The Place Where Everything Begins

Then Eddie turned his head to the glasses man, Mitchell, whom had fought alongside him against those grotesque creatures a moment ago; Eddie said, "How much did you get? By the way, I killed 9 of them and got 232 SP."

"I killed 5, got 130 SP." Mitchell answered back.

Upon hearing that, Eddie complained, "Actually, it should have been 4, shouldn't it? You did a kill-steal on me that last one though..."

"I'd just helped you out from being hit right in the head, so you can't complain using that excuse." Mitchell shrugged back at Eddie's complaint.

"Okay, okay, you won... Still, what the f*ck are those things, and how can they even walk with only bones connected like that, by the way? That doesn't make sense at all..."

"How do I suppose to know that? Nothing here makes sense in the first place."

He hoped to at least find an answer from this smart-looking guy, but to his disappointment, Eddie only received a bitter smile and a question as an answer.

"Still, couldn't you at least say something that sounds smart, like you had already expected those things to come out to slaughter us, or you had already found a secret passageway to lead us outside?"

Upon seeing the response from Mitchell, Eddie couldn't help but ask as if expecting some cliché answers from him, but only to realize that Mitchell was also quite distressed from their earlier fight.

"After seeing so many people getting killed, you still do have a mood to joke around?" When Mitchell had heard Eddie's joking questions, he couldn't help but asked Eddie back instead of answering his lame jokes.

After all, five people were killed from just the first monsters-wave alone. According to the missions list, there should be more than ten monster hordes that were supposed to get harder and harder with each passing wave, like in most video games.

Also, it was, after all, Mitchell and most people here's first time, seeing someone getting killed right in front of their eyes.

Not to talk about those dead people whom were killed by being bashed and smacked to death by those frickin' walking skeletons. The scene looked just like it was derived directly from a B-grade horror movie.

"C'mon, bro, I'm just tryin' to lift the mood. Ye know, when I was in Afghanistan, I'd seen both my friends and foes died almost daily. Do you know how we deal with the madness after losing comrades and seeing innocent children being killed?"

"So, you are trying to tell me that, you guys try to change the topic into something light and funny instead, huh?"

"Exactly! We tend to alleviate the mood around us by speaking and telling some jokes here and there. That really helps a lot, you see."

*Sigh*

Mitchell shook his head lightly with a sigh. Then he said tiredly, "Alright, if you say so..."

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"Hey, Hey, don't be so stressful, bro. Considering that this shouldn't be the last time we will have to face something like this... just try to get used to it, will ya?

"That doesn't help at all, asshole."

"Right? Guwahahaha"

Upon hearing Eddie's sonorous laughter, Mitchell shook his head with a light smile; he felt a bit better now after seeing his stupid laughable face.

"By the way, you'd just said that you've been to Afghanistan before. According to your experience in a situation similar to this, what should we do next?"

After feeling a bit better, his head finally had some room to think about their current circumstances. So, Mitchell shot Eddie a crucial question.

With some time of self-pondering, Eddie scratched his bald head, then told Mitchell about the usual post-war's measures, "Hn... Most of the time, after a hard and bloody fight, our commander will evaluate the plausibility of completing the mission, then give out his orders via a transmitter whether to advance, retreat, change of formation, and so on."

"Why did you ask me that?" Eddie asked back but was met with silence.

Then with a deep frown, Mitchell fell into deep thought as if thinking about something...

"..."

After some seconds, Mitchell finally said, "So, you are saying that we should elect a leader to unify everyone and also give us commands huh."

"Err... yes? Right, right... That's what I was trying to convey. Guwahaha, you should really have a bright future ahead of you back on Earth if not stuck in this shitty place, shouldn't ya?" Eddie spoke laughingly-cum-awkwardly with cold sweats on his back after hearing Mitchell's words.

'This guy is pretty damn smart but not as smart as me, though.' Eddie thought to himself narcissistically.

"I will think of that as a compliment."

"Hoho, it's my pleasure, brat."

"Who is your brat, dickhead?"

"Dickhead? What the... I'm just bald, beautiful, attractive, perfectly rounded bald at that. Do you really want a love-filled hug for calling me a dickhead?"

