CH 23

When Frau opened the door, Claire dashed forward and cast her {Fire Bullet} that was loaded into her Guidance dress.

{Fire bullet} = launches a ball of fire with attack power 10 to one enemy. Required MP: 5.

Besides the fact that this spell sends out an attack with enough power to kill an ordinary person, it can also serve as a light to illuminate the room.

Following the trajectory of the fireball, Ellis, Reeve, and Katie jumped in after it. Katie took the center while Reeve and Ellis followed closely by her side. Frau jumped in afterwards providing cover and protection for Claire. Claire stood back and would cast the appropriate spell when the need arised.

“They’re skeletons!” When Katie confirmed the identity of the enemy, she shouted out to alert everyone else.

There were dozens of skeletons all closely knit in the room, and they were all marching toward Ellis’s group. Claire’s spell had punctured the leading skeleton causing it to light up a bright orange.

Using that light, Katie ran into the herd of skeletons. It looked almost as if she was dancing the way she moved past her enemies. Activating Stupor, Katie nicked every skeleton she passed by, resulting in about half of them being unable to move. Subsequently, Reeve and Frau followed through with their bastard sword and maul to plow through their forces.

Ellis stuck to the shadows and observed the whole state of the battle.

Sneaky.

When she discovered a skeleton parting from the rest of the group, she soundlessly snuck up behind and cut it with her estoc. The skeleton collapsed after one blow.

Claire judged that the others should be able to handle the mob, so she decided to take a support role and cast {Light} to brighten up the interior.

Katie exited out of the other side of the mob and stopped her dance-like movements. She began to take careful blows to kill the skeletons one by one instead of the suppression she had done up until now. Meanwhile Frau was just swinging her maul at random and killing every skeleton in her reach. Reeve’s bastard sword aimed to claim one skeleton after another, making sure that no skeleton took Frau from behind.

After all that, in a short amount of time every skeleton was annihilated before these five girls.

“Well, I guess it’s my turn again.” Ellis replenished the magic power in everyone’s Spirit rings. As long as she makes sure to do this after every fight, Frau, Reeve, and Katie should never run out of magic power. That’s why a large determinant factor for how fast they proceed through this labyrinth relies on the amount of MP Claire ends up having to spend.

After everyone was refreshed, Ellis moved on to the treasure chest in the corner of the room.

“This is a little excessive, isn’t it?”

This time its an explosion trap. Unlike the electric shock on the door, this is a trap that would prove fatal to everyone nearby. Truly an advanced labyrinth. Every trap is powerful.

Ellis instructed everyone to back away from the treasure chest just in case, and she proceeded to cancel the trap carefully. The air in the room became heavier than it was during the battle.

*Click*

With the sound of the lock releasing, Reeve and the others gathered back around Ellis. After wiping away the sweat that accumulated on her brow, Ellis slowly opened the treasure chest.

Truly an advanced labyrinth. The chest was practically overflowing with money. Almost 30 thousand ril. In addition, Ellis noticed a faint light shining from within the chest as well. It was a Silence amulet.

Silence amulet–Seals one opponent’s magic. Required MP: 5. Command word: {Shut up}.

Ellis put on the Silence amulet for now just in case.

“And already a magic tool. How auspicious.”

Everyone smiled at Frau’s words.

There were several groups of zombies and skeletons after that, and each one was cleared in a similar fashion. There were treasure chests in each room, but they all only held money inside.

They were now on the fifth room’s door, and the pattern decorating the door is clearly different from those in the past. As soon as Ellis had released the trap, Frau put out a word of warning.

“This is probably a mid-boss room.”

Everyone nodded to Frau’s speculation. As a precaution, Claire cast {Shell} for everyone.

{Shell} = Reduces magic damage by 1 once. Required MP: 2.

Since Claire had not yet increased the affinity of Shell, the required magic power had not gone down at all. Since she had to cast it on five people, it would put a heavy strain on her. Luckily this can be supplemented with a Spirit ring.

Once Claire was finished casting her spell, Ellis replenished the magic power in Claire’s ring.

“Is everyone ready?”

Frau opened the door once everyone got in place. At the same time, Claire fired off a {Fire Bullet} into the room. Her spell went through an arc in the air and landed in the center of the room. Ellis, who had already moved into the shadows of the room, could feel the enemy, but she could not find its location.

Claire cast {Light} at the back of the pack as everyone slowly inched forward into the room. By the time they all made it to the room’s center, every inch of the room was illuminated, but there was no one around.

