While they were talking, there was an ominous rumbling noise, and the staircase
flattened out into a slide. It had been quite a steep staircase, so they wouldn't easily
be able to keep their footing. To make matters worse, slippery black liquid starting
pouring out from tiny holes in the staircase.
"Kuh, damn!" Hajime quickly transmuted the metal plates in his boots into spikes,
along with the fingers on his artificial arm. Thanks to that, he was just barely able to
keep his balance. Yue had leaped toward Hajime in the split second before she fell, so
she was safely supported by him. She had correctly predicted that he would brace
himself. The two had spent enough time together to be able to read each other's
moves.
Unfortunately, the latest addition to their party wasn't in such perfect sync. Shea had
failed to predict Hajime would anchor himself.
"Ugyaaaaah!?" Without anything to support her, she tumbled down the slide, hitting
the back of her head on the ground. She let out a grunt of pain, and within seconds she
was covered in whatever lubricant had sprung up. Gravity did its job, and she slid,
crotch first, right into Hajime's face.
"Buh!?" The force of the impact dislodged his left arm from the wall he'd thrust it into,
and he fell backward, his right hand still holding onto Yue. His foot spikes came out
too, so he slid headfirst down the slide. Shea rode on top of him as they slid down.
"You stupid, clumsy rabbit! Get off already!"
"I'm shorry, but I can't mobe."
They started sliding even faster. Hajime struggled to stop their movement with his
spikes, but they were already too fast for them to do any good. Changing tracks, he
then tried to transmute the staircase directly, but the mana dissipation was too strong
and he couldn't do it.
Shea finally struggled to a sitting position. She was now riding Hajime like a horse.
"Use Drucken's stake to hold us in place somewhere!" Hajime yelled out. One of the
tricks he'd added to Shea's Drucken was a stake that could extend out from the
hammer. He had wanted to give her a piercing weapon too, in case she needed it. A
stake that large could still potentially stop their fall.
"O-Okay, leave it to— Wait, Hajime-san! Look, the path!" Shea moved to grab Drucken,
but then suddenly stopped.
That was all she needed to say for Hajime to understand. This slide was trying to spit
them out somewhere.
"Yue!"
"Okay!"
Hajime called out to Yue. He didn't need to say anything more, as she'd guessed his
intentions.
"Hang on tight, Shea!"
"O-Okay!" Shea clung to Hajime.
The slide came to an abrupt end, and for a moment they were all suspended in midair,
weightless. Yue took advantage of that split second.
"Updraft!" This was one of the most basic wind spells. It was normally used to increase
one's jumping power. Skilled practitioners could use it to emulate flight for a short
period of time. But in this dungeon, magic was crippled. Even Yue could only keep
them afloat for a scant few seconds.
"More than good enough." Hajime said triumphantly. Those few seconds were all he
needed to examine his surroundings. Yue had done more than enough.
With both girls still clinging to him, Hajime pointed his artificial arm at the ceiling. He
poured a little mana into it, and with a pneumatic hiss, a wire with an anchor attached
shot out of his wrist. It embedded itself in the ceiling, and held fast.
Hajime let out a sigh of relief when he saw the anchor wasn't coming loose. All three
of them dangled there, held by a single thin wire. They risked a glance at what lay
below them, and instantly regretted it.
Slither… Hiss… Clack… Fwoosh… Slither… There was a pit of scorpions directly
underneath them. They were only around ten centimeters long. The scorpion Hajime
had faced in Orcus' labyrinth was probably more dangerous, but seeing so many of
them crawling around was more mentally damaging. Goosebumps rose on his arms as
he realized a single wire was all that separated him from scorpion hell.
"...…" Everyone fell silent. No one wanted to think about what awaited below, so they
all pointedly looked at the ceiling. As they did so, they realized letters were forming
on it. They already knew what to expect, but they read the message anyway.
—Those scorpion's stings aren't poisonous, but they will paralyze you. I hope you
enjoy sleeping with my cute little babies for a while, Buhaha—
She must have made the linrock that held the message especially dense, as it glowed
brighter than its surroundings. Anyone who fell in would be doomed to lie there,
paralyzed, as scorpions scuttled across their prone bodies. They'd desperately try to
stretch their hand out to the ceiling only to find those words.
"...…" The silence continued, but for a different reason this time. Everyone was
desperately trying not to snap at Miledi's taunting.
"Hajime, over there."
"Hm?"
Noticing something, Yue pointed to a spot below her. There was a little tunnel there.
"A tunnel… What do you think we should do? We can climb back up, or we can see
what's down there."
"I-I'm fine with whatever you decide, Hajime-san. All I ever do is make things worse
for us, so…"
"Don't worry, we'll punish you properly for that when we get out of here."
"Now I am worried! Couldn't you have just left it at 'don't worry'!?"
"How impudent. Your punishment's been doubled."
"You too, Yue-san!? Man, I won't be able to catch a break even after we finish with this
place."
Hajime and Yue were as merciless as always.
"Haah, if only you could use your future sight to show us where to go."
