CH 63

Labyrinth

——————–

After experiencing some petty harassment during the beginner’s course and building up a strong dislike for the Adventurer’s Guild, I decided to start planning my retaliation against them. My first goal was to surpass the floor that the adventurers of the Labyrinth City were stuck on.

I arrived at the entrance to the labyrinth. The entrance was located in a small square where stalls were lined up selling items useful for exploration.

It was surprisingly crowded, perhaps because there was a lot of traffic in and out of the labyrinth. Some people were selling maps, but according to Sylphy, if there is air, one can almost always feel the wind blowing and find their way, so they weren’t necessary. Cheats are amazing. Since I couldn’t find anything necessary, I headed straight for the entrance.

“Guild card, please.”

I handed my card to the soldier guarding the entrance. It seemed like the labyrinth was being managed by some kind of government. It was a relief that it wasn’t being managed by the Adventurer’s Guild since they might have even refused to let me enter the labyrinth in the first place.

“Hey, hey, you’re an F-ranked adventurer, are you really going to enter the labyrinth alone? I’m not trying to be rude but turn back and find some companions.”

I received a very honest opinion. But I couldn’t find any companions even if I looked for them.

“I have some combat experience, so it’ll be okay. I’m only F-ranked because I’m a rookie.”

“Well, that’s true… but still, if you have a guild card, I can’t refuse you entry, just don’t push yourself too hard.”

Grudgingly, he allowed me to enter. I thanked him and descended the stairs.

“Oh, this is what a labyrinth feels like. The passages are well-lit and the labyrinth is designed to be user-friendly.”

It was like a cave carved out of stone, but it was glowing brightly everywhere.

There are also dim and pitch-black areas. I suppose they make it easy for people to enter since it’s the beginning of the labyrinth.

Come to think of it, the labyrinth was said to lure people in and devour them. They had to make it relatively easy to earn money or people wouldn’t come. It was like a business. No, it was more like gambling. If you give in to your desires and proceed deeper into the labyrinth, you’ll either find a fortune or death waiting for you. It’s brutal.

“In the beginner’s course, they said that only slimes and goblins appear from floors one to five. Sylphy, can you guide us on the shortest route since fighting them a few times should be enough?”

Asking Sylphy, I felt motivated to explore the labyrinth even further.

“Understood.”

Although I could defeat a lich, there shouldn’t be any trouble with a goblin now. Let’s move on quickly.

“Bell and the others probably won’t have much to do, but make sure you don’t stray too far from us.”

“Okay!” “Kyuu~” “Got it!” “Kuu~”

Although they looked a little disappointed, there wasn’t much for them to do at first. With his hammer extended to fifty centimeters, we advanced.

“Yuta, that’s a goblin over there.”

“Oh, that’s it.”

A goblin runs towards me, shouting loudly. It carries a club, has green skin, and wears cloth wrapped around its waist. This is the world of a game.

“Should I take it out, Yuta?”

“No. Let me fight it just in case.”

With one swing of the hammer, the goblin was smashed to pieces. It was no different from zombies or skeletons.

“If goblins attack us from here on out, Bell and the others can take care of them. Let’s move forward.”

I am used to fighting on his own, but for the sake of speed, I decided to abandon his own preference.

“We´ll take care of them!” “Kyuu~” “We’ll do our best!”

Bell and the others seemed happier to have something to do. Huh? Tamamo looks down.

“What’s wrong, Tamamo?”

“Kuu~”

Tamamo looked at me sadly. What’s going on?

“Oh, Tamamo can’t create plants with magic yet, so she can’t fight in the cave,” Sylphy told me. Come to think of it, she did mention that before. Her drooping ears and tail were very cute, but I needed to console her.

“Tamamo, there will always be a place where you can fight, so hang in there. I’m looking forward to your magic,” I said, patting her head. Tamamo seemed to understand that there would be opportunities for her to shine, and she started playing energetically. She’s so adorable. Bell and the others joined in, and we had a good time playing around in the cave.

“Okay, let’s move on. Oh, I want to fight a slime, so please let me know when we encounter one,” I said.

After playing around, we followed Sylphy’s guidance and moved forward.

“There will be multiple enemies from here, right?”

“Yes, that’s right. But it’s not that different. They’re just goblins.”

