Hard Work Pays Off
This is Zena. From far away, it’s hard to tell how high a mountain is until you’re right at its base. But if you hesitate because it’s bigger than you realized, I don’t think you’ll ever be able to climb to the top.
“Zena!”
Waiting by the west gate, I turned when I heard a voice call me and saw Satou approaching through the crowd.
Unusually, Satou was wearing armor today. It was very light-looking, the perfect fit for someone so nimble.
“Falling for your boy toy all over again, Zenacchi?”
“L-Lilio!”
I looked over my shoulder to frown at my teasing friend.
Admittedly, she wasn’t entirely wrong, but I didn’t want Satou to know about my crush when we were about to enter the labyrinth.
He was followed by Lady Karina of the house of Baron Muno, as well as Liza and the others.
Lady Karina was wearing the beautiful armor I’d seen before, and carrying a giant sword even bigger than Iona’s broadsword.
“Thank you for having us today, Satou.”
“Of course. Thank you for joining, Lady Karina!”
Lady Karina saw me and started to turn around, but Satou caught her and made her face forward.
I could tell her real feelings from the way she reacted to Satou’s hand on her shoulder. Satou said their relationship wasn’t romantic, but I was certain Karina had feelings for him.
She seemed to really enjoy talking about Satou at the tea party.
I’m sure the only reason she acted even more excited to talk about hero legends was to hide her embarrassment.
“Lady Karina, I—I might not be much help, but I look forward to working together.”
I ended up doing a military salute out of nervous habit, which may be why Lady Karina stared at me in confused silence.
“Lady Karina?” Satou prompted.
“Oh, it’s nothing.”
Karina shook her head, her gorgeous golden curls bouncing around, and turned a stern gaze on me.
“J-just make sure you don’t slow us down!”
With that, she turned away and started walking briskly toward the labyrinth.
“Karinaaaa?”
“Don’t be grouchy, sir.”
“Lady Karina, Lady Zena is a master of Wind Magic. She will certainly not slow anyone down.”
“W-well, good, then.”
Tama, Pochi, and Liza spoke up in my defense, which softened the hard expression on Karina’s face.
As Satou whispered something in her ear that made her turn red, I felt a bit of a twinge in my heart.
“Zenacchi, your boy’s gonna get stolen if you don’t start getting proactive. Most guys are into boobs, y’know.”
“L-Lilio!”
Honestly! Satou wouldn’t care about something like that.
Despite my inner protests, I couldn’t help glancing down at my chest, which seems to be developing a bit more slowly than that of most girls my age.
Maybe I should add one more layer of padding next time I go out with Satou…
“Zena, looks like we’re about to head out.”
“R-right! I’m ready.”
Iona came over to call me, so I picked up my bags from the ground.
Clapping my hands to my cheeks to pull myself together, I stepped forward into the Path of Death.
“Zena, when we get back to the barracks, would you like me to teach you my family’s secret technique for bust growth?”
“…Wh-what?”
Whispering in my ear, Iona grinned mischievously.
“Or do you not need it?”
I could tell she was teasing me, but I still responded “No, please do” in a quiet voice.
Secretly, I was a little grateful to the darkness of the Path of Death, since it prevented Satou from noticing the fire in my cheeks as he walked on ahead.
“There’s nothing around but people so far.”
Keeping ahead of the group as our scout, Lilio grumbled back to us.
There were many explorers coming and going in the main passage of the labyrinth, so it was rare to encounter monsters there.
When the all-female explorer party the Silverlight guided the Seiryuu County Elite Training Corps before, they also said that area one and the surrounding areas weren’t suitable for hunting.
“Moooth…”
“Maze moth, sir!”
Walking alongside Lilio in the front, Tama and Pochi suddenly pointed up at the ceiling. All I could see was darkness.
The intermediate Wind Magic I use for detecting enemies isn’t suited to finding targets that aren’t moving, so my detection magic wasn’t picking up a maze moth.
“Where?”
Lilio directed her lantern toward the ceiling.
This military lantern was developed for fighting bandits at night, so it illuminated a wide range.
“I see it. A bit to the left.”
Lou’s sharp eyes spotted the enemy before Lilio did.
Even with the light on it, its camouflage made it hard to see, but there was a giant moth around half a human’s height sitting in the corner of the ceiling.
Avoiding the lantern’s light, the maze moth skittered across the ceiling to flee into the darkness.
“Wait!”
Lilio handed the lantern to Iona and notched an arrow to her crossbow.
“Tch, I missed.”
It looked like it was out of Lilio’s range.
The maze moth sprayed powder in its wake as it flew toward us.
Iona and Lou drew their swords.
“Hiya…”
“Hah, sir!”
Tama and Pochi each threw something with incredible strength, piercing right through the moth.
It froze in midair for just a moment, then fluttered to the ground.
“Maze moths are poisonous, so it’s best to defeat them from as far away as possible. And if you walk over to it right after defeating it, you’ll breathe the powder in the air, so please be sure to cover your mouth with a cloth first.”
We followed Satou’s directions and quickly made our way past the powder.
“Maze moths shower anyone who passes beneath them unawares with poisonous dust, then attack them from behind when they’re weakened, so do be careful.”
“So I should check the ceiling with the lantern, too, yeah?”
“Yes, please do.”
Satou nodded at Lilio.
“The sign stones have changed. It looks like we’re in area eleven from here on.”
“The number of enemies starts increasing around here, so please proceed with caution.”
Everyone nodded in response to Satou’s warning, including me.
At the first intersection, there was a pile of rocks blocking the main passage. It looked like the ceiling had caved in and blocked the central path.
The left and right paths were half-blocked with rocks, too, but there was just enough space for one person to get through at a time.
Lilio approached one of the rocks blocking the main passage.
“There’s something written on this. Can you read it, Zenacchi?”
“Umm, it’s in sort of old-fashioned phrasing. It says… ‘Thou foolish explorers who venture into hell. Beware the knight killers.’”
“Knight killers?”
“It’s shorthand for the horn hopper, which can pierce the metal armor knights wear, and the rock-head bee, which can crush even the toughest helmet. Both of them move very quickly, so please be sure not to let your guards down.”
Satou gave a detailed explanation.
The Celivera Labyrinth is said to be the oldest labyrinth on the continent, so it’s no great surprise that it’s full of enemies who can’t be beaten by any ordinary means.
“Rock-head bee meat is sweet and tasty, sir.”
“And horn hoppers make a crunchy cannoli…?”
Pochi and Tama looked back at me with a grin.
So even monsters that can defeat knights are just food for these two?
I wasn’t sure what kind of food a “cannoli” was, so I decided to ask Satou later.
“I’d like to try that for myself sometime.”
“I’m sure you would like it, sir.”
Walking behind me, Karina sounded interested, too.
“Wyvern meat is tough and gross, but it sounds like some of the monsters in the labyrinth actually taste good, huh?”
“Mew?”
“But wyvern meat is tasty, too, sir?”
“Well, if you kids think even wyvern is tasty, I guess I shouldn’t get my hopes up about these other ones…”
Sorry, Tama and Pochi, but I had to agree with Lou on that one.
“Master, perhaps you ought to give them those items now?”
“Good idea.”
Satou looked back at us for a moment, then nodded at Liza.
“Zena, Lilio, please replace the gauntlets on your nondominant hands with these.”
Satou handed us each a gauntlet that glittered in the light.
“It’s made of monster parts?” Lilio asked.
“Yes, try wearing it on your wrist and put some magic power into it.”
I switched out my gauntlet as Satou directed, and charged the new one with magic.
“…No way!”
A Shield like the kind Practical Magic users make appeared above the gauntlet.
“Whoa, this is crazy.”
“A transparent shield… You can see the enemy through it, and it’s light and easy to move around.”
Lou and Lilio commented in awe of the shields.
“Z-Zena…”
Iona looked at me, and I nodded back.
Without a doubt, this kind of magic tool was akin to a national treasure.
It might not be on the same level as a Hallowed Artifact, but no ordinary magic tool would be able to produce a Magic Shield so immediately.
“Satou, what are these?”
“It’s like the Practical Magic spell Shield. They’re not terribly strong, so think of it as an emergency defense measure.”
“N-no, that’s not what I meant…”
Satou blinked at me in confusion.
I don’t know too much about the cost of magic tools, but I believe something like this would cost at least one or two hundred gold coins.
There’s no way Satou doesn’t realize how valuable this Magic Item is, so he must be knowingly letting us borrow them for our safety.
“Is it really all right for us to borrow something so incredible?”
“Yes, of course. The president of the Echigoya Company asked me to test these out in battle. Even if they break, you won’t have to pay a cent, so please go ahead and use them freely.”
