Something hit them from the side, sending them spiraling in the other direction. Like
before, the submarine flipped around in the current, but unlike the time with the
magma, Hajime had countermeasures in place. The weightstone comprising the
bottom of the ship's hull grew heavier, stabilizing the sub.
"Ugh, I was hoping we wouldn't have to deal with this again." Shea paled and shook
her head. She hadn't enjoyed the ride out of the Grand Gruen Volcano one bit.
"Don't worry, I stabilized us already. The real question is where this current is taking
us…" Hajime grimaced and looked out of the front windshield.
The green glowstone headlights chased away the darkness and illuminated the cavern.
From the looks of it, they were being pushed down a long tunnel.
Hajime stabilized the sub, but otherwise let the current take them where it would.
After a while, Hajime's alertstone picked up on a number of creatures that were
glowing dark red.
"Something's coming toward us. It's probably monsters. Nothing else glows like that."
"Should I kill them?" Mana gathered in Yue's hands as she casually offered to wipe
them out. Her harsh words were a stark contrast to her cute face.
"Nah, let's try out my new weapons. I wanna see how effective they are."
Hajime activated one of the mechanisms he'd added to the rear of the sub. A barrage
of small torpedoes shot out of the sub's stern. He'd painted images of smiling sharks
on all of them.
They had to fight against the current, so they didn't travel very fast. As a result, they
ended up sitting in place, creating a minefield behind Hajime.
The monsters closed in on the minefield, and the party got a good look at them for the
first time. They were shaped like flying fish, just much larger. They swam headfirst
into Hajime's torpedoes.
Then, there was a huge explosion. It was so massive that it made the entire tunnel
shake. The flying fish were enveloped in a cloud of frothy water. The explosion tore
them apart, and chunks of flesh whipped past the submarine, blown along by the
current. There had been so many of them the water was dyed red with their blood.
"Yeah, this is definitely better than before. Looks like my upgrades worked out."
"Whoa, Hajime-san. I think I just saw a dead fish's eyes staring at me."
"You probably did. I just killed a lot of them."
"I was thinking about this for a while, but the artifacts you make are completely
broken, Hajime-kun."
They ran into schools of other monster fish, but they had no problem dispatching
them.
As they were underwater, Hajime had no way of tracking how long that went on for.
Eventually, though, Hajime felt a subtle change in their circumstances. The current had
carried them to a place where the walls were severely damaged. Dead eyes stared at
Hajime from the cracks in the rock, and he realized the fishes he'd blown up had
become stuck there.
"Have we been here before?"
"Seems like it… Guess we're going in circles?"
They'd just been looping around. Hajime had thought he'd been advancing further
through the labyrinth, but it turned out they'd just been shunted into a regular
underwater cavern. He stopped letting the current carry them along, and the group
carefully searched the cavern as they advanced.
Upon closer inspection, the group realized there was more to the place than met the
eye.
"Ah, Hajime-kun. There's something there too!"
"That's the fifth one…"
They'd been finding fifty-centimeter stretches of wall where Melusine's crest had been
engraved. Her crest was a five-pointed star, with a line going from the top vertex to the
center. Said center had a crescent moon housed inside it. There were five of those
crests in total.
Hajime moved the submarine back to the first crest they'd found in order to examine
it more closely. The current was pretty strong, so it took effort to keep the sub
anchored in place.
"So we've got five five-pointed stars and this half-lit pendant…" Hajime took the
pendant hanging around his neck and held it up to the crest. As he'd expected, the
lantern began to emit light again. The beam of moonlight hit the crest, which absorbed
it and began to glow.
"This would be pretty hard for people who came here using magic… You'd have to
catch on quick or your mana would run out." Kaori was right. Completing these series
of steps while struggling to keep yourself from drowning would not be easy. It seemed
this labyrinth had been designed to test one's limits in a completely different way than
the Grand Gruen Volcano.
They went around lighting up the remaining crests, and it wasn't long before they
reached the last one. The lantern had lost a proportional amount of light at each crest,
and it had just enough to light up one more.
As Hajime lit up the last crest, part of the rock fell away, revealing yet another passage.
There was more rumbling as the boulder slid away.
They advanced inside and found a passage heading straight down. Hajime angled the
sub down and descended. As they entered the passage, something pushed them down
with force. The sub fell so fast that everyone felt weightless.
"Whoa?"
"Mmm."
"Hyaaah!?"
"Nuoooh!"
"Hawawawa!"
All five of them yelped as they fell. Hajime felt the same kind of tingling in his crotch
that he did when rode a roller coaster.
The submarine landed on something solid with a resounding thud. Everyone groaned
as they landed, especially Kaori, who was physically weaker than the others.
"Ugh… Kaori, are you alright?"
"Ugh… I-I'm okay. Where are we?" Kaori grimaced and looked outside the windshield.
They weren't surrounded by water anymore. There didn't seem to be any monsters
nearby either, so Hajime and the others tentatively stepped out of the sub.
They found themselves in a large dome-shaped cavern. Directly above them was the
hole they'd fallen through. Due to some trick of magic, the water didn't cascade
through it. Not a single drop fell through as the water swayed to and fro within the top
half of the hole.
"I guess this is where things get serious. Looks like we're not underwater anymore,
either."
"It's better that it's not all underwater."
Hajime put the submarine back into his Treasure Trove and called out to Yue before
they advanced.
"Yue."
"Okay." Yue immediately deployed a barrier around them.
A second later, jets of water slammed into it from above. It was the same Rupture spell
Yue had made use of back in the Reisen Gorge. The water jets had enough force behind
them to cut people to ribbons, but Yue's barriers, even makeshift ones, were made of
tougher stuff. It easily deflected the barrage of water jets. Hajime had instantly
detected the surprise attack, and Yue had easily picked up on Hajime's thoughts. Their
superhuman combination made surprise attacks largely ineffective. Naturally, Shea
and Tio had sensed the attack coming too, so they weren't surprised in the slightest.
However, Kaori wasn't on that level.
