Volume 4 - CH 3.1

Chapter 3 – The Heroes’ Labyrinth Raid 2

What lay beyond the door was a vast sky and endless land.

Up until now, the interior was typical of a dungeon, with rocky surfaces and bricks.

However, even though it was on the lowest floor, Tendo and his party couldn’t hide their confusion at the sight of the sky.

“What, in the world…?”

Tendo muttered, but no one could answer him.

As he looked around, Asakura noticed a presence in the distance and pointed with her finger.

“L-Look…”

What they saw, was a huge jet-black dragon about 200 meters long.

As soon as the dragon, which had an ominous aura about it, noticed the presence of Tendo and his party, it slowly stood up and roared.

—Guruaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!

Tendo and the others who had endured the roars of the Minotaur and Chimera almost ran away as quickly as they could.

They instinctively realized that they stood no chance of winning. But even so, Tendo used appraisal on the dragon.

“Are you, kidding me…?”

“What is it?”

“Everyone, try using appraisal.”

Prompted by Tendo, Mogami and the others who immediately tried using appraisal turned pale.

The dragon’s level was…

“L-Level 300, is this, some kind of joke…..?”

Tendo muttered in dismay as his body trembled.

NAME: 

Gran Kalamiras, The Smelting Black Dragon

LEVEL: 

300

SPECIES: 

Ancestral Dragon

UNIQUE SKILLS: 

Ruler of Purgatory

SKILLS: 

Fire Magic LV10

Wind Magic LV10

Earth Magic LV10

Darkness Magic LV10

Lightning Magic LV10

Intimidating LV10

Roar LV10

Dragon Magic LV10

Time-Space Magic LV10

Physical Resistance

Magic Resistance

Flight

Tenacity LV9

Transformation

Mana Manipulation

Detect Presence

Detect Mana

Detect Danger

Weather Manipulation

TITLES: 

Primordial Dragon

Calamity Class

Dragon King

King of the Sky

The Most Powerful Species

. 

〈Ruler of Purgatory〉

Magic consumption is reduced by one-fifth.

Dragon, Darkness, Fire and Lightning magic are increased sixfold.

Basic physical ability and magic power in combat are increased fivefold.

.

As the party was stunned by its ridiculously overpowered status, the dragon opened its mouth.

“—!? Spread out!”

Shinonome was the first to react, and Tendo and the others jumped back from the spot.

Instantly, a fireball landed on the spot where they had been standing and exploded.

Looking at the place where the flames had settled, the ground was melting into mush.

Cold sweat broke out on the foreheads of the party.

—Guruaaaahhhh!

The dragon roared, and as Tendo and the others readied their weapons, a voice echoed.

‘—To be able to avoid my attack. Who are you lot?’

For a moment, Tendo wondered whose voice it was, but then he quickly realized.

It belonged to the dragon in front of him.

He had assumed that there was no such thing as a monster that could understand human language, but he figured he could talk to it, so he answered the dragon’s question.

“We are heroes.”

‘Heroes, huh? I see. That explains why you were able to make it this far.’

“…If I may ask you something?”

‘You’re all going to die here anyway. So, ask away.’

“What is a dragon of your caliber, doing in this place?”

The dragon in front of them—Kalamiras, is of a level far too high for this dungeon.

Kalamiras answered the ever so legitimate question without seeming to care.

‘Oh that—’

According to his story, it started several thousand years ago.

Kalamiras used to live in this land, but his surroundings turned into a dungeon in response to his magic.

After a long time, he decided to observe the dungeon and created a space at the lowest level, moved there, and lived by blocking out magic power and information.

But even so, the effects of his presence could not be suppressed, and the monsters in the lower floors became unusually strong.

As a result, Tendo and the others were the first to arrive here…that was the story.

‘I am the ruler of this labyrinth. If you want to conquer it, defeat me. That is, if you have the ability to do so.’

Tendo and the others distorted their faces at Kalamiras’ words.

At their level, it would be impossible for them to defeat Kalamiras.

Tendo wanted to negotiate a way to avoid a fight, but Kalamiras told them before he could say anything.

‘Now that you know about this place, I can’t let you leave. Either you defeat me or I claim your heads, it’s one or the other.’

“Ugh…”

Tendo’s stomach churned and then he turned around to look at his friends.

