Zogarth
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Chapter 1245 - Minaga’s Awesome and Illustrious Labyrinth Complex Dungeon-5
🕑 Added 2025-11-05 12:21:04 +0000 UTCThe three of them stood in front of the gate leading into the dungeon as Minaga turned to Jake and Casper.
“Do remember to take notes and submit a proper report once you’re done, alright?” Minaga said. “Especially you, Jake. You are coming in with fresh eyes and a unique ability to exploit and ruin any good dungeon you enter, so your feedback should be absolutely devastating yet unique.”
“I’m honestly unsure if you actually want my critique or not,” Jake muttered.
“Want is definitely the wrong word to use,” Minaga shook his head. “But sometimes, one has to hear things they don’t want if they want to improve. Just be nice in how you deliver the critique, and all should be fine. The problem usually isn’t the critique itself but its delivery. As long as you communicate in a respectful manner and show kindness and understanding for the work that has gone into something, critique can only be useful. Also, more effective to relay information that way, as if you come off like a nasty person, the other party will instantly be put on the defensive and thus be far less likely to actually listen to anything you say.”
Jake stared at Minaga for a little while before turning back to the gate. “I’m going to relay everything through Casper. Unless you added too much damn water to the place. If you did, I’ll gladly come off as a massive asshole.”
“Now that’s totally fair, and don’t worry, I’m not that incompetent,” Minaga said, crossing his arms.
“I would also have heavily opposed it,” Casper chimed in. “Water levels suck, and I hate fighting inside of them. Doesn’t help that life and water are often tied together, making it a horrible environment for my magic. As the life energy is embedded in the water, turning life into death is also far harder than usual, meaning even my abilities to exploit the presence of life energy are heavily nerfed.”
“How much work did you actually do on the dungeon?” Jake asked curiously. He had believed Casper had been busy with growing in power and the establishment of the Risen Island on Earth.
“Not much,” he said, shaking his head. “As Minaga said, I mostly consulted and gave some advice occasionally. He did all the actual groundwork and designed everything, but my involvement was at least enough to net me a few profession levels here and there.”
Jake nodded as another thought struck him. “Say, how hard is your profession to level? Don’t you kind of need to make or maintain dungeons to get experience?”
“I do,” Casper nodded. “But it’s not that bad. I already made a couple of smaller dungeons on my own and manage a few minor adjacent worlds, which offer me a lot of experience over time. Rather than my profession, it’s more my class that’s lagging behind, as finding time for hunting has been difficult with everything else going on.”
“Going by your level, it doesn’t seem that bad,” Jake said after using Identify on his old friend.
[Risen – lvl 333 – Divine Blessing of the Blightfather]
Jake also genuinely couldn’t remember what kind of Blessing Casper had before. He didn’t think it was divine, but seeing as he wasn’t sure, Jake didn’t bring it up.
“Nah, I never said it was horrible, just that finding time has been hard,” Casper shrugged. “To spend some quality time with Lyra, I have been doing some hunting, though. In fact, while I may be a little behind in levels, Lyra is more than making up for it. But I guess you’ll see that once we enter.”
“I guess I will,” Jake nodded before turning to Minaga. “Anything else to add before we enter?”
“There will be no hazard pay,” the Unique Lifeform informed him. “Oh, and I recommend not dying. While it worked out well for a common acquaintance, I doubt you’d enjoy the experience.”
“Won’t really say I died in the traditional sense; it was more ritualistic suicide transforming me into a Risen,” Casper kindly clarified.
“I was talking about Lyra, but okay,” Minaga said with a deadpan expression.
“In that case, I can inform you that Lyra very much didn’t enjoy dying either,” Casper said, his look severe enough for Minaga to entirely change the subject.
“Anyhow, that’s about all I have to add! Remember notes, don’t die, and, perhaps most importantly, have fun!” Minaga said as he tried to pat Jake and Casper on their shoulders, his hands once more just phasing through their bodies.
Jake nodded and, side-by-side with Casper, put his hand on the gate.
You have discovered the dungeon: Work-in-Progress, unauthorized visitors or personnel not allowed.
Requirements to enter: Minaga
Requirements to enter not met.