"Kyaaa!?" She screamed in surprise and staggered backward. Hajime caught her as she
stumbled.
"I-I'm sorry."
"Eh, don't worry about it."
She glanced at Hajime, pale-faced. Normally, she'd be blushing at the opportunity to
be in his arms, but right now she was just depressed at being the only member of the
party to be shaken by the attack.
She was also still in shock at how amazing Yue's magic skills were.
Back when she'd been in Kouki's party, Kaori had often supplemented Suzu's barriers
with her own, so she knew a fair amount about defensive magic. She'd trained herself
to death in order to reduce her casting time for barrier spells to the same level as
Suzu's.
Compared to Yue though, Kaori's skills were nothing.
She'd felt like this when Hajime had saved her back in the Great Orcus Labyrinth too.
That feeling of inferiority she'd pushed down to convince herself she was fit to travel
with Hajime reared its ugly head once more.
Am I just slowing everyone down? That thought whirled around her mind.
"What's wrong?"
"Huh? Oh, it's nothing."
"If you say so…"
Kaori forced herself to smile. Hajime narrowed his eyes, but he didn't say anything.
Kaori felt both a little disappointed and a little relieved that he didn't push the issue.
She noticed Yue, who was still fending off the torrent of deadly water, staring at her. It
felt as though Yue was seeing right through her. Angry, Kaori glared right back.
She wouldn't let Yue make fun of her feelings any longer. If she let Yue walk all over
her, she wouldn't be fit to even call herself Yue's rival.
She absolutely couldn't let that happen.
Yue just smiled faintly at Kaori and turned her attention back to the ceiling. Tio
unleashed a gout of flames at the same time, caking the ceiling with fire. Monsters
dropped to the ground, burnt to a crisp.
At a glance, they looked almost like barnacles. They were likely what had been
unleashing those water jets. They'd been hiding inside the cracks in the ceiling, which
was why Kaori hadn't noticed them. Now that they'd been burned to death, they
looked rather disgusting.
It seemed sea creatures like these were especially weak to fire. Tio's Spiral Blaze had
taken them all out in one shot.
With the barnacles dead, the party was free to advance further into the cavern. The
passage was narrower than the cavern they'd landed in, and was filled knee-deep with
water.
"Grr…" Yue growled to herself. She was so short that the water came up to her waist,
which made walking difficult. Hajime nodded to her, then lifted her onto his shoulders.
"H-Hajime… This is a little embarrassing."
"But it looks like the water gets deeper further in. Besides, don't you like it more up
here?"
"I guess…"
The party continued wading through the water. Yue blushed, feeling like a little child.
She wrapped her thighs around Hajime, hugging him tight. Shea and the others didn't
seem jealous at all. In fact, they were all snickering. They gave Yue looks that were full
of pity.
Yue felt even more embarrassed, and shrunk back. Hajime had never seen her like this.
"Hehehe, you look really cute right now, Yue-san."
"Ugh…"
"I see you've taken over Myu's favorite spot."
"Ngh…"
"Fufufu… Should we start calling you Yue-chan from now on?"
"Do you want to die, Kaori?"
"How come I'm the only one you're yelling at!?"
Yue blushed with embarrassment, but when Kaori joined in on the ribbing her glare
turned stone cold. Hajime watched the exchange with a laugh.
Their lighthearted banter came to an abrupt end when another wave of monsters
assaulted them.
These monsters resembled shuriken. They came spinning at Hajime and the others.
Hajime calmly unholstered Donner and shot them all down. As they fell lifeless to the
ground, Hajime realized they were actually starfish who had been spinning so fast they
looked like shurikens.
Yue noticed a horde of sea snakes slithering toward them right after, and skewered the
lot of them with ice spears.
"Aren't these a little too weak?" Everyone except Kaori nodded.
Normally, the monsters that appeared in labyrinths were dangerously powerful on
their own, or had abilities that made them annoying in groups. Or both. However, the
monsters they faced were around the same level as the monsters who'd attacked the
sub when the underwater volcano had spit them out. In fact, they might have even
been a little weaker. Certainly nowhere near labyrinth level.
Only Kaori, who didn't have any experience with labyrinths, wasn't confused by their
weakness. But they didn't have to ponder for long, as the answer was revealed in the
next room.
"What the…" The corridor opened up in a massive room. As they walked inside, a
translucent, jelly-like substance blocked the passage forward.
"I'll get it! Oryaaah!" Shea leaped forward and smacked the jelly wall with Drucken.
Some of the jelly at the surface of the wall scattered, but the blockade itself remained
in place. Some of the jelly splashed onto Shea's chest.
"Hyawah! What is this stuff!?" She screamed in surprise. Hajime and the others turned
to her. The jelly had begun melting through her clothes. Her voluptuous cleavage came
into view as the cloth covering it melted away.
"Shea, don't move!" Tio burned away the jelly with masterfully controlled fire magic.
A few stray flames singed Shea's skin, making it turn red, but the fire otherwise hit
only the jelly. It appeared the jelly had caustic properties.
"Watch out!" The party leaped away from the wall, but this time countless tentacles
came down from the ceiling. The tentacles' tips were pointed, like a spear, but they
were made of the same jelly as the wall, which meant they were likely just as
dangerous. Yue hurriedly jumped off Hajime's shoulders and deployed a barrier above
the party. Tio cast her flame breath at the same time, burning the tentacles away.
"Man, the combination of Yue's barriers and Tio's fire is broken." An ironclad wall
combined with one of the most powerful attacks. Frankly, Hajime was impressed.
Confident Yue and Tio could handle things, Shea sidled up to Hajime and puffed out
her mostly-visible chest. She blushed and looked up at Hajime.
"Umm, Hajime-san. I got burned a little here, so could you put some medicine on it?"
She never missed an opportunity to come onto Hajime. Truly a clever bunny girl. Sadly,
Hajime just gave her an exasperated look.
"Is this really the time?"
