A figure of a man was moving forward with a speed so high that the wind was deviated from its path and forced to break out. His eyes turned sharp as he saw an orange portal.
He looked around and saw a group of people wearing battle gears and varied weapons equipped by them.
They all looked at the incoming missile of man and the mages quickly started to conjure shields and combatants prepared their weapons. They didn't expect to fight outside the labyrinth.
"Don't, he's my friend." Elijah looked forward with a smile as the tall figure of Ryan landed with a bang which caused the land to shake on impact.
"Been a while, my brother." An oddly menacing voice came out of the dust cloud, his voice which gave the guardians accompanying Elijah fright of their life.
"Bro drink some warm water, you sound like a toad." Elijah started laughing.
The fellow guardians looked at Elijah with great respect. It was odd, Elijah, a leader?
That's one hell of a joke if you ask me.
Dust settled and a clean figure of Ryan came out, he was wearing a black turtleneck layered with a red suit jacket and pair of dress pants. On his head lay a black fedora and his eyes covered by a pair of sunglasses.
"By water, you mean?" Ryan smirked as he Patted Elijah's shoulder.
"You know what I mean." Elijah's face had a bright smile after meeting his friend. He had many questions but he can ask them later.
Ryan nodded and looked at the people behind him. They had different expressions, some were envious of his appearance, some had wide eyes when they realised who he was but the only person who had an almost expressionless face was Olivia, Elijah's elder sister.
"How have you been Olivia?" Ryan stood in front of her staring gently at her.
Her deep blue eyes sharp like daggers, eyes that held underlying cruelty. Straight jet black hair complimenting her gentle yet fierce freatures.
"You've grown taller." She said as she grabbed his sunglasses and wore them.
"This is mine now." Olivia said as she moved towards the bright orange portal.
"Damn! Elijah, your sister is more of a thug now." Ryan turned around and said to which Elijah just shrugged.
"So, this will be your first Labyrinth run?" Elijah and Ryan followed the group of Guardians led by Olivia.
"I guess so." Ryan said in a half distracted tone.
"Dude you good?" Elijah followed Ryan's gaze and saw that it was locked on his sister.
"Dude, don't tell me you like my sister." Elijah almost felt like laughing.
"No, she is a necromancer." Ryan was able to recognise varied abilities and affinities inside a human.
"Yes, she just found out a while ago. She can't do much with it for now." Elijah sighed when he remembered that he was the training dummy for his sister.
They reached the entry gates maintained by the awakened association. A guard quickly checked their ID cards and were allowed entry.
Now it was Ryan's turn to show his ID but when was about to pull it out the guard shook his head and said "We already know you, no one can forge your identity."
Ryan was authorised in a few moments and they stepped near the portal. Ryan touched the portal and felt a slight tremor from it. It only lasted a moment and Ryan didn't bother with it.
Olivia approached Ryan and stared at him for a few seconds.
"Your hat. I want it." Olivia lifted her hand to swipe his hat but Ryan quickly stored it in his mind space.
"This woman is a thief." Umbra was clearly annoyed.
"I am not giving it." Ryan grabbed her wrist and smirked.
"I believe in fair exchange. Do you have anything you can give me?" Ryan crossed his arms.
Olivia didn't reply and went forward to order the group to enter the labyrinth.
"Damn dude you got ignored." Elijah was laughing.
"Heh, says the man who didn't even pull bitches after gaining superpowers." Ryan and Elijah stepped inside the portal after everyone entered.
The moment Ryan stepped inside he felt a similar feeling. It was like he was entering an isolated space but very weak.
The fabric of space and time was barely holding up.
"This place is either made in a hurry or not paid attention to at all." Umbra said with a mind equivalent of snort.
"You are wrong, we can see through the curtains because we are stronger, Olivia, Elijah and others didn't even pay attention to the unstable mana signature." They appeared inside the portal.
The atmosphere of the labyrinth was dark so the mages conjured small fire torches to make the path visible.
"This labyrinth has a total of 20 floors with the last one being a boss room." Olivia said in a bored tone.
"The monsters are fire resistant and are similar to tarantulas." She continued
In front of them was a huge bronze door depicting an image of a huge spider army attacking a group of people.
"How many times have you guys done this?" Ryan asked in a calm tone.
"Maybe 13 times." Elijah said as he put his guard up.
"That must've been boring." Ryan said knowing that doing the same thing again and again is usually boring.
Olivia pushed the bronze door with her leg and entered after gesturing to her team to follow her.
Ryan and Elijah quickly entered the place and heard the door close with a loud bang.
Ryan suddenly felt a lot of eyes on him.
"Tanks move forward, Knights prepare to attack, mages light up the place and healers be prepared for any sudden injuries." Olivia ordered strictly.
The whole place was turned bright as the mages activated their spells. The team consisted of 3 tanks, 5 knights, 2 healers, 4 mages and 1 brawler.
This was not the standard matchup but still not bad because Olivia could create more fighters as the enemies were defeated.
"Ryan, show me what you got." Olivia said in a loud tone.
"Elijah, support Ryan." Olivia lunged forward.
Ryan and Elijah nodded at each other and rushed in different directions. It was a competition for them.