WARNING: Only 5 challengers are allowed per party attempting the dungeon.
“Minaga, I thought you said the dungeon was ready,” Jake said, glaring at the Unique Lifeform.
“Oh, right, yeah, forgot to flip a switch. Give me a second,” the goofball said as he waved his hand. “Try again.”
Jake sighed and moved his hand on and off the gate, this time making a different prompt pop up.
You have discovered the dungeon: Minaga’s Awesome and Illustrious Labyrinth Complex Dungeon-5: Test Run 1
Requirements to enter: Lvl 325+
Requirements to enter met.
WARNING: Only 5 challengers are allowed per party attempting the dungeon.
Finally, the place seemed to work, and ignoring the stupid dungeon name, Jake turned to Casper. “You ready?”
“Of course,” the Risen nodded, and without further ado, Jake accepted the prompt as the two of them disappeared, whisked into Minaga’s likely questionable creation.
--
Minaga, who stood outside with his arms crossed, smiled upon seeing the two enter his dungeon; however, just as they were about to leave, a horrible realization hit him.
“Oh no,” he said, his eyes opened wide. “Oh, no no no…”
Only now that it was too late did he realize the terrible mistake he’d made. He began pacing back and forth, panic rushing through his mind after having sent them into the dungeon way too early.
Clenching his fists, Minaga could only hope Casper could somehow save the situation, but the Unique Lifeform doubted it, as he couldn’t possibly make up for the gross error Minaga had made.
Closing his eyes, all he could do was pray that the two would forgive him and make it through as he waved his hand and summoned an incredibly important item he’d failed to give them. An item that he feared the two of them would experience a very bad time for not having, but at this point, all he could do was sigh and apologize.
“I’m sorry,” he said, looking down at the book he was holding. “And after putting in so much effort…”
Minaga wasn’t sure if he’d ever be able to even forgive himself after realizing… he’d totally forgotten to give them the accompanying novel, which provided proper historical context for the dungeon and was full of fun, engaging short stories to get the dungeoneers fully emotionally invested in the dungeon’s lore.
--
Jake opened his eyes and allowed his sphere to spread as he quickly got a lay of the land. Beside him, Casper was doing the same, evidently also doing something to scout the surrounding territory.
One thing was certain, though: they were currently in a safe area of sorts. The two of them were standing inside a small cabin surrounded by a magic barrier, and upon releasing his Pulse of Perception, Jake saw a massive wall reaching further into the sky than he could even see. The start of the Labyrinth, he reckoned.
Checking out the system message they’d gotten upon entering, Jake nodded.
You have entered the dungeon: Minaga’s Awesome and Illustrious Labyrinth Complex Dungeon-5: Test Run 1
Objective: Uncover the true purpose of the Grand Labyrinth’s construction.
“Seems to be about what I would expect after Minaga’s explanations,” Jake muttered.
“Yeah,” Casper nodded as he walked over to a window in the cabin and looked outside. “This initial staging area is meant to be a safe zone for recovery after entering this fifth dungeon. It’s for continued planning and recuperation as one does the dungeon, as the barrier will remain even if we leave, providing a safe refuge we can always return to as long as we’re not in combat. When in combat, the barrier will become impassable, even to us.”
Joining Casper in looking out the window, Jake questioned the Risen about how much he actually knew about the place.
“Any idea where we should head first? Also, what kind of thing are we going to encounter?” Jake asked.
“Our aim should be the center of the in-progress Grand Labyrinth,” Casper answered. “As for what kind of enemies, I reckon they will be the ones currently working on the construction.”
“So, humanoid enemies,” Jake nodded. “How about the estimated length of the dungeon? If we just have to find a boss at the center of the Grand Labyrinth, this should be a pretty quick endeavor.”
“No idea how long it’ll take, and for some reason, I doubt it will be as fast as you hope,” the Risen shook his head.
“Knowing Minaga, probably not,” Jake sighed. “I also gotta ask, how confident are you in handling B-grades?”
“Pretty confident, killed my fair share already. I do rely on Lyra quite a bit, sure, but I can handle myself,” Casper said. “How about you? From what I heard, you’ve been hunting plenty of B-grades already. Including at least one particularly powerful scaled monster known for breathing very hard.”
