Chapter 37: Chapter 37 – Labyrinth of Enkidu
On Saturday, Vanessa called Mathew to a dungeon called Labyrinth of Enkidu. It was a huge labyrinth with Sumerian aesthetics that no one had ever found how big it really was. The walls and the layout of the labyrinth changed every 10 hours with no evident pattern about its format.
Urban legends talked about great riches at its end guarded by a minotaur or at least guarded by something that resembled a minotaur. Although no one has ever confirmed the existence of a minotaur inside that dungeon, it didn’t keep out people from trying to find the fabled treasure.
Even if the treasure was not real, the dungeon was still very profitable for adventurers. It was common to find magical items inside chests or in possession of a particular strong monster, which jargon called mid-bosses. Even though the monsters and walls were made entirely of mana in dungeons, the Labyrinth of Enkidu produced physical items for adventurers to collect.
Scientists regularly did researches on such items and how dungeons were able to produce them, but no conclusion was made. The most accepted theory was that it was the work of a god that used the Labyrinth and other similar dungeons as a test to bestow blessings upon adventurers. This belief led adventurers to pray for those divinities before entering dungeons that rewarded them in such a way.
For the Labyrinth of Enkidu, Tiamat was the divinity most people prayed for. However, the goddess Tiamat was never recorded to be a real divinity, neither a lesser god or a greater god. This fact, however, didn’t stop those who believe in praying for her.
Matthew arrived early, since it was better to enter as soon as the labyrinth changed for the 10 hour cycle than to enter in the middle of the cycle. This way you could spend more time inside the labyrinth before having to leave. If you were still inside the dungeon when it changed its layout, it was possible you’d never find the exit again.
Vanessa was already there watching the big clock timer that counted the 10 hour cycle. Paula and Michael weren’t able to attend this time, so it would be only the two of them.
Matthew was a bit nervous because of Vanessa’s kiss on his forehead the last time they saw each other. He wasn’t sure how to behave with her after that. But when she saw him and waved saying "Hey, kid!" he shook his head getting rid of his nervousness. She still only saw him as kid. It was business as usual.
"Hey Ness." He tried her nickname. Since she didn’t react to it, he assumed it was alright to call her that.
"You’re early." Vanessa said looking at he watch.
"You said to get here before the cycle restarted. So I left home early."
"Good. We have more than an hour for the restart. It’s better not to go inside right after that. So we have a couple of hours to kill." She said checking the big clock.
"Why not?" Matthew asked. He had the idea that the sooner you entered that dungeon, the better it was.
"There’s always a bit of fighting among the parties that enter soon. They all call dibs on a path and suddenly someone draws a weapon. It can get pretty messy." She explained guiding Matthew to a coffee shop on the complex by the entrance of the dungeon.
"Don’t the authorities have someone to stop them?"
"Nope." Vanessa said comically. "This dungeon is a private dungeon. It’s administered by the Tower of Ryvylin."
The tower of Ryvylin was one of the biggest guilds in the country. The second or third best guild in the country, depending on who you asked. They were focused on magical research and most of their members specialized in the Mage class line. Their guild master was hellbent in becoming a Sage, the first in the country, but it was said the was stuck at level 38.
Matthew quickly checked his XP table on his phone. To reach level 38 you’d need to kill about 50 million goblins. To reach level 40 it was 110 million, more than double. He could not even visualize going that far. It took him fighting two wars to reach level 8, the equivalent of killing 250 goblins.
"The Tower has no interest in preventing these conflicts. All they do is to call the authorities when someone dies or get seriously injured. The government tried to hold them liable, but the judges didn’t agree." Vanessa explained drinking an espresso.
"So... We’ll wait until the entrance is clear and go after everybody." Matthew summarized drinking from his latte.
"Yeah. Since it’s just the two of us today. We’re just going in to get a feel of the dungeon first, before we dive with Paula and Michael next week."
Vanessa was correct in waiting. As soon as the 10 hour cycle started and all the parties got in, people started to leave with injuries. One of them was quite hurt and was taken to the hospital by an ambulance.
Matthew and Vanessa synchronized their watches with the big clock timer. They needed to leave the dungeon before the 10 hour mark, meaning they had to keep time on their exploration precisely or risk being stuck in there.
The entrance of the dungeon was littered with debris and some blood from the earlier fighting between parties. It was a big round hall, the only part of the dungeon that never changed every 10 hours. This time there were 5 corridors leaving that hall.
Vanessa picked the corridor with the least amount of debris. Her reasoning was that the strongest party went that way, since no one would contest their path and no one would fight them. Strong parties usually rushed the early parts of the dungeon aiming to go deeper instead of exploring the shallower parts. This meant they would have more chances of finding a treasure left behind on that path.
Vanessa had the Scout skills Sense Traps and Sense Secret Doors. She was great in pointing out where to go and where it was safe to tread. Matthew let her walk in front of him while he kept an eye on their back.
The ceiling, the floor and the walls were all made of stone blocks and every now and then a torch illuminated the way. The labyrinth itself was only a combination of corridors with high ceilings and widths ranging from 2 to 10 feet.
There were doors leading to square rooms, but all they found were already explored by the parties in front of them. There were also dead end corridors and corridors that led to pitfalls with spikes on the bottom.
They only found a single mana crystal left behind from the party in front of them in 20 minutes of walking. Matthew was constantly checking his watch to check on the time. It was a bit tense thinking about being trapped in there.
Vanessa was glad all the traps they ran into were already sprung. She was even more glad they found no body of adventurers on them. This meant the people in front of them were good in their jobs.
They reached a fork in their path that lead to three different paths. Then Vanessa’s Sense Secret Doors skill gave her a feeling. On the path on the left there was a secret door that no one checked. She made a note on the map she was drawing to keep their way and guided Matthew towards the door.
Matthew looked at the wall with skepticism. It only looked like a normal wall, like all the other walls since they came in. But he didn’t say anything. He let Vanessa do her thing and soon enough she found a loose rock in the wall.
When she pushed it, a whole section of the wall fell opening way to a new corridor. However, neither of them moved. They saw themselves face to face with a monster. It had the body of a bull, huge wings of an eagle and the head of a bearded man. Matthew read about this monster before coming to the dungeon. It was a Shedu. A powerful monster that usually protected treasures in that dungeon.
"Run kid!" Vanessa said taking the lead being closely followed by Matthew.
Shedu were powerful, it was said that they were about level 20 if they used the system. They weren’t strong enough to face one of those, Matthew being level 8 and Vanessa level 9.
The Shedu ran after them flapping its wings. It was faster than Matthew, but not Vanessa. It soon caught up to him and tried to hit him with its front hooves.
Matthew managed to dodge by rolling to the side. But now the Shedu was between him and Vanessa. Matthew had no choice but to fight. He drew his gun and his machete.
Vanessa stopped when she realized what happened behind her and drew her own gun.
"Matthew!" She screamed. "Don’t fight it! Run the other way!"
But Matthew didn’t hear her. He had a smile on his face and a faint red glow behind his eye patch.
"Come you ugly bastard."