Chapter 64: Chapter 64 – Conquering the Second Half of the Labyrinth

Eri POV - Tortus, Great Orcus Labyrinth - 2013

It is unbelievable how much my life changed in only a few days, before yesterday the only thing I wanted was to get closer to Kouki and make him mine, ready to do anything to reach my objective, hide my true self, manipulate those pieces of trash, lie, even kill everyone who stood in my way to what I believed was happiness.

But as I fell into the Abyss, I realized that no matter what I would do, he wouldn't truly care, while it is true that he is the first person to show me kindness in a long time and I was desperately craving for affection again, but I finally saw him for what he truly is.

Kouki is an extremely flawed man, and although he is not an intentionally bad person, by no means can he be considered a decent person, he is actually an extremely arrogant, ignorant, hypocritical, childish, spoiled, incompetent, irresponsible, reckless and with an extremely weak and delusional determination, he believes he is never wrong, so he misinterprets any situation to suit his own point of view, ignoring reality, as he only wants to hear and see what he wants, it has already happened before when I told him why I wanted to suicide 5 years ago, and he thought that the reason I wanted to die was that I was scolded by my parents.

And thinking of that moment, everything I went through flashes in my mind, my happy childhood, destroyed when dad died after saving me from an oncoming car, I was only 6 when it happened, and this led to being abused both physically and mentally for years by mom, due to her blaming me for his death.

How in spite of my mother's harsh treatment, I never reported her to the authorities, believing that she would eventually stop it and love me once more, however, when I was 11 years old, mom started dating another man, and much to my shock, he had moved in with us.

That piece of shit was abusive and would constantly make sexual advances toward me at any opportunity he could, I did everything I could to avoid his attention, including cutting my hair short and acting more masculine, but despite my efforts, however, he still expressed his attraction towards me, and he eventually molested me one day while her mother was away at work.

Luckily I managed to scream loud enough that the neighbors heard it and called the police that saw what was happening to me and stopped him.

After he was arrested, rather than apologizing to me for bringing that man into our lives, my mom instead accused me of seducing him and again beat me, and at that moment, I realized that the hardships I endured over the years had been for nothing, and decided the only thing for me would be to end my life.

I snuck out of the home the next morning and headed to a nearby bridge that was above a river, and as I was about to jump off the railing, I was suddenly approached by the most popular boy in the school, Kouki Amanogawa, who has been out jogging that morning, and upon seeing me in such a dangerous position, he immediately helped me off the railing, then he asked me why I tried to kill myself, he, of course, misunderstood the whole situation, but still said that he would protect me, and I admit,  I was happy to hear such words after such a long time, my dad was the last one to say those words to me.

Then, when I went to school after my recent ordeal, I was approached by all the girls in my class, who after having avoided me for so long, suddenly wished to talk with me, and I soon learned that this had been a result of Kouki's influence, and as a result, I developed a deep attraction towards him for the kindness he showed, and that was the moment I decided to do anything to get close to him.

And several days later, my mom was investigated by child welfare due to my attempted suicide, however, I did not reveal my mom's abuse to them, and pretended to be a loving daughter, this was done in order to prevent me from going to a different school than Kouki if I had been separated from her mother.

My sudden change in attitude utterly shocked mom, which soon led to me constantly manipulating her for years, and eventually, I moved out and lived on my own, while still receiving financial support from mom.

Once I had settled in, I then sought to start a relationship with Kouki, but I soon realized that Kouki's first act of kindness towards me had not been a romantic gesture, but rather a general sense of false chivalry and that he had treated all the girls he encountered the same way.

This utterly infuriated me and had since then done everything I could to get closer to Kouki and get him to notice me more, all while becoming bitterly jealous of the girls that were always near him, particularly his childhood friends Shizuku Yaegashi and Kaori Shirasaki.

Then one day during my second year of high school, I and my entire class were magically summoned to the alternate world of Tortus, by its god Ehit, in order to help humanity's war against the demons, I thought this was my god-sent opportunity to make Kouki mine and get rid of everyone else.

And then it came the day where I and my classmates trained in the Great Orcus Labyrinth by fighting the monsters that dwelled inside it until we were strong enough to fight the demons and when I fell into the abyss, because of Kouki's careless attack.

Remembering everything till this point, tears start to fall from my eyes, and my body starts shivering, but soon I feel the strong pair of arms holding my body thighing, pulling me closer to the warm and comforting body of Jayr, and feeling his steady heartbeat and actual care, I start to calm down, but at the same time, a different kind of tears runs down my face, 'Jayr... The second man to save my life and show me kindness... But unlike Kouki, he knows more about the true me and what I'm truly capable of... But despite this, he still accepted me and showed me affection and care...'.

