Chapter 98: Blue Dots on the Map

[You have hunted a Grey Minotaur.]

[Your level has increased.]

Thud-!

The Grey Minotaur collapses.

At the same time, Revan’s level rises once more.

“Seventy-five now.”

After hunting for several hours, he’s gained three more levels.

It’s truly an incredible pace of leveling up.

“I guess it’s about time I take down the King.”

Even though he’d just gained three levels, Revan felt strangely bored.

That’s because Revan isn’t the type to enjoy grinding.

So, as he made his way through the labyrinth, he’d secretly hoped the Minotaur King would show up.

Just as Revan, wearing his usual expression, felled another Grey Minotaur and attempted to loot its items—

[You have acquired the Map of the Labyrinth.]

A message appeared before his eyes.

It was the system alert telling him he’d obtained the Map of the Labyrinth.

Revan’s face registered mild surprise as he read the system notification.

“Here, of all places?”

As the name suggests, the Map of the Labyrinth is a map of this very place—Labyrinthos.

In other words, with this map, he could clear the dungeon without having to defeat the Minotaur King.

“Hmmm…”

A low sound slipped out from Revan’s lips.

“Should I call this luck?”

Anyone who has challenged Labyrinthos would definitely be envious of Revan’s situation right now.

That’s because the Map of the Labyrinth refreshes anew each time you enter, matching the ever-changing labyrinth.

Because it’s a guaranteed clear for the dungeon, its drop rate is extremely low.

And yet, he’d gotten his hands on such an item unexpectedly.

But ironically, the Map of the Labyrinth wasn’t really necessary for Revan at the moment.

Because Revan was in the middle of an Epic Quest that required him to defeat more than three boss monsters.

“Might as well try it out and ignore it.”

Either way, once he cleared the dungeon, the item would disappear automatically.

So, he decided to use it just to see what it was like, without worrying too much about it.

“Map of the Labyrinth, use.”

[You have used the Map of the Labyrinth.]

[A minimap of Labyrinthos will be provided to you.]

Pop!

As soon as Revan used the Map of the Labyrinth, a minimap displaying the entire structure of Labyrinthos appeared in one corner of his vision.

Staring at the minimap reminded him of a maphack.

“This’ll be good for the stream.”

If he were just an ordinary player, this map probably wouldn’t be all that useful.

But Revan was a streamer.

So, he figured it would add a fun element to his broadcast and didn’t think it was a waste at all.

“There’s the exit.”

Now that he had the map, he decided to move more efficiently.

For example, the closer to the exit, the more likely the Minotaur King would be stationed to block the players’ escape.

With his goal set, Revan started making his way toward the exit.

“Moooooo!”

Just then, a Grey Minotaur that had been wandering near where he’d been standing started charging at him.

“Tch, what a racket.”

The distance closed rapidly.

Revan pressed himself tightly against his kite shield, then, right before impact, dove forward with speed.

Crash!!

With this maneuver, the impact transmitted to the Grey Minotaur’s horns was amplified, and at the same time, with high probability—

[The Grey Minotaur is confused for 1 second.]

He could inflict confusion.

Revan, well-practiced in this move, matched the timing perfectly and immediately unleashed Thunder Strike on the creature’s head.

[Critical hit!]

Due to the level gap, it didn’t die in a single blow.

But—

“Smash.”

[Smash is activated.]

Crack!!

[You have hunted a Grey Minotaur.]

If he kept hitting the critical zone—the head—in succession, sometimes it only took two hits to finish it.

“Let’s get going.”

Revan easily brought down the Grey Minotaur and turned to head for the exit.

But strangely, the corpse of the Grey Minotaur, which should have vanished right away, didn’t disappear.

Which meant there was an item to loot from the corpse.

“Oh, two drops in a row.”

Grey Minotaurs in the hidden dungeon, Labyrinthos, rarely drop items.

So, unless it’s a special case, most Grey Minotaur corpses vanish into dust as soon as they die.

But the one he’d just defeated didn’t turn to dust right away.

Because it held an item.

Revan placed his hand on the Grey Minotaur’s corpse.

“Loot item.”

[You have acquired the Map of the Labyrinth.]

“…?”

Right after looting, Revan saw the notification pop up and couldn’t believe his eyes.

“This dropped again here?”

He’d never heard of such a thing happening.

The Map of the Labyrinth was known for its abysmally low drop rate.

Yet Revan had obtained two of them in a row.

“….”

A flood of thoughts crossed his mind.

Could this be one of those three strokes of luck said to come in a lifetime?

Revan opened his inventory to check the newly acquired Map of the Labyrinth sitting in one slot, and let out a dry laugh.

“Man, luck’s showing up in the weirdest places. The viewers will probably love this, though…”

It was a good thing, but he couldn’t feel entirely pleased about it.

Revan chuckled as he picked up the Map of the Labyrinth.

[Do you want to use the Map of the Labyrinth?]

