Sacrificial Labyrinth
Satou here. Mad scientists used to show up all the time in old stories, but now I feel like you don’t see them as often, which seems like a shame. Of course, I’d never want to meet one in real life, obviously.
“Security is strict, I declare.”
“The labyrinth is a sort of military training area for Yowork Kingdom, I suppose.”
Nana and Liza gazed at the multitude of walls and trenches in front of the labyrinth, all bustling with soldiers.
“Master, how are we going to get in?”
“By force?”
“I wouldn’t do anything that violent.”
I didn’t really want to make that kind of move, even if it would admittedly be the easiest way in.
“I’ll sneak in on my own and then come get all of you.”
“Tama toooo?”
“Ooh, it’s Tama the Ninja’s time to shine!”
If I was going to take anyone along, Tama made sense: She was the team’s scout and had a lot of stealth-related skills that should prevent her from being detected.
Pochi wanted to come along, too. Luckily, Arisa talked her into staying behind by telling her that a samurai is supposed to stand in the back with their sword at the ready.
“All right, put this on and let’s go.”
“Nin-nin.”
I handed a transparency cloak to Tama, who had changed into a pink ninja costume, and put one on myself. (The cloak, not the pink ninja costume.)
“From here on out, we’ll use hand signals to communicate, okay?”
“Aye!”
We left the others behind and raced from shadow to shadow.
Eventually, we reached an area where there was no cover to hide us from the guards.
“Let’s activate the transparency cloaks. You lead the way now, Tama. I’ll be right behind you, don’t worry.”
“Aye.”
We both charged our transparency cloaks with magic power, and its optical camouflage kept us hidden as we crept between the guards without a sound. Since I was still able to see people who were otherwise invisible, I followed Tama easily.
I’d been worried about whether one of the guards might have “Magic Detection” or some such skill, but since the Magic Furnace in front of the labyrinth was in full operation, it would probably prevent the minor magic of the transparency cloaks from being detected.
Still, I found it strange that the Magic Cannons, Fire Rods, and other weapons positioned near the labyrinth entrance were pointed away from it.
They must be more concerned about attackers from the outside than monsters escaping from within.
…Whoops.
While I was distracted, Tama had reached the entrance and was waiting for my signal. I quickly slipped through to her side.
There was a large iron door set in front of the labyrinth entrance that seemed to be kept closed when not in use.
We waited for some soldiers to pass through, and I picked up Tama and used “Skyrunning” to pass above their heads and into the labyrinth.
The place smelled musty inside, more like the ruins underneath the old capital than the labyrinth of Celivera.
We avoided the torch-lit hallways and found an area with no one around before we took off our transparency cloaks.
“Good work. We made it inside.”
“Mission compleeete!”
Tama spun around happily.
Once her celebratory dance was done, I used “Search Entire Map” to get information about the labyrinth.
Hmm?
In my documents, this labyrinth was called the “Goblin Labyrinth”; on the map, however, its name was “Sacrificial Labyrinth.” Maybe the name changed when they sacrificed the royal family of Kuvork Kingdom to revive the labyrinth.
I skimmed the rest of the information.
While it didn’t reveal the location of the Dungeon Core or dungeonmaster, there were pathways and doors on the Middle and Lower strata that seemed to lead to separate maps. They must be hidden in one of those empty map areas, no doubt.
Ideally, the separate map in the Middle Stratum would be the hideout of the imperial mage Orchidee Matossh, the Geist user who was my original goal in coming here…
“Let’s goooo?”
“Right. We should bring everyone else in here.”
I put down a seal slate and used Return to get back to everyone else, then made a round trip back inside the labyrinth.
“Now, our destinations are on floors twenty and twenty-four of the Middle Stratum, and floor fifty of the Lower Stratum.”
“Floors? So this is one of those classic, big multi-level dungeons?”
I nodded at Arisa.
The labyrinths in Seiryuu City and Celivera weren’t big multi-level dungeons, so “classic” didn’t necessarily apply in this world. I guess you could say the ruins under the old capital were sort of like a multi-level dungeon?
“I believe the imperial mage Orchidee is hiding in one of those two areas in the Middle Stratum. Our main goal is to capture him and get him to free Arisa and Lulu from the Geist.”
My backup plan was to get Orchidee put under a Geist and acquire the skill so I could do it myself, although I didn’t mention this part, since I didn’t want to worry everyone.
“Our other goal is to attack the dungeonmaster in the Lower Stratum and destroy the Dungeon Core to free the souls of Arisa’s and Lulu’s family members.”
That should be a lot simpler, since it was just breaking things.
“Most of the enemies in this dungeon are bipedal: demi-goblins, demi-orcs, demi-ogres, and so on. They all have stronger variations like demi-goblin assassins, so don’t let your guards down.”
There were also creatures like slimes, rats, and even chimeras.
“There are Yowork Kingdom soldiers training against monsters in here, too. We’ll avoid them as much as possible, but there are a few places on the route where we won’t have a choice. Just remember that we’ll have to stay hidden and sneak past them when that happens.”
My companions all nodded, looking determined.