Silence filled the room.

……… ………

Suddenly the swordswoman slit the air.

“There!”

Reeve suddenly threw her throwing dagger to an empty spot in the room. Then, the dagger suddenly stopped as if it had hit an invisible wall and began floating there.

Ellis activated her Ice ring towards the dagger. No, to be more precise, the air where the dagger was stuck.

When the cold wind struck, a humanoid ice sculpture was left standing where nothing was before. Afterwards, Frau’s maul shattered the ice without question.

“I saw a chance.”

The white frost humanoid that was crushed by Frau’s maul changed its color to a crimson reminiscent of blood on the floor. Eventually, it turned black and then vanished.

“The boss of the fifth room was a Transparent Assassin.”

“That was awesome Reeve!”

Ellis’s straightforward praise forced Reeve to smile slightly with pride.

“The throwing daggers were really helpful.”

The treasure box in this room held 50 thousand ril plus a Purification short sword. A group of undead similar to the previous rooms will probably continue on from here. The traps are also the same as before, so the burden on Ellis is shrinking.

Ellis was able to clear each room while humming a little song.

However, if it was a normal party, especially one that relied on magic power, this would be a much different story. This labyrinth would normally take several days because the members would have to take breaks to restore their magic power.

Frau, who was aware of this, had prepared several boxed lunches to prepare for a several day long exploration. But even she was swinging her double damage maul around while humming a little tune.

So without realizing just how much of a cheat-like existence these girls really were, they made it to the fifteenth room’s door.

The 15th room. The decoration on this door was also different.

As Frau opened the door the same way she had before, Claire launched a {Fire Bullet}. This time the spell made contact with something, but the bullet only lightly burned the monster’s flesh.

The slowly fading flame revealed a huge shadow in the room.

The five girls were in awe at the existence that stood before them. It looked almost like any other zombie, but it was several times bigger.

“Rotten Giant…..”

The moment Frau muttered such, the monster addressed Katie who the first person to appear before it.

Katie blocked its massive blow with her gauntlets and even jumped back to regulate some of the damage, but she still received an enormous shock. She was blown away, and she cried out in pain as her back slammed into the caves wall. Ellis immediately used the Full Recovery ring.

“{Work}, Katie.”

Once she regained her physical condition, Katie immediately got back up and moved to the giant’s rear while Frau distracted it from the front.

Frau smashed the monster’s left knee with her maul.

Once the monster fell to its knee from Frau’s blow, Reeve ran in and cut off its left arm right at the shoulder.

“How do you like that!?”

The giant who’s arm was sliced off immediately picked up the severed arm with its right hand. Then he placed the severed part back to its shoulder, and bubbles started to form. In no time at all the arm was reattached.

“It can regenerate! Pin it down!”

The left knee that Frau crushed was also restoring itself.

But the five did not let up.

Katie attacked the giant’s back while activating Stupor on her claws. She swiftly carved her claws through its back with a four hit combo that had a 50 percent chance of restricting its movement with every blow. Even if it’s a large flesh giant like this, the effect of the magic still works.

“Now!”

Everyone concentrated their attacks on Reeve’s signal.

Frau breaks its left knee once again while Reeve cuts off its right arm after the fall. Claire lets out her largest magic {Explosion} for a direct attack on the giant’s head.

{Explosion} = Does an area of effect attack for 20 damage. Required MP: 10.

As the monster’s head was billowing smoke, Ellis jumped into the sky and pierced its heart with her estoc.

The giant slumped over before tumbling down completely.

Even when they kicked it, the giant did not move. Just to be sure though, Reeve chopped up its body,  and Claire burned the parts with {Fire Bullets}.

In the treasure chest, the reward was a total of 100 thousand ril and some black plate armor.

Resistance plate armor–Magical damage reduction of 10. Required MP: 0. Autonomous type.

“I’ve never even heard of such armor!”

Frau looked back at the four with excitement.

Ellis was also surprised by the Resistance ability. Reducing magical damage of 10 would mean completely invalidating {Fire Bullets} and {Freezing}.

“I wonder if it will work on Frau and Reeve’s armor.”

Ellis tried copying the ability on the spot. The result was that not only Frau’s half plate armor and Reeve’s leather armor, but Katie’s bra top was also able to have the ability copied to it. Ellis didn’t try to copy the ability to her and Claire’s outfits because she hadn’t done any experiments with armor before. She did not want to take the risk of invalidating the abilities their armor already had at the moment.

