Sleek white monoliths rose from the floor like twisted ribs. The darkness encased them from all sides like flesh and the ceiling was a blend of strange marks and images, forgotten languages lost to time and history.
A series of frantic footsteps and squeaks echoed in these tunnels, and behind them followed a roar. A roar that seemed eerily akin to a stampede.
'Run! This way!' A brown blur moved amid the structure, leaving a transient tail of light behind it.
"Huff! Huff! This is crazy!" Reuben yelled, turning around an edge and running further down. His eyes had sharpened mysteriously, allowing him to brave the darkness he previously found suffocating and the strength in his legs seemed endless now. But the way his heart pounded across his chest, the way his lungs greedily sucked in air, the way sweat poured from his temples and the constant roar of voices behind him was all too much.
He stumbled across a short flight of stairs and then rolled down a long circular slide. Ahead, a boulder blocked his way. The colour from his face drained instantly, but Freddy's voice made him calm down.
'This way! Come quickly or I'll leave you behind!' Right beside the boulder, a small crack was in the wall, just enough for a small child to pass through.
Reuben got off the ground and ran over.
Just when he was about to run through the crack, he heard something break behind him and turned reflexively.
The slide had crumbled under the weight of the stampede, and a jumble of body parts and animals was now visible. Woman with scaly skin and two snaky trunks for their legs were at the forefront. Behind them trailed gigantic men with tattoos on their bodies, and multiple zombie like creatures.
Without wait, Reuben ran into the crack. The space was cramped as expected, but he trudged on.
The crevice was about 20 meters long and led him to another tunnel. It was the same darkness, the same walls that pressed close on both sides and the same brick floor. The only difference was that the ceiling had now disappeared, leaving a void above that pulsed every now and then with a red light.
"...I don't like this place." Reuben muttered out a meek remark. Hearing his words, Freddy shook his head and squeaked.
'Be grateful that we're alive at least. We need to find a way back to Nathan... The labyrinth is monster infested in the first place, but I didn't think there'd be so many in here.' The squirrel shook his head and disappeared in a blur of phantom light, to scout the way ahead.
Reuben felt like crying again. In a single day, he had found a big bro who was strong and cool, had hope of returning to the real world again and also hoped to one day be able to perform magic like his big bro. But it all came crashing down with the one-eyed big man...
They had been split apart and the fate of his big bro was unknown. For a moment, he felt like curling into a ball and let out some tears, but he pushed them down.
I need to find big bro again... He's alright. I know he is.
He wiped his watery eyes and took in a deep, shaky breath. Freddy returned just a moment later and signalled him to follow.
'We should get out of here.' He reasoned. 'Two groups split apart in here are unlikely to meet again. Nathan can find his way around here but that won't be helpful in finding us. Only if we return to the world above will we have a chance. And the monsters have your scent, demigods are their favourite delicacies.'
Hearing his grim words, Reuben felt a shiver run down his spine.
"But we can't leave big bro behind!"
'He'll find his way around!' Freddy shrugged but his words sounded unsure. Truth be told, he knew Nathan's survival chances were slim. He was strong and fast for a mortal, but a Cyclops? That was a tough deal for even demigods to deal with; much less a mortal. He had a powerful weapon, but would that really help?
Freddy didn't think so. Nathan could take any weak monster with his level of strength, but when it got to the stronger ones, Freddy was sure he stood little chance. The only hope he had was that the man had escaped and they would run into him once they got out of here. There was no other way about this.
As they trudged ahead, they came across a room. It held two doors, both were pitch black like always and there was a fountain in the center of the room. The left one seemed harmless enough. It was made with white marble and was covered in vines. The right tunnel had mushrooms growing outside of it and the faint smell of nature was unmistakable in there.
Freddy was worried they'd be led right back to the tunnel covered in roots if they went that way, so he opted to scout the left path first.
'Stay here.' He told the boy who nodded nervously.
His form sped forward, his little legs carrying him with speeds which would normally be impossible for any living creature. The tunnel turned into a blue, the darkness becoming mere background as he sped ahead.
But then, something made his run come to a stop.
Hisss!
A serpentine body slithered across the tunnel, its scales a deep shade of brown and in the place where its head should have grown, sprouted nine of them. A Hydra.
'What are you doing here?!'
Freddy's fur prickled with alarm and his hackles stood tall. Worse of? The Hydra was travelling in their direction.
Freddy spun around instantly, darting back with triple the speed!
'Oh crap....' He squeaked softly and as Reuben came into view, he spoke with an alarmed voice, 'Don't just stand there looking at me! Run! There's another monster this way!'
Reuben's face contorted with fear. Freddy reached the room again and prepared to head back, but them, the colour drained further from his face. The way back was closed. Where there should have been a door, there was a simple wall.
