Shea started complaining the moment they landed, but Hajime shut her up with a tired
rebuttal. For some reason, Miledi wasn't drawing nearby platforms to her in order to
repair her arms. Instead, she was looking up at the sky, her eyes glowing brightly.
Hajime stiffened. I've got a bad feeling about this. Shea, who was standing right next to
him, paled as well.
"Hajime-san, Yue-san! Run! She's making them all fall!" Hajime assumed Shea's Future
Sight must have activated again. That could only have meant that something life
threatening was about to head their way again. Hajime spared a quick glance at Yue,
who was standing nearby, before readying himself.
A second later, it happened. The entire room rumbled. Rocks started raining from the
sky. No, they weren't rocks. Miledi was bringing the entire ceiling down on them.
"Huh!? No way!"
"Fufufu, here's my revenge. Aside from the knights, I can't give multiple objects orders
at once, but I can make everything fall. Try dodging this~" Miledi's words irked
Hajime, but there wasn't any time to worry about her. There were a few platforms
making up part of the room's wall, but its ceiling was made almost entirely of
platforms. Each of those platforms was easily ten tons, and they were falling as thickly
as raindrops. Cold sweat poured down Hajime's forehead.
"H-Hajime-san!"
"We've gotta regroup with Yue!"
Hajime hugged Shea close and swung down from his anchor toward Yue. Yue too, was
jumping from block to block to try and reach Hajime.
Meanwhile, Miledi continued staring up at the ceiling. She'd mentioned it before too,
but the way she controlled the platforms was different from how she controlled the
golems. Judging by how quickly they adapted to their situation, the golems must have
had some level of autonomy to them. That was why she could coordinate with them
and give them sophisticated orders.
However, giving precise commands to things without autonomy was difficult, which
was why she could only control one or two objects at once. Even giving orders as
simple as "fall" to numerous objects took up all her concentration.
The time it took for her to focus also bought Hajime and Yue enough time to regroup.
The moment the three of them met up the sky started falling.
Rrrrrrrrrrrrrrrummmmmbbllle! When the shaking finally stopped, it was replaced by
a series of loud booms as the platforms started falling. Worse, because Miledi could
control the trajectory to some extent, the platforms were heavily concentrated where
Hajime and the others were standing. Considering the fact that Miledi probably didn't
intend to kill herself too, Hajime guessed the space around her must have been safe.
However, the falling rocks were nearly upon them, and they only had time to huddle
near a wall. It was too late to try and make a break for her.
"Yue, Shea, grab hold of me! Don't let go, no matter what!"
"Okay."
"You got it!"
The moment they grabbed on, Hajime took Orkan out of his Treasure Trove. Then, he
started firing missiles at the rocks coming down from the ceiling. Each missile found
a mark and Hajime pulverized stone after stone.
The sky, which had been covered in gray stone, finally started to show some cracks
due to Orkan's barrage. Slivers of sky could finally been seen through the blanket of
stone. Hajime returned Orkan to his Treasure Trove and instead pulled out Donner
and Schlag, firing both of them repeatedly. In order to increase their chances of
survival by even one percent, Hajime accurately calculated where he needed to shoot
to break apart the right fragments, then he shot them down with precision.
But even he could only do so much. The rocks were finally upon them. After making
sure Yue and Shea were still hanging on tight, Hajime activated one of his special magic
skills, Riftwalk. The world suddenly slowed down around him, and Hajime could make
out each piece of death falling toward him.
Using the minimum amount of movement possible, Hajime nimbly weaved his way
through the falling barrage. At the same time, he reloaded his pistols and shot aside
the rocks he couldn't evade. He couldn't afford to make even a fraction of a mistake.
Even the level of perception he'd had when he'd first learned Riftwalk in the fight
against the Great Orcus Labyrinth's guardian wouldn't be enough. He would need to
surpass all his limits to survive. Hajime activated another one of his skills, Limit Break.
Crimson light enveloped his body, then dissipated seconds later. Normally, Limit Break
would triple his base stats, but because mana was dispersed upon being released from
the body, it was rendered ineffective. That was because Limit Break achieved its effects
by wrapping its user in an aura of mana. But it also wrapped the inside of its user's
body with another layer of mana. Which meant that even if the strengthening was
rendered ineffective, his heightened senses from using the skill remained.
He was breaking his limits in the very literal sense of the phrase. Naturally, this placed
a huge burden on his body. Especially because he'd already enhanced his senses to the
limit earlier with Riftwalk. Had his body not been transformed by monster meat, it
would have broken apart from the strain of his own abilities. As it was, Hajime was
still bleeding from his eye and nose because of the burden.
With fluid motions, he dodged death by a hair's breadth time and time again. This was
all the more impressive because Yue and Shea were still clinging to him. He jumped
from crumbling platform to crumbling platform with a godlike level of balance,
sometimes even using the falling rocks as footholds.
Now that time was moving in slow motion, Hajime was able to see the cracks in each
stone as it fell past. Having long since surpassed the limits of any human, Hajime
continually found the one thread of life in a sea of death. To Miledi, who was watching
from across the room near the far wall, it looked as if Hajime had been swallowed by
the barrage of rocks. They fought hard, but I guess they just couldn't handle that kind of
barrage. Slightly disappointed, Miledi released her hold on the rocks.
The few platforms that hadn't been totally destroyed floated aimlessly among the
remnants of the fallen sky.
"Well, I guess it was too much for them after all. But if they can't even survive this,
they'd never have been able to take on those bastards." Sighing, Miledi started
searching for Hajime's corpse. But at that moment—
"I thought I already told you that I don't care about fighting those bastards."
"Huh?"
