Zogarth
patreon
Chapter 801 - Nevermore: The J***s Incident
🕑 Added 2023-12-04 11:56:07 +0000 UTC“Oh, I recognize this one,” Casper said with a smile as he quickly deciphered the Magiscript on the wall and found the solution as he wrote it down in mid-air before absorbing what was effectively magic code. “A very novel application of the bound-zone script.”
“Glad that at least some people appreciate real art,” Minaga answered. “Speaking of art. Thoughts on the traps so far? Always open to feedback.”
Casper, knowing where to go after analyzing the clues provided, began running down one of the hallways as he kept scanning his surroundings, also making full use of all his dungeon-related skills. They provided him far more hints than if he didn’t have them, and he had almost a sixth sense as to the layout of the labyrinth as he ran through it. “Hm, they are all very standard and understandable. There really isn’t anything crazy or out of the ordinary, I mean. I assume this was a deliberate design choice?”
“Right on! Making the traps unnecessarily complicated will just lead to senseless deaths and lost attempts too fast, as people are taken by surprise. That isn’t really the purpose of the labyrinth. Hence, it’s better to stick with the classics. But, if I did want to add some more interesting traps, you got any ideas?”
“While I cannot know what you already implement later on… have you considered rolling boulders?” Casper asked curiously. Who didn’t like rolling boulders? They were as classic as could be.
“Rolling boulders?” Minaga asked, sounding genuinely confused. “Boulders dropping down from the ceiling? I think that is just a less efficient way of collapsing the ceiling or-“
“No, no, not like that. I mean that right as you enter a hallway, a massive round boulder filling the entire hallway will drop down behind you and begin rolling toward you. This will force the challenger to rush far more than normal, and the boulder itself adds a great visual element and indicator of danger. Of course, some will be able to easily avoid the boulder with their skills… maybe set the boulder on fire or something so those who can turn intangible can’t just let it pass it? You may also need to make some more alterations so people can’t just block the boulder or something, but I am sure you can find a solution,” Casper theory-crafted. If he ever made his own trap-filled dungeon, he would surely have rolling boulders, even if he did admit they weren’t the most efficient.
“That… does sound interesting. Though it does seem to still serve a very similar purpose to collapsing ceilings,” Minaga commented.
“Lasers and spikes serve the same function, too, but you have both. Spike pits and acid pits are also very much the same. However, even if they serve the same function, both are still great as they add diversity and variance to the Challenge Dungeon,” Casper kept insisting. “Also, ultimately… having a rolling boulder is just cool.”
Despite spending his time trying to convince Minaga to implement rolling boulder traps, Casper had made quite a bit of progress already in his section as he reached a trap hallway. Even if he discussed them a lot with Minaga, Casper didn’t really do the trap rooms himself. At least, he didn’t do them as intended.
Instead, he knelt right in front of the long kilometer-long hallway and placed his hands on the floor. A wave of energy went through the floor as Casper’s mana poured in, and in the very next moment, every single trap triggered at once as fire, ice, spikes, lasers, and whatnot fired, with pits and pistons slamming down activated throughout. After everything was done, Casper stood up, cracked his neck, and walked through casually.
As a dungeon architect and trap specialist, he did have certain advantages. Of course, he had a very strong feeling his advantage was far worse than someone like Jake, even if he could “cheat” a lot. In either case, Casper had confidence in reaching section one hundred at least.
Primarily because he was already on Labyrinth Section 96. It just saved a lot of time still being able to pass through the trap hallways safely. He did have a strong feeling his method of triggering the traps would stop working at some point, though. Or he would just no longer be fast enough. He wasn’t really that fast, after all, and he still took some time to properly navigate, taking quite a few wrong turns throughout.
“I will definitely take your feedback up for consideration,” Minaga answered after thinking a bit and giving Casper time to focus on clearing the trap room. “Maybe ask for some more opinions.”
Casper smiled and nodded as he picked up speed and began running down the hallway to make sure he could pass it in time. Doing at least one hundred sections was his goal, and based on what he knew, that should put him as one of the absolute top performers for this Challenge Dungeon.
