Edited by: Kuro and Lille
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Once they all rested up, the group headed to the labyrinth to challenge it once more.
The plan was to train Andrea, Felicia, and Lamine from floors 1-20 without leaving the labyrinth. Grey had already bought enough food for 2 months since he was the designated luggage carrier. It shouldn't take more than 2 weeks to get to floor 20, but if they fell through another hole, they would have more food prepared.
Reyner would still tank in the front, but Andrea, Felicia, and Lamine would be the only ones actively attacking to get their levels up higher. Andrea and Lamine were on level 19, and Felicia was on level 17. They didn't get a lot of EXP from the monsters on the lower floors because of their level and their lack of contribution. At most, they got ¼ of the experience points Grey got.
The experience system was weird. If a person was within 10 levels above or below a monster, they would get the maximum amount of exp. Anything further than that and the experience points were tremendously cut, which was why people were always on the move. They can't fight the same monsters at the same level forever.
As Grey was resting in the labyrinth city, Ebrose, he tried to gather information on the lower floors of the labyrinth. The majority of the information he got was that no one had ever made it to floor 40, the bottom floor. Even high-level veterans had lost their lives in this labyrinth. After losing 20 or so high-level adventurers within a year, the consensus was to avoid going further than floor 20 no matter what level you were on.
Those who went past floor 20 never made it out alive. This was something he had confirmed with hundreds of adventurers and residents of Ebrose.
As for why? He had no idea. There were no living adventurers that had made it out alive.
He would find out when he got there.
"Are you all ready?" Grey said as they stood outside the entrance of the labyrinth's cave.
Andrea looked over at everyone nodding their heads so he answered for them, "We are ready."
"Just as we have planned, we won't be leaving this labyrinth until we get to floor 20. We can get treasure chests this time, but we have to triple-check to make sure it isn't a trap. Also, no more running off alone, understood?"
They responded to him, "Understood!"
"Alright, let's get going."
Edwin led the way into the labyrinth. From then, it was intense training for the lower level members…
*****
Grey trained Andrea, Felicia, Lamine, and Micah for two weeks. When they safely made it out of the labyrinth, they were around levels 27-29. Micah leveled up to 34 though. During this time, they also practiced how to battle as a team. Through countless battles, they were finally able to read each other's movements and accommodate those around them. It made for easier and quicker battles.
When they left the labyrinth, they rested near the entrance. They were exhausted but happy that they made it out of the labyrinth alive. Plus, they felt stronger than ever.
"To think that Teacher Edwin was knowledgeable not only in healing and medicine but also in combat," Andrea said while looking at Edwin with respect and admiration. It was a huge change from when they were in the labyrinth the first time around.
Even Felicia felt her fears die down. She saw Edwin as her magic instructor from the moment he taught her how to efficiently use magic. She didn't even realize that she was using excessive amounts!
Grey chuckled. "I grew up as the only healer of a knight family. They wanted me to excel in both so that I would be able to protect myself."
It wasn't a lie but it wasn't the full truth. Edwin's family was a family of knights, but they never forced Edwin to learn the sword. It was Edwin himself who wanted to train because he wanted to be like everyone else in his family. At first, he hated the fact that he could use healing magic, but as time went by, he knew it was life-saving.
"A family of knights? From which country?" Now Reyner was curious about Edwin's family in this world. Reyner was also a former knight but his kingdom had fallen to ruins 6 years back. He had been roaming the world since then.
"It's the Luirian Kingdom. I come from a noble family. Earls to be exact. My family had been knights for four generations. My older brother took over as the Knight Commander when my father died."
"As for me, I had been searching the continent looking for a cure for my father's illness. I did find one, but I didn't make it in time…"
It had gone silent for a bit before Genji changed the subject. "How did you meet Micah?"
Micah was the one who responded to Genji, "I was living in the slums, dying of wounds that I had gotten from when I was beaten for stealing some food at a stall. That was when Doctor Edwin found me and healed me. Ever since then, he has allowed me to come with him on his travels. This happened four years ago!"
Micah saw Edwin as his savior. In his mind, he saw Edwin as his father and teacher.
After Andrea, Felicia, Lamine, and Genji got to know Edwin and Micah, they couldn't help but feel closer to them. Edwin seemed like an arrogant person but after going through his training, they felt it wasn't arrogance, but confidence in his skills. He knew what he was doing. He also cherished life. It was no wonder he was so hard on Felicia because her earlier curiosity was something that could get everyone killed. It was like Felicia from before didn't care about anyone but herself. Even Andrea, who had protected her all her life, was not cherished by her.
Luckily, Felicia was "reflecting" on her actions. Well, that was what everyone else thought.
Only Grey and Felicia knew that wasn't it.
