Since the Bachulus they'd encountered was a type no one had seen before, Hajime had
guessed it must have been some new species the demons had created with their
ancient magic. The slime had a lot of peculiarities that had matched up with the
monsters that had attacked Ur and the ones that had attacked Kaori in Orcus. Chances
were, the demons were building up their monster army still. And they wanted the
humans as weak as possible before the war started in earnest so they were striking
preemptively at the most important assets. Aiko had the potential to revolutionize the
kingdom's agriculture, while the heroes the Holy Church had summoned were the
humans' strongest trump card. They were definitely people the demons would want
to eliminate as soon as possible.
Ankaji, too, was an important lifeline for the kingdom. It was a major crossroads where
almost all of the northern continent's seafood passed through. Best of all, since it was
in a desert and all it was comparatively isolated. It made for a perfect target. That was
why Hajime's first thought was that demons were responsible.
When Hajime explained as much to Lanzwi, he groaned.
"I've heard about the other monster attacks. We did conduct our own investigation
into the affair, but… we never thought they'd be able to launch an attack like this… We
were too naive."
"Don't beat yourself up over it. Even people in the capital couldn't have guessed they'd
be making new species of monsters. The hero party was attacked barely a few days
ago. The whole kingdom's probably in an uproar and hasn't had time to properly
spread information."
"I guess the demons are finally making their move. Hajime-dono, you said you were
an adventurer. But given that inhuman strength of yours, and those artifacts you carry,
I can only assume that like Kaori-dono, you too are one of Ehit's warriors."
Hajime simply shrugged. Lanzwi guessed that Hajime had his own reasons for not
elaborating, so he didn't pry. Regardless of what secrets he was hiding, Hajime was
still Ankaji's savior. Besides, there were more important matters that had to be dealt
with at the moment.
"Hajime-dono, Yue-dono, Tio-dono. I, Duke Lanzwi Feuward Zengen, humbly thank
you for saving the city of Ankaji and its people. We will forever be in your debt." Lanzwi
and his attendants bowed to Hajime and the others.
It was rare for the duke of a city to bow their heads to anyone, but Hajime had
definitely earned that honor. It didn't matter if he was one of Ehit's warriors or not,
his actions had saved thousands of lives. Hajime hadn't known Lanzwi for long, but he
could tell the duke cared deeply for his people and his country. His attendants knew
that as well, which was why they didn't try to stop him when he bowed to Hajime,
electing to join him instead. Hajime could tell where Bize got his personality from.
Even their mannerisms were similar.
Hajime grinned to himself and addressed Lanzwi.
"That's right, you guys owe me now. Don't forget it."
He could make use of their gratitude here too. When it came to turning things to his
advantage, Hajime had no shame.
Lanzwi had been expecting Hajime to be humble about it while covertly trying to curry
favor with him, so he was taken by surprise when Hajime just laid it out like that. Still,
he'd been planning to repay his debt regardless, so it wasn't a big deal.
Honestly, Hajime didn't feel he did anything all that altruistic. Saving Ankaji had been
Kaori's request, and he'd had a personal stake in ensuring the city's safety. After all,
he would need to leave Myu here while he explored the Grand Gruen Volcano.
However, if Lanzwi was showing him gratitude, he would've been a fool not to
capitalize on it. The more allies he had when the time finally came to deal with the
Holy Church, the better. Lanzwi had been planning on returning Hajime's good faith
regardless, but as a politician he understood that it was important to officially promise
such things.
"Y-Yeah, of course. I'll never forget the service you did us… Unfortunately, my city is
still suffering. Could I request your help in healing the patients?"
He'd grown accustomed to dealing with odd people in his time as a politician, and so
he recovered from his surprise relatively quickly. Then, he smiled ruefully and agreed
to Hajime's demand that they pay him back. Though he wanted his citizens restored
to good health before he would do anything.
"I was planning on heading to the Grand Gruen Volcano anyway, so I don't mind. How
much stillstone do you need me to harvest?"
"Thank you so much… Hey, someone get me the medical reports." Lanzwi sighed in
relief and ordered one of his attendants to get him the reports on how many patients
there were, and how much stillstone they'd need to cure them all. It turned out they
needed quite a bit.
"We'll be needing quite a lot. Would you like me to send porters with you?"
"Nah, no need. I've got a transportation artifact that merchants would kill to have."
"At this point you could tell me you command the heavens themselves and I'd believe
you. It must be the blessings of Ehit that guided you to us."
Lanzwi threw his arms up in amazement. Is there anything this boy can't do? he
thought to himself with a wry smile.
Around the same time, Kaori and Shea were working frantically to treat the patients.
Starting with the ones in the worst condition, Kaori absorbed their mana in batches,
her Sanctorum reaching everyone within a radius of ten meters. Her area of effect
healing spells had about the same range, so she could cast healing magic on them at
the same time.
Meanwhile, Shea carried away the patients Kaori had already treated and carried in
new ones. Shea would fill an entire cart with people and transport them en masse. And
instead of running through the buildings, she'd hop over their rooftops to save time.
It was faster to bring patients in critical care to Kaori than to have her running around
to each and every makeshift hospital that had been set up.
It was quite a sight, watching a diminutive girl carry entire carts of people across
rooftops. Many of the patients thought the disease had made them start hallucinating,
and a fair few of them started panicking. Because of that, a few of the hospitals
descended into chaos.
All of the doctors were amazed at how effortlessly Kaori juggled multiple high-level
healing spells at once. Before long, she'd taken charge of the entire treatment
operation and all the healers were taking orders from her.
Kaori was still in the middle of healing patients when Hajime and the others showed
up. When they saw Lanzwi following behind Hajime, the patients and healers tried to
bow to him. However, he raised up a hand to stop them.
"Listen to me, everyone! Just now we eliminated the source of the poison! It will still
take some time, but we can get our oasis back! Not only that, we have secured a new
source of water! Furthermore, it's large enough to sustain us until relief arrives. Best
of all, this gold adventurer here has agreed to harvest stillstone for us! Hang on for just
a few more days, everyone! Together we'll weather this storm!" His deep voice echoed
through the room. Hajime could see why the kingdom had entrusted such an
important city to his rule. He possessed both wisdom and charisma.
At first the patients were confused, but Lanzwi's smiling face convinced them that this
was no joke, or a white lie to raise their spirits.
Cheers rang out throughout the hospital. The citizens had been in despair, but now
hope colored their faces once more. This ordeal could end without more lives being
claimed. Families hugged each other, weeping openly. The healers patted each other
on the back, relieved that their efforts would not be in vain. A number of people
thanked Hajime and Kaori for saving them.
Lanzwi glanced over at Hajime. Noticing his gaze, Hajime turned over and grimaced.
"Duke, you…"
"Don't look so concerned. If you don't come back, we'll just fall into despair."
The implicit message of "If you don't save us, we're all dead, so you better not let us
down. You promised you'd fulfill my request, so you better hold your end of the
bargain," hung in the air. Though he was grateful to Hajime, he had no one else he could
rely on. He wanted insurance that Hajime would keep his end of the bargain. Hundreds
of thousands of lives were on the line, after all. And so, Lanzwi had appealed to
Hajime's conscience. He'd hoped this would make Hajime feel too guilty about running
away to try it.
"You're a crafty one, huh?"
"You have to be, if you want to survive as a noble."
Hajime smiled ruefully and Lanzwi shrugged his shoulders. Though in truth, Hajime
wasn't really mad. He'd expected something like this. In fact, if the duke hadn't tried
to secure some kind of insurance, Hajime would have begun to doubt his competence.
Though Hajime wouldn't feel terribly guilty even if he did flee. The destruction of
Ankaji and the death of its citizens wouldn't really have weighed on his conscience.
Hajime turned away from Lanzwi and walked over to Kaori.
"Kaori, we're gonna head to the Grand Gruen Volcano now. How long do you think you
can keep this up?"
"Hajime-kun…" Kaori smiled when she saw Hajime, but then her expression grew
serious and she ran the numbers in her head.
"Two days," she replied once she'd done the math. That was the longest she could keep
the patients alive for.
