Chapter 25: Townsperson A Challenges the Wind Mountain Labyrinth

I finally turned thirteen.

Having spent the last six months grinding the Great Orc Labyrinth, I’d managed to rack up enough kills to earn the Orc Slayer achievement. Thanks to that, my rank had risen to D and my level had climbed to 23. Apparently, reaching Rank C required completing escort missions, but I didn't have any immediate plans to pursue that.

As for my peers, I had been politely declining invitations to join their parties, telling them I wanted to focus on solo training for a while.

Incidentally, there was a massive uproar in Altomunt recently because the Orcs had suddenly stopped appearing.

Well... let’s just tell ourselves it wasn't my fault.

Furthermore, thanks to my regular honey-buying trips to the Elven Village, my savings were looking healthy. I was only five million away from my minimum target.

Name: Allen Rank: D Age: 13 Divine Protection: 【Wind God】 Skills: 【Stealth】, 【Appraisal】, 【Alchemy】, 【Wind Magic】, 【Multi-Cast】, 【Chantless】 Residence: Luluden Funds: 15,457,109 Level: 23 Stamina: D Mana: B Achievements: Goblin Labyrinth Conqueror, Goblin Slayer, Orc Slayer

The people of the Elven Village had been treating me quite well—so well, in fact, that they had even cleared an area for an airport.

They were understandably reluctant to cut down too much of the forest, so the runway was only three hundred meters long. However, I’d since upgraded the Vuitol’s braking system, and the Wind Spirits were kind enough to provide a localized headwind during takeoffs. Thanks to that, I could take off and land without any anxiety.

When I wasn't using it, the village children used the strip as a playground or for archery practice. Since the "airport" had become a multi-purpose community space, no one in the village seemed to have any complaints.

Now, having reached a point where the Great Orc Labyrinth no longer provided enough experience to level up, I decided it was time to tackle a high-difficulty dungeon.

My next target was the Wind Mountain Labyrinth. In the game, its recommended clear level was 30. Considering the Great Orc Labyrinth was level 15 and the Valley of the Flying Dragons was 25, one could see just how steep the jump in difficulty was.

The Wind Mountain Labyrinth was already a well-known site, the subject of a fierce conquest race among renowned adventurers. Currently, the record for the deepest floor reached was a mere eight floors. It was a place with a history of swallowing many famous warriors whole.

In the game, it consisted of thirty floors. Despite being underground, it was a mysterious place where the sky stretched out overhead. The monsters were exclusively of the flying variety, and the floors were littered with traps that couldn't be disarmed without Wind Magic.

I felt a pang of nostalgia remembering my previous life, where I had charged in without knowing you needed to either follow Marcus’s route or obtain the Book of the Wind God from the Valley of the Flying Dragons first. It had been a swift Game Over.

But back to the present. The noteworthy treasures in this labyrinth were two Rings of Substitution and the final boss drop: the Sword of the Sky Knight.

The Ring of Substitution was exactly what it sounded like—an item that acted as a proxy for the wearer, allowing them to revive once after death.

The Sword of the Sky Knight was a specialized weapon. If someone with the Knight divine protection equipped it, their protection would evolve into Sky Knight. Reaching that stage granted the user an aptitude for Wind Magic.

In the game, this was the item used to "awaken" Leonard, the son of the Imperial Guard Captain. However, I recalled that his mana pool had been so pitifully small that his Wind Magic was never particularly useful.

The boss of the final floor was the Blizzard Phoenix. In a fair fight, the current me would have almost zero chance of victory. It was a terrifying creature that rained down blizzards from the stratosphere to steal your visibility and stamina, all while peppering you with a relentless hail of ice arrows from well outside your range.

However, the boss room in the labyrinth had a ceiling. Its mobility would be limited, meaning the fight wouldn't be quite so one-sided.

The "royal road" strategy in the game involved using Crown Prince Karlheinz’s powerful Fire Magic to exploit its elemental weakness. Alternatively, if you could manage to close the distance, it lacked high physical defense and could be taken down with melee attacks.

If physical attacks work, then my guns should be able to do the job, I reasoned.

With that plan in mind, I set out for the Wind Mountain Labyrinth.

"Rank D adventurer, Allen, huh? Soloing this place is a good way to get yourself killed, but I suppose that’s the arrogance of youth for you. Fine. You may enter. Just stay on the first floor if you want to keep breathing."

I showed my Guild Card and registered at the guild in Seeben, the town nearest the labyrinth. The site was under guild management, and entry was restricted to those Rank D and above. You could try to sneak in, but anyone caught taking items out of a managed labyrinth without registration was prosecuted as a thief.

Usually, Rank A or B adventurers tackled this place in parties. A thirteen-year-old Rank D kid showing up alone must have looked like a joke or a suicide mission to the registrar.

But I fully intended to conquer this place—and then farm it. In fact, I planned to spend most of my time here until I had to enroll in the academy. Of course, I had no intention of bragging about my progress; standing out any more than I already did would only invite trouble.

I left the town and made my way to the entrance.

The first floor was a standard cave-type dungeon. The primary inhabitants were Giant Vampire Bats—monstrous things with one-meter wingspans that could drain a man dry in seconds.

I moved through the shadows, utilizing my 【Stealth】 skill. Eventually, I spotted five of them hanging from the ceiling.

It was the perfect debut for my new weapon: a shotgun. I’d built it using the technical insights I'd gained from the Karashi and named it the Saiga. The namesake was, of course, the famous Russian Izhmash Saiga-12.

Inside, the mechanism was a purely magical firearm and bore no resemblance to its inspiration, but I’d managed to get the exterior looking quite authentic. It had taken a significant amount of trial and error to get it to function correctly as a shotgun, but it was finally time for field testing.

Boom! Boom!

The roar of the gun echoed through the cavern. The Giant Vampire Bats were torn apart instantly. It felt a bit like overkill, but there was no denying that shotguns were magnificent.

After harvesting their Magic Stones, I hurried toward the next level. From the second floor down, the labyrinth was brightly lit and possessed an open sky despite being deep underground. It truly was a bizarre environment.

From here on, I would be entering the areas characteristic of the Wind Mountain Labyrinth, where the avian monsters thrived.

With the Saiga gripped firmly in my hands, I ventured deeper into the abyss.