Krikala — 50th level, innermost
The imperial princess, Olivia, would arrive in Straheim two days later, on Monday, and that was when we would start the full-blown investigation of this incident. Tomorrow and the day after was ti for the students' quest to explore the labyrinth. It seed like a good ti. He was surprisingly gentlemanly, and in that sense, he was second only to Spy to escort the VIPs.
Pulling myself together, I teleported to the 45th floor's safety point in the Krikala labyrinth, which I just began to explore.
By the way, I had negotiated with the Adventurer's Guild and received permission to set up Sagami Co.'s store at each safety point.
I had planned to sell lunch boxes made at [Silver Knife], as well as swords, spears, and other weapons that I was currently working on.
I walked along the bluestone corridor, which was not much different from what we had seen before, and ca to a huge, cylindrical hall.
There was an altar in the centre of the hall and a stone door as long as 3 ters in the back.
"Hmm, is this the dead end?"
This was probably the innermost part of the 50th floor. This was the final destination for humanity.
From the information I'd heard before, there were people that had reached this place in their own way in history, but apparently no one was able to open this door and advance forward.
I examined the door carefully, but it was a plain stone door.
After getting far enough away from the door, I tried to attack it very seriously with [Exploding Thread], but the magic itself was not activated. Next, I tried to slash it with all my might with Mura, but the result was the sa.
[Master, you're terrible.]
Mura complained with a tearful voice.
"It can't be helped. You are a sword, after all."
I gave him an appropriate response.
[That's not a good enough reason!]
"This should be a good enough reason, though? A sword is ant to cut."
"I'm a sword, and not a sword! I'm a holy sword! If I cut through this filthy door, I'll get hurt!"
"Yes-yes, I understand, sex-addicted sword."
I put away the noisy and useless sword from my mind. I wanted to sort through the information for once.
I had tried various things with this sword and its sharpness was considerable. Whether it was iron or steel, it could cut through it as easily as a dish of raw fish. According to him, he was confident that he could cut even the most legendary tals.
If that was the case, there was a good chance that this door would not accept any physical attacks.
And since [Explosive Thread] was not even activated, it seed that the activation of magic was cancelled here.
Physics was invalid, and magic couldn't be activated. If that was the case, did that an that the door was just a decoration?
No, doors are only aningful when you are aware of what's inside. There was no reason to make a re ornant of a door in this place. There must be sothing.
"If there is a trick, then it's most likely this."
I approached the altar, which was a cylinder with a radius of about 15cm, and began my investigation.
"Is this....a keyboard?"
On the top surface of the cylindrical altar, there was a dent that looked like a PC keyboard.
When I pressed what looked like the "⏎ Return" key with my left index finger, I could hear the startup sound of a machine.
Then, the keyboard floated in the space on the top of the cylinder.
"I confirm that the application for the first test has been accepted. Comncing first trial sub-test—
—Answer the questions!!"
Various shapes were listed one after another in the sky above.
I see, it's a puzzle.
A head-on confrontation? Isn't it interesting! I'd been feeling a little frustrated lately because of the various incidents I had to solve with brute force.
"Entertain !"
Trembling with delight, I manipulated the keyboard.
"Question answered correctly—Congratulations! Sub-test of the first trial, clear!"
The woman's emotionless, chanical voice echoed throughout the hall.
Hmm, it was too short. I thought I would be able to enjoy a ga that would make my brain shake a little more. To be honest, it was a letdown.
[Damn it, I lost again! You brute!!]
Suddenly, a child's voice, filled with regret, echoed in my head.
"Hmm?"
I tried to listen carefully, but I wasn't able to hear anything.
No one was around. I wonder if it was just my imagination?
"First trial has been released!"
This chanical woman's declaration triggered the earth to shake and the stone door to slide sideways.
Oh. So that's where the first test is. It's a really interesting plot.
Now that the first trial had been released, it was a ga of first-co-first-served. It wasn't a good plan to leave it for later. Besides, I was really interested in what that exaggerated first trial was all about.
I let out a deep breath and walked into the room behind the door.
It was an absurdly large tetrahedron space.
"Comncing the start of the first trial, [Battle Baphot]."
The stone door behind once again blocked.
"I am trapped, huh. In other words, unless I defeat this giant, I won't be able to exit. So that's how it is."
In the middle of the room, a goat-headed monster floated in a crisscrossed position. Was that goat-headed monster pretending to be a monk? No matter what, this was too surreal of a sight.
"Hey, Mura, let's get serious."
