Kumo Desu ga, Nani ka? (LN) - Volume 4 - Chapter 5.1

ESCAPE FROM THE GREAT ELROE LABYRINTH 

I’m walking through the hallway. 

I reach my classroom, open the door, and enter. 

Most of the students are already inside. 

A cluster of boys is laughing together. 

In the center of the group is Natsume. 

Next to him, Sakurazaki smiles wryly. 

I don’t know what they’re talking about, but I’m sure it’s nothing good. 

As I head to my seat, I see Hasebe sitting at the desk next to mine, deep in conversation with Temarikawa and Furuta. 

I put my bag on my desk and head over to Kanata and Kyouya, who are chatting by the window. 

Out of the corner of my eye, I catch sight of Wakaba quietly sitting at her desk. 

Shinohara doesn’t seem to be here yet, so no one is teasing her. 

Suddenly, I notice a spiderweb on the window opposite the one where Kanata and Kyouya are standing. 

For some reason, I can’t tear my eyes away from it. 

When I finally do look away, a girl is standing in front of me. 

She looks dark and eerie, almost like a ghost. 

Yet her eyes alone are glittering brightly. 

This is the girl who’s been secretly nicknamed Rihoko. 

Her hand reaches toward me… 

“Agh?!” 

I jump up without thinking. 

Looking around, I know that I’m still in the Great Elroe Labyrinth. 

That’s right. This isn’t the high school I went to in my old life back in Japan. It’s a labyrinth in another world, one that’s full of monsters. 

So what was the dream I just had? 

Did it mean something? 

Ever since we entered the Great Elroe Labyrinth, I’ve been having strange dreams. 

It’s been a long time since I dreamed about my past life. 

At this point, I can barely even remember what everyone looked like then. 

If I try to picture Natsume, all I can see is Hugo’s face. 

Even my memory of my own face is starting to get hazy. 

But I can’t forget Rihoko’s face, even if I want to. 

I reach for Julius’s white scarf around my neck, trying to calm my mind. 

There’s still a little more time left for resting. 

I have to go back to sleep to restore my physical strength. 

But even knowing that, I still spend the rest of the night wide awake. 

After the encounter with the Nightmare’s Vestiges, the journey has gone surprisingly well. 

Thanks in large part to the freshly evolved earth dragon devouring all the monsters in the area, we’ve hardly had to fight at all. 

Most likely, the presence of the Nightmare’s Vestiges had something to do with the absence of monsters as well. 

But we haven’t seen a single trace of a Nightmare’s Vestige since. 

And now, at long last, we’ve almost reached the exit of the Great Elroe Labyrinth. 

“A pit?” 

I repeat Basgath’s words uncertainly. 

“Yep, that’s right.” 

Most likely, empire soldiers will be waiting for us at the main exit of the labyrinth. 

In order to avoid them, we’re taking a side route to get to a different exit some distance away. 

This exit, as it turns out, is a pit. 

Basgath explains as we walk. 

“There’re a few giant holes in the labyrinth, which we call pits. Rumor has it that if yeh go down into the hole, you’ll reach the Lower Stratum, but hardly anyone’s ever come back. What few survivors there are say there’s an unthinkable amount of monsters down there. And they’re all way stronger than anything here in the Upper Stratum.” 

There are still many mysteries surrounding the Great Elroe Labyrinth. 

Even Basgath is only familiar with the Upper Stratum. 

The Lower Stratum… 

I’d definitely rather not experience a danger zone like that. 

“Anyway, one of these pits leads to the surface. It’s a hole that was made by a legendary-class monster who could well be called the ruler of this labyrinth: the queen taratect.” 

Basgath explains that around the time when we were still babies, the infamous “Nightmare” came out of the labyrinth. 

And as if they were acting in concert, the queen taratect destroyed a huge chunk of bedrock to get outside as well. 

Then she went on a destructive rampage, demolishing forests and even smashing a mountain. 

Fortunately, there were no humans living there, so there were few casualties, but it’s said that even to this day, you can clearly see remnants of the destruction. 

It’s a bit hard to believe, but apparently it’s all true. 

Imagining that power directed toward a human settlement sends chills down my spine. 

I guess it makes sense that even Basgath would be traumatized by his encounter with the Nightmare, since it’s categorized on the same level as the queen taratect. 

If I ran into a creature like that, I might freeze up completely. 

“Thing is, this pit is also home to monsters called finjicotes. They’re giant bees, and they’ve made their nest there. They’re not much trouble on their own, but their real strength lies in numbers. And you have to fight ’em while climbing up a vertical wall. It’s why it’s rarely used as an exit.” 

That makes sense. 

Just like the entrance being in the water dragons’ territory, there’s got to be a pretty good reason no one uses it. 

Still, we’ve got Fei on our side. 

If we ride on her back, we can blast our way through a whole swarm of monsters. 

“So we’re countin’ on you.” 

“Sure. But first, please face the other way.” 

Near the entrance to the pit, we turn our backs on Fei and wait. 

Behind us is the rustling sound of Fei taking off her clothes. 

Since she’s returning to her dragon form, if she didn’t take her clothes off, they’d get ripped to shreds when she got bigger. 

But of course, there are no changing rooms in a labyrinth. 

That’s why we have to look away while she strips down to transform. 

However, no one said we couldn’t listen. 

Catching on to me somehow, Katia promptly blocks my ears. 

I’m a healthy young man, you know. You could at least let me hear it… 

But I have a feeling I’d get yelled at for saying that, so I keep it to myself. 

“Sorry for the wait.” 

Fei’s voice reaches my mind through Telepathy. 

Turning around, we’re greeted by Fei in her dragon form. 

Right away, we get on her back. 

Now that I’ve seen her in human form, it occurs to me that Fei is a girl. Which means that I’m on a girl’s back. 

It never bothered me before, but now that I’m aware of it, I can’t help feeling awkward. 

“Get your mind out of the gutter, will you? Consider our current situation.” 

Again reading my thoughts, Katia hits the nail on the head. 

I mean…she’s right, of course. 

But I wasn’t trying to mess around or anything. 

A young man can’t help it if certain things preoccupy his mind at times. 

“Could you not have a lovers’ quarrel on my back, please? I will shake you off.” 

“I’m sorry.” 

Fei sounds particularly disgusted. 

I refocus on the matter at hand and let Fei fly. 

As soon as we enter the pit, countless bees fly at us. 

They really are giant, too. 

But as far as I can tell from Appraisal, their stats aren’t all that high. 

Fei fends them off easily with just her claws and tail. 

The rest of us use magic to shoot down the bees buzzing around us. 

They’re certainly not much of a threat. 

But the sheer number makes them pretty annoying. 

“Oh, enough already!” 

Fei seems to feel the same way. With an irritated cry, she opens her mouth wide. 

Then a breath attack fires from her mouth. 

Reducing all of the bees around us to cinders. 

It probably isn’t as powerful as the queen taratect’s attack that broke through the rock ceiling, but by the time the breath is over, the bees’ numbers have very visibly decreased. 

“Now let’s get out of here!” 

With the bees gone, Fei ascends through the pit. 

Before long, the rock surface all around us vanishes, replaced by a big blue sky. 

Finally, we’re outside again. 

After so many days, the light of the sun is so bright that I have to squint. 

We’ve succeeded in getting out of the Great Elroe Labyrinth.