Even then, I wasn’t reassured.
I wish I could show mine off as easily as Lilio.
Whether he was aware of my concerns or not, Satou said something even more amazing.
“Oh, right, I almost forgot. If you press the stone on the wrist side while charging it with magic, it’ll give you magical protection like the Practical Magic spell Enchant: Physical Protection for about half a cycle. It’s only about as much defense as an extra layer of thick clothing, but it’ll protect you from light cuts and scrapes, so please give it a try.”
“Wow, that’ll be great for scouting.”
Lilio seemed pleased, but I was sure this was just as priceless as the Shield.
The red stone might be its own separate magic tool.
“Shall we move on, then? Lilio, be mindful of your magic consumption, please.”
“Got it. So, are we going left or right?”
“Neither. There’s a very slim path between the rocks straight ahead, so keep going that way.”
“…A path?”
Lilio went over to inspect the rocks.
“Heeere?”
“Damn, that’s really well hidden. I dunno how you found a path like this.”
Tama walked up next to the confused Lilio and pointed out the hard-to-find gap.
With Lilio in the lead, we formed a single line to pass through the opening.
Along the way, we ran into a few small monsters, but since my enemy detection and Lilio’s scouting managed to find them ahead of time, we were able to defeat them without a problem.
When we emerged into a wider passageway, Lilio paused.
“Wait a sec. Something’s up.”
The rest of us all stopped, too.
“Ah, that paint means there’s a trap here.”
“Meat maaark?”
“Me and Tama drew them, sir.”
This area was used for explorers’ school students to practice, so they marked known traps to make them easier to find.
After we walked for a little while longer, Lilio made another observation.
“Looks like someone passed through here not long ago.”
Sure enough, there were fresh monster corpses off to the sides of the passage.
“RIP…”
“Lorda mercy, sir.”
Tama and Pochi scattered some white powder over the corpses and murmured something in a language I didn’t recognize.
“That’s Purification Ash to make sure the corpses don’t turn into the undead. It’s not as effective as a priestess’s Purification Magic or Holy Water from a temple, but it’s certainly faster than burning them.”
According to Satou, one small bottle of the ash powder cost several large copper coins, which really worked out to a penny coin per monster, since the smaller kind only required a few grains.
Not far into the large passage, Lilio stopped again.
Several monster corpses were lying around.
“Hang on, it’s a trap.”
Those of us in the rear stopped, too.
As Lilio started inspecting one of the corpses, Tama trotted over and watched her closely.
“Should we turn back?” Lou asked.
“Hold on… No, it’s fine. It’s just a shoddy arrow trap, I can take care of it in no time. Just to be safe, don’t come over here yet.”
Lilio worked to disarm the trap.
“It’s unusual to see new traps in this area,” Satou remarked.
“Goblin Trapperrr?”
“Usasa said they saw one before, sir.”
Tama said that it was the work of a trap-setting goblin. The “Usasa” person Pochi mentioned was a rabbitfolk boy who’d graduated from the explorers’ school.
“All right, I got it.”
“Good one, Lilio.”
“Heh-heh, this kinda thing’s a piece of cake for me. Just let me take care of the other one there, too.”
Grinning back at Lou, Lilio pointed at one of the other corpses.
“Heh-heh, a double trap might work on a beginner, but you gotta wake up a whole lot earlier in the morning to pull one over on the great Lilio.”
Lilio stepped toward the corpse.
“Stoppp?”
Tama pulled on Lilio’s sleeve.
“What?”
“Looook…”
Tama pointed at Lilio’s feet.
I couldn’t see anything from where I was standing.
“…String?”
“If it breaks, poison’ll go bloosh out of the wall…”
This third trap seemed to be set up specifically to catch a scout moving from disarming the first trap to the second.
“S-so what do we do?”
“Waaait?”
Tama followed the string with her eyes, and carefully made her way over to a different corpse.
“Gonna disarm…”
“How’s it look? Think you can get it?”
“All done. You can move.”
That was fast.
How did she disarm the trap just by fiddling in the darkness for a few seconds?
“Tama’s amazing, sir!”
“Hee-hee…”
“Thanks. What kinda trap was it?”
“Ummm, look heeere?”
Tama showed Lilio how the trap worked and how to disarm it.
“It’s not unusual to find a different trap hidden next to an obvious one in the labyrinth, so always be careful.”
“I learned before that there might be more than one trap, but I didn’t think the second one would be a fake-out, too.”
Lilio grimaced and nodded at Satou’s warning.
“Something is coming from up ahead.”
Judging from my enemy detection magic, it wasn’t particularly large.
“Lou, have your shield ready. It’s three rock-head bees.”
As three shadows flew from the darkness with the buzzing of wings, Satou warned us exactly what kind of monsters they were.
The bees crashed into Lou’s shield with a heavy thud.
“Oof!”
At the third one’s impact, Lou lost her balance a little.
“Now!”
Iona leaped out from behind Lou, bringing her broadsword down on one of the grounded rock-head bees.
“I’m going in, too!”
“L-Lady Karina!”
“Wait, ma’am!”
Karina sprang forward and swung her even bigger sword down on the rock-head bee. A powerful clang echoed through the passage, but the bee hopped back into the air virtually unharmed.
“Miiissed?”
“Gotta focus more, sir.”
“I’m not done yet!”
“Lady Karina, that’s enough for now.”
Lady Karina tried to attack again, but Satou stopped her.
In the meantime, Iona and Lilio finished off the second bee.
“It’s dangerous to swing around such a large sword in a small passage, so it might be best to let them handle this one.”
“O-oh, very well…”
Karina turned bright red and looked away.
I knew it. She really does have feelings for…
“Zena, are you keeping up your detection?”
…Oh, something’s coming.
“More enemies are approaching from the front. Three of them, and fast.”
If Satou hadn’t reminded me, I wouldn’t have noticed.
“Iona, get back!”
“They’re horn hoppers. A stab from those pointed horns can potentially be a fatal wound, so please be careful.”
As Lou shouted out to Iona, Satou told us what the approaching monster was.
It was still nearly impossible to see it, but somehow he could tell anyway.
Is this just a matter of experience as an explorer?
“RRRAAAAAAH!”
Lou shouted with the “Taunt” skill.
Instead of the rock-head bee, a grasshopper with a horn bounced off the shield and stabbed into a nearby rock.
“Yikes, it stabbed right through the rock!”
“No wonder they call it a knight killer.”
Lilio and Iona murmured in amazement behind Lou.
…Wait, it got stuck in the rock?
“Lou! Are you all right?”
At that, both Lilio and Iona looked up at Lou.
“I’m fine. Let me take care of the last rock-head bee while you guys handle the thing that’s stuck in the rock there.”
Breathing sighs of relief, Iona and Lilio approached the horn hopper stuck in the wall to finish it off.
“It’s easiest to aim for their necks.”
With Satou’s help, the pair quickly sliced off the heads of the giant grasshoppers.
“I-it won’t come out!”
Lady Karina went to take on the third horn hopper, but she missed her target and got her sword stuck in the wall instead.
“Newbie, we gotta help out Lady Karina!”
“Right! Here I come!”
Karina’s two escorts struck the third rock hopper with their short swords.
“Karina, behind you—”
“Bee! Sir!”
Knocked aside by Lou’s shield, the rock-head bee sped toward the defenseless Karina.
Huh?
Glittering white scales appeared over Karina’s back, and the bee bounced off them harmlessly.
“Eek!”
Karina let out a cute shriek and tumbled forward from the impact, but she didn’t seem to be seriously injured.
“HIYAAAAH!”
Lou shouted with the “Taunt” skill again, but the rock-head bee ignored it and flew toward me instead. The skill must have failed to activate.
Surprised at my own calmness, I aimed the Wind Rod in my hand at the rock-head bee and filled it with magic.
An invisible ball of wind flew toward the rock-head bee, knocking it aside.
It flew toward Liza at the rear instead, but she just glanced at it without interest and lightly struck out with her spear, knocking it right in front of Iona.
For Liza, it didn’t even seem to be an enemy worth fighting.
Before long, we finished off the remaining horn hoppers and rock-head bees.
When the battle was over, Tama and Pochi ran around to collect the cores from the monsters.
Liza retrieved the one intact rock-head bee and brought it over.
“When you break down a monster like this, be mindful of the insides. If this organ breaks, all the meat will become inedible. The base of the wings and the back are delicious, so unless you intend to sell parts, all you really need to collect is the meat here and the core.”
Liza demonstrated how to break down the monster.
She even explained what each part could be used for and how much it would sell for.
It was hard to believe that someone this knowledgeable had been a slave just a year ago.
