After days of delving deeper into the labyrinth, Rei's experimentation with his recently crafted magical compound was beginning to show promise. He sat in his room inside the Midgard cart, watching a wind krystallite glimmer faintly as he passed it through a swirling dust of his multi-elemental magic powder. The faint shimmer confirmed it: the powder responded to latent magic.
Rei leaned back, his eyes drifting to the Chaos Scepter resting beside him. It still shimmered with eerie violet hues, though a small portion near the base had the same dull grey. He stared at it, expression unreadable. "What's going to happen to you?" he murmured, more to himself than the weapon. Even he wasn't entirely sure how the scepter had begun to evolve—if that was even the correct term.
The next morning, Rei, with Tenko on his shoulder, met Shane near the entrance to the labyrinth. Something was different this time. Shane had brought a creature alongside him.
"Didn't bring anything to protect yourself from the invisible monsters?" Shane asked, patting the head of the four-legged, dog-like beast beside him.
Rei eyed the creature warily. "I brought plenty," he replied, then added, "And who is this?"
"This is Jitara. A hound breed. They're trained to sniff out invisible monsters. Invaluable in the higher layers."
Rei gave a slight nod. "Sure, then. Let's go."
They descended again, moving past the winding staircases and shadowed corridors until they reached the part of the labyrinth known for housing the elusive, invisible beasts. Without hesitation, Rei pulled a small wind krystallite from his bag and activated it. A soft swirl of air encircled him, creating a large wind ring that covered a space the size of a small house.
He then released the multicolored magic powder into the ring. The wind caught it instantly, spreading it into a thin veil that shimmered in red, blue, green, brown, and grey—each color representing a different elemental source from earth, water, fire, wind, and plant.
"I call this the Magic Exposing Ring," Rei explained.
They began walking, and soon a faint shimmer flickered in one section of the ring.
Without missing a beat, Rei fired his crossbow into the area. The body of an invisible reptilian monster hit the ground, twitching before going still.\
Shane raised an eyebrow. "You're using elemental gem reactions to detect invisible magic beasts… That's genius."
\
Rei said nothing. His eyes never left Shane for long. Even now, with their continued teamwork, his suspicion had not waned.
The invisible reptiles proved to be weak once revealed. With their camouflage stripped away, they became easy targets. They pressed onward.
Rei soon retracted the powder, storing it carefully back into its container, and they ascended upper into the labyrinth. The next floor was greener, almost forest-like. Treants—sentient tree monsters—began appearing, moving slowly but with great force.
Rei knew their weakness well. His arrows could pierce their core with pinpoint precision, and once the core was hit, the creatures fell like toppled trees.
They were in the middle of fighting a small group of treants when one particular treant, looking older and more twisted than the rest, suddenly halted its attack.
Instead of charging, it lumbered toward Rei. Its long wooden fingers outstretched, and in its gnarled palm was a glowing green stone—a plant krystallite.
It made slow, creaking noises, forming words in its guttural tree-speech. Rei leaned in, straining to understand. The words came together in his mind: "Please… use this… for the incarnation of god."
A chill raced down Rei's spine. He stood frozen, his breath caught in his throat.
"What did he just say?" he whispered.
Before he could think further, Shane called from ahead. "Let's move on."
"Yeah," Rei replied, pocketing the krystallite and falling in step behind.
A few moments later, they came upon a strange sanctuary—an empty chamber with no signs of monsters.
They decided to take a brief rest. Shane sat and pulled out a fire krystallite, striking it to ignite a small flame. He began to cook his meal.
Rei watched him closely. "You're using a fire krystallite to cook? Wouldn't it have been more useful against the treants?"
Shane shrugged. "Only a few people actually use krystallites in combat. You didn't use your water krystallite back when those creatures attacked."
Rei frowned. He had a point. It wasn't that Rei had forgotten—it just never occurred to him that the gems could be weaponized so casually.
Shane offered him a pot of food. Rei politely declined, pulling out his own meal instead. He wasn't about to be poisoned in a dungeon, of all places.
After eating and recovering, they resumed their ascent. Upon reaching a narrow ridge, Shane pointed toward a large crevice in the rock wall.
"There. See that split in the stone? Rumor has it there are valuable ores inside."
Cautiously, they approached.
As soon as Rei stepped forward, the floor crumbled beneath him. With a cry of surprise, he plummeted down.
But Shane… Shane didn't look surprised at all.
Rei tumbled; however, he had anticipated this might happen, so he grabbed Tenko close to him and turned around. The big box that had ores in it took the brunt of the fall and broke, and Rei's back, protected by a hardwood, protected him. The fall did not wound him because Rei was wearing metal armor, and he quickly rolled to his feet.
His eyes widened.
He was surrounded not by beasts, but by what looked like humans. Except—they were not alive. Tenko was growling like crazy at those humans.
Undead. Zombies. Their flesh was preserved, but their eyes were hollow. They moved like puppets, silent and eerie.
Above, standing safely on a ledge, Shane's silhouette loomed against the dim light. He let out a twisted laugh.
"Took me eighteen days," he said, voice echoing through the cavern, "but I finally got you here, Rei."