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To the Labyrinth’s Middle Stratum 

Satou here. Apparently, the “power creep” phenomenon that’s common in battle manga series exists in a parallel world, too. I’m glad my group is getting stronger, but I can’t help feeling a little bad when an enemy that once would’ve been a serious challenge to them gets beaten so easily. 

“Spellblade Shot, sir!” 

Facing off against an areamaster called a “king poison moth,” Pochi’s Magic Sword glittered red with “Spellblade.” 

Poof. 

Just like that, the red light disappeared. 

“Pochi, your release timing isn’t quite right. You have to store up energy like SWISH and then release it like BOOM.” 

Dodging a magical attack from the king poison moth, Liza demonstrated a Spellblade Shot. 

Liza’s had also been unstable when she first learned how to do it, but lately her range, power, and accuracy had all significantly improved. 

That being said, I thought her explanation was a little too vague for Pochi to follow. 

Mwoooothhhw. 

The Spellblade Shot hit the areamaster squarely on the forehead, and it unleashed a high-pitched shriek. 

I wonder where its vocal cords are. 

“Shurikeeen?” 

Tama tossed a throwing star imbued with “Spellblade” at the giant moth. 

It pierced right through the monster’s defensive barrier and embedded itself in one of the moth’s six compound eyes. 

“First go SWISH, then…BOOM, sir!” 

Pochi’s short sword unleashed a little Spellblade Shot. 

…I guess Liza’s explanation actually had gotten through to her. 

The shot evaporated before it reached the king poison moth, but Pochi still hopped up and down with glee. I would have to give her plenty of head pats later. 

“Dimension Slasher!” 

Arisa launched a Space Magic spell that was the advanced form of Dimension Cutter, slicing off one of the moth’s wings. 

As soon as it hit the ground, it was no longer a threat, and the vanguard’s teamwork quickly dispatched it. 

“Hmm. Flying types are squishy, but it still takes time to beat them because the vanguard’s short-range attacks can’t reach.” 

“Yes, I suppose they put a significant load on the rear guard.” 

Taking a break, Arisa and Liza exchanged opinions. 

“Satou.” 

Mia tugged on my sleeve. 

I thought she was going to say that she’d leveled up, but it appeared to be something else. 

“What’s the matter?” 

“Miasma’s weird.” 

I activated my “Miasma Vision” and looked around. 

The thick miasma that surrounded the king poison moth’s corpse was being sucked away into the labyrinth’s floors and vent holes at an unnatural speed. 

Mia must have noticed because she could see spirits with her Spirit Vision, and they always avoided miasma. 

I used Clairvoyance to follow where the miasma was going, and I found it was heading to a spawnhole. 

It was almost like the labyrinth was trying to recover the miasma before it evaporated. 

“Maybe we’ve been hunting too many labyrinth monsters lately.” 

We were mowing down so many enemies that we’d wiped out two-thirds of the monster population in the Upper Stratum, but aside from the areas populated by lots of explorers, monsters seemed to be respawning much more slowly than usual. 

There seemed to be fewer monsters coming and going through spawnholes, too. 

In particular, the areamasters and their spawn didn’t seem to be coming back at all. 

I’d planned on having my group hunt in the remaining ten sections, but maybe we should move on to the Middle Stratum instead. 

“Yeah, I guess I wouldn’t blame the DM for getting mad.” 

Arisa shrugged, as if it was someone else’s problem. 

The DM? Does she mean the dungeonmaster? 

If that meant swarms of monsters would start coming after us, at least we wouldn’t have to keep finding new hunting grounds. 

While I contemplated this, Pochi came running over, still celebrating her Spellblade Shot. 

“Master! I did it, sir!” 

“Good job, Pochi.” 

I patted Pochi’s head as she puffed up proudly, causing her tail to wag so quickly, it looked like it might pop right off. 

“Hee-hee, I can do it if I put my mind to it, sir.” 

It was cute to see her so proud of herself. 

“I’m gonna learn Spellblade Shot, toooo!” 

Tama looked a little frustrated that Pochi had gotten ahead of her. 

“No need to rush. You’ll figure it out at your own pace.” 

I patted Tama’s head with my free hand. 

“Tama, you have to store it up like SWISH, then release it like BOOM.” 

“Like thiiis?” 

“No, sir. SWISH, then BOOM, sir.” 

“Mew…” 

Following Liza’s and Pochi’s questionable advice, Tama attempted the Spellblade Shot a few times. 

Before long, she was out of magic power. 

“No more magiiic?” 

“Want one of these?” 

“Aye-aye!” 

I offered one of my new magic-recovery potions to Tama, who drank it immediately. 

“Yummy!” 

She seemed to approve of the new beef-jerky flavor. 

Tama went on to practice Spellblade Shots through several more rounds of magic recovery. From the second time onward, I used my Mana Transfer spell to refill her magic. 

Then, at last… 

“SWISH, then BOOM?” 

A little Spellblade Shot sprang out of Tama’s Magic Sword. 

For some reason, it had a curved trajectory. 

“I did iiit?” 

“Well done, Tama.” 

“Now we match, sir.” 

“Aye!” 

Tama beamed happily as Liza nodded and Pochi smiled. 

“Is it just me, or did that Spellblade Shot curve?” 

“It doesn’t seem like you can curve it by spinning it when you launch it, like you would with a ball.” 

Tama’s Spellblade Shot hadn’t been spinning or anything. 

“Can you do Spellblade Shot, too, master?” 

“More or less.” 

I nodded at Arisa. 

While Tama was practicing, I’d experimented and found that I could produce a Spellblade Shot by putting “Spellblade” on the tip of my fingernail. 

It took a little time to master, since the magic manipulation was different from shooting fireballs out of a fire-attribute Magic Sword like I had before. 

Spellblade Shots required around the same amount of magic as an intermediate attack spell, yet they were only about half as powerful. I doubted I’d be using them much. 

Still, it could come in handy at some point, so I put some points into my new “Spellblade Shot” skill and activated it just in case. 

“Master, it is treasure-hunting time, I report.” 

After our break, Nana seemed excited to look for treasure chests. 

Lulu giggled. “I hope we find something pretty or rare.” 

The two must have been anxiously awaiting our traditional treasure hunt after clearing out a section. 

Everyone but Tama was exhausted from having beaten down monsters at the camp all day, so a chance to freely explore the fantastical sights of the labyrinth was probably a welcome respite. 

We walked through a mysterious cavern full of insect scales, oohing and aahing at the crystalline forest of frozen-looking trees. 

The piles of scales on the floor could be used as is for paralysis potions or processed into an anesthetic, but I decided not to pick them up, since they could also be used for nasty poisons. 