“Sir Satou!”
“Sir Pendragon!”
As we proceeded down the passage, with a few more random encounters along the way, we met a group of kids in expensive-looking equipment.
I had seen them training in the courtyard of the explorers’ school a few times.
If I remembered right, they were the kids of some high-ranking nobles, led by the son of the viceroy of Labyrinth City.
Of course, the kids weren’t alone. Their guards included a female knight who was even better built than Lou and a few other knights clad in white armor.
“Sir Gerits, are you and your friends hunting maze slugs here?”
“That’s right! And guess what, Sir Pendragon? We finally reached level ten!”
“That’s wonderful. Just be careful not to get hurt, all right?”
“By the way, Sir Pendragon, would you happen to have any sweets on you?”
“Hmm. Would a mint candy do, Sir Luram?”
“Why, my whole mouth is refreshed. Yes, I like this very much.”
The well-fed-looking boy nodded appreciatively at the candy Satou gave him.
“Thou art unfair to favor Sir Luram, no? Dost thou have one each for the rest of us?”
“Of course, Princess Meetia.”
The other kids happily gathered around to accept candy from Satou.
“Sir Knight, I wish to speak to you a moment…”
Mr. Kajiro, a teacher from the explorers’ school, whispered in Satou’s ear.
“Explorers with small flying tamed monsters?”
“Yes, we only passed by them along the way, but I heard they were hunting an excess of mantis monsters in area seventeen.”
We were going to the same area, so I was a little concerned.
“They’re probably sending out their tamed monsters to lure in mantises from dangerous areas.”
The teacher nodded at Satou’s guess.
“Luring monsters with monsters can easily lead to a chain rampage, so be careful not to get caught up in it if that happens.”
“We will. Thank you.”
Shortly after he finished talking with the teacher, the group’s scout came back with a large slug-like monster and their battle began, so we took our leave from their base.
“Sir Knight, are there a lot of that sort of monster where we’re going?”
Iona looked pale.
“That sort of monster… Maze slugs, you mean? They live around the watering hole near that spot, but they don’t usually appear anywhere else, so I don’t think you’ll end up fighting one.”
“I—I see. That’s good, then…”
Iona put a hand to her chest and sighed; behind her, I saw a similar look of relief on Lou’s face.
I felt a visceral revulsion from that slimy creature myself, so I couldn’t blame them.
Lilio and Satou seemed fine, but Lady Karina and her maids appeared to feel the same way we did.
“I hear something. Be careful, guys…”
As soon as Lilio gave a warning, Tama and Pochi nodded in agreement.
They had started glancing at her a few moments before, which probably meant they’d heard it before she did.
Once we moved a little farther down the passage, my enemy detection magic reacted as well.
It looked like some kind of fight was taking place up ahead.
Soon, we saw a mixed party of humans and beastfolk fighting a locust monster.
The three shield users in the front were focusing on defense, while the four in the rear attacked with spears.
“Aah, Usasa?”
“Rabibi and Gaugaru, too, sir!”
Tama and Pochi pointed at the fighters as they called to Satou.
“Satou, are those kids students at the explorers’ school, too?” I asked.
“No, the blue cloak means they’ve graduated.”
“Pendraaa…”
“Graduates get the Pendra cloak, sir!”
Tama and Pochi chimed in with Satou’s answer.
Lady Karina looked like she wanted to be included in the conversation, too, so I asked her, “Do you know about this ‘Pendra,’ too, Lady Karina?” But she simply answered, “O-of course I do” and looked away.
Unfortunately, that was the end of that conversation, but at least she didn’t seem to hate me as much as I feared.
“Wow, those kids are pretty damn good.”
“None of them are as strong as Lou on their own, but the three of them together disperse the monster’s attack, so they’re able to keep the line stable.”
“But of cooourse?”
“Usasa and them are hard workers, sir.”
As Lou and Iona applauded the graduates’ efforts, Tama and Pochi grinned proudly.
“Looks like they’re about to finish off the maze locust.”
Immediately after Satou said this, the dogfolk boy in front crushed the locust’s head with his mace and brought the battle to a swift end.
“Nice one, Gaugaru!”
“Usasa and Rabibi, you did good, too, sir.”
“““Hey, it’s Miss Tama and Miss Pochi!”””
When Tama and Pochi called out to them, the “Pendra” kids exclaimed happily in response.
“““Mister Satou!”””
Spotting Satou, the Pendra kids came rushing over. Satou praised them for their efforts in battle, and they promptly started exchanging information about the hunting grounds.
Satou beckoned me over and introduced me to the kids so I could listen to the conversation.
“There’s a grassy area up ahead where maze locusts and hoppers breed, um, sir. Sometimes there are soldier mantises, too, but you hardly ever see them, sir.”
With haltingly polite speech, the boy explained his experience of the area.
It sounded like there were other grasshopper-like monsters besides the ones we’d seen so far.
“Past the grassy area is a big cavern with lots of mantis monsters, but hunter mantises are always roaming that place, so we stay away from there…sir.”
“We got too close once, and they shot a crazy big arrow at us.”
Hunter mantis…? I’d never heard of that monster before, so I would have to ask Satou about it later.
“Sir Knight, this could’ve been a mistake, but Usasa thought he saw a monster even bigger than a hunter mantis there once, too, sir. It could’ve been an areamaster or its spawn.”
“Ah, that’s very possible. That cavern is connected to the areamaster’s room, I believe.”
I wasn’t familiar with a lot of this vocabulary.
“Satou, what is an areamaster?”
Once the conversation with the young men was over, I asked Satou about some of the terms.
“It’s a strong monster, usually around level fifty. They’re about as strong as an intermediate demon, but they’re much larger, so it’s best to make lots of preparations before fighting one.”
“““Level fifty?!”””
Lilio and the rest of my squad chimed in with my exclamation of shock.
“As if that level wasn’t crazy enough, you’re saying they’re as strong as a demon…?”
Lilio murmured in disbelief.
I remembered the intermediate demon we saw in Lessau County.
There was only one, but its powerful magic was enough to devastate the Lessau County army.
Just remembering it sent shivers down my spine.
“I definitely don’t want to meet one of those.”
“You said it.”
Lou nodded emphatically at my quiet comment.
“All right, we’ll be going on our way. There are slimes around here that can blend in with the ground, so keep an eye on the floor as well as the walls and ceiling.”
“““Yes sir!”””
With a cheerful response, the Pendra kids waved as we went on our way.
We avoided the grassy area with the maze hoppers and locusts, sticking to only the smallest encounters.
“Wow.”
As we continued down the passage toward the light source, a space appeared beyond the narrow rocky entrance that was so large it was hard to believe it was underground.
“Byooteefuuul?”
“It’s so big, sir.”
Tama and Pochi hopped up on a large boulder and looked around.
“Lilio, take the left, please.”
At Satou’s direction, Lilio stopped looking around with the pair and went back to walking ahead.
Satou helped me climb across the boulder in front of the entrance, too.
The passage we came from was connected to a small tunnel about halfway up the cavern wall.
“My enemy detection magic is picking up on something, but I think it’s below the cliff.”
I didn’t see any signs of the giant monster the Pendra kids had mentioned. There was some kind of fog farther into the cavern that made it difficult to see, though, so maybe it was over that way.
“Danger,” Tama warned in a whisper.
Lilio knelt and put her ear to the floor.
My detection magic was only picking up on the monsters wandering around below the cliff.
“Heavy footsteps—something’s coming!”
“Look, sir!”
Pochi pointed into the fog.
A shadow shaped like a knight hanging onto a horse’s neck came into view.
“That must be the hunter mantis,” Satou remarked, sounding unconcerned.
Something black came flying toward us from the fog.
“Get down!”
I flattened myself against the floor as soon as I heard Lilio’s voice.
Just as we all ducked, something whizzed through the air and stuck to the rock behind us.
Looking up, I saw an enormous arrow stabbed into the rock. It was as thick as several spears bundled together.
A hit from that would mean instant death.
My blood ran cold, and my hands trembled.
“Looks like the hunter mantis spotted us. Lilio, please hurry to the tunnel up ahead.”
Satou’s calm instructions soothed my fearful trembling.
“Got it!” Lilio broke into a run.
Out of the corner of my eye, I saw a giant mantis notching another arrow to something that looked like a longbow.
Oh no…
She’s not going to make it in time!
With a dull thud, the arrow slammed into the wall.
I thought it was going to hit someone, but it hit far higher than its target, as if an invisible giant had knocked it away.
“Run! Before the next arrow comes!”
Prompted by Satou’s voice, we sprinted over to the cavernous tunnel in the wall.
