Krikala — 50th level, innermost
The imperial princess, Olivia, would arrive in Straheim two days later, on Monday, and that was when we would start the full-blown investigation of this incident. Tomorrow and the day after was time for the students' quest to explore the labyrinth. It seemed like a good time. He was surprisingly gentlemanly, and in that sense, he was second only to Spy to escort the VIPs.
Pulling myself together, I teleported to the 45th floor's safety point in the Krikala labyrinth, which I just began to explore.
By the way, I had negotiated with the Adventurer's Guild and received permission to set up Sagami Co.'s store at each safety point.
I had planned to sell lunch boxes made at [Silver Knife], as well as swords, spears, and other weapons that I was currently working on.
I walked along the bluestone corridor, which was not much different from what we had seen before, and came to a huge, cylindrical hall.
There was an altar in the centre of the hall and a stone door as long as 3 meters in the back.
"Hmm, is this the dead end?"
This was probably the innermost part of the 50th floor. This was the final destination for humanity.
From the information I'd heard before, there were people that had reached this place in their own way in history, but apparently no one was able to open this door and advance forward.
I examined the door carefully, but it was a plain stone door.
After getting far enough away from the door, I tried to attack it very seriously with [Exploding Thread], but the magic itself was not activated. Next, I tried to slash it with all my might with Mura, but the result was the same.
[Master, you're terrible.]
Mura complained with a tearful voice.
"It can't be helped. You are a sword, after all."
I gave him an appropriate response.
[That's not a good enough reason!]
"This should be a good enough reason, though? A sword is meant to cut."
"I'm a sword, and not a sword! I'm a holy sword! If I cut through this filthy door, I'll get hurt!"
"Yes-yes, I understand, sex-addicted sword."
I put away the noisy and useless sword from my mind. I wanted to sort through the information for once.
I had tried various things with this sword and its sharpness was considerable. Whether it was iron or steel, it could cut through it as easily as a dish of raw fish. According to him, he was confident that he could cut even the most legendary metals.
If that was the case, there was a good chance that this door would not accept any physical attacks.
And since [Explosive Thread] was not even activated, it seemed that the activation of magic was cancelled here.
Physics was invalid, and magic couldn't be activated. If that was the case, did that mean that the door was just a decoration?
No, doors are only meaningful when you are aware of what's inside. There was no reason to make a mere ornament of a door in this place. There must be something.
"If there is a trick, then it's most likely this."
I approached the altar, which was a cylinder with a radius of about 15cm, and began my investigation.
"Is this....a keyboard?"
On the top surface of the cylindrical altar, there was a dent that looked like a PC keyboard.
When I pressed what looked like the "⏎ Return" key with my left index finger, I could hear the startup sound of a machine.
Then, the keyboard floated in the space on the top of the cylinder.
"I confirm that the application for the first test has been accepted. Commencing first trial sub-test—
—Answer the questions!!"
Various shapes were listed one after another in the sky above.
I see, it's a puzzle.
A head-on confrontation? Isn't it interesting! I'd been feeling a little frustrated lately because of the various incidents I had to solve with brute force.
"Entertain me!"
"It's unpleasant."
For some reason, an uncontrollable strong resentment was welling up from the bottom of my heart. Was it because of the fact that this battle couldn't be fought without using the new type of magic?
"No, that's not it."
I wasn't romantic enough to resent my inadequacy in the struggle. The real reason I was frustrated was more instinctive, plain and simple.
—For tens of minutes, I had only been running away from this incompetent goat-headed monster, who only knew how to rampage. This fact alone made me uncomfortable.
"You are unpleasant."
I landed on the ground using [Explosive Thread] as I raised my shuddering voice.
[Master—]
The voice of Mura, who called out to me, was uncharacteristically trembling.
"Come. I will kill you in a flash."
With that declaration, I raised my mouth.
"Guooooooooo!"
I reflexively jumped backwards, and slowly walked towards the goat-headed monster.
The goat-headed monster roared at such a suicidal act, but it didn't make a single move, only bracing itself.
"What's up? You're not coming?"
The goat-headed monster quickly took a few steps back from me as I approached without taking a stance while dragging Mura's sword tip.
"Guooooooooo!!!"
The goat-headed monster roared in anger at this fact, sprinting towards me and firing its right fist at me.
At that moment, the movements of the goat-headed monster became sluggish.
Is this the extent of your current agility?
After spitting out such uncertain words, I twisted my body to avoid his slowly approaching right fist by the tip of my nose. At the same time, I raised my right arm holding Mura's hilt with all my might and cut off his right leg from the root.
A sharp pain ran out in the right arm holding Mura. Seemed like it broke. Well, that was natural if I performed an unreasonable action. There was no other way.
"Guooooooo!!!"
Despite losing his right leg, he dexterously back-stepped with his remaining left leg to get away from me. However, perhaps because of the pain, a scowl appeared on the goat-faced monster and it dropped on one knee. As I watched his ridiculously slow movement, I grasped Mura again with my left hand and kicked my left leg up, closing the distance with him.
This time, I felt the intense pain in my left leg as if a stake had driven into my spine. My left leg had also broken.
Now my mobility was reduced to half because of this.
However—
"This is my victory."
I aimed at the neck of the goat-headed monster, who was staring at me absentmindedly due to my sudden appearance, and swung down Mura with all my might.
The giant's neck danced in the air and fell down on the ground. Shortly after, the head and body shattered like glass.
[Winner of this [Battle Baphomet] — Grey!
Grey has been presented with [Baphomet's Horn] and [Three S-Rank Magic Stones].
Some of Grey's potential abilities have increased. The level of [Eternal Workshop] has increased from 5% → 10%.
Grey's MP and HP have been completely recovered.
Releasing the second stage.]
My consciousness faded together with the mechanical voice of a woman.
[The first stage has been cleared. The second stage will be released.]
—On that day, a woman's cold mechanical voice rang out from the skies above Straheim.