Chapter 11: 11

Depths of the Otherworldly Labyrinth

Chapter 11: Hunt

After my exploration with Dia in the Labyrinth, my EXP had increased about 100 points. I had about 600 points left before I could level up.

100 EXP for two hours of grinding… That’s so damn slow I might as well yawn. 

However, seeing that thirty-something-year-old experienced adventurers were still at level 10, I would say that such growth was quite rapid in comparison. After all, I just needed to do the same thing for six more days, and I would reach level 5. At that rate, it would take me less than a year to catch up to those who would have been fighting for ten or so years.

Underline “in comparison”, as I was by no means happy with that rate of growth.

My goal was to clear the hundredth floor of the Labyrinth. I fully engaged in my game-tinted glasses and created new, more efficient exploration plans for that goal alone.

First, I needed to prepare all the necessary items for the exploration. I was too inexperienced to know right from left, but from my first exploration with Dia, I felt that what we needed first and foremost was the ability to continue fighting.

I didn’t lose any HP during our exploration; it was only my MP that was hitting rock bottom. In other words, as long as I had a way to recover my MP or conserve my MP better, I would be able to fight endlessly; that would lead to a higher yield of EXP.

Next, I would need to know how to hunt monsters of the right rank for us. With Dia’s firepower in abundance, it would be much more efficient to take on stronger monsters and step up the yield of EXP and money. 

It’s a pretty common story. The bottom line is that I needed to secure a means of recovery and select my hunting ground more carefully. The most basic of basics for any leveling up work in MMORPGs. 

“…My homework is obvious.”

With that reaffirmation, I muttered to myself.

“Ara, what is obvious?”

Lynn-san responded to my monologue.

“…It’s nothing. I just started to go into the Labyrinth again, so I was just thinking of how important it would be to know where the monsters are.”

As a staff of the tavern, she should be very knowledgeable about the Labyrinth. I spoke of my thoughts to her without hiding anything, expecting to get some advice.

“Heeh. You said you were discouraged by it before, but now you’ve already dared it again.”

“Yes, I have the time, after all. Whenever I have nothing to do, I always wander back to the Labyrinth for some reason…”

“You came all the way from Fania to challenge the Labyrinth, after all. I can’t blame you.”

“I’ll try not to get hurt so I won’t inconvenience the tavern.”

“No, no, focus more on your dream than the tavern. This place will continue to open, one way or another. More importantly, you said something about monsters and whatnot. I suggest you go ask the manager.”

I also thought the same. After all, his level was 15—one of the highest level fighters I had ever seen.

“You’re right. I have a lot of questions to tackle; I think the manager has the answers for them.”

“Yup, yup. You do that.”

That was as far as we could go with our light banter. After that, the both of us were kept busy up to our necks with the huge number of customers—

* * *

—After finishing my work at the tavern, the next day came.

My second Labyrinth exploration with Dia began.

After speaking with the manager the night before, I had a pretty reliable idea of where strong monsters appeared within the Labyrinth. I had also made a list of monsters that could provide us with as much EXP as possible that we could take on with our abilities. We were ready to go.

“Ahem. Today, we will target high-ranked monsters or maybe even a boss monster.”

“Ooh, boss! That’s cool, really cool!”

I met up with Dia at the church and presented him with my plan for the day, and he responded quite enthusiastically.

“From what I’ve researched, it seems like we’ll need an expensive item to solve the MP problem, so… we will step up with our strategy instead.”

“Agreed. Let’s go straight for the boss. BOSS!”

It seemed like the one-sided massacre that we had done previously was not to his liking, after all. The desire to fight stronger enemies must have been swelling up in him.

“That means we will dive a little bit farther, so keep up with me.”

“Got that.”

Then, I put the ‘Map’ on my ‘Display’. The ‘Map’ made it easier for us to explore the depths.

We proceeded to the area where a boss monster was likely to be, relying on the information I gathered at the tavern. On our way there, I tried to conserve my MP as much as I could. Although I couldn’t relax my search, I tried not to use «Dimension» when fighting low-ranked monsters. 

I chose monsters we could defeat easily as we walked through the Labyrinth, and before long, the corridor gradually transformed.

From the featureless stone structures to a vibrant green path, the corridor gradually grew in size and became overgrown with trees. Further in… there was a forest. 

There were no longer any junctions of paths from one corridor to the next. What was there instead was a huge, dark forest that stretched out as far as the eyes could see. It was proof that we had entered a deeper, more special area.

“Ahem. We have now entered the area designated for those insects (beetles). Now, we will snipe the boss monster, ‘Queen of the Forest’.”