She heard a familiar voice. It was the voice of that arrogant white-haired boy that wore
an eyepatch and used artifacts she'd never seen before. It was Hajime's voice. Miledi
turned around, her voice a mixture of surprise and joy. He looked down at Miledi from
his perch on one of the few intact platforms. He was bleeding from his eye and nose,
but otherwise looked unharmed.
"H-How did you…" She was sure she'd seen him get swallowed up by the barrage of
rocks, yet here he was, standing before her. Hajime smiled victoriously.
"I don't mind telling you… but don't you think you should be worrying about
something else?"
"Huh?" she said again. But her confusion vanished an instant later when a magical
attack slammed into her.
"Rupture!" Yue's cool voice rang out through the crumbling chamber, and multiple jets
of water cut through Miledi's back, legs, head, and shoulders. Entire chunks of her
armor were cut off.
"No matter how many times you try, the result won't change~ I'll just fix it all up when
I fix my arms~"
"You won't get the chance to." Hajime fired an anchor at Miledi and reeled himself close
to her. He was holding Schlagen in his right hand.
"Ahaha, this again? You know that can't pierce my Azantium armor." Miledi was still
confident they couldn't win. She even let Hajime swing up to her and point Schlagen
at her chest again. She didn't bother trying to block with any of her remaining
platforms.
From her perspective, it made sense. The fact that Hajime's weapons couldn't
penetrate her Azantium armor had already been proven. She assumed that because
they were trying the same thing again, they'd exhausted all other options… But that
negligence proved to be fatal.
"I know!" Hajime fired, and Schlagen's enhanced full metal jacket bullet slammed into
Miledi's body. Like before, Miledi was blown away by the force of it. But this time,
Hajime didn't fly back after firing. He kept the anchor firmly embedded to stay close
to Miledi, then fired all of his prosthetic arm's shotgun shells into her chest. She was
sent flying even further back, and crashed into one of the floating platforms behind
her.
"N-No matter what you do, you still…"
"Yue!" Hajime ignored Miledi's words and shouted out to Yue. Yue jumped up and fired
another spell.
"Freeze— Crystal Coffin!" She chanted the name of a spell meant to encase its target
in a tomb of ice, but it was an advanced level water spell. In this labyrinth, Yue
shouldn't have been able to use anything stronger than an intermediate spell.
However, in order to restrain Miledi, they needed it.
The part of Miledi's back that was resting on the floating blocks froze, keeping her
stuck to the platform.
"Wha—!? How can you use advanced level spells!?" Miledi shouted out in surprise.
The reason Yue had been able to use the spell was simple. Like with Rupture, if she
used water that was already present, then the amount of mana required to cast the
spell went down. Yue had coated the block Miledi had landed on with water ahead of
time. And when Miledi had shown an opening, Yue had doused her back with water as
well. That was what her initial Rupture had been for.
Even then, it had taken up a huge amount, and Yue had depleted all of her accessories'
stored mana to cast it. Panting, Yue retreated to a platform further away.
"Nice job, Yue!" Hajime stood on top of Miledi's chest and pulled his trump card out of
his Treasure Trove. The object he pulled out was a two and a half meter long cannon.
The outside was covered in all manner of odd knobs and switches, while the inside
was loaded with a twenty centimeter wide jet black spike. There were four sturdy
stands attached to the lower part of the cannon, while the middle part connected to
his prosthetic arm, allowing him to operate it.
Hajime used the arms to hold it in place over Miledi, who couldn't move, and fired two
anchors for good measure. All told, there were six stands firmly holding the cannon in
place. Then, Hajime started pouring mana into it. Red sparks started flying off the
cannon, and the jet black spike inside it started to rotate.
Whiiiiiiiir! The spinning spike let out a high pitched whirring noise. Hajime's smile was
so ghastly that had Miledi not been a golem, she surely would have stiffened in fear.
This was one of the auxiliary weapons for his left arm, a pile bunker. With his
compression synthesis, he had managed to fit a four-ton mass into a spike twenty
centimeters wide and one meter long. The entire thing was coated in a thick layer of
Azantium, making it the densest, hardest object on the planet. He ignited the massive
amount of compressed blastrock inside the pile bunker and accelerated it with
Lightning Field for good measure.
"Eat this." He drove the spike straight through Miledi's heart, as if he were staking a
vampire.
With a resounding crash, his pile bunker pierced through Miledi's Azantium armor.
Cracks spread around the point of impact, the damage spreading throughout the
plating. The platform Miledi was stuck to had nearly shattered, the force of the impact
pushed it down a good distance, and the friction of the spinning pile bunker created
enough heat to make plumes of smoke rise from her chest.
…However, the light in Miledi's eyes was still burning bright.
"Ha… haha. Looks like even that wasn't enough. But well, props to you guys. You
pierced through a good three-fourths of my armor, you know?" Her voice was shaky,
but she tried to feign confidence. Internally, she was panicking. The pile bunker she'd
just experienced had been one not fully accelerated by Hajime's max power Lightning
Field. That was the only reason it hadn't penetrated all the way to her core. And yet,
despair still didn't color Hajime's eyes. It was almost as if he'd expected it to not be
enough.
"Now, Shea! Finish it!" Hajime put everything but the spike back into his Treasure
Trove and leaped out of the way.
From above came Shea, falling from a great height. Her rabbit ears were flopping in
the wind as she held Drucken high over her head.
"Wha—!?" Miledi instantly guessed what was about to happen. There was real panic
in her eyes now, and she desperately tried to break free. Realizing that wouldn't work,
she tried to move the platform she was stuck to instead, but she quickly realized it was
too late. At the last moment she stopped struggling, accepting her inevitable fate.
Shea fired off multiple shotgun blasts to accelerate her even further, then slammed
down her war hammer with all the power of gravity behind it.
