The Black Necromancer

After recuperating, Leon and Nedra continued on their journey through the Labyrinth of Madness. The grind was constant and tiring, even for them. The deeper they went, the more high level monsters that they came across. In fact, they came across two more monsters that were of a similar level to Hydrax.

The first was a Giant Hell Spider, which was a five meter tall spider with a hairy body and a maw that dripped lava. Leon's innate hatred and disgust for spiders was instantly flared up when the spider dropped from the ceiling, and he gave it all he had, ending the spider's life in a much shorter time frame than it took for Hydrax.

"Pfft! An Undead that is scared by spiders." Nedra guffawed.

"I'm not scared of them! I just find them an unpleasant sight to behold, so I try my best to get rid of them as quickly as possible." Leon scoffed and turned away from the horse sized millipedes that was mocking him. Nedra used one of her front legs to nudge Leon while still making mocking sounds through their mental connection.

"Cut it out, something's coming." Leon pushed her leg away when he felt the approach of a powerful life signature. "I think the fight with the spider drew it's attention here." He told her.

"Ugh, I'm tired of this place already." Nedra groaned as she increased her size again. She did not expand to her full size, as the cavern they were fighting in was not too large, though.

Thud!

A dull thud shook the cavern for a moment, causing a few chunks of rock to fall from the ceiling. A moment later, a giant, round object rolled around the corner of the cavern through the tunnel that led forward. Leon stared at it, confused, before the round object unrolled itself and exposed the figure of a giant pangolin.

"...A pangolin? Isn't this place supposed to have Unholy and Demonic stuff?" Leon asked with surprise.

"Who are you two?" Much to their surprise, the monster spoke.

"What?! You can speak?!" Leon was taken aback.

"Yes, I can. I am not dumb..." The giant pangolin sighed. "And just to be clear, I am not a being of this dungeon. Now, who are you two?" It asked again.

"I could ask you the same thing. Who are you? This dungeon should be empty of all outside influences at this time." Leon folded his arms as his mind went to work, gathering mana to act at the slightest show of hostility from the pangolin.

"...I am Artox, the King of the Diamond Pangolins." The giant pangolin, Artox, revealed.

"I'm Leon, and this is my companion, Nedra. What are you doing down here, if I might ask? It's quite strange to not be jumped by a monster the moment it sees us." Leon asked.

Artox's tiny eyes narrowed at the question and Leon could tell that he was thinking of how to blow off the question. However, the giant Pangolin King let out a sigh and turned to the side.

"My child was taken from me by a monster which ran into here a couple of days ago. I have killed its accomplices, but have not been able to pin it down. I suspect it to be the boss of the dungeon." Artox said, not looking straight at Leon and Nedra.

'Do you think he's telling the truth?' Leon asked his companion.

'Mm, I'm very sensitive to mental waves and a person's emotions. I can feel his remorse and even a bit of fear. Unless he's an expert at manipulating his thoughts and feelings to such a degree, then he should be telling the truth.' Nedra responded.

"...We are also going after the boss. Maybe we can work together until then. When we kill the boss, then we can part ways." Leon suggested. He was always open to working with people if it was possible rather than fighting against them. That was how it had been when he met Jet, and then Rodius and his kids. This situation was similar to those times.

"...I am open to us working together. However, I would advise you against trying anything against me. I will retaliate with lethal force if need be." Artox warned.

"That's fine with me. And the same also goes for us. If you try anything funny, you're dead." Leon said.

"Very well. This way." Artox nodded and turned around. He had already been in the Labyrinth of Madness for over two days, so he was familiar with the path leading to the boss room. "I have traced a path to the boss room by following the clues and hints that its minions that took my child have left. It is only a few hours away."

Leon and Nedra followed as the Pangolin King curled up into a ball and rolled away. He followed an elaborate, twisting path through the labyrinth, and many times, Leon came across several monster corpses. He only managed to salvage the lingering souls of some monsters that had been killed recently by Artox, and when he examined them, he noted that all of them were at least Mid A rank!

This discovery brought forth a wave of doubt and induced a seed of doubt in his mind that he could not help but voice.

"There is something that I am confused about." Leon spoke out loud as the continued moving. Artox did not stop, but he continued anyway.

"Why did the monsters abduct your kid? Would it not make more sense for them to go after you if they need experience or anything? Your kid can't be A rank, surely." Leon said.

As soon as he voiced his thoughts, Artox stopped in the middle of the tunnel that they were going through and unrolled his body, turning around with a sharp glare. Leon instantly held up his arms and gathered mana, causing the space around him to tremble.

"My son is special. That is why they want him. At the stage of the boss of this dungeon, he does not care about levels. That is all I can share with you at this time." Artox said through a deep voice. It sounded as if he was trying to hold himself back from saying something sensitive.

Leon hummed and nodded, accepting that explanation. He could form some conclusions on the matter with his current knowledge of the world. It was possible that the boss of this dungeon had reached the peak of A rank, and now wanted to gain a more qualitative boost.

'But that would mean that it wants to surpass the System. Only specific knowledge of things like the System and the Era of Gods, which makes sense considering the fact that Michael sent me here.'

Leon recalled that when Dibella had still been a dungeon boss, she had been able to recall her past memories to a certain extent. The same went for Dizen, although he had been suppressed to a much greater degree.

'For this person to want to surpass the System to this extent, I can assume that he remembers what it was like back then, and desperately wants to exceed the limiters placed on him. He must want Artox's kid for a specific reason then.' Leon reasoned as the three of them continued to move through the tunnels.

'You're probably right. We need to make sure we stop him if him from doing what he wants if he hasn't already.' Nedra agreed with Leon.

'It's already difficult enough that he is Peak A rank. If he breaks through, then I am not sure we will be able to defeat him.' Leon concurred.

"We are close! I can smell it!" Artox suddenly exclaimed as the turned down another tunnel. This one was smooth and covered in many glowing High Grade Mana Crystals. The Pangolin King sped up as he seemingly picked up on the scent of his missing son.

However, Leon and Nedra were much more reserved. Already, they were prepared to pull out all their trump cards, and Leon was already summoning all his summons that he had brought to his place with him.

'It's time to get serious. This battle is all I need to get over and my strength will soar!' Leon told himself as the darkness of the tunnels around him wriggled all around. Shadows of his summons rose from the shadows as they answered their master's call, ready to do his bidding.