Did she already know what I would ask her for?

Ch 140: And so, the golden labyrinth got more publicity… but negative

"Are you leaving already?" said Delia, with a piece of food on her lip. Immediately the room lit up, the birds started chirping, and flowers grew around her.

'Perfect 10 points.'

"Yes, I'll be a little busy. I'll come and pick you up in the morning, so get a good rest."

"You too. Have a nice day."

We kissed as a goodbye. At the same time, I take the opportunity to wipe the piece of food off her lips. When she realized this, she blushed all over.

'Ahh. My hand itches to stroke her head. But if I do so, I'm afraid I won't want to leave here.'

I have a lot of things to do, so I restrained my right hand and left the Solitary temple.

*Whistle*

Time passed, and the silly horse kept grazing. 

'I really will have to hire an expert to teach it new tricks.'

"... Space Travel."

Holding it by the reins, I forced the horse to follow me through the illusory gate.

Presently we found ourselves on a dirt road at the end of which we could see the Altamira capital. The agreed time has already expired, and the Warrior is waiting for me in the golden labyrinth. I know this because a blue dot can be seen at the entrance.

"Giddy up!"

The horse finally came back to its senses and started running. Minutes later, we turned off the main road to head towards the path to the golden labyrinth.

At some point, I reached my destiny, and the man approached me.

[Claudio] [Warrior Lvl 19]

"Half an hour? It's been nearly an hour already!"

"The road was overcrowded. It must have been the famous rush hour," I said with a serious and cold look on my face.

Claudio: "..."

'- What damn road are you talking about?! At this time of night, nobody wants to travel!'

Although Claudio seemed to want to tell me an infinite number of things, he kept them to himself and introduced himself.

"My name is Claudio, and I am a level 19 Warrior." He lifted his chest proudly.

"I see... Shall we begin?"

Claudio: "!!!!"

'- That attitude... I want to punch him!'

'Hm, I feel like I can read that look perfectly. But I'm sorry, Claudio, I really will be super busy after this. So, I want to end this as fast as possible.'

Gritting his teeth, he clashed the gem of his Union Necklace with mine and then entered the gold labyrinth. As we just formed a temporary team, his image appeared on my user interface. Without giving this any importance, I followed him and also walked through the door.

"This is floor 4."

Just like all the floors of a labyrinth, the hallway doesn't look much different from all the others. I just looked around a bit and then nodded. Since the map is completely transparent, it is to be expected that this is a floor I haven't visited. In other words, there is no doubt that this is floor 4.

Understanding my gesture, he walked back through the door, and I followed him.

"This is floor 7."

After looking around, I nodded.

"Floor 8..."

"Floor 10"

"12"

"13"

We visited exactly six floors, which are extremely necessary to harvest the loot I need to perform the first upgrade to Counterattack and Space Travel. While the skill [Counterattack] increases the strength when counterattacking after blocking or deflecting, Space Travel allows me to teleport to all the places I've ever visited.

'How strong will they be after the first upgrade? My hand is shaking with excitement!'

"I've accomplished the mission. Now, pay me back."

His gaze is threatening. I can even see how his hand is slowly moving towards his sword, hinting that the consequences of deceiving him will be disastrous.

'Uah, his hatred for me must be at the maximum level.'

Shaking my head, I pulled out a coin and handed it to him. Then I turned around and walked through the door in the direction of floor 4.

'- A- A- A- A gold coin!' Claudio's hatred immediately dwindled to zero, and he even wanted to slap himself for not recognizing the VIP client.

'From the look he gave me when I handed him the gold coin, I'm sure his enmity towards me must have disappeared. I've always wondered. Why are people so spiteful? If the reward for the mission was 6 silver coins, his hatred would have disappeared just because I handed him 4 extra silver coins. It would be so easy if all my enemies could be bought with money... Haa.'

Of course, there are things I can't overlook, like what the Golden Lion guild did to the three annoying beauties. I have a clear boundary between the things I can forgive and the things that require revenge!

When Claudio left the gold labyrinth, I left a personalized marker on his blue dot with the name [Claudio gold labyrinth]. I don't know when I will need his services again. It is best to know his location and thus avoid wasting time waiting for someone to accept one of my guild missions.

After all, among his mutterings, I heard him say that he has visited as far as the 15th floor of the labyrinth. 

'It's best to have him on my side! 4 silver coins are nothing in comparison! Besides...'

[Golden Eagle Lvl 4]

[Snow Wolf Lvl 4]

'I'll quickly recover the money after performing a few chains.'

As the name implies, Golden Eagle is an eagle whose feather color is gold. The only difference with the animal of the same name is that its size is larger, and its talons look like small daggers in comparison.

'Activate profile [Agility].'

With my sword in hand, I approach them at high speed. When we are only a few feet apart, they manage to notice me. But thanks to my Agility, I can perceive their movements easily.

*Swish*

With a smooth swing of my sword, I manage to assassinate the eagle before it makes its attack.