--
Jake completely ignored the way-too-fucking-complicated huge magic script at the beginning of the section as he shot into a hallway at full speed, not stopping for a second. Arcane Awakening activated at 30%, giving him even more speed as he approached a hallway with a few traps in it. Right as the traps triggered, Jake jumped to the side as a spear shot by him, the air pressure alone leaving bloody cuts on Jake’s torso and tearing flesh off his arm despite flying by him more than three meters to the side.
Continuing forward while ignoring his wounds, he soon triggered another trap. Dozens of lasers activated, filling the entire hallway and leaving no room for a human to get through, forcing Jake to block one of them. Eternal Hunger, with its form changed to resemble a shield with sharp edges to still be considered a weapon, appeared in Jake’s hand as he blocked one of the lasers and kept running.
Even the mythical rarity weapon wasn’t left unscathed, as a hole was slowly being burned into it. Gritting his teeth, Jake barely managed to reach the end of the hallway, where he had to jump up to another floor. Summoning his Eternal Shadow, Jake barely managed to delay the laser for a fraction of a second, proving just long enough for Jake to get through the ceiling and into the next hallway.
Eternal Hunger was still simmering with energy as a clear small hole had been burned into it, the weapon already mending itself. Considering not even the B-grade he fought could leave a single scratch on the weapon, he took that as proof Jake was somewhere he really shouldn’t be.
Because he was pretty damn sure those lasers or that spear earlier could have killed even a True Dragon in one shot. A low-tier B-grade one, sure, but a True Dragon nevertheless. Then again, this probably shouldn’t come as a surprise to Jake.
He was in Labyrinth Section 214, after all.
Jake’s original goal of reaching two hundred sections had long been passed as Jake just kept going. He had briefly checked out one of the gatekeeper rooms as he passed by it on the previous floor, and while he couldn’t tell the creature’s exact level, Jake was pretty sure it was around mid-tier B-grade. That was a being above level 400… so, yeah, Jake didn’t even have the instinct to give that fight a go. He was already pressured enough on time and attempts as things were.
It was to the level where he had to use his boosting skill from the very beginning of a section to be fast enough. He had learned that when he didn’t make it through in time in section one-hundred and ninety-eight, and with that loss and his other fuck-ups, he was down to his final attempt.
Attempts remaining: 1
His first life had naturally been lost against the B-grade. Another life had been lost when he learned he couldn’t do the trap hallways at all anymore, a third life was lost when Jake thought that maybe he could still do a slightly smaller trap hallway, and a fourth one was, as mentioned, lost when Jake simply didn’t run fast enough due to his lack of boosting skill.
By now, there wasn’t really much to discuss regarding his approach to each Labyrinth Section. Jake didn’t even have time to make a route properly anymore, but he just had to follow his intuition in the first part as he fired out Pulses of Perception and created a mental map to navigate through. Everything that wasn’t the smallest of traps had to be entirely avoided, and he also tried to stay away from teleporters whenever possible. He had encountered one in Labyrinth Section 200 that he got very bad vibes from, giving him the feeling that should he take it, Jake would get teleported right in front of a gatekeeper. Or into a water level. Both would be equally horrible. Actually, scratch that. He’d rather die to a B-grade than be stuck in a water level as the timer slowly expired.
Anyway, all it came down to was pure speed and pacing. Jake had five whole days to complete the section, and he would need every moment simply due to how massive it was. It was a true marathon where pacing and conserving resources were as important as simply being fast.
Jake was lucky he was doing this Challenge Dungeon after the Colosseum of Mortals. During the Colosseum, Jake had improved small aspects of his boosting skill, especially the parts where he only amplified certain parts of the body, and this sure came in handy now. He didn’t really need to boost his ability to punch stuff or create bigger magical explosions when he was just running, so he only focused on pouring his energy into his legs.
This increased his longevity and reduced the stress on his body quite significantly. When he did begin to run out of steam and had to relax his legs, Jake summoned his wings and began flapping while even using his hands to blast himself down hallways for more speed. It looked ridiculous, but it worked.
The only truly sad part about the increased difficulty was his inability to have fun with Minaga. He had to dedicate all his mental energy to making sure he was going the right way, and he didn’t want to risk messing up by focusing on coming up with a good quip to throw back at Minaga. No, he had to wait till he was done with the section and could relax and fully regenerate inside every checkpoint hallway.
