Chapter 7: Holy City of Tonerico
Over a thousand years ago, the Divine War was said to have begun from the west side of the Strahl region. The demon army originally appeared in the west before marching towards the east, resulting in the west side of Strahl being dominated by the enemy. The land became uninhabitable for humans.
Humans only moved back to the land after the war was over. Descendants of the former residents of the west returned to the land and built a new nation. This was all recorded in historical texts.
Furthermore, it was a well-known historical fact that the first spot where the demon army appeared was the westernmost point of the Strahl region. So strictly speaking, the Divine War began from the westernmost side of Strahl.
The major nations on the eastern side of Strahl were the Galarc Kingdom to the east and Centostella Kingdom to the southeast, while the major nations in the middle of the region were the Proxia Empire to the north and Beltrum Kingdom to the south.
Meanwhile, the major nation of the west was the Holy Kingdom of Almada located at the westernmost corner of the region.
“We’re here.”
After giving Saint Erica’s body a proper burial, Rio arrived at a certain city within this Holy Kingdom of Almada—the Holy City of Tonerico. As mentioned already, this was the land where the demon forces of the Divine War first appeared.
“Good work on the long journey, Dragon King.”
Floating in the air, Sora bowed her head at Rio.
“You too, Sora.”
Rio smiled at Sora before looking down on the holy city below them. The most eye-catching man-made object of the city was the palace where the governor of the city resided, but there was a more notable object that wasn’t man-made.
So that’s the labyrinth...
On the wide plains by the sea was a huge cavernous hole that was releasing dark energy. It was said that the original demon army had appeared from this labyrinth.
The labyrinth was surrounded by layers of walls sturdier than the ramparts defending the city itself. It was unclear whether the labyrinth could even be considered a part of the city like this. There was a leveled path leading from the entrance of the labyrinth to the city, but the road was over a kilometer long.
There were people that could be seen walking along that road, but it was a completely nonresidential area. The cave was clearly walled off out of fear.
Those armed people are soldiers of the city...and adventurers? They taught us a bit about the labyrinth back at the Royal Academy, but it seems the rumors of monsters still appearing inside it are true.
Seeing the strict precautions and adventurers heading in and out of the labyrinth, Rio came to that conclusion.
I just hope there are clues to what happened during the Divine War...
Lina of the Seven Wise Gods had predicted something would happen in this era. That was why she had reincarnated the Dragon King’s soul into Rio. But the most vital details of what would happen and what Rio had to do were still unclear. There was still too much information that was missing.
That’s why the purpose of this trip was for them to gather more information. The land where the demon army first appeared could hold some clues. They had come all the way here based on that vague hope.
That being said, there was still a lot that Rio didn’t know about the holy city and labyrinth. He had never planned on coming here before hearing about Lina, so he only possessed the general knowledge that he’d learned back when he was studying at the Royal Academy.
“Let’s go down to the city and find out what we can about the labyrinth and the Divine War first.”
“Okay!”
There was no time to waste. Rio and Sora immediately descended to the Holy City of Tonerico.
◇ ◇ ◇
After entering the city, the first thing Rio and Sora did was ask around about the holy kingdom, the city, and the labyrinth. As a result, they learned a few things.
First, in terms of the nation, Almada wasn’t called a holy kingdom for nothing. The nation had an extremely strong belief in the Six Wise Gods.
The kingdom was ruled by a king, but there was also a pope that served as the religious ruler of the nation.
The current king’s name was Fenris Tonerico. The king had a higher status and more power, but the pope possessed an autonomous region of extraterritoriality, approved of by the king. That autonomous region was the Holy City of Tonerico, where Rio and Sora currently were. The capital where the king lived was located elsewhere.
After two or three hours of walking around the holy city and gathering information—
“I think this should do for the political side of things.”
Rio and Sora entered a café to organize the information they’d gathered.
“Right. What’s more important is the labyrinth,” Sora said.
“Yup.”
The more important matter at hand was the labyrinth. They had learned some things about that as well. As Rio guessed before they entered the city, monsters were still appearing in the labyrinth. If left alone, they had the potential to overflow from the labyrinth, which was why many adventurers went to cull down their numbers every day.
“The two of us could make it to the furthest depths and back in no time at all!” Sora declared confidently.
“Well, we’ve come this far already. I’d like to go inside too. But if no one’s reached the depths in the past thousand years, there may be other things lurking there besides monsters.”
In contrast to Sora, Rio maintained his careful stance. There was no telling what was inside the labyrinth, as it was uncharted territory.
With no experience in exploring such places, he was unable to predict what dangers could be within. They could get lost, or there could be problems that couldn’t be dealt with using simple combat.
“Do the rules of the transcendent ones apply when fighting with monsters?” he suddenly wondered out loud.
As a transcendent one, Rio currently had to follow the rules decided by god. It was forbidden for him to support the interests of certain individuals or groups in a way unfair to the rest of humanity.
