Labyrinth

Checking the map, I saw our location was now marked as Demon’s Labyrinth: Bottom Floor, with no displayed paths.

…I guess I knew it wouldn’t be that easy.

Still, this transition from a light city adventure to a sudden dungeon encounter had been way too sudden; if this were a tabletop RPG, I’d be worried about the game master’s mental health right about now.

…Oh dear. More important, the beastfolk kids seemed pretty scared. I should check in with them first. Might as well start with introductions, right?

“My name is Satou. I’m a peddler.”

“Cat!”

“I’m Dog, sir.”

“And I am Lizard.”

Are those really their names?

Their previous masters, not just Urs, had called them that. The dog-eared and cat-eared girls had been slaves since they were little, but apparently, the scalefolk girl had been enslaved as an adult, so she had a name at least. But it sounded like a raspy, scraping sound, so I couldn’t pronounce it.

In the end, they wanted me to give them names that would be easy to say, so I decided to call them Pochi, Tama, and Liza. I half expected them to get mad at being given such pet-like names, but I was pretty confident that if I gave them normal ones, I’d immediately get them mixed up. I figured this would at least work until we got out of the labyrinth.

Liza didn’t actually come from lizard but from the first two syllables of her mostly unpronounceable real name. And Pochi and Tama are popular names in Japan for dogs and cats, respectively.

Now then—before our escape began, some first aid was in order.

I took out some towels and the Well Bag, plus the shells that held that salve. I had picked these up as souvenirs for Martha and the others, but I could always buy more once I got out of here.

“Use these towels and the Well Bag water to disinfect any open wounds. Then you can put on this salve and wrap them in cloth. Don’t use the same cloth you cleaned them with, though.”

I handed some new towels to the three of them, but they just looked perplexed. Right… Whenever I tried to talk to them normally, at least at first, they got confused unless I used a more commanding tone. It was like I was babysitting my younger relatives all over again.

“What’s wrong? Don’t worry—I’ll look the other way while you’re doing it.”

But apparently, it wasn’t so much that they were being shy—it was just unusual for slaves to be given high-quality towels and salves and the like, so they were taken aback.

“Thank you, sir. You don’t need to look the other way, sir.”

“What pretty cloth. I’m so happy!”

“Um…young master, mightn’t it be better to hold on to such things…water and medicine, that is…for your own use…?”

Pochi and Tama undressed without hesitation, untying the hemp cord around their sack dresses and beginning the first aid treatment. If it weren’t for their ears and tails, they’d be indistinguishable from normal human children.

Pochi had bobbed brown hair, while Tama’s hair was short, white, and choppy. Liza’s waist-length red hair was tied near the bottom. She was still hesitant, perhaps the type to overthink, but when I phrased it as an order, she began to use the supplies like the other two.

Liza, too, would have looked like a normal female human if she didn’t have such a splendid tail and orange scales that covered part of her body. The scales extended a ways from her tail as well as from her neck to her shoulders, her elbows to her fingertips, and her knees to her toes. From what I could tell through her clothes, her chest was pretty flat.

When it seemed enough time had passed for them to finish their first aid, I turned back and offered them some baked goods. They were the honeyed pastries I’d bought as souvenirs when I was walking around with Zena. They were only about the size of my palm, though, and I had just three for each girl. Still, it should be enough to fill their stomachs for a while.

Pochi was visibly drooling as she looked at the pastries, but none of them moved to eat anything. So they needed permission to eat? Slavery was even worse than I’d thought.

“No need to hold back. Just go ahead and eat them.”

“Yummyyy!”

“It’s so sweet and tast—”

Pochi started choking, so I handed her the Well Bag.

“Take your time, okay? I won’t ask for them back or anything.”

This was weirdly like being a babysitter.

“Baked pastries made with honey… I…” Liza was at a loss for words. That seems like a bit of an overreaction for a handful of pastries.

I looked at the map again, but it still didn’t show anything outside this room.

Maybe magic didn’t work here, or its effects were limited somehow.

I opened my menu and selected the Search Entire Map spell. If that didn’t work, I was going to have to carefully map this all out myself.

That concern was quickly put to rest. When I used the spell, the entire Demon’s Labyrinth was immediately revealed to me. The combination of this magic and my map was just entirely too convenient. What is this, easy mode?

Though I could see every path in the dungeon, it was difficult to understand the labyrinth’s layout from the 2-D display, so I switched over to 3-D. In war games like WW, the land’s height variations could become a major factor, so 3-D maps were indispensable.

The map could even be rotated now, so I looked at it from various angles. From this vantage point, the place seemed less like a labyrinth than an ant farm. The paths branched out like the roots of a tree to form various rooms, then diverged back into more pathways.

There were areas that crossed through multiple levels and shortcuts connecting other rooms, too. It was all decidedly dungeon-like.

By my estimates, about 159 people were in the labyrinth. Seven of these were demi-humans, and the other 152 were humans, with about a quarter of the total being slaves. The troops sent to suppress the riot consisted of about 50 people, split up into three groups.

It looked like Zena was in one of those groups, too. Going by the map, it didn’t seem likely that we’d run into each other, but she should be all right if she was with her fellow soldiers.

If anything, I wished they’d come to my rescue.

The young Garleon priest was even farther away from me than Zena. If we were going to come together, it would most likely be near the exit. He seemed like a capable person who I’d prefer not to die, but he also could probably take care of himself, so I guess I’d just count myself lucky if we ran into each other.

If only I could contact them somehow, I could lead everyone to the surface. Somehow, a player chat function wasn’t among all the usually useful features of the menu.

For some reason, though, the eyeball demon didn’t show up in my map search. There was one room that was particularly deep in the heart of the dungeon, so I figured maybe he’d be there, but…

It definitely wouldn’t be fun if I stupidly beat him too early only to have the whole labyrinth collapse because he’d been defeated, so I’d leave him alone, too.

Most of the enemies seemed to be bug-type demons from levels 10 to 20. When I first searched the map, there were only about twenty of them, but each time I searched again, there were more, and by then it had reached around a hundred. More varieties were appearing, too, such as frogs and snakes. Each had the title Primitive Demon. Did this mean they’d been made when the dungeon was generated? I didn’t think the wyvern I saw before had a title like that.

This room was a dead end with only one exit; it’d be bad if we got attacked as we tried to proceed. Should I give these three weapons, too? Okay, I’ll just pretend I found them in the shadows of a passageway and give them some spears or javelins out of Storage.

Once I started heading toward the first passage, the three girls panicked and chased after me.

“Don’t abandon us! We’ll do anything, sir!”

“Don’t leave us here!”

“Young master, please bring us with you, even if just to use me as a shield. I beg of you…”

They were imploring me desperately, yet none of them attempted to grab at my clothes. Was this because of their experience, or training, as slaves?

“I’m sorry I scared you. I was just going to try to take a better look at the passageway. I won’t desert you, so don’t worry.” I spoke as gently as possible. I was pretty sure they’d be upset even if I told them not to be, but I still felt it was better to say it than not.

As I waited for the three girls to finish eating, I took out a short sword and the Magic Gun from my bag and equipped them. The latter was about the size of a handgun, and it fired magic as bullets instead of lead. I could also adjust how much magic it used without limitations, even if I wanted to fire the smallest bullets possible for just one MP each, so its cost performance was highly effective.

In my case, my MP regenerated at a rate of about three points a second, so I essentially had unlimited ammo. It reminded me of the early days of FPS weapons, but since there was a tenth of a second’s delay when I pulled the trigger, it was a bit difficult to use.

Of the three beastfolk, the only one with any combat skills was Liza, who had the “Spear” skill. I couldn’t very well just pull a spear out of my bag, though, so I gave her a short sword for now. She hesitated a little—maybe it was unusual to give a slave a weapon—but I insisted.

I went ahead as the advance guard and put Liza in back to take care of any surprise attacks from behind, despite her protests that she could go in front. I have the radar, so there won’t be any surprise attacks, but I bet having a role assigned will make her feel a little better.

So the marching order was me, Tama, Pochi, then Liza. I firmly commanded them not to jump into battle unless I told them to do so. They were only around level 2 or 3, so if they took a hit from a monster, it’d probably kill them.

I guess this was an escort mission now.

The passageway walls were made up of the same stone as the floor. There was no more luminescence from below, so it was quite dark. Luckily, there were glowing stone pillars every couple of feet, so while the shadows of the cave were certainly disconcerting, walking wasn’t a problem.

The posts were about waist height, but the light reached only as far as my chest, so it was unfortunately impossible to see the ceiling. This was probably a deliberate design to cause more anxiety. How very pleasant.

Maybe they were there because if the passageways were completely dark, we would just want to stay in the rooms and hide.

“Tama, if you see anything ahead of us on the path, please tell me quietly. Pochi, let me know if you notice any strange smells or noises. And Liza, I’m counting on you to watch our backs. Just don’t get so occupied with it that you fall behind.”

“Okies!”

“Yes, sir!”

“Understood!”

They still seemed anxious, but their responses were solid.

Hmm. These must be party-related skills. They looked useful, so I distributed some skill points to each of them.

Relevant knowledge about arranging and deploying party members appeared in my mind. Apparently, I could check and revise their relative positions, too.

As we continued through the passage, an enemy appeared on my radar. It was still a fair distance away from us.

Poking her head out into the darkness of the passageway and sniffing a few times, Pochi made her report. “I smell blood from up ahead, sir.”

The distance in a straight line wasn’t that far, but along the curves of the passage it must have been about a third of a mile. I patted Pochi on the head, praising her sharp nose. It felt a little weird to treat her like a pet, but her tail was wagging enthusiastically, so she seemed happy.

As we drew closer, I checked the enemy’s info on the map. It was level 20, with no special abilities; its attacks were “Tackle” and “Bite.” There was only one, and it was in the next room.

Something occurred to me, and I made a note of the three girls’ statuses. I was surprised to find that there was an EXP field in their info. Seriously, is this a game? Their experience was shown in percentages, so I couldn’t get a concrete number, but it was convenient to know how close they were to their next level.

I couldn’t see the EXP bars of any other people on the map. Was it limited to my party members? Or was there some other condition involved?

A light escaping from the next room came into view. I told the other three to wait, and I peered into the space. A giant insect enemy, which apparently hadn’t noticed me, was eating…something. Ugh… Like I said, I have a very low tolerance for blood and gore.

If I lose, is it going to eat me like that, too? Given the differences in our levels, it was hard to see how I could lose, but that didn’t make me feel much better.

How do the protagonists of stories and legends fight crap like that without freaking out?

The smell of blood, wafting downwind to me, made my gutless heart weak. Maybe we can just hole up in the room we came from and wait for help to arrive.

“Young master, forgive my arrogance, but I wonder if we couldn’t perhaps sneak past the monster while it eats its prey, or else use the element of surprise to attack it from behind?” Timidly, Liza offered her thoughts. Surely she was afraid, too. In fact, I could see that her slender limbs were shaking.

Even the girls with their single-digit levels are trying to figure out what we can do to move forward, and here I am with my tail between my legs. How did I think anyone would find us and come to our aid, anyway?

I definitely couldn’t do close-quarters combat, but maybe I could just fire from a distance with my Magic Gun. My magic was strong enough to pulverize huge rocks, so it should be enough to take down this giant monster, too.