“Eh?”

I solemnly announced we would snipe the boss. Even though I had already told him he should shoot the boss from a safe distance whenever possible, Dia still looked puzzled.

“…snipe. Snipe, you know, snipe.”

“Hang on, hang on for a sec. Snipe when I can—that’s what you mean, right? Don’t tell me… we can get a clear shot even from here?”

“Let me explain the plan.”

“Eh, wai—!”

When I saw the usually bullheaded Dia looked much more frightened than I had anticipated, I found him quite cute, so I continued my explanation without lending him an ear. 

“If the information is correct, I should be able to locate the boss from where we are. Then, I want you to shoot your magic in the direction I point with all your might. The boss should die instantly then, probably. We want the drop items, too, so you shoot down all the small fry around the boss as well. I think some more small fry will come to us then, but you can shoot them down from a distance too. Then, in case they come close enough to be trouble, I will face them. In that case, I will disregard conserving my MP. I will fight as hard as I can, and you will be my cover fire. —That’s it for our plan. With our abilities, we should be able to carry it out with ease. Any questions?”

“Hm, mhm…? Can we really do it?”

“No doubt about it.” 

I spoke it out exaggeratedly to avoid unnecessary pressure on Dia, but I was sure the mission would be easy with our abilities.

That was just how extraordinary my abilities and Dia’s abilities were in this world.

If there was even one ordinary adventurer between us, this strategy wouldn’t be possible. It was only possible because I only had Dia, an exceptional adventurer, as a member of my party, and it was all thanks to my ability to see through talents. The power to see other people’s abilities through the use of the ‘Display’ that I possessed was as much of a cheat as my other abilities.

“I got it. I owe you, Christ. I’ll trust your words.”

“Don’t get too uptight. If I have it right, this will really be easy. You’ll see when it’s over. You’re really just that strong, Dia.”

I encouraged him to lessen his mental turmoil.

“…Really, really?”

“For real… Well, I’ll start my search, so wait for a little.”

I employed «Dimension Multiplied» and extended my perception in the direction where the information I had obtained led me.

I expanded my sight through the forest trees and… found a monster about five meters long with its back resting against a huge tree. It was a bipedal monstrosity with butterfly-like wings and crustacean armor. Several other monsters that seemed to be its underlings roamed around it.

I pointed to the place. Because of «Dimension», spatial information that could be pinpointed down to the millimeter was laid out within my mind. If there was no margin of error, then our estimated impact would be on the heart of the Queen of the Forest. 

“Okay, I found it it. Dia, put your hand on top of mine. Then, shoot your magic to where I am pointing. Don’t worry about wind or obstacles. Most things cannot affect your magic, and even if they do, I’ll adjust the aim.”

“…Got it.”

Dia looked bewildered, but he did as I instructed, placing his arm on mine over my shoulder from behind.

“Target is not moving. I don’t think it will move unless we get closer to it. You can shoot it on your own timing, Dia, so that you don’t burn my hand…”

“It’s okay. I can shoot now.”

With that said, Dia closed his eyes and began to concentrate. After a few seconds pause, he opened his eyes and then shouted…

“Here I go—! «Flame Arrow»!!”

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A moment later, a flash of light bolted from his hand.

I immediately moved my arm away from Dia’s the moment I felt a strong heat from it. All that heat released and went straight ahead, boring a hole in the trees. «Dimension» followed its trajectory.

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Then, that instant ended, and «Flame Arrow» pierced the throat of the Queen of the Forest.

* * *

* * *

【You have earned the title 『One Related to Green』】

STR has been adjusted by +0.05

We were actually aiming for the torso, but a slight misalignment had occurred, and the magic hit the throat instead. Nevertheless, that left the monster’s head separated from its body, and our target died instantly. Apparently, Dia’s magic became a bit off-target when unleashed at full power.

As I was making sure that the Queen of the Forest was dead, I checked my and Dia’s statuses through the ‘Display’. There was a huge amount of EXP added, and the distribution between us was 50-50. I had no idea of the details of the distribution formula for EXP between all concerned parties, but it seemed like a cooperating party would basically be given an equal amount of EXP for each member.

I smiled at the result I had anticipated and moved to our next step.

“Yeah, okay. We beat the boss. Now, let’s go and defeat its underlings. That being said, it doesn’t seem like they know where we are. They are just roaming around left and right. Change of plan, we take out only the minimum number of enemies and secure the dropped items without lowering our guards.”

“Eh? That’s the end of it?”

Dia looked incredulous at how abruptly the battle ended.