"Well… I mean Yue and Tio are unbeatable, so it should be fine. If I don't show off at
times like these, I'll start losing to even Kaori-san."
Shea showed off the numerous small burns on her breasts. Just then—
"Grant respite to these divine warriors— Divine Blessing!" Kaori healed Shea's
wounds with a smile.
"Nooo! My chance to let Hajime grope me!" Shea wailed, but everyone just stared
coldly at her.
"Hm…? Hajime, this jelly can melt magic, too."
Hajime looked and it did indeed seem that the tentacles were melting the barrier
wherever they touched it.
"Ah, that explains it. I was wondering why my flames had been having so little effect.
It seems the tentacles can disintegrate the mana my fire is composed of." If what Tio
was saying was true, then this jelly was far more dangerous than Hajime had initially
thought. Plenty powerful, and plenty annoying. This was what he'd come to expect
from labyrinths.
Just then, the monster controlling the jelly showed itself.
It squeezed out of a crack in the ceiling, and expanded in midair. It was translucent,
and roughly in the shape of a human. Though its limbs were shaped like fins, and its
entire body was covered in miniscule, glimmering red flecks. There were also two
feelers of sorts growing out of its head.
The way its limbs sort of floated in the air reminded Hajime of a sea angel. A sea angel
that was ten meters long and oozed caustic jelly was a pretty monstrous sight, though.
Without warning, the giant sea angel launched a barrage of tentacles from its body. At
the same time, it spit out a rain of jelly from its head.
"Yue, you focus on attacking! I'll protect us! Hallowed Ground!" Kaori's derivative skill,
Delayed Activation allowed her to cast a spell she'd already chanted the incantation
for ahead of time. Yue nodded curtly and combined her strength with Tio's. The two
of them shot a barrage of flames at the giant sea angel.
The flames all found their mark, and disintegrated the monster. Yue turned back to
Hajime proudly, but instead of praising her he yelled out a warning.
"It's not over yet! I'm still sensing something. Kaori, keep that barrier up. What the
hell is this? I can sense it everywhere in the room…" Hajime's Sense Presence was
picking up a reaction from every corner of the room. When he checked with his Demon
Eye, he saw the entire room covered in dark red. It was almost as if the room itself was
a monster. Hajime looked around warily. He'd never seen anything like this before.
His fears had been well founded, as the giant sea angel reformed itself in the center of
the room. Upon closer inspection, he noticed a large number of the starfish and sea
snake monsters they'd defeated earlier melting inside the sea angel's stomach.
"I see… So the monsters we found too weak were nothing more than this creature's
sustenance. Master, if it keeps regenerating indefinitely we'll be worn down. Where is
its mana crystal?"
"Come to think of it, how come we can't see it? The thing's transparent."
Shea nodded and looked over at Hajime. Hajime focused his Demon Eye on the sea
angel, but what he saw only confused him.
"Hajime?" Hajime scratched his head and reported what he'd seen.
"There isn't one. I can't find one anywhere inside it." Everyone stared at him in shock.
"H-Hajime-kun? If it doesn't have a mana crystal… does that mean it's not a monster?"
"Beats me. I guess if I had to say, its whole body seems like a mana crystal. The whole
thing shows up dark red on my Demon Eye, and so does the rest of the room. Be
careful, guys. It's possible we're already inside the thing's stomach!"
The giant sea angel attacked again as Hajime finished his explanation. This time, it
sent chunks of its body out like torpedoes in addition to the tentacles and jelly rain.
Hajime pulled a giant black rifle out of his Treasure Trove. There was a compressed
gas canister where the magazine would normally go. It was too large in radius to be a
bullet of any caliber.
Which made sense, since it wasn't actually a rifle. Whoooooosh! It was a flamethrower.
He'd created it out of liquid flamrock. The flamrock ignited as it left the barrel,
spreading unquenchable 3,000 degree flames everywhere. His target was neither the
giant sea angel, nor the jelly attacks it had sent at them. Instead, it was the walls of the
room. He knew Yue and the others could handle the sea angel's attacks.
It seemed the sea angel could use camouflage as well. For when Hajime's flames hit
the wall, parts of it peeled away, transforming into jelly as it burned. Hajime breathed
a sigh of relief. Thank god the whole room isn't the monster.
But no matter how much of the jelly Hajime burned, more of it kept oozing out of
cracks in the walls and floor. A sizzling sound came from his shoes.
Yue and the others redoubled their attacks on the sea angel as well. It seemed to finally
be taking them seriously, and an unbelievable amount of jelly trickled out of every
crack and hole in the room. The water level began to rise as well. At first it had only
come up to their knees, but now it was up to Hajime's waist. For Yue, it was already up
to her chest.
No matter how many times Yue and Tio destroyed the giant sea angel, it just absorbed
the nearby jelly and regenerated. There didn't seem to be any end in sight.
Unless they found a way to eliminate it for good, they'd just be wasting their strength.
On top of that, the rising water levels meant they'd soon be fighting underwater. The
worst part was they couldn't even hole up and hold out. Both Yue's barriers and
Hajime's submarine wouldn't last long against that caustic jelly.
It might be best to retreat for now. The problem was, all the exits were covered by jelly.
Hajime desperately examined his surroundings. He noticed one of the fissures in the
floor had a small whirlpool above it.
"Let's retreat and regroup! There's a room below us, though I don't know where it
leads. Be prepared for anything!"
"Okay."
"Roger."
"Understood."
"Alright!"
Hajime swung his flamethrower around, burning all the jelly around him. Once the
area was clear, he transmuted the floor around the fissure. It grew wider, forming a
hole large enough for them to jump through.
Hajime ducked underwater and pulled a small, cylindrical fifteen centimeter long
object out of his pocket. It had a snorkel and a mouthpiece attached to the middle. The
canister was actually an oxygen tank. He'd used creation magic to enchant the canister
with air magic. The space inside was much larger than it seemed, all filled with air.
He'd originally wanted to make the space as large as his Treasure Trove's, but he
hadn't had time. While in Erisen he'd prioritized repairing his damaged equipment.
