The reaper

S-rank gate

entering the gate, I was immediately hit with a wave of cold air. it felt like the time I entered a red gate for the first time with jin-ah and Song-yi following me inside. it was not a fun experience for them, not it was for me. once arriving, I was met with a large pathway. it wasnt made of bedrock like the usual, rather, they were proper walls. there were no windows but the walls were covered with fine mosaics and pristine decoration. I looked at the walls. they were painted with ornate images. I inspected the images. so far, they were just fancy images. so there were not much information he could speculate on them. 

Sighing in defeat, he surveyed the seemingly endless hallways before him. The width was wide enough to accommodate 30 people lined up in a single file, marching forward. 

the shadow army recently passed 1000 soldiers. considering the place they were in right now, I wasnt sure if I should let them explore the place themselves or I lead them myself. using my senses, I searched for traces of mana to find my way to the boss room. I could see the path, or rather, I could see a flash of light heading forward. sighing in annoyance, I followed the light. only to encounter a problem. the road was splitting into 3 ways. The light trail led me to all 3 of them. it was almost like the gate had 3 bosses. either I was about to encounter a whole new phenomenon, or there was some other trick. I knew I had to pick a path. 

this time, I summoned the shadow army. I divided the army in 3 and sent them to each directions, I was with one of them as well. as we continued to the hallways, I saw that the pathway began to separate into branches. and whats worse was that the light was also shining that way. I sent a group of shadows that way, only for them to return a minute later while shaking their heads. indicating to me that it was a dead end. that made me think that this was some sort of trick, more so than a new discovery. it seemed like this place was a sort of labyrinth. and all I had to do was to find the center.  

I returned to the beginning and recalled all of my soldiers. for now, their order was to explore and report back to me. 

day 1

as my soldiers explored the gate, they returned with information about the paths. so far I had confirmed that it was a labyrinth. but that information came with a cost the whole place was littered with magical and mechanical traps. the mechanical traps were much fewer in number, while the magical traps were much more common. my shadow soldiers were continuously killed by invisible magic circles that used ice spells. they varied from ice spikes, cryogenic explosions that incased them in ice, and even mobile ice constructs. and two biggest discovery of their expedition was finding out the type of monsters here and why the mana path seemed so obscured. because in one of the dead ends, igris encountered ice elves protecting a magical pylon. after its destruction, the light that was tricking my magical sense were gone. or at least in that area. that meant that there were more pylons like that in this labyrinth. not to mention this gate has ice elves. and given the size of the gate, there was going to be a lot.

day 2

after the destruction of the pylon. I was able to venture into inner parts of the labyrinth. thats when the the threat of this dungeon truly began. the first pylon we destroyed only had a few dozen elves guarding it. and considering the about of elves in front of me, I could only guess that the one we destroyed was a disposable one. or one that was designed to serve as an early warning system. or perhaps; all pylons or perhaps the whole dungeon is monitored and they were aware of us. either way my current task became a lot harder. the amount of magical traps also increased 10 times. not to mention the variety also changed. now they also served like mines. that trigged bunch of ice projectiles explode from the ground or from the walls that destroyed the shadows. iron and tusk were taking the lead thanks to their defensive abilities while igris were following behind them. while the others were not so far behind, jima, war runner and tank were having a hard time moving forward given their large sizes so they were moving from the behind. fenrir, magnet and forger were in the center. given the current situation, I ordered the shadow army to leaders to move in 3 groups. iron and tusk were the main strike force, leading the army from the front through the main path. tank was with them, clearing out the traps with his large body. the ice bears were also helping him. rest were tasked to clear out the branching paths. igris, fenrir, forger and magnet were the main attack forces of the other groups with jima and war runner doing the same thing as tank. and the other magic casters were divided evenly for protection. I felt bed using jima, tank and war runner like that. but considering the situation, that was the most efficient move.