Manuke FPS Chapter 205

Published at 10th of August 2022 01:24:34 PM

I’m currently inside the Mine Labyrinth, on the 28th floor. After leaving Yorum, I immediately headed to the labyrinth, used the transfer circle to directly go to the 10th floor, then continued from there. The gatekeeper on the 20th floor was a high-ranked Kobold, Gross Kobold Assassin. A slender, tall, demihuman wearing rags. Its large body belied its speed and agility――but after blinding it with an M84 flashbang and then shooting its legs, it was robbed of its mobility. Was an easy dispatch afterward.

And here I am in my current location. The mine tunnel started from the 25th floor. In this field dungeon with a tunnel network expanding horizontally, not only were the same lumps of magic ore as the upper layer, veins of iron ore, silver ore, and gold ore were buried here. The mineshaft was reinforced with wood intermittently. It’s narrow with a low ceiling. Regular explorers would probably have some difficulties fighting here.

On the contrary, this narrow hole with so little cover is ideal for firearms. What spawned in this level was no longer kobolds, but rather monsters made from inanimate objects, like stones or dirt, commonly known as a golem. I could hear their heavy footsteps even as I continued my path. There were three types of golem I’ve encountered so far; earth golem, stone golem, and the most troublesome iron golem. 

Judging from the weight of the footsteps, it might be either the stone golem or the iron golem, and an earth golem.

I’m currently using Jonah’s avatar set, with the Phase Rifle as my main weapon and UMP45 as my secondary. I also carried the grenade ax as per usual, though I rarely used it as a melee weapon given that the golems are tough. Therefore, to fight against these golems――I simply got down on one knee and aimed. The moment I saw a silhouette on the optic sight――most likely the golem’s silhouette, I moved the muzzle accordingly.

The golem lost its top half the moment I saw a flashing red beam, collapsing as the dissected part was still melting.

After several tests, I found out that a fully charged shot from the Phase Rifle will kill the golem instantly regardless of its type. The earth golem though does not actually require a fully charged shot.  I only needed to wait until the charge gauge reached thirty percent――take aim at the center of the distorted and slushy humanoid shape――and fire.

The red beam discharge pierced through the earth golem body. The next thing that happened was its body started dissolving. Unlike the zombies and other undead, this golem would die if its certain body part suffers enough damage. It’s also fairly easy to pinpoint since they have these lines that glow red with magic. The line, which glows red like the eyes, extends like a blood vessel throughout the golem’s body, and the intensity of the light undulates as if it were beating. When the light goes out, it means that the golem has stopped functioning. 

While picking up the magic stone that remains after the golem sunk into the labyrinth, I checked the clean fountain reflected on the map. I am the one who has explored this labyrinth the most. There is no information below the level I advanced. In other words, I don’t know if the clean fountain in front of me is the final safe area or whether the labyrinth continues further down. If it’s the final safe area, then what lies after the gatekeeper room would be the labyrinth master chamber. While taking a meal break at the clean spring, summoned a sufficient amount of weapons and ammunition in case of a gatekeeper battle.

However, my preparation ended up for naught.

Arriving at the 29th floor, and then 30th floor, there was no sighting of the gatekeeper. Let alone the labyrinth master. After the 30th floor was neither the labyrinth passageway or the tight mineshaft that it turned into once it became an open field.

“This is…”

A huge lake spreads out in front of me――with no ground to step on.

“…and underground lake.”

In a dim labyrinth, the underground lake is dimly shining. There is a suspicious purple fog on the lake, which obstructs the view other than the passage that extends in front of me, also obstructing distant view.

However, the map shows a spider web-shaped passage stretched over the lake. 

When I looked into the lake about two meters below the passage, I saw a glowing ore sinking in the water. I wanted to collect that ore, but a group of dots appeared on the map――another group――and another one. These dots seem to be fishes――not. They’re either fish-shaped monsters or fishmen… perhaps this world’s merman or mermaid?

Information about fishmen has already been investigated at the museum. I didn’t think there would be a chance to meet in such a place.

Fishmen build nests in the sea or lake, and males and females live together to carry out breeding activities. Their staple food is human flesh――aiming at those who fish in the sea or lake, dragging their prey into the water and drowning the prey to death. But is this underground lake an open field section of the labyrinth? But a labyrinth can only make an open field section if there’s similar land around it.

In other words, there is an underground lake somewhere in the Devil’s Mountains――but that doesn’t matter. In order to get out of this section, I have to think about what to do in the event of an underwater battle. VMB’s regular firearms have little underwater combat capability. When fired in the water, its attack power is reduced to one-tenth, which is the specification of VMB.

If I want to fight underwater, I need to prepare suitable equipment.

Before the fishermen detected my presence――I activated the TSS, scrolled through the display rapidly, and moved the cursor at high speed to select what I needed. The particles of light converged and the black supply BOX was summoned. Inside was an assault rifle for underwater use, an APS speargun.

This gun is a special operations speargun developed in the Soviet Union in the 1960s. The magazine can hold twenty-six 5.56 x 40 mm MPS projectiles. Of course, it’s usable above ground as well――but the grouping and recoil are quite horrendous, so players need to be very careful when handling it. Also, as VMB balancing, using it while aboveground would reduce its firepower to only a tenth.

But this spec isn’t a big deal in this world. When it was a game, I couldn’t bring two or more main weapons, but in reality, it’s different. APS underwater rifle aside, I also set aside UMP 45 for the secondary arm, while the Phase Rifle is stored in the supply BOX. And one last thing. Since there might be an underwater fight, I also need to prepare an oxygen tank――just in case I need to stay submerged for longer than expected. 

I took out the grappling hook. It’s about the size of a small shotgun, and it’s a specially equipped gun-shaped gadget with a cylindrical barrel. Just like a firearm, aim at the sight on the top of the barrel, pull the trigger, and the three-pronged claw hook will be ejected with the rope and locked.

If I pull the trigger again, the rope will be rewound this time and I can use it to pull myself out.

This completes the preparation. I slowly followed the passage on the lake while monitoring the movement of the dots reflected on the map.

The underground lake was huge. It turns out to be wider than the field dungeons above this level. I remember this size――back at the green demon labyrinth.

The dots reflected on the map indicated that there is an enemy in the passage beyond the suspiciously floating purple fog. I tried switching to FLIR mode to see what’s inside that fog, but to no avail, as the fog was apparently too cold that it covered any heat signature from being seen. From this distance, I normally should still be able to use the advantage of a firearm, the range, to make a one-sided attack――but now it’s rather useless without being able to pinpoint my target.

Then there’s only one way to proceed. I carefully walked toward the end of the passage so as not to irritate the fish people in the lake.

Chapter end