That was enough for the day.
Twelve, maybe thirteen hours inside, time blurred in the labyrinth, but my body felt it. The weight behind my eyes, the dull ache in my shoulders. Not injury. Just... usage. Prolonged output.
"Even I need to breathe sometimes."
returned and gave myself a full day off.
For the first time in weeks, I let the world exist without me cutting through it. I slept late. Walked the city streets like I used to before all this. Ended up in a small bakery near the square, the kind of place that smelled of fresh bread and sugar. I ordered tea and sat by the window and watched the world go by.
It was strange, how normal felt foreign especially when I was in a foreign land. The way strangers laughed at nothing, the way couples argued quietly on sidewalks, a child pressed her hands to the glass before her mother tugged her away with a smile. For a few hours, I could almost pretend. Almost.
But even in that quiet, the system was there. A feeling under my skin. A reminder of what waited for me.
The next morning, I took stock of what I'd become.
Level forty.
Most of my core skills sat steady at Level five or six, sharp and deadly, reliable. Swordsmanship: muscle memory. Dagger techniques: fluid. Fire and lightning, second nature.
Ice still lagged at Level two. Unstable, cold and brittle in my veins. I had two orbs in storage, enough to push it forward, or I could invest in lightning, refine that power until it matched the raw strength of my fire.
Not yet.
Patience mattered more than power spikes, and timing was its own weapon.
Packing my gear had become ritual.
Clean clothes, towel, energy bars, flasks. Everything folded, secured, checked. Total weight: twenty kilos, maybe. For someone at my level, it felt like nothing at all.
Sword and dagger. Each attached to my belt, polished and clean. I slid Dragonfang into place at my side and felt the faint thrum of its enchantment, familiar now, almost like another limb. The Nightmare Dagger rested lighter at my hip, sharp and quick, always ready for the second strike.
I stood there for a moment, weight balanced, gear in place.
I paused by the door, focused.
Whatever comes next, I'm ready.
Later that day, I met with our healer, the same one who had first stood with Shay and me through the earlier Gates a week ago. I'd fought beside her, trusted her skills, yet somehow, I'd never remembered her name. It felt embarrassing and careless. I couldn't let it slide any longer.
"What's your name again?" I asked, breaking the silence.
She blinked, surprised at first, then smiled faintly. "Rachel. Rachel Jones."
Hearing it felt like anchoring something that had been drifting too long. A name made things more personal. Human. Now that I finally looked at her without a battlefield between us, I noticed more details I'd overlooked in the rush of survival.
She carried herself with a quiet confidence, Resilient. Kind. A presence that balanced the chaos I seemed to attract. She moved with purpose and there was sharp intelligence behind her calm expression.
As we talked, something slipped naturally into the conversation.
She and Shay had stayed in touch since the very first gates.
Shared messages. Shared theories. Shared survival tips.
While I threw myself into solo hunts and training, the two of them had built a quiet line of communication, checking in, watching the leaderboards, making sure neither vanished into a gate they couldn't escape.
Just two people who refused to let this change swallow them whole.
And strangely, that made me feel… relieved.
Shay needed someone level-headed to balance him.
Rachel needed someone to push her forward.
And without realising it, they'd already been supporting each other long before the three of us met again here.
We fell into conversation easily. She was twenty-four, half-English, half-Polish, and the more she spoke, the more capable she revealed herself to be. Games, strategies, mechanics she once studied for fun were now survival tools she mastered instinctively. Her mind didn't just know the rules; it dismantled them, reshaped them into new ways to survive.
Talking to her felt grounding.
Maybe because she listened.
Maybe because she didn't treat me like the number one name on the leaderboard, looking for advantages.
It was strange, having a moment like this before something as dangerous as a labyrinth.
Almost normal.
But beneath her calm but slightly nervous exterior, there was a strength waiting to develop, not physically, but it was there.
Shay arrived about an hour later. His level had climbed to thirty-three, securing his spot as third on the global leaderboard. Rachel was eighth. Me, first.
Standing together, the three of us didn't feel like a random lineup. We were an elite force waiting deployment.
"About time," Shay said, grinning as he cracked lightning between his fingers like a party trick. "Ready to make the labyrinth our bitch?"
Rachel laughed softly. "You're insufferable."
"You mean impressive," Shay corrected with a wink.
