MDPS 12

Chapter 12

Labyrinth (3)

A damp, oppressive space where a blade-like wind blew.

The moment Oh Hyun-woo stepped into the boss room, he scanned his surroundings.

In the center of the room stood a massive ogre, its blood-red eyes fixed on them.

Around it, rotting corpses and decaying ogre soldiers gorged themselves to satisfy their hunger.

Graaah!
Grrraaa!

The ogres’ gazes turned toward Oh Hyun-woo, Hertia, and Caligo.

The moment they saw the three, drool began to drip from their mouths.

Fresh, delicious prey had just walked in.

The ogres immediately noticed something as the three entered—
their bodies were covered in Overwork Spores.

They knew what that meant.

Humans infected with Overwork Spores were always unbearably weak.

The leader of the ogres, a bloodthirsty berserker, was thrilled at the thought of tearing living prey apart piece by piece.

He had waited so long.

For fresh blood and meat.

Until now, they’d been feeding on rotting corpses, but this was different.

GROOOOAAAH!

The berserker ogre roared.

As expected, Oh Hyun-woo smirked slightly.

“They’re underestimating us… Well, it makes sense with all these spores on us.”

First, he called Hertia.

Even with Caligo on his side, she always had priority when it came to striking first.

“Hert.”
“Yes, Master.”
“With your new skill, blow all these corpses and ogres far away. Killing them isn’t necessary.”
“If it’s your order, Master!”

Without hesitation, Hertia focused dark energy at her fingertips.

A black, dangerous power gathered, forming a massive sphere of energy.

She looked at the enemies with a cold smile—
as though she were gazing at useless vermin.

Snap!

Hertia snapped her fingers.

In that instant, a curtain of darkness spread across the boss room.

It was as if every drop of light had been sucked away, plunging the room into pitch black.

Shhhhk… shhhhk…

A strange sound echoed in the darkness.

Thin, thread-like tendrils emerged, writhing and dancing as if alive.

They were as delicate yet sharp as spider silk.

And then, the dark threads found their prey—ogres—and shot forward in straight lines.

Shhhhk… shhhhk…!
Shhhhk!

One thread pierced straight through an ogre’s heart.

At first, the ogre soldier merely scratched at its chest in annoyance—

《The first effect of Dark Side activates.》
《The target’s Defense is reduced by 50%!》

GROOOOAAAH!

Blood spurted from its chest as the ogre screamed in agony.

But Hertia’s attack wasn’t over yet.

“Foolish creatures.”

Snap!

This time, the darkness began to stir with fierce winds.

The wind grew stronger, swirling into a storm.

Within the storm, the black threads still writhed, ready to kill.

《The second effect of Dark Side, “Whirlpool of Death,” activates!》
《A deadly whirlpool forms around the struck target, pulling in nearby enemies!》

The threads pierced the bodies of the ogres drawn into the storm.

GRAAAAH!
KRAAAHHH!

Their screams echoed within the deadly vortex, which devoured both the ogres and the corpses littering the floor, before dissipating toward the far edge of the room.

Thud, thud, thud.

Ogre soldiers lay crushed beneath the corpse piles, clutching their chests in pain.

Whirlpool of Death: Concentrates dark power into a whirlpool to destroy enemies and steal 20% of their Attack Power. Damage increases with the target’s max HP.

Now the enemies were weakened, their attacks reduced by 20%.

It wasn’t a critical blow—likely due to the heavy stat penalty from fatigue.

But Oh Hyun-woo still had one more card to play.

“Caligo.”
“Yes, Sage!”
“As you know, those ogres are creations of ‘Vampires.’”

At that, Caligo grinned widely.

“Creations of vampires… No wonder the scent of blood was so familiar!”

The boss of this dungeon—Bloodthirsty Berserker Ogre.

That prefix signified a creature born from a vampire’s experiment.

Which meant—

《The skill Most Cruel Avenger activates!》
《Damage against Caligo’s nemesis—vampires and their creations—increases drastically!》

But that wasn’t all.

“Caligo! Reverse the law! Target our ‘helplessness.’”
“I was waiting for this! Kuhaha!”

From his subspace, Caligo produced a dark-green cube, hollow at the center.

He took a violet-glowing flask in his other hand and placed it into the hollow space.

“Law Reversal—‘Helplessness’ becomes ‘Overwhelm’!”

A single drop of poison from his fingertip fell onto the cube.

A massive black magic circle unfolded.

“Behold! The new law discovered by I, Caligo! Kuahahaha!”

Sharp violet liquid floated from the center of the circle.

The cube spun like a puzzle being solved, and when it stopped, black liquid spread outward—

covering Caligo, Hertia, and Oh Hyun-woo with a translucent barrier.

《Caligo’s Law Exchange has transformed the Helplessness debuff into the Overwhelm buff!》

The 80% debuff weighing down Hertia and Caligo became an 80% buff—
and was further enhanced.

《Overwhelm buff enhanced—Summons’ stats increased by 160%!》

“Hert, Caligo.”

One deep breath.

“Ravage them.”
“Yes, Master!”
“As you wish, Sage!”

The two went berserk.

Hert smiled sweetly and fed a dark sphere into an ogre’s mouth.

“You look like you’re suffering. I’ll make it quick.”

Flash!
Thud, thud, thud!

The sphere exploded inside the ogre, scattering flesh across the floor.

Caligo pulled every poison flask from his belt and hurled them in all directions.

“Kuahahaha! Meeting the playthings of vampires—what a delight!”

As the massacre began, Oh Hyun-woo’s passive skill triggered.

