I lashed forward—right into the horde of the monsters—and danced among them. Limbs and blood and gore splattered everywhere. The agonizing cries sounded like music to my ears. The scent of blood wafted through the air and made my blood boil.

 

This was what I usually felt like when slaughtering the monsters. The sensation of cutting through their rotten flesh and the empowering feeling of being superior made it all the more addictive. I couldn’t stop it. I wanted more. I wanted more!

 

But—right now, something’s different. 

 

The sense of joy still filled me to the brim as I danced among the dying monsters, but something felt odd about all this. I couldn’t quite put it into words about how I felt exactly. 

 

Though, I did know the cause of this. Yes, I did know it very well.

 

Lashing forward, I cut through the last monster, sending it to the piles of corpses on the ground. I sheathed my sword and let out a sigh.

 

Turning around, I could see the monsters’ corpses littered the ground. There must be hundreds of them. The smell of blood filled the air with a sense of battlefield.

 

Then, not long after, the corpses started turning into particles of light—one by one—and then disappeared into thin air, leaving different kinds of items in their places; the hides, the furs, the meats, the gold coins, the potions, and the other different kinds of things.

 

We adventurers called them the spoils of war. It’s what you got when you killed the monsters in the dungeon or some other ancient places.

 

I started toward the piles of items and held out my right hand. I sent my mana into the ring on my index finger. It shone a blue light, and information started pouring into my brain.

 

An image of a room appeared in my mind. It was a big room, big enough to accommodate hundreds of people. There were a lot of things in this room, most of them were extremely valuable stuff.

 

I turned my attention back onto the items on the ground and willed the mana from the ring to envelope all of them. The blue mana stretched out of the ring and then expanded, covering all the spoils of war. 

 

Then, all at once, the spoils of war disappeared into thin air and then reappeared again in the mental room. 

 

I let out a sigh and turned my attention back to the mental room. I was searching for something akin to a female garment. Something more suitable for my new body.

 

I was now dressed in a black robe I’d found in the mental room. The black tunic I wore before was too tight for this body. 

 

Looking down at myself, I could see the protruding mounds on my chest. It was so big, even bigger than Amanda—and hers was the biggest I’d ever seen in the MuskySaloon.

 

I didn’t know how to feel about this. The other women might have felt delighted if this were to happen to them, but I was different.

 

Yes, I was way, way, different from the other women. That’s because I was a guy! 

 

I used to have a manly hard rock chest muscle, but then it suddenly turned into a pair of gigantic soft mounds. How did you expect me to feel, huh!?

 

My pride as a man shattered like glass the moment I realized the painful truth. 

 

I’d become a woman. 

 

Me, the manliness of a man, suddenly turned into a woman. What kind of sick joke was this!?

 

I let out a sigh for the nth time. 

 

Alright, I needed to calm down. Getting all worked up like this wasn’t like me at all. I needed to calm down. Alright, calm down…

 

I heaved another sigh and shook my head. Turning my attention back to the mental room, a bitter smile appeared on my face.

 

Who was I kidding? What in the nine hells made me think I could find a female garment in my mental room? 

 

This was getting more and more ridiculous. Seemed like what happened to me didn’t only change the way I look, but also the way I think as well, huh?

 

Well, it couldn’t be helped, I guessed. Any guy would react the same way if this were to happen to them. 

 

Yes, I was sure.

 

Cutting the mana in the ring, the mental room disappeared. I turned my eyes to the teleportation platform up ahead.

 

Alright, let’s get out of here.

 

I heaved another sigh and took a step forward.

 

———

 

Golden light surrounded my body. It got stronger and stronger by the seconds, until eventually blinded me. 

 

The blindness only lasted for a split second, and when the light died down, I was already staring at the different scenery.

 

Looking around, I could see the torches on the wall start to light up one by one, illuminating the dark hallway.

 

I landed my gaze on the door up ahead. It was a double-doors pressed tightly together. Not a single sunlight could get through.

 

Seriously, I was still amazed by all the architecture of this underground labyrinth. According to the legends and the studies of those scholars from Aariketh, King Sharron was a legendary king that existed back in the old era.

 

He had the habit of collecting different kinds of magicals items. Legend has it that before he died, he used some of his magical items to build multiple labyrinths to hide all of his precious collections.

 

This naturally inspired adventurers around the world to go seek these labyrinths and retrieve King Sharron magical items for themself. 

 

These items were extremely valuable. You could say that if you came into possession of one, you could get whatever you wanted in this world; power, riches, fame, status, you name it.

 

Though, not to mention the difficulty of clearing all the trials in the labyrinth, even finding one was extremely difficult. 

 

Even the scholars from Aariketh had no idea how many of these labyrinths there were. There was an assumption that there were about twenty of them, but that theory could be debated.

 

I was one of those adventurers who got deeply inspired by the legend. It’d been ten whole years since I started my own adventure, and unfortunately I still couldn’t find any of these labyrinths.

 

As far as I knew, only three labyrinths were found. The founders apparently became famous figures—some of them even founded a nation and became the ruler.

 

Who would have thought that after deciding to retire, an S-Rank adventurer like me would suddenly stumble upon one of the labyrinths when going out on a mission—not to mention it was the labyrinth that kept the most cherished item in King Sharron’s collections.

 

Well… I actually started to doubt that claim now.

 

I didn’t think that’s the truth. 

 

I didn’t think that’s the truth at all!