I blocked out the sound of chewing and fired at it with the gun—at maximum power, of course.

My first shot missed, but the bug monster didn’t notice that it was under attack. Just like when I had shot the rock before, I still hadn’t received a “Shooting” skill.

The magic bullets glowed, so I could see their trajectory in the dark room. The creature noticed me after the second shot, but once I adjusted my aim, I was able to hit it with my third just as it scuttled around to face me.

Since the gun was on its highest power setting, the bullet tore the creature’s hind legs from its joints. Before it could get an inch closer, I took down the giant camel-cricket monster with a rapid-fire barrage.

It was such a complete victory that my worrying from just moments ago seemed ridiculous.

I thought camel crickets only lived in the desert, giant or otherwise…

“Super amazing, sir!”

“So strong!”

It was all thanks to the Magic Gun, so receiving compliments felt a little uncomfortable. Pochi and Tama were in high spirits, but it looked like something was still troubling Liza.

“That’s a very strangely shaped wand, young master. You can use magic with it?”

“This is a magic weapon. Just don’t tell anyone, okay?” I warned them for now. Liza nodded meekly, but Pochi and Tama replied with such an enthusiastic “’kaaay!” that I made a note to go over this with them again once we got out of the labyrinth.

The bottom segments of the creature’s detached limbs looked to be the perfect shape for a staff or a spear. They weren’t anything like normal insect legs—they seemed almost artificial. Maybe I can create a makeshift spear out of this?

I used the Magic Gun to detach the rod-shaped part of a hind leg. The clawed end felt a little loose, so I pulled out a slim block of wood and a leather strap from my bag and used them to fix it in place. Green liquid was leaking out the end, so I wrapped it in the same cloth we’d used to clean wounds earlier.

As usual, these seemed way too easy to obtain.

The spear I’d just built looked like it would fall apart from a single stab, so this time I maxed out my new “Weapon Crafting” skill and used it to make a new one. The knowledge granted by “Entomology” and “Demonology” told me to cut a notch into the hind leg with my short sword and snap it off.

Ew, that felt gross.

I shaved down the remaining leg with the short sword. This seemed to be a magic weapon, too, because its sharp edge was far better than what I’d seen used in the count’s army.

Last time, I’d bound the end with leather and wood, but this time I’d be using another piece of the monster itself. I could use its own tissue to bind it together, and the pieces would fuse automatically thanks to the creature’s powerful regeneration abilities. I wasn’t sure how or why this worked when the monster was already dead, but when I tried it out, the knowledge granted by my new skills was dead-on: The tissues fused into place.

Just to be sure, I tied a leather strap around it for reinforcement.

This still felt weirdly surreal and gamelike, but since this spear was far superior to the first one I’d rigged together, I guess I had nothing to complain about.

I turned to offer the completed camel-cricket spear to Liza, only to find that she was hard at work with her short sword on the spot that connected the creature’s head to its back.

…What, is she hungry?

“Liza, if you eat that, you’ll get a stomachache for sure.”

“Er…I’m not going to eat it. If this is a demon, it should have a core, so I thought I’d try to retrieve it…”

Core? “What’s a core?”

“Basically, it’s money. All monsters and demons have a core at their center, and if you give it to a peddler, you can exchange it for various things.”

Liza’s response wasn’t quite what I’d been looking to hear, but I guess I shouldn’t have expected her to just rattle off information like a wiki. I watched as she pulled out a sphere covered in emerald-green blood. It was red, about the size of a fist. The color was really cloudy, though, so it certainly couldn’t serve as a jewel.

When Liza returned with the spear, I handed her a small jute bag from my satchel. I also pulled out a used piece of cloth to wipe off the blood.

“Put the core in this bag for now. Oh, and use this spear.”

I handed off the bag to Pochi and gave the spear to Liza. The short sword she’d been using went to Tama instead. Switching equipment like this definitely makes me feel like I’m in an RPG.

The short sword proved to be a bit too much for Tama to hold. The manacles attached to her collar were probably in the way. Oh, maybe we can cut them off now.

I called Liza over and had her pull the chains taut, then used the Magic Gun’s lowest power setting to shoot them off. Then I did the same for Pochi and Tama…but their ears had flattened with fear, so I pet their heads gently and apologized.

I put their shackles in a bag and handed it to Pochi along with the bagged core.

“Liza, starting with the next enemy, I’ll have Pochi and Tama take turns retrieving the cores, so please teach them how to do it.”

“Yes, understood.”

“Okay, sir!”

“’kay!”

They all seem pretty motivated, so that’s good, at least.

Also, something else had been bothering me. “Oh, and Pochi…”

“Yes, sir?”

“You don’t need to go out of your way to add ‘sir’ to everything, you know.”

“But if I forget it, I’ll be punished, sir.”

“I see…” I had thought she was just being polite, but she was doing it because she felt she had to? I’m just their temporary master, so I don’t need to correct her. “Well, I won’t get angry if you don’t use it, so do whatever you’d like.”

“Okay…sir.”

I pressed my hands together and said a little prayer for the monster’s victim, wishing him happiness in his next life. I also made a note of the deceased’s name before we left the room.

I compared the girls’ stats to before, but aside from a slight decrease in stamina, nothing seemed to have changed; their EXP hadn’t gone up at all. So they can’t get experience just by being in my party, huh? Then how do the members of supply units and priests and such raise their levels?

If they could level up, I wouldn’t stand out too much during our escape, even if more people joined us. But I guess that would have been too easy.

Well, since this is like a game, why don’t I try approaching it the same way?

“Tama, if you find any rocks about the size of that core, please pick them up.”

“’kay!”

Not long after, the path diverged into two. It looked like both ways ultimately connected to the same room, but one of the paths had another chamber along the way. We would run into monsters no matter which route we chose, but in the additional area on the second path, there was a pair of level 10 hornworm monsters. And a little farther down, there were a few survivors.

…I guess we should save them, huh?

“The paths fork here, meow,” Tama reported once the crossroads came into view. No need to start with the weird speaking quirks now. I patted her head; she seemed pleased.

Now Pochi looked envious, so I gave her a quick pat, too. Both of them came up to only my chest, so it was easy enough. They were about three and a half feet, maybe? And Liza was taller than me—about five five.

“Let’s take the path on the right.”

We proceeded along the passageway. According to my radar, I should be seeing a monster by now…

“There’s a bug above us, sir,” Tama reported. Now she’s imitating Pochi?

And how was I supposed to defeat an enemy I couldn’t see?

…Oh, I know! I’m not sure if this is gonna work, but let’s try it out.

I used the radar to figure out roughly where it was and looked in that direction. Moments later, an AR box popped up to display the monster’s name and level.

Perfect! I fired indiscriminately at that general area, keeping the Magic Gun’s power setting at its lowest. One of them must have hit, because the hornworm monster dropped to the ground.

“Tama, throw a stone at it!”

Tama hurled three rocks at the monster. Two of them hit and bounced off, with only one of them causing damage.

The hornworm slowly inched closer.

“Pochi, Tama, get back. Liza, come up here. Stay behind me, but hit it once with your spear!”

The hornworm attempted a tackle, and I warded it off with my weakest kick to buy some time. It felt sort of like kicking a rubber ball.

Liza used that opening to strike the monster with the butt end of the spear; the tip wasn’t totally secure, so that seemed like the safest bet for now. Still, it did a little bit of damage.

With that taken care of, I fired the Magic Gun a few more times to finish off the creature.

Come to think of it, unlike back in the Valley of Dragons, the corpses of my fallen foes didn’t automatically disappear into my Storage. The spoils of war had all shown up when I beat the final lizardman that time, so maybe I had to clear out all the enemies for that to happen or something.

“Liza, Tama, I’ll have you recover the core. Pochi, you come with me—there’s one more ahead.”

Tama handed a bunch of stones to Pochi for throwing. Tama…how many stones did you pick up, exactly?

The monster in the next room was the same kind as the one we’d just beaten. Lying on the floor were two corpses, a young woman and a boy who looked like a slave. Unlike with the camel cricket, these victims weren’t being eaten.

“Pochi, once we go in, throw rocks at the monster from its side. When you run out, get back to Liza and Tama.”

I breezily entered the room and started shooting. Just as I’d instructed, Pochi followed and threw a couple of stones at the creature. Both of them hit their target, but then the hornworm turned toward her and started to spit venom.

Pochi’s predicament struck me with a thrill of horror, but I moved quickly and managed to kick the side of the hornworm’s head, changing its trajectory. I’d put more force behind the attack than I intended, though, because it crushed the monster’s head, and the thing stopped moving. The feeling on the sole of my foot was kind of disgusting.

The venom didn’t hit Pochi, but it seemed to have scared her, because she ran off into the passageway—but it was the wrong one. She must have mixed them up in her panic.

“Pochi, stop!”

I chased after her, delayed slightly by going around the dead hornworm.

“Wah! Stay away, stay away!”

Huh? Who was that? That wasn’t Pochi’s voice. Was it the man I’d seen on the map in the passageway?!

I checked the radar. He was way too close.

“Pochi, get back here!” I dashed up behind her and grabbed the back of her neck, lifting her. I thought I saw the back of a man running away down the curved passage, but before I could chase him, his dot disappeared from the radar.

Why did he run in the first place? Did he think Pochi was a monster?

Or maybe he felt some kind of guilt toward the two victims in the other room…?

At any rate, this labyrinth seemed to be a more treacherous place than I’d thought. I’d have to be more careful about these kids’ safety.

“Young master! Are you all right?”

“Awriiight?”

Liza and Tama came running up to us.

“Yeah, we’re fine. Let’s go back to that last room and get the core.”

“I’m sorry, sir.” Pochi’s ears were flat as she apologized, and her tail had retreated between her legs. I wasn’t upset about her blunder, but if she panicked again, her life could be in danger, so I had to reprimand her a little.

“Pochi, if things get dangerous like they did back there, it’s all right to run away. But you can’t lose your head, okay?”

“…Yes, sir.”

Pochi’s head lowered in gloomy contemplation, so I patted her lightly to cheer her up.

“Animal”? That was pretty rude. Couldn’t it be “Child Education” or something?

When we returned to the room, the sight of Liza and Tama disassembling the corpse of the giant hornworm was pretty surreal.

I noted the names of the two victims, but I couldn’t decide whether I should check the bodies to see if they had anything useful. I couldn’t quite bring myself to touch them, but as I stood hesitating, Liza took charge and told Pochi to investigate.

“Should I take off their clothes, too?”

“Just the shoes. Leave the rest.” I didn’t see why we’d need their clothes. But I’d been bothered for some time that the beastfolk girls didn’t have shoes, so I had her recover those.

Pochi brought me the items she’d gathered. The slave boy didn’t have anything, but she had found a change purse and some rings and necklaces and other jewelry on the girl’s body.

I made a folder in Storage for Belongings of the Deceased, then a subfolder for her name, where I stored the items. If there was a grieving family, I could return these to them. After a moment’s thought, I took a lock of their hair from each and put it in with the other things.

I gave the shoes to Pochi and Tama to wear. Liza had the best constitution of the three, so I’d have to ask her to wait a little longer.

The shoes of the young man we’d seen before were probably lying around in the room ahead with the giant snake, so I didn’t think she’d need to wait too long.

