Chapter 45: Extermination
『Vesta』Current Levels & Equipment:Dragon Knight Lv.27
Strengthened Steel SwordIron SwordIron Plate MailSteel BootsSteel GauntletsSteel DemigreavesSacrificial Misanga
The exploration of the twenty-first floor of Haruba’s Labyrinth was proceeding rather smoothly.
Not long after that, we opened the door that were in front of us and found ourselves in a new room that only two pairs of doors: the one behind us, and the one in front of us.
The Waiting Room before the twenty-first floor’s Boss Room.
「The time has finally come to face the Boss of this floor, huh?」
「Yes, desu!」
Miria was unusually fired about about his, most likely because she knew that once we go to the twenty-second floor, we are going to be facing Mabreams. I am sure that she is waiting for that moment impatiently.
I prepare Durandal, and get myself ready for battle.
Here on the twenty-first floor, the Floor Boss is going to be Roll Troll, but since I have fought against this Floor Boss before, we shouldn’t be having any problems with this encounter.
However, when I tried to open the door to the Boss Room, I noticed that they woudn’t budge for even an inch.
「Do you think that the previous Party is having a hard time with the Boss?」
「I have no idea.」
Well, I guess it makes sense that even Roxanne wouldn’t know that.
「It sure feels like it’s taking them an awfully long time. Did you feel anything strange or being amiss before we entered here?」
「No, I didn’t sense anything out of the ordinary.」
Sherry also started having doubts, so she asked Roxanne if she felt anything strange. I see, she was appealing to her superior sense of smell. If there was something strange going on, then it wouldn’t be strange at all for there to be a strange smell as well.
That being said, I don’t think that Roxanne’s sense of smell is that conveniently perfect. I also told Miria to try, but she didn’t sense anything either. She closed her eyes and just quietly stood there. I’m sure that she’s doing that to build up her fighting spirit before the challenges of the twenty-second floor, just like any true swordsman would do.
「Would you like to try reentering the Waiting room again?」
I chose the appropriate Entrance Room and thought about 「Dungeon Walker」in my mind. After a while, the black portal of the 「Dungeon Walker」Skill appeared on the wall of the Entrance Room. Since it took longer than usual, it felt as if it was broken, or bugged out in some way. I wonder if everything is going to be alright with us after we go through it?
「Master’s 「Dungeon Walker」portal is definitely acting strangely.」
「Since all of the Parties that are currently in the Labyrinth are going to be heading towards the same exit, it naturally is going to take a little bit more time than usual.」
「Is that so?」
Sherry’s explanation seems convincing enough to me. Now that the Labyrinth has been exterminated and there is nothing more to do here, it’s a given that everyone still present in here is going to want to get out. And since there is only one exit, then we all have to use it, even if it means slowing the time it takes for 「Dungeon Walker」to work.
There is a possibility that it might get worse, and I don’t know when that might happen. In the first place, if the object created by the Movement Magic starts behaving in a suspicious way, it makes the Movement Magic itself suspicious in my eyes.
Yes, because I have no way of knowing if such behavior is really suspicious or not. Just to be on the safe side, it might be best to not use Warp in this place while its condition is still abnormal to such a degree.
I would be in real trouble ifit continued to behave strangely, and it would also be a problem if it behaved normally when it was supposed to be acting strangely.
Even if we’ll be able to go back from the Labyrinth back home to Quratar, we won’t be able to go back to this Labyrinth anymore. Nevertheless, I still walk through the black portal.
After passing through the portal and waiting for a short moment, we found ourselves in the forest located outside of the entrance to Haruba’s Labyrinth.
It seems that Sherry was right after all, and the entrance to the Labyrinth itself is still intact. Four people came out of the portal right after me without any difficulties either. And once we got out, we saw that aside form us there was also a number of people already outside of the Labyrinth.
「Lord Michio.」
Gozer was one of the people present there, and as soon as he saw me he called out to me.
「Were you perhaps the one responsible for the conquering of this Labyrinth, Lord Gozer?」
「Well, it was still a relatively new Labyrinth with only fifty floors, so we couldn’t afford ourselves to lose to other Parties now, could we?」
Gozer and his Party seem to be the ones responsible for the subjugation of this Labyrinth. As expected of someone who is widely known as the most elite Knight of the Knight Order of Hartz Duchy. An impressive feature, I have to admit.
「Congratulations on your achievement then.」
「No, no, no, we were only able to focus on advancing through this Labyrinth thanks to Lord Michio’s cooperation.」
Now I am glad that I was still inside of the Labyrinth at the moment when Gozer and his Party defeated the Floor Boss of the last floor. This is going to save me much of potential trouble. Now that the Floor Boss of the last floor has been defeated and all the other monsters have disappeared from this Labyrinth, forcing all of the ones exploring it to go outside of it, I have proven to Gozer that I have been inside of it, doing exactly what they have asked me to do.
Gozer has become the witness of me keeping my word to the Duke without even knowing it.