“So, master, how’s the explorers’ school going?” 

“Looks like there’ve been a few minor snags, but no major issues at the moment.” 

I was checking in on the school periodically with Clairvoyance, but the only problems thus far seemed to be a few kids who had overworked themselves and collapsed and one who had failed at a parry in training and broken a bone. 

“That’s good to hear.” 

“Master, I have located a treasure chest, I report.” 

“Ooh, number one already? Let’s go, master.” 

Arisa’s eyes lit up after hearing Nana’s announcement, and she grabbed my hand and dragged me over to catch up with the others. 

In the end, we didn’t find anything particularly of note in the treasure chests, but the kids were pleased with finds like some butterfly-like masks and a risqué dress made of a lamé-like fabric. 

“No magic equipment at all this time, huh?” 

“That’s perfectly normal.” 

Cursed equipment turned up a solid 30 percent of the time, but the odds of finding mithril swords, Magic Swords, or the like were less than 10 percent. 

Magic Shields were a bit more common, but Magic Armor was so rare that we’d only ever found the like twice. 

While the Magic Swords ranged in power from a normal iron sword to one of my first-generation forged Magic Swords, they never had useful features beyond an attribute, so I just stuck them in Storage like trophies or collector’s items. 

If anything, coming upon spell books or amusing finds like these ones was the bigger win, in my opinion. 

 

“Okay, let’s take a lunch break for a while.” 

Once we finished treasure hunting, we returned to our labyrinth vacation home for lunch, which was fried prawns at Nana’s request. 

I suspected it was because the king poison moth’s abdomen resembled a prawn, but that would probably ruin everyone’s appetite, and I kept my mouth shut about that. 

“Master, come on—take a break with us.” 

“I’m all right. I got plenty of rest while you were fighting.” 

Despite protests from Arisa and the others, I stood up to leave. 

“I was planning to look for a hunting area in the Middle Stratum of the labyrinth.” 

“Nooo.” 

Mia shook her head. 

“Exactly! It’s no fun to teleport down there by yourself. Wouldn’t you rather overcome the obstacles and work our way through it together?” 

The younger kids all nodded enthusiastically, and the older girls gave quiet nods of agreement, too. 

I guess it would feel like more of an adventure if we do it together. 

“I suppose you have a point. After our break, we’ll jump to the closest teleport point to the passage to the Middle Stratum; then we can all explore together from there.” 

“Now, that’s more like it!” 

“Tallyhoooo?” 

“Hooray, sir.” 

When I suggested this change of plans, the kids jumped up and down for joy. 

Since they seemed so excited, I decided to look for a route that we could walk normally, even if it meant taking a few detours. 

Listening contentedly to the kids trading guesses about what the Middle Stratum might be like, I opened my map and traced out a path to the Middle Stratum, using Clairvoyance and Clairaudience to make sure there weren’t any problems. 

It would take nearly ten times longer than if I went with “Skyrunning,” Magic Hand, and the like, but it was fun to take the scenic route once in a while. 

“Where are we now?” 

“About half a mile away from the western edge of the Celivera Labyrinth, I’d say? If we were aboveground, I think we’d be right around where we made that stone shrine after playing in the desert the other day.” 

It took around two hours from the closest teleport point until we reached the large cavern containing the pit that went down to the Middle Stratum. 

This area was farther west than the basin containing Labyrinth City Celivera and even the mountains beyond it. Some sand seemed to have leaked in through the vent holes: Part of the room was covered in it, trickling slowly into the pit. 

“F-for real?” 

“For real.” 

Arisa and the others looked incredibly surprised. 

They were probably realizing just how ridiculously enormous the Celivera Labyrinth was. 

“Abyyyss!” 

“I can’t see a thing down there, sir.” 

“Don’t get too close.” 

Pochi and Tama stared into the pit, their tails standing on end. 

“Aye-aye.” 

“Yes, sir.” 

Still gazing down into the dark, they scooted back toward me. 

“This part doesn’t have an elevator like the other side, I see.” 

“That was probably built by an old explorers’ guild or even a previous kingdom, don’t you think?” 

Arisa was using Clairvoyance to examine the far-off other side of the dark pit. 

“Master, it looks like we can get down that way.” 

“There are no stairs, I declare.” 

“Mm. Downhill.” 

Nana and Mia looked in the direction Lulu was pointing. 

There was a spiral-shaped slope winding around the edge of the pit with a large, round dent in the middle of the path. 

“I dunno…I do not like the look of that dent.” 

Arisa’s face twisted as she looked at the slope. 

She was probably thinking about that famous scene from an American adventure movie—the one where a giant boulder rolls down after the hero. 

I looked around, then up. 

“…Arisa.” 

I used the Practical Magic spell Mana Light to illuminate the ceiling and pointed upward. 

“Geh!” 

“Geeeh?” 

“Geh-geh-geh, sir.” 

“A pill bug?” 

Ten or so giant rolled-up pill bugs were hanging from the ceiling by thin threads like bagworms. 

Judging by their positions, they would probably drop down onto the dent one after another. 

Experimentally, I tried cutting one of the threads with Dimension Cutter, and the giant pill bug dropped down onto the path, taking up the entire width. 

It rolled down slowly at first but soon accelerated to the speed of a car. 

“Should we drop them all?” 

“I wouldn’t want the path to break down, so I’ll get rid of the rest normally.” 

I selected Remote Arrow from the magic menu and dispatched each of the pill bugs on the ceiling. 

Of course, I made sure to catch them with Magic Hand as they fell and put them in Storage to avoid damaging our path downward. 

Liza led the way, carrying a torch I’d lit for dramatic effect. I also used my original Light Magic spell Pixie Light to create faint bug-like glowing spheres that lit up the path and surrounding area like footlights. Overall, it looked pretty good. 

“Tunnellls?” 

“Lots, sir.” 

“Mrrr?” 

As we proceeded down into the pit, we started to notice tunnels irregularly dotting the walls. 

“Looks like the kind of place where a bear would hibernate or something.” 

“I think there are monsters in some of them.” 

According to my map information, most of the tunnels were dead ends, but a few connected to spawnhole passages. 

Most likely, the spawnholes would open up and send monsters chasing after us from behind. 

I could easily imagine grisly outcomes like explorers checking out the tunnel, only to get attacked from behind just when they thought the coast was clear or setting up camp in one and getting ambushed in the dead of night. 

“Lizaaard?” 

“This is the perfect time for a Spellblade Shot, sir!” 

Pochi excitedly whipped out her sword and pointed it at the “lizard” Tama had spotted. It was a monster called a “maze gecko.” 

