Chapter 273

Chapter 273

It's a very odd feeling... Looking at my own body lying asleep on the rocky floor.

I peer down at my wrists and see that the sparks have completely stopped for this body too. However, I feel completely normal.

I open my item storage, and all of my items are there. Including the exact sword and dagger on the floor by my feet. I'm level 462... and my mana control is much lower than it was moments ago. Even so, it's still much higher than it was before I ranked up.

These items are just mana-imbued copies and will disappear once my cloned body fades and this temporary power debuff will leave soon too. They look and feel exactly the same are real items, even with my perception skill activated, I can't tell a difference.

It doesn't matter at all what happens to this body. Even if I'm killed, I'll still wake up in my original form in 2 weeks.

After letting out a long sigh, I look up at Ember and he's already speaking through our link.

"A new trick saves the day again. How interesting..."

We make eye contact, then both stare at my body on the floor for a few seconds.

The realization that the Labyrinth is collapsing as we speak comes across my mind. I need to teleport back there, or my teammate will think I've died... I open the link with Emebr.

"This is urgent. I have to leave. Just 14 days... I need my body kept safe for 2 weeks in this dungeon while it's being healed. Absorb all the mana you want, and take out monsters too. Just no killing humans or being seen by anyone, and don't collapse this dungeon."

He nods.

"Understood. Be safe."

I grin, nodding back.

"I will. See you soon."

I Dunegon Walk back to the Boss Room, and just in time.

A celebration with Ember would have been nice, but there's no time for that. I tested a new dangerous ability and my gamble paid off. There are consequences to playing with the odds. Sometimes not everything falls in my favor. Then again, maybe it does.

My feet hit the cold ground. The Boss Room is empty and silent. There isn't even a hint of a breeze to push the remaining snow back onto the naked mountains or rock-covered battlefield.

I do a quick scan of my surroundings and confirm all my senses and skills work fine...

I reach into my item storage and even pull out a copy of my sword to check it again too. Its buffs have dropped down to the equivalent that they were when I was at level 462 before.

With my conceal skill's special grade perk I hide my new black tattoos and glowing white eyes, reverting my appearance back to the normal human state. Even my Demon's cores were replicated.

Almost 50 seconds pass before the world around me fades to white.

"Just in time. It's over..."

The entire Labyrinth fades into nothingness and transports all its participants back to the small mana-shielded room where the entrance portal stood spinning just a few hours ago.

The hunters that were guarding the 18th and 19th floors must have left. I don't sense their presence, and there's no way they could have managed to climb any higher to help us out.

Once the bright flash of light clears and the buzzing sound of shielding fills my ears, I see all 5 of my teammates in front of me.

They're all breathing heavily. Some covered in sweat, and all of them exhausted. My main body was on the brink of collapse before I used every last bit of strength to activate my hibernation skill. My double's body that I'm currently using is seemingly fine...

The first excited laughing voice I hear from my left side is Maria's.

"You're right."

Her expression darkens.

"This looks like A-Rank graded shielding. I didn't know they even had this kind of supplies out here in the desert."

I clench my jaw, assuming the worst.

Fisher rolls his eyes.

"They thought we would fail. That's it, isn't it? There's nothing to worry about guys. The Solarans just wanted a failsafe for their city if we all died."

He lets out a sigh, then yells up the last flight of stairs as we continue forward.

"Real nice of you all! Appriactae the faith you put in your saviors."

He smirks.

I don't buy it, continuing to expand my perception range, but an impossibly dense wall of pure magic blocks me. The particles are so thinly locked together that it'd take me hours to see through.

Then, I feel a crack in the shielding just 15 meters ahead. The entrance door opens for a split second, allowing me to feel the entire city outside, then slams shut with a loud thud. I'm cut off again.

A loud bang shakes the floor, and a strange cloud of invisible mana-imbued energy shoots out of it. I can only barely sense it with my skills, and utter out a few words before the wave of bizarre matter hits us.

"Watch out for- the- a...."

My thoughts go blank as soon as I'm enveloped in the invisible silent cloud. My vision goes blurry and all of my skills automatically deactivate as I fall to the floor. It feels like electricity is shooting through my veins.

The 5 teammates around me falling in a similar fashion to my sides is the last thing I see before everything goes black.

Is this the Solaran government? The Association? A team of rogues?

I can't figure out what's happening, and for some reason, my poison resistance nor any of my other active skills are activating.

I manage to swing in and out of consciousness as a team of men in jet-black hazmat suits open the locked door of the special shielding and take our bodies away.

The light outside is bright, but it's impossible to make out where we're headed before I pass out again.

My head hurts and my body is numb. I desperately attempt to move my limbs or activate my telekinesis, but something is interrupting my ability to cast magic. None of my skills work at all. There's a horrible ringing in my ears that makes it impossible to keep my thoughts straight and the rhythmic pounding of my heartbeat is only getting louder.

As I wake up again, it's unclear how much time has passed. I know one thing for sure, I'm being carried down a flight of steps. It's dark and the ringing in my ears has only gotten worse. This time, unbearable.

I pass out again.

Everything goes dark.

I wake up a final time and the ringing in my ears and pain in my temples has finally subsided.

I'm sat in a chair and my wrists are both cuffed to a table. The space around me is dark, and my mouth is dry.

All I hear is a woman's voice echo from the darkness at the back of the ominous underground cement-walled room.

"Congratulations on clearing the Labyrinth. Welcome to your debriefing."