The adventurers soon parted ways. The champions and their team members went off to Fontaine. They would be taking the spell to the High Priest of Hekana from there. Marcus wondered how they would be doing that but did not prod further.

Marcus and Kyrie were staying. It seemed that they had been teleported out of the labyrinth near the smallest mountain of the Gunin Mountain range. That meant it was time to look for the Grush treasure. Even though they were now level 100, they did not want to go through the labyrinth again.

Yes, this was Leyda Lightweaver’s gift. She levelled up both Marcus and Kyrie such that they reached level 100. It was quite the jump for both of them, but they were both excited about it. They needed to go to the temple of Udha and Hekana to receive the blessing that would increase their health and mana calculations, but they had decided they would wait. Treasure came first.

Marcus checked his status.

Name: Marcus Blank

Race: Human

Designation: Adventurer - Rank 3

Age: 25

Current Location: Gunin Mountain Range

Adventurer Statistics:

Adventurer Level: 100

Experience: 0 / 29,800

Strength: 20

Dexterity: 40

Intelligence: 50

Vitality: 50

Agility: 40

Wisdom: 39

Luck: ???

Health: 300

Mana: 178

Active Effects:

None

Passive Effects:

Stamina Regeneration - Level 8

Well Rested - Level 4

Twinblade Proficiency - Level 12

Alcohol Tolerance - Level 3

Stealth - Level 5

Description: The anomaly has now become a better adventurer. With a little effort people may forget he is an anomaly after all.

Spells known:

[Enchant Weapon: Holy] [Whirling Weapon] [Force Push]

Spells Equipped:

[Enchant Weapon: Holy] [Whirling Weapon] [Force Push]

Spell Slots: 6

Physical Attack: 230

Magical Attack: 370

Physical Resistance: 300

Magical Resistance: 202

Critical Attack Chance: 45%

Critical Attack Damage: 90%

Status:

None

There had been some changes. Marcus could see them clearly. It seemed that the reputation section had been removed completely. Marcus had often wondered about its use but, now not seeing it, he wondered again as to what purpose it served and what removing it meant.

He also saw that the total physical and magical attack and resistance was displayed. The weapon and armor attributes were now included in calculating the stat. The same was for critical attack chance and damage. The max of the stats was now shown.

He observed that his adventurer rank had gone up. Mostly due to him being part of a party that cleared the labyrinth. He had levelled up 50 levels and had allocated his 100 points accordingly. He was satisfied with his current stats, albeit not his current gear. He would need to get more equipment soon.

He had also observed Kyrie’s status. They had both shared their status.

Name: Kyrie Shiningstar

Race: Water Nymph

Designation: Adventurer - Rank 3

Age: 83

Current Location: Gunin Mountain Range

Adventurer Statistics:

Adventurer Level: 100

Experience: 0 / 29,800

Strength: 20

Dexterity: 80

Intelligence: 10

Vitality: 50

Agility: 50

Wisdom: 22

Luck: ???

Health: 300

Mana: 144

Active Effects:

None

Passive Effects:

Fast Draw - Level 10

Precision - Level 12

Longbow Proficiency - Level 16

Stealth - Level 11

Water Proficiency - Level 100

Description: The outcast traveller from Tarados, flowing into Una, taking huge steps now and sweeping demons away is still enjoying herself by bashing other adventurer’s heads. She is the water nymph to watch out for.

Spells known:

[Power Shot] [Fade] [Enchant Weapon: Poison] [Summon Water Elemental]

Spells Equipped:

[Power Shot] [Fade] [Enchant Weapon: Poison]

Spell Slots: 4

Physical Attack: 530

Magical Attack: 50

Physical Resistance: 232

Magical Resistance: 216

Critical Attack Chance: 45%

Critical Attack Damage: 105%

Status:

None

She also had reached level 100 and adventurer rank 3. She had gotten a new spell which she could not cast because of her low mana. She was not concerned though. She said that she would equip it once her mana reaches sufficient level.

That reminded Marcus that they soon needed to invest more in mana potions. Considering the mana requirement of Kyrie’s spell, Marcus had a feeling that he may also get spells that would require high mana to cast. Mana potions would help manage mana in a fight.

