Resolved to see this through, Benny had properly armed himself with new monster armor, especially the scorpion carapace, which was sturdy enough to serve as protection. It wasn't too shabby. He'd managed to make it fit himself, and although the material was definitely hard on the outside, it was softer and more flexible inside. This made it easier to shape if you cut from the inside and broke off pieces rather than trying to cut through the outer shell.
No wonder the scorpions could move so flexibly with all that armor when he'd watched them battle the rabbits.
Now every part of him had hard armor covering it. For now, he couldn't make a shield since he still lacked the necessary materials to craft one. Weapon-wise, he still had his old broken sword, but it would need replacement soon. It was reaching its limits no matter how much he sharpened it. It remained a broken weapon that had started to reach the end of its usefulness.
But Benny was no weaponsmith, so he had no idea how to build a weapon from the materials he possessed. Even if he did, he didn't have the proper tools and equipment to make one. So he'd have to satisfy himself with what he had for now. The bones of the monsters he'd killed would suffice as weapons, but they were rather limited in use. They weren't tempered steel, just handcrafted items made by a novice.
Moving forward, he was now set and ready to conquer this first floor. How would he do that? Well, simply put, he no longer wanted to overthink it. He'd think like one of the mutated rats. He'd have to become one with them. That's right, it was a straightforward and simple approach since nothing else he'd tried seemed to work.
Now, how would he achieve such a feat? Simply by capturing one of the rats and making it go directly toward the invisible illusory field while he was strapped to it. Yes, he'd have to ride the rat toward that place.
It was easier said than done, but this was his only option left. Although labyrinth floors weren't meant to be conquered by destroying whatever summoned these monsters, since they actually used that mechanism to spawn monsters repeatedly so raiders could attack over and over again.
It would be Benny who'd think of such an absurd method like going into the monsters' lair to destroy it. But for Benny, that was the actual point of the labyrinth, or so he thought.
To find a rat appropriate for capture, he'd have to literally jump on its back on the way to their lair so the rat would get startled. Instead of fighting him off its back, it would rush toward the dimensional barrier or whatever magical bullshit this was.
After waiting in an elevated spot for a while, he finally got to see his plan in action. The rats had finished their foraging and were beginning to return home. It seemed the rat population that had come out of their lair had increased, so he chose to jump onto the back of the last monster.
As the final mutated rat began to enter the space, he quickly jumped on its back. As expected, the rat got startled and rushed to get inside the invisible wall.
Benny closed his eyes. "Here we go." Hoping his plan would work, a weird sensation came over him as they passed through the dimensional warp.
When he opened his eyes, an entirely new world lay before him. It wasn't dark and damp like the labyrinth. It had a sun shining above, though many canopies and shades from enormous trees covered the land beneath. The rats went on their way home, and of course, before he could be noticed further, Benny jumped away from the rat he'd used to enter this space.
He hid somewhere and observed. The rat was rather confused, rolling on the ground and looking at its back.
Benny observed in silence. This place was an ecosystem of its own. But the curious thing was, couldn't the rats see? Inside the labyrinth, they acted blind or something to light. So how were they fine here when there was more light occupying the entirety of this place?
"This is such fucking bullshit," Benny said.
But there was something else amiss that he just realized. "I know I've lived where the sun is up like this, but wouldn't I also get blinded by this sensation when I opened my eyes?" What the fuck. He just realized he felt no extreme pain or discomfort, especially when his eyes had grown accustomed to the darkness and whatever dim light he'd had in his sanctuary.
Now, as much as he'd like to stay here and gather information, he didn't know this place well enough to consider such dangerous thoughts. It was an unknown place, home to these mutated rats and whatever else lived here.
Another curious thing was why these rats entered the dimensional warp when this place was so abundant with food. What were they eating inside the labyrinth that made them venture out there?
He had more questions now than answers.
Only time would tell. For now, it was time to follow the trail of the rats, which was easier considering the ground mimicked natural land instead of the stony mountain floor of the labyrinth, which left no trails.
So he'd best follow that route while leaving clues so he could find his way back inside the labyrinth.
For now, his journey to this alien place was just beginning.
The forest around him was unlike anything he'd ever seen. The trees were massive, their trunks easily wide enough that a dozen men holding hands couldn't encircle them. The air smelled different too, cleaner somehow, with scents of growing things and earth that the labyrinth's stale atmosphere had never carried.
But it wasn't just the environment that felt alien. Something about the light itself seemed off. It was sunlight, definitely, but it didn't behave quite right. The shadows fell at strange angles, and colors seemed more vivid than they should be.
"Where the hell am I?" he muttered, following the clear trail the rats had left in the soft earth.
The path wound through the massive trees, and as he walked, he began to notice other signs of life. Not just the rats, but insects he'd never seen before, plants that seemed to shimmer slightly in the weird light, and distant sounds that might have been other creatures moving through the forest.
This wasn't just a hiding place for the rats. This was an entire world, hidden behind that invisible barrier in the labyrinth. The question was: what else was hiding here, and how the hell was he going to get back when he was done exploring?