《Most Cruel Avenger activates!》
《Damage against Caligo’s nemesis—vampires and their creations—increases drastically!》

The ogres were terrified.

This was nothing like when the three first entered their domain.

It was as if the two saw them as living toys.

Even the berserker ogre’s skin crawled.

Grrrk…

Unconsciously, it collapsed onto the floor—sending waves of panic through the rest.

They’d never once imagined dying.

They’d only ever thought about filling their bellies.

But now, for some reason, they wanted to escape.

Too late.

Caligo’s eyes had already bloomed with the flowers of madness.

Oh Hyun-woo smiled with satisfaction.

“This is why I like Caligo.”

He was versatile.

No matter which summon he fought alongside, he always did his part.

Even without the first strike, his Law Reversal could turn the battle around in an instant.

“Is this all it takes to kill you? Do vampires never evolve? Well, I suppose corpses pretending to be alive can’t advance their research either!”

Caligo could feel a power even greater than usual.

“This too must be the Sage’s blessing!”

Since these ogres carried vampire blood, Caligo’s damage was devastating.

Thanks to his job skill Rebel of the Morning Star, damage to nemeses increased even further.

The ogres in the room collapsed one by one, coughing up blood—

KRAAAH!
GUUUHH!
Ghhhaaa!

—but it wasn’t red blood.

It was Caligo’s greenish-brown poison flowing through their veins.

Seeing their eyes filled with fear and resentment, Caligo sneered.

“Kuha, don’t look at me like that. If you want to blame someone, blame the master who gave you such weak bodies.”

At last, only the Bloodthirsty Berserker Ogre remained.

Step… step…

Caligo approached the trembling ogre and bit his index finger, letting drops of his poison fall.

Grabbing the ogre’s jaw, he tried to pour it into its mouth—
but the ogre turned away, refusing to open up.

“Oh-ho. You won’t open your mouth? My, my. A vampire’s creation refusing death? You truly are a failure.”

Caligo laughed, then let a drop of poison fall—not into its mouth, but into its eyes.

KHHAAAAA!
GYAAAAHHH!

Writhing in agony, the berserker convulsed before meeting its end.

“You died like this because you served the wrong master. Next time… choose your line better.”

Watching the ogre’s body melt away, Caligo’s expression twisted into a scowl.

He still ground his teeth at the thought that vampires were still alive somewhere.

《Nightmare Mode Labyrinth (Rare) Cleared!》
《Unbelievable record!》
《Time Taken: 3 minutes 22 seconds》
《New record—Rank 1 Clear Time!》
《Clear Grade: SSS》
《New record—highest clear grade!》
《Level Up! Adventurer Level is now 15!》

Five level-ups in one go!

But the real reward was yet to come.

《Clear grade reward granted.》
《Hero-grade Equipment Set Selection Box ×10 received.》
《Hero-grade Accessory Set Selection Box ×5 received.》

And—

《Artifact “Nightmare-tainted Heart of the Red Legion” acquired!》

“!!”

I almost screamed but barely held it in.

The rewards were sweet.

Hero-grade selection boxes for equipment—
and best of all, the system notification for an artifact.

“Jackpot!”

Among the artifacts obtainable from the Labyrinth, a few were considered top-tier—

Like the Skull Shaman’s Head, which boosts damage output, or the Gnoll’s Claw Necklace, which dispels enemy buffs.

But for me, the Heart of the Red Legion reigned supreme.

【Nightmare-tainted Heart of the Red Legion】
Description: An artifact made from the heart of the Berserker Ogre. When equipped, a summon can designate one ally to perform a forced cooperative attack. (Co-op attack ignores skill cooldowns.)
Bonus effect: 20% chance to chain cooperative attacks.

It’s obvious just from reading it.

Put a tank in front, and the backline DPS will automatically join in attacking.

Plus, since this is a Nightmare Mode reward, it even has an extra effect.

“Other adventurers will know the value of this. How much could it sell for?”

I quickly checked the marketplace—
and sure enough—

“How many zeros is that?!”

Eight zeros.

And the first digit was a 5.

Five hundred million.

A true jackpot.

Yes, Nightmare Mode slightly increased the odds of obtaining artifacts—
but even then, it was pure luck.

Even some longtime Legend Seven veterans never got this artifact.

So… should I sell it?

“Tempting as 500 million is…”

I decided to give it to Hertia instead.

She always had the first strike, so she could make perfect use of the Heart.

“Hert.”
“Yes, Master.”
“I grant you this artifact.”
“You’d give me such a treasure?”
“I’ll give you something even greater later. Take this for now.”
“…I will never forget your grace, Master.”

And so, this battle ended on a surprisingly wholesome note.

Usually, after a fight, everyone scrambled to grab loot—
bragging about who contributed more.

But this time, with only two companions, it was peaceful.

Now that I’d obtained an artifact from the Labyrinth…

It was time to climb the Tower.

“Hert. Caligo.”
“Yes, Master.”
“Yes, Sage! You called?”
“The time has come.”

Sensing my meaning, Hertia and Caligo immediately bowed deeply.

“Congratulations!”
“At last! For the Sage and the honor of Pandemonium, I shall give my all!”

The Tower assault was about to begin.

They were classified as “summons,” and they knew exactly what that role meant.

As for Caligo’s talk about honor… well, I wasn’t revealing my full identity yet—
but I still had to put on a show.

Seeing them so overjoyed, I couldn’t help but feel my own excitement rising.

“I shall remind the vermin of this land just how insignificant they truly are.”
“Kheehee! I have waited so long for this day! To fight again under the name of the Seven Deadly Sins!”

And I, too, couldn’t contain the pounding in my chest.