'He is almost perfect, the only problem is that he already has 2 more girlfriends, but thinking about what he said, it is true that I do not truly have a place to return, and I can also somewhat understand why they would think is fine to share him...', and feeling his big hot rod on my back, my cheeks heat up, as I remember the night we spent together, how relentless he was, the almost painfully suffocating pleasure, so much that I blanked out toward the end, but I also remember his care and worry after the act, his gentle touch.

I raise my head and look at his sleeping face as he keeps holding my body close to him as if he wants to protect me from everything, 'He is the one I was searching for... He accepted me... He desires me... So I'll do the same and accept him... And I'll give my everything to him and slay anyone who dares to harm him and what he cares... But I also have to make sure to keep away the other hussies that will hound him... Only those I approve of will be given a chance to bask in his warm light, the others I will simply make disappear in the darkness...'.

And with my new resolve, I hold his body closer as if I want to merge with him and close my eyes, lulling myself to sleep with the peaceful sound of his heartbeat.

Jayr POV - Tortus, Great Orcus Labyrinth - 2013

It's a new day, and I and Eri choose to finally get out of my S.T. and venture deeper into the  Orcus Great Labyrinth, especially since, I do not want to cross paths with Hajime at this important moment of his growth, and so after breakfast, where I again eat shit wolf meant, 'Luckily that was the last one as it didn't give me any extra stats..' we calmly move through these dimly lit tunnels, where I easily kill a few monster rabbit we met on the way.

Continuing moving forward, we also meet with a lone twin-tailed wolf, but before I could attack and kill it, Eri tugs my clothes and asks "Jayr... Can you let me deal with it? There is a new magic that I came up with and want to try it on that monster...", seeing this I nod and make way for her, while at the same time, I get ready to act at any instance of danger, and say "Please, be careful...".

Eri smiles at me, then she slowly moves toward the monster, who notices her and starts growling at Eri, while sparks gather between its tails, a sign that the monster is about to release his special magic, but Eri calmly raises her staff and chants "Decimate!", and a magic circle appears in front of the staff, and from it comes out a dark pulse, that hits the wolf but it doesn't hurt it, instead, I notice that Eri's spell disperses the mana of the spell the wolf was casting, briefly stunning it.

Then Eri slowly moves forward and at the same time quickly chants another spell "Phantom Pain!", and another magic circle appears, only this time, it appears under the wolf that quickly starts to writhe in pain, 'And this seems pretty similar to my technique Past Injuries...', while I was thinking that, Eri moves closer to the incapacitated wolf, and pulls out a dagger and with it finishes it off, by cutting its throat, 'Her dagger techniques are quite rough, with knives or dagger the best way to use them is to keep them hidden until the very last lethal moment, maybe I should train her a bit... Wait! I'm really thinking of training a Yandere in using a dagger better!?'.

Soon after killing the wolf, Eri starts doing a really long and strange chant "Does it hurt? Are you sad? Let me hear a pretty scream! Try to resist, curse me in your pain! You'll still be my little puppet! A pathetic little toy! Blessings to all deaths! Ridicule to every sorry soul! Spirit Binding!", and once she finishes her chant, a big magic circle appears under the wolf's corpse, and after a while, the corpse moves again and gets up silently standing next to Eri.

Seeing this, I move closer and say "So a zombie? Such classic Necromancer spell...", but Eri shakes her head and says "Not really, while this is a reanimated corpse, this spell allows me to tear out a soul fragment containing memories, thoughts, and personality of the dead from their spirit and bind it to their corpse to reanimate it... This magic is only usable for a short time after a person has died, but it has the advantage that the corpse retains the skill from when they were alive... In fact, right now I'm also trying to enhance this spell further so that I can also obtain their skill... But it is still a work in progress...".

Hearing that I nod, then I ask "And how many of the corpse can you control now?", to which Eri answer with "Now, I can only control 10 corpses, but the number will surely increase as my level increases...", and after that we keep moving forward killing anything on our path, and after a few minutes Eri's team of corpses is full, it is made up of 5 twin-tailed wolves, and 5 kicking rabbits, but as she killed the last rabbit, she also told me that she leveled up and that now the number of corpses that she can control increased to 20, but also told me that the number is enough.

Once she gathered the 10 monster corpses, she gives the order to the corpse to scout ahead and find the stairway to the lower floor, then she turns to me and explains "This way we won't lose time searching around... and even if some of them are destroyed on their search we can easily replenish them...", I nod and compliment her for her idea, but then I ask "Can you also order them to tell us if they meet some new species of monster?", to which she simply nods, understanding why I asked her this.

And so we find a quiet place to sit and have a snack while we wait for the corpses to find something, I cook and eat shit rabbit meat, which causes some slight pain in my body, a sign that the monster was strong enough to enhance my stats, while Eri eats a chocolate bar.