Because, yes, he sure as hell needed these brief respites now, or he would have been utterly fucked.
Days passed as Jake kept making his way through the section. Toward the end, his entire body was sore, his legs were slightly bloody from overextension, and his resource pools were borderline empty. However, he could see the end before him as he jumped up and down several floors before he finally reached the gate.
Placing his hand on it, a prompt popped up in front of him.
Labyrinth Section 214 clear time: 4 days, 22:41:55
“Nice,” Jake smiled to himself. He even had a bit over an hour to go, so it wasn’t even that bad of a time. He was spent, though, and he really needed a break. A twenty-four-hour nap would also be nice.
“Great, great…” Minaga muttered before he suddenly perked up. “But, alas, this is where the journey ends!”
“You say that with such certainty it’s kind of cute,” Jake said with a smile as the gate in front of him opened, and he prepared to take a nice break in the checkpoint hall-
You have entered Labyrinth Section 215 of Minaga’s Endless Labyrinth.
Time Remaining: 4 days, 23:59:59
Jake stared at the message and the Labyrinth Section that had appeared in front of him as he cursed out loud. “What the fuck is this?”
There was no checkpoint hallway. No break or slight reprieve. It was like on the early floors where you just went from one labyrinth into another… something Jake hadn’t seen for a hundred and fifty sections now.
“Well, it’s the next Labyrinth Section. Duh. Why complain? You feeling tired? Oh, poor you!” Minaga said teasingly.
“This is just cheap, man,” Jake said with annoyance.
“Oh, give me a break. You are already way, way past what you should be right now. So stop complaining and just take the damn win already,” Minaga said.
Jake did know this was probably the end of the road for him, but he still tried to scan the section with Pulse as he relaxed a little, trying to find a suitable route. However, after about an hour, it became clear this section was about the same length as the last one. Considering his borderline non-existent resources and spent body… yeah, there was no way.
“Still feels cheap,” Jake said after over an hour of silence.
“Says the obvious cheater,”Minaga shot back. “Hopefully, the reward can make you stop complaining… though I will warn you that you kind of run into diminishing returns when you do too well at a Challenge Dungeon. Built-in system anti-cheat, if you will. And while you may complain about that, you should be happy. There are others who have been able to cheat in other Challenge Dungeons far more than this and could have theoretically gained nearly infinite scores.”
Jake was about to complain anyway until he remembered something. He remembered Ell’Hakan in the Minaga City Floor and how he passed it instantly by entirely cheating the merchants there into thinking some random thing was worth a ridiculous amount. If he or someone else like him could do something akin to that elsewhere… yeah, this kind of anti-cheat was probably for the best.
“Glad you do see some sense,” Minaga said after he saw Jake wasn’t going to continue complaining.
“I keep it internal,” Jake commented as he had chosen to just stay there and relax. He had five days to do this section and decided he might as well just chill and heal up during this time. Sure, chances are the dungeon would heal him when he exited, but he couldn’t be sure. Also, he did kind of want to go and spend his last attempt by getting clapped by a mid-tier B-grade. That sounded like a fun way to go out.
“Seeing as we have some time, how about I pick your brain about something?”
“Sure,” Jake shrugged.
“So, wild thought, what would you say if I added a trap that is a large flaming rolling boulder that drops down behind you in a trap hallway, blocking off your path of retreat and forcing you to pass it quickly? Totally original idea, by the way, totally not stolen from someone else.”
Jake failed to hold back a smile as he chuckled and couldn’t help himself. “I was surprised you didn’t have it already, if I am being honest. Back on Earth, it was a very common trap that many rich people had in their houses to protect from home invaders, with many large organizations also using them. With great success, too.”
“I see, I see…” Minaga muttered, seemingly very skeptical of Jake bullshitting him.
“Ah, by the way, this kind of trap is called a Jones,” Jake finally said with a big smile.
“Hm…” Minaga answered tentatively, definitely seeming like he smelled something fishy.
--
“Say, Casper, what is the name of this kind of boulder trap?”
Casper considered for a second before he answered. “I don’t think the multiverse has a name for it.”
“But what about back on Earth?”
“Oh,” Casper muttered. “I would reckon most just call it a rolling boulder trap.”