 

And that’s because….

 

I looked down at my chest again and heaved another sigh. Shaking my head, I decided to get out of here for now and think about all these later.

 

I started toward the double-doors and pushed it open with one hand. Good thing my strength still remained the same. I was still as strong as before. That made me feel a little better.

 

The grating sound rang out and echoed in the hallway. Light seeped through the gap and landed on my face. I squinted and shielded my eyes with the other hand.

 

The gap got wider and wider. Eventually, the doors opened wide enough for me to get through. 

 

I walked right through the gap and exited the hallway. 

 

I appeared in another hall. It wasn’t that big but wasn't small, either. From the look of it, it definitely could house more than fifty people.

 

Everything in this hall was made of stone. It looked old and dusty. Different kinds of engravings and sculptures decorated the place.

 

The shrine of Alfdis was the name of this place. It was a sacred place of the elven city, Eglarest, located in the border of the elven continent, Edhellond.

 

Never would I have thought that, all this time, one of King Sharron's secret labyrinth would be residing here, in the elven continent.

 

Every single day, the elven people would come to this place to worship the goddess and do the other rituals. They didn’t even realize that one of the most important places in the world was sitting right here under their noses.

 

Such an irony. I smiled bitterly and turned around.

 

The double-doors started to close by itself. The grating sound rang out again until it shut tightly with a bang. The impact wasn’t that great, but it scattered the dust on the floor.

 

Then, the double-doors started to merge with the engravings on the stone wall. The outline of the double-doors started extracting itself and moved around here and there as if having a mind of their own. 

 

The engravings scattered and rearranged themself into different kinds of patterns. Finally, they stopped moving, and the same outline of the double-doors was nowhere to be found. Only the engraving inscribed in the ancient language remained.

 

It was a strange sigh, indeed, seeing the engravings move as if they were alive. 

 

Well, I guessed there was nothing stranger than me suddenly turning into a woman, now was there?

 

I shook my head and read the inscriptions for the second time since I came here.

 

It said: BEYOND THIS DOOR LAY MINE MOST CHERISHED MAGICAL ARTIFACT, IF THOU WOULD TO OWN IT, DOTH SO AT THY PERILS.

 

Looking at it now, I really wanted to punch it into tiny pieces. Most cherished artifact, my ass. Were you telling me that King Sharron, the legendary king, enjoyed turning himself into a woman?

 

That’s ridiculous. Who would belie—

 

Interrupting my thought, a voice suddenly rang out in my head. 

 

“Congratulations. You have successfully conquered The Labyrinth of Trickery. Warning to the conqueror. Starting the self-destruct mechanism in three seconds….”

 

“What?” My eyes widened in surprise. 

 

What was that? The labyrinth of trickery? Conqueror? 

 

Wait, did it say self-destru—

 

Before I could finish thinking, the stone floor beneath me started to rumble. 

 

Cracks started appearing here and there; the walls, the ceiling, and the floor. Cracking noises appeared all over the place.

 

Not good.

 

Sensing a bad premonition, I swiftly turned around and started sprinting toward the gateway!

 

Bits and bits of debris started falling down as the whole place shook even more violently!

 

A crack sounded from above. A huge stone piece fell right in front of me. I dodged to the side. 

 

Another piece fell down again, right where I was. I dodged to another side and kept moving forward.

 

More and more pieces fell down. I kept dodging all of them left and right.

 

A crack came from the left. A large crack. I glanced through the corner of my eyes and saw a huge sculpture of an elven woman started falling down, coming right at me!

 

Shit!

 

Abruptly, I sent my mana into my feet. The buzzing sound rang out. I bursted the mana on the floor beneath my feet, sending out shockwaves, propelling me forward!

 

Immense impact came from behind me as the sculpture fell to the floor, sending bits and pieces of debris flying everywhere. The impact shook the whole place, making the other stone sculptures and pillars come right off of their place and start to fall down.

 

One by one, they fell. I bursted my mana beneath my feet and started leaping left and right, dodging all of them.

 

Closer now.

 

Then the whole ceiling started to crumble. It fell down right behind me and kept falling after me!

 

Closer now!

 

A big boulder fell from the left. I dodged to the right. A big boulder fell from the right. I dodged to the left.

 

Closer now!!

 

The crumbling ceiling kept falling and falling and was about to catch up. It got closer and closer!

 

Closer now!!!

 

The stone pillar fell from the left, the sculpture fell from the right, and the crumbling ceiling sent the tiny rocks brushing down the tips of my hair!

 

I gathered more mana into my feet and bursted it as hard as I could, propelling me forward at the speed of the dragon breath!

 

I went through the gateway right when the whole ceiling crumbled and filled up the whole place. Then came the walls, the pillar, the sculptors, and even the gateway itself. It came right down into the fallen piles of stone. 

 

I rolled on the ground a few times until I finally came to a stop and swiftly got up. I stood up hurriedly and turned around.

 

My eyes widened as I began to pant. A bead of perspiration rolled down my forehead like an ant crawling.

 

The place was gone. The sacred shrine of an elven city. It was now nothing but a pile of dust.

 

Damn it.

 

It was me who did this. How the hell would I explain this to the city’s mayor now that it came to this? 

 

Would they think of this as a sign of terrorism? Of what, an attack out of racism? From me, a renowned S-Rank adventurer?

 

No, more than that would they even remembe—

 

“W-W-What the hell!?”

 

A voice came from behind.