THE NIGHTMARE OF THE LABYRINTH
What horrible timing.
That was my first impression when I was told about this job.
I had just received a letter that my child had been born, and I was looking forward to going home, when the assignment came in.
On top of not being able to be at my wife’s side while she was in labor, now I won’t even be able to go and see my child’s face before I’m called to the line of duty.
Even though the empire is in a festive mood now that a long-awaited prince has finally been born.
The current sword-king has been blessed with few children and had half given up until he finally had a son.
The child’s name, Hugo, was announced throughout the country shortly after his birth. It’s easy to imagine how overjoyed the sword-king must be.
I would like to celebrate my own child’s birth in a similar way, but if anything, it fills me with melancholy.
Of course, this is mainly because I cannot go and meet my child, but the nature of this mission makes my heart all the heavier.
I’ve been instructed to tame the mysterious monster that’s appeared in the Great Elroe Labyrinth.
If I cannot, I must destroy it immediately.
Those are my instructions.
The request came from the small kingdom of Ohts, which contains an entrance to the Great Elroe Labyrinth.
This labyrinth is essentially the only means of traveling between the continents.
The exception is teleport points, but the only people who can use those are important royal figures or extremely wealthy individuals.
The kingdom of Ohts asked our empire for help because of a strange increase in the number of monsters in the Great Elroe Labyrinth.
The empire immediately sent the troops stationed nearest the border into Ohts Kingdom.
This unit is composed chiefly of second and third sons of nobles, but they are no less powerful than any other troops.
It was assumed they would find the cause of the abnormality and quickly return home.
And that is indeed what happened.
However, it was not in the way we expected.
The troops actually fled home.
They ran from a mysterious spider-type monster.
According to the report, one look at the monster told them it could easily annihilate them all.
The cause of the so-called outbreak was that the surrounding monsters had all fled from this spider monster, driving other monsters out of their habitats.
The investigating troops reported that the monster was beyond their abilities and that a special force would have to be assembled to defeat it.
At first, this report was laughed off as utter foolishness.
However, the detailed written report and the testimony of the labyrinth guide who accompanied them confirmed the danger of this monster.
At the very least, its danger level is A.
It may even reach level S.
If such a dangerous monster was to come out of the labyrinth, the damage would be catastrophic.
But at the same time, strange rumors began to spread.
A spider monster that helps humans was spotted in the Great Elroe Labyrinth.
A local investigator immediately sought out the source of this rumor.
It turned out to be a group of adventurers who claimed they were attacked by a dangerous Elroe baladorado in the Upper Stratum, when the spider suddenly defeated it and even healed their dying party members.
What utter nonsense.
That was my thought on the matter.
As a monster tamer, I am much more informed about monsters than the average person.
Monsters have low intelligence, but they are not completely without minds of their own.
But only a legendary-class monster would have enough will and intellect to take an action like that.
If this story is true, that spider monster must be a legendary-class monster, and a considerably intelligent one at that.
There’s no way I could defeat a beast like that.
However, if it actually did help people, then perhaps it is friendly toward humans.
Perhaps that means I could tame it with a little luck?
And now, my turn has come.
I really have no luck at all.
If this spider monster truly is a legendary-class monster like the rumors indicate, I doubt I stand a chance of winning.
Even if that’s not the case, it’s still certain to be at least an A-rank monster.
Taming a monster like that is quite difficult.
To form a contract with the Creature Training skill, one must either win the monster’s acceptance or force it into the contract with brute strength.
Monsters are rarely willing to subordinate themselves, so it’s usually necessary to defeat them first.
So I would have to render this A-ranked monster immobile without killing it.
In a situation where it’s already difficult enough to win at all, this condition makes it all the more challenging.
Especially against a monster that’s at least danger level A.
If it’s any higher than that, even defeating it at all will be extremely difficult.
I needed to bring some support.
And yet.
“Harrumph. To think one such as myself should have to explore a labyrinth, at my age? How unlucky.”
Next to me is the empire’s most powerful mage, Master Ronandt.
He is, indeed, an incredible mage, but his personality can be rather difficult.
He can be wild and selfish, to say the least.
The man will coolly ignore orders and abuse those around him.
“Master Ronandt. If this monster is S rank or above, we will be in dire need of your power. Please try to bear with me.”
“I know that. Come what may, I shall handle it with ease. Consider your safety guaranteed.”
The man is generally good-humored and amusing, but the problem is that his attitude doesn’t change at all even on the battlefield.
Still, there’s no denying his strength.
He is known as the strongest human mage and has the power to back up that claim.
Our party for this mission is made up of myself, Master Ronandt, thirty warriors from the empire, and four guides.
I would have liked to bring the labyrinth guide who was with the previous party, but he flatly refused.
He said he had no desire to go anywhere near that thing again.