“I knew it!” Minaga exclaimed. “Some asshole is trying to make me think it’s called a Jones or somethi-“
“Yeah, that’s the official name,” Casper quickly interjected. “Most don’t know the official terminology, though. I just assumed you were asking about what the layman called it.”
“I… see… hm.”
Great movies, too, Casper thought, as he already had a very good idea who had been filling Minaga with crap… and he was more than happy to offer the assist.
Plus, it would be really fucking funny if Minaga actually ended up making that the official name.
Comments
DirePants
Jake and Casper. Really wished they interacted more. Since early in the Jake mentioned how they were friends, I can really see why 👊🏾
JJB4345_80_815
Arnold did diddly poo and got a 0% at the Coliseum dungeon (unless I am miss remembering). Through 3 challenge dungeons, Jake is at 60% vs Arnold at 40%. I think Jake's got him beat.
JJB4345_80_815
I believe when Jake's team entered floor 70 that it was mentioned Ell'hakan and his team had already moved onto floor 71 and maybe beyond due to his bloodline ability to cheese floors more quickly. If that's correct, then he's already probably gone through all of the challenge dungeons. I would guess he gets/got around 70-75%??? 🤷
Tyler S.
I feel that sort of fast travel would be hindered if not punished in the fog
Johnny_B
So Jake regenerates and waits til the timer is below an hour only to proceed and use his wing-escape skill to teleport to the end of the maze and finish the last floor of the labyrith?
Red45jimster
That would be awesome just to prove a point to minaga
Johnny_B
I bet he could cheese one more level using his burning wings escape skill.
Scott Schluter
If you read this thinking of the A Team theme, it works as well. Lol
Seen Death
Maybe have to kill a skeleton wearing a hat to stop the boulders from respawning, name it the Dark Jones
jackalsclaw
There is a whole "keeping up with the Jones" joke available
Micah Molina
My guess is, Ell'hakan is doing well, on track to hit 65% plus. But ultimately lose to Jake. He can still spin his loss in Nevermore, by pointing out to the rest of the Milky Way; it's not only Jake but everyone from Earth is a monster, by the results of Nevermore, and they need to form alliances to conquer Earth before they get conquered.
Micah Molina
Technically, I imagine Arnold being the same speed as Casper and I think Arnold will solve the puzzles faster. It's the traps that will probably cause him great difficulty if he can't set them off. If he can use his drones to set them off, then I imagine Arnold matching or surpassing Casper.
Micah Molina
Can totally imagine Villy humming this next to Minaga lol
Micah Molina
It would be hilarious if Villy was humming the theme song while sitting next to a clueless Minaga!
Luke Scheffe
And of course there’s some items that can let you eat it for a time bonus.
Luke Scheffe
To be fair, the Viper made a point of reading up on earth lore, and I think he used his connection to jake as a bridge to do so. Without that, there’s no reason why a random god with no followers would know about a random newly integrated world.
Michael Fannon
Arnold is going to be on the top leaderboard, but I don't think he'll beat Jake. Depends on the next 2 challenge dungeons though.
Asas
Well, it could just be a problem due to the Minaga's unique situation. As his lack of skills and impossibility of gaining them could prevent him from gaining the gods' "limited omniscience" skill.
OldCase
thanks
jord
Dun Dun Dun Da, Dun da duuun, Dun Dun Dun Da, Dun Dun Da Da Da!
hayden jack cowell
bolder traps can also be used to open a passage in the wall or ceiling they come from or close a passage in a wall or pit they stop in.
Chloe
Most folks don't seem to want him around. The sarcasm in a dungeon is fun, but outside of that he is a pest. I hope he is relegated to dungeon related plots ONLY going forward.
James Faulkner
Tftc!
kry
It makes sense that there are diminishing returns for cheaters (🤪), which means Jake will probably just get the 25% for the dungeon. Sad but also, great as there are others with cheating abilities.
kry
ooooh that would be excellent!
John Balman
LoL Jake and Casper Brothers in all but name And race LoL
Kirivina
Side Chapter! 🤣
Ral
Hey lady! You call him doctor Jones!
