"Mm?", Daimon who had reached the seventh room and casually dodged the knife that a hobgoblin wearing full black clothes, making it look like a "ninja" from the eastern folklore, threw at him, frowned as he saw a pair of notifications appearing in front of him.
[A possible ally has been killed, as a hero candidate you failed to save him, a penalty will be applied to the labyrinth in 3…2…1…]
[A possible ally has been killed, as a hero candidate you failed bring him to show him the right path, a penalty will be given to the labyrinth in 3…2…1…]
Daimon's image flashed and the next thing the black clothed hobgoblin knew was that, he could see his own body in front of him, because his head was falling to the ground, luckily such a bizarre scene only lasted a second before everything went dark.
Daimon then turned to see how those two were doing, only to witness the massacre they brought upon the rest of the enemies.
Since the fifth room, the number of hobgoblins increased by one per room which increased the difficulty quite a bit, but in exchange not only the increase in realm was changed from two realms to two stages, but not all of the enemies got it, since there was a need for "hierarchy" now.
In other words, since the "mini-boss" of the fifth gate was an early-stage Lord rank, the ones leading the group at the sixth room, were two hobgoblins at the peak of the early Lord rank, who led their own team, of three goblin champions as Roney called them.
Unlike the previous champions, those were at the same level as the first hobgoblin, in other words they were recently ascended early stage Lord ranks, a total of six, divided in two groups of three, one lead by a knight hobgoblin and the other by a mage hobgoblin.
Apparently, the hobs weren't counted as a part of the enemies per door, which would explain why there were six at the fifth door.
Anyway, at the seventh floor there were three middle stage middle Lord ranks, and seven champions, divided in two teams of two and one of three, Sarah and Reyne each fought against a hobgoblin with two subordinates, while Daimon got rid of the "ninja" who had three.
He didn't doubt about those two's abilities, but his instincts told him that the ninja was the most troublesome, and he was right, the thing not only had lightning affinity but it could use the ability of the assassin goblin to dive into the ground and walls.
Naturally that might have been a problem for others, since the material of which the room is made is quite durable, but for Daimon's Demon Light, that didn't matter, so no matter where the ninja hid, Daimon simply attacked there, after losing an arm and having a hole burned through his stomach, the ninja came out and tried to take Daimon by surprise, said attack was the knife that Daimon easily dodged earlier, before killing it after looking a the two fake notifications.
Needless to say, but the two girls also got rid of their assigned enemies, while only using the same techniques and martial arts, which they have shown so far, in order to not give the owner of the labyrinth more information about them.
The crazy girl saw Daimon approaching them and noticed the notifications, which for some reason she was able to see, while others couldn't, and she also saw Daimon frowning which confused her a bit.
"What's the problem, I thought those things were unable to harm you… did something happen?", she asked with a rare worried expression on her pretty face, making Daimon shake his head.
"I'm fine, the problem is that the "penalty" this time is applied to the labyrinth and that idiot should have received the same notification so…".
"He screwed things up for all", coldly said Sarah, whose attitude took a whole 180° turn, from being genuinely worried that something might have happened to Daimon, to be invaded by rage at the thought of Adam making things worse, and possibly affecting Jasmine who is inside the ruin too.
"Don't worry about her, it said that the penalty is for the "labyrinth" and though I couldn't reach all the way up to where she is, there is more inside of the ruin than the labyrinth", said Daimon which made the crazy girl calm down.
"Mm", she limited to nod in response.
"That being said, the next room might be a pain in the ass to deal with, so be prepared just in case", added Daimon.
Reyne observed from the sides unable to follow up with the conversation they were having, which made her feel rather excluded, until she remembered Daimon's explanation from when they signed a contract with him.
He explained the threat that Adam is, as well as telling them from where they came, but he didn't tell them about the "missions" nor about the systems of course, besides his soulmates, he didn't tell anyone about that, not only because it was his secret, but because having specific knowledge about that would only endanger them, according to Evangeline.
So he kept things in "grey" by saying that there were some specially dangerous people, who were unpredictable, and used the first king of which everyone in Kerrol knew and yet no one had specific knowledge about, as the example, so for Jeanne, Emily and Reyne, Adam was an enemy with the potential of the first king while Daimon was an ally on par with that, though the crazy girl firmly affirmed that in a head to head battle Daimon would sweep the floor with Adam.
'Don't let it bother you, he said it was for the better…', she thought, surprisingly the crazy girl didn't use that subject to mock her, mostly because she had the same amount of information, with the difference that she could see these fake notifications, which made her understand that Adam and Daimon were "different", but she didn't put much thought into it, as a half Nethereal, her horizons were certainly ampler than those of a normal person, and she wasn't normal person to begin with too.
"Long story short, that idiot just made our lives harder, nothing new so don't make that face", casually said Sarah to Reyne, which made Daimon bitterly smile at her resume.
