Ahem, moving on.
As I said several other times, I can use my Magic Sense skill to scout ahead. What this skill allows me to do is as the name suggests, sense magic around me. Since in my case the skill is so advanced, I can sense magic in a good area around me, that’s why I’ve been able to know if there were enemies in the next rooms. The reason I could somewhat tell the layout of the rooms is because this whole place is made of magic, literally everything. However even though I know there is something out there I don’t know exactly what it is. Then how can I differentiate between a monster and a normal object? That’s simple, the monster magic levels are constantly changing, in this moment they are a little higher, the next moment they drop slightly and so on. The case with an object for example, they have the exact amount of magic energy every single moment, they don’t fluctuate around. All of this to excuse myself for not noticing a small device in the middle of the bushes.
This small device is around 1 meter tall and a couple centimetres wide and the same can be said of its length. It seems to be made with the same materials as the main one and just like that one, I can activate or deactivate it with magic. Now, why is this device so important that it stopped my justified rampage? Quite simple, this device works in a timer, once the timer is done it resets the maze itself, everyone and everything that is inside of the maze goes back to the beginning. Why didn’t I sense this happening? Why didn’t I notice this happening either? Two good questions, but let’s discuss them one by one. The answer for first question is because of the device itself, it has Conceal magic on it, basically every time it’s activated, it first conceals itself, making extremely hard to sense any magic that it’s using and, in some cases, it can make the user invisible for a short period of time, something that I think it was happening here. It was designed and specifically prepared for this case, so much so that your only way to figure this out is to physically see the device itself. This is why I couldn’t understand what was happening, I just need to do something as simple as blinking and I’ve missed what just happened. Now that I’m talking about it, this thing is masterfully designed and crafted, colour me surprise!
“Now I’m curious as to whoever made this. However, this is not the time for such curiosity, I just need to deactivate this and I will be able to complete the maze.”
It’s that simple, I just need to be careful to not start the timer, but from here it won’t happen. The timer will only start once I went past a certain point of the maze, in this case it was the moment I took the first left. After that, a few minutes later, can’t say the exact time, the device activates and the maze is reset shortly. This is the closest to an infinite maze, fascinating! You either complete the maze in that time span or you will never be able to do so even if you know the way to complete it. Whatever, enough of my unnecessary jabbering, let’s just deactivate the damn device and get this over with it.
I proceed to deactivate the device by simply removing the timer, and yes, it’s that simple. The device will only be activated if the timer starts and of course ends. If the timer never starts, it can’t end and therefore the device won’t be activated. After clearing the obstacle that was making me definitely not go crazy at all, I get moving, turning left once I reach the end of this corridor. From there I walk forward until I hit the bush, after that I take a right. Then left after a few meters followed by a right and again another right. After getting lost for a few minutes I’m able to finally find my way out, or in, in this case. I’m met with the same scenario as before, where there is a crystal right in the middle of a small “room”, one that is surrounded by the bush wall in all directions.
The crystal looks exactly the same as the previous one, below it there is the same circle and to it, the line connected to the main device. I walk up to the crystal, raise my left hand towards it and activate it. The crystal lights up with the same colour as before, the circle follows it and so does the line. With this done, time to get out of this maze. This time I took less time to walk through the maze and once I was near the main device, I quickly notice that another third of it is lit up.
“Well, only one is missing now, although I will have to fight some more enemies. From my Magic Sense skill, I can say that there are five of them, however they seem to be the Crystal Knights thanks to the level of their magic.”
With this conclusion in mind, I get moving. This time I go to the left side of the main device and once I enter the place, mind you the “room” that I enter is still surrounded by the bush wall, I’m instantly greeted by those five Crystal Knights that I mentioned before and by the crystal right in the middle of the “room”. The Crystal Knights are standing “menacing” waiting for their prey to enter the “room”, myself in this case. However, anyone sensible enough would think to defeat the Crystal Knights first and then activate the crystal. A small problem though, the crystal is sealed with magic. There’s nothing guaranteeing me that defeating the Crystal Knights will unlock the crystal but at the same time the opposite can be said. I still have to defeat them first, only then I can have a look at the crystal.
“Since you guys are waiting for me, it will be my honour to make the first move then.”