StarWolf
LOL
One Winged Angel
They have shown he is a very smart cookie, great politician, and really gets people on his side....perfect counter for Jakes solo self. Im hoping they dont just get rid of him after nevermore. Man needs an upgrade for his face off with Jake!
Skchoad
Got me, will start calling it "a Jones" now.
Seen Death
I am also interested in how cheeto boi is doing. im pretty sure author is purposely mentioning him, but not giving concrete details on purpose for a reason though
J Andrade
It rapidly becomes one of his most popular labyrinths - so popular that when they finally tell him the truth after reaching godhood he both immediately wants to get rid of it but can't bear to get rid of such an amazing labyrinth.
Seen Death
Lol basically a beyblade battle huh
jazz
No way. Arnold the ultimate support but challenge dungeons decide the leader board. He already bombed the colosseum and he isn’t fast enough to make it through the labyrinth even if he figures out the route
Seen Death
So, jake has gotten way further than intended, but hes needed to rest inbetween floors where the timer isnt counting down to replenish his stamina/mana. He had about 5 days to finish this new one, (id assume the previous one was similar) and he only had 1 hour extra left- and he started with full resources. Hes aware he wont be finishing this level, and has decided to spend his final life trying to fight that mid-B-Grade defender
Julian Lienenbecker
Jones will be the Name of my next house's inbuild traps as well. Very original indeed
kingofshibainu
Now that we have the Jones, Casper should suggest the Pac, a wandering gatkeeper ball who will try to eat you in the labyrinth
kingofshibainu
Or a circular labyrinth where you have to outrun 500 falling flaming boulders.
One Winged Angel
Arnold is gonna end up beating Jake and El'Hakken...i can feel it....
One Winged Angel
Im hoping the other two challenge dungeons have the same hype as the Colosseum. The labyrinth and the "choose your path" dungeon kinda went by quick and quiet so heres hoping the other two will be Colosseum level hype! Also im hoping we get an El'Hakken PV soon, id like to know if hes still neck and neck with Jake or if hes gone over/under.
Ilinorin
This is something I've thought about too, but as others have said it changes the challenge, and potentially steps on other challenge dungeons. It could be done in the general levels though, however also as others have mentioned, Jake loves puzzles and is probably better than multiverse avg at them, so it'd slow him down, sure, but not by much if minaga still wants to make it doable by others.
Anthony
You guys are right. This would make it less a labyrinth and more a puzzle/ escape room.
StuBee3
TFTC 😎
Areshan
Not really a labyrinth then just a puzzle dungeon, which some consider to be more annoying that a water level. If you combine the 2 you actually get the infamous water temple.
ThatOneDamnWeeb
TFTC
Darnell Maxwell
Oh Jones. When I saw the censored out name the only thing that came to my mind was the Jockstrap Incident from tfs. I wonder if that'll stay censored on the audio book. Can't wait to see how they pronounce that in two years.
Strato Junon
I hope it's over. The coliseum ending felt good. But if he pulls something like that out for every challenge dungeon it'll just cheapen the specialness of it.
J Andrade
Should yave called it the Indy. Then they could convince Minga that there was a famously impossible 500 foot one (for weak F grades) called the Indy 500
Numbzy
I hope this incident actually becomes a long term thing.
Red45jimster
Wonder if the dungeon is really over or will Jake push himself somehow and upgrade a skill
HateMongerian
I thought the simplest way to counter Jake would be to have each hallway a seperate "universe", he would still have his intuition, but it would nullify the perception bubble.
Bi-Dailey
Even without the bold, I think you'd be able to tell just from what he's literally saying. Also in audiobooks Minaga will presumably have a different voice than Casper
AA
it will also have to be there for the audio book version as you cant see bold...
Doctordirt
It's a bit ridiculous how good their memory's are
BerciTheBeast
TFTC!
Jason Hardman
Could be they're there to add an emotional flavour to the speech, rather than just tag the owner. Just a thought. Personally, it bugs me more when authors go for long sections of back and forth without the occasional indicator. I've seen it too many times when I have to backtrack to be certain who was speaking. Even worse it's when an author starts a new paragraph, but has the same character speaking without signify it.
Michael Fannon
Honestly laughed my ass off at the ending there.