I thought he would protest like usual, but he obediently agreed. If I challenged that thing with my usual carefree manner, defeat was inevitable. Maybe it was because I felt the sensation in my skin.
I gripped the hilt of Mura and took it out of its sheath. On the transparent crimson blade, there was a geotric pattern that changed shape and wriggled.
This was Mura's appearance at full power. With my current magic power, just possessing it would drain my magic power.
"Guooooooooo!!"
The goat-headed monster roared towards the heavens and as if it was a signal, we clashed with each other.
◇◆◇◆◇◆
The rock-like fist of the goat-headed monster was about to crush over the head, but I dodged it with a backstep.
"Tsk."
My body was blasted away by the shock generated by the impact of crashing the ground, but I used the threads of [Explosive Thread] as a cushion and adjusted my posture in the air.
I activated [Ice Dragon, Coetus] to aim for the monster's head and simultaneously hit him with [Darkness King, Skadi's Palm].
Many ice dragons rained down on the goat's head, and black arms appeared at the sa ti.
"Guoooo!"
The goat-head swept down his left arm, blowing away all the ice-dragons and rushing in a straight line towards the black arms, pulverizing them to pieces with his right fist.
[Ice Dragon Coetus] didn't have much of the power to penetrate him. On the other hand, [Darkness King, Skadi's Palm] had enough power, but it needed ti to hit him. In addition, his physical ability was a little better than mine.
If I used [Liberation], it might be possible for to cut my way, but I could only use it once a day, rendering unable to use teleportation, which would cancel tomorrow's class.
"Now I'm stuck from all sides......"
No matter how sharp Mura had, it was all aningless if I was unable to hit him. It was truly a desperate situation. However, I could use magic on this battlefield. That alone might be a good thing.
But more than that—
"It's unpleasant."
For so reason, an uncontrollable strong resentnt was welling up from the bottom of my heart. Was it because of the fact that this battle couldn't be fought without using the new type of magic?
"No, that's not it."
I wasn't romantic enough to resent my inadequacy in the struggle. The real reason I was frustrated was more instinctive, plain and simple.
—For tens of minutes, I had only been running away from this incompetent goat-headed monster, who only knew how to rampage. This fact alone made uncomfortable.
"You are unpleasant."
I landed on the ground using [Explosive Thread] as I raised my shuddering voice.
[Master—]
The voice of Mura, who called out to , was uncharacteristically trembling.
"Co. I will kill you in a flash."
With that declaration, I raised my mouth.
"Guooooooooo!"
I reflexively jumped backwards, and slowly walked towards the goat-headed monster.
The goat-headed monster roared at such a suicidal act, but it didn't make a single move, only bracing itself.
"What's up? You're not coming?"
The goat-headed monster quickly took a few steps back from as I approached without taking a stance while dragging Mura's sword tip.
"Guooooooooo!!!"
The goat-headed monster roared in anger at this fact, sprinting towards and firing its right fist at .
At that mont, the movents of the goat-headed monster beca sluggish.
Is this the extent of your current agility?
After spitting out such uncertain words, I twisted my body to avoid his slowly approaching right fist by the tip of my nose. At the sa ti, I raised my right arm holding Mura's hilt with all my might and cut off his right leg from the root.
A sharp pain ran out in the right arm holding Mura. Seed like it broke. Well, that was natural if I perford an unreasonable action. There was no other way.
"Guooooooo!!!"
Despite losing his right leg, he dexterously back-stepped with his remaining left leg to get away from . However, perhaps because of the pain, a scowl appeared on the goat-faced monster and it dropped on one knee. As I watched his ridiculously slow movent, I grasped Mura again with my left hand and kicked my left leg up, closing the distance with him.
This ti, I felt the intense pain in my left leg as if a stake had driven into my spine. My left leg had also broken.
Now my mobility was reduced to half because of this.
However—
"This is my victory."
I aid at the neck of the goat-headed monster, who was staring at absentmindedly due to my sudden appearance, and swung down Mura with all my might.
The giant's neck danced in the air and fell down on the ground. Shortly after, the head and body shattered like glass.
[Winner of this [Battle Baphot] — Grey！
Grey has been presented with [Baphot's Horn] and [Three S-Rank Magic Stones].
So of Grey's potential abilities have increased. The level of [Eternal Workshop] has increased from 5% → 10%.
Grey's MP and HP have been completely recovered.
Releasing the second stage.]
My consciousness faded together with the chanical voice of a woman.
[The first stage has been cleared. The second stage will be released.]
—On that day, a woman's cold chanical voice rang out from the skies above Straheim.
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