The Labyrinth King's Descent
"Urgh...?!"
I shoved myself upright from the heap of rubble, a groan tearing free as pain lanced through every inch of my body. In the end I had fallen—straight through that pitch-black hole gaping in the ceiling above.
"You all right, brat?"
"Hah... somehow I'm still breathing."
The lizardman that had suddenly lunged out had made me lose my grip, yet ironically that same lizardman was the reason I had survived a drop from this height. Its corpse had absorbed part of the impact.
I had no idea how deep into the dungeon I had fallen, but the sensation of plummeting a long way left me deeply uneasy. A mid-tier monster like a basilisk had already appeared on the first floor; a place this deep would spawn mid-tier monsters at the very least—if not worse.
"Damn it. This is a real problem."
"Not necessarily."
I pulled a recovery potion from my inventory, downed it, and forced myself to my feet. Beatrix's cryptic remark made me frown.
"What do you mean, 'not necessarily'?"
I had half-wondered whether there might be an exit somewhere underground, but the answer that left her lips was genuinely startling.
"I sense your mother's mana nearby."
"What—?!"
Taylor Winchester's mother could only mean the Duchess of Winchester. The news that one of the strongest beings in the entire world was close by instantly raised my odds of getting out alive.
"To the right from here."
I steadied my creaking body and followed Beatrix's guidance deeper into the dungeon. Before long even I could feel it—violent mana surging so fiercely it was unmistakable.
"Just ahead!"
I raced forward, tracing the explosive waves of power.
"..."
When I finally reached the destination, the sight that filled my vision stole the words from my mouth.
"What in the world...!"
Before me stretched a vast circular arena that looked as though it belonged in ancient Rome—a colosseum. And upon that stage a single woman danced through dozens of monsters, slaughtering them with effortless grace.
Imelda Winchester...
She looked little different from when I had met her yesterday morning. The black military uniform she had been wearing at the time of her disappearance remained perfectly neat, not a single fold out of place. Aside from a faint weariness in her eyes, not one drop of blood marred her anywhere.
That pristine figure, set against the dozens of monster corpses littering the ground around her, only made the scene more grotesque. The dungeon could not absorb the bodies as fast as she created them; a mountain of dead monsters already piled up on one side, while hundreds of mana stones—left behind after the dungeon claimed the rest—rolled across the floor.
Even in the midst of that fierce battle she must have sensed my presence. Crimson eyes locked onto the place where I stood. When our gazes met, her expressionless face showed emotion for the first time—open shock.
"Why are you here...?"
A monster seized the moment her attention wavered and lunged with a crushing blow.
"Watch out—!!"
I shouted in desperation, but before my voice could even reach her the creature was already cleaved clean in two and collapsed.
...
She carved through every monster that charged her one after another, then strode toward me. Sharp red eyes fixed on mine.
"Taylor Winchester. Why are you in a place like this?"
Her voice carried a rare edge of agitation. I answered calmly, laying out the situation above.
"A search team was formed to rescue Your Grace. The White Dragon Knights are currently combing the dungeon."
"A search team...? Then where are they, and why are you wandering alone in a place like this?"
"There was an accident—the floor collapsed and I was separated. After I fell I simply followed a familiar mana signature and ended up here."
Of course, looking at how everything had unfolded, it was far more likely deliberate than accidental. Whoever was behind it had clearly wanted to eliminate both me and the Duchess in one stroke. Otherwise there was no reason to peel away the Black Dragon and White Dragon Knights and strand the two of us alone in a place like this.
"This is grave. Both of us—the ones who must lead the house—trapped here... After roaming this floor all day I can tell you there is no exit."
Her words were wrong on one crucial point.
Labyrinthos's dungeons always have an entrance.
As far as I knew, the King of Labyrinths could freely alter a dungeon's structure, yet certain restrictions still bound him. Creating a dungeon and its monsters required vast time and enormous mana, for example. And among those restrictions was the absolute rule that an entrance and exit must always exist.
The reason she had never found the stairs leading upward was simple: Labyrinthos had been watching her the entire time, shifting the stairs' location in real time.
