Chapter 809: The Labyrinth: Visitors
Under most circumstances, the kaijin would pretend to be Zhen Liu’s literal puppets.
Thank to their varied designs, physiques and the fact that most of them were made literal chunks of stone and metal, the kaijin were able to maintain this façade up to this very day. Even when people came to see Zhen Liu sparring with the kaijin, they just assumed that he was practicing his puppet control techniques. However, maintaining this cover had one surprising drawback: obvious culpability.
The Zhen Clan had become so accustom to seeing Zhen Liu “use his puppets”, that it had gotten to the point that when the kaijin would walk around undisguised, they just assumed Zhen Liu was nearby doing something else.
However, this meant that in this one, very specific instance, where their lord’s cousins were the antagonistic force, the kaijin showing up in their normal forms would lead to a cascading ripple effect that would be more trouble than it was worth.
Which is why Logos and Pathos deemed it absolutely necessary to have the kaijin develop a brand new set of disguises that were decidedly more…brutish.
=And…that’s the last of them! Kaijin Disguise Model: Beast is a go!,= Logos announced with approval. =Please give your limbs a once over and tell me if anything’s off.=
[Is this really necessary? My limbs feel so…heavy!]
[At least you’re still humanoid…]
[One, two…did you guys give me extra spikes?]
[On the plus side, I think I would look brilliant printed on a trading card.]
[Terrible way to refer to us.]
<-get ready to teleport and maintain your more monstrous forms when you do. Now, any questions?>
[I have one, actually.]
[What’s up with the names for the Labyrinth sections? Why are they so… thematic?]
[Right…,]
<=Now then, activating teleportation and defensive arrays...now!=>
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The Zhen Clan and the Slumbering Beasts
“Alright everyone, be sure to keep a hand on the wall so that we can move quickly, quietly and with precision.”
“Yes , ma’am.”
Shortly after deciding that the smartest course of action was to stick together, especially in a place that seemed to have shapeshifting and walls that radiated an ancient energy that made them all feel a bit more jumpy than usual, the Zhen Clan scions had opted to just go forward while maintaining a trick known as the “right hand rule”, with Zhen Hai and Zhen Yue taking the lead and rear, respectively.
This was a trick experienced explorers used to maintain what they believed to be the most efficient way to navigate wandering ruins that leaned a bit more heavily on the ruins part. Supposedly, this method was the most efficient way to find the exit to any set of maze-like ruins, with the worst case scenarios being missed loot or you end up back at the entrance.
Either way, they decided to maintain this rule as they went forward just in case this Labyrinth was less disorienting than it appeared.
The scions kept quiet as they marched onward until Zhen Hai suddenly stopped in his tracks, causing his cousins to stop too. As he did though, the others couldn’t help but notice how Zhen Hai was looking a touch more…tense.
“Whoa! Hey, why’d you stop?”
“Because of the menagerie,” Zhen Hai whispered.
“The menag…ohh…”
“Ah hell…”
“Okay…safe to say we’re not in any old random set of ruins then…”
As members of a clan deeply intertwined with aether beasts, the Zhen Clan scions knew a menagerie when they saw one, especially one filled with incredibly dangerous monsters.
The room they had entered was essentially an empty room with several large pits, each of which was holding a different type of aether beast. Making the situation a whole lot more dangerous, was that fact that none of these pits had any coverings to them.
All it would take would be a single mis-step and then they were monster chow…probably.
“That’s a long way down…”
“Damn! It’s so dark in here, I can’t make out anything that might be at the bottom of these damn things.”
“Here, let me try something”
The only form of illumination this room had was a series of torches and the light crystals hanging far above them, meaning while the scions could sense the power coming off of these beasts, they weren’t able to determine what they were exactly without having someone enhance their vision.
The problem with doing so though, was that some aether beasts actually developed the ability to detect such intrusions and act accordingly.
As such, the group had only one member do the deed in order to scout everything out.
“Xiao Guo, what are you seeing?”