Soon after we finish eating, Eri receives news from her corpse puppets, and says "Jayr, a kick rabbit found the stairway leading to the lower floor... It isn't too far away from here...", and so we both start moving again aiming for the stairway, and from time to time we fight some monsters, which I use to train in the use of magic, "Rupture!", in front of me a magic circle appears, and from it, water comes out as a high-speed cleaver that slices in half a lone twin tailed wolf, and even the wall behind it.

As I look at the monster corpse on the floor, and the effects of my magic, I hear Eri exclaims "Amazing Jayr! You are already able to use Intermediate Spells without chanting, and using external items to form a Magic Circle", indeed, after trying for a while, I was finally able to use some magic spell while forming an imaginary Magic Circle in my mind and removing most of the chant, but I still call out the name of the spell as it not only helps me in forming an image of the spell, but it also makes it more powerful, 'Well this is because... My body is still ruled by the anime logic of my home Universe... I noticed in the past, that if I shout out the name of the technique, they get an over 40% increase in power, and it cost less Cosmo to unleash them, that is also why Seiya and the others shout their technique names... And the same applies here with Magic Spell, they get more powerful and cost less Mana to cast them!'.

And so we continue moving forward, and soon we meet with another monster, the monster bear, but this one is different from the one that ate Hajime's arm, so I can hunt it without worrying about taking away Hajime's prey, and as soon as it notices us, it lets out a loud roar, and it gets ready to attack us with its Special Magic, but I'm faster, and pointing at it with my open hand I yell "Crystal Coffin!", and from under the monster a magic circle appears, and the next moment, its lower body starts to be encased in freezing cold ice, then as it struggles to get free, I chant another spell "Glacial Sleet", that creates needles of ice to attack the monster, making it roar in pain.

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I take advantage of this moment to use the magic I gained from the shit rabbit meat, Air Walk, to quickly move in front of the monster and throw a powerful high-kick at the head, as soon as my shin hits the head, I feel the bear's head gave in, and hear the sound of its neck breaking, killing it on the spot, and so I retreat and watch as my first magic completely encases its body in ice, then I store it in my S.T. so that I can eat it later, 'I hope that when I finish this Labyrinth, I'll be strong enough to stop using this meat to enhance my stats...'.

Done with the bear, I and Eri continue moving toward the stairway, and the rest of the monster we meet are killed by Eri, who then turn them into corpse puppet, with her original magic, raising the number to 25, as her level increased again in the meantime.

After walking for an hour, we finally arrive at our destination and see the small rabbit puppet corpse waiting in front of the stairway, 'Thank Athena!', that staircase is extremely poorly constructed, it might be more accurate to call it an uneven hill road rather than a staircase, something I'm happy as I kind had my fair share of stairs in my Universe, but from that point on, there is no longer any Green Light Stones, which makes the area ahead fall in complete darkness as it is oozing an ominous aura.

Seeing this, Eri comments "It is like looking into the mouth of an enormous monster... The feeling of 'It's impossible to leave once you've entered' naturally arises looking at it", I can also hear the worry and fear in her tone, so I quickly say "Do not worry... I've been in Hell... well kinda... More the Greek version of it... Anyway, I have been there and come back alive, so trust me when I say that nothing here will be able to harm us, we just have to be careful of a few nasty things... In fact, always make your Undead Puppets scout ahead first, I just remembered that in the next level, we will find a monster that can petrify its enemies with only his gaze...", then, after warning Eri, we both step into the darkness without any hesitation, as the zombies scout ahead.

This level is very dark, as this level does not have any Green Light Stones, Eri stops for a little while expecting her eyes to somewhat get used to seeing in the dark, but no matter how much time passed, there are no differences as this level is engulfed in total darkness, so I hold Eri hand and say "Don't worry, I'm here, just don't let go of my hand...", and in response, I only hear an "Umm...".

Meanwhile, I find it quite easy moving through this darkness, after all only my sense of sight is impaired, my other senses work without a problem, add the fact that I spent a lot of time training by blocking my senses, and I basically find myself completely comfortable with such situation, and so I calmly lead Eri, while following the Undead Puppets ahead using their footsteps to feel their position and movement.

After progressing for a while, I notice something, and suddenly feel an unpleasant presence on our left, and I instantly jump back pulling Eri with me, who yelps in surprise, and hide behind a rock, and soon after that, Eri exclaims "I just lost my connection with some puppet!", and indeed, I hear a cracking sound and feel that 3 zombies have stopped moving, and are now standing stiffly in place, 'They got petrified!'.

