The maze was built starting with the mother skeleton replenishing its magic.

Chapter 11 The maze seems to be having a party

"Miss, the lord's room is just ahead."

Glenn hesitated.

The sounds of battle were coming from the lord's room, so the adventurers ahead must already be fighting the lord.

"Let's go in and take a look!"

"Wouldn't that be against the rules? There's probably already a group inside."

"We're not doing anything! It's just a visit!" Anna urged. "If all else fails, we can just mention Dad's name."

The repetitive cycle of caverns ended here, and the corridor opened up before us. The lord's room was just ahead, its doors tightly shut, with torches burning blue flames on either side.

The boss mechanics in most dungeons are different from those of ordinary monsters.

Typically, the lord of each floor controls the staircase leading to the next floor; defeating the lord unlocks the staircase.

Lords generally have some basic awakening mechanisms. For example, in the "Labyrinth of Kings" in the center of the capital, the lord on the fifth floor is a headless knight. You need to light the torches in the room in order to awaken the lord.

When the lord is awakened, the torches outside his room will ignite with blue flames.

It's used to notify later teams that "the room is occupied."

Unable to dissuade his young mistress, Glenn sighed and led her to push open the door.

Sigrún has taught at the Iceland University of the Arts as a part-time lecturer since and was Dean of the Department of Fine Art from -. In – she held a research position at Reykjavík Art Museum focusing on the role of women in Icelandic art. She studied fine art at the Icelandic College of Arts and Crafts and at Pratt Institute, New York, and holds BA and MA degrees in art history and philosophy from the University of Iceland. Sigrún lives and works in Iceland.

Lance seriously doubted that the two adventurers were idiots.

Before they arrived, no one told them that the lord of this maze was level 20.

From the entrance all the way here, there wasn't a single monster in sight. Lance even cautiously closed the door to the boss room to create the illusion that "someone is conquering the dungeon."

Most people would have been turned away long ago.

Why are these two barging in like that?!

About a week has passed since the last failed attempt to defeat the boss.

Lance did three things this week.

The first thing I did was level up to 15 by killing the labyrinth bats.

And it drained these bats dry, unleashing all its skills.

Their racial traits are [darksight] and [shared vision], so these bats hanging upside down above the cave became Lance's surveillance cameras.

The skills unlocked are [Blood Explosion LV2] and [Flight LV1].

According to Lance, he is a skeleton and has no blood, so he cannot use Blood Explosion.

It's completely useless.

It is possible to fly with both feet off the ground, but because the level is too low, the effect is relatively weak.

The second thing was to subdue the zombies.

Or rather, Angelica single-handedly defeated all the walkers in the maze and leveled up to level 10.

The method is simple.

Target found → Use [Blessing Spell LV10] → Next target.

Those zombies will die from their divine attributes after experiencing a brief moment of "power surging up!"

It's practically a wheelchair.

Third, Lance mediated the conflict between the skeletons and the walkers and became the leader of the walkers. Now the two sides no longer fight when they meet.

That's why he was able to mobilize two armies to attack the boss together.

There are 64 skeletons and 36 zombies in total.

A hundred monsters ganging up on the skeleton hounds was quite effective.

"Miss, I'm going to open the door."

"good!"

Glenn placed his palm on the stone door covered with underground vines, and without much force, the stone door was slowly pushed open.

Unlike Anna, who was bursting with curiosity, Glenn was on high alert and extremely vigilant.

The imagined "adventure party vs. lord" scenario did not materialize.

But the scene before us is no less impressive than that one.

At a glance, one could see swarms of monsters attacking the giant skeletal hound.

This scene was a heavy blow to the heads of the two children who had never been to a maze before.

"Miss, the monsters seem to be having a party," Glenn said, the first to regain his senses. "Let's go back."

"Okay, okay." Anna's head was spinning; she was clearly overwhelmed by the amount of information she was presented with.

The two had just turned around when several zombies appeared out of nowhere behind them and slowly approached.

"Be careful!"

Glenn roared, drew his sword, and stood guard in front of Anna, saying sternly:

"Use magic, I'll cover you!"

"I! My hands are shaking!" Anna stammered.

She enjoys listening to adventurers' stories, but that doesn't mean she likes monsters!

Both of them, who had no experience fighting monsters, now felt regret.

Anna regretted going so far, while Glenn regretted not stopping her.

The two were forced to retreat into the lord's room, and then... the zombies closed the door for them.

He then ignored the two men and attacked the skeleton hound.

It seems like everything's alright now?

"It seems the rumors are true, Miss," Glenn reassured the trembling Anna. "The monsters in this labyrinth won't attack humans on their own."

