Chapter 60: Chapter 60 – What’s Happening?

Jayr POV - Tortus, Orcus Great Labyrinth -  2013

I'm now carefully moving through the 20th floor, as I do not want to be taken by surprise by a group of Rockmount and Ratmen, but even so, after dealing with the Rockmount before they could unleash their magic, I'm easily able to deal with the remaining Ratmen and quickly move on.

Walking through this Labyrinth's floors I notice that they are getting increasingly larger the more I go down, 'For sure Orcus took a lot of time to build a place like this... 200 floors, full of traps and deadly monsters, and even more ridiculous is that this place was made to train those who would fight Ehit, the lousy god of this world...', at the same time, I deal with another small mixed group made of Ratmen and a lone Rockmount.

But after killing the last Ratman, I hear the sound of fighting coming from the distance, and soon after some girls and guys screaming, so I quickly run to help, moving toward what clearly is the innermost room of the 20th level that has a very complicated geographical feature, different from all the other places of this Labyrinth, the walls here are protruding like a stalactite cave and icicle-like rocks formed around the room.

Moreover, once I rushed into the room, the scene inside, stuns me for a few seconds, inside the room, there is a group of knights surrounding a big group of young men and women, while a well-built man with short spiky brown hair, a short beard, and a small scar on the left side of his chin, wearing a suit of armor with a cape, is fighting against a big Rockmount, and I quickly recognize him 'Damn! That is the good-going-to-die knight of the Holy Church... Mald, I think is his name... This means that I'm still in time to make sure that everything is like I remember because at this point the things that I remember of the plot are the only advantage I have!'.

(Image Here - Meld)

While I was checking on the situation I hear someone yell "Bastard... You dare treat them like that... I won't forgive you!", and I see a young man with silky brown hair and gentle blue eyes, his body is toned and slender at about 180 centimeters, he is rushing at the Rockmount with his shining sword in hand "Myriad of Soaring Wings, Reach the Heavens, Soaring Flash!", he brandishes his sword over his head and swings it down in one motion.

Following his chant, the sword emits an intense light, and the slash releases a blade of light, that draws a curve, and the light bisected the Rockmount without encountering any resistance, in fact, the blade of light continued on until it destroys the wall behind, making debris fall lightly from the damaged wall, looking at him I let out a sigh and think 'And that idiot is the hero wannabe Kouki Ama-something for sure... Gosh, I understand that you want to show off, but be mindful of your surrounding! He could have easily caused a cave-in!!'.

(Image Here - Kouki Amanogawa)

Kouki exhaled and gave a sparkling smile to a group of girls, but among them, the only one I recognize is Kaori, one of Hajime's Harem, a beautiful young woman with waist-length black hair that is tied back in a half ponytail by a dark-colored bow with big bangs hanging on the right side while there are small bangs hanging on the left side and brown eyes.

(Image Here - Kaori Shirasaki)

But before he could say anything, the knight commander approaches him with a smile and smacks him hard on the head, and yells "You fool. I understand how you feel, but you shouldn't use a skill like that in such a narrow place! If the tunnel collapsed, what are you going to do?", and while Mold is scolding hero-wannabe, I look around and search for other persons of interest.

And I quickly find them, one is a beautiful woman with waist-length black hair that is usually tied up in a ponytail with bangs hanging over her forehead and red eyes, she has a trained yet curvy body, and from the way she moves stands, and balances her center of gravity it is clear that she is a trained swordswoman, she is no other than Shizuku Yaegashi, one of the most popular waifu of the Arifureta series.

(Image Here - Shizuku Yaegashi)

While the other is none other than the main character himself, Hajime Nagumo, a young man with black hair, brown eyes, and a slim body, along with a kind and worried face, 'There he is... It's better that I carefully watch over him... If I was a Champion who came to this Universe with some bad intention, like stealing his harem, the first thing I would do I deal with him before he becomes OP... That if I'm not already much stronger than him...'.

(Image Here - Hajime Nagumo)

Thinking about his harem, I look back to Shizuku and Kaori, 'About his harem, I don't feel like I want to deal with any of them... One reason could be that I'm not into Netori and Netorare... Another, and most important reason is that Hajime is also a fan of the Gundam Series... And we have to watch each other's back! Jokes aside I do not want to chase after every beautiful girl I meet, sure Saori and Seika are fine with me having more lovers, and I admit I'm tempted to let go of all restrains, but I do not want to collect them like that, it doesn't feel right!', while I was thinking this, someone finally notices my presence, it is the ever-vigilant Meld, who looks at me and yells "Who are you?".

