Cruising through the flat, open field of the once dangerous Reisen Gorge the quartet were finally able to relax and not have to worry about stray monster hordes. Normally it would take a week or more to fight through the armies of vicious beasts that call this land their home, but so far they haven't run into anything bigger than a few skittish raptors. Not wanting to waste this golden opportunity they drove nonstop for three days with few breaks, not wanting to deal with monsters when they took hold once again.
"Are we there yet?" Shea whined as she rocked back and forth in her seat. They set off at sunrise and have been driving until noon.
"Does it look like we're there you useless rabbit?" Hajime turns his head glare at her to stop shaking him so much.
"Just keep your eye out for something odd." Yue said
"Odd like what? All I see is rock walls on both sides" Shea looks at both sides, earnestly trying to help the party find what they have been looking for.
"I don't.. know."
The last word from Yue somehow came out as a whisper through the mental talk the group was having.
Selena could hold in the chuckle since Yue was way more expressive with telepathy talk than when she talked normally. Yue turned to Selena who was riding next to Hajime's bike and glared at her. She looked ahead since it was clear something more important was happening. Another chuckle came through the mental link.
"Do you know something you are not telling?" Yue accused.
Selena wished it was that easy. She couldn't tell them what they were looking for because even she didn't know. The story never said where in the Valley the dungeon entrance was, no markers or identifiable location. It was found entirely by accident by Shea. Selena's thoughts drift off as all Shea was asking Hajime about how the artifact worked.
So the five-head dragon that left a nasty surprise for whoever made it down. I don't recall bad dragon people. The fact demons seem keen on stealing people is very concerning since they should only have one accent magic at the moment. The demons are making moves too soon. The ant army was already bad since numbers matter when you can't just blow up the problem like us.
"Selena, are you okay?"
Both Hajime and Shea stop whatever it is they had been on about at that moment and turn their head at me. Since my bike did not match Hajime's speed.
"Umm ya sorry. I was just thinking about the demon plan we just stopped."
Even though I was showing a good poker face, Hajime looked like he could see right through it.
The people of this world are just lucky we took care of it now rather than when it was too late. But now we know that ancient magic is what tipped the scales.
"Yeah but if this was just one plan what about what we cant see." I couldn't stop thinking maybe this was my fault. Was my wish the catalyst for all these changes? My mood was getting worse contemplating the scenario.
"If they are in our way we will just stop the demons."
It's in our best interest that the kingdom doesn't fall anyways. I don't want to fight the world for real. Yue patted Hajime's hand. see how she seems to understand Hajime inner thoughts are scary. I had a few years but she just sync up like it was nothing. The power of the main heroine is scary.
"I'll help too. They were trying to steal my people. I won't just let that stand!!!" Shea pumped one of her arms up in solidarity.
"Quit getting ahead of yourself rabbit." Yue bit back although it didn't carry any true bite to her worries not wanting to destroy her confidence.
"Just you wait, I will show you that all that training was worth it. Just make sure that you watch Hajime-san. I show you a whole different side of me. At that moment you will be going wow. hehe"
Hajime pinches Shea's hand in response to that cheese delation.
"Woo, wait that hurt Hajime-san please stop. I'm sorry I got ahead of myself."
Soon after he released the pinch and put his hand back on the handle.
Seeing the mood get back to normal I decided to add myself back into the conversation. "Hey, do you think we could stick booster and harpoon guns to bikes?"
Not wanting to call her out, he went along with it.
"Mmm, we need to make cables and release the whole system in case things get dicey."
With that the afternoon passes by with random talks about new artifacts and random topics. On this day we end up seeing a slightly bigger pack of raptors, but they soon meet a bullet to the face and the occasional ice spear. The light had died down and the party was still planning on driving.
"Can we stop early today so I can pick flowers Hajime-san?" Shea said as she hugged Hajime slightly, not wanting to be seen at this very moment.
"Who the hell picks flowers in a monster infested gorge?" growing visibly frustrated at such a ridiculous statement.
"There aren't any monsters. That's why I want to pick flowers. This won't happen again."
Shea was trying her best to avoid saying she needed to go to the bathroom. Last break was 6 hours ago.
"No, we will stop until night falls or we find the dungeon. Which ever comes first" Not showing any signs of slowing down.
"Just pull over," Selena said. "My butt hurts and my pants are chafing me." Knowing that nature was called all too well, I watch Shea fidget every now and then.
"I just said-" Yue placed her hand on his hand that was on the handle of the bike.
Against his will, Hajime pulled over near a patch of dry, spindly desert weeds. Shea leaped out the moment they stopped and hopped past the bushels of spines.
