Chapter 19:

Chapter 19: Labyrinth Dungeon

SOLARIS: Journey Through Another World

So far, Alice and Selia had taken down a total of 5 mini-bosses. Right now, they had set up camp to take a break before they continued. Alice managed to gain two levels so far, by the end of it, she might reach 60. They progressed through the dungeon rather smoothly. Soon enough, they would clear the first requirement for the first floor. Selia led them back to the main room, where the sound of fighting could already be heard. The first floor boss monster was a giant stone beast, a handful of adventurers had engaged it in battle. The boss's room was massive, and a large stone pillar sat in the middle, reaching all the way up to the ceiling. Lucy leaned against the wall as he watched the fight. Alice and Lucy joined the fray. Selia muttered something to herself before her bow glowed as it changed in shape. She slammed it into the ground before drawing a powerful magic arrow. When she let it fly, it pierced through the golem's arm and exploded. Unfortunately, the fallen stones simply attached themselves back to the body. " We're gonna have to break whatever's keeping it together," Selia deduced, her bow returning to its normal state. Alice would keep her weapon sheathed, her ice would have more effect. The other Adventurers were able to break away at the stone, but its regen made it pointless. Alice was able to deduce that its core was somewhere near its chest, where it would normally be. She plants her hands on the ground and concentrates, a small trail of ice stems from both her hands towards the stone beast's legs before it's engulfed in ice, impeding its movement. She thrusted both hands upward, but the move from before had taken a lot out of her, she was able to create large ice spikes that deviated from where she wanted them to hit, but they hit regardless. Before she could do anything else, a large beam of water burst out overhead into the golem. The attack had carved through the golem, taking its magic core with it, causing the stones to fall apart. When she turned around to see who had killed it, everyone cheered. Standing at the entrance was a dude, he looked like an ass(not the blond), like one of these uptight nobles you'd read about in a webcomic. The only problem was that his badge was ruby, making him a Master rank. His name was green, with a level of 116, just a few below Arthur's. Lucy was glaring at him, but he didn't acknowledge him as he headed for the way down to the second floor. Some stayed behind to check out the rewards they got from clearing the first floor, while others followed the master guy.

" Ruis, from House Cerul," Selia says, joining Alice with Lucy following behind. " He was set to join the run but I assumed he had pulled out last second when he wasn't here, guess he was just late," Selia headed on to check her rewards, and before Alice could do the same Lucy dragged her back towards the entrance, " Lets go," He said letting her walk on her own, " I found the Voidcore, we should be able to get it without any interferance now that the second floor opened." Alice almost forgot about the metal, " I thought you said I would feel it when I got close?"

" You should've, but it was on another floor, your sense would have to be a lot higher to have sensed it," he said, a faint hint of pride in his voice when he mentioned having a higher sense. Soon enough, they reached a dead end. Lucy walked to the wall and began feeling around,

"There should be a thing somewhere here that lets us up." This would go on for a while. Until eventually the wall Lucy had been feeling opened up to stairs leading up, and he had fallen in. " HA!" Alice laughed as Lucy lay on the ground, " Ooh, a hidden floor?" The sudden voice beside Alice made her yelp in surprise, and now Lucy was the one laughing.

Selia had supposedly followed them the entire time out of curiosity. How were they gonna explain how they knew this was here? Oh! " My friend here isn't much of a fighter, but he has an amazing scout skill," Alice says, helping Lucy up as he nods, reinforcing the somewhat lie. They made their way up to a small dome-shaped room. According to her map, they were just above the first-floor boss room. The center of the room had a separate circle to it, it was the pillar. On top of it was a stone figure seated cross-legged in a prayer. Its details were hard to make out due to its uncarved stone texture. Alice drew her blade just in case, but when she got close enough, fractures of light grew on the surface, breaking away to reveal features of a creature of some kind. Maybe Lucy knew, and when she glanced back, she found him staring in shock, " So this is where you left it...Old friend." Alice whipped her head back, now scared. She now recognized the creature, it stood on two legs, it had hair-like features on its legs, arms, and face, and it resembled that of a monkey. It was the Great Sage, or whatever was left of him. His eyes were dull, yet he exuded a menacing aura that engulfed the entire room. "...Morningstar..." It spoke in a coarse voice, " Morningstar?" Alice had no time to worry about Selia figuring out Lucy's true identity. The stone monkey lunged at her at a blinding speed. She cowered from the strike only to feel a gust of wind from behind. When she looked, she found herself behind a pair of whiteish grey wings. Lucy had forced his wings forward to block the attack, he grabbed her and jumped back, reeling his wings back to rest position. Alice triggered Hunters' Surge and flanked the stone monkey. Her sword slammed into his arm, sending a shock through the blade and into her arm. She was able to tank its punch by coating the spot where it hit with ice. An arrow shatters on its face, making it switch focus to Selia. Lucy provided support by pulling them out of the way if they weren't fast enough. To combat stone, she would need a blunt weapon. She applied a thick layer of ice, turning her sword into a glorified ice stick. This proved useless as it broke over the stone monkey's head, she needed a proper strategy. Selia pulled out the mega bow and shot that arrow she had used against the stone golem. This time, it managed to hurt the stone monkey, causing him to be knocked back a little. Alice positioned herself so that the others weren't in the way and unleashed rupture. The slash flew towards the stone monkey, who swerved his head to see and dodge at the last second. She could use rupture one more time before her soul energy ran out. This time, Lucy struck out, landing a solid punch, causing fractures to form all along the stone monkey's face. Alice backed up to where Selia was and managed to hear the name of her upgraded weapon,