“Well…I’m seeing several species of giant spider aether beasts, I think I saw three maybe four giant hornet looking beasts, a giant purple toad that is literally snoring clouds of electricity and a whole mess of weird looking animals that look to be covered in born plating. On the plus side, they’re all sleeping. Which means we just have to carefully sneak on through without falling in. Simple, right?”
“Of course…”
(Un)fortunately, none of these beasts were actually sleeping.
…
[Are we really supposed to just sit here until one of them decides to risk it and stick their head over the edge? Really?]
[I don’t mind to be honest, this is the first proper break I’ve had in weeks.]
[Wait, was our objective to just be deterrents or be actively hostile? Because I have an idea in mind I want to try.]
[Like a deadly one?]
[Ehh…call it a morality vs survival test?]
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Olstenna Madspark in the Garden of Still Life
“What in the eternal blazes is this place?,” Olstenna muttered to himself as he entered a strange looking garden.
To say Olstenna’s day had been weird would be an understatement.
He had started this day under the expectation that he would be having a quick duel to the death and either get food afterwards or die gloriously.
Instead, he had his shit rocked several times before being suddenly transported…somewhere.
His instincts initially told him “library”, but then things got whacky and he found himself inside of a labyrinth instead.
With nothing else to go off of except his honed instincts as a warrior, Olstenna simply shrugged his shoulders and went into the labyrinth with no clear direction in mind.
Which is why he now found himself standing in the middle of what would be considered a normal, luxurious garden in any other location. In a place like this though…it caused him to get a bit on edge.
Then again, it could’ve just been all of the weird looking statues that were interspersed among all the plant life.
Statues that he swore, he saw twitch out of the corner of his eyes.
‘I ain’t sensing any aether, so how could that be possible? Am I losing my mind, again?,’ Olstenna thought to himself as he poked at a statue that remained inert.
Evidently, his instincts weren’t exactly wrong when it came to these strange looking statues, but they weren’t going to do anything…yet.
…
[Do we really have to stand here all day looking like this? I mean, come on! We at least deserve to have our own boss rooms or something.]
[To be fair, our goal is to not necessarily kill any of our intruders, just…render them unable to fight. A boss room would encourage them to keep going even if they’re clearly beaten.]
[Fair enough…so when do we act?]
[Give it like…five seconds.]
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The Spatial Beaver Trio and the Painfully Obvious Honey Trap.
“Well…good news, we’re not dead.”
“Yay.”
“Bad news, we’re stuck in some mysterious library labyrinth thing.”
“Fuck.”
“Seriously, where the fuck are we?!”
Simos, Victor and Graff had what most people would call a…stressful day.
One minute, they were trying to gather information on some guy who was strong enough to punch Victor’s teeth out of his skull, the next, they had somehow interfered with some kind of teleportation array and had been spirited away to some unknown location in the middle of who knows where.
Best case scenario, they were in some hidden sanctuary on the Stampeding Bison continent.
Worst case scenario, they had somehow teleported into being in the middle of a wandering ruin.
Unfortunately for them, it was starting to look more and more like they were dealing with the latter option more so than the former.
Even though the trio had no choice but to move forward anyways, they began to fall into various states of despair and dread, approaching the point where they were just about one scary noise away from praying for death or salvation.
However, just as they were about to get this point…
“Oh man…what the hell are we going to…wait a minute…why do I know that scent?”
“Scent? What are you-wait…I’m smelling it too…smells like…soap? Why would there be soap-oof!”
“Guys…is…is that a bath house?”
…the trio suddenly found themselves at the front door of a weird looking bath house.
Common sense dictated that this encounter should’ve been impossible, but…they weren’t exactly in the right state of mind right now.
“How…how did it get here?”
“I don’t know…but it smells…really nice…”
“Hey…you guys…wanna check it out…?”
“Sure…”
Luckily for them, there were some outside observers who realized that this was a bit of an issue.
…
[Oh…that’s not good.]
[Wait…wasn’t this place supposed to be marked as “The Vault of Avarice”? Where the fuck did this bath house come from?]
[Remember how Logos and Pathos said that Paralust got loose and was closest to these three?]
[Oh…oh shit.]
