18-14 Undead Labyrinth (provisional)

Early in the morning I got up as usual and headed to the dining room to check out the still maze of aisles in the church headquarters.

'Oh my, you're new. What's going on so early?

I bumped into the old lady who served me dinner yesterday.

Oh, good morning. My name is Lucile. I look forward to working with you in the future.

'Oh my goodness, you are so polite. I know being a healer at HQ must be a lot of work, but good luck with that.

Ha-ha. Well, I'll do my best. And, actually, I didn't ask you what time breakfast is always served, so I asked you early, and have you heard of Object X?

'No, I don't know. What the hell is that?

'No, if you don't know, that's fine. Oh, and how do I get to the Adventurer's Guild?

'Ahhh, the people below the priest are basically not allowed to go out unless they get permission to go out.

I knew it. So, when is breakfast coming up?

Yeah. It usually starts in a couple of hours. All the priests here work late in the morning.

"...I see. So, do you have a training ground or something?

I'm sure there is, but I don't know.

'Well...okay. I'm sorry for asking so many questions. Also, could I have lunch for lunch, please?

That's great, but are you going somewhere?

Well, I'm just going to work.

Oh, yeah? Don't push yourself too hard.

Ha-ha. I'll do my best.

Thus, I returned to my room and passed the time while practicing my magic, and after finally getting a meal, I put the lunch that I had been prepared for after I got my food into my bag and headed to Granhardt-san's room.

''You're here,''

Apparently, Granhardt-san was already waiting, and a young man who looked a little older than me now was standing next to him.

''Good morning. I'm sorry to have kept you waiting.''

'Haha. It's okay. Gran-sama probably didn't set a time frame anyway.

I don't mean to...

I'm sure you have. My name is Jord. I'm your predecessor.

Oh, excuse me. I'm Luciel. I'll be taking over the position today. It's nice to meet you.

Take this first.

Granhardt-san forced his way into the conversation and handed me a white robe.

''That robe is a special one woven with holy silver thread that blocks out the miasma, given to healers and knights of the church headquarters and those with a Healer's Guild A rank or higher.

...sounds expensive.

''Ten white gold coins. For that matter, as long as you're clothed in it, don't do anything foolish to undermine the authority of the Healer's Guild.

Yes, sir.

Then I'll give you this.

What about this card?

"With this, you won't have to ask me for permission to leave the house. I don't have time for this, so I'll give it to you, but don't cause me any problems. It is forbidden to go out and admit any seriously ill person, child, pet or anyone else to the guild headquarters. If you don't swear to it, I won't give it to you.

...I swear.

Okay. The witnesses will be me, Granhard and Jord.

The card flashed for a moment as he made a simple declaration.

'What was that?'

It's a pact. If you break your word, your card will not be valid. If that happens, there will be penalties.

'You really shouldn't do that. The church's penalties are unusually heavy.

I understand.

Jord, it's all yours.

Yes, Master Gran. Then follow me.

Thus, when I visited the church headquarters, I took the first magic elevator that I rode to the basement.

''A short walk from here, you'll see the shop.

Mr. Jordo said, and walked toward the light ahead.

The elevator was luminescent and pale, and I followed Mr. Jord into the room where the light spilled out, relieved that I could go back.

'You must be surprised,'

Mr. Jordo, with a boyish smile, said as he looked around the room.

It was exactly as it should be.

Swords and armor that looked like they could be found in games were neatly decorated, and magic books were crammed together.

You can exchange the magic stones from the labyrinth here for points, and if you accumulate the points, you can exchange them for all the things that are here. You can also trade for magic books and other things that can only be obtained here. It's empty at this time of day, so I'll open the door to the labyrinth over here as soon as possible.

As soon as I opened it, I felt an oppressive feeling like I'd never felt before.

'We're already in a labyrinth from here,'

I chanted my aura coat and entered.

After a short walk, there was a staircase beyond.

It's a good thing that you're able to have a good time with them.

'Holy healing hand, the breath of mother earth, be my body and my obstacle, let the unholy beings return to their proper path. Purification.

Then the magic flew to the zombie, and when the light spread to the zombie all at once from where it hit it, the zombie disappeared and transformed into a small red magic stone.

''This will be your job from today, Luciel-kun. The undead will swarm the living, so please use Purification to defeat them.

What were you going to do if you couldn't use Purification?

''I had you learn Purification in a real battle. Purification gives holy vibrations to more than one of them, not just one, so please defeat it well.

Now go and collect this magical stone.

With that, Jordo-san walked out of the labyrinth.

''You don't have to leave so quickly just because it smells bad, you know. ...Good. Let's be safe.