With a thunderous roar, the spike sank deeper into Miledi. But even then, it didn't
pierce all the way through. Shea squeezed Drucken's trigger relentlessly, blowing all
of her ammunition.
Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang!
"Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!" Shea's scream echoed across the room.
She poured every last ounce of her strength into her war hammer. Every. Last. Ounce.
The platform fell even further from the force of her blow. It crashed into the floor
below at breakneck speed. Finally, the spike pierced through Miledi's last layer of
Azantium armor. There was a satisfying crack as her core broke.
The moment the platform hit the ground, Shea somersaulted over Drucken and leaped
into the air. Then, with her body strengthening focused on her legs, she kicked
Drucken's handle, making doubly sure that Miledi was done for.
The spike drove even further into Miledi's chest, breaking the core apart, shattering it
completely.
The light faded from Miledi's eyes. Shea let out a sigh of relief, then let the tension
drain from her body.
She heard two objects land behind her and turned around. As she expected, it was
Hajime and Yue. Shea broke out into an ecstatic grin and gave them a thumbs-up. Both
of them smiled back and returned her gesture.
They were certain of it now. They'd cleared the final trial Reisen's labyrinth had to
offer.
"Nice one, Shea. That last smash of yours was perfect. I might even respect you a little
now."
"…Yeah, you did good." Dust as thick as smoke swirled about them as they talked.
A spiderweb of cracks radiated out from the crater that had formed when the Miledi
Golem had crashed into the ground. Shea was exhausted enough that she had to lean
on Drucken just to stay on her feet.
She would have gladly just slumped to the ground, but she wanted to look cool in front
of Hajime and Yue. And as a reward for her efforts, the two of them gave her looks of
admiration.
"Ehehe, thanks guys. But Hajime-san, shouldn't you be saying you might have fallen in
love with me a little instead?"
"Not happening. Not even a little." Though his words seemed curt, his expression was
nowhere near as stern as it usually was when it came to Shea's pathetic jokes. In fact,
he was even willing to admit to himself that Shea might have just looked a little sexy
when pounding the finishing blow into Miledi.
The fact that she'd been able to fight so well despite never even holding a weapon until
a few weeks ago was because of how strongly she'd wanted to stand on the same stage
as Hajime and Yue. It was that strong determination, combined with Shea's own latent
abilities, that had allowed her to overcome the trials of one of the Seven Great
Labyrinths and deal the finishing blow to its guardian.
In truth, Hajime hadn't necessarily needed Shea's help to finish off Miledi. He had
expected the pile bunker would fall short, so he had a backup plan for powering it all
the way in. But he'd seen how such a gentle and peace loving bunny girl had resolutely
stood by his side through all of their trials. Despite having no combat skill to speak of
until just recently she had never once cried that she wanted to go back, and despite all
of her fear and uncertainty she'd pushed valiantly forward. That was why he'd decided
to entrust the final blow to her. A choice he was glad he'd made now.
That last strike of hers had actually been cool enough that Hajime would have fallen
for her under normal circumstances. The depth of her feelings had been conveyed to
him together with the shockwaves generated by her attack. However, Hajime still
couldn't give her the kind of affection she sought. Still, the strength of her
determination and guts had moved him. As a result, he definitely looked at her with
kinder eyes than he used to.
"Fweh? I-Is it just me… or are you actually being nice to me for once, Hajime-san…? IIs this a dream?"
"Now look here… Err, actually, I guess it makes sense that you'd think that considering
how I've been treating you…"
Shea pinched her cheeks to make sure she really wasn't dreaming. Hajime wanted to
protest, but he realized that he really didn't have any right to say anything.
Yue walked up to Shea, who was still busy pinching her cheeks. She grabbed Shea's
arm, pulled her down into a crouch, and gently patted her head. Then, she started to
straighten out Shea's disheveled hair.
"U-Umm, Yue-san?"
"It's a shame we can't get Hajime to pat your head. You'll just have to make do with me
for now."
"Y-Yue-saaaan. Huh? Why am I crying? Fweeeeeeeh."
"…There there."
Shea waffled about in confusion for a moment, but burst into tears and hugged Yue
tight when she realized she was being praised. Taking on one of the Seven Great
Labyrinths for her first trip outside the forest must have been pretty tough. Only the
resolve to stay together with Yue and Hajime had kept her going. Finally being
accepted as someone capable of fighting together with them after overcoming such a
difficult trial was more than enough to move her to tears.
As an aside, even Yue's comment didn't persuade Hajime to pat her head. Since Shea
was the kind of girl that got carried away easily, Hajime didn't want to give her the
wrong idea by being too nice to her. Dealing with her misunderstandings was too
much of a hassle for him. With all that they'd been through, Shea was definitely a
member of his family. Still, the kind of love Hajime felt for Yue wasn't something that
he could really share between multiple people. After all, that was what having a
"special someone" meant. Besides, Hajime couldn't imagine ever doing anything that
would make Yue sad.
And most of all, when he saw Shea crying tears of happiness and relief into Yue's
bosom while Yue gently patted her head… Well, he could guess where things were
probably headed.
Hajime watched on with a strange expression on his face. Suddenly, a voice called out
to the three of them.
"Ummm… Sorry to interrupt your little party, but things aren't looking so hot for me,
so I'd like to get this out of the way before it's too late." They knew that voice. The three
of them all turned back in surprise. The light from Miledi's eyes, which had gone out
moments ago, had returned. Instantly, they all jumped back. They all eyed Miledi
warily, as they were certain they'd destroyed her core.