In other words, transcendent ones had to use their power for the sake of humanity as a whole. Violating this rule would result in the penalty of forgetting whom he had been trying to support.
“It depends... Defeating a few monsters far away from civilization shouldn’t activate the rules, but defeating too many is a problem. Having people nearby can also be an issue. It would be better to wear your mask while inside the labyrinth,” Sora answered after some thought.
There were five masks left that could evade the rules of god. One had cracked in the fight to get Celia and the others away from Rodania, and Celia was currently analyzing how to fix it. Another had been left for Aishia, who had remained in the Galarc Castle. Thus, Rio only had three left in his possession.
“Got it. We can restock on supplies and store them in the Time-Space Cache... All that’s left is to ask about the labyrinth at the adventurer’s guild then.”
The labyrinth was also part of the holy city, meaning its management was under the pope’s jurisdiction. Adventurers went to the guild to receive formal requests from the pope before going into the labyrinth. Registration at the guild was required in order to enter the labyrinth.
This meant that the guild was the most knowledgeable about the labyrinth. It was best to investigate as much as they could before they entered such an unknown area. But just then...
“Thank you for waiting.”
A waitress came over with their order. Rio had ordered an iced tea, while Sora had ordered a juice and fruit platter.
“Wow...!”
Sora looked at the dish on the table with sparkling eyes.
“But let’s finish what’s before us first,” Rio corrected himself with a chuckle.
“Okay!”
Sora stuffed her cheeks with fruit happily.
◇ ◇ ◇
Once Rio and Sora left the café, they headed for the adventurer’s guild.
“This seems to be it.”
The adventurer’s guild was an organization established by the nation. It was intended as a way to force monster extermination jobs and national security onto thugs that otherwise couldn’t find proper work. This reduced the costs of stationing the army to exterminate monsters, which was a huge benefit to the nation.
Because of this, the structure of the adventurer’s guild was adopted by many nations, turning it into a semi-international organization.
In a way, the adventurer’s guild could only function due to the existence of monsters, but this was especially true for the Holy City of Tonerico, where monsters spawned in the labyrinth. In fact, it was believed that Tonerico was where the first adventurer’s guild was located.
Thus, Tonerico was considered a sacred land for adventurers as well. It was even said that the city had the highest number of adventurers in the world. The adventurer’s guild here was also considered the general headquarters of every adventurer’s guild.
Rio had seen the local headquarters of the adventurer’s guild in Galarc and Beltrum, and both were magnificent buildings. However...
This is more of a fortress than a mansion. Wow.
The adventurer’s guild of Tonerico was even more splendid. The majority of adventurers here made their living from the labyrinth, which was probably why it was built into the wall that separated the city from the labyrinth.
It was probably designed to be a barrier against monsters if they ever escaped from the labyrinth. The exterior was exactly like a sturdy fortress. Adventurers had to go through the guild if they wished to enter the city.
“Let’s go.” Rio entered the guild through the open door.
Unlike the rustic stone exterior, the interior was a rather stylishly decorated spacious area. Armed adventurers could be spotted everywhere. There was a plain wooden counter towards the back of the room, manned by multiple staff. Some of them were busy dealing with adventurers.
“Looks like we can register over there.”
Rio pointed at the reception counter. Considering the literacy level of this world, there were probably many people who couldn’t read the words, but there was a sign indicating which counter was for new adventurer registrations. The counter just so happened to be free at the moment, so they quickly made their way over before anyone else lined up.
The people inside the guild lobby were diverse in both appearance and stature, but Sora stood out amongst them all with her appearance of a seven- or eight-year-old girl.
However, Rio’s presence was currently weakened by being a transcendent one. He could be perceived if he spoke to someone first, but something like his appearance wouldn’t draw any unwanted attention. The rules also applied to Sora more strongly when she was with him, so no one paid any particular notice to them.
“Excuse me.”
“Huh? Oh, yes?”
The woman at the counter also failed to notice Rio as he went up to her, startling when she suddenly heard his voice out of nowhere.
“We’re considering registering as adventurers here. Could you tell me more about it?” Rio asked, seeking information using the excuse of registration. While registration was necessary to obtain the pass required to go into the labyrinth, Rio was still undecided on whether he would actually register.
The reason for this was because of the obligations that came with registration at the adventurer’s guild. Rio feared that doing so would count as part of the rules of god against supporting certain individuals or organizations.
Besides, even if Rio and Sora didn’t register with the guild, they would be able to sneak inside the labyrinth. And even if they failed at sneaking in, the rules of god would erase them from the memories of others if they created a bit of a fuss.
And so, they’d decided they would visit the guild to gather more information about the labyrinth. If they were told there was information limited only to those registered as adventurers, they would probably register, but...
“Ah, I see... It’s quiet right now, so I don’t mind.”
Welcoming new adventurers must have been part of her job, as she nodded readily.
“Thank you very much. We’ve never interacted with the adventurer’s guild before, so we barely know anything...”