“Let’s go, then. Pochi and I will take the lead. Nana and Lulu will protect Mia and Arisa in the middle, and Liza and Tama will bring up the rear.”
Since the passages were narrow, I chose a modified double-file formation.
As soon as we started down the path, we immediately started running into demi-goblins.
GGWOOOOOZB.
“Too slow! Sir.”
Pochi ducked under a left hook thrown by a demi-goblin grappler and slashed up its vulnerable torso.
GGWOOOOOZB.
GGWOOOOOZB.
This time, a demi-goblin swordsman and a demi-goblin thief leaped at her.
“Hi-yaaa, sir!”
Pochi’s kick sent the thief flying into the path of the swordsman’s attack, shielding her.
When her foot hit the ground, she launched herself forward and slashed both attackers in two with her “Spellblade”-infused Magic Sword.
“Mr. Demi-guys aren’t enough of a challenge, sir.”
“Pochi, pride cometh before a fall,” Liza warned.
“Yes, sir. Pochi is always wombat ready, sir.”
I think she meant to say “combat ready.”
“Next sounds flabbyyy?”
“Flabby? Must be orcs, then.”
“Mr. Hate pig snouts.”
“Yes, Mia. Demi-orc eyes are also very unpleasant, I declare.”
A group of demi-orcs came running from the darkness.
Unlike the fairy race of orcs that I met in the underground of the old and royal capitals, these demi-orcs looked exactly like the piglike race you might see in an old computer RPG.
“Quick attack! Grilled pork jutsu!”
Mia’s Flamethrower spell burned all the demi-orcs to a crisp.
Of course, there was no grilled pork jutsu. Arisa was probably being silly, as usual.
“Fireball jutsuuu?”
Tama used a flame-based ninja technique to toast a demi-goblin assassin that had crept up on us from behind. In her case, it was a ninjutsu using fire stone powder, not magic.
“There are a lot of goblins and orcs, aren’t there?”
“Yes, Lulu. Wherever there is one, thirty more are sure to follow, I declare.”
Lulu used her dual-wielded guns to shoot down demi-goblins and demi-orcs even as she spoke.
Nana followed up with a “Shield Bash” to take out any that escaped Lulu’s sniping.
“Satou.”
A small sylph floated next to Mia.
“Soldiers.”
She pointed at one of the hallways.
Apparently, she was using a sylph split into many smaller spirits to investigate the hallways, since the others had the fighting under control.
Unfortunately, the path with the soldiers was one we needed to use to get to the lower levels. Once the battle was over, I took everyone to get a closer look from a safe distance.
“There they are.”
In a large cavern, the Yowork soldiers were fighting some monsters, specifically a group of demi-orcs around level 15.
Shieldsmen in tattered armor were taking their blows head-on, while the soldiers in back with proper armor used their spears to attack the demi-orcs.
“Stay where you are, meat shield squad!”
One of the spearsmen shouted at a shieldsman who had flinched back under the demi-orcs’ powerful onslaught.
What a terrible name for a squad.
“I said stay put!”
When the shieldsman still fell back, the spearsman kicked him forward.
“Gya-ha-ha, that idiot just took a punch right to the skull.”
“Think he’s dead?”
“Nah, he looks alive. Those Kuvork scum are tough.”
“Quit yammering, idiots!”
The spearsmen were jeering at the shieldsmen’s plight.
Evidently, there was a strict hierarchy within the troops.
“Wait…”
Hearing Arisa whisper, I turned around.
“…That’s the Kuvork Kingdom crest.”
The shield-toting “meat shield squad” turned out to be slave soldiers from the fallen Kuvork Kingdom, while the spearsmen behind them were regular members of the Yowork army.
“That oughtta do it… Magic squad, finish them off!”
The mages finished their chants, and a volley of spells like Fire Ball and Toss Stone hit the demi-goblins.
The largest majority seemed to be Fire and Flame Magic users, followed by Earth Magic users. There were only a few Wind Magic and Water Magic users, and no users at all of Ice, Lightning, Light, or Dark.
“How cruel…”
The spells had engulfed the shieldsmen as well as the demi-orcs; the mages must need more practice. Fortunately, no one was killed, but many of them had burns or broken bones.
“Hey, did you guys do that on purpose?”
“Those mages are even meaner than us, heh.”
The spearsmen pointed and laughed at the shieldsmen as they rolled on the ground to put out the flames.
This was horrible treatment, even if they were slaves from a former enemy kingdom.
“Master, a large bipedal monster I’ve never seen before is approaching, I report.”
“It doesn’t seem to be a little giant. It has horns and a hideous appearance, like a demi-goblin made much larger.”
I followed Nana’s and Liza’s gaze.
“That’s a demi-ogre.”
It was level 30 and loomed at over ten feet tall, with an enormous club in hand.
LUOOORGAAAA.
The demi-ogre’s hoarse roar echoed in the cavern.
“Captain! It’s an ogre, sir!”
“An ogre all the way up here?”
“But why? They live at least another five floors down.”
“Maybe the sounds of our spells attracted it?”