"Hold onto my shoulders like before, just in case", said Daimon, the offer was gladly accepted by those two on the spot, while Sarah was… just being Sarah, Reyne returned to her calm self with that.
The reason as to why Daimon was doing this, is because he knows that the "damsel in distress" scenario is an everyday occurrence for the light idiot, and he doesn't want to get involved in that.
And unlike back when they just entered the ruin, he was right this time, the moment he crossed through the door to the eighth room, the space waved as it tried to separate them, but before he had to take the matter in his hands, he noticed the white crossbow reacting inside of the inventory.
The thing couldn't leave at will, unlike his black Sea Emblem, probably because it was incomplete, but since he didn't feel any ill intentions from the crossbow, he simply allowed it to come out.
The crossbow shone in a dim white light and the space was forced to return to normal, allowing them to pass to the next room without having to follow the whims of whoever was controlling the labyrinth.
The crossbow returned to its normal state and before it felt to the ground, Daimon returned it to the inventory, not without putting on a "surprised" expression as he could feel a though thin and almost undetectable, gaze coming from the outside of the room.
Luckily though Sarah and Reyne couldn't notice it, they were genuinely surprised at the crossbow, so that complimented his "innocent bystander who got involved into this" façade.
Once the gaze that was observing them disappeared, Daimon inwardly smirked but didn't let it show on his face, instead of that he looked at the room in which they appeared, which was way different than the previous ones, once again.
Even the rooms past the mini-boss one had a thing in common with the previous ones, the doors where always in a single place, the wall that was directly facing the one from which they came to be precise.
But now, there were two doors even bigger than the one at the mini-boss room, one at the left side of the room and the other at the wall that directly faced Daimon, like normal.
"Sarah was right, that idiot just made things more complicated", mumbled Daimon, just a second ago, even before the doors opened, he could feel what was about to come out of them, as to why he didn't attack, there was an invisible wall covering doors.
So, when he noticed that Reyne and Sarah were about to launch attacks at the doors, he just touched their hands and hey got the message, and also seemed particularly happy about the way he told them his intentions.
Normally Daimon wouldn't have stopped them, in fact he would have joined in launching a surprise attack, only a naïve idiot would wait until his opponent is ready, in a life and death situation.
But those walls would have bounced their attacks back and they weren't supposed to be able to see them, as it was a petty trap disguised as an "advantage", set up by the one who controlled the labyrinth.
As for the situation that it was set up for, it happened the next second, when a pained sound came from behind the door at the left side of the room.
"Argghhh!", the door opened to reveal a group of four, three were Ghouls and the last one was one of the girls that was with Adam, in other words they were "enemies" of Daimon's group.
The pained sound came from one of the three Ghouls whose hand had turned into a bloody mess, as a descendant of a high ranked noble, a Blood Duke to be more accurate, the wound should have stopped bleeding already and his hand should have returned to normal at this point, as they had a really high vitality and the capacity to regenerate to a certain degree, but it wasn't happening.
"Fuck, heal me human woman!", demanded the Ghoul at the girl, who was keeping some distance from them.
The Ghoul saw the girl not doing as she was told and his eyes got bloodshot, but as he was about to force her to heal him, the Ghoul in the middle who had the blondest hair of the three, stopped him from doing so.
"Enough Call, it was your fault for acting without thinking, even if she is a lowly human, the labyrinth teamed her up with us, so our chances to win will be reduced if she is missing, control your temper, am I clear?", said the Ghoul who seemed to hold a higher position than the other two, based on the fact that the one called Call, immediately obeyed.
"Yes, young master Noah", he limited to say.
That being said, the Ghoul named Noah turned to see the human girl before saying.
"As per the contract signed between our forces, you will be related to us later, as the direct descendant of an Archduke I can help you obtain a much higher start, with a better introductory lineage, and we are meant to cooperate, so heal my companion, unless you want us to leave you aside to deal with them", Noah pointed at Daimon and the girls who were casually observing the scene.
Since Noah appeared, it was obvious that Reyne was eager to kill him, probably because he somewhat resembled the other Archduke, who wasn't related to Dilan, and that one was the one who landed the killing blow on Emily's father.
The girl from the traitor branch of the church ultimately nodded after some hesitation, and casted a water element healing spell, unlike light healing spells who though still work on Ghouls, have their effects reduced due to their negative nature, a water one keeps its efficiency, luckily for that Ghoul, his girl had water affinity.
Still, the hand didn't grow back, but the bleeding did stop, before Noah could scold her, the girl explained.
"He is not getting better, it must be a "punishment" from the labyrinth, it's not something that a healing spell on the Lord rank can cure, he needs an Arch ranked potion".
Noah nodded, and then both he and Daimon turned to see the last remaining door which was opening right now.
As expected, this time the newcomers were from the side of the labyrinth, in other words they were goblins, or more accurately hobgoblins… a total of eighth hobgoblins, all at the early stage of the peak Lord realm and there was a new incorporation to the list of enemies.