My experiment with having the girls hit the monsters, however weak the attacks might be, seemed to have been a success. Liza and Tama had gained a level each, and Pochi had gained two.

The girls seemed to acquire skills arbitrarily with their level, so Pochi now had the “Throwing” skill, Tama had the “Collecting” skill, and Liza got the “Disassembly” skill.

But there was something strange about Liza’s skills. “Javelin” was in white text, but “Disassembly” was in gray. Pochi’s and Tama’s were in gray, too. If that meant the same thing as it did in my own interface, they hadn’t been activated yet. If the girls could enable them, their combat abilities would vastly improve right away, but I could only see this information; I couldn’t change around my party members’ skills like in a single-player RPG.

There are still more than a hundred rooms left in this labyrinth… I’ll figure things out as we go.

I motioned to the beastfolk girls, and we headed for the next room.

We proceeded through six more chambers, but we still hadn’t met any living humans. Only several more corpses.

“Master, we’ve finished retrieving the core.”

“Great. Let’s take a quick break.”

I took a gulp from the Well Bag and handed it to Liza.

At some point, she had shifted from calling me “young master” to just “master.” It seemed easier for her, so I didn’t bother to stop her.

As she started to open the Well Bag, it slipped from her hands and fell to the ground, spilling out water into a puddle.

“I-I’m so, so sorry, master!!” Frantic, Liza scrambled to pick up the bag again. Her hands were shaking.

Come to think of it, Pochi’s and Tama’s throwing accuracy was pretty bad in that last fight.

“Are you tired?”

“I’m so sorry! I spilled your precious water… I’ll accept whatever punishment you decide on.”

She was making a big deal of this—it looked like she really did believe she’d failed horribly. Did I not mention that it produces infinite water? You’d think they’d have noticed that by now, to be honest.

More important, I should check on how they’re doing.

“Don’t worry, Liza. We can get more water. Are you not feeling well?”

“I’m terribly sorry. My body has felt heavy for a while now… I can’t move as well as I’d like.”

Tama and Pochi, too, had flopped down on the ground, apparently too unwell to even drink some water. I checked their statuses, but nothing was out of the ordinary. Their stamina seemed low, though, so they must just be tired.

“Maybe instead of a short break, we should take a rest for a while.”

I gathered Pochi and Tama into my arms and took turns giving them water. I didn’t have any more pastries, so I got some sliced jerky out of Storage instead, picking out whatever looked best from the preserved goods in my original loot. It was made from the meat of something called a “sky deer,” which I had never heard of but was probably fine (judging by the “deer” part).

All three of them looked tired and defeated, but their hunger must have won out, because when I held the meat under their noses, they opened their mouths to chew as if by instinct.

“So, so yummy!”

“It’s delicious, sir!”

“Ah, jerky… The more I chew it, the more the flavor fills my mouth. Truly divine.”

Uh, I don’t know if it’s that good.

“Jerky? It’s yummy!”

“Delicious, sir! Meat is the best, sir!”

Liza was still chewing away blissfully on her first piece. Just how much do you guys love meat?

I had dozens of pounds of jerky, so I handed out several pieces to each of them. “When you’re done eating, go ahead and sleep for three hours or so.”

Pochi and Tama happily curled up beside me and fell asleep at once, and Liza sat down to look after them. “I can keep watch,” she said, but her face said otherwise—she was practically asleep already. After I insisted a second time, she finally lay down to rest.

While the three dozed, I checked on their statuses.

About a half hour after we’d stopped, the gray skills changed to white.

Maybe the level-up had been applied now that they were resting? This was just like that dungeon-crawler Older Scrolls. Was I going to start aging because I wasn’t in a stable?

At any rate, why did these three gain skills when they leveled up? Was it not normal, how I acquired skills as a result of my actions?

After the break, we proceeded through even more rooms. When we’d rested, the girls had been at the point of exhaustion after gaining about three levels, so it would probably be best to rest after another two areas.

“Stop!” Tama cried. It was unusual for her to shout so seriously.

But there aren’t any enemies in front of us…

“What’s wrong?”

“The floor is…weird?” she said uncertainly, almost like a question. So something was off, but she wasn’t sure what? When I stopped and stared at the floor, its texture did look strange.

Before I could figure it out with my own eyes, an AR pop-up offered the answer. Trap: Life Drainer. This is a dungeon, so I guess it makes sense it’d be rigged. We hadn’t encountered anything so far, so it hadn’t crossed my mind.

“Well done, Tama! It looks like there’s a trap there. Be careful.”

“’kay!”

I petted Tama’s head, scratching behind her cat ears. The latter part of my statement was directed toward Pochi and Liza. I had the three of them stand back and experimentally tossed a rock into the treacherous area, but nothing happened. Judging by the name, it would probably take a living being to activate it.

Unfortunately, the AR didn’t show where the hazard began and ended, so I didn’t know if edging along the side of the room would be safe. And I certainly wasn’t going to have one of the beastfolk test it out for me.

Checking the map, I didn’t see any detours around it, though. If we need a live creature to activate it, maybe we can guide a monster there?

Luckily enough, there were a few rat demons in the next room not far away. Maybe if I chucked a rock down the hall, the noise would attract them? I got a few stones from Tama and threw three of them in rapid succession.

“Rats are heeere!” Tama reported. I had the three girls back up even farther. The monsters were weak, only level 10, but three or four of them had come at the same time. It was possible some would get through, so we needed to keep our distance.

When they passed over the trap, the rats were ensnared in some kind of black flame. It looked like all three had been caught separately. So at least three life drainers had been set on this path.

These trap-related skills seemed helpful, so I added skill points and activated them right away.

Liza thrust her spear forward with all her might into the mouth of the giant frog.

Pochi jumped out and whacked its side with a stick to distract it, and Tama leaped in on the other side with her short sword, stabbing its enormous eye to finish it off.

“You did it! Great job!”

“Thank you!”

“Yay!”

“Yes, sir!”

This was their first time defeating a monster all on their own, so I was pleased. The opponent had been a simple level 10 frog demon whose special attack held its victim in place with its tongue, so I thought it might make a good trial for them, but it was hardly a challenge at all. I guess beastfolk are stronger in a fight than humans of the same level.

This room was about three times the size of the others we’d seen so far. You’d think there would be more enemies in a place this big, but no red dots appeared on the radar.

At the end of the room was a house. More specifically, half a house that had been cut neatly down the middle. It must have gotten pulled in when the labyrinth was made. Unfortunately, my radar showed no sign of any humans.

Liza took apart the giant frog while Pochi and Tama kept watch at the door. So Liza’s on disassembly duty this time? Since she had the skill for it, I kept the three-girl-rotation lineup.

“Pochi, Tama, come with me. I’m going to investigate this house.”

According to the map, there weren’t any enemies nearby, so there should be no need to worry. Together with the two girls, I headed inside.

There was nobody living or dead in the building, but there were a lot of other items to be found. This seemed to have been a wealthy person’s secret storehouse.

Once we entered, some lights automatically turned on. Some kind of magical device? They looked easily detachable, so I tried taking one from the wall, but it faded almost immediately. They must work only where they’d been installed.

The first thing that caught my eye was the pair of decorative short swords hanging on the wall. Checking the AR display, I was surprised to find that they actually had decent attack power. They were a convenient size, too, so I decided to give them to Tama and Pochi.

In a truly clichéd move, there was a safe behind one of the paintings, so I shot off the lock with the Magic Gun and looked inside. There was a pouch of gold coins, a few jewels, and a small bottle of a magic material labeled DRAGON SCALE POWDER.

Was the owner an alchemist?

Sure enough, I found some magic potions for recovery in another room, so I must have been right. I also found several books on magic and a magic scroll on a bookshelf. I didn’t know how to use the scroll, but my guess was that one of the nearby books would explain it. I could read through them while the kids were napping and figure it out.

We collected some small things like jewelry, but larger objects like artwork we left in place. I could theoretically hold an infinite amount of items in Storage, but if I just grabbed everything in sight, it’d be a pain to sort through.

Among the artwork, there were two pedestals for mounting preserved animals. Not that it matters, but are they out for repair or something? I would’ve liked to see some fantasy creatures up close.

I found a Tinder Rod in the kitchen. That was the only Magic Item around, but I also picked up a frying pan, a small pot, and four sets of tableware, which I put into the jute bag. There was a full water jug, too, so I poured some into an ordinary water pouch from Storage in case we ran into other people.

A lot of small bottles were in the kitchen as well, so I filled a few with oil and put them in Storage in case I needed an impromptu Molotov cocktail.

“I smell jerky over here! Sir!” Pochi announced in a voice that sounded ready to break into song. On the other side of some crumbling furniture was a food stock, and Pochi and Tama were practically scraping their faces trying to climb through.

It looked dangerous, so I had them stay back while I moved the obstruction aside one piece at a time to clear enough space for us to enter.

Inside, we found three big pieces of rye bread, plus cheese wheels and smoked meat. There was a cask of some fine-looking wine, too, so I snuck it into Storage while meat distracted the other two.

“Pochi, Tama, want to do some taste testing?”

“Yeah!”

“Yes, sir!”

I checked on the AR to make sure none of it was spoiled, then gave Pochi and Tama each a slice of cheese and meat.

“Yummy, yummy!”

“Awoo, it’s so tasty! I’m so happy, sir!”

Shaking their tails alone was apparently not enough to express their joy, so the girls were waggling their clenched fists as well.

I tasted a piece of the cheese for myself. It was good, with a rich flavor like strong cheddar.

“Let’s eat the rest with Liza, okay?”

“She’ll be so happy!”

“Good idea, sir! Let’s bring Liza some, sir!”

I gave the bag of weapons and small items to Pochi and the bag of food to Tama, while I carried the water jug and a washbasin as we returned to the chamber where Liza was waiting. When we came outside, she had finished retrieving the core and was just on her way toward the house.

“Master, I have a request…,” she murmured timidly. “Would it be all right if I started a fire?”

“A fire, underground? What for?” I asked.

“I thought it might be nice to grill the frog meat and eat it… Um. I’m sorry.”

“You don’t have to apologize. Is it edible, though?”

“Yes, it’s perfectly safe. I dissected and ate a giant frog just like this one a long time ago. There’s toxins in the intestines, but as long as you avoid those, it’s fine. But it has to be cooked, or there is a danger of poisoning…”

Liza trailed off after her halting explanation. Despite being underground, there seemed to be good airflow, and we’d come a ways up now, so lack of oxygen probably wouldn’t be a problem.

“Sure, go ahead.”

Liza asked Pochi and Tama to butcher the frog legs, then pulled a wood block and some wood chips out of her bag, arranging them on the ground. So that’s why she’s been collecting those as we go along.

Liza started to use flint to spark the fire, but I stopped her and instead used the Tinder Rod I’d found. I have no idea how this thing is made, but it’s really easy to use.

I handed off to Liza the cooking supplies and tableware I’d found inside.

Before long, Pochi and Tama came over with the frog-leg meat carried high above their heads.

“Meat!”

“It’s meat, sir!”

They seemed even happier about this than the smoked meat from earlier. Maybe this was their animal instinct at work?

Liza sliced the flesh into pieces and lined them up in the frying pan to cook. First she cooked up the fatty parts in oil and set those aside on a plate. Then she started to cook the best parts. An aroma like grilled chicken wafted into the air. Based solely on the smell, I’d say it might actually taste pretty good. Looking impatient, Pochi and Tama closed their eyes and sniffed deeply.

