armyinform Chapter 956: Labyrinth Opening
Chapter 956: Labyrinth Opening
Chapter 956: Labyrinth Opening
Masayuki was mistakenly regarded as a hero, and even a middle school boy like him felt no attachment to this title.
In addition, what happened with Bonnie and Joe, he took the initiative to express his willingness to be Rimuru's subordinate, and Rimuru did not accept his offer or refuse. In short, he welcomed Masayuki to stay in the town for a long time in the future.
Another six days passed in leisure.
The founding festival of Tempest was originally planned to last three days, but due to everyone's support and the affairs of the maze, it lasted for seven days.
By June 6, the National Opening Festival had clearly ended, but the town of Rimuru was still crowded with people, because the last batch of adventurers who had entered the underground palace to participate in the skill purchase qualification competition were about to come out, and the top 17 would be finally selected.
The entrance to the underground palace had long been urgently expanded into a huge square. Opposite the underground maze, there was a scrolling screen that displayed the names and scores of the top 100 in real time.
Just like the announcement of the imperial examination results in ancient times, some people did not go to see the inspection at the entrance and exit, but instead gathered around the screen. Occasionally, one person's name would appear on the screen, and the original 100th place would disappear, and there would be a commotion.
As the time approached five o'clock in the evening, the top 100 people stared at the screen closely, fearing that their names would be missing if they were not careful.
Among them is a B-rank adventurer team named 'Haolei'.
Their captain was named Bassen, a bald strong man, who was comforting the magician in a black cloak with a bold face: "It will be fine, Gomes. There are only 10 minutes left, and you are still in 99th place. It is impossible for two people to surpass you. The skills are in hand!"
"Yes, yes, Brother Gomes."
"Boss Bassen is right!"
The four minions around him echoed, and Gomes himself was so nervous that his body was tense, but he pretended to be calm: "It's my fault. I was really careless. I thought that with my own strength, I could easily enter the top 100. I didn't expect that there were so many good players participating this time. If I had been more serious in the previous seven days, it wouldn't be so dangerous."
"I am not the same," Bassen said. "Who knew that even monsters from the Monster Kingdom could participate? I put forward a hundred names early on, but now it's estimated that there are more than 200. The four of them are even more useless. Whether our team can get the qualification to purchase skills this time depends on you, Gomes!"
Gomes was stunned for a moment and looked at Basson.
Our team?
It was a tense moment, so he temporarily stopped worrying about Basson's words and endured the last 10 minutes almost like a countdown. Especially when his name jumped in the eighth minute and became No. 100, he almost suffocated.
When the words 'Final Result' appeared in the middle of the screen, he let out a long breath.
"It's done!"
“Hahaha.” The younger brothers and captain Basson also laughed: “Well done! Gomes!”
These voices were drowned out by the bustling square until a distant voice was amplified through a microphone: "Alright! Now let's congratulate the top 100 in this maze competition. Don't be discouraged if you are outside the top 100!
Next, I would like to introduce to you the last "attraction" of Tempest, which is the underground maze that will be officially opened! "
"Oh--"
There was another round of noise, because the picture on the big screen was replaced by some real-time scenes of the maze - endless monsters, domineering 'demon kings' guarding the gates, various traps, and treasure chests full of surprises.
"As you can see, there are a total of 100 floors in the underground maze. So... I wonder who can make it to the end~?"
"Also, I think everyone is also very curious about what's in those treasure chests. I can give you a surprise here in advance - not only in the treasure chests, but also on the monsters. After defeating them, they may drop items including but not limited to healing potions, magic metals, precious materials, precious weapons, and even... skill books!"
"Yes, it is the skill book that everyone imagines!" Five books appeared on the big screen at the right time, with five different covers in gold, silver, purple, green and white, with level A, B, C, D and E skills written on them respectively.
"As you can see, this is the 'purchase certificate' for skills. Including the top 100 this time, everyone will get skill books of different levels according to their ranking. With this skill book, everyone can buy skills of the corresponding level from the skill merchant Mr. Ji Xing!"
This time, the cheers almost broke the clouds in the sky, and the sight of tens of thousands of adventurers making so much noise together was a little scary.
Bassen put his arm around Gomes' shoulders and laughed, "It'll be fine this time. Wait until I take you through that maze and I'll give each of you another skill book!"
