CH 51.1

Chapter 51.1 : Underground Labyrinth

TN : WARNING!!! THIS CHAPTER IS NOT ONLY UNSUITABLE FOR THOSE WITH WEAK WILLPOWER, IT ALSO THE FINAL AND MOST ANNOYING CHAPTER IN THIS SERIES!!! READ AT YOUR OWN RISK OR WAIT TILL I RELEASE CHAPTER 52 IN MARCH!!! OR YOU CAN BECOME $20 TIER PATRON TO READ 8 ADVANCE CHAPTER[INCLUDING THE ONE RELEASED LAST WEEK] BY CLICKING ON THE PICTURE AT THE END OF THIS CHAPTER!!!

◆ Black Haired Sage, Chiyuki

We were walking inside a hidden passage right beside the one that was booby-trapped.

「This path seems to have been used often… 」

「That’s because it’s a safer one. There are many traces of people passing through here recently.」

Nao spoke as she turned around.

Since coming to this world, Nao’s appearance had changed a little. With beast ears protruding from the top of her head and a tail coming out of her buttocks, she was in what we called a demi-beast state.

When she fully transformed, she became a beautiful winged leopard.

Her beast form heightened Nao’s perception and physical abilities to an entirely new level. On the other hand, she had to use less armor and her dexterity and mental resistance decreased.

In short, the beast transformation had its pros and cons, hence why it was limited.

「They really are using this road, then. Nevertheless, there’s almost no reaction at all.」

「Yup, it’s just an empty passage.」

「Geez! Please stop it, you two! This is much better than that trap-filled passage!」

Sahoko was right. This was much better for us.

We were advancing steadily, and it gave me time to think about the reason behind the mass kidnappings, which remained a mystery. What could the Minotaurs be aiming for with that?

Was there even a reason behind those kidnappings?

Things became much easier than when they were on the ground floor and Godan and co swept the monsters ahead of them.

We traversed the 1st underground floor and reached the 2nd underground floor, but there was nothing special so far.

This passage was discovered by the Freedom Fighters who had entered this dungeon. I wonder how many people fell victim to the trap room before this passage was found.

The Freedom Fighters had mapped out the labyrinth to the 4th underground floor. So far we have had it easy since the path ahead had already been explored.

However, from the 5th underground floor and beyond, there was almost no information.

No one had returned.

Exploring the 5th underground floor and beyond was our responsibility now.

Suddenly, Shizufae and her group stopped in front of a ladder heading downwards.

「What’s the matter, Shizufae? 」

「Reiji-sama, we’re about to reach the 3rd underground floor. I have to warn you; the demons on this floor are troublesome.」

「Is that so? What kind of demons are there? 」

「There are Akephalos and Evil Eyes. They loiter around in groups of three and four.」

Akephalos were humanoid demons that had no heads. They had eyes in both palms of their hands and a huge mouth on their stomach. They were similar to a Chinese apparition called Kei Ten.

Aside from having an iron-like body, Akephalos could spit a powerful acid from their stomach mouth. When they were armed, they were a force to be reckoned with.

Evil Eyes were demons that resembled huge eyeballs with tentacles around their bodies. Firing a light ray from their single eye that could charm, stun and petrify their targets was how they killed their prey. They stunned then entangled their victims with their tentacles.

Both of those demons were quite dangerous for normal people.

Shizufae and her party met one of those Akephalos a long time ago when they ventured deep into the labyrinth. They had barely managed to escape.

At that time, half of the parties that entered the labyrinth were annihilated.

Godan had gone ahead of us.

Would he be alright?

Shizufae seemed anxious when remembering that past encounter.

「Don’t worry, Shizufae. We’re with you. 」

「Reiji-sama…」

Once Reiji reassured her, Shizufae’s complexion brightened considerably. Novis, who stood by her side, did not seem to like that reaction.

「Godan and the others are ahead of us, don’t worry about it. Let’s hurry up.」

◆ Freedom Fighter Girl, Shizufae

「Air Bullet!! 」

Madia fired a spell that ranked lower than Sonic Web, but it managed to make the Giant Bat lose its sense of direction anyway.

I ran with Big Sis Kenya to where we predicted they would fall.

Even we could defeat demons of this level.

Reiji-sama and the others were behind us. We should do our best until we reached the 4th underground floor. Reiji-sama didn’t need to fight the small fry.

Novis, Leylia-san, and Nora-san had just defeated the zombies coming from the right when a shout came from behind us.

「Stop right there, Shizufae-san!! 」

I stopped walking the moment Nao-sama’s warning registered in my ears. I noticed she was in her half-beast form, which gave her an extremely keen perception.

Nao-sama pointed at the part of the wall that was broken.

「Something is coming…」

A huge eyeball appeared from the broken wall.