Hearing his shout, the rest of the knights look at me with a guarded stance ready to react at any moment, but I raise my hands and with a disarming smile, I say "Calm down, I'm an Adventurer, my name is Jayr... Here you can check my Status Plate", and at the same time, I slowly show them my Status Plate, of course, I only show them my name and the guild mark.

Meld looks at it and then asks with clear suspicion in his eyes "How did a simple Blue Rank Adventurer get so far into the Great Orcus Labyrinth? And where is your equipment?", I put my Status Plate back into my pocket, and reply "Simple I just registered today as Adventurer, but I'm stronger than my rank would indicate... As for equipment, I do not need it, my body is my weapon...", as soon as I said this, I hear someone shout "Good, you spoke like a true man!".

I turn my head and see a young man whose physique is like a bear and he stands tall at about 190 cm, he has short trimmed hair and a gaze that appears both cheerful and stern, 'He is Kouki's best friend... Ryutarou... if I remember well...', but just as Meld was about to make another question, I notice that Kaori is looking at something and the next moment she points at the wall with her finger and exclaims "...Eh? What is that? It's sparkling...?".

(Image Here - Ryutarou Sakagami)

Hearing her voice, everyone stops and looks everyone at the wall Kaori was pointing at, blooming on the wall there are minerals that radiate a pale light, it is like a beautiful crystal covered in indicolite, the knight whose name I now remember is Meld, recognize the material and says "Hoh... That's Grantz Crystal, one this big in size is rare... It does not have any special effects, but its gorgeous and sparkling appearance is popular among the ladyship, rings, earrings, pendants, and other pieces of jewelry processed from these crystals are very well received, it is one of the top three choices as proposal rings...".

The girls look at the gem entranced and Kaori mutters "Lovely..", while I suddenly remember what is about to happen and blank out not really knowing what to do at this moment, then I hear someone say "If that's the case, we should retrieve it!" and see a young man with short brown hair that fell flat on his head, he is Hiyama, the would-be murderer, he moves toward the Grantz Crystal and before anyone could stop him, he touches it, while one of the knights yells in panic "Commander! It's a trap!".

(Image Here - Daisuke Hiyama)

However his warning came a little too late, the moment Hiyama touched the Grantz Crystal, a magic circle started to spread from the crystal, and in a blink of an eye, the magic circle spread throughout the whole room, and it gradually became brighter and brighter, Meld shouts "Withdraw! Get out of the room this instant!", and at his command, everyone starts to run towards the exit, but they aren't fast enough, meanwhile I stay still and prepare to what is about to come 'We are about to be teleported to a much lower floor... Where we will find the Behemoth and an army of Skeleton Soldiers waiting for us!'.

When the light filled the whole room, I momentary feel a floating sensation, and following that, I safely land while everyone else slammed onto the ground with a loud thud, soon I hear them groaning in pain, while I check my surroundings, we were transferred onto a huge bridge made of stone, it is about hundred meters in length, the ceiling looks to be about twenty meters tall, there is nothing underneath the bridge, there is only an apparently bottomless abyss, 'An abyss that leads directly to the second half of the Great Orcus Labyrinth... Also called the true labyrinth... Another shortcut to my objective...'.

The width of the bridge is about ten meters, and there is nothing preventing your fall, 'If you slipped there would be nothing to grab onto, and you would fall and in Seiya's case fall and crash head-first! Really, he is like a reverse cat, he always falls on his head!', the whole group is right in the middle of the bridge, and on one side of the bridge, I can see a stairway that leads to the upper level.

While I was looking around, I notice that Meld, the knights, Kouki, and the vanguards quickly stood up and started observing their surroundings, and Meld who also notices the stairway leading toward the upper level, then he points toward it, and issue his order with a grim expression "You guys, get up immediately! Go towards the stairs. Hurry!"

Hearing the thunderous orders from the Knight Commander, Meld, the students who were on the ground got up immediately, however, the Labyrinth's trap was not over yet, as it wouldn't let us escape so easily, and indeed the following instant huge Magic Circles emitting a bright crimson light appears on both sides of the bridge and Monsters starts emerging from them.

A big magic circle that is about ten meters wide is on the side of the passage leading to a lower floor and from it, a huge Monster appears, it's a powerful monster with a huge body of 10 meters in length.

