Chapter 11: Sacrifice to the Minotaur

Chapter 11: Sacrifice to the Minotaur

Sliding down into the hole and beneath the Temple, Crucis found his feet meeting a cold, marble surface. As he ducked down into this underground area to look around, he saw that he was on a small ramp at the entrance, leading into a dark labyrinth carved from brown stone. He could hear a few heavy footsteps nearby, probably coming from monsters. As he cautiously walked off the small marble plane, the hole in the Temple floor closed and bolted so that nobody else without an appropriate map could enter.The origin of this chapter's debut can be traced to N0v3l--B1n.

Crucis remembered the rough direction to the treasure marked out on the map, which was in the top-left corner of the labyrinth in a small passage. Although he saw a passage leading leftwards, he waited in place for a moment to listen carefully for the sound of any monsters. He noticed that most of the footsteps he heard were coming from the right, and wondered if there was anything being guarded there. There seemed to be a few powerful beasts to the left, however, including one who seemed to be occasionally pacing near the end of the leftwards passage. He also heard a sound which seemed like people talking, a short distance to the right. He strained to listen.

He could make out a player saying that they couldn't buy replacement maps until they left the game, so they shouldn't disturb the minotaurs. Crucis realised that, since these players were currently trapped in the game, they couldn't donate to buy replacements after using items like treasure maps. This meant that, if they died in here, they might not be able to re-enter to recover items from their corpse. The rest of the players' conversation was mostly inaudible, so Crucis crept quietly down a small rightwards path to listen more closely.

"The minos are nearby, but they won't see us if we hide behind the pillars on this side," said one player with a low-pitched, grizzly voice.

Crucis saw a few large, hulking silhouettes gathering within a small marble-floored square as his passage turned left. The players must be on the other side of this square, where he could see a few large, white pillars reaching up to the high, rocky ceiling of this area. He could make out a few shapes slowly and carefully moving behind the pillars. Crucis considered kiting the minotaurs towards the hiding players, but decided against it because running straight through a gathering of minotaurs would be unsafe and receiving a few strong blows would make escape difficult.

He therefore shuffled leftwards to follow the movement of the players, and saw that there was a wall between the players and himself. He heard the low-pitched voice speaking, "There might be a door leading to treasure up ahead and to the right. Gryfon told me it was somewhere here, and he's been down here 10 times. We can return here when we're done, and if we didn't find the door we can look around for it down another path. The treasure respawns every few hours, but it's probably there now, since treasure maps are rare and most players don't notice this one. It should only take about 3 minutes to check, anyway." This player seemed to be the more knowledgeable one, and was guiding his companion.

Crucis heard as the two players' footsteps pattered away down a straight corridor, and then turned to walk away to the right. Crucis used [Agile Step] to enter the wall to his right, and stepped through to the place where the players had been talking. He remembered that the players were planning to return here. He would usually have to be careful not to run into them, since if he was killed then he wouldn't be able to recover his corpse. They were wearing heavy armour, however, so he could probably hear them coming from some distance. Crucis guessed that the Guilds were sharing information about where to find additional treasures and drops in this labyrinth, and he was somewhat uncomfortable with the prospect of these players taking all of the nearby treasures and possibly attacking him.

After waiting for about a minute to familiarise himself with his surroundings, he began pacing slowly towards the pillars beside the gathering of minotaurs. He equipped the skeletal necklace he had obtained from the undead dog, because if NPCs were bleeding then they would generally stalk or chase the perpetrator more fervently. Somewhat nervously, he hid behind a pillar and peeked around the edge, seeing that each minotaur was marked as a [Young Minotaur], and that their levels were in a range between levels 30 and 40. This was a dangerous opponent, and much more threatening than most creatures in this area were likely to be. Crucis surmised that there was probably some valuable treasure on the right side of this labyrinth, but it might be difficult to reach. Since minotaurs were generally quite loud, and stepped slowly and heavily on the ground, players were probably expected to hear and avoid them rather than fight them.

"What the hell are you doing?" shouted JaxonFive.