“Take this, sir!” she shouted, and a Spellblade Shot released from the sword’s tip and neatly defeated the gecko. 

It hadn’t been long since she’d learned to use it, but her speed was already improving. Maybe Pochi actually had a knack for Spellblade Shots. 

I put the monster’s remains in Storage, and we continued down the slope. 

There was quite a variety of interesting encounters: We were occasionally attacked by maze geckos or maze bats, patches of glowing moss on the wall, and even a wight that rose out of the skeletal remains of an explorer. 

“I’m surprised other explorers made it down this far.” 

I put the explorer’s remains into Storage, using the AR display to inspect the documents he’d been carrying. 

They were written in the language of the Flue Empire. 

“Looks like this was an explorer from the era of the Flue Empire.” 

The person had lived some six to seven hundred years ago and appeared to have been a researcher who was averse to combat; he’d made use of a lesser-known skill called “Obscure” to sneak around monsters and make it this far. 

In the end, he appeared to have succumbed to a fever. 

“I wonder what he came down here to do?” 

“It says in his journal: ‘I shall meet the ancient king in all his boundless wisdom, acquire life that never ends, and continue my research for eternity.’” 

According to his accounts, he seemed to have believed that this so-called ancient king lived in the Lower Stratum of the labyrinth. 

“Ooh. Eternal life, huh? Would you want that, master?” 

“Maybe I did when I was a kid, but now I don’t think humans could really handle it.” 

In the back of my mind, I remembered the unwavering eyes of the ancient elf elders. 

I was certainly tempted by the thought of living alongside Miss Aaze, a high elf who would live for millions of years, but I didn’t think the human mind was meant to last that long. 

Even if you could live longer with some kind of rejuvenating potion, I thought a thousand years or so would be more than enough. 

“Yeah, I guess you’re right.” 

With that simple conclusion from Arisa, we continued down the slope. 

Around the halfway point, there was an area where white steam was rising from the center of the path. 

“It’s surrounded by slimy moss, I report.” 

“It does not appear to be an acid trap.” 

Nana and Liza produced poles from their Fairy Packs to prod at the puddle that was creating the steam. 

For some reason, it smelled faintly of rotten eggs. 

“Hey, master…” 

Arisa seemed to have noticed the sulfur smell, too. 

“Maybe there’s a hot springs somewhere in the labyrinth,” I commented. 

“Really?! If there is, we gotta build our second vacation house next to it!” Arisa latched on to the idea immediately. “And it’ll be mixed-gender bathing, of course!” 

“No sexual harassment, please.” 

Arisa started breathing heavily and drooling, so I flicked her forehead. 

“Gaaaah!” 

Ignoring her overreaction, I used Magic Hand to carry everyone over the somewhat large pool of water. 

The beastfolk girls were able to jump to the other side, but Tama and Pochi insisted on coming back so that I could carry them across anyway. 

“Ouchie. I swear, your forehead flicks must use some secret skill or—” 

Arisa stopped grumbling abruptly, staring up at the ceiling. 

“Master, look at that!” She pointed upward in surprise. 

“Sparklyyy!” 

“Treasure, sir?” 

A golden streak was visible in an indent along the side wall. 

“We’ve struck gold! Tama, Pochi, would one of you be able to climb up there?” 

“Easy, sir.” 

Pochi rolled up her sleeves and got ready to climb the wall, but Tama cried out to stop her. “Nooo!” 

“Why not, sir?” 

“Lots of traaaps?” 

The group looked toward me for confirmation, and I nodded. 

“Poison spray, retractable spikes, and even a trap that makes the wall collapse.” 

“You’ve gotta be kidding me…” 

“And that’s not even gold—it’s iron pyrite.” 

“Fool’s gold, huh? Awww, man.” 

When I reported the information from my AR, Arisa slumped in disappointment. 

If I remembered right, this metal was a compound of iron and sulphite, but it wasn’t very useful due to being hard to extract or something. 

“Darn it all! Now we have to find that hot springs, no matter what!” 

“Woooo!” 

“Sir!” 

Newly fired up, Arisa led the way down the slope, and we followed her until we reached the labyrinth’s Middle Stratum. 

Unlike the pit near the labyrinth entrance, this one didn’t go down all the way to the Lower Stratum. 

 

“Fwah-ha-ha, victory is mine!” 

Arisa cackled atop a large boulder. 

In front of her was a roiling cloud of white steam. 

The hot springs were physically quite close to the pit, but the route to them went through no less than seven different areas. 

Fighting our way through monsters to get there would’ve taken too long, so I feigned a coincidental accident during one of our battles to break down a wall connecting to a spawnhole and create a shortcut. 

“Well, we should probably wipe out the monsters here.” 

There were a few hot springs in this area, but this was the only place where a spawnhole couldn’t form. 

“What, we’re going to drive out the native population?” 

“Hmm? What could be unnatural about defeating monsters?” 

Liza looked incredulously at Arisa, who was watching the small thunder apes soaking in the hot springs. 

“Well, they might be friendly!” 

“I don’t think so.” 

I created illusions of Arisa and the girls and sent them to walk up to the monkeys. 

Before the illusions could open their mouths, the thunder apes destroyed them all with lightning, bared their teeth, and charged toward us. 

“The path of bloodshed, sir.” 

“Violeeence!” 

My party prepared for battle. 

Pochi’s unusual line was probably a quote that Arisa had taught her from some anime or something. 

I jumped between the girls and the small thunder apes with “Warp,” grabbed the monsters and other dangerous creatures inside the hot springs with Magic Hand, and chucked them across the room. They were all pretty weak—my companions could probably take them down in no time. 

I used “Skyrunning” to survey the terrain from above and started drawing up blueprints to build our hot-springs vacation home. 

“Master, we’re done with the monsters here, so we’ll go clear out some of the nearby rooms. Anything we should be worried about?” 

The ordinary monsters in the Middle Stratum were a bit higher level than those in the Upper Stratum, but the areamasters and their kin were virtually the same. 

In fact, the lower-level monsters had the nastiest tricks. Many of them had dangerous abilities like Poison, Paralysis, Curses, Plague, Evil Eyes, Magic Absorption, Magic Resistance, Physical Resistance, and so on. 

And the majority of them seemed to use magic, or at least some kind of magical effect. 

So although the levels weren’t too far apart, the Middle Stratum monsters were definitely more challenging. 

“Watch out for the mad apes that produce poison liquid and the mana-eater apes that absorb magic. A lot of the other monsters use magic, too, so don’t let your guard down.” 

“You got it, Chief.” 

I watched them head out, then sorted the monster corpses by species and put them into Storage. 

