Into the Labyrinth
We arrived at the place where Duke Winchester had vanished.
Since the incident had occurred not far from the city, a great many soldiers were already on site, locking down the entire surrounding area.
With a heavy clunk, I stepped down from the carriage and took in the chaotic crime scene at a glance.
I had been about to look for the White Dragon Knights, who should have arrived ahead of us and been waiting, when a soldier spotted our group and hurried over to help.
"Young Master Winchester, we have been expecting you. Shall I escort you to where Commander Ainz is waiting?"
"Yes. I would appreciate that."
"It is the honor of our house!"
I gave a light nod and followed the soldier at a measured pace.
Passing through the tight security cordon and deeper into the site, we came upon a broad encampment dominated by a large tent.
All around the camp, a tangle of voices and assorted clamor only added to the confusion.
"Have the extra potions still not arrived?!"
"Hey! That goes over here!"
"We're short on time—move faster!"
In the midst of that chaos, countless soldiers hurried back and forth, each absorbed in his own task. The scene looked exactly like the war-preparation sequences I used to watch in movies.
Careful not to get in their way, I made for the largest tent I had spotted from outside the camp. Familiar faces were already gathered there.
The tent flap had been rolled up, so the gray-haired, cold-faced middle-aged man conducting a meeting inside was fully visible.
"So you finally made it."
It was Ainz, commander of the White Dragon Knights.
The moment he saw us arrive at the camp, he strode straight over.
"The entire White Dragon Knights order is ready to enter."
Whatever speech I had given earlier—I could barely remember the words myself—had clearly softened his manner. He was noticeably more cordial than he had been in the conference hall.
"Are the soldiers here going in with us as well?"
"Hardly. Their duty is to secure the perimeter and protect the medical staff. Only the duke's proxy, the White Dragon Knights, and three healers as a precaution will enter the dungeon."
"I see."
Once the knights confirmed my arrival on site, they finished their entry preparations in the blink of an eye.
It's been a long time since I last did a raid.
A rough head count put the force at nearly forty.
A large-scale battle.
In other words, a raid—normally several parties of four banding together for a joint assault. With this many people we were looking at a full-scale raid of ten parties.
A little pressure, honestly.
Swords, axes, spears, staves—knights of every weapon type formed ranks behind Commander Ainz, eyes gleaming.
The Winchester banner held by the standard-bearer snapped in the wind. Every gaze fixed on me. I steeled myself and spoke.
"All right. We move out."
In the sudden hush, the command rang across the camp.
At that order, the "Duke Search Team" I led began its advance toward the dungeon entrance—an opening that yawned like a great maw.
Under the farewell of those remaining at the camp, we stepped into the pitch-black depths of the dungeon.
The dungeon search proved easier than expected.
This place seemed to spawn mostly reptilian monsters.
Reptilian, yes—but that meant bipedal lizards called lizardmen, or massive serpents known as venom boas that could swallow a man whole in a single gulp.
-Kyaaaaah!!
-Kyaak!
Those grotesque snakes were cut down so swiftly by the seasoned knights that I barely needed to lift a finger.
I only had to deal with the occasional one that wandered too close.
-Kyaaak!!
-Khak!!
Still, the knights seemed more shocked than I expected by how well I fought.
They stared at me with wide, wondering eyes.
"Hmm. Duke's proxy—your combat skill is better than I anticipated."
Even though I had yet to use a single skill, the White Dragon Knight commander approached with a look of genuine satisfaction.
"Have you been hiding your talent all this time?"
"I don't recall hiding anything. I've simply begun to see modest results of late."
"Modest results, is it?"
It wasn't exactly a lie.
Taylor had been a self-deprecating sort, but he had also been the type to keep grinding away. All I had done was use the Cocoon of Evolution to draw out the power already sleeping inside him.
"Impressive…"
The other knights who had been listening intently wore the same admiring expressions.
Seeing those faces gave me a strange feeling—as though the time and effort I had poured in since possessing this body were finally being acknowledged.
