## Chapter 208: Back into the Labyrinth (3)

Nearly ten million HP, absurd defense, and an insane health regeneration speed to boot.

The Nine-Tailed Fox, having swallowed the Divine Stone, was a monster that normal users could neither naturally stumble upon nor defeat. Even Hyun wouldn’t have dreamed of hunting this thing if a Legendary-grade item wasn’t on the line.

The *Wave of Neutralization* couldn’t completely reduce its defense to zero. Furthermore, there was a staggering difference in damage output depending on whether a target’s defense was flat zero or just slightly above it. Given the situation, even with Ain’s sheer damage, they wouldn’t be able to outpace the creature’s regeneration speed unless they were completely free to landing uninterrupted hits.

*’We can kill it.’*

But this place was a labyrinth.

As long as you could deal a specific threshold of damage, this was a battlefield where a needle could bring down a giant.

*’If we can just shave off more than 5% in a single strike!’*

Hyun had already finished all the calculations.

*Sss.* Ain’s body vanished into thin air.

The target was one of the eight jet-black tails. The reason he singled out a lone tail was to perfectly trigger *Angel’s Basic Swordsmanship*.

Taking advantage of the brief window where the beast was still disoriented from absorbing the Divine Stone, Ain struck.

*Slash!* One of its tails was cleanly severed.

[CRITICAL HIT! You have dealt 723,817 damage!]

[The Protection Mechanism has been activated! All of Sherat’s defenses will increase threefold for 10 seconds!]

[Sherat’s Magic Power increases by 20%!]

As if spraying blood, demonic energy erupted like a geyser from the severed tail.

“Phew…!”

Groaning slightly, Ain backed away. However, a satisfied smirk played on her lips. It was a smile born from Hyun’s absolute certainty that his calculations were correct.

「Nice. The damage is just barely hitting the threshold!」

「Did we succeed?!」

「No, the real work starts now.」

Hyun took a deep breath, steeling his resolve.

The cooldown for *Invisibility* was two minutes. But without *Invisibility*, landing a critical hit was practically impossible. In other words, they had to endure a grueling two minutes of onslaught just to land a single offensive strike.

「We can only attack once every two minutes!」

From that moment on, it was a succession of fierce, breathless clashes.

*Awoooo! Awooooo!*

The pitch-black fox let out bizarre, screeching howls as it thrashed around crazily. Even though Hyun kept applying the *Shadow Linker’s* slow debuff, the monster’s mobility easily matched Ain’s, who was operating at max stacks of *Potential Explosion*.

Its speed was problematic enough, but a greater issue was the barrage of magic and demonic energy skills it spammed across the room!

The floor had given way long ago. Even the stepping stones drifting in the lava had been shattered into tiny fragments. Before they knew it, Ain and the Nine-Tailed Fox were fighting across a vast, open sea of magma.

If it weren’t for Rekart’s Demonic Armor providing complete lava immunity, this chaotic battle would have been an absolute nightmare.

*Krrrrrrrk!*

As Sherat clawed at the air, a crimson wave surged ten meters high.

*Demonic Calamity Slash.*

The skill looked like a short-range attack at first glance, but it was actually a technique that cleaved through everything in the user’s line of sight. The world seemed to split in half, and Ain’s body looked as though it would be torn to shreds by the slash of combined flames and demonic energy.

But that was just an illusion.

Hyun subtly paired *Invisibility* with *Illusion* to evade the skill, successfully taking up a blind spot at the exact same time.

*‘That makes half of them…!’*

[CRITICAL HIT! You have dealt 583,727 damage!]

*Slash!* The somewhat short blade of darkness finally severed the fourth tail.

[The Protection Mechanism has been activated! All of Sherat’s defenses will increase threefold for 10 seconds!]

[Sherat’s Magic Power increases by 80%!]

[Sherat will now cast the skill: ‘Burning Stake’!]

[Sherat will now cast the skill: ‘Avatar’s Stride’!]

*Shriekkkkkk!*

System alerts popped up alongside the piercing scream. Lines of text flashed rapidly across Hyun’s vision.

*’What? This is dangerous…!’*

By the time he processed the alert, Sherat’s new skill was already live.

As the massive beast lunged forward, the sea of magma parted instantly, exposing the rocky floor beneath. In a split second, Sherat reached Ain’s face, thrusting its front paw forward.

*Avatar’s Stride.*

Hyun had experienced this multiple times during his duels with Ain, but because this technique completely lacked any preparatory movement, reacting to it on impulse was impossible.