"Umm, I'm still not that good with it yet. I have been practicing, but…"
Future sight was the only special magic Shea could use. It allowed her to see one of the
potential futures that might unfold. But because of how much mana it took, she could
only use it once a day. And because her strength was dependent on her body
strengthening, without any mana she was just a worthless rabbit. She had been
practicing when they had time, lowering the amount of mana it took little by little,
but… she still had a long way to go before she mastered the technique.
"Well, no point in complaining about what we don't have. I'd rather keep pressing
forward, so let's check the tunnel."
"Okay."
"Works for me."
Hajime fired another anchor from his arm, and tarzaned his way over to the tunnel.
The tunnel, like the rest of the labyrinth, was illuminated by linrock. It didn't seem to
branch off as far as they could tell and continued straight forward. The fact that there
wasn't even a single turn was suspicious. Or perhaps Miledi's constant harassment
had just made them all paranoid.
Warily, the group made their way down the passage. They went on for a few hundred
meters without incident. The utter uniformity of the tunnel made it hard to gauge
distance accurately. Everything was so eerily unchanging that they started to wonder
if they were just walking in place.
Just as they were starting to grow suspicious, there was a change in the monotony, as
if the cavern had anticipated their worries. There was a spacious room up ahead. The
group relaxed a little, hurriedly rushing into the room… only to hear the familiar sound
of another trap activating.
"What is it this time… Oh, the ceiling."
"Shea."
"Y-You got it!"
Everyone looked up at the ceiling and saw that it was slowly coming down on them. It
was cliche, as far as traps went, but as their magic was practically sealed, it was quite
an effective one.
From the hallway, it would have looked like the room had suddenly vanished and been
replaced with a wall. That was how fast the ceiling had fallen. The hallway they had
come from was now a dead end.
Silence filled the room.
It seemed impossible that Hajime and the others had managed to avoid being crushed
to death. The silence made it seem even more likely they were gone.
However, something happened a few minutes later. Red sparks began flying off the
wall opposite the one Hajime and the others had come in from. And after that, a hole
large enough for a person to crawl through appeared. From within, Hajime, Yue, and
Shea all clambered out.
"Haah… Haah… Th-That was close."
"Yeah. Would've been annoying if we got crushed back there."
"It would've been a lot more than just 'annoying.' Normally, you'd die if you got crushed
by that, you know?"
There'd been nowhere to run to, and they wouldn't have made it to the hallway on the
far side in time, so Hajime and Shea had held up the ceiling for just a few seconds while
Hajime transmuted a hole directly above them.
Because of the unique properties of the labyrinth, he'd been forced to work four times
slower, with his range reduced to only one meter around him. Worst of all, the whole
ordeal had taken far more mana than it should have. They'd all huddled together in
the small space he'd crafted for them while he slowly transmuted a path out. To think
I'd have to dig through the walls again like this… I haven't felt such humiliation since I
first fell into the abyss. He expressed his displeasure with a string of curses.
"God fucking dammit. I can't believe I've been reduced to this again. Worse, my high
speed mana regeneration isn't even working. Hell, my mana's not recovering at all."
Next to him, Yue took out a small vial from her pocket, then offered it to Hajime with
a smile.
"How about a mana potion, then?"
"Don't mind if I do."
"Does anything ever faze you two?"
Hajime loosened up a little, then leaned tiredly against the wall. He could replenish
some of his mana with the reserves he'd stored in in his magic stones, but he wanted
to keep them for when he really needed them. A mana potion was probably the better
option.
Smiling at their little skit, Hajime took the vial and downed it in one gulp. It tasted like
an energy drink. While the potion only restored a fraction of the mana one of his
stones could, and at a much slower pace, it had the added benefit of curing his fatigue.
Revitalized, Hajime stood back up, ready to beat this stupid dungeon.
However, before they'd taken even a few steps, more vexatious words popped up on
the ceiling.
—Pupupu! You're starting to panic, how lame—
Miledi Reisen had spared no effort in making sure she annoyed her visitors at every
turn.
"W-We are not panicking! Not at all! And we're not lame!" Shea followed Hajime's line
of sight up to the annoying letters floating on the ceiling and snarled back at them. Her
hatred for Miledi had already begun to consume her. She couldn't help but react to
every single sentence they found floating around the labyrinth. Had Miledi still been
alive, she would surely be chortling with glee at having found such easy prey.
"Whatever, let's just go. Don't let every little word get you riled up."
"That's just playing into her hands."
"Ugh, fine."
The passageways and rooms they discovered from that point on were all booby
trapped. One room fired poison arrows at them from every direction, another had a
pitfall filled with acid, and yet another had turned into a whirlpool of sand with a
worm-like monster waiting for them at the center. Without fail, each room would have
something snarky written on the walls or ceiling after they cleared it. Everyone was
stressed beyond belief.
Nevertheless, they cleared trap after trap, until they finally found themselves in a
passageway larger than any other they'd seen up to that point. It was six to seven
meters wide, had quite a steep slant to it, and curved to the right. It was like a spiral
slide descending into the depths.
Everyone tensed up. After all, the passageway just screamed "trap."
As they descended, they found their instincts had been right on the mark. The ever
familiar clunk that heralded some hidden switch activating echoed between the walls.
