Sacred Aldebaran Underground Arena (2)
Labyrinth.
A word that collectively refers to the ruins built during the Mythic Age, scattered across the southern reaches of the West Continent.
In other fantasy worlds, the term might conjure images of tunnels or natural caves swarming with monsters. In this world, however, a labyrinth was nothing of the sort.
As the name suggested—ruins from the Mythic Age—these places were still preserved by ancient magic that continued to function even now. Drop trash on the floor and it vanished. Break something and it repaired itself. Thoroughly high-tech. Over-technology, even.
That said, they weren't completely different from the usual image either. They just weren't tunnels or caves—that didn't mean they weren't crawling with monsters.
"Vanguard!! You've pushed too far forward! Fall back!"
The Guild Master shouted at the tanks holding the line up ahead, shields raised against the monsters. Even as he yelled, the sound of iron plates buckling and something screeching like nails on a chalkboard set my teeth on edge.
A horde of monsters had blocked our path just as we'd been advancing without much trouble. At first we'd managed to punch through a little, but now holding the line was the absolute priority.
Just like that battlefield, all those years ago.
"If we pull back here, the defensive line collapses!"
"If this position breaks, we're all finished!"
"Tch... No choice, then!"
The Guild Master, who had been hacking through monster necks with an enormous greatsword and was thoroughly drenched in blood, twisted around to look back. The thick, metallic stench of blood mixed with the smell of dust, dragging old battlefield memories up from somewhere deep inside me.
"Hero Esilly! Are you free at the moment?!"
"Don't worry about it."
I offered the Guild Master a small smile at his request and hopped down from where I'd been perched. Landing from a height of about a meter, I pulled my staff from my Inventory and walked at an unhurried pace toward the spot where the vanguard was fighting desperately to hold.
They'd probably figured it would look bad to lean on my power from the very start. After holding out for over two hours without a single casualty, the Guild Master—an excellent commander—had finally come to me for help.
Time to show off the new magic I'd cooked up.
The labyrinth's ceiling was high enough that I didn't need to worry much about collateral damage. I possessed the power to recover mana infinitely—and not just my own. I could restore other people's mana as well.
Inferno, widely regarded as both the worst and the strongest magic in existence, worked by infinitely recovering mana while growing a mana sphere larger and larger, then collapsing it at its limit to produce a nuclear-fission-like explosion.
But the magic I was about to use wasn't a mana explosion. Instead of collapsing the gathered mana sphere, I'd convert it into a different spell right on the brink of collapse.
"Here I go! Ice Ball!"
The small mana orb I'd been carefully building shot forward at tremendous speed—and slipped neatly into the heart of the endless monster swarm.
Ice Ball, huh. Sounds pretty plain when you say it out loud. Being Low Class magic, it didn't look particularly impressive—but it packed destructive power well beyond Emperor Class.
The mana orb had appeared without warning. Monsters sensitive to mana instinctively grasped just how much power it contained.
"Kieeeeaaagh! Kieeek!!"
"Kueeeeegh!!"
I'd been hoping to finish them before they could even scream. Shame.
Not that realizing it did the monsters any good. The moment that orb left my hand, their long, long lives were as good as over.
KWAANG!! KWAANG! KWANG!
The mana orb split apart and scattered in every direction, and enormous Ice Balls bloomed into existence all at once. Ordinarily, an Ice Ball spun like a bullet and punched clean through a body—but in my case, I made them absolutely massive and dropped them straight down.
The monsters were crushed flat beneath the giant spheres of ice. The pressure had burst their bodies completely, so farming anything useful was going to be a bit of a problem. Unfortunately.
I smacked my lips with a look of genuine regret, and the expedition members nearby stared at me with expressions of pure disbelief before letting out long sighs.
"...That's ridiculous. In what world is that an Ice Ball..."
"The Ice Ball I know is a little sphere that would barely fit in an on-the-rocks glass..."
"Hero Esilly's magic never stops being absurd~ ♬"
Enge, who until moments ago had been diligently wiping out monsters herself, broke into a bright smile. I'd been quietly topping up her mana and Lumine's the whole time so neither of them would ever run dry—sorry to everyone else, but priorities were priorities.
The others were probably starting to feel the strain too. Time for a refill. I released the fixed targets on Enge and Lumine and restored the mana of every single member of our expedition.
"Ohh...! So this is Hero Esilly's mana recovery!"
"As long as we have enough mana, we can keep going forever!"
Morale, already soaring from watching me obliterate the monsters, surged even higher. Convinced they wouldn't lose to me either, they started checking whether any usable monster remains had survived the carnage.