I proclaim this to them, hoping to get an answer out of them. I didn’t of course, I’m just making small talk. Either way, this “room” is around 80 square meters, not that small but not ideal for this situation as there are too many of them. To make things more difficult for me, said crystal is in the middle of the room. I kind of do not want to damage it so I will have to be extra careful. Thankfully they are not the Royal Crystal Knights so I don’t need to use Martial Arts skills to defeat them, a simple “punch” will be enough to defeat them. You know, in that sense I will be like one punch man, where I’m a man that one punches my enemies into oblivion. Huh, where did I hear this now?
Swoosh! Bam!
It was a simple jab and I easily shattered the head of one of them. I did dash towards him first but I was too fast for him to do something about it even though he had a spear. A weapon that could easily counter my close combat with the reach that the spear gives the user. His head as I said shattered into several small pieces and with it, I defeated him. However, I did notice that he turned to magic residues rather quickly, not only that, I also noticed that the crystal seemed to absorb said magic residues. This instantly gives the impression that I really just need to defeat the Crystal Knights and the seal will disappear. Well then, that gives me extra motivation to quickly dispose of all of them. That’s exactly what I will do then.
Bam! Pow! Bem! Paw!
Nothing out of this world, what I did that is. Once they saw that I easily and quickly defeated one of them, they decided to form pars, after all, once one is about to get defeated the other one just needs to take advantage of that and strike me down. Not a bad strategy, a little inhumane as they are using their “friend” as bait but oh well, not my problem. Either way, by forming pairs it makes things easier for me and quicker at the same time as I can defeat two of them back-to-back. The first pair was a simple 1-2 combo, where I just jab at each one of them. I hit them in the face just like the previous one and just like that one, I defeat them with a single hit as I’m easily able to break their heads. Another two down, just two more to go. The next two I do exactly the same so no point in going any further.
You might be reading a stolen copy. Visit Royal Road for the authentic version.
“That’s all of them. Now then, the seal on the Crystal must be...”
And the damn seal is still up. Wasn’t it enough magic energy? How am I supposed to-
Magic noises! Crystals noises!
Just as I was questioning myself on how I was supposed to get more magic energy to the seal, another group of five Crystal Knights spawn right near me. I’m surrounded in other words and each one of them are holding weapons that put me beyond disadvantage. They have shields, all of them, some have longswords, others have spears while a single one of them has a halberd. Weapons that can easily counter my hand-to-hand combat and I would be in danger if they were stronger. Even though I’m the Hero, I can only do so much without a weapon, there’s a limit to everything after all.
“Well then, come at me! All of you at once!”
A soft smile cracks on my face as I say this to them, and let me tell you, I do sound a little cocky (I am though), but it’s not like they will answer me or anything like that or even understand me. Although, they do respond to my request as each one of them jumps towards me, ready to strike me down. They are trying to remove any possible chance at dodging as each one is covering a possible way for me to dodge. In fact, if I don’t move a muscle one of them will hit me of course, but that is only one of them, the rest will miss. These things keep on surprising me, just how much can they grow? The way that they adapt to their opponents, the tide of the battle, everything about them screams natural born fighter’s. Thanks to all the gods that exist, these things don’t get literally stronger as oh boy, just how strong they would be if that was the case.
Woosh! Woosh! Bam!
I decide to stay still as they come crashing down towards me, making four of them miss their swings while the last one I narrowly dodged the blade of the spear. I did so by dashing slightly forward towards said Crystal Knight. Once I was close enough, with a simple punch, I hit right dead on the centre of his face, shattering everything with the hit. By doing this I’m just a bit further than the other Knights, which means, they have their backs to me, just the same way as I do to them. A good opportunity to counter attack as I’m far too quick for them to even react. The one to my left he’s a little too close to me, in other words close enough for me to elbow him, hitting him at the back of his head and contrary to the previous punches my elbow keeps on going with the momentum as the head of the Knight was not sturdy enough to stop said momentum. Not that it will destabilize me or anything like that, in fact, I was expecting this and from here I can switch into a jump to cover some distance towards the other Knight that is a little to my left and at the same time a bit backwards. I use the momentum of the elbow to transition into a jump, one where I also spin mid-air, rather than being side to side like a normal spin instead, I do it from the ground up to the air and back to the ground. With this I have a clean chance to hit the other one, while mid-air I hit him in the back of the head, this time with my foot or in this case, the heel of it.