When the frog was cooked through, Liza stabbed each piece onto a wooden skewer and held out the first helping to me.

I probably have to eat this, huh? Yeah, I guess I do.

“Thank you, Liza.” Preparing myself for the worst, I took a bite—it tasted a bit like chicken, but for the most part the flavor was pretty sparse. All I had for seasoning was salt, so there wasn’t much I could do about it. I didn’t feel like going into the house to look for other spices, either. I checked in Storage briefly, but I didn’t have pepper or anything.

The three of them watched intently as I ate. Oh, were they waiting for permission?

“Don’t just sit there watching me—eat up! If you don’t eat and rest properly, we won’t make it out of the labyrinth!”

As soon as I granted them permission, Pochi and Tama dug into the grilled meat straight from the frying pan. Liza, too, stopped cooking long enough to partake. Once in a while I heard a dreadful crunching noise, like one of them had gotten a piece with some bone in it, but all three looked like they were enjoying the meal immensely.

Watching them out of the corner of my eye, I snuck bites of rye bread, cheese, and smoked meat. Even if it tasted all right, frog wasn’t really my thing.

After that, the cycle of dissecting the frog, cooking the meat, and eating it continued for about a half an hour; the feast came to an end around the time when the fire ran out of fuel. At Liza’s suggestion, we wrapped some of the meat in cloth to bring it with us.

Based on our journey so far, the girls would be getting worn out after another two or three battles, so I decided they should rest now while they were full. This was the third break so far.

Before they slept, I had them clean up in the washbasin I’d brought from the house and change into new clothes I’d found there. They’d probably get dirty right away in the next battle, but it feels better to sleep in clean clothes, right?

Apparently, they were getting used to me, because Pochi and Tama fell asleep using my lap as a pillow; Liza didn’t lean on me, but she did curl up right by my side.

Oh, while they’re sleeping, I should take a look at the magic books I got. When I searched through the ones in my Storage, a new option, “Inspect,” was available for them, so I selected that. Just like in a game, it seemed like I could read a book without actually taking it out of Storage.

Come to think of it, I hadn’t given it a thought until now, but I was able to see the menu interface clearly even in dark places like this. Was it being projected directly onto my retinas, or maybe composited in my head?

Wait, I wonder— Sure enough, I discovered that I was able to search the contents of the open books, just like in a game. How convenient! No OCR needed!

There were only a few lines about magic scrolls in one of the books, but it gave a sufficient explanation. It explained that you could use a magic scroll just by opening it and reading the name of the spell. The scroll I found contained a Fire Magic spell called Fire Shot, an offensive spell that was apparently the first one new Fire users learned.

Thanks to this discovery, I could now pass the time by reading while everyone was asleep.

After another break, we’d made it almost 80 percent of the way to the exit of the labyrinth. Pochi and Tama were now using the ornamental short swords from that storehouse and small shields. That was the only change to the party’s equipment, but all three of them had reached level 13. Pochi’s skills were “One-Handed Sword,” “Throwing,” “Enemy Detection,” and “Disassembly”; Tama’s were “One-Handed Sword,” “Throwing,” “Collecting,” and “Disassembly”; and Liza’s were “Spear,” “Spear Thrust,” “Cooking,” and “Disassembly.”

There was a world of difference in their combat ability from when we started to now. In their current state, as long as an enemy didn’t have any special attacks, the girls could beat one up to five levels higher than themselves by working together. Since none of them was a shield user who could serve as a tank, things got trickier if there were multiple higher-level monsters, but I was still impressed.

Farther down the passageway, we found a slime. It wasn’t the cute water-droplet kind from Japan’s favorite RPGs, though—more of a classic amoeba-like mucous creature.

This seemed as good a chance as any to try out my fire spell. I used the magic scroll for Fire Shot just as the book had directed. A fiery bullet only the size of my fingertip appeared, and it shot at the slime as slow as a ball tossed by a child.

Hitting its target, the little fireball toasted the surface of the slime only a little before disappearing. I checked the slime’s HP gauge, and sure enough, it had gone down only the tiniest bit. So Fire Shot was no use, not even against a level 10 slime.

But I had gained the “Fire Magic” skill by using the spell, so I guess I could still call it a success.

When I checked my enabled magic, Fire Shot had appeared there, too. But really, from an MP-efficiency standpoint alone, the Magic Gun was way more useful, so there was no point in using my new ability. I guess it could be useful if I was ever without a fire-starting tool, though.

Perhaps misinterpreting my disappointment, Liza offered me some advice. “Master, forgive my insolence, but the best way to defeat a slime is to aim at its nucleus.”

“Oh? Where is that?”

“The area where the coloring is slightly different.”

So that wasn’t the same as a core? Come to think of it, even though the monster was semitransparent, I couldn’t see a red orb anywhere. Do slimes not have cores?

At any rate, when I looked where Liza was pointing, there was a small orb about half the size of a fist that was a darker color than the rest of the body.

“If you just destroy the nucleus…”

As we’d been chatting, the slime had slowly been oozing closer, but Liza took it out with a single thrust of her spear.

“…you can defeat a slime easily,” she concluded.

“We didn’t get a turn!”

“It just melted away, sir!”

It seemed like Pochi and Tama had been raring to fight the slime, because they looked a little disappointed. No, actually, Pochi seemed more upset that it had turned into a puddle of liquid. She prodded at it glumly with her short sword.

Still, we hadn’t seen any human corpses since two breaks ago, never mind survivors. The larger groups were still going strong, but all the small parties except for one were gone, probably eliminated by monsters.

“This wall is…weird?”

Tama had found a spot on the wall that looked out of place. It seemed to be a hidden door. When I consulted the map, it appeared there was indeed a passageway behind it.

But something was strange. I rotated the map to look at it from an overhead point of view. The path led from a room fifty feet above to a thousand-foot vertical drop, about ten feet across. Is this some kind of pitfall trap?

If this was a game, this might be a good place for an elevator shortcut to and from the deepest part of the dungeon. It would be dangerous to just carelessly go near it, so I had Tama make a mark on it with charcoal.

There was a crossroads ahead once we left the room, and in the front and center rooms, my map showed three survivors. They had been there about an hour ago when we took a break, too, so they must have been hiding in a safe place.

They were only five rooms away from the exit, but without a map, I guess they had no way of knowing that.

“Everyone, stop!”

The red dot of an enemy had appeared on my radar and was coming toward us at an alarming speed. There was only one, so I figured we could go back to the previous room and ambush it.

As we went back, I checked its information on the map. Undead Beast, an undead-type creature. Weakness: holy type. It had the skills “Quick Maneuvers” and “Sprinting.”

Continuing to read the information, I was a bit startled. “It’s…level forty?” That was stronger than any of the demons we’d seen so far. Was it here to sweep out the dungeon?!

This was just like an old game: an absurdly strong monster that appears if the player doesn’t clear the stage fast enough.

I hurried the three girls along, and we somehow made it into the room before the enemy arrived. I had the others take shelter in a corner. This guy would be way too much for them. If I let them fight it, they might get killed in a single blow.

The creature ambled in from the passageway. It looked like a huge panther—fifteen feet long and almost seven feet tall—with a red horn on its forehead.

Suddenly, it disappeared from sight.

Frantic, I checked the radar, but its position hadn’t changed. There was a crash from above—was it leaping up to kick off from the ceiling and tackle me?!

I felt its paws hit my shoulders, and my back slammed into the ground so hard that I felt the floor crack. Good thing I had turned on my “Pain Resistance” skill when we first wound up in the labyrinth.

Still, were undead monsters supposed to be that fast?! If it kept darting about, I might not be able to cover the girls. I grabbed on to its legs with both hands, digging my fingers in deep to stop it.

…Maybe it was one of my skills, but my eye was suddenly drawn to the hidden door in the room.

The undead monster seemed not to feel pain, because it ignored my crushing grasp on its legs and started a biting attack. I’d rather not experience these giant-ass fangs, if at all possible.

I pushed it up and away from me, grabbed it by the middle, and threw it overhead into the wall. The undead monster landed its feet against the side of the room and started to push off for a counterattack—only to break right through and fall into the pit.

Good thing I had that “Trap Setting” skill.

Now then, maybe we should meet up with those survivors.

When we went through the crossroads, a tacky white string was lying across the ground.

“Sticky, sticky!”

“It’s clinging to my feet, sir.”

“Maybe it’s a spider’s thread?”

The closer we got to the room, the thicker the spider thread became; I had Pochi and Tama clear the way with their short swords.

In the room, we found seven cocoon-like objects. Looks like the survivors are in three of these. We’d better get them out while the spider’s not here.

As we got closer, the people inside noticed and started wriggling frantically.

Just in case, I figured I’d check up on their information before we rescued them.

Nidoren. Forty-year-old slaver, level 11, with the skills “Negotiation,” “Animal Taming,” and “Calculation.”

Viscount Jean Belton. Thirty-three-year-old noble, level 15, with the skills “Fire Magic,” “Blaze Magic,” and “Sociability.” Apparently, he served as the sorcery advisor for the count’s army.

The last person was a young man without a job. He was level 3, without any skills. What’s this guy, a NEET?

The viscount looked like he could be useful in combat, but what had he been doing in the square in the first place?

At any rate, we divided up the work and set about freeing the men. I was in charge of the viscount, Liza was taking care of the merchant, and I assigned Pochi and Tama to the young man.

As we were about halfway through cutting the thick cocoons, I saw on my radar a spider approaching from below. There must have been a similar pit in here to the one I’d cast the undead beast into.

“There’s an enemy on the way! Pochi, Tama, Liza, stop for a moment and get ready to intercept it!”

The beastfolk quickly readied their weapons and stood prepared to take on the spider. After the many battles they’d fought along the way, they seemed pretty used to cooperating.

It was a small mercy that we hadn’t yet freed the faces of the trapped survivors. We didn’t need them yammering away while we were trying to fight.

The spider crawled out from a hole in the floor. First, I tossed a stone at its head so it would focus on me. Next, Liza skewered its head with her spear to stop it from moving, and Pochi and Tama stabbed its abdomen with their short swords.

It would’ve been nice if this first round of attacks was enough to kill it, but I guess it’s no surprise that a demonic monster wouldn’t die instantly from a stab to the face.

It reared up its front legs, but Liza stopped them in place with her spear held horizontally, and Pochi and Tama used that gap to go at it with their short swords, chipping away at its HP.

It seemed like this would take a while, so I stealthily flicked a small coin right through its heart, finishing off the creature. I timed my strike with one of Liza’s attacks, so hopefully nobody would notice.

Leaving Tama to retrieve the core, the rest of us went back to our rescue mission. The viscount and I exchanged introductions as I finished rescuing him.

“Thank you for saving me. I am Viscount Jean Belton, the head of the prestigious Belton family, which has continued since the days of the ancestral king Yamato. If we make it out of here, you may expect to be handsomely rewarded.”

“Thank you, Viscount. I’m Satou, a peddler.”

I handed the viscount a water pouch and went to help save the others.

“Thank you so much for your help. I am Nidoren the merchant. This may upset the young ladies here, but I trade in slaves.”