It’s a shame, but there’s nothing else for it.
I suppose I should be appreciative of the information that even a skilled veteran labyrinth guide was so fearful of this monster.
Not that this information is exactly reassuring.
At any rate, our first duty is to locate the monster.
“Hmm. Is this not the place where the earth wyrm’s corpse was said to have been found?”
“Yes, it should be.”
“Well, there is nothing here.”
We’ve arrived in what’s known as the large passage.
According to the report, this is where the monster was last encountered.
However, while we’ve found the nest that supposedly contained a dead wyrm, there’s nothing inside.
Well…technically, I suppose there’s nothing besides a few hard objects and such that might be the remains of the meal.
I look around the webs again.
Judging by the dust on the thread and the state of the inside, it seems likely that this nest is abandoned.
There are no signs it’s been recently used.
“It appears to have relocated to a new nest.”
“I see. Then I suppose we must comb the place thoroughly.”
“Right.”
We spend the next few days carefully searching the surrounding area.
However, we’ve still seen no signs of the monster in question.
“Still nothing.”
“Strange indeed. Guides, is there anywhere in this area we have yet to explore?”
The four guides think for a while, until one finally speaks.
“There is a path nearby that leads to the Middle Stratum. Perhaps there’s a chance the monster has gone there?”
“But a spider monster should be weak to fire. That’s why we never considered it before.”
That makes sense.
The chances are low, but it’s not impossible.
The Great Elroe Labyrinth’s Middle Stratum is known as a magma-filled hellscape.
Without the proper equipment, it’s impossible to explore it.
And given our rations and the exhaustion of the past few days’ investigation, we should probably withdraw soon.
“All right. Then we will inspect this path to the Middle Stratum, and if there’s nothing there, we will leave the labyrinth.”
The guides lead us over to the path in question.
“What the?!”
The guide walking in the lead suddenly lets out a yell and freezes in an unnatural position.
“What happened?”
“I don’t know. What is this? I can’t move…!”
“Wait!”
Another guide starts to approach, but Master Ronandt stops him.
“Hold up your light and look carefully. It is terribly hard to see, but there’s thread across the path.”
Following Ronandt’s words, I look closely as well.
Sure enough, I can just make out thread that occasionally catches the light.
“What is that?”
“We may have found our monster.”
On closer inspection, the thread is arranged in a neat radial shape.
It’s unmistakably a spiderweb.
“Someone cut the thread and set her loose.”
One of the soldiers approaches to free the trapped guide with a sword.
However…
“Oh-ho. So it cannot be cut?”
Master Ronandt seems impressed.
The sword swung down by the soldier, much like the guide, had stopped moving as soon as it hit the thread.
The soldier tries to yank the blade back out, but it doesn’t budge.
“Guide, bear with me. This may get a little warm.”
“A-all right.”
Master Ronandt uses Fire Magic.
He operates it expertly, to burn the thread around the guide without harming her.
At least, that’s the plan.
“Hmm? It isn’t burning?”
Lesser magic or no, spider thread is supposed to be extremely flammable, yet the web remains intact.
“I shall increase the firepower, then.”
Flames surge up from Master Ronandt, wrapping around the thread.
Dazzling light fills the dark cave passage.
“Oh dear, that’s a bit too strong.”
The guide manages to escape, albeit with partially burned clothes.
The problem is that the flames have now spread along the passage.
“Now I’ve done it.”
“Agreed. If the monster is in there, it will surely be enraged.”
In that case, we can forget any hopes that it might be friendly.
Meaning that taming it would be effectively impossible.
“If we’re lucky, perhaps this web was already abandoned, too.”
“One can certainly hope. Since it has yet to appear, either it must be away at the moment, or else it has stopped using this one entirely.”
That would be good.
If the adventurers’ claims are true, this spider apparently roams freely around the labyrinth.
And supposedly, it may even use Teleport.
I’ve never heard of a monster being able to use Teleport, which only a handful of humans have mastered.
If it’s true, that means if it’s away right now, it might teleport back here at any moment.
“Everyone, be prepared for battle at a moment’s notice,” I tell the soldiers. “We must be ready for anything.”
“Oh, no need to worry so. As long as I am here, you need not fear any monster.”
Normally, Master Ronandt’s confidence would be reassuring, but in this situation, it just seems delusional.
The thread burns out, and the fire disappears.
With the fire gone, we carefully proceed down the path.
The charred remains of the thread covered a considerably long distance.
“So it’s difficult to set fire to, but once it does catch, it’s rather brittle.”
“Yes, so it would seem. The flames have apparently spread quite far.”
Continuing along the path that seems too long to be called a nest, we come to a large open area.
“What is this?”
“The entrance to the Middle Stratum,” a guide responds.
Now that I think about it, the air is rather hot.
The path we’ve been following appears to slope gradually downward.
“Hmm?”
