The next stop in their Labyrinth conquest was the Haltina Labyrinth located in the Sea of Trees of the Beastkin nation, Verbergen. But with the addition of Shizuku Yaegashi to the party, Ken took a detour on his way, to Miledi's Labyrinth so that she and Tio could acquire Gravity Magic.
After Ken and party rejected Kouki's 'command' of leading them to the Great Labyrinths after his crushing defeat at the hands of Eri's zombie knights which he refused to kill "because they were once human" or some sh*t like that; he led the heroes who were determined and fit, to conquer some Great Labyrinths from the information Ken chose to give.
The rest along with Aiko-sensei and Liliana S. B. Heiligh, the princess of the Holy Kingdom, spread the word of truth along their way to the Hoelscher Empire to seek aid for the wrecked Holy kingdom. Meld who came out of hiding after the enemies' defeat stayed behind to gather the knights reminant and protect the surviving royals and what was left of the Holy Kingdom.
Meeting and talking to Miledi again after Tio and Shizuku cleared the Labyrinth brought buried resentments and evil thoughts, after which the party flew off to the Sea of Trees.
Unexpectedly for even Ken, they met a half burnt forest along with a wrecked Verbergen, anxious to know what has happened especially to her tribesmen, Shia rushed into the forest for answers.
They met Kam Haulia safe and sound in Verbergen much to Shia's relief along with Ulfric Heipyst and some other elders; after a few introductions, the party inquired about the situation.
According to Kam, the Demons tried to invade the Sea of Trees around the same time they invaded Heiligh Kingdom from which Ken's party could deduce. But they lost the battle and retreated when the Haulia tribe decided to join Verbergen to fight.
A few days later the Hoelscher Empire attacked with a large army; in a bid to lower casualties and even the field, they burnt the forest which had already been degraded during the Demon invasion. And even though they were able to make them retreat, Verbergen and the Haulia tribe lost many as slaves to the Empire.
Even Ulfric Heipyst's granddaughter, Altina Heipyst, was a victim to this but he couldn't rush to the rescue inorder not to drag the already wrecked tribes of Verbergen.
With anger directed at the Hoelscher Empire, Shia asked Ken why he didn't warn her or speed up on their journey here but Ken says his future knowledge of events in this world ended with the Demon invasion and that he was blinded the way forward.
He was only interested in the materials of Tortus that enabled Hagime to make such modern weaponry, as well as detailed information of Ancient Magics that piqued his interest enough to search for it which led to Fandom. Of course Hagime, Koari and Shizuku were confused as to why Shia thought Ken could have known but they soon chalk it as Shia being angry because of how Ken chose to answer her.
Even if Ken knew about it the attack, there was nothing he could do when they were facing an army of Demons around the same time. Only the Empire's attack could have been extinguished if they flew to the forest in full speed.
Without hesitation, Ken decided to free the kidnapped demi-humans from the Hoelscher Empire with a little coercion. With affirmed smiles one their faces, the party along with Kam Haulia and some demihumans boarded the FS-2 Jetmarine with full speed to the Empire.
But before that Koari used Restoration Magic to to regrow the forest that had been devastated by the war. Soon the thick fog which served as the first line of defense for Verbergen filled the Sea of Trees again.
...
Finding any detailed plans unnecessary, Ken's party were planning to knock the Empire's front door in style but only a massive city that had survived a war was in sight. Damaged infrastructures, homeless people, overly busy soldiers and adventurers, and overworking demihumans were all they could see from the images sent by Third eye.
The party were let in after showing their Gold guild ranks and they were soon infront of the imperial palace which had a different atmosphere than the rest of the city.
Apparently an engagement ball for Prince Baius, the crown prince, and Princess Liliana was occurring in a bid to unite the Empire and the Heiligh Kingdom through marriage and fight against the Demons.
In the ball room, Emperor Gahard refused to yield after Ken's party/demihumans barged in the ball venue and stated their purpose. So to prove his seriousness Ken allowed the Haulia tribe to slaughter some guests at the party to the horror of the heroes present.
After he still refused to yield with the reason that they needed slaves to rebuild the Empire to it's former glory after the Demon's invasion, Ken humiliated Emperor Gahard by letting Kam Haulia beat him in a fair face off; and also killed the crown prince who was dragged into the ball room with his pants down by Hagime, who proclaimed the prince's attempt to rape the princess of the Holy Kingdom before their engagement to everyone present; further damaging their reputation.
With great reluctance in the face of such great adversaries, Emperor Gahard made a decree to free all demihumans in the Empire and beyond; whoever was caught with demihuman slave would not be protected by the Empire.
This shook the Empire since most of its workforce were slaves and more than 60% were demihumans. For the first time since it's creation, hard labour was done by the Empire's citizens which made rebuilding slow but it was a day for the history books.
With the help of Third eye, [Elemental Sight] and Ornis, Ken and Hagime made sure every demihuman in the imperial city was freed and accounted for. The ones beyond shall be freed with the support of the Guild after a few confrontations that they were expecting, but with the fear the names 'Adventurer king' and 'Heavenly Demon' brought since this incident, things will prove rather easy.
