Counting time in a labyrinth is impossible.
Because in a labyrinth there is no sun. Temperature, humidity, and mana are also not like outside; it is chaotic, unstable, and sometimes changes unpredictably. Because people do not mark their time in a labyrinth through the number of meals or torch cycles. With the number of meals, it is quite simple; for teams with 'thieves' observant enough, that individual will calculate rations sufficiently and accurately for each person. From there, with two meals each day, they will be able to calculate the time they have been in the labyrinth and plan the way back before resources run out.
The second method is called the torch cycle. Any team exploring a labyrinth carries torches. Compared to using mana to maintain light, that tool is both reliable and easy to make. Just a piece of wood, wrapped in cloth and soaked in sulfur mixed with lime, and they have a light source that won't go out even if dropped in water. However, the burning time of a torch is not eternal; each stick usually burns for about 2 hours, so people can use that number to calculate time.
For many teams, they even combine both. For example, every 6 burnt torches means it's time for the next meal. And so with those experiences, adventurer teams can safely explore the labyrinth with a specific, safer plan.
However, for the teenager named Atur, there was no luxury of 'pre-prepared meals' or 'torches'. He just wandered in the cave, avoiding things he couldn't defeat and quietly attacking things that seemed within his reach. Then he ate whenever possible, regardless of time or cycle.
How long has it been since I was transported to this place? Five days? A week? A month?
Nothing can be known for sure. Atur just hunted, cooked, vomited, pissed, shat, and slept constantly like that an unknown number of times. And every two hours, perhaps less after closing his eyes, he would wake up and perform that damn loop.
He became hungry very quickly; his body was always tired and aching for a long time.
That was the sequela of that cave spider's poison. Although Atur had passed the critical stage, it would probably take a very long time for him to recover completely. He himself had used detoxification magic, but it seemed not very effective; that aching numb body remained like that, clinging to him like a stubborn leech.
And among those complications, there was one thing that made Atur suffer most of all: his left eye was now partially blind. Although called partially blind, it was mostly in the center of his vision, so having this left eye had become 'as good as gone'.
But compared to dying, being blind in one eye isn't that bad. Is it?
Anyway, now Atur can still hunt, find a safe place to recuperate, even though sleep is fitful, food is a bit terrible, sometimes still having to struggle a lot with monsters, but he still lives quite peacefully and safely.
In general, it's still quite okay. Right?
This damn place...
Or not.
Contrary to those self-delusions that this life is still not too bad, Atur looks no different from a floating corpse. Lying flat on that hard and damp ground. His eyes were lifeless like dead fish, staring at the dark cave ceiling like that for several hours already.
He had eaten, although not full, but he had eaten. It was the meat of a baby hedgehog mole, the kind he could kill alone. That thing was bad, smelly, fishy, and tough. In short, disgusting.
It had been six weeks since he was transported to this place. Longer than what Atur could have anticipated. He kept trying to live, survive, and push himself further in this cave.
Finding a way in a cave isn't easy. He had gotten lost countless times. Once he even got lost right into the lair of the labyrinth's guardian monster, which was intense. That was a giant queen ant. Although called giant, perhaps it was only as big as a 15-ton truck. The kind that ran him over and killed him in his previous life.
That queen ant was thought to be the useless type that only lay in one place, but turned out to have the ability to emit toxic gas and had a swarm of extremely aggressive soldier ants protecting it. Although Atur had no intention of conquering the labyrinth or anything but just got lost there, he had to fight to the point of nearly losing his life to escape, then fainted from exhaustion in some niche until the ant swarm lost track.
The funny thing is that such hair-raising situations happen once every few days. If he didn't get lost into the queen ant's lair, he would accidentally get stuck in a war between different ant nests. Sometimes he was even chased by a swarm of monsters that looked like rabbits but had bulging muscles and bloodlust. Or once even encountered a swarm of giant land crabs.
The common point of such times is that he ran for his life, luckily survived. Occasionally killed one or two monsters, cooked them up, and then vomited because they were too awful.
Loneliness was also an invisible monster gnawing at Atur. He was here, alone, and worse, he had lost the ability to speak due to the poison. Now the only thing he could do was make intermittent incoherent sounds. So the only way to keep himself from going crazy, he started writing on rock faces the poems he could think of.
They suddenly became much better than usual. Even he was surprised by that. Perhaps despair is truly the most important catalyst for a true poet; surely that's why Russia could create so many masterpieces for eternity. Ironically, now he thought he wanted to read "Crime and Punishment".
...