Due to his experiences, Hajime was convinced that regardless of whether they tripped
the switch in any given room, the trap would activate anyway. So what's the point of
having a damn switch in the first place!? But he knew yelling that aloud would only
invite more ridicule from Miledi, so with herculean effort, he kept his mouth shut.
They watched their surroundings carefully, straining to catch a glimpse of whatever
was coming at them next.
Rrrrrrrruuuuummmmbbbbblllleeeee! Something heavy was rolling toward them.
"...…" The three of them exchanged worried glances before looking back. Because of
the curved nature of the path, they couldn't see very far above them. The sound
gradually continued growing louder, until… A huge boulder the size of the entire
passage could be seen hurtling toward them. Naturally, it was spherical. Quite possibly
the most cliched trap of all. And they were certain that wherever their mad dash led
them, there'd be another annoying set of letters lying in waiting.
Yue and Shea quickly turned around and began running for their lives, but they
stopped after going only a few paces. They had noticed Hajime wasn't following them.
"…Hm? Hajime?"
"Hajime-san!? You'll be crushed if you don't hurry!"
Instead of answering, Hajime simply bent his knees and thrust his right hand forward,
as if he were trying to take aim with his fingers. He then squeezed his left arm as hard
as he could, making it let out a metallic screech. Smiling fearlessly, he stared down the
boulder thundering toward him.
"It's just not my style to let you keep one upping me over and over!" The noise from
his prosthetic arm grew louder. And then… Boom! With an explosive bang, his left arm
hit the boulder. The force of the impact pushed him back, but he transmuted spikes
out of his boots and dug his heels in. Cracks spread out of the boulder from the point
of impact, and its speed slowed considerably.
"Raaaaaaaah!" With a spirited shout, Hajime dug his fist deeper into the boulder. The
fierce struggle between his fist and the boulder came to a conclusion, and his fist
emerged the clear victor. With another loud crack, the boulder shattered into a million
pieces.
For a few seconds after the boulder was gone he didn't move, alert for any extra
surprises. After he was sure nothing more was coming, however, he let out a relieved
sigh and brought his fist back. There was no screeching coming from his arm anymore.
He experimentally clenched and unclenched his left fist a few times, then turned back
to Shea and Yue after making sure it was in working condition.
The stress from earlier was no longer present on his face. Instead, there was an
exultant smile there. Though he had tried to not let it show, he had been getting worn
down by the traps he couldn't sense or prevent from activating.
Hajime had combined his Steel Arms skill, the same one he had used to defeat Jin back
in Verbergen, with a high frequency vibration he'd achieved by pouring mana into his
prosthetic arm. That was what had allowed him to destroy the boulder. Though,
because of the strain it put on his arm, he had to perform maintenance after only one
use. Originally, it had been one of his trump cards but… he'd been so annoyed he'd
used it on a simple trap.
Shea and Yue were in a celebratory mood too as they ran up to Hajime.
"Hajime-san! You're amazing! That was so cool! I feel alive again!"
"…Yeah, same."
"Hahaha, I know, right? Now we can finally relax a little and—" Hajime's elated reply
was suddenly cut off by a new noise.
Rrrruuuuummmmbbblllleeeee! A very familiar noise. His smile stiffened. As did Shea's,
and it appeared as if Yue's blank expression grew a shade darker as well. Like a broken
doll, Hajime jerkily turned around. Behind him, he saw… A shiny black metal boulder.
"No way." He let out an involuntary gasp.
"U-Umm, Hajime-san… Is it just me, or is there some weird liquid flying off that thing
as it rolls down?"
"…It's melting the walls."
There were countless small holes dotting the surface of the boulder, from which an
unknown liquid was being sprayed out. Anything the liquid came in contact with let
out an ominous hiss as it melted.
Hajime took a look for himself, let out a tired sigh, and turned back to Yue and Shea,
stiff smile still stuck to his face. Finally, it vanished and he yelled "Damn it, run!" before
dashing off at an inhuman speed down the passageway. Yue and Shea exchanged
glances before sprinting off after Hajime.
The boulder was slowly gaining speed as it sped down the passage.
"Nooooooooooooo! I don't want to be squish-melted to death!"
"…Same. Let's keep running."
Shea's wails echoed throughout the corridor.
"And Hajime-san, I can't believe you ran off without us! How cruel! You demon!" She
protested loudly.
"Oh shut up, it wasn't on purpose! Just keep running!"
"I can't believe you're taking that attitude with me when you left us behind! Do you
not care at all about what happens to me!? Uwaaaah, I'm coming back to haunt you if
I die!"
"Sounds like you're doing fine, Shea." Judging by the fact that she still had time to
complain, Yue assumed she wasn't in any real trouble.
A few seconds later, they saw the end of the passageway. Using his Farsight, Hajime
was able to ascertain that the room it opened up into was quite spacious. Still, there
was something strange about its layout. The floor was the furthest thing from them,
distance-wise. It appeared the corridor ended somewhere close to the room's ceiling.
"We're going down, guys!"
"Okay."
"Got it!"
They slid the last few feet of the corridor, fell to the room below, and—
"Guh!?"
"Hm!?"
"Hiii!?"
Three simultaneous screams of surprise rang out. Below them, the floor was
submerged in a pool of dangerous-looking liquid.
