Depths of the Otherworldly Labyrinth (WN)

le its head was the shape of a bull.
It had an evil glint to its eyes and its hands clutched a giant battleaxe.

A minotaur…?

“Ooh~ What’s this? What a weird monster.”

“I-it’s revolting to look at… And big…”

Lastiara and Maria were appalled by the monster that they were apparently seeing for the first time, while I didn’t say a word and simply looked at the ‘Display’.

 

【Monster】Carmine Minotaur: Rank 20

 

So it is a minotaur… Or maybe my guess was near accurate because every single word my head processed is translated beforehand…? It’s a little disconcerting to see something so familiar in this strange, alien world.

I passed the information I had obtained to Lastiara.

“It’s a monster called a minotaur.
I think it’s a power-type, maybe.
Who’ll fight?”

“Maybe I should protect Maria-chan this time? I need to replenish Maria-chan’s affection rate for me since I think it’s gotten dangerously low now.”

Surprisingly, Lastiara ceded the battle to me.
She used to give any and all monsters unknown to her the sword treatment, but it seemed she had finally begun to realize Maria was drawing away from her because of that.

Hearing that, Maria turned her down with a snap.

“No, thank you.
I’d rather be left alone.”

“Oof! She hates me so much so suddenly! We were close enough to sleep together last night, you know!”

“I’d rather use the word abduction.”

“Hmn.
Seeing you thorny like that makes me all the more eager, you know.”

Lastiara approached Maria as she spoke and threw a hug to her.

“Wha! Wait, why are you hugging me?! Know the proper TPO!”

“All good now.
That one is yours, Christ.”

For Lastiara, that was what she meant by the word protect.
Messing around with companions in the Labyrinth was one of her goals.
She must have been having fun.

Lastiara was holding down Maria, who looked to really be hating every second of it, with one arm.
Maria’s STR had increased considerably, but she was still helpless before Lastiara’s high ‘Status’.
With her being restrained, it was unlikely for Maria to jump into the fray after mistaking me for being in danger.

With a sense of relief washing over me, I turned to the minotaur.

The huge monster was already so close, prominent with its heavy breathing.

Rank 20… That would be the first time I would face a monster at such a high rank.

In my experience so far, it was safe to assume that the existence of Ranks represented the adequate level to face it.
The ranks that appeared in the ‘Display’ were always close in number to the appropriate level of the explorers who faced the monster, a piece of information I had obtained by scouring intel from the tavern and putting two and two together.
In other words, the minotaur was a monster normally only an explorer at level 20 or over would deal with.

While indeed my level went up the previous day, I was still only at level 11, so there were still nine levels worth of gap.
However, my ‘Status’ was comparable to that of an individual at level 20.

“—Magic, «Dimension Gladiator», Magic «Foam».”

A huge axe, about three meters in size, swung down at me.
I dodged it just in time while constructing my ‘Dimensional Magic’.
I wasn’t daring to aim at dodging by paper-thin margins.
At that deep a floor, I didn’t have much margin of error.

If I were alone, I would take my time grinding level and only fought with 100 percent confidence in my odds to win.
That time, however, I had Lastiara with me.

If things got dangerous, Lastiara, who was as powerful as I was, would give me support.
What was even more important was that Lastiara could use recovery magic.
Although she wasn’t fond of magic and rarely used it, I felt secure in the knowledge that she would heal me in case of injury.

Before, I had no other choice but to return to the surface in case of injury.
That time, though, we could continue our exploration even if we were slightly injured.
In other words, I was willing to take some risks.

I dived under the minotaur’s axe, avoiding serious injury.
At the same time, I attached a huge amount of «Foam» to its body.

I was able to generously spend my MP because I had split my battles with Lastiara.
Man, parties are convenient.

With the «Foam» adhered to its body, the minotaur lost all possibility of catching me.
The more that magical bubble adhered to its body, the more potent my ability to grasp space, as I had already confirmed during the previous day’s battle against Serra Radiant.

After confirming that the axe no longer posed a threat, I performed my next magic experiment.

“—Magic, «Foam», Magic, «Freeze».”

A large bubble was created, and within it, magical cold air was trapped.
«Freeze» used to be nothing more than dropping the temperature of the room a few degrees, but with the increased consumption of MP and condensing it within the bubble, it became incomparably colder.

I finished constructing the magic as I fought.

I then blended it in with the other bubbles and slowly moved it to the minotaur’s feet.
The minotaur didn’t pay attention to every single one of the countless bubbles, hence the new magic landed on its foot without any problem.

The cold air sealed inside gushed out, freezing and gluing its foot to the ground.
As its foot was suddenly restrained, it lost its balance.