There’s something there, farther down.
It’s hard to tell what exactly, because of the downhill slope, but there are several large somethings lying about.
“Everyone, be ready.”
The troops get into formation and cautiously approach.
I stay back with Master Ronandt and the guards, pulling out an Appraisal Stone from my breast pocket.
“Oh-ho. An Appraisal Stone, is it? And a level-8 one, at that.”
“Yes, Appraisal is indispensable for a summoner. Do you use it as well, Master Ronandt?”
“Indeed. I have the skill at level 8.”
“That’s very impressive. Since I use an Appraisal Stone frequently, I’ve garnered enough proficiency to reach level 3, but 8 is really quite something.”
“I’ve raised it in my many years of studying magic. Only at this age have I finally reached 8. Perhaps it would be more prudent to spend one’s time using Appraisal Stones than leveling up.”
“For an ordinary person, no doubt. So, what does your Appraisal tell you of that?”
I point up ahead.
At the corpse of an enormous spider monster.
“The corpse of an arch taratect, it seems.”
Arch taratect.
A legendary monster beyond S rank, just one step below the queen taratect.
Its danger level is S.
And this one has been reduced to a mangled corpse.
Not only that, but there are also three greater taratect corpses nearby.
As well as the corpses of many other taratect-type monsters, too many to count.
“And look closely. Do you see that? It looks as if it’s been partially eaten.”
I hadn’t noticed from this distance, but apparently, Master Ronandt did.
“Which means that something not only defeated an arch taratect but preyed upon it.”
A shiver runs through my body.
A creature that preys on S-rank monsters?
Could such a beast possibly exist?
If we ran into a creature like that…
…we’d be through.
Even with super-elite forces and humanity’s strongest mage, there’s no way anyone could defeat a monster like that.
We should withdraw now.
But my judgment comes a moment too late.
The nightmare incarnate teleports right in front of us.
The spider monster appears before the corpse of the arch taratect.
Compared with the huge arch taratect, it’s rather small.
Its entire body is black, except for a white pattern on its back.
Terrifyingly, the pattern looks just like a skull.
Of its eight legs, the two in the front are bigger than the others and taper off into the shape of scythes.
And its eight red eyes are glaring right at us.
My body instinctively cowers away at the sight.
I can see the men in front shaking in their boots in spite of their orders to be “ready for anything.”
But I can’t blame them.
How could anyone help trembling when a thing like that suddenly appears before them?
The monster looks like a monarch, ruling over everything around it.
Just a glimpse of it is enough to set you trembling.
It’s just like the reports said.
Even without Appraising it, I could tell in an instant.
That’s not the kind of monster the likes of us can do anything about.
“O…ooooghhh?”
Hearing a strange moan, I turn to my right to see Master Ronandt staring at the monster with wide eyes and trembling intensely.
So even he’s fallen victim to the fear this monster brings?
The terror that creature inflicts on us isn’t just due to its appearance.
It must have an Intimidation-related skill, but I’m still shocked even someone as powerful as Master Ronandt wouldn’t be able to resist it.
“Master Ronandt?”
“How… How can this be? Such power, such power… Impossible. What is this creature?”
“Master Ronandt!”
“…Yes, yes. I apologize.”
“What’s happened to you?”
“That monster…it seems relaxed, yet it has a truly immense amount of skills activated all at once. Impossible…”
Master Ronandt must be able to see the monster’s active skills in a way I cannot.
From the way he’s muttering to himself, he doesn’t seem to be in his right mind.
It doesn’t appear to be an effect of the Fear condition, but it still does not bode well.
Because the spider monster, which seemed calm enough at first, is starting to look angry.
This is bad. It’s getting ready for a fight.
And the soldiers, sensing that anger, automatically ready their weapons.
It’s no use. At this point, I don’t see any hope of befriending this creature.
Suddenly, a strange sense of discomfort overwhelms me.
Is this…Appraisal?
But who?
Could that monster be Appraising us?!
How is that possible?!
I have never heard of a monster that can use Appraisal.
To confirm, I use my own Appraisal Stone.
But the results of the Appraisal astound me.
Absurdly high stats.
A vast number of skills.
We don’t stand a chance of defeating something like this.
“What?!” Master Ronandt shouts.
Apparently, he activated Appraisal at the same time I did.
His mouth hangs open in shock.
“H-Height of Occultism?!”
Master Ronandt seems to be particularly taken aback by one of the skills held by the monster, the “Ede Saine.”
Personally, I’ve never seen or heard of that skill.
But that isn’t all.
The Ede Saine has multiple skills I’ve never seen before.
In addition, there are several I am familiar with that are very high-ranking.
And that still isn’t the end of my shock.
It happens as I’m partway through looking at the skill list.
Suddenly, the Appraisal results disappear, replaced by the phrase <Appraisal Blocked>.
