Chapter 606 - Devil’s Floor [Part 1]

After reading the series of notifications, William became alarmed. 

This was the first time that this had happened so he immediately consulted the System to ask what was happening.

'Optimus, what happened?' William inquired. 

Ever since the System had an upgrade, its functions had also improved as well. 

< Give me a moment, Will. I am currently analyzing the laws of this floor. >

The Half-Elf sighed internally as he gazed at the maze in the distance. Chiffon noticed the subtle changes in William's expression because she had been observing him pretty closely ever since the two of them had started to spend time together.

With a glance, she could tell that something was wrong.

"Big Brother, what happened?" Chiffon asked.

William lightly squeezed her hand before replying.

"We can't go to the Thousand Beast Domain to play for the time being," William answered. "No matter what happens, stay close to me. We will enter the maze in just a few minutes."

"Un!" Chiffon nodded her head.

She had complete trust in William's judgement and simply gazed at the Maze in front of her. Dwarves had an uncanny ability of retracing their steps no matter where they were. It meant that regardless of where they went, they would not get lost in the place since they knew where they had traveled before.

Even if they couldn't find the exit of the dungeon, retracing their steps wasn't a problem. Because of this, Chiffon was confident that they could find the exit of the maze without fail, albeit it would take some time to do so.

For the time being, William decided to have lunch with Chiffon, while Optimus was busy analyzing the notorious floor that no one had conquered before.

An hour later, several system messages appeared in William's Status Page.

< Will, according to my analysis, there is a certain law that prevents any kind of domain from overlapping with this floor. But, rest assured. Our connection with the Thousand Beast Domain, Dungeon of Atlantis, Goblin Crypt, and Undying Lands, are merely disconnected. It will be reconnected the moment we leave this floor. >

William nodded in understanding, 'Thank you. What about the maze? Can you find the exit?'

< No. The mapping system also doesn't work in this place. At most, you can only clear the places that you have travelled on the map. Be careful, Will. I have a bad feeling about this place. >

'Thank you,' William replied. 'I will keep that in mind.'

Even without Optimus' reminder, William had already decided to take this matter seriously. This was not the first time that his Domain had been blocked by a law of the Tower. The Floor of Parting also had similar laws that prevented others from hiding in a domain in order to proceed to the next floor.

If not for the fact that the Undying Lands was governed by its own set of rules, Chiffon might have been left behind when William ascended to the next floor.

After eating, William and Chiffon stepped inside the entrance of the maze. After walking for some time, they came across their first intersection.

"Let's go right first," William said.

"Un." Chiffon nodded her head in agreement.

An hour passed as William and Chiffon entered the maze. Whenever there was an intersection, they would always choose the right path. William gave Chiffon a special marking pen, and the little girl would always write an arrow in the direction that they traveled.

Chiffon found this very interesting and took her job seriously. Meanwhile, William and Optimus were carefully mapping the area that they had traversed. They were looking for signs for any changes in the pattern of the maze.

So far, there were no changes. However, William noticed something strange. In the black area of the map, on the place where the map was not revealed, there were several red spots that blinked unceasingly.

Naturally, these red spots were hostile creatures. The Half-Elf had already anticipated that something like this would happen, but he wasn't worried. The two continued to chart their course until twelve hours had passed.

William frowned when he looked at the map. After twelve hours of walking they had only covered a small area of the map. This just proved how big the maze was. It also made William realize that conquering the 51st Floor in a day was out of the question.

Earlier, he tried to break down the walls to no avail. The walls were protected by the Law of the Guardian, so destroying it was out of the question. 

Flying and any other forms of flight were also disabled. After turning into a corner, William saw a blinking red dot that they would come across at the next intersection. This battle was inevitable, and William was also curious on what kind of Monster was waiting for them at the other side.

"Chiffon, wear your gauntlets," William said as he summoned Stormcaller. 

The pink-haired girl's expression immediately became serious as she equipped the Devourer's Gauntlets. 

Instead of waiting for them to make a right turn, the red blinking spot started moving. 

William immediately took a fighting stance, and Chiffon did the same. Their eyes focused on the right intersection where the monster was going to appear.

A few seconds later, a red, frog-like man with a freakishly big head, peeked at the corner of the intersection. Its blood-red eyes stared at William and Chiffon with undisguised hunger. It then gave them a creepy smile, showing a mouth without teeth. 

This was the first time that William saw this creature, so he immediately used his appraisal skill to get its information. 

—--

< Yara-ma-yha-who >

-- Devouring Vampire

-- Bloodsucker

-- Threat Level: A (Mid)

-- Cannot be added to the herd

– The Yara-ma-yha-who likes to hunt unsuspecting travelers when they least expect it. Although it is only a meter tall, and is very fast and agile. It sucks its victim's blood through their fingertips, while its mouth could devour its prey even if they were ten times its size.

– Once it devours its victim, it will immediately take a nap. After it wakes up from its nap, it will regurgitate its victim and take a nap again.

– The Victim that had been regurgitated would be extremely weak from the loss of blood, and their skin would have a reddish tinge in them. It is advisable that those that had been regurgitated must do any means necessary to escape.

Once the Yara-ma-yha-who wakes up from its nap, it would once again hunt its victim and devour it again. Everytime the victim gets devoured and regurgitated by the The Yara-ma-yha-who, there will be changes in their body.

The victim would become smaller, and their skin redder. It was said that after the Yara-ma-yha-who devours its victim for the fourth time. The next time the Yara-ma-yha-who regurgitates its victim, they would no longer be human, but a Yara-ma-yha-who.

—--

As the Yara-ma-yha-who looked at William and Chiffon, a creepy laugh emerged from its toothless mouth. 

Soon, this laughter was followed by a chorus of laughter that came from all over the maze. The red blinking dots on the map were slowly converging towards them. According to William's estimate, there were at least a hundred of them.

"Chiffon, no matter what happens, stay as close to me as possible."

"Understood, Big Brother."

As the red dots drew closer, the laughter of the Yara-ma-yha-who became louder. It had been a very long time since they had sucked the blood of those that were foolish enough to enter the 51st Floor. 

This was William's and Chiffon's first battle within the floor that was given the nickname…

Devil's Floor.