Chapter 33

Chapter 33

The Labyrinth (2)

The Labyrinth, located near the outskirts of the academy city, was an extremely unique dungeon even in this world.

A dungeon whose structure changed every year.

Because of that, it was also called a living dungeon.

It was not wrong.

After all, the “Labyrinth Administrator” lived in the deepest part of the Labyrinth.

The strange points of the Labyrinth did not end there.

This Labyrinth, which could only be entered one person at a time, applied a protective magic at the moment of entry.

This magic, presumed to be ancient magic, nullified any damage that would result in death and ejected the person from the Labyrinth.

Those who were ejected like that had to start over from the first floor.

Of course, injuries could be suffered as much as one liked.

Once the Labyrinth opened, the infirmary would become very busy.

How had a Labyrinth with such a convenient system, one that fit the education of academy students so perfectly, come to exist?

In truth, one person created it.

The person who, in the distant past, inherited the will of the Hero and founded Innocence Academy.

The world called him the mage of the “Hero’s Party,” or the “Sage.”

It was an obvious story.

Since he was someone from hundreds of years ago, people believed the Sage to be dead, but the Sage was still very much alive.

The “Labyrinth Administrator” living in the deepest part of the Labyrinth was that very Sage.

There was no risk of death, its structure changed every year, and the deeper one descended, the difficulty increased exponentially.

The best place for stirring up the spirit of challenge and gaining real combat experience.

That was the “artificial dungeon” the Sage had created for the academy, the Labyrinth.

Of course, in Edward’s class, the Labyrinth was introduced to the students with completely different information.

Things like how it was an ancient dungeon and so on.

There were likely extremely few people within the academy who knew the truth of the Labyrinth.

It made sense, since it was a very old story.

Even I, as a player of the game, had stumbled upon that information by chance while running the Labyrinth to raise experience.

Even in the game, I had never reached the deepest part.

In the end, time flowed in the game as well, and the story had to progress.

Since the Labyrinth’s difficulty kept rising and its end was unknown... I judged that the deepest part had not been implemented in the game.

“Now that it has become reality, I cannot know, though...”

If one thought carefully, the Labyrinth had more than enough suspicious points.

Time flowed more slowly inside the Labyrinth. Twenty-four hours in the Labyrinth was about eight hours outside.

It was strictly managed so that people other than students could not abuse this point.

Only those carrying a stone containing unknown magic, called an “entry pass” that proved one was an academy student, could enter.

A student’s information was engraved into the entry pass.

Because of this, the maximum number of academy students was always fixed at the number of entry passes.

Even if people left the academy midway, they never accepted additional students beyond that number.

Characters who occasionally appeared as special admissions could be accepted because students who left the academy had opened up spots.

Aside from that, various other strict conditions existed.

Because of those conditions, people said all sorts of things about it, such as that it was a dungeon for the academy... or that the dungeon was here, so the academy was built next to it.

Well, from my position as a student, it was not something I needed to worry about.

I simply needed to level up diligently in the Labyrinth, the experience content made by the Sage.

I planned to deal with the “impurity” in their place and find hidden items as well.

Though the structure changed every year, I had experienced this Labyrinth in the game, so I already knew which items were hidden on which floors.

I intended to collect every hidden piece prepared for the player.

“Will Eisel be the same?”

Since Eisel was a regressor, she would also collect hidden pieces that only she knew of.

After all, Eisel had begun growing rapidly after entering the Labyrinth.

In the game, the hidden pieces Eisel had to take could not be intercepted even by the player.

As for me, I had no intention of stealing Eisel’s hidden pieces, nor any need to.

“There is no problem with the hidden pieces since I know their locations, but...”

The lycanthrope was the problem.

In the game, it appeared randomly between floors two and ten.

If it appeared on floor ten, that would be relatively late, but if it appeared on floor two, I would meet it quickly.

To handle the work easily, it would be convenient to meet it around floor five, where my level would have risen appropriately, but when had such things ever gone as wished?

Still, I had a plan to catch it for certain.

A natural plan that could be executed because I had joined the Medical Technology Exchange Group.

“First-year Class A student Zeto, floor one. Entry pass confirmed.”

The academy staff member managing entry into the Labyrinth handed me the entry pass.

The entry pass recorded which floor I was located on. The exploration rankings were also made through this.

Perhaps because I had arrived at the Labyrinth early in the morning, there were not many people yet, so I was able to enter quickly.

Judging by the presences I felt behind me, it seemed a line was only now beginning to form.

Since every year could enter this year’s Labyrinth at the same time, the line would be long at least on the first day.

I received the entry pass the staff member handed me and stood at the entrance of the Labyrinth.

The Labyrinth entrance looked like the entrance to a shrine or temple, and a large dimensional gate was open there.

I immediately stepped toward the dimensional gate.

***

[ This is the Labyrinth? It is dark and terribly gloomy. ]

The moment I came to my senses, Sierra’s voice rang out.

First, I focused on sound to examine my surroundings.

The first entry spawned one at a random location, so if one was unlucky, battle could break out as soon as they entered.

Fortunately, I did not hear much. Only the occasional sound of dripping water reached me from far away.

There did not seem to be any monsters nearby.

The appearance of the Labyrinth gave off a strong feeling of being like a cursed cave.

