the blink of an eye. They were revolving in fast speeds.
All of the mana bullets was then quickly absorbed in the cylinder with sparks flying in the process.
I then wore my goggles once again.
'You got this. Even Jun was able to wipe these things out even before he got his treasure so there's no way I can't'
I focused on my hand holding Sixth, wanting to lessen the shaking from my first live combat scenario.
It didn't take long before I was calm enough to steady my grip.
"Here we go. 1....2....3!"
I came out of the corner as I faced the unassuming group of seven imps.
*Bang, bang, bang
I shot the ones at the center. Two were immediately dead after having a hole punctured in their head.
My other shot had miss slightly with the imp dodging to the side although it was shot in the shoulders.
It groaned in pain as it glared daggers at me.
"Kreeee!" it shouted in rage which prompted the others to finally engage me in a fight.
"""Kreeeee!""
The 4 remaining imps then quickly divided in seperate directions. They were fast as they closed in half of their distance away from me.
"Too late morons!"
Sixth shot out 2 bullets once again. It was aimed at the 2 imps from my left.
Two bullets shot through both of them, this time right through their hearts. Dodge all they want but they couldn't compensate the speed of my bullet at the halfway distance.
As the the imps from the left dropped dead, I aimed my gun at the right side where the two imps were already at close range.
Their claws glowed red as they jumped right at me.
*Bang
One streak of light left Sixth which directly shot through the closest imps head.
"Kree-!" it fell down to the ground.
"Kreeeee!"
The other one swung it's glowing claws at me with such ferocity but-
"[Reload Belt]" Three bullets revolved around my hand.
I dodged to the side, the claws closely swinging right past me. I stepped back quickly anticipating his other swipe.
His other swipe soon came after albeit it only hit empty air.
The cylinder produced sparks as it absorbed the reload belt. I then quickly aimed down at the imps head.
"Kreee!"
*Bang
It plopped down on the ground right after.
I looked around at the path filled with dead bodies and noticed that one was still missing.
"You're wasting your time you know"
'[Penetrating Gaze!]'
I looked at the front and at the back of the area.
"I can see your bones clear as day"
I then aimed at the the ceiling at front which was slighly close to me then unhesitantly shot.
The first bullet impacted the ceiling, rock fragments scattered as a smoky fog spunged out of the ceiling.
The remaining wounded imp from the start jumped down and dashed straight towards me.
'..[Lurk] is useless against me'
I shot again and blew off the imps right hand that was closing in on my face.
"!?, Kreeee!" It shouted in pain as it desperately swung it's other claws.
I dashed forward leaning slightly to the side. I was able to dodge his swipe, I then kicked him in the stomach making him hit the wall hard.
"..Kre..eee.."
The pink glow in my eyes vanished as I lifted my goggles to view the imp's sorry state. I furrowed my brows as I aimed Sixth at his head.
"....You already lost after the first shot.."
"K..ree-"
*Bang
One last streak of light left the muzzle as the cylinder got emptied.
I stored Sixth in my vrace as I massaged the center of my brows.
The whole cave was distorting right before my eyes due to the side effect of my eyes and also the nauseating feeling coming from my stomach made me hurl my breakfast.
"Ueehhhhh!"
After bending over and letting it all out. I recomposed myself and looked over the battle that had ensued.
"Hah hah...I shouldn't have missed those shots so why am I...."
I looked at my shaking hands. The raw feeling of pulling the trigger and seeing brain matter and blood splatter so easily made me realize how much I was taking this lightly.
I thought I would be fine after the two weeks of fighting a dummy but it seems that I'm still not used to taking life away.
'..Even though they're just mobs..fuck..'
I shook myself out of my thoughts and once again started to traverse the cave, not before taking one last look at what I've done.
"Oh man, I'm going to charge them extra for this.."
So I turned the corner and never looked back.
----
The path after encountering the group of imps was safe as I thought and was relatively easy to traverse.
After a little bit more walking, I was able to see twinkling shine of lights coming from the end of the path.
I sped up my pace and as I got inside the area at the end, my eyes shined in excitement.
"Jackpot!"
It was a wide open space with all sorts of items and scraps lying around. Some were obviously just trash and some were the genuine article.
The reason for that discrepancy was due to the imp's uncommon standard of things to rob.
Imps in general are thieves and trappers so in hindsight, I'm also a thief considering I was going to steal some of their stash.
As a matter of fact, some of these are obviously from other layers. Imps are able to travel to other layers so it's natural that some of these are high quality.
"Hmmm let's see..."
I scanned the place and carefully tried not to touch any of these things since this whole place would collapse on me if I did.
Those imps are just that greedy that they would rather destroy their stash rather than someone else gets it.
'..There's the Eclipse Earings, Wiseman's Monocle and the Scale Ring'
Those were the items that Jun and Emily were able to steal away before escaping the collapse.
"Now how about the other ones.."
I skipped over the junks and scraps and had only seen a handful of seemingly valuable items left.
There was a rainbow colored leaf and a green round orb.
"I think that's about it. Well that was more than I thought. I'm going to need to get these things appraised but for now.."
I thought over the best route in order to get all of the items in my list before I get crushed by the ceiling.
"Huuu ok let's do this"
I stared right through the first and most important item here that I need to get at all cost.
'Gratis'
A black and red tinted sword with a black chain hanging at the end of its hilt.
Jun's iconic weapon and the thing that unlocks his innate skill.
I let out a breath as I readied myself in a running stance.
I then sprinted forward as I grabbed the sword and quickly stored it inside my vrace.
*Crack
I ignored the cracking and shaking ceiling as I ran as fast as I could to store all the items in my vrace.
"I'm going to charge you double for this one Jun!"
I shouted at the top of my lungs as the whole cave collapsed.