Then I activated Clairvoyance and Clairaudience so I could monitor the girls’ battles with “Parallel Thoughts” and got back to work on my blueprints. 

 

“…Absolutely splendid.” 

Standing on a craggy area looking down on the completed hot springs, the bath-loving Liza clenched her fist emotionally. 

It was worth all the hard work if it made them this happy. 

While I was working on the hot springs, I also acquired titles like Hot Springs Engineer and Hot Springs Admiral. 

“As usual, your productivity is so overpowered, it’s cheating.” 

“How rude.” 

I certainly wouldn’t have finished so fast if it weren’t for helpful abilities like magic and Storage, but that didn’t make me all-powerful. 

I still hadn’t actually started the vacation house itself yet, just built the tubs, dressing rooms, restrooms, and so on. 

The tubs were more or less normal, too, without any fancy features like jets or saunas. 

Eventually, I wanted to try adding those kinds of features, along with a midair tube bath, a flowing bath, and other novel ideas. 

“This is amazing, though. There are so many!” 

“Mm. Magical.” 

Lulu and Mia gazed wide-eyed at the many open-air baths I’d made. 

I’d originally added more bath areas so I could fine-tune the temperature in each one, but I started getting into it in the process and wound up adding a Roman-style bathhouse, a foot-soaking fountain, and such. 

“There’s no Japanese cypress tub?” 

“I figured I’d make that an indoor bath in the house.” 

Cypress sounded nice, but I also wanted to try making a tub with the pleasant-smelling Mountain-Tree wood. 

“May we enter now? I inquire.” 

Nana was already pulling off her clothes without waiting for a response. 

Huh. She’s grown quite a bit. 

“Eek! Miss Nana, cover yourself!” 

“Mrrr. Forbidden.” 

Lulu and Mia covered Nana with a large cloth. 

“Mashterrr—” 

Arisa tried to cop a feel in the process of covering my eyes, but I caught her in midair as I directed the others over to the changing room. 

I also let them know that the baths were hotter the higher upstream you went and suggested that they go to the third level or lower. The top level was hot enough to possibly burn you, so I’d put a lid over that one. 

“Waaah, so mean…” 

“You must’ve worked up a sweat fighting those monsters, right? Go take a bath already.” 

Ignoring Arisa’s teary look, I turned her around and sent her to the changing room with the rest of the group. 

Liza was so excited that she was practically skipping, which was quite a rare sight. Her tail was whipping back and forth eagerly, too. 

“Master, come with us.” 

“I’m all right, thanks. I bathed plenty while I was setting things up.” 

Besides, knowing Arisa, she’d probably demand that I strip on the grounds that it’s uncouth to wear clothes in an open-air bath. 

“Awww, man.” 

Arisa looked dejected, but then a grin crept over her face again. 

“Oh, right, master. What should I do with the monsters we defeated? If I keep them in my Garage Bag, they’ll rot eventually, you know?” 

“Good point. Let’s transfer them before they get gross, then.” 

I thought she must’ve come up with some evil plot, but when we went to the corner of the room, she produced the mountain of monster corpses as promised. 

When she opened her Garage Bag, a huge amount of blood came gushing out, but I dodged it right away with “Warp,” so I didn’t get a drop on me. 

Arisa looked disappointed, but I was sure that was only my imagination. 

“Looks like you didn’t completely exterminate all the monsters in the area, then?” 

“Yeah, we left the extra-weak ones and the small monkeys alone. Oh, and I think this might be edible?” 

“…A gold persimmon?” 

Arisa produced a largish persimmon from her Item Box and handed it to me. 

“Yeah, some kind of coconut crabs were growing them.” 

She then pulled out a bag from her Item Box containing a cushion-size coconut crab. 

It was dead, of course. My AR display indicated it was called a maze light fruitcrab ; the light part probably came from the light stone pebbles on its back. 

“They were stuck to the ceiling of a small cavern, shedding light on the persimmon trees.” 

So the crabs helped the trees grow, then ate the fruit when it was ripe? What an interesting symbiotic relationship. 

“Crabs growing persimmons? Reminds me of the old ‘The Monkey and the Crab’ folktale.” 

“Yeah, I had the same thought, so we only killed one crab and took one persimmon. We even used Mia’s magic to paralyze them so we could leave them a rice ball in exchange before we retreated.” 

Okay, you probably didn’t have to go that far. 

“So is the persimmon edible?” 

Arisa seemed more interested in eating the fruit than marveling at its unique ecology. 

“It doesn’t seem to be poisonous, but it’s the astringent type. I think all we could do with it is dry it.” 

The golden exterior made it look like a rare ingredient, so I searched my documents in Storage for any information on the fruit or the crab, but no results came up. 

“Oh? Why don’t we just pickle it in shochu to remove the astringency?” 

Arisa’s suggestion sounded like a grandmother’s wisdom. 

I would have to get her to teach me how later. 

“Huh, I’ve never actually heard of th—” 

Just then, the sound of a loud splash and screaming came from behind us. 

“OMG!” 

“Ouchie!” 

Tama and Pochi! 

I used “Warp” to teleport over to the source of the cries almost instantaneously. 

Tama and Pochi were lying there, their lower bodies turned bright red. According to my AR display, they’d sustained burns. 

“Here, I’ll heal you.” 

I selected the Water Magic spell Water Heal from the magic menu. 

Mia was starting a chant, but I thought it best to take care of this as quickly as possible. 

“Pochi! Tama!” 

Liza came running over with a Fairy Pack in hand. 

She must have been planning to heal them with potions. 

“Aye.” 

“We’re okay now, sir.” 

Even with their wounds healed, the pair’s bodies still seemed hot, so I put some ice from Storage next to them. 

“Cooool?” 

“Feels good, sir.” 

Still naked, Tama and Pochi pressed the ice against themselves. 

“What happened?” 

“I’m terribly sorry, master. It was entirely my fault.” 

“Boiling-hot bath.” 

Mia turned and pointed at the hottest tub. The lid had been removed. 

Liza had gotten overexciting about all the baths and taken off the lid to get in, and Tama and Pochi hadn’t been able to resist jumping in after her. 

Liza’s skin was red, too, but she didn’t seem to have any burns. 

“Don’t ever go into that bath again, you two.” 

“Aye-aye.” 

“Yes, sir.” 

Just to be safe, I gave Tama and Pochi a warning. 

“Master, we brought cold water.” 

“We must cool them down immediately, I report.” 

A disheveled Lulu and the ever-expressionless Nana came over with buckets of cold water. 

“Thanks, you two. I already healed them and gave them ice, so they should be fine now.” 

“Thank goodness.” 

