Volume 4 - CH 10

The "Labyrinth of No Return" has made its name known throughout the world.

Apparently, no one has yet cleared it.

In fact, they don't even know how many layers this labyrinth has.

It is said that the first king of Grandsword was the one who made it to the ninth layer and survived, but this may be a (・・・・・) thing to foil the bigwigs, so it's best not to take it seriously.

The king of Grandsword is in his twelfth generation, and the country has been in its 527th year of existence, which means that no one has been able to clear the dungeon for over 500 years, if you believe the story. ......

How can there be such a dungeon?

I'm sure the king of Grandsword secretly rewards those who reach the lowest level and pretends they haven't cleared it. You can't exceed the greatness of a great man. This is a dungeon controlled by the Royal Castle of Grandsword, so read the atmosphere! That's what I'm talking about.

It is said that even famous adventurers lose their lives below the seventh level, so it is still dangerous, but the map is out there and many adventurers are taking on this challenge.

It's not like none of them can clear it.

"Hey, look, it's that F-rank party."

"Yeah? They went under two hours ago. They're still attacking here? Pfft, that's funny."

While I was fighting the goblins and leveling up Nene, a couple of adventurers passed by and some of them burst out laughing. It pisses me off a little, but that doesn't mean I'm going to go to a place where there aren't people.

It's a place where people are, so it's extremely safe. In case of emergency, I can go back upstairs quickly since it's close to the entrance.

"Hey, Alec, those guys are really pissing me off. Let's go somewhere else."

Lily complained, but I shook my head.

"Not until Nene levels up."

"Nene is already level 12. It's enought right."

"No, I'm going to raise her to the limit. This is a serious decision on my part as the leader. If you don't like it, you can leave the party."

"Huh? I understand, ......."

Lily wasn't prepared to go that far, either, and fell silent.

"Goblins, four of them! Alec, why don't you let them all live?"

Serina said.

"You're right. ...... No, just handle it in one piece. It will be hard on Nene if you rush her."

"Yeah, that's true too."

I don't remember how many times I've already wiped out goblins, but there are a lot of goblin fangs lying around.

"Why do monsters keep springing up one after the other ......?"

Ione has a question, but I guess that's just the way things work in the game world, so we'll have to ask the goddess with the glasses.

"E-Eii! It's clear!"

Nene struck the goblin with her oak staff and killed it.

There was a pirorin sound and her level seemed to have increased.

"Yay, congratulations, Nene-chan."

"Fuu~, thank you very much."

I appraise Nene, and She is now level 13.

"Mu, she's now only getting one point of experience, Next experience is 530 ......."

It's good that her level has gone up one level, but she's getting less and less experience from defeating enemies.

It seems that in this world, you get more experience when you defeat stronger enemies, and less when you defeat weaker ones.

If she kill all the goblins 530 more times, she'll reach the next level, which would be a piece of cake in a game ......, but in this world where there's no auto-play, we're moving our body and it's hard.

"Well, I guess it's about time she's reached her limit. Let's look for the next enemy."

When I said that, everyone looked relieved.

"When Nene gets close to our level, we won't have to fight like this anymore, we'll just attack like normal."

I'll tell them.

"Yeah. For now, we're power leveling."

"That's right."

Except for Ione, none of the others had heard of power leveling. I've explained it to them, so they all know what it is.

Now we're all going to help Nene raise her level. That's all.

We continued onward through the dungeon and through the intricate maze, but still only goblins appeared.

"I'd like some stronger enemies, but do I have to go down a level to find them?"

"I don't know. I've heard that this place is pretty big. ...... Oh, slime."

"Let's just kill them and move on. No leveling."

"""Okaay."""

It was a weak green slime, so I couldn't expect any experience. I quickly defeated it and moved on.

In the end, we ended up exploring that day. I was stunned, but even after walking around for almost three hours, I still hadn't reached the end of the map.

I took off my gear at the inn and fell into bed.

"What the hell is going on in that labyrinth ......?"

"It's really big, isn't it? Do you want to buy a map?"

"It'll be filled in by auto-mapping anyway. The traps aren't that big deal. It's ridiculous."

"Yeah. Well, we'll just have to fill it in."

We could have just asked for the location of the stairs and gone on, but that would have been a waste of time as we would have missed the treasure.

The next day, we continued to search and fill in the map, but considering the length of the first passage, it looked like we hadn't even filled in a quarter of it yet.

"It's going to take us ten days to clear the first basement floor."

"Yeah. It's really big."

"Yeah. I didn't think it would be this big either."

"Isn't it bigger than the city up there?"

Lily said, "It really is."

I went back to the inn and talked about it with the innkeeper over dinner. The landlady was also an adventurer and had dived into the "Labyrinth of No Return" in the past.

"Yeah, everyone is surprised at first. There aren't many dungeons that are that big. There are some narrower levels, but they are ten kilometers square."

""Ten kilometers!""

"Fue~."

"It's huge. ......"

"Ah..."

The unit of measurement seems to be kilometer here as well. I think it's strange, but it's convenient. It's better than feet or parsecs.

"It would take us three hours just to walk from one end to the other."

Serina said, but it would take more. There are battles, traps to watch out for, and it's a complicated labyrinth.

There is no way you can go straight.

"That's right. Well, it's better to be patient and not rush into anything. Especially if you are a beginner. If you think you've gotten used to it and go ahead, you'll be outsmarted. That dungeon."

The back, huh.

"'Does that mean the difficulty level will suddenly increase?''

Serina asked.

"Yes, it does. Even the same enemy can be difficult to defeat depending on its placement. You should be especially careful with the height of that labyrinth. The ceiling was high, right?"

The landlady said.

"Yes, it was. I think it was about four meters high."

"That's why, when enemies with bows and arrows appear on the steep steps, we can't get up there fast enough. If you have a party of only swords and no skills in hill climbing or remote attacks, you'll have a hard time."

After all, a magician is a must. I can give Lily a bow gun, but I think there are some levels where you need a light, and she should just be a check.

"Nene, I'm counting on you."

"Eh, uuhh ......."

She stopped eating her bread, probably because she felt pressured.

"Don't worry. Once you level up, you'll be able to do it."

That's what Hoshirina said to encourage her, but this woman is also useful in times like this.

"Well, You still need to eat first, young lady. It must be hard for you to walk with such a body."

The landlady said, and she was right.

"Nene, you'd better eat your fill. Two loaves of bread is mandatory."

"Y, yes, ......."

"Well, I think that's about right, Nene-chan, but let's go check out the stalls tomorrow. Alec has an auction, right?"

"No, we can leave that to the Merchant's Guild. ...... Well, we'll have the whole day off."

"Yayy!

Lily is happy, but it's good to have such a day. It's a holiday.