[You have been bound by ‘Burning Stake’!]

[All movement-type skills are sealed for 2 seconds!]

*‘Tch…!’*

By the time his reflexes tried to trigger *Shadow Sprint*, the notification was already glaring at him.

*Asra* and *Asrian* were not completely identical. The skills, the monsters—everything had subtle differences. Just like right now, there were times when he had to overcome situations entirely through raw improvisation. Hyun acknowledged that he had to adapt to these changes.

*‘Annihilation Resolve!’*

The exact moment a single tail sprouted behind Ain’s back, bright crimson flames engulfed her entire body.

*Fwooshhhhh!*

It wasn’t just burning; it was a torrent of scarlet flames swirling with enough force to incinerate the target into ash. However, no matter how hot the flames raged, they couldn’t singe a single hair of an *Elemental Berserker* who had active their ultimate skill.

To one who possessed *Annihilation Resolve*, the attributes of fire, ice, lightning, and wind were entirely useless.

「Sigh, I was saving that just in case, but it’s still a waste.」

Once *Burning Stake* finally ended, Hyun safely landed back on the *Wind Barrier* while reapplying the debuff, murmuring with a hint of regret.

「An ultimate skill? Did you have somewhere else to use it?!」

「Well, no… but killing it bare-handed would’ve looked way cooler.」

「Isn’t using an ultimate skill to finish it off cooler?」

Hyun let out a chuckle at Ain’s question.

「If I do that, it’s not optimized.」

「Huh?」

Ain tried to process his words.

Was it the same logic as feeling good when you won a duel by a hair’s breadth? But hunting wasn’t the same as dueling. Hyun definitely wasn’t pulling stunts like this just to see the different facial expressions of monsters.

*’Is that kind of mindset Hyun’s secret?’*

At some point, she had started feeling like she was falling behind in everything except raw dueling. She had practiced out of stubborn pride, but the gap still wouldn’t close.

But what he just said might be a new clue! Ain decided to watch Hyun’s playstyle even more closely.

[Sherat’s Magic Power increases by 120%!]

The tense battle raged on.

Even though they could completely ignore fire-type damage, the fight didn’t get any easier. *Shriek!* As more tails were severed, the monster’s desperate struggles grew progressively more violent.

They kept up this rhythm for about ten minutes.

The more Ain watched, the more she marveled at Hyun’s knack for making the incredibly difficult look effortless. It was particularly mind-boggling how he never got hit twice by a skill he had seen once.

She felt almost intoxicated by the sensations flowing through their assimilation. It felt like they could never lose.

How could Hyun be so absolutely certain of victory? For a fleeting second, she mistakenly thought *Dark Protection* was still active. Even though she had clearly turned it off right before the fight, she couldn’t help but wonder why she felt the exact same way.

*Flash!*

Shortly after Ain’s body melted into the air, a dark blade dropped from the ceiling, finally slicing off the ‘Blue Tail.’

「It’s over!」

At Hyun’s sudden shout, Ain snapped out of her daze, having been watching the entire fight like a first-person movie.

*Rroooooar!*

Having lost all its tails, the Nine-Tailed Fox let out a final scream, expelling a massive wave of demonic energy from its body. Just as a human would die if they lost their heart, HP meant nothing to a Nine-Tailed Fox whose life source had been severed.

The tail-less fox dissolved into pure demonic energy, seeping directly into the magma.

The only thing it left behind was a single tail. Hyun reached out and snatched a clump of blue fur gently drifting through the air.

[This item can be stored in your inventory in 55 seconds!]

The massive tail had shrunk down to a size that fit perfectly in one’s hand.

The very first material required to craft a Legendary weapon. Looking at the brilliantly glowing blue fur in her hand, a soft smile appeared on Ain’s face.

*‘Two more to go.’*

They had only taken the very first step. No matter how great a material was, it was still just a raw ingredient until it was processed. Hyun decided to lock his excitement away until the entire combination was fully complete.

—

*Rumbleeee.*

Inside the elevator moving toward the resting area of the Royal Zone, the sudden tremor made the administrator operating the magic circle flinch.

*‘Wait, an earthquake…?’*

The shaking subsided quickly. Just as he thought his mind was playing tricks on him—*Rumbleeee!* The ground shook once more.

This tremor was far larger than the previous one, violently rattling even the elevator shaft which was heavily reinforced with powerful protective magic.

“Whoa?!”

It wasn’t an illusion. Something was definitely happening inside the labyrinth.

One of the players in the four-man party riding the elevator together asked, “What’s going on? Is it dangerous? If it’s dangerous, I don’t really want to go in right now. Give us a refund.”