“Master, your speedy problem-solving is commendable, I praise.” 

Lulu slumped to the floor in relief, and Nana splashed herself with the water in her bucket instead. 

Looking more carefully, I realized that Nana’s skin was also bright red. 

“Did you get into the boiling-hot bath, too?” 

“Yes, master. The tingling sensation was enjoyable, I report.” 

“Yes, it was a lovely bath,” Liza chimed in ecstatically. 

Um, isn’t that way too hot for anyone to enjoy? I looked at her quizzically. 

“One must simply circulate magic through one’s body, similar to using ‘Spellblade,’” she explained. 

I felt like there was probably something wrong with a bath that required the kind of defensive technique that would normally be reserved for fighting monsters. 

“Adding in ‘Body Strengthening’ improves the circulation, I declare.” 

Nana demonstrated, circulating magic while activating “Body Strengthening.” 

It made all her resistances and defense considerably higher, similar to the “Magic Power Armor” skill that Hayato the Hero had taught me. I decided to teach the vanguard how to do it later. 

At any rate, now that I understood what had happened… 

I produced some towels from Storage and handed them to the girls, who were all standing around chatting in the nude. 

“Eek!” 

Finally remembering that she was naked, Lulu shrieked and covered her chest. 

“All right, I’ll head back now. Enjoy your baths, everyone.” 

“Wait!” 

As I turned away to leave, Arisa grabbed my arm. 

For some reason, she was naked now, too. 

“You’ve seen all of us in the nude, so it’s only fair that you also get naked and join us.” 

“No, I don’t think so. Unlike you, some of the other girls are embarrassed to be seen naked.” 

I scolded the obviously thirsty Arisa. 

“Grrr…” 

“I’m glad you understand. Okay, I’ll get out of your hair now so you can relax…” 

“W-wait a second, please.” 

This time, it was Lulu who tugged on my sleeve to stop me. 

“U-ummm, errr… P-please join us?” 

…Wait, for real? 

That was very unlike Lulu. 

“That’s the spirit, Lulu! Come on—man up and strip down already!” 

“Mm. Join.” 

Mia grabbed on to my arm, too. 

“Allow me to wash your back for you, master.” 

Liza solemnly held up a towel. 

She looked like she was about to twist it up and attack me with it. 

Nana stepped forward with her towel as well. 

“Then I will wash master’s front, I declare.” 

No, that’s not going to happen for a lot of reasons. 

“Ahhh, that feels nice.” 

In the end, I agreed to join the group in the hot springs as long as I could stay clothed. 

I didn’t feel right bathing with a bunch of young girls, so I insisted on covering up with bathrobes and towels. 

Only Arisa, Mia, and Lulu were in the same tub with me. The other girls were dispersed among their preferred baths. 

“There’s crystal gravel on the stone floor of this one, huh?” 

“Pretty.” 

Arisa scooped up some of the gravel out of the water and held it to the light, while Mia gazed at it happily. 

I had made the stone floor and crystal gravel alike with Stone Object. 

I’d been extra careful while I made the gravel so nobody would get hurt. 

While setting up the floors, I’d also used the map’s 3-D view to keep an eye on any inclines, just like when I made the vacation home before. 

“I can’t believe Miss Liza and Nana liked the boiling-hot bath so much.” 

The heat-loving pair was back in the extra-hot tub. 

They seemed to be really enjoying it; their faces looked incredibly relaxed. 

“Masterrr?” 

“There’s a pure-white bath over there, sir.” 

Tama and Pochi returned from exploring all the open-air baths. 

“Isn’t this a sulfur spring?” 

“It is. That one’s milk-colored because I added nutrient-rich bathing powder to it. The powder is really good for your skin.” 

I know many Japanese people would consider it heresy to add anything to hot springs, but I happened to have a recipe for bathing powder for sulfur springs, so I couldn’t resist trying it out. 

““…Good for your skin?”” 

Arisa and Lulu both froze. 

Lulu in particular had moved closer to me with a red face and was staring somewhere in the vicinity of my collarbone, a reaction I hadn’t seen in a while. 

“Fine, I’m going in. I can’t resist the allure of beautiful skin.” 

“Nnngh… I’ll come, too.” 

Arisa took the lead, and a conflicted-looking Lulu reluctantly followed her with a heartbroken expression. 

“Pretty skiiin?” 

“Puru puru pururin, sir.” 

Doing a weird little dance, Tama and Pochi followed Arisa and Lulu. 

I wasn’t sure what the joke was supposed to be there, but they seemed to be having fun, so I didn’t press the subject. 

“You’re not going with them, Mia?” 

“Mm. All mine.” 

Mia smirked in a way that didn’t suit her age—or at least her youthful appearance—and leaned her head on my shoulder. 

I guess that’s all right every once in a while. 

I used the Pixie Light spell to make artificial fireflies dance around near the ceiling as we all enjoyed the hot springs. 

“OMG! Boat-wrap sushi, spiny lobster soup, and even chawanmushi?!” 

“Wild-plant tempura.” 

Arisa and Mia seemed very excited about the evening’s dinner offerings. 

My concept for the spread was inspired by the type of dinner that would be served at a traditional hot-springs inn, an onsen ryokan. 

Noticing the lack of meat, Tama and Pochi looked crestfallen, and Liza’s tail drooped despite her efforts to remain calm, so I decided to make them some nice thick steaks later. 

“Yes. They’re technically lobsters from Ganika Bay, but…” I trailed off, then revealed my secret dish with a grin. “I made this, too.” 

“Finally! In a way, that’s the real main dish!” 

“Boiled eggs?” Liza asked. 

“Nope! They’re the soul food of the hot springs—onsen tamago!” 

I think you’re exaggerating a little, Arisa. 

“All right, let’s eat.” 

I heard stomachs starting to rumble, so I let the feast begin. 

Arisa declared, “Thanks for the food!” to get things started. 

“Mmmm, silky! I can’t believe I get to eat onsen tamago in the middle of a labyrinth!” Arisa exclaimed delightedly. 

“Tempura, yummy.” 

Mia pushed the bowl of onsen tamago off on Arisa, digging into a plate of tempura-fried mushrooms similar to chicken of the woods. 

She liked hard-boiled eggs well enough, but apparently not soft-boiled or the slow-cooked softness of onsen tamago, eggs cooked in the hot springs. 

“It reminds me of soft-boiled eggs, but it’s not quite the same thing.” 

“The yolk is certainly similar, but the whites have scarcely solidified, perhaps?” 

Lulu and Liza, our two cooking enthusiasts, were analyzing the onsen tamago. 