It is shaped similar to a triceratops, with a head like that of a bull with two huge horns sprouting on its head, and has glowing red eyes.

Instead on the other passage leading to a higher floor, countless smaller magic circles appeared, and from it, a large number of monsters emerged, they are skeleton knights monsters with red eyes and darkish bodies, all carrying a sword and shield, at the same time, Meld stands still and stares at the huge Monster with a blank expression, but even among the chaos his scared whisper is transmitted loud and clear, "This couldn't be... a Behemoth...?".

As if responding to Meld, the Behemoth took a deep breath and let out a deafening roar, which causes Meld to come to his, and soon he starts issuing new orders "Alan! Lead the students to the stair and break through those Skeleton Soldiers! Kyle, Ivan, Gale! I need you guys to make a barrier as big as you can! We need to stop that monster here! Kouki, hurry and get to the stairs with the others!", but the hero-wannabe instead of quickly following the order of a more experienced warrior starts to waste time questioning him "Wait a moment, Meld-san! We'll fight too! Isn't that dinosaur-like monster the most dangerous? We'll also...", and soon the fight started, and chaos ensues.

At this moment, I zone them out and focus on the others, 'Figures... Hajime is the only one that remains a little calm and is searching for a solution while helping who he can, meanwhile, all the other students are already in panic even if most of them are still stronger than these skeletons...', while thinking this I carefully move without catching anyone attention while from time to time killing some monsters that are about to hurt some of the students.

At the same time, I notice that the knights are following Meld's orders, they raise their hands pointing at the Behemoth and start to chant "Repel all Malice and Enmity, Absolute Providence from the Son of God, Herein a Sanctuary, The Enemy of God Shall Not Pass, Absolute Virtue!" generating a pure white semi-spherical barrier that stopped the Behemoth's charge.

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The moment the Behemoth clashed with the barrier, a terrifying shockwave erupted from between them, and everything under the Behemoth's feet is pulverized, and despite how the entire bridge was made out of stones, it starts shaking violently causing the retreating students to let out a scream and tumbled in succession, meanwhile, I keep steady and continue to save as many students as possible while suddenly realizing 'Wait! I shouldn't stand out too much what if I cause the plot to suddenly change?'.

And right as I thought of this, I see Hajime coming, and once he is next to me he yells "I do not know who you are... But you are clearly the strongest here! Please take charge and lead the others to safety!", but just as I'm about to reply, I hear Kouki's voice as he chants "Divine will! Perish everything that is evil with your light! The breath of God! Blow away the ominous clouds and purify this world! The mercy of God! Forgive all my sins with this strike! Heaven's Might!".

An aurora gushed out from his Sword after the chant, the skill is similar to the Soaring Flash he shoot before, but its power is on a completely different level, the aurora gouged the bridge as it shot toward the Behemoth, shaking the bridge with its might, and soon the bombardment of light hit the Behemoth directly.

The resulting light painted the area white and the intense vibration caused cracks to appear all over the bridge, and at the same time, the thing I was fearing the most happened, someone is about to fall from the bridge, and that someone isn't Hajime as he is still next to me looking at the cloud of dust with hope in his eyes, I only have the time to see that the figure that is falling appears to be a woman, and she is looking at Kouki with what appears to be despair in her eyes, meanwhile, the wannabe-hero, totally ignore her plight caused by his actions.

Then as I see her falling toward almost certain death, on instinct, I quickly move, run toward the edge of the bridge and dive toward the abyss to save her, I see that she is free-falling, but what catches my attention the most, is that she isn't screaming or crying but she just looks at the bridge with a dead look in her eyes, for now, I ignore this, and focus on saving her, I position myself so that I can fall faster and reach her.

Once I'm close enough, I summon the Crateris Cloth from my territory and equip it, then I hug the girl to protect her with my body and think as I fall toward the ground at terminal velocity, 'This is going to hurt... Well, now that I think about it... Not so much... Just another Monday! For sure this is my karma acting up because I mocked Seiya!'.

Hajime POV -  Tortus, Orcus Great Labyrinth -  2013

Soon after Kouki's attack, I try to urge the strange adventurer named Jayr to act, but when I turn around to look at him I'm shocked by what I see "Wha...?", I see him rushing over the edge of the bridge and jump down, trying to save someone that apparently fell, it seems that only he and Suzu noticed what happened.