I took my weapons and armor out of my bag and equipped them, then I put on my robes and began my first dungeon attack in my two lifetimes.

''It's pretty bright inside, isn't it?''

Perhaps because it was labyrinthine, the interior of the labyrinth was bright, as if it was lit with magical tools. Rather than a labyrinth, it was more like a pseudo-magnet, or perhaps a training ground. It was the kind of place that made me suspect so.

'I just wish you could do something about this putrid smell though. Well, normal people would probably be too smelly to do something about it, but I've been drinking object X undiluted for a while now, and I can do it with a comfortable level of patience.

'Do I have to go through this while mapping? And I found a zombie. And I didn't hear anything about more than one. God, Buddha, ancestors, please give us strength.

I looked at the zombie and began to chant quietly.

'Holy healing hand, breath of mother earth, be my body and my hindrance, return the impure beings to their proper path. Purification.

The breath of Mother Earth, O holy and healing hand, be my body and my hindrance, restore the impure beings to their proper path. Purification.

The breath of Mother Earth, O holy and healing hand, be my body and my hindrance, restore the impure beings to their proper path. Purification.

However, it was not just once, but three times in a row.

Oh no, real zombies are already too scary. I was unconsciously chanting a lot.

Well, that's what happens in games where you shoot zombies with a gun at first. This isn't a game, you know.

Before I knew it, the zombies' shadows were gone and there were four magic stones lying around.

'There were only three of them, weren't there? Because you were so tentative? Oh well. We managed to win.

After picking up the magic stone in this way, I was the first to open the status screen.

''? ....not raising the bar? What? Why?

I couldn't help but look twice, not twice, but three times at that startling fact. Normally, if you defeat a demon, your level goes up.

It's said that if you're level 1, if you defeat a demon, your level will go up even if you kill one goblin of the same rank.

''d*mn it. Maybe this really isn't a training ground for hallucinations created by a wise man or someone else, or something.

As soon as I thought that, I realized.

'Is this bullying? But if it's 20 million a month, I'll make more and more use of it as a training ground.

Thus, Luciel would channel magic power into the sword he received from Brod to slash the zombies, or grab the zombie's head and activate a heel to make them disappear.

However, "Stink! It smelled so bad that I cast a cleansing spell on my own hands to make the smell go away.

I went through the stairs, even if there was a staircase, and then I walked around one level of the labyrinth, defeating the zombies, and when I was able to go around in circles and not get lost on one level, I envisioned a map in my brain.

'I screwed up. If this was going to happen, I should have brought parchment, ink and a pen.

One level was roughly about three hundred meters square, and the width of the road was nearly five meters, so movement was not impeded in battle.

Luciel used purification magic to train his holy magic, and when the amount of magic power became severe, he would pour his magic power into the sword to slash.

Even if he passed his magic power through the sword, the MP consumed was only the moment he slashed, so he only consumed 1 or 2 MP.

Thus, the zombie's movements felt slow to Luciel, who was able to catch Brod's all-out movement just because he couldn't avoid it, and also because he judged it to be an illusion, so he was able to move as he should without any strength in his shoulders.

Therefore, he kept walking until he could decide that he wasn't going to get lost anymore, and then he went down to the second level, "Two levels, shall we go to the second side?" as he got on a roll.

''Two levels are bright. If this comes up with a treasure chest or something, it's probably an otherworldly-flavored liver test for a rookie welcome party, but it's harassment.

Thus, they continued their search around the two levels.

Oh. Are there zombies that can accompany zombies, or demons like this? Oh, is that a fireball over there? What was it, Will-O-Wisp? Or was it Will O' the Wisp?

I decided to try to see if the sword attack that I cast a purification spell on or channeled magic power to a new demon would work.

'Whoa, weak!' I attacked as a check, and the fireball disappeared.

Thus, after two levels and nothing else, we decided that there was no need to get lost, "Let's make a meal!

I took out my lunchbox and object X in front of the stairs leading to the third level and started eating my meal.

''There's something wrong with the air, so I want you to put a purification spell and an aura coat on my bento as well.

Even though they were eating like this, the demons didn't come by.

''What do you mean by 'the undead will flock to the living'? I'm sure Jordo-san did the same thing to his predecessor in the past.

After filling my belly and drinking Object X, I went down to the third level and explored the same way.

However, only when I encountered a group of skeletons, I got quite confused and fired a bunch of purification magic. Therefore, I think I need to reflect on the fact that I was driven to the verge of depleting my magic power.

After that, I managed to recover, and after training at the third level, I cast a purification spell on myself when I left the labyrinth, and escaped the undead labyrinth (temporary).

It was a long time before Luciel knew the fact that this labyrinth was real and several healers, priests, priest knights and even holy knights had already died.