"Where are you going? The plants are right there." Clearly realizing his Aries, but not wanting to admit him.
"The good flowers are in the back." She shouted back as she disappeared.
"Can I have a drink?" Yue asked Hajime, licking her lips.
They were just about to start another make out session much to my horror when.
"Hey guys, I think I found something"
And there we go. Just like in the book. They ran past the weeds and saw a jagged, natural wall like any other in this valley. Across it in bright, magical writing was the words:
Miledi Reisen's Fun Dungeon
I joy I could feel my hate counter rise since they were written in such cute writing as if they were just another Saturday off.
"Is this really the labyrinth we've been looking for?"
Hajime was very reluctant to accept this at face value. Since Oscar set such an example, this was not what he had in mind.
"Yes." Yue replied in a dead tone as if she didn't want it to be true either.
"How?" Clearly he picked up on it but was just in denial.
Yue points at the name. "She was in Oscar Orcus' diary."
"I'm getting the impression we're going to hate this place more?" Sign himself to whatever hell they were about to walk into.
"Nope you're out of luck Haji" I'm glad he was able to joke more than cannon since he was so lazier focused on going home. He kinda misses the little moment to just let loose.
"How do we even get in?" Hajime looks around, not seeing any way to walk into the true labyrinth.
"I think we jus-" WHOOH!
Shea, having just lightly touched the wall, is whisked away by a revolving hidden door turning a full 180 degrees.
"You've got to be shitting me, it cannot be this easy" Hajme sighs at the event that just played out. "What is this, some kinda Indiana Jones movie?"
"Can we turn back now? This must be the wrong place." Yue seem to be on the same page.
"That enough horse around, we need to check on Shea already. You two stop being drama queens."
"Fine." both said.
Yue went up to the wall and started feeling around for some kind of switch. Tapping around for odd sounds and trying to find anything that might be a trigger. Eventually she starts poking at the ground, thinking it might be something Shea stepped on. Selena walked up, lightly touched the wall, and the wall turned again.
A *CLICK* was heard as where we were shifted. What followed was bangs and clicks against something metallic. Soon after that the room seemed to light up. The space was no bigger than a master bedroom. It walls in a cylinder shape rather than square like most places. There seems to be some kinda strip near the top where the lights were. At the center of the room was tombstone with word written on it:
[Bet you were scared. Well, were you not scared?!!]
"I'm betting Miledi is the reason the world turns on them." Hajime said in such a sarcastic tone.
She wired Yue said.
[How rude. I'll have you know people love me. They couldn't stop throwing themself at my feet.]
The trio looked at the tablet changing the writing in real time. Hajime seemed to be studying how the magic was working. I didn't feel the need to turn on my Sharingan since Hajime would usually show me while he made stuff.
"If you mean throw themself off a cliff I agree with you." Hajime was in a vindictive mood.
[Hey where the bunny girl you were with~? Huh~ hehe]
It took us a moment to realize our little ball of sunshine was missing. We turned to look through the room and saw a puddle and no rabbit girl.
"So this was the day we lost a worthless rabbit." Hajime pressed his hand together to pray.
"Haha, why are you acting like she's dead!!" Selena laughed.
Yue walked to where they entered to see that there was a protruding rock. and she pressed it with, flipping the wall once again.
"Don't look at me." Shea was squirming in embarrassment, her face tomato red. "Don't look Hajime-san"
Somehow we all avoided the wet puddle pooling on the floor.
[hahaha it looks like she made a mess]
"Hajime can you give me an extra outfit for her… honestly Shea why not jump to the side."
Selena made her way towards Shea. I put my hand together focusing on the puddle and froze it. Lifting the icy disk, I threw it at another wall, shattering it into little ice shards. Shea saw what I did. Without words she mouthed "thank you" at me.
As soon as she was free, Shea brought out Drucken and went to the tombstone.
[You sure be careful where you step in hehe. you never know who is watching.]
"Raaahh" Shea smashed the tombstone.
The stone started to glow once again on the bigger pieces.
[haha it will recover with time!!!]
"RAAAHHH!" with more passion than I'd seen yet, Shea destroyed every fragment till they were dust.
"So..who's going to stop her?" Selena looks towards the duo who seem to be smiling.
"Sigh, I will." Hajime went over to her to try to calm her down.
"This place is going to test our patience…" Yue did not seem to be a fan of this place.
" Yah... This Miledi person will take great pleasure in our struggle." Selena grimaced, no meta knowledge would prepare me for how annoying she will be.
Hajime ends up shooting Shea on her butt with a rubber bullet to quiet her.
