"You could've rested today." Faralynn admonished Matthew while Faynn drove them to the Labyrinth of Enkidu. "Even Claudio would understand."

Matthew licked his lip holding his tongue. The reason why he wanted to go to the labyrinth was because of Titania's quest. However, he could not say that to Faralynn. Even though he didn't shook the Queen of Fae's hand, she did ask him not to tell anyone.

"It's just something my mother asked him." Ffyr explained feeling him anxious. "She asked not to tell anyone, but I think you should know." The fairy continued.

"What is it?" Faralynn asked.

"Mom wants us to conquer the Labyrinth." Ffyr said.

"With only the 4 of us?" Faralynn asked surprised.

"No." Matthew said. "She didn't say anything like that. She just wants Ffyr to be the one to take the prize at the end of it."

"This means we'll enter in direct conflict with Claudio." Faralynn thought out loud.

"Most likely. But I don't think we'll be able to conquer the dungeon today. Nor Claudio. We should dive deeper and deeper slowly until we're strong enough to face whatever it is that's guarding the prize." Matthew explained his thinking.

"What is it that Ffyr's mother wants with the Labyrinth's prize? What is it?" Faralynn asked.

"Mommy didn't say." Matthew said without thinking making Ffyr and Faynn laugh.

"Mommy?" Faynn joined the conversation with a laugh.

"Mommy?" Faralynn repeated Faynn, but with an angry tone.

"It's that mommy forced me to call mommy mommy!" Matthew tried to explained himself while Faralynn got close to him on the backseat.

"What?!" Faralynn exclaimed widening her eyes.

Ffyr then flew in between them before Faralynn got more angry.

"Mom tricked him into a deal." The fairy said holding her laughter. "She made him call her mommy."

The deal of the Fae. Powerful Fae could make deals be binding and even change reality. Most adventurers knew about this.

Faynn laughed louder after hearing that.

"Your mother is great." She commented.

"Why did she do that?" Faralynn asked confused and filled with jealousy.

"Because she thought it would be funny." Ffyr smiled shrugging.

"It is funny." Faynn laughed from the front of the car.

Faralynn took a deep breath calming herself.

"Ok. And how are you planning to take the prize without Claudio realizing?" The elf asked getting back on track.

"I didn't think that far. I just thought about keep diving until I think of something." Matthew said. "Figured it'd take months or even years to conquer the dungeon. So I'm not thinking that far ahead yet."

A dungeon that was 10 years old and just now something like a checkpoint was discovered. Matthew was right when he thought that it would take years to conquer it. Worrying about how to get the prize now would do no good. It was better to concentrate on getting stronger.

When they arrived at the gate, they saw Claudio drinking tea with a proud smile on his face. He looked at Faralynn and Matthew getting closer and then at the shadow that Faynn was hiding inside.

"Here's the man of the hour!" Claudio was sarcastic. "Being healed by the Saintess herself. You are really lucky."

"Yeah." Matthew just nodded.

"But honestly. I'm glad you're alive." Claudio sounded sincere. "It's just you 3 this time?"

"It is. The others had another plans." Matthew answered.

"Good. Because I have something to show you, sit down." Claudio announced while pushing a chair for them.

Matthew sat down right after Faralynn. Both refused when Claudio's staff offered them tea. The man looked at them with his proud and creepy smile again on his face.

"While you were resting, I was working hard exploring the dungeon with my crew." Claudio said. "And look what I found." He placed the gold tiara Matthew found long ago after he killed his first Shedu on the table. The snake adornment was fixed on the tiara by another piece that made the tiara more beautiful.

"You found another piece." Matthew looked surprised.

"Yes. Look." Claudio said pointing at the snake eyes. "It seems it's only missing two stones now."

"This means we're getting closer to the end." Matthew thought out loud.

"Precisely." Claudio smiled. "Your Fyr sure gave us an edge on exploring the dungeon." Then he turned to Ffyr who was standing on the table stealing a cookie. "I want you to focus on finding the rest of this tiara."