“I’m a novice peddler, Satou.”

“A peddler, eh? I would have sworn you to be an adventurer.”

“An adventurer?” I asked, handing Nidoren some water. “I’ve never heard of an occupation like that before. What sort of people are they?”

“Ah…perhaps in the Shiga Kingdom they’d be called ‘explorers.’ They fight monsters in dungeons, collecting monster cores and treasures. It’s a profitable trade, but only if you don’t mind being at death’s door at any given moment.”

I see… So there are gamelike occupations in this world, too, huh?

“Tch! Don’t touch me, beastchild! Give me the short sword, and I’ll do it myself!”

“I—I can’t do that, sir. This sword belongs to my master, sir.”

“What’s that?! You’ve got a lot of nerve for a beastfolk brat!”

Pochi seemed to be having trouble with the young man she was trying to save, so I went over to help her.

This guy seems like an ass, though. That blond hair looks kind of familiar… Oh, it’s the same guy who kicked the firewood out of Pochi’s arms back in the east quarter!

“Pochi, come back over here.”

“Yes, sir.”

She rushed over, her eyes starting to fill with tears from being yelled at; I caught her in my arms and patted her head reassuringly. The way she was rubbing her face into my stomach tickled a bit, but I wasn’t going to stop her in her current state.

“Oi, you, hurry up and help me!”

“Sorry, but I’m not really feeling it anymore. You can just stay and get eaten by a monster or whatever. One of your hands is free now, so you should be able to get out on your own, right?”

Of course, I wasn’t serious. It was just a little threat.

But since he made Pochi cry, I figured the least I could do was let him fear for his life a little.

“Hey, that’s not funny! Get me out of here now!”

“Silence, peasant,” the viscount thundered at the young man recklessly flapping his jaw. “If you make another sound and risk attracting more monsters, I’ll burn you to cinders, down to your very bones, with my flames.”

That’s a lot of intensity for a fairly young guy. People who are used to being waited on hand and foot sure are different.

In the end, we left to Nidoren the job of rescuing the third man. He skillfully used a slim dagger to cut through the thread. As he worked, he whispered something in the young man’s ear, and the rescue immediately stopped his grumbling.

An old man’s words to the wise, maybe?

Watching with admiration, I paused to accept the core from Tama.

“The cores here are of a very high grade. It’s not often you see one so red on the market.”

According to Nidoren, these could be purified for use in the creation of Magic Items; the higher the grade, the more effective the result, making it possible to create high-quality magical tools.

I had the beastfolk girls recover the articles of the deceased in the rest of the cocoons while I offered the survivors some food. (Not the frog meat, of course.) The viscount made some complaints about the humble quality, but his hunger won out in the end, and he gobbled up his fill.

Some light armor was in a few of the cocoons, so I handed it off to Nidoren and the viscount. The young man had gotten meeker since being admonished by the older merchant, so I gave him some equipment for self-defense, just in case. I’ll just think of it as increasing our party’s combat ability.

In the end, that plan may have been a bit naive.

“I have no desire to use my magic on such minor foes as these. My abilities are suited for only the most formidable opponents.”

“I’ll take care of myself somehow, but don’t count on me to help out in combat, please.”

The viscount wouldn’t use his magic because of some excuse or another, and Nidoren blithely declared himself unfit for combat, so both conveniently avoided helping in battle.

Nidoren’s one thing, but I had high hopes for the viscount’s magic.

But more frustrating than either of those two was the young man. Apparently, being given the bronze short sword and shield had gone to his head…

“Hmph! If those beastfolk brats can fight, then I can take on a hundredfold more than them combined! If I’d had a weapon back there, that stupid spider wouldn’t have slowed me down a bit!” he declared, rushing to attack a monster—only to be nearly defeated in a single hit.

His opponent was a single level 10 skeleton, so before it could finish him off, Pochi rushed in and saved him, catching the blow from its club with her small shield.

“Liza, if you would.”

“Of course.”

At my simple order, Liza hefted her spear. She broke through the skeleton’s form with her first strike, knocked off the arm holding its weapon with the second, and destroyed its skull with her third.

Despite the fact that it lacked eyeballs in the first place, it seemed the skeleton could no longer see after losing its skull, and it launched an attack completely at random. Pochi and Tama sprang into action, and the two girls dispatched their opponent with ease.

Still, having seen a skeleton-type monster in person for the first time, I had to wonder: How on earth do they move? Is the core the source of their power, maybe?

Once again, I had to ask Nidoren to take care of the young man, who was lying on the ground moaning.

“Are you all right there?”

“Tch… I didn’t expect a skeleton to be so strong.”

“It looks like you might have a broken rib here…”

Ignoring the young man’s curses, I listened to the slave merchant’s diagnosis. If his rib is broken, we shouldn’t move him… What are we supposed to do?

“Nngh…! Am I gonna die here?”

“If Pochi hadn’t saved you, I’m pretty sure you’d have died the instant that club hit your skull.”

This would’ve been the perfect chance for him to apologize to Pochi after she’d saved his life, but he didn’t utter a word of thanks. Well, I’m not interested in hearing his complaints, then.

“Damn it, damn it, damn it! I gotta live! I’m not gonna die in a place like this!” the young man spat bitterly, as blood trickled from his lips.

“Hmph. If he can’t walk on his own, we should leave him behind. Meeting up with the troops who have been sent to help us is more important right now. Know that your own foolhardiness has been the death of you, peasant. You should accept the consequences of your actions.”

Whoa, that’s cold. Unlike me, he sounds completely serious.

Pochi and Tama were looking up at me with eyes that begged me to do something for the man, so I had no choice but to break out one of my last resorts.

“Use this medicine, then.”

“What is it?”

“It’s a magic potion.”

“Magic potion?!”

He seemed pretty shocked by that phrase, but it was just something I’d found in the alchemist’s house, so I had no idea how effective it would actually be.

Be grateful that Pochi and Tama are so kind, pal. If they hadn’t pressed me to do something, I doubt I would’ve given you this.

Nervously, the young man brought the potion to his lips. The effect was startlingly immediate.

Just moments ago, he’d been groaning in pain, but less than a second afterward, he shouted, “I’m healed!” and leaped to his feet. It was just as quick as it would have been in a game. I found it a tiny bit disturbing, to be honest.

“A single intermediate-level potion is worth three gold coins, you know. You must be a very odd fellow to let a stranger drink a thing like that.”

When the slave merchant quoted a number that was a bit higher than my estimated market price, the color drained right back out of the young man’s face.

I wasn’t particularly planning to demand a fee from him, but I didn’t go out of my way to tell him not to worry, either.

Thanks to my “Keen Hearing” skill, the sound of a commotion ahead of us reached my ears before anyone else’s.

Zena and her group of soldiers were battling slimes. But had they really charged into a room chock-full of monsters without trying to clear it out first? That seemed way too careless.

“Fightiiing!”

“I hear battle sounds coming from over there, sir!”

Pochi and Tama must have heard it, too, because they pointed in that direction as they made their report.

I nodded and told the other survivors that we would go on ahead.

“It seems someone’s engaged in combat a little farther up. We’ll go in first, so please follow behind and watch our backs.”

The viscount looked like he was about to say something, but I ran off without stopping to listen.

Zena didn’t seem to be injured, but she was low on MP, so I was worried about her.

A few men clad in tunics tumbled out of the room Zena and the other soldiers were in.

“Wah! Stay away from me!”

“It burns…so hot… I don’t wanna die!”

The last man seemed to be pressed into the ground, apparently being sucked in by a slime. He desperately stretched out his hand, begging for help, but his compatriots were too terrified to do anything but shrink away.

“Pochi, Tama, grab some torches from the bag.”

“’kay!”

“Yes, sir!”

I lit the ends of their torches with the Tinder Rod, taking one for myself as well.

“Use these to drive back the slimes and pull them off that man. Liza, take them out by aiming at their nuclei. Once you beat them, leave the cleanup for later and follow me.”

The three of them confirmed their orders, and we rushed into the room. I was a little worried about leaving the younger girls on their own, but since Liza was with them and knew how to defeat these monsters, it should be an easy victory for them. They had the torches, too.

Focusing on Zena’s marker on my radar, I pushed past the people and slimes locked in a free-for-all.

There she is! Zena was fighting off slimes with a long staff, protecting a group of priestesses who were in turn protecting the Oracle. The fact that she was using her staff must mean she’d finally run out of magic.

I thought I might try to snipe the nuclei with coins from a distance, but I didn’t have a good angle. If I messed up, I’d hit the Oracle instead.

One of the monsters attempted to suck in Zena’s staff, pulling her down.

She let out a cry of anguish.

I’m coming!

I unfastened my cloak as I ran, tossed it over the slime that was covering the magic soldier, and used it to pull her attacker off.

With the sound of cloth ripping and a short cry from Zena, I managed to toss the slime behind me. Holding it off with fire, I pulled out a rarely used knife and threw it at the creature’s nucleus, destroying it.

“Are you all right?”

I turned to Zena to make sure she was safe—but my voice cut off in a squeak of surprise.

The indecent slime had torn a huge hole in her blouse. On top of that, it had even melted through part of her chest wrapping, making it come undone.

In short, well…there was nothing left to hide her modest femininity.

Having narrowly escaped a brush with death, Zena herself didn’t seem to have noticed this yet.

It would be wrong to stare, so I reached into Storage via my bag and pulled out a clean piece of cloth, tossing it over to cover her front.

“Oh—thank you! …Satou?!”

Covering her chest with the fabric, Zena finally noticed my presence; with a cry of surprise, she leaped up to embrace me.

Uh, you’re gonna drop the all-important cloth I just gave you!

“Satou! I’m so glad you’re all right!”

I wasn’t sure if our relationship was really close enough to warrant all that, but I wasn’t going to complain about a cute girl hugging me. Besides, I was happy to be reunited, too.

And it was all well and good for me to enjoy her soft embrace until she came to her senses, but I did think the agonizing screams of battle all around us dampened the mood a little bit.

The Oracle priestess whom Zena had been protecting approached from behind her. Huh? Come to think of it, what was the Parion Oracle doing in a place like this? I knew they’d been on their way to a house call in the west quarter, so maybe they’d gotten caught up in the labyrinth business on their way back?

“Zena, please save your excitement about your reunion for later. For now, finishing off these monsters takes priority.”

“Ah, s-sorry about that! Gosh, what am I doing?”

“Don’t worry. I’m happy that you were so pleased to see me.”

The Oracle pointed at the piece of cloth that was now at a priestess’s feet, and the priestess collected it and handed it to Zena. Flustered, she hurriedly tied it around the front of her blouse; I watched her fondly for a second before turning to the Oracle.

“From your performance a moment ago, it would seem that you know the weak point of these creatures, do you not?”

“Yes, that’s right. Slimes all have nuclei, so if you strike that, you can defeat them easily.”

“Leave it to you, Satou! You’re not just nimble—you’re also very knowledgeable, too!”

“Not at all. I just learned that from Liza.”

“Liza? I-is that a woman?”

On hearing the unfamiliar name, Zena pressed closer to me. Right. I guess I named her while we were in the dungeon, so Zena wouldn’t know her name.

“Save your infidelity interrogation for later, please. Is there a way to tell by sight where the slime’s nucleus is?”