“I see. If you don’t mind me asking, who’s ‘we’...?”
“The two of us,” Rio said, looking down at Sora standing beside him.
“Huh? Umm...”
The reception lady stood up from her chair to look over the counter and down at Sora. She hadn’t failed to spot Sora because of the rules of god, but rather because Sora was too short to see over the counter. While Sora’s head did reach over the counter, the lady probably wanted to confirm what she looked like from head to toe.
With monster extermination being the livelihood of an adventurer, there was an age limit of twelve years old to register. While there was no way for the guild to confirm ages, that didn’t mean they could skip the check entirely.
“Despite her appearance, she’s two years younger than me,” Rio lied awkwardly. He doubted she would believe him if he said her true age was over a thousand, so he had no other choice.
“And your age would be...?”
“I’m almost seventeen.”
“Understood. That...shouldn’t be a problem...”
The woman at the counter seemed to be struggling to see Sora as anything other than a young child. She looked down at Sora with an uncertain look.
“Sora is an adult!” Sora’s unhappy voice echoed past the counter.
After that, there was a bit of a brief dispute, but they obtained the information from the adventurer’s guild successfully. Since no one would remember they were there, they took the chance to ask as many questions as they could.
As a result, while there was no information directly related to their goal, they received quite a bit of knowledge regarding the labyrinth and the residents of the city.
“Thank you very much. That was very informative.”
“Feel free to come back if you have any further questions.”
With this, they succeeded in gaining the minimum knowledge they needed to go into the labyrinth. Thus, Rio and Sora left the counter without registering with the guild.
When they stepped out of the building, the sky was a sunset red. It was almost evening.
“Let’s do a little shopping and return to the stone house for the day. We can go to the labyrinth tomorrow morning.”
Rio thought of the list of supplies they were told they would need if they were going to the labyrinth. They had enough stock currently stored in the Time-Space Cache, and their spirit arts could solve a lot of the issues regular adventurers would face, but it never hurt to be too prepared.
“Okay!”
After they finished shopping, their day in the city came to an end. Rio set up the stone house outside the city, and the two of them went to sleep early in preparation for their exploration of the labyrinth the next day.
◇ ◇ ◇
In the thousand years after the Divine War, countless adventurers attempted to conquer the labyrinth. However, no one had ever reached its innermost depths.
There were many reasons for this, but the simplest explanation was because it was just too difficult to traverse. The inside of the labyrinth was vast, complex, and extensive. As one progressed deeper into the labyrinth, the monsters increased in number and strength, making it more and more dangerous to explore.
Despite that, the number of adventurers who strove to reach the depths was endless. Every adventurer seeking fame and fortune dreamed of becoming the first to clear the labyrinth and striking it rich.
Monsters dropped enchanted gems when they were defeated. Natural essence crystals of high purity and spirit stones—known as “enchanted beads” in the Strahl region—could also be excavated from the labyrinth. One could live like nobility if they brought back enough of these to sell.
The size of an enchanted gem was reflective of how strong the monster it dropped from was. Essence crystals and enchanted beads could only be obtained in the deeper floors, so their acquisition served as proof of one’s progress. In other words, bringing them back was a simple proof of accomplishment. Fellow adventurers would watch on in envy, while the general public would look on in admiration.
For an adventurer, the labyrinth was the most clear-cut path to success. This was also the reason why adventurers from all around the Strahl region gathered in the Holy City of Tonerico. Thus, many adventurers in the city trekked into the labyrinth day and night, risking their lives and competing with each other to clear it.
And right now, Rio and Sora were about to go inside as a mere group of two. Early in the morning, using their spirit arts to turn invisible, the two of them infiltrated the wall surrounding the labyrinth entrance. Once they were within the walls, there was no way of distinguishing them from the other adventurers, so they canceled their invisibility and boldly walked up to the entrance.
“So this is the labyrinth entrance...”
Rio and Sora stood side by side and looked up at the entrance before them.
It was several hundred meters wide and easily over a hundred meters tall. The size was impressive enough when they were looking down at it from the sky, but it was basically a mountain when they looked up at it from this close.
There were other adventurers about to enter the labyrinth nearby, but the entrance was so wide, there was no need to decide on who would enter first.
“Let’s go in.”
“Okay!”
Like the other adventurers, Rio and Sora stepped inside the labyrinth, but they stopped as soon as they did.
“Wow...”
The interior of the labyrinth was just too breathtaking. The height of the ceiling inside was the same as the labyrinth entrance. There were no artificial lights, yet Rio and Sora could clearly see the ceiling a hundred meters above their heads.
This was because of the natural lighting within the labyrinth. The entire wall of the cave emitted a faint light that made their view perfectly clear. This was something the receptionist at the adventurer’s guild had explained in advance, but it was still a surprise to see with their own eyes.
It was believed to be caused by a special mineral inside the labyrinth walls, but the light disappeared quickly after being mined from the wall.
