Finally, after going through a few rooms and halls, Vritra found just the perfect place where he could stay for a few hours.
It was a hall with some blood on the walls but the place was in much better shape than the other ones for some reason, after entering Vritra first examined it with his gaze and then decided to look around and make sure there wasn't any danger.
He sheathed his sword and began to walk around.
Just as he got close to a corner, his hand instinctively reached for his sword as suddenly his foot pressed on a barely visible stone embedded in the ground.
All of a sudden there was a slight rumble in the ground.
A hidden pit yawned open before him, an endless darkness filling the pit; promising a nasty fall. Vritra's eyes widened and all his senses tingled as he felt the land beneath his feet vanish and found himself falling down into the trap, it was so sudden he couldn't even understand what had happened.
With a surge of adrenaline, he twisted his body mid-air, barely managing to grab the edge of the pit. His fingers strained as he pulled himself up, his muscles screaming in protest.
He lay panting on the floor, his heart hammering against his ribs from the sudden jump scare he just got it was a thousand times more scary than any of the horror games he had played, no fight he had fought in the arena could be compared to such an environment.
This was just the first floor, the supposedly easiest and safest one yet he almost lost his life within mere moments.
'That was such a Close call.' he thought, his gaze sweeping over the large hole that still remained there, this trap had undoubtedly swallowed quite a lot of people, no wonder this hall was cleaner than the others.
He was becoming more and more wary of this place as the labyrinth was proving to be a treacherous environment, filled with all kinds of hidden dangers.
As he examined the pit, his gaze fell upon a small torn bag hanging from a pointed tip on the wall, just a little further away from the entrance of the dark hole.
"It must have belonged to an adventurer who had fallen into this hole." Vritra mumbled as he stood up, the bag was barely hanging on.
Curiosity piqued, he cautiously approached, his senses on high alert. Leaning into the hole, he was able to retract the bag without much difficulty since it wasn't too far away.
As he opened it he found a stack of glass bottles, their contents glowing with a faint, ethereal light.
Vritra instantly recognized them.
Healing potions, mana potions, and even some that seemed to enhance strength and agility. Soon he found text written under the bottle, and somehow, he was able to understand the text though he wasn't much surprised.
"There are quite a few healing and mana regeneration potions, but it seems they are at intermediate rank; less effective than the ones that Diana provided us.
I already have one hundred of each, though only ten belong to me from each set. Anyway there are over thirty healing potions and twenty five mana regeneration potion; aside from that there are also these basic rank agility and strength enhancement potions, ten of each."
He read the details about the enhancing potions and found that they had the capability to enhance his speed and strength respectively by over twenty percent for over an twenty minutes.
He quickly stored the bottles in his inventory, his mind calculating their potential utility.
'These might be useful though I can get better ones from the goddess or the king.' he thought, but still feeling satisfied at finding something in this wretched place.
BUZZZZZZ!!
Just as he was about to turn, a jolt of electricity struck him from behind and surged through his body. His muscles seized, and his vision blurred.
A searing pain shot through his limbs, and he felt himself falling to his knees, his body trembling as the current crackled through his nerves. His breath hitched, and his vision darkened at the edges, but he fought to stay conscious.
His body refused to move no matter how much he tried.
He heard a faint voice in the distance that he could never fail to recognize, the sound was so low that he almost didn't hear it along with the sound of over a dozen footsteps.
"Whoa! It really hit him, don't tell me he died just from that. I was just planning to stun him, g- go ahead and take care of him." Max's voice, laced with surprise and satisfaction along with some fear, cut through his dazed senses.
"It is fine, I needed you to be a part of this too you will get used to such things soon, remember this is not your home.
That is the only way I can trust you and don't worry he is still breathing; his body is surprisingly strong and sturdy for just a deadweight. Anyway, just stay here while I finish the task." a heavy voice sounded next, mixed with the silent murmurs.
Using all the strength he could muster, Vritra pushed his body forward, pushing himself into the endless darkness, into the hole that still seemed better than certain death.
Who knows, there might actually be a chance to survive.
Seeing this, the commander rushed forward with all his might, his body becoming a blur as he appeared at the spot where Vritra was just moments ago, but it was too late and now he could only see Vritra plummet into the pit, the darkness swallowing him whole.
"Fuck!!" The commander cursed at the pitiful failure.