“That’s a very disrespectful way of describing dragons. Not that I’m gonna disagree,” Jake chuckled. “With you mentioning that and assuming Minaga also knows I killed a True Dragon, can I venture a guess and say that the final boss here is harder than a newly evolved True Dragon? Minaga did say he wasn’t sure I would be able to do it, after all.”
“No idea, man, but even if it is, remember you’re not fighting alone this time,” Casper smiled. “Even if I’m far from as powerful as you, I can still be very helpful. Curses are especially good at affecting even powerful entities, so I should be able to help you weaken even foes that you find difficult to beat. Moreover, the negative aspects of curse magic are usually that you risk affecting your allies when using it, but that shouldn’t be a problem for you.”
“True, and I’m actually looking forward to seeing what a proper curse-user is capable of,” Jake said, genuinely curious what Casper was capable of pulling off with his current level of power. “As you said, I also have quite an affinity for curses, yet I barely use that aspect of my Path for anything besides stabbing people.”
“If it’s any consolation, most of my curse-usage also happens to involve stabbing people,” Casper chuckled, shaking his head.
“Hey, maybe I can learn something,” Jake shrugged. “Now let’s get going and check out what kind of things Minaga has prepared for us.”
“Sure,” Casper agreed, and side by side, the two exited the cabin as they got a good look at the massive Grand Labyrinth in the distance. Right as they got out of the cabin, Casper frowned, making Jake look over.
“What is it?”
“Nothing, but just to make sure, we both agree that we didn’t spot any journal that Minaga would definitely want us to read inside the cabin, right?” the Risen asked.
“I genuinely didn’t notice it,” Jake muttered truthfully. He had just assumed everything inside the cabin was clutter, including the journal that he now spotted through his sphere.
“Great, and a wonderful data point that even someone with extremely high Perception could easily miss such an item if it isn’t placed anywhere readily apparent. If it had instead ‘fallen’ on the ground and landed right in front of the door, we would have found it for sure, but if it was just on the bedside dresser, it’s so easily missable,” Casper said with a big smile.
“Why do I feel like you and Minaga had a disagreement that you now feel like you won?” Jake muttered.
“Because we did, and I clearly won,” the Risen chuckled.
Jake just shook his head as the two of them began approaching the Grand Labyrinth. Currently, they couldn’t see the bases of the massive walls in the distance; only their upper parts stretched seemingly infinitely into the sky. Even when Jake squinted and strained himself, he still couldn’t see the top.
These walls were dark and appeared to be made of metal, giving the impression that breaking them wasn’t possible. As Jake looked, he found some perfectly circular holes in the walls here and there, which he reckoned could be used to explore the place later. He also guessed that maybe these holes weren’t meant to be there, but only part of this so-called construction phase.
After the two walked for a little while, they got over a hill, allowing them to see the base of the Grand Labyrinth. Jake looked and quickly spotted an entrance down at ground level, more or less confirming his theory that these circular holes weren’t part of the finished labyrinth in the three prior dungeons.
However, rather than look at the dungeon design, Jake was more curious about the humanoid figures walking around below. He instantly noticed their bodies appeared kind of weird, giving off an odd sheen under the sunlight, but after using Identify, he understood.
[Aginian Construction Golem – lvl ???]
“Golems?” Jake exclaimed in surprise. “Also, Aginian… sounds a bit too similar to Minaga’s name, doesn’t it?”
“On purpose,” Casper sighed. “The faction these are from is supposed to be the Aginian Empire, a totally fictional faction that Minaga did indeed partly name after himself. Once more, I said the name was a bit too obvious, but he kept arguing that the vast majority would not notice. Same as how most don’t notice something is an obvious reference to something else, despite just taking a word or a name and spelling it backwards.”
“Not gonna lie, I may actually have to agree with Minaga there; a lot of people either don’t care or are oblivious,” Jake shook his head. “But if we’re gonna be fighting golems, aren’t you disadvantaged?”
“What kind of chump do you think I am? Naturally, I’ve learned how to handle enemies like that,” Casper shrugged. “Besides, there will be other enemies later, and these are just the weakest construction golems. We’ll encounter live prey further in.”
