Chapter 17 (1/2)
Exploring the Labyrinth for the First Time
Opening the huge gate and looking down the long stairs, the walls and ceiling gave off a pale luminescence. In front, there was something like a big metallic mirror.
“When you touch this and recite the spell, you’ll enter the maze. Is everyone ready?”
I see, is that why there was a six person restriction?
Each person nodded, touching the mirror.
“Then, let’s go. Labyrinth, open your gates before the explorers.”
Waves spread out from where we touched, and our bodies teleported to another location.
The next thing I knew, though the pa.s.sage was similar, we stood at a spot that split left and right. Even if I looked behind us, there was no mirror.
“What do we do to return?”
Lulu asked timidly. If she didn’t say it, perhaps no one would have worried about it.
“Along the outer sides of the labyrinth are mirrors to return. From here… the distance should be a bit of a walk.”
Maal had memorized the map up to the third floor.
“What do we do? For now should we look for monsters to accustom ourselves to the labyrinth? There are almost no traps on the first floor and there are a lot of monsters that can be killed even I can kill by myself.”
“Hmm,” Ria folded her arms and became lost in thought.
Her goal was the last floor. She found no meaning in staying here to get used to it.
“First of all let’s decide our order.”
Serge said that in a tone that showed he was still excited. It was definitely important though.
Ria also had a plan for this.
“Maal and I as vanguards, then Carlos, Lulu, and Serge in that order, with Gig bringing up the rear, alright?”
“Ojou is going to be in the vanguard?”
Carlos showed disapproval, but there was a perfectly good reason for it.
“First of all, Gig is in the back to cope with attacks from behind. Maal is guiding us and paying attention to traps so we don’t walk into them. Moreover I’m so far up in the line next to her since I can notice enemies easily. It’s natural for magicians to be in the center, and when a fight happens Maal and Carlos will switch locations. Is there a problem?”
It was well-reasoned, so they decided to go with that for now.
At at rate, since this is a labyrinth that you can’t die in, it might be good to experience death once.
“Which reminds me, Serge. Can’t you use s.p.a.ce-time magic to teleport to the surface?”
Like Evac for example, though I didn’t say that. [TN: A spell from Dragon Quest. Teleports you out of a dungeon to the entrance.]
“Unfortunately not. I can only teleport myself to places I can see. In addition, since it’s a hard magic to use, it’s difficult to use in a fight.”
“Ah, so how long will it take to get to the second floor?”
“It generally takes about half a day while being careful. While hurrying, about half that?”
“Alright, then let’s advance carefully while also adjusting our levels on these small fry enemies?”
The party formed rank and advanced.
The pa.s.sage was wide enough for five adults to easily fit side by side. Occasionally hearing the sounds of fighting from far away, probably other explorers.
“Couldn’t we join up after coming inside?”
“That’s right. But considering the size of this place, I think it would be difficult. The spot the mirror transfers you to is random.”
The labyrinth seems to narrow the farther down you go, but for parties with the strength to go down that far, it’s difficult to work together.
Before long, a presence crept up from inside the pa.s.sage.
Ria and Maal noticed quickly.
“Serge, stop it’s movement with magic. Maal, finish it off with an arrow. Let’s raise our levels with this for a bit.”
Something at this level was like a game. Even if you lived an ordinary life, this would come up.
Although you could earn a lot of experience by special practice and training, the fastest way was to kill monsters.
When you kill a monster, the source of its magic power–also called the Demon Source–is absorbed by people nearby. Though it’s said to reinforce your power, the experience is a definite.
The main monsters were meter long monitor lizards, snakes, and human-sized insects. There were nothing like goblins.
Because they were equivalent to minor demi-humans, even if we kill them though we don’t get any magic stones, but it’s fine.
“Treasure chest detection. How does it work?”
The wall faintly sunk in, there was definitely a treasure chest there.
She asked Maal while moving her hands across it. Though she thought it would open itself, Ria’s guess was incorrect.
“Would you like to try it out?”
“Yeah, it’s locked, so it may be trapped and dangerous though.”
“That’s right. Everyone go back a little.”
Standing before the treasure chest, Ria put her hand on her waist katana, unsheathing it to try and sink it in.
The metal part of the treasure chest was severed. Opening it, smoke flew out.
“It’s poisonous! Use anti-poison magic!”
Maal cried out in a hurry, but Lulu calmly stopped her.
“It’s alright, Ria has poison resistance.”
“Ah~, my tongue stings.”
Emerging from the smoke, it didn’t look like there was anything wrong with Ria. She was holding a small bottle that looked like a magic potion in her hand.
“Serge, what is this?”
“It’s a magic potion. It recovers a small amount of magic power.”
At times like these, the Identify Skill is convenient. Since it’s magic that uses magic power, it’s surprisingly difficult to use.
Whenever a treasure chest appeared after that, it was dealt with in a similar way.
Maal began to doubt the meaning of her existence on the way, but Lulu comforted her.
“Since Ria is like that, there’s no helping it.”
Even traps felt like they would broken through in a similar way.
When Maal found a trap using her Fairy Eyes, Ria would purposely stomp on it.
Spears protruded out, arrows came flying, and she fell in pitfall traps, but she was completely unhurt.
There was a pitfall trap with spears lining it, but she grasped them tightly with her hands and didn’t let her body touch them.
“Though the spears aren’t that good, I wonder if we can throw them. We have a good arrow reserve as it is.”
Then about one hour of walking later, she knocked on the wall and spoke.
“Hey, are we not allowed to break this to shorten the distance?”
She said something completely countering the concept of a labyrinth.
“Break it? With a hammer or something?”