“Calm down! We’ll retreat starting with the first squad. Scouts, throw smoke bombs! Shieldsmen, take the rear! If the ogre catches up to us, fight it to buy time. That’s an <Order>!”
The Yowork Kingdom soldiers began to flee, leaving the wounded slave soldiers to die defending them.
“Master, please. We have to save those people.”
Lulu looked at me with tears in her eyes.
Arisa, who was hanging her head, looked up at the sound of Lulu’s voice. Her face was deathly pale.
“Don’t worry. I’ve got this.”
I patted Lulu and Arisa and gave them a reassuring nod.
“Master, what are we going to do?”
Arisa looked panicked, probably because the shieldsmen were moments from getting attacked if we didn’t intervene.
While most of the Yowork soldiers had escaped from the smoke-filled cavern, there were still enough of them left to see us if we showed ourselves.
“Simple. We’ll do this.”
LUOOORGAAAA.
I used my “Ventriloquism” skill to imitate the roar of the demi-ogre, and produced the image of a group of ogres with the Light Magic spell Illusion.
Luckily, the Illusion spell startled the demi-ogre into stopping in its tracks, looking this way in confusion.
“Pochi will help, too, sir.”
“Tama toooo?”
I handed some oversize hammers to Tama and Pochi to create vibrations in time with the fake footsteps. Who would have thought some weapons I made just for kicks would come in handy like this?
“More ogres! At least a dozen of them!”
“Run for itttt! They’ll eat us alive!”
As soon as they saw the illusion, the Yowork soldiers abandoned their orderly retreat and started stampeding away.
“Shieldsmen! Defend this place down to the last man, dammit!”
Bellowing another heartless order, the commander vanished down the hallway.
I produced a few large boulders from Storage and used my always-activated Practical Magic spell Magic Hand to throw them down the hall, blocking the passage where the soldiers had fled. Now they were successfully separated.
“Dammit! The ogres threw rocks to block our escape!”
“Not like we could’ve run away, thanks to that damned captain’s orders anyway.”
“Yeah…if I’ve gotta die, I wish I coulda died fighting for my family and kingdom instead of getting eaten by ogres, ya know?”
The slave soldiers from the former Kuvork Kingdom seemed resigned to their fate.
I decided to draw the demi-ogre’s attention before they started a suicide attack.
LUOOOORGAAAAA.
I used my “Ventriloquism” again to imitate the demi-ogre, this time adding the “Taunt” skill to the mix.
“Arisa, use Fire Magic to make a show of defeating the demi-ogre, please.”
“I’m on it! …‘Flame Pillar’!”
A column of fire shot up under the demi-ogre’s feet.
It started to flee, so I used my new Iron Toss spell to make an instant cage around it.
“One of the ogres is using magic!”
“Friendly fire?”
“Let’s run while we—gaaaah!”
One of the slave soldiers tried to tell the others to flee, only to fall to the ground.
The enslavement collar around his neck must have tightened because he tried to disobey an order.
Shoot.
“I’m going to knock them out. Evacuate them without the soldiers back there noticing, okay?”
I put an ogre-like Illusion spell over myself and charged right into the middle of the slave soldiers with “Warp.”
“A smaller ogre!”
“Dammit, it’s too fast!”
I knocked out the slaves one after another with my “Abduction” skill.
Tama and Pochi, making a zipped-lips gesture, put unconscious slaves onto stretchers and carried them out. Nana and Pochi carried one under each arm, and even the delicate Lulu carried one out on her back.
Once they were out of harm’s way, Arisa performed triage, identifying the most severely wounded for Mia to use her Healing Magic on.
They should be able to take care of the wounded from here.
One of the soldiers tried to peer in from beyond the blocked passage, so I hit the ceiling of the passage with the Fire Magic spell Chain Fire Shot. On the other side, soldiers yelled and commanders gave orders in alarm.
The spell sealed off the top of the boulder, which should prevent any unwanted intrusions for a while.
I took over making fake battle sounds for the busy Tama and Pochi and used my “Ventriloquism” skill to try to act out the slave soldiers’ hopeless battle and ultimate demise against the demi-ogres.
“Don’t eat meee! Please don’t eat—gaaaAAAAH!”
LUOOOORGAAAA.
“That was my best friend, damn you! DIIIIIIIIIE!”
LUOOOORGAAAA.
“GAAAAAAAAH!”
My companions stared at me, their eyes wide. Maybe I overdid it with the acting a little bit.
…It made it a little embarrassing to act with them watching, though.
We changed the slave soldiers into clean clothes, ripped up their bloodied armor and clothing with the dead demi-goblin’s tusks and claws, and scattered them around the room. Since there were tons of orc corpses in the room, I destroyed them with Wind Magic and sent bones and flesh flying everywhere.
That should be good enough to fake the soldiers’ deaths.
Thanks to the help of my “Forgery” and “Counterfeit” skills, it should be believable even if the Yowork soldiers bothered to investigate with the “Analyze” skill.
“…Who are you?”
“I’m Kuro, a retainer of Nanashi the Hero. His Highness Sir Eruus sent me to save you.”
