I Am Not Goblin Slayer

Chapter 410: The Mysterious Maze Second Layer

Vortex Town had become incredibly lively due to the influx of adventurers and associated personnel.Of course, this was only how it had been for the past few days. If you rolled the timeline back a month, the town would have been nearly deserted, with barely anyone in sight.

But perhaps this is the normal state for towns near dungeons: whether they get busy depends entirely on whether they can attract enough adventurers.

Both sides of the road in front of the maze entrance were jammed with shops occupying prime spots.

The storefront clerks were doing everything they could to hawk their wares.

Some were selling protective gear and weapons, some promoted various ointments and potions, and others pushed miscellaneous tools and items — things like gunpowder, oil, explosives, and poisons.

Surprisingly, the hottest sellers were none of the above. The best-selling items were the most ordinary and easily overlooked: food and drinking water.

"Pure wheat ale, one can for 30 copper coins, clearance sale, don't miss it!"

"Black bread, get your black bread here!"

"Oatmeal, convenient and portable."

There’s a saying: you need to eat your fill before you can work hard.

The same applied to adventurers.

Even if the food was ordinary, for the vast majority of adventurers it was indispensable.

After all, if a person stops eating and drinking, they will die.

The maze environment was complex; an accident could leave someone trapped inside, unable to come out. So preparing enough food and water ahead of time was key for long-term underground exploration.

Even Gauss and his party were no exception.

However, they did not need to buy expensive rations and water at the maze entrance — they had stocked up well before departure.

As for why, when Serlandul possessed Create Provisions and the group’s spellcasters could use water magic, they still bought basic dry rations and drinks, it wasn’t that they had more money than sense.

Serlandul’s Create Provisions still consumed his energy, and with his capability he could not support a team of hundreds. Create Provisions was an emergency option, not a daily method.

Moreover, water generated by ordinary water magic could not be drunk directly.

It contained a large amount of mana. Most people could not assimilate it; if they consumed too much, the abnormal mana build-up would clog organs and kill them.

Of course, if the drinker was Gauss, with the aid of the Feast talent, there should be no abnormal reaction.

Gauss and his party queued at the spiral-shaped maze entrance.

Ivan and the others began final checks, including headcounts and inventory.

These tasks were tedious, but still indispensable.

After all, this wasn’t a small team. Once the numbers reached triple digits, if one or two people suddenly went missing, it would be hard to notice in a short time.

This is why adventuring groups split into squads internally, and larger squads had further subdivisions — to break a large structure down so members could check on each other.

"Leader Gauss, count complete. Personnel and materials are all correct."

"Let's enter the maze."

Gauss nodded.

He took the lead and walked forward, and the long line behind him slowly descended the huge steps.

Perhaps infected by their disciplined momentum, other lone-wolf adventurers and small parties subconsciously followed in their wake.

For a moment, the procession under the Red Dragon banner was a dense, dark mass, like a military unit of several hundred men.

Timberbell Maze, First Underground Layer

Emerging from the deep, endless staircase, they entered an extremely expansive hall.

Gauss looked up and glanced around several times.

"Compared to the last time we were here, this hall seems bigger," Aria said in wonder. Her light silver-blue eyes sparkled like bright stars, reflecting attractive light in the dim environment.

Gauss turned at the sound and found himself looking at her eyes a little longer than usual.

The hall had indeed grown larger, and it was visibly clear that this area had undergone a "refresh." The traces left by previous human adventurers had been wiped away; the buildings and camps on the ground were newly built.

There were still Adventurers Guild buildings on the first underground layer.

Some lower-tier adventurers clustered around them, checking to see if there were commissions they could take.

"Gather intel on the western passage."

"Kill 10 Slimes and submit their cores."

"An abnormal python is occupying the east side; it needs a squad to hunt it down."

...

Perhaps because the second layer had only recently opened, many commissions were being posted, and adventurers excitedly discussed and shared commission information.