Excuse you, Oracle. “Infidelity”? Thanks for making me look bad with a groundless accusation. Well, I can clear up this misunderstanding later.

“There is. The nucleus is a slightly different color, and if you approach it with fire, the slime will recoil and try to keep it away from you—so if you know what to look for, it’s easy to find.”

“Zena, can you use Whisper Wind?”

“I’m sorry; I used up all my magic, so I won’t be able to for a while…”

If only I could transfer some of my unnecessarily plentiful MP to her. Still, I had to wonder if the rate or method of recovery varied from person to person; these young ladies’ magic showed no signs of replenishing.

Whoops, better save my analysis for later. I wonder if I’d gain some sort of useful communication skill by shouting?

I sucked in air deeply, filling my lungs, and shouted as loudly as I could. “Aim for the slimes’ nuclei!”

Due to the nature of my line of work, I wasn’t really used to shouting, and my voice cracked…but I managed to get the skill anyway. I put some points into it, then repeated my cry, adding on a supplementary explanation.

It was a short clarification but seemed to have effectively reached the soldiers, because they started to eliminate the slimes with pinpoint accuracy. This was probably thanks to their expertise as soldiers, but it might also have something to do with my “Direction” skill.

A nearby slime started creeping up on us from its hiding place, but Liza and the girls caught up just in time to take it out.

The soldiers seemed to be fine, but there were a few groups of civilians who were being driven back to the wall, so I brought the girls with me to come to their aid. Before we parted, I handed the priestesses a lit torch. There weren’t any monsters around them, but just to be safe.

In a foolproof winning strategy, Pochi and Tama were driving back the slimes with torchlight while Liza stabbed the nuclei, steadily whittling down the enemy numbers.

My role was just to call out to the people who were alarmed by the sudden appearance of the beastfolk and get them to calm down.

Man, I wish things were always this easy.

When most of the slimes had been taken care of, I headed back toward Zena and the others.

At some point, Nidoren, Viscount Belton, and the other man had arrived in the room as well. They, too, found some friends and rejoiced at their reunion.

“Sir Satou, we truly appreciate your help.”

“It’s all right. I’m just glad I made it in time.”

When I got back to Zena’s group, the priestesses thanked me as well.

Zena and the Oracle were sitting on the ground with their eyes closed. Are they meditating or something? My guess was that this was an easy stance from which to regain MP. They seemed to be recovering it much faster than before.

Keeping an eye on the two as they meditated peacefully, I looked around at the rest of the room.

Of the fifty or so soldiers who’d been trapped in the labyrinth, about 70 percent were here. It seemed that seven of them had been killed, and five were with another group in the demon’s maze.

Aside from the soldiers, about twenty civilians were here, too, including the ones we’d seen fleeing the room before.

One of the other priestesses was gathering the wounded near the Oracle. It seemed like she was going to use some kind of AOE healing spell, so we moved back to give her space.

With most of her magic recovered, the priestess chanted a really long incantation.

The chant took a good two or three minutes; looking bored, Pochi and Tama yawned and stretched. Or maybe they’re just tired?

“… Area Heal Han’i Kaifuku!”

When the spell was complete, a cone of soft light shone down on the priestess and spread out to encompass the people around her. Where’s that coming from? Curious, I reached out to touch the light.

Whoa, I gained the skill just by touching it. Once again, this seems a little too easy…

It looked like this magic had healed most of the injured.

The Oracle priestess seemed to have used up most of her MP with this spell, so her companion priestesses went about casting additional healing spells on those who needed them.

Having finished her meditation, Zena ran her fingers through her hair as she spoke to me.

“I really am glad you’re all right, though.”

“Well, these girls were a big help there.” I reintroduced the beastfolk to the relieved Zena.

“Ah, the demi-human children from back in the plaza.”

“My name…is Pochi.”

“Tamaaa.”

“I am called Liza.”

Shyly, Pochi and Tama introduced themselves as briefly as possible and hid behind my legs. Only Liza seemed to remember that Zena had defended them before.

“We’re immensely grateful that you protected us from those stones on the surface. Without your sorcery, I doubt these children and I would have survived for long. Thank you very much.” Liza bowed deeply as she thanked Zena.

Apparently remembering Liza’s words, Pochi and Tama emerged from behind me and bowed.

“Thanks!”

“Thank you, ma’am.”

Zena giggled. “You’re welcome.”

Amusingly, the girls immediately used me as a shield again once they’d thanked her.

“Oh, that’s right, Satou! The exit might not be far from this room!”

“Really? Did you find that out with magic?”

“Yes, I have a spell called Path Finder that can get information from the flow of the air!” Zena told me in a whisper. “But you see, since it’s based on the air, it’s hard to say whether it came from a path that’s accessible to people. There’s a scout investigating right now, so we’ll have to wait a little longer.”

“Sure. Then let’s hope for good news.”

Apparently, right after that scout had left, the slimes had dropped from the ceiling, and that’s how the whole situation had started.

While we waited, I observed the room around us. The civilians had gathered in a corner to rest.

The viscount seemed to be discussing something with what looked like the army unit’s captain. Maybe next time you can actually do something useful with your “Blaze Magic.”

It seemed that past this room was a long passageway that led to the exit, but there was a small problem.

Like the setup of some messed-up dungeon master, there was a Skeleton Room partway through in an unavoidable location.

The soldiers and the viscount’s magic could probably dispatch the thirty-odd skeletons between levels 10 and 15, but there were three more formidable enemies: a level 30 skeleton knight, skeleton warrior, and skeleton death scythe.

The death scythe, in particular, seemed to have an insta-kill attack that we couldn’t afford to ignore. If we had a Turn Undead–type move that purified evil creatures, like in a game, then we could beat this easily.

Strategically, then, the best move was probably to wait for the Oracle and the priestesses to recover their magic.

The scout who’d been sent ahead to investigate the path soon returned and reported to the captain the same information I’d just investigated. The captain gathered his best staff, the priestesses, and the viscount to come up with a strategy.

Pochi and Tama seemed tired of all the waiting and were starting to doze off, so I let them take a quick nap in my lap. Liza, too, rested up for a while by my side.

Then, after the captain’s explanation, the battle began. We were left out of the proceedings.

The group’s strategy was to shave down the skeletons’ HP with the viscount’s magic, use Zena’s magic to break apart the enemies, then lure them one by one back to the room we were in to finish them off.

It seemed that they were using the narrow hallway to create a one-versus-many situation in their favor. Three of the priestesses supported the soldiers from behind, using a Turn Undead spell.

The civilians had been moved to a smaller room, with those capable of battle—like hunters and merchants’ guards—patrolling the hallway to protect the room from monsters.

We’d been evacuated here, too, but now we were getting ready to leave.

This was thanks to a group of men who seemed to be friends with the one we’d rescued before, who were upsetting the beastfolk with their jeers and complaints.

Nidoren the slave trader and his friends rebuked the group for us, but if I had to be stuck in a hostile environment, I might as well be near the battlefield.

Maybe because they’d saved his life, the young man himself wasn’t saying anything bad about the girls. He was halfheartedly trying to change the subject, but it wasn’t doing much good.

I thanked Nidoren and his friends, and we left to stand near the entrance to the battlefield.

From here, I had a good view of the scene inside the large room.

The path to the Skeleton Room up ahead must have been a straight one, because I could see the faint red glow of fire sweeping the area.

“Here they come! Spears at the ready!”

At the squad leader’s orders, the group of soldiers got into formation, lowering their spears.

Next, Zena and the viscount, who’d been sent ahead to get a head start with their magic, came leaping back into the room, followed shortly by a knight in lightweight armor. Directly behind him was a huge group of skeleton soldiers.

Two heavily armored knights formed a barrier in front of the passageway, halting the skeletons’ advance.

“Spearmen! Don’t stab—swing at them!”

At the squad leader’s orders, a countless number of spears descended on the skeletons, steadily depleting their HP.

Then the priestesses shot their purifying spells into the mix, finishing them off. Their resistance to the magic must have been reduced when they were low on health.

“Two of the big ones are coming! Captain Kigouri, we’re counting on you!”

“Aye! Bouza, can you take one of ’em?”

“Leave it to me, Captain! I’m on fire!”

The broadsword-wielding captain, who was the highest level of the lot, and a heavy soldier with a huge battle-ax and the second-highest level, were apparently in charge of the skeleton knight and the skeleton warrior.

The two large monsters broke through the front lines, and the two men took control, locking in battle with them a little ways away. They exchanged furious blows: the captain’s broadsword against the skeleton knight’s shield, and the hotheaded soldier’s battle-ax against the skeleton warrior’s club.

“… Bind Air Fuubaku!”

To support the heavy soldier, who seemed to be at a slight disadvantage, Zena cast a spell to limit his foe’s movements.

The viscount was standing with his arms crossed and looking decidedly self-important, but it didn’t seem like he was going to do anything.

“… Turn Undead Jouka!”

The Oracle’s purifying magic shot into action. The weaker skeletons collapsed into a pile of bones, but the larger ones resisted it. Still, it seemed to have made them flinch, so the tide of battle was starting to turn.

“Tch! Be careful of the black one! Its scythe can cut through shields!”

There was a torrent of noise and a spray of blood from the front lines.

The skeleton death scythe was the same height as the small-fry, but its bones were pure black. Its scythe was just like the kind that Death itself carries in images—not built for combat, but it could break through shields and cut through armor like paper.

The knights who made up the front lines were more than ten levels lower than the death scythe. If things went on like this, it seemed like the vanguard would crumble.

I took a small penny out of my pocket, fiddling with it in my hand.

I waited for the moment the death scythe swung its weapon and the spearmen moved away, then pitched the coin at the monster. My target was the skeleton’s ankle joint. Between my “Throwing” skill and my “Sniping” skill, I landed a direct hit on the tiny target from a full sixty feet away.

Since I’d timed it along with the skeleton’s attack, the momentum of its swing brought the monster crashing to the ground. To the soldiers fighting it, it should just look like it had swung too hard and fallen.

Not letting the chance go to waste, the soldiers and knights brought down a barrage of maces and the butt ends of spears, destroying the arm that held the blade.

Without letting a second go to waste, the Oracle came in with her purifying magic, reducing the black death scythe to a pile of white bone fragments.

From there, although it was a close game, the army was able to dispatch the rest of the skeletons without a single loss of human life.

Along with the people who’d been taking shelter, we proceeded to the Skeleton Room.

This room was even bigger than the one we’d been in before. It was about as big as two gymnasiums put together. The whole area was made up of bare rock, the natural ups and downs of which made it difficult to walk on the floor.

It was too dark to see the ceiling, but it seemed to be about fifty feet up.

On the way back to the surface, a heavy metal door blocked the passage. It was locked, and nobody seemed to be able to open it.

The knights tried to destroy it with their clubs and maces, but all this accomplished was a lot of loud, fruitless noise. Pochi and Tama covered their ears, cowering unhappily.

The clamor carried on for a while, but finally they seemed to give up and accept that they’d have to rely on magic.

“Viscount Belton, Zena, can either of you destroy it?”

“My Blaze Magic could easily make short work of it, but I would prefer to leave this to the hands of the youth.”

“M-my magic?”

Zena’s Air Hammer only kicked up the dirt around the door, not budging the heavy metal an inch. Air doesn’t weigh anything, so it’s probably not too effective against solid objects.

