Volume 12 - CH 11

With Letty as a member again, we challenge the ninth layer.

"Master, it smells like a Greater Demon!"

Meena announced as we neared the small room.

"Hmm? I guess Gallard's guy fail.....?

As for me, I was hoping he could keep the troublesome enemy out of the way.

"I don't know. Maybe it's a pattern that needs to be defeated by each party."

Says Serina.

"So he's a boss. I wonder. Well, I guess we'll have to beat it anyway."

"Yeah."

I looked inside at the entrance of the small room, but there were only two gargoyle statues.

"Oh, there are fewer now."

"That means Gallard's retreated halfway."

I heard a noise behind me, so I turned around, but it was Sarah and the others.

"Yahhoo, Alec, it's fate that we meet here too!"

"Maybe."

"If you don't want to go first, we'll go ahead of you, okay?"

"All right. But we're in a room with a Greater Demon. Even you'll have a hard time."

"Un, yeah, yeah, I'm having a hard time. They're hard and they're stubborn. So, Lunette, I'm counting on you."

"Yeah. ――The four great spirits of Sylph, lend me the power of the wind. Squall!"

Lunette chanted a spell, and a gust of wind swept through the place, blowing Sarah's party into the small room.

"Aaareee!"

"They're coming!"

"I'll take care of this one! Here we go!"

"Hyaah, I got hit!"

Sarah and the others left through the exit without much of a fight, but I guess they could have used a way through.

The Greater Demon did not leave the small room, but returned to the statue.

"Letty."

"Fuuh, Leave it to me! I'll do it faster and without taking a single blow from this genius magicians――Beautiful wind spirit Sylph, in the name of Letty, heir to the evil eye, I command you to respond with your greatest strength, Hurricane!"

I had a bad feeling when I heard the word "genius".

"Oi, wait Letty, mwohhh!?"

"Hey, It's too strong."

"I'm dizzy."

"Ooooooooo!?"

"Hawawawawa"

"Hyaaaaahh!"

"Ah, this is bad, I can't control this thiiiiing, someone stooooop it!!!"

"You chanted it! Hurry up and do something!"

We're all spun around with great force, and although we passed through the small room, we were knocked to the floor with considerable force.

"Shh, watch out for the surrounding area! Is everyone okay?

Turning my eyes around, I checked.

"T-There are no enemies!"

"Nene and Thalia are unconscious!"

"Luka, Mare, and Jouga are injured, but the rest seem to be okay."

"Yeah, I guess so. The Greater Demon didn't take a single hit, but the damage was greater here, Letty."

Saki folded her arms and nonchalantly pointed out to her.

"Hmmm... I thought I should just go through it faster. Yah, I failed, I failed, sorry, sorry."

"They say there's a fine line between stupidity and genius, but next time I'll call you a stupid magician, Letty."

"No, even monkeys fall from trees! Even geniuses make mistakes once in a while. You've got to cut me some slack."

"Then you're a tolerable monkey magician."

"Ehh? I don't like it when people make fun of me."

"It's not something. I'm making fun of you, monkey."

"I didn't do it on purpose.. ...... Hmph, It's good training for when you're attacked by a wind spell."

"Shut up, monkey."

I would have forgiven her if she'd just apologized without making excuses, but she's a woman of many words. She's annoying.

"Alec-san, the recovery is complete."

Fianna reports in.

"All right, let's move on."

We regain our composure and continue down the corridor. The intricate maze is filled with dark zones and nasty traps in places.

"The edges of the map are starting to fill up, for the most part."

Serina said as we took a short break to rest. The auto-mapping of the ninth layer has been steadily filling in from the edges.

"That's right. From the looks of it, there's a big room or something in the middle of the ninth layer."

"Yes. It's just that it seems to be isolated from the surrounding areas."

It seems that to get to the center of the map, we need to find a special entrance somewhere.

As we continued search, looking for a way to get to the center of the map, we came across a 30 meter square hall.