Two more months passed. The poison of the A-rank spider from back then hadn't subsided much, but Atur also gradually got used to operating in this stiff body. However, the little excess fat from the extremely heavy training regimen when he was in Roa was now gone, and the muscles also atrophied due to lack of nutrients.
His skin also became more yellow; his eyes, inherently tired, were now darker than this labyrinth. Bruises also began to appear all over his body mysteriously, as if he had been beaten by demons when he wasn't paying attention.
However, that was just a manifestation of Scurvy, a disease caused by a lack of vitamin C for a long time.
Atur had realized what the problem of this unhealthy diet would result in after about... three or four weeks here but couldn't do anything else. So he only knew how to try to find a way to leave as soon as possible.
But this labyrinth is called the Ant Nest Labyrinth, right? Because it is a giant tunnel system created by ants. And not just one nest, because as the labyrinth grew bigger, new mana crystals formed and created a new labyrinth, a new ant nest. So the number of ant nests kept increasing, causing this place to swell more and more. Occasionally the nests still fought each other, destroying each other, so perhaps that's why this labyrinth hasn't reached the super-giant level like the trio of legendary labyrinths.
Even so, it can be said that the longer it takes, the harder it will be for Atur to escape if he doesn't quickly find a way out of here.
He had tried many ways, such as using his sword to mark places he had passed. Actually, that way was quite effective and had helped him go quite a distance. At times he felt like he had really found the way out, then encountered guarding monsters and had to turn back, find another way. He also tried to confront them, actually using guerrilla tactics to lure each one out to kill. Only to find out after succeeding that he had walked into another queen ant's nest, and the light at the end of the tunnel he saw was just mana crystal light.
So each time like that, he turned back, finding a new way. Each time like that, Atur encountered new ironic situations, new enemies. Although it sounds a bit sarcastic, in more than three months stuck here, he had gained more combat experience than the past three or four years combined. The teenager didn't get stronger; actually, it seemed like he got weaker, but now he knew when to fight, when to run, and how to live even though he was very close to death.
But each day passed, he became a little more depressed. Like the way water droplets drip from stalactites, slowly wearing away any remaining will.
…
Three weeks passed.
Atur learned how to effectively evade the monsters.
Because most monsters in this labyrinth seemed to be blind, relying on scent and sound to locate their prey. So Atur carried quite a few items derived from the monsters themselves to mask his scent. For example, with the ants, he used fluids extracted from their abdomens, smearing it on his body when necessary to blend in and easily evade large swarms. Or with the moles, he took their dried skins to drape over himself, or even used monster feces to camouflage his scent.
In most cases, it was quite effective. He used these methods to make hunting easier.
But for sighted creatures like cave spiders, which possessed keen vision, there was no way to fake it. And traumatized by the previous battle, whenever Atur encountered those monsters, he ran for his life.
Or adult hedgehog moles and soldier ants; they weren't so easily fooled. Consequently, Atur always had to find ways to avoid them whenever possible.
...
The next ten days.
He was poisoned.
This might not seem too surprising. After all, anyone could guess that monster meat would be poisonous. But what poisoned Atur wasn't meat, but mushrooms.
He tried eating a type of mushroom cultivated by the ants, and it left him disoriented for two straight days. Fortunately, no monsters attacked during that time, or he would have surely died.
...
Two more months passed.
His body became exhausted, his vision darkened, and all other senses had all but ceased to function.
His teeth fell out, his flesh became necrotic. Up to this point, five teeth had already fallen out.
Ah, counting the one that just fell, that makes six.
Old wounds began to swell, infected beyond salvation.
His breathing became heavy, dry, and painful like torture.
But the hunger remained. He hadn't eaten anything for days. Even for water, he no longer had enough strength to use magic to create it to drink.
His stomach churned, his throat burned dry. Although the labyrinth's temperature was uncomfortably hot, Atur's body felt as cold as if he were naked in the middle of winter. He knew if he continued to starve, he would die.
So Atur had to grip his two swords, leaving the tiny niche that barely fit his 11-year-old body to search for anything that moved.
He knew a place where monsters were easy to find, a large cave not far from his hideout. There was a lake there, a place where monsters occasionally gathered. If he was patient enough to track a prey small enough, he would have a hearty meal.
However, contrary to expectations, his 'prey' saw him first and immediately lunged. It was an adult hedgehog mole, as big as the one he and Ken had killed on their first day here. During nearly half a year stuck here, he had fought more than ten such creatures and knew how to counter them, so this battle should have been easy.