Ellis and the others decided to take a break in this room. They all sat in a circle, and they started eating the lunch Frau had made.

“We got a huge reward from the boss just now.” Reeve was saying while gazing at the massive amount of money they had already made.

“The giant was fun.” It seems Katie was drunk off the pleasure from the four consecutive blows she pulled off on the giant’s back.

“I’m looking forward to the last boss.” Frau was eating while playing with her maul.

But not everyone was overjoyed with how things had gone.

“Ellis. I guess I’m no good……”

Certainly Claire’s doubts and anxiety were understandable. In the last fight, she had to use her {Explosion} magic which she had sealed away.

But she has to get over it.

Ellis finished her lunch while holding Claire’s hand and listening to all her worries.

“Come now. It’s time for the second half!”

Even in the following rooms the labyrinth continued to throw out undead enemies without ever getting sick of it. Apparently this labyrinth enjoys cutting down on the party’s spirit.

Annoying.

Unfortunately for it, Ellis’s party was a group with infinite magical power and boundless optimism.

Before them now was another luxurious door. Ellis released the this door’s trap as she had done all the others. It was a melting trap. Whoever opened the door would have acid poured on them and be turned into a puddle. Terrible. And seriously overkill. This is probably the last boss’s room.

As Ellis started her work canceling the trap, Frau began explaining.

“There isn’t much information about the wight. It fights using mostly magic, so watch out for that. It also apparently has a resistance to physical damage. Watch out whenever you hit it.”

Claire cast {Shell} on everyone the same way as before.

Let’s go….

Everyone moved on Frau’s signal. Claire’s {Fire Bullet} traveled in a straight line and made direct contact with a humanoid figure.

Even though Katie moved through the shadows, her attack was dodged.

The dagger Reeve threw passed right through it.

The blow from Frau’s maul ended up crushing the stone directly below the shadow.

……

A silent pressure filled the room right before it was dyed a bright red.

“{Flare Burst}…….”

At the same time that Reeve, Frau, and Katie were blown away by the intense flames, Claire and Ellis’s dolls shattered.

Ellis quickly released Silence from her hiding spot in the shadows.

“[Shut up]!”

Ellis felt a sense of resistance, but she instinctively knew it worked. She immediately started to shout out her instructions.

“Everyone besides Claire, [Freeze]!”

Moved by Ellis’s words; Reeve, Katie, and Frau endured the pain of their burns and unleashed the magic of their Ice rings.

The spells were concentrated on a single point, and the movements of the shadow eventually ceased as it was encased in ice.

“Claire, NOW!”

Claire kneaded together her magic power for the strongest spell she knew.

“{Explosion}!”

The frost covered shadow was dyed in crimson.

After the smoke cleared, the shadow slowly dissipated, and in its place an object was left behind.

“The wight is immune to all physical attacks. Including Purification.”

Ellis felt a cold sweat run down her back. Ellis went around healing everyone with the Full Recovery ring and gave Claire a new Sacrificial doll while she thought about what would have happened had the Silence amulet not been in that first treasure box. And if that Resistance armor wasn’t in the second chance, then the entire party would have been wiped out. Even with {Shell}, the three had only barely survived.

While holding back the urge to vomit, Ellis picked up the object that the wight had left behind.

Demon Lord’s Mark–Restricts the behavior of the Demon lord. Unique.

“What is this?” Ellis walked over to Frau who was looking how Ellis felt.

“Unique means that there are no other items like it, but I have never heard of a demon lord before. I’ll ask my father about it when we get back.”

Ellis continued looking around the room and opened up the treasure box. There was a million ril inside along with four silver bracelets and one gold bracelet.

Bond bracelet–Any supporting magic cast on the wearer of the gold bracelet also affects those wearing the silver bracelet. Required MP: 0. Autonomous type. Unique.

“We got something amazing.”

As Ellis put the gold bracelet on herself, she handed over the silver bracelets to everyone else. Then she continued to cast [Full Recovery] on herself. The four others were wrapped in the same gleam as her.

“This is incredibly useful, isn’t it?”

Frau can recover rather quickly, huh?

“This is also unique. Okay, let’s head home for today.”

“That’s right.”

“I agree.”

“I want to go bed.”

While there were three people who recovered rather quickly, there was still one person who could be considered normal.

“Ellis. Can we take tomorrow off?” Claire asked with tears in her eyes.

“As soon as we get home.”

Ellis hugged Claire close to her chest and then activated the Ring of Return.