Forced Transfer to the Depths
“Ugh...”
I slowly opened my eyelids, which had been squeezed shut against the sudden stab of bright light. A faint afterimage lingered, but otherwise my vision seemed fine. In front of me lay the corpse of the orc shaman, and around me—
“Whoa?!”
Some walking clump of rock thrust what I could only assume was a fist toward me. I would have been hit if I stayed still, so I tried to swing the sword I was still holding—only for something to yank me back by the scruff of my neck a split second faster.
Slash.
I was dragged forcibly backward just as a massive greatsword swept through the air. The stone lump that met the blade did not shatter; it split cleanly into two neat halves.
Emma, short as she was, had me by the back of my collar, leaving me standing in an awkward half-crouch. Once the bisected rock collapsed into rubble, she let out a sigh and released my clothes.
“This has become a real headache.”
“What do you mean...?”
I started to ask, then realized something was wrong. Walls closed us in as if we were indoors, unfamiliar structures rose around us, and a monster had appeared out of nowhere. Startling as it was, even I could tell the situation was anything but ordinary.
“Forced transfer. That necklace you cut—when it broke, it dumped us into the deep levels of a labyrinth.”
I remembered the necklace I had sliced in half along with the orc. It had looked a little unusual, enough to catch my eye, but I had not paid it much mind and simply cut through it with everything else. And that was what had landed us here.
“I... I’m sorry.”
“No need to apologize. If anything, it’s our fault for not warning you to be careful. Who would have thought those stragglers pushed out to the outskirts would be carrying something like that?”
“But a transfer spell...? I thought teleportation magic was fairly high-level.”
“Exactly. An orc shaman could never craft an artifact like that. They just lucked into finding it and used it. They probably have no idea where it even connects to. They only carry it around because, if they’re lucky, it might save their lives.”
“I learned something new.”
“Well, class is over. Let’s find a way out of here.”
Emma dragged her greatsword along the floor as she surveyed the surroundings. I could not just stand there either, so I looked around as well.
There was nothing but the fallen orc shaman, the crumbled stone golem, and a single door. No furniture, no decorations—only the luminous stones set into the ceiling lighting the room.
“We should at least get outside this room before we start worrying about what to do next.”
Emma had already reached the same conclusion and strode toward the only exit.
Bang.
Without a second’s hesitation she flung the door wide open. Whether that was carelessness or sheer boldness, I could not decide.
But her confidence had a reason.
Clang, clang, clang.
The moment the door opened, arrows came flying without so much as a whisper of wind. They were aimed at anyone stepping out, their trajectories angled slightly outward.
Emma casually swatted every last one aside with her greatsword. She could have simply blocked them with the broad blade, yet she swept them away with flamboyant swings.
“Let’s go.”
“Yes, ma’am.”
She looked several years younger than me, yet she possessed a charisma that made people follow her. Her cute, childlike voice carried a hearty boldness, and her slender back—so much thinner than the greatsword she carried—somehow radiated reliability.
I followed her out into a corridor that, aside from the strange architecture, looked perfectly ordinary. When I moved up beside her so we could walk side by side, she immediately waved me back.
“If you’re next to me you’ll get in the way of my sword. Stay behind. I know labyrinths better than you do, Miss Elicia.”
Using her as a shield felt a little wrong, but I had no good argument, so I kept my distance and trailed after her as before.
Emma led the way, smashing every labyrinth monster and trap that appeared. I cleaned up the occasional stragglers that slipped past her and dodged the traps she had not yet destroyed. Forks in the path came and went; Emma seemed to pick directions without much deliberation, as if she herself did not know which was correct.
How long did we walk? I felt at least a few hours pass, yet the labyrinth was not especially difficult. Alone I would have been lost, but Emma navigated it with the ease she had claimed. At times I almost forgot we were inside a labyrinth at all.
“Hmm... I can’t tell whether our luck is good or bad.”
Emma spoke while standing before a door—one that looked nothing like the others we had passed.
It was several times larger, covered in ornate patterns that screamed importance, and a foul aura leaked from the other side.
Labyrinths rarely advertised their bosses so blatantly, yet everything pointed to the master of this place waiting beyond that door.
“The best outcome would have been finding the exit, but instead we’ve walked straight into the deepest part. We have two choices now: break all the way through, or turn back while we still can. Sitting here and waiting for rescue is technically an option too, but if we were going to do that we never needed to move in the first place.”