“There’s a small amount of magic essence in the walls. That’s probably why it glows.”
Rio stared closely at the ceiling and found he could see the magic essence contained in the walls.
“The essence in the air is also quite dense,” Sora observed, curiously looking around the cave herself.
“Yeah. It may have something to do with why monsters keep appearing in the labyrinth...” Rio said, looking away from the ceiling and at the scenery before them.
The two were currently on the first floor of the labyrinth, which was nothing but a vast, empty space. There was a path at the back that led to the lower floors, but it was over three kilometers away, making it difficult to see all the way to the end.
With this much space available, there was no need to worry about having not enough room to fight. They could see some adventurers locked in combat with goblins in the distance, but they didn’t seem to be struggling or anything.
If the memories Lina planted in Aishia are accurate, the Six Wise Gods held some kind of experiment here a thousand years ago. As a result, the Divine War occurred.
Rio looked around the interior and recalled the memories Aishia had regained after their battle with Saint Erica. The Six Wise Gods once confined Lina here and opened a hole in the dimension of the world. This resulted in monsters arriving from outside the world—monsters that continued to appear in this labyrinth to this day.
That was why Rio suspected that whatever Lina was fearing would happen here. They had traveled to the Holy City of Tonerico for this reason, but...
There’s something about this labyrinth after all.
Now that they were here, Rio was even more certain that was the case.
“Apparently there’s a strong monster that guards the tenth floor... You normally need the adventurer’s guild’s permission to take it on, but let’s head towards it for now.”
“Okay! It’ll be a piece of cake for us!”
Although Sora called it easy, the furthest humanity had progressed through the labyrinth was that tenth floor. There were some adventurers who had defeated the monster guarding the tenth floor before, but they all turned back after entering the eleventh floor.
Furthermore, there seemed to be more than one monster guarding the tenth floor, as the same monster was always waiting for the next challengers.
“Well, just keep your guard up. Dissolvo.”
That being said, Rio was aware of Sora’s abilities. He wasn’t worried about her falling behind. After taking his mask out of the Time-Space Cache, they began their exploration of the labyrinth.
◇ ◇ ◇
As one would expect from a transcendent one and their disciple, Rio and Sora moved through the labyrinth smoothly. They ran straight to the end of the first floor, arriving at the second floor in a matter of minutes. Most of the monsters on the first floor were goblins, with the rare orc appearing here and there.
The second floor also had goblins and orcs, but there was a greater number of them than the first floor. The terrain of the floor was the same open space as the first floor, with the inclusion of boulders scattered about as obstacles. Monsters tended to hide behind them, so adventurers had to pass them with caution.
However, the two of them were no ordinary adventurers. They ran straight for the path to the third floor at the same speed as they did on the first floor, clearing the second floor in the same amount of time.
Once they reached the third floor, they found there were clearly fewer adventurers around. This was because of the increase in difficulty—the terrain was the same as the second floor, but the monsters were different.
Mutated strains of the regular monsters—identified by their different-colored skin—had a low chance of appearing amongst the other monsters. Mutated monsters were stronger the darker in color they were, but the ones on this floor were still a lighter shade of gray. They were no threat to Rio and Sora, who cleared the floor with the minimum number of battles.
There were black mutations on the fourth floor, but mutated goblins and orcs were still easy for them to handle. There were fewer adventurers around, but the terrain was the same as the second and third floors, so they were able to clear it without issue.
Then, they reached the fifth floor. The terrain here was different; the vast space up to the fourth floor was now split into multiple paths. The ceiling was also lower, but still dozens of meters high.
“It’s exactly like what we heard at the adventurer’s guild.” Rio stopped at the start of the fifth floor and gazed out at the diverging paths before him.
When they were gathering information at the adventurer’s guild, they were given the features of all ten floors that had been previously cleared. It had been the right move to go to the adventurer’s guild first—if they had come here without any preparation, they wouldn’t have known which path to take.
“Which shall we go down?” Sora asked.
“Every path leads to the next floor, but...let’s take the middle one. The paths on the fifth floor are complex, so let’s take our time and walk the way there.” Rio picked a path at random.
“Okay!”
And so, the two began to make their way through the fifth floor.
But after two or three minutes of walking, a roar could be heard from in front of them.
“WROOOH!”
“Wha...?!”
The source of the sound was clear—it had come from the minotaur in front of them. Rio and Sora had been using their wind spirit arts to search for enemies around them as they walked, so they were aware it was there. But the roar was far louder than they had expected, making them both jump.
“How noisy... Shut up!” Sora pointed her index finger at the charging minotaur to take aim. A bullet of magic essence immediately shot at the beast. The minotaur had roared because it had spotted Rio and Sora in the first place, so it was already prepared for combat, but...
“WROO—OOH?!”