Behind the eyeball was a disgusting mass of wriggling tentacles.

「Evil Eye!! 」

「O Light!! Protect Everyone!! 」

Saint-sama promptly reacted, her voice resounding in the area.

In the next moment, the demon’s eyeball shone. I unintentionally covered my eyes, but nothing happened to me. When I opened my eyes, I saw light particles around me.

It seemed like Saint-sama protected me with her magic.

Sage-sama moved in front of me.

「Get back, Shizufae-san.」

「Sage-sama!! Evil Eye has high magic resistance. Magic won’t work on it!! 」

Madia warned Sage-sama. It was true, Evil Eye had powerful magic resistance. We should fight with swords instead of magic in this place.

「It’s alright, look. Bullet Blast!! 」

A red light appeared in front of Sage-sama and flew toward the Evil Eye. Then, the moment it came into contact with that eyeball, it exploded and killed it for good.

「No way… It got defeated… With magic.」

Madia was dumbfounded.

「Oops, there are more of them coming this way.」

Nao-sama pointed in a different direction.

「Now it’s Rino’s turn, right? Salamander-san, please!! 」

A fire lizard came out from Rino-sama’s hand and killed the approaching slimes. From the slimes’ color, I knew that they were the dangerous kind that could discharge a powerful acid from their bodies.

Reiji-sama’s wives easily dispatched two dangerous enemies at once.

「Let’s get going.」

Everyone started moving again when Reiji-sama said so.

It was as if there was nothing to do here.

「Cool… To kill those demons that easily…」

Novis muttered so with a vexed voice and I agreed with him.

Black haired sage, Chiyuki-sama.

Snow white saint, Sahoko-sama.

Rino-sama’s spirits.

Nao-sama with her excellent searching abilities.

And Reiji-sama, the Hero of Light who gathered them all.

They were all gifted with both brains and beauty.

And it seemed that the girl who was hailed as the Sword Maiden wasn’t here at the moment. That person seemed to be as amazing as the others.

I didn’t know that such amazing people existed in this world. I knew that I could never win against that kind of line up.

Reiji-sama and his party advanced steadily. No demons could stop them.

「Let’s follow them.」

Everyone immediately agreed with me.

Thus, our party started moving again.

◆ Black Haired Sage, Chiyuki

「OOOOOOOOOOOOH!!!」

We caught up with Godan and the others on the 4th underground floor. They were in the midst of a battle against an Akephalos.

Godan’s axe and the Akephalos’s shield clashed.

After repelling Godan’s axe, the Akephalos attacked Godan with its sword, but Godan dodged it with a backstep.

It was a good match, but Godan seemed to be slightly inferior to his opponent. The Akephalos was 2 meters tall, around the same height as Godan.

The other Freedom Fighters lay around them. It seemed they were caught up in the Akephalos and Godan fight. Upon a closer look, some of those Freedom Fighters’ shields and armor were loose.

After it had got away from Godan, the Akephalos’ abdominal mouth opened.

「F^CK!! 」

Godan hid behind a giant shield.

The Akephalos spat some sort of liquid on its surroundings.

「GUWAAAAAAAAAA!! 」

Godan, who protected the Freedom Fighters behind him with his shield, ended up drenched with the Akephalos’s liquid.

Smoke rose from the bodies of the Freedom Fighters that got splashed with the liquid from the Akephalos. The liquid seemed to melt even metal armor.

Godan’s enchanted shield might have no problem warding off that liquid.

Meanwhile the sorcerer and dwarf Freedom Fighters were covering for Godan.

「Woah, this is a bad situation…」

As Nao said, they were going to lose sooner or later. Although Godan was putting up a good fight against the demon, he had no resistance against that fluid.

Nevertheless, his battle looked different from the other Freedom Fighters, or should I say “as expected of the Hero of Earth”?

But he had reached his limits. We should save him.

「Leave this place to me. My hands are itching from doing nothing.」

Reiji unsheathed his sword and walked towards the Akephalos.

He was composed. Oh, well… That kind of opponent would be killed in one hit by Reiji.

「Here I go, SUNDERING LIGHT!! 」

Reiji closed in the distance between him and the Akephalos. In just a moment, he tore the demon apart with a series of slashes faster than the eye could see.

The demon’s body split apart and crumbled.

「Wooow…」

「This is the first time I see such swordcraft.」

「This is the power of the Hero of Light.」

The Freedom Fighters who saw that scene remarked full of wonder.

「My deepest gratitude, Master of Light.」

Godan went to Reiji and bowed his head to show his gratitude.

Meanwhile, Sahoko healed the injured Freedom Fighters. The advance party of Freedom Fighters was almost completely incapacitated, to the point they could barely move ahead.

「We’re almost there. Our turn will come on the next floor.」