'Can my body handle that?'
Adam, lost in his own thoughts, waltzed down a lonely rock-walled passageway.
It had been twenty minutes since he started walking down this passageway, and so far, he hadn't found the exit. There was a very small chance that this would lead to the Boss Room, but he didn't care either way.
There was something more urgent in hand.
The air was dry and stifling, as if he were inside a dusty tomb.
This was one of the floors that perfectly created the dungeon atmosphere. However, this was an exception. There were similar-looking floors, but most floors looked like their own worlds, like the first floor's winter wonderland and the second floor's ruined world.
Adam pulled out a water canteen from his backpack, took a sip to moisten his already-dry lips, and then put the canteen back on the backpack before zipping it tightly shut.
At that moment, as he didn't stop walking to drink, he soon saw the end of the passageway. The exit was arched, leading to another chamber quite similar to the first room on the third floor.
After stepping through the arched exit, he saw that there were another ten paths to take.
Adam didn't look surprised by that, as he expected that and knew that there would be another ten paths at the end of these ones.
The difficult part was that each passageway was thirty minutes long, and nine of those were dead ends. It was different from the first room's ten paths, as they all led to similar chambers like this one.
Even if Adam continued to choose correctly and reached the end of the path he chose, there was a high chance that it still wouldn't lead to the Boss Room.
This was why this floor took the longest to complete, except if someone was lucky enough to find it on the first try, which rarely happened.
Adam slowly drew his shortsword from the scabbard, then cut "X" into the rightmost passageway's wall.
Surprisingly enough, he then moved to the path next to that, did the same, and dulled the blade slightly as he cut into the wall. Then he moved to another path again and did the exact same thing.
In the end, he left three X marks on the walls of the labyrinth.
After he was done, he sheathed his sword and then moved to the rightmost passageway and started trekking down the dark corridor.
'It doesn't matter if my current body can't handle… that…' Adam grabbed his shaking hand. 'I still have to do that. That's one way to tell the current limits of my weakened body.'
With his shield and backpack slung over his back, his figure disappeared into the dark corridor.
…
Ten minutes later.
Tap, tap, tap!
Rapid footsteps sounded from a passageway, and soon, a group of fifteen players arrived at the chamber, looking around quizzically.
"There, he marked that wall!" One of them shouted, pointing at the rightmost passageway.
As most of them were about to follow that, one of them suddenly cried out.
"That's also marked!"
One of them pointed with their long fingers to the path right next to that.
"There's another one!"
They all noticed that there were three paths marked, surprising them all.
"There is no way that he has been able to check out so many passageways already! It would take at least an hour to check a path if it is dead end!"
"Ramon, was that guy's name? Didn't he say that he would mark the paths he had already taken with X? This could mean that he already did, somehow."
"Impossible!"
In front of them, Nick rubbed his chin thoughtfully with a frown and said, "We have to split. Split into teams of three to five people each. Let's check out the passageways, and then if either of those paths leads to another chamber, come back here and let's regroup."
"What if we find him?" One of the players asked.
Nick looked at her and said coldly, "Kill him!"
They nodded and moved into groups before entering one of the three passageways.
Nick, with four of his friends following behind him, entered the rightmost passageway with their weapons already in hand.
…
"The dead end…"
Adam reached the end of the passageway with a wall of rock blocking his path.
He could always try to smash through the wall, but he knew that it would be futile and he would only destroy his weapon's durability.
After seeing how dark it was in the corridor, he took out a torch and some matchsticks. With a deep breath, he lit the torch and held it high above his head.
'I wonder how long it will take…'
Adam slipped his other hand inside his pocket, pulled out the silvery timepiece, and checked the time. It wasn't too late, and there was plenty of time before night.
After that, he pocketed the timepiece and put the torch down on the ground, making it lean against the rocky wall.
'I would rather do this with some light.' Adam thought to himself. 'I don't prefer using that move in the dark, especially without Kiryoku.'
He then pulled out his steel shortsword and moved his shield to his other hand. Then, with his back against the wall, he started waiting.
The time slowly ticked, the torch flickering as he kept his eyes trained on the dark corridor ahead.
At last, rapid footsteps echoed from the darkness. There were people running. Adam quickly counted five sets of footsteps approaching. It made his lips rise into a smile.
Scratch!
A steel shortsword, exactly the same as Adam's one, scratched against the rocky wall as figures began to emerge from the shadows of the darkness.
Nick, scratching his shortsword against the wall, looked over at Adam with a deadly glance. He didn't come here to play around. He was here for a simple reason—to kill.
"You dulled your blade for a dramatic entrance." Adam smirked. "Worth it?"
"Still acting like this even though you're overmatched and surrounded?" Nick grinned hideously. "What a foolish turd you are."
"I haven't been called a foolish turd before. As turd, yes, but foolish one? Not many have called me like that."
Adam chuckled humorously and continued, "I suppose you brought more with you, but they are busy checking out those two other paths? I hope they find the exit for me, I would appreciate it."
"You did that on purpose?" Nick asked with a frown. "You knew we were coming?"
"I had a hunch." Adam said, "Also, it doesn't hurt to make some preparations. I don't really trust anyone, and if someone followed the same passageway as I did, they most likely had malicious intentions."
"You should've marked more paths; spread our forces even further. Five against one, it is easy to tell how this will end."
Nick pointed his shortsword at Adam, his friends following in suit. They were like a pack of wolves, led by their Alpha Nick, waiting to devour Adam's flesh and leave nothing but bones behind.
"It is indeed easy."
Adam loosened the straps on his shield, removed it from his hand, and tossed it aside, surprising the players. They didn't understand what he was doing.
At that moment, Adam took a single step forward and moved his steel shortsword into an unorthodox reverse grip, the tip of the blade pointing towards the wall behind him.
"What is this?" Nick frowned.
'Please, my body, don't break.'
Adam's leg muscles strained, twisted, and bulged. He leaned forward, all his strength flowing into his legs like a relentless river. The steel shortsword began to tremble in his hand, a bead of sweat dripping down his forehead.
Crack!
The rocky ground beneath him cracked like a window.
As Adam blinked, his eyes then shot wide open, and as he launched forward, the ground below him exploded.
Boom!
Swoosh!
A gush of wind struck Nick in the face, and his eyes widened in horror.
'He is so fas—"
Spurt!
The blood spewed like a fountain of red liquid.