Sora’s bullet of light shot straight through its heart. While her glowing finger had been visible to the minotaur, the attack had already struck by the time the minotaur spotted it. It had been impossible to evade. The minotaur disintegrated into nothing as it flew back, its enchanted gem clattering to the ground noisily.
“The information about minotaurs appearing on the fifth floor was accurate too.”
“Even a thousand minotaurs are nothing to me,” Sora said triumphantly.
“But if the monsters keep getting stronger like this, we may struggle to clear the monsters beyond the tenth floor too. Most people would hit their limit at the sixth or seventh floor if they don’t possess an enchanted sword.”
Parties formed of magic-casting knights or sorcerers could probably take on one or two minotaurs, but they would need to keep their guards up at all times. They wouldn’t risk taking them on directly like Sora had done just now.
When they continued to the sixth and seventh floors, mutant variants of minotaurs began to appear and the number of monsters increased. Considering the need for breaks between battles—and the return trip to be made after—most adventurers found it safest to fight on the fifth floor, even if they were capable of fighting on the sixth or seventh.
Skilled warriors equipped with powerful ancient enchanted swords and highly competent spirit art casters were absolutely essential to progression past the fifth floor.
“Yeah, that sounds about right. Oh! Sora will pick up the enchanted gems, Dragon King!”
Seeing Rio move forward to retrieve the enchanted gems, Sora quickly dashed ahead of him. After picking up the gems, she turned to him with a puppy-eyed look, hoping for praise.
“Thank you, Sora.” Rio patted her head gently.
“Sora is the Dragon King’s disciple, so this much is a given!” Sora said happily, beaming from ear to ear.
◇ ◇ ◇
A little while later, when Rio and Sora were making their way through the ninth floor...
Elsewhere, deep in the labyrinth, a small child stood in a wide, wide hall. Their face was covered in a white hood, making it impossible to determine their gender from a glance.
“...” The child was gazing up at the glowing ceiling of the labyrinth.
“There are two intruders on the ninth floor. Who are they? They seem quite strong,” the child said, their interest piqued by whatever it was they were seeing.
“What shall we do?” a creepy, unnatural voice echoed from beside them.
What seemed like a regular boulder at first glance was actually a human-shaped creature with jet-black skin kneeling beside the child. If Rio or Aishia had been there, they would have immediately recognized it as a revenant.
“They’ll reach the tenth floor soon. I’ll send you there, so go and watch them,” the child ordered the revenant.
“As you wish.”
The revenant showed respect to the child as though they were a superior. It bowed low on the ground, demonstrating tremendous intelligence, before it disappeared.
◇ ◇ ◇
Several minutes later, Rio and Sora had reached the path connecting the ninth floor to the tenth floor.
“This is the path that goes to the tenth floor. The one that needs the adventurer’s guild’s approval to challenge,” Rio said, looking down into the cave that continued to the floor below.
The reason why approval from the adventurer’s guild was required to take on the tenth floor was because they didn’t want to lose the skilled adventurers capable of clearing the ninth floor. The guild’s approval was thought to be required to encourage the adventurers to think carefully before making the decision to take on the challenge.
However, the guild didn’t station anyone to watch out for any adventurers breaking that rule, as the location was just too dangerous.
The last floor Rio and Sora had seen other adventurers on was the seventh floor, so there was unlikely to be anyone on the ninth floor. The adventurer’s guild wouldn’t notice if they proceeded to take on the tenth floor like this—Rio and Sora weren’t adventurers in the first place.
“Let’s go, Dragon King,” Sora said without any hesitation.
“Well... We did come here for this.” Rio felt a tiny bit of guilt at the thought of breaking the rules like this, but he accepted his fate. They descended the path connecting to the tenth floor.
“So this is the tenth floor...”
The first thing Rio did was stop at the exit of the connecting path and look around the area. It was completely silent.
The ninth floor had been a complicated maze, yet the tenth floor was an open space like the first floor, only with a dome-shaped ceiling. The space was also far smaller than the first floor. While the floors until now had all been several kilometers in width, the tenth floor was only seventy or eighty meters in diameter. However, the ceiling was still abnormally high.
Wow... We’ve come pretty far underground, but the ceiling is easily over a hundred meters high.
Rio’s breath caught in awe as he estimated the height of the ceiling. With this much height to the room, they could freely fly around the inside of the labyrinth if they wanted.
Just how far down does this labyrinth go?
The entrance of the labyrinth had been beside the sea, and the direction of their descent had been diagonally in the direction of the water. They were probably beneath the seafloor by now. If their current depth was the sum of the height of all the ceilings until now, they would be a considerable distance beneath the surface.
The furthest floor mankind had ever reached was the eleventh floor, but if there was more to the labyrinth past that, how deep into the earth did it go? They were yet to see any man-made objects, but was it possible for a space like this to be created naturally?
Such questions filled Rio’s head, but he dismissed them in favor of looking in front. The path to the eleventh floor was at the very back.
“ROOOOOOH!”
