Goddess Kaleidoscope

At this moment, the poisonous mist and "residue" left behind by the self-destruction of the eleven dead slaves suddenly came to life, quickly gathered in one place, and were swallowed by a giant mouth that emerged from the ground. Then the main body of this mouth also emerged, which was a huge and ferocious giant head with a diameter of five or six meters.

This behemoth had no main body; its massive limbs were directly connected to its neck. Seemingly because it had just devoured the remains of more than a dozen undead who had self-destructed, its body showed signs of solidification. It stomped its limbs on the ground, causing the entire room to rumble.

When Lud saw the monster while he was watching the battle, he was so excited that he almost shouted out loud.

"Holy crap! This monster looks so 'dark and gritty,' awesome!"

"Eek! Master, your taste is so strange!"

On the maze side, the cool, big-headed Death Slave made its appearance, and with its sheer size, it compressed the space for Trin and the others to only about a quarter of the entire room. Behind it was the BOSS room on the second floor of the maze.

Trin reacted quickly. Seeing that Deadhead was such a big target, he immediately took out a bottle of holy water and threw it over. Another guard with a bow and arrow next to him understood immediately and shot an arrow that shattered the wooden potion bottle in mid-air, splashing holy water all over Deadhead's face.

However, although the holy water splashed on its face made the deadly slave howl in pain, it did not immediately destroy the slave's body and soul, showing a surprisingly thick "health bar".

Realizing that continuing to fight the enormous, headless slave in this confined space would be extremely disadvantageous, and with his retreat blocked, the old butler made a decisive decision to retreat into the BOSS room behind him. Although this would activate the level master of the maze, just like on the first floor, at least he would have some room to move around.

"Let's go! Let's go inside quickly."

Urged on by the old butler, the survivors, disregarding everything else, had no choice but to pass through the gate and enter the BOSS room. Before entering, Denzel glanced at the words on the doorframe: "Raging Thunder."

As soon as they passed through the gate, the big-headed dead slave pounced on them from behind. The holy water left large, burn-like marks on his face, making his already ugly face even more ferocious and terrifying.

Unfortunately, the gate was only a little over three meters high and four meters wide, much smaller than his head. As a result, his big head, which crashed into the gate, was immediately stuck in the door frame, looking rather comical.

However, the group that passed through the gate did not feel relieved. Although the large-headed dead slave behind them was stuck, they were also forced into the room of the second-floor lord. Just then, a melodious flute tune suddenly rang out in the room, gradually turning into an excited melody.

Just like when they encountered Dog Bro on the first floor, the BGM for the BOSS battle started!

End of this chapter

As the execution melody played in the BOSS room, the hidden mechanism in the hall was activated, and a large door opened on the wall facing the entrance. Then, everyone saw a very familiar figure walk out. It was the first floor master of the maze. Except for the fact that his weapon had changed from a spiral spear to a silver-white two-pronged fork and a one-handed round shield, everything else was exactly the same.

When Terlin saw that the BOSS on the second floor was still the same defeated opponent, he subconsciously breathed a sigh of relief. However, this composure lasted for less than three seconds before it completely vanished as the other three doors opened.

This time, Dog Bro isn't fighting alone, he's facing four of them!

Holy crap!!!

As the saying goes, "quantitative change leads to qualitative change," when there is only one Dog Brother, it is not difficult to deal with strictly speaking. Its fixed attack pattern means that as long as you observe more, you can grasp the pattern. But when four Dog Brothers charge at you side by side, the variables become much greater.

"Young Master Te-Lin, what... what should we do?"

"You're asking me? Who am I supposed to ask?"

Subconsciously, everyone turned their hopeful gazes to the old steward, hoping that this peerless master could still, as before, wear a profound and inscrutable smile and say to everyone, "Leave it to this old man."

However, the old butler's expression was also very serious at this moment. The four dogs in front of them formed a semi-encirclement around them, and behind them was the big-headed dead slave who blocked the entrance door completely.

It's like we're trapped with nowhere to turn!

At that moment, the people present suddenly heard thunder rumbling overhead. They looked up and saw that the previously empty ceiling had somehow become covered with a churning dark cloud, and the thunder was coming from the cloud.

