Chapter 25: Has This Maze Erupted into a Goblin Disaster?!
Chapter 25: Has This Maze Erupted into a Goblin Disaster?!
Pain. It hurt.
The sensation was like tumbling into an endless abyss—a gut-wrenching loss of gravity that struck Iresha in an instant.
She rubbed her knee, which had slammed hard against the wall. As the blinding light faded, she was greeted by utter darkness.
A faint, rotten stench drifted through the air. The ground beneath her feet was harsh, unyielding stone, and the corridor walls were just as solid—offering no hope of escape or scaling.
“Which... floor is this?”
She had no idea where she was. The surroundings were completely unfamiliar.
Iresha drew a torch from her pack and lit it. The flickering flame revealed nothing but endless stone corridors, each one indistinguishable from the next. The arrogance that usually colored her expression vanished, replaced by a raw, unspoken panic.
The [Pascal Labyrinth]—a textbook maze dungeon.
Aside from its shifting corridors, it was like any other labyrinth: ordinary stone floors and walls, and the ever-present threat of monsters lurking nearby. Sometimes, treasure or traps awaited at dead ends. Sometimes, a hidden room would open behind a cracked wall.
“The floor and walls are covered in dust... Feels like no one’s set foot here in ages.”
“There aren’t any markers, either. I can’t match anything up with the map’s routes.”
“Wait... Don’t tell me—this is an unexplored sector? Did I fall all the way to the bottom layer?”
The thought drained all color from Iresha’s face.
She was a member of the Hero’s party, famed for her formidable mastery of magic.
But the truth was, someone else always handled navigation. All she ever had to do was stand at the rear and unleash her spells.
Navigating a labyrinth with a map was one thing—but being suddenly thrown into this kind of place? How was she supposed to get out?
“How did Oshu... how did the others handle this again?”
“That’s right—leave markers! I remember them saying, if you run into a teleport trap and get separated from the team, you should mark the end of each corridor, then brute-force your way through every possible path.”
“If I’m gone too long, Oshu and the others will realize something’s happened and come looking for me! Besides, this is just a standard-difficulty dungeon—what’s there to be afraid of? Worst case, I can force my way through and find the exit.”
That’s right. I’m the mage of the Hero’s party.
There’s no way I can’t get out of here!
With that thought, Iresha couldn’t help but give herself a pep talk.
She crept carefully down the corridor, her weapon shimmering with faint Mana—a small comfort, if nothing else. Yet, the flicker of fear in her eyes would not be fully extinguished.
At least she hadn’t run into any monsters yet. But in a place this big, why weren’t there any at all?
Which floor was this, anyway?
Dust blanketed the ground—not even monsters seemed to pass through.
It was far too quiet. Was she really alone in this whole section?
Boom—!
Just as Iresha’s fear threatened to overwhelm her, a sudden surge of magic rippled through a distant corridor.
It was unmistakably the aura of battle. She could just barely hear the faint screams of adventurers.
“There’s someone up ahead!”
Hope surged in Iresha’s eyes as she realized what was happening. Without hesitation, she dashed toward the source of the commotion.
As for the fighting ahead, Iresha felt no fear—only an odd excitement welling up inside her, gradually washing away her earlier terror.
“At last! I can finally get out of here!”
Where there were adventurers, there had to be a way out. If she could just figure out what floor she was on and pinpoint her location, she’d be able to navigate the maze with her map.
Monsters? Iresha wasn’t worried in the least.
I’m a genius mage—how could I possibly be threatened by the monsters in a dungeon of this level?
She’d just recently hunted down a level 70 beast. This maze was considered low difficulty—even if there were monsters, could any of them really pose a threat?
As long as she didn’t have the bad luck to stumble into a trap, nothing here should be a problem for someone of her strength.
But as she rounded the corner and saw the corridor ahead lit by flickering firelight, a chill swept through her entire body.
“Help! Somebody, please—AAAAAAAH!”
What she saw was something she’d never even imagined.
The corridor was packed with monsters—countless green-skinned, sharp-featured, hideously savage goblins. They filled the entire passage, swarming like a tide.
Within their encirclement, several blood-soaked bodies were pinned to the ground, struggling desperately.
Horrific, piercing screams echoed down the hall, but the goblins showed no sign of relenting. If anything, they only pressed on, driven by the most brutal, primal urges.
Limbs, blood, the overwhelming stench of rot thick in the air.
Iresha clutched her staff, eyes wide with terror as she stared at the scene before her.
These were... goblins?
“What... what happened here? Why are there so many goblins gathered in one place?”
Her voice trembled uncontrollably.
From what she remembered, didn’t the maze regularly regenerate its layout and monster distribution? The mechanism had just reset not long ago—so why were there so many goblins of the same kind swarming this area now?
What in the world was going on?
“Ya!”
Suddenly, a faint, guttural shriek echoed from the darkness behind her.
Without a moment’s hesitation, Iresha gripped her staff, spun around, and unleashed a spell.
“Holy Light Bolt!”
Boom!