However, the gatekeeper of the tenth floor waited in front of it, roaring with resentment. Its body was over ten meters tall, and the sinister-looking sword it held was several meters long. Furthermore, its skeleton body was protected by a shield and full suit of armor. Black wings grew from its back, making it look like both a fallen angel and a demon. It had been kneeling before the path as though it was asleep, when it suddenly stood up and roared.
They were aware of the gatekeeper’s existence from their investigation before entering the labyrinth, and its size made it visible even from a distance of several hundred meters, so neither Rio nor Sora were particularly surprised.
It’s noticed us. Isn’t that the monster Aishia fought with before?
The Hero Killer Draugul. The horrendous creature Reiss had sent to fight Aishia back when Rio was visiting the Paladia Kingdom for his revenge against Lucius.
It was also the creature Celia, Gouki, and the others left at the Galarc Castle had repelled when Rio left to rescue Liselotte, who had been abducted by Saint Erica. It hadn’t dropped an enchanted gem upon its defeat, so they’d been unsure whether it was a monster or not.
This was Rio’s first time seeing it in person, but its features were exactly as Aishia and Celia had described. He assumed it was the same creature—and that assumption was correct. From what he had heard, the creature was meant to be extremely formidable, but...
“Oh, this thing,” Sora said, as though it was a familiar face to her. She seemed to know how strong it was too, as she wasn’t particularly wary of it either.
“Sora, do you know what that is?”
“It appeared in the Yagumo region back during the Divine War. It’s a tiny bit stronger than the other monster.”
“I see... I’ll fight it first then. It doesn’t seem like there are any other monsters around, but don’t let your guard down,” Rio said, getting ready to fight it himself, but—
“No! The Dragon King shouldn’t have to bother with such small fry. Please leave this to your disciple, Sora!” She held her hand to her chest and humbly offered to fight herself.
“Well... All right. Show me your strength then, Sora.”
Seeing Sora’s young appearance, Rio considered rejecting her offer for a brief moment, but ultimately decided to entrust the battle to her. He was aware of her ability thanks to the previous duel she’d had with Aishia, but her true strength was still unknown to him, so he figured this was a good chance to witness that.
“Okay! Please watch me closely!” Sora nodded happily. She was delighted to be granted with a duty as his disciple and ran off excitedly. She rotated her arms as though she was doing warm-up stretches, when the Hero Killer flapped its wings and rose into the air.
“RAAAH!”
The space is just big enough for it to fly around... Looks like it was created specifically with this fight in mind. Almost like it’s an arena...
Rio calmly analyzed the room under the current situation.
But what’s this strange feeling I’m getting?
Sensing something was off in an indescribable way, Rio skeptically looked around the room that should have been empty apart from themselves.
However, he couldn’t see any other monsters besides the Hero Killer that was flying rapidly towards them. Despite the uneasy feeling that lingered around him, Rio turned his attention to the battle about to start between Sora and the Hero Killer before him.
“Here goes!”
Sora started running enthusiastically. She closed the hundred-meter distance to the Hero Killer in a single instant. Her dragon body, which was normally hidden in spirit form, was materialized around her arm. She met the Hero Killer midair.
“GRR?!” The Hero Killer quickly positioned its shield in front of its body, then thrust it forward to knock Sora away. There was a tenfold difference in height between them. And the weight difference was even greater than that.
It was like an adult man using a shield to knock away an animal small enough to sit on his palm.
“Annoying!”
The one that flew away wasn’t Sora. She swung her right arm, which had turned into her dragon body, and smashed back the shield that came into her reach. A thundering sound rumbled through the labyrinth.
Sora’s single blow had carried an absurd amount of power behind it. The Hero Killer’s shield was pulverized into pieces.
“GRAH?!”
The force of the blow sent the Hero Killer’s shield hand flying back into its body, knocking it backwards midair. Furthermore...
“Let’s finish this quickly!”
Sora moved to the front of the Hero Killer and used her left dragon arm to punch its face with all her might. It wasn’t her dominant arm, and yet, with a dull snapping sound, the Hero Killer’s neck tore off. The bones of its face were shattered, the fragments disintegrating into dust.
“This is the end!”
It was already dead at this point, but Sora put her whole body into a right-handed punch aimed at the Hero Killer’s heart. As a result, the armor that had resisted the attacks of countless adventurers throughout history was destroyed in a single hit. Her fist continued through the armor, destroying the Hero Killer’s ribcage too. The ten-meter-tall giant skeleton crashed into the ground.
“...”
It was dead before it landed. The sword in its hand, shield, armor, and skeleton body all vanished without a trace. Its death was extremely similar to those of regular monsters, but it didn’t leave behind any enchanted gem.
At any rate, Sora defeated the Hero Killer in a mere three blows. It was actually dead by the second blow, but the Hero Killer should still be commended for withstanding the first blow using its shield. Sora’s fighting was just that overwhelming.
“That was amazing...” Rio couldn’t help but mutter.