On top of that, he found enchanting things with air magic was extremely difficult for
him. As it was, one of these canisters only had 30 minutes of air in it.
Keeping the time limit in the back of his mind, Hajime continued transmuting the hole,
digging deeper until he finally hit open space. Then, he pulled out his pile bunker. He
anchored it underwater and began charging.
It let out a loud hydraulic hiss as the mechanism engaged. A second later, it bore
through the floor Hajime had weakened.
The sound was muffled by the water, but the vibrations could still be felt by everyone.
Water started rushing through the massive pit he'd created. The current was so strong
that it knocked everyone off their feet and carried them to the hole.
Hajime pulled a massive boulder and a few incendiary grenades out of his Treasure
Trove. He held fast against the current long enough to toss them before letting himself
be swept away.
The boulder blocked the hole he'd made, while the grenades exploded all around the
sea angel. Though Hajime had no way of telling if that had actually bought them any
time, it felt like the smart thing to do.
"Ugh, ack…"
"Haaah… Haaah, you alright, Kaori?"
"Y-Yes. Somehow… How's everyone else…?" Kaori looked around, coughing up water.
She noticed Hajime was holding her up, and that they were on a sandy beach of some
sort. A dense jungle stretched out in the distance, and water floated near the ceiling
above. Kaori didn't see anyone else nearby. It seemed there was some sort of barrier
keeping this area clear. The beach was massive.
"Looks like we got separated… Well, I've given everyone mini Treasure Troves, so they
should be fine."
"Yeah…"
Hajime put Kaori down and scratched his head. He could tell that hadn't really
reassured her.
Kaori watched as Hajime started changing right in front of her, then thought back to
how they'd gotten here.
They'd all had to retreat from the giant sea angel. The giant room they'd fallen into
had dozens of holes in the floor. Seawater gushed out from some, but flowed into
others. The water's currents had been unpredictable and wild, like a storm. The group
had tried to stay together, but the water mercilessly tore them apart. Yue tried to
control the current with her magic, but it was so random that she didn't make much
headway. Shea had managed to use her gravity manipulation and Drucken's natural
weight to fix herself in place and somehow link up with Tio.
Hajime had wanted to pull out his submarine and herd everyone inside, but the
current made it impossible. And so, he'd grit his teeth and pulled out some extremely
dense rocks from his Treasure Trove. He'd been hoping to use their weight to anchor
himself like Shea had.
Luckily, Yue was being carried toward him as well. If he could just stay in place they'd
collide with each other. Tio and Shea had already fallen down one of the holes and had
vanished from sight.
Hajime had been about to reach out to Yue when he'd spotted Kaori being swept away
to one of the holes. His eyes met hers. He turned back to Yue, who had her hand
outstretched to him.
He had two options at that point.
If he caught Yue, Kaori would likely be swept down a hole, alone. And if he caught
Kaori, it would be Yue who would be alone.
As it was, Hajime only had the ability to grab one of them. Time slowed to a crawl as
Hajime deliberated. He exchanged one last glance with Yue, and made his decision.
Hajime pulled more stones out of his Treasure Trove and sank like a rock. On his way
down, he grabbed hold of Kaori. He decided to prioritize her over Yue.
Kaori's eyes opened wide in surprise, but then she had to shut them a second later as
the current beat against her. Hajime held Kaori tight as they were sucked down a hole.
He activated Diamond Skin as they fell, then covered Kaori, protecting her from the
stray boulders that hit them on the way down. Finally, the current began to weaken,
and Hajime saw a light above them. He floated up to it.
When he surfaced he'd found himself at the coastline to the beach they were now
standing on.
"Hey, Hajime-kun. Why… did you save me?"
"Huh?" Hajime had his back turned to Kaori, as he was still in the middle of changing.
Where'd that come from?
"Why did you save me and not Yue?"
"I mean, if you fell by yourself you'd probably die. I figured Yue'd be fine on her own.
Yue wanted me to save you too. I could tell from her eyes."
"You really trust her, don't you?"
"Of course I do. We're partners."
"...…" Kaori's expression grew even more glum. She noticed a shadow above her, and
looked up. She saw Hajime looking down at her, his face inches from her own. They
were practically touching. If he moved just a little closer, they'd be kissing. She stared
into Hajime's eyes. The moment was ruined as he grabbed her cheeks and pulled.
"Owww! What was that for!?" Tears sprung to Kaori's eyes.
Hajime ignored her protests and continued toying with her soft cheeks. By the time he
was done, her cheeks were red and swollen. She looked at him reproachfully, and
Hajime snorted
"There's no time to sit around moping. We're in the middle of a labyrinth here. How
long were you planning on staying in those soaked clothes? Or were you hoping to
earn my sympathy by walking around like that?" Kaori blushed at Hajime's rebuke. It
was as if he'd just told her she didn't belong here.
"Th-That's not it! I just spaced out for a bit. I-I'll change right away. Sorry."
"...…"
Kaori hurried to her feet and pulled out a spare change of clothes from the mini
Treasure Trove Hajime had given her. He'd made one for everyone at Erisen, though
they were far smaller in scope than Oscar's. Hajime nonchalantly turned around.
Normally, Kaori would have tried to flirt with him and say something like "It's fine if
you want to watch," but right now she didn't feel in the mood.
"I-I'm done. So, what are we going to do now?"
"Let's see. Even if we went back we'd have no idea where the others are, so I guess our
best bet is to keep searching for the labyrinth's end. Yue and the others are probably
doing the same."
Hajime stared at the jungle for a few seconds before turning back to Kaori. She smiled
and nodded, trying to hide her melancholy. Hajime narrowed his eyes suspiciously, but
in the end he didn't say anything.
Sand crunched underneath their boots as the pair made their way to the jungle. Thick
grasses and dense bushes barred their way forward, and Hajime pulled out a machete
to hack through them. Kaori followed silently behind him.
After a few minutes, Hajime suddenly came to a halt and turned back to Kaori. He
wrapped a hand around the back of her head protectively.
