‘Why did it turn out like this?’
My plan to leave the mansion at the crack of dawn ended in miserable failure.
No… Who would have thought Eliza would be up this early?
It seems my plan was doomed to fail because Eliza had prepared unusually thoroughly.
‘It seems like she’s been keeping a very close eye on me…’
Maybe I underestimated her.
Perhaps she had been monitoring me meticulously?
If this were a romantic comedy, the premise would be that she woke up early because she was too excited for our date, but this is a dark fantasy.
The premise here is that she kept such a close watch on me to ensure I had no hope.
It’s truly chilling and terrifying.
‘Is she focusing on navigating the labyrinth for now?’
Anyway, my escape failed, and I ended up forming a party with her.
Now, it’s just the two of us inside the labyrinth.
Honestly, it’s a very dangerous situation, but the one saving grace is that Eliza doesn’t seem to have any immediate plans to harm me.
She’s focused on navigating the labyrinth for now.
‘Look for an opportunity to slip away.’
Even in this situation, I haven’t given up hope yet.
If I can just find a way to escape, right?
Of course, under normal circumstances, I know how impossible it is to slip away from her watchful eyes, but this is a labyrinth.
Maybe while Eliza is distracted by the monsters, I can sneak away.
“I’ll handle it.”
“Sure…”
The problem is, there aren’t any monsters to distract her yet.
Her skills are truly insane.
“Krrrr… “
Two kobolds appeared in front of us.
The most common monsters on the first floor, but they’re not to be taken lightly.
A kobold’s greatest weapon is its speed.
Though weak, their quick movements allow them to strike from all directions.
The protagonist might take them down easily, but for an average warrior, it takes everything they’ve got to defeat just one.
This is a dark fantasy; even kobolds aren’t to be underestimated.
But even kobolds are no match for Eliza.
###
[Eliza spotted the kobolds.]
[Eliza activated her active skill: Assassinate]
[Critical hit triggered.]
[The kobold took 4444 damage.]
[The kobold took 4444 damage.]
[Two kobolds have been defeated.]
[Drop item: Kobold’s Magic Stone x2]
###
In the blink of an eye, Eliza had taken down the kobolds.
“Let’s go.”
“Okay.”
Watching Eliza expressionlessly pick up the kobold’s magic stone and walk away sent a shiver down my spine.
Why is she so strong?
‘She’s ridiculously strong.’
Seeing her like this really drives home the fact that she’s the hidden boss.
Eliza took down the kobolds in just three seconds.
The protagonist is impressive, but even they can’t compare to Eliza.
At this point in the story, Eliza is far stronger, which is to be expected.
After all, according to the lore, she wiped out an entire assassin clan at a young age.
Eliza is practically inhuman.
‘Her stats are just broken.’
Eliza’s strength comes from her stats, especially her agility.
[Strength E, Agility S, Endurance E, Magic B, Luck E, Skill C]
Her stats aren’t particularly high overall, but her agility stat alone makes her unstoppable.
‘Her skills are tailored for it.’
Her skills are also optimized to complement her agility.
[A-rank Skill: Path of the Assassin]
[All attacks have a 90% accuracy boost, and every attack triggers a critical hit. Critical hits deal 100% additional damage.]
[B-rank Skill: Acceleration]
[Agility stat receives a boost during combat. The boost increases the longer the battle lasts.]
[C-rank Skill: Natural Talent]
[All activities receive a talent buff.]
These are the skills I remember Eliza having, and it’s clear they’re ridiculously overpowered.
Especially Path of the Assassin and Acceleration—they’re just absurd.
How can a skill guarantee critical hits with bonus damage and make her already insane speed even faster?
And Natural Talent gives her a buff for all activities, including combat, further boosting her stats.
Eliza’s skills are all broken in their own right.
‘This is dark fantasy, after all.’
So, how is Eliza so strong?
Her absurd strength likely stems from the fact that she’s the protagonist’s enemy.
This is a dark fantasy world, after all—a world that’s merciless to the protagonist but overly generous to their enemies.
Getting hit even once is dangerous, and her speed makes her nearly impossible to catch, making her an extremely formidable boss.
When I played the game, I lost count of how many times Eliza killed me.
Of course, I managed to get through eventually using the infinite retry mechanic, but still, she’s truly something else.
‘If only Eliza were on my side.’
It’s a real shame.
I really did put in a lot of effort with Eliza.
If only… if only I could recruit the hidden boss as an ally, it could completely change the game’s dynamics.
With Eliza’s help, we could conquer the labyrinth and maybe even clear it.
I know it’s a long shot, but the potential payoff is so huge that I gave it my all.
‘I tried my best, though.’
The reason I treated Eliza so well wasn’t just to avoid getting killed—
I also wanted to recruit her as an ally.
Now, she’s recognized as the head maid and holds the second-highest authority in the mansion after the acting head.
But back then, I did everything I could to win her over.
‘She wasn’t always this curvy, you know.’
You can tell just by looking at her figure.
In the game, Eliza didn’t have such a voluptuous figure.
Compared to now, she was quite slim.
It’s only natural.
Who would treat a young, inexperienced maid well?
In a kinder world, maybe, but this is a dark fantasy world—a world that doesn’t care for the weak.
So, she went hungry quite often as a child, and because of that, she didn’t develop a particularly good figure even as she grew older.
It’s only because I took care of her that Eliza became who she is now.
In that sense, I don’t think my efforts with her were in vain.
I treated her like my own daughter, like a younger sister.
But sadly, it seems my plan failed.
She doesn’t seem to like me much.
‘Why does she have to kill monsters so terrifyingly?’
If anything, she might actually hate me.
You can tell just by the way she’s killing these monsters.
It’s like she’s showing off her strength to me.
After killing the kobolds, she kept glancing at me.
What’s the reason behind her actions?
It’s not hard to figure out.
‘If you try anything funny, you’ll end up like this,’ that kind of thing.
Can I really escape from her?
I’m starting to worry I might actually die today.
Despite my concerns, we steadily made our way through the labyrinth and safely reached the end of the first floor.
“The first floor was too easy. Shall we head to the second floor? What do you think, Master?”
“Sure.”
The stairs to the second floor were in sight.
If we go down there, we’ll face even stronger monsters.
Normally, I wouldn’t want to go, but I decided to proceed.
Going deeper might give me more chances to escape from Eliza.
Of course, it also increases the danger to myself, but for now, I need to focus on increasing those opportunities.
I told Eliza it was fine to proceed.
“Understood. Let’s take a short break and then head out.”
For now, it seems there’s still a chance.
But then, a sudden quest began.
“Before that, Master.”
Eliza stepped closer to me.
She closed the distance to less than a hand’s breadth, her doll-like, expressionless face now right in front of mine.
In this moment, she asked me a question.
“Is there anything you’d like to say to me, your hardworking, kind, and genius maid?”
I’m not sure why she’s asking this, but…
I have a feeling I need to answer carefully.
…….. i swear, this story has a really really mentally challenged MC