Chapter 159: Why Are The Heroes Here?

POV Cornelius

We were approaching the end of the last part of the labyrinth. According to our information, it wasn't far now. Most of this labyrinth was boring, and only the last two floors were more challenging. But since we can usually fight floor 30, that was to be expected. All that's missing is the boss.

“Let's hope no one has just defeated the Minotaur. Otherwise, we'll have to wait six hours.” <Ansgar>

“We haven't encountered anyone in the last few hours. Besides, according to the guild, there's no party in the dungeon that has the level required to reach the final boss.” <Cornelius>

"Hmm, the only strange thing is that we've only encountered a few monsters on this floor. Shouldn't there be a lot more? That could mean that someone passed through here recently." <Javier>

“No way. I want to fight the Minotaur. I can't wait.” <Ansgar>

We continued on until we heard the sound of footsteps getting louder in the distance, coming towards us.

“What's going on?” <Cornelius>

We turned the next corner and almost collided with other people.

“Out of the way! Make room!” <Man>

Four people appeared in front of us, running towards us. Startled, we made room for them and let them pass. They came from the direction of the final boss and quickly disappeared from view.

“Didn't those four look familiar to you too?” <Ansgar>

“Hmm, I recognized three of them. They were members of the Mad Angels. They were The Duke, The Bishop, and Charming Betty. But the fourth person with the hooded cloak wasn't the dark elf. That person was too small for that.” <Javier>

“Something must have happened ahead of us. Let's go check it out. Eli, please renew our support spells.” <Cornelius>

“Will do, Corni.” <Eleonore>

As we approached the room where the final boss was located, Eli cast some support spells on us. Javier did the same. The room itself was not closed off with a door, as was the case in dungeons, so we had a direct view inside. The room was large for a boss room, certainly 60 meters square. On the walls were many reliefs depicting different battle scenes. Most of them featured a large man with a bull's head with horns and hooves and a large battle axe, a minotaur. The room was supported by several pillars that were evenly spaced.

We could hear loud noises coming from inside, but at first we couldn't see anything. As we got closer, we saw the minotaur standing against a wall, stomping on something on the floor. It was a pile of clothes that groaned with every stomp. It had to be a person. Most of the time, he roared loudly into the air.

“We have to go in and help her. Come on, let's get him.” <Cornelius>

“Finally. Let's go. Attack!” <Ansgar>

“Lightning Arrow!” <Javier>

Ansgar and I rushed towards the minotaur. As soon as we entered the room, he stopped kicking and turned to face us. His right hoof was covered in blood, as was his left horn. When he noticed us, he roared and charged at us with his head down, trying to impale us with his horn. I managed to distract him with my shield and a step to the side. Meanwhile, Ansgar struck his right leg hard, inflicting a deep wound. At the same time, Javier's spell hit. It smelled like burnt flesh.

The minotaur howled and swung his axe in a wide arc. He caught Ansgar on the arm, even though he had raised his axe in defense. He only hit me on the shield, but that was enough to push me five meters backwards. After that, I served as a tank and tried my best to draw his attention to me while Ansgar and Javier attacked. While I took hardly any damage because I was able to block all his attacks with my shield, he hit Ansgar several times. But Ansgar just laughed and attacked even more aggressively. I was familiar with this; it was an effect of his berserk mode. The more damage he took, the more damage his attacks did. At the same time, however, he was also being healed from a distance by Eli. Because even though Ansgar had a lot of HP and could therefore take a lot of damage, the minotaur was too strong an opponent to be able to ignore his attacks without worrying.

The battle took longer than expected. This was mainly because the Minotaur had a lot of HP and also had strong natural armor. In the end, we defeated him mainly thanks to Javier. Our preliminary investigations had revealed what resistances he had, so we were able to respond with the appropriate elemental magic. Although he did not yet master all six equally well, the Minotaur had a weakness against lightning magic. Javier mastered this best, along with fire. The stun effect did not work against the Minotaur, but the damage was not reduced. The disadvantage, however, was that, as with fire magic, the victim smelled like burnt flesh. But it was better than the smell of decay, as with some of the undead back then.