"Huh? U-Umm, Hajime-kun? Th-This is a bit sudden…" She blushed, but when she saw
the thing Hajime had pulled off her neck the blood drained from her face.
It was a spider. It was as big as Hajime's hand, and it had twenty legs. Purple liquid
dripped from its fangs. Its feet grew not only from its abdomen, but also from its back.
Kaori had never seen anything so disgusting.
"Don't let your guard down. These labyrinths are way more deadly than the upper
floors of the Orcus Labyrinth. If you think the monsters you face will only be as strong
as the ones you fought there, you'll end up dead."
"O-Okay. I'm sorry. I'll be more careful."
"..."
The spider Hajime had picked up didn't have a mana crystal. That meant it was just a
very ugly spider, and not a monster. Kaori felt even more depressed. Not only had she
almost been killed by something that wasn't even a monster, she'd needed Hajime to
save her again.
In Kouki's party she'd been one of the best mages they'd had. But here, she was just
dead weight. That fact continued to nag at her. She kept an even more vigilant eye on
her surroundings as they advanced, not even breaking her concentration to talk to
Hajime. The two of them continued silently through the jungle.
Eventually, they found something.
"Is this a… ship graveyard?"
"Amazing. I never realized ships were so huge…"
Once they'd made it out of the jungle they found themselves in a rocky plain. A number
of massive sailing ships nestled among the boulders, their masts rotting and their sails
tattered. Every one of them must have been at least a hundred meters long. Some of
the larger ones Hajime saw were more than three hundred.
The two of them stopped in their tracks to admire the surreal sight, but they couldn't
gawk forever, and eventually they shook off their awe and started walking forward
again.
They marched their way around the boulders, climbing those they couldn't
circumvent. At times they walked across the ships' decks as well. Though all of the
ships were rotting, they hadn't decayed to the point where they were completely
falling apart yet.
"You know… these all look like warships."
"Yeah. That really big one in the back looks like a passenger ship, though. It's all
decorated and stuff…"
The warships here didn't have gunports like the ones Hajime was used to seeing back
on earth. His reason for believing they were warships was all the battle scars they had.
From the looks of it, they'd all been bombarded with magic. Some of their masts had
been cut clean through, while others had burn scars all over their wooden decks. Some
of them even had their sails and ropes petrified.
Since there were no gunports, Hajime imagined long distance battles between
warships had been done via magic in the past.
It turned out that he was right. When they were about halfway through the graveyard,
they were attacked.
"Uwooooooooooooh!" "Raaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!"
"Wh-What the!?"
"Hajime-kun, around us!" Hajime heard the screams of countless men and his
surroundings began to warp.
Hajime and Kaori stopped in their tracks. Everything blurred, and a second later they
were standing on the deck of a ship.
They were no longer in the graveyard of ships. Instead, they were in the middle of the
sea. Hundreds of ships lined up against each other, and men yelled as they brandished
their weapons.
"Wh-What on…"
"H-H-Hajime-kun? Am I dreaming? Are you seeing this too? You are, right?"
The two of them were so shocked all they could do was blankly examine their
surroundings.
A flare rose up in the sky, and the mass of ships on Hajime's side began advancing
forward. Another flare rose up from the other side, and those ships advanced as well.
Once the two sides were close enough, they began exchanging volleys of spells. Neither
side slowed down, though, and it looked like they were planning to ram into each
other.
"Whoa!?"
"Kyaaa!"
Fireballs raked the deck, burning holes through the wood. A raging tornado attempted
to splinter the mast. Chunks of the ocean froze over, stymieing both sides' advance.
Grey spheres flew through the air, petrifying any sails unlucky enough to be struck.
The deck Hajime and Kaori were standing on had caught fire. Sailors hurried to cast
water magic to put it out.
This was a war. That was how large the scale of the battle was. A chilly breeze rolled
past the combatants. Then, a fireball came hurtling toward where Hajime was
standing. If he didn't do anything, it would hit him head-on, but he was still
dumbfounded.
How on earth did we wind up in the middle of a naval battle? The question whirled
around inside his head as Hajime pulled out Donner and fired at the fireball.
A streak of red light struck it, but contrary to expectations, the fireball didn't
disappear. In fact, Hajime's bullet passed right through it and vanished into the sky.
"What!?" He let out yet another yell of surprise. He made to grab Kaori and dive out of
the way.
"Wait, I'll stop it! Light Wall!" She deployed a beginner-level light barrier.
Hajime had figured it'd be best to dodge, since even shooting through its core hadn't
dispersed the spell, but he didn't want Kaori to feel useless. So he stood there,
activating Diamond Skin just in case.
However, Hajime needn't have worried. Kaori's barrier stopped the fireball.
Did I miss? Hajime thought dubiously to himself. He tried again, aiming for yet another
fireball. He watched with his Demon Eye, making sure he shot precisely through the
core of the spell. But once again, his bullet passed cleanly through the fireball,
vanishing in the distance.
"So that's how it is." Hajime had figured out why his attacks hadn't worked, and
attempted a different tactic. He stopped Kaori, who was about to put up another
barrier, and wreathed his revolver in a Gale Claw. Then, he leaped out of the way and
sliced through the fireball. This time the attack connected and dispersed the flames.
"Umm, Hajime-kun?"
"It looks like this isn't just a hallucination. Though it's not exactly reality either.
Physical objects can't interact with the vision, but mana can. Though I still have no
clue what the hell is going on."
Hajime sighed and shook his head. Just then, he heard a man scream behind him. He
turned to see a youth double over, holding a cutlass in one hand and his stomach in
the other. There was a pool of blood at his feet, a bloody icicle dropped on the ground
next to him. He had been hit in that earlier barrage.
"Are you alright!?" Kaori rushed over and began casting healing magic on him.
Lavender light enveloped the youth. A priest of Kaori's skill should have been able to
heal a wound like that instantly, yet that wasn't what happened. The moment Kaori's
healing magic touched him, he faded away.