[You already possess the Map of the Labyrinth.]

[If you use another Map of the Labyrinth, your existing map will be enhanced to level 2.]

“…Huh?”

What did that mean?

Revan stared blankly at the notification in front of him.

“Enhancement?”

The Map of the Labyrinth could be enhanced?

He’d never seen this information on WarTube or the official site.

Of course, it hadn’t shown up in any auction house info he’d bought either.

His mouth hung open in surprise. Because—

“The god of streaming is on my side…!”

In Labyrinthos, a dungeon so well-trodden it was called the people’s dungeon, he’d discovered new content that no one had ever found before.

His shock only lasted a moment before a wide grin stretched to his ears.

Revan clenched his fist and shouted.

“Of course, yes!”

[You have used the Map of the Labyrinth.]

[The Map of the Labyrinth has been enhanced to level 2.]

A brief notification.

At the same time, the minimap floating in the corner of his vision began to glow bright white.

[Enhancement complete.]

A new notification as the white radiance faded away.

Revan inspected the minimap with tense eyes.

“A dot?”

A dot had appeared on the minimap.

Until a moment ago, it had only displayed the labyrinth’s layout, but now there were dots of various colors.

“What are all these?”

No explanation.

Just a number of colored dots.

And that wasn’t all.

“They’re moving?”

The newly appeared dots weren’t stationary; they moved in real-time.

Of course, some dots still didn’t move.

But the moving dots far outnumbered the stationary ones.

“Could it be…?”

As Revan watched the minimap, he suddenly broke into a run.

Then, as he moved, one of the dots, which he had been watching closely, started moving along with him.

Its color was light green.

“Got it. The green dot is me, and the gray ones must be Grey Minotaurs.”

Gray dots were the most numerous on the minimap.

Next were blue dots.

Lastly, there was only one green dot and one red dot each.

“It’s certain that the gray ones are Grey Minotaurs, and the red must be the Minotaur King… but what about the blue ones?”

He could more or less guess the others through deduction, but the blue ones had him stumped.

Seeing is believing.

He decided to go and check for himself.

“Now that I know where the King is, I have way more flexibility. This is more broadcast content than I could have hoped for.”

With a sly grin, Revan started moving toward a blue dot.

---

“Is this the place?”

It hadn’t been clear from just the minimap, but once he started navigating the labyrinth with the map, Revan realized Labyrinthos was even more annoyingly large than he’d thought.

Still, with the map in hand, all he had to do was keep moving his legs, so he’d tracked down the closest blue dot to his current position.

But when he arrived, there was nothing in sight.

“This should be right…”

The blue dot on the map and his own dot overlapped perfectly.

But there wasn’t a single monster nearby, which made him tilt his head in confusion.

“Could it be…?”

There was nothing in the vicinity, and no monsters either.

But the dots overlapped exactly.

That left only the terrain itself as a possibility.

On a hunch, Revan rapped his hand against the wall behind him.

Knock, knock.

A light sound.

He’d never thought to knock on the walls before, so he wasn’t sure if this was normal.

So he knocked on another spot.

Thud, thud.

As expected, this one sounded much heavier, like the inside was solid.

Revan knocked again on the spot that had sounded lighter.

Knock, knock.

“Here it is.”

Even at a glance, the inside seemed a little hollow.

A smile crossed Revan’s lips as he drew his Black Iron Mace.

“Smash.”

[Smash is activated.]

It was his first time trying this on terrain, but he hoped it would work.

Revan gripped his Black Iron Mace with both hands and swung at the wall like a baseball bat.

Crash!!

The head of the mace, imbued with Smash, drove into the wall much more easily than expected.

It was like breaking through layers of stacked crackers.

Which made him even more sure.

After a few more blows, a hidden space inside the wall was revealed.

“A chest?”

What was this?

The secret space was only about the size of a school locker, and inside was just a small box.

Revan took it out and opened the lid.

[You have acquired a Fragment of Icarus’s Wings.]

“Icarus’s Wings?”

Another item he’d never seen before.

An item that had never been mentioned anywhere.

Revan immediately checked the item info.

[Fragment of Icarus’s Wings]

-Class: Quest, Special.

-Restriction: None.

-Option

A fragment of the wings used by Icarus, son of Daedalus.

Collect all the fragments to obtain the complete wings.

#Number of Icarus’s Wing Fragments obtained: 1/10

Icarus is a figure from Greco-Roman mythology, the son of Daedalus, the craftsman who built Labyrinthos.

“Together with his father Daedalus, he built Labyrinthos, but after Theseus escaped, King Minos locked the two inside the labyrinth. Then they made wings to try to escape…”

It’s a story even Revan knows well—quite a famous one.

Now, that father and son’s tale had turned into an item for Revan to discover.

“I guess I’ll have to rewrite my script.”

Revan’s lips curled up as he checked the item info.

(Serial) The Mage Doesn’t Hide His Power