“It’s over, Dragon King!” Sora turned around beaming and made a peace sign. Rio returned her smile.
Guess my worries were for nothing.
He shook his head, dismissing the strange feeling he’d felt before the battle as just his imagination.
After defeating a monster this strong, there was still no burden on the mask he was wearing. It was unlikely for there to be anyone other than them on this floor.
However, in the path to the eleventh floor, there actually was someone—or rather, something that had been watching their fight. It was the revenant with jet-black skin. It had been rendered speechless by the sight of Sora slaughtering the Hero Killer, but it quickly retreated down to the eleventh floor.
“Hm?”
From beside the cave that led to the tenth floor, Rio stared into the cave down to the eleventh floor. The two caves were separated by several hundred meters, but he had felt a strange presence there. However, the revenant was already gone at that point, leaving only the eerie cave gaping back at him.
◇ ◇ ◇
The eleventh floor.
It was said that only a handful of adventurers had ever attempted this floor throughout history, all of whom had either died or turned back immediately. And the reason for that was...
“MROOOOOOH!”
The moment Rio and Sora stepped onto the eleventh floor, they were met with a minotaur’s roar. But they couldn’t make light of the opponent they had defeated numerous times already—because there were just too many of them.
How many is that?
Rio scanned the area with a grim look. The structure of the space was very similar to the second floor. The room was several kilometers wide, and there were countless boulders scattered on the ground, creating blind spots. However, all the monsters seemed to have gathered at the entrance of the room, blocking their view of the back of the floor.
They had heard about what had happened on this floor in the past from the adventurer’s guild, and they could also detect the large number of monsters in advance with their wind spirit arts as they descended. But seeing it was another matter.
Goblins, orcs, minotaurs. There were even a few revenants among them. It was like a bargain sale of all the monsters Rio had seen in the past.
It made sense why the adventurers of the past had either turned back or died. There were more than a thousand, two thousand, even three thousand of them. An absolutely astonishing number of monsters lay in wait on the eleventh floor, ready to kill any adventurer that reached them.
No amount of confidence in one’s abilities mattered. Being able to easily take down a monster in a one-to-one was irrelevant. Any adventurer party would be helplessly outnumbered if they charged straight in. Even if they turned back, the monsters could chase them up to the next floor, so there was no guarantee they would survive.
The past adventurers who reached the eleventh floor probably turned back as soon as they saw this sight. Experienced adventurers with common sense would all make that decision.
However, Rio and Sora couldn’t be described with common sense. They were a human who had ascended to a transcendent being and his disciple.
“How filthy! Don’t come near the Dragon King!”
Sora took a few steps forward and opened her mouth widely. Heated light converged before her mouth, which she immediately released into the approaching swarm of monsters. The burning light surged forward like the breath of a dragon.
“MROOOH!”
Swallowed by the breath of light, a thousand or so of the monsters at the front of the swarm disappeared without resistance. Sora had even held back her power to refrain from damaging the interior of the labyrinth.
“Dragon King, Sora will reduce their numbers! Wait there just a moment!” Sora said, hurrying to take care of the rest of the monsters.
“No, I’ll fight here too! Let’s team up to get rid of them together! Can you handle the ones on the right side?” Rio called, drawing the two daggers at his waist.
“Together with the Dragon King... Okay!” Sora replied energetically, happy they could fight together.
“Let’s begin!” As soon as Rio said that, he charged into the swarming group of monsters to his left. Countless orbs of magic energy appeared around him.
“Agh?!” The orbs became a straight beam of light, mowing down the monsters in the direction he was charging. On top of that, Rio wrapped his magic essence around his daggers and created a large energy blade. With a single swing, he took down multiple monsters.
“A-Amazing as always, Dragon King...!” Sora watched him with rapt attention. “Gasp! R-Right, it isn’t the time for that right now! Sora must be useful to the Dragon King! Here goes!”
She snapped back to her senses and charged into the monsters with enthusiasm. She swung her dragon arms, which she normally kept out of view, sweeping away every last monster that came into view.
Thus, the transcendent one and his disciple quietly began their battle in the unknown depths of the labyrinth.
◇ ◇ ◇
On the eleventh floor, several hundred meters from the entrance where Rio and Sora were fighting...
“Wha...”
A black revenant was gazing at their backs in awe. Every time they made an attack, monsters went flying like rag dolls.
“What...ridiculous strength...!”
The number of monsters meant nothing to them. At this rate, the monsters would lose the will to fight far before Rio and Sora did. The black revenant trembled.
“...”
This wasn’t an opponent the revenant could handle. It was only a matter of time before the thousands of monsters were defeated. Panic spread across the revenant’s face.
Aha ha! Well this is something.
Just then, a child’s laughter echoed in the revenant’s head.
F-Forgive my incompetence! The monsters you bestowed me with are...! The black revenant apologized reflexively.
