Chapter 444 - Living Labyrinth
Souta"s group secretly arrived in the Buckshawn state. The living labyrinth was situated in this place. They cleaned up the part of the forest and camouflaged the floating fortress to make it look like a mountain.
Only a few people were left to guard it and they didn"t worry about people stealing it. The controls of the floating fortress were with Torkez so no one would be able to control it or move it. The original controls of the floating fortress were left to Jamine and Torkez simply created a duplicate control to pilot the one that they brought.
The people that were left to guard it were Gyun"s party which Alice brought and a few comrades of Torkez when he was fighting the empire decades ago. Eleven people were left inside the fortress and they were training to improve their strength.
Souta even said that they could come out and explore the forest and fight some monsters to improve their experience in combat.
Doranjan, the dragon, and Yuko were too eye-catching so they had to sneak in at night while Souta used his [Dark Cloud Hunting] spell to block everyone"s vision so that no one would notice the two.
This simple event caused a commotion and a lot of people talk about it but then it quickly died down as some people said that it was only a normal mist. No one was harmed in this strange phenomenon so people didn"t take it seriously.
The rest of the group didn"t even stay longer in the Buckshawn state. They entered the living labyrinth to the 35th floor to meet with Yuko and Doranjan.
On this floor, the monsters were getting stronger and they could even rival C-rank experts in Imperium. So the group stayed here for a day to rest and Souta explained his plan to train here.
They easily cleaned the monsters of this floor. The C-rank power level was nothing compared to Souta"s group which was composed of high-level creatures.
Souta sat down and narrowed his eyes while pinching the bridge of his nose. He felt dizzy and his urge to kill was getting stronger.
"I think that you need to relax. Just resting for a few days isn"t enough as you are still mentally exhausted. You have killed countless people and felt the emotion of their souls because of that artifact. At this rate, you will be consumed by your monster instinct and will become a mindless monster." Saya"s voice was filled with concern. "You don"t have to burden yourself too much."
"I know... I"m trying to calm down and relax but I still kept hearing it." Souta replied to her.
At this moment, Alice approached Souta and asked, "Are you okay, Souta? Is there something wrong?"
She knew Souta for a long time so she could easily notice that he was out of it. He wasn"t in his usual self and demeanor. He looked exhausted in her eyes.
Souta took a deep breath and exhaled before he answered Alice.
"Yes, I"m fine. I just need to rest for a while. Also, tell everyone to prepare. It"s time for you to have a parasitic essence eater to raise your combat prowess."
He said as he looked straight into her eyes.
Alice maintained eye contact for a few seconds before she broke it with a sigh.
"Fine, I will trust you for now. If I saw any sign that you"re still out of it then I will quickly stop you from going deeper into this labyrinth whether you like it or not."
She stood up and walked a few steps before she turned her head and added, "Just remember that your health is more important than this labyrinth. We can always go back here anytime so if you are feeling sick then I"ll stop you."
Souta watched her back and thanked her before closing his eyes. He was only planning on waiting for the rest but he didn"t think that he would quickly fell asleep.
When he woke up, he found that everyone was here and they were watching him.
He rubbed his eyes and yawned before he asked, "What"s wrong?"
"Nothing, Alice just pointed out that you"re out of your performance. You must be quite tired so we let you sleep for a while." Torkez was the one who answered him.
"It"s okay. I"m fine and there"s no need to trouble yourself." Souta waved his hand as he stood up and patted his clothes.
"So, what"s the plan now? Alice said that you will transplant a parasite to our bodies, is that true?" Franklin said to him.
"Yes, it"s true but I"m not forcing anyone of you. As you can see that I have the parasite queen in my body so once you have a parasite your life and death are in my hands." Souta said as he looked at their eyes one by one.
"I don"t have a problem with it. It can boost my strength so why not. Also, Torkez and Lydia had parasites so I"m fine with it." Franklin said. He didn"t need to think about his decision. Ever since he swore that he will treat Souta as his king, his life was already in Souta"s hands.
Yenxa, Yuko, and Doranjan also didn"t have a problem with it.
"We"re fine with it."
Isabella and Alice said. Alice hesitated for a while there but she decided to place her trust in Souta. Once she took the parasite, then there"s no way back.
After all, the topic of her life and death was too big. If her father got to know about this, Souta would get in trouble. She was a daughter of a Great Demon Emperor and her father was one of the strongest figures in the Demon"s Land. That man wouldn"t let anyone control her daughter"s life aside from him.
"Are you sure?"
Souta asked them once again and the answer that he received was the same so he proceeded to give them one parasite each. Only the queen"s host could take several parasites. The other host would only suffer as two different parasites would fight inside the body of the host.
It was easy to take a parasite inside one"s body. They will only touch the sleeping parasite with their hands and the parasite will wake up. Then, everything depends on the person that touches it. If that person has sufficient strength then that person would be able to hold the parasite if not then that person will die.
Doranjan, Franklin, Alice, and Yuko successfully integrated the parasites into their body. Souta hold Yenxa and Isabella as their power level were too low and they will only die.
They should wait until they reached B-rank. Isabella was close to this level but Yenxa was still too far. She needed to become a second evolution first before she could hope to reach B-rank just like how Souta achieved B-rank when he was still a second evolution monster.
After they got the parasites, the group started to familiarize themselves with their newfound powers. They would train themselves here in the living labyrinth to master the parasitic essence eater to the level of Torkez"s control.
Souta too was practicing his control and was asking Torkez for some pointers to easily manipulate the parasite in his body.
"Okay, we"ll start now. Let"s go on deeper floors and clear it."
Souta clapped his hand and said to everyone. The real challenge of the living labyrinth will start now. Actually, he finds this labyrinth easier than the living labyrinth that he cleared in the game. But they were still on the 35th floor and who knows what more it could offer.
The group cleared the 36th floor to 39th in one day. Then, they met some resistance on the 40th floor. The 40th floor was different from the floors above as it was larger by several folds. It was even larger than the city above this labyrinth.
The group came out of a small pa.s.sage and saw the 40th floor. They couldn"t saw everything as the thirty-meter tall trees covered the whole land like a carpet. The vibe here was different as they could hear birds chirping in every direction and the sound of wind blowing.
"Everyone be careful. Especially you Isabella and Yenxa." Souta said to them.
"Yes,"
"Yes, my lord."
Isabella and Yenxa nodded at him and they glanced around with a wary expression.
"Still, I didn"t think that there would be this kind of place beneath the city. It"s my first time seeing something like this." Torkez said.
"Yeah, it"s quite intriguing how this was made." A smile formed on Franklin"s face.
"Something is wrong. The noises disappeared." Alice said as she narrowed her eyes.
"Yeah, they are already here." Souta smiled as he looked at the branches of the trees and saw countless monkeys with yellow fur.
"Ehe~ let"s start the battle." Franklin quickly rushed towards the monkeys with an excited expression.. His mana burst out and it swirled around his fists.