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The Four Eastern Stars Ventures into the Labyrinth, While the Masked Boy Leaves – Part 08

Hikaru trudged up the never-ending staircase. He had chosen the stairs leading upward, the path back to the surface.

“How deep is this place?!” he puffed.

He was drenched in sweat. Despite the dungeon’s steady temperature, the never-ending climb had left him out of breath. To make things worse, he was wearing winter attire since it was midwinter in Japan. He still had his mask on, of course. He had left his belongings at the Doyama residence, so he was empty-handed and unarmed.

Nevertheless, Hikaru was optimistic. He might lack weapons, but he had his Stealth. And as for traps, he could spot most with his Mana Detection, while his Instinct could hopefully pick up the ones that didn’t use any form of sorcery.

The real problem was food. Even if he made it out, where would he pop up on the continent?

“We’ll just have to leave that to luck.”

He decided to think about it after he reached the surface. Just then, a glimmer of light at the top of the stairs caught his eye.

“The outside!” he exclaimed joyfully. He ran up the remaining thirty steps. “Wow.”

Before him stretched a grassy plain, with gentle rolling hills, and the sun shining down.

“Huh?”

There was something strange about the sun. It didn’t hurt to look at directly.

“What?”

A quick scan with his Mana Detection revealed the truth.

Past the corridor’s end, walls with mana extended left and right. Stepping onto the grass, he walked a few meters ahead, then glanced back. A wall reflected the sky and grass like a mirror.

“No way. Is this still part of the dungeon?!”

Above the corridor was the number 36, glowing.

After about an hour of exploring around, he returned beneath the 36.

“This is a bit of a pickle.”

He’d learned a few things. First off, the grass underfoot was genuine—real soil, real roots, real grass.

Beyond the hills lay a vast prairie, dotted with large bushes. There were small animals, and fish were swimming in a big pond.

The issue was the sky. Cloud-like formations hung in the blue expanse, but they, along with what appeared to be the sun, were all fake.

“They’re recreating nature within the dungeon.”

The whole “36” chamber had been utilized for that purpose. Hikaru couldn’t fathom its size. Its boundaries extended past the range of his Mana Detection, and the grassland stretched as far beyond as the eye could see.

“Why do all this? Aren’t dungeons supposed to be about mazes, traps, and tempting adventurers with treasure?”

Wracking his brains provided no answer to the question. He couldn’t even understand what went on in Soaarunay Saak’s mind, let alone comprehend anything about the vast labyrinth the Saak family had been managing for generations.

“First things first, I guess. I started at 37, and right now, I’m at 36. I need to make my way all the way to zero.”

Hikaru stepped away from the area labeled with the number. Walking alongside the wall ensured he wouldn’t get lost, though it was debatable if staying oriented even mattered when he had been abandoned deep inside this dungeon.

“Priority one: find food and water.” Hikaru genuinely regretted his lack of gear. “I don’t know how big this place is, but knowing Soaarunay’s twisted personality, getting to the upper floors won’t be a cakewalk. Did they carve out this massive space underground? Or was it always here and they just recreated a grassland? Either way, it doesn’t make any sense to me.”

Lost in thought, he crested a hill and found a gentle slope. About two hundred meters ahead, bushes rustled, and out popped a rabbit with deep blue fur. Its beautiful coat shimmered in various hues, from red to yellow, depending on the light.

“Uh…”

Its tongue darted out, snatching a passing butterfly, and brought it into its mouth. It chewed the food.

An insect-eating rabbit… What’s with that tongue? It’s like a chameleon or something.

Hikaru’s head throbbed with confusion, until a memory stirred. He recalled reading about a creature like this in a monster encyclopedia back at the Adventurers Guild in the satellite town of Pond.

“If I recall correctly, it’s a rare type of rabbit called the Blue Rainbow.”

The accompanying note said: Its exquisite fur fetches a high price. Targeted by Animal Hunters, they live in small groups, but reports say that excessive hunting had pushed it to extinction.

The last one was caught around thirty years ago, and it fetched a fortune at an auction.

“What’s it doing here?”

Hikaru’s Stealth allowed him to approach within fifty meters without alerting the rabbit. Suddenly, over ten Blue Rainbows emerged from the bushes, glancing around warily before settling down to eat, relieve themselves, or simply laze about.

“Whatever. They seem to be at peace here.”

For a moment, he entertained the idea of capturing them for massive profits, but the logistics of transporting them outside quickly sobered him. Plus, seeing their relaxed demeanor, any thoughts of harming them faded away.

Another hour of walking brought him to the opposite wall.

Beneath the “36” marking, a passage with ascending stairs came into view. This area wasn’t as vast as he had imagined.

“I wonder what’s next. There are rabbits here, so I’m guessing cats?”

As soon as the words left his lips, an inexplicable shiver ran down his spine. His Instinct warned him of the worst.

“What is this?”

Once he made it at the top of the stairs, Hikaru found himself in a chamber marked 35. Calling it a chamber at this point seemed a stretch, so he decided to just call them floors instead.

“Gnyaaaahhh!”

And there he spotted a giant cat the size of a car.

The 35th floor was a dense jungle, the air thick with humidity and heat, seemingly mocking Hikaru in his winter clothing.

On a branch of an enormous tree, the giant cast was grappling with a massive snake as thick as a log.

“Not quite the cats I was expecting.”

Disheartened, Hikaru pressed on. The snake coiled around the cat, while the cat sunk its teeth into the snake’s belly. Neither creature noticed him. His Stealth was working flawlessly.

Hikaru spent three hours traversing the 35th floor. After pressing through the rainy and freezing 34th floor, he decided to take a rest, when he found the 33rd floor to be a maze.

“Now this is more like it. An actual dungeon.”

The rectangular corridors were crafted precisely, as if constructed by machines, with noticeable air circulation. Thinking his soaked jacket might dry here, Hikaru opted to explore this level.

Even with their simple structure, three-dimensional mazes were easy to get lost in. Once inside, it was hard to maintain an objective view. And since you couldn’t see what was ahead, creating a mental map was challenging.

“Not that it matters to me.”

Hikaru proceeded with his Mana Detection on. This skill allowed him to sense mana even beyond walls. The walls of this dungeon contained traces of magical energy, allowing him to easily perceive the layout of the corridors on the other side.

“Huh?!”

Hikaru picked up a peculiar mana signature. He dashed forward, turned left at the intersection, then another left at the subsequent T-junction, and one last left at the next fork. He sprinted straight toward the source of the signature.

“Bingo!”

What Hikaru’s Mana Detection picked up was the real deal. A black iron box.

“A treasure chest!”

It had no keyhole, and Mana Detection didn’t sense anything. Either there was a physical trap, or none at all. Hikaru weighed his options.

“There’s no trap.”

He laid his hand on the lid, and with a heavy clank, the chest opened easily.

It was a simple decision. In a dungeon with such intricate magic, purely physical traps—without applied sorcery—seemed improbable. And there was his Instinct. This skill rarely functioned so clearly; perhaps his own conjecture boosted its accuracy.

“Just as I thought.”

Inspecting the contents, Hikaru grinned.