There was a warmth between them, I was unsure if it was romantic, not flirty, just a familiarity built through weeks of shared danger and conversations carried through the quiet hours between gates.
Standing between them, I realised something important, for the first time since the System arrived, I wasn't facing the gates alone, I was now with people on my level.
I let their banter settle a moment, then said what we were all thinking. "Let's see how far we can push this. Together. You should know I reached floor six basically on my own."
Pride, yes. But also, certainty.
Alone, I'd survived.
Together, we could accomplish more.
We entered again.
The early floors fell before us like dominoes. Bosses that had once demanded my full attention now crumbled under our combined strength. Shay's lightning carved wide arcs across chambers, his fire roaring just behind it. Rachel's healing and buffs tightened the rhythm, turning near-misses into clean victories.
By the time we reached the fifth floor, we were a well-oiled machine.
The elementals tried and failed to stop us.
Every surge of fire, every crash of lightning, every stab of my blade added to the rhythm. Rachel kept pace with us, steady hands never faltering even as the field burned around us, assisting by giving direction, helping us work together without having to watch each other.
By the time we reached the ice elves again, we weren't the same as before.
This time, we were ready.
The three of them emerged from the frosted mist like phantoms, tall, graceful, weapons glinting with cold light. Their eyes locked on us, unreadable, confident. Last time, they'd nearly beaten me.
"Keep close, we have the advantage," I muttered. My voice carried, steady.
Rachel nodded, her staff already glowing faint. Shay cracked lightning between his fingers, his trademark ritual before battle, a grin cutting across his face. "Round two, snowflakes."
The elves moved as one, blades slicing through the air. Fast. Deadly. But our timing was better. Shay layered earth and ice together, the ground beneath their feet freezing solid, jagged spikes locking their movements. For the first time, their elegance faltered.
I darted forward, Dragonfang blazing with fire, each swing tearing through armour and joints with brutal precision. Shay's magic roared beside me, arcs of lightning snapping like whips, firestorms rolling forward in waves. The elves tried to counter, but their grace met raw force, and they broke.
The fight was over in seconds. Their bodies shattered into frost and ash, scattering across the snow like glass fragments.
Silence hung, the only sound our breaths steaming in the frozen air.
"Not so bad for you this time?" Shay said, wiping a streak of sweat from his brow, though his grin had softened. "I bet it feels good, the payback."
"You have no idea" my mana flared.
Rachel let out a quiet breath, lowering her staff. Her eyes lingered on the empty mist where the elves had stood. "Let's play this smart, we know we can beat them now, our powers are growing and we didn't go all out."
We pressed on, cutting down ice salamanders, frost wolves, anything that rose in our path. Our rhythm sharpened with every fight, our levels climbing with it, me at 41, Shay at 37, Rachel at 35.
The time the boss room eventually loomed ahead, frosted crystals glowing faintly around the massive portal archway, we knew this was the threshold.
The boss arena sprawls across a vast, snow-covered expanse, the ground packed with ice and frost that crunches underfoot. Towering pillars of jagged rock and translucent ice stand scattered throughout the battlefield, some slick with frost, others fractured and barely standing silent remnants of past battles. A chilling wind howls through the area, carrying flecks of snow that swirl aimlessly, reducing visibility and biting into exposed skin.
To the left, a massive cliff face looms, its surface sheer and unforgiving, streaked with frozen waterfalls that have solidified into jagged blue spikes. The edge is dangerously unstable, sections of rock weakened by ice, making it both a potential hazard and an opportunity for tactical advantage.
To the right and behind, a dense treeline of frostbitten pines and skeletal, ice-laden branches form a natural barrier. The dark trees sway slightly, their frozen limbs creaking under the weight of accumulated frost. Shadows lurk within, obscuring what may be hidden beyond silent watchers in the frozen abyss.
The temperature hovers near zero, the bitter cold seeping into every movement, slowing reflexes and numbing the senses. Any prolonged exposure will sap endurance, making stamina a key factor in survival.
At the centre of it all, the snow is disturbed deep, jagged footprints and shattered ice formations marking the presence of something massive, something waiting. The air itself seems heavier here, filled with the eerie stillness.
Then, a deep rumble echoes across the frozen field. The ice trembles. The storm is here.