"Fucking bitch!" Hajime shot out a barrage of knives from his left arm, along with an
anchor to fasten himself to the wall, then grabbed Yue with his right. The giant metal
boulder flew past them and fell into the pool below. Smoke billowed as the boulder
slowly sunk into its depths.
"Wind Wall." Yue's spell blew away any stray splashes of acid that got close. Hajime
vigilantly watched his surroundings for a few minutes longer, but when nothing more
happened he relaxed.
"Uuu… Hic… I'm just… I'm just… Waaa…" Turning around, he saw Shea pinned to the
wall by the knives that pierced through her clothes. She was sobbing as always.
"What're you crying for this time?"
"Are you on your period?"
"Isn't it obvious? You pinned me to the wall, but you're carrying Yue-san? Hajimesaaaaaan, can't you be at least a little nice to me?"
"I saved your life, didn't I?"
"That's not what I mean! Can't you save me in a more, like, gallant way? You know what
I mean, right!? I want to be carried tenderly like that too!"
"Shea."
"Hic… What is it, Yue-san?"
"You have to face reality."
"What's that supposed to mean!?"
"Look here, Shea. I do think of you as a comrade, and it's not like I don't care about
you, but… the girl I'm in love with is Yue, so you can't blame me for thinking of her
first."
"Uwaaah."
Though what Hajime said was absolutely correct, or perhaps because of it, tears
started falling from Shea's eyes. On the other hand, Yue blushed and snuggled even
closer to Hajime.
"Just you wait, I'm going to make you fall for me so hard that you'll be begging to save
me!"
"You never give up, do you?"
"Yeah. She has guts. I need to watch out."
Even when they were hanging for dear life above a pool of burning acid, they still had
time to act out their love comedy skits. It really didn't feel like their life was in danger.
Using his anchor like a pendulum, Hajime was able to swing himself across the pool of
acid and land safely on the floor. The room they'd found themselves in was long and
rectangular. Along the wall were numerous alcoves, and ensconced within each was a
statue in a full suit of armor, complete with sword and shield. In the deepest part of
the room was a flight of stairs, beyond which stood an altar. Past the altar was a
majestic door. Placed atop the altar was a diamond-shaped yellow crystal. Hajime
frowned as he took in his surroundings.
"What a door. Does it lead to Miledi's secret base? If so, that's great news, but… am I
the only one that's got a bad feeling about those suits of armor?"
"Don't worry, I know her by now."
"Doesn't that mean these things are going to jump out and attack us? Shouldn't we be
worrying a lot right now?"
As predicted, when the three of them reached the center of the room, something
happened. A very familiar noise reverberated across the chamber.
Clunk! They all came to a halt. I knew it, the three of them thought simultaneously. The
statues' eyes began to glow ominously. And with the sound of metal scraping against
metal, the knights stepped out of their alcoves. There were roughly fifty of them.
As one, they all lowered their stance and raised their shields. The army of inhuman
knights shuffled forward and encircled Hajime's party.
"Haha, I knew it. We should have destroyed them before walking up. Well, no point
crying over spilled milk… Yue, Shea, you ready?"
"Yeah."
"A-Aren't there a bit too many? I mean, I'll still do it, but…"
Hajime unholstered Donner and Schlag. Normally, Metzelei would be more suited to
these numbers, but he was worried the Gatling gun might set off more traps. He could
more than believe if he let loose a hailstorm of bullets that at least a few would trigger
more switches. So, he decided to stick with his twin pistols for the time being.
A fierce fighting spirit dwelled in Yue's eyes. She knew full well that she was most
disadvantaged by the dungeon's unique properties, but she would die before letting
herself become a burden to Hajime. She was Hajime's partner. There was no way she'd
let something as trivial as this slow her down. Especially not when a potential
romantic rival had appeared, regardless of how slim Shea's chances actually were at
seducing Hajime.
Shea, however, was beginning to get cold feet. Even if she was the least affected by the
mana dispersion, she was also the one with the least amount of practical combat
experience. The five days she'd spent fighting monsters at the bottom of the gorge
hadn't been nearly enough. And even if she included Yue's training, she still had barely
two weeks of experience under her belt. Combine that with the fact that she was one
of the gentle Haulia, and it was hardly surprising that she was a little worried. The fact
that she hefted Drucken and dug her heels in anyway was a testament to her
outstanding courage.
"Shea."
"Y-Yes!? Wh-What is it Hajime-san?" Her voice quavered a little. Is it just my
imagination, or did Hajime sound a little… kinder just then?
"You're strong. I can guarantee you that. These scrap golems have nothing on you.
Don't worry too much and just beat them to a pulp. And if things do get hairy, we'll
save you."
"…Yeah. You're my disciple, I won't let you die."
Shea began tearing up. But this time, they were tears of happiness. Because of how
roughly they'd treated her, Shea had started worrying that they might have thought of
her as a bother… but she finally realized that couldn't possibly be true.
They trusted her, so even if she was still a novice at fighting, she'd do everything she
could. She let the mana flow throughout her body, strengthening her limbs, and
stepped forward.
"Fufu, you finally said something nice, Hajime-san. Now I'm really pumped! Yue-san,
the day your disciple beats you isn't far off anymore!"