"Hey, hey, no need to be so tense. You did it! You won! I'm just using what little power's
left in my core to talk to you guys for a bit! I'll be gone for good in a few minutes." The
fact that the light in her eyes was flickering and fainter than before, combined with the
fact that she didn't move, seemed to support her statement. She was on the verge of
disappearing for good. Really does look like she's gonna die in a few minutes…
Relaxing slightly, Hajime cautiously responded to her.
"So? What'd you want to talk to us about, you half-dead golem? Seeing as you're about
to die and still can't read the mood… I guess I'll posthumously award you the title of
most insensitive Liberator."
"Heeey, there's no need to be so mean. I was just starting to like you, too."
"Whatever. Anyway, I thought I told you I have no interest in fighting your world's
shitty gods." It almost felt like Miledi sighed before she responded.
"Don't worry, that's not what I wanted to talk about. There's no need to. I'm just… here
to give you a piece of advice. Even if the spell you're looking for isn't in the labyrinths
you explore, you'll need to acquire all of the ancient magic the Liberators left behind…
in order to achieve your goal…" It certainly did seem like Miledi was on the verge of
disappearing. Her voice was growing fainter and there were long pauses between
sentences. Unconcerned, Hajime continued pressing her for answers.
"All of it, huh… Well, why don't you tell us where all the other labyrinths are, then. The
records have been lost and no one knows where most of them are anymore."
"Ah, I see… So it's already been so long… that people have forgotten where the
labyrinths are… Okay, well… they're…" Miledi's voice grew weaker and weaker. It
looked like she was reminiscing about the past. Yue and Shea looked down at her
silently. They respected her determination. For the sake of her goal, for the sake of her
dream, she'd abandoned human form and transferred her spirit into this inanimate
object.
Miledi mumbled out the location of the remaining Great Labyrinths. Among them was
one that came as a surprise to everyone.
"That's all of them… Good luck."
"You sure are acting nice now. What happened to all the harassment and traps you
sprang on us?" Like Hajime had said, the annoying cutesy speech and insulting tone
was nowhere to be found. Instead, she was speaking with sincerity he could hardly
believe from her. She had shown hints of this personality before their fight, so Hajime
was beginning to suspect this really was her true nature. And now that she was
moments from death, she had no need to keep up the facade.
"Ahaha, sorry about that, really. But you know… those fucking bastards… are real
scum… They do these kinds of underhanded annoying things all the time… So I just…
wanted to help you get used to it before…"
"Hey… How many times do I have to say it? I have no interest in fighting your mad
gods. Quit assuming I will."
The reply that came back had such a level of earnest tone to it that Hajime couldn't
doubt her words.
"You will. As long as you stay the same… you'll… definitely kill them."
"…I don't get what you're trying to say. I mean, sure, I guess I'll blow them to kingdom
come if they get in my way, but…" Hajime replied hesitatingly. Miledi only laughed
cryptically in reply.
"Fufu… That's fine… live your life however you wish… I know… your choices… will
definitely… help this world…" Glowing blue light enveloped the Miledi Golem. It
flickered faintly, like the pale light of a firefly as it floated up to heaven like a soul finally
being freed. It was a wondrous, mystical sight.
Yue suddenly walked up to Miledi. There was almost no light left in her eyes.
"What is it?" Miledi's voice was barely a whisper. Yue replied in the same hushed
whisper, giving her last parting words to the great Liberator.
"…You did well. You can rest now."
"...…"
Words of praise. It was all one of the living could give to her, an almost legendary hero
that had waited all alone in the darkness for centuries, never giving up hope that her
dream would one day be realized. It might have been odd hearing those words from
someone far younger than her. Still, Yue could think of nothing else to say.
Miledi hadn't been expecting that either. She just stared in surprise for a while. Finally,
she spoke. Her muttered words were far gentler than anything they'd heard her say
thus far.
"…Thank you."
"Mhmm."
Just get on with it already! Behind them, Hajime was nearing the end of his patience.
The way Miledi had sounded so sure about what he was going to do had pissed him
off. And yet, Shea pinned his arms behind his back and covered his mouth with her
hand before he could do anything.
"Who's the one who can't read the mood now, huh!? Just stay quiet until they're done!"
Shea whispered furiously into his ear. Fortunately, neither Yue nor Miledi noticed
them, so the solemn atmosphere between the two of them remained.
"Now then… it's finally time… I pray that… the blessings of the gods… never reach
you…"
Hold on, those were the same words Oscar told us back in his house… With that parting
remark, Miledi Reisen, one of this world's Liberators, vanished. Entranced, Yue and
Shea watched as the light of her soul rose up to the sky.
"…At first I thought she was just a rotten, twisted little woman, but she really gave it
her all, didn't she?"
"Yeah…"
Their words were somber. However, one member of their party didn't seem to care
about Miledi's passing at all, and hurried the two of them up.
"Alright, done yet? Let's get out of here. Also, I know for a fact that that annoying part
of her personality wasn't faked. There's no actor that good, she had to have been a
bitch from the start."
"Come on, Hajime-san. There's no need to speak ill of the dead. That's just cruel. See, I
knew you were the one who was worst at reading the mood."
"…Hajime, are you dense?"
"Not you too, Yue… Bah, whatever. Also, it's not that I can't read the mood, I'm just
choosing not to."
In the midst of their conversation, they noticed a section of the wall had begun to glow.
Cutting their discussion short, they started heading toward it. It was relatively high
up, so they'd have to hop across a few floating blocks to reach it. But the moment they
jumped onto the first one, it started moving and took them right to it.
"..."
"Wawawa, it just started moving on its own. Well, at least it saved us some trouble."
"Is this a reward for winning?" Shea yelled out in surprise, while Yue tilted her head.