The four golems raised their bipedal prongs high, and several bolts of lightning suddenly struck their weapons from the dark clouds. Accompanied by deafening and dazzling thunder and lightning, the four golems were imbued with lightning, and numerous purple arcs of electricity danced between their silver bipedal prongs, making them look extremely imposing!

Meanwhile, on the other side, a group of goddesses watching the battle were astonished by Four Dogs' incredibly cool opening sequence. Hume, who was already well aware of Lude's wicked sense of humor, directly asked him if there was a way to defeat the second-floor boss without fighting.

"Yes! But it's not as simple as the first level. Don't be fooled by how cool the Four Dogs' lightning-charging design looks; they themselves get damaged when struck by lightning. So as long as you dodge three rounds of lightning charging, the Four Dogs will shut down due to core overload. Also, there's a surprise on this level, but I'll keep you in suspense for now and tell you later."

On the maze side, Terin and his group, unaware of the hidden mechanics, were quite taken aback by Four Dogs' lightning-charging pose. However, that wasn't the end of it. The eight lotus ponds around the area also showed special reactions. The mage in the team suddenly noticed that water elements were rapidly condensing in several of the lotus ponds. Combined with Four Dogs' cool pose of sparks and lightning all over his body, he immediately understood what was going on.

"Quick, get out of the way, they're about to release..."

Before the magician could even utter his warning, the water element condensed in the lotus pond suddenly exploded, forming an elemental field about ten meters in diameter. Within the area covered by the field, the dense water element greatly increased the humidity of the air, making it so humid that you could wring water out of your palm with just a wave of your hand.

However, only five of the eight lotus ponds experienced water element explosions, so they did not cover the entire area, and some areas remained dry.

At this moment, the four dogs sprang into action, brandishing their electrified weapons and charging towards the group. Their attack pattern was exactly the same as the dogs on the first floor, but due to the electrified weapons and the dense water elemental field around them, they possessed powerful area-of-effect damage. All four attacking together were utterly ruthless!

To be honest, as soon as Four Dogs made their move, Trin regretted it. If they had known the boss battle would turn out like this, they would have preferred to fight Big Head Dead Slave face-to-face outside the door; perhaps the situation wouldn't be so bad now.

In the first wave of attacks from the four dogs, the old butler only managed to rescue Trin and the mage. The archer among the remaining two guards was killed instantly, charred to a crisp by the lightning storm unleashed by the four electric forks. However, Denzel, who was also abandoned, miraculously escaped unscathed; the lightning did not harm him at all.

Still shaken, Denzel realized that the magic cloak he had obtained on the first floor had saved his life. This was one of the hidden features Lud had set up for the Spiral Abyss; all equipment of purple quality or higher obtained through draws had hidden attributes, some good and some bad.

The cloak that Denzel acquired has a hidden attribute that allows it to absorb a certain amount of magical damage, which is why he wasn't struck by lightning.

However, in his haste to escape the attack of Brother Four Dogs, Denzel slipped and fell into a lotus pond with a "plop," unable to climb out for a long time.

At this moment, the old butler was also in a real bind. If he were alone, he might be able to fight against the four golems, but if he wanted to protect Trin and the others, he had no choice but to give up.

It's like having to fight a formidable enemy while simultaneously protecting a few bystanders who happened to be watching a meteor shower during the most intense part of a battle—it's incredibly frustrating. It makes you wish for a Russian-style counter-terrorism operation, where you could first eliminate these idiots and then have a satisfying showdown with the terrorists on the other side!

"Young Master, I'll hold these golems back for a moment. You... you'll have to figure something out yourself."

"what!?"

Patting Trin on the shoulder in comfort, the old butler turned to deal with the four golems, leaving Trin and the wizard standing there dumbfounded.

Fortunately, after the initial panic, Terin had finally come to his senses and noticed that not all lotus ponds would erupt with water elemental energy. The safe zone was next to the ponds that didn't erupt, and since mages can sense the reactions of various magical elements, they could raise an early warning.