The dungeon had five levels and were structured like a set. The first two levels were low difficulty, and the next two levels were more challenging. The last level was the boss level.

There were also alternating natural fields and caves. After clearing the first five levels of the cave, the next level was a grassland, where we could hunt a monster called a rough bird.

By the way, there is no convenient system for moving back to a previously visited floor. As we progressed deeper into the dungeon, it became more difficult to return to previous locations, and it took a long time even to get back to where we were before. It was a complicated structure that made progress increasingly challenging.

“Well, let’s prioritize moving forward as we have been doing and try to reach the boss in one go. Everyone, please help me out,” I said.

Bell and the others were full of motivation and responded energetically. Thanks to their enthusiasm, goblins and slimes were easily defeated and their corpses littered the path. I stored them in my inventory because it’s a hassle to dismantle them. There were a few times when Bell and the others wandered too far away, so I had to summon them back, but we were making steady progress through the cave.

I had advised them not to kill monsters if we ran into other adventurers, but they probably wouldn’t be seen, would they? In the current situation where there were hardly any spirit magic users, if something invisible were to kill monsters swiftly and efficiently, it would probably become the stuff of legends.

By the way, we fought a slime only once, I crushed it easily with my hammer since that was all it took.

So, this is the boss’s room. A magnificent door stood in our way. If goblins came out when we opened such a grand door, it would be a waste. It would be more impressive if the enemies were stronger.

“Sylphy, what about that goblin?”

“It’s a soldier, mage, priest, archer, and thief. It shouldn’t be a problem for you, Yuta.”

“I’ll fight it anyway since it’s the boss.”

As soon as we entered the room, the goblins attacked. I defeated them easily with my hammer. There was no point in fighting weak enemies on this level. Until we encounter enemies that can help us gain experience, I’ll leave it to Bell and the others to handle anything other than our first enemies.

After defeating the boss, the door at the back of the room opened with a rumble, revealing a staircase leading down. It’s still a waste to have such a fancy room to house a goblin boss.

“Sigh.”

“Why did you just sigh out of the blue?”

“I don’t know, it just feels like things are out of order. The thrill of exploring a dungeon is not just about being nervous or worried about winning, but also the joy of defeating a boss and feeling the excitement and sense of accomplishment. It´s not fulfilling just swinging my hammer around.”

“What are you talking about? Not everyone who dives into the maze is a beginner. Many people come to the labyrinth city with improved skills, so the first boss is easily defeated by most people and they move on,” she said.

“I see. Come to think of it, that’s true,” I replied, realizing that my sense of achievement was only valid for newcomers to this labyrinth city. Even though I became an adventurer in the labyrinth city and worked hard in the Death lands, it was only natural to easily pass through the early stages. I refocused my attention and resumed exploring.

As I descended the staircase, I was amazed at the different world. I had heard about it, but it was just a vast grassland that seemed nothing like a maze. There was no sun, but the cool breeze in the high sky was refreshing. It didn’t seem like a place in a labyrinth.

“Hey, Sylphy. I think the environment here is better than outside, do people live here?” I asked.

“I don’t know. I’ve heard that they were thinking about creating a base in the labyrinth, but maybe they abandoned that plan. It could be troublesome to live in a place where monsters suddenly appear,” she replied.

She had a point. Even if you build a house, it would be a hassle if monsters suddenly appear in your garden.

But why was it so bright without the sun? And how high can we fly up? The labyrinth is full of mysteries.

“Hey, Sylphy. There’s so much nature here, but why can’t we see any spirits in the maze?” I asked.

“That’s right. The labyrinth is in a different world in a way. Spirits don’t come close. If we hadn’t made a contract with you, we wouldn’t have entered,” she replied.

“I see. Won’t you get sick or anything?” I asked.

“It’s okay. The spirits just don’t like places with thin connections to the world,” she explained.

I understood that spirits had their own preferences.

“I think I understand now. By the way, Sylphy, even though this is a grassland, do you know where the staircase is?” I asked.

“As long as the staircase isn’t hidden, I know where it is. But there are places where the air doesn’t circulate, so it might be difficult to find,” she replied.

I felt like I was on a tour of the labyrinth. Sylphy, the guide, was excellent.

“Then, please guide me. I want to secure a certain number of rough birds, so let me know if we come across any nearby,” I requested.

“Okay. Let’s go this way,” Sylphy said.