“Yup, that’s that, the end. Now, let’s move forward with caution. We will be evading enemies, but I’m sure we can’t avoid battle altogether, so be prepared.”

With that said, I probed around to get a better grasp on the situation around the loot.

Half of the underling monsters were moving around to look for the enemy that had sniped down their master. However, the other half of them remained on the site.

Dia and I spent a dozen or so minutes avoiding the enemies and got close to where the boss’s drop items, well, dropped.

It was only several hundred meters away. It took longer than expected from all the detours we had to make. Then, after making sure that we were safe enough, we took aim at the three underling monsters that were waiting in ambush around the dropped items—I signaled Dia with my eyes, and he sniped on my command. 

The first one couldn’t do anything, shot dead without knowing better. Two more remained. At that point, they seemed to notice the direction from which the magic was coming. The remaining two headed straight to where we were. Seeing that, I let Dia do the same thing as before. I had him aim at the monster that was coming to us in a straight line and shoot. Halfway through its tracks, the monster was pierced by «Flame Arrow». Then came the last one, which I confronted with my sword. That underling monster was of higher rank than the monsters we usually fought, so I fought it without conserving my MP.

For me, the close-quarter combat with that one last monster was all the boss fight was about.

The monster resembled a fighting mantis—both of its arms were sharp blades, one of which quickly swung down on me. I saw it with my eyes and shifted my body to dodge it. Before I could catch a breath, the mantis’s other blade arm slashed up from below. I parried it with the flat side of my sword before I kicked the mantis’s torso to keep my distance from it. 

That was when I was convinced of my victory. The monster didn’t have any sort of special attack that could pierce through me, as all its attacks were slashes. It didn’t seem to aim for Dia, who was behind me, either. I was on the receiving end, stalling for time until—

“—«Flame Arrow»!”

The moment I opened our distance for the second time, the mantis’s head was blown off.

“Phew…”

“You okay, Christ? Damn, that was one hell of a fast bug.”

That was the fastest and sharpest attacking monster I had ever faced up to that point. But to be honest, I had no intention of losing out in terms of one-on-one fights—my magic was that powerful. My ‘Dimension Magic’ allowed me to grasp the space around me in a way that was unparalleled in melee combat.

“Something like that is still easy. Either way, now that’s really the end of it.”

“I see. That’s good then.”

Dia and I both started collecting the dropped items. After securing the boss monster’s magic stone and unique drop item, we fled the special area to avoid running into another underling monster.

We carefully moved to the Main Road and secured our safety before I checked our remaining MP. Seeing that I still had more than half of it left, I consulted with Dia.

“Well then, Dia. Should we go and defeat the next boss monster?”

“Eh, there’s another one?”

“One that is close to here should be in the Goblin Village. Goblins are bipedal, humanoid monsters, and they have one huge Goblin amongst them, so let’s go defeat that one.”

“…Aah, got that. Just what I wanted.”

Dia agreed, rolling the magic stone of the Queen of the Forest in his palm. We headed to the area that I had heard rumors about and repeated the previous steps.

Naturally, even if we were dealing with Goblins, the result was the same. After only a few dozen minutes, another boss was defeated. Dia muttered in frustration.

“—Somehow this feels a bit different from the Labyrinth exploration that I had in mind… No, I’m not saying it’s bad or anything. It’s just…”

“I agree with how you feel. However, this is the safest and most efficient method that we can do with our capabilities…” 

Our battles, which relied on special abilities and unusual magic powers, were far removed from any normal battles. Even so, Dia and I repeated our formula. After all, we were able to defeat boss monsters, monstrosities that would have been able to take our lives easily in any other scenarios, without having to fight them, so we had nothing to complain about.

—On that day, Dia and I defeated a total of three boss monsters before we exited the Labyrinth.

【You have earned the title 『the Strength of Cowardice』】

STR has been adjusted by +0.05

【You have earned the title 『Trample Down』】

STR has been adjusted by +0.05

【Status】

Name: Aikawa Kanami

HP: 119/151, MP: 25/141

Class:

Level: 4

STR: 3.14, VIT: 3.21, DEX: 4.07, AGI: 5.05, WIS: 6.10, MAG: 8.09, APT: 7.00

Constitution:

Confusion: 4.27

EXP : 3442/800

【Skills】

Acquired Skills:

Dimensional Magic: 5.01

Innate Skills:

Swordsmanship: 1.01

Freezing Magic: 2.02

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【Magic】

Freezing Magic:

Freeze: 1.00

Ice: 1.01

Dimensional Magic:

Dimension: 1.02

Inherent Magic:

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Dimension Multiple: 1.01

Dimension Gladiator: 1.01

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