Chương 190: A Little Luck

During our next Labyrinth run, we reached the second level using the same route as usual. Today, we still travelled as one big group, but it didn't take so long to get down to the lower level. More time to search for treasures and Imperial Steel. It still felt like we had forever to raid the Labyrinth, but that would turn into a scramble too quickly, and I couldn't let myself procrastinate. We needed to start building the armour that would stick with us for the rest of our time as soldiers.

I doubted we'd ever get as clean-cut of a chance to explore a Labyrinth and extract the resources of a forgotten age. Today, now that we knew the elevator was safe, Yesman's squad went first, then Habit. Those who stayed behind and operated the elevator had gotten it down to a science, and it only took them about a minute to raise and lower it. At least, aside from the benefits we promised those who stayed behind, they would be getting plenty of exercise. We could consider this part of their conditioning.

As if it would help, though, without more infused food. Our squad was the third down. As we descended, I asked Sage, "What do you know about the monsters and foes down here? What's most likely to give us Imperial Steel?"

"We should try to find skeleton units," she said.

"But they haven't been equipped with Imperial Steel, from what we've seen so far."

"Not the weak ones. We should seek out heavy units and commanding units."

"How would we find those?"

"They should gravitate toward the open spaces the same as regular monsters."

"Then we'll aim for that plaza," I said as we neared the bottom. I pointed across the city, this time slightly to the right, at a nearby plaza. At the moment, I couldn't see anything in it, but that was a good sign. If there was some massive flaming dragon, that wouldn't be a good sign. When the elevator landed, we set off, sprinting through the city and racing toward the plaza I'd indicated. Hopefully, the other squads weren't aiming for it, but if they were, we'd have to try to beat them there.

We arrived at the edge and stopped on an adjacent street, peering into the open space of the plaza.

"Empty," I said.

"Probably not," Anchor countered.

"I'd bet there's something lying in wait for us."

"I'm not interested in it." I crossed my arms around my spear.

"It's not what we're looking for. We should move on."

"It might have some other loot we need," Sage said.

"This close to the elevator hub? I bet it's already been raided." She nodded.

"Perhaps we should use today as a proper scouting mission. I have a theory." We all turned toward her.

"Unlike the first level," she explained, "this level has the weakest monsters near the middle. The stronger foes gather near the edges, safe from the incursions, and where the city grows sparser, improving the mana flow, while the quantity of treasures is denser—sapper squads haven't looted as much that far out." My head bobbed.

"It's sound logic. And if it's true, it could help use get far better armour than the others, who only push as far out as they need to."

"Shall we try it today, then, brothers?" Brawl asked.

"Let's give it a shot." We raced across the plaza. As Anchor theorized, a monster lay in wait. The ground at the center of the plaza burst apart, and bricks tumbled into the air. A cloud of dust washed over us, and an orange glow seeped out of it. A gorilla made of lava lumbered out of the explosion, walking on its knuckles. It was the same creature as we encountered on our first expedition. It had Imperial Steel inside it, yes. But was it enough? It would be something, but I'd let the other squads have it.

I had my eyes set on better prizes deep within the Labyrinth. We kept our weapons raised as we rushed through the streets. The lava gorilla tried to follow us, though it was too slow, and it couldn't keep up with the twists and turns we took through the streets. As we ran, we encountered more and more skeletons. They tried to block our way and stop us from reaching the outside of the chasm. We bashed through them with ease.

Although they were Titaniums, there were four of us, and they were just reanimated skeletons with bones made of ash. You could be reading stolen content. Head to the original site for the genuine story. Besides, none of them had the Imperial Steel we needed.

"Would it be worth it to harvest their Presence?" I asked once, as we cut through a cluster of them.

"Not anymore," Sage asked.

"They do have trace amounts of Presence, but it's less than an average orc. You're better off harvesting their armour as scrap, and even then, it's not worth even crafting into real armour and selling." Finally, after the fifth batch of skeletons, we found what we needed. We had to be a mile away from the initial landing site by now, and we'd left a trail of destruction behind us. Ahead stood a trio of skeletons twice our height. Ancient armour clad their ribs.

Though it was rusting, it had the swirls of Imperial Steel, and it glistened in the same way as my spearhead.

"Jackpot," I said. The others looked at me like I was crazy. Of course'jackpot' didn't translate well. I could explain later, though.

"How strong are they?" I asked.