"Hajime-kun, I'll do everything I can here to heal the patients, so please bring the
stillstone back as soon as possible. Also, I'm sorry… I know you don't care about the
people of this world, but I still…"
"It was pretty much in our way, so it's not a big deal. Besides, I agreed to help. I can
hardly leave Myu behind in a city filled with corpses."
"Hehe, that's right. She's relying on you. Don't worry, I'll look after Myu-chan while
you're gone."
Hajime had explained everything he'd been through to Kaori while they'd driven
through the desert. She knew about the mad gods and the fact that Hajime prioritized
going home over everything else. He'd told her that if she couldn't accept that she was
free to return to Kouki's party. But of course she'd elected to stay with him.
Even if he'd decided to abandon Ankaji, she still wouldn't have left his side. She would
have tried to persuade him of course, but if he'd insisted she would have accepted his
decision.
That being said, she had still wanted to help the people of Ankaji. Fortunately, her
puppy-dog look had been enough to get Hajime to agree to help. She wasn't conceited
enough to think that she could manipulate Hajime with her charms, but she was glad
to know that her opinion at least had some influence on his decision-making.
At the same time, though, she felt bad for basically forcing Hajime to go along with her
own selfish desires.
That was why she'd apologized. However, Hajime apparently hadn't been all that
bothered by the decision. He had seen through Kaori's worries, which was why he'd
told her that it had been his decision in the end. Kaori, too, could tell Hajime was just
trying to be considerate. She smiled at him, her gaze full of trust and love.
"I'll do my best here, so come back safely, alright? I'll be waiting."
"G-Gotcha."
She sounded like a housewife sending her husband off to war. It was surprisingly
touching, and Hajime was at a loss for words.
Even back in Japan, Kaori had always been straightforward. She'd talked to Hajime
every day in class, ignoring Kouki's warnings and the jealous stares everyone shot
Hajime. Eventually, Hajime had gotten used to it, but she'd grown even more bold since
confessing to him.
Hajime blushed and looked away, only to find himself face to face with Yue.
She was giving him an intensely cold glare. Hajime shivered. But when he turned back,
he saw Kaori smiling at him again. Hajime despaired, trapped between two predators.
It was then that Myu went and complicated things.
"Kaori-oneechan, are you going to kiss Daddy like Yue-oneechan did earlier?"
"Oh, you could see that, Myu?"
"Hweh? I could see through the gaps in your fingers, Tio-oneechan. Yue-oneechan
looked really cute. Myu wants to try kissing Daddy too."
"Hmm… Even I have not kissed Master yet. Myu, you'll have to wait until you get older
before you can do such things."
"Aww…"
Hajime glared at Tio, though there was no way she would have been able to stop Myu
from peeking. As always, Tio derived immense pleasure from being glared at.
However, Hajime didn't have any time to spare for her.
That strange sword-wielding demon had appeared behind Kaori again, and it looked
angrier than ever. The arrival of her logic-defying stand was always bad news.
"Whatever could Myu be talking about, I wonder? Didn't you go out to fix the oasis,
Hajime-kun? So how come you were kissing Yue? What happened to doing your job?
Or was kissing her part of your job? Don't tell me you two were off having fun while I
was working myself to the bone treating patients. You couldn't possibly have done
something so cruel to me, right? You didn't just leave me to get some alone time, did
you?" The darkness in Kaori's eyes terrified Hajime. Cold sweat dripped down his
forehead. He hurriedly tried to explain himself, but before he could say anything Yue
stepped forward.
He mistakenly believed that Yue would solve the misunderstanding for him, but
expecting anything from Yue when she was like this was a mistake. Instead, she put
her hands on her hips and puffed her chest out, grinning triumphantly.
"It was great." That was all she said.
"Ahahahahahahaha."
"Fufufufufufufufu."
Kaori and Yue's laughter echoed through the hospital room. Until that point, the other
doctors and patients had all seen Kaori as some kind of saint. But now that they'd seen
her true colors, they backed away, pale-faced.
It was only natural. It was impossible to believe someone who had such a demonic
spirit in their possession could be a saint. Worse, a giant thunder dragon had started
forming behind Yue as well. Everyone was too scared to see what would happen next.
Sighing, Hajime walked between the two of them and flicked both of them on the
forehead. It was just a flick, but he put quite a bit of force behind it. Kaori and Yue
crouched down in pain, nursing their foreheads. They looked up at him reproachfully.
Exasperated, he tried to explain.
"Kaori. I didn't suggest we split up so I could spend time with Yue. You should know
that. Besides, Yue's my lover. You don't have any right to complain about what we do.
You agreed to those conditions when you decided to come along."
"Um… I know, but… I can't control my feelings…" Kaori hung her head, but she still
tried to argue back. Hajime sighed again and turned to scold Yue.
"And you, stop picking fights with her every chance you get." Upon hearing his words,
Yue turned away, sulking.
"This is a fight between women… You have no right to interfere, Hajime."
"Is it just me, or am I being ignored more often now?" Shea lamented to herself as she
watched. Tio was still lost in the throes of ecstasy, so she'd missed the confrontation
entirely, but Myu wasn't happy to see Kaori and Yue fighting again.
It took some time before Hajime could calm everyone down, but finally they were
ready to depart for the Grand Gruen Volcano. As Kaori would be busy tending to all
the patients, Hajime asked Lanzwi to help her look after Myu. Lanzwi was still stunned
at how convoluted the relationships between everyone in Hajime's party were.
Regardless, he happily agreed to help.
Hajime had already told Myu beforehand that he'd need to leave her behind for a bit
while he explored the volcano, but she still wasn't happy about it. He bent down and
patted her on the head.
"I'm going now, Myu. Will you be a good girl while I'm gone?"
"Hic… I will. So please come back soon, Daddy."
"Don't worry, I'll be back as soon as I can."
Myu clung to Hajime's shirt, trying her best not to cry. The way he comforted her was
just like a real dad. People began to relax again. Hajime gave Myu's back a little push,
and sent her off to Kaori. Then he turned to Yue, Shea, and Tio, telling them to get
ready.
Before he could leave though, Kaori stopped him.
"Ah, Hajime-kun… Stay safe."
"Will do. Take care of Myu for me."
"I will. Also, umm… Could you give me a kiss? A… goodbye kiss?"
"Definitely not. Where'd that idea even come from?"
"Not even on the cheek? Please?" Kaori blushed, but her voice remained firm. She
knew that in order to stand any chance against Yue, she needed to be bold. She'd been
relatively bold even back in Japan, but all of her restraints had disappeared after her
confession.
"Oh, give me one too!" Shea tried to grab Hajime's attention, but he ignored her. He
opened his mouth, planning to refuse, but Myu butt in before he could.
"Myu wants one too. Myu wants Daddy to kiss her!"
She had decided she wanted to join the fun as well. Hajime tried to explain why he
couldn't, but his words didn't get through to her at all.
"Do you hate me, Daddy?"
Hajime could feel his heart melting at that.
In the end, he ended up kissing Kaori, Myu, and for some reason even Shea on the
cheeks. The doctors and patients all watched on fondly. Feeling too awkward to remain
even a second longer, Hajime hurriedly left for the Grand Gruen Volcano.
Tio had asked for a kiss as well, but Hajime had ended up just slapping her. Her panting
had creeped him out way too much.
The Grand Gruen Volcano. It was approximately 100 kilometers north of Ankaji. It was
around 5 kilometers in diameter at its base, and rose to a modest height of 3000
meters. It wasn't conical like most volcanoes, but shaped more like a dome. Its summit
was flat, however, unlike most domes. Its slope was so gentle that it seemed more like
a hill than a mountain. A really, really big hill.
Though the Grand Gruen Volcano was one of the only well-known labyrinths aside
from the Great Orcus Labyrinth, it wasn't nearly as popular. It was more dangerous
than the Orcus Labyrinth, and the monsters that roamed its depths had less valuable
mana crystals inside them. However, the main reason for its unpopularity was how
difficult it was to reach.
It wasn't just that it was in the middle of a desert.
"It looks like Laputa."
"Laputa?"