" Heavens series, bow arts second form: Swarm." The arrow she had shot splintered into multiple, all of them homing onto the stone monkey. He successfully dodged a few, but most of them lodged in his body. Alice stepped back and opened her skill menu. She hadn't gained anything new since rupture. Beneath the star-blessed set, she could see that there were two more forms she could unlock, but for now they remained unknown. In the other section were her powers, mainly consisting of her ice and...stars? Was that new? Alice had never checked this tab, so it was hard to tell how long it had been there. Accessing it showed Alice a single darkened node, unlike her ice, where there were multiple nodes that could be looked at, this one only had one that she needed to activate.

"Open the path skyward, and become the deity beyond the sky" is all it reads, so surely it'll give her a cool power. Alice felt no different. Though she couldn't see it, her iris had changed to a star shape. Lucy slamming into the wall a couple of feet next to her was enough to remind her about the fight. Instinctively, she threw her outstretched hand up to the ceiling, expecting something. The stone monkey trudged toward them. Selia was keeping it back with her bow, but she had limits. Alice kept her hand pointed up. The ceiling shook, something burst through and landed in Alice's hand. When she lowered her arm to look, all she found was light. It was a star, a small one to be precise. " Give it shape!" Lucy yelled, shape she would give. Alice clutched the star tight in her hand, forcing it to shape into an arming sword with a medium-sized hilt and a decently long, sharp blade. Alice felt a lot stronger with it in her hand. She charged the stone monkey and swung, only for it to dodge. She rotated the sword and plunged it into the ground, nicking his arm, leaving a large cut. With this renewed energy, Alice effortlessly pulled off two ruptures back-to-back. The stone monkey dodged both, as Alice hoped, using the ruptures as a cover. She managed to get close and cleaved it in half, ending the shell of the great sage. Alice let her grip over the new sword go, and it returned to its star form before floating back into the sky. She let out an exhausted sigh as she dropped to the ground. Selia stood over her, her expression read a mix of anger and excitement,

" Are you a false ranker?"

"Huh?"

" False ranker, someone who purposely gets a low rank even though they're well above it, there's no way you're bronze with a power like that!" Selia exclaimed. Ah, now she understands. " Mmm, I took my first rank assessment a month or so ago, and I never really had the time to do it again," She explained. Selia looked like she was about to ask more questions, but she didn't get the chance to. Lucy walked over to where the stone monkey lay,

" Getting rid of all his immortalities was impossible, which meant his body would be left behind. I guess this is where he put it." Lucy held his hand out, a multilayer magic circle formed in it as the circles spun furiously, crackling with energy. The five layers merged together in the middle before forming a...gourd. A gourd of alcohol. Lucy set it aside as he began to dig a hole before carefully placing the two halves of the stone monkey. Once they were properly buried, he clasped his hands together in prayer and prayed. Alice joined him. Seila followed her example. " May your body rest, and your soul be at peace, wherever it may have ended up." Lucy picked up the gourd and poured some of it over the grave before chugging the rest. " Was that his?" Alice asked, he simply nodded, she understood. The monkey may have been the only one to truly understand Morningstar, and now he was truly gone. She patted him on the back,

" Cheer up, you still got me, huh?" She said in an attempt to cheer him up, and, fortunately, he did smile. He pat her head, ruffling her hair. She would allow it just this once.

The voidcore had been hidden away by the stone monkey, but now that he was gone, it was visible. Selia stared at the material in confusion. It sat in a pile. Alice picked up a couple and handed them to Seila, " You were a big part in this fight, you deserve it," she said with a smile. Seila, however, looked like she was about to cry, " Are you sure? This looks really rare?" Alice nodded and shoved the metals into her hand as she wouldn't have taken them otherwise. Selia thanked her and gave her a hug before putting the voidcores into her bag. The rest were put into her inventory, and she found out that the inventory could be opened anywhere, she had opened it below the pile of cores, which made gathering things a whole lot more convenient. With that, they made their way down to the Second floor.

-MAIN OBJECTIVE-

Reach Level 900

REACH DIAMOND RANK IN 5 MONTHS AND HAVE ARTHUR JOIN YOUR TEAM

CLEAR THE LABYRINTH DUNGEON

FLOOR BOSSES KILLED(2/3)

PREVENT THE DISCIPLES FROM BRINGING THE VALUED ONE

THE STARS BECKON YOU, ANSWER

-SIDE OBJECTIVES-

~~FIND THE VOIDCORE ORE~~

~~CLEAR THE MINIBOSSES ON FLOOR 1(28/50)~~

~~CAPTURE THE ZONES(5/5)~~

PROFILE: ALICE