Disguised as Kuro, I addressed the slave soldiers face-to-face when they awoke.
“A hero’s retainer!”
“Wh-where are we?”
The soldiers looked around.
We were in the City Core room in the great desert.
I’d used Unit Deployment to bring them here. Arisa had protested, worrying like always, but I managed to convince her by borrowing the soul shell garland artifact she wore to prevent her soul vessel from being damaged.
“A place where we can undo your slave contract.”
“R-really?! You’re gonna free us from slavery?!”
“That’s right. I’ll make you all honorary hereditary knights, then strip the title away.”
My explanation didn’t seem to be sufficient because the men and women just exchanged confused looks.
“Wh-what will that do, exactly?” one of them ventured.
“When you first receive a noble title, you’re automatically freed from a slave contract. With this method, we don’t need permission from your master in the Yowork army.”
They all happily agreed to this, so I gave each of them the title, broke their slave contracts, and took the title away, repeating the process for each one.
> Title Acquired: Liberator
> Title Acquired: Hatchet Man
For some reason, I earned a few titles in the process. The latter was probably for “firing” them from the honorary rank.
Once they were freed from slavery, I grabbed them with Magic Hand and moved them to a location near Kageus City with Unit Deployment.
“Sir Eruus is in that city. You’re on your own from here.”
With that, I gave them enough money to enter the city and a letter to explain things to Eruus.
Since they might look suspicious showing up in only civilian clothes, I used Bonecraft to whip up some armor and weapons and gave them some bags with preserved foods from my excessive stock. I made sure the equipment was no better than that of an average soldier’s, so hopefully it would be fine.
“I’m back. I brought them to the city and sent them Eruus’s way.”
“Thank you, Master.”
“Master, thank you so much.”
Arisa and Lulu came running over with worried expressions when I returned, so I told them what had happened with the slave soldiers.
“Master, we faked the ogres’ retreat, I report.”
“Thanks. It looks great.”
“Mm. Perfect.”
Mia puffed up her chest proudly.
I’d asked the rest of the group to make it look like the ogres left, and they did even better than I expected. The footprints and battle damage looked incredibly realistic.
“Mia used her spirits to bring up some real ogres from the lower floors.”
Oh, so they brought in the real thing… No wonder it looked so convincing.
“Master, shall I retrieve the iron spikes impaling the ogre corpse? I inquire.”
Nana was probably referring to the cone-shaped iron spears that my Toss Iron spell produced from the floor.
“My magic mostly melted them… Wait, it’s just coating?”
On closer inspection, the iron was only plating, with a stone interior.
I guess the Toss Iron spell collects iron sand from the ground and creates stalagmites coated with iron to increase their piercing power.
Although we probably wouldn’t get much metal, it was rare for Nana to offer a suggestion like this. I used my refining spells Melt Metal and Extract Metal to collect the iron.
As she watched this process, Pochi’s stomach growled.
“Well, we can’t exactly eat lunch here. Let’s head a little farther down and take a break.”
I popped pieces of jerky into Pochi’s and Tama’s mouths as I spoke.
Then I returned the soul shell garland to Arisa, and we went five floors down and had some lunch. I made the meal a little meat-heavy since the beastfolk girls seemed disappointed that there wasn’t any prey to get meat from in this dungeon.
Once we’d raised our spirits with a meal, we headed deeper into the labyrinth and dealt with an increasing amount of demi-ogres, aiming for the empty map areas of the Middle Stratum.
“Master, that demi-ogre has a gun for an arm, I report.”
“There are demi-orcs with extra eyes and demi-goblins with multiple heads not far from here, too.”
When we reached the first of our Middle Stratum destinations, Nana and Liza spotted some strange monsters.
“Chimeras.”
“Maybe Orchidee modified them?”
“I almost feel bad for the poor creatures.”
Evidently, they were breeding and mutating monsters to increase Yowork Kingdom’s military might.
I thought a chimera might have its creator’s name in the AR display, but I couldn’t find any such thing in the information column.
“Found a gaaate?”
Tama returned from scouting the blank area.
We followed her to the gate.
“Rusty.”
“It has not been well cared for, I complain.”
Just as Mia and Nana said, the gate that separated the blank area from the rest of the labyrinth was made of rusty iron.
“No traaaps?”
Both Tama and my “Trap Detection” skill found it free of any traces of traps.
“Want to try picking the lock, Tama?”
“Aye.”
Tama fiddled with her tool kit until the lock opened with a clink.
“Got iiit.”
“Nicely done, Tama.”
“Nyeh-heh-heh.”
I praised Tama’s successful lockpicking effort.
Just to be safe, I changed into my Kuro disguise to keep my identity secret and had the rest of the group put on full-face gold armor.
The other map seemed to start from the corridor on the other side of the gate. I used the Search Entire Map spell and found one mage, dozens of sleeping chimeras, and ten golems and living dolls that served the mage.
“How’s it look, Master?”
“There’s a mage, but not the Geist user we’re looking for.”
The bigger problem was the chimeras—specifically, the test subjects used to make them.
“Emergencyyyy?”
“Hi-ya, sir!”