I’ll have to comfort her later.

Next, the viscount tried his Flame Tongue spell, but all it did was scorch the surface.

Oblivious to the growing gloom of the party, Tama tugged on my sleeve with her latest report. “Master, that wall is…weird!”

Looking in the direction she pointed in, there was indeed a section of the wall that seemed out of place.

Checking my map, I saw that it was a hidden door. This seemed to be the top of the shaft where I’d thrown the undead beast near the spider’s lair.

“Good eye, Tama.”

I petted her head and scratched her cat ears. Of course, Pochi looked left out, so I patted her with my other hand. And tousled her dog ears, of course.

While I was preoccupied with this task, a new enemy signal appeared on my radar. But what I heard from the soldiers and merchants investigating near it were cheers of joy, not screams.

What’s going on? Puzzled, I looked in that direction while checking the monster’s real form on my map at the same time.

“Hey, there’s a treasure chest here!”

“Ooh! I’ve heard of them appearing in dungeons sometimes!”

“It’s mine! I found it first!”

Just then, the man’s obnoxious claim turned into a scream.

“Oh-ho-ho-ho…to think that so many of you made it here! I, impressed!”

Before us was the eyeball demon who had pulled us into the labyrinth. I thought he wasn’t here, but he’s just been disguising himself?!

“Everyone, get into position! We’re going to form a three-pronged attack, not a circle! This thing can use magic—Viscount, Zena, we’ll need you on defense!”

The captain sprang into action, ordering the troops into formation. Zena cast Wind Protection and Air Cushion in rapid succession. The Oracle and her priestesses must have used up their magic, because they quickly took shelter in a corner.

“I knew you’d show up, demon! Unfortunately for you, there’s no defense against my Blaze Magic. I’m going to use Blast Pole. Buy me some time!”

Oh-ho, I thought this guy was just stingy with his magic, but I guess he was saving it for a demon encounter. I apologized to the viscount in my mind, reconsidering my opinion of him a little.

The demon howled, and black spheres appeared all around him. They circled him, repelling any knights who tried to get near him.

“Human magic is too slow. I, bored!”

His giant eye blinked for a moment.

Hmm? What was that? Something felt strange for a moment there.

I glanced at my log and noticed I’d gotten a new skill. Looking around, I saw that the people who had been directly in front of the eye now had the status Charmed.

Even the beastfolk girls had apparently been unable to resist.

“Master! This is incredible, sir! So much meat, sir!”

“I’m gonna eat the meat!”

“Pochi, Tama! We have to hunt as much as we can for the master’s sake!”

They must have been hallucinating that the soldiers around them were roast chicken and beef or something.

I felt bad when they looked so happy, but I had to quickly knock them out with the side of my hand and carry them to a corner of the room. This spot was in the shadow of a large rock, so they should be safe even if the demon cast a big area-effect spell.

The Charmed soldiers were attacking their comrades, but they were outnumbered enough for it not to turn into a massive bloodbath.

At present, the captain and the battle-crazed heavy soldier from before were locked in direct combat with the eyeball monster. The black spheres caught the strikes from their broadsword and battle-ax, though, so they weren’t able to reach the monster himself.

Zena was a little ways away using support magic, but she didn’t seem to have much MP left.

“Stupid humans, kill each other! I, happy!” The demon sneered, apparently enjoying the mayhem. His words ended with another howl, and his body glowed a dark red.

At last, Viscount Belton finished his chant, and a pillar of flame erupted from below the demon’s feet.

“Foul demon! We humans won’t allow your kind to trample on us forever!”

But as if to mock the viscount’s cheesy line as he brandished his staff, the eyeball fluttered about coolly in the middle of the fire. An AR pop-up read, Fire damage cut by 75 percent; he must have used a defense spell right before the attack.

Like the demon himself had said, the chant was so lengthy that it was probably easy to defend against it in time. How sneaky.

“Hot! HOT! It’s nice and hot! I, cozy!”

“What the?! Intermediate magic doesn’t work on him?!”

“Doesn’t work? Of course it worked. I, kind.”

Sure enough, the demon’s health bar had decreased, but by only a small fraction.

“Ah, your despair feels so good! I, thrilled!”

At this rate, it was only a matter of time before someone got killed.

Zena said low-grade demons are as strong as a wyvern, but this guy is definitely tougher than that.

I’m going to have to fight, even if it means I’ll stand out.

Showing off my superhuman powers might end in all of Seiryuu City chasing after me, but I can’t just stand by and let Zena die.

Just as I had made that decision, however, screams came from the other room, as if to dampen my resolve.

Turning toward the passageway, I saw Nidoren and the others running toward us with a bloodied undead beast at their heels.

Crap! I had been so occupied with what was in front of me that I’d forgotten to keep an eye on my radar. Kicking myself, I picked up a rock from the ground in front of me and threw it at the monster’s face.

The only reason I didn’t finish it off in one blow was so that I could use it.

The undead beast turned its empty eye sockets toward me and ignored the middle-aged man it had been about to crush in favor of coming toward me.

Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Zena’s shocked expression. “Satou?!”

I caught the undead beast’s charge with both hands, and its momentum sent both of us flying into the wall with the hidden passage behind it. The fragile wall crumbled, and the beast and I were both swallowed up in the darkness.

“Zena! Stay in position!”

“No, let me go! Satou, Satooou!”

The sound of Zena shrieking my name faded as I dropped into the abyss.

Sorry, Zena. You can scold me for this later.

I had fallen into the pit behind the secret door. It would have been a huge pain to get back to the battlefield from a thousand feet down, so I had grabbed a ledge about fifteen feet down and pulled myself into a small room.

Normally, this kind of acrobatic movement would have resulted in nothing but some broken fingers, but my leveled-up body could do some ridiculous things.

The undead monster had ended up in the room with me, so I finally had a chance to bring out one of my Holy Swords again.

It didn’t glow blue, but it was still insanely sharp, enough to cut the monster in half without the slightest resistance. The sword caused me a minute amount of damage as long as I had it out, so I put it back in its scabbard.

All right. I can disguise myself while I’m in this room.

I changed out of my robe into some shabbier clothes, with a richly colored overcoat on top. The hood could probably cover my face, but it still made me a little nervous.

Looking through my Storage, I found something pretty convenient: the dragon mask I’d bought with Martha. She’d said this silver mask was quite popular last year, which meant they wouldn’t be able to track it down to one owner. I put on the blond wig I’d bought then, too.

Great. I’m all set.

I ran like the wind down the passageway, heading back to the battlefield.

In the room before the Skeleton Room, there was a bunch of weak monsters—maybe summoned by the demon—pressing down on the hunters and guards who desperately fought to protect the entrance to the smaller room where the others were hidden.

I made sure there was no one in the passageway, then took a boulder out of Storage and rolled it along. The overwhelming mass crushed the monsters.

I made sure the attack had taken out all the enemies, then bounded past the stunned hunters and guards and headed toward the Skeleton Room.

The battle against the demon continued unabated.

In the few minutes I’d been gone, several soldiers had taken serious injuries, but Zena appeared to be unharmed. The beastfolk girls were still passed out in the corner, but they were fine as well.

Thanks to what was probably the viscount’s magic, a circle of flames around the eyeball made close combat impossible. I tossed another rock from Storage at the center of the demon’s huge eye.

“Guh? What was that? I, surprised!”

“Quit screwing around! We don’t need help from a masked weirdo like you!”

Oh dear, I’ve been rejected?

Wearing the silver festival mask to hide my identity had apparently backfired.

The demon howled, and a transparent black screen appeared in front of him.

I lightly tossed a rock at it, but right in front of the screen, it suddenly lost all momentum and dropped harmlessly to the floor. It must have been a magic defense against projectiles.

“Who are you? Thinking you could harm a demon with a mere rock? I, so perplexed!”

His next cry created a black javelin. Is howling like that the demon equivalent of a chant?

The missile flew toward me, but I dodged it easily. It was moving at a pretty high speed, but maybe my “Evasion” skill helped me with the timing.

While I had the demon distracted, the viscount’s Flame Spear and the priestess’s Sacred Javelin spells hit the demon squarely in the temple, reducing his HP by a large margin. At the same time, the captain’s broadsword and the heavy soldier’s battle-ax crashed into him from the other side.

The ax didn’t do any damage, but the sword must have been a magic weapon of some kind, because it took out another chunk of the demon’s HP.

“Aargh, am I going to be defeated by humans? HUMANS? I, embarrassed!”

A magic circle appeared at the demon’s feet.

“He’s going to cast something! Everyone, defensive positions!”

At the captain’s warning, the soldiers took cover behind nearby rocks.

In a game, this would be the time to attack the demon head-on with all my might to try to finish it, but in reality, I guess damage control was more important. Charging the demon here would probably be akin to trying to put out a dynamite fuse before it exploded.

Still, I felt like I should take this chance to finish him off, so I pulled out the Holy Sword at my waist and charged. Unfortunately, something fell from the ceiling and landed on me, preventing my advance.

Damn, is it one of those black spheres that stopped the soldiers’ attacks before?

Getting new skills was great and all, but that magic circle was highly concerning. I had dropped my sword when I hit the ground, so I had to shove the sphere off with my bare hands.

The magic square rose up toward the ceiling, with the hell demon in the center.

“Ah, master! I, yearning.”

A jet-black giant emerged from the magic circle.

I could only describe this thing as a real demon.

He had the horns of a ram, glowing dark-red eyes, and gleaming black skin. There were shining metal claws at the ends of each of his four arms. Black bat wings sprouted from his back with veins of red, plus a forked tail with sharp points on the end. The twenty-foot-tall giant was floating in midair.

This was a level 62 greater hell demon, with skills in three kinds of magic—Wind, Lightning, and Dark—as well as hand-to-hand combat. On top of that, he had five extra skills inherent to his species—“Flight,” “Petrifying Breath,” “Poison,” “Regeneration,” and “Spawn Creation.”

“How can this be?! It summoned an intermediate hell demon?”

“Wrong, Human. The Great I, Displeased.”

“My master is the demon lord’s right-hand man! A god among demons! I, correcting!”

“I don’t believe it. A greater hell demon?!”

Stunned by the new enemy, the viscount and captain fell to their knees in despair—realizing it was a superior hell demon. The only ones who seemed able to bear the news were the battle-crazy warrior and the Oracle.

“You Did Good Work Creating The Labyrinth And Summoning Me. The Great I, Gratified.”

The giant beast grabbed the eyeball demon.

“Ah, I can be a part of master again! I, delighted!”

With that, the greater demon bit into his subordinate and devoured him.

When this gruesome ritual was completed, another head sprouted from the monster’s, his face nothing but an eyeball.

They fused somehow? Well, at least he didn’t evolve or level up or anything.

“Soldiers, Stand Up And Fight. The Great I, Choosing You.”

A howl overlapped the creature’s voice, apparently from the new head.

Winds that would put a hurricane to shame whipped up in the room, throwing the soldiers against the wall. I raced against the gale, catching Zena and the Oracle priestess before they hit the wall, too.

The men are going to have to bear it themselves. I can’t catch everyone.

I gained two new skills as I fought the magic, so I put some points into “Wind Resistance.”

Grabbing my Holy Sword from the rock it was lodged in, I stood facing the demon. He looked down at me scornfully, but his frown deepened into a scowl of hatred when he saw my sword.