"Don't get ahead of yourself." Hajime and Yue said simultaneously, but Shea was too
energized to care. She looked straight ahead at the closest enemy.
"Bring it! You scrap metal robot!"
"Seriously, where do you keep picking all this stuff up from… Ah crap, I should've just
kept my mouth shut."
"Scrap metal robot!"
"I'm not gonna say anything. Nope, not gonna say anything." Hajime sighed tiredly, and
not because of the fifty golems bearing down on him. Whether they noticed his
feelings or not, the golems all charged as one. Despite their massive frames, they were
quite agile. Their armor clanged as they ran, and they cut quite an imposing figure
with their glowing eyes and raised swords. It was like a wall of metal was closing in
on them from all sides.
Hajime was the first to strike. Even if his pistols were reduced to half their
effectiveness, they were still a little more powerful than the average anti-materiel rifle
back on earth.
Two streaks of light headed unerringly toward two golems' heads. They both got stuck
in an eye, and the golems arced their heads back in recoil. As they fell, two new knights
ran in to take their place. Hajime began firing as fast as he could, throwing their ranks
in disarray and keeping them from finishing their encirclement.
Some of the knights were able to weather the hail of bullets by using their shields,
swords, and even fallen comrades as shields, and made it all the way to Hajime. But
those that made it that far were met with the wrath of Shea Haulia's war hammer. She
had strengthened her body to the limit, and she mercilessly pummeled anything that
got close.
"Deyaaaaaaah!" With a spirited shout, she swung Drucken down, pulverizing a knight
into a thousand tiny pieces. It had tried to raise a shield in an attempt to ward off the
attack, but Shea had simply crushed that along with the rest of the body.
In fact, the impact had been so powerful that there were cracks running through the
ground. Seeing an opening, one of the knights that had been standing nearby lowered
the shield it had used to withstand the shockwave and bore down on Shea with a
sword in hand.
But Shea was aware of the plan. She twisted Drucken's handle, then pulled the trigger
once its transformation was complete.
With an explosive roar, Drucken leaped off the ground. A barrage of shotgun shells
fired out of its barrel. Using the momentum of the recoil, Shea spun around and
slammed her hammer into the flank of the knight that had been about to cut her in
two.
"Raaaaaaah!" The armor crunched as the hammer dug into it. The force of the impact
made the knight double over as it was sent flying. It looked like it'd just been rammed
by a truck. The limp body slammed into another one, and they both tumbled to the
ground in a tangle of limbs. The entire torso had been caved in, so it didn't look like
it'd be moving any time soon.
Shea's ears perked up as she heard the sound of wind whistling in the distance. She
looked up and saw the knight she'd sent flying earlier had let go of its sword, which
was now whirling through the air. She leaped into the air, grabbed it by the hilt, and
flung it at another one of the approaching knights.
It flew down at inhuman speed, and glanced against the knight's raised shield. Taking
advantage of the momentary distraction, she swung her hammer up at the enemy. It
hit directly into the stomach, and sent the knight flying through the air.
In a final act of desperation, the knight tried to swing its sword down on her, but Shea
utilized the force of her swing to dodge aside. Then, before the knight could hit the
ground, she smashed Drucken down again.
A golem cannonball was created, and it knocked down a few comrades before
crumbling against the wall in a shattered heap.
Shea's lips curled up into a smile. She wasn't enjoying the fight itself, but she was glad
that she could hold her own alongside Hajime. It was only then that she truly felt she'd
earned the right to travel alongside him and Yue… But that happiness lead to her
lowering her guard.
In battle, even a moment's distraction could prove fatal. And before she knew it, there
was a shield in front of her face. One of the knights had thrown it at her. These golems
weren't bad at all. Since she was strengthening herself, it wouldn't be able to kill Shea,
but it certainly had enough force to give her a concussion. Still, it would be easy to
imagine what would happen to her if she let herself get disoriented.
She just hadn't expected a knight of all people, even a golem knight, to throw their
shield. That was the kind of underhanded tactic reserved for thieves. There wasn't
even enough time to yell out "Crap!" anymore.
The most she could do was brace herself for impact. But just before it hit her, a jet of
water slammed into it, diverting the shield from its intended path. It flew past Shea's
side and smacked into a golem behind her instead.
"Never let your guard down. Now your punishment's been tripled."
"Fweh!? That was your doing, Yue-san? S-Sorry, and thanks! Hey wait, tripled!?"
"Yeah… Stay focused."
"O-Okay! I'll do my best!" Shea curtailed her earlier excitement after getting scolded
by Yue. Reflecting on her mistake, she refocused her attention. As she engaged the
knight coming at her from the front, a jet of water bisected the one sneaking up on her
from behind. A warm feeling spread through her chest when Shea realized Yue had
her back. She made sure to keep her attention on the fight at hand though, so as not to
disgrace her master any further.
Any other knight that tried to get into Shea's blind spots was also cut down by a jet of
water sharper than any sword. Yue was using the intermediate level water spell,
"Rupture." It gathered the water in the atmosphere, compressed it, and shot it out as
a high speed cleaver.
There were two large metal water canteens dangling from Yue's waist. Another two
were dangling from her shoulders. She'd taken them out of Hajime's Treasure Trove.