Kapow!
As anyone can expect the impact is violent, I had so much force behind the back kick that not only I crushed his head, I also went right through his upper body, shattering the entirety of the body in the process. Well then, I might be getting just a tad bit too excited. Right as I recover from my way to overkill movement, I quickly dash towards the other two, doing once again another 1-2 combo at them. How long did this take? Less than 10 seconds I would say, none of them had a chance to react properly, the first one was a given, while the other two I took advantage of that they had their backs to me, and the last two I was too fast for them to do anything, to block or counter me. But with this another five are down and the seal is still up. Great!
Magic noises! Crystals noises!
Luckily, I don’t have to wait for too long as in less than 5 seconds later, another group of five spawn and this time around, they do have ranged weapons. One of them in this specific case, he has a bow, a Crystal one of course, but nonetheless a ranged weapon. The other four have switched to “normal” weapons rather than long range weapons. It seems to them that having long range won’t help much as they are considerably slower with them than with “normal” weapons. I could see how the ranged Knight will fare against me in this situation but my blood is just a tad bit for the hot side so I will dispose of him first. With this solid plan in mind, I quickly dash to him and just like before, everything goes smoothly, however there was something that caught my interest but at the same time, it sent a chill down my spine.
They were waiting for this.
They were expecting me to go at the ranged one first.
They planned this is what I’m trying to say.
I am making things really easy, but that’s only because I’m the Hero, an average joe would get murdered in this situation and the same can be said about your average adventurer, hell, even for an average knight from the army. If an army of these Crystal Knights marches down into a city, then I’m inclined to believe that, the city won’t survive, the human army won’t be able to defend the city itself, the citizens and even themselves. Ah, just thinking about it is making me shiver. However, I can think about this later on, I still have to defeat the rest of them and unlock the damn crystal.
Woosh! Bom! Woosh! Pow!
Two of them were waiting for me behind the ranged Knight, not only that, they were mid-motion so I had to dodge them as they would hit me if I didn’t do so. Right after that, I was supposed to defeat those two, however another Knight spawned right behind me, that sneaky little bastard. Anyway, as you can guess that small unforeseen event made me quickly change tactics as I have to defeat the one behind me first so that he does not hit me instead, and let me tell, he spawned while mid-motion so, I really have to be quick. But no worries, nothing that an elbow won't resolve. The same happens, just I defeat the one behind me with said elbow, another one spawns and I’m currently surrounded by five of them. Hmm, not a good situation as this time around they are taking turns at attacking me rather than going all at once. I’m basically dancing around as I dodge their swings and while they are not fast at all, they are not giving me any openings at all to counter attack.
“I might have to step it up! Won’t say that I’m not surprised though.”
I do mean this and I really will have to take this to a higher level as otherwise we won’t get anywhere. Now, what do I mean by this? A more aggressive set of tactics and moves, still no magic or Martial Arts at least for now, although I’m itching to use magic. For some reason. Can’t explain it. Moving on!
Bam! Pow! Paw!
Rather than dodging the swings I instead parry them and from there I’m able to get a clean shot at them. Although, it did not go as I planned. Seriously, not only do they quickly notice what I intend to do, they also quickly figure out a way to prevent it. In other words, the moment that I parry one of them, another takes a swing at me, forcing me to dodge it and therefore lose the chance to take out one of them. This is amazing and terrifying at the same time, the way they can adapt to all of this is frightening. However, I simply have to do one simple thing, parry anything and everything that comes at me. If I parry one and another one comes at me, I will parry that one and so on. After a few back and forths I’m finally able to take advantage of one of the parries and with it, another one is defeated. I have a feeling that another Knight will spawn. Before that happens, as fast as I possibly can, I take out two of them, the moment the second one crumbled into nothing, another Knight spawns and right after that, two others follow it. Right now, I have five Knights in front of me, all of them in a somewhat line, you know, in that good position to get hit by spell at point blank range… Not only that, the crystal is right behind me, far away from any possible spell blast radius for example. Heh, couldn’t ask for better.