“Everyone’s here, right? Let’s take a quick break, then head to the hunting ground.”
Despite that near-death encounter, Satou was calmly moving us along.
Liza and even Tama and Pochi seemed equally unfazed.
I guess this is normal for a labyrinth explorer…
I’ll have to work hard to make sure I don’t hold them back.
“It’s crazy, Zenacchi! The water in this watering hole is crazy clear. You could probably drink it as is!”
Lilio called over from where she was investigating the watering hole.
When we arrived at area seventeen with Satou’s guidance, we found a safe area that could easily be turned into a long-term exploration base with just a little bit of work. It was big enough for anywhere from thirty to fifty people to make camp.
“This nut is edible, sir.”
“Is it good?”
“I don’t know, sir. But you can’t eat anything besides what master says is okay to eat, okay, sir?”
Pochi and Lilio chatted about the plants near the watering hole.
“There were some spots that could make good toilets or garbage dumps, too.”
“Judging by the age of the materials and the growth of the ivy, it seems like this place has been abandoned for a long time, but everything’s so intact that’s hard to believe.”
Lou and Iona came back from their investigation with Tama in tow.
“The area past here I was planning to turn into a hunting ground had a few spots that would be good encampment sites for hunting, too. And the kinds of monsters are consistent with the information I collected beforehand.”
Satou came back with a map in hand.
Behind him, Liza followed with some kind of large beast over her shoulder.
“Um, what is that?”
“I hunted it for tonight’s dinner. These alligator geckos can cling to the walls and ceiling with the suction pads on their feet, so be mindful of the range of your enemy detection when you’re hunting.”
Liza answered my question with additional information.
“Zena, this is the distribution of monsters in there. Please use this to update your own maps.”
“I will, thank you.”
I scanned the map Satou lent me.
It was covered in precise, detailed writing. The information included the distribution of monsters, trap locations, and even emergency evacuation routes.
As I copied it down, I read aloud for Lilio’s sake, since she was peering over my shoulder.
The area we were planning to develop had monsters called maze hoppers and maze locusts ranging from levels 6 to 8, which would be perfect opponents since our members were around levels 12 to 15.
But there was one problem…
“S-Satou, about this map…”
I held up the paper as I spoke.
“Is there a problem?”
“Won’t this distribution make it difficult to avoid soldier mantises and alligator geckos while we hunt maze locusts and hoppers?”
Soldier mantises and alligator geckos were marked around level 15, so it would be dangerous to fight them unprepared.
I didn’t know how strong Lady Karina and her escorts were, but my squad would only barely be able to beat one and would likely get injured in the process. It would be one thing to fight them for the protection of others, but they seemed far too strong to fight for no good reason.
“…Avoid?” Satou tilted his head, looking puzzled. “You don’t really need to avoid them. Once you get used to things, I was hoping to have you hunt soldier mantises and alligator geckos as your main prey.”
“Wait, for real?”
Lilio, who would be in charge of entering the monsters’ territory and luring them back to us, groaned aloud.
Hearing that, Iona, Lady Karina, and the others gathered around, too.
“Level fifteen?”
“I’ve never heard of an alligator gecko, but I know soldier mantises are pretty strong.”
“Isn’t it dangerous to fight an enemy that’s around our level or higher, even if there’s only one?”
Iona and Lou seemed to share my concerns.
But Lady Karina’s reaction was somewhat different.
“It wouldn’t be real training if they weren’t at least our level! Right, Pochi, Tama?”
“Yes indeedy…”
“That’s right, sir! You gotta have a strong enemy for a blood-curbing battle, sir!”
Evidently, they were well accustomed to this kind of battle.
…I guess you would have to do something that crazy to level up so quickly that you got level-up sickness, which most people think is a hoax.
“…Let’s do it.”
“Z-Zenacchi?”
At my declaration, Lilio and the others looked at me like I’d lost my mind.
Even I knew I was being reckless.
But still, I… I…
“It’ll be all right.” Satou patted my shoulder reassuringly. “It’ll be tough going at first, so I think the best approach would be to level up against maze locusts and hoppers before you start getting used to soldier mantises.”
Even with Satou’s support, Lilio and the others seemed reluctant to fight enemies right around our level.
“And if things look bad, we’ll step in and help you out. We could handle dozens of soldier mantises and alligator geckos without a problem, so don’t worry.”
With Satou’s extra assurance, Lilio and the others finally agreed.
“There’s a lot of really tall grass.”
We left our supplies in the safe area and headed to the spot we’d slated for our future hunting grounds.
It was about the size of a castle’s training grounds, with weak light coming from the ceiling. Since there was a downward-facing light source, it was that much darker near the ceiling, giving the place an eerie atmosphere.
We chose one corner spot that seemed like it would make an easy base and started setting up an encampment.
Without an Earth Magic user, though, all we could really do was remove rocks and debris that might get in the way of battle, cut the weeds around our encampment to clear our view, and perform other menial tasks like that.
“Zena, enemies?”
“There are a lot of them in the overall space. There are three monsters that seem particularly strong, and more than forty smaller monsters like maze locusts and hoppers. There are none around our encampment at present.”
I sifted through the information from my enemy detection magic and conveyed it to Lou.
There was one more large enemy in the darkness near the ceiling, probably an alligator gecko.
There were smaller monsters than the maze locusts and hoppers, like maze wings and needle wings, hovering around above the grass.
“What’re you doing, boyo?”
“Spreading monster repellent so the weaker monsters that aren’t useful for leveling up won’t come near us.”
I heard Satou answer Lilio as he scattered white powder around the area.
“It works to repel bugs, too,” he added with a smile.
“…Zena?”
“S-sorry, I was spacing out a little.”
“I seeee…”
If I said I got distracted by Satou’s smile, Lilio and the others would tease me for the next three days at least, so I tried to cover it up.
However, Iona glanced pointedly at Satou before she continued, so I can’t say I really fooled her.
Moving on, I discussed my magic casting priorities with Iona and Lou.
“Zena, head down.”
Following Iona’s gaze, I saw the head of a soldier mantis craning above the sea of tall grass.
We needed to fight those soon.
“I’m sure it’s frightening when you’ve never experienced it before, so let’s take on a soldier mantis now and get it out of the way.”
“…Huh?”
As we stared at him in confusion, Satou sent Tama out to lure back a soldier mantis.
“Don’t be afraid! Why, I’ve defeated one all on my own before!”
“Karina, pride comes before a fall, sir.”
Unlike those two, my squad and I couldn’t keep up with what was happening.
“Soldier mantises are the weakest of the mantis monsters that appear in the Celivera Labyrinth, and we’ll take care of it if it looks like you’re out of your depth, so please don’t worry. Just think of this as a chance to test your strength.”
If Satou hadn’t noticed our nerves and reassured us, we might not have been able to use even half our strength.
Before long, Tama came back with a single soldier mantis in tow.
It’s huge.
It was nearly twice as tall as Lou.
But in spite of how strong it looked, Satou said it was the weakest mantis monster in the Celivera Labyrinth… So we couldn’t let ourselves be intimidated by a foe like this.
Gathering what little courage I had, I stared down the soldier mantis as it approached.
“Over here, you big lug!”
Lou shouted with the “Taunt” skill to draw the mantis’s attention.
KWWWAAAAMUWA.
Stopping in its tracks, the soldier mantis spread its wings and four front limbs and let out an intimidating roar.
“…… Wind Hold Kaze Shibaru!”
Since it was standing still, I was able to use an obstruction spell on it easily.
The wind wrapped around the giant mantis’s legs, slowing its movements.
KWWWAAAAMUWA.
“Raaaah!”
The soldier mantis shrieked with rage, and Lou bellowed back as if in response.
Falling for her taunt, the soldier mantis swung a swordlike foreleg down at Lou, so powerfully it looked like it could slice through metal.
“Oof!”
But Lou’s shield was able to stop the blow.
“I’ve got this. Leave the defense to me and focus on attacking this thing.”
“Lilio—”
“Got it!”
Iona attacked the soldier mantis from the front with her broadsword, while Lilio aimed for its head with her crossbow. Her short arrow bounced off the head’s hard shell, but Iona’s sword managed to crack the arm and send blood streaming out.
“We’re getting in on this, too!”
“Lady Karina, please attack from the opposite side so you don’t hit any allies with your sword.”
Karina hefted her enormous sword and ran over to the other side of the mantis per Satou’s directions.
“Erina and Newbie, try to attack from behind Miss Lou with your spears without getting in her way.”
“Gotcha!”
“O-okay, I’ll try!”
Lady Karina’s two guardian maids ran into the battle with short spears they definitely weren’t carrying during our travels.
…If they’re Lady Karina’s guards, shouldn’t they be protecting her?