Only Hajime looked unhappy. After ten seconds of travel, it stopped about five meters
before the glowing part of the wall. At the same time, the light began to fade and the
part of the wall that had been glowing fell away. Behind it was a passageway made of
polished white stone that shone with a brilliant radiance.
The floating block they were standing on began taking them through the passage. I
guess this is what's going to take us to Miledi's house? A short while later, they found
themselves staring at a wall engraved with the seven Liberators' crests. It was the
same wall that had led to Oscar's house in his labyrinth. As they approached, the wall
slid to the side. The block didn't slow at all and took them through that opening as
well. On the other side, they found…
"Hey there! Not-so-long time no see! It's me, Miledi-chan!" A miniature version of the
Miledi Golem.
"...…"
"What'd I tell you? I knew she'd pull something like this."
Shea and Yue were stunned speechless. Hajime just looked annoyed. He had been
hoping his guess was incorrect.
He'd already guessed that both the serious Miledi and the prankster Miledi were just
two facets of the person that was Miledi Reisen. The intricacy and annoyance factor of
her traps was too great to have come from someone who was just putting on a facade.
Furthermore, she'd purposely chosen to leave her spirit behind to judge potential
challengers. In which case, it didn't make sense for her to set things up so that she'd
just vanish once she was defeated. After all, that would mean subsequent challengers
would no longer have any trials to overcome.
That was why Hajime had predicted that even if they destroyed her golem, Miledi
herself wouldn't vanish. His assumption was confirmed when the block they jumped
on started guiding them on its own. Only Miledi could freely control those blocks.
In stark contrast to Shea and Yue's glum expressions, Miledi seemed sickeningly
cheerful.
"Huh? What's this? Why's everyone all quiet? Come on, shouldn't you be more
surprised? Or are you just so surprised you don't know what to say? I guess my
surprise was a huge hit!" The miniature Miledi Golem looked a lot more human than
her giant counterpart. She had a white mask over her face and her slender body was
clad in a white robe. Though it was rather off-putting that her mask was in the shape
of a smiley face… Speaking in the same cutesy manner she had when they'd first met,
Mini Miledi walked up to them. Yue and Shea's bangs were covering their faces, hiding
their expressions. Hajime could see where this was headed and quickly took a step
back.
Yue and Shea whispered quietly.
"…Then what was that back there?"
"Hm? Back there? Oh, did you think I died? Nah, no way! I'd never leave!"
"But we saw light leaving your body."
"Fufufu, pretty good performance, right? I'm such a good actor! I really am a genius at
everything I do!" Miledi got louder and louder as she spoke. She became
proportionally more annoying as well. Yue stuck her hand out while Shea pulled out
Drucken.
"Uh oh, did I go too far?" Miledi muttered worriedly.
"U-Umm..." She looked apprehensively from Yue to Shea, momentarily at a loss for
words, but then she seemed to resign herself to her fate as she spoke.
"Ehehe, just kidding~"
"Die."
"I'm going to kill you!"
"W-Wait! Please wait! This body's really weak! I really will die if you smash it! Calm
down, please! I'll apologize, I promise!"
That marked the start of a scuffle in which a great deal of the surrounding area was
destroyed, but Hajime paid it all no mind and explored the room they were in instead.
The floors and walls were all white, and aside from the magic circle engraved into its
center, the room was empty. There was a single door set into the far wall, which Hajime
assumed led to Miledi's house.
Hajime walked over to the magic circle and started examining it. Miledi hurried over
to him when she saw what he was doing. A bloodthirsty vampire and a murderous
rabbit chased after her.
"Heeey, don't touch that. Also, they're your comrades, right!? Don't just ignore me, do
something about them!" Miledi cowered behind Hajime's back, hoping he would
provide some protection against the two demonic girls chasing her.
"Hajime, move. I have to kill her."
"Please move, Hajime-san. We need to kill her. Soon, preferably."
"Didn't think I'd be hearing that from you guys. Anyway, quit playing around, we've
got work to do." Hajime reprimanded Yue and Shea in a tired voice. Behind him, the
Mini Miledi jeered.
"Yeah that's right, take this seriously!" But then she was cut short by Hajime's metal
arm grabbing her face. He tightened his hold on her until her smiley face mask was
twisted in a grotesque expression of pain. There was an ominous creaking noise
coming out of her head.
"If you don't want to end up like your bigger self, hand over the ancient magic."
"Heeey, you do know you sound totally like a villain— Creaak! Okay, okay, fine, I'll give
it to you! I promise, so please stop! I'm really going to break if you keep going!" Seeing
Miledi finally humbled, Yue and Shea calmed down a little as well. Realizing any more
fooling around might really get her destroyed, Miledi quickly started up the magic
circle.
The three of them stepped inside it. Since Miledi herself had been the one to test them
here, there was no spell that searched their memories like the one in Orcus' home.
Instead, the knowledge of how to use the ancient magic she protected was transferred
directly to their brain. Hajime and Yue had gone through this once before, so they
didn't show any reaction, but Shea jumped in surprise when it happened.
In just a few seconds, all three of them had the knowledge of how to use Miledi's
ancient spell.
"This is… I knew it, a spell that lets you manipulate gravity."
"That's right~ My specialty was gravity magic. Make sure you use it well… Or so I'd
like to say, but it looks like you and that bunny girl over there don't have any affinity
for it. Like none at all, holy cow!"
"Oh shut up. I figured that would happen anyway." Just as Miledi had said, though
Hajime and Shea now had the knowledge of how to manipulate gravity, they wouldn't
easily be able to use it. It was like how Yue didn't have any aptitude for the creation
magic Hajime used.
"Well, that bunny girl over there can at least use it well enough to make herself heavier.