“Master, enemy attack, I report.”
I closed the menu screen in my AR display.
Up ahead, the vanguard team stood over the remains of a battle golem with a sword and shield for hands.
“Master! Come quickly, please!”
Liza called me from farther down the hall.
“What…in the world…?”
“Mrr…”
The room was lined with over a dozen cylindrical tubes like the one used for modifying homunculi like Nana; each of them contained a chimera in progress, suspended in orange liquid.
“They’re combining humans and monsters…”
Lulu trailed off in shock.
“Don’t look at that,” I murmured, pulling her close.
Liza covered Pochi’s and Tama’s eyes, while Nana covered Mia’s, turning away.
“They used Kuvork Kingdom knights as test subjects.”
Tears streamed down Arisa’s face as she bit her lip.
“Wh-who the hell are you people? Gaaaaah!”
A robed mage emerged from the back of the room.
My AR display showed his name as “Bedgar,” a different imperial mage from the one we were seeking.
“You’re here to steal muh-muh-my research, aren’t yoooou?!”
“Feel my fury! ‘First Blaaaast’!”
While Bedgar spoke in a strange manner, Arisa struck him with a chantless Space Magic spell.
“Bgyaaaaah!”
His face crumpling, he tumbled back with blood spewing from his nose.
She must have used her new nonlethal knockout spell that focused air into a compressed blast.
Even at the height of anger, Arisa could still control herself enough to not kill anyone.
I assume that shouting a silly attack name even in an emotionally charged moment like this was her way of letting off steam.
“Gaaaah! You punched muh-muh-meeeeeee!”
“I don’t care if not even your father hit you! ‘Punishing Second Buuuuurst’!”
As Bedgar clutched his nose and fell back, Arisa piled on more chantless attacks.
“And the finishing blow, ‘Third Impac’—!”
“Arisa, that’s enough.”
I stopped Arisa’s magic before she could accidentally kill him.
“P-pleef donf kill me!”
Evidently broken by the storm of shock wave attacks, Bedgar begged for his life as blood ran from his broken nose and drooping face.
“We won’t be able to understand him like this…”
I used Healing Magic only on the area of his mouth, sprinkling some bitter liquid from an old failed experiment over him as a distraction.
“Can you talk?”
“DUH-DIIIIIIIIE!”
Without answering my question, Bedgar pulled out a hidden wand from his sleeve and aimed it at Arisa. It seemed to be a small, pistol-like Fire Rod.
But before it could shoot fire, the rod was blown to bits, along with the hand that held it. Lulu had beaten him to the draw.
“GAAAAAAH! Muh-muh-my haaaaaand!”
“If you resist, your life is forfeit.”
I hit Bedgar hard with my “Intimidation” skill, just barely restraining it enough to keep him from fainting.
“Eeeeeek! Sp-spare meeeeee!”
The man trembled, turning even paler.
“Answer my questions, then.”
“Gaaah… I-if I answer yuh-your questions, yuh-you’ll spare meeee?”
“If you answer honestly, I swear my friends and I won’t kill you.”
“A-all riiiight. Puh-puh-pleez, ask me whatever yuh-you waaaant!”
Several kinds of fluids dripped from Bedgar’s face as he nodded rapidly.
“First question. Can you turn these chimeras back into humans?”
“Gaaaah, of course nottt. Just like you can’t turn berry jam buh-back into berries…”
Bedgar answered through tearful cackles.
“Even with an elixir?”
“That might work on some average chimeraaa, but not on muh-muh-my perfect chimeraaa! They’re made with fusion devices produced with elf technologyyyy.”
Elf technology…?
I checked the glass cylinders and found that the creator’s name was “Touya.”
That wasn’t a proper elf name. If anything, it was most likely a reincarnation that made the equipment.
I wrote the name in my list of notable persons so I wouldn’t forget.
“So you’re saying there’s no way to turn them back?”
“Not by muh-muh-meeee. The fuh-freaks in the ‘Sage’s Tower’ or the taboo arts of the Weaselman Empire might be able to do it, thooough…”
He might just be blowing hot air, but I wrote down the information anyway, since Arisa had gone to the trouble of getting it out of him.
“Next question. Why did you make them into chimeras?”
“O-only under His Majesty the King’s orders, sirrrrr. I was instructed to use duh-dragon components to make an unbeatable army of powerful dragonkin, to rebuild the Great Eldohk Kingdom, gaaaaah!”
So this was the king’s doing…
“What kind of dragon components?”
“We got a little bit of duh-dragon blooood, so I used it for fusions with demi-dragons like hydra and naga. Muh-my techniques are the greatest in all the laaaand!”
So they used dragon blood and demi-dragon parts.
That explained why the chimera test subjects had reptilian features.
“…So how were you planning on controlling these powerful dragonkin, anyway?”
This time, Arisa asked a question. Bedgar’s face twisted madly.
“The needles, heh-heh. We control them with the ‘Doom Needles’ I stuck in their buh-braaains. No one can withstand pain directly in the brain, not even spiiiies who have trained to resist torture, or those damned noble-minded kniiights, gaaah!”