A blinding explosion erupted, flooding the corridor with radiant light.
But as the scene behind her came into focus, Iresha felt her scalp prickle with terror. She stood frozen, stunned by what she saw.
The path she’d just come down was now crawling with monsters—dozens of them.
Green-skinned, sharp-featured, their twisted forms filled the corridor, accompanied by an unending chorus of guttural, menacing sounds.
But the most shocking sight was the goblin at the front. Its skin was rough and mottled, and it had taken her Holy Light Bolt head-on.
Its flesh was torn and bloody, yet it staggered, then slowly got back to its feet.
Those clouded, milky eyes glinted with a terrifying light.
Even as a member of the Hero’s party, Iresha found herself utterly consumed by fear in that moment.
Just what level was this goblin? How could it take a direct hit from Holy Light Bolt and still be standing?
And—wait.
“I’m... surrounded?”
◇
“This place is basically one massive goblin nest.”
In the final five floors of the labyrinth, Lin Wei stood amid carnage, taking in the scene with a look of shock.
Countless goblin corpses lay crushed beneath his feet, dispatched with casual ease.
The air was thick with the stench of blood. An eerie silence pressed in, as if every last monster had been slaughtered right here.
But that wasn’t the whole story. As Lin Wei extended his spiritual sense, he could feel the truth hidden in the darkness—he detected nearly every subtle movement around him.
Countless goblins, ugly and cunning, lurked in the shadows, their sly eyes watching, waiting for a chance to strike.
On the surface, the surrounding corridors seemed quiet and empty. But let your guard down for even a second, and you’d be ambushed instantly.
“Could this really be a full-blown goblin disaster?”
Selling those healing potions to Iresha hadn’t just been about making a quick profit.
In fact, he’d hidden a tracking spell at the bottom of each bottle—just waiting for her to get separated from her party, so he could follow her and show her what “country Demon Lord’s revenge” really meant.
Still, even Lin Wei hadn’t expected the maze—mapped out not long ago—to turn into this hellscape.
Starting from the third floor, the goblins had begun to cluster together.
On the fourth floor, their numbers had clearly surged; by the fifth, it was nothing short of a sea of green—goblins everywhere, as far as the eye could see.
If this wasn’t a full-blown goblin disaster, Lin Wei would have a hard time believing otherwise.
“So-called goblin disasters are a type of monster invasion,” he mused.
“Goblins are individually weak, but breed at an alarming rate. If left unchecked, they expand their numbers in secret, and then—at a certain tipping point—they erupt, overrunning their habitat in a full-scale swarm, turning the entire dungeon into their nest.”
“But places that suffer goblin disasters are usually obscure, seldom-visited small dungeons. The [Pascal Labyrinth] is famous here in Lotai—popular, not too difficult, and with people clearing the lower levels all the time. How could goblins manage to breed undetected?”
Could there be a hidden room here, or something within the maze itself, that allowed the goblins to multiply?
Maybe the sudden regeneration of the dungeon’s layout had triggered their eruption?
But... now wasn’t the time to dwell on theory.
The tracking spell’s signal was getting closer and closer!
As Lin Wei pressed on, faint footsteps echoed down the distant corridor.
He could sense a familiar magical aura drawing nearer.
If a goblin disaster really had broken out, then it was only natural that someone like Miss Iresha—the Hero’s party mage—would fall here, completely unprepared and overwhelmed.
Yes, that’s right.
With this many goblins, even a mage from the Hero’s party wouldn’t last long.
Her mana would run dry, her mind would collapse, and her body wouldn’t be able to withstand the relentless onslaught.
Alone, with no hero to protect her, and utterly unprepared in the face of this trap...
Lin Wei stopped, attuning his senses to the gathering goblins around him. His usually handsome face twisted into a grin he could no longer suppress—a chilling, rasping laugh echoing in the darkness.
“Finally, I have my chance to really teach that wretched woman a lesson, huh?”
“How should I punish her? What would be fitting?”
Finish her off! Bury her here! Let her learn firsthand what cruelty a Demon Lord from the countryside can deliver!
With these dark thoughts swirling in his mind, Lin Wei stood in the middle of the corridor, rubbing his hands together in anticipation, unable to hide his excitement.
A few seconds later—
A familiar, battered figure rounded the corner at the end of the passage.
It was her—the woman desperately running for her life, trying to escape this nightmare.
Her iconic red hair was unmistakable, but the pride that usually colored her face had been wiped away, replaced by pure terror.
Her eyes were wide with panic. Her mage’s robes were torn and stained with blood.
It was clear she’d taken heavy blows to her arms, shoulders, and legs—the marks of blunt weapons brutally evident.
“I can’t die here... I absolutely can’t die here.”
Iresha gripped her weapon tightly, forcing herself to keep running down the twisting corridors.
With goblins swarming all around, her mind was nearly blank with fear.
“How am I supposed to get out of this layer? Just how many goblins are there?!”
She was down to her last healing potion.
The stuff she’d bought from that country bumpkin—surprisingly effective, far better than she’d expected.