A black tiger with golden stripes jumped out of Ryan's body and went on her own path.
"I don't like insects." Ryan conjured a flaming spear and started slashing at the army of spiders.
"They are-" Olivia was about to say that they are fire resistant but stopped when she saw the spider burning.
"Oh well." She started attacking the giant tarantulas with her sword only to find two more figures finishing monsters with insane speed.
Roars of a tiger resounded as a pair of golden eyes travelled through the remaining darkness.
The tanks were deflecting damage with their shields. Mages rained down fire balls on the spiders.
The entire battlefront was filled with ugly shrieks as Ryan and Elijah continued their rampage. No defence or anything was needed as they were barely staying at a single place. Elijah was completely engrossed in the battle.
Thrill overpowered him as mana gathered in his chest and his body started to purify mana to meet his requirements. Elijah felt a sudden boost and streaked through the army of spiders, smashing their heads and severing their limbs.
"This is so fun." Elijah's joy filled scream echoed through the labyrinth floor.
On the other hand Olivia and the team were just watching them do their own thing. Umbra stood a few metres away from Olivia and her team.
Olivia glanced at the tiger with a strange glint in her eyes. The tiger seemed to fascinate her. She looked behind Umbra and saw a mountain of spiders. Unknown to her the spiders were being cleared at an alarming rate.
"And for the final touch." Ryan was floating as a huge red magic circle appeared above him as he lifted his hand.
"Fire Storm" The magic circle covered the whole floor as the whole army of spiders was revealed.
Olivia felt goosebumps after looking at their numbers.
"They are at least 20 times more in number than the previous time." She said, in a half worried tone.
Umbra's ears perked up as she looked at Ryan who released his destructive spell.
"Ryan, our theory has been proved. These portals are a trap." Umbra said with a mind equivalent of frowning.
"Well, time for a slaughter." Ryan said as he flew towards Elijah and picked him up with his left hand and dropped him near Olivia's group.
He stood before them and said in a serious tone.
"This might come as a surprise but we are trapped, this portal is about to break and it will become a gateway for the Invaders."
"What do you mean by that?" Elijah said as he was frowning like a kid after Ryan cleared the floor.
"The portals are like a trap we cannot avoid, if you clear it regularly, there will come a time when these portals become a kind of free for all gate. If you don't, then you'll face a labyrinth break." Ryan continued.
"Then why didn't F rank portals become these so-called gates when they were cleared more than a thousand times?" Olivia said in her usual strict voice.
"These S rank Labyrinths require more power to sustain them and not everyone can clear them. Only S ranks and above can do that." Ryan said
"Whereas the lower ranked ones have less power requirements as they have low ranked monsters. My hypothesis is that the lower ranked ones will break after a hundred more runs." Ryan continued
"Then what should we do now?" One of the tanks asked but he was sceptical of Ryan's words.
"All of you will be sent to a safe place and only Olivia and Elijah will stay with me." Ryan said as a black space opened beside him.
"Ryan, you are taking a risk. Your mind space is not powerful enough to hold so many living beings." Umbra transmitted as she approached Ryan in her tiger form.
"I'll be fine." Ryan said as he waved at them to move inside.
"Why should we trust you?" The same tank asked, his name was Vincenzo. He was a former mafia and an S rank guardian.
"Simple, you don't, I am not dying to protect you fools. Staying outside is your choice but remember that I will not even move a finger if you are in danger." Ryan calmly said as the black portal slightly shrunk in size.
Two healers quickly moved forward but they were stopped by Vincenzo.
"You rats, are you leaving us behind?" Vincenzo almost spit poison in anger.
The healers looked at him with a helpless expression and said "Vincenzo, we should listen to him. He is someone who is trusted by Boss and her brother."
The two healers went inside after finishing their words.
"Everyone! Move inside." Olivia raised her voice.
"But boss-" They wanted to stay with their boss, the person they respected more than anyone.
"It's an order." Olivia said as she kicked all of them inside.
"Bunch of Idiots." She scoffed.
"You've raised them well." Ryan coughed as blood trickled down his lips.
"Ryan, are you okay?" Elijah quickly held Ryan after he saw blood coming out of Ryan's mouth.
"Yes, I just felt a bit light headed." Ryan patted his shoulder.
Umbra immediately went inside Ryan's mind space and saw multiple small cracks forming.
"I'll kill them all." Umbra turned into her sword form and flashed through the black space.
The group was confused after being sent to this unknown place. Some of them started jumping and throwing attacks.
"Children of whores." Umbra cursed as she aimed herself at the person's head who just released an attack.
The woman who attacked was flabbergasted as she saw a sword coming straight at her. She instinctively covered her head to protect herself.
Umbra pierced her hand but couldn't go any further because Ryan stopped her.
"Ryan, why?" Umbra was enraged, she felt abused.
"Don't, they are our responsibility." Ryan didn't say anything after that.
Only silence was left in the mind space as the bloodthirsty sword seemed to attack anyone who dared to move.
________Thanks for reading.__________
Join my discord server from this link
https://discord.gg/dT2Tbhsx6D
If you like this book please leave a review, it helps me to improve and power stones are really appreciated.
Have a good day.