While it also had green skin and human-like appearance like the hobgoblins, this one was taller and had a bulky constitution, the difference is that instead of a teenage appearance like the hobgoblins, that one looked more adult, but the biggest chance is that while it also was at the early stage of the peak Lord realm, the aura radiated by it outclassed the hobgoblins.
'An ogre', thought Daimon as he gazed at what supposedly was the strongest species that derived from goblins, at least according to the records of the four galaxies, that being said this one was different, its eyes clearly showed it was rational and even smart on top of that, while ogres were supposed to be just a mass of instincts with a strong body, which is why there weren't Arch ranks among the goblins back at the four galaxies.
That and this one was a knight for sure, which only made things worse for the participants, aside from the three groups that appeared in the room, a floating board with a message written on it, appeared above them.
[Welcome to the penalty room, you have one minute to choose if you want your team to join hands with another, after that you must eliminate the leftover team, however only four will be allowed to survive, choose well as it will affect your next penalty room]
Then a timer with exactly sixty seconds appeared next to the message and the time to make a choice officially started, luckily Daimon didn't need to worry about that, because teaming up with those guys wasn't an option to begin with.
"Thanks…", mumbled Reyne with a small smile at the corner of her mouth, she really wanted to kill Noah, and that meant they couldn't team with the Ghouls, as for the goblins, she knew that they were in Daimon and Sarah's way, so they were the "leftover" team from the very beginning.
In fact, Noah also didn't even consider asking them to join them, instead he turned to see the ogre who was clearly the leader of its group to then say.
"Let's get rid of those three and then we can settle our own matters, I believe this benefit both of us".
The ogre put on a wild smile, revealing its large inferior canines, as he answered.
"I don't like the one with the mask, so it's a deal".
And so, the though based on the circumstance, alliance between Ghouls and goblins, was born.
Daimon saw the counter was about to reach zero, so he turned to see those two to say.
"Reyne, you kill that Noah guy, I'll take care of the ogre… Sarah the rest is for you, you can let loose just a bit".
"Mm", the both nodded in response, this time Reyne didn't want to compete in terms of the number of killed enemies, her focus was to eliminate Noah, as for Sarah she just wanted to let out some steam.
The moment the counter reached zero, the invisible walls disappeared at the same time and the battle officially started.
"Booom!", the Ghouls and the goblins somehow had communicated to make a plan, because the moment the invisible walls appeared, they didn't rush towards Daimon and the girls, instead the mages on both sides bombarded them.
On the goblin's side, there were three offensive type hobgoblin mages, one of the support types and a strange goblin who threw some vials that exploded at them.
As for the Ghoul side, the girl from the church and the guy who lost his hand, were long ranged attackers, though the girl was a healer she could use the spell "rupture" which shot water at a high pressure towards the enemy.
"Did that get them?", it was dangerous to keep a curtain of dust, so one of the hobgoblin mages with wind attribute dispersed to reveal that there was a large crater where Daimon and the girls were standing before.
Unfortunately for them, the next second just after they thought that they were able to blow away the enemy group, Daimon appeared in the middle of the goblins while wielding a white flame sword with his right hand, which he used to pierce the head of the support type hobgoblin, killing it on the spot.
"They are hard to raise you bastard!", shouted the ogre, his weapon of choice was a three-meter saber, which covered in black stones and the earth element battle aura of the ogre, as it was being swung towards Daimon.
The mages didn't attack Daimon, but the melee type hobgoblins namely a swordman and a spear wielder tried to encircle Daimon, while Noah appeared on the air above him, they were trying to take Daimon out first.
"Clang!!!", the sound of metal colliding echoed through the room, the swordman and the spear user hobgoblins were stopped in cold, as they had to use their weapons to deflect two needles that were aimed at their heads.
To their surprise, the force behind the needles pushed them back a few meters, breaking the encirclement around Daimon.
As for the area above, Reyne who finally took out her weapon, which was quite an interesting choice, a knight's lance, like the ones that could be seen in jousting tournaments back at the middle age at earth.
It was the first time Daimon saw someone using that weapon, as it is quite hard to master, compared to a regular spear, on the other hand it was perfect to deal with Noah's weapon which was a serrated sword, as it had more mass that could be used to block.
"Booom!", ignoring the other battles, Daimon's white flame sword clashed against the giant saber of the ogre, creating a flash of light as well as sparkles, as the black stone covering the saber was blown away due to the impact.
The explosion forced the girl from the church as well as the hobgoblin mages to cover their ears, because the shockwave included battle aura, and that made them suffer.
At least the hobgoblin mages didn't suffer too much, before the crazy girl who had threw needles at all the other enemies besides Noah and the ogre, appeared behind of them pushing a needle from behind of their heads, killing two of the three on the spot, the remaining one was saved because the swordsman goblin jumped in and took the needle with his right arm, which he cut off on the spot.
And with three enemies killed at the first exchange of moves, the battle started.
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