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Chapter 149
4.
The labyrinth of the Labyrinth City was harsh on its users.
There were monsters that would leap out suddenly, and countless users would fall to the traps they carelessly walked into.
But even harsher than that was the fact that the labyrinth was constantly changing.
A path that turned yesterday could beco a straight road today, or even a dead end.
For that reason, Rogue-types and Mage-types were essential for entering the labyrinth.
Without a map provided by the Magic Tower and the trap-disarming and pathfinding skills of a Rogue, one was bound to get lost.
If a user were to enter the labyrinth without a map, they would have no way of escaping unless they died and respawned in town.
However.
“If we go this way, monsters will appear.”
“Ah, thanks.”
In front of Nocturnium, none of the labyrinth's tricks were of any use.
He was the spirit of the Dark Fortress—more accurately, a spirit of the earth, labyrinths, and mansions.
The labyrinth was like a ho to him.
Like a fish in water, Nocturnium guided the way.
And seeing this, Fiora and Leonik…
-Y-You seem excited.
“You’re excited.”
They teased Nocturnium slightly.
“Ahem, ahem.”
Even if he tried to act nonchalant, the two of them could see right through it.
They had been companions for years, after all. It was only natural.
Seonghyun, on the other hand…
‘Hasn't he been expressionless?’
He hadn't noticed a thing.
To him, Nocturnium had his usual stiff, business-like attitude.
How could they tell he was excited?
As Seonghyun was thinking this with so puzzlent.
-The angle of his heel in his stride is slightly higher than usual, sire.
-A-And h-his gait is a little bouncy.
“…Ah.”
A normal person might have asked what kind of nonsense that was, but Seonghyun, whose dynamic visual acuity and perception had developed into sothing monstrous that surpassed a normal person's, could understand.
He got a rough idea of what they ant.
Indeed, even now, Nocturnium’s heels had a tendency to lift a little higher, which in turn gave his steps a slightly bouncy feel.
It was truly minute, but having noticed the difference, Seonghyun also nodded.
‘Well, he's been active so far, but here, he can be fully active.’
With a gesture from Nocturnium, the traps were completely disard, allowing them to pass.
It was a display that truly made him seem like the master of the labyrinth, and Seonghyun too was impressed.
In any case, Nocturnium had said there were monsters up ahead, so Seonghyun lightly prepared for battle.
He had sothing he wanted to test.
As Seonghyun readied himself for combat, the three familiars also began to prepare.
However, Seonghyun stopped them with a raise of his hand.
“I'll do this alone.”
He had co to test the power of his staff; if the familiars got involved, his opportunity would be diminished.
At Seonghyun's words, they all relaxed their stances.
His command was absolute.
After holding back his familiars, Seonghyun headed to the spot Nocturnium had indicated.
And indeed, there were monsters there.
Living Armors, a common monster found in labyrinths.
Just like the classic trope, they were empty suits of armor moving on their own.
This was perfect.
‘Let's try a light approach with the sword first.’
There was no better opponent to test his increased stats on.
As the empty armor moved, Seonghyun moved as well.
Gliding across the well-polished stone floor of the underground labyrinth, Seonghyun could feel that he was definitively faster than before.
‘Oh?’
Look at how his body seed to stretch like taffy.
As he moved his feet again at a considerable speed, afterimages were left behind like illusions.
While this was partly due to the effect of Shadow Glide, the number of afterimages had increased significantly with his improved speed.
The Living Armor mistook an afterimage for Seonghyun and swung its weapon.
Kaaang—!
It struck the innocent floor.
As the heavy morning star hit the ground, stone fragnts flew in all directions.
Seonghyun dodged the fragnts and lightly swung his sword toward the Living Armor.
Since it was, at its core, a suit of armor, the Living Armor boasted high physical defense.
However, the sword swung by Seonghyun sliced through the armor on its arm as if it were cutting tofu.
Sring—!
The slicing sound was so clean it didn't seem like it had cut through tal at all.
Astonished by the performance, Seonghyun’s eyes widened.
‘I've definitely… gotten stronger.’
He had expected the increase in Strength, but he could clearly feel that his speed, maximum health, and overall movents had beco much smoother.
And he hadn't even used a sword skill.
His ability to wield the sword so easily was largely due to the influence of his Agility and Stamina.
Realizing this, Seonghyun imdiately turned to the Living Armor and, this ti, used a skill.
Though it was rely an empty suit of armor, the Living Armor was ultimately a magical being.
As such, its magic defense was stronger than its physical defense.
Seonghyun used Black Magic Bullet on the Living Armor.
Shwoooo—!
The surrounding darkness swirled and gathered into the palm of his hand.
Then, as Seonghyun thrust his hand forward, the Black Magic Bullet, like a black cannonball, surged toward the Living Armor.
Tearing through the air, the Black Magic Bullet finally scored a direct hit.
KRA-KOOOOM—!!!
The fragnts of the Living Armor scattered in all directions as if a bomb had gone off.
Its chest piece, the part that could be called its upper body, was completely annihilated, and its other parts were torn to shreds and flung everywhere.
It was a blow that resulted in instant death.
Watching this, Seonghyun let out a resigned sigh.
“Hah.”
The Black Magic Bullet had always been on the stronger side, but this was on another level.
At this rate, it seed it would be fine to finally use the To of Despair on the Unique-rank skill book he got from defeating Kyou and to choose a skill from the To of the Overlord he'd been saving.
‘After I'm done with the laboratory, let's get the skills too.’
There was a saying that if you saved sothing for too long, it might just go bad.
But he might also get a new skill from the laboratory.
To build his skill set accordingly, it was right to save the To of the Overlord for now.