"Huh? What? Wh-Why did he…" Hajime lapsed into thought. After a moment, he
explained his hypothesis.
"I think as long as mana touches any part of this illusion it'll fade. It doesn't matter
what kind of spell you use."
"Then that means I-I… killed him…"
"Kaori, none of this is real. It's an illusion that we can interact with, that's all. I mean,
you can hardly call something that literally disappears from being healed human."
"Hajime-kun… Yeah, you're right. I'm sorry. That surprised me a little, but I'm fine
now."
Hajime wasn't blaming Kaori this time, but she still drooped her shoulders and
apologized. However, she quickly recovered and smiled at him. Hajime thought back
to how she'd been earlier too, and muttered something.
"Always an apology, huh?"
"Huh? Did you say something?"
"It's nothing."
Hajime turned away from Kaori. Not because the conversation was over, but because
he'd sensed something coming.
He looked around and noticed quite a few of the sailors were staring darkly at Hajime
and Kaori.
Kaori noticed the change in Hajime's attitude and looked around as well. With a
resounding battle cry, the sailors attacked.
"My life for Ehit!"
"Glory to Ehit!"
"You damned heretics! Die in the name of our lord!"
The men had gone completely mad. Their eyes were bloodshot and spittle sprayed
from their mouths. It was obvious they weren't thinking rationally.
Hajime had already guessed this was some dispute between two neighboring
countries, but now he understood the reason for it too. It was a holy war. He could
hear similar cries coming from the other side as well. The only difference was the
name of their god.
Kaori was stunned into silence.
Hajime pulled Kaori close and started firing Donner over his shoulder. Instead of firing
physical bullets, he was shooting off rounds of pure mana.
Mana Manipulation's derivative skills, Mana Emission and Mana Compression let him
do such a thing. Since the mana wasn't structured behind a spell of any kind, normal
enemies wouldn't have taken any physical damage. They would have just had their
mana shaved off.
However, both humans and monsters became unable to move once their mana dried
up, so it was a great way to immobilize targets without harming them. Until now,
Hajime's enemies had all been too dangerous to simply immobilize, so he hadn't used
it much.
In this situation, though, it was perfect. Streaks of red light shot through the foreheads
of battle-crazed sailors. Each of Hajime's mana bullets pierced through multiple
sailors, who dissipated when shot.
"Kaori, I'm gonna jump! Make sure you don't bite your tongue!"
"What? Kyaaaaaaaaa!"
Hajime didn't want to deal with being surrounded on the narrow deck, so he grabbed
hold of Kaori and leaped into the sky. She hadn't expected him to shoot up with such
force though, so she screamed in surprise.
Hajime shot down the sailors on the crow's nest and appropriated it for himself.
The sailors down below glared at him with bloodshot eyes.
They'd been so busy fighting each other until just recently, but now for some reason
some of the sailors had focused on the two of them. Though they'd been enemies
seconds before, they were united in their hatred of Hajime and Kaori. The madness
spread like a disease. At first only a small knot of sailors had targeted the pair, but
before long the entire ship was after them.
Sailors locked in combat with each other froze and turned to face Hajime and Kaori
instead. Then, with the same fanatical battle cries, they pointed their cutlasses at
them. The insane spectacle had left Kaori pale-faced.
"Now then, how are we supposed to get out of this crazy vision?"
"Is there an exit somewhere… maybe?"
"We're in the middle of the ocean, remember?"
"Maybe one of the ships has a portal out? You know, like the Anywhere Door?"
Hajime raised an eyebrow as Kaori brought up a certain blue cat robot's very
convenient tool.
"There's around 600 ships here… I don't think we can check every one of them. The
battle'd end before we do."
"Hmmm… It looks like some of the ships are already sinking, too. Maybe we're
supposed to end this war?"
"End it… I see, I get it now. You're saying we've gotta kill everyone, right? You're pretty
sadistic, you know that?"
"Huh? No, wait that's not what I—"
"Yeah, that's gotta be it. I can't really think of anything else, and this suits my style
anyway." Hajime casually shot down a few sailors who were trying to Tarzan their way
to the crow's nest using the mast's ropes. I should have made some mana bullets for a
situation like this. He used the derivative skill Remote Manipulation to shoot down a
barrage of incoming fireballs as well.
"Kaori, I know you're not really skilled at offensive magic, but here even healing
magic'll kill these guys. I'm still not 100% sure killing them's how we get out, but since
they're coming at us we've got no choice but to take them down."
"O-Okay!" Kaori berated herself for hesitating and began chanting. The insanity in
these ghost soldiers' eyes had shaken her, but she didn't want to break down in front
of Hajime, so she held her ground and fought.
Hajime surveyed his surroundings, protecting Kaori from any attackers.
Looking down, he noticed there were still pockets of sailors fighting each other in
places. Unlike when Hajime killed them, the illusions bled when cut by other illusions.
Gutted entrails and hacked-off body parts littered the ship's deck. It made for quite a
grotesque sight. The men happily killed each other in the name of their gods.
The wind picked up, and a bloody mist rolled across the deck. Despite their losses, the
sailors targeting Hajime and Kaori didn't let up.
Whenever anyone got too close, Hajime mercilessly shot them down. He'd also set up
a pseudo-barrier of bullets circling around him to destroy any illusion he missed, and
to block any magical attacks sent his way.
This didn't deter them though, and the sailors continued rushing to their deaths.
A few dozen soldiers used air magic to fly over the crow's nest and attack Hajime from
above. More came from either side, using the mast's netting to close in. With his
Demon Eye, Hajime could see a number of casters on other ships targeting his. They
were all casting high level spells.
Just as Hajime was thinking about shooting them down before they took down this
ship, Kaori finished casting her strongest spell.
"Divine Mother, smiling down from heaven, encompass all in thy heavenly embrace—
Aetherflow!" Ripples of light spread out across the battlefield. They extended a full
kilometer out from where Kaori was standing. Every person it touched was wrapped
in a faint halo of light.