"Really? Really?"

She looked up at the center of the room, where a fierce battle was raging.

Suddenly, a skeleton was swatted away by the skeletal hound's paw, flying straight towards Glenn and Anna before crashing heavily against the wall, scattering its bones all over the ground.

What happened next was something the two little ones would never forget.

Then another skeleton came running over and began piecing together its companion's bones, one by one.

After doing all this, the two skeletons seemed to realize they were being watched, and they turned to look at the dumbfounded Glenn and Anna.

After exchanging glances, the two skeletons simultaneously gave them a thumbs-up.

Then he picked up his sword and eagerly threw himself back into the battle.

"Glenn, I think I just saw a skeleton give me a thumbs up," Anna said blankly.

"You're not mistaken, Miss." Glenn frowned. "I saw it too."

In the next few minutes, fantastical things continued to happen.

A skull head rolled to their feet. Surprisingly, the skull wasn't afraid at all and put the head back together right in front of them.

In fact, as the fight went on, the giant skeletal hound actually stood up on its hind legs!

It is using swordsmanship!

Why did it stand up?

"Glenn! Let's attack the lord together with the skeletons!"

As her initial fear gradually subsided, Anna became very excited and raised her staff to begin condensing magic.

The crimson flames, imbued with the blood of the Phoenix family, traced a perfect arc in the air and struck the Bone Hound squarely in the head.

At that moment, all the monsters stopped attacking.

He stared straight at us.

"Oh no!"

Glenn immediately realized something was wrong, and his face turned deathly pale.

The monsters here will not attack humans unless humans attack them.

Now Anna has broken that balance.

The skeletal hound charged forward with overwhelming force, slashing down with its broken sword.

"Miss! Run!" Glenn rushed to block Anna's path.

[Strength Enhancement LV1]

Glenn cast a power-up spell and swung his sword to meet the attack.

The moment the two swords clashed, the collision created a gust of wind, and sparks flew everywhere.

Glenn felt a sharp pain in his wrist and could only hold on for a moment before being sent flying by the immense force. He rolled twice and fell next to Anna.

The lord's sword struck the plate of armor on his chest.

Anna stood frozen in place, watching helplessly as the skeleton hound's next sword slashed towards her.

"clang--"

Another burst of sparks flew everywhere.

Glenn, his face covered in blood, once again stood in front of her, gritting his teeth and his eyes bloodshot.

"Miss! I'll hold it off! Run!"

"I don't want to!" Anna cried, tears welling up in her eyes.

But her body was trembling, and she couldn't even cast her best spell.

What to do?

What should I do?

In a flash, the previously quiet skeletons and walkers once again engaged in battle, swarming towards the Bone Hound.

This forced the skeleton hounds to retreat, temporarily preventing them from continuing their attack on the two.

The moment the strength was withdrawn, Glenn's body fell straight down.

The skeletons provided cover for them.

"Glen!"

Anna quickly went over to check on him, took out some healing potion from her pouch, and fed it to him.

After a bout of coughing, Glenn's complexion improved slightly, but he was still pale.

"Miss, if you don't run, all my blood will have been shed for nothing."

"Shut up!" Anna wiped away her tears. "Let's go together!"

"Then you could at least open the door while I'm blocking it," Glenn said with a weak laugh.

"Shut up! Shut up!"

The skeletons' distraction lasted only a short time; the skeleton hounds' primary targets remained the two humans.

Seizing an opening, it charged forward again.

Its response was a fireball aimed directly at it.

Anna helped Glenn up, raised her staff, and crimson flames surrounded her, illuminating her resolute face.

In the critical moment, she overcame her fear and began to fight back with magic.

[Flame Arrow LV2]

Fireball LV4

Unfortunately, the skeleton hound skillfully dodged it.

Anna did not get discouraged, but continued to cast spells one after another, which temporarily stopped the skeleton hounds' attack even if they missed.

But this can't go on forever; her magic will eventually run out.

But that moment came sooner than she had imagined.

Anna, pale-faced, slumped to the ground, unable to cast any more spells.

Because they had sneaked out, they didn't have any magic scrolls with them.

She does possess a ring capable of casting a sixth-tier shield spell, usable once a day, but it can only protect one person...

Anna bit her lip, looked at the boy who had been growing up with her since she was seven, and took off the ring.

"Glenn, put this ring on."

"Miss, is it really appropriate to propose under these circumstances?"

"What are you talking about?!"

"But I'm just a servant in the Phoenix family," Glenn joked weakly. "Is it supposed to be worn on the ring finger?"

[Explosive Arrow LV3]

"call out--"