Dimensional Labyrinth — Part 2
It came without any warning.
When an elderly woman in a suit suddenly emerged from the ground, Kim Mabeob nearly fainted in shock.
“Gasp! E-Elder Jo?!”
The figure looked exactly as she had appeared in the Mage Tower.
But there was no presence to her. Floating like a phantom, she simply glared at us.
Ignoring her, I thrust the Black Tiger Sword behind Elder Jo.
Squelch!
With a familiar sensation, the mana core came out.
I casually tossed it into the golf bag.
Kim Mabeob, pale-faced, hid behind me.
“Ugh… Black Tiger Swordmaster, you’re really something. Wait, so this isn’t the real Elder Jo?”
“Would she leave the center of the labyrinth while busy performing a ritual? It’s likely a projection or something similar.”
“Hmph.”
Elder Jo’s shadow let out a scoff.
“So you’re not a complete fool. Yes, this is merely a fragment of me. I came because the labyrinth grew noisy, and what do I find? An unexpected prize.”
Elder Jo glared at us with venomous eyes.
“A warrior who killed my disciple, and the wretched grandson of that damn Tower Master… Heh, I can take my revenge on both of you at once.”
“Me, fine. But including Kim Mabeob? You’ll just get killed by the Tower Master.”
“Hmph. Once the ritual is complete, the Tower Master will no longer be a threat. No, he’ll become a fine source of mana. Everything has been planned since the moment you set foot on this island.”
She wasn’t wrong.
Solar Eclipse versus Sun.
In such a match-up, who would have the upper hand?
‘Still, something feels off.’
Despite their advantage in elemental compatibility, the Solar Eclipse Sect had never managed to claim dominance over the Sun Mage Tower for centuries.
The reason was their black magic foundation—rife with side effects and vulnerabilities.
I decided to probe Elder Jo a bit.
“So, did you already benefit from the Golden Crow? Pulling a stunt like this makes me think you did.”
“Golden Crow?”
Kim Mabeob turned to me, confused.
Elder Jo’s expression stiffened for a moment.
“Hmph… That’s right. And yet, because of you, it failed. My poor disciple spent over a decade working toward that, even sacrificing his own body, only to end up as a subordinate to that Crow’s son… But it doesn’t matter. The Black Crow will suffice. No, it’s even better. It allows us to restore the true essence of our sect!”
So that’s how it was.
This wasn’t a simple case of Elder Jo chasing money and partnering with the Geumo Group.
She’d been orchestrating it from the beginning, targeting the Golden Crow mana circuit in the Geumo Group’s ruling family.
Because of my interference, she failed to secure the Golden Crow and settled for the Level 6 Black Crow mana circuit. Yet, even that was enough to advance her plans—starting the ritual years earlier than intended.
“This ends here.”
Elder Jo raised her right hand.
“Both of you will die here.”
Rumble!
She had a reason for talking to buy time.
The entire labyrinth began to shake.
Thunk! Thunk! Thunk!
The walls started to fold in, pieces moving like blocks, rearranging into a massive passageway.
From the far end, the walls began to compress inward, ready to crush us.
“Are you kidding me?!”
Kim Mabeob’s eyes widened.
“To the heavy artillery! We have to get to the heavy artillery now! If we’re too late, we’re dead!”
The fact that I’d installed several magical dice earlier had mitigated the damage to this extent. Without them, the walls, ceiling, and floor would have closed in entirely to crush us.
I turned quickly, grabbing Kim Mabeob, and started running. Elder Jo laughed maniacally behind us.
“Do you think you can escape? Run! Run as fast as you can! But death is all that awaits you!”
Yeah, right.
I’d encountered this pattern multiple times in the game.
This mini-game-like sequence, where the dungeon comes alive, had wiped out many players.
After a few tries, the pattern becomes predictable and easy to overcome.
[Giant’s Strength] [Grand Assault] [Sixth Sense]
[Insight] [Detection] [Sensitivity]
To me, the traps were visible.
Glowing red warning signs lit up wherever they were triggered.