Soon after we follow the only tunnel lead further inside the place. The first room we came into was a long hallway. Selena felt relieved that the first room was something that she remembered from the story. Shea was leading with Drucken out as she was still pissed. Hajime and Yue followed a step behind and with me bringing up the rear.
Not too far into the room, there was a *CLICK* sound. Turning to look in the direction that we came from, we found the doorway had slammed shut and a huge boulder started rolling towards us.
"Run!!"
Selena didn't feel like testing her strength against rolling death. The party starts a mad dash for the exit on the other side of the room. A pitfall appears just before the doorway, forcing them to leap at the last second.
*CRASH*
"Hajime-san why didn't you tell me there was a trap there? I thought you could see them?" Shea said.
"I never said such a thing, but if it was triggered by magic I could have told you much sooner.. But." he looked towards Selena, "did you sense anything?"
"Nope, it's just as you think. It was a physical trap with no magic needed to activate."
"Just take better care, Shea, you are leading. Look out for anything odd when you're stepping."
If only that were the case. They soon learned it didn't matter.
Once we got our barring together, we took a look and saw the same kind of hallway once again. Hajime muttered something too low for anyone to hear. Shea walked slowly, trying to look for anything odd on the ground. We didn't seem to trigger any trap this time' Selena thought to herself and then it happened *CLICK*. She felt her foot drop down.
Hajime pulled Shea skirt and held Yue's hand as buzz saw came out of the side of walls and tried to cut them in half.
"AAAHHH!!!"
Selena looked at Shea as she rubbed her ears.
"What happened?" She had a good guess but wanted to make sure.
"It cut a bit off the top of my ears."
Hajime looked back at Selena with an accusatory glare, seeing her just standing there.
"Fine," Selena admitted. "It was me this time, happy?"
"No! Be more careful next time."
The saw continued to buzz with horrible intent, refusing to return to their sheaves. The party was forced to carefully crawl below them. Not the hardest of obstacles, but it was clear that Melidi was testing their abilities, she had more devious traps in mind. They couldn't muster their next movement as Hajime stepped on a tile, stopping the saws, only for them to retract and causing the ceiling to slowly come down upon them with both doors slamming shut hard.
"Crap!" Selena cursed. "Hajime, we need a way out, now!"
Hajime went to work, rushing ahead the rest and pressing his hands against the door. Energy coursed through the air as he tried to bore through. A few seconds passed, yet not even a pebble had been dislodged. Giving up on that plan, Hajime switched tactics. He started creating a deep hole for them to fit in. The material is extremely dense, but progress was made as Hajimes mana furiously lashing out. Sweat poured down his face as he quickly chipped away at the ground creating a narrow hole below him.
"Got to crawl through more shit! Give me the longest minute!"
About six feet in, he saw a small glow peering through the ground, realizing too late to avoid the incoming blast. He was shot out like a cannon and far out of his created exit, smacking hard at the descending ceiling. Then he fell to the floor with a loud smack.
Selena realized he was going to need more time. Weaving several hand signs, she used her ability to conjure an Ice wall, with some alteration. Rather than a thick slab, she created several pillars that propped the trap, but only for a moment.
"Crap! I'm gonna rip your eyes out, Melidi!" Hajime screamed.
Yue reinforced the ice pillars with a strengthening spell, making them strong enough to press upon the descending ceiling and stall it for a few more moments.
"Don't think I need to tell you that you have to sharpen your skills?"
"Not now!" Selena shouted back at Yue. "We can talk about homework later!"
Selena sweat bullets as she could only think about Yue's harsh training regime. She saw Hajime work again, noticing how he focused on making the hole wider rather than deeper.
"Any time, mole man!" Selena shouted.
"I'm giving all I can here!"
Ice began to crack, shattering under a thousand tons of force. Selena and Shea raised their hands, using themselves to prop up the ceiling with their full strength.
"I don't want to be flattened like a pancake!" Shae squeaked.
Hajime finished the crater, making it just wide enough for everyone to squeeze in. Yue dashing in right as Hajime ducked down into the hole.
"Shea! Hop in! I can manage this for a bit longer on my own!"
Hearing Selena's words, Shea jumped backwards into the hole that was made. Shea's fall was stopped by Yue right under her. The loss of Shea's assistance added onto the weight that Selena needed to hold. She was forced to her knees, buckling under the full load of the stone ceiling.
"It's ready Selena!!" Hajime shouted from the hole..
Knowing it would crush Selena if let the ceiling stay where it was, she pumped half of her max mana into body strengthening and for that split second she was able to push the ceiling back up. Exhausting herself but giving enough time to make a mad dash, diving in just before a loud crash fell above them. Selena landed on top of Shea's massive breasts, the softness making her heat up. Selenas harsh breaths traced across the sensitive area, causing Shea to giggle.