[Deadly Claw]

[x1]

"Graau!"

At the same moment the loot fell to the ground, the snow wolf performed a leap in the direction of my head. Its snout is wide open, so that it can rip my neck off at the slightest opportunity.

With the hilt of my sword, I struck its head, and the monster fell, rolling on the ground, and then got up, ready for the next attack.

'Hm... If I escape now, I'm sure this monster will chase me. But the chain skill only allows me to assassinate monsters of the same type, so I won't be able to do anything as soon as that happens. But... What will happen if I assassinate it with another weapon?'

To test this theory, I equipped the bow and quickly shot the snow wolf in front of me.

Even when I didn't enter the full concentration state, my skill shouldn't be despised. The arrow with the Incineration skill was inserted deep into the wolf's chest, and the next second...

*Fssssss*

The fire appeared, taking away the rest of its remaining life.

[Fang]

'The chain broke.'

Emir: "...."

'Haa... Let's look at the bright side. Now I know the limits of the skill. It seems that, regardless of whether I defeat the monsters with the sword or another weapon, as long as the monster is of a different type, then the Chain will break. Although it's a pity, you learn from mistakes. Well, it's time to do some push-ups to warm up the body. If I don't want the Chain to break again, I'll have to run for a long time.'

***

*Omniscient POV*

"We finally made it to the 8th floor."

"Yes, even though this labyrinth is despised by everyone, it is undeniable that such a variety of monsters can only be found here. Our skill will increase greatly if we can adapt to their attack styles!"

Catalina and Felix are on the 8th floor of the Golden Labyrinth. Although it is an infrequently visited labyrinth, that doesn't mean that no one visits it. They are the greatest example of this. A short time ago, they arrived in the capital, Altamira, and before facing a large labyrinth, they decided to first hone their skills in this place.

"Thanks to the fact that they are monsters weakened by the labyrinth, our weapons manage to damage them easily. If we were in the Great Altamira Labyrinth, then we would need a weapon upgrade before moving up a floor."

"You are right. It is hard to gather even one gold coin to be able to buy quality weapons. Only advanced adventurers have that opportunity."

Let alone runes. Only millionaire adventurers would be so eccentric as to add runes to their weapons and armor. They are too valuable, after all. Instead of spending such money on them, it would be better to use it on buying higher-quality weaponry or paying for the services of an adventurer to add temporary personnel to the team.

And that's what they have done so far to challenge the floor bosses. They hired some adventurers to help them in the fights. Thanks to that, they came out of their battles practically unscathed. And what's more, they improved their fighting styles in the process! Two birds with one stone!

*Rumbling* 

*Rumbling*

"Huh? Is the hallway shaking?"

"Could it be an earthquake?"

"Impossible; the labyrinth is a separate space from the outside."

This means that, even if tomorrow a volcano erupts, the adventurers inside the labyrinth would not even notice. So, the earthquake theory is impossible. The only possible option is...

'- Something is coming towards us!' They both thought something similar.

With their hearts pounding at high speed, they turned around.

"!!!" They opened their eyes wide with shock.

There are little luminous spheres that come speeding toward them. You don't need to be a genius to be able to understand what those spheres are... They are dozens of pairs of eyes!

"A pack of monsters is heading in our direction!!!!"

Snow Wolf, Infernal Cat, Hypnotic Bat, Golden Eagle... They could go on for several minutes naming each of them, but that doesn't take away from the crucial fact. It's impossible on the lower floors for monsters to break the established laws! Only on higher floors can monsters act rampantly!

And, besides... they're not even in a Great Labyrinth!

"Stand aside!!!" someone shouted.

'- Huh?! A monster spoke the human language? No, wait a bit... The monsters are following a man!' Felix thought.

"A guy is attracting the attention of the monsters!" shouted Catalina.

Ahead of the herd is a man who looks to be between 22 and 23 years old, black-haired, and quite handsome. But that's not what's important. What's important is that this man is pulling monsters right in our direction!

"Damn it! These stupid monsters are chasing me around like I've murdered their whole family! ... ... ... ... ... Well, theoretically, I did. But that's how all adventurers make a living! It's not my fault!!! I was just making an honest living, harvesting loot en masse without worrying about harming the environment or the flora and fauna! Like everyone else does!"

Due to the adrenaline rushing through their bodies, they managed to understand something essential in that man's words. Those monsters are following him alone! As long as they don't interrupt him, the monsters won't even look at them!

"Let's give way to him. Quickly!" said the adventurer.

"Y-Yes!"

They quickly stuck to the wall of the corridor, giving as much space as possible to the man and the monsters so as not to interrupt them. Seconds later, the herd passed in front of them without even looking at them.

Once the mass of monsters was gone, they sighed in relief.

"This labyrinth is too dangerous! Let's get out of here!"

"Yes!"

And so, the golden labyrinth got more publicity... but negative publicity.