“Everything’s going to be fine.”

“Damn right!”

“Of course!”

“I’m a little nervous, though…”

Tendo asked Ichinomiya, Mogami, Asakura, and Shinonome.

“Yeah. But is it really okay?”

“Because Haruto asked me. Said I should go ahead. Then everything will be fine. Besides—we’ve got each other, so we’ll definitely come out on top!”

The other three nodded in agreement with Ichinomiya’s answer.

“I see—all right, let’s do this!”

The party readied their weapons and turned to face Kalamiras.

‘Have you resolved yourselves? Then — die.’

Kalamiras unleashed a wide range of jet-black magic breath at Tendo and the others.

“Thou Holy Sword, protect us!”

The holy sword barrier that Tendo had activated was able to stop the breath. However, perhaps due to the difference in levels, it gradually cracked and shattered.

However, in the meantime, the holy barrier that Ichinomiya had activated with her magic power unfolded within, and Tendo canceled the barrier.

The breath hit the holy barrier, but was completely nullified.

“Oh Suzuno, thank goodness!”

‘Oh. You can withstand my breath. As expected of a hero. However…’

Kalamiras jumped up, stayed in the air, and began to inhale the air.

The next moment, his belly swelled up with a gurgling sound, and a breath with more magic power than before was released.

‘How about this, think you can avoid it?’

The five of them moved at the same time, judging that the incoming jet-black breath cannot be prevented by barrier and magic spells alone.

“Wooooooooaaa!”

“—Fire Tornado!”

“Aah!”

In addition to Mogami’s earth magic and Asakura’s fire magic, Shinonome’s Flying Slash skill sent countless slashes to reduce the power of the breath.

However, the breath was still incredibly powerful.

“—Sacred Barrier!”

“Holy Sword, bestow unto me the power to protect!”

A film of light unfolded around Ichinomiya, and the holy sword barrier that Tendo had activated was stretched out inside it.

The barrier, which had blocked the breath earlier due to the reduced power thanks to the holy sword boundary, could not withstand it this time and finally cracked.

And through the cracks, the breath attacked the magic powered barrier.

The barrier shrieked and cracked.

“Even with this, still no good huh?! —Holy Sword!”

Tendo infused more magic power to the holy sword to strengthen the barrier.

The cracks widened, but the power of the breath gradually subsided—and just as the breath was about to come to an end, the barrier shattered.

Tendo and the others avoided the breath that they could not fully prevent, but were blown backward by the blast of the breath that landed on the ground.

“Uhh!”

“Agh!”

“Kyah!”

“—!”

“Kyaah”

Kalamiras opened his mouth as he watched Tendo and his party roll around on the ground in a heap.

‘Huh…you could withstand this too? If so, as a show of respect, I will fight you more seriously now.’

The intimidation radiating from Kalamiras soared up and attacked Tendo and the others.

Even though they were about to be crushed by the sheer mana itself, Tendo and the others stood up, using their weapons as staffs.

“We will fight to the end, to the very end!”

“Got it!”

“““Yeah!”””

All of them replied to Tendo’s words with a strong voice.

Looking at the unyielding heroes, Kalamiras smiled.

‘Interesting. I won’t let you die so soon.’

Numerous chunks of rock about thirty centimeters in diameter were being generated around Kalamiras.

In order to prevent the rock from being released, Tendo and the rest of the party attacked Kalamiras.

However, Kalamiras shot out his magic sharply, without regard to the many direct hits.

‘How lukewarm, heroes!’

Tendo and the others avoided the incoming rocks by shooting them down…

“Argh!”

“Kyah!”

They couldn’t avoid all, and took some damage.

They were blown away and rolled on the ground, but even so, Tendo and the others got back up again.

‘What’s the matter? Is that all you got? …You’re not thinking of running away when you see an opening, are you?’

“Not at all. We’re just probing for a path to victory.”

‘Hmm, wouldn’t expect any less from a hero. Which makes you worth defeating.’

While watching Kalamiras land on the ground smiling happily, Tendo was lost in thought.

If I were to use the Invincible Skill of the holy sword, I might be able to get a shot off. However, with just this ability, I probably wouldn’t be able to deal much damage. What do I do?

Then Tendo realized that a new skill was being created within himself.