A combination technique of «Foam» and «Freeze»—

“—Magic, «Daytime Snow».”

—appropriately named.
I was glad it was a success.

I was a bit frustrated that I had failed to acquire the Freezing Magic «Little Snow» the previous day, so I had come up with something similar. 

With that, all experiments so far were done.
I jumped on the minotaur, very much defenseless at that point, and went to cut off its head.

My sword managed to get in up until it caught the monster’s cervical spine.
I was worried that the blade might not be able to pass through its skin due to the sheer difference in level, but it was still okay, it seemed.
The power of the sword itself was great, after all. 

I gave up on cutting off its head and resorted to cutting a blood vessel.
With a snap, I saw the blood begin to gush out of the minotaur’s neck like a geyser.

Having been attacked, the minotaur swung its giant axe in a fury.
However, perhaps due to its anger, the attack was lackluster.
It had the power, but it lacked the technique and was comparably slower. 

That time, I deliberately chose to dodge by paper-thin margins, then crushed both of its eyes.

The end of line… I focused only on dodging the minotaur, which was losing more blood as time passed.
Its eyes had been blinded, and its movements became so chaotic that evading became that much easier.
If anything, I paid more attention to not being hit by its splattering blood. 

I delivered a series of light attacks as I spied an opening before the minotaur finally ran out of steam.
As usual, it disappeared as light, and then a red magic stone fell.

The monster wasn’t as good as Lastiara, but it was still a good result against a rank 20 opponent.

I checked my EXP.

 

【EXP】

7122/25000

 

Once we reached the deeper floors, I could get hundreds of EXP with a single monster, even if I had to split the EXP between the three of us.
Next, I picked up the magic stone and checked its details.

 

【Semi-3rd Grade Fire Magic Stone】

A highly-concentrated Magic Stone with the power of Fire within.
Dropped from monsters of the Fire Attribute.
‘Fury’ is dwelling within it.

 

I might learn magic if I swallowed it, but it was raw, so to speak.
That thing was too terrifying to swallow.

While I was looking at the Semi-3rd Grade Fire Magic Stone, Lastiara and Maria came walking up to me. 

“Good work, Christ.
You said it’s too early for you to go to the 20th floor, but look at you slaying.”

“No, I wasn’t slaying it per se.
It was an equal match.
I need to be more overwhelming…”

“Eh? More than you already are…? That’d be no different than reaping wheat from its stalk, though?”

“That’s my minimum standard.”

“Uwaah…”

I would reach the Deepest Depth of the Labyrinth with the ease of reaping wheat from its stalk.
When she heard my ideal, Lastiara looked at me like she couldn’t even fathom how my mind worked.

“I know that it doesn’t fit with your ideal, Lastiara.
But… that is precisely why we fit each other.”

“No, no, if our ideas don’t fit, that means we don’t fit either.”

“Say we explore the Labyrinth together and I hand you everything that I think is dangerous.
That way, I will be safe while you take my share of the fun.
See? Nobody loses.”

“W-well, that’s true… but, mn~, I feel like something’s not quite right…”

“That’s what reality is all about.”

“Eeh~”

I joined them, exchanging light banter, and we proceeded further down the Main Road.
Maria looked relieved and then checked to make sure I wasn’t injured.

I wonder if she intended to make that check every time I fought…

“Maria, I’m not hurt.
You don’t need to be so worried again and again.”

“N-no.
I’m not exactly worried or anything..”

From my point of view, I could see that Maria was unusually concerned about my safety.
Was she perhaps thinking she would lose her bulwark against Lastiara if I died?

I patted Maria’s head and smiled, telling her not to worry.

Maria’s face turned beet red, and her eyes glared at me.
Perhaps she was angry that I treated her like a child.
I hurriedly parted my hand from her head, then turned to face the depth of the Labyrinth again and spoke to Lastiara.

“Hey, we’re about to reach the 20th floor, right?”

“That’s right.
Just a little bit more.”

All that time, Lastiara had been leading the way.
The reason for that was not only because of her temperament; it was also because she had experience in entering the 23rd floor, the depth limit of humanity, all by herself.
Of course, while it was the basic to go by the Main Road, there were still monsters that intruded on the Main Road, as was the case right then.
The deeper the floor, the stronger the tendency.
Still, her having the experience of reaching the 23rd floor was reassuring. 

Guided by Lastiara, Maria and I walked along.

We were attacked by monsters several more times on the 19th floor.
However, those monsters always appeared alone, so Lastiara or I could handle them without any problem. 

After overcoming several monster attacks, we finally reached the 20th floor.
I set up my «Dimension» so that I would be ready for anything to happen.
Thus, we slowly descended to the 20th floor.