Then I quickly react and use the water spell Rupture aimed at what I think is a wall in the distance on my left to attack the monster hidden in the darkness, using the sounds it generates to pinpoint its location, "Hishaa!", and I hear by its painful hissing, and the sound of two objects falling to the ground, but at the same time, I feel that the boulder we used as cover starts to crumble as if it has been weathered, and I let out a sigh of relief and say to Eri "Haa... Let me store this, and then we can continue", who replies "Un... But I think it is better that I keep my puppets close to us... In this darkness, their scouting abilities are useless better keep them as a meat shield".

After that encounter, we kept walking in the darkness for what is feeling for several tens of hours searching for a way out of this level, yet the staircase leading down was still nowhere in sight, and along the way, we defeated many monsters and Eri collected many different zombies raising their number to 50, thus, I decided to call it a day and return to my S.T. to have dinner made of more shit meat and rest.

The next morning, the first thing I do is have a shower and prepare breakfast for me and Eri, but at the same time, I pull out my Status Plate to check on the result of the previous day.

Name - Pucci Jayr

Age - 16 Years Old

Gender - Male

Level - 25

Class - Adventurer

Strength - 1350

Vitality - 1300

Resistance - 1250

Agility - 1300

Magic - 550

Magic Resistance - 550

Skills - Martial Arts Mastery, Cooking Arts Mastery, Drawing Arts Mastery, Healing Arts Mastery, Music Arts Mastery, Science Mastery, Smithing Arts Mastery, Weapon Arts Mastery, Language Mastery, Chemistry Mastery, Tailoring Mastery, Water Element Affinity, Ice Element Affinity, Dark Element Affinity, Magic Manipulation, Image Composition, Iron Stomach,  Lightning Clad,+Lightning Resistance, Air Walk, +Aerodynamic, +Quick Step, Gale Claw, Night Vision, Sense Presence, Petrification Resistance, Blessing of Culture, +Improved Learning, +Improved Teaching, +Improved Libido, +Affinity for the Arts...

Looking at it I mutter "Hmm... My skills are advancing well enough, but my stats are raising slower than I thought, but it is still steady, if I continue like this, my body will grow strong enough to have some confidence in surviving even with my Cosmo and Magic sealed... After all, you never know in what situation one can find oneself, and as a wise man once said... Improvise. Adapt. Overcome".

After breakfast we continue exploring the Labyrinth, taking a short rest during our search of the vast dungeon from time to time, with help from Night Vision, made the journey slightly easier as I'm able to easily see in the darkness thus noticing earlier the dead end, but Sense Presence is slightly disappointing as it only allows me to sense any monster within a ten-meter radius, much less that what I can do with my senses and intuition, but well maybe it'll turn out useful... Or I can find a way to fuse it with other similar skills.

Then a few days later, we finally find the stairs leading to the lower floor, and without any hesitation, we descend, and we find ourselves on a new level.

This level is still covered in total darkness like the previous one, but the ground is different, it is entirely covered in tar like a sticky swamp, and since it sticks to the legs, it makes it dreadfully hard to move in it, so I tell Eri to put her zombie puppets in my S.T. and to climb on my back while I use the protruding rocks or the skill Aerodynamic as footholds and continue our search, and at the same time I warn Eri as I remember the details of this level "In this level do not use any fire or lightning magic as this swamp around us is all highly inflammable".

Advancing for a while undisturbed, we reach a three-forked road, and I decide to randomly choose one, and quickly move toward the left one, but in an instant, with rows of countless sharp teeth lining its opened huge jaws, a shark-like magic beast jumps out from within the tar, clearly aiming at my head, the jaws snaps shut as a resounding sound of teeth striking each other is produced.

With my reflex, I easily dodge by slightly bending my body, but at the same time, I'm surprised as this monster was able to hide from my senses, only the slight movement of the swamp below did reveal to me its presence, but even if I'm surprised by this, I'm still able to quickly react, and before the shark monster could dive back in the swamp, I grab its tail and in my best imitation of Hulk I start to wildly slam it around on the various rocks and wall, but its rubber-like body seems to prevent any serious damage, but still it left the monster stunned, then I take advantage of its stunned state, and quickly behead it with a Rupture spell spaying its blood on the tar, 'Damn I quite like this one, it is quick and clean... And also quite easy to direct and use!'.

After that, the shark corpse is stored in my S.T., which is starting to become full as it is still only 1 km2, before continuing with the exploration it seems that there is only this type of monster here, as we are only attacked by these sharks.

Meanwhile, Eri only transformed two of them into her puppet corpse, and only use them as a means of transport, and I have to admit that they are quite fast in moving in this swamp, moreover, it seems that they retained their memories of this level, so thanks to them we were able to easily find as the staircase leading down to the next level and so I decide to return early to my S.T. to eat the shit meat and pass the rest of the evening relaxing with Eri.

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