And so with no other choice, I rush toward Kouki and yell "Hurry up and retreat! Everyone can't make it without you! Hurry!", I notice that even if he is tired, Kouki is quickly recovering, but instead of focusing on our classmates, he looks at me with a confused expression and asks "What are you saying all of a sudden? What are you even doing in a place like this? This is not a place you should be! Just leave this to us, Nagumo you...", tired of his hypocrisy I shout "This is not the time to be saying that kind of thing!"

Seeing he stunned by my outburst I continue "Can you not see what is going on?! Everyone is in a panic! Just because the team leader is missing!", I grab Kouki's shirt with one hand and point to our classmates with his other hand, where they are surrounded by Skeleton Soldiers and running all over the place, it seems like they had never been trained before and fought haphazardly.

And since they were so inefficient they are being overwhelmed by the reinforcements, as a result, they are still unable to break through until now, although they were able to preserve their life due to their out-of-norm stats, it was only a matter of time before they all end up dead, so I yell hoping to make this fool realize what he needs to do "A power that can break through them is necessary! A power that can erase the fear in everyone's hearts is also necessary! And the only one who can do it is our team leader, Amanogawa-kun! Don't just look in front of you, look at what's going on behind you too!"

Kouki was dumbstruck as he saw his classmates in such a chaotic situation, after shaking his head in admonition, he nods towards me and says "Ahh, I understand. I'll go over there immediately!", but right at that moment, we all hear a familiar roar "Goooo...!", and I look as the light and the dust settle down, in that place, there is an unscathed Behemoth.

The beast sent a death glare at Kouki and growled, and after that, it raised its head, the horn on its head began to glow red-hot and emitted a high-pitched sound like that of fingernails scraping the glass and following that, the helmet ignited like lava, I can only look in stunned silence while thinking 'No way even Kouki trump card was ineffective against that monster!'.

But then Commander Meld's shout helped me regain my senses "Don't just stand there! Move!", and I notice that Kouki and the others, that were also stunned by the Behemoth's resilience, quickly retreat following Commander Meld's shout, meanwhile, the Behemoth soon began to dash toward us, and then it jumped towards its main target, Kouki, the red-hot helmet fell towards us like a meteor.

But even though we jumped sideways immediately, the shock-wave caused by the impact still blew us all away, I roll on the ground with a rumbling sound, and when I finally stop, I notice that I had wounds all over my body, and the same could be said for all the others, the only one that are relative fine are Kaori and Shizuku, who were the furthest away from Kouki, in fact, they are already getting up and helping the knights to recover thanks to Kaori's magic.

While I still try to recover from the shock I hear Commander Meld, who finally regained his movement, and see him as he rushes over and yells "All of you, get up!", I regain control of my body and get up, but soon notice that the Behemoth's horns are stuck on the bridge but soon after bracing its leg, the Behemoth is able to pull them out and free itself.

At the same time, all Meld got in response were groans of pain, they are probably paralyzed by the same shock-wave that the Commander and the knights received earlier, it seems like they received considerable damage to the internal organs, so Commander Meld turns his head around and notices that I'm in better shape than Kouki, Ryutaro, so he calls out "Boy! Carry Kouki and retreat with Kaori!", at the same time, he clenches his teeth and prepared his shield, 'He planned to put his life on the line to hold back the beast!'.

I look at the commander who IS prepared for certain death, and after a few seconds, I propose a plan while thinking 'This may be the only way to save everyone from this situation, however, it is too silly, the chances of succeeding is also very low... And it would put me in the most dangerous position!', Commander Meld clearly hesitates, but the Behemoth already got into battle mode, its helmet started to sizzle red-hot again, we have no time, something that Commander Meld also realizes so he asks "...Can you do it?", I look at Commander Meld with resolute gaze showing every bit of confidence I can muster and say "I can definitely do it".

A smile emerges on Commander Meld's face as he says "I didn't expect we would entrust our lives up to you, I ask of you to save everyone, therefore... We'll leave the rest to you!", and I simply reply "Yes!", after this, Commander Meld walks towards the Behemoth, and releases a simple spell to provoke it, as it is clear that the Behemoth has the habit of baring its teeth at those attacking it.

Commander Meld firmly fixed his gaze on the Behemoth, while the monster points its red-hot helmet at him, and suddenly charges and takes a leap to deliver the same attack as before, meanwhile, Commander Meld, who intended to provoke it till the last moment, stands there confidently, until the very last moment, where he chants "Disperse, Wind Wall", and at the same time, jumps backward.