With Sylphy’s guidance, we headed towards the staircase. It seems that there are goblins, kobolds, and rough birds on this floor. I decided to let only the kobolds and rough birds be defeated by me at the beginning.

Rough birds… they were like big chickens or roosters. They were about the same size as me and ran at me at tremendous speed, pecking with their large beaks. They were scary, but they only had a lot of power, so I swiftly cut off their heads with a saw to avoid damaging the meat.

Kobolds… they were not much different from goblins, except they were faster. They had dog faces and attacked with their teeth bared, which I didn’t like.

Since it was bothersome, I asked Bell and the others to take care of this place and proceeded further. Tamamo was particularly enthusiastic here. She used plants to pierce the monsters from the grass, entangle them with plants, and showed a variety of ways to defeat them, as if to show me how skilled she was at manipulating plants.

She seemed very happy to be able to contribute so much, and flew over to me after defeating each enemy, eagerly asking for praise. She was cute. I thought it might be a good idea to set up my mobile base and rest if we find a good place. I regret not bringing a bed with me when entering the labyrinth.

———-

It’s been three days since entering the maze. Cave. Grasslands. Cave. Forest. Cave. Wetlands. Cave. Ruins. Finally, I arrived at a volcanic area where my progress was stalled. I fought against new monsters, but as I was physically powerful, there was no problem. It was the change in terrain that was troublesome. I thought about flying over it, but taking a shortcut by flying through the first maze lacked romance, so I persevered on foot, at least in the beginning. However, because of this, my magic bag is now full of monster loot.

Although there were many traps in the cave, Sylphy and Turu were able to detect them all. Turu covered the areas with traps with stones, so I could proceed with confidence.

I thought I could dig a hole straight down from the maze rock, but apparently that was dangerous. You don’t end up simply going down; you’re thrown into a distorted space. Also, if you destroy the maze too much, it gets angry.

In the forest, there were orcs and trolls. When I saw the orcs, I was a little depressed because I thought about how I had eaten them before. However, since I knew they were delicious, I chopped off their heads and stored them. As expected, if I hadn’t eaten orc meat before, I would have refused to eat them now. Good job, past me.

In the wetlands, difficult-to-fight monsters such as poison toads and giant toads appeared, despite poor footing. The giant toad was about the size of a two-story house, and its eyes were really creepy.

Marshland lizards, which were used in my equipment, also appeared. Since I was able to easily chop off their heads, I became worried that my equipment was not strong enough. There were many disgusting enemies, but I searched the wetlands believing in the existence of rice. Unfortunately, I couldn’t find any, so I took it out on the giant toad.

The cave and ruins from the 31st floor were the nests of the undead, and to be honest, I was fed up with it and my spirit was broken. Even in this maze, I didn’t like the smell of those undead and I ended up using high-speed flight to shortcut through the entire process except for the boss. Undead don’t seem to be popular in this maze either, so it was good that I could fly without being detected by anyone.

I left most of the battles to Bell and the others and pushed forward the shortest distance. I used flight to shortcut through the caves and ruins where the undead appeared. Even with this, it took three days. I wonder how long it would take a regular party to conquer this maze?

By the way, in the cave, Sylphy used her Wind Cocoon to fly while repelling the undead. It was like a roller coaster ride. Flying through narrow passages was quite scary. If I had tried to control the Wind Cocoon myself, there would have been a major accident. I am grateful to the spirits.

“It’s quite hot here. This place is tough,” I said.

I thought I had gotten used to the heat in the Land of Death, but this place was worse. Sweat was pouring out. Is this a sauna?

“Is that so? Then let me blow some wind for you,” Sylphy said.

She blew a cool breeze gently around my body. It was quite refreshing.

“Sylphy, why is your wind cool? Even if you blow wind in this heat, hot wind should be released, right?” I asked.

“Because it’s magic,” she replied.

It was a simple and understandable reason. Since it’s magic, it’s only natural that cool wind blows.

“More importantly, Yuta. There are some people on this floor. What should we do?” Sylphy asked.

“Huh? There are people here? Oh, that’s right. This is the front line of the conquest. It’s natural that people are here,” I replied.

There were almost no people around when the undead began to appear. I hadn’t thought at all that there would be people here. However, if there are people here, it’s probably adventurers. What should we do?