Jake nodded, choosing to trust Casper’s senses when it came to detecting life. As a Risen with an attunement for death, he could naturally easily detect signs of life in a vast area, and the stronger the living entities were, the easier it was to detect them.
“So, should we just start clearing?” Jake asked. They were still a good distance away, and Jake saw that most of the golems were spread far apart, making it feasible to take them out one at a time.
“Man, with the casualness you said that, I get the feeling these things barely even register as worthwhile targets in your mind,” Casper sighed, shaking his head. “If that’s the case, how about leaving them to me? That way, I can at least get some experience, plus you’ll get a better feel for what I’m capable of. Oh, also, didn’t you say you wanted to take inspiration from my curse skills? This seems like a great opportunity for that.”
Jake took another glance at the golems below, and while he was tempted to see if he could one-shot them, he ultimately shrugged, reckoning he would have plenty of chances to try later anyway. “Sure, let’s see what you got.”
Comments
Keeb
A+ chapter name, no revision necessary
Chase Burleson
Tftc!
Rachel Clements
TYFTC! Casper ftw! Will Jake find he's been utterly underutilizing curses?
Chloe
Nice to see his old friend back. Thats a cool touch. That said, im missing a certain green bird. Ree! Tyftc
Matthew
The bit about Minaga forgetting the book made me actually laugh out loud. I totally bought his fake fear and thought he had accidentally left the labyrinth flooded with water or something.
Michael Click
❤️❤️❤️
Dominick Gelardi
I facepalmed at the thing Minaga forgot
Dominick Gelardi
I haven't even finished the chapter, yet, but I wanted to say that I already love paragraph four. It feels to me like Zog is calling out the haters. I love it
Pippo
similarity comes from reading it backwards here i assume
Inv7ctus
Hold up. How is Minaga pronounced if it sounds like Aginian? Those words sound nothing alike in my head.
Ender419
Jake and Casper are true bros! Wonderful chapter indeed!!
Boffadeez
I'm a fan of a lot of series along these lines and primal hunter stays above the rest. Zogarth is just him
PapaJaypes
Yes! Awesome to see Casper back in the main story. He was a great character in the early days. Excited to see how much he's progressed.
Jose Mora
Tyftc
Kt-x
Thanks for the chapter
Michael mann
Yeah it’s fun to see, you just know pre integration they were keeping each other sane in the office. Probably had a teams chat full of memes.
Daniel
Thanks for the chapter. I really think you are a crafting a masterpiece here.
Joshua Little
Thanks for the chapter.
Arieh Sochaczevski
Thanks for the chapter!
Shadowind
Tftc
Seen Death
I thought he was talking about a different minaga lol
micah Hogan
We(I) need the labyrinth lore book as a purchasable product. Please?
micah Hogan
When mind a said common acquaintance I was thinking the King
brjenness
nah, aga nim is a unique creature that resulted from the crossbreeding of two competing simian tribes that only had one survivor each when their isolated valley was flooded a little more then two years before their planet was integrated. A specialist in the unique beings dept of the bureau of integration was in a hurry to go on vacation and made a small error. the AI tried to interpret his intentions and gave afanim the multiplicity ability creating a clone whenever he leveled.
Yahyo Malikov
Or good ol Jon Bones Jones signature eye poke traps
Scott Conway
Can't wait for the Rolling bolder trap! Or the Jones if you are connoisseur
The Ravenger
Tyftc 🍄
Corvid
I kinda get the impression that's just how their friendship is. Everyone's got that one friend that you are just absolutely savage to each other in the name of fun. Plenty of times where Minaga heard from Minaga that Jake needed something, and he sent Minaga out to help.
Corvid
Who hurt you Zog? We'll string them up and force them to eat nothing but blue mushrooms until they find their manners! Also, that bit with minaga and the book had me going for a minute.
JW Saxby
Tyftc 🍻
That one, right there.
When Minaga said “I was talking about Lyra” I unconsciously and out loud followed up with “Yeah Casper, not everything is about you.”
Andrew Massey
I dying laughing over here. Never thought about it but yes.