Marcus looked at Kyrie. She was examining her bow and frowning.

Marcus asked, “Is everything alright?”

Kyrie looked at Marcus. Her frown disappeared and she smiled a bit. She said, “It’s nothing. My bow has evolved a bit. Now there is an extra effect. A spell which can be activated once a day. It would give me extra 100 points of mana. However, it would also take off 10% of my health to cast it. It is called… Here. Let me show you.”

Kyrie shared the spell description.

[Sacrificial Mana]

Grants the user 100 points of mana at the cost of 10% of the user's health. Cooldown period of 1 day. No mana cost.

Marcus read it and said, “Could be useful.”

Kyrie nodded thoughtfully. She said, “Yes, it could be used to summon the water elemental in tense situations. It is in a way a boon. But I am somehow not sure about this. I mean. I want to excel in adventurer versus adventurer. How can this help?”

“Can you not summon elementals in a fight?”

“I need to look at the rule book. I am not 100% sure.”

“You did not read the rule book before fighting?”

“Not everyone reads as much as you do, Marcus.”

Marcus thought about this for a bit. Then he realized something. The other adventurers did not read much. Other adventurers and some non-adventurers looked at him with surprise when he gave them certain information; information that he had received from either reading the books or gained from the Globalnet.

Marcus said, “Okay. Moving on. We are now near the smallest mountain of the Gunin Mountain range. There was an entrance which we could access through the labyrinth, but we do not want to go in the labyrinth anymore. That would mean, we would have to search for a fucking entrance here.”

Kyrie said, “You are absolutely correct. Have you read anything about it?”

Marcus shook his head, “I did not find anything about any entrances. There is no record on Globalnet, and I could not find any books that have any knowledge on the entrance to the smallest mountain range.”

“That is surprising.”

“It is fucking surprising indeed. So, let’s get searching. I think we can find some sort of hidden entrance like the time we found on Tulom island.”

Kyrie nodded, “That feels like a long time ago.”

“Must have been a couple of months only though.”

“Still feels like a long time ago.”

They started walking along the slope of the mountain range. They climbed a bit, albeit slowly, as they were going along the side of the smallest mountain. They hoped they would find an entrance from this side and would not have to go through the labyrinth again. They would have used their mounts, but Kyrie was not sure whether they would be able to find any secret entrances while flying high. Flying low was also not an option due to the presence of dense trees in certain regions. So, they trudged on.

They made camp that night near a particular thick bunch of trees. They wanted to find the entrance fast, but they were not making any progress. They had no hint or clue other than the fact that the treasure was inside the smallest mountain of the Gunin Mountain range.

The next morning, they woke up a bit disgruntled. They continued their search for the entrance after a quick breakfast. They did not find anything until the evening. Till that time, they had climbed well onto the mountain. Oh, the peak was quite far away, but they were also not close to the ground.

It was there Marcus found an entrance. It was a small hollow with a door with two torches hanging beside it. The torches were not lit. However, the door had a rune on it. Marcus managed to translate it with the help of Globalnet. It meant Grush. It had to be the entrance.

“Let us try not to die”, said Kyrie, “Our respawn point is inside the labyrinth.”

Marcus groaned as he opened the door cautiously, “Do not jinx it.”

The door opened up easily. It had no keyhole and only a handle and it swung inwards into darkness. Both Marcus and Kyrie brought out their magical torches as they stepped in. The door opened to a narrow passage where only one person could walk at a time.

Marcus took the lead. When they had taken some steps in the passage, they heard the door close behind them.

“Onwards then”, mumbled Marcus, “No other fucking option.”

They walked up for some time and the passage opened into a huge chamber. Torches flickered to life as they entered the chamber.

“Okay”, muttered Marcus, “Not creepy at all.”

Kyrie said, “It’s just torches lighting up. It’s magic. What are you afraid of?”

Marcus blinked, “Somehow my fucking mind did not make that connection that this could happen. It thought about the horror movies and how people die when something that they could not explain happens.”

“You could explain the lighting of the torches with magic. There would be a spell which would make the torches light up when someone enters this… well, chamber.”