“Hiyaaaaa, et cetera!”
Lady Karina’s massive sword struck the soldier mantis with the force of a typhoon.
Her attack was so powerful it knocked the soldier mantis off its balance with ease.
“Amazing… Is Lady Karina a high level like you, Satou?”
“No, she’s only one level higher than you.”
…Really?
“It’s just that Lady Karina has the support of the Intelligent Artifact Raka, an heirloom of the house of Baron Muno.”
Satou explained that Karina was able to swing that heavy-looking sword around like a twig, thanks to the enhancement effects of Raka.
“Mew…”
“Karinaaa, you can’t beat it without proper sword technique, sir!”
“If you prefer to crush everything with sheer strength, I believe Sir Raka may have a point that a bludgeon would be better…”
The beastfolk girls sighed as they watched Karina fight.
From the look of things, even an amazing attack like that didn’t earn a passing grade from them.
“I can’t aim for its eyes with my crossbow.”
“That’s all right. Just try to use it to keep the soldier mantis from attacking Miss Lou with its full strength.”
“Hmm, I gotcha… But that thing’s attacks don’t seem to be as strong as they look. Does Lou really need my support?”
“I wouldn’t say that,” Satou answered Lilio, and strolled right up to the soldier mantis.
Producing a sturdy-looking shield from who knows where, he held it up with both hands and took a blow from the soldier mantis’s sword arm.
“Yeesh!”
Lilio gasped at the result.
The mantis’s sword arm had pierced right through the shield.
Satou ambled back over to us, as if satisfied with his experiment, and showed us the shield.
It was made with metal even thicker than the one Lou used in the army, and there was a hole straight through the center.
“Uh-ohhh?”
“Karina, you’re getting much too agg-row, sir!”
Tama and Pochi started clamoring loudly.
Following their gaze, I saw the soldier mantis turn toward Lady Karina.
“Looks like Lady Karina worked a little too hard, and now the monster’s targeting her instead.”
Satou narrated quite calmly.
Lou hurriedly used the “Taunt” skill again, but it had no effect. She seemed to have failed at recapturing the soldier mantis’s attention.
“The ‘Taunt’ skill doesn’t work as well if you use it multiple times in a row.”
I appreciated the friendly advice, but this didn’t seem like the best time for it.
Soon, my fears were realized: Lady Karina took a direct hit from one of the soldier mantis’s sword arms and went flying into the wall at a terrible speed.
“ Scratch Wind Sakka Kaze!”
I used a lesser attack spell meant for keeping a crowd in check, directing it at the mantis’s head as it turned to chase after Karina.
It was a weak spell that only inflicted light scratches on the target, but perfect for dividing the monster’s attention like Satou suggested.
Sure enough, it stopped chasing Lady Karina.
In the meantime, Lou managed to get its attention back on her.
“Oopsie-daisy…”
“How embarrassing for you, sir.”
Standing next to Lady Karina, Tama and Pochi shook their heads as if in mild disappointment.
I couldn’t believe their heartless reactions. I thought they were close friends with Lady Karina, but maybe I was mistaken?
“Q-quick, we have to heal her…”
I pulled out a potion from my pouch and started to run toward her, but Satou stopped me.
“Don’t worry, she’s fine.”
He pointed toward Lady Karina, who was standing up unharmed and dusting herself off, murmuring, “Oh dear, that was a blunder.”
“Since she has Raka’s protection, she can take any number of hits from a soldier mantis without a scratch.”
Amazing… A Magic Item that grants the same kind of power as the “Indestructible Body” used by Sir Kigorri, the strongest human in Seiryuu County…?
Tama and Pochi weren’t being heartless after all, then. I made a silent mental apology to them.
“Lou!”
“It’s just a scratch. Don’t worry.”
Blood was running down Lou’s sword arm.
She must have gotten hit when she tried to get the mantis’s attention.
“… Healing Wind Iyashi no Kaze.”
The spell wouldn’t do much more than stop the bleeding, but it was the most I could manage for now.
Just to be safe, I checked that Lady Karina wasn’t injured.
“Oh dear, my sword is gone.”
“Under the mantiiis?”
“Even without a sword, your super-steely body is plenty, sir!”
“Fair enough!”
Huh?
With a running start, Karina delivered a flying kick to the soldier mantis’s trunk.
The unexpected attack sent the giant insect stumbling backward. Maybe it was just my imagination, but I thought I saw alarm in its compound eyes.
“Haaaah!”
Lou followed up with a “Shield Bash,” and the soldier mantis fell over sideways.
“Under the jaw!”
Following Satou’s advice, Iona and Lady Karina’s maids stabbed their swords and spears under the soldier mantis’s jaw and succeeded in defeating it.
“Whew, I’m beat…”
“But we managed to win.”
Lou and Iona sank to the ground.
“I’ll heal you right away. Everyone who’s injured, please gather near Lou.”
“Wait a minute. You focus on recovering your magic, Zena.”
I started a chant, but Satou stopped me.
“B-but…”
Arisa and Mia also advised me to focus on recovering my magic as much as possible outside of using spells in battle, but I had to close their wounds right away.
If wounds were left unattended in a miasma-thick place like the labyrinth, they could easily become cursed and even prove fatal.
“Please use magic potions for healing injuries whenever you can. There are lesser and intermediate ones, so you can gauge which to use based on the severity of the injury. If someone gets hurt in the middle of battle, the vanguard might not be able to use potions, so please use your recovery magic to heal them.”
“B-but…”
I was reluctant to use an expensive potion on a minor wound.
“If you run out of potions, I can supply you with plenty more, so don’t worry about going through them.”
“I’m not sure we can do that without worrying…”
Iona seemed to feel the same way.
“I’d say the best pace is to use one after every few monsters you defeat. We have stamina recovery potions, too, so be sure to use those if you feel your focus starting to wane.”
“S-Satou, isn’t that a little wasteful?”
“No, it’s fine. You won’t have any potion overdosing effects from that level of use.”
“No, that’s not what I…”
Satou looked at me like he didn’t understand what the problem was.
“All righty, then. It won’t be so bad to experience fighting in luxury for a change.”
“Well said!” Lou agreed with Lilio. “But I’d rather not be in pain, so I’ll do my best to defend in the first place!”
With that, the topic of conversation was over.
“So it wasn’t really as difficult as it seemed, right?”
“Well, no… But I think that’s only thanks to this equipment.”
“Yeah, those attacks would’ve gone right through an iron shield, but this one held up to ’em. And even when I did take a few hits past the shield, my armor took the worst of it. If I hadn’t gotten grazed in a spot without armor, I don’t think I would’ve even gotten this scratch.”
“I could say the same of this sword. With my heirloom steel sword, I could barely even scratch the weak spots at the joints before, but this sword that Sir Knight lent me was able to cut through the soldier mantis’s hard shell and do some real damage.”
Now that they mentioned it, I realized that this soldier mantis hadn’t resisted my obstruction magic as much as the one we fought before.
I’d suspected this during training, too, but the equipment Satou prepared for us might be even more valuable than we thought.
“Let’s begin the hunt, then.”
Lilio and Tama went off to find the next monster. From this point on, we’d primarily be fighting weaker monsters like maze locusts and hoppers.
These monsters turned out to be far weaker than the soldier mantis. The only times we struggled was when Lilio occasionally lured more than one over to us by accident.
As Satou, Liza, and friends gave us advice, those fights, too, stopped being a struggle. When we fought our second soldier mantis, it went far more smoothly than the first fight.
By the time we took on our third soldier mantis, we were able to defeat it without suffering a single scratch.
Once we finished cleaning up all the enemies in the cavern, drinking magic potions as if they were water all the while, we started using it as a base while Lilio brought new enemies from the neighboring room.
Over and over, one battle flowed into the next.
Whenever we finished one monster, the next was already waiting for its turn.
I lost count when the number of monsters we defeated exceeded one hundred.
Partway through, we started moving from one room to the next while hunting. Satou said that the hoppers and locusts were no longer efficient, so we shifted our focus to mantises, as well as maze snails and red-shelled beetle monsters called red carapaces.
I’m sure we must have leveled up quite a bit.
And eventually…
“Lilio?”
“It’s okay, I just got a little dizzy for a minute there.”
“That’s likely a sign of level-up sickness. Let’s go back to the safe area for now and rest awhile.”
…we experienced the legendary level-up sickness, said to happen when one levels up too quickly, for the very first time.
“I’m toast…”
“Whew, I can’t move another inch.”
“We did fight an awful lot.”
As soon as we reached the safe area, Lilio and Lou crumpled onto the ground. Iona and Lady Karina’s guards looked exhausted, too.