Stephen
Holdup..... was Minaga's name meant to just be Aganim backwards? A wizard who can clone himself.....
brjenness
every once in a while we get peeps who do daily "why this chapter sucks" posts. gets a bit annoying if you are the type to check the comments 3 or 12 times a day.
tigerfishie
TYFTC! I’m way later today than usual but i finally got service again 💔
GloinJr
Always fun to see some of my favorite authors interacting. Also btw sorry about the hate you've been getting for the recent changes in your MC, feels like they could learn something from Minaga
InfernoDroid
Zog, we're sorry we were mean to you about Nevermore. We were going through stuff as a planet and didn't respectfully convey our critique of the arc in a constructive manner.
ThatGuy
I can’t wait for Casper to stain him self killing a few dozen golems just for Jake to say oh you missed one and just one shot it.
Ron Whitlatch
Maybe the first intelligent undead after the system's arrival?
Phil Ritter
Nah that would be too fictional since I don’t believe even among cheats there is one heartless enough to do something so horrible to someone so magnificent as that particular dungeon master Jokes aside it would be really funny if the whole theme is an inside joke
Kewi397
Makes me wonder when the blight father turned. Was a a living god before undead? Was he A Grade? Feel like it would be better if he turned sooner rather than later since he probably loses a bunch of skills
InfernoDroid
Zog totally not using Minga to look his readers dead in the eyes and tell them how to give feedback without being a-holes lol
Tamathon
I love Minaga, he gets too much hate. I wish Jake would stop throwing so much shade and start being a better friend. Imagine him bringing a Minaga home to have beers with Villy, and Villy being like “wtf bro” while his girlfriend just rolls her eyes. Minaga friend for life!
bioticisbasic
Tyftc
Meir Banon
Tftc
Adam Taylor
And boy does he add a lot of them 😆 I love him
Rob Lyon
He should be able to already send week and earlier leveled C grades in
Rewdan
Thanks Zogarth
brjenness
is there any chance the dungeon lore is about an evil cheat taking advantage of a kind hearted dungeon master.
GeneticSloth
tftc!
Dylan McCleskey
feels like minaga channeling a bit of zogarth there in the beginning lol love it
brjenness
final boss is aganim. clones himself.
brjenness
keep the bills.
Endern
And so begins the first dungeon dwelling of Earth's Progenitor duo.
Lemonsqueezy
Usually I am more focused on what the MC does in a story over the side-characters, but I am actually really interested in this team-up. We haven't really seen a lot of Casper in the story as a whole, at least in his interaction with Jake in a combat scenario. We had the early trial stuff, then the Prima event, maybe a bit in the early time when they first returned to Earth. I really like the Casper character in this story, probably more than a lot of the others. William is still my least liked character because of how he was in the early parts, it got better after he renounced Eversmile, and Zog wrote it where William sucked so much because Eversmile made him that way. Jacob and Caleb are my next least liked. Caleb is just boring to me and the religious fanaticism of Jacob is off-putting IMO. I am going to assume the rest of this week will be this dungeon, with Friday being a cliffhanger of the final boss or hinting at the final stages of Jake upgrading to B-Grade. IMO these last few chapters are to reintroduce the major Earth powers gearing up for the Prima Event, which I am assuming is going to be a sort of team event to win the seat with Jake sitting as the defacto leader.
Shai182
TFTC! Time hunting with my Best friend and his Wife? It sounds like an appropriate description of what's to come, and it's an excellent time!
PathOfPen
I hope he takes some inspiration from Casper to upgrade his Eternal Shadow. It’s been a while since he improved it, which is a pity considering that it was his best one at D-grade
joel southard
Thank you for the chapter
Steven Tuttle
i love that Casper has been included in the dungeon chapters i like he and jake are true friends and seeing them interact is golden
Fyrtue
I wonder when the weakest Minaga clones will start entering the 93rd universe. With other gods I get that they can't send weak avatars, but he should be able to game the system a bit right?
Gregory Schmitt
Mini nevermore wo0o!
Dewdrop06
It's been a long time since Nevermore though.
ABTelford
Very enjoyable chapter.
Hayden Leech
I hereby put forth the Lyra the Ghostly Girlfriend a candidate for Originification. Could be fun!