Vritra heard an angry roar of the commander that soon became distant, making him understand that just killing him wasn't their only motive; it seems the commander planned to take his dead body for some reason.
As he got away from one dangerous situation, Vritra found himself facing another life threatening event, as his body continued to fall, his senses had already started to return.
Vritra tried to slow himself down by grabbing something but it only resulted in injuries in his palms and fingers, within few seconds almost all his nails were ripped away and deep cuts appeared over his palms.
But still, he managed to rotate his body so as not to hit the floor with his head.
Finally, after a long fall, he landed with a sickening thud, his body aching and his vision swimming as pain coursed through his entire body, he could taste something metallic in his mouth and couldn't sense his legs.
His legs had borne most of the impact of the fall, so he was more than sure that both his legs were in extremely bad shape right now.
He attempted to get up, but his limbs felt heavy and unresponsive.
He lay there for a moment, trying to regain his senses. His body was completely numb, the aftereffects of the electric shock lingering. After taking few deep breaths he raised his head and look down at his feet and just as he had expected, his feet were a mess, up to his thighs the bones had completely shattered and had torn out of his skin, it was such a blood mess.
There were many other injuries all over his body but at least he succeeded in avoiding a certain death, if the pit wasn't slightly slanted then he would have definitely become a stain on the ground.
Once he could move his right hand, Vritra pulled one intermediate potion out of his inventory and gulped over half of it before putting it back.
Almost instantly, the pain was replaced by a warm feeling that swept across his entire body, he heard the sound of his bones crackling and within a few minutes, none of the previous injuries remained on his body.
The process was slightly painful but wonderous.
"This thing is truly magical, if it was back on earth there was no way my legs could ever be healed and here, I am completely fine within just a few minutes."
Vritra mumbled as he sat up and look down at his body, his clothes still remained bloodied and torn but his skin looked as smooth as ever without even a single scratch, even a couple of injuries in his arms he had from his fight in the arena disappeared.
"Fuck!!" he cursed, his jaw clenched. "Those assholes, all of them were a part of it. But why did they try to kill me?
Even if I have a shitty ability, that still won't explain it or maybe there is something they could obtain by killing the people who had come from the different world."
Vritra frowned at this thought, yet it made sense because of the commander's angry roar, which showed that they needed to get his body after killing him.
"So they picked me out since I have a shitty ability, is mom safe? She said she had an ability related to cooking right?" Vritra felt worry increase in his heart, but after thinking for a moment he realized that the people with the most useless abilities were either in group three or group four.
'So there is a high chance that she is safe and her ability isn't as simple as she made it seem.' He could only hope for now.
Vritra stood up and felt no pain in his body, then he decided to look around; the light in this place were dimmer than the first floor, so it took him a few seconds to see clearly.
As Vritra's vision cleared, he found himself gazing up at a towering wall—the very place he had plummeted from.
Turning to his left, he spotted another wall just a few meters away, its presence adding to the eerie vastness of the space.
Glancing right, he was met with the same sight. The realization settled in—he was trapped within an immense hall, its true scale yet unknown.
"Heh, so this fall killed so many people? This trap was certainly better than getting killed by that group…" Vritra mumbled to himself while stretching his body slightly.
Just then, a faint noise echoed from behind him.
He turned around and froze, Vritra's eyes opened wide and his heart beat increased like inflation in market. In front of him, the space seemed to be endlessly stretching without any end in sight but that wasn't the cause of his surprise.
In the dim light, he saw countless eyes glowing and staring at him, it was an endless horde of goblins. Their height was a little more than a meter tall, all of them were carrying heavy wooden staves or knives made of bones, the goblins growled as they glared at him.
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[You have entered the Death Canopy.]
[A sealed extermination zone designed for absolute annihilation. A space present below the tenth floor of the labyrinth. Once inside, there is no exit, and an endless horde of demons will spawn, increasing in strength over time.
The attack will begin with demons from the 1st floor of the labyrinth, escalating in strength with each passing interval.
If the current wave fails to eliminate the intruder, demons from the next floor will be summoned after a certain period of time— progressing relentlessly up to the 10th floor.
There is no limit to their numbers, the onslaught will only stop with the death of the intruder.]
[Survival chance: None]
[Difficulty level: Impossible]
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Thanks for reading...