Pochi, Tama, and Nana slurped down their eggs, then shifted their sights to the lobster and tempura. 

“Lobster’s yummyyy!” 

“Sashimi is good, too, sir.” 

“The ‘chawanmushi’ has cute chick shapes in it, I report.” 

Each of them seemed to have their own way of enjoying the dinner. 

I decided to dig in to the onsen tamago, too. 

First, I wanted to try it plain. I didn’t react as dramatically as Arisa, but the whites were uniquely delicious. 

Next, I dipped a bite into some special dashi stock. Slightly sweet dashi goes very well with onsen tamago. 

I made enough for each person to have three or so, but now I sort of wished I’d made more. 

They’d be delicious on top of a salad, too. 

Maybe I could get Mia to try it like that next time. 

“Master, eating onsen tamago makes me want to have ajitama next.” 

Arisa was referring to another Japanese egg dish, this one consisting of half-boiled eggs seasoned with sweet soy sauce. 

“Shall we have ramen and ajitama for lunch tomorrow, then?” 

“I want char-siu ramen, sir.” 

“Garlic ramen.” 

Pochi and Mia submitted requests, too. The others didn’t seem to have any objections. 

Training in the labyrinth certainly did require a lot of good food, baths, and rest. 

 

“Ouchie, sir.” 

In the last stage of a battle, Pochi’s Spellblade broke into shards of light, as if it had exploded. 

Everyone looked at her immediately, but she yelled, “I’m fine, sir,” so they shifted their focus back to the battle. 

Because Mia was in the middle of a Spirit Magic chant, she probably wouldn’t be able to heal Pochi right away, but I saw Pochi opening her Fairy Pack to drink a potion. 

“This is the end, I declare.” 

Nana shouted at the tiger monster with a tar-like hide using the “Taunt” skill. 

“Blast Armor!” 

She used a new special move to destroy the protective barrier around the coal tar tiger in one shot. 

“Draco Buster!” 

Next, Liza’s Magic Cricket Spear pierced through the tiger, dazzling with red light. 

The liquid around the monster went flying, opening a huge hole in its torso as if it’d been hit with a cannon. Liza’s new special attack was pretty brutal. 

But Liza didn’t seem to be quite satisfied with it; she gazed at her glowing red spear, looking deep in thought. 

“Man, so many Middle Stratum monsters have weird gimmicks.” 

Having cleared out the last monster in the area, Arisa and the others were taking a break. 

Monster hunting around the hot-springs area didn’t go as quickly as it would in the Upper Stratum, but it was nice to be able to kill as many monsters as we wanted without having to worry about other explorers, so the group was still leveling up at a steady pace. 

Everyone but Mia was getting close to level 50. 

“Mrrr. Behemoth.” 

Mia seemed annoyed that the monster had gone down before she could finish her Spirit Magic chant. 

The behemoth is strong, but it requires a lot of magic—even Mia ran out of MP completely after summoning one. Since Mia’s main role was healing and support, she really got to use that summon only against areamasters, the last monsters in a given area, and so on. 

“Yeah, the chants for summoning pseudo-spirits take a long time, so if we’re fighting a small fry, you won’t be able to finish before we do.” 

“Mm. Need shorter chant.” 

“Yeah, it’d be nice if that were possible…” 

Arisa and Mia were chatting about chants. 

“Arisa, are you focusing on power-up magic?” 

“Yeah, I can do most magic without chants, and I finally maxed out my Space Magic level, so I’m thinking I’ll stop leveling up Fire Magic when it reaches level eight and focus on power-enhancing magic or magic-recovering meditation-type spells.” 

According to Arisa’s impressions, the difference in effect between skill levels 8 to 9 and 9 to 10 were huge, even for greater magic spells. 

“Master, heal me, sir.” 

Pochi’s hand was bloody. 

It appeared that her “Spellblade” had misfired and injured her when she tried to use a special move earlier. She wasn’t very good at magic manipulation, so she probably stored up too much power and lost control. 

Maybe I could create some kind of toy that would help her practice manipulating magic? 

“You didn’t use a magic potion?” I asked as I healed her. 

“I didn’t want to waste it on this, sir.” 

“I’d rather you use it right away than hold off until after the battle.” 

“Yes, sir.” 

I chided her gently. 

The whole point of consumable goods was to consume them, after all. 

Since we’d defeated all the monsters in the area, we moved on to our traditional treasure hunt. 

“It’s getting pretty late. Once we finish treasure hunting, we’ll put a seal slate in the next area and go back to the labyrinth hot springs.” 

I’d set up a Japanese-style inn building next to the hot springs so we could spend the night there. 

We were using only a small portion of the inn by ourselves, so once we were done leveling up in the Middle Stratum, maybe I could open it up to the Echigoya Company as a recreation facility. 

As we searched for treasure chests, I asked everyone their dinner requests. 

“Pochi, I think I see something up on that cliff.” 

“Roger, sir.” 

Arisa was pointing at a cliff some sixty feet tall. 

She’d probably asked Pochi instead of Tama because of the difficult overhang and mossy rocks that made it hard to climb. 

Pochi used the same technique as a double jump to make footholds in midair and scamper up the cliff. 

This technique was called “Skywalking,” a skill she’d recently acquired that was a lesser version of my skill “Skyrunning.” In her case, she could make three or four footholds in a row. 

“There’s a treasure chest, sir!” 

Pochi grinned and waved from atop the cliff. 

I went up to join her with “Skyrunning” and brought the rest of the group using Magic Hand. 

The treasure chest was hidden between the boulders on top of the cliff, in a place that would be easy to miss. 

“Good job, Pochi.” 

“Hee-hee, sir.” 

I patted Pochi’s head, and her tail whipped back and forth. 

After a few minutes of this, we opened the treasure chest to see what was inside. 

“Katanaaa?” 

“A samurai sword, sir.” 

There was a one-handed Japanese-style katana inside the chest. 

“A normal Japanese sword?” 

“It’s technically a mithril-alloy Magic Sword. The inscription says…‘Van Helsing’? So maybe it’s not from the labyrinth?” 

I told Arisa the results of my investigation. 

According to my AR, it had been created a fairly long time ago. 

The blade itself didn’t have any special magic circuits, only a rune to make it sharper, but the sheath had a fixed magic circuit to ward off the effects of aging. 

“Hmm? So a real katana doesn’t go SHING! when you hold it?” 

“Isn’t that just an old-fashioned sound effect?” 

“Aw, man. I like SHING, though.” 

I couldn’t argue with that. 

If I made a Japanese-style sword, maybe I could add a circuit to produce sound effects. 

“Arisa, please let me borrow the katana, sir.” 