"Sorry, I thought it was deeper…"Selena said a bit embarrassed
"Well I-"
"Don't worry about it." Hajime cut off Shea.
"Hey, don't poke my butt," Shea squeaked as Yue poked her.
"Wow, that felt nice~" Selena said, feeling Shea's pillows.
The lights turned off, leaving the crew in pitch darkness. Three of the four were able to calm their breaths, but Shae couldn't stop herself from gulping down air. Hajime poked her hard on the side.
"Calm yourself, we gotta focus more."
After a few minutes, the ceiling finally reset itself. The group, after waiting for a bit, finally crawled out of the crater back into the hallway, only to see script starting to appear near the exit.
[Wow you must have a lot of magic since this place sucked up so much of it… are you cheating?]
Shea began chucking rocks at the text in defiant rage. Selena took a deep breath as she sat on the ground
"Hey, can we stay in this room to rest?"
While normally there might be some protest, anyone could see how much this last trap had strained Selena past her limits.
"Yah, we can." Hajime handed her a mana potion. "Thanks for holding the ceiling from crushing us."
Drinking the mana potion Selena felt her mana recover just a little bit faster than before, but not by much.
"I think this place is sucking up more of our magic while making it harder to recover. I can barely feel the mana potion doing its thing."
"Ya it's the same here for me." Hajime agreed.
"It's a snail's pace for me." Yue added
They end up resting there for a while to recover a bit of their missing mana/ chakra.
The group heads through the doorway and finds themselves inside a downward sloping staircase that was wide enough for all four of them to walk side-by-side. A wide hole in its center that seemed to go on for miles.
"I feel like I know what is going to happen here…" Hajime said in exasperation.
Selena turns towards him, and says in a sarcastic tone, "Naw, we are going into a fun house."
This brought out a chuckle from Hajime, while Yue and Shea were confused on what Selena ment.
After a moment of thought something clicked in Shea's mind. "Umm, so, who wants to go first?"
Selena snickered a bit, before Yue jabs her with an elbow, all the while, Hajime still just looks at the stairs. Selena decided they'd been waiting long enough and went first. Hajime followed closely behind with Yue practically attached and holding his hand with Shea in the rear.
We walked down a few flights. It seemed to go on forever, spiraling deeper and deeper.
"How far is this? My feet are getting tired." Shea whined.
Hajime used his Eagle eye to look as deep into the central hole as he could.
"I think I see something. Another 50 flights or so."
Selena activated her own farsight skill. Sure enough, there was an exist many flights down. It would probably take another 20 minutes or so.Looks like the trap this time is just to bore us to dea- *CLICK* Ah shit.
I had just about enough of this place for life time!!
There was a rumbling above them. Just a couple flights up, another boulder had materialized and began rolling towards them at high speed. The only way to go was down, but no matter how fast they ran this boulder would be faster.
Selena knew she'd have to use this trick, just didn't think it would be like this. She created the proper signs, and a series of ice pillars erupted from the floor. The Boulder smashed through the first row, slowing down significantly as it crushed the ice into powder. The second row was cracked, but did not break. Stopping the 10 ton rock in its place.
[You're going to need another trick] the writing appears on the wall next to the ice pillars.
"Why are you so petty!!" Selena shouted.
There was a growing heat as the boulder became red hot. Ice turned to water and then to steam. The Ice Pillars grew weak until they shattered, releasing the boulder from its icy prison. The third and last row stood no chance, being totally blown away by the heat and force. Selena panicked, trying to think of another counter. Luckily Shea was faster to the draw. She rushed forward, hammer in hand, and Smashed the Boulder to bits.
"Hehe, don't worry you got Shea here to save the day."
But before she could get her ego could grow any bigger there was another rumbling, louder this time than before. The Boulder, already burning bright with intense heat, was made of hard metal. And what's more, it's already large size seemed to be increasing as it rolled ever closer. Hajime pulled out his Anti-Material rifle and fired, hitting the Boulder while still a flight above. THe round bounced off and struck a wall, not even slowing the iron ball down. Selena erected a dozen walls of ice in hopes buying them more time. As they ran down the stairs at full speed, leaping over several steps with each stride, they heard a massive crash as the boulder pushed through every wall without slowing down in the slightest.
No matter what, the white hot boulder followed them. Growing larger and faster with each flight passed. At this rate they would never reach their exit. Selena had to think fast.
''Shea!' Selena called out. "Be ready to hit the Boulder to the right! We have one shot at this!"
"One shot at what!"
