Weed gets noticed by a demon and he immediately uses the Splendorous Sword skill (which he learned from Zahab, which turned out to be a Master Swordsman in addition to a Master Engraver) sending seven eagles of light flying out of his sword to hit the demon. However, the skill does insignificant damage (240 hp, 267 hp, etc.) It is then explained that the demons cannot exist (or are severely weakened) on the surface of Versailles (name of the continent) where the Gods hold reign. The only way for them to manifest is to either create a contract with somebody like a warlock or possess a body. However, in the depths of the earth, they are able to exert considerable power. The demon lashes out its whip at Weed which he avoids, noting how the whip had a large attack range, was fast, and difficult to avoid. Furthermore, there was a type of a sharp needle coated with scorpion poison (either that or a scorpion like creature from hell that was attached to the whip) so if an attack lands, Weed would be left open to further hits. Although he dodged the attack, he still took 532 damage just from the collateral damage. Also, he became more vulnerable to illness and had reduced healing. The rest of the paladins have managed to come down the stair by now and they charge at the demon while the priests cast recovery spells on him. Weed notices how although divine powers are extremely effective against demonic beings, the demon has a level around the 500s. The demon uses Unholy Corruption (google trans name: Holy corruption) to reduce the effectiveness of divine power and the physical force of those with divine power (it notes that if somebody’s faith stat and level is low, they may betray their comrades due to this ability). The demon then proceeds to use Hand of Oppression, holds its left hand into the air, and clenches it (its right hand is still brandishing the whip). However, a Paladin was suddenly lifted by what seems to be an invisible giant hand, his armor and shield distorted under strong pressure. The demon then uses Fragments of a Corrupted Soul and sends out a black explosion in all directions. Because 2 people have already died, Weed decides to summon Van Hawk and Tori. He originally didn’t want to summon them because the morale of the Paladin’s and Priests may drop more quickly if they are fighting with a death knight and vampire. With everybody’s help, they eventually manage to overwhelm the demon and everybody’s reputation rises by 140. In the end, 3 people died. Weed then recalls how the Morningstar’s raid group was eventually wiped out in a battle against 13 demons at once, and notes how he must be careful (?). Weed then takes care of the sword and armor of his group before heading into the labyrinth.
Weed orders Bach to take the vanguard, to which Bach agrees to before Bach uses Warcry (idk what this actually is, I just made this up). This increases the max health, max mana, damage, critical strike damage, fighting spirit and ability (idk what this is), of the party. After a fight where 2 people died, Weed began to stop and carefully consider his strategies, seeing as a total of 11 people have already died even though they were fighting defensively (?). They reach a crossroad in the labyrinth, and Weed turns left (it turns out that Weed has been choosing to go left at every crossroad). It mentions how due to space expansion, space distortion, and illusion magics, this labyrinth is immensely difficult. Furthermore, the spatial distortion will only get worse once they get deeper into the labyrinth, resulting in endless waves of battles with demons (because they can approach a raiding party from almost anywhere quickly due to the large amount of spatial distortion). This is the Roderick Labyrinth.
Yu Byeon Jun (creator of Royal Road) is watching his screen delightedly, enjoying Weed’s struggles. The A.I. Versailles speaks up and a state how there is only a 0.2% chance of the group of paladins and priests clearing the dungeon. Even if Weed’s fighting ability was included, that would only increase the odds to .23%. Finally, even if the living sculptures were included, the odds will be at most 5%. The director considers Weed foolish and reckless for not bringing the sculptures with him. He continues watching a fight Weed was having (3 people died), and finds it a little bit boring because Weed’s only fighting 1 or 2 demons at a time. Versailles then speaks up and says that she has calculated Weed’s chances of success of clearing the dungeon, which turns out to be 46.7%. Shocked, the creator asks if she thinks she calculated it wrong. However, Versailles has stated that she calculated it 316,820 times. Because of this new fact, Yu Byeong Jun’s (note: Google trans interprets his name into Yubyeongjun. I just split it up because it sounds better imo) mood fell quickly.
Scene switches to Bach, who is taunting the demons to attack him (he has high magic and curse resistance as well as the best armor Emperor Arpen can give him). While Bach is tanking the damage, Derry who is wielding Lou’s sword, attack the demons from the side. Weed is staying in the back of the devoting all of his attention to conducting the fight. His conducting has changed drastically compared to before, with him now telling each and every group of paladins exactly what to do (it compares him directing them to a conductor conducting an orchestra). However, he was still losing a couple units to demons every time. This is because the demons have extremely high defense and vitality. Furthermore, when they were about to die, they choose to give up their defense and engage in a relentless assault. When ~30 units have been lost, he stopped the group and started making food for the group as well. Although this means that the Paladins are in perfect condition before every fight, this also slowed down their rate of exploration. Weed then continues on, thinking how they must fight as much as possible because there must be a clue somewhere in the labyrinth about how to navigate it. The group then stops to sleep (they take shifts so they aren’t left unguarded) and Jaden goes ahead to dismantle to the traps.
The scene shifts to Arpen, with villages developing so fast that players who have come back after a month are unsure if they’re in the right town or not. Also, Mora is so prosperous now that it has become the obvious choice if one wanted to start in the north. In addition, Bent Castle (the castle full of Niflheim knights) has pledged its allegiance to Mora. This means that it was possible for people to now learn horseback combat techniques of the Niflheim Empire as well as other knight skills. Another large change is the appearance of Lavias above Mora. After some discussion among the Porridge cult, they decided to include the Avians in their group. The discussion then turned how Weed hasn’t been heard from since the hummingbird travels and Splendorous Fencing quest, and how Weed has went to the church to recruit a large number of paladins and priests. One person asks if they think Weed will succeed, to which another replied “Of course, he’s Weed!”
Scene shifts once more to a Hermes guild meeting where they are talking about the integration of the captured kingdoms into their, the development of their military, and the construction of the Imperial Palace (it was mentioned there was a delay because they didn’t have the much artists/architects because all of the great ones have all left to go to Mora). We also find out that Hermes campaign to conquer the entire continent will start the day that the palace is complete. The discussion then shifts to Weed, and one person says that Weed has left for Roderick’s Labyrinth. Rafael (Hermes guild commander/leader) wonders at how ridiculously hard the Master quests are for Sculptors but then dismisses that thought, judging that Weed will lose a significant amount of carving skill from dying in the labyrinth. One of the subordinates asks if they should do anything about Weed but Rafael shakes his head, thinking about how Roderick’s Labyrinth has defeated anybody who tried to challenge it. Even the elite Morningstar guild was annihilated by the combination of monsters, traps and the maze. Rafael then says that Weed will die in Roderick’s Labyrinth.