“So There’s A Hero Among Us, Is There? Did You Get A Divine Revelation? The Great I, Enraged.”

Even as he spoke, the creature was casting magic in the background. This thing is seriously sneaky.

A jet-black aura appeared around his body. Probably some kind of support magic.

But I can be sneaky, too. I checked the effect of the demon’s magic on my AR screen. Sure enough, it was a fortifying spell. Physical damage cut by 90 percent, the ridiculous effect read.

“Your Carelessness Will Be Your Downfall! The Great I, Full Power.”

The greater hell demon howled again; his claws, horns, and tail glowed black. A new AR pop-up appeared: Physical attack power 300 percent UP.

Whoa, whoa, whoa. How much buffing up do you need to do?

If I just stood by and watched, this situation was only going to get worse; it was time for action.

I wouldn’t be able to take out his legs with my sword, so I aimed and fired with the Magic Gun at maximum power.

The demon twisted out of the way of what should have been a nearly invisible bullet, and he came at me with a speed I wouldn’t have expected from such a huge brute.

Leaving a trail of red light in his wake, the demon slashed his poisonous claws down at me. I leaned back and dodged the strike, using my absurd strength to swing my sword upward. But the attack barely scratched the hell demon’s skin. I had thought I’d be used to combat by now with all the monster extermination we’d done, but I apparently still had a ways to go.

“What’s Wrong, Hero? Aren’t You Any Good With Your Holy Sword? The Great I, Disappointed.”

The tiny scratch I’d made on him healed in the blink of an eye.

I guess the Oracle was right—without the Hero title, I can’t use the Holy Sword to its full strength.

I continued evading his attacks and launching counterattacks of my own, but the demon dodged my magic bullets, and my sword would barely scratch him, so I wasn’t dealing much damage.

And then, apparently tired of my efforts, he launched a thunderbolt attack at me. I didn’t have a chance to dodge it, so the lightning struck me dead-on.

“Ow, my hands and feet are tingling.”

If I had to compare it to anything, I’d say it was like a more extreme form of the pins and needles in your limbs after you kneel for a long time. Checking my HP gauge, I saw I’d taken about five points of damage.

I tried to dodge the demon’s claws as they swiped toward me, but my limbs were still a little numb, so I was a second too late. I blocked with my sword, but it still managed to graze my shoulder.

How many status conditions can you inflict with one attack?! Luckily, I seemed to have resisted them all, because nothing strange happened to my body.

Putting some distance between the demon and myself, I funneled points into my new skills.

“You’re Sturdy For A Human! The Great I, Impressed.”

But apparently, surviving all those attacks and conditions had left me a little overconfident.

The demon breathed a puff of gray air that crept up my left side.

The surface of my body started to crust over. I yanked a cloak out of Storage to ward off the rest of the petrification breath.

I freaked out a bit, but it looked like all that had hardened were my clothes and the surface of my body; when I flexed my fingers a few times, the plaster-like material flaked away, revealing perfectly smooth skin underneath.

Man, I’m lucky my level is so much higher than that thing’s.

The demon seemed startled that his Petrifying Breath hadn’t worked on me, but he diverted my attention with dark missiles and wind blades, then came at me with his claws while I was dodging in midair.

Crap, I forgot—it’s a bad move in fighting games to evade in the air, isn’t it?

The petrified part of my robe was brittle, and it tore off, exposing my shoulder.

I took damage from the attack, but my “Self-Healing” skill closed up the wound as soon as it was inflicted, so while my robe got a little bloodied up, my HP gauge was just fine.

Still, it probably wasn’t safe to lose too much blood, so I’d better be careful not to rely too much on “Self-Healing.”

The demon recklessly reached out to grab me, and I took this one-in-a-million chance to lop the arm right off.

Huh? I thought his physical damage was reduced by 90 percent?

But no sooner did the arm hit the ground than the hell demon grew a new one in its place. The severed limb morphed like a ball of clay, forming into a lesser hell demon.

“That’s A Sharp Sword You Have There, But The More You Cut Me Up, The More Demon Spawn I’ll Create. The Great I, Cautioning.”

The arm demon rushed to attack the captain and his soldiers. Luckily, he didn’t have any magic skills, so they should be able to handle him. Just to make their job a little easier, I used my Magic Gun to shoot his legs.

“No Matter How Good You Are With That Sword, You Won’t Be Able To Beat Me If You Can’t Use Its Full Power. The Great I, Derisive.”

So it’s like the Oracle said: “Only the Holy Sword of a hero can defeat a demon lord.” Damn, does the same rule apply to greater hell demons?

But I have just two kinds of magic spells.

Zena had said weaker magic wouldn’t work on greater hell demons, so Fire Shot was no good.

And using Meteor Shower here was out of the question. It could probably beat this guy, but Zena and the beastfolk girls could get caught in it, too. Even the people of Seiryuu City and I probably wouldn’t get out unscathed.

While I was distracted thinking about this, I dodged the demon’s claws only to get hit squarely by his tail, sending me flying across the ground and into the opposite wall.

The impact made me dizzy, and I shook my head quickly before standing back up.

Things were only going to get worse if I didn’t do something soon.

My Holy Sword could cut the demon, but not only would he heal, he’d produce more enemies.

The only two spells I had were either too weak or too strong.

And he could dodge the Magic Gun.

Hmm? Or can he?

“The Great I, Attacking.”

The hell demon came at me with a dropkick. Several tons of weight crushed down on me, and pieces of the floor scattered everywhere as I was slammed back against the wall.

Man, if I didn’t have “Pain Resistance,” that definitely would’ve made me faint.

“… Air Hammer Kitsui!”

“… Flame Spear Honoo no Yari!”

“… Sacred Javelin Seinaru Yari!”

Just then, Zena, Viscount Belton, and the Oracle all struck the hell demon with their magic.

He resisted most of the magic, so he didn’t take much damage, but they’d created more than enough of a gap for me. I’d dropped the Magic Gun and the Holy Sword, but I still had a backup Magic Gun ready in my Storage.

“How Dare You Interrupt My Fun With Your Weak Magic? The Great I, Offended.”

Still pinning me down with one of his feet, the monster lifted a nearby boulder and prepared to throw it at Zena and the others.

Like I’m gonna let you do that.

I took the Magic Gun out of Storage and fired it point-blank. With the power on maximum, of course.

“Gunhghgh! The Great I, Careless.”

The first shot hit the demon, but he was quick to abandon the boulder and jump away, so he dodged my other attacks. I hate the stupid one-second lag after I fire this thing.

But the damage I’d inflicted was barely 1 percent of his HP. He seemed to recover from magic attacks slower than sword cuts, though, so maybe if I could hit him over and over…

I’ll distract him with Fire Shot and then shoot him at point-blank range. My MP gauge seems to regenerate really fast, so as long as I don’t use Meteor Shower or anything, I shouldn’t have to worry about running out.

Hoping to make the Fire Shot at least a little more powerful, I put away the Holy Sword I’d just recovered and took out a staff instead. The viscount and Zena used them, so it must have some effect on the strength of magic.

“Given Up On The Holy Sword You Couldn’t Use, Have You? The Great I, Observant.”

The demon was half crouching some distance away, ready to dodge in any direction.

I selected Fire Shot from my magic menu.

Eat this!

BOOM!!

White light blinded my view, and a thunderous roar echoed so loudly, my ears seemed to fail me for a moment.

When my vision returned, I saw the half-charred and smoking hell demon, plus a huge hole in the labyrinth wall behind him. The surface was still bright red, bubbling like lava.

What was THAT?

…Oh yeah, now I remember.

When I’d used Meteor Shower from the magic menu instead of the icon, it was dozens of times more powerful. I guess it would be the same way with other spells, too.

A gust of hot steam blew toward me. It seemed like it’d burn my throat if I inhaled it, so I held my breath.

“How Could One So Skilled In Combat Also Be A Sorcerer? The Great I, Uncomprehending.”

From behind a rock somewhere, I heard the viscount exclaiming. “That could only have been the greater spell Crimson Javelin!”

Nope, sorry, it was just a super-basic Fire Shot.

But if it was going to be this powerful, that might actually make it harder to use. I could definitely beat this guy with three more hits like that, but he seemed to have realized that, too, because he was moving to hide behind Zena and the others so I couldn’t attack.

Sorry, Mr. Eyesore.

But you’re already in checkmate.

I put away the staff and switched back to the Holy Sword.

Because when I remembered the thing about the magic menu, I also remembered something else.

I launched myself forward, kicking rocks aside as I charged toward the demon.

“Only the Holy Sword of a hero can defeat a demon lord.”

I fended off the demon’s desperate “Petrifying Breath” with a tent from Storage, then slid right under his legs.

Greater hell demons rule over lesser demons. They’re the “right-hand man” of a demon lord—they’re even “godlike.”

The petrified tent served to shield me from sight.

From its shadow, I hit the ceiling with a Fire Shot, distracting everyone in the area.

But while I have Holy Swords, I don’t have the Hero title.

Using the radar as my guide, I leaped off the ground, then kicked off the ceiling, altering my direction. My feet felt kind of hot.

So I can’t deliver the killing blow.

Leaping around in a triangle, I slashed at the hell demon’s wings, snatching away his ability to fly.

But is that really true?

I now had only seconds to win before he regenerated his wings.

Think about your titles. What do you have?

I changed my title and my sword, and as my foe paused to grow back his wings, I brought my weapon straight down on the crown of his head.

The blade, so dark it seemed to absorb all the light around it, cut right through the jet-black demon. Black dust spewed from his body as he began to crumble away.

“What Kind Of Sword Is That?! The Great…I…Defeated…”

As soon as the demon finished speaking, the dust turned to a faint gray haze and disappeared.

The lack of resistance unnerved me a little bit, as if I’d killed only an illusion, but when I checked my log, it showed that I really had defeated him.

While everyone around me was stunned, I quickly put the sword back in its scabbard and took my leave.

Now that I thought about it, the method I had used to defeat him was simple.

If the title Hero and a Holy Sword could kill a demigod-like demon, then surely the Godkiller title and a Divine Blade could kill a god, too.

Something like that, anyway.

I returned to the small room where I’d made my transformation before, changed back into my old clothes, and climbed back up the pit. The dungeon walls were made of tougher stuff than normal rock, so it was a little more difficult to make footholds with my fingers.

“Master!”

When I was about fifteen feet away from the top, Tama came down toward me, tied to a lifeline. She must have been on her way to rescue me. I could see Liza and Pochi peering down from the hole above.

“Thanks for coming to get me.”

“Yeah!”

I put Tama on my shoulders and climbed the rest of the way.

“Pochi, Liza, thank you, too.”

“I’m so glad…”

“You’re all right, sir!”

Liza was so overwhelmed with emotion that she looked about to cry, so I handed her a fresh handkerchief from my bag. Pochi and Tama immediately grabbed on to me and cried, possibly wanting handkerchiefs of their own.

All right, all right. As long as they’re just tears of relief, you can cry as much as you like.

Zena raced toward me, and I waved at her. It hadn’t even been two days since we got trapped in the labyrinth, but it felt like we’d been in there much longer.

At some point, I had gotten a few new titles.

…I wouldn’t have minded getting that last one a little earlier, you know.