Reborn with Infinity Skill Points, I Enslaved All Universes-Chapter 54 --Terra Fortress

A level-60 underground labyrinth?

Daniel narrowed his eyes slightly—not out of concern, but from sheer anticipation.

His goal wasn’t just to become the first person this year to enter the Challenger’s Labyrinth, but to break the record and become the undisputed benchmark for all adventurers.

As for the difficulty level? He didn’t even hesitate—Hell Mode, of course.

Normally, Hell Mode was five to ten times harder than the normal setting.

Considering this underground labyrinth already started at level 60, enabling Hell Mode meant it could easily spike to the equivalent of level 80 in terms of difficulty.

And right after Hell Mode... there was another tier: a locked difficulty known as Legendary Mode.

Based on past experiences, this Legendary difficulty demanded adventurers of at least level 100, and even then, they needed to possess S-grade or higher talents and form a solid, elite team to stand a chance of clearing it.

Naturally, the higher the difficulty, the greater the rewards.

For many top-tier powerhouses, even those ranked at the demigod level, the Legendary Challenger’s Labyrinth was a sacred battleground—an event they made time for every year.

But that presented a different kind of challenge.

Despite their strength, even those elite veterans couldn’t enter Legendary Mode immediately—because the mode wasn’t unlocked by default. They first had to clear Hell Mode.

Which meant:

By choosing Hell Mode, Daniel had unknowingly stepped into the same arena of competition as the strongest human elites—not just fellow newbies from his Awakening cohort.

The only reason those powerhouses hadn’t shown up yet was due to the labyrinth’s current restrictions.

"...Maybe I’m being a bit overconfident?"

Daniel chuckled to himself.

But doubt didn’t linger long. Without further hesitation, he selected "Enter" and stepped into the labyrinth.

Terra Fortress—

The largest city ever constructed by the gnome race.

Though located deep beneath the surface, this underground metropolis wasn’t just vast—it was the most prosperous city on the entire continent, bar none.

The reason was simple: the most advanced technological achievements of the gnome race were all concentrated here.

It was thanks to technology that the gnomes had risen to be one of the Top Ten Races of the world.

And as their technology continued to evolve, so too did their strength—so much so that they had even begun to outshine the once-dominant human race.

But while no one paid it much attention...

In the shadows of Terra Fortress, buried within a filthy slum, something was stirring.

A basement.

A stench.

Even the gnomes—who were used to grime, grease, and garbage—found the smell unbearable.

"Are all the preparations complete?"

"They are. Everything is ready. Tonight, Terra Fortress will witness the most glorious fireworks in its history."

"Praise be to art! Soon, all the creatures of the world will come to understand what true artistry really means!"

"Our name—as artists—shall echo across the world after tonight!"

What followed was a burst of hysterical laughter, bordering on maniacal.

These figures in the basement looked like gnomes... but not quite.

From the center of each of their foreheads, a blood-red vertical eye had grown—creepy and disturbing.

"Come," said one of them. "Before the world trembles beneath the name of our art, let us first admire this masterpiece ourselves."

They turned, eyes wide with excitement and madness, to face the massive mechanical structure in the corner of the room.

A colossal, circular steam-powered construct—engraved all over with impossibly intricate runes.

Had a human arch-scholar been present, they’d have collapsed in shock.

Why?

Because the complexity of these engravings was beyond mortal comprehension.

Standard runes—the smallest of them—were typically 3 millimeters in size. But these ones?

They had been miniaturized by three full orders of magnitude.

And here’s the kicker:

The more runes a magical device had, the more powerful it became.

Double the runes, double the power.

Now imagine this: these runes were 100 times smaller per unit, and shrunk by three units. That’s a multiplication of 100 × 100 × 100...

In simple terms, this steam device was potentially a million times more powerful than the strongest steam weapon currently known across all races!

A million times stronger.

Let that sink in.

The strongest known steam weapons could already injure demigod-level opponents.

So what would happen if a device’s destructive potential were magnified a million-fold?

Even a true god would be at serious risk of death.

The "artists" grinned like madmen, admiring their creation with rapture.

Then, one of them pointed to a clock on the wall.

"It’s time," he declared. "Time to show the world the greatness of our art."

Instantly, all the other "artists" turned solemn and focused.

Without missing a beat, they began attaching final components to the circular steam device—components they had prepared long in advance.

Then, taking up a torch, one of them lit the steam engine core.

With a loud click, the entire machine came to life.

Following pre-dug tracks, it began to roll out of the basement, out of the slums, and into the heart of Terra Fortress.

"Now," one of them said with eerie calm, "let the world witness our artistic revolution!"

"Primary core weapon has reached its target location. Shall we detonate?"

"Do it. Let those foolish gnomes see what true artistry looks like."

BOOM.

The enormous steam device rolled into a bustling district of Terra Fortress.

At first, nobody paid it any mind.

After all, gnome scholars and inventors tinkered with weird contraptions all the time. People were used to seeing bizarre experiments pop up randomly in the streets.

But what they didn’t know...

Was that tonight, deep above the earth’s surface, the Blood Moon had risen once more.

And under its eerie glow, the true plan of the "artists" was about to unfold.

Back in the basement, the so-called "artists" had gathered again.

Their faces were flush with anticipation, like children waiting for fireworks. Their vertical red eyes glowed with a strange light—vivid, unnatural, and pulsing with an energy imperceptible to the average being.

Truth be told, they were once ordinary gnomes.

But a thousand years ago, during the first unexpected rise of the Blood Moon, some gnomes had undergone mutation.

They sprouted a third eye.

And from that moment on, they became... different.

They grew bloodthirsty, destructive, but eerily calm.

And that was the scariest part.

Not madmen—but calculated, rational maniacs.

Those were the most dangerous types.

Their destructive power didn’t come from chaos—it came from precision.

"Fellow artists," one of them asked solemnly, "how many primary core weapons have we created to date?"

"Twenty thousand," someone replied proudly. "Enough to share two for every major race in the world. We artists value fairness above all."