Without answering, Selena ran through ten hand signs. Another ice wall was erected, but this time slanted to the right and extremely thick. The boulder smashed against it, but the wall was just thick enough to nudge it's path. Moving it off center and drifting ever so slightly towards the pit.
Shea nodded and gripped Drucken hard. With all her strength, Shea hit the bould with her hammer, using its own momentum to force it into the central pit. It teetered on the edge, then fell. Disappearing into the inky black with a crash of unseen ruble.
"Gre..at job Shea…" Selena panted. "That last one was too close for comfort."
"You did good." Yue nodded in approval of her actions.
"This doesn't make any sense." Selena pondered. "This Miledi person lived a long time ago. Yet she seems to be very much alive..
"Why would that mater?" Shea said confused.
"It's the trap." Yue said add
"She is adapting to us… My ice walls were nearly useless. Unless I pump a godly amount of chakra into them." Selena said
"Be happy you still have those skills to fall back on. I kinda feel like dead weight in this place." Yue looked kinda down.
"Don't worry about it, Yue." Hajime said as comfortingly as he was capable of. "We kick Miledi ass before this run is done."
Aura around him grows dark red. He embraced Yue at that moment bring her mood up. Uea said nothing, a small smile on her face.
"You have to wait in line for Hajime". Shea said while test swinging her hammer. She was probably imaging Miledi on the receiving end of that.
Don't lose focus guys, wait till we have whoever is in charge at hand." Selena said, growing worried that maybe their emotion would drive them.
The group nodded and looked ready to take on whatever came next. Even knowing what Selena knew about this place, Selena truly was not ready for it herself.
They finally reach the exit. On the other side was a short corridor which led to an ornate door. Hajime, his patience long since exhausted, rushed forward but Selena stopped him.
"Maybe you should be in the back. In case we need some fire support." Selena said.
Hajime wanted to argue, but with how things had been going it only made sense. Selena wished she could warn them directly what was next. Instead she had to be coy and find some believable excuses.
The door opened and inside were two rows of large, metal armor leading to the Liberator's room. Shea tried to skip ahead until Selena stopped her.
"Wait, I don't like this." Hajime said. "Those suits can't be here for no reason."
Hajime pulled out two Orkans and 12 grenades and them off to Selena and Shea.
"I need you to throw these at the near target. The timer on them is too slow to make the distance so I'll shoot down the far away targets."
*BOOM*
The room was a right mess. Metallic limbs strewn all about.
While the party was make there way thought the room at the center of it all. Nearby, a broken knight seem to becoming together. The party was not sure what it was. It look like lumpy arm made of pieces of broken armor held together by liquid earth.
"Oh my god what is that!!!" Shea shouted.
Shea seemed to be panicking, making her way through the room dodging pillars of armor and earth that were trying to get in her way. The same thing seems to happen to the others as the assault continued.In the distance the far off knights that barely repaired were already charging at them. It seemed gravity had no hold on them.
One attempted to strike Selena from behind, only to have it's head blown away by a .50 Cal to the temple. Selena jumped high into the air. She bounced between the walls until sticking herself onto the ceiling high above where the Knights could reach. She created an ice wall behind the amalgamation. Although Selena was so exhausted that her wall just shattered on first contact.
Shea leaped into the air and spun, using the momentum to smack the huge finger of the construct away from the party. Metal chunks flew all around the room at the impact. Giving them time to run past it.
Text appears on the amalgamation palm.
[Now that wasn't very nice, you have just walked in!!]
"Fuck that, run to the door." Hajime said furious.
He pulled out Schlagen, shooting one of its fingers right off. But this made little difference since regrew more and more, creating a 13 fingered claw.
They made it to the end of the room. But just before we could see what to do, the amalgamation erupted from below blocking their path. Selena drew out her blade and poured what little mana she had left into it. Pushed to her absolute limit after all that ice, she only just gathered enough strength for a last Gale Claw Slash.
Hajime fired another round from his anti-material rifle. Yue shot the strongest water eruption spell with the water blaster she could and Shea was in front of us just in case anything was made though. With their combined attack, they blew up the amalgam arm.
Dust settled, scraps falling around their feet. Just as all seemed won, a pit opened up swallowing Shea.
"Don't worry Shea, I'm coming!!!" Selena leapt in without hesitation.
"Oh no, Shea," Hajime said sarcastically.
A hard push came from behind, forcing them into the hole. "Fuck! We'll be back!!" Hajime said. He was annoyed that they were treated like garbage. Yue grabbed onto Hajime's hand, not wanting to get separated at this moment. The last thing they saw as they fell was the Amalgam hand waving them goodbye.
[Better luck next time. Try not to destroy my beautiful knight before you trigger the next trap!!!]