"Thanks, I think that's enough," I said to Laura as I stopped her from using any more mana to heal my injury. "Save up your mana in case we have any other casualty," My arm felt fine now, and as long as I can move it, I won't have any problem fighting against these monsters.
"B-But it's not completely healed," Laura said as she tried to get me to come back
"I said it's fine," I repeated and Laura finally relented when she saw how serious I was. I didn't mean to sound forceful, but water magic was very closely related to light magic and the Heart of Darkness was already getting irritated just by being close to Laura. I need to give her some space so that the heart calms down.
"What sort of magic was that?" Mark asked while I was wrapping my forearm with some bandages, "I've never seen any black fire-based skill."
"That's because it is not a fire-based skill at all," Hugo finally spoke up from behind the group. I forgot he was with us for a moment there. He came up to look at me and continued, "It's a [Dark] skill. I haven't seen one in my life but I heard that it is very powerful. Are you a [Dark] mage?" Hugo asked.
"And what if I am?" I retorted, "Will you think I'm a demon? Are you going to report me to the church to have me exorcised?"
Hugo's eyes widened a little in shock that I knew he was from the church. Who did he think he was fooling? Hugo was already an F rank, so that means that he already has many skills that he can choose a class from. But members of the church usually wait till they are eighteen before choosing a class because they hope that they will be able to find a [Light] skill and become a [Light] mage. Once I put all of that together, I easily guessed that Hugo was from the church and he was only going into the dungeons while hoping that he would find a [Light] skill.
"Okay, let's all calm down," Johnny came into the picture once again, "No one is going to get exorcised here," he said to Hugo, "Jason saved our lives and I don't think he is dangerous. Let's just keep going."
I noticed that the tension among the team reduced once Johnny spoke up. It seems that the group really trusts him even though he is a little childish. I didn't care either way and I stood up and continued walking again. We went deeper into the caves, and this time, Johnny and I were in front while Mark went back to stand with Clara so he could also provide support for us.
Laura already gathered more than seventy mana crystals from the spiders, and at this rate, each of us would get a hundred and fifty bronze coins at least. We were taking care of another horde of spiders when Mark spoke up, "Hey guys, look over here," he said, "There's a huge door here."
I perked up once he said that there was a big door. That means that we were already at the end of the labyrinth. This is usually the point where most F-rank adventurers stop and they return to leave the dungeon because the monster on the other side of that door was the dungeon boss.
"Okay, I think we should head back now," Johnny said. From the way he was looking around, I could tell that he has never come this deep into the dungeon before and he was uncomfortable because he didn't know what to expect, "We already have a lot of mana stones and we and sell them for a lot of money, so we should get back before things get dangerous."
"Oh, come on," Clara said haughtily as she touched the door and looked back at us with her other hand on her hip, "Just how dangerous can it be in here?" She sounded so sure of herself that I wondered if she was an idiot. It was obvious that she really has no idea what it meant to touch that door and she just touched it so easily. Clara continued like she was the leader of some revolution giving a speech before the final battle, "We've been fine all this time, so maybe ā"
A loud groan suddenly echoed through the labyrinth and everyone went silent as the door to the boss room slowly opened behind Clara. Clara turned around with wide eyes as she stared into the darkness beyond the door.
Dooon!!!
An immense pressure came from the other side of the door and all of them immediately stepped away from the door. I narrowed my eyes as I heard a sound coming from the other end of the labyrinth.
"Get ready," I said as I drew my sword and faced where the sound was coming from. The others also prepared themselves as they heard the sound as well, "On my signal, just run, don't look back, and don't stop else they'll swarm you."
"W-What's happening?" Laura asked as she hid behind Johnny and Mark. She was only a healer, so she was the most vulnerable among us. I didn't tell them that the sound they were hearing was hundreds of spiders converging on this one spot because the door has been opened. If I told them that, they will lose all the will to fight and they will be dead before they even start.
"Iā¦ I'm sure it's nothing," Clara stammered as she started moving back, "Maybe it is just the labyrinth playing tricks on us?"
Clara was completely stunned by the consequences of her actions. She knew that she was the cause of this, but she just couldn't accept it. That was why she didn't see the giant sider leg that extended out from the door behind her and loomed over her.
"Pay attention, you idiot!" My scream shocked everyone as I immediately ran towards Clara and grabbed her hand. I pulled her out of the way as the leg came down and pierced me instead. Laura screamed from behind Johnny as he, Mark, and Hugo began to fire spell after spell at the giant leg. But there was no way their weak F rank spells would be able to hurt a monster like this.
"Run!" I shouted to them as I was dragged into the room by the leg, "Just run!!"
Once I was taken into the room, the door slammed shut behind me and I saw a prompt appear in front of me
[You have entered the boss room of the [Labyrinth of Shadows]. You are not allowed to leave until the boss monster [Night Fang] is defeated]
[The [Night Fang] hisses at you hungrily]
[The [Heart of Darkness] snickers at your pitiful acting skills]
I ignored both of them as I just applied magic to my arms and dragged myself off the spider leg. I didn't have a fatal wound because my armor took most of the damage, but there was a hole near my stomach and I knew it was only a matter of time before I bled out unless I got out soon. I only made it look like I was in danger because I really wanted to get inside this room. That is why I didn't stop Clara when she touched the door either. Now, they wouldn't think that I put them in danger on purpose. I don't want too much negative attention before I become strong enough to handle at least B rankers.
[The [Heart of Darkness] appreciates your cunning plan, but thinks you should have just killed them all.]
"What part of 'I don't want too much negative attention' didn't you understand?" I asked in annoyance
Skitter! Skitter! Skitter!
I had to stop arguing with it as I heard the [Night Fang] crawling across the roof of the room. This room was extremely large and there were spider webs attached to almost every part of the walls. One mistake here and I would not be able to move anymore.
I immediately brought out some bandages from my purse and started to tie my sword handle to my hand as I saw the monster coming into view. The spider was as large as a hose. It had eight large legs that spread out from one end of the room to the other end and its six eyes blinked at the same time as they stared at me. I felt a small shiver pass through my core as I saw those eyes. I wasn't afraid of the spider, but I just hated looking at it because of freaky it was.
I already fought against the [Night Fang] before and I defeated it, but that was when I was already an E ranker and I could handle this monster with ease. My current self was significantly weaker than that, but I was going to make sure that the outcome is the same.