The enormous cave had wide passages as well. Green torches were lit here and there. There was enough space to swing a sword.

Unlike Sierra’s words, it did not feel creepy.

Perhaps because it was a sight I had encountered countless times in the game, it felt familiar instead.

I did not sense any people, but I could not converse with Sierra.

Since it was the first floor, where it would not be strange to run into a student who had spawned at any moment, I left her words behind and moved my feet.

As I walked through the cave, memories of the Labyrinth came back one after another.

“I even searched strategy posts on the locations of hidden pieces...”

Even so, I did not have the entire map of this wide maze memorized.

What mattered now was that, if one walked around the Labyrinth, there were occasionally stairs that led to the lower floor.

And that there were no hidden pieces on the first floor.

On the first floor, it seemed best to get used to combat in the Labyrinth appropriately and descend immediately if I saw stairs.

Where would the lycanthrope be?

I hoped it would not appear at least until the fourth floor.

“Will the others manage well somehow...?”

Eisel was a regressor, so she would go take her own hidden pieces.

Yuri disliked complicated maze-like things, so she might wander around without finding the path.

“Kaen is...”

Kaen would act on her own and adjust her pace appropriately.

“Did I accept the sparring request for nothing...?”

Though I did not know in detail, it was unsettling that she seemed to have some firm misunderstanding about me.

“Mm...”

It was not the time to worry about others.

I felt the presence of monsters ahead.

—Kereuk... kerereuk...

The sound of their breathing struck the walls and reached me.

“Since it is the first floor, they must be kobolds.”

It seemed they had not yet noticed my existence. There were no traps along the way.

The traps on the first floor were also easy.

They were on the level where one could easily avoid them just by watching the floor and walls.

“At last, I’m facing monsters.”

Perhaps this was the first ordinary enemy I had faced since coming to this world.

With my hand placed on the “Cursed Blade Sierra” at my waist, I infused mana into my legs.

Then I dashed at once toward the place where I felt the kobolds’ presence.

“Only two?”

The moment I reached right before them, the kobolds were startled and their arms flew upward.

“Kereuk?!”

That motion was exactly the same as their movement I had seen in the game, so a small laugh escaped me.

There was no need to use Rebellion Against Heaven against mere kobolds.

Drawing the cursed blade I held in a reverse grip, I cut upward at a kobold nearby.

Weakness Detection applied properly to monsters too.

The thing split in half without even letting out the slightest scream.

“Kereuk!!”

When its companion fell, the remaining one grew furious and rushed at me.

Kobolds were not particularly large.

They were only a little bigger than nine-year-old Ram.

The crude dagger it held pointed at me.

However, its attack never reached.

Long before the kobold’s dagger could touch me, I cut off the neck of the one that had entered the range of my cursed blade.

Soon, as if announcing the end of combat, the kobolds’ corpses turned to powder and disappeared.

In the place where they had fallen, small black stones dropped with a click.

Mana stones.

Every monster possessed one inside its body.

The stronger the monster, the larger the mana stone or the better its quality.

Originally, the mana stones inside monsters had to be pulled out by rummaging through the monster’s corpse directly.

However, these monsters were monsters made by the Labyrinth. Thus, the corpses disappeared, leaving only the mana stones.

Mana stones had many uses, so they could also be sold for money.

The boss I had to hunt in the early part of the Labyrinth, the lycanthrope, did not leave behind a disappearing corpse.

It was a simple story.

It meant it was not a being created by the Labyrinth.

Because it was not a monster, there was no mana stone in its body, but there was still a reward to take from its corpse after catching it.

And first, it was an abnormal phenomenon.

I would probably have to cut off at least its head and show it to the instructors.

At least, that was how it progressed in the game.

[ Handling a sword in a reverse grip will not be easy... but it would be good for you to grow accustomed to it in this Labyrinth as soon as possible. ]

As I picked up the mana stones that had fallen to the ground, Sierra spoke of what she had felt while watching my battle.

Certainly, holding the sword in a reverse grip was still an unfamiliar sensation.

Though I had somehow learned Rebellion Against Heaven through the power of the status window, it seemed that did not make me accustomed to handling the sword in a reverse grip.

I rose and began moving again.

The kobolds I had just dealt with were probably around level 7.

I had already reached level 18.

On top of that, because of the Weakness Detection skill, it seemed that cutting only the weaknesses was enough to slice them apart in one blow. The kobolds’ armor was poor as well.

Whether in terms of experience or real combat experience, the first floor was not very helpful.

“Should I quickly descend to the second floor?”

There was no lycanthrope on the first floor anyway, and there was one hidden piece I had to obtain on the second floor.

When the time ran out, the Labyrinth ejected students outside.

This was because the magic applied to the entire Labyrinth, which made time flow slowly, affected the body.

Around ten hours a day was the limit.

Calculated by time inside the Labyrinth, that meant about thirty hours were given.

“The Sage really is kind...”

It seemed he had calculated all sorts of things and put tremendous effort into the Labyrinth.

For something merely meant for educating academy students... the suspiciously great amount of effort put into it was strange, but what did it matter?

I would not have any reason to speak with the Sage, and above all, as someone whose homeroom instructor was Edward, leveling was hard for me.

“As long as I can collect good items and level, that should be enough.”

I might have to search every corner of the second floor, but there was still plenty of time.