If not for that potion, there was no way a fragile mage’s body could have survived wounds like these.
“Am I really... going to die here?”
She downed the last of her healing potion in a single gulp. The cool liquid soothed her parched throat, raw from desperate running, and she felt her wounds stop worsening—if only just barely.
But this meager recovery did nothing to change the situation.
Her mana... was nearly depleted. She’d been dodging and weaving through the maze for what felt like half a day, yet found no way out.
Even if she still hoped her party members would notice her disappearance and come rushing to the rescue, deep down she knew—no one was coming. Not here. Not now.
Her torch had long since sputtered out. The corridor was pitch black, not a sliver of light anywhere. She ran on little more than instinct, relying on the faintest magic sense to keep moving.
But in a maze this vast, crawling with goblins on every side, what would happen when the last drop of mana ran dry? She didn’t have to wonder.
No one is coming to save me, are they?
“Ugh—”
A sudden blow smashed into her knee, sending Iresha sprawling to the ground.
She clung to her weapon, mustering her strength to hurl a fireball behind her—a spell that took three agonizing seconds to form. It arced through the darkness and exploded, incinerating a single, scrawny goblin.
But... that was the last of her strength.
“Am I really going to die here?”
Her wounds split open again, blood soaking through her torn robes. Her vision blurred, the world growing hazy and indistinct.
She couldn’t get up anymore. Lying there in the darkness, despair washed over her. Her life flashed before her eyes—so many things left undone.
I... I still wanted to set out on my journey and defeat the Demon Lord!
Is it really going to end like this?
The fires of war, burning in her memory, blazed fiercely in the depths of her heart.
Countless spells soared through the air, but they were powerless to halt the advance of that terrifying army.
Castles, villages, and the innocent people lost in despair—all flashed through her mind.
She’d always dreamed of saving everyone who had fallen under the yoke of the demon, believing that if she just grew a little stronger, she could drive the demons away and finally go home.
And now, she was going to die here, in such a meaningless, lonely place?
So this... this really was a goblin disaster.
“I can only cast one last spell...”
She heard them coming—dozens of tiny, rapid footsteps, growing louder by the second.
Even with her magic sense gone, there was no mistaking it: the goblins were closing in.
Dying here—no matter how undignified—was better than falling into goblin hands.
With trembling hands, Iresha raised her staff and pressed the embedded magic crystal to her own forehead.
“Honestly... how pathetic.”
So this was how it would end.
Well... at least it was better than being captured by goblins. This way, she could choose her own fate.
“Fireball...”
Flames began to swirl and gather at the staff’s tip, the last of her magic coalescing into a single, desperate spell.
She sucked in a ragged breath, her arm shaking uncontrollably as the nearness of death set in.
I wonder... what are Oshu and the others doing right now?
If only I hadn’t gotten mad about Eileen’s little incident today, maybe I’d be relaxing under the shade of a tree, enjoying a rare afternoon off with a cup of tea...
If I’d known, I never would have come here.
And… that healing potion I bought from the country boy really was effective.
Without it, I probably wouldn’t have lasted even half an hour.
Step...
Just then—
Out of the corner of her eye, Iresha caught a blurry silhouette at the end of the corridor.
It wasn’t clear or distinct, but maybe it was the last surge of willpower before death—she could just barely sense someone’s presence.
Who…? Was it another adventurer who’d stumbled in by accident?
Wait… This faint spatial aura—she recognized it.
It was the same sensation that always radiated from a labyrinth’s entrance.
Could it be? Was the exit to the upper floor just ahead?
Screeech.
But it was too late.
A chilling, sharp cry echoed from the darkness behind her.
The goblins were close—so close there was no chance to run.
Suddenly, a burst of light flared, illuminating the passage ahead. And in that instant, Iresha saw a face—blurry at first, but unmistakably familiar.
“…Why is it you, country boy…”
There was no time to wonder why—acting on pure instinct, Iresha twisted her body and unleashed her final Fireball.
A goblin lunged from behind, wooden club raised high, its grotesque, cunning face illuminated by the blaze. But in the instant it leapt, a roaring firestorm engulfed it, reducing it to ash midair.
“Get out of here,” she rasped.
Using the fleeting glow, she snatched up a shard of glass from the ground and pressed it to her own throat.
The goblins here… there was no way someone like that country boy could handle monsters of this level. If he tried to help, he’d never make it out alive.
Escape… Someone had to make it out, to warn the outside world about this goblin disaster. No more adventurers could be allowed to step into this death trap.
“Sigh…”
A faint, exasperated voice drifted to her ears.
The next moment, a wave of overwhelming magical power surged forward with impossible speed.
BOOM!!!
The glass in Iresha’s hand crumbled to dust. Exhausted, she slipped into unconsciousness, while the goblins behind her exploded as if struck by an invisible force.
Flesh and blood flew, bodies collapsed, and the corridor was transformed into a scene of utter hell.
“Honestly… you really are one lucky woman,” Lin Wei muttered.