43 - 地の底の光明

As we proceeded along the passage leading east, the ground began to slowly descend.

After a short walk, the ground returns to a flat level, but the darkness has clearly changed.

Thor, who had reached the second level, looked ahead to the end of the passage.

In the low visibility, two shadows crouching about twenty paces ahead of him.

It seems that they are waiting to greet him.

Thor turns around and nods, and Moo silently activates his lightning rod.

A small blue glow flashes here and there on the young body, and Thor, sword at his side, steps forward.

As soon as he was halfway close, the monsters that had been lurking in the darkness began to move.

As if anticipating this, Thor steps forward.

At that moment, a fist-sized stone passes by where he had just been.

Moo's enhanced eyes had already spotted the two new creatures in the back.

Accelerating past the stones, Thor quickly closes the distance with the hobgoblins in front.

From his prone position on the ground, the monster thrust his sword at Thor as if to reach for him.

Unlike the raising and lowering of the sword, it is very difficult to avoid a thrust that moves in a straight line.

Moreover, it is even more difficult for the human eye to catch them when they are fired from a low posture.

However, at an exquisite position, Thor suddenly stops his footsteps.

The tip of the sword passes through the void at the tip of his nose, having lost sight of its target.

With a flash of his sword, he slashes at his outstretched wrist, blocking the counterattack and piercing his throat.

Thor deftly shifts his position and brings another one into the line of fire of the two behind him.

The hobgoblin lets out a muffled snarl, and then cleaves with his rusty sword with a mighty side-slash.

At first glance, it seems like a simple attack, but if taken seriously, Thor's sword will surely break.

However, if he backs off and keeps his distance, his companions behind him will attack him.

Of the two choices, Thor chose forward without hesitation.

He stepped forward lightly, and matched his sword to the approaching blade.

With a hard sound, the sword was flung away by the monster's sword.

--

Fifty percent of the slashes are returned in the direction from which they came, thanks to Sola's magic.

Using the recoil from the bounce, Thor's sword slashes the hobgoblin's jaw from directly below at high speed.

Just as Thor was about to insert the tip of his sword into the empty throat, the hobgoblin's jaw was cut open again.

Kicking off the ground, Thor pulled his cloak from behind him and held it up in front of him.

Without a pause, something like black mud slammed into him.

A dark technique.

The hobgoblin shaman shot at him and his companions.

Unlike Thor, who was protected by his cloak, the monster in front of him took the brunt of it.

Even though it is a bastard of darkness, its physical structure is not very different from that of other creatures.

It immediately collapses to the ground, revealing its bones.

But the hobgoblin, betrayed by his friends, lifts the edge of his mouth to reveal a row of fangs.

With a smirk on his face, the monster comes close to embracing Thor with his bare hands.

Then, the shooter, taking advantage of the opportunity, fires a projectile aimed at Thor's retreat.

Thor, whose back is blocked, moves forward again.

He avoids the monster's outstretched hand by spinning himself around brilliantly.

With the same spin, he swings his blade horizontally.

The monster's rotting neck is sliced off, and it falls to the ground with a mighty swing.

Without seeing it coming, Thor kicks the ground and slashes at the remaining two monsters.

The rear guard, having been cut off from a favorable distance, had no way left to fight back.

"So from the second layer, it's going to be a group of four? And they were also moving in a coordinated manner. ......"

While Thor was calmly analyzing the battle situation, two men approached him holding up lights.

They looked at the monster's corpse with interest.

"Wow, it smells really bad, doesn't it?

"What's this?　Tor-chan."

"It's like a magic technique used by monsters. Be careful not to touch it, or you'll get the same thing.

"Okay!"

Moe replied happily and took Sola's staff in his hand and began to poke at the rotten parts.

"This is fun. "This is fun, little Sola!"

"What?　Oh, when did that happen?　Ahhh."

Sola hurriedly snatched the staff back from the child and screamed as the stony part twisted into a small ball.

Then, thinking back to what had happened during the battle, she hurriedly asked Thor.

"Thor, are you okay?　Did you get hit by this strange thing?"

"Yeah. Look, look."

Thor turned his back to Thora, who was worried about him.

The blue-striped cloak still had a few black stains on it, but there was no sign of decay.

"This snake is not afraid to swim in the thicker miasma swamps, you know."

"Yes, I see. I was so worried!

Sora, who had been staring at the residue of the dark technique, tilted her head and asked Thor, "What do you want me to do?

"Hey, can I try it?"

"Hmm. Moo, are there any monsters around?"

After patting him on the head and having him switch to , Moe immediately sent a small purple snake flying in all directions to check it out.

"They're just, uh, a little further down the road!"

"Well, thank you very much."

The child had his head touched again and struck his usual pose of lifting his nose.

An hour had already passed since they had entered the cave.

Therefore, the time available for magic was already reset.

However, Thor decided that a second battle at the second level would be difficult, considering the time and distance remaining.

"Okay, do it, Sora.

With permission, the girl lifted her staff and looked at the snakeskin cloak.

The next moment, the black stain floats away like a blur, turning into a white vapor before disappearing.

Lifting the cloak to assess the change, Thor pulls a dismantling knife from its sheath and lightly thrusts it into the cloak.

The thin blade, which had easily cut through the monster's fur, slides across the surface without seeming to bite.

If it were a of decomposition, it would be a growth or something, but there is no sign of such a thing.

The fact that it has become more sturdy seems to indicate that the effect of lowering its defensive performance has been reversed.

"Hmm, this is ......."

"I don't know.　Tall girl."

The most important thing for Thor and his friends in this labyrinth is that they will run out of magic power and the number of times they can use their magic skills.

It is said that as the miasma becomes more intense, the recovery of magical power slows down in inverse proportion.

And because of the monsters that reappear as time goes by, this place requires a short time to eliminate them.

If you waste even a single shot of magic, you will lose your margin in no time.

However, if you run out of magic power, you can manage with .

However, once the number of usable spells is used up, Thor and his friends have nothing to do.

In fact, at this point, Sora's , which can be used only five times, is always used up.

Thor renewed his armor in order to reduce the number of times he had to use his .

However, even so, Thor's opinion was that it would be difficult to conquer the second level and reach the third level, where the master of the labyrinth awaited.

He has yet to come up with a way to defeat the mighty hobgoblin chief.

But now.

Thor has found the solution in the cloak with the girl's magic.