“Tell that to my fucking brain who thinks I am going to die.”

Kyrie rolled her eyes, “Stop being over dramatic. There is nothing dangerous in torches lighting up. It just illuminates the room.”

Marcus did not reply but looked around the chamber. The chamber was flat and smooth and covered with tiles. Each of the tiles was greyish in color and they shone in the torch light. There was no other entrance or exit other than the passage from where they had come. The chamber was empty otherwise.

No, not empty as Marcus observed a glint in the center of the chamber. Marcus and Kyrie looked at each other and started to walk towards the glint. It turned out to be a gold coin. Marcus picked it up carefully. Nothing happened. Marcus examined it.

It was a plain gold coin, nothing even etched or carved or stamped on it. Marcus turned it both ways but there was nothing there. The coin was as large as Marcus’ palm, and it weighed hardly anything. Marcus wondered what all this meant.

Marcus said, “Let’s look around more. Maybe we will find something else.”

They looked around. Soon Kyrie found something. It was a slot in one of the tiles on the floor. Marcus examined the slot. It seemed to be the size of the gold coin. Marcus put the gold coin in the slot. The coin stayed halfway through for a moment. Then it slipped inside the slot.

They heard a grinding noise and the tile with the slot started to expand till it covered a space of five tiles each side. The remaining tiles in the room started to shift. Marcus and Kyrie readied their weapons. They stood back-to-back, ready for any attack.

The grinding noise stopped. The tiles in the room stopped shifting. They waited for something to appear. Nothing happened. Well not exactly nothing. Marcus saw a wooden chest to his right, a few tiles away from where he was standing. He wondered where it had come from. It was as big as the tile and was closed. There was no keyhole but two handles on each side in front.

The chest was inviting, as if to say to Marcus, come, open me, I will make you rich beyond your dreams. Marcus did not trust it immediately.

Marcus said, “What do you think?”

“It’s definitely a trap”, replied Kyrie.

“Yes, but of what kind.”

“We can find out if we open the chest.”

Marcus thought about it. Should they open the chest? It somehow felt like an unnecessary risk to him. Something about the chest did not quite sit well with Marcus. But he did not know what it was. His gut was telling him something was wrong, or he was having a case of indigestion.

Marcus said, “Shoot the chest.”

Kyrie raised an eyebrow at him, “Is that wise?”

“What’s the worst that could happen?”

“Famous last words”, muttered Kyrie as she took aim and fired an arrow. The arrow hit the chest. There was a small whine and the chest sprang forwards.

Gone was the innocent looking chest and its place shuffling towards them was a monster. Its mouth was open showing long sharp teeth. Its barbed tongue flicked back and forth as it hopped and shuffled towards Marcus and Kyrie.

Mimic, Level 67

Health 1,000 / 1,000

This was easy. Kyrie used [Power Shot] as Marcus flanked the mimic. Marcus dodged the barbed tongue and rolled in closer to the mimic. He slashed and dodged while Kyrie shot arrow after arrow into the mimic. It was dead in a few moments.

“Well, that was ea-” Marcus started to say but the tile started to shift.

Kyrie shouted, “Come here Marcus. This big tile is not shifting.”

Marcus stumbled through the shifting tiles. He barely made it to Kyrie and the shifting stopped. He cursed as he got up and looked at the room again. Two chests, identical to the first one, had appeared in the room.

“Two mimics then?” asked Kyrie.

Marcus thought for a moment and then said, “I don’t think so. Shoot both of them.”

Kyrie did so. One was a simple chest. Kyrie’s arrow struck but nothing happened to it. The other was a mimic and it attacked them. They dispatched it quickly too. As soon as the mimic was dead, the tiles began to move again, and Marcus had to scramble back to the tile where Kyrie was standing.

This time, when the tiles stopped moving, four chests stood in the room.

“It seems that we have to open the chest which is not the mimic”, said Marcus, “Otherwise the room will keep on shuffling, and we will have to face more mimics as we go forward.”

“Yes, but which chest is not the mimic?”

“Find the odd one out I guess.”

“All of them look identical.”

