It is a place that can only be reached by meeting certain special conditions.
Although all the mazes are connected, there was a space particularly enclosed by walls on all sides.
Why would such an empty space be created?
The maze is arranged with extreme efficiency. Each path is ingeniously designed.
However, occasionally, a space enclosed by walls on all sides appears.
If there is nothing inside, why would such a space be created?
It is impossible to climb over the walls.
But, it is possible to break through them.
'Maze Ticket.'
At first, I thought it was a ticket made to use when you get lost or need to escape.
But, what if this ticket is a way to find a 'path'?
There might be something in that empty space.
ăMaze Ticket used.ă
ăThe wall will be breached for 30 seconds.ă
Instantly, a fairly large hole was made in the wall.
A space that even the spirits cannot invade.
Without hesitation, I climbed over the wall.
'Bingo.'
I found the path.
*
A staircase leading underground.
After moving down the stairs for quite a while, another maze appeared.
ăYou are the first among the current entrants to step into the underground maze.ă
ăAchievement âFirst Challenger to Discover the Underground Mazeâ obtained.ă
ăHonor increased by 50.ă
ăâKnight of the Abyssâ welcomes the first entrant.ă
A knight shrouded in a black abyss stood before me.
ăLv.10ă
Level 10.
But it is not an ordinary level 10.
The level displayed is orange.
An Elite Raid Boss Monster.
A monster that requires at least nine level 10 characters to hunt in a coalition welcomed us as soon as we entered the underground maze.
âWhat is that emblem?â
On the armor worn by the Knight of the Abyss, the symbol of the empire, the âGolden Pentagram,â was faintly visible.
I took out the gold token I received from the Silver Fox Mask, just in case.
Upon seeing it, the Knight of the Abyss.
-Cursed empire!
...began to get even angrier.
*
The enraged Knight of the Abyss was devastating.
There was no berserker like him.
In an instant, he broke through the solid defense set up by Isaac and Isabella.
He then charged at me like a madman.
A scene that would make anyone gasp.
Swoosh.
I pulled the bowstring as calmly as possible.
The Knight of the Abyss lost his sanity due to his anger at seeing the gold token.
He was ignoring his defense, intent only on killing the token's owner.
Then.
Whizz!
Thud!
The Knight of the Abyss, struck by the arrow, hesitated.
The fear induced by Shatiros' arrow.
The absolute âFearâ effect bestowed upon impact would work even on a monster of the abyss.
Losing sight and a random stat being reduced by 10.
âHeâs slowed down.â
It seems his agility has decreased.
Showing him the gold token and exciting him turned out to be beneficial.
Whizz!
I quickly loaded and fired another arrow, but the Knight of the Abyss dodged.
He realized the danger of being hit by an arrow and dodged by instinct.
The blindness curse did not seem to have a significant effect on the Knight of the Abyss.
However, the reduction of 10 in agility was significant.
I quickly took out a mirror from my pocket.
A mirror that adds random action conditions to a challenger.
I had to use everything I could.
The mirror, which was said to only work on challengers who entered the Abyss Maze, also worked on the Knight of the Abyss.
âThe imperial seal. So, he was a challenger after all.â
The Knight of the Abyss was also a past challenger of this place.
I inferred this from the faint golden pentagram on his armor, but I wasn't sure.
He was clearly a knight who challenged and failed, sinking into the abyss.
-Annoying...!
That was enough.
With reduced stats, loss of sight, and added action conditions.
If the opponent is strong, pulling them down to my level is also a good strategy.
Swish.
Facing the charging Knight of the Abyss head-on, I drew two supreme iron swords.
*
ăâKnight of the Abyssâ eliminated.ă
ăObtained 20h of Broken Golden Rule fragments.ă
ăObtained 50 Maze Points.ă
ăSuccessfully dominated âKnight of the Abyssâ with the âKing of the Deadâ skill.ă
ăStrength permanently increased by 2 due to dominating âKnight of the Abyssâ.ă
Eliminating the Knight of the Abyss granted me a score 2.5 times the fragments obtained.
Moreover, I could also dominate the Knight of the Abyss, treating him as a dead soul.
However, the Knight of the Abyss' body sank into the abyss and disappeared.
Only his soul, floating like a ghost, pointed the way with its finger.
âA guide has appeared.â
But, where is it guiding me?
Since I successfully dominated him, he cannot do anything harmful to me.
I continued walking in the direction the soul of the Knight of the Abyss pointed.
After walking for quite a while,
ăâGolden Goblinâ discovered.ă
Squeak?
I made eye contact with a golden goblin wearing a golden crown and carrying a bag.
Gotcha!
Golden Goblin.
Or, a treasure goblin, a walking treasure chest.
This goblin, which occasionally appears in the abyss, is known to inhabit only the âprime landâ among the lands that have sunk into the abyss.
Goblins are originally a species that feel greed for shining treasures.
Their greed intensifies in the abyss, and the moment their entire body turns golden, they begin to gather and collect all kinds of treasures that have sunk into the abyss.
In other words, this Abyss Maze is prime land where a âGolden Goblinâ can be generated.
Swoosh!
The moment our eyes met, my hand was already on the bowstring.
âI must catch it.â
It was almost instinctive.
Squeak!
The Golden Goblin panicked and opened a warp.
To sweep up treasures, the Golden Goblin can move within the abyss.
It is a very difficult creature to catch due to its speed and ability to warp.
But.
Caw!
Hell's body glowed red.
Even the Golden Goblin's warp was denied.
Squeak!!
The Golden Goblin, surprised that its body did not warp, hesitated.
Thud!
In that instant, an arrow pierced its forehead.
The Golden Goblin, which had hit its head on the wall created by the warp and trembled, soon slumped over.
