Pandora Unchained - B1C48: Converging

Sorin's unblocking of his teammate's primary meridians led to an immediate increase in combat prowess. Their team easily swept through any obstacles they found in the Labyrinth, even going so far as to take turns single-handedly holding off swarms of demons.

It wasn't long before they doubled their original gains in demon cores. They did not discover any other adventurer remains, but Sorin and the others considered this a blessing. They made a point of meditating after every fight to adjust. Three days later, they were thoroughly accustomed to and comfortable with their new abilities.

Another thing important aspect of hunting down demons was evaluating the equipment they'd acquired at the center of the Labyrinth. Daphne's staff was the most straightforward as an artifact that could amplify raw power and increase the area of effect. As for Sorin's dagger, it had a built-in one-star curse that would apply whenever he cut an enemy. The curse would reduce a target's strength and would stack with each cut.

"This is the last identification of the lot," said Daphne, muttering under her breath. "I should have forced you all to wait until we got back. I hate identifying."

"We can always wait if it makes you feel more at ease," suggested Sorin. "Armor and weapons are one thing, but this piece of string is by far the most useless item of the lot. It can't even tangle enemies properly."

Daphne ignored Sorin and chanted as she drew a ritual circle with her mana and demon core dust. A symbol appeared above the ball of thread as it had eight times before, revealing the school of enchantment imbued into the thread.

She cursed under her breath when the unfamiliar symbol appeared. "Damn it – it's a divination school item. I won't be able to determine its abilities with my limited talents. This needs an appraiser."

"So you're saying this is a divination item?" asked Sorin, picking up the ball of thread. "I wonder what it can divine. Wait a minute. Lawrence, didn't you mention a ball of yarn when we entered the Labyrinth?"

"Oh, that," said Lawrence. "I mean, it's not even a story. More of a folk song."

"Well, I'd like to hear it if you don't mind singing it," said Sorin.

"You sure?" asked Lawrence. "It's something I heard while investigating pretty individuals."

"You mean you heard it while peeping," said Sorin. "And yes, I'm sure."

"All right then," said Lawrence. "Here goes." He cleared his throat and began singing in the most tone-deaf voice Sorin had ever heard.

"Dancing in the corn maze,

"We seek a special light.

"A fire to illuminate

"And find our Mr. Right.

"A special meeting unforetold,

"A morning of adventure.

"And if the day would turn to night

"Re-spool and find the center.

"Dancing in the corn maze,

"We seek a special –"

"Okay, okay," Sorin cut in. "We get it. They use a spool of yarn to wander from the center of the corn maze and have some fun for a day, and when it starts getting dark, they can find their way back. Hm… Does anyone know how to use divining artifacts?"

"I mean, they're pretty straightforward," said Stephan. "I usually use compasses. You roll a hair around a needle or something, and it always points to the owner of the hair."

"I don't think this ball of thread will work that way," said Sorin. "It's all spooled up already. Unless…" He held the ball of thread before his face and spoke to it. "Take me to the center." He then tossed out the ball of thread. To everyone's surprise, the ball kept rolling even after 20 meters and even rounded the corner sharply.

"We should probably follow it before it runs out of thread," said Gareth. "Unless there's a way to stop it?"

"Only one way to find out," said Sorin. "Stop," he commanded. "Return." He felt a tugging from the thread in his hand, and several seconds later, the ball of thread rounded the corner, traveling back towards him, then jumped into his outstretched hand."

"Well, at least we know it can find the center," said Stephan. "Probably."

"In my opinion, that's much less important than finding the others," said Gareth.

"Indeed," said Stephan. "Do you think it can find other people in the maze?"

"Let's find out," said Sorin. "Take me to living people inside the maze," he commanded, then tossed out the ball. This time, it traveled in the opposite direction. After retrieving the ball, he issued a few other commands, including 'Take me to the minotaur' and 'Take me to Adventurer Barbara.' Of note, 'take me to the maze's exit' yielded no result, and neither did the request to find a good half of those who'd entered the maze."