This was one of the highest-rank healing spells, Aetherflow. It healed everyone in a
massive radius.
The actual range of the spell depended on how skilled the caster was and how much
mana they put into the spell, but it had a minimum reach of 500 meters. Furthermore,
if the caster marked certain targets beforehand, they could control the spell to affect
only them. Normally, this spell required the combined mana of a few dozen people, a
ridiculously long chant, and a huge mana circle. It was a testament to how
overpowered Kaori was that she'd been able to cast it in two minutes all by herself.
The light of Kaori's Aetherflow covered the battlefield, destroying every illusion it
touched.
Kaori stumbled once her spell ended, her mana spent. Hajime caught her before she
fell.
"Wow, it's like we're floating in a sea of ghost ships now. Nice one, Kaori. I knew you
had it in you."
"Ah, um, i-it was nothing, really. You guys are way more amazing than me, anyway…"
Kaori blushed at Hajime's sincere praise. Still, she was certain Yue would have been
able to do a faster and better job. She smiled bitterly to herself and looked away.
In order to change the topic, she muttered something about needing to recharge her
mana, and Hajime handed her a magic stone pendant. Kaori couldn't control mana
directly, so Hajime had engraved it with a magic circle she could use to drain it.
Hajime opened his mouth to say something, but he shut it again when he saw another
wave of enemies approaching. They could talk about it later.
Normally, fighting an army of illusions who could only be hurt by mana and had no
fear would have been extremely difficult, doubly so on the swaying deck of a ship.
However, Hajime and Kaori were anything but normal.
The combined armies of two countries were decimated in just one hour by the two of
them.
"Ugh… Sorry."
"It's fine, don't worry about it."
Once they destroyed the last of the illusions, Hajime and Kaori had found themselves
back in their original location.
Hajime had breathed a sigh of relief, glad that killing them all had been the solution to
the puzzle. A second later, though, Kaori had doubled over and started retching. It had
been some time since she last ate, so she didn't throw anything up, but it still didn't
look pleasant.
Tears in her eyes, Kaori held up a hand to Hajime, begging him not to get any closer,
but Hajime walked over anyway and gently rubbed Kaori's back. She hadn't wanted
him to see this side of her, but she was still reassured by the warm hand on her back.
Before she knew it, she'd fallen into his arms. It didn't take long for her to calm down
and stop retching.
Hajime pulled out a pack of apple juice from his Treasure Trove and passed it to her.
She gulped it down greedily, and the color began returning to her face. The sweetness
of the juice washed away the taste of bile in her mouth.
"I'm really sorry…" Hajime narrowed his eyes as she apologized.
"It's totally understandable. I found them pretty disgusting myself. I can't believe
people would let blind faith turn them into something like that. Let's take a short
break. I used up a lot of my mana too, so I need to rest."
"Okay… Hey, Hajime-kun. What was that? Did it have something to do with all of these
rotting ships here?" Kaori sat down on a nearby boulder. Hajime thought about it for
a few seconds.
"My guess is that was a war that actually happened in the past, and whoever made this
labyrinth recreated it with magic. I imagine the part where all the sailors attacked
whoever enters was their own addition… It could be that this is part of this labyrinth's
theme."
"Its… theme?"
"Yeah. Tio mentioned it in the Grand Gruen Volcano. She thought each of the liberators
designed their labyrinth around a certain theme. If she's right, then…"
"The theme of this one is to show us the tragedy the gods brought upon Tortus?"
"Yeah, looks like it."
Chills ran down Kaori's spine as she thought back to what they'd seen. She shivered,
her face pale. Their madness had disturbed Kaori enough that she'd thrown up. She'd
never seen such religious fanaticism before. Their fervor, their actions, and the fact
that their faith had led them to slaughter each other disgusted her.
Worst of all though, they'd been laughing as they fought. Some of them who'd known
they were dying had even ripped out their own hearts to offer up to their heartless
gods. Others had stabbed right through their comrades to get a better chance at hitting
Hajime and Kaori.
It had been an unbelievably gruesome sight, especially because it had all been done in
the name of god. Hajime sat down next to Kaori and took her hand in his. He couldn't
just sit and watch when she was grappling with atrocities like that.
Kaori looked up at him in surprise, but after a moment she smiled and tightened her
grip on his hand.
"Hajime-kun, thank you…"
"Don't worry about it. I know how painful it feels… to think you're going crazy. I nearly
lost myself when I fell into the abyss."
"How did you manage to stay sane? Actually, I don't even need to ask. It was Yue, wasn't
it?"
"Yeah. If I hadn't met her back then… who knows what I would have become." Hajime
looked off into the distance, reminiscing about those days.
Kaori felt as if a vice was squeezing down on her heart.
"It's so frustrating. I wanted to be the one to protect you, Hajime-kun… the one to save
you. Though I don't know if I could have done it if it had been me down there. I couldn't
even keep my first promise to you. Haha, I guess it's going to be tough to beat Yue."
Hajime narrowed his eyes at Kaori again. Normally Kaori's smiles were full of warmth,
but right now they were bitter, full of self-deprecation.
"You've been apologizing a lot since we came here. You've been smiling like that a lot,
too."
"Huh? Umm…" Kaori tilted her head in confusion, and Hajime's next words made her
forced smile crumble.
"Hey, Kaori. Why'd you come with us?"
"So I really am just in your way?"
Hajime sighed, and changed topics. This was going nowhere.
"I still remember what you told me that night, when you came to my room and we
drank my shitty tea. That's why I don't understand why you still like me so much, after
how I've changed."
"Hajime-kun, I…" Kaori opened her mouth, but Hajime cut her off. He wasn't done yet.
"But I have no intention of denying your feelings, or saying they're a lie. I'm sure you
have your own reasons for still loving me. No one else has the right to deny you that,
or your determination. I already gave you my answer, and if you still say you love me
despite that, then that's fine. It's not like Shea's any different, after all. In fact, she's so
persistent that I'm worried she'll just attack me one night."