Jillian
TYFTC. Excited for this dungeon. Casper saying “here and there” twice about hunting and levels is a bit repetitive, paragraph 9 and 11. Then again some people speak in a repetitive way.
David Hall
Casper gets to flex? Lets go!
khielira
Maybe not Jake critique of the challenge dungeons in Nevermore Minaga comments basically equal to harsh/rude but fair
Devillelouch
If it is the Aegean Empire than would Jake be assisting or fighting the sea people? Also "the other party will instantly be put on the defensive and thus be far less likely to actually listen to anything you say" is funny with how badly scientists, mathematicians, economists, and historians are currently being treated by society. Your average person doesn't want to interact with data, stats, or quotes.
Shadowessence
Im a bit embarrassed thay I dont know what they were referring to with the backwards reference..... 🤔 And who doesn't love M.A.I.L
Xander
TFTC :) Suggested edits: No notes
Tommy
Zelda a link to the past, on the snes! Ahhh I remember that game well
khielira
Sounds like a D&D reference if anything
Chase
Why do I get the feeling that Minaga was an author self insert at the start of this chapter lol
djthomp
Really looking forward to this chance to see Casper and Lyra in a longer bit of story than we usually get with them.
C0bra$
Thank u for the story
Tommy
““Want is definitely the wrong word to use,” Minaga shook his head. “But sometimes, one has to hear things they don’t want if they want to improve. Just be nice in how you deliver the critique, and all should be fine. The problem usually isn’t the critique itself but its delivery. As long as you communicate in a respectful manner and show kindness and understanding for the work that has gone into something, critique can only be useful. Also, more effective to relay information that way, as if you come off like a nasty person, the other party will instantly be put on the defensive and thus be far less likely to actually listen to anything you say.”” Ok who’s been leaving poorly worded critique comments on chapters?!? Thanks for the chappy, great stuff! 👍👍👍👍
Alex
@zogarth please make it spell minaga
Jason
Now I'm wondering what backwards name I missed. Must be Simetra.
CT
Dota2 : Aghanim is named after Agahnim, a dark wizard from the Zelda franchise. PH : Minaga named after Aghanim. Change my mind :D
S_Ally
Yes, most people in the multiverse can't solo dungeons like Jake can. That's why the first message said a party of 5 could enter.
Misa
Tftc
Alexander C Hyde
Also, what kind of thing(s) are we going to encounter?” Jake asked.
Loststar7
Thanks for the lovely midweek chapter.
NovaZero
Nah seems the other side is experiencing DST now aswell
Ben Cox
Tyftc
Reginald Hardrick
Minaga is who Jar jar Binks wanted to be.
Takoda Heitz
I’m excited to see what Casper has to offer.
Sammot
Will he still get dungeon pioneer if he does it with someone else?
Polaris
The acronym for the dungeon is MailCD5. Is that a reference to something that I’m missing?
Woduk
Just be nice in how you deliver the critique, and all should be fine. The problem usually isn’t the critique itself but its delivery. ………. Was this message meant for us?
dash w
Thanks for the chappy
Chris Connolly
Agreed
Posiden 300
True friends
Fdrugc
I wonder how much better at combat Jake will be if he probably utilizes eternal hunger as a curse weapon.
Fdrugc
I love Minaga dungeons mostly cuz of Minaga also the book isn't a lost cause Minaga can read it to them at the proper times.
Brentley Meersman
Thanks for the chapter. Very excited for this mini arc
Violet
Bit burnt out on dungeons since nevermore, but we’ll see what your cooking up zog, tftc
Fdrugc
It would be funny if they snuck in a c grade clone of Artemis so it would become a double. Date.
brjenness
Gotta run the mail.
ShadeDweller9578
Tftc
SyndaXatrix
Praise Villy, I've missed a good Minaga dungeon
GeneralBlack
Minaga elevates this book with his every letter.
Sylphie
Ree!
Beemoss
Tftc
Julian
Finally Nevermore is back on the meny boys!
Connor
Thanks for the chapter
Julia Niles
Blah
Chris Connolly
Hour early? Hell yea
BlackRazaras
Thanks for the chapter
BumAssBumAss
Thanks for the chapter
Tyler S.
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