"What a disaster," said Stephan. "Over 70 adventurers have died so far exploring this place."

"Is that going to be a problem for the outpost?" asked Sorin.

Stephan shook his head. "In truth, the outpost doesn't need so many adventurers. The bone-forging cultivators in the outpost are its leading force. The rest of us are just here to make up the numbers and block low-leveled bodies during demon tides. As for us low-level adventurers, our job is to clear out as many demons as we can before the demon tide hits. That way, the city won't be under as much pressure.

"There are also more adventurers than you might think," said Gareth. "I asked around in my spare time. The outpost's population is small, but many adventurers come here from the cities. In all, I think the total population of registered adventurers is about 500. The governor's manor also employs 200 cultivators. In comparison, the other organizations in the city employ about 300 combat-ready cultivators, for a total standing force of about a thousand, not counting non-combat cultivators."

This made sense to Sorin, who'd treated many cultivators during his time as a physician. There were few repeat customers like Lawrence. "Even so, there's no telling if the others were killed by monsters or teams like Orpheus's," said Sorin. "Shouldn't we converge with other teams?"

"Indeed we should," said Stephan. "Why don't we find Barbara first? Her team will best make up for our deficiencies." The rest of the team agreed, and Sorin, the controller of the ball of thread, activated the item. The ball of thread led them further into the maze, never straying further than 500 meters in any direction.

It was a half day later when they finally encountered signs of struggle. Their surroundings changed, revealing a rocky cliff face and a group of ten strange demons made of stone. "This place even has gargoyles in it," muttered Stephan. "I've never heard of such a varied dungeon."

"Should we go help them?" asked Sorin, nodding towards the group of six women who were fighting the stone creatures. Their leader, Barbara, stood at the back of her group and picked off gargoyles with the bow she'd obtained in the Labyrinth. Overall, her team was well-armed and well-armored. Sorin shuddered to imagine how much equipping them all must have cost.

"It's best to an adventuring team mid-combat if there's not a good reason," said Gareth, cautioning against this course of action. "Even getting this close could be considered mildly threatening."

"Let's back off a hundred meters to make our intentions clear," agreed Stephan. "Daphne, blow that fireball out, will you? We wouldn't want any misunderstandings."

They waited ten minutes for Barbara's group to finish off the gargoyles. While not very threatening, gargoyles had tough, stone-like skin and could regenerate their flesh exceptionally quickly. It was a battle of attrition in the best of cases. Combined with Sorin's group's arrival, it wasn't surprising that Barbara's team took a long time to wear them down.

Barbara then instructed her team to rest for ten minutes before making their way over. The cliff face had vanished with the last of the gargoyles, significantly shrinking the distance between both groups.

"I glad to see that you're all still alive," Barbara greeted. "Though I notice that your team has split off from Team Oasis. Did you have a disagreement of some kind, or did you encounter trouble like we did?"

"If it was trouble, there's no way the five of us would be standing while Team Oasis fell," replied Stephan. "No, we just had a… disagreement while fighting a powerful enemy. A bull-headed creature with an abnormally large axe."

"That you were able to face that creature and escape unscathed is a miracle in and of itself," said Barbara. "We lost four sisters to the creature before managing to retreat."

"We wouldn't have lost anyone if that bastard Orpheus hadn't enraged it so he could run off," cut in spear-wielding members of their team.

"Seriously?" said Lawrence. "Orpheus again? Shouldn't he be afraid of people teaming up on him, given how many people he upsets?"

"We had an unfortunate encounter with Orpheus as well," Stephan confessed to Barbara. "As for the minotaur, our parting with Team Oasis was related to it. As for the reason we could reunite with you, it's far from coincidental. We encountered a treasure in this Labyrinth that both allows us to find its center and others within the maze."