With my Bright Eyes and heightened senses at full capacity, there was no way I could fail to avoid them.
The only real problem was the weight of Kim Mabeob on my shoulders.
“Go slower!”
“You’ll die if I do.”
“Then go faster!”
“Stay still.”
“How am I supposed to stay still?!”
The labyrinth quaked violently.
Traps detonated just as we slipped past them.
Explosive magic went off, lightning flashed, and the ground caved in.
Kim Mabeob instinctively writhed and fidgeted, throwing off my balance.
Ah, I’m so tempted to subdue him.
For a moment, I thought about swapping [Giant’s Strength] with [Close-Combat Mastery], just to handle him.
Bang!
A burst of flame barely grazed Kim Mabeob, catching onto him.
“Ahhh!”
He frantically waved his hands, summoning a fiery storm from his palms to extinguish the blaze.
A response fitting of a fire mage.
The sticky flames that clung to him like grease were blasted away.
“Hold on tight! I can’t dodge the next one!”
“W-what? What does that mean?!”
At the end of the straight passage was the final trap—a wall of flames.
This one was unavoidable.
Unlike the others, this was a remotely activated trap that triggered no matter what. Even in the game, there was no way around it.
‘Fire resistance won’t be enough.’
Not when I also needed to shield Kim Mabeob.
In that case…
[Sigurd Cultivation Technique] [Mana Soul] [Mana Shield]
[Domain Shield] [Mana Barrier] [Mana Armor]
A quadruple-layered defense!
The Sigurd Cultivation Technique anchored itself to my heart and mana circuit, unleashing a fierce power that radiated outward.
That energy expanded beyond my skin.
A spherical shield formed around us. A secondary shield took shape in the form of a barrier at the front. Another intangible shield enveloped my body, and the domain’s protective force extended to cover Kim Mabeob as well.
Most of the protection was focused on me, but Kim Mabeob was sufficiently covered.
“Wha-what is this?”
Kim Mabeob, sensing something strange, widened his eyes.
Almost simultaneously, the trap activated.
Flames erupted, engulfing us completely.
Whoosh. The heat pressed against us.
But it wasn’t enough to penetrate the quadruple-layered shields.
While Kim Mabeob could still feel the heat, his innate fire resistance as a pyromancer made him immune to serious harm.
In the end, we broke through the wall of fire and entered the next stage.
“Phew!”
I took a deep breath.
Kim Mabeob carefully climbed down from my shoulders.
“Do you think we’ve lost her?”
“Yes. This looks like a different section of the labyrinth. The atmosphere’s changed.”
“You’re right. Wow, I was really shocked back there. I’ve always wondered how you endured the Sunfire before, and now I know—it was this, huh?”
“You think I’d challenge Sunfire without something to rely on?”
“Fair point.”
We exchanged a few words while surveying our surroundings.
The bleak, ashen wasteland we’d been traversing was gone.
Instead, everything was now pitch black, as though the entire area had been coated in solidified tar.
There were no walls, only dense, spike-like pillars protruding everywhere, so tightly packed they restricted our view like a forest.
“What is this place… It’s kind of creepy.”
In game terms, this was the second floor.
We were one layer closer to the core of the Dimensional Labyrinth.
From this point on, I couldn’t let my guard down.
I secured the Black Tiger Sword at my waist and instinctively reached for Mjolnir before shaking my head.
‘No, that’s not it.’
Conventional projectile attacks would just get blocked by the pillars.
What I needed here were wide-area attacks that could target enemies at a distance.
Unfortunately, I didn’t have such traits.
But I did have an alternative.
I pulled a sniper rifle out of the golf bag.
As I slid spare magazines into my belt, Kim Mabeob gave me a puzzled look.
“A gun? What for?”
“Because I’ll need it.”
With Dasan Guns, abilities are shared, so even a pistol could work.
But the enemies from here onward were going to be at significant distances.
Even I couldn’t reliably hit targets hundreds of meters away with just a pistol.
[Gunplay] [Aim] [Sniper]
[Sixth Sense] [Insight] [Detection]
I scanned my surroundings.