The situation became somewhat delicate. The old butler, relying on his agility, was barely managing to fight four opponents single-handedly. He seemed incredibly powerful, but in reality, he was just putting on a brave face; the slightest slip would ruin his reputation. Trin and the magician, on the other hand, were like cockroaches that had wandered into the cafeteria, desperately trying to dodge and hide at the feet of the four dogs. Meanwhile, the big-headed dead slave blocking the entrance had given up struggling and had completely entered spectator mode.

As Trillin dodged and weaved, he cursed the necromancer Dick, who had driven them into this predicament, without blaming himself for his reckless actions.

Just then, Denzel, who had slipped and fallen into the water earlier, finally climbed out of the lotus pond. The young man glanced at the four-dog brother surrounded by lightning, then shouted urgently to Trin not far away.

"Sword hilt... sword hilt..."

Trilling also noticed Denzel shouting at him, but unfortunately, the earth-shattering battle between Four Dogs and the old butler, along with the thunder and lightning, drowned out Denzel's voice, making it impossible for him to hear what the other was saying.

Helpless, Denzel could only scramble over, not bothering to be polite with his employer. He snatched the backpack, dumped everything inside onto the ground, grabbed the hilt of the sword left behind when he opened the first door, and said to the two of them.

"Follow me! I've found the way!"

With the old butler steadily drawing away Fourth Brother's hatred, Denzel led the other two to the lotus pond where he had fallen in earlier. The pond, about three meters in diameter, wasn't very big, and because it was covered with a layer of lotus leaves, it was impossible to see what was below the surface.

Denzel, holding the sword hilt, didn't have time to explain. He took a deep breath and jumped down.

Lude, who was watching the battle, also noticed the actions on this side, and a smile that was both surprised and slightly wicked appeared on his face.

"Hey! This kid's found the hidden door."

"A hidden door?"

"This is the second Easter egg I mentioned earlier. The second-level BOSS room has eight lotus ponds, one of which will not be hit by water elemental shocks at all. There is a hidden door at the bottom of this pond, and the key to open the door is the hilt of the key sword from the first level. Through the hidden door, they can enter the third-level maze without defeating Brother Four Dogs. However... taking shortcuts comes at a price."

Lud's core philosophy regarding the design of hidden level mechanics is "there are always trade-offs," or the so-called "costs"!

As a price for opening the hidden door to skip levels, Terlin and his group suffer two major losses: first, they cannot obtain the rewards for completing the second level; second, when all the challengers leave the BOSS room, the four dogs who were not struck by lightning will open the main gate to the third level on their own and hunt down the escaped challengers, which is tantamount to indirectly increasing the overall difficulty of the third level.

What's a surprise? This is a damn surprise!

Unaware of Lude's sinister intentions, Denzel had already used the hilt of his sword to activate a hidden mechanism at the bottom of the pool. The pool water was quickly drained, revealing a green sewer pipe with a distinctly Mario-esque style.

The pipe was originally covered by a huge metal plug. Denzel, who fell into the water, happened to find that the size and pattern of the grooves on the plug were exactly the same as the hilt of the key sword he got in the first layer. So, on a whim, he inserted the hilt into it, and it actually activated the mechanism.

Staring at the dark entrance, Denzel had no idea where the other end of the pipe led, but he had no other choice at the moment. The battle above him was like gods fighting, and getting involved would only lead to his death. He might as well gamble on the fact that there was a way out in front of him.

So after hesitating for less than three seconds, Denzel closed his eyes, steeled his heart, gritted his teeth, and jumped in.

"Ah ah ah ah..."

Under Trillin's watchful gaze, Denzel jumped into the pipe, his scream fading quickly into the distance, leaving him and the mage staring at each other in bewilderment, while the battle nearby continued unabated. Trillin, already somewhat at a loss, simply gave up trying to think of anything else.

"Sigh~! Let's jump."

End of this chapter

As Terlin and his group entered the third level of the maze through the secret door (sewer) of the BOSS room, Lud, who had intended to continue "binge-watching," suddenly realized that he could hear the crowing of roosters outside the window. He had unknowingly been watching for more than ten hours.

With a lot of work waiting for him in town, Lu De could only get up, dust off the food scraps, and head out to work.