I’ve never heard of such a thing.
“W-wait! Show me more, more!”
“Master Ronandt!” I exclaim urgently. “Please, come back to your senses!”
The mage seems to have gone mad.
At the same time, I shout to the men.
“Retreat! We can’t beat this thing! Retreat at once!”
But the cry comes too late.
The eight soldiers at the head of the group collapse.
I don’t know what happened to them.
The Ede Saine didn’t seem to be doing anything.
It was just standing there, staring at us.
And yet, that was enough to cause eight men to fall without a moment’s notice.
What sort of skill is this?
Since I wasn’t able to look at all of the creature’s skills, I have no idea what’s causing it.
But either way, the monster isn’t stopping there.
The Ede Saine begins to do something strange.
It’s like it’s peeling off its own skin.
This bizarre sight terrifies the soldiers.
One of the soldiers, overcome with fear at seeing his comrades fall, charges at the Ede Saine.
But his sword never reaches the creature, instead breaking on a wall of earth that rises from the ground.
Wait. From what I saw of the skill list, the monster didn’t seem to have Earth Magic.
There was a kind I’d never heard of, Abyss Magic, but I believe I saw all of its other magic skills.
And Earth Magic definitely wasn’t among them.
“What?!” Ronandt bellows. “It created magic from scratch without using a skill?!”
I can’t believe my ears.
Is that really possible?
Even the strongest human mage alive is clearly disturbed.
No, this can’t be something normally possible.
This is no time to be stingy with my skills.
I have to bring out all my trump cards if I have any hope of surviving.
Even then, I’ll consider myself lucky if I make it through.
Summoning. My Summoning skill is at level 4.
In other words, I can summon a total of four monsters to this place.
My best hope is to use the monsters to buy time for the soldiers to escape.
But how long can I hold off a beast like that?
My summoned monsters appear.
Kirekock, a bird monster.
Rock Turtle, a tortoise monster.
Feveroot, a tiger monster.
Suiten, a water wyrm.
All of them powerful monsters, which I would never normally use lightly.
I’m sorry, all of you. Go!
As I order my summoned monsters to attack, I once again shout at the soldiers to withdraw.
Kirekock’s Wind Magic lands a direct hit on the Ede Saine.
This surprises me at first, but when the dust kicked up by the magic attack clears, I understand why.
The Ede Saine is unharmed.
For that monster, Kirekock’s magic wasn’t even worth dodging.
Still, it bought us some time.
Thanks to Kirekock’s leading attack, the slow-footed Rock Turtle has reached the front lines.
Rock Turtle’s high defense is its selling point.
With the shield in place, the other three monsters commence their attacks.
Kirekock’s Wind Magic swoops down from the sky, while Suiten’s Water Breath brings a burst of scalding steam.
Feveroot attacks directly after the first two shots land.
Its excellent speed and high attack power are on display as it jumps at the Ede Saine.
An earthen spear rises out of the ground to meet it.
Unable to react in time to its sudden appearance, Feveroot is impaled by the spear.
Immediately after that, Kirekock falls out of the air.
As quickly as if something had struck it down.
It crashes violently into the ground, emitting an unpleasant sound as it sinks in.
What’s going on?
Just like that, Kirekock is crushed by an invisible force.
Meanwhile, Suiten continues to unleash Water Breath.
But the Ede Saine seems utterly unconcerned.
It slowly turns toward Suiten and fires a Wind Magic spell.
First Earth, and now Wind?!
As I look on in shock, the Wind Magic blows away the breath attack and Suiten along with it.
Only Rock Turtle remains.
But it isn’t moving. It can’t.
Appraising it to determine the cause of its strange behavior, I discover it now has the Paralysis status condition.
Not only that, but all of its stats are rapidly decreasing.
Its HP, too. In just a few short moments, the tenacious Rock Turtle is reduced to a husk.
My summoned beasts, who have overcome so many trials with me, have all been slaughtered.
And yet, it is not sadness nor anger that rules my mind right now.
It’s fear. Shameful, and inexcusable toward the poor beasts that died for me.
But even knowing that, I can’t seem to resist the fear that wells up from deep within me.
I want to run away from this place right now.
However, as the leader of the force, I cannot flee before my subordinates can get away.
My soldiers started to evacuate in the short time the summoned monsters bought for them at the cost of their lives.
But not quickly enough.
They’ve struck Master Ronandt over the head to bring him back to his senses, and he’s begun preparing large-scale teleport magic to evacuate the troops.
Still, it will be a little longer before all the troops fall back into the range of the Teleport spell.
Just a few short seconds remain. But in those seconds, a nightmare unfolds.
Earth and Wind Magic fly about wildly.
They seem to be shooting off at random, yet each shot takes another soldier’s life.
Other soldiers suddenly collapse without being hit at all.
It’