Yue and the others of course had no idea that Hajime was referencing a famous movie.
Hajime just shrugged his shoulders and stared at the whirling sandstorm surrounding
the volcano.
Just as Laputa had been surrounded by a veil of thick clouds, the Grand Gruen Volcano
was surrounded by a massive sandstorm. The wind and sand was so thick that it
looked more like a spinning wall of dust than a tornado.
However, that wasn't all. Sandworms and other deadly monsters lurked within the
storm. Fighting them off would prove difficult with how low visibility was inside.
Hajime could see why most adventurers weren't qualified enough to even make it past
the sandstorm.
"I'm so glad we didn't decide to do this trip on foot."
"Even someone as sturdy as me wouldn't enjoy marching through that."
Shea and Tio murmured their appreciation for Brise as they stared out of the windows
at the howling storm before them.
They wouldn't be able to take their time conquering this labyrinth. The stillstone
deposits on the surface of the volcano weren't large enough to cure all of Ankaji, so
Hajime would need to harvest the stone deep below as well. If this was anything like
the other labyrinths, there'd be a shortcut leading outside at the center of the
labyrinth. It'd be faster to conquer the whole thing than to fight their way halfway
down, then double back. Once they were out, making it back to Ankaji would be easy.
Hajime wasn't that invested in saving the lives of Ankaji's citizens, but if it was possible
to save them without risking himself, then that sounded good to him. If nothing else,
it would spare him from having to see Kaori's and Myu's tears.
Hajime gunned Brise's accelerator and charged into the storm.
Once inside, their vision was blocked by a wall of brown that surrounded them on all
sides. Just like the mist they'd seen in the Haltina Woods, the sandstorm cut their
visibility to practically nothing. And since the sand could physically harm them, unlike
the fog, it was even more dangerous. Even with magic barriers and good equipment,
breaking through this wall of sand while surviving attacks from monsters was no easy
feat.
The sun's rays didn't penetrate down here either, so the only illumination was the
green glowstone headlights Hajime had turned on. He slowed down to about 30
kilometers per hour. At that speed, he estimated they'd be out of the storm in another
five minutes.
Shea's bunny ears suddenly perked up, and a second later Hajime's eyes narrowed.
"Hang on tight!" he yelled, before gunning the accelerator.
Seconds later, three sandworms burst from the ground behind him. Hajime swerved
from side to side, dodging their attacks. Once he was clear, he started speeding up
again.
With Brise's speed, it made more sense to push straight through the sandstorm than
try to fight all the monsters that got in their way.
Two more sandworms erupted from the ground on either side of Brise, bearing down
in a pincer attack. Their aim was perfect, and they were headed straight for Brise's
side doors. While the impact itself wouldn't have been able to break the car's armor,
Hajime wanted to avoid getting flipped over. He was just about to turn hard into a drift
when Yue and Tio stopped him.
"Hm, leave this to us."
"Indeed, we can handle this, Master."
Hajime nodded and straightened the steering wheel. The sandworms were so close
that the party could see them with the naked eye.
However, just before they slammed into the truck, they were stopped.
"Wind Blades." Yue summoned a barrage of wind blades that cut through the
sandstorm, heading straight for the sandworm on the left. The blades sliced right
through it, cutting it in half. Blood spurted everywhere as the sandworm was split
down the middle.
The sandworm on the right suffered a similar fate as it was torn to shreds by Tio's
spell.
"A wonderful display, Yue. You executed your magic magnificently."
"You're pretty good too, Tio. I didn't think you could use the sandstorm's winds like
that."
Wind Blades was a beginner level wind spell, but the amount of mana Yue and Tio had
poured into theirs had given them the force of intermediate spells. On top of that, they
had utilized the sandstorm's winds in different ways to further increase its force.
Skilled magicians didn't just have vast amounts of mana, they also knew how to utilize
their environment and pick the best spell for the situation. While it sounded simple, it
was easier said than done. Yue and Tio had both spent years practicing these skills.
The three sandworms that had popped up earlier caught up to Brise. Their
underground speed was truly impressive. Annoyed by their persistence, Hajime
activated one of Brise's weapons. There was a loud clang from the back of the truck,
and a couple of black, round objects rolled out from underneath it.
The moment they got close to the sandworms trailing behind Hajime, they exploded.
The ground shook from the force, and chunks of sandworm flesh flew through the air.
Hajime threw out another handful of grenades, finishing off any survivors. One of the
sandworms was blown in half, and its head whirled through the sky before it was
swallowed up by the sand.
"Wow, that was amazing. Hajime-san, how many different things did you add to Brise?"
Shea watched from the rear window as Hajime's grenades decimated the sandworms.
He grinned wickedly as he responded.
"It can also transform into a giant human-shaped golem to fight."
"...…"
It sounded unbelievable, but knowing Hajime he might really have actually done it.
Shea, Yue, and Tio all started looking around the car, searching for hints as to how it
would transform.
"I'm kidding. Even I wouldn't go that far… Though I did want to," Hajime added with a
smirk. The girls were certain he'd do it eventually, even if he hadn't already.
As they drove further into the storm they found themselves being attacked by giant
ants and giant spiders as well. But the combination of Yue and Tio's magic, and Brise's
built-in weapons, made short work of all of them. The monsters didn't even have a
chance to fight back.
Shea sulked in the back, lamenting her own uselessness. Hajime and the others
ignored her, breezing through the sandstorm that was the bane of so many
adventurers.
After a few more minutes, Hajime and the others burst through the other side of the
sandstorm. Up close, the volcano looked an awful lot like Ayers Rock, just scaled up.
The center was surprisingly silent. Without the wind whipping the sand everywhere,
they had a clear view of the dazzling blue sky. So this is what the eye of a storm is like,
then?
The entrance to the volcano was at its peak, so Hajime began driving Brise up its gently
sloped side. The dark red rock sizzled and sputtered, vapors of steam rising here and
there. Though it was an active volcano, it had never once erupted. Chances were, it had
something to do with the fact that it was a labyrinth.
Finally, the mountainside grew too steep for Brise, and Hajime reluctantly put it away.
They'd have to finish the trek on foot.
"Whoa… I-It's hot."
"Mhm…"
"Yeah. The stone's even hotter than the sand was. Even if we didn't have a time limit,
this is one place I wouldn't wanna spend much time in."
"Hmm, personally I find this temperature quite agreeable, but… it certainly is a shame
I cannot suffer the heat as you can."
"Want me to drop you in some magma? Then you can suffer too."
Everyone except Tio found the volcano's temperature suffocating. The effects of the
heat were made even worse because of how stark a contrast it was from the airconditioned car they'd been riding in so far. I probably shouldn't have spent all my life
in Japan holed up in my air-conditioned room. You reap what you sow, I guess.
Aware that the clock was ticking, the group hurried up the mountainside, complaining
about the heat all the while. They reached the summit in less than an hour.
At the top they found a disorganized mess of boulders strewn all about, creating a
complex rock maze. The juxtaposition of jagged, glossy boulders with polished,
smooth ones made it look like a rock exhibit in a science museum. Also, the sandstorm
looked close enough to touch.
One boulder stood out far more than the other among the mass of stones. It had been
shaped in the form of an arch, which was at least 10 meters high.
As he approached it, Hajime spotted a staircase heading deeper into the volcano right
beneath the arch. He stopped at the top of staircase, looked back at Yue, Shea, and Tio,
then gave each of them a confident nod.
"Let's do this!"
"Okay!"
"You got it!"
"Very well!"
Hajime had thought the insides of the Great Orcus Labyrinth and the Reisen Gorge had
been ridiculous, but they both paled in comparison to the absurdity of the Grand
Gruen Volcano. The monsters weren't tougher or anything, but its construction was
absolutely awe-inspiring. It was like nothing he'd ever seen, and what he was most
surprised by was…
The sight of magma floating in the air, which filled up the whole space in front of him.
It wasn't like the treetop aqueducts Hajime had seen in Verbergen. Instead, there was
quite literally a river of magma floating in the air. It snaked and swerved like an actual
river, making it seem like a giant red dragon was flying through the volcano.