And you… you've got your creation magic, so think of something. At least Blondie over
here is fit to use it. Train hard until you master it, okay?" Hajime shrugged his
shoulders, Yue nodded seriously, and Shea looked stricken. She'd finally gotten her
hands on god-level magic only to be told the most she'd be able to do with it was make
herself heavier. The shock must have been pretty great. Obviously, she had no
intention of making herself heavier, but even learning how to make herself lighter
wouldn't be of much help. Becoming lighter could mess up her body proportions just
as badly. Either way, it was of no use to her… Shea sunk to the ground, clearly
depressed. Hajime ignored her and continued mercilessly making more demands.
"Hey, Miledi. Hand over the proof that we conquered this dungeon. Oh, and give us all
the useful artifacts you have hidden here and all the high-quality spirit stone you've
got stored up."
"You do realize that you sound like a mugger right now, right?" It felt to Hajime that
the eyes behind the now warped smiley face mask were glaring at him angrily, but he
ignored them. Mini Miledi ruffled through her pockets before pulling out a ring and
throwing it to Hajime. He caught it in midair. Reisen's crest was two ellipses connected
by a single stake piercing through both of them.
She then brought out a large quantity of ore from seemingly nowhere, then rifled
through it, picking out the same ore the dungeon was made from. She must have had
a Treasure Trove of her own. Considering how easily she agreed, maybe she planned on
giving all this to us anyway. For whatever reason, Miledi seemed convinced that Hajime
would indeed end up fighting the gods, so it made sense for her to offer all this
assistance.
Though, leave it to Hajime to not be satisfied with all that. He started packing the ore
into his own Treasure Trove while he looked coldly at Miledi.
"That's a Treasure Trove, isn't it? Hand it over. You've got some good artifacts in there
too, right?"
"N-Now look here, that's everything I have to give you. I need the Treasure Trove and
all the other artifacts I have left to repair and maintain this labyrinth."
"Like I care. Hand it over."
"Hey, I said no!" Miledi hurriedly stepped back, away from Hajime's grabbing hands.
Besides, these things wouldn't be of any use to them anyway. She explained as much to
Hajime, but it seemed to be of no use.
"Hmm, I see… Alright, hand it over." At this point, he really was acting like a villain.
"I told you already, I can't! Now go home!" Miledi fled from Hajime's groping clutches
and jumped up onto the block that had led them here. She manipulated it so that she
was floating somewhere near the ceiling.
"Don't run. I just want everything you own as part of my reward for clearing your
dungeon. I'd say that's a fair thing to ask."
"There's something wrong with you if you think that counts as fair! Ugh, can't believe
I ended up saying the same line O-chan always used to give me…"
"Just so you know, it's O-chan who taught us this is fair."
"O-chaaaaaaan!"
Hajime eventually managed to corner Miledi with the help of Yue and Shea, who still
held a grudge toward her for all the teasing she'd done and wanted payback. She knew
half of this was her own fault, but the part that really stung was that half of it was the
fault of the guy who'd made the other labyrinth.
"Haaah, to think the first people to conquer my dungeon would be this crazy…
Whatever, I give up. I'm sending you three out of here! You better not come back!" Just
before Hajime could leap at her, a rope suddenly appeared from the ceiling, which
Miledi promptly pulled.
"Huh?" Hajime looked up in confusion, but then he heard that same terrible noise he'd
grown to hate.
Clunk!
"Wha—!?" She'd activated another trap.
A second later, water started rushing into the room from all four walls. Because of the
angle it came out at, the room they were in was soon a raging whirlpool of water. At
the same time, the magic circle in the center of the room sunk, creating a neat little
hole in the floor. The whirlpool started draining into it.
"Hey! You little—" Hajime stiffened as he realized the humiliation they were about to
be subjected to. A circular white room, a hole in its center, and water whirlpooling its
way down said hole… Miledi had led them to a massive toilet.
"How about we let this water wash away our animosity too?" Mini Miledi's mask
winked at them.
Annoyed, Yue quickly tried to cast her usual flight spell. Mana in this room didn't get
dispersed, possibly because the magic circle was in this room, which was why Yue
could easily have lifted them all up despite her depleted mana reserves.
"Up—"
"Nope~" Before she could finish, however, Miledi stuck out her hand and Hajime and
the others felt an enormous weight press down on them. It felt like there was an
invisible object trying to crush them. Miledi had increased the weight of the air
pressing down on them.
"Bye bye~ Good luck with the other labyrinths!"
"Ugh… Damn you! We're not shit to be flushed down! I swear I'll come back and
destroy you!"
"Urgh… I'll never forgive you."
"You're dead, you hear me!? Dead! Fugwaah!"
With those parting remarks, Hajime and the others were sucked down the massive
toilet bowl. Just before he vanished from sight, Hajime chucked something at Miledi in
a last desperate act of revenge. Once Hajime and the others had disappeared, the water
drained away as fast as it came, leaving the room looking the same as it had before.
"Haah, what a bunch. Still, to think he'd be a Synergist like O-chan… Fufu, it almost
feels like fate. Keep struggling for the sake of your dream… Now then, looks like I'll be
busy fixing the golems for quite some time… Hm? What's this?"
Miledi wiped nonexistent sweat off her artificial golem brow as she mused to herself.
A second later, she noticed something strange at the corner of her sight. There was a
knife stuck to the wall with a black object dangling from it. What on earth is that? As
she got closer, she realized she recognized that shape.
"Huh!? Wait, isn't this—"
The black object was one of Hajime's hand grenades. Just before he'd disappeared
down the drain, Hajime had thrown it as his last act of revenge. Since he'd used it so
many times in the dungeon, Miledi recognized what it was instantly. Panicking, she
quickly tried to get away. However, manipulating gravity took up large amounts of
mana, and Miledi had used all of it up in that last chase, which meant she had no means
of softening the explosion.