The Ice Giant towered at four meters tall, its massive frame clad in jagged frost-coated armour carved as if from ancient glaciers. Its skin was an unnatural pale blue, veins of frozen energy pulsing beneath the surface like rivers sealed in glass. Crystalline spikes jutted from its shoulders and arms, glistening with the sharp brilliance of shattered ice.
Its eyes burned with a glacial glow that bled warmth from the air itself. Each step cracked the earth, a creeping frost spreading outward in veins that froze stone and snow alike. Its breath came in clouds that crystallised before touching the ground, every exhale a curse of winter.
In its colossal hands, it gripped a war club hewn from solid ice, etched with runes that pulsed faintly, alive with the echo of forgotten times.
Despite its sheer bulk, its movements carried a dreadful grace, the inevitability of a blizzard rolling down the mountainside, slow at first, then unstoppable.
The wind howled across the battlefield, razor-sharp flakes cutting at my skin. The cold clawed into my lungs with every breath, numbing my chest, and the weight of it pressed down like the air itself wanted me buried in snow.
The runes along its weapon flared, casting cold light across the frozen plain. Shadows bent. The ground cracked.
Then its roar felt like it could split the cliffs like thunder.
And the Ice Giant charged.
The first swing came down like an avalanche. I twisted aside at the last instant as the ground split open, shards of ice erupting in jagged bursts. My blade slashed across its flank, but the strike skittered uselessly against its frozen armour.
The backhand came faster than I could react. Its Hand slammed into me like a battering ram, hurling me across the field. I crashed through an ice pillar, shards exploding around me as pain spiked through my body.
Shay's flames blazed in the dark. Fire smashed into the giant's chest, steam billowing as the ice hissed and melted. The humanoid recoiled, roaring in pain.
I forced myself up, blood hot against my lips. Dragonfang hummed in my grip as I charged again, cutting low for its knee. The giant bellowed, its colossal club sweeping wide. I rolled under the arc, the wind alone nearly knocking me flat.
A wash of healing light bathed me. Rachel, her hands steady, she was holding for now. The glow staved off the worst of my wounds, but the raw ache lingered. My arm burned from frostbite, my body screamed, my breath rattled with every motion, it was agony.
But I didn't stop.
"Keep it busy Shay!" my voice cracked with strain.
He unleashed a storm of fire and lightning, weaving them into a furious barrage. Flames licked across the giant's chest while jagged bolts hammered its limbs. The creature raised its club to shield itself, buying me the opening I needed.
I drove Dragonfang deep into its knee. Sparks and frost sprayed as the joint gave way. The giant staggered, magic and ice fracturing around the wound. Shay pressed the advantage; his firestorm and lightning converged into an explosion that sheared its arm clean off. The blast lit the snowfield in a violent flare, throwing long shadows across the cliffs.
The ground shook beneath its rage.
Every strike I landed was answered with a blow that rattled me to the core. My HP dropped low, potions barely keeping me upright. But every time I faltered, Shay was there, a firebolt scorching its face, a lightning chain binding its steps. Rachel's light, faint but steady, kept me breathing when my body should have quit, her direction helped me move when it followed up with a blow I couldn't quite track.
For once, I realised: I wasn't carrying this alone.
We pressed forward, pain blurring into instinct. The giant swung desperately, its colossal weight crashing down again and again. My muscles screamed, but I didn't break. Not here.
I surged forward, severing its ankle with a brutal slash. Bone and frost cracked beneath my blade. The Ice Giant collapsed to one knee, bellowing defiance.
Shay didn't hesitate. magic roared from his hands, wrapping the beast in a cage of elements. His voice was hoarse, but it cut through the noise:
"Finish it!"
I didn't think I could with one blow.
Boots hammered against the snow as I sprinted toward the cliff's edge. I leapt, driving every last ounce of my leg strength into the jump.
Time seemed to slow.
My trusted blade pulsed in my grip, its edge wrapped in whatever mana I could pour into it, the forces twining in a fusion of raw energy. Below, the giant turned—its eyes, full of primal hate, locked onto mine.
I brought the blade down with everything I had. My muscles surged beneath torn fabric, fibres stretching as power coiled through my arm. My blade met spine. Ice cracked. Magic ruptured. A shockwave tore outward, splitting frost. The shockwave detonated outward, hurling snow and shards across the battlefield. The Ice Giant's roar cut short as its body convulsed, the glacial light fading from its eyes.