We had just fought one enemy after another, most of them close to our own levels, so that was bound to be the case.
“Satou, I am simply starving.”
Lady Karina was the only fighter who still seemed full of energy.
“I’ll go catch foood!”
“Pochi too, sir!”
Tama and Pochi ran from the safe area.
“Wait—”
I moved to stop them, but Liza tapped her chest reassuringly.
“No need to worry, my lady. There aren’t any enemies in this area who could possibly hurt those two.”
Satou nodded as well, so I guess I was worried for nothing.
Lilio drained a canteen of water and got up to guard the area, but this time Satou stopped her.
“Liza and I can keep watch. You should rest, too, Lilio.”
“Thanks. I guess I’ll take a little breather, then.”
“You too, Zena. Please drop the detection magic and relax. If you’d like to sleep for a while, we’ll wake you up after three hours or so.”
As soon as I laid down on the soft quilt Satou gave me, I immediately fell asleep.
“…Something smells good.”
When we awoke, we were greeted with a feast so magnificent I nearly forgot we were in a labyrinth.
The table was decked out with a basket full of soft white bread, bowls of fresh fruit and vegetables, and heaping piles of thick meat, grilled to perfection, as well as a steaming pot of amber-colored stew.
The scent of spices and simmering sauce set my stomach rumbling.
I tried to suppress the growling so it wouldn’t embarrass me in front of Satou, but my attempts were in vain.
“Did you sleep well? We’ll get back to hunting in half a cycle, so you ought to have a light meal.”
“O-of course.”
Grateful that Satou at least pretended not to hear my stomach rumbling, I sat down next to the already-awake Lilio and Lou and started filling my plate.
“Morning, Zenacchi. You won’t believe how good this stuff is.”
“No kidding. I might even move into the labyrinth if I could eat like this every day.”
I smiled at their exaggerated praise and brought a spoonful of the stew to my lips.
…They weren’t exaggerating.
It was the most delicious thing I’d ever tasted in my life.
The fried fish Lulu made at Satou’s group’s festival was delicious, too, but the meal in front of us surpassed even that.
I dug in ravenously.
Completely forgetting that we would be doing battle again afterward…
Before the hunt resumed, the only people who didn’t need stomach medicine from Satou were Liza, Tama, and Pochi.
This cycle of hunting and resting continued, and when it came time to return from the labyrinth, we were a great deal stronger than when we first entered.
“Sorry, I got two mantises, and I think an alligator gecko might be coming, too.”
Lilio came running back with a soldier mantis on her heels. I didn’t see the second one she mentioned, though.
The room we were fighting in was adjacent to the large cavern where we encountered the hunter mantis on the first day. Light poured in from that cavern through a broken wall, so it was fairly bright, which actually made it harder to see into the dark passage beyond.
“There aren’t any monsters moving along the ceiling, just the two mantises. The second one feels a bit on the large side—it might actually be a war mantis, not a soldier mantis.”
War mantises were one size larger than soldier mantises and about 50 percent stronger in both attack and defense, making them powerful opponents.
At this point, we could defeat one without a problem, but it would be difficult to take one on at the same time as a soldier mantis.
“Understood. We’ll bring down this soldier mantis as quick as we can, then.”
“Graaaah!”
Iona nodded at my report, and Lou bellowed with the “Taunt” skill, drawing the soldier mantis toward her.
“Let’s go, Newbie!”
“Yes, Miss Elina! ‘Twin Pierce!’”
Lady Karina’s two guards used special moves with their short spears.
The spear thrusts destroyed the knee joints of the mantis’s left and right front legs, sending it tumbling toward Lou’s shield.
“‘Shield Bash!’”
Lou countered it with a powerful push of her shield, and the massive mantis was sent tumbling backward.
“Iona!”
Before Lilio even finished calling to her, Iona was already prepared.
Aiming for the soldier mantis’s exposed throat, Iona unleashed her broadsword special attack “Rising Stratos.”
It was an anti-monster move that could only be used against tall opponents, but its piercing power was magnificent.
“Lady Karina, finish it!”
“But of course!”
Tearing through the air with centrifugal force, Karina’s whirling blade plunged down toward the base of the soldier mantis’s neck.
It was similar to the broadsword attack “Windmill Blade,” but according to Satou’s assessment, she didn’t have the actual skill yet.
“…Oh dear, sir.”
“Mew.”
The enormous blade hit the ground with a loud crash, sending fissures through the earth.
“Eek!”
“Wah!”
The impact of Lady Karina’s strike sent a rain of rocks into the air.
Lilio and I quickly activated our Shields to block the debris.
They couldn’t catch the smaller pebbles, but our gauntlets’ Enchant: Physical Protection would protect us against those.
Through the cloud of dust, I saw the soldier mantis pull its bloodied neck away from Iona’s broadsword and wobble to its feet.
Lady Karina’s attack mustn’t have missed completely, because there was blood gushing from the base of its neck, too.
“Zena, the Fire Rod—”
At Iona’s words, I turned my head to the side and started a support magic chant to prepare for the next battle.
“I’ve got you now! Ha!”
Sneaking around behind the soldier mantis, Lilio ran up its back, thrust her dagger deep into the hole left by Iona’s “Rising Stratos,” and slashed out to the side.
Before the mantis could turn around, the strength left its neck, and its head and body slumped forward.
Lilio had used “Neck Chopper,” a special move normally reserved for short swords.
Satou had taught us the basics to these special moves during our break periods.
It turns out Satou isn’t just nimble—he has even more knowledge and techniques than I ever realized.
“Mew?”
“Sounds wrong, sir.”
As Tama and Pochi carried the corpse of the soldier mantis off the battlefield, they suddenly froze.
“…This could be bad.”
For the first time since we entered the labyrinth, Satou’s voice sounded serious.
And he was looking intently in the direction that Lilio had come running from before.
The war mantis emerged from the entrance to the room.
It was bigger than a soldier mantis and had shield-like arms in addition to the sword arms.
Unlike soldier mantises, which were purely about offense, this strong monster excelled at defense as well.
“What? It’s just a normal war mantis.”
“We should be able to defeat that just fine by now, right?”
“Yes, that would be true…if it were just the war mantis.”
Satou didn’t take his eyes off the creature as he responded.
The monster had stopped with its back to us and was looking around warily.
But my enemy detection magic wasn’t picking up any monsters that would be a threat to a war mantis.
“Spawnhooole?”
“Another monster’s coming, sir.”
Tama and Pochi pointed toward the tunnel.
The sign stone would normally glow red to alert us of a monster’s arrival, but it was already glowing because of the war mantis, so I hadn’t noticed.
“Oh damn!” Lou exclaimed.
What emerged from the spawnhole was another mantis.
But it wasn’t a soldier mantis or a war mantis.
It was several times bigger than either of those, with six front arms that were shaped like swords and axes: a sword ax mantis.
“Ah…”
I covered my mouth to keep from letting out a scream.
In the next instant, the sword ax mantis leaped at its prey, faster than a gust of wind.
It wasn’t after us, though.
Its target was the war mantis right in front of it.
The bigger mantis swung its ax arms, and the war mantis’s shield arms that could block even Iona’s broadsword special moves were broken in an instant.
The war mantis tried to counter with a sword arm, but it only whipped past the sword ax mantis’s eyes in vain. The difference in their strength and speed was simply too great.
As my hand trembled in fear and despair, Satou squeezed it softly with his own.
His hand was small and slim but still slightly rough to the touch.
“It might be a little too soon for you to take on something like that.”
Sounding unenthusiastic, Satou took a single step toward the sword ax mantis.
Immediately, Liza was at his side, and Tama and Pochi were fast to follow.
As I watched their steadfast steps, I felt a twinge of loneliness, like I was being left behind.
It might be beyond me now, but I wanted to stand alongside them someday, too.
“Ah! That scar—it’s the same sword ax mantis from before!”
Lilio pointed at the gigantic mantis.
…From before?
“Really?”
“Yeah, no doubt about it. It’s got a scar where Sir Hence cut it.”
Ah! Now I understand!
A memory of the first time our special force entered the labyrinth flashed across my mind.
A spray of fresh blood, my vision going dark with despair… In that moment, I truly believed I was about to die.
This was the same sword ax mantis that nearly killed me before.
“But this time…”
I had lowered my head, but now I faced forward again.
Before me stood Satou—no longer walking but looking back at me with gentle eyes.
“Do you want to try fighting it?”
I started to respond with a “Yes!” But then I remembered it wasn’t my decision to make alone, and I looked at the rest of my squad.
“Let’s do it, Zenacchi!”
“It knocked me out in a single blow last time, but that’s not gonna happen again.”