“There has to be some difference. Let’s look at them closely.”

“The mimic may activate if we get too close.”

Marcus huffed, “Well, I do not have that sharp of a vision to distinguish the minor features from such a great distance.”

“There could be another clue”, said Kyrie thoughtfully, “Let’s look around, keep our distance from the chests till we find it.”

Marcus could not think of anything else and so he agreed. They went through the room again, looking carefully for anything out of place and keeping their distance from the chests. They found nothing. They came back to the big tile. Marcus was feeling a bit irritated.

Marcus said, “What now?”

Kyrie said, “Let’s hope we get lucky.”

She shot at the first chest. It was a mimic. Three chests converted into mimics and attacked them. Marcus and Kyrie killed them fast. As soon as the mimics were defeated, the tiles started to shift and there were eight chests now.

Marcus said, “The number of chests keeps doubling.”

“Yes”, said Kyrie, “And we have to find the chest which is not a mimic. This requires more than luck. There has to be something which we can do. Otherwise, we would be overrun with mimics.”

Marcus looked at all the chests. He could really see no difference between them. He stared at them, deep in thought but nothing came to his mind. He did not even know for how long he stared. Kyrie was saying something, but Marcus did not register it. Suddenly he had a thought.

Kyrie shook Marcus out of his reverie.

“What?” asked Marcus.

Kyrie said, “I was asking whether you are alright? You have been staring into space for quite some time now.”

“I have a crazy idea. I don’t know how well it would work.”

Marcus told her the idea. From the expression on Kyrie’s face, Marcus could tell that she did not like it. She still nodded. Marcus walked up to one of the chests from behind and tapped at at. At once all the seven mimics sprang forwards.

Marcus looked around. He saw the chest which was not a mimic. He ran up to it, dodging and slashing the mimics in his way. He reached the chest that was not the mimic and turned. Few of mimics were jumping towards him while the rest were shuffling towards Kyrie. Marcus knew that Kyrie could hold her own. Marcus had to simply take care of the mimics in front of him.

There were three of them, each with 1,000 points of health. Marcus attacked them, ensuring that he was not further than a couple of feet from the chest which was not a mimic. It made his fight difficult, and he got hit with the barbed tongue because of that, but he did not receive that much damage. All in all, he lost about 100 points of health while he dispatched all three of the mimics.

Marcus saw Kyrie fighting the last mimic. She shot an arrow and it died. Marcus turned and quickly grabbed the final chest. His world blurred. As the tiles moved, the chest moved, and he was hurled all across the room. He was damaged as he hit some places. He did not know how long he held on. Felt like hours. Although he knew it would be seconds as he had witnessed the tiles in the room more than once now.

Marcus held tightly, willing everything to not let go. It was soon over. Marcus crashed besides the chest. He vomited. He held up a hand to stop Kyrie from rushing up to him.

Marcus said weakly, “Take a long route. We do not want the mimics waking up.”

Marcus could see that there were now sixteen chests in the room. Kyrie took the long route and walked up to the chest from behind.

Kyrie said, “Shall we open up?”

Marcus raised up a finger, “One minute please. Everything is still spinning.”

Marcus groaned and put his head in his hands till things felt right to him. Then he stood up to see Kyrie looking at him with concern.

“I am alright no”, said Marcus.

“Drink a healing potion.”

Marcus checked his health. It was at 20 points. How the fuck had it gotten so low? He drank a couple of health potions to get it to full. He checked his supplies. He would start to run low on health potions if he continued like this.

Kyrie said, “Shall we do the honors?”

Marcus nodded. They both grabbed a handle and lifted open the chest. They peered inside. It was empty.

“What the fu-”, started Marcus but his world shifted again.

When the world righted itself, Marcus found that he and Kyrie were no more in the room with tiles. They were someplace else.

It was a large room filled with marble pillars and statues. A throne lay in the centre of the room and Marcus could see no doors or windows. Still there was light in the room. Sunlight.

Marcus blinked and looked around. Where the fuck were they now? Before he could do or say anything, a voice spoke, “Welcome adventurers. Welcome to the great hall of the Grush.”