The Red Dragon Company completely sealed off the hall where the emerald pavilion stood.
Forget people—not even a bird could have flown in.
Gauss brought a few of his teammates over to the pavilion.
He had already explained his rough plan before coming, so none of them found it strange that he wanted to do this.
He took out the universal key with a flip of his hand.
He had found this key last year after killing a Commander-rank petrifying bull, inside a box hidden in a pile of hay in the creature's lair. In that same box, he had also found the Eagle-Eye Monocle and the Thief's Gloves.
Three artifacts in total.
Of the three, he still used the blue-quality Eagle-Eye Monocle from time to time. The other blue-quality item, the Thief's Gloves, had gone to Shadow. As for the only purple-quality item, the universal key, it had not been used even once until now.
Universal Key
Rank: Exceptional (Purple)
Description: Can open most locks and mechanisms. Remaining uses: 3/3
Gauss glanced at the ordinary-looking brass key in his hand.
If not for Identify revealing its effects, no one would have guessed this plain little thing was such a valuable magical item.
Holding the brass key, Gauss slowly walked toward the pavilion.
His teammates followed behind him.
He stopped in front of it.
Even though a full year had passed, and the labyrinth had undergone a full environmental reset in the meantime, the pavilion itself had not changed at all. It looked exactly as he remembered.
Countless broad, dark green leaves and twisting vines formed a hemispherical canopy, and the thin green energy membrane around the pavilion still rippled softly like water.
He infused his mana into it.
He wanted to see whether his now much stronger mana could break through the seal. If it worked, he could save one use of the key.
A powerful flood of mana flowed from his fingertips into the pavilion.
A sharp ringing immediately burst into the air.
The mana he had just sent into it was ruthlessly pushed back out by an even stronger force.
So it still didn't work…
Faced with that irresistible repelling force, Gauss did not feel disappointed.
He had expected this outcome. He was only trying it on the off chance it worked.
Then he raised the key and aligned it with the oddly shaped groove formed naturally by the vines.
Would it work?
He was curious too.
The moment the key neared the energy membrane, something changed.
The green energy layer, which had always remained calm like rippling water, suddenly began trembling violently. Waves of distortion spread across it.
Gauss didn't hesitate. Taking advantage of the disturbance, he drove the key straight into the groove.
The entire pavilion lit up.
Light flowed through every vine and every leaf vein, running along the intricate woven patterns before gathering at the top.
A long, ancient cracking sound rang out, as if some mechanism that had been asleep for a thousand years had finally been awakened.
The green energy membrane around the pavilion shattered and disappeared.
Then the tightly wound vines began to loosen on their own, shrinking back to both sides and revealing a door.
It was a doorway made entirely of light, like the entrance to another world.
Beyond it, a staircase could vaguely be seen descending underground.
"It opened!" Alia said in delight.
"Should we go in and see what's inside?"
"I think we should be careful. There could be danger in there."
Listening to his teammates throw out suggestions one after another, Gauss didn't act rashly. Instead, he made a few clay spiders and sent them in first.
The spiders paused inside the pavilion for a moment. Then he ordered them down the stairs.
After several minutes passed without incident, he finally stepped forward and entered.
He coughed lightly.
It had clearly been sealed for a long time, and the air inside felt stale.
"Light."
He casually conjured a floating sphere of light to follow him.
He didn't bring too many people in. He and a few of his teammates were the first to head down the stairs.
According to the spiders' scouting, there was a very large space below.
The staircase itself wasn't long, but as he descended, Gauss could feel space magic flowing through the passage. The distance he was crossing clearly wasn't just the few steps it looked like.
After a few dozen steps, he reached the lower level.
It really was vast. An ancient stone statue about ten meters tall stood not far away, while farther beyond his field of view, everything was covered in dense green growth.
Rather than a hidden passage beneath the pavilion, it felt more like entering a completely new floor.
But… it was too clean.
Gauss swept his gaze around once and immediately knew there were no signs of human activity here.
On the upper floors, human traces were everywhere—footprints, abandoned trash, camp remains.
"Come here."
He heard Alia call out and walked toward the insect-man statue.
Wildflowers had grown at the base of the statue, and nestled among them lay two objects.
Alia and the others had not touched them.
When Gauss approached, he used Mage Hand to lift them first and inspect them from a distance.
The first item was a transparent crystal sphere.
The moment he focused his gaze on it, the originally clear sphere changed. Image after image flickered inside, including scenes of adventurers and monsters. He even saw the lobby of the first floor inside it.
Since he had just come from there not long ago, he instantly recognized it.
Besides the shifting images, he could also see more information inside it—things like the entrances to deeper floors.
The sphere seemed to contain most of the map data for the first five floors of the labyrinth, and it appeared to update in real time.
"This crystal sphere seems to contain the complete map for the first five floors…"
Realizing what it was, Gauss raised a brow, unable to hide his satisfaction.
With this in hand, exploring the labyrinth would become much easier.
The second item was a small strip of metal.
If it hadn't been lying beside the crystal sphere, he probably would have overlooked it.
He moved in closer to inspect it. Unlike the sphere, it didn't change at all.
"Identify."
He immediately cast the spell.
"A recording token from the labyrinth."
He blinked.
Did that count as a successful identification?
He tried several more times, even upcasting the spell, but the description didn't change.
After hesitating briefly, he reached out and picked it up.
The moment he touched it, he felt a current pass through his body.