When they finished resting and talking, the group went back to the city to rest for another week. They would be going back into the labyrinth for a longer period, so they needed to get ample rest.
During rest time, Grey taught the other group members to get them ready for the long trip into the labyrinth. He also met up with his friend, Tassilo. Grey wanted Tassilo and Reyner to meet officially as his lover. Tassilo was a bit shocked but soon welcomed Reyner.
They were a perfect match though. Reyner was one of the best tanks and Grey was strong and could heal. No one would want to battle a tank that had a healer with him…
Tassilo found it was good that Edwin had someone to not only protect him but also fight alongside him.
.
.
.
.
.
At the end of the week, Grey's group charged through the labyrinth once more, but this time, they teleported to floor 20.
Andrea, Felicia, and Lamine were a bit nervous but they were happy to have Edwin and Reyner on their side.
Grey brought 3 months' worth of food because he had no idea how long they were going to be there. He also had the food from before, but he stored that in his system space just in case. No one was around to see him put them away. If they didn't get the chance to use them this time, it didn't hurt to have the food there for another world. The time stopped in the system bag, so he didn't have to worry about anything rotting.
They didn't have to go through floor 20 again, so when they teleported inside, they were already by the descending staircase.
"Are you all ready?" Grey asked one more time, "We may not be able to leave here alive, so are you sure you all want to come with me?"
Andrea replied with vigor, "That's fine! We decided to follow you into this labyrinth and we will make sure to get out."
"Yes!" Felicia said.
"That's right." Genji nodded.
"I will also follow you, teacher," Lamine said.
Micah tugged on Edwin's sleeve. "Wherever you go, I will go!"
Reyner agreed with Micah, "Same here."
"Alright then, let's get going."
Grey led the way to floor 21. He knew the floors changed every 12 hours, but he wondered if they changed in complexity and difficulty… It would be nice if they didn't have another floor 21 where they were running.
When they got there, it seemed like they had a psychological shadow because no one wanted to leave the stairs.
'System 225, scan the floor.'
[Understood! Scanning floor in 3, 2, 1… Scanning complete. Please check the system map for the results.]
Grey opened up the map and frowned. There were no monsters and traps, so they would probably have to do a lot of running. The layout of the floor was different from the spiral floor 21 though. This time, it looked like a wave on a graph. There were seven crests and troughs. There were also small rooms at each trough.
'What's the distance between these rooms?'
[30 minutes. It's consistent this time.]
"Let's move out. We will be doing a lot of running today, but you are all prepared, right?" Grey asked the rest of the members. They did training to run for long periods. Even though it was hard, they were becoming used to it.
"Yes, sir!" Everyone said and then followed behind Grey and Reyner.
Reyner was placed at the front again while Genji and Andrea were at the rear. Lamine was next to Grey while Micah and Felicia were in the middle. Micah knew how to use a bow, but he couldn't use it often in the labyrinth so he also used a dagger for self-defense.
Reyner led the way for 20 minutes before he stepped on the trap that activated the giant stone balls. Everyone knew this sound so they ran at Grey's command.
It took them 10 minutes to get to the first room.
"Right off the bat, we are running." Andrea panted as he leaned up against the wall. He was carrying Felicia again because she still wasn't fast enough. She felt bad and vowed to practice running in the future.
"I hate running. I hate this labyrinth." Genji complained as he sipped some water that Felicia handed out to everyone.
Micah felt that his legs were burning but he didn't say anything. He just drank water and sat on the ground. He knew there would be more running, so he was bracing himself.
After resting for 30 minutes, Grey had them run again. The giant stone balls came by every 5 minutes, just like last time. If they cooled down, it would take a while before they could run again. They all wanted to get off this floor as soon as possible…
"Don't look back!" Grey shouted while holding Reyner's and Micah's hands.
"Breathe in through your nose and out your mouth. Don't try to speed up and keep a constant pace!"
Everyone wanted to say something but they were focused on running and breathing. Andrea grunted an acknowledgment so Grey knew that they were listening to him.
As they ran, the floor began to tilt, making it easier for the stone balls to move through the floor.
Micah almost tripped but Grey quickly stabilized him. Running downwards was hard, but they had to keep going. The stone balls got faster when the floor moved like so.
Once again, they made it to the next room. This time though, the slower members (except for Felicia), were exhausted. Grey knew it was time to let them rest.
"We are going to be here for the next couple of days…" Grey sighed. He didn't want it to be like this either. Running like that was annoying. Especially when there was a giant stone ball right behind them.
"Once we get through this labyrinth, let's never come here, ever again," Andrea said, full of grievances.
Everyone gave a sound of agreement.
They would rather fight monsters than have to run like this ever again. A fight with a dragon sounded more appealing than this!