That sounded more like science fiction than fantasy. Maybe this technology came from the same reincarnation who might’ve provided the chimera fusion device.
I searched my map and found that there were “Doom Needles” in the chimera victims’ brains and in a vault in the lab. Luckily, I was able to put them directly into Storage with Magic Hand.
“And if you still couldn’t control them?”
“We’d use the black magic bombs I put in their hearts to blow them to smithereeeens!”
Bedgar cackled triumphantly.
“Don’t you dare laugh…! ‘Final Rainbow of Raaaage’!”
Arisa used another Space Magic attack to send him flying.
The shock wave hit his chin like an uppercut, knocking him through the air in a perfect arc, like a rainbow. It was as perfectly executed as a finishing blow from a boxing manga.
“Don’t worry, Arisa. I already took the needles and bombs out of them.”
“Thanks, Master.”
I hugged Arisa close and whispered in her ear.
Then I used my Magic Hand to catch Bedgar in his clumsy attempt at an escape and dragged him back.
“Next question. Where is the imperial mage Orchidee Matossh?”
“O-Orchideeee? That wily senior bastard’s been around longer than muh-meee. He’s in the research lab four floors down, gaaah.”
Evidently, our target was to be found in the blank area on the twenty-fourth floor.
“One last question. What is Orchidee up to down there?”
“What is that traitor doing, yuh-you aaask?”
Bedgar glared at nothing, his face warped with anger at the mere thought of Orchidee.
“He said he was tired of the valuable research H-His Majesty assigned him, making chimera soldiers. So he shoved it off on muh-meeee, and went off to do research of his ooown…!”
“And what is he researching?”
“That fuh-fooool? He said something about finding a w-way to use his blasted ability without limits…but I don’t know the details, gaaah.”
So he was researching a way to cast Geists without any limitations…
If he succeeded, that would be a bit of a problem.
“I—I answered all your questions, gaaah! So you’ll let muh-muh-me live like you promised, yesss?”
“First, set the people you turned into chimeras free.”
“Whaaaaah? Set them fuh-freeeee?”
“Oh, you’d rather not?”
Arisa cowed Bedgar with a wave of threatening blasts.
“Gaaaah! I-I’ll free themmmm!”
Bedgar pressed a few buttons on the console, and the liquid drained from the cylinders, which opened from the top.
“That was a little too easy.”
Arisa eyed the man suspiciously.
“So it wasn’t just a bad dream…”
“Is he going to make us kill our compatriots from Kuvork Kingdom again?”
“He might even force us to fight each other this time.”
The knights who had been made into chimeras awoke at the bottoms of their tubes, muttering with bitterness and despair.
Their speech was garbled with guttural sounds that made it hard to understand, so I adjusted it in my mind.
“Y-y-you fooools! Your enemy this time is those kiiiids! Kill them all, gah-ha-haaaaa!”
Bedgar pointed at us as he shrieked.
“Now he wants us to kill children…?”
“Maybe we should just take him down with us…”
The chimera knights turned on Bedgar, who quickly produced a device with buttons and levers from his pocket and held it up. “C-can’t you see this, fooools?!”
“…Dammit. The needles…”
“If we kill him, the bombs in our hearts will take out those poor kids, too.”
“Please, run! We don’t want to kill you! Get out of here!”
One of the chimera knights gestured for us to run with a steely expression.
Clearly, they intended to wait for us to escape and then attack Bedgar, even if it meant they would all be killed.
Bedgar, who had been slowly backing away, dove into a separate room.
“Yuh-yuh-you fooools! Have you fuh-forgotten that there’s a fortress-level magic barrier heeeere?!”
As he spoke, a barrier sealed the exit.
“Dammit, that bastard!”
“He’s always been quick to get out of dodge.”
The chimera knights grimaced.
“Now, huh-hurryyyyy up and kill themmmm!”
“Run for it, dammit! We can’t defy his needles!”
“Not to worry!” Arisa addressed the anguished knights. “We’ve already removed all the needles and bombs that were tormenting you!”
“R-really?”
“What a s-stupid bluuuuff! Feel the judgment of the Doom Needles, gaaaaah-ha-ha!”
Bedgar pressed the button.
The chimera knights all braced themselves for an onslaught of agony. Of course, since I had already removed the needles, it never came.
“Yessssssss!”
“We’re freeeeee!”
Once they realized this, the chimera knights all shouted with joy.
“That’s right, you’re free. Free to do whatever you like… Let’s go, everyone.”
Arisa headed for the lab’s exit.
Behind us, the chimera knights destroyed the tubes and devices with their sharp claws and tails and began banging on the barrier that protected Bedgar.
Arisa turned back for just a moment; I followed her gaze and saw a large crack forming in the magic barrier.
She must have used her Space Magic to help give their revenge a little nudge.
Behind us, I heard the sound of the barrier breaking and the beginnings of Bedgar’s screams, so I cast the soundproofing Wind Magic spell on the door to the lab so that we wouldn’t hear anything that might cause nightmares.
“Master, are we really leaving those people there?”
“I’m sure it’ll take some time for them to calm down. We’ll take care of business first, then come back to get them later.”