All I could see were an overwhelming number of black pillars.
Just as my eyes started to ache from the strain, a crimson light flickered in the distance.
An attack signal.
And then came the eerie wails.
“Uuuaaaaaahhhh.”
“Wooooooo.”
“Heeheeheehee.”
“What—what’s that?!”
Startled, Kim Mabeob spread his arms, and flames flared from his hands just as the attack reached us.
Vague gray shapes hurtled toward us—classic ghost attacks.
I set the sniper rifle down for a moment and drew my twin pistols.
Bang-bang-bang-bang!
With the ghostly projectiles slow-moving, it wasn’t hard to shoot them down mid-air with a flurry of enhanced bullets.
“Phew, what the heck was that?”
“Ghosts.”
“I don’t see anything.”
“They’re far away. Think of them as ghost snipers.”
That’s what makes this section so dangerous.
A forest of black pillars obscuring your line of sight.
Ghost snipers that spawn off-screen and bombard you with long-range attacks.
If you stand still, you’ll be overwhelmed by relentless projectiles.
Although the slow speed of the ghost projectiles makes them dodgeable, you can’t keep evading forever.
‘Not that it matters for me.’
Taking advantage of a lull in the attacks, I picked the sniper rifle back up.
I waited for the crimson lights—the attack signals—to flicker again.
Kim Mabeob couldn’t see them, but thanks to [Insight], they were perfectly visible to me.
At last, another light glimmered.
And thanks to my detection traits, I could see through the pillars, as if the world itself had turned transparent.
Bang!
I pulled the trigger.
Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang!
I emptied the five-round magazine.
Each shot extinguished a crimson light.
I couldn’t directly confirm the deaths of the ghosts, but my senses told me they were gone.
I repeated the process over and over.
If the sniper rifle wasn’t a Dasan weapon, this would’ve been a nightmare.
Without its ability-sharing feature, I would’ve had to rely on Kim Mabeob’s pyromancy or hunt each ghost down in person.
“Uh… What am I supposed to do?”
As I kept firing, Kim Mabeob stood to the side, grumbling in frustration.
Now that I thought about it, he hadn’t done much.
And he probably wouldn’t contribute much going forward either.
I shrugged my shoulders.
“Make yourself some popcorn.”
“Why did I even come with you?”
“If you’re that worried, just watch my back. I’m pretty exposed right now.”
“Leave it to me!”
The sniper rifle was bolt-action, meaning there were moments when I couldn’t deal with incoming projectiles.
I left that to Kim Mabeob.
He channeled his fire magic and unleashed flames, melting the slow-moving gray projectiles mid-air.
It wasn’t a bad setup.
With him on defense, I could focus entirely on counter-sniping.
Since the ghost projectiles could pass through physical obstacles, it was essential to eliminate them before they could attack again.
How many times had I pulled the trigger?
By the time the dozens of magazines I carried in the golf bag were nearly depleted, the last ghost finally fell.
“Phew.”
I rubbed my sore eyes.
And then, suddenly, my vision brightened.
The world looked completely different.
I’m not speaking metaphorically—it was literal.
I could now see clearly beyond the forest of black pillars.
Acquired the trait: [X-Ray Vision].
This was a pleasant surprise.
Originally, I’d planned to install traps and dismantle walls to earn this trait. But my impromptu changes to the plan after entering the Solar Eclipse Sect’s Dimensional Labyrinth had worked out.
As a result, I had gained a new trait.
“Phew.”
No need to waste any more time.
I immediately began combining traits.
[Insight] [Tracking] [Detection]
[Danger Sense] [Weakness Detection] [X-Ray Vision]
A sharp pain shot through my eyes.
Tears streamed down uncontrollably.
In fact, the blood vessels in my eyes ruptured, and blood dripped down my face like tears.
Meanwhile, a deep, drilling pain pierced my skull.
It felt like someone was jamming a drill into the back of my head and churning it relentlessly.
“Huff, huff.”
Perhaps it was because this combination affected both my senses and cognition.