The passageways and rooms had magma flowing here and there as well, so
challengers to the labyrinth had to be wary of lava both beneath and above them.
Furthermore—
"Kyaa!"
"Whoa, you okay?"
"Hawawa, thank you, Hajime-san. I didn't think lava would spew out like that… It took
me by surprise." As Shea had said, there were spouts in the wall from which magma
erupted at irregular intervals.
There was no warning either, so it was hard to prepare for. Nature had provided the
perfect traps for this labyrinth. Thank god I have the Sense Heat skill, Hajime thought
to himself. Without it, they would have had to take the labyrinth very slowly.
However, what really made this labyrinth grueling was the heat, not just how hot all
the surfaces were, but the atmosphere itself. Because of the abundance of magma
everywhere, it felt like they were inside a superheated sauna. This must be what an
egg feels like when it's getting cooked. That was the most dangerous part of the Grand
Gruen Volcano.
Sweat poured off the party in buckets as they headed deeper into the volcano's bowels.
They had to be careful to avoid drops of falling magma from above and spouts of it
from the side, but they made steady progress. After some time, they arrived in a room
that was clearly man-made. The room had been hollowed out by a rough tool, likely a
pickaxe, and there was a glowing pink jewel slotted in one of the walls.
"Hm? That's… stillstone, right? That glowing thing?"
"Indeed it is, Master." Tio answered, drawing upon her vast library of knowledge. It
appeared this was the excavation site most adventurers used to harvest stillstone.
"So small."
"All the others are only as big as pebbles, too…"
Indeed, all of the remaining stillstone that the party could find came in chunks no
bigger than their pinkies. I guess that means this section's been almost completely
harvested. There was no way they'd be able to get enough in time only searching the
upper floors. And so, their best bet was to make it all the way to the bottom and find a
large stash of it somewhere.
Hajime used his Ore Appraisal on the stillstone just in case. His magic confirmed what
Tio had said, and the party grabbed all the stillstone that was easily obtainable before
hurrying onward.
They descended another seven floors, their irritation at the heat growing stronger
with each new passage downward. According to the records Hajime had read, the
seventh floor was as far as any adventurer had gone. Or at least, as far as any
adventurer had gone and returned alive. Steeling themselves, the party descended the
staircase leading to the eighth floor.
As they stepped into the eighth floor, the party was buffeted by a searing gust of wind.
A second later, a massive gout of fire bore down on them. It shot toward them in a
spiral, illuminating the corridor's orange walls.
"Spatial Severance." Yue instantly reacted with a defensive spell. A swirling black
sphere materialized in front of Hajime and the others. This was another one of Yue's
gravity spells. However, this one wasn't used to attack anything.
The conflagration, hot enough to melt even bones, was sucked into Yue's sphere and
vanished without a trace. Actually, "vanished" wasn't the proper term for what had
happened. Yue's big, black gravity sphere had exerted a gravitational field strong
enough to suck its surroundings in. Yue had calibrated it so it wouldn't affect those she
was trying to protect, making it an ideal shield.
With the flames no longer blocking their line of sight, Hajime and the others were able
to see who'd shot those flames at them.
It was an ox monster. Magma covered its entire body, and it was standing in a pool of
the stuff. Its two curved horns were wickedly sharp, and each breath it exhaled was
accompanied by a small gout of fire. I don't care how strong you are, nothing should be
able to survive being slathered in magma.
The Magma Ox kicked angrily at the ground, sending drops of magma flying. It
prepared to charge, angry that its flames had been repelled.
Yue snapped her fingers. Her gravity sphere sped toward the beast. Once it got close,
it shot out the flames it had sucked in back at the monster who'd cast them. Those
flames had been compressed by Yue's gravity sphere, and they came out like a barrage
of flaming lasers, with far more force than the cow had sent them.
Yue's flame bombardment spoiled the Magma Ox's charge. It was rather ironic that it
would be stymied by its own flames.
There was a loud boom and the magma the cow was standing on was blown away by
the force of Yue's bombardment. The ox was blown away with the magma, and it
flipped through the air a few times before crashing into the wall behind it. It screamed
in pain, but quickly got back up and charged again. It wouldn't let these intruders live.
"Mrgh… I guess fire won't work on a fire monster."
"I mean it's already surrounded in magma, so… yeah?"
Yue sounded unhappy. Smiling wryly, Hajime made to pull out Donner, but Shea
stopped him.
"Leave this to me, Hajime-san!" Shea had already unsheathed Drucken, and her
breathing was rough.
She's being unusually assertive today. Hajime's Demon Eye picked up which part of
Drucken Shea was sending her mana to, and realized she wanted to try out the new
feature he'd added to it. After a moment's hesitation, Hajime nodded to her.
"Alright, say your prayers you cow!" Shea leaped fearlessly at the charging ox, which
had closed a good bit of the gap between them already. Then, she spun around in the
air, adding centrifugal force to her swing before coming down on the charging ox. Her
aim was on point, and Drucken slammed into the Magma Ox's skull. Ripples of blue
mana spread out from the point of impact, each one a powerful shockwave. The
Magma Ox's head went flying as if it had been blown off.
Shea used the force of her swing to flip over the headless beast, who was still carried
forward by its own momentum, and landed safely on the ground.
"W-Wow. Hajime-san, that was amazing. I'm the one who did that and I can't believe it
just happened. This upgrade is crazy!"
"Yeah, looks like it. I wasn't sure how well the shock converter would work, but this
is…"
Even Yue and Tio were impressed by the attack Shea had just pulled off. Her increased
strength was all thanks to the shock converter Hajime had added.
Shock Conversion was a derivative skill of Mana Conversion that Hajime had acquired
from one of the new monsters he'd eaten. It allowed the user to convert their mana
into pure force.
It had come from the horse-headed monster Hajime had saved Kaori and the others
from back in the Orcus Labyrinth. When he'd recovered his pile bunker from its
corpse, he'd taken some of its meat with him as well.
Normal monsters had long since stopped giving Hajime new skills, or even improving
his stats. But as the horse-headed monster was something Kouki hadn't been able to
defeat even while he was using his Overdrive, Hajime had guessed it must have been
stronger than most others. And as he'd expected, it had indeed possessed a new skill
for Hajime to absorb. His stats hadn't seen too much of a jump, but the new skill had
been worth it.
Then, with his creation magic, he'd added Shock Conversion to Drucken.
Hajime wanted to examine the ox's head that Shea had knocked off, but Yue hurried
him onward.
As they continued down the floors, the monsters grew more varied. They encountered
bats that shot burning hot magma from their wings, eel-like things that swam through
the walls, melting them as they passed, porcupines that fired flaming spines,
chameleons that attacked with whip-like tongues from inside the magma, snakes that
swam in the magma rivers and could ignore gravity… The list went on. Not only did
their magma coating provide an excellent defense against most lower-level spells, they
could use the magma as camouflage to launch surprise attacks. What made them truly
dangerous, though, was that just touching one would kill most humans. And because
they could utilize the magma in their surroundings, everything was a potential
weapon for them. On the off chance the battle went poorly for them, they could use
the magma as a cover to hide in, too.
Even adventurers who could clear the sandstorm wouldn't stand a chance against
magma monsters like this. Now Hajime understood why no one had made it past the
seventh floor. Not only was it dangerous, but the reward didn't match the risk. The
monsters themselves were no stronger than the ones found on the 40th floor of the
Great Orcus Labyrinth, they just had magma to enhance them. However, that meant
their mana crystals weren't that large, and the amount of stillstone to be found wasn't
that much higher than what was harvestable on the higher floors.
Worst of all, though, was that the heat kept growing.
"Haaah… Haaah… It's so hot."
"Saying that out loud will only make you feel hotter, Shea. Just imagine that we're
swimming through water… Nice, cool water. Hehehe."
"M-Master! Yue's finally snapped! Her eyes have glazed over!"
Aside from Tio, everyone was taking most of their damage from the heat. Hajime had
taken out all of the cooling artifacts that he possessed, but it was like trying to push
back a storm with a fan. Drenched in sweat and barely conscious, Yue, Shea, and
Hajime were nearing their limits. We're going to need a break soon, Hajime thought to
himself as he wiped sweat off his chin.