She tried to make a break for it on foot, but it was already too late. The moment Mini
Miledi turned around was when the grenade went off. The entire room was enveloped
in light, followed by a massive shockwave.
Miledi's screams echoed throughout the labyrinth. Some time after, there might have
been a very depressed golem going around crying as she had to spend even more time
repairing her dungeon. Meanwhile, the trio that had been flushed out of the room was
currently being carried down a long tunnel by a powerful current. There was no
breaks for them to take a breath, so they just got swept along. It took all of their
concentration just to stay conscious and avoid crashing into the walls.
They caught sight of a number of shadows passing them by as they were being swept
away. Fish. The tunnel they were being funneled through must have connected to a
river or lake somewhere. Unlike Hajime and the others, the fish were able to swim
against the current and many of them passed the trio.
One of them even came up to Shea's face as it swam by, keeping pace with her. She
looked over at it. Their eyes met. Hers and the fish's. Or rather, what she'd thought was
a fish. Though it had the body of one, its face looked like that of an old man. It was a
difficult impression to convey, but that was the best way to describe it. Shea had run
into a fish with a person's face. Its apathetic expression was oddly reminiscent of the
fish in the old game Seaman.
Shea opened her eyes wide in surprise. She almost let out the breath she'd been
holding in, but she managed to clamp down on her mouth in time. Still, she couldn't
take her eyes off it. The two of them stared each other down as they were swept away
by the current. They might have spent all eternity gazing into each other's eyes, but
Shea was abruptly interrupted by a voice that popped up in her head.
—What the heck are you staring at?— It was even accompanied by a mental clicking
of the tongue. This time Shea couldn't contain her surprise. She opened her mouth
with a garbled scream, letting out the air she'd been holding in. Wait, is this fish a
monster of some kind!? One that can use the telepathy skill? But Shea's question would
remain forever unanswered as the torrent of water swept them away, while the fish
continued swimming in a different direction.
All that was left behind was a white-eyed bunny girl suspended limply in the water, as
their party continued to flow down the water for quite a while…
A single carriage escorted by a team of horses plodded down a beaten highway. The
horses' hoofbeats punctured the silence at regular intervals. They naturally had
people riding them. Three men and one woman, all of them dressed like adventurers.
The carriage was being driven by a fifteen year old girl and a… cross-dresser that
resembled a monster.
"Sona-chaaan, there's a spring coming up ahead, so let's take a break there."
"Alright, Crystabel-san."
This Crystabel was the same Crystabel that had helped outfit Yue and Shea back in the
town of Brooke. The girl sitting next to him was the receptionist of the Masaka Inn that
they'd stayed at, Sona Masaka. Despite her strange sounding name, she was an
ordinary girl with maybe just a little more curiosity in the more adult side of things
than was normal for her age.
The two of them were on their way back to Brooke after an excursion to the next town
over with a hired escort of guards. As his giant frame would suggest, Crystabel was
insanely strong, so he often went out to collect his own supplies to craft his clothes.
This trip, in fact, had one such instance. Sona had come along because one of her
relatives in the next town over had gotten pretty badly hurt and her parents were too
busy to go, so she'd delivered get well gifts in their place. The adventurers had been
on the way back from a quest, so they decided to tag along as well.
They were around a day's ride out from Brooke. The party decided to rest at a nearby
spring for the afternoon.
They let the horses drink from the spring while they made preparations for lunch.
Sona headed to the spring to get water for the group. The moment she put her canteen
into the spring, it started frothing. Gouts of water flew up from its center, splashing
the nearby area.
"Kyaaa!"
"Sona-chan!"
Sona let out a surprised shriek and fell back. Crystabel instantly rushed over to protect
her, with the other adventurers not far behind. The fountain's spray increased in
intensity, creating a column of water rising ten meters high.
This spring was a well known resting place for travelers, and never once had anyone
reported something like this happening. Hence why Crystabel, Sona, and the other
adventurers gazed on in shock, heedless of the spray that was soaking them. A few
seconds later—
"Dowaaaaaaa!"
"Aaaaaaah!"
"...…"
Three people were spat out of the fountain… two of which screamed as they flew out.
Crystabel and the others cried out in surprise. They flew a good ten feet through the
air before crashing spectacularly to the ground on the opposite shore.
"...…"
"Wh-What on earth was that…" Crystabel and the adventurers were shocked
speechless, while Sona muttered what they were all thinking.
"Ack… Ugh… God, that was terrible. I'm gonna crush that little bitch into pieces, mark
my words. Yue, Shea, you alright?"
"Ack, urgh… Yeah, somehow."
Hajime spat out a string of curses while making sure Yue and Shea were fine. However,
only Yue responded to him.
"Shea? Hey, Shea! Where are you?"
"Shea… where'd you go?"
There was no response. Hajime quickly jumped back into the water and started
looking for her. As he'd expected, Shea was laying at the bottom of the spring. She'd
lost consciousness and didn't float because of Drucken's weight.
Hajime pulled a really dense ore out of his Treasure Trove, making him quickly sink to
the bottom. Once he'd grabbed Shea, he kicked off the ground and leaped back out.
He dragged her with him to the shore. Then, he laid her on her back and took a closer
look at her. She was pale-faced, her eyes had rolled back into her head, and her heart
wasn't beating. She must have seen something quite terrifying as her expression was
still frozen in one of disgust.
"Yue, you've got to give her CPR!"
"CPwhat?"