“This is a perfect chance to get our revenge on the monster that hurt Zena.”
Everyone looked back at me and nodded.
“Yes, we’ll do it, Satou. I want to fight.”
Satou smiled warmly and nodded at my response.
“But of course, I shall fight, too!”
Lady Karina broke free of her guards and jumped between Satou and me.
“If you insist,” Satou responded.
A strange feeling gripped me as I watched the two of them, but it would be good to have Lady Karina fighting with us, since she had yet to receive a single scratch in all our battles.
“Then I’ll let you all take care of that thing. But first…”
Satou assessed the sword ax mantis as he gathered us together.
It didn’t appear to see us as much of a threat; it was devouring the war mantis it had just defeated, crunch by nauseating crunch.
“We’re going to cheat just a little.”
“Cheat?”
“That’s right. Please trade your weapons for these.”
With that, Satou produced a beautiful red sword, an ominous and powerful-looking broadsword, and other impressive weapons from his Magic Bag, and handed them to us.
I already had the staff and short sword that the hero’s attendant Sir Kuro was lending to me, so I was hesitant to accept Satou’s offer.
“Is that a Magic Sword?”
“It is. I’m afraid I can’t give it away, so I’m just lending it to you for now.”
The broadsword was a Magic Sword, too, but the red blade looked more like the real deal, the sort of which there were probably fewer than ten in all of Seiryuu County.
“If you let magic flow into this red sword, it’ll produce fire from the blade, so it’s good for keeping enemies in check. The broadsword is just a basic Magic Sword that cuts well, but it consumes a lot of magic, so be sure not to load it up too much. Lilio, you can use this Fire Rod Gun. It works about the same as a crossbow.”
We all held the weapons, and Satou taught us the trick of channeling the right amount of magic into them.
“One more thing. Lou, over here…”
Satou put his hands on Lou’s shoulders and did something, and her armor got a little bigger.
“This armor is made from the materials of a monster called a hard newt, so if you charge it with magic, its defense power will increase. Likewise, if you fill the shield with magic…”
“Whoa, the shield’s glowing red… So this thing is magic, too?”
Satou nodded at the surprised Lou.
I started casting support magic on everyone to prepare for battle.
“Red alerrrt?”
“The hungry mantis is looking our way, sir.”
Tama and Pochi gave us a warning.
Luckily, I was already on the last support spell.
“…… Wind Armor Fuugai.”
A green glow surrounded Lou, indicating that the defense support magic was in effect.
I drank a magic recovery potion and used my “Meditation” skill to recover one-third of the magic I’d lost.
“Obviously the sword and ax arms are dangerous, but if it catches you with the smaller scythes, it’ll try to bite you with paralyzing poison. Everyone besides Lou should try to avoid standing still as much as possible while fighting.”
I made a mental note of Satou’s calm precautions. Someday, it would be my turn to learn more about these monsters and share that information with my comrades.
“…Wha—?”
Lilio exclaimed, and I opened my eyes from meditating to see a white light surrounding us.
“It’s a physical protection enchantment with Practical Magic. It’s only from a scroll, so it won’t be as effective as the real thing, but it’s better than not having it at all.”
Satou explained casually as he held the scroll, but if I remembered right, magic scrolls were even more valuable than potions, and were one-use-only at that.
I might never be able to repay Satou for everything he kept doing for us.
“Master, it’s coming.”
Hearing Liza’s warning, Lou jumped forward.
“Over here, you ugly mantis!”
Her “Taunt” skill directed the sword ax mantis’s hostility toward her.
“I’d start the Air Hammer chant,” Satou suggested to me.
“Whoever strikes first laughs last!”
Lady Karina swung her broadsword around, leaving a trail of red light in the air as she charged toward the mantis’s forelegs.
…Ah.
Her foot got caught on a bump in the rocky ground.
“Take this, if you please!”
Lady Karina just barely managed to save herself from falling and used the momentum to strike the sword ax mantis with a powerful blow of her special attack “Windmill Blade.”
Her broadsword sliced off one of its forelegs in a single slash, then kept moving until it struck the ground with a crash.
“Nice one, Karinaaa!”
“Great recumbery, sir!”
Tama and Pochi cheered Karina on, both waving around an object called a “folding fan.”
Unfortunately for Lady Karina, her momentum sent her tumbling across the ground, leaving her broadsword behind.
As always, she was remarkably tough. I’d be worried about her if it was anyone else, but with Raka’s protection, Lady Karina should be fine.
“That didn’t even slow this thing down?”
Lou hurriedly braced her shield as the sword ax mantis sped forward with a cloud of dust.
I guess losing one of its eight limbs didn’t matter to it much.
But that was fine.
“Now, Zena!”
On Satou’s signal, I spoke the final syllable of the Air Hammer chant I’d been holding, and sent it flying into the sword ax mantis.
It didn’t seem to deal much damage, but it did succeed in slowing the monster down.
“RAAAAAH!”
The mantis’s gaze swiveled toward me, but Lou noticed this and bellowed with the “Taunt” skill again, then rammed her shield into the giant mantis’s torso.
KWWWAAAAMUWA.
The sword ax mantis swung down one of its ax arms, and Lou raised her shield to block it.
Then one of the mantis’s front legs stretched toward Lou’s defenseless torso.
“Watch out!”
Iona struck the leg down just in time with her broadsword.
Unlike Lady Karina’s “Windmill Blade,” this attack didn’t slice it off in one go, but the blade stuck in deep enough to smash its joint.
“Take this as well!”
With a running start, Lady Karina delivered a flying kick to the back of the sword ax mantis’s head, knocking its sword arms off course to stab into the ground in front of Lou.
“Karinaaa, attack naaame?”
“You gotta yell an attack name with a flying kick, sir!”
As Lady Karina landed, Tama and Pochi shouted some advice (I think?).
Karina gasped and started muttering to herself. “‘Magnificent Kick’… No, perhaps ‘Golden Spiral’ would be better…?”
“Lady Karina, look out!”
“…Zena?”
Lady Karina blinked at me in confusion right before the mantis’s rear leg kicked her across the ground.
“Newbie, we’ve gotta cover for Lady Karina’s fumble!”
“Yes, Miss Erina!”
Karina’s two guards drove their short swords into the sword ax mantis’s middle pair of legs.
Their attack knocked the mantis back down just as it was trying to recover its posture.
“…… Wind Hold Kaze Shibaru!”
I used an obstruction spell to slow the monster’s movements.
That should stop it from getting up for a while.
“Lou, the right sword arm’s joint!”
“Got it!”
Iona crushed the left sword arm’s joint with her broadsword, and Lou’s red sword flamed as it cut a gash into the right one.
Since she was blocking an ax arm with her shield at the same time, she wasn’t able to put her full weight into the attack.
“Now!”
Lilio used the Fire Rod Gun to attack the joint Lou had damaged.
The ball of flame from the rifle hit the joint dead on, and the turbulent air of the Wind Hold spread the flames, burning the sword ax mantis’s shell.
GWWAABABBUWWA.
For the first time, the mantis unleashed a pained-sounding howl.
“Iona, Lilio! Don’t worry about me, just hit it with all you’ve got! You too, guard gals!”
Everyone shouted their agreement to Lou’s cry, and a wave of powerful attacks began.
I thought about joining in with Air Hammer or even Heavy Hurricane Hammer, but decided to support Lou with spells like Wind Armor and Wind Hold instead.
The fierce clash of offense and defense continued, until…
“Dammit, it’s flying!”
Once the sword ax mantis flew up into the air, we had limited choices for attacking it.
We had to bring it down somehow, and fast.
“… Turbulence Rankiryuu!”
I used Wind Magic to create gusts of wind, hindering the mantis’s flight.
Lilio shot another fireball from the Fire Rod Gun, which expanded in the wind and singed the sword ax mantis’s wings.
Even then, the giant insect didn’t come down.
How about this, then?
“… Fallen Hammer Rakkitsui!”
I used a downward-pushing air attack to slam the sword ax mantis into the ground.
Before we could run over to it, though, the mantis spread its wings and got ready to take off again.
But then—
“‘Karinaaa…Kiiiiick!’”
Karina’s flying kick prevented the sword ax mantis’s escape, leaving flashes of blue and golden light in her wake.
I started my next chant right away.
“Let’s go, Newbie!”
“Yes, Miss Erina—‘Twin Pierce!’”
Karina’s two guards followed close behind her, using their special attack with their short spears.
KWWWAAAAMUWA.
Dark green fog began to spill from the mantis’s mouth.
“It’s a poison attack! Get back!”
“Enough already!”
Lilio’s Fire Rod Gun shot the mantis right in the head, burning the poison fog away at once.