"Silvers," Sage and Anchor replied in unison. They gave each other a glance, as if to say 'that's my job.'

"Sage should do the sensing," I said.

"It doesn't cost her a point of Presence to do so, correct?"

"Correct," she said. She flashed Anchor a teasing smirk. Still, the skeletons lumbered forward. I didn't intend on taking too long to beat them, but I also wanted to learn some new spear Skills. I wouldn't use an Art unless I absolutely had to in order to save someone on my squad. The first skeleton swung a heavy, giant gladius at me. At least, it was sized like a gladius for the skeleton, but for me, it was longer than a Great Warbrand. I leaned away. With a rush of wind, the sword slammed into the ground.

Pebbles pelted off my scale mail, and dust choked me. I only allowed myself one cough before jumping to action. Our squad maintained our standard formation, but since there was nothing that risked getting between Brawl and his shield, it freed me up to attack the skeletons as I saw fit. I wasn't ready to learn the Falling Leaf style—yet. First, I had to get the Needle of Twere up to Apprentice-tier. I hadn't really been focusing on Skills as much as I should have, and that was my own fault.

But in my defense, I'd been distracted. No half measures now, though. As usual, I employed the style's jabs and twirls as best I could, keeping the skeletons at a distance while dodging the swipes of their swords. When I had a chance, I pierced through their armour with a resonance Skill, damaging ribs. Mostly, I just created openings for Anchor and Brawl to deal the most damage with their Skills and Arts. In a matter of minutes, all three skeletons were heaps of shattered bone and hole-filled armour.

"We can't carry that with us," I said.

"We should leave it off to the side and pick it up on the way back."

"And hope someone doesn't steal it?" Anchor asked.

"No one else is going to come out this far," I said.

"We should be fine for at least today. Next week, we can take more precautions." I also liked to think that if we'd come this far, no one would steal armour. However, if they saw it laying around, they might decide to pick it up if no one else had, because who would just abandon such a prize? After moving our armour off to the side of the road (along with any of the more intact bones, which we could sell as regular loot), we raced forward.

I led the squad to a tower, intending for that to be the final destination of today. It was a few blocks over, and that meant a few more squads of regular skeletons to practice my Skills against. But no more Imperial Steel. Maybe I was just getting too greedy. When we reached the tower, we ascended the cramped spiral staircase inside. I led with my spear and kept my shield at my side. The goal was to force myself to use the Needle of Twere properly, and that meant defending myself without always employing a shield.

According to the style, at least. As we climbed, a Titanium-tier bat half made of smoke attacked us. It took a few jabs, with me piercing its wings and disrupting enough of its gaseous body, to finally reveal a fleshy core below. It was hairless, like a sphynx cat, and just as ugly. But it yielded a proper Presence, so I wasn't about to complain too much.

"You think there's a treasure?" Anchor asked.

"Possibly," I said.

"You want to go look? We'll keep climbing."

"It would be my pleasure," Anchor said.

"I know you're not good with rings."

"That was one time." When we reached the top of the tower, I rushed to the edge and leaned over the merlons, looking down on the city below. I said, "Our Presence income has really slowed down."

"We will need to attack stronger foes before long," Sage replied.

"Soon, the bonuses Lord Ceonwin gave us will run out."

"Any suggestions?"

"Out here, there are city blocks and plazas pretty much everywhere," Sage said.

"When the city fell, they were still thinking of expanding, and they were laying the basic infrastructure to accept more people into the shelter. Look for the plazas among the ruins." She was right. Plazas dotted the edge of the city, encircling it. Ruins and half-built structures surrounded them. The Labyrinth Keepers hadn't repaired them, because this was their final construction. Better yet, each of these plazas had a monster lazing around in them.

"Some Silvers, some Golds," Sage replied.

"Everything you need."

"We'll take one a week, going forward," I planned.

"But for now, we need to start making our way back. Next week will go smoother still, and I'm sure we'll have plenty of loot on the way out—""I found something!" Anchor's voice shouted from down below. We rushed back down and found him standing on one of the tower's inner levels, leaning over an amphora. He held a bronze circlet out to us.

"Looks enchanted. Feels enchanted."

"We'll bring it up to the surface," I said.

"Two lucky weeks in a row, brother…" Brawl said.

"Not entirely luck," I said.

"But I'll take a little luck now and again."

"Don't get cocky, now…" Anchor told me.

"One day, your luck is going to run out."

"We better win before that happens, then."