Truth

“What time is it!??” Aki yelled, waking up and immediately hitting his forehead on the ice wall as he tried to stand up. “Fuck!!!!” He yelled, with his voice echoing.

Ao and Shrimpy quickly jumped onto Aki with joy as they saw him finally wake.

"How long was I out?" Aki asked, looking down at his topless body, still showing signs of injury but mostly healed. Ao pointed at the ice wall where Shrimpy had pecked multiple crooked lines downwards signifying tally marks, and with his watch hanging on the wall.

“5 days?!??” Aki yelled, “How did I survive that long without food or water?!??” He questioned, with Ao extending his fluid arm, and proceeded to drip small droplets of water along. Ao proceeded to show how he also fed Aki by passing small bits of food through the same motion after Shrimpy had torn the dried meat and fruits into small pieces with his beak and talons. Regarding bodily waste, Ao also did the same thing, but through another hole.

“Thank you both!” Aki hugged Ao and Shrimpy, knowing that without them, he would have died. “By the way, where are we?" He asked, putting on a spare t-shirt and putting on the jacket.

Aki proceeded to lean out of the ice shelf, looking down, and realized he was extremely high in the air, backing off immediately. 

"Fuck, that is high!" He yelled, with Ao tapping him on his right shoulder, and pointing at a pile of items inside the ice wall. 

"What is all this crap?" Aki questioned, pulling up a few broken spear poles, chipped swords, and random bags. “I see…..this was the Ice Hawk home! The Ice Hawk must have plucked all these out from its body and thrown them into a pile," he realized as he began to sort through them.

"Well, there is a myth that states if food is kept in a dry and below freezing temperature, it should still be edible as bacteria can't grow on it,” He stated, placing a frozen piece of dried meat he found in a storage bag, near the fire to defrost it. As the meat defrosted, Aki shared the meat with Ao and Shrimpy for their first family meal in a week.

After sorting and fixing the remaining equipment, Aki was stumped on what to do with the sky-blue ostrich-sized egg. 

Ice Hawk Egg (Status: Dormant) / S-Rank

"Ice Hawk's Egg, huh? Aki muttered after appraising the object. "I don’t think I can crack it open and make eggs for breakfast, right?" he asked, with Ao and Shrimpy both shaking their heads in objection. 

Aki began to touch the egg and immediately felt pain in his hands; they turned blue from frostbite. 

"Fuck!!" Aki yelled, with Ao jumping onto his hands and starting to heal them. "Maybe we should leave it here after all?" He considered, but felt it was distasteful to leave a child alone after killing its mother.

Aki decided to cover the egg up with two of his spare t-shirts, as the protective enchantment should prevent him from getting frostbite as he touched it.  

"I wonder what it meant by Dormant ?" Aki thought while picking up the egg and placing it into a sack. As he lifted the sack, a small tear appeared with the egg falling out, and it started to roll away, heading towards the opening. Aki quickly panicked, jumping forward and grabbing the egg, and subconsciously storing it in his item box.

"Huh?" Aki questioned after realizing he had stored a living thing in his item box. "Wait, how is that possible? I thought you weren't allowed to store living things in your inventory?" he pondered, checking his inventory list, and saw the egg was inside without issue. "I wonder if it has to do with the fact that its status is Dormant," giving up on any attempt to find logic. 

Aki began to slowly descend the ice shelf, using Ao's body as a rope as it stretched, landing firmly onto the icy ground. The underground cavern had started to defrost, with signs of broken brick walls and random pieces of armor scattered around. The only place that remained frozen was the surrounding area where the body of the Ice Hawk remained, undisturbed as it lay flat on the ground with a sword still stuck inside its chest. 

"Why the hell is it still here?" Aki stared at the body, "Shouldn't it have left a mana stone and fucked off?" He questioned, knowing that all Labrthin monsters, when they died, their body disintegrated.

Aki began to approach the Ice Hawk's body and immediately stepped on a large purple mana stone. "Ahhh, those fuckers must have gotten too close to it and froze to death, huh?" Aki stated, feeling the immense cold air still emanating from the Ice Hawk's body. "Ao, Shrimpy, do you mind collecting all the Hellhounds' drops while I look around the dungeon?" he requested, as they split up and started to get to work. 

Ao & Shrimpy began to gather the scattered Hellhound drops and separated them into different piles. Aki began to walk around and inspect the broken brick walls, collecting broken weapons, armor, flags, and wooden boxes containing food and documents.

"Hmmm….I understand now," Aki stated, as he finished reviewing the document containing ancient writing, only relying on the hand-drawn pictures with Ao & Shrimpy sitting next to him after killing the newly spawned pack of Hellhounds. "Based on the information I have here, the Ice Hawk isn't originally part of this Labyrinth Dungeon !" he announced with Ao & Shrimpy looking confused.