For the record, they weren't scavenging for loot out of greed. It was because of a commission posted by the lord of another territory—the sponsor of this expedition.
Apparently, the Aldebaran Underground Arena might contain monsters that had been driven into a frenzy by the divine power of the War God Aldebaran. Similar cases had already been discovered at other comparable ruins, so they couldn't rule it out.
Where was it again... the Temple of the Sea King of Barracuda, was it?
"Hero Esilly. You have my thanks."
I was still thinking about how I'd like to visit the Barracuda Sea King Temple someday when the Guild Master came over to express his gratitude.
Ahem... Being thanked for actually helping felt genuinely nice. There were plenty of people out there who couldn't even be bothered to say thank you after you'd saved their entire country.
"No need to thank me. More importantly—shouldn't we keep pushing deeper like this?"
"No. Best we rest here for today. We still have to deal with that mountain of corpses, after all."
As he said it, the Guild Master glanced toward the monster remains—and unfortunately, Enge happened to be standing right there with her eyes narrowed to slits.
Having your cute, beloved wife squinting at you like that... how terrifying must that be?
No helping it. I was going to have to take the hit too.
"I feel a little bad about that."
Next time I'll just freeze the whole lot solid. Stick them in my Inventory and haul them out in one piece.
I scratched my head as the thought crossed my mind, and the Guild Master clapped me hard on the back, laughing heartily.
"Kahahaha!! Don't say that! Without you, Hero Esilly, we'd have been ground down in a war of attrition until every last one of us was dead."
Huh. That went the opposite direction from what I'd expected.
After that, the expedition split up according to the teams we'd assigned in advance. A team to process the monster spoils, a team to pitch tents so everyone could rest comfortably, a team to prepare meals... and so on.
For the record, Lumine, Enge, and I were on meal prep. Which was why we'd been peeling boiled potatoes for a while now.
"Potatoes really are the best crop for an expedition like this. They don't spoil easily, so you can store them forever~ And they're so filling~"
"Right? We ate a lot of potatoes even before we reached Labyrinth City."
On our cheerful journey to Labyrinth City, potatoes had been a staple. Tossed into soups, mashed into mashed potatoes—or boiled late at night, sprinkled with salt, and eaten like a snack. Eating potatoes under the cool breeze of an air-conditioning magic tool while gazing out at the desert night had been something special.
"Not long ago it was an endless desert... now it's an underground labyrinth that reeks of something acrid. Quite the change."
"Lumine, do you like the desert?"
"I hate the desert more than anything! Just thinking about it makes my heart race..."
"Huh. You're right."
I rested my hand on Lumine's chest and felt it thumping harder than usual—much harder than when I'd pounced on her in the bath. A heart racing like that meant she needed to eat plenty. I'd make sure to give her extra later.
"E-Esilly... the others are watching..."
"Ah, sorry."
I'd groped a little too much. I pulled my kneading hand away from her chest and picked up another potato. Enge, who had been watching us, smiled—the kind of smile that said we were absolutely adorable.
"I don't mind at all. I never imagined things between you and Lumine had progressed this far~"
"It's a secret."
"E-Esilly...!"
"I told you, it's fine."
And so what if other people looked at us strangely? It was our relationship. Who cared?
We kept peeling potatoes as we talked, and afterward everyone gathered for a shared meal. Dried jerky was the usual fare on an expedition, but I pulled fresh meat and vegetables from my Inventory and served them up. Being stuck for a week in a damp, acrid place was miserable enough—the least the food could do was taste good. I hadn't spent a fortune stockpiling ingredients for nothing.
"Haaawn..."
"Esilly, if you're tired, you're welcome to go rest inside."
"Then I'll turn in first..."
Good children of a new nation needed their sleep... I said my goodnights to everyone and toddled off toward the tents in the back on little quick steps.
That night... or dawn, or morning—being underground, no light came in, so I couldn't tell—I woke up in the dead of night.
Some beast had been growling for a while now, and there was no way I could sleep through it. Curious, I stepped outside... Had someone left a fire going? A faint glow I couldn't quite make out through my half-open eyes caught my attention.
"Grrrrr..."
"Ugh... What is that noise... It's so loud I could die."
I didn't sense any people nearby, so it probably wasn't a person. I froze the whole thing solid. Must have been a brazier or some firewood making weird noises from a cold draft. I didn't know much about science, but when something hot suddenly gets cold, it makes noise, right?
So I froze it completely to shut it up and went back into the tent.
"So tired..."
The moment I hit the bed, I sank back into sleep. Whatever it was, I could check again tomorrow...
And the next day.
The expedition erupted into chaos over the true identity of the thing I had frozen solid in the middle of the night for being too loud.