It wasn't as if it would disappear just because he held onto it, and he had plenty of skills at the mont, so not using it imdiately wasn't a major issue.
Frankly, the Unique skill book he got from Kyou was an item he could sell right away if he wanted.
In any case, the power of the newly evolved Monarch Helena's Staff, now that he had confird it, was imnse.
-Magnificent, my liege!!!
-Y-You've really gotten e-even stronger, Lord!
“Congratulations, Lord.”
The familiars offered their praise, and Seonghyun waved it off, once again entrusting Nocturnium with guiding the way.
It was the direct path to lisia's laboratory.
Thinking the path was longer than he expected, he walked at a leisurely pace, encountering and steadily hunting a good number of monsters along the way.
He gained a lot of EXP and picked up a few minor items, though most of them were materials.
How much ti had passed?
Following Nocturnium’s guidance along the shortest possible route, they finally arrived.
“We have arrived.”
Seonghyun looked at Nocturnium, who was gesturing toward a blank wall.
He might have been flustered, but since Seonghyun also possessed lisia's mories, he already knew.
‘I’m supposed to touch here like this, right?’
First, he touched a hidden brick, and after that, he poked a few spots on the floor.
As he pressed those places naturally, he soon heard the sound of a chanism activating.
Kreeeeak.
As the sound of a giant gear and several smaller ones interlocking and moving filled the air, a deep rumbling followed.
Ruuuumble.
Then, a heavy section of the wall scraped along the floor, revealing an entrance.
And as the entrance opened, a single old door ca into view, made of dried-out planks that looked like they had co from a dead tree.
This was lisia's laboratory!
Now, he just had to get what he ca for, and then he could enjoy the labyrinth.
Just as Seonghyun thought this and was about to approach the door.
[You have discovered the Labyrinth-type Hidden Dungeon, 『The Mad Alchemist's Laboratory』.]
[You are the first to discover this hidden dungeon!]
[First discovery rewards will be given.]
[EXP acquisition rate in the Labyrinth-type Hidden Dungeon, 『The Mad Alchemist's Laboratory』, increased by 50%.]
[Rewards in the Labyrinth-type Hidden Dungeon, 『The Mad Alchemist's Laboratory』, increased by 50%.]
[This is a hidden dungeon!]
[The effect of the title, 『Treasure Explorer』, is activated.]
[Drop rate in the hidden dungeon increased by 20%.]
[Hidden door discovery rate increased by 20%.]
[The first discovery bonus will last until the dungeon is cleared for the first ti.]
“……?”
What was all this?
According to lisia's mory, it was just a laboratory.
So it had been turned into a hidden dungeon.
He was surprised at first, but it made sense.
‘The NPC owner died, so did the system turn it into a hidden dungeon to make use of it?’
The probability was very high.
It would be a little strange for the laboratory to be simply abandoned just because the NPC had died.
However.
‘The Mad Alchemist's Laboratory, huh.’
The na itself was out of the ordinary.
Having her mories, Seonghyun wholeheartedly agreed, but still.
‘So it's beco a hidden dungeon…….’
As Seonghyun stood there, troubled, Nocturnium bowed his head deeply with an apologetic expression and spoke.
“…I apologize, Lord. My detection does not work at all beyond that door.”
“It's a hidden dungeon. That can happen.”
“…I am sorry.”
Nocturnium seed even more upset, as he had wanted to be of great help on this occasion.
Well, just getting him this far was already a huge help.
In any case, more important than that right now, Seonghyun scratched his cheek, looking troubled.
It was because of none other than lisia herself.
‘What should I do about this?’
‘lisia researched Chiras and Homunculi, didn't she.’
She wasn't studying the Fragnt of the Demonic Dragon's Heart for no reason. She had been researching to see if it could be linked with Chiras.
That was why Seonghyun had thought her lab would be helpful.
‘I thought it would be good if I could raise the Chiras as part of the Death Legion.’
His plan had been to quietly deal with the Chiras in their test tubes and acquire them, but it seed he would unfortunately have to fight and defeat them one by one.
Actually, this was better.
Now that it had beco a hidden dungeon, the rewards would be even greater.
Thinking positively, Seonghyun approached the door and gripped the handle.
[Opening the door will allow you to enter the Labyrinth-type Hidden Dungeon, 『The Mad Alchemist's Laboratory』.]
[Do you wish to open the door?]
[Yes / No]
Warning
-It is recomnded that you use all your buffs beforehand.
Just as he thought, it seed the Chiras and Homunculi were running loose inside.
On top of that, according to his mory…
‘'Those things' will probably be in there too, right?’
Seonghyun shook his head as if horrified, then, having ntally prepared himself, he pressed accept.
Imdiately, the interior of the laboratory, far more spacious than it appeared from the outside, ca into view.
He could see many broken and shattered flasks rolling about on the floor, and chiras greedily devouring the chemicals nearby.
There was a chicken-shaped chira with three heads.
A modified Living Armor, similar to the ones before, but with a floating helt and staff, indicating it was a magic-type.
And finally, an outlandish chira with the head of a snake, the body of a wolf, the feet and talons of a raptor, and even wings.
Over fifty such chiras were roaming around the laboratory.
Seonghyun laughed in disbelief as he looked at the uniquely distinct creatures.
‘It’s like this right from the entrance?’
He now understood why there had been a warning at the beginning.
As Seonghyun opened the door and appeared, the gazes of all the chiras turned toward him, and they began to drool as they charged.
‘This is why she's a 'Mad Alchemist'.’
Muttering a small complaint about lisia, he prepared for battle.
“Let’s go.”
-I shall wield my sword for my liege!!!
-I-I'll do my best too!
“I, too, shall do my utmost.”
Seonghyun and the three familiars moved out.
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