I answered Liza’s concerned question on Arisa’s behalf.
My map search would make it easy to find them. Besides, based on the information in my AR display, the “chimera-fied” knights could handle even a demi-ogre without a problem.
“He’s not here…?”
Four floors later, we reached the research lab in the other blank space, only to discover that the mage we were pursuing was nowhere to be found.
There were chimera devices, like in the other lab, but this one only contained empty tubes, without a single soul in sight.
“Satou!”
“Master, we found a clue, I report!”
Mia and Nana called out from the other room.
“Mew!”
“They got the right room, sir!”
Tama and Pochi, who were helping me search the main lab, seemed envious.
We met up with Arisa and Lulu and went deeper inside.
“Research notes.”
“This is a journal, I insist.”
“Both.”
Mia and Nana gave me some files tied up in string.
I flipped through the pages, skimming their contents.
“Looks like there are research notes in between the journal entries. Orchidee’s signature is on the very last page.”
“What does it say?”
I picked out a passage about his research in this lab and read it for Arisa.
“The dragon’s blood that the yellow-robed mage gave me is truly a marvelous material. Just by using the magic devices that the hermit left behind, my chimeras have come far closer to completion. With the help of Lord Yellow Robes’s teachings, this time I swear I shall achieve my goal.”
Not the yellow-robed mage again… This person seemed to be up to no good all over the place, since someone by the same description was providing the plunderers in the Celivera Labyrinth with technology. I was starting to worry that there might be some kind of elder root in this place, too, like the one I made with the reincarnations in the labyrinth’s Lower Stratum.
“Very annoyed. The knights who deliver my supplies interrupted my work with pointless drivel yet again. As if I have any time to spare for more research on something as trivial as dragonkin…”
From the sound of things, Orchidee didn’t get along very well with the Yowork Kingdom people.
“My colleague was demoted and sent here. Though he has a few screws loose, he more than makes up for it with passion and skill in our field of research. I managed to pique his interest and get him to take over that stupid dragonkin research for me. I will continue with my own research in the new lab I made four floors down.”
So all of this so far was about the lab on the twentieth floor?
“It seems changing the test subjects to mages was the correct choice. Men are better suited than women, and young better than old.”
It also said that he’d claimed more than twenty victims in the process of his research thus far, though I didn’t read that part aloud.
“I’ve successfully used a mage subject to create a chimera.”
His notes said that he’d fused the dragon’s blood with a monster core in the subject’s heart.
At least ten more people had been killed in the process, too. What an inhumane approach.
“With these subjects, I can use my Geist anytime I wish.”
Wait…for real?
“I no longer have any reason to serve King Yowork. With the power that unsavory woman copied for me, I need not fear even gods nor the devil. This time, I shall acquire the ultimate power at last.”
That was the end of the file.
Power from an “unsavory woman,” huh…?
The woman called Myude, who was manipulating King Yowork with Psychic Magic, flitted across my mind.
If they combined forces with his Geist and her Psychic Magic, they could definitely cause some serious trouble.
I closed the file.
“Is that it? It didn’t say anything about where he went?”
“No, I reread the whole thing and didn’t find anything to hint at his whereabouts.”
A mage who can use Geist without limitations would be way too dangerous.
I had to shut him down as soon as possible.
“Do you mind if I take that? I’ll check for some kind of coded message.”
I handed the file to Arisa, and we headed toward our last destination: the bottom of the labyrinth.
“So the dungeonmaster is past this point?”
“That’s what it looks like.”
I nodded at Lulu.
We’d conquered the labyrinth with ease and made it to the Lower Stratum before sundown.
This was the last empty space on the map. If the dungeonmaster was anywhere, this would be the place.
“We made it here awfully easily, though.”
“It was not much of a challenge, I complain.”
“Mm.”
Nana and Mia agreed with Arisa.
We’d mostly fought different kinds of demi-ogres on the way here, along with other humanoid monsters, like the regenerating labyrinth demi-troll and the giant dungeon cyclops.
“No meeeat?”
“Mr. Goat wasn’t edible, either, sir.”
We also ran into a maze minotaur, which looked like the world’s biggest and ugliest faun. Since I was reluctant to eat anything that walked on two legs, we took the core and scrapped the rest.
“We can just hunt for meat outside of the labyrinth, remember.”
Liza’s comment seemed to reassure the pair.
Since Yowork Kingdom and the former Kuvork Kingdom were surrounded by monster territory on all sides, there were plenty of hunting grounds to choose from. The only safe zones were the narrow borders between nations, where the highways and checkpoints were built.
“Nin-nin.”
Our resident ninja Tama investigated the gate on the bottom floor.
“There’s a traaap?”
“Can you tell what kind?”
“Meeew…magiiic?”
Tama couldn’t tell what kind of magic the trap contained.
“Some sort of draining spell, maybe? Can either of you tell?”
“I can see through it with Practical Magic, but I can’t tell what the contraption does.”
“Mr. Spirit Eater.”
Arisa, Lulu, and Mia all offered their best guesses.