Following closely, the Behemoth lands at the area where Commander Meld was previously stationed, but this time the Wind Wall was able to deflect the shock wave and debris from the impact, and again, the Behemoth's horns are stuck on the bridge, and I think 'This is it!'.

And quickly throw myself into the fray, jumping on top of the Behemoth's head, I endure the pain of the remnants of the blazing heat that burns my skin, and begin to chant the only skill at my disposal "Transmutation!", and the Behemoth's movement to pull its head out from the stone is stopped, as I encase its head in stone preventing him from moving, and even if it smashes the stone in the surrounding, I continue to transmute new stone.

I notice that the Behemoth is bracing its legs to forcefully pull its head out, but I quickly reach and transmute the rock around the foot this time, and while it is struggling, I make the head sunk another one meter into the ground with my transmutation, 'The Behemoth's power is so terrifying, that cracks would appear the moment I let up for a brief second... It wants to escape!', and I continue to struggle to keep the Behemoth's entire head buried underground while using recovery pills to restore my magic power to gain as much time as possible.

After what it feels like an incredibly long time, I feel that my magic power running out, moreover I ran out of recovery pills, so I quickly shot a glance backward and notice that everyone had already retreated, moreover they already got into formation and are preparing to chant and so I start to think, 'The Behemoth is still struggling, if I stop transmuting like this, it would probably struggle for a few more seconds... During this time, I should have the time to pull some distance!', while still on top of the Behemoth beads of sweat from my forehead enter my eye, I'm extremely nervous, the thumping sound from my heart has never stopped until now, in fact, it gets louder each passing second, 'I have to find the perfect opportunity to retreat!'.

Soon dozens of cracks appear on the rocks holding the monster, and at the same time, I use the last of my Transmutation to restrain the Behemoth one last time, after that, I start to sprint with all my might, but five seconds after I started to run, I hear the ground splits open, soon after the Behemoth' wrathful roar, even louder than the one he let out before.

In the next moment, I see every kind of magic attack arrive in succession, it is like shooting stars in the night sky, multi-colored magic that bombarded the Behemoth that was able to stop it from advancing, and with hope and confidence I think 'I can do it!', I lower my head and dash while taking care not to fall, 'Honestly speaking, it doesn't feel that good with all those lethal spells passing over my head... However, I believe that those cheats wouldn't make that kind of low-level mistake!'.

And so I continue to run, 'I should have pulled thirty meters apart from the Behemoth!', and thinking that I instinctively loosen my cheek, but, just at this time, my expression freeze, among the endless stream of spells, one fireball bent slightly, it is clearly moving towards, 'This is clearly aimed at me! Why!?'.

Doubt, bewilderment, and astonishment all ran through my brain, at the same time I stop and slid on the ground immediately, but that fireball still hits the ground right in front of me, and I'm blown back the way I came from by the shock-wave, luckily I avoided a direct hit and didn't suffer from any internal injuries, but my sense of balance is thrown into disorder.

I stand up and take a few steps unsteadily, but that roar reverberated from behind, and I couldn't help but turn my head around to look, and see for the third time, that its horns started to glow red-hot, as the Behemoth firmly fixed its gaze on me, after that, it raised its shield-like red-hot head, and charged towards me.

As its red-hot head grows closer, I muster the last ounce of my strength to jump away, after that, the furious waves of its attack land on the bridge,  and the entire bridge shakes even more, and I see that with that point as the epicenter, terrifying cracks began to spread as the bridge let out a crunching sound, and finally, the bridge starts to collapse, "Guaaa!?", the Behemoth lets out a cry, and desperately uses its claw to scratch the slanted rock bridge, however, the place it is trying to cling also collapse, and in the end, the Behemoth fell into the bottomless abyss below.

As the Behemoth's death, throes are still resounding, I crawl on the ground, wanting to escape somehow, but every place that I could reach fell one after another, 'Ah, this is bad...', while thinking that, I turn my gaze towards my classmates at the opposite side and see that Kaori is being held back by Kouki and Shizuku, as for the other classmates, some have pale faces, while others were covering their eyes or mouth, Meld and the Knights also have a mortified expression.

And then, the scaffold that I'm holding onto crumbles, and I fall into the abyss while looking upwards, I stretch my hand towards the light that gradually became dimmer.

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