Her physical abilities had only continued to grow in the time they'd traveled together.
It had gotten to the point where Hajime was worried he wouldn't be able to fend her
off if she seriously tried to overpower him. Kaori smiled wryly and nodded.
"Yeah, even I'm amazed at how outgoing and positive Shea is."
"Even I have to admit I was pretty mean to her in the beginning. Yue was the only
person special to me, so I just wanted her to give up."
"...…"
"But no matter how roughly I treated her, no matter how much I told her she had no
chance, she still looked like she was enjoying herself. Sure she cried and got mad and
yelled at me, but she never looked unhappy. Even though she had no aptitude for magic
and wasn't nearly as strong as Yue, she never stopped looking forward. She never let
herself wallow in her own inferiority."
"I-I'm not wallowing…" Kaori trailed off weakly. She wanted to protest, but even she
knew he was right.
"Did you know? All you've done since we came here is apologize. Even the way you
smile's changed."
"What?"
"Hey, Kaori. Quit looking down. Look me in the eye."
It was only after he said it that Kaori realized she'd been avoiding making eye contact
with him, even though she'd always met his gaze before… She looked up with a start.
"I'll say this one more time. I love Yue. Even if other people end up important to me,
they'll never be special like she is. If it really hurts that much, if comparing yourself to
me and Yue brings you nothing but pain… then you should leave."
"Ah…" Kaori looked down again. Hajime wasn't done yet, though.
"Back then, I agreed to let you come with me because I thought you were like Shea. I
figured that was what you really wanted. That it was something you thought was best
for yourself. Even though I'd told you I loved Yue, you insisted on coming anyway. So I
thought sure, you'd be happier that way too. But that's not how it seems to me right
now."
Hajime let go of Kaori's hand.
"I want you to think about this seriously. Decide for yourself what it is that has you so
down, and whether you really want to keep traveling with me or not. You're not like
Shea. Shea loves Yue just as much as she loves me. If you think it's better to leave, I'll
make sure to bring you back to Yaegashi safely, don't worry."
"I-I…" Kaori looked down at her hand. She wanted to say something, but the words
wouldn't come out. Things had grown awkward between them now, but they still
needed to move forward. This was a labyrinth after all. The pair continued onward,
until they reached a massive passenger ship in the back. It was even longer than 300
meters, and at least ten stories tall. Taller, probably, as part of it was buried
underground. It was ornately decorated, so much so that even after rotting partly it
still looked magnificent.
The two stopped for a moment to admire its majesty. Even on earth, few ships were
this big. Those that were didn't look quite this elegant, either.
Kaori just stared in awe, while Hajime admired its craftsmanship.
"I'm amazed they managed to make something this big out of wood." He was still a
Synergist at heart. Whoever managed to make that deserves respect.
Hajime grabbed Kaori and used Aerodynamic to jump all the way up to the terrace on
the top deck. As he'd expected, the air around them began to warp.
"Looks like we've got another vision to go through… Prepare yourself, Kaori. We're
probably not going to like this one either."
"…It's okay. I'll be fine."
Kaori took a second to reply. Hajime mentally berated himself. He should have saved
that conversation for when they were out of the labyrinth.
All he'd succeeded in doing was spoiling Kaori's mood. It was something he'd needed
to say eventually, but he could have picked a better time for it.
He just hadn't been able to bear seeing Kaori smile sadly like that any longer. Still, I
could have waited until we cleared The Sunken Ruins of Melusine first. Hajime
awkwardly scratched his cheek.
The vision this time put them in the middle of a luxurious passenger ship.
It was night, and the moon was full. Lights glimmered all along the ship's deck.
Decorations hung from every railing and mast, and tables of food were laid out buffetstyle. A large crowd of people milled about, sampling the rich food and chatting with
each other.
"Is this… a party?"
"Looks like it. A fancy one too… Did I get Melusine's theme wrong?"
Hajime was caught off-guard by the distinctly not gruesome sight in front of him. He
and Kaori were standing atop a raised terrace that overlooked the deck.
As Hajime swept his gaze over the partygoers, the door behind him opened and a few
sailors stepped onto the terrace. They lounged around, chatting with each other. I
guess they're here for their break.
Hajime listened in on their conversation. From what he could gather, this party was to
celebrate the end of a war. It seemed the war that had been going on for years between
these two countries had ended not with one country annihilating and invading the
other, but with a peace treaty. The sailors seemed happy about that fact. Upon closer
inspection, Hajime noticed that humans, demons, and beastmen were all in
attendance at this party. They were all mingling together, with no regards to race.
"I guess a time like this existed too."
"They must have worked really hard to make this peace happen. I don't know how long
it's been since the war ended, but I can't imagine everyone's grudges have gone away.
And yet, they're all smiling and laughing together…"
"I'm sure the people here are the ones who fought for peace. There's no way everyone
else would be able to laugh like that with the people they'd been fighting a while ago."
"Yeah…"
Hajime and Kaori smiled as they watched the party. After some time, a middle-aged
man climbed up onto the podium at the end of the deck and waved to everyone. The
talking gradually quieted down and people turned their attention to him. They were
all looking up at him respectfully.
Behind him was someone Hajime guessed was his aide, along with a person wearing
a hood. He thought it was rather rude to get up onstage in a hood, but none of the
partygoers seemed to mind.
Once the ship was completely quiet, the man began his speech.
"Ladies and gentlemen, all of you who gathered here today are heroes. Brave heroes
who fought not to make war, but to make peace. I am honored and humbled that you
all agreed to come to this event. I cannot tell you how happy I am that this war has
ended with my generation… Seeing peace come between our two nations has been
always been my dream." Everyone listened with rapt attention. The man continued,
talking about the missteps they had along the way, the trials they had to face to
overcome suspicion, and the lasting cornerstones of peace that they'd finally built. He
spoke of the friends they lost along the way, and tears sprung to many of the guests'
eyes. Some looked off into the distance, while others recalled nostalgic memories.