Cthulhu Gonfalon

In the gloomy underground maze, there was a group of plumy “adventurers” that were running wild breathlessly.

Suddenly, the leader noticed pink gleams.

The brilliance wasn’t strong but gave him a sense of security. He faintly felt the place where the light was must be safe. Hence, he immediately clamoured, elevated the soul and ran towards that direction.

That moment, everyone had already lost the ability to differentiate direction, like a herd of mountain goats running behind the “bellwether.”

Not knowing after how long, they took another turn and there was a sudden brightness. There was a bonfire with raging flames on an empty land nearby. Next to the bonfire, there was two small tents and a brawny man that was boiling a pot of hot soup that gave out a delicious smell that filled the air.

“Safe zone!”

“It’s safe zone!”

“We are saved!”

“God… We finally escaped!”

They ran and stumbled forward, dashing to the bonfire immediately, and they felt their minds at peace then.

They felt relaxed and weariness suddenly surfaced. Most of the people didn’t even bother eating but barged into the tent straightway and wrapped themselves under the blankets to sleep.

The fat man was finally strong willed. He held back his urge to rest and have a good sleep but approached the brawny man who was boiling soup.

“Hey bro… Are you the attendant nt the maze?”

The man lifted his head and looked at him suspiciously. Then, he shook his head.

“What do you do then?”

“Lifeguard.” The brawny man answered. “To drag and throw those tourists who are lost and have no strength but use their last breath to shout “I am dying” into the tent. That is my job.”

The fat man recalled the buffoonery of himself and his troop earlier, and couldn’t help but laugh in embarrassment as he continued to ask, “So, bro, you are an adventurer then?”

“Yeah, but I have retired.” The brawny man seemed a little upset. “During an adventure, I got shot on my knee.”

“Got shot on your knee? Then, aren’t you crippled?”

“Yeah, for quite some time,” The man answered, “until I believed in Void Mask Majesty, and Master Steele helped me to heal my knee. I pledged to devote my heart and soul to the master….”

“Then how did you come to be a lifeguard?” The fat man asked out of curiosity.

“Master said that she’d prefer to go solo, with no burden,” The brawny man sighed. “I, a man who is seven feet tall, responsible for my own bow and horse, skilled in guns and spears, good at swords too, who could even use stone rope; at the end of the day, I am only a burden!”

The fat man was shocked and he couldn’t believe that an expert who was highly skilled at all kinds of martial arts became a brawny lifeguard in the underground maze. He couldn’t help but ask, “If you are so amazing, why did you become a lifeguard?”

He shook his head and replied with a bitter smile, “I’m amazing? How am I amazing? Look at the theme park, even a legendary expert could only guard the main entrance. I, as a mid-range adventurer; what could I do?”

The fat man stunned and asked, “The giant at the main entrance of the theme park, it wasn’t a projection driven with magic?”

“Of course not. Have you ever seen any magic projection that responsive?”

The fat man laughed and turned around. He wiped cold sweat off his head.

Not long ago, when the entire family came for travel, his son wiped his mucus onto the “magic projection” before… Luckily, the giant had good temperament. Otherwise, with one slap, their entire family would have been turned into a meatloaf.

He made decision in secret; before the trip ended, he must buy some drinks for the giant to apologize.

As a businessman that was unworthily associated with people from all over for many years, he knew the concept of being a decent man.

He originally wanted to chat but the brawny man gave him a bowl of soup. The chicken and vegetables that were stewed thoroughly mixed together nicely, and the mashed oats were specially sifted from the chaff. It was fragrant and warm and it suddenly reminded him of his weariness. He excused himself from the brawny lifeguard and got into the tent. He lied under the blanket and slept soundly in the next moment.

“This bastard is so free!” W hen all of them slept soundly, the brawny man shook his head and turned into a pink piglet with wings with a bright shine.

In the underground maze, there was no light at all. Where would the lifeguard be!

If it wasn’t because it was inappropriate to travel around after turning into a pig, she wouldn’t stay in.

She covered the pot and left it near the bonfire, to ensure it wouldn’t be boiled dry nor cool down. She added firewood that was processed with magic into the bonfire and flew away.

At the same time, there was another bunch of tourists who started their adventure that required some watching over.

At the entrance of underground city, a young businessman, Cliff, was gawking in terror at a half-Orc that had a smile plastered on its face. Although it looked friendly, instinct told him that it was very dangerous.

“Four adventurers, right?” That leopard tribe knight errant who used to hunt magic beasts as a living was currently working as an underground city registrar. It looked at the four of them before saying suspiciously, “Honestly, there are few of you.”

“Normally, adventurers go in groups of four to five, right?” Cliff’s friend, Reggaeton asked suspiciously.

“Those are true adventurers. Even the weakest among them, could at least run for two hours and above straight, with a full body armor on, and be skilled in at least three weapons. All of you can’t be compared to them.”

“But we don’t need to deal with those magic beasts that are really dangerous, right?” Cliff’s other friend, Weisz, said. “I saw the brochure of the maze, didn’t it say ‘safety guaranteed’?”