While I mulled that over with a faintly unsettled heart, the party pressed ever deeper into the dungeon.
"Huh?"
"Hmm…"
Before long a fork appeared in the path ahead.
"Duke's proxy. We may need to split the team. What do you think?"
Ainz offered the suggestion.
I shook my head.
There was no need. I already had a high-performance radar installed.
Beatrix.
Left. From the left I sense your mother's mana.
Thanks a lot. What would I do without you, huh?
…Hmph.
Beatrix, of course.
Her mana-detection ability already far surpassed human senses; a mere dungeon could never block her.
"We all go left."
"You're deciding so casually?"
Ainz looked at me with a touch of unease, but I had my trump card and nothing to fear.
"Think of it as a bond between Winchester blood."
At those words the surrounding knights began to murmur.
"As expected, the power of Winchester is something else."
"Ooh, I knew the Winchester bloodline was different."
"So that's why the young master joined the search party."
There was no such thing, of course, but in the North the name Winchester had been elevated almost to divinity. The knights simply accepted it at face value.
Even Ainz, veteran commander of the White Dragon Knights, was no different. He merely looked intrigued and never once questioned whether my words were true or false.
The only problem was that Elizabeth, Enri, and Angela—who had followed me—had already been infected by the northern atmosphere. Standing among the knights, they wore the exact same expressions.
Wait, you three are just buying it too?
When our eyes met, they gazed at me with open reverence.
Whatever scrap of conscience I still possessed couldn't stand those looks; I simply turned my head away.
The deeper we went, the more forks appeared.
Each time, my excellent navigation system guided us along the shortest route, letting us advance swiftly toward our destination.
With every step my heart beat faster.
If this goes well, I can knock out another chapter boss.
Since possessing this body I had confirmed three bosses.
The Chapter 1 boss—an ogre confirmed to be hiding near the academy—the egg of the Chapter 4 boss, the Dragon of Ruin, sleeping in my inventory—and finally Labyrinthos, the Chapter 5 boss lurking somewhere in this dungeon.
In the original timeline Chapter 1 had not even ended yet. If I could eliminate other threats this early, it would be the perfect scenario.
The farther we advanced, the more alien auras began to seep out, crawling along my skin.
-Kyaaaa!!
-Khak!!
-Sssss. Sssss.
Drawn by those auras, the number of monsters kept swelling until they numbered in the dozens.
There's no way a newborn dungeon has this many monsters right at the entrance. He's deliberately sending them our way.
Even so, a fledgling dungeon should never be this crowded from the start.
It was safer to assume the King of Labyrinths had confirmed our entry and was sending us a little welcome gift.
The early monsters were weak and easy to handle, but the deeper we went the higher the chance of stronger ones appearing. That much still worried me.
And that worry became reality sooner than expected.
-Kyaaaaaaaaaaaak!!!!
A savage, rough roar shook the dungeon interior.
Something enormous was waiting to greet us the moment we stepped into the monster chamber.
The greeter was a gigantic serpent.
Even coiled, the height from ground to head looked well over ten meters. Sharp horns crowned its triangular head like a royal diadem.
The White Dragon Knights paled at the sight, yet they did not panic. Years of training kicked in; they snapped into formation at once.
"A mid-tier monster, out of nowhere?!"
"W-why is a basilisk here?!"
"Damn it, watch the petrification! Never look it in the eyes!"
A mid-tier monster—the basilisk—had appeared.
A faint violet flame lit the dark chamber.
The thin, feeble fire could not reach every corner of the wide room, and the shadows it cast decorated the space like living ornaments.
Cradled in that pitch-black darkness, an old man sat gazing at two crystal orbs.
In the first orb the Child of Prophecy was locked in battle with the basilisk. In the second, a black-haired woman tore through monsters with storm-like speed.
The old man smiled as though the scenes delighted him beyond measure.
"Keh-keh-keh. Struggle all you like. No one escapes the labyrinth I have made."
His moniker was the King of Labyrinths.
He was the undisputed master of the dungeon, welcoming the guests who had come to visit his kingdom.