Ffyr stopped for a minute expecting to be admonished by taking the cookie, but Claudio only looked at her with expectant eyes. They were making a lot of progress and he was very happy with that arrangement.

"Okay?" Claudio fished for the fairy's confirmation.

"Okay." Ffyr said looking at Matthew after he confirmed that she should via telepathy.

They entered the Labyrinth and started from the Checkpoint. From the very start, they were already being attack by 4 Lightning Lions. Faynn made short work with 2 of them, but let the other two for Matthew and Faralynn to get some experience.

Claudio only watched everything from the background.

While Ffyr picked up the pathways for them, Faynn walked ahead searching for traps and secret doors. Faralynn used her bow frequently to down Dust Devils. Matthew only sprung into action when Minotaurs or Lightning Lions appeared. Faynn always helped thinning the herd.

They moved fast through the Labyrinth. And quickly Faralynn leveled up again. She was at level 11 now and picked the Swordsman class, her first tier 2 class. She picked the Sharpen skill, a skill that could make weapons sharper than they already were. A round bat could become as sharp as a scalpel with that skill, while a sword could become so sharp to the point of cutting stone like butter.

After about 4 hours walking. They reached a dead end corridor. Ffyr shuddered scared suddenly.

"We should go back." She said backing away from the other end of the wall.

"Why?" Claudio asked a bit irritated with the suggestion.

"I feel something dangerous on the other side." Ffyr explained.

"What about the tiara? Is there a piece of it in there?" Claudio asked.

"Yes." Ffyr confirmed. "But we should come back with more people." She warned him.

Claudio looked at Faynn. She was very powerful. He himself was at level 36. Matthew could use his demonic mana to get a huge boost in his stats. The most powerful monster recorded on that dungeon was a level 30 Efreet, a fire jinn.

Ffyr was likely at level 10 or 15. Claudio thought to himself. It would be normal for her to be scared of a level 30 monster. But with the others there, there was no reason to go back now.

Ffyr protested again calling for them to turn back when Claudio ignored her and went forward. He pulled a stone that Faynn identified as the trigger for the door, but didn't touch because of Ffyr's warnings.

Faynn wasn't expecting Claudio to act so imprudent, and reacted too late to stop him. The door opened slowly and showed them a huge monstrosity waiting for them inside a wide room. It was a cobra snake that spammed 30 feet long (about 10 meters). It had a single horn shaped like khopesh made of silver. It had two limbs close to its head each with three fingered claws. It a pair of white bird wings close to its arms. It's scales alternated between huge black circles with smaller blue circles in between. Its belly was white and its eyes were yellow, almost green.

"What is that thing?" Matthew asked taking a step back.

"That's a Bashmu." Claudio said also stepping back. "An old Mesopotamian legend. It has never been recorded in any dungeon, pocket dimension or other world." He added.

"By its size alone, I think this is too much for us." Faynn said moving in front of Faralynn to shield her. "Run."

"Run!" Ffyr screamed as soon as the huge snake started to slither in their direction.

They all ran from the beast, but, as it slithered, it also flapped its wings and ran with its claws. It was fast. Too fast. Soon it had its mouth wide open ready to eat Claudio in one single bite. Faynn saved the man using her shadows to create a spear and hit the Bashmu.

She took a single scale out, but made the beast flinch giving him time to run.

"Run, my lady!" Faynn said creating two scimitars made of shadows on her hands. "I'll fend the beast and you save yourself." She said decided on holding the monster back.

"Faynn!" Faralynn stopped on her feet to look at the woman who felt like a sister to her.

Monsters that big usually were above level 40. It needed huge parties, usually the conjunction of parties, that people called raids, to bring one of those things down. The corridors there were wide and the was no where to hide. It was a losing battle.

"Just run!" Faynn screamed. "Please."

If you find any errors ( broken links, non-standard content, etc.. ), Please let us know < report chapter > so we can fix it as soon as possible.