Vol 3: Chapter 35

* Large Hall *

As Dante turned around, taken aback by Reiji’s words, Zerry had already pulled out her dagger and readied her guard.

The fog that gushed up like smoke was still thin, but they knew that it would only become thicker from here on out. They have, after all, already experienced the thick fog.

The Juggernaut descending from the high ceiling hung on a wire was too comical, but Silver Balance knew full well the danger of the automaton so they didn’t even think of laughing.

「What a troublesome parting gift.」Dante said.

He didn’t know how Reiji knew the Juggernaut would reappear, but there is something he does know. He has to endure until Reiji returns.

(This is dangerous.. I have to pull its attention away from everyone else and have them retreat to the previous passage.)

Is what Zerry was thinking.

「What I noticed as I got older was that my recovery was slower, not to mention the weakening of my body.」

Already gripping the thick and heavy iron lump of a mace in his right hand and a large shield in his left hand, Dante walked forward.

The Juggernaut landed in front of him, and the wire was smoothly pulled back into the hole in the ceiling.

「But it’s not all bad, either. I became more proficient at moving around efficiently, and above all, I learned how to be crafty.」

The jewels on the Juggernaut’s chest flashed with flickering lightsーseemingly almost the same type as the one Reiji defeated last time.

「Let me demonstrate how to deal with giant monsters.」

The wheels of the Juggernaut started rotating, and it approached Dante.

Dante got into his stance to greet the enemy.

**

When the passage was completely closed, I couldn’t hear any sound from the other side.

Did the Juggernaut appear? I should probably assume it did. This labyrinth.. always slightly surpasess the worst we can think of.

「Let’s go.」

The cramped vent-like passage where I was in was not closed, so I proceeded by crawling through. It is my duty to check what lies ahead and return to the other side as soon as possible.

The surroundings suddenly widened and I was able to stand up.

It was a dimly lit small room—only 7 or 8 meters of length, width and height. I quickly realized that there was no exit.

In the center of the room, a cylindrical altar, of waist high, stood.

On the altar was a bookrest-like slanted stone slab with engraved letters—the letters glowed pale, emitting tiny phosphorescence-like particles into the air.

The luminescent particles were all the light in this room.

As I was about to approach the stone slab, I was taken aback.

A face was on the other side of the stone slab, on the upper part of the wall surface; my face. The face that looked to be in pain but looking straight ahead was probably the face from when I pulled the lever a while ago.

(So, originally, it should have been my face in “fear” that was supposed to be engraved there, huh?)

Well, I don’t really know. It’s just a guess.

Honestly, this labyrinth is made in bad taste all-around.

I approached the stone slab again and followed the letters with my gaze.

「I-I can’t read it.」

This is no good. It was the same ancient language that was written under the wall paintings previously, which, of course, I couldn’t read. Ah man, I should’ve studied this kind of thing before coming here!

As I was holding my head and half-lamenting.. that’s when it happened.

『I left this here just in case, but I honestly didn’t expect that someone who couldn’t read the letters would reach this point. Rather than its unexpectedness, you should admire my greatness in preparing as much as possible even for those who cannot read the letters.』

「!?」

When I heard the hoarse voice, I jumped back from the stone slab and pulled out my waist dagger.

『My name is La-Fisa.. a member of the Fisa clan. I discarded my name long ago.』

「La-Fisa.. the creator of this labyrinth!」

Only the audio was playing. Judging from the words mentioned earlier, there is a stone slab explanation in this room, but an audio guide was also prepared for those who cannot read the letters.

『Place your palm on the stone monument.』

The voice stopped there. Does he mean that I should put my hand on the stone monument with glowing letters?

(..Suspicious.)

Where is the possibility that this is not a trap? Though the first word on the stone slab may be “Place your palm here”..

「Damnit, I don’t have the luxury to hesitate right now.」

Considering that everyone should be fighting the Juggernaut in the previous room right now, I had no choice but to just try it. Either way, there doesn’t seem like I can do anything else in this room.

I left my fate up to heaven and placed my hand on the stone slab–

My field of view flashed bright.

Everything turned white and the particles of light burned my body.

I don’t feel the heat. I just felt like my body was burning.

When I realized that this was a torrent of “information”, I realized that I could see everywhere in this labyrinth in my mind.

The long passages, numerous traps, automatons in the labyrinth, circulation system that digests challengers and converts them into automaton.

(Oh damn, awesome.. Dante-san is overwhelming!)

Dante-san easily parried the Juggernaut’s giant build with his shield and occasionally counterattacked with the mace. He already broke one of the Juggernauts arms in this short time. It almost felt like I didn’t even have to hurry.

I stretched out with my mind and picked up on the Juggernaut, and turned off the switch.

The Juggernaut stopped moving exactly at that moment. Dante-san and the others observed it with caution.

With that, it should be okay over there.

(Hmm..?)

At that time, the large cliff that we passed by came to mind. The place which was outside the dungeon’s influence and where we were attacked by a large number of feeler geckos.

Since it was outside of the dungeon, clear images cannot be formed. However, I saw a huge silhouette below the cliff.

We were attacked by the feeler geckos, so we couldn’t afford to check it at that time.

If not, we would have definitely noticed it.

It was such a huge and distinctive silhouette.

(Silver-coloured aerodynamic shape, like a ship..)

There was no reason to doubt that it was not an airship.

And, even from the image mixed with noise, you can see the beauty of itーthe treasure of the Lev Magic Empire, the stolen magic airship “Queen of the Night”.