Gomes didn't respond... That was the skill book I won, how could he assume it belonged to the team and was to be assigned to him? !
Hao Lei's team was basically supported by Basson and him, a captain and a vice-captain. Gomes thought to himself that without Basson, the captain and warrior, it would be difficult for him as a magician to "output" after leaving the maze and he would be easily attacked by monsters. In the end, he had no choice but to acquiesce.
I can just work together to get another skill book, right? Then it will definitely be mine, and I will have an endless supply of it!
Although the host immediately said that the more precious the item, the lower the drop rate, Gomes didn't take it seriously. As long as he defeated enough monsters and went through enough floors, he would eventually get it.
However, another item sold in the maze mall - the resurrection bracelet - caused heated discussion.
That is the product of Ramiris's skill.
As long as you wear the resurrection bracelet, you will not really die even if you die in the underground palace, and the host also demonstrated it personally.
Of course, there were people who questioned it, but most people still half believed it, so this underground maze became more like a game that you could participate in by paying money, and it was a profitable game at that.
After Ramiris constructed a huge light gate and expanded the entrance to the underground palace, adventurers immediately bought tickets and swarmed in, and the streets became empty for a while.
……
On the zeroth floor of the underground maze, one of the rooms was arranged to look like a monitoring room, and a sign saying "No entry for non-employees" was hung on it.
Combining Ramiris' skills with technological magic, the split screens here can capture the status of switching between the various levels of the underground palace in real time, and will be managed by operators led by the tree elves in the future.
However, today is the first time the maze is operating, and Rimuru, Milim, Jixing, Hinata and others are here to watch the fun.
"We had originally planned to do a 'closed beta' and find a few teams of adventurers to test the performance of the maze. The previous competition was considered a test, and the maze was much more popular than expected. Ji Xing's skills are really sought after."
Rimuru sighed, then said with some worry, "I hope nothing goes wrong."
"Absolutely no problem!" Ramiris flew in with her wings flapping, patting her chest and saying, "The maze is perfectly designed!"
I am really worried when you say that... Rimuru complained in his heart, but encouraged Ramiris on the surface, until she found that the 'unlucky' adventurer fell into the trap with a bang, and in a short while he entered the fifth floor.
She looked at Ramiris with a dark face, and Ramiris also felt that the atmosphere was not right.
"You idiot...why are there so many drop traps on the first few floors?!"
Ramiris said awkwardly, "This is for the completion of the maze... and, and there are even more brutal drop traps set up below. I thought you forgot to set them up on the upper level. You really meant well."
If you fall down from the lower level, it's a trap, but if you fall down from the upper level, isn't that a benefit?! In this way, the maze gameplay of the upper level is meaningless, and you can easily attack the lower level!
Rimuru felt somewhat helpless and could only comfort himself, thinking that this would also help to divert the adventurers who were pouring in, so that the first floor would not be too crowded.
So she just shook her head and said, "It doesn't matter, we can just make adjustments later. There won't be any more changes, right?"
"This, this..."
Rimuru had another bad premonition and soon discovered that a group of familiar adventurers frequently opened good treasure chests. As for treasure chest monsters, poison gas treasure chests and the like, they seemed to not exist at all.
"Ailian and the others..."
"Ah, yes, Ailian and the others sent some gifts, and then we started chatting in a friendly manner. That cake..."
Rimuru was getting more and more annoyed by this blatant bribery. Ramiris praised the deliciousness of the cake for a while, then realized something was wrong and said in defense: "You can't blame me! Not only me, but also Master and Milim said it's okay!"
She began to get angry and embarrassed, and Rimuru could only sigh, while Hinata just shook his head.
If the church had such corrupt behavior, the Paladins would have arrested them long ago. But she couldn't control this. Looking at the people on the screen, she thought that maybe she should let her subordinates try it out and get some training.
There is one more thing... She looked at Ramiris hesitantly. The Elf Queen is right here. Do you want to accept the trial and become a hero?
This Elf Queen, giving her a piece of cake will allow me to pass the trial, right? She complained in her heart, but of course she didn't really want to do that.
……
On the other hand, Team Hao Lei was not very conspicuous among the tens of thousands of adventurers entering the maze.