“Sure.” 

Arisa put the sword back in its sheath and handed it to Pochi. 

“Single-stroke kill, sir.” 

Pochi drew the sword dramatically, then sheathed it again. 

She had probably learned this in training from Mr. Kajiro the samurai or the elf teachers. 

“Tama toooo?” 

Pochi passed the blade to Tama, who strapped it to her back and jumped around like a ninja. 

“You like ninjas, Tama?” 

“Aye!” 

Come to think of it, Kajiro’s apprentice and love interest, Miss Ayaume, had taught Tama how to use ninja-style throwing weapons like shuriken and kunai. 

“Tama, ninjas might start out as petty thieves, but they get really cool when they level up!” 

“Like hooow?” 

“Well, you could learn substitution jutsu, or shadow clone jutsu, or be na—” 

Arisa started to make a reference to some old Western RPG, but I cut her off with a smack to the back of the head. 

The last thing Tama needed to know about was naked ninjas. What if she tried to imitate that? 

“Besides, real ninjas aren’t truly suited to close combat, are they?” 

They were better suited to sneaking behind enemy lines, gathering intel, assassinations, and so on. 

“I guess not. But fictional ninjas are way more fun anyway.” 

“Like whaaat?” 

“I want to know, too, sir.” 

Well, no point trying to be historically accurate in a parallel fantasy world, I suppose. 

Arisa went on explaining ninjas to the two of them, then suddenly stopped and turned around. 

“Oh, hey, master. Did you make that whip sword or the sickle and chain we talked about before?” 

The impractical weapons we’d discussed when Arisa was helping me come up with my Kuro disguise? 

Talking about ninja weapons must have reminded her. 

“Yes, more or less.” 

The sickle and chain was made out of normal steel, but I’d used techniques from creating Tama’s kunai and shuriken to make the whip sword so it could pull off all kinds of tricky movements. 

“Whoa, I can’t believe you actually made them!” 

When I produced the weapons from Storage, Arisa exclaimed in surprise. 

While I was at it, I showed off the drill mode I’d added to the whip sword just for kicks. 

“Ooooh, it’s so cool to see made-up weapons right before your eyes.” 

“I wanna tryyy!” 

“Me too, sir.” 

Warning them to be careful, I handed over the sickle and chain and the whip sword. 

Sure enough, Pochi got tangled up in the sickle and chain in no time, but Tama was pretty good with the whip sword. 

“I think I make a better samurai than ninja, sir.” 

“Then the brilliant Arisa will teach you all about real Japanese samurai, too!” 

Pochi was pouting a little, so Arisa started spouting off stories about fictional samurai. “Don’t get too carried away,” I warned her lightly, then went to help the other kids explore. 

“There’s a tea set in this treasure chest.” 

“It’s very unusual-looking, isn’t it?” 

“I like how round and cute it is.” 

There were twenty sets of white porcelain cups and dishes, along with matching spoons. The set even included a cute, fancy teapot. None of it had any magic tool–like functions, though. 

The case containing the set had an inscription in the Ancient Language, so it must have been brought into the labyrinth long ago, not produced in here. 

“Master, I have located a cup larvae in this light-brown material, I report.” 

“That’s a milk pitcher.” 

The light-brown stuff around the treasure chest seemed to be tea leaf dregs. 

We found two other chests, but neither contained anything particularly interesting, just gold coins and jewels. 

 

“Yessss, I hit level fifty!” 

By the last day of our somewhat lengthy labyrinth expedition, everyone but Mia had hit level 50. 

“Congratulations. All that hard work paid off.” 

Mia, who required more EXP to level up than the rest, looked a bit sulky, so I decided to take her to do some extra leveling up soon. 

“Wiiings?” 

Seconds after Tama tilted her head, I heard a small gunshot elsewhere in the labyrinth. 

Lulu peered through the scope of her laser gun. “It’s a bring bird.” 

She waited for the bird to come to rest on a far-off cliff and sniped it down. 

Bring birds moved incredibly quickly, distorted the space around them to make them difficult to locate, and could even use Short-Range Teleportation. 

They were tough to hit from a distance even for me. 

“That’s our Sniper King. I could never have hit that with my Spellblade Shot.” 

Liza looked like a proud older sister as she praised Lulu’s progress. 

Since Lulu’s marksmanship had improved, she’d gained titles like Magic Marksman and Sniper King. 

“…Mrrr, evil.” 

“Hi-yaaaah!” 

As soon as Mia spoke a warning, Arisa used a chant-less Fire Magic spell. 

The smallish maze cockroach that had been approaching from the darkness went up in flames. 

“There are way too many maze cockroaches and maze rats in the Middle Stratum.” 

“Maybe they make good prey for the other monsters?” 

Both reproduced quickly and could survive even in the toughest conditions. Most likely, the maze rats fed on the smaller maze cockroaches, and then other monsters ate the maze rats. 

They might make good targets for leveling up the Echigoya Company girls. I made a note in my memo tab. 

“Master, have I gained a new skill? I inquire.” 

“Not yet, but you got a new Foundation slot.” 

“Please install additional techniques when we return, I request.” 

Nana latched on to me urgently. 

All right, all right, just stop shoving those up against me. 

“Also… Arisa.” 

“Me?” 

I looked at Arisa and nodded toward Tama and Pochi, prompting her to check out their stats. 

“No way! One-Stroke Kill and Ninjutsu?” 

Ever since Arisa had told them stories about fictional samurai and ninja, Tama and Pochi had been playing around with the katana we found whenever they had a chance, which had probably resulted in them gaining these skills. 

I guess it’s true that you should do what you love. 

 

“So this is the Room of Trials where one fights a floormaster? I inquire.” 

“That’s right.” 

I nodded. Since most of the group had reached level 50, we were celebrating with a field trip to check out the Room of Trials in the Upper Stratum. 

“It’s pretty big, huh?” 

The area we were in, section 66, consisted solely of this room, the Room of Trials. 

It was big enough to hold five giant monster fish at once, and the ceiling was over 150 feet high. 

There was an altar in the middle of the room; if one placed an areamaster core there and chanted a summoning incantation, the floormaster would appear. 

The majority of the room was flat and empty, while stone steps encircled the outer edges like arena seats. 

…No, wait. It looked flat because it was so big, but there were actually large seven-to-ten-foot rocks scattered throughout the room aside from the center, so there’d be no shortage of cover. Although there was no telling if those would actually be sturdy enough to protect from a floormaster’s attack. 

We’d have to clear out the many monsters prowling amid the rocks before fighting the floormaster. 

“We could probably take on a floormaster soon, no?” 

“As long as it’s a good match for your abilities.” 