"Are you suggesting that we band together to take care of the creature?" asked Barbara. "Not a bad idea, given its power. Unfortunately, I don't think our teams alone will be able to take care of the thing."

"Which is why I suggest we find Haster's team," said Stephan. "As a Drunken Swordsman, his attack power is amongst the highest of all the adventurers gathered."

"No need to come looking for us," a voice suddenly sounded. A group of five adventurers rounded the corner. It was none other than Haster's team, and they looked much worse for wear than Sorin's or Barbara's team.

"What happened to you guys?" asked Barbara. "And where's Team Midnight?"

"Dead," said Haster, spitting. "They tried to stab us in the back when we found a couple of corpses with magical equipment. They thought a drunk like me would be easy to catch unprepared."

"Rogues," muttered Barbara. "They're always shifty creatures. And yes, that does include you, Lawrence. Don't think we've forgotten all those times you've tried peeping on us."

"Anyway, what's done is done," said Haster. "I heard you mention my team by name as I was rounding the corner. What are your intentions?" Stephan summarized their findings and their intentions to Haster, and the honest swordsman immediately accepted his proposition.

"That leaves us with two choices," said Stephan. "The first choice is to directly locate the creature and kill it. The second choice is to return to the center of the maze and try to find ourselves suitable weapons, knowing that should we get caught, we'll be at a disadvantage from not choosing the terrain or being able to lay traps."

Haster and Barbara exchanged a look. "By the looks of it, you've all had a chance to upgrade your equipment while we haven't," said Haster. "It's hardly fair, given how strong this thing probably is. Also, we wouldn't want that idiot Orpheus looting the place while we're fighting."

"That's my sentiment exactly," said Barbara. "Pardon me for being blunt, but we also need to benefit from this raid.

"Hey, we found the center fair and square!" said Lawrence. "It's not our fault you guys didn't find it."

"We're not saying we want a share of what you took," Haster assured them. "We just want a chance at the loot. Otherwise, it's just not fair, and we should go our separate ways."

Stephan exchanged looks with his teammates before nodding. "Fine. Fair is fair. But we'll raid the center at the same time. If the coast is clear, we'll each rely on our own luck and grab what we can to prepare for when the minotaur returns. But if the minotaur decides to wait for us at the center, we can only go all out. With any luck, we won't be sent out as soon as we kill this abnormally strong boss monster."

Haster and Barabara agreed that these were fair terms. They formalized their agreement on paper and prepared to move out. In terms of firepower, their teams were quite strong. Haster's team had a powerful ice mage, while Barbara's team had one of the better life mages in the raiding party. There was also Haster and Barabara, who were only slightly inferior to Stephan in terms of combat capability.

Sorin, however, wasn't convinced that this would be enough. After discussing with Stephan, he split his remaining manabane poison between himself, Lawrence, Gareth, and Barbara. Only those with superior mastery over their weapons or with excellent dexterity, like Lawrence, would be able to ensure that none of their teammates were harmed by the substance.

"I think that should be about enough preparations," Stephan said once the poison was distributed. "Sorin, Gareth, Lawrence, and Barbara – your roles are the most crucial. The minotaur isn't a standard boss monster. Its skin is tougher than normal, and its flesh isn't much weaker. Our weaker party members won't even be able to scratch it."

"So, out of curiosity, what happens if I get this stuff on my skin?" asked Lawrence. "By accident, of course."

"Your mana sea will explode, and without a three-star physician to save you, you'll be dead," replied Sorin. "Having said that, it's not too late to give me back the vial. I have a slight immunity to the stuff, so I don't need to worry about accidentally offing myself."

"I'll just be cautious," said Lawrence, gingerly putting away the vial.

"If that's everything, let's move out," said Stephan. "Sorin, do the thing."

"Take us to the center of the labyrinth," Sorin commanded. The ball of silver string unfurled, and their three combined teams followed after it.