Although he had stayed up all night, Lu De was young and had divine magic, so the crickets only stayed awake for 24 hours and he didn't show any obvious signs of fatigue.

Back on the ground, as soon as Rudd entered the temple hall, he saw Romian, who had risen early, kneeling before the statue of the god, devoutly performing her morning prayers. The morning light streaming in through the skylight of the hall shone directly on the dragon girl, filling the entire scene with an aura of holiness.

Watching this scene, Lude remained silent. It wasn't until Romian finished her prayer and stood up that she realized her mentor was right behind her.

Good morning, Master.

Good morning, Romian. I saw you praying as soon as I arrived, so I didn't want to disturb you.

Lude looked around. The temple hall was spotless, with only a few water stains on the wooden benches. It was obvious that Romian had just cleaned it. The little girl must have gotten up before dawn to clean. This devout and pure diligence was unique in the whole family.

Lude thought for a moment, thinking that it would be a shame not to praise such a good girl, but just as he was about to speak, a series of urgent knocks and shouts came from the temple gate.

"Open the door! I am a messenger from the Steelwhip Clan, and I have an urgent message to deliver to Master Lud. Open the door now!"

Hearing someone shouting at the door, and clearly a dwarf, Rudd guessed that someone from the labyrinth had come to inform him.

Trin and his companions broke through the first level of the maze yesterday afternoon at dusk. The monument at the maze's main gate then changed, causing quite a commotion among the adventurers waiting outside. The messenger, carrying the message overnight, arrived at Pine Village quickly.

So Lud quickly opened the door and welcomed the dwarf messenger into the house. He then pretended not to know anything and listened to the messenger's explanation. Just as he had expected, the messenger was reporting on the changes that had occurred at the labyrinth. Yorn, who was stationed there, had sent urgent letters to his uncle Gulig and himself.

"Up to the time I set off, our intelligence was still very limited. We only speculated that an adventurer had successfully broken through the first level of the labyrinth. Captain Yorn admitted that his understanding of the labyrinth and demons was limited, so he earnestly requested that you, Master, go there in person."

"Yes, I understand the situation. Thank you for your hard work."

After listening to the dwarven messenger's report, Lud praised him a few times, then casually cast a low-level divine spell. The dwarven messenger, who had been tired and sleepy, immediately felt refreshed and perked up again. He felt a sense of gratitude and respect for Lud.

"Thank you, Master."

"It's alright. You three goddesses' followers are also my brothers and sisters in the Medicine God Cult. We should help each other. Romian, arrange a place for this dwarf brother to rest. I'll make some preparations here and set off for the labyrinth shortly."

After seeing off the dwarven messenger, Lud thought for a moment and realized that he really should go to the labyrinth himself. As the most respected figure in the area, it would seem unnatural for him to appear too indifferent to the labyrinth.

Therefore, Ludwig personally approached the elderly Lady Srina, who was currently acting as the Baron in charge of governance, and requested that thirty soldiers be temporarily borrowed from the town guard.

Given Lud's almost absolute authority in the town, he could easily borrow troops without consulting the Baron; most of the soldiers, originally from the police force, would follow the priest without hesitation if he simply went to the guard post and made a call. But Lud couldn't do that, otherwise it would damage the Baron's reputation.

Fortunately, the two sides were getting along well at the moment, and Lady Srina readily agreed to lend the cavalry squad that had just completed its initial training to Lud, and also sent Aramis, one of the three knights, to assist.

After a brief preparation, the group set off at noon. In addition to the thirty cavalrymen of the town guard, Lud also invited Hume and Shanes, the two combat leaders, to accompany them.

It's worth mentioning that just last week, Shanis made a smooth breakthrough to the second level, and the three sisters are showing signs of change.

The first breakthrough is usually not difficult; it simply requires accumulating a certain amount of faith. After completing the breakthrough and advancing to the second tier, the goddess typically gains enhanced abilities related to her divine status.

After Aina's breakthrough, her pharmaceutical abilities were greatly enhanced. Previously, she needed to extract bodily fluids, which involved cutting onions and steaming them. Now, she only needs to concentrate her mental energy and stir the water with her little finger to achieve the same effect as before.