“So what’s the correct answer?” Arisa asked, peering up at me.
“Looks like it’s a forced teleporter. The draining device takes your magic and uses it to activate the teleporter. The spirit-eating is an ability of the monster that makes up the draining device, too.”
The “monster” was a simple creature embedded in the device, more like an amoeba.
“Well, I’d hate to accidentally get teleported inside a rock or something. Shall we take a shortcut?”
Arisa pointed at the wall next to the door.
She was probably suggesting that we make a hole in the wall to create a safe path.
I used “Skyrunning” to stand on the wall and aimed the Pitfall spell at it beneath my feet.
“Whew, that’s tough…”
There was so much resistance that it took five times more magic than usual to force it through.
Finally, I felt the Pitfall reach the other side.
“Looks like it worked. Wait here for a minute while I investigate.”
It was very possible that the dungeonmaster was one of the Yowork Kingdom people who revived the labyrinth, and the missing Orchidee might be hiding in there, too. I doubted Orchidee himself would turn out to be the dungeonmaster, but I transformed into my Nanashi the Hero disguise, just in case.
“Be careful! Don’t do anything reckless.”
“I know. Don’t worry.”
I entered the hole I’d made in the wall, leaving a worried Arisa and the others behind.
The end of the hole seemed to be the boundary of the separate map.
“I guess I should be grateful for the big welcome party?”
I blocked the oncoming bullets with Flexible Shield, and alit from the tunnel on the other side of the wall.
There were a dozen or so mages with matching yellow staves lying in wait beyond the wall, along with some gun-arm golems. I probably had my forceful entrance to thank for that.
The mages were wearing jet-black robes with long sleeves, the hoods hanging low to cover their faces.
“<Let the twilight dawn.>”
The mages spoke in unison, and yellow light glowed at the ends of their staves.
Were they casting some kind of buff?
“Intruder!”
At their center stood one mage with a fancier staff and robe.
“Obey me!”
The mages chorused again.
While their harmony was great and all, they didn’t seem like much for conversation.
The mage with the extravagant staff wasn’t the dungeonmaster, but he was the reason I came here in the first place: Orchidee.
“ Activate Kidou.”
An enormous magic circle appeared before them.
Uh-oh.
“ Synchronize Douchou.”
I hesitated for just a moment over whether to use the Practical Magic spell Break Magic on the magic circle or to knock out Orchidee at its center, then decided on the latter.
If I could just incapacitate their leader, the Support Magic circle for activating his Geist should be meaningless.
“ Invoke Hatsudou.”
The glow of the magic circle grew more intense, lighting me up from below as I sent Orchidee flying with a palm strike.
As the unconscious man thudded against the wall, his hood slipped off, and I saw a yellow crown fly off his bald head.
“ ”
Orchidee’s information appeared in my AR display.
Level 30. Occupation: None… Did he get fired for neglecting his official duties?
“ ”
Race: Homunculus.
Creator: …Orchidee Matossh?!
“ ”
Oh, this is bad.
They all had the same staff, the same clothes, similar frames—which was the real one?
I scanned their names in my AR display.
Every one of them was named “Orchidee Matossh.”
“Ge…”
Whatever, I’ll just take them all out!
No, that wouldn’t work. My only spell for knocking people out without killing them took a few precious milliseconds to invoke, and Smell Field was too hard to control with precision.
That’s it! The skill! If I find the one with the “Geist” skill—
I searched the room.
There!
“…ist.”
I used “Warp” to land in front of the man just as the “Geist” skill was activated.
I heard the last of the invocation leave his mouth with my “Keen Hearing” skill.
> Unable to resist “Geist.” “ ” has been put under control.
> Skill Acquired: “Geist”
> Skill Acquired: “Geist Resistance”
As I sent my fist flying toward his solar plexus, I saw the log in the corner of my vision.
At the same time, a pattern like a red spiderweb spread over my AR display, and my thoughts went muddy.
“Kneel, my servant.”
The bastard in black—no, the man in the jet-black robes—no, my almighty master.
“Yes, my lord.”
I obeyed my master’s command and sank to one knee.
All sorts of information appeared in my AR display next to him.
The red spiderweb in the corners of my vision was distracting, but it didn’t make the text unreadable by any means.
He had six titles: “Ruler,” “Dungeonmaster,” “Chimera Meister,” “Yowork Kingdom Imperial Mage,” “Traitor,” and “Kuvork Kingdom Imperial Mage.” His skills included “Geist,” “Contract,” “Name Order,” “Chant Interruption Resistance,” “Dark Magic,” “Ghost Magic,” and “Analyze,” among others.
My master’s staff was called a “Fake Xanthic Staff,” an artifact that allowed the wielder to use a previously charged active skill three times with only an invocation word.
The last one he had charged was “Never Give Up”—one of Arisa’s unique skills, oddly enough. Its effect meant that the user’s spell or attack would bypass all of the target’s resistance with a certain percentage of success, no matter how much more powerful they might be.
So strong is my master’s destiny to succeed that it bends luck in his favor.
“Your orders, if you please.”
I eagerly awaited my all-powerful lord’s command.
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