It was far more intense than when I acquired [Sixth Sense].
Kim Mabeob, wide-eyed, stared at me in shock.
“Black Tiger Swordmaster? Are you okay?”
“I’m fine now. I think I just pushed my abilities too hard.”
“Really? You’re sure it’s not mana overload?”
“It’s fine. My mana circuit is intact.”
“That’s a relief. Still, take this. If something happens to you, my grandfather will kill me.”
Kim Mabeob pulled a crystal bottle out of his magical pouch and handed it to me.
The liquid inside was blood-red, sparkling with golden, silver, and starlike glimmers.
A top-grade healing potion.
One of these could easily cost hundreds of millions.
Truly, a golden spoon.
I accepted the potion gratefully and drank it.
“Thank you. I’ll put it to good use.”
“No problem. Honestly, I wouldn’t even be Level 5 if it weren’t for you, Black Tiger Swordmaster.”
“Haha. Is that so?”
“Of course!”
Truthfully, I was tempted to stash the potion for later, but I held back.
That wouldn’t have been polite.
After downing the healing potion, we resumed exploring the area.
I installed more magical dice and harvested mana cores from the ghosts we encountered along the way.
At some point, Kim Mabeob pulled out his smartphone and started calculating something, a troubled expression forming on his face.
“We just need to set up one more heavy artillery unit, and we’re done.”
“That’s good news. But why the long face?”
“Well, the last one has to be installed further in. But given the scale of the labyrinth…”
Kim Mabeob trailed off, but the reason was obvious.
Judging by the size of the labyrinth, the third floor was the final layer.
And on that floor, there was a high likelihood that Elder Jo would be waiting.
‘So it’s come to this after all.’
I’d considered this possibility from the start.
There was a chance I’d have to face Elder Jo directly.
I ran a hand along the Black Tiger Sword.
“Let’s go.”
“Are you sure about this?”
“It’s risky, but we don’t have a choice. I’ll keep Elder Jo distracted while you set up the heavy artillery.”
“Black Tiger Swordmaster… Elder Jo is Level 7. She might even be Level 8 by now.”
“But she’s not a fully realized Level 8 yet. The ritual isn’t complete. The Tower Master and the elders outside are actively disrupting the ritual, so it couldn’t have finished already. That buys us time.”
Right now, Elder Jo wouldn’t be able to unleash her full power.
At most, she’d be limited to casting Level 5 or 6 magic.
Even if she managed to use Level 7 magic, its potency would be significantly weakened.
That gives us a chance.
I just need to hold her off for a few minutes while Kim Mabeob calculates the leyline and installs the final artillery.
‘I can’t use Trait Swap.’
As soon as the dimensional collapse begins, the Tower Master will intervene.
If I’m caught swapping traits at that critical moment, the Tower Master will definitely figure out my secret.
I had to avoid that at all costs.
I carefully selected my traits.
[Swordsmanship Expert] [Close-Combat Mastery] [Bright Eyes]
[Tiger King Sword Technique] [Sigurd Cultivation Technique] [Sixth Sense]
No flashy trinity builds or double-power setups.
This was the build of a warrior—specifically, a sensory-focused swordsman.
A lone warrior who stakes everything on a single blade.
Walking the razor’s edge of life and death, like a solitary swordsman traversing a cliff of blades.
“Let’s go.”
We stepped into the next area.
A basin filled with shimmering white sand, polished smooth like glass.
Underneath a black sun, Elder Jo hovered like a crow.
Her body was encased in an alloy exoskeleton forged from Nethersteel.
A high-level mana core glowed ominously from her forehead and chest.
On each of her shoulders were grotesque, hybrid heads—one a semi-elemental phoenix, the other a mechanical crow.
Neither man, mutant, spirit, nor machine—she was a monstrous fusion of all four.
–TL Notes–
Tired of seeing Ads? Then please support me on Patreon! Any tier of subscription will make it so you won’t get any ads!
If you want to support me or give me feedback, you can do it at patreon.com/MattReading
Join my Discord! https://discord.gg/BWaP3AHHpt
Nice