“It’s said so, but if the capability of the adventurer team were to be too weak, the adventure wouldn’t last long,” The gatekeeper explained. “Once they encounter danger, the adventure would be ended forcibly. If that happens it means that you wasted your money!”

Speaking of money, the young lads laughed. Reggaeton patted heavily the shoulder of his comrade who was a man of few words.

“It’s rare that stingy John is willing to treat us a taste for feeling of adventure. Even if we were knocked out by a giant dragon right after we entered, it wouldn’t be considered wasted!”

Looking at their strong will, the gatekeeper stopping persuading them but took out a thick booklet for them to register.

“On the top of the page, write down the name of your team… What? You haven’t thought of a team name yet? Then how about using a name that God conferred? There would be additional benefit! … Alright, use the name that God conferred then, let me read the incantation… Mm… The name ‘Sees a White Scientist and Kills Him Immediately’ is quite weird, but the search range of the entire team would increase by one, that is very useful… Alright, confirm taking this name, alright? Write down all four of your names. You don’t have to write it yourself, even if you can’t read and write, it’s okay. I can fill in for all four of you… Lastly, the date. Done.”

He closed the booklet, and smiled at the four as he bowed.

“Registration has been completed. Rest assured! Please enjoy the magical adventure!”

Before he finished the sentence, the ground below the four’s feet suddenly had a big hole, and the four young lads screamed in terror while they fell into the hole out of sight.

With four thumps, they landed on a thick pile of grass.

“Is this perfectly safe? Cliff climbed up, clenching his teeth. He smiled bitterly as he looked at the surrounding buildings in the dark, and he looked up to see the starry “sky” above his head. He couldn’t help but compliment, “This is so magical!”

After a while, everyone gradually relaxed and got up. Then, they realized that they had changed into the outfits of adventurers. Full leather armor, and everyone was equipped with weapons.

“Hey?! These swords look good!” Reggaeton, who was in the weapons business, drew the sword and flicked it with his finger. It gave out a delicate ring in his ear. “The steel material is quite good.”

“According to the brochure, after the adventure has ended, the equipment that we found can be taken,” Cliff said. “Before that, I thought even if the equipment could be taken, it would probably be some metal scraps… From what I see now, this seems quite sincere!”

“Yeah, taking in consideration the equipment’s value, the entrance fee is not that hard to accept.”

Just as they were chit chatting, John withdrew the long gun from the holster behind his back and aimed at a corner in the dark with his guard up.

His action reminded everyone else and they took out their weapons to prepare for battle.

Then, the shadow in the dark shook and a few huge mushrooms that were almost the height at a commoner’s chest walked out, wobbly.

Although these adventurers’ postures were messed up and in the eyes of professional adventurers, they were only a disorderly mob, it wouldn’t be a problem for them to deal with the bunch of huge mushrooms that had short limbs.

After a battle that had no standards at all, the huge mushrooms slowly fell on the ground and turned into remains that had no vigour.

“Phew! Phew!” Reggaeton who put in the most effort in the battle earlier was panting and had yet to recover. He still maintained a nervous situation. “It is… too thrilling!”

“Don’t be ‘thrilled,’ let’s get going.” Cliff, who had memorized the brochure and manual, patted his shoulders. “We need to get to the safe zone as fast as possible.”

Just then, John, who had always been quiet, hung his head low. He took out a short knife from a pocket in his leather boot and cut a piece of the huge mushroom.

“What do you want this for?” Weisz asked.

“This can be eaten,” John said. “We. Need. Food.”

Reggaeton was shocked and said, “These are magic creatures! How can they be eaten!”

“Earthworm flesh, magic creature, 200 gold coins for one order.”

“That’s different!”

“Think carefully about what John said; it does make sense…” Cliff couldn’t help but nod, and cut a small piece with a short knife. He put it under his nose and smelled carefully. “It really does seem edible.”

“All of you are crazy! These are magic creatures!”

In the end, due to Reggaeton’s strong objection, they didn’t bring the remains of the huge mushrooms that could probably be food.

The “Sees a White Scientist and Kills Him Immediately” adventurer team advanced with care in the dark underground. They had no map and they had no idea where they were. Astronavigation that was also considered a highly technical skill among adventurers; they obviously had no idea about it.

Hence, they could only walk around like a headless fly. If one were to look down from the sky, one could tell that they went through buildings or ruins, unconsciously drifting away from the direction they travelled at the very beginning, and started going in circles.

If they were only just walking, maybe they would have realized this. But they were actually not that free. Within ten minutes, they ran into the second bunch of enemies.

These were a bunch of dwarfs that looked red all over, and didn’t look like any kind of man. Every one of them was carrying a suspicious bone club. When they saw them, they suddenly roared with laughter and dashed towards them.

“What should we do? Do we beat them?” Reggaeton suddenly held his sword and asked nervously.

Everyone looked at each other but had no idea what to do.

They made a decision really quickly.

Looking at the enormous number of enemies getting close, the timid Weisz finally couldn’t hold his fear but shouted “Run!” and turned around to flee.

The scream was like a signal gun. All four of them turned around together with their backs toward the enemy, and ran like mad.