Every time she muttered the spell's name, more water flowed out of the canteen and
turned into a deadly blade.
Yue hoped using water already present instead of taking the extra step to compress it
from the atmosphere would lower the amount of mana required for each cast. And
since she was manipulating water already present rather than forming it with magic,
the spell itself couldn't be dissolved once it was fired. There was a mechanism attached
to the canteens that accelerated the water as it exited too, so even the force of the
water blade couldn't be negated by the magic draining air.
Yue augmented Shea's explosive close combat power by guarding all of her blind spots.
Unable to penetrate that ultimate combination, the knights' numbers continued to
dwindle.
Hajime smiled as he watched their seamless teamwork out of the corner of his eye.
"Sheesh, they sure know how to fight. I better step up my game or they'll lose faith in
me." Hajime mumbled that to himself, then continued to fire Donner and Schlag
incessantly.
He blocked a knight's sword with Schlag's barrel, and then blew its helmet, along with
its head, off with a point blank shot from Donner. He didn't even watch as his opponent
slumped to the floor. Without even looking, he fired Schlag behind him and shot down
a second knight. He then ducked, avoiding a horizontal swing, and crossed his arms
before firing, shooting down the knights to either side of him.
However, without Lightning Field, his bullet didn't have enough power to penetrate
the knight's shield, so it ricocheted off, slamming into a nearby knight's knee instead.
Without a leg to stand on its balance crumbled, and Hajime leaped over it, shooting
both it and a nearby knight down from overhead.
Another one of the knights tried to swing down at him the moment he landed, but he
kicked off the sword and danced through the air once more. He fired a single bullet in
all four directions, and each one took the head of a different knight. As he landed again,
he pulled a round of bullets out of his Treasure Trove and spun both his cylinders to
reload instantly. He then turned in place and began firing indiscriminately. The knights
surrounding him were blown away one by one.
He continued cutting a swathe of destruction through the golems' ranks, making sure
not to accidentally let any of his bullets hit any part of the room. However…
"What the…?" As he continued dodging the golem's attacks, he furrowed his brows
suspiciously. Despite having destroyed a fair number of them now, it felt like their
ranks hadn't thinned in the least.
Yue and Shea had noticed this as well. When they took a closer look at the battlefield,
they realized the golems they'd destroyed were nowhere in sight.
"Are they regenerating?"
"So it seems."
"No way! How are we supposed to stop them, then!?"
Indeed, every time a golem was destroyed, the same light that glowed from their eye
sockets enveloped their entire body for an instant, and then the golem was made
whole again.
An edge of panic crept into Shea's voice as she mowed down another wave of knights.
It was hardly surprising. At this rate, no matter how many they destroyed it was
pointless.
However, Yue and Hajime both remained calm, their minds working furiously as they
kept the knights at bay. This was where the difference in experience came into play.
Obstacles of such difficulty had been commonplace in the abyss. In fact, since they
were stronger than they'd been back then, this was nothing.
"…Hajime, if they are golems, then they should have a core." Just as Yue had said, the
golems must have had a core hidden somewhere inside them that was the source of
their power. Most cores were created with mana crystals harvested from monsters.
That was what had been written in Oscar's diary regarding his cleaning golems at
least. Yue was thinking that if they could destroy those cores they'd stop the golems.
Unexpectedly though, Hajime frowned unhappily.
"About that, I don't think these guys have any."
"You sure?"
"Yeah, I'm checking with my Demon Eye even, but I can't see anything. There's faint
traces of mana coming from all over each golem's body, but…"
"Th-Then, what are we going to do!? At this rate we're just going to lose eventually!"
Shea was completely panicking now. Hajime ignored her and used Ore Appraisal on a
golem. Maybe it doesn't need a core because the golems themselves are made of some
kind of special ore?
Bullseye.
Spirit stone: A stone capable of absorbing large quantities of mana. Two or more spirit
stones filled with the same type of mana attached to a different kind of ore can be
controlled remotely.
So that means there's someone out there controlling these spirit stone golems? They
weren't actually regenerating, the operator was simply rearranging the stones of the
broken golems to fix them, taking extra from the room if there wasn't enough. It was
more reconstruction than regeneration.
Upon closer inspection, Hajime saw that parts of the floor were made of spirit stone
too, and that it had been gouged out in places. That was probably used to supplement
any missing stone for the golems. Unless they took out the operator, there'd be no end
to them.
"Yue, Shea. Someone's controlling these guys. There'll be no end to them if we keep
fighting, so we're busting through!"
"Okay."
"B-Breaking through? Roger!"
At Hajime's signal, they both turned around and made a run for the altar. Hajime fired
Donner and Schlag as fast as he could, opening up a path before him, while throwing
two grenades behind to stave off pursuit. There was a loud explosion, and the
shockwaves sent rows of knights tumbling to the ground.
Shea leaped into the opening Hajime had created and swung Drucken around, mowing
down everything in her path. The golems threw their shields and swords at her, aiming
for the brief window of time Shea needed to recover her stance, but Yue used Rupture
to cut them all down.
Hajime brought up the rearguard and continued shooting down any of the knights that
got too close. Shea was the first to reach the altar, and she quickly set herself up in a
position to assist Yue and Hajime. Yue followed seconds later, leaping over the altar
and heading for the door.