Daniel Hogan
That wouldn't be a solution - as that changes the very nature of the dungeon. This is a labyrinth, not a puzzle experience. There are puzzles to aid navigating the labyrinth, but it is doable without participating in puzzles. Your solution makes it all about the puzzles.
Baconwargod
Casper realizing it was Jake without having seen each other in years when he is messing with a god and just going along with it is one of the best interactions so far. Just really fantastic.
Simon Andriessen
I was actually surprised Minaga didn't know it already... that puts a clear difference in senses/ knowledge base between high level gods. Though I guess it isn't fair as Minaga has only the one skill... a partial Omniscience skill could be a staple of gods his level, and he still wouldn't have it.
Anthony
That there are multiple solutions and all are composite (yet paradoxically narrow) should foil that ability
Anthony
Puzzles, but not riddles, no? I may be projecting....
Simon Andriessen
Problem is, Jake's great at puzzles and loves doing them. He has the puzzle-box for a reason.
Kary_PL
He would choose correct teleporters based on instinct.
Jana
Thanks to his partial Omniscience Villy should know about Indiana Jones, I wonder if he is willig to share (not with minaga obviously)
Anthony
Surefire way to foil Jake: Mandatory puzzle unlock in each of a series of teleportation rooms. One that requires understanding of the puzzle/riddle to first unlock the correct SET of teleporters, then to SELECT the correct teleporter of the set. The correct selection is dependent on the previous teleporter room solution. So mulitple solutions exist, but they are composite solutions in separate zones. Leaving a zone resets/scrambles the zone, so no backtracking. Must be done in one go or back to beginning of the teleport series with fresh/new puzzle/riddle options. Basically, solve puzzle -> reveal 3 teleporters with 3 different phrases -> phrases are keys to the puzzle of next room -> the complete concatenation of prior phrases followed constitutes the new key -> final teleport unlocked by reconstructing the full concatenation, which turns out to be a nursery rhyme or something.
Michael
I await the narration of the gods kn Jake's performance
Tyler S.
He sees him rolling, hes hateing. Hope that Jones catches him playing dirty
john henderson
I have a feeling that Casper is going to be the first to design a version of this that Jake somehow can't cheat on, and it's going to be beautiful. But for real would be super cool if Casper's reward was something akin to a Minaga personal tutor for dungeoneering.
Bi-Dailey
Constructive criticism time. I've noticed in this and previous chapter that you've got a couple of unnecessary dialogue tags; "...but I am sure you can find a solution,' Casper theory-crafted.", and "... variance to the Challenge Dungeon,' Casper kept insisting." are two good examples nearly back to back. In both cases, even if Minaga's text wasn't bolded, you had already done a good job just through the dialogue itself of conveying who was speaking and what they were doing with their words. In these cases and others like them, I don't think you needed to add any dialogue tags at all. You could have just left them untagged and it would probably flow a bit better.
Tyler S.
Or when he can find himself a way to Earth with a lower level clone, that could be fun
Wraithy
Casper and Jake be trolling poor Minaga. 😂
Olof Karlsson
Thanks for the chapter!
Joshua Morris
Yes plz this would be amazing.
brennon Petersen
Tftc!
Decibel790
Funny that even when they aren't around, Casper and Jake seem to share a braincell sometimes lol. Thanks for the chapter!
Ben
The best friends are the ones who are always there for that assist when needed. A great chapter.
Linzey17
Jake and Casper totally trolling now haha. Will be interesting to see the reward Jake gets!
Den
Casper being a true bro
Ethan Alexander
I'm looking forward to a future where Casper and Minaga try to design a Jake proof dungeon with Jake testing it while they shit talk each other the entire time
Catherine Jones
I hope we get more Minaga even after Nevermore is done. I could see him hanging out with Jake, Villy, and Duskleaf at Jake's order house.
Mohammed Sheekh
another mythical tier reward
Michael mann
Great chapter! TY
Stevean Bozek
I guessed the Jesus incident but I was wrong, happily so.
Isley
good chappie
Hayden Leech
I wonder if Harrison ford survived the integration.
Valhazstromoz
Nice Indiana Jones reference
BlackRazaras
Thanks for the chapter
Arrogant Savant
Ty for chapter
Naotsugu97
Thanks!
