Survive the labyrinth with EX-grade traits

“It’s obvious which staircase we should choose, right?”

We sat on the floor and discussed which staircase to take.

“It’s not too difficult now, but if we have to fight two consecutive battles like this, it will be a different story.”

Veronica was right. The hobgoblins and skeletons were low-level monsters, but there were still hundreds of them coming out of the portals.

Even though they were weak, we still had to fight a large number of them, which could be exhausting.

Of course, the level of exhaustion would vary from person to person.

Additionally, the crystal pillar had shown us a video-like image, which seemed to be designed for a five-person party.

Since we were one person short, we were at a disadvantage in the defense game.

In fact, I believe that most four-person parties would have failed and died.

So, we couldn’t afford to let our guard down.

Hmm. It would be great if we had an archer or a skilled thief in our party.

‘Forget it. Maybe when I become more famous and Lumia’s curse is solved. I can’t take on someone with a negative trait right now.’

Anyway, putting aside the party member issue, not everyone had infinite mana like me.

After choosing the treasure chest, if we could avoid the monster layer on our way to the 4th floor, I thought about taking on the duel… or even the question mark.

“Then, let’s take a break and go to the right.”

Once again, we unanimously decided.

The decision was made quickly, and Yeriel, who was full of energy, looked at the left and center staircases and shook her head.

“No! How can the same image appear right after we climbed the staircase? And it’s a duplicate!”

“…”

Lumia, who heard the complaint, looked down and said something strange.

‘What are you talking about?’

Was she worried about her low luck stat? Or was it because she was a post-Arrar?

That didn’t make sense.

It was more likely that I, the symbol of bad luck, was the reason we kept encountering bad luck.

“Come on, don’t get distracted by such nonsense. Let’s move. Veronica, you said that from the 2nd floor onwards, there’s a time limit for resting, right?”

“Yes. If you don’t keep climbing, you’ll lose your qualification to challenge the tower, and the staircase entrance will gradually narrow… Eventually, you’ll be trapped in the tower and die of isolation.”

Veronica shrugged and added, “I’m still alive and breathing because I didn’t experience it myself.”

Perhaps it was designed to prevent us from resting too much and reaching a state of full recovery.

It was a harsh system that didn’t allow us to rest properly.

Forget about the gloomy thoughts and let’s go get our rewards!

I stepped onto the right staircase without hesitation.

.

.

.

We arrived at the 3rd floor, the treasure chest layer.

The treasure chest layer has a single chest in the center of the room, which you can open and move on to the next floor.

One chest? Not at all.

‘Damn it. That’s what I expected.’

The dungeon was full of surprises. When we compared Veronica’s experience with our own, we found that the overall structure was the same, but the details were completely different.

“…”

Veronica sighed and shrugged.

I patted her shoulder and led the party forward.

In the center of the room, there were not one or two, but three treasure chests.

There were three treasure chests of different sizes and appearances: a small and worn-out chest, a moderately-sized chest, and a large, ornate chest.

Whoosh!

Like the previous floor, a mana image appeared on the ground in front of the chests.

[Chaos tells you to keep your eyes open.]

The image showed several scenes in sequence.

An adventurer opening a chest.

As soon as he opened the lid, his eyes rolled back, and he drew his sword and started swinging it at an empty space.

Another adventurer carefully opening a chest.

“Ugh, damn.”

“Eek!”

A mimic, with sharp teeth and a long, thick tongue, bit off the adventurer’s upper body before he could react.

The adventurer’s exposed teeth marks and spurting blood made me shudder.

‘If two of the chests are traps, the third one must be the correct one.’

The contents of the chests were not visible, but the adventurer who opened the third chest raised his arms in celebration.

The mana image faded.

That was the end of the description. There were no more hints.

“Only one of these chests is real, and the others are traps. Why is this layer connected to the treasure chest staircase instead of the question mark?”

Veronica shook her head in disbelief.

“Maybe the difficulty has increased, so the rewards must be better too. Let’s hope for the best.”

Each chest had a different appearance and size, so the hint was just to let us know that there was a hidden mechanism.

The choice of which chest to open was up to us.

Other parties might have avoided the ornate chest because it looked dangerous, or they might have thought that it was the safest option.

Or they might have been confident that the worn-out chest was the correct answer.

Or they might have chosen the middle chest as a compromise.

But we were different.

I was different.

‘If I didn’t know anything, I would have hesitated and tried to figure out which chest was the correct one.’