Then a string of numbers appeared on the once-unremarkable metal strip.
2.13%
What did that mean?
Gauss looked at the number and thought for a moment.
After ruling out divinity percentage—since the figure didn't match—he guessed it had something to do with the labyrinth.
That made sense. He had found it here.
Then an idea flashed through his mind.
"Is this some kind of labyrinth exploration percentage?"
That wasn't a random guess. It came partly from his past-life gaming instincts and partly from logic. He already had a relationship with the labyrinth, and Identify had called it a recording token. Even though he had entered the labyrinth before, his actual exploration progress within the ever-expanding full labyrinth would still be very low.
If it was a tracking token, recording exploration percentage would make perfect sense.
If the number changed after they advanced further, that would confirm it.
He tucked that thought away for later.
Then he turned his attention back to the insect-man statue.
Both items had been placed directly in front of it. That couldn't be coincidence.
The statue clearly wasn't simple either.
He told his teammates his guess, then cast Fly and rose toward it, staying extremely cautious. If anything went wrong, he was ready to use the spell already primed in his hand.
But nothing happened.
He carefully reached out and let his mana touch the statue first.
The moment it did, the metal token in his hand grew warm.
"…insufficient…"
"…unable to obtain reward…"
A fragmented message suddenly surfaced in his mind.
Gauss looked at the glowing token.
So the reward couldn't be triggered because his exploration percentage was too low?
That seemed right.
2.13% really was tiny. But how was it increased? Exploring more of the map? Killing monsters?
Keeping those questions in mind, he searched the surrounding area.
There were no animals anywhere. No ordinary beasts, no insects, no magical creatures—nothing.
It was clear there had once been structures and devices here, but time had eroded them into collapse.
This seemed to be some kind of special "intermediate space."
After walking a full circuit, Gauss eventually reached the edge of the map. There, rolling black fog blocked the way.
Any clay spider that entered lost contact almost immediately. Mana probes and mental scans were swallowed whole.
Given how dangerous it seemed, Gauss had no intention of going in personally.
Exploration and suicide were not the same thing.
"Let's head back."
After failing to find anything else useful, he decided to leave.
If they stayed too long, the Red Dragon Company outside would start panicking.
But on the way back, they suddenly discovered the stairs were gone.
"The stairs are gone."
"So how do we get out?"
"Was this some kind of trap meant to lock us in here?"
Shadow frowned. Her two shadow duplicates searched the area quickly, but they found no exit either.
Just then, Gauss looked down at the metal token he was still holding.
"Grab my arm."
His teammates all looked at him.
Albena twisted awkwardly and struck a bashful pose.
"Lord Gauss, I'm not scared or anything. But if you want to comfort me…"
"What are you even thinking about? I can take you out."
A trace of disappointment flickered across Albena's face.
Once everyone had touched his arm, Gauss focused and injected mana into the token, activating the escape energy it was transmitting.
A ripple of energy instantly enveloped them all.
After about ten seconds, their bodies vanished from where they stood.
Outside, in the hall, the Red Dragon Company noticed the emerald pavilion disappear immediately.
Led by Luna, several people quickly searched the area.
After the pavilion vanished, the ground there had become completely solid, as if the pavilion had never existed at all.
"We have to find the Captain."
"Maybe it was some kind of labyrinth teleportation array. Maybe they got sent somewhere else in the labyrinth."
"No panicking!" Luna cut off the rising alarm. "We wait here. If Captain Gauss and the others don't return within three hours, then we start searching from this point outward."
As a Level 9 warlock, Luna's presence kept the Company from falling into total disorder after suddenly losing Gauss.
But even so, everyone still felt strangely empty. Even the older members from the former Silver Wolf Fang found themselves deeply worried for their missing Captain.
Then, while everyone waited in silence, several figures suddenly appeared in the air above.
"Ah!"
"Thanks!"
Gauss reacted quickly and cast Float on his teammates before they could fall hard.
A few meters wouldn't seriously hurt anyone, but it would certainly be embarrassing.
As they drifted down, the others rushed over.
"Captain, are you hurt?"
"Where did you go? The pavilion vanished the moment you stepped inside."
"Next time, bring more people with you."
Gauss smiled and calmed them down.
But inwardly, he was already thinking about the fact that he had just gained an escape method.
The only downside was that the ten-second activation time was long, and if he wanted to take others with him, they had to be in direct physical contact. That drastically limited how many people he could bring.
At the same time, he could feel that he was still able to return to that ruin-space whenever he wanted.
And that space was clearly very special.
Otherwise, there wouldn't be a map crystal and a teleportation token—items so deeply tied to the labyrinth.
Gauss even suspected it might be connected to the labyrinth's origin, or its creators.
"Next, let's keep exploring."
He pulled out the map crystal and quickly found the entrance to the third floor.
Compared to the local Barrie adventurer companies, they hadn't arrived especially early. In terms of progress, they were probably already behind the first wave.
But now that he had the map crystal, he was basically playing with cheat codes.
He would show the others what it really meant to be "fast."
Using the map data, he quickly plotted a relatively safe and efficient route in his mind.
Next, he would close the gap on the first-tier adventurers.
And then he would find the labyrinth lord—and carry out the second part of the plan he had decided on before even coming here:
encircle the stronghold, draw in reinforcements, and butcher the endless stream of labyrinth monsters.
~~~
Patreon(.)com/NotEvenMyFinalForm
— Currently You can Read 100 Chapters Ahead of Others!