"Yue-san, is it opening!?"
"Nope… It's sealed."
"Ah, I knew it!"
Even at a glance, it was obvious the altar and door were important. It made sense for
them to be sealed, after all. That was why they'd tried to finish off the golems first, so
that they could take their time figuring out the seal. Shea grumbled in annoyance as
she beat down the knights that made it up the stairs.
"Let's let Yue handle the seal. It'll probably take me too long to break through that with
Transmutation."
Hajime fought his way over to where Shea was standing. It was probably possible for
Hajime to break through with Transmutation, but in this dungeon it would take a vast
amount of his mana. In which case, figuring out the riddle of the altar and the yellow
crystal was probably the smarter route. That was why Hajime decided to let Yue, who
was currently the most disadvantaged in the fight, worry about the seal.
"Okay… leave it to me." Yue replied instantly and shifted her attention to the yellow
crystal. It looked like two pyramids had been joined together at the base, and upon
closer inspection Yue realized the whole thing was actually made of interlocking three
dimensional pieces.
She took the crystal in her hands and turned back to the door. There were three
depressions on its face. After thinking for a moment, she started dismantling the
crystal. She was hoping to rearrange the pieces into three cubes so they'd fit in the
depressions.
While she worked, she examined each depression in greater detail. When she looked
closely, she noticed each of them had writing so faint it could easily be overlooked.
Written within was…
—Can you solve it? Well, can you? If you don't finish up quick, everyone's gonna diiiie!
Don't worry if you can't, though! It's okay, you guys aren't geniuses like me! So just
relax! Even stupid people can live… Well, I guess they can't, huh!? Too baaaaad!
Pugyahaha!—
The same annoying insults as always. Even Yue couldn't help but be irritated. She
frowned ever so slightly, resisted the impulse to punch the door, and continued
working on the puzzle.
Hajime and Shea sensed her shift in mood, but they decided not to say anything and
continued beating down the undying army of golems.
"Hajime-saaan. Can't you blow them away with that other thing you used before?" The
knights swarmed up the staircases like cockroaches, annoying and hard to kill. Tired
of hitting them back, Shea begged Hajime to use his grenades again.
"Moron. What if it triggers a trap? I can't throw them out just like that. There's no
telling what'll happen."
"That army of golems has already trampled every inch of the staircase!"
"This is Miledi Reisen we're talking about here. What's to say there isn't some kind of
switch that doesn't react to golems?"
"Ugh, the scary thing is that you might be right…"
They conversed with surprising nonchalance as they blew through wave after wave of
golems. Though Shea had been panicking at first, after seeing how calmly Hajime and
Yue had handled the situation, she'd regained her composure.
"You know, I'm actually kind of happy."
"Huh?"
Shea whacked another golem off the staircase before continuing.
"For so long, all I was good at was just running away. But now here I am, fighting
shoulder to shoulder with you Hajime-san… That's why I'm happy."
"…You're a real weirdo, you know that?"
"Ehehe. I'm going to flirt with you so much once we're out of here!"
"Whoa, slow down there. Don't just go putting up death flags for no reason. The tragic
heroine role doesn't suit you, so just stop."
"This is where you're supposed to say 'I definitely won't let you die, honey!' Come on!"
"Now that deviates from the script way too much. I'm actually a little scared by how
optimistic you've gotten recently, but… I guess I can't say anything."
They continued chatting idly like that for a few more minutes. One could say they were
flirting, even. Suddenly, a dark shadow loomed behind them. Yue.
"No flirting."
"We weren't flirting."
"Fufufu, is that what it looked like? Aww, you're making me blush."
"Shut up, you." Yue glared angrily at Hajime and Shea, the latter of which was starting
to grow a little tired. But she knew it wasn't the time for this, so instead she puffed out
her chest a little and reported her success.
"It's open."
"Wow, that was fast. You're amazing, Yue. Come on, Shea, we're going!"
"Okay!"
Hajime glanced back and saw that the door was indeed now open. There didn't seem
to be anything too special about the room beyond. Regardless, he turned around and
started heading for the door. If they could reseal that door, they'd be able to halt the
golem's advance. Yue ran through first, followed by Shea. They stood on either side of
the double doors, ready to close them the minute Hajime got through.
Hajime threw some grenades at the golems as a parting gift before sprinting through
the doors. The golems surged forward, determined to stop the intruders. And yet, the
grenades exploded before they could. Those that weren't blown apart lost their
balance and fell. And in that moment, Yue and Shea slammed the doors shut.
Just as he'd checked with Farsight earlier, the room was completely empty. Even if it
hadn't been Miledi's room herself, Hajime had at least been expecting a clue, so the
whole situation was rather anticlimactic.
"Is this another one of her tricks? Have this big old fancy door and seal, but put nothing
behind it?"
"It's possible."
"Stupid Miledi! How long are you going to keep making fun of us!?"
As the three of them all hung their heads in disappointment, they suddenly heard the
noise they'd come to hate.
Clunk!
"Wha—!?" The room suddenly started trembling. Suddenly, Hajime could feel G-forces
hitting him from the side.
