Daru moved and stepped into the well-lit cavern.
To his surprise, the name of the location suddenly appeared above him in bold white text: [Crystalline Labyrinth].
He frowned, knowing that a labyrinth is usually something one gets lost in...and he hadn’t been too great at directions.
While he wasn’t as bad at it as a certain green-haired pirate hunter, his navigation skills were definitely below average.
Daru had a feeling he would get lost inside.
Pondering for a few moments just outside the path he came from, he shrugged in a rather easygoing manner and shifted his attention to the selection of more than twelve paths he could take.
’Whatever, I guess...’
He didn’t know where he was or how he would get out.
He might as well choose a path and explore the entire labyrinth if that’s what needs to be done...
Marking the path he came from with an X using his sword, Daru chose a random one, marking it with another X before proceeding to explore it.
The pathway was neither too narrow nor too wide.
He could at least wave his sword around if a swordspawn appeared and blocked his path, but his movements would certainly be limited.
Plus, the lighting wasn’t too consistent.
There were darker areas with fewer glowing mushrooms and some well-lit ones with more.
Daru’s vigilance was on high as he advanced, halting after arriving at a fork a few minutes later.
He casually chose the right one, marked it with an X, and continued moving forward.
He had already resolved himself that he would undoubtedly be lost at some point, so he didn’t waste mental energy on things that couldn’t be helped.
Daru then arrived at another fork and chose another path.
The same thing happened another time, before finally, he arrived at a chamber with a pile of blue crystals.
His brows rose.
Daru knew what those crystals were, as he had a stack of them in his inventory.
"Actualizer Crystals?" he muttered, walking over to pick them up.
He was already stuck in this labyrinth, anyway, so he might as well make lemonade out of the lemons given to him.
Maybe he would get lucky and obtain some good loot here.
However, before he could even get within thirty meters of the crystals, he sensed killing intent from the ceiling.
Daru jumped back by instinct, narrowly avoiding six crystalline blades that stabbed at the ground.
In the next moment, his eyes narrowed slightly as three swordspawns—all smaller than him by a foot and a few inches—pulled the blades out of the bluish, condensed soil surface.
They had the appearance of a blue imp with small, flaming horns, azure glowing eyes, a long, thin tail, and gladius-like arms, which they used earlier in an attempt to assassinate him.
He looked at their nameplates.
==
Stabber Shardling Lv. 33
HP: 1, 820/ 1,820
==
To his surprise, although the impish spawns were of a higher level than the Sunblade Lionesses, they were far less tough.
’They probably specialize in a different attribute...’ Daru mused.
He was guessing dexterity and agility, based on their rather lean appearance.
It turned out that he was correct, as, in the next moment, the three turned into a blur, attacking him from different, cunning angles.
One lunged at him, another curved from the right, while the third one attacked him head-on.
Their coordination was horrifying.
To make things worse, they were extremely fast, turning into blue blurs.
But the sword-mark-boosted Lyon was considerably faster and stronger.
Daru was unfazed, a hint of excitement flickering in his eyes as he charged forward, utilizing the varying arrival times of his opponents to his advantage.
He sent the head-on imp skidding back with a powerful slash before raising his sword, angling it to block the lunging shardling’s attack and push it back a few meters.
He then nimbly turned and side-kicked the curving one, sending it flying with a vicious kick to the gut.
[-100]
Just a mere kick dealt so much damage, highlighting the fragility of the swordspawns he was fighting.
They were lethal for sure. However, it was also clear that toughness wasn’t their forte.
Daru didn’t stop at that.
One was temporarily down on its back, and two were forced by him in an unideal position, both standing just in front of him.
He quickly rushed at them, faking a slash at both before jumping and turning into a red tornado mid-air.
Daru slashed down and cut the head of one of the shardlings vertically in two.
[- 3,000!]
Then, while the swordspawn he killed was dissipating into red cubic particles, he gracefully landed on his feet, immediately charging again at the other shardling.
The one who got kicked away naturally wouldn’t just watch.
It quickly stood up and re-joined the battle, stabbing from the back as Daru exchanged blows with its comrade.
To its surprise, the human suddenly disappeared, causing its attack to pierce the chest of its ally in a planned and forced case of friendly fire.
[- 1,500!]
The stab was certainly a lethal hit, but it at least didn’t end the life of the shardling, leaving it with a few hitpoints.
But not for long.
The reason why Daru disappeared was that he somersaulted backward, and before the blue imps even realized what happened, a red crescent passed through the neck of the stabbing imp, then the chest of the stabbed one, cleanly hitting both.
[-2,570!]
[-1,050!]
With their hitpoints hitting zero, the two swordspawns perished like their comrade.
A rather regular set of notifications appeared in front of him: 1,280 Experience points—thanks to the racial boosts he obtained from winning the duel event—and a few dozen sword coins.
But the last one was quite a surprise.
[Your sword passive: [Tainted Enforcer], stole 1 dexterity from [Stabber Shardling].]
His brows rose in slight disbelief, finding it difficult to believe that the 0.1 percent chance of activation came through this fast.
He had just gained an attribute from one of his assailants named Nutter, no?
But then, a few moments later, he froze at a realization.
Maybe the chance against the shardlings wasn’t 0.1 but a clean 2 percent? After all, the appearance of the swordspawns leaned more towards the [Unholy] side...