“Haha, it’s probably nothing dangerous. We’ve only descended to the entrance of the labyrinth, and there’s no reason for any major disturbance around here.”

“Really? Well, that’s a relief, but…”

While reassuring them with a smile, the administrator simultaneously used the management magic circle to scan the nearby sectors.

The shocking data surfaced the very next moment. Through the vibrations and mana flows transmitted to the magic circle, the total impact delivered within a specific radius was calculated.

*‘What the… 80,000 Gigantes worth of magic power was unleashed in just 20 minutes…?’*

That was a mana value that should absolutely never occur on the upper floors.

An immediate wave of worry washed over him. The sole reason users didn’t hesitate to spend exorbitant amounts of money here was that they could hunt safely in a secured environment. If word of an anomaly within the labyrinth got out, wouldn’t bad rumors ruin their business?

The administrator fell into deep, serious thought for a moment before shaking his head.

*‘It should be fine. It’s not like there’s a grinding spot on the 1st or 2nd floors anyway.’*

The value of the labyrinth lay in the magical materials that could be harvested from the monsters. For whatever reason, users were completely obsessed with magical ingredients, willingly dropping tens of thousands of gold just for an admission fee.

Because of that, as long as the labyrinth didn’t structurally collapse and block the elevator shafts or the paths to the resting areas, their business wouldn’t suffer.

*‘Still, once I’m done with this turn, I’ll have to investigate exactly what is going on in the labyrinth.’*

If there was even a slight threat to the labyrinth business, a solution had to be prepared. The administrator counted his blessings that the incident hadn’t happened anywhere near a major grinding spot.

—

The 3rd floor of the Labyrinth.

“Get into formation!”

The members of Blood Raven, a guild ranked 167th in the world standings, were having a remarkably lucky day. Wandering around the labyrinth and randomly crossing paths with a Named Monster was a incredibly rare occurrence.

“We need to burn it down before anyone else notices!”

“Don’t worry, it’s basically dead! We’ve dropped its health below 10%!”

“Are the scouts keeping watch?”

The probability of encountering a Named Monster outside of a designated grinding spot was abysmally low. Thanks to that, they were practically bursting with excitement, feeling as though they had hit the lottery.

After all, defeating a Named Monster guaranteed at least one item drop!

The most common drop was a Mana Stone. Just a few months ago, it was nothing more than a common crafting ingredient, but now, it had become a gem more precious than a real-world diamond. Depending on the grade of the Mana Stone, one could buy a house, or even an entire building with it.

“Oh, crap!”

“What’s wrong?”

“Right now, it looks like a party is heading straight this way!”

“What? What do we do?!”

In that regard, Blood Raven’s luck had just taken a sharp turn for the worse. Inside the city, they could rely on the protection of guards, but the labyrinth was a lawless wasteland.

The objective of any user coming to the labyrinth was obvious. The moment they spotted a Named Monster, they would inevitably lose their minds and try to steal it.

“How many of them are there?”

“Four! We outnumber them by two, but… if we get into a fight while juggling the boss, there’s no guarantee we’ll win.”

“Tch…! Go all out and burst it down before they realize what’s happening!”

The Guild Leader of Blood Raven made his call. However, the anxiety of potentially losing their prey led to a critical mistake at the final moment.

*Thud.* The moment a hideous spider leg severed and hit the ground, everyone’s faces turned completely pale.

“What the…”

“Are you insane…”

“Which bastard cut off the leg?!”

When hunting a Labyrinth Named Monster, there was one well-known taboo. *Avoid unnecessary dismemberment at all costs.* Doing so carried a massive risk of forcing the Named Monster to awaken.

Sure enough, the instant the spider leg was severed, the exact same system alert flashed before everyone’s eyes.

[Parmu’s overall stats have increased by 10%!]

[Parmu will now cast the skill: ‘Lightning Trap’!]

The worst-case scenario! The Named Monster had unlocked a new skill!

In an instant, the surrounding space was completely blanketed in spiderwebs, and arcs of electricity crackled wildly across the webbing. Before they could even attempt to react, the two front-liners vanished into particles of light.

“Damn it! Run!”

The Guild Leader, who had been directing the hunt, barely managed to dive out of the spiderweb’s radius, stamping his feet in panic. It was practically impossible to even get close to the webbing with lightning discharging everywhere.

“Son of a bitch!”

The moment he saw the faces of the players who arrived shortly after, the Guild Leader couldn’t help but let out a bitter curse.