As soon as I learned that opening the lid would make me go crazy and that the mimic’s ambush was hidden, this floor became a free pass for me.

I told my companions not to worry.

“Listen up. We’re going to open each chest one by one and check them. If we succeed on the first try, we’ll take the reward and move on to the next floor. If we fail, we’ll open all the chests.”

“What?”

“Usually, if you fail, you die, right?”

Yeriel and Veronica looked at each other with wide eyes, but Lumia calmly stated, “Just wait. Ahren must have a reason for saying this. Let’s hear him out.”

“Of course!”

I smiled at Lumia and explained why I was so confident.

“You all know that I have absolute resistance to mental attacks.”

I have EX-level thanks to Chaos.

This resistance allows me to resist any mental attacks, such as madness, mental collapse, or frenzy.

“I can guarantee that the first trap won’t work. If you’re still worried, Yeriel can stand behind me and use purification as soon as I open the chest.”

“Okay. I’ll prepare my sacred law.”

“What about the second trap, the mimic?”

Of course, I can also resist the mimic with my resistance to Chaos.

The 2 billion won bonus was truly amazing.

“First, I’ll try to avoid the mimic’s ambush using my traits. Even if it’s impossible to avoid with just my movements, I can use my skills to escape safely.”

Dimension Jump and Lightning Step are both daily stack skills, which means they can be blocked on higher floors. However, I’d rather lose my movement skills than die.

Lumia, the most trustworthy and reliable one, spoke up first.

“I believe in you. Good luck.”

“Hmm, I don’t feel good about relying on you so much. Please don’t get hurt.”

“I’m ready with purification. I’ll buff you again!”

[The effect of Divine Weapon increases Strength by one level for one hour.]

[The effect of Haste increases Agility by one level for one hour.]

It had already been an hour. I felt a little weaker than before.

Whoosh!

Okay, the explanation is over. It’s time for action.

“Just in case, stay back.”

Tap, tap. Rattle!

I tapped and shook the box to see if there was a mechanism inside, but there was no response.

“I’ll open it.”

Rattle, creak.

I chose the moderately-sized chest in the center and opened the lid.

“Kuraaaak!”

The mimic’s tongue, which was about to whip around and pull me in, was captured in my slow-motion vision thanks to chaos’ eye.

‘Hmm. I can avoid it without using any skills.’

I stepped back to avoid the mimic’s tongue, which was trying to wrap around me and pull me in.

My B-rank Agility allowed me to dodge the attack easily.

“Kuuuuuaaaak!!!”

The mimic went crazy when it failed to capture me.

“Stay back! I’ll handle this!”

Whoosh! Whoosh!

I dodged the mimic’s tongue twice and closed the distance between us.

I summoned Barrak.

I thrust my sword into the mimic’s mouth, and lightning bolts shot out from the blade.

“Krrrr! Kyeek! …Khek.”

Whoosh!

The smoke and the stench of burning flesh confirmed that the mimic was defeated.

“Hmm?”

The overturned chest rolled over, and a bead popped out.

________________________________________

[Essence of Space]

The mimic, who was obsessed with gold, jewels, and various luxuries, had a part of its spatial trait in the bead.

The essence itself has no effect, but it can be used to enhance space-related artifacts or specific equipment.

________________________________________

Hmm, this was an unexpected gain.

What should I use it for? Mendel’s spatial bag?

Maybe I can use it to enhance my unique equipment.

I didn’t know how to enhance it, and it wasn’t urgent, so I put it in my bag.

The remaining chests were the ornate and the small, worn-out ones.

The ornate chest looked like a trap, so I chose the small, worn-out one.

Creak! Whoosh!

“Ah.”

My wrong choice was cursed.

“Arlen!”

Yeriel, who was shocked, shot a beam of white holy power at me.

[Purification]

[Chaos negates frenzy.]

[Chaos negates temporary exaltation.]

Damn it.

In this direction, I was almost invincible, so I wasn’t worried about dying.

I was just annoyed that my confident choice was wrong again.

[Chaos scratches its horns in frustration.]

“Of course. There’s no easy way. Damn.”

I sighed and informed everyone that I was okay.

“I’m fine. Let’s just get the reward and move on.”

The last chest, which was the most ornate one, was the real treasure chest.

I tried to calm my pounding heart, which was beating with anticipation.

Creak!

I opened the lid, which was studded with jewels, and the contents were even more valuable and precious than I had imagined.