JaxonFive strode quickly towards Crucis and feinted a blow from the right, then used his [Flourish] skill to change the angle of his attack and give an unexpected strike targetting the Assassin's left shoulder. Crucis stepped back quickly, but he was thrown by the change of angle and was caught with a small cut on his left shoulder. He could feel a faint sting as a small pool of blood flowed from the wound. He had guessed that JaxonFive might be of the [Knight] subclass, like his companion Sardaukar, but the [Flourish] skill was a recognisable trait of the more agile and unorthodox [Arch-Knight] class. JaxonFive was an Arch-Knight. This meant that, while slower than Crucis, he could still strike quickly and fiercely if Crucis was nearby.

Crucis pretended to be badly injured and reeling in order to draw JaxonFive closer, since he remembered how the Arch-Knight had tried to pursue a fallen minotaur only to be knocked down. As expected, JaxonFive stepped forwards and prepared a [Hammering Blow] attack to hit Crucis, but the Assassin quickly bolted behind JaxonFive and used a [Chokehold]. Due to the Arch-Knight's forwards momentum, he was almost choking himself on Crucis' arm as his neck pressed against it. JaxonFive let out a muted cry. Feeling the strain on JaxonFive's neck, Crucis quickly used [Black Spot] to cut a slit in the warrior's neck. Howling with pain, the warrior shoved Crucis away and looked at him with indignant eyes flaring up. Crucis tilted his head nonchalantly.

While JaxonFive started to step towards Crucis, his movements seemed sluggish due to the pain from his neck. In his anger, JaxonFive prepared to use the [Charge] skill and run across the corridor at Crucis to inflict heavy damage. Crucis was slightly surprised to see an Arch-Knight using [Charge], a skill that was typically associated with the Berserker class. The Berserkers and Arch-Knights were often described as near-opposites by players, as the first uses agile and unexpected strikes while the latter uses rash, powerful hits. However, for a level 17 player, the [Charge] move might still not have that much disadvantage. Crucis was slightly puzzled at first by why a level 17 player would have the [Arch-Knight] subclass, which usually requires level 30, but then remembered that it might be a perk for donors which allows them to unlock a sub-class earlier. Subclasses like the elemental forms of magic or the Arch-Knight were considered 'complex,' and hence typically players would have to wait for level 30 to unlock them.

Crucis was slightly winded, but noticed that he was seeing multiple renders of the walls beside him. As he saw JaxonFive charge down the corridor towards him, Crucis used [Agile Step] to enter the wall to his right, dodging the Arch-Knight's lunging, clumsy strike. However, he was surprised to see that the Arch-Knight ran up to the wall as well, and used the Arch-Knight skill [Sudden Burst] to take a highly rapid but short step forwards, entering the wall. Crucis was slightly taken aback by seeing another player enter the wall with him, but was on guard as soon as he saw the Arch-Knight walking towards the wall, and quickly struck a [Stunning Dagger] move on JaxonFive's shoulder. He followed this up with a [Dagger Twist], causing JaxonFive to give a throaty scream. He noticed that the warrior was crying. Using his grip on the shoulder, Crucis shoved JaxonFive's shoulders and head out of the wall. Grabbing JaxonFive with a [Chokehold], he harshly thrust the warrior's head backwards into the wall. JaxonFive cursed loudly.

Crucis raised his right leg to JaxonFive's upper back, and kicked the warrior to the ground. JaxonFive was still dazed, and collapsed onto the ground. JaxonFive had only 3% of his HP remaining. Crucis swiftly knelt down and used [Ripper] to make a gash across JaxonFive's neck, and JaxonFive died mid-scream with his mouth full of blood. Crucis left the wall, and crept cautiously back towards where the minotaurs had been fighting Sardaukar.

The minotaurs had by now returned to where they were gathering, and Crucis could hear their footsteps in the distance. However, Sardaukar's corpse was still lying on the ground. If he did not return to claim it for two hours, then Crucis would be able to loot the corpse. However, while Crucis had overheard Sardaukar mentioning that they might not have enough maps to return, he couldn't be 100% certain that they wouldn't return and he didn't want to be standing by the corpses if they did. He hence decided to look around first, starting with the treasure which Sardaukar had earlier mentioned.

Yours? Mine.