That was precisely the purpose of the Adventurers Guild. With it or without it meant completely different situations for lower-tier adventurers.

The guild provided basic order and safety. Under normal circumstances, no matter how strong an adventurer was, they had to restrain their edge and malice in front of the guild building.

Unless that person could confidently clear everyone present instantly and seal off all information, the moment word leaked they would face severe punishment from the strongest institutions on the human continent.

Gauss only glanced briefly before retracting his gaze.

As he’d said earlier, he wasn’t interested in first-layer commissions.

A few dozen copper or silver coins were mosquito bites to him, not even worth listing as scraps.

"Leader, we've found the entrance that leads to the second layer."

"Good work."

After lingering a moment in the first-layer hall, Gauss led his people out under many watching eyes.

Only after they left did the surrounding crowd's hushed volume return to normal.

"Another adventuring group arrived!"

"Looks like they aren’t a local Barry team."

"They look so strong."

"I wish I were part of that group, then I wouldn’t have to stay on the first layer; I could go deeper."

"Move aside! Move aside! Slimes falling from the sky!"

"Prepare to fight!"

With several shouts, the resting adventurers grabbed their nearby weapons and went into combat stances.

That was the maze: monsters could appear at any moment.

The entrance to the second layer wasn’t very close to the first-layer hall, but fortunately the monsters encountered along the way were quickly dealt with, so their progress wasn’t delayed.

Most monsters on the first layer were lower-tier species without official challenge levels. Even if Gauss didn’t act, a few people pulled from his group could clear them out.

So there was nothing much notable about the kills.

After an hour, Gauss’s party arrived at the entrance.

The maze had been open for a little over a week.

Although the entrance location changed frequently, the first layer had the most people, so adventurers regularly shared the positions of the entry points leading down.

A lot of people gathered at the entrance — those, like Gauss, preparing to go to the second layer, or those who had just come up from it.

Around the not-very-wide entryway, many handwritten signs hung.

"This is the second layer entrance."

"Second layer dangerous, please be careful!!"

"Beware of spiders, folks!"

These were warnings left by "seniors" who had explored the second layer, intended to prevent underpowered but curious adventurers from wandering in and losing their lives.

Whether these signs were effective was another matter.

Those intent on courting death would likely not be swayed by a few brief sentences.

Gauss couldn't help but recall the information about the second layer from that adventuring-group-leader publication he’d read.

Strange, all dungeon internals generally scaled in tiers: higher floors were progressively more dangerous.

For example, the second layer should be more dangerous than the first, and the third more dangerous than the second.

But in Timberbell Maze, the second layer seemed special. According to guild reconnaissance, its danger level was oddly higher than the third layer, and it could even contain some over-the-spec powerful monsters.

From that angle, Timberbell was not very friendly to novices.

Who expects to hit a boss just leaving the starter village?

Gauss had suffered for this himself. The last time he explored the maze, he was driven to the brink by a Spider-Demon whose challenge level seemed to be around Level 4. He nearly died in the maze.

If he remembered correctly, he killed the juvenile of that adult Spider-Demon, then used a Teleportation Scroll to teleport away from the spot, and was later found by the half-snake Serlandul, who rescued him from the maze.

He wondered if that adult Spider-Demon was still alive now?

Thinking back, he could still recall the peril of that moment — one second later and he would have been split in two by those sharp stepping legs.

It was absurd: the first layer was supposed to be a novice map teeming with low-level monsters, yet on the second layer he’d met a Level 4 Spider-Demon. He admitted his luck may have been bad then, but that monster shouldn’t have belonged to the second layer.

Combine that with the arena he encountered on the second layer and the sealed mysterious green pavilion — the second layer clearly held secrets and could not simply be treated as a normal second layer.

While he pondered, people around began forming teams.

"The second layer isn't suitable for exploration. We're going to take the guild's safe route straight to the third. Anyone want to join?"

"Add us!"

"We will too!"

...