In just three hours, they encountered two falling traps and came to the third floor. They also encountered two paralysis treasure chests, one hypnotic gas treasure chest, a very weak treasure chest monster, and a powerful treasure chest monster.
When they discovered the hidden room again, they didn't dare to go in for a while.
"No, it's not another trap, is it?"
"Is there really a treasure here? It's not all propaganda, is it?!"
Well, according to common sense, they should have encountered some good stuff, but now they are like a team that has encountered guaranteed good things in ten consecutive draws.
After hesitating for a long time, they pushed open the door and saw a gray wall in front of them - a giant bear.
"Is it really a trap?!"
"Retreat first, Boss Bassen."
"No, it looks like they've got their eyes on us! Can we escape?!"
“Let’s do it!”
Bassen pushed forward with a whimper and a roar, staring at the giant bear with a desperate expression on his face.
This is a C-level giant bear, and the Basson team is a B-level team. However, actual combat is not entirely determined by level. What's more, giant bears are creatures with thick skin and flesh, and great strength. If their giant claws touch them, they will be seriously injured and die.
——As for the resurrection bracelet, who can guarantee whether it is real or not? Besides, dying once is at least painful.
After a hard battle, they finally killed the giant bear. Even though they suffered some minor injuries, they carefully used healing potions to completely heal them.
Then they searched the giant bear's body, but still didn't see any treasure. At this time, another little brother shouted in surprise: "Brother Bassen, look, there is a silver treasure chest here!"
"silver?"
“It’s the first time I’ve seen…”
"Isn't it poison gas again?!"
Once bitten, twice shy.
They looked at each other.
"In order, it seems like it's Brother Gomes' turn to open the treasure chest this time, right?"
Among the six members of the team, Gomes is the only ranged magician who has not opened a box.
Gomes hesitated for a moment, slowly walked over to open the silver treasure chest, and then exploded backwards.
A bright green light flashed, and several of the younger brothers were shocked: "It's poison gas!"
"Go back!"
They quickly retreated to the door, looked inside cautiously, and hid for a full half minute before they realized that the green light was just green light and there was no poisonous gas.
"……what?"
After a while, they pushed and shoved each other closer and shouted, "There's a book in here!"
"A green book with the letter D on it..."
“Eh?! Could this be…”
"D-level skills?!"
The six people were all ecstatic. Bassen grabbed the skill book in his hand and said, "Great, now we have two. And it's different from the previous E-level skill book. Now it's a D-level skill!"
He put the skill book into his arms and said, "If we can get four more skill books like this, each member of our team will have one!"
"..."
Gomes' joy was slightly restrained.
The skill scores I got in the competition were average, and the skills I got when I was lucky were still average.
What’s more, now that Basson has both skill books in his arms, what if... can he really share them equally with us?
He hesitated and said, "Captain, do you want us to go find a skill merchant and buy some skills first, so that we can increase our combat power before we go through the levels?"
"What's the hurry?" Bassen flatly refused. "We should strike while the iron is hot and produce a few more skill books. If C-level or even higher-level skills appear, it will be easier to distribute them at that time!"
So have higher-level skills been automatically assigned to me?
Gomes remained silent, as if he had acquiesced. The six members of the team were happy for a while, and then continued to challenge the level.
……
In the monitoring room.
"I'm so lucky. That D-level skill book is the best thing on the first ten floors, right? I put it on the third floor specifically for promotion!"
The main screen was showing the actions of Haure's team, and Rimuru expressed this emotion.
As a result, the next moment, just a few seconds after the team walked out of the treasure chest room, the magician in the team suddenly threw a fireball at the bald captain from behind, and the bald captain screamed and fell to the ground!
Chaos ensued, and several people watched helplessly as the magician killed the entire team.
The corners of Rimuru's mouth twitched, and Hinata's brows furrowed, but Ji Xing and Milim's expressions did not change.
"Wahahaha, an internal conflict!"
Yes, forget about the fact that money can move people's hearts! Rimuru scratched his head helplessly. A small amount of wealth is fine, but when something like a skill book that can completely change one's fate and is worth a fortune appears, it is difficult for some adventurers to keep their original intentions.
It seems that the design of the maze needs to be improved. Although resurrection is possible, the adventurers who enter cannot be unable to trust their teammates and feel insecure.
On the first day of the maze's operation, various problems were exposed.