BXBX NOVEL Chapter 120: Failed Rescue Mission
Below the dark starry sky, six people are standing close to a cliff, seemingly frustrated and lost, not knowing what to do.
These six people are the four deans, the archpriest, and Wendy, who entered the advanced adventurer zone in an attempt to save Shye.
Unfortunately, when they arrived at the entrance under Wendy\'s lead, the entrance was nowhere to be found, in its place was normal grass growing on a patch of loamy dirt.
The deans even tried digging in desperation but they didn\'t find any stairway and instead, all they dug up was dirt and stone.
"I…I swear it was right here…" Wendy said, her panic-stricken heart slowly being consumed by fear, despair, and overwhelming guilt.
She didn\'t know what to do anymore since this location was truly where the entrance was.
Naturally, the deans wouldn\'t blame her.
They\'ve had their share of adventures as well so they knew that there were indeed some labyrinths wherein the entrance either disappears or relocates when someone enters.
Mostly though, those kinds of labyrinths were tombs of former great adventurers and were guarded by lots of sentient creatures.
The deans gnashed their teeth and clenched their fists, having no choice but to accept that they don\'t have the capability to rescue Shye since the strength of the owner of the tomb was way beyond theirs.
They could do nothing but hope that the creatures inside the labyrinth were something Shye could handle giving him a chance to get out of the labyrinth alive.
Utterly dejected, the six of them returned to the academy, achieving nothing in their endeavors to save their beloved student.
***
Months flew by since the deans returned to the academy after a failed rescue mission.
Naturally, Dean Snowcrest regularly observed his half of Shye\'s lifeforce talisman. Seeing that it hadn\'t shattered yet, the deans gradually grew calmer and calmer as days went by.
It seems like this student of theirs was blessed by the heavens, not only talented in growth rate and duels but also talented in survival.
Today, Maia and Shirley anxiously dropped by the dean\'s office once again to check if Shye was still alive. The two then breathed a sigh of relief upon confirmation that this half of the lifeforce talisman was still intact meaning that he was still fine.
As long as he was alive, they were willing to wait for his return no matter how long it took.
Meanwhile, akin to an unkillable cockroach roaming the dark and nasty sewers, Shye adeptly navigated through the dark hallways of the labyrinth.
He already lost track of time, leaving him with no idea regarding what date it is today or whether it was day or night–his body clock was absolutely fucked up.
Surviving alone in the cold and dark labyrinth filled with kobolds wasn\'t easy and he has already started to try eating kobold meat since he had to save his points for emergencies.
Fortunately, kobold meat tasted decent and although it wasn\'t delicious, it wasn\'t nasty either. Sprinkling a bit of salt and pepper does the job.
\'Once I escape from this goddamn place I vow to order everything on the menu of a fancy restaurant!\' Shye vowed to himself as his teeth dug into a huge piece of kobold meat.
He had just finished harvesting the remains of two kobold soldiers earning him 800 points.
By this time, he had already drawn a partial map of the labyrinth, making sure to update the map every time he successfully explored a new area.
Although he didn\'t know exactly how large the labyrinth was, at least he already had a few safe zones and hiding spots wherein he could rest without a care in the world, drastically increasing his chances of survival.
As long as he carefully navigates his way inside the labyrinth, then it should only be a matter of time before he escapes the dastardly place.
As for how long it would take, only the gods knew.
Still, he was getting more and more accustomed to the labyrinth and even the daily quests had already adjusted, giving him mostly hunt: kobolds and material gathering daily quests.
Due to this, the initially perilous situation suddenly became a huge training opportunity.
The kobolds were the perfect creatures to fight at his current skill level, thus allowing him to grow to his maximum potential, not only honing his physical attributes but also his combat and survival instincts.
If only he could get some sort of absurd reward for surviving alone in a god-forsaken place like this, then it would be perfect.
After consuming a kobold soldier\'s meat which tasted slightly better than a kobold militia\'s meat, Shye quickly extinguished the fire and left his safe zone, once again traversing the creepy hallways of the labyrinth in hopes of finally locating the exit.
Months of navigating the labyrinth made him stronger compared to when he fought the Bull-Lizard as the constant life-or-death battles rapidly increased his physical attributes.
In view of this, Shye realized that the fastest and most reliable way to increase your physical attributes was still through harsh life-and-death battles.
His current strength allowed him to have fewer troubles when dealing with kobold militias and a fair chance of winning against kobold soldiers who were ranked C- creatures provided that he played his cards right.
Still, he knew that his current level wouldn\'t allow him to move recklessly inside the labyrinth as there were creatures such as kobold sergeants which were a rank above the soldiers, and kobold captains, which were of even higher rank than the sergeants.
Such creatures would easily tear him apart if he did not advance carefully.
Were there creatures of higher rank than the Kobold Captains? He didn\'t know…Thus, he planned to take things slowly.
He could only hope and pray that he would be able to get out of this place before the Valenzia Region\'s Adventurer Academy Competition began.
Such a huge event would surely allow him to harvest lots of points and even training inside this labyrinth wouldn\'t make up for the losses if he failed to participate.
Not only would he disappoint the deans, Maia, Shirley, his teammates, and the students of Colzen Academy, but he would also lose a shitload of points.
Hence, with flames of determination burning in his eyes, Shye continued advancing inside the cold, dark, and eerie hallways of the unknown labyrinth.