"Wha..? Beautiful, attractive, perfectly rounded bald?"

*Sigh*

"Okay, enough, enough. Let's not chit-chat anymore; we still have something serious to talk about." With a submissive sigh upon hearing such a shameless statement, Mitchell changed the topic back into the previous ones...

"It's my win then."

"As you wish."

Then with a mischievous smirk, Eddie suddenly proposed, "As you have said earlier that we should elect a commander... I mean... a leader, who will start the coup d'état then, you or me?"

Mitchell rolled his eyes at Eddie's words about doing a coup, "It's not a coup, you idiot."

"Is that so? But we have soldier, which is me here though."

"Yeah, it's only for the purpose of unification and survival, not a coup. Idiot."

"Alright, then how should we start the cou... 'unification' as you have said?"

"Let me think about it..."

"..."

*Sigh*

After some time, Mitchell sighed once again for the nth times today, then he spoke with a resigned and bitter expression, "You look too unreliable. It's all on me this time; while you will be acting as a bodyguard protecting me from some troublemakers, that's your main job."

Having nodded his head, Eddie replied, "Copy that!"

Then Mitchell stood up from the ground, following closely by Eddie. The duos started to walk around to gather everyone in the chamber in one place.

Both of their faces looked determined...

It was a determination full of will to survive this deep shit ordeal no matter what it took...

...

Four hours later, inside a separated dimension...

*Sigh*

'Damn it; I didn't know that exploring every nook and cranny within this labyrinth without using an exploration spell would have required more than double the time.' Jeremy thought annoyingly to himself while adding and mapping every passageway he had taken within his mind constantly.

Right about now, he had been here for more than 6 hours and a half already. Meanwhile, he had explored more than 95% of the labyrinth but still found no exit whatsoever.

As for his exploration, it was nothing but boring. Along the way, Jeremy only encountered goblins and some lame booby traps.

While it was good that he could easily accumulate more Survival Points, but after some time, he started to think that it wasn't worth his time at all.

Also, since one hour ago, Jeremy had found yet another reason to find the 'exit' as fast as possible...

That new reason being his sudden urge to pee...

As for why he didn't release the steam on the nearby wall, it was because his pride of a former great sage had prevented him from doing so.

How could someone of his caliber lower himself so low as to pee at a place like this?

It was genuinely unacceptable...

So, the only way out was, he had to go out of here fast to buy a toilet at the 'shop'...

'Ahh... my fucking bladder is gonna explode soon. Where the heck is the exit!? Where is it?'

But to no avail, for the past hour, he found none...

At this time, he could only think back to four hours ago in a depressed manner. He had been doing the same things ever since then...

Every time he met with a trap, he disarmed it...

Every time he met with goblins, he killed them...

Every time he met with a box, he opened it...

Every time he with a dead-end, he turned back...

Time after time, when Jeremy compared the map within his mind to his current position, he could only hope that he would have found the 'exit' every time after turning left and right inside this godforsaken labyrinth.

Until...

Jeremy was finally standing at the last passageway...

"This is the last fucking junction! If I still cannot see the door after turning into this passageway, I will have to report a bug to the GM for real. Oh, my little bladder... God fucking damn it!"

The former great sage finally lost it after experiencing bad luck one after another of not encountering the exit even after he decided and tried searching for it for a long time.

He even doubted about his 'supposed' great luck that had accompanied him all the time in his 'past' life.

Where had his luck gone to now?

Why hadn't the 'exit' shown itself to him willingly already?

If it were in his past life, everything he desired would actually show itself up to him one way or another.

But this time, it was nowhere to be seen...

'Maybe, I had used all of my luck to cast that time reversing spell?'

Shaking his head to dismiss the unnecessary thought, Jeremy took a deep breath and hardened his bladder firmly while taking a step into the last junction.

With this junction explored, the labyrinth map depicted within his mind would finally be completed.

That's right; he actually completed the entire labyrinth...

Indeed, it was a full exploration as he had initially desired. At that time, before coming into this labyrinth, Jeremy had thought to himself on a whim, 'Let's do a full exploration on this maze...'

Ironic, it was, for it to actually come true, in a very bizarre manner at that...