You cunning old bastard—
The battle continued without pause. The clash of weapons never ceased. In the dungeon's characteristic murky gloom, spear and shield met and sparks flew.
-Kyaaaaaah!!
"Hup!"
A life-or-death exchange finally ended when Gungnir, wreathed in crimson mana, slammed viciously into a monster's brow. I steadied my breathing and wrenched the spear free; a fountain of blood and the creature's death cry erupted together.
-Khak!!
Higher-tier specimens really are on another level.
Unlike the ordinary lizardmen I had faced on the first floor, these black-scaled superior lizardmen ranked as mid-tier monsters. Even one of them felt like a struggle.
I glanced sideways. The Duchess of Winchester was still fighting without rest.
Slash.
-Kyaak!!
Slash.
-Kyagak!!
Unlike me, she swung a sword of one-strike kills. Watching her slaughter enemies with a single stroke at a speed I could not even follow made me profoundly grateful she was on my side.
How much longer we fought, I could not say. The endless tide of monsters gradually thinned until at last their numbers became countable. Finally her blade severed the last monster's neck, and the long, grinding assault seemed about to end.
"He's coming."
At last.
I had felt the timing approaching. No matter how strong someone was, fighting nonstop while burning mana for twenty-four hours was never easy—even for a monster of the Duchess's caliber.
"?!"
She sensed it too; her expression hardened.
Rumble-rumble-rumble—!!
At the same moment the dungeon began to quake violently. It was neither the tremor of monster regeneration nor the vibration of structural change.
"This is... joy."
Just as Beatrix said, the mana pouring from the shaking dungeon was thick with rapturous delight.
Hah. Unbelievable.
It was the pure joy of a creation welcoming its creator.
Its king has returned. Something like that, I suppose.
—Crack.
The moment the quaking stopped, the colosseum's high ceiling split open. From the fissure a small, shabby old man descended. Cloaked in hideous violet mana, he drifted slowly toward the floor like a demon come to bring about the world's end.
The old man looked down at the Duchess and me and smiled.
"...Light of Dawn."
She too recognized the corrupted mana clinging to him; her eyes filled with open loathing as she glared.
Thud.
"Ah, Duchess Winchester. And the Child of Prophecy. Welcome to the dungeon I—"
The instant his feet touched the dungeon floor the Duchess moved. Circumstance made him an enemy beyond doubt, and members of Light of Dawn were subject to summary execution; not a shred of hesitation colored her motion.
Slash!
Her merciless blade flashed out. The old man never even registered the strike; mid-sentence his head was severed cleanly. It floated in the air while the headless body, as if only just realizing what had happened, sprayed blood from the stump.
Yet his voice did not stop merely because his head had been cut off.
"—have prepared. My, my. Attacking a man while he is speaking, Duchess?"
The voice continued to spill from the face that had rolled across the floor.
"...A corpse that talks."
"Keh-keh-keh. I acknowledge your strength, but a mere sword cannot kill me."
She regarded the fallen head with icy calm; the old man only laughed as though even that amused him.
"Then I simply keep cutting until you die."
"Dear me. Even after I explain, you still fail to understand."
Ignoring his words, her blade flashed again and again in the blink of an eye. The body that had stood alone and the head that had rolled across the floor were both reduced to unrecognizable shreds.
"Fascinating. That thing still isn't dead."
I know.
If that had been enough to kill him it would have been wonderful—but I already knew the truth.
The King of Labyrinths does not die inside his own kingdom. Players had not hated him for nothing.
Still, as expected of the Duchess. Skipping phase one outright... impressive.
As if to prove the point, corrupted mana erupted from the shredded flesh like an explosion, merging with the scraps and rapidly taking shape. The form swelled without cease until it finally grew large enough to encircle the entire colosseum. Even this vast monster arena suddenly looked small beside its overwhelming bulk.
Labyrinthos, now a colossal serpent, fixed murderous crimson eyes upon us from a head high above and unleashed a world-shaking roar.
-KYAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!!!!!
The very embodiment of calamity. An upper-tier monster so rare that even the Demon Realm seldom confirmed its existence.
Apophis.