“Which do you think is better, Lady Emma?”
It only made sense to follow the judgment of someone who knew labyrinths far better than I did. With no immediate danger, Emma dropped heavily onto the floor and began explaining.
“Both carry risks. The biggest unknown is how strong the labyrinth’s master is. If it’s something we can handle, great—but given the top-tier monsters we already fought on the way here, I can’t guarantee anything.”
She sighed and continued.
“Turning back is just as dangerous. So far the traps and monsters haven’t been too bad, but that doesn’t mean it’ll stay that way. We don’t even know how deep this labyrinth goes. In the worst case we could climb for a whole week and still never reach the entrance.”
“So if we defeat the master, there should be a way back out?”
“If this were a labyrinth that formed for some natural reason, maybe not. But when someone deliberately built one like this in the past, the creator always leaves an exit for themselves. There’s a high chance a path leading straight to the entrance is waiting inside.”
She phrased it as if the choice were mine, yet her tone and explanation made it clear she had already decided. I agreed with her reasoning, so after only a brief moment of thought I spoke.
“Then let’s break through. We’ve come this far, and if both options are dangerous we might as well smash our way forward.”
“My daughter chose her friends well. I like that straightforward attitude. That’s how a swordsman should be.”
Emma grinned and rose to her feet.
“I’ll handle the labyrinth master. If there are any guards, they’re yours, Miss Elicia. There are plenty of things to consider, but we can’t predict every situation, so just move according to your own judgment when the time comes.”
“Understood. Leave it to me.”
After that rather thin exchange that barely counted as a strategy meeting, Emma planted herself in front of the door.
“Shall we?”
Instead of carefully opening it, she kicked the door open with a resounding bang.
Inside the boss chamber, a skeleton sat on a chair far ahead, staff in hand. Calling it a mere skeleton felt wrong—the power radiating from every joint was anything but ordinary. A lich, most likely. The ranking system simply labeled it a top-tier monster because nothing higher existed, yet its true threat far surpassed that category.
A lich’s real danger lay not only in its magic but in its immortality: unless you destroyed its vessel, it would never die. The limitation that it could not stray far from the vessel was real, yet even with that caveat the ability was absurd.
“Perfect. I’ll take that thing. You find the vessel while I keep it busy.”
Without waiting for my reply, Emma shot straight toward the lich. The lich noticed her charge at once and began casting. Unlike the orc shaman, its magic was swift and powerful.
A massive fireball streaked toward Emma. Flames even larger erupted from her greatsword; she cleaved the fireball apart and kept advancing.
The lich remained unfazed, hurling spell after spell, yet Emma either sliced them apart or deflected them with her enormous blade, letting every attack slide harmlessly past.
The moment the lich entered her range she brought the greatsword down in a mighty overhead swing. Even the flaming blade that had parted every spell failed to pierce the lich’s barrier and stopped cold. Still, the barrier did not escape unscathed—cracks spiderwebbed across it, and a hole had been punched clean through.
I could not simply stand and watch. I started to move, yet an inexplicable sense of unease prickled at me. I glanced back, wondering if it was the lich’s mana, but that was not it. The feeling was far too familiar to be mere magic.
Should I search for the hidden vessel, or follow my instincts?
The debate lasted only a heartbeat.
Had Craig not told me? Move according to your instincts. He had been talking about my swordsmanship, of course, but advice was meant to be applied with flexibility.
So I followed my instincts—straight into the heart of the battle where magic exploded and a flaming greatsword carved the air. Emma was so focused on the fight she never even noticed me approaching.
And then I understood what that lingering unease had been.
It was the faintest trace of killing intent. Suppressed again and again until a sliver finally leaked out—the scent of murderous will.
This filthy killing intent was not something a mere mage or a proud warrior would release. It was the killing intent of an assassin, one I knew all too well.
The figure lurking in the shadows realized its plan had gone awry and moved at once—but luckily I was a fraction faster.
Clang!
I knocked aside the blade that had been swinging for Emma’s nape. Only then did she notice both me and the presence in the dark; she leapt back to open distance and shouted,
“I’ll leave it to you!”
Were there more hidden enemies? If there had been, they would already have revealed themselves during that attack.
Emma closed with the lich in melee. A short distance away, I faced off against another skeleton.
“Heh.”
A laugh slipped out before I could stop it. My face was probably smiling. Looking at the pitch-black skeleton standing before me, how could it not?
You’re one of my kind, aren’t you?