In the next room they found, Hajime went to the wall furthest from any magma and
transmuted himself a hole. Once everyone was inside, Hajime closed it up, leaving just
a small hole for air to come in. He then used Ore Desynthesis and Compression
Synthesis to coat the walls with a superdense metal. That way stray eels or jets of
magma had no chance of getting into the room.
"Phew… Yue, can you make some ice for us? We'll take a short break here. If we keep
going like this, we'll probably slip up sooner or later."
"Mmm… Okay."
Though her eyes were still glazed over, Yue easily summoned a massive block of ice in
the center of the room. Tio then cast some basic wind magic to circulate the cold air
around the room. The temperature quickly began to drop.
"Haaawaaah… It feels so good~ I feel alive again!"
"Fwah~"
Yue and Shea sank to the floor, enjoying the cold breeze wafting over them. They
looked like half-melted snowmen.
They look cute like that, Hajime thought to himself as he pulled towels out of his
Treasure Trove and passed them out to everyone.
"Yue, Shea, you can relax all you want, but wipe yourselves off first. If you don't, you'll
get too cold."
"Okay~"
"Roger~"
Once he'd passed out the towels, Tio walked up to Hajime.
"You don't seem to be having that hard of a time, Master."
"I wouldn't say that. You're probably the only one who's not affected by it at all. Man,
this heat's killing me. I should have made some better cooling artifacts."
"Hmm, if it's bad enough that even you're suffering from the heat, then… it seems to
me that heat is the theme this labyrinth was built around."
Even Tio, who hadn't been affected by the heat at all in the beginning, was starting to
sweat. She wiped herself off with the towel Hajime handed to her as she talked.
"Theme?"
"Indeed. From what you told me, Master, the labyrinths are all trials, correct? Trials to
determine who is worthy to challenge the gods… From the way you described them, it
seemed as if each had its own theme. For example, the Great Orcus Labyrinth is filled
with a large variety of monsters, and is designed to help challengers obtain different
kinds of battle experience. The Reisen Gorge is designed to force challengers to clear
obstacles without the aid of magic. And it appears this Grand Gruen Volcano is
designed to see how well challengers can keep their focus and respond to constant
surprise attacks while under extreme stress. In this case, that stress is heat."
"I see. I figured I'd have to clear them all eventually, so I didn't give it that much thought
before, but… now that you mention it, the trials certainly seem like lessons the
Liberators left behind for us." Hajime nodded in agreement. Underneath her perverted
exterior, Tio was quite the scholar. On top of that, she was exceptionally beautiful, with
her golden eyes and long black hair. It's a shame her personality puts all of that to waste.
Hajime watched as a bead of sweat trailed down Tio's neck and vanished into her
voluptuous bust. Embarrassed, he turned away. Unfortunately, on the other side sat
Yue and Shea, their clothes so drenched with sweat that he could see the skin
underneath. This time, he was captivated by Yue's alluring figure.
She'd unbuttoned the top of her white shirt to wipe off the sweat underneath. Because
of the heat, her skin was slightly flushed. Glistening with sweat and panting slightly,
Yue looked extremely seductive without even trying.
Hajime found himself unable to look away. After a few seconds Yue looked up, and her
gaze met Hajime's. Hajime mentally berated himself for letting his lust distract him
and tried to look away.
However, Yue's captivating smile held him in place. He couldn't turn away even if he
wanted to. Shirt still unbuttoned, Yue crawled toward Hajime. Her back was arched
like a cat's. Hajime's eyes darted between her inviting gaze, her flushed cheeks, and
her nearly exposed breasts. Once she was next to him, Yue looked up and said
something in a pleading voice.
"Will you clean me up, Hajime?" Those were dangerous words. Hajime silently
accepted the towel she offered him. He still couldn't look away.
Crap, I'm screwed now. There's no way I can get myself out of this one. Hajime smiled
bitterly to himself and moved his hand toward Yue's neck. But before he could do
anything, Shea interrupted them.
"YOU TWO! This isn't the time or the place for this! We're in a hurry, and this is a
labyrinth! Sheesh, I can't believe you guys!"
"Uhh, well, I mean, it's not my fault. Yue's just too seductive. How am I supposed to
refuse her?"
"Hajime's cute when he's staring at me like that."
"Reflect on your actions! Also, how come you don't look at me like that, Hajime-san? I
was sitting right next to Yue, all drenched in sweat too… Hic… I'm starting to lose
confidence in my looks. Come on Tio-san, you say something too."
"Hmm, those two seem quite deeply in love with each other to me. I'm not sure there's
anything to say. After all, I too wish to be berated no matter the place or time. Besides…
it seems as if Master is at least a little interested in my breasts. For me, that is more
than enough. Gufufu."
As always, Tio's masochistic nature shone through. However, she had shrewdly
noticed Hajime's interest in her breasts.
"But he didn't even glance at mine!" Shea wailed, and began stripping then and there.
It seemed she'd already forgotten what she'd yelled at Yue for. Wanting to join in on
the fun, Tio started stripping as well. Hajime stopped them both with a rubber bullet
from Donner.
Thank god Kaori isn't here to see this. Shea was writhing on the ground, her breasts in
plain view. Meanwhile, Tio was squirming in pleasure as Yue continued wiping herself
down.
Hajime guessed that the Grand Gruen Volcano was likely fifty floors deep.
Coincidentally, that was about how many floors they'd gone down already. As for why
he only thought it was "likely" despite having gone down that far, well, that was
because their current situation was a little unique. It was hard to tell exactly what floor
they were on.
Why? Because currently Hajime and the others were riding a dark brown boat down
one of the volcano's magma rivers.
"This must be what Indiana Jones felt like on his adventures." Hajime muttered to
himself as he marveled at the absurdness of his situation.
As for how they'd ended up like this, well, that had been Hajime's fault. A little while
ago, they'd been progressing through the floors, harvesting stillstone wherever they
found it. At some point, Hajime had noticed the magma that was surrounding them
would occasionally move in strange ways.
Despite the fact that there were no boulders, the rivers parted around the air as if
there were, and at places the flow slowed, though there was nothing to slow it down.
Plus, it dripped down from above only in certain places.
Normally it had only dripped in places away from the path, where it wouldn't be an
obstacle to their advance, so Hajime hadn't paid too much attention to it. However, at
one point he'd used his Ore Perception skill near where a section of river was dripping
and he discovered that it was stillstone that was causing such unnatural behavior. The
magma was being propelled through the air with mana, and the stillstone neutralized
that mana whenever the river got too close to a deposit of it. That was what was
causing it to act erratically.
Of course, it then stood to reason that places where the river was dripping was where
there were large quantities of stillstone. Upon investigation of those locations, Hajime
found out his idea was right on the money. Thanks to this new discovery, the party was
able to quickly collect enough stillstone. In order to get a little more so they'd have
enough to spare, Hajime and the others headed to where they assumed another
deposit was.
They'd seen the river giving this section of wall a wide berth, so Hajime figured it
contained stillstone. He had transmuted a makeshift staircase toward that section of
wall and his Ore Perception had found that there actually was a large quantity of
stillstone in the wall.
Hajime quickly used his Ore Desynthesis to take the stillstone out of the wall. However,
the constant heat, and the routine way in which previous extractions had gone, caused
him to drop his guard. He hadn't been paying attention to what was inside the wall.
It was only after he'd put the harvested stillstone into his Treasure Trove that he
realized his mistake. Without the stillstone to stop it, a huge fountain of magma burst
through the wall.
He'd instantly jumped out of the way, but there had been a lot of magma dammed up
on the other side. More and more started bursting through the walls, flooding the area.
Surrounded by magma on all sides, Hajime and the others had acted fast. Yue had
erected a barrier to protect them temporarily, while Hajime fashioned a boat for them
to all ride the flood in. The magma's extreme heat burned through the boat at a fast
rate, but Hajime used Diamond Skin's derivative skill, Diamond Protection, to
strengthen the rock. With that, the boat was able to ride the magma without melting.