Then, the hand of the abyss dragged away the body of the Golden Goblin.
ăGolden Goblin eliminated.ă
ăObtained 30 Maze Points for eliminating an event monster.ă
The Maze Points were quite generous.
It seems that the message âYou can earn or use points through various eventsâ when I first obtained Maze Points referred to this.
It means that you can also earn points by hunting event monsters.
Now, only the crown and the bag remain.
âThis is also helpful.â
I looked at Hell.
This guy is more helpful than I thought.
If I hadn't survived the Silver Fox Mask and received the gold token from him, I wouldn't have been able to excite the Knight of the Abyss and make him hit the arrow.
Not only that.
He even blocked the Golden Goblin's warp.
I would have likely missed the Golden Goblin, a creature with excellent survival skills, if I were alone.
Caw!
âI'll give you double the feed today.â
Cawcawcaw!
Hell circled above my head.
Despite eating 30 honor points daily, it still seemed hungry.
I slowly recovered the crown and the bag.
ăGolden Goblin's Crownă
-A crown made of gold by the Golden Goblin.
-Made of pure gold, it is highly valuable.
The crown is worth about 200,000 gold based on the current market price.
This alone is significant, but the real treasure is not this.
The bag.
All the treasures the Golden Goblin collected throughout its life in the abyss are inside.
ăGolden Goblin's Bagă
-1,873,100 gold coins of the old empire
-5 golden eagle statues of the old empire
-2 golden swords of the old empire
I nodded slightly after checking the contents.
âWow, thatâs incredible.â
Isaac, who recognized the value of the treasures, stuttered.
âPhew.â
This is a big catch.
Since old empire coins are typically valued at twice their face value,
I earned about 4 million gold for just one catch.
âEach Golden Goblin collects different items.â
However, the types are limited because each goblin focuses on collecting a specific type of treasure.
The Golden Goblin I just caught had only collected gold and gold-related items.
Moreover, they all had the name of the old empire.
âThis Abyss Maze was land of the old empire in the distant past.â
Now, the pieces of the puzzle are starting to fit together.
The Silver Fox Mask, who spoke of a mission and tried to kill Sword Saint Ralil.
The Knight of the Abyss, who recoiled at the sight of the gold token.
Sword Saint Ralil was a promising sword saint of Pangeania and a hero of the old empire.
If this maze was land of the old empire, the connection between these characters becomes clearer.
The land of the old empire, which possessed the most gold and treasures...
âThere might be more Golden Goblins.â
I was suddenly alert.
There might be more than I thought.
However, Golden Goblins are always a source of conflict.
âCatching one Golden Goblin often leads to chaos.â
Golden Goblins can only be caught through abyss exploration.
Unless a powerful leader leads a large number of soldiers to hunt the âAbyss Dominator,â Golden Goblins are always a source of conflict.
âThatâs why most abyss explorations end in internal strife.â
Players pretending to be soldiers, treasure hunters trying to make a big profit, and countless leeches trying to get a share.
When defections and internal strife occur due to them, abyss explorations usually fail and end in total annihilation.
This is especially true in lands where Golden Goblins appear.
So, itâs certain that chaos will ensue as soon as this fact is known.
Golden Goblins appear in the maze!
The Abyss Maze was land of the old empire!
Even a slight rumor will spread.
â...Just thinking about it is terrifying.â
As soon as the rumor spreads outside the maze, a massive influx will occur.
The warp to the Abyss Maze is connected to all warps.
As long as you have fragments of the Broken Golden Rule, there are no significant entry restrictions.
âDo Golden Goblins only appear in the underground maze?â
I donât know if they appear in the upper levels of the maze.
But if they only appear in the underground maze, this could be an opportunity.
An opportunity to monopolize as much as possible!
The problem is that finding Golden Goblins is not easy.
âHeir, the soul is pointing to another place. Could it be...?â
âIt is.â
As Isaac said, the soul of the Knight of the Abyss suddenly started pointing to another place.
Most likely, to another Golden Goblin.
A smile naturally formed on my lips.
âThis is a big catch.â
Not just a big catch.
Itâs a mind-blowing big catch.
*
If the âTransdimensional Community,â where ordinary people and Dimension Warriors gather to talk, is a major trend, then the âPlayer Talkâ where only Dimension Warriors gather is also a trend among them.
You can join by entering the correct answer to a question that only those who play Pangeania can solve. Itâs a dark web site where minor information is shared anonymously.
With 3,000 members,
It is referred to as the largest community among players, but it is currently buzzing with talk about the maze.
-Is this maze really made to be cleared?
-How many hours of the Broken Golden Rule are needed?
-Thereâs a crazy woman in the maze who looks like Seo Ah. Be careful.
-Be careful of the Silver Fox Mask. I was the only one who survived.
-My real location was reset when I logged out. Damn.
-Why are there so many barbarians here? Who hired them all?
-Are the 7 Heroes monopolizing the Maze Merchants?
Most of the content is complaints about the maze.
Itâs a place with no end in sight.
The time of the Golden Rule you have is significantly insufficient, and the income is not proportional to the time spent.
Itâs only dangerous, and even the Maze Merchants are monopolized by the 7 Heroes.
-These guys are really overdoing it.
-Thereâs no need for image making in Pangeania, right? Haha.
-Phantom! No, Randolph! Please, educate these foolish fake heroes again!
They are mostly players who have a lot of complaints about the 7 Heroes.
But thereâs no place to speak freely except for this âPlayer Talk.â
Only this âPlayer Talkâ can avoid being tracked by powerful speakers, including the master.
The owner of Player Talk is unknown.
The identities of the players are famous for never being exposed to the outside.
It has been operating for three years, regularly deleting logs and moving servers.