"Gah, I mean you need to clear her airway of water and…"
"Huh?" He tried to get Yue to give Shea CPR, but she just looked at Hajime blankly. Does
the concept of CPR not exist in this world? She wasn't exactly injured, and feeding her
more liquid when she was already drowning seemed like a bad idea, so the Ambrosia
probably wouldn't be of any help. Yue wasn't very well versed in healing magic, so he
doubted she could cast something specific enough to make Shea spit out all the water
and get her heart pumping again.
He didn't know when it was she'd lost consciousness, but at this point time was of the
essence. Hajime steeled his resolve and started performing CPR.
Naturally, that meant he would have to do mouth-to-mouth as well… Yue watched on
unhappily. But she realized Hajime was doing this because it would somehow save
Shea, so she kept quiet. Instead she just stared.
Hajime tried to ignore that cold stare as best he could while he worked to get Shea's
heart pumping again. Unbelievable. I'd just started to think you might not be that
worthless after all, but then you go and nearly kill yourself after we've already won… You
really are just a worthless rabbit. Hajime grimaced, and after a few rounds of CPR, Shea
finally started coughing up water. He turned her head to the side so she wouldn't choke
on it again. From an outside perspective it looked like he was kissing her passionately.
"Hic, ack… Hajime-san?"
"Yep, that's me. Unbelievable, I can't believe you almost got yourself killed— Mmf!?"
Despite his harsh words, Hajime looked thoroughly relieved. Suddenly, Shea
interrupted him by throwing her arms around him and giving him a deep kiss. It was
so unexpected that Hajime didn't have any time to move out of the way.
"Mmmf!? Mmmmm!!!"
"Mmmpch… Mmm…" Shea wrapped her arms and legs around Hajime, locking him in
place while she mercilessly ravaged his mouth with her tongue. Her inhuman strength
and the leverage her position gave her made it impossible for Hajime to break away.
Somehow, Shea had been aware of all the "kisses" Hajime had given her while he was
performing CPR. Perhaps it was a special condition brought on by the fact that Shea
had activated her body strengthening right before she'd lost consciousness.
Regardless, Hajime's repeated kisses had flung her into full overdrive mode. She kept
Hajime firmly pinned in place while she returned his kisses a hundredfold.
Off to the side Yue looked… very unhappy, to say the least. Still, she did nothing to stop
them. In a small voice, she muttered "As a reward, just this once…" It appeared she was
willing to forgive this transgression.
Though it was obvious from her expression and the dangerous look in her eyes that
she was quite conflicted. Tonight, she was going to make sure Hajime spent the whole
night with her… She wouldn't let him rest for even a second.
"Wawawah! What's going on!? A-Amazing… they're completely soaked, but they're
wrapping around each other so passionately… A-And… they're doing it all outside!
These people aren't normal!" That exclamation came from none other than the easily
excitable girl, Sona. Next to her, Crystabel muttered "Oh? Aren't you two…" It seemed
he remembered them. Off to the side, the three male adventurers were burning up
with jealousy, and it was with great effort that they managed to keep their swords in
their sheaths. The single female adventurer gave them a withering glare.
Shea was still half-delirious from passion and near-death euphoria. She panted
heavily as she kissed Hajime, until finally he got so fed up that he lifted himself to his
feet, taking Shea with him. He then grabbed Shea's plump butt, giving it a firm squeeze.
"Aahn!" She let out a garbled moan. In that second, her ironclad grip loosened. Hajime
peeled her off and flung her into the spring.
"Ugyaaaaah!" He watched as she fell into the spring with a tremendous splash. Then,
he took a few seconds to catch his breath and comb his hair back.
"I-I was careless. I didn't think she'd come at me like that… just after regaining
consciousness." Hajime watched as she lumbered out of the spring like a banshee, her
bangs covering her face, and shivered.
"Uuuu… How cruel. Hajime-san, you're the one that started it."
"Excuse me? I'll have you know that that is just a lifesaving technique, nothing more…
and wait, you were conscious that whole time?"
"Well, I'm not exactly sure… but I could kind of tell what was going on. Just that you
were kissing me over and over, Hajime-san! Uhehehe."
"Please stop laughing creepily like that. Look, I only did that to save your life, nothing
more. Don't get any weird ideas, okay?"
"Really? But a kiss is still a kiss. At this rate you might really fall for me!"
"Like hell I will. And Yue, you could have stopped her, you know?"
"Just this once… I mean, Shea worked so hard… but still…"
"Yue? Earth to Yue?"
Yue stared back with blank eyes, muttering incoherently. Hajime sighed as he realized
she was done for too. Finally, he turned to Crystabel and the others. They'd been
staring at them this whole time.
His gaze passed over the four adventurers, stopped for a second at Sona, and returned
to her after he took one look at Crystabel. He'd like to pretend he never saw Crystabel
at all.
Sona jumped with a start when she realized Hajime was looking at her, then blushed
bright red.
"S-Sorry for interrupting you two! D-Don't mind us. By all means, please continue!"
She turned around to run, but Crystabel grabbed her by the scruff of the neck before
she could. She then walked up to Hajime and the others. Hajime nervously stepped
backwards, but Shea greeted him with a cheerful "Oh, hey, you're the shop owner." It
appeared she knew her.
After they sorted everything out, Hajime discovered they'd been spat out a day's ride
from Brooke, so they decided to head back there with Crystabel and the others.
Crystabel offered to let them ride in their carriage, which they happily accepted. They
changed out of their soaked clothes and chatted amicably with the others as they rode
back. The sound of hoofbeats became the soundtrack of their travels as the warm rays
of the sun smiled down upon them.
Together with their newfound comrade, Hajime and his party had cleared their second
labyrinth. Hajime let the feeling of victory settle in as he laid down in the back of the
carriage. Warmed by the sun, he smiled faintly as he thought of all the travels that still
yet awaited them.