But no, just as the battle began, he was pounced on by that monster right in the chest, sending him tumbling away. With great struggle, he luckily managed to block the second strike and maintain distance.
But as listed above, he was now exhausted, no different from an old man with one foot in the grave. His speed and strength now were perhaps not even equal to a newborn baby. Now he was injured too, a critical blow to the chest at that. Now, was Atur any different from a withered autumn leaf that would fall with just a passing breeze?
Yet he still fought. His eyes looked wild, like a rabid beast. His hands gripped his swords tightly, his necrotic teeth bleeding like a walking dead. The teenager's mind was empty, like the void between the stars. He had forgotten how to think, and what was happening was entirely the instinct of a deranged animal. This scene was enough to make anyone shudder in fear. To be blunt, he looked even more terrifying than the B-rank monster in front of him.
Somehow miraculously, Atur still killed that monster.
However, he was also injured, crisscrossed. No place on that teenager's body wasn't covered in blood.
Then he collapsed right there, next to the mole's corpse, and fainted.
...
And he sank into a dream.
He dreamed of returning to Roa city and reuniting with Eris, his friends, and his family.
That was a beautiful dream. Even though he was scolded by Eris for losing the gifted sword, they also hugged each other and rejoiced at reuniting. They told each other what had happened to them. Showed each other the scars, the hurts they had to go through, and then were even happier to be able to meet again. And then they show their love, teasing each other and Atur ends up getting punched by Eris.
Lord Sauros went berserk, of course, because Atur lost the betrothal gift. But finally, he was just like Eris, patted his shoulder and then tossed him up like a ball. Then even praised him for being able to survive like a true man, a true Greyrat man.
Hilda didn't react any more gently. Hilda immediately hugged him tight and cried a river. Philip patted his shoulder, welcomed him back, and then immediately dragged his son-in-law by the neck to work to make up for the missing time.
Ghislaine seemed to be the best at hiding emotions. She immediately threw Atur a wooden sword and tested his ability. Of course, in the end, he lost. Because Ghislaine is a Sword King after all. But then she also nodded and said he had become stronger.
Then he also met Rudeus and Sylphiette again. They are married now. That's a development anyone could predict, right? Perhaps finally Rudeus could be happy.
Ah, and Paul's family too. Of course, Paul dragged Atur to spar until exhausted again. Zenith cooked some burnt cake to eat with Lilia's premium tea. Norn and Aisha also grew up and became two cute, clever children.
Then he met Master Reida again. He completed her mission, and was granted the title of Water King. Although a bit unreasonable, he was praised by her for something he didn't remember clearly.
Then next was Isolde; she had become a beautiful woman. That Atur had guessed when they first met. They sparred with each other again, provoked each other, and the result was still Atur being defeated, as always. But then she would reach out her hand, as always, and help him up.
Then he also met Luke, Veronica, Tristina, Henry...
And many others.
Including Ken.
Ah right. He burst out in his head. This is the ending if I had really listened to that god.
He remembered that he watched The Diggers die before his eyes then together with Ken traced the path they entered and went back. That journey wasn't easy, but then they also found the way out. They had to survive on the Demon Continent, together. Then they spent about two, three years or something traveling around the world to return to Roa, together.
They went to new places he never thought he would reach. Like the Great Forest, the Holy Capital Milishion of the Holy Kingdom, the King Dragon Realm...
That was a dream journey full of joy.
And that would only happen if he had really listened to the suggestion.
...
But unfortunately, that seemingly endless dream was truly a sumptuous DMT feast. It was just something the brain created for him to easily accept what was gradually coming.
Death.
So now when returning to reality, he found himself lying on the cold ground smelling fishy of iron from blood.
All he can feel is numbness and the heat slowly turns back from him, making the body colder bit by bit.
It happens very fast but yet, to him, the one who is on the floor is like a century. His life flashes before his eyes again and again. And eventually, everything started to vanish.
Everything became real to a scary extent.
He knew he was about to die.
But couldn't do anything but accept it and let his vision gradually blur.
...
"Oh hoh."
"A kid? It's been a long time since I saw someone get this close to my castle."
"Hmm... Is it a Dragon Tribe? Then it's even rarer."
"Looks terrible. No different from a rag."
"Hey baby dragon, do you hear me?"
"No? Ah damn, his heart almost stopped beating already."
"Well, meeting each other can be considered fate."
"Okay, let's answer this question."
"Do you still want to live, baby dragon?"
"..."
"Well?"
...
"Ah okay. If so, then try to endure a little pain."
"This Lan Xin will bring you back from the dead right away."