'Oh no.' He muttered. His eyes rapidly darted to the two remaining tunnels. One had the Hydra, so the choice was obvious. 'Let's go!'
He heard Reuben's frantic footsteps getting left behind as he checked ahead for any dangers ahead. The tunnel was packed full of giant mushrooms, the size of a full grown man. They were so crowded that there was barely any room to move in. But Freddy knew it wouldn't be a problem for the Hydra. In addition to its serpentine form, it could simply spew its venom to melt through the tunnel to get to them.
Freddy came to a stop at the entrance of a room. The room was a circular dome with multiple tunnels leading in every direction. The roof was 14 meters high and sunlight seemed to seeping in through the cracked stone.
He stood in the center of the large room, looking all around. He was confused on where he should lead Reuben. If he had been alone, he would have run around the entire labyrinth if that was what it took to get out. But Reuben wasn't as fast as him. Although he had a talent for running, he would not be able to keep up. He was only a small demigod after all, not even past 10 and had only been recently made aware of his origin and powers.
Just before he was about to dash ahead to scout, footsteps rang from the tunnel behind him. His eyes widened in surprise and he looked back to find Reuben already there.
He was breathing heavily, sweat pouring down from his temples in waves and his clothes were completely drenched in sweat.
"Huff! Huff! Where... Huff! To?"
Freddy tilted his head and scratched his nose frantically. Reuben's scent was really giving them trouble right now. It had even triggered a Hydra of all things to come towards them!
He looked back towards the mushroom tunnel. With his natural sense of smell, he could already tell the scent of poison coming towards them.
'This way!' Freddy decided to trust his natural sense of direction; a trait which worked with... questionable success in the Labyrinth. Without wait, they began to walk towards a tunnel to the right.
...
...
Nathan ran through the maze, one hand holding his compass and the other drawing something with his fingers onto his foldable shield. He had put his shield on his left hand, and right now, he was preparing for any future troubles that he was bound to get into.
Runic Enchanter was a simple skill. It allowed him to carve out runic powers into objects. Of course, the carving aspect wasn't very literal, but more metaphysical. He needed only to draw the lines with his fingers, not even needing any ink.
With calculated precision, he did the most basic enchantment work.
[Unbreaking I]
[Mending I]
[Shock Absorption II]
[Light Weight I]
[Damage Diffusion I]
Enchantments at the basic level weren't difficult to write. Each enchantment only took a single rune, or in cases like mending, damage diffusion and shock absorption, things are trickier. Such enchants are made up of multiple runes even at the basic level. Mending is not simply repair, as it must trigger accurately when damage has been done and it must repair over time without taking any manual energy from the user himself; using only the mist as a resource.
Something like Damage Diffusion which protects the shield from breaking if it takes too strong a hit by.. well, diffusing the damage across the entire shield instead of a point, also needed many runes to be functional. Added to that, shock absorption with damage diffusion was a must have or the entire force capable of breaking the shield might also get into his arm.
Now, while basic enchantments could be easy or difficult depending on the nature of the enchantment, the real trouble was with the layering system. Each layer that is added to the enchant makes it more and more difficult to progress further. A simple way to understand it would be by considering a specific enchant and it's levels as energy levels, or barriers. Each successive level is a higher energy barrier that the magic must not only overcome to function properly, but also must stabilize it to work efficiently, or the enchant may tear itself and the item apart.
Many many more runes are needed in such cases, stabilizing, synergizing, each energy level comprising a different state for the magic to jump towards and all of them must work together in the end. Each added level was exponentially increasing the difficulty.
Luckily, enchants of different types did not mix, otherwise, it would have been completely impossible for Nathan to even get the second level for Shock Absorption.
As he finished with his shield, he pulled out the axe again and continue running. The compass turned to the right, and so he took to the right. Eventually, he began to hear something.
A faint rumble ahead in the tunnels.
His eyes narrowed dangerously and the grip on his axe tightened. The rumble began to grow louder and louder, until it was blasting into his ears. And then he realized what it was.
A stampede of monsters. His eyes widened as he came across them in the tunnels.
Monsters Lore instantly got to work, sending him the information for every form of monsters present in the group.
Dracaenae, Laestrygonians, Undead, Giant Spiders and even some Cynocephali. And since they were in the same direction that the compass was pointing him in, it clicked in Nathan's mind.
They were following Reuben's scent.
His jaw tightened as he glanced at the monsters. They had all noticed him and were charging at him with full speed.
Nathan only saw one way this could go.
And so, he took in a deep breath, relishing in how the wind rushed into his new lungs and flooded his body with strength he didn't know he had. He then lifted his axe, and walked ahead.
...
...
A/N: I have not forgotten about the 1600 PS Bonus Chapter btw. It's being worked on, do not worry.