The titan collapsed, shaking the frozen plain as it fell.
I landed on its back, chest heaving, sword buried deep in its body. My vision swam, arms trembling, blood dripping freely across my body. Shay staggered to me, pale, flames still flickering weakly in his scorched hands. His eyes met mine, exhausted but alive.
Rachel's light reached us one last time, warm against the frost. Her ability spread she cast, nearly failing. Her ability drained her mana as if it was her life force past a certain point, still she pushed to repair our damaged bodies.
We had survived.
But standing over the broken body of the Ice Giant, I couldn't shake the feeling that this was different. The labyrinth wasn't just testing us anymore. It was sharpening and preparing us. Breaking us down and rebuilding us into players.
Shay stumbled through the snow to retrieve the chest, his shoulders slumped, his flames guttering weakly around his hands. "The bastard nearly killed us." He looked like someone who'd just clawed his way out of a ditch.
I stayed where I was, knees half-buried in the frost, my sword still planted in the giant. Breathing slow. For a moment, I didn't trust myself to move. Every muscle damaged, my lungs flared like filled with coal each time I inhaled, and my vision tilted at the edges.
Warmth pressed against my skin. Rachel's light. Not the gentle glow from before, but now more enveloping, insistent, burning as it forced my body to obey and heal.
Her voice came with it, softer than usual. "How bad?"
I exhaled, rough and unconvincing. "I've been worse."
"That's not an answer." She was close now, her hand held against my arm as she pushed more mana into the spell. "You don't have to play invincible. Not with us."
For a second, I almost laughed. Instead, I forced myself upright, leaning on Rachel until my balance returned. Pain lingered, a deep dull ache, but my legs held. "If one of us fall, we all fall. So… I don't get to give up so easy." My smile returned, having someone to lean on quite literally is what will push me further.
Rachel's eyes searched mine, something unreadable in them before she looked away, clutching her staff tighter. A flush crept into her pale cheeks, maybe from the cold, maybe from mana exhaustion.
Shay returned, dropping the chest down beside us. "Gold, potions, junk loot. Nothing worth the scars we might have just earned." His tone was dry, there was no humour behind it.
"Being alive is worth it," Rachel said quietly.
By the time the white flash of transport washed over us, I was steady enough to move. But inside, the thought still gnawed at me: how many more fights like this before even victory becomes a loss?
The light faded, revealing a massive stone archway ahead. Beyond it stretched a vast underground expanse, carved by time into a labyrinth of tunnels. Shadows swallowed everything past ten feet. Firelight flickered in Shay's hand, but the darkness devoured it hungrily, repressing it like something alive.
Our footsteps echoed through the cavern, a low vibration running through the stone. A faint wind stirred the dust, carrying with it the stale breath of the cave. When Shay shaped his flame into a sphere of fire, two feet wide, blazing like a miniature sun, the cavern opened before us.
And so did the nightmare above.
Dozens of black forms clung to the ceiling, their eyes glinting with cruel, alien hunger. Bat-like monsters, each the size of a man. I counted, around fifty. Their levels hovered around 51.
The silence was suffocating.
Rachel's voice wavered. "Do we fight them… all of them?"
My answer came cold and certain. "Personally, I think we have no choice."
The strategy formed as instinct from Rachels command: Shay's lightning to paralyse, my buffs to keep you moving, and cut them down one by one until none were left. Simple. Brutal. Effective.
Shay didn't hesitate to give this a go. His hand crackled with static, a chain of lightning leaping upward in a furious web. Eight bats shrieked and dropped at once, their bodies convulsing.
I was already moving. Dragonfang in my grip as I struck, cleaving heads from twitching bodies before they could rise again.
The cavern erupted into chaos. Wings beat like thunder overhead, shrieks bouncing off the walls. Lightning arced wild through the swarm, smoke filling the air. My sword rose and fell, each cut clean, each strike final, but the sheer numbers pressed us hard.
By the end, silence returned in jagged breaths. Fifty corpses faded into ash, leaving only scorched stone and the faint glow of the system menus. We had won, our strength was climbing, but so was the labyrinth's cruelty.
Experience Report:
XP per bat: 175,000Total kills: 49 batsTotal XP gained: 8,575,000
the experience splits equally among the team, resulting in 2,858,333 XP for each of us. The sudden influx of experience propels me to level forty-three.