However, it was still a small part of the map, as the central area that was not covered by the map was about five kilometers square.

In one corner of the hall, Sarah and the others were sitting down, discussing with serious faces. That Sarah's face is not smiling, either.

I thought it would be wrong to interrupt them, so I didn't speak to them, but just walked past them to see what was going on.

This time, Gallard and the others were over there, also standing and discussing.

"What's going on?"

"There's probably a powerful enemy on the other side of the end."

"Uhee, more than Greater Demon, huh? Well, if brother say we're going to do it, I'll go with you!"

"I'm with you, too"

"It's only after I've looke into it."

"Alec."

Serah's here.

"What happened?"

"I don't know if it's a poison or a curse or what, but ...... anyway, the people who go in there just collapse and dies right away."

All four members of Sarah's party are still alive, so she must have heard about this from Gallard Squad and was watching them.

"I see. Lunette, even you don't know who it is, do you?"

I ask the wits of Sarahr's party. But unfortunately, I should say, the red-haired mage Lunette shrugged her shoulders.

"I can't help it. they're dead, as if their soul had been pulled out, but there's no magical response. It doesn't seem to be a curse."

"I see."

"So we'll go around the others place."

"But, Sarah, this is probably the entrance to the central area."

Lunette said.

"You don't have to force your way in. The Labyrinth of No Return ends here! Let's go find the castle in the sky that Lunette wanted to find before."

"Ehh? We've come this far, ...... Jamie, and you're okay with that? It's been seven years since we've been to the bottom."

"It's okay. It's the leader's decision. We're on par with the first King of Grandsword, that's saying something."

"Does Sierra agree with her?"

"Yes. I'm happy enough with what I've done so far. I don't think we need to push ourselves either. Besides, Serah's instincts are always right."

"Okay, I got it. That's why, Alec, if you find anything, let me know later."

"Yeah, I promise."

"Then, I'll see you later."

Sarah and the others have retreated.

They're an A-ranked party that might even be better than us in terms of ability.

Especially Sarah's instincts, she has always chosen the right answer in life and death situations.

As proof of this, the entire party did not doubt Sarah's intuition in the slightest.

The fact that Sarah, who is always willing to get involved in troublesome and dangerous matters with a single word of amusement, gave up and retreated easily.

That alone is ominous.

"I have a bad feeling about this."

"Yes, it does."

"Alec-san."

Gallard came over here.

"Looks like you got through the Greater Demon room without defeating it."

"Yes, we did. I thought we could defeat it, but one was the best we could do. The only drop was a single swing of the "Specter Sword Murasame". It's quite a rare item, but even if I were to split it, the sheath alone wouldn't be worth much. As promised, here's your three million gold."

Two of them had been killed, but one of them must have been done by Sarah or Jake. I'm not doubting Gallard's story there. I'll find out later when we ask Sarah and the others and find out.

I take the bag of three hundred gold coins and put it in the item storage.

"As you've already heard, the room ahead is the [Room Where Death Reign]. It seems to be safe as long as you don't go inside, so please have a look, Alec-san."

"Yeah, let me take a look."

Gallard seemed to be in over his head, and suggested I take a look.

North side of the Great Hall. A large, doorless entrance awaits us in the silence.

There was no sign, but it looked like there was something there, and the [Room Where Death Reign] must have been named by Gallard.

I approached cautiously.

"There are about four people in there right now, and they're all dead."

Gallard said next to me. Two warriors and two thieves were lying around eight meters away.

No external injuries. They look like they're asleep, but they're definitely dead, even by my [Appraisal].

"Saki"

I called her, who has the best skills in removing traps, and let her examine them first.

"Don't go inside."

"I understand. Darling's love is so strong. I think someone there had to go in and check it out."

"No, I didn't know the details yet. ......"

Gallard also gets chattering, but it would be impossible for him to see through this on the first try.

"Saki, enough with the sarcasm. Shut up and check it out."

"Got it."

Saki peeked through the entrance and began to examine the inside.