"These drawings here indicate a plan to steal an Ice Hawk egg from the snowy ice caps," Aki showed a map and a document with a hand-drawn picture of an opening in a mountain showing where their nest was located. "I assumed they succeeded in their mission, but in return, they were met with the mother's fury. I believe this event took place after your Master's time, Ao!" he declared. "If I take in the memories I witness from you, the purple magic circle was how this Labyrinth Dungeon was born, which resulted in your master and the other residents being forced inside. After decades had gone by, a new Kingdom must have been built on top of this Labyrinth Dungeon, but with the immense fight that ensued, the Labyrinth Dungeon must have caved in, resulting in it being trapped. This would explain why there are so many pieces of armor made for knights and torn flags scattered around here," he concluded. 

"This also would explain why the Hellhounds kept trying to engage the Ice Hawk," Aki stated, "Monsters born inside the Labyrinth Dungeon should have no reason to fight each other as they are born from the same living entity. It's the equivalent of trying to fight yourself with your left & right hands; there is no reason to. The Hellhounds were trying to get rid of the outsider that was messing with its inner structure, just like our white blood cells will attack invaders inside our body. This would also explain why the dungeon hasn't been functioning like it should be and leaving behind all the equipment inside the Boss room," he added, as he walked over to the Ice Hawk's corpse. 

Aki proceeded to close the Ice Hawk's eyes, with his hand being frost-bitten, and began to remove the sword from its chest. Once removed, Aki noticed a sky blue mana stone was frozen to the tip of the blade, and proceeded to remove it, storing it in his item box for later review. He inspected the sword and noticed it had returned to its silver blade color, with no signs of damage. He proceeded to fit the sword into a random sword scabbard he recovered and attach it to his right hip. 

"Ao, stick close to me! Shrimpy, return to your cage now!" Aki ordered, with Ao jumping on his left shoulder, with Shrimpy flying back inside his wooden cage. Aki proceeded to store the large Ice Hawk in his item box, fully maxing out its capacity. 

As the ground quickly defrosted, the dungeon began to shake violently with the intensity tripling in strength compared to when the Hellhounds were spawning, sending Aki into the ground, bracing for impact. Suddenly, the broken walls began to float upwards and immediately began to stack on top of each other, fixing themselves and leaving Aki inside a long, dark passageway. 

“ I fucking knew it,” Aki stated, “The Ice Hawk must have overtaken this part of the Labyrinth Dungeon, establishing its own domain with its cold air. Once we remove the Ice Hawk, the Labyrinth Dungeon restores itself." He smirked, "THE LEAST IT CAN DO IS HELP US GET THE FUCK OUT OF HERE!!" he yelled, realizing he was completely back to square one and had no idea how to get home. 

"Oh well..." Aki stated, taking a step forward and immediately triggering a floor trap as the floor opened with large spikes below. "FUCK THIS PLACE!!" he yelled, as he dangled with less than an inch from the spike, as Ao reeled him in. 


After traversing the Labyrinth Dungeon for an unknown amount of time, falling into traps, getting attacked & ambushed by more wolf-type monsters, and finding a few treasure chests, the party finally reached the main entrance. The feeling of warm sunlight poured in through the brightly lit opening above the stone staircase, and the fragrant smell of a wood burning from a fireplace flowed inwards, signifying people were nearby. 

Ao quickly jumped off of Aki's shoulder and stood frozen on the stone ground, hesitating to leave the place it had called home for a very long time. 

"I know this is going to be tough for you, but we made a promise, right?" Aki crouched down and proceeded to stroke Ao's blue body, "WE PROMISE TO BRING YOUR MASTER TO SEE THE SUN AGAIN!" He redeclared the promise again, with Ao jumping back onto his left shoulder as the party began running up the staircase and tearing through the thick overgrown vines that blocked the entrance way, and felt the warmth of the sunlight striking the bodies. 

"FREEDOM!" Aki yelled, followed by the sound of pigs oinking. "EH?" He muttered, with his eyes finally adjusting to the bright sunlight. 

In front of them was an Orc settlement, with dozens of Orcs sitting around a large campfire, eating, with a large Orc King & Queen sitting in the distance. 

"ARE YOU FUCKING KIDDING ME!?!?!" Aki yelled, drawing his sword, with Ao jumping up into the air to attack, with a few tears of joy falling downward. Shimpy immediately left its cage and started to fly freely into the open sky to look for any hidden enemies in the nearby forest. 

By the Labyrinth Dungeon entrance, a crowd of ghostly figures appeared, with a little blond girl walking forward, "Thank you," she thanked, with everyone bowing down.

"ANYTIME!" Aki answered back, dashing forward. 

The ghostly figures dispersed as a gentle breeze blew by.