The flood of magma joined up with the magma river, and soon the party was taking
the express route down to the volcano's center. After braving a few magma rapids,
Hajime and the others arrived at the section of the river they were traversing now.
On a side note, when Hajime and the others had first started riding the magma, the
boat had threatened to sink, so Shea had used her gravity spell, Fluctuator, to make it
float. Fluctuator let Shea regulate the gravity of anything she touched, much like she
did with her own weight.
"Ah, Hajime-san. Look, it's another tunnel."
"By my calculations, we should be nearing the volcano's base. It's likely we'll find
something on the other side."
Hajime looked over in the direction Shea was pointing and saw a massive hole in the
wall, which had the magma river running through it. The magma doubled as
illumination, so everyone could see that the tunnel was angled downward. So far every
time they'd gone through a tunnel they'd found themselves one floor lower. One good
thing about riding the magma river was that it was much faster than descending
normally.
The party nodded grimly to each other as the current carried them through the tunnel.
On the other side they found their floating magma river snaking its way down the
center of a massive cavern. The magma's flow continued to slow as they descended,
until finally it stopped at a curved section… where it suddenly turned into a magma
waterfall.
"Not this again… Everyone, hang on tight!" The girls nodded and hung on to the edges
of the boat, or to Hajime. Hajime's stomach churned. It was just like riding a water
coaster, except the water here was fatal. Finally, they reached the end of their slow
descent and plunged down the falls.
The wind roared in their ears as they fell. Shea's gravity magic and Tio's wind magic
kept stray splashes of magma from pelting the party. They found themselves
accelerating at a breakneck pace, even though magma was supposed to be viscous.
Hajime transmuted the bottom of his shoes into spikes to hold him in place as he
examined his surroundings. He didn't want to be caught off guard by anything.
Knowing the Liberators, this was the point where they set up an ambush.
"Tch, I knew it." Hajime clicked his tongue, pulled out Donner, then quickly took aim
and fired. There were three loud bangs, and three streaks of red light shot out from
Donner's barrel. A flock of magma bats had swooped down to attack them.
On their own, the bats weren't much of a threat. They could fly pretty fast and fire
magma fireballs, but that was about it. For Hajime and the others, they were basically
small fry.
In a group, though, they became somewhat more of a threat. Where there was one,
there was sure to be more. They swarmed out of the walls like cockroaches, dozens of
them appearing from every crack and crevice.
Hajime had shot down three of them, but he heard many more flapping toward them.
There was enough of them that the sound of their wings drowned out the roaring of
the wind.
"Hajime, leave the left and the back to me."
"You got it. Shea, Tio, make sure our boat doesn't fall apart."
"Roger!"
"Leave it to me. May I ask for a spanking as a reward?"
Hajime couldn't figure out if Tio was being serious or joking, so he ignored her. Yue
and Hajime stood back to back, angled diagonally from the sides of the boat. As always,
they were in perfect sync.
The flock of magma bats bore down on the party in a single coordinated rush. They
were so close to each other that they looked like one giant flaming dragon. Their
burning red wings melded into each other seamlessly.
As they approached, the bats split into two groups. One attacked from the front, while
the other circled behind them. Weak as they were individually, when they came en
masse like this they made for a formidable foe. Most people wouldn't have enough
ammunition to take them all down even.
Unfortunately for the bats, they were facing one of the most overpowered parties in
existence. They'd fought a far larger group of monsters back in Ur.
"Fight numbers with numbers. Eat lead, you flaming freaks." Hajime pulled his gatling
gun, Metzelei, out of his Treasure Trove. Then, he braced it against his hip, took aim,
and pulled the trigger.
The distinctive ratatatata of machine gun fire echoed throughout the cavern as Hajime
mowed down the magma bats. The deadly hail of gunfire pierced through even the
waves of monsters furthest back. Metzelei fired with such force that the wall behind
the bats was riddled with holes.
However, there were more magma bats than even Metzelei could handle, so Hajime
pulled out Orkan with his free hand and started firing rockets into the bunched up
group of monsters as well. The rockets left a trail of sparks as they struck clumps of
magma bats, blowing dozens of them into smithereens.
The bats never stood a chance. A torrent of bat chunks fell to the ground. Hajime had
quite literally made it rain blood.
The magma bats behind him suffered a similar fate at Yue's hands.
"Storm Serpent." A giant green globe of wind appeared in front of Yue's outstretched
hand. The globe elongated and sprouted wings, transforming into a dragon. The
dragon eyed its prey for a moment before opening its maw wide and charging forward.
The bats split up into smaller groups, trying to avoid the deadly storm dragon. They
pelted it with fireballs as they flapped out of the way. However, Yue's dragon was
composed of gravity magic. It couldn't be hurt by fire. Wind blades swirled around
inside the dragon, trapped there by Yue's gravity magic. Once it had set its sights on
something, it wouldn't let it escape.
Like with Yue's Draconic Thunder and Sapphire Serpent, Storm Serpent exerted a
gravitational field that drew enemies to it. The magma bats were sucked into the
dragon, where the wind blades ripped them to shreds. Yue had chosen a wind dragon
this time because the bats were resistant to heat, and ripping their wings off with wind
seemed the most efficient way of dealing with them.
Once the dragon had swallowed up most of the bats it flew to the center of the room
and burst apart. The trapped wind blades flew out in all directions, cutting down the
few bats lucky enough to avoid being sucked in.
"No matter how many times I see it, Yue and Master's ability to annihilate hordes of
enemies never ceases to amaze me."
"Yeah, they're amazing."
Tio and Shea exchanged a glance as they continued to steer and fortify the boat.
Hajime put Metzelei and Orkan back into his Treasure Trove, patted Yue, who was
puffing her chest out proudly, on the head, then turned to see what lay ahead of them.
Meanwhile, Yue once again started keeping watch.
Tio and Shea were pouting, angry that Hajime had taken yet another chance to flirt
with Yue while ignoring the two of them. Feeling a little guilty, Hajime sheepishly
scratched Shea's bunny ears and pinched Tio's cheek.
It seemed rather odd to Hajime that such simple acts were enough to pacify the two
of them.
Hajime and the others had little difficulty dispatching the monsters that tried to attack
them as they made their way down the magma rapids. After a few minutes, though,
something changed. The magma river began angling upward instead of down.
After climbing for a few dozen meters, the party could make out a light in the distance.
It was the cavern's exit. Unfortunately, the river came to a dead halt right before it.
"Hang on, guys!" Everyone once again clung to the edges of the boat. They fell down
their steepest drop yet as their boat rushed toward the cavern exit.
Their descent was so fast that Hajime felt weightless for a few seconds. However, he
quickly reoriented himself and examined his surroundings. The room they'd found
themselves in was even vaster than the floating arena they'd fought Miledi in.
But unlike that arena, this room wasn't spherical. It seemed to follow the natural
contours of the rock, making it difficult to grasp the exact size of the space. The floor
was covered in magma, with a few boulders jutting out here and there to provide
footholds.
The walls also had protrusions large enough to stand on, and in other places the wall
had sunken in to form alcoves. Numerous magma rivers crisscrossed each other in the
sky, each of them spilling into the sea of magma below.
Fountains of magma occasionally spewed from below. If there was a cauldron in hell,
chances are it was based off of this. Hajime and the others exclaimed softly in wonder.
Still, what was even more amazing than this marvel of nature was the island sitting in
the center of the room. It was made from the same rock as everything else, and rose a
good ten meters above the boiling magma. That alone didn't make it anything special.
What was special about it was the fact that there was a giant dome of magma on it.
From afar, it looked like the island housed a mini-sun. It certainly wasn't a sight one
saw every day.
"Updraft!" The fall had tossed the boat nearly upside-down, so Tio righted it with her
magic. Once it was in place, Hajime and the others leaped through the air back onto
the boat. Then, Yue adjusted the boat's speed with her own Updraft.
As they floated across the magma sea, Hajime and the others warily examined their
surroundings.
"Is that where this labyrinth's Liberator lived?" Yue pointed to the island with the
magma dome.