After we defeated the minotaur, a treasure chest and a stele appeared, as in a dungeon. We had already learned that a stele did not allow you to improve an existing skill, as in a dungeon, but instead allowed you to learn a new special skill if you were willing to pay the cost. I was curious to see which ones we could learn. I went first and touched the stele. Several skills appeared, and I was allowed to choose one. One of them caught my eye in particular. It was a classic skill used by the tank of the group in most RPGs. I chose it. Provocation.

"All right, guys. Visiting this dungeon was very helpful and worthwhile. I can now use Provocation. This allows me to draw the monsters' aggro much more effectively and give you more freedom. I'm curious to see what you get." <Cornelius>

“I'll continue then.” <Ansgar>

Ansgar touched the stele next. When he let go of it, he looked quite satisfied.

"I don't know yet if it was the right decision, but the skill will certainly help us at some point. I can now use shield cleaver. This allows me to perform a targeted attack on objects such as shields and destroy them with one blow. Watch out, Cornelius, I'm going to be your worst nightmare." <Ansgar>

Ansgar grinned broadly at me. Shield cleaver sounded like a good choice, although I didn't know what else he had to choose from. Then Javier stepped forward. It was immediately apparent that he was dissatisfied with his selection.

“Hmm, that was disappointing. I didn't have a single useful skill, only combat-related and special ones to choose from. But this labyrinth was also combat-oriented, so I shouldn't expect too much. But it wasn't completely useless either. I chose Linguistic Ability I. Knowing languages is never a bad thing.” <Javier>

“Yes, that skill is good. At least one of us should have it. Eli, you're last.” <Cornelius>

“I'm in, Corni.” <Eleonore>

As always, Eli was reserved when it came to fighting and the whole environment. She didn't bat an eyelid as she chose her skill. She then stepped silently to my side and clasped my arm.

“What's wrong, Eli? Did something go wrong?” <Cornelius>

“No, no, everything's fine, Corni. I'm just tired and want to get out of here.” <Eleonore>

“But the injured person...” <Cornelius>

"They can't be helped anymore. I can't hear them breathing, and with all that blood loss, they must be dead. And if it's the dark elf, we'll only get in trouble back home if we help them. Come on, let's go. I really want to get out of here." <Eleonore>

“All right, as you wish. Let's go. Let's loot the chest and take the expensive materials from the minotaur.” <Cornelius>

We left the final boss's room and returned to the surface. We didn't notice that at the end of the fight, a small passage had opened at the back of the room near the supposedly dead person.

In a corner of the labyrinth on the lowest floor:

“Damn, we were so close.” <Man 1>

“And we've suffered a great loss. Without her, we're much weaker in battle. It's a real shame, I'd grown fond of her...” <Woman>

“...” ?

“Hey, what's wrong? You're not usually so quiet.” <Man 1>

“Huh?” <Man 2>

“Calm down, I can't help it. I've rarely seen you in such a bad mood. Is it the loss?” <Man 1>

“That too. But that's not what's bothering me. The other thing is much worse.” <Man 2>

“What are you talking about?” <Man 1>

“Didn't you see who we ran into when we had to flee?” <Man 2>

“You mean the four adventurers before the final boss? What about them?” <Man 1>

“I doubt they were adventurers. They wouldn't engage in such menial activities.” <Man 2>

“You know the four? How?” <Man 1>

“They were the reason I had to flee my home. Because of them, I lost everything I owned. My lineage, my honor, my reputation, my future, everything.” <Man 2>

“Those were the heroes? They did seem strong and battle-hardened. I don't think we're a match for them.” <Man 1>

“I know that! Damn it, what are they doing here? We have to get out of here right now.” <Man 2>

“No, let's not rush into anything. Let's just keep quiet for a few days. Maybe they'll leave then." <Man 1>

“Be quiet for a moment. I have an idea. Come on, we have to leave the labyrinth as quickly as possible and then go to the guild. Hurry up.” <Man 2>