"Ugh— Wait, is this whole room moving?"
"Looks like i—!?"
"Ugyaah!?"
Just as he said that, they found themselves being assailed by G-forces from above. The
unexpected shift made Yue bite her tongue, and she held her mouth with tears in her
eyes. Meanwhile, Shea was sprawled across the ground like an upside down frog.
The room kept going in all different directions for a good forty seconds before it came
to a sudden stop, ignoring all laws of inertia.
Hajime had managed to use his spiked shoes to keep himself in place, and even brace
himself against the impact of the sudden stop, but Shea wasn't so lucky. When the
room came to a halt she slammed into the wall headfirst. All the rolling around from
before had already been bad for her, but this was the last straw. She tottered to her
feet like a drunk, pale-faced and completely frazzled. She would be out of commission
for a few minutes. Yue had clung on to Hajime the moment she'd realized what was
going on, so she'd been fine.
"It's finally over… Yue, you alright?"
"Yeah, I'm fine."
Hajime untransmuted his spikes and stood up. He examined his surroundings, but
nothing in particular stood out. Considering how much they'd moved, chances were if
he opened the door they'd come through they'd be in a different room.
"H-Hajime-san, aren't you going to say something to me too?" Shea covered her mouth
to keep herself from puking as she glared at Hajime. She didn't look too happy about
being ignored.
"I'm pretty sure if I said anything you'd get so excited that you really would throw up…
and we don't need to add vomiting rabbit to your list of nicknames, right?"
"That might be true, but a girl still wants to be cared about you— Blaaaargh!"
"See, what'd I tell you. Look, just get some rest."
"Ulp… Bleh…" Ignoring Shea, who was retching on all fours, Hajime and Yue looked
around again. There still wasn't anything new, so they decided to head for the door.
"Now then, what's she going to throw at us next?"
"The guy who was controlling the golems?"
"Possible. Miledi's supposed to be long dead… so who was controlling those things?"
"It doesn't matter what pops out. I'll protect you, Hajime… And you too, I guess, Shea."
"I can hear you, you know? Blaargh…"
Hajime relaxed a little when he heard the confidence in Yue's voice. He softly ran his
fingers through her hair. She closed her eyes happily and snuggled up to Hajime.
"I've been meaning to tell you this for a while, but could you two stop going off into
your own little world all the time like that? I start to feel really left out and lonely, y—
Ulp…"
Shea quickly cupped her mouth in an attempt to keep whatever lunch she had left
down.
"I've been meaning to tell you this for a while, but could you stop doing that thing you
do sometimes where it looks like you came straight out of a horror flick? I start to feel
chills run down my spine."
"H-How dare you. I'm just a maiden in love that wants to— Ulp… That wants to be
pampered like Yue-san. So hug me and pamper me already! U-Urgh…"
"Please don't say that when it looks like you're about to throw up… and stop adding to
your requests like that."
"You're one hundred years too early to be hugged by Hajime, Shea."
Shea somehow managed to drag herself over to Hajime, and looked up at him with
pleading eyes, her hands still covering her mouth. He ignored her and turned back to
the door. Behind him Shea was going "Hey— Bweeeeh!" but he pretended not to hear.
So what's behind the mystery door? Miledi's hideout? The golem master? More traps?
With a fearless smile, he pushed open the door. Beyond it was…
"Doesn't this room look familiar?"
"Very familiar. Especially that stone tablet."
There was another room past the door. A stone tablet in the middle and a passageway
heading off to the left was all that was visible. The reason it looked so familiar was
because—
"This looks just like… the room we started in?" Shea said what they were all thinking,
but no one wanted to say. However, it did indeed look just like the room they'd first
started in. In fact, it didn't just look like it, it was that exact room. The proof was in the
letters that appeared on the tablet.
—Hey, how does it feel? All that hard work just to end up at the start again. What'd
you feel when you first realized it? Come on, tell me. How're you holding up? Well?—
"...…" Hajime and the others were all shocked speechless. Their expressions were
bloodcurling. None of them so much as twitched as they read what was written on the
tablet. A few seconds later, more words appeared.
—Oh yeah, I almost forgot. This labyrinth morphs after a set amount of time. Miledichan wanted to make sure you guys wouldn't get bored by running through the same
paths over and over. Are you happy? Well? You better say thanks! She did this all out
of the goodness of her heart! It should have finished changing by now, so whatever
maps you made are useless. Feel free to thank me! You didn't make any, did you? Oh,
did you poor souls work hard on mapping everything you could? Well, that's just too
bad! Bugyayaya—
"Ha… hahaha."
"Fufufu."
"Fuhihihihi."
All three of them devolved into hysterical fits of laughter. The screams of
"Milediiiiiiiiiiii!" that followed were surely heard by all the creatures in the labyrinth.
Those screams only grew louder when, upon exiting the passageway, they'd found
she'd been true to her word. The entire layout of the dungeon had changed.
It took some time, but they finally managed to regain their composure and continued
their expedition. Naturally, things did not go smoothly. Shea especially even got caught
in the most basic of traps like metal basins falling from the sky, getting caught in
birdlime, being sprayed with some sticky white liquid that smelled disgusting, and
more. Eventually, she became a very agile rabbit.