According to the guild documents, the floormasters in the Upper Stratum were around level 55. My group should be able to handle one as long as it wasn’t a particularly disadvantageous matchup. 

“Want to take a look?” 

“Huh? You mean, summon a floormaster right now?” 

Arisa looked panicked, so I smiled reassuringly. “No, no. Jelil’s team is fighting the floormaster of the Middle Stratum right now. I thought we could go observe if you’d all like.” 

“Let’s gooo?” 

“I want to see, too, sir.” 

“Yes, it should be quite educational.” 

“Yes, master. Let us go, I request.” 

The vanguard team seemed very interested in observing the fight. 

“What would you girls like to do?” 

“Let’s check it out, of course!” 

“Mm. Agreed.” 

“Yes, me too.” 

Once the rearguard team agreed as well, I led the way to the Middle Stratum through section 1. 

Because we were traveling in secret this time, I gave each of them a transparency cloak from the City Core treasure room so we could conceal ourselves. 

“Ooh, they’re really going at it.” 

We took a slightly roundabout route to reach the Room of Trials where Mr. Jelil and company were fighting the Middle Stratum’s floormaster. 

The first sight that greeted us was the ice ivy emperor, a plant monster covered in frozen snow crystals, thrashing around in battle. 

It was only level 55, so that was probably the lowest-level floormaster that could appear in the Middle Stratum. 

“Looks like they changed the whole setup of the Room of Trials to work to their advantage.” 

“A long, thin pit?” 

“That’s a trench. We use those sometimes when we make encampments, no?” 

“Clever.” 

“I agree with Mia, I declare.” 

The girls seemed impressed with the way the group was using the terrain to its advantage for a long-term battle. 

“See-throoough?” 

“It seems kind of faint, sir.” 

Tama and Pochi pointed out the ivy monster’s semitransparent state. 

“Looks like it has a special phase-through ability.” 

Magic Swords and spells would work on it, but attacks like catapults and crossbows appeared to have little effect. The battering ram and wrecking ball on the far end of the room probably wouldn’t see any action this time, then. 

“Jelil’s pretty amazing.” 

“Powerful.” 

Mia nodded. 

Jelil was fighting fearlessly on the front lines, wielding the Flame Sword I’d lent him. 

The ice ivy emperor appeared to be weak to the fire attribute—it withdrew its vines whenever Jelil’s sword approached. 

On top of that, it didn’t seem to be able to keep up its phase-through ability when it was flinching, so other attacks besides Jelil’s and the mages’ on the back lines could affect it. 

The monster’s health gauge in my AR display was already quite low. Their victory was probably drawing near. 

“They’re all awfully low on stamina. Wonder how long they’ve been fighting?” 

“Well, I know the ice ivy emperor already appeared when I was building the hot springs.” 

Every night before bed, in order to get a sound sleep, I always checked my map for demons, demon lords, and other strong monsters. 

Hywoooohze. 

Just as its health got down to 30 percent, the ivy monster let out a shrill noise like a flute. 

“Magic gone.” 

“Geh, does it have some kind of magic-dampening skill?!” 

Mia and Arisa exclaimed in surprise. 

“No, it’s a race-specific skill that neutralizes magic.” 

I pointed at Mr. Jelil’s Flame Sword: The fire was returning to it as he fell back. 

“That’s a nasty ability. If a flying monster had something like that, Lulu would be the only one who could fight it.” 

“Yes, we’ll have to devise some sort of countermeasure.” 

Enthusiastic as always, Arisa and Liza were already discussing strategy. 

Hywoooohze. 

Over on the battlefield, the monster shrilled again, almost as if it were laughing at the confusion it had caused. 

“The roots over there are moving, sir.” 

“Ruuumble?” 

“Why’s the ground shaking?” 

“Mrrr?” 

The younger kids noticed something strange. 

Right before our eyes, vines burst out of the ground at Jelil’s and his party’s feet. 

Some of them emerged amid the middle and rear guard, spraying ice thorns that tore through their thin defenses. 

“Aaah!” 

“Extreme danger warning, I report.” 

“There will be no avoiding casualties at this rate.” 

Just as Nana and Liza said, Jelil’s middle and rear guard were in danger. 

Jelil himself was fine, but some of the heavily armored vanguard were trapped in place by the wildly thrashing roots. 

According to my AR, it had gone into rampage mode , an appropriate name for the desperate way it was attacking seemingly at random. 

“Master, should we help them?” 

“Maybe a little. I’ll go lend a hand.” 

I could probably just buy time for them to get back on their feet. 

Transforming into Kuro, I went up near the ceiling and positioned myself above the ice ivy emperor. 

With a loud rumble, the monster burrowed into the bare earth. 

The dust blocked my vision, so I dispersed it with the Wind Magic spell Gust. 

When more ivy sprouted from the ground and started flailing around, I used Magic Hand to limit its movements. 

This part didn’t seem to have the magic-neutralizing effect. 

“Who are you?!” Jelil shouted. 

“Forget about that. Just get yourselves regrouped.” 

Easily dodging the attacks from the enraged ice ivy emperor, I used Magic Hand to pick up the injured party members and move them to safer ground in the back. 

“We’re done evacuating! You should run, too.” 

It hadn’t even been ten minutes, but the group had already recovered enough to retreat. 

Impressed with their efficiency, I tossed a flash bomb and a smoke bomb at the floormaster, then retreated to the back with Jelil and his party. 

“Thank you for your aid. I am Jelil of Red Dragon’s Roar. Might I know the name of our rescuer?” 

“I am Kuro, a follower of the Hero.” 

Mr. Jelil wanted to thank me, but I insisted that I’d just found them by chance and left with Return. 

Once I met back up with my kids, we watched as Jelil and his party regrouped. 

This time, they positioned their rear guard in a safe place and arranged a few tanks around the vicinity to increase security. I appreciated their cautious approach. 

We went back to a teleport point in the Upper Stratum, removed the transparency cloaks, and headed for the exit. 

“Do you think we’d be able to beat that?” 

“No prooob?” 

“Easy, sir.” 

“Don’t be too overconfident.” 

Pride was a dangerous thing, but I did think my group would be able to fight a floormaster like that injury-free with their current equipment. 

“Once Mia reaches level fifty and we do some preparations, would you like to try?” 

The girls all looked at one another, then turned toward me and nodded in unison. 

“Let’s do it! We’ll win for sure,” said Arisa. 

“Yes, of course,” Liza agreed. 

“Let’s gooo?” 

“Yeah, sir!” 

Tama and Pochi cheered, prompting the others to do the same. 

I guess I’d better start preparing, too, then. 





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