GWWAABABBUWWA.
“Yaaaah! ‘Shield Bash!’”
Lou came charging up and struck the sword ax mantis’s thin neck with her shield, sending it tilting backward.
Iona’s broadsword was fast to follow, piercing the mantis’s jaw with the special move “Rising Stratos.”
If her sword had kept going, the monster’s life likely would’ve ended right there.
But it grabbed Iona’s shoulders with its thin scythe arms, preventing her from doing any more damage.
“Zena—”
I nodded at Satou, and he immediately blew on a wooden flute to signal everyone to fall back.
The strange, shrill sound echoed, and everyone hurriedly backed away.
Pochi and Tama kicked the scythe arms away to set Iona free from their grasp.
Perfect. Now I don’t have to hold back.
I sent all the magic I had built up into my staff to help cast my spell.
“…… Heavy Hurricane Hammer Omosen Yari!”
I let fly the intermediate Wind Magic spell I’d learned from Satou’s spellbook.
A ferocious wind howled through the area, whipping up a tornado of sand.
The spinning hammer of wind struck the sword ax mantis’s long torso, easily breaking through the red light of its attempted magic protections, and destroyed the unprotected body beneath the broken carapace.
It cost three times as much magic as Wind Hammer, but the effect was far more powerful.
“Zena!” I heard Satou call. “It’s not quite finished yet!”
“ Down Burst Kakou Bakuryuu!”
I used the other spell I recently learned along with Heavy Hurricane Hammer, and the barely surviving sword ax mantis was crushed completely.
“That was remarkable, Lady Zena.”
“Congraaats?”
“Great job, sir!”
Liza, Pochi, and Tama celebrated our victory.
I praised my comrades for their hard work and thanked Liza and the others for their help.
I’ve been relying on Satou for a while now, but after this training, I think we can fight on our own a bit, too.
Suddenly realizing that I didn’t hear Satou’s voice, I looked around and saw him gazing at the wall adjacent to the giant cavern, looking grave.
“Everyone, drink some potions and retreat to the back wall, please.”
We all did as he instructed.
I reactivated the enemy detection magic I’d stopped using during the battle against the sword ax mantis.
Tama, Pochi, and Lilio had their ears to the ground, listening for far-off sounds.
“Comiiing…”
“It’s coming, sir.”
Shortly after Tama and Pochi spoke, I heard screams and the sound of trees falling.
My enemy detection magic was picking up something, too.
Three beastfolk—an ape, a rat, and a weasel—came running in through the hole in the wall.
Just then, the wall next to the hole exploded, sending shards of rock everywhere.
“Wah!”
Lilio and I produced the Shields from our gauntlets to protect everyone.
The transparent Shields broke after a few hits from the debris, but Lou had her giant shield at the ready to protect us after that.
There was a new hole in the wall, and running through it to the ceiling was an arrow thicker than several spears put together.
“It can’t be…”
“Yes, it appears they were trying to lure prey with their tamed monsters, but they failed and ended up attracting the hunter mantis instead.”
Hunter mantis?!
The image of the massive arrow shooting from the fog flashed across my mind.
…Impossible.
We didn’t stand a chance.
That wasn’t the kind of monster any individual could face down.
You would have to have an army, a base, and a ton of supplies and equipment to battle something like that.
Even Satou and his group couldn’t possibly defeat a monster that powerful without any preparation.
And yet…
“Wait over here, please.”
Satou smiled at us and strode toward the hole.
He barely glanced at the beastfolk who were cowering behind a boulder, never mind saying anything to blame them for bringing the hunter mantis here.
“Us toooo?”
“Of course, sir.”
“Yes, let us support master as best we can.”
Liza, Tama, and Pochi stepped forward to follow Satou, just like when we first encountered the sword ax mantis earlier.
They didn’t seem any more concerned than Satou.
“Th-then so shall I!”
“No, you can’t!”
“She’s right! Please control yourself, Lady Karina!”
Lady Karina tried to follow them, but her two guards stopped her with all their might.
The massive hunter mantis loomed through the giant hole, large enough to make the sword ax mantis look like a child.
…Terrifying.
Just looking at it was enough to make my hands turn cold and the blood drain from my face.
HWUNTZWEEERRR.
The hunter mantis emitted a screech as if to laugh scornfully at us.
It was like a bell tolling the hour of our execution.
In the face of death incarnate, a coward can do nothing but quake in fear.
…No.
I can’t fight if I’m frozen with fear.
I clenched my trembling hands into fists and took a deep breath.
My darkened, narrowing vision grew just a bit better.
I slapped my cheeks to get ahold of myself and steady my nerves.
It’s all right.
I was still trembling, but I could at least use support magic.
“…… Wind Armor Fuugai.”
“Thank you, Zena.”
I succeeded in casting the protection of the wind on Satou and the girls.
“Well, now that we’ve been given a support spell and all, let’s bring this thing down.”
Satou drew a stunningly beautiful sword, nodded lightly to Liza and the others, and ran forward.
Sprinting up a giant boulder near the massive hole, Satou leaped nimbly until he was right before the hunter mantis’s eyes.
The hunter mantis moved its massive bow arm to the side and used a smaller, short swordlike foreleg to slash at Satou.
“He jumped in midair?”
Satou picked up speed in the air and passed below the hunter mantis’s head.
“‘Neck Slaaash’?”
Following Satou like a shadow, Tama flitted past the other side of the massive mantis’s neck.
Right after Tama passed, blood spurted from the neck of the hunter mantis.
“‘Achilles Hunter,’ Pochi, sir!”
Pochi sped around, slashing up all six of the hunter mantis’s lower legs.
“‘Draco Bus—’”
Running up in front, Liza easily pierced the extra-hard shell of the mantis’s chest with her Magic Spear.
“—No, I suppose that won’t be necessary for a foe like this.”
The red light surrounding Liza’s body faded.
As she withdrew her spear and walked away toward the hole leading to the large cavern, the hunter mantis’s severed head dropped to the ground behind her.
They defeated that insanely powerful monster in a matter of seconds.
The sight before me was so unreal that my mind went blank.
“…Did it notice us?”
As I stared in a daze, I heard Satou’s voice reach my ears.
Looking around, I saw that Satou and company were looking not at the mantis they defeated, but somewhere else.
Their eyes were on the other side of the hole in the wall—the large cavern.
“Spaaawn?”
“That must be the areamaster, sir.”
Gazing into the cavern with Satou, Tama and Pochi murmured something terrifying.
If I remembered right, the areamaster was a powerful monster on par with even an intermediate demon.
It was clear that I didn’t know the limits of Satou and his party’s strength, but without all their members or the proper equipment, I couldn’t imagine how they could defeat something like that.
I fought back my fear and exhaustion, trying to stand up to suggest that we retreat to the safe area.
“Should we go defeat it?”
…Huh?
“No, it’s fine. We don’t need to do anything.”
Shortly after Satou’s words, the cavern blazed with crimson fire.
The heat’s going to come this way!
I started chanting the Air Cushion spell as I rushed over to Satou’s side.
Before my eyes, a gust of golden wind took form, and held back the raging flames with its arms.
A giant gold bird was floating in the air.
What is that?
“Garuuudaaa?”
“It’s Mia’s Mr. Spirit, sir!”
Tama and Pochi pointed at the golden creature.
A giant mantis staggered from the flames, blackened and burned.
It was hard to tell from this distance, but it looked like it might even dwarf the hunter mantis.
“Whoopeeee!”
“Hooraaay, sir!”
Sparkling flashes of light crashed into the gigantic mantis, and finally the golden creature cut off its own head.
…An intermediate demon-level monster, brought down in seconds?
“Satou, was that…?”
“It’s just Arisa and the others. They said they’d come visit and bring us supplies on the last day.”
Satou responded to my question nonchalantly.
That’s not what I was asking…
I closed my mouth without asking any further questions.
Satou and his party were clearly on another level, even more than I realized. The sheer difference in our strength threatened to activate my inferiority complex, but I slapped my cheeks to fend off such childish thoughts.
There was something more important that needed to be said right now.
“Satou, thank you.”
I was still a long ways away, but someday I swear I’ll get strong enough to pay Satou back for everything he’s done.
The beastfolk trio who had caused the chaos were apprehended by Lou and some comrades, and Arisa and the others brought them to the explorers’ guild after giving us the supplies they brought.
Thus, our little—or rather, completely unforgettable—adventure of training and developing a hunting ground in the labyrinth came to a close without a single life lost.
When we returned from the labyrinth and got into bed in the barracks that night, the physical and mental exhaustion from the expedition fully set in, and we didn’t wake until sunset the following day.
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