There’s no need for you to feel responsible. There are still plenty of monsters left, and that isn’t an opponent that can be dealt with using monsters anyway. Especially that small child. There’s no mistaking it—she’s a disciple of a transcendent one. A being that surpasses reason.
Disciple...?
The black revenant parroted in confusion, unsure of what that word meant.
The other man appears to be a human, but he’s strong too. I wonder why?
The child didn’t bother answering the revenant’s question. They were more concerned with their own questions about what was happening.
Well, whatever. I’ve sealed the path to the twelfth floor. They won’t be able to find it, so you can come back now.
But the child immediately cut off that thought and ordered the revenant to return.
Understood.
The black revenant vanished with a nod.
◇ ◇ ◇
Thanks to Rio’s participation in the battles, their efforts in exterminating the monsters went by rapidly. Before long, the waves of monsters attacking them came to an end.
“That was the last of them,” Rio said, joining up with Sora.
“Sorry to have troubled you, Dragon King.”
Although she had been excited to fight alongside Rio earlier, Sora apologized with a dejected look.
“It’s fine, I couldn’t let you fight alone anyway. It’s more fun fighting together,” Rio said brightly to ease Sora’s concerns. He then looked out at the now-quiet floor.
“Let’s look for the path to the twelfth floor. It’d be a shame to waste this many enchanted gems, so pick up what you can along the way,” he directed Sora.
Naturally, the floor was covered in enchanted gems. Minotaur gems sold for a high price, and there was enough here to live off for the rest of their lives.
“Got it.”
Rio and Sora began their search for the never-traversed path to the twelfth floor. It was more efficient to split up and gather enchanted gems as they went, so they divided the floor into two and searched by themselves. However...
That’s strange. There’s no hold to the next floor down.
All the other floors until now had paths leading to the next floor located on the opposite side to the start of the floor, but there was no such path here. Rio tried walking around the room by following the wall, but he still couldn’t find it. As a result, he assumed it’d be on Sora’s half of the room, but...
“Dragon King. There was no cave connecting to the next floor here.”
Sora had finished searching her side and came over to report there was no path.
“I couldn’t find it either.”
“Is this the last floor of the labyrinth then?” Sora asked, tilting her head curiously.
“Maybe... But let’s look a little more. I’ll fly around the middle, can you search the perimeter one more time?”
Thus, Rio and Sora investigated the floor more carefully. But no matter how much they searched, they couldn’t find the path to the twelfth floor...
Their breakneck progress through the labyrinth came to a screeching halt on the eleventh floor.
◇ ◇ ◇
Meanwhile, somewhere deep within the labyrinth...
“They’re still searching. What a pointless effort.”
A child looked up at the ceiling of the labyrinth and smiled cheerfully. In the corner, a black revenant was kneeled on the ground.
“But what should I do? It might be fun to invite them to the twelfth floor too. Or maybe I could go and greet them myself?” the child pondered indecisively.
“Good evening,” another voice echoed. It was the voice of an adult man.
“Oh, it’s you. Long time no see,” the child replied. But they didn’t seem particularly interested in the man who had appeared, as their eyes were still fixed on the ceiling.
“I’m in need of a golem, so I came to pick it up... What are you looking at?”
The man stated his business before questioning the child’s actions.
The child’s gaze was still fixed on the ceiling as they replied. “There’s someone rather interesting here. No, someone very interesting. How’s the outside world been lately?”
“It’s rare to hear you express interest in the outside world,” the man said, surprised.
“Yeah, it just hit me out of the blue. It might even have something to do with why you’re here to pick up a golem... Right, Fenris?”
The child finally tore their gaze away from the ceiling to grin at the man called Fenris.
◇ ◇ ◇
Roughly one hour after that, in the Holy City of Tonerico outside the labyrinth, in the palace where Fenris Tonerico resided...
“Goodness...”
A man sat down at the desk in the pope’s office and sighed tiredly. The pure-white robes he was dressed in were a clear indication that this person was the pope.
“Do you have a moment, Your Holiness?”
“You may enter.”
With the pope’s permission, a young woman presumably carrying the status of a high priest entered the office.
“Thank you very much for your hard work on the sealing ceremony over these past few months,” she said, bowing her head reverently.
“Yes, I am very tired. I must return to the sealing ceremony soon, so I would appreciate the time to take a break.”
“You must not. There are multiple items that came up during your absence which require your attention. Please check them.”
The woman who shook her head was holding a bundle of documents in her arms.
“This is why I didn’t want to return... Explain the situation briefly, Priestess Anna.”
The pope let out another dignified sigh and smiled at the woman named Anna. As the pope and a high-ranking priestess, they were reasonably familiar with each other.
“Gladly, Your Holiness.”
Anna nodded with a look of resignation and returned the smile to the master of the Holy City of Tonerico: the pope, Fenris Tonerico. He, for some unfathomable reason, looked identical to Reiss Vulfe, Proxia Empire’s ambassador—the man who had been in the depths of the labyrinth just now.
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