{The 'Heavenly' added to Ken's demon title was because of his unsual bluish white human hair resembling the skies or the heavens.}
To make sure such an event doesn't happen again, Ken gifted the Haulia tribe and Verbergen two Overkill Guardians which eeriely looked like the Destroyer Armor in the Thor movie but with a lot of limitations to make the people more cautious and careful.
Since it was made as a Guardian it couldn't leave the Sea of Trees unless a heavy price is paid; and it's operational time is limited to the mana reserves of the wearer of the ring which controls it.
With all side matters taken care off, Ken's party dived into the Haltina Labyrinth but they were separated immediately they teleported inside after their minds were being read which they allowed if they wanted an entry.
A loud voice then told Ken and Hagime in separate rooms that their women have been turned into monsters and the first challenge was to identify them or risk killing them.
Soon a horde of monsters charged towards Ken who with [Forth Sight] was able to identify the girls by their vibrations and mana signature; he then separated them and killed off the rest, after which the labyrinth transformed them back. Hagime was also able to identify Koari on his side, successfully moving to the next challenge.
The rest of the challenges were done with illusions, a cockroach emulating the abilities of Ehit's True Apostles, and aphrodisiacs to test their resolve in conquering the labyrinth, their bonds, as well as their desire to kill the mad fake god, Ehit. The party passed these challenges with much effort which made them vow to destroy this labyrinth after their quest. The use of cockroaches in Haltina's Labyrinth was really unneeded and perverse.
They were rewarded with Evolution Magic, a proof among others, in addition to a message telling them to return if they're able to kill Ehit.
After the party left the labyrinth, they were given hospitality by Ulfric Heipyst as gratitude which they were happy to receive after such a dive. During their stay in Verbergen, Hagime was confessed to by princess Liliana and Altina Heipyst, to which he unsurprisingly rejected immediately but Koari who was envious of the rival/sister feeling among Ken's women was more open to the idea and thus welcomed them much to Hagime's dismay.
Even though it was awkward for the people of Verbergen since they had tried to kill the two who were born different amongst them but were saved by them twice, they did everything to make them feel at home with some authority heads trying to convince them to stay.
After resting for some days Ken's party moved to their next labyrinth with Kouki, Jugo Nagayama, Ryutarou Sakagami, and Suzu Taniguchi who couldn't clear the labyrinths in the Divine Mountain due to not clearing any other Labyrinths; Miledi's Labyrinth which they avoided since most of their abilities are mana supported, and also Haltina Labyrinth because they couldn't clear when the labyrinth turned them into monsters and showed them an amazing ideal life (this challenge was reserved for those not in an intimate relationship).
The next Great Labyrinth, the Frost Caverns of Schnee was located in the southern region of the continent at the fringes of the Demons' territory. The trail concept of this Labyrinth was "Conquering the darkness of one's own heart", which it did by letting the challengers face a real mirror image of themselves representing their darkest self which would grow stronger with each denial one expresses; after fighting illusions, traps and monsters in the extreme cold temperature meant to weaken the mind and body.
Ken was able to pass because he came forth with his regrets and secret to his women but he knew it wasn't enough to just defeat the representation of his darkness since his fears was still ever present.
Yue struggled a little because of her Uncle's betrayal and the darkness of her prison but also passed by remembering the bonds she has forged throughout her journey here.
Shia, Riveria and Tio also passed with each having the resolve of always moving forward regardless of their past regrets or faults. Even though they had darkness within themselves, they chose to live with that knowledge as they strive to be better.
Shizuku was also able to pass with no injuries since she had found someone who treats her as a fragile cute girl despite the sword she carried. With that she had found a reason to carry it other than the fear of disappointing her family's expectations or teachings.
Hagime and Koari also passed with relative ease, since they found each other early. Suzu Taniguchi, Ryutarou Sakagami, and Jugo Nagayama also passed due to being good nurtured people who acknowledged their flaws.
Kouki Amanogawa on the other hand failed with style. He denied his extremely arrogant, ignorant, hypocritical, childish, spoiled, incompetent, irresponsible, and reckless self with an extremely weak and delusional determination which caused him to be possessed by his darkness. In that state he attacked Hagime and Koari with the intention of killing him 'to free' Koari from his dark magic, so that they could 'love each other like before'. Unsurprisingly he was beaten effortlessly even after activating [Limit Break] and every broken ability of his artifacts.
Those who passed were given the knowledge of Metamorphosis Magic but Ken, Hagime and Yue gained an additional information which caused Hagime and Yue to collapse because of the soul overload their mind had because of containing information on all Seven Ancient Magics and also Concept Magic which is the amalgamation of the Ancient Magics.
Perplexed by why Ken was conscious and they weren't, the rest anxiously searched for answers whiles waiting for their friends to awake.
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This volume of their adventures in Tortus is about to end for the real story to start.
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