"Considering how far we've descended, it seems likely. But then that also means…"
"This is where we will have to face the guardian of this place?"
Tio finished Hajime's sentence, her eyes scanning the room like a hawk. Sometimes
Hajime almost forgot that she was a hopeless pervert. Shea didn't let her guard down
either, but she tried to take a more optimistic view of their situation.
"Maybe we skipped past it because we took a shortcut here?"
Hajime turned to where Shea was looking and saw a staircase that ended at one of the
raised platforms above the magma sea. Chances were that was where they would have
come out had they taken the normal way down.
As unthinkable as it might have been for the labyrinth's designer that anyone would
try and ride the magma rivers, Hajime doubted they would have been careless enough
to let anyone skip the final guardian. Even Shea didn't really believe they'd somehow
slipped past it.
Unfortunately, Shea was right to be skeptical. Without warning, bullets of magma shot
out of the sea, heading straight for the boat.
"Hmph, let me handle this!" Tio summoned her own balls of magma from the sea and
fired them at the oncoming bullets, neutralizing them.
However, that first attack had just been an opening volley. As the shattered magma
bullets dropped to the ground, another salvo came at them. This time they came not
just from the sea, but also from the rivers above.
"Tch, everyone scatter!" If they stayed on their boat they'd be burned to ashes in no
time. Hajime and the others leaped off the boat and onto nearby boulders. A second
later, their boat was bombarded with magma, and sunk into the fiery ocean.
As the party landed on their respective footholds, they began beating back the barrage
of magma balls. While the waves of bullets weren't so numerous that they couldn't
handle them, Hajime and the others soon began to grow irritated at the endless hail
of magma. Part of the reason for their irritation was the heat. The sky had grown so
thick with magma that it had begun to blur.
Hajime knew he needed to do something fast. He finished reloading his revolvers and,
without turning around, aimed Schlag behind him. He fired a buckshot from his
artificial elbow to clear the bullets closest to him, while also shooting down the ones
that had been closing in on Yue behind him.
Yue realized what Hajime wanted her to do without him having to say anything. She
used the reprieve he'd granted her to cast one of her gravity spells.
"Spatial Severance." A black sphere materialized at a spot directly in between where
the four of them were standing. It then began sucking in all of the magma balls the
room was shooting out. Once inside the sphere, the magma was crushed by the
immense pressure.
Now that he no longer had to worry about fending off magma bullets, Hajime was free
to move. He leaped through the air with Aerodynamic, heading for the central island.
The most dangerous thing about this endless barrage was that they could see no
obvious way to halt it. This was obviously the final trial of the Grand Gruen Volcano,
but unlike the other labyrinths Hajime had conquered, there was no actual guardian
to defeat. Because of that, he had no idea what they needed to do to clear this one.
Their only clue was the strange island in the center.
As he sped toward the island, Hajime spoke to the others via Telepathy.
"I'm going to investigate the central island. Cover me."
"Mmm… Okay."
As Hajime left the effective range of Yue's Spatial Severance, magma bullets started
heading toward him again. Yue shot them all down with her own magma balls,
maintaining her Spatial Severance all the while.
Tio backed her up, supplementing Yue's magma balls with a few of her own. Shea
helped as well, shooting down the bullets with Drucken's shotgun mode.
With everyone's help, Hajime was able to progress quickly. However, just before he
could make the final leap onto the central island, he was interrupted.
"Graaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!"
"Ah!?"
A bestial roar shook him to the very core. A second later, a giant magma serpent flew
out of the sea, its jaws open wide.
Because of how hot their surroundings were, Hajime's Heat Perception hadn't been
able to sense it at all. And because the entire magma sea was filled with mana, his
Mana Perception skill hadn't been able to sense it either. For the first time since leaving
Orcus' labyrinth, he'd been caught truly by surprise.
Hajime reacted with superhuman reflexes. He twisted to the side and just barely
managed to dodge the serpent's jaws. It flew past him, its mouth closing over the spot
he'd just been in.
Hajime used Aerodynamic to flip himself around in the air and fired at the serpent as
it passed. His bullets sped toward the serpent's head, each one finding its mark.
"What the!?" Hajime yelled out in surprise. The serpent should have died, but it hadn't.
Hajime's bullets had passed straight through the serpent's head, dislodging a bit of
magma as they'd done so. The thing was hollow. All of the other monsters Hajime had
faced so far in the volcano had possessed physical bodies underneath their coating of
lava. This was the first time he was facing a creature created purely from magma.
He quickly recovered from his surprise, and tried shooting at other sections of the
serpent just in case. Unfortunately, the rest of its body was hollow as well. As he'd
feared, the whole thing was made only of magma.
"Man, what a pain. I don't have time to be dealing with you."
Hajime fired enough bullets through the serpent so that it could no longer maintain
its shape. Once it was rendered impotent, he slipped past it and once again sped off
toward the central island.
Still, the serpent wasn't done with Hajime yet. Though the magma comprising its head
and much of its body had been shot away, it could still move. It lurched toward Hajime,
trying to tackle him.
Hajime used the recoil of his elbow shotgun to push himself out of the way. Just then,
chills ran down his spine. Trusting in his instincts, Hajime fired a second and third
shotgun blast, pushing him even further backward. He augmented that with an
Aerodynamic-powered leap, trying to gain as much distance as possible.
Not even a second later, multiple magma serpents shot out of the sea below, each of
them chomping down where he'd been nanoseconds before.
Hajime beat a hasty retreat and landed on a nearby platform. Yue alighted next to him.
The storm of magma bullets had stopped once the serpents had shown up.
"Are you alright, Hajime?"
"Yeah, I'm fine. Looks like this is gonna be the real test."
Yue placed a hand on Hajime's arm. He kept his gaze fixed straight ahead, but he did
put his own hand on top of hers. More and more magma serpents popped up.
"I guess that basically confirms the center island's our goal. And if we want to make it
there, then we'll have to destroy all the serpents."
"But the one you destroyed is regenerating already. How are we going to get rid of
them?"
There were more than twenty of them now, and they had Hajime and the others
surrounded. Just as Shea said, the first one Hajime shot holes through had already
begun to regenerate. Back when they'd found the regenerating golems in the Reisen
Gorge Shea had been in a panic, but now she had enough experience to calmly think
the problem through. Her rabbit ears flopped back and forth as she considered their
options. Hajime smiled, proud at how far Shea had come. Then, he offered a suggestion
of his own.
"I think they're like that giant slime we fought. There should be a core somewhere
that's controlling the magma. But because there's mana in everything, I can't use my
Demon Eye to search for it… We'll probably have to smash everything and hope we get
it."
Everyone nodded at the same time the twenty-plus snakes attacked.
The magma serpents spat out fireballs that shone as brightly as a solar flare. The
fireballs closed in on them from all sides, followed closely by the serpents themselves.
Any normal party would have been swallowed by the flames and burnt to a crisp.
"It's been some time since I was able to go all out! Behold my power!" Jet black mana
swirled around Tio's outstretched hands. She compressed it into a single point and
fired off a pitch black laser. She was using her prized dragonbreath.
It was the very same ability that had managed to force Hajime on the defensive. The
black stream cut through the fireballs and vaporized the magma serpents in front of
her. She slowly turned, her breath cutting through everything like a massive black
blade. Within seconds eight serpents lay dead.
Hajime and the others used the opening she'd created to escape their encirclement.
They had thought that if they vaporized the serpents in their entirety, then they'd be
sure to destroy the mana crystal powering them too. Sadly, things were never that easy
in a labyrinth.
The remaining serpents crashed into the platform the party had been standing on
seconds before, pulverizing it, and sank into the sea. When they emerged once more,
their depleted numbers had been replenished.
"You've gotta be kidding me. I saw their mana crystals shatter. Does that mean
defeating them's not the goal?"
Hajime tilted his head as he thought. He'd used Riftwalk to watch the moment Tio's
breath ripped through the serpents in slow motion. He'd definitely seen a mana crystal
inside each one, and he'd definitely seen her breath vaporize them.
Shea pointed to the central island and shouted, breaking Hajime out of his musings.
"Hajime-san, look at that! The boulder's glowing!"