As the saying goes, "where there's a policy, there's a countermeasure." After learning of the complexity and danger of the second layer, adventurers chose to skip it if they couldn't handle it.

If it's dangerous, simply don't operate on that layer and go straight to the third.

From time to time, the guild would produce a relatively safe route.

After all, not every area in the second layer was dangerous; avoid certain places and you could reach the third-layer entrance smoothly.

Of course, others went the opposite way. Fascinated by the second layer's oddities, they deliberately stayed behind to investigate and search for hidden secrets unique to the second layer.

"Do you want to team up?"

Someone turned to look at the newly arrived Gauss.

Before Gauss could respond, the person saw the neat line of Red Dragon Guild members behind him and awkwardly said,

"Sorry, disturbing you."

Gauss blinked and watched the man slink off to ask other groups about joining.

He had no intention of joining the queue heading to the third layer.

After one more headcount, Gauss led his people into the passage that led to the second layer's "Verdant World."

They stepped out of the tunnel.

The air shimmered with a peculiar ripple.

Gauss carefully felt the subtle motion.

The energy fluctuation in the air felt familiar, somewhat like the instant mana surge when Dimension Door was cast, but also different.

As the ripple subsided, a surge of lush vitality washed over them.

The second layer unfolded as a world of vigorous green.

Beside the passage, many adventurers had pitched tents.

Those inside glanced at the large group entering the second layer, but when they saw the fluttering Red Dragon banner, they averted their eyes without a trace.

Gauss wasn’t surprised this place had become a temporary rest point for adventurers.

Unlike the ever-moving entrance, the exit position was fixed. There were many advantages to camping here: everyone emerged from here, so you could meet the most adventurers and look out for one another.

Also, if something went wrong, they could return to the previous layer via the fixed exit node.

Gauss checked his mental map; after a "version update" the maze map had changed dramatically, and the previous map was useless.

Fortunately, before entering they had bought a set of maps — internal maps for layers one, two, and three.

Currently, adventurers had mapped the first three layers relatively well; the first expedition teams appeared to be stationed at the fourth layer.

Gauss wondered about the green pavilion; he didn’t know where it appeared after the map update.

But one thing was known: it seemed not to have been discovered by many people yet.

Perhaps someone had found it and quietly kept it to themselves, like Gauss did.

Because there was no market information selling the green pavilion, Gauss didn’t know exactly where it was, but he knew where it wouldn’t be.

That is, it likely wouldn't be in already-charted safe zones.

Safe zones had heavy foot traffic; if it were nearby, many would have already recorded it.

That also meant Spider-Demons probably lurked within those "dangerous areas."

Of course, this danger applied mainly to lower-tier adventurers. With Gauss’s current Transcendent-level power, he expected no real threat.

"Follow me."

Gauss didn’t hesitate much and led the way.

Not knowing the target’s exact location?

No problem. Explore all the dangerous areas and you’ll find it.

Besides, he thought encountering that Spider-Demon or other dangerous monsters along the way would be fine — revenge, after all, is sweet.

He believed the odds of meeting a Spider-Demon were fairly high.

First, apart from the local Barry teams that occupied the area, the Red Dragon Guild had reached the maze quite early.

Other adventuring teams pushed as deep as possible, racing to find entry points.

They wouldn’t waste energy lingering on the second layer.

The reason was simple: although everyone could see the second layer’s strangeness, was it worth delaying progress for an uncertain payoff?

Larger teams especially needed to prioritize stable returns.

Deep-layer rewards were obvious; the second layer’s rewards were just vague speculation.

If not for his prior exploration experience, Gauss probably would have led his people straight down as well.

As for the Red Dragon Guild members, they didn’t object much to Gauss’s decision.

That was the power of the Proof of Leadership: it subtly rooted obedience and recognition of Gauss’s leadership in the team members’ minds.

And even without the Proof of Leadership, Gauss’s formidable strength was enough to instill trust.