"What?"
Hajime turned to look and saw that part of the boulder was indeed glowing. He hadn't
noticed before, but there were some strange rocks buried within the island's boulder,
a few of which were now shining bright orange.
Hajime used his Farsight to examine the island more closely. It seemed there were
more of those rocks buried at regular intervals within the boulder. They were almost
the same color as the island, so it was hard to make out the ones that weren't glowing.
The island was cylindrical in shape, and Hajime guessed based on its circumference
and the distance between each rock that there were around one hundred in total. Of
those hundred, eight were glowing right now. And Tio killed eight of them earlier.
"I see… So we have to kill a hundred of these things to clear this trial."
"So it's meant to be a battle of endurance in the heat. It seems I was correct about what
this labyrinth's theme is."
Anyone who made it this far would have been exhausted from the constant surprise
attacks and the ever-present heat. And yet, this final trial required more concentration
and focus than any up to this point. It was just like the Liberators to ramp up the
difficulty at the very end.
Even Hajime and the others, overpowered as they were, were beginning to grow
weary. Still, they were all smiling. As long as they knew how to clear the trial, they
were confident they could beat it.
Knowing what the goal was had revitalized everyone. They readied themselves for the
magma serpents' next charge. The barrage of magma bullets began once more and the
serpents began acting unpredictably, keeping the party on their toes.
Hajime and the others split up again, deciding it would be easier if they all
counterattacked individually.
Tio sprouted dragon wings from her back and took to the skies. She then unleashed a
tornado that shot out wind blades in a deadly barrage. She'd cast the intermediate-
rank wind spell, Infinity Gust.
"That's the ninth one! It looks like I'm in the lead, Master! If I destroy the most, will
you please punish me? Of course it will have to be just the two of us, all night long!"
Tio shredded her ninth serpent with a smile. Hajime tried to tell her he wasn't going
to do that even if she did destroy the most, but Shea cut him off.
"Wha!? It's no fair if only you get a reward, Tio-san! Let me join the contest too!
Hajime-san, if I win you have to spend a whole night with me instead!"
Shea leaped into the air as she said that and smashed Drucken down on the head of
one of the serpents. Blue ripples spread out from the point of impact, creating
shockwaves. The force of the blow was so great that even some of the magma sea
below was blown away. Glimmering fragments of the serpent's mana crystal floated
in the air for a few seconds before falling into the sea below. Shea's shockwaves had
been enough to shatter it.
A magma bullet hurtled toward Shea, who was still hanging in mid-air. However, she
fired Drucken's buckshot and used the recoil to dodge out of the way. Still, one of the
magma serpents had predicted she would leap backward and was waiting with open
jaws, putting her in danger.
But Shea didn't seem worried. She focused her mana into her boots. The metal plates
inserted in her soles began to glow, and shockwaves of pale blue light spread out from
under her feet. Shea leaped off the mana platform she'd created and soared through
the air.
Since Shea was the only one who couldn't fly through the air naturally, Hajime had
created boots enchanted with Aerodynamic for her. And because she could render
herself weightless with her gravity magic, she could utilize it to even more effect than
Hajime.
The magma serpent passed harmlessly by. As it did so, Shea took aim with Drucken
and pulled the trigger. It wasn't her usual buckshot that came out, but instead a highcaliber shotgun slug.
It wasn't just any shotgun slug, either. Hajime had crafted it out of a special material
and enchanted it with Shock Conversion. It unleashed powerful shockwaves on
impact. In terms of pure power, it was more destructive than his grenade launcher.
The slug round slammed into the serpent, blowing off both its head and body in a
massive explosion. Fragments of another shattered mana crystal flew through the air.
"Hey, you two. Don't just go deciding that on your—"
"Then if I win, you have to go on a date with me." Yue interrupted him before he could
finish, stating her desire to participate in the competition as well. With how many
comrades they had now, Yue rarely had the chance to spend time alone with Hajime.
She had him all to herself at night, but she wanted to spend a day with him too.
Smiling faintly, Yue once again proved that she was a mage to be feared. She pulled out
her favorite spell, Draconic Thunder. But instead of just one dragon, she summoned
seven. Her practice was finally beginning to pay off. Each dragon picked a target and
flew off. Their howls shook the walls. The hunter became the hunted as the magma
serpents heading toward Yue all found themselves swallowed up by dragons larger
than them. Their mana crystals were all burnt to a crisp.
"I knew Yue-san was the one I should have been watching out for!"
"Now that's hardly fair! Yue is far too strong to compete against!"
Grumbling to themselves, Shea and Tio began launching even more ferocious attacks.
They were not going to let themselves fall behind.
"I guess it's fine. Everyone looks like they're having fun at least." Hajime shrugged his
shoulders and sighed. He shot down the magma serpent closing in from behind
without even turning around.
The bullets all landed at once, their shockwaves blowing away the serpent's magma
body. Its mana crystal flew through the air, exposed. Hajime nimbly dodged its head
as he shot the falling mana crystal with Donner.
He had loaded shockwave shells similar to the ones he'd given Shea into Schlag. These
ones lacked Drucken's power though, as he'd had to make them small enough to fit
into Schlag's chambers. If he'd wanted power, he could have always pulled out
Schlagen. However, he'd wanted to see how well these new bullets worked with his
handguns first.
His revolvers didn't have enough force to blow away the serpent's magma body and
destroy their mana crystal at the same time, so he'd adopted a two-shot strategy. He
used Schlag to get rid of the magma, then he sniped the mana crystal with Donner.
Schlagen would have been able the pierce both the magma coating and the mana
crystal in one shot, but it had too much piercing power, which made it hard to do
pinpoint shots.
Hajime flipped through the air, dodging two more magma serpents that tried to attack
him. Then, he took aim with Schlag while upside-down, and fired.
There was only a single bang, but Hajime had fired four times. The serpents didn't
even have time to notice Hajime wasn't there before Hajime's bullets scattered their
bodies.
Hajime fired Donner twice, accurately destroying both of their exposed mana crystals.
He glanced down at the central island and was surprised to see that they only had
eight more serpents to kill. Barely ten minutes had passed since they'd begun fighting.
If, as Tio had suspected, the theme of this labyrinth was to see how well challengers
could handle a prolonged battle requiring intense concentration under strenuous
conditions, then Hajime and the others must have completely surpassed the creator's
expectations.
Tio's breath mowed down another pair of magma serpents.
Six more to go.
Shea's shotgun slug took out two serpents at once.
Four more to go.
Another team of serpents tried to pincer Yue. One came up from below, while the other
bore down from above. They found themselves stopped short by another one of Yue's
thunder dragons, which had coiled itself around her. Then, they found themselves
surrounded by four more of Yue's dragons and were summarily destroyed.
Two more to go.
A magma serpent rushed up to Hajime and fired a barrage of fireballs at him. Hajime
danced through the air like a leaf riding the wind, dodging the fireballs. He fired on it
with Schlag as it opened its maw to swallow him. The serpent was blown back, and
Hajime shot down its mana crystal without even looking.
The last remaining serpent tried to launch a sneak attack from beneath the magma
sea. Hajime leaped up with Aerodynamic and fired Schlag into its open mouth.
Red shockwaves spread out from the point of impact, pushing the magma serpent
back. Its mana crystal glinted in the red light.
Hajime took careful aim with Donner. Yue and the others watched with satisfaction as
Hajime finished off the trial.
"And now it's over." Hajime glanced over at the others before pulling the trigger that
signaled the end of the Grand Gruen Volcano's trial.
A second later, an aurora of light poured down from above.
What the!? Crap, I won't be able to dodge in time— Hajime's eyes were glued to the
light. It looked just like the rainbow-colored light that had nearly killed him back in
the Great Orcus Labyrinth.
Judging by how bright this is, it might be even more dangerous… It felt as if the very air
was being torn apart by the light. The labyrinth's creator had purposely timed this
trap to activate when everyone was at their most defenseless… right when they
thought they'd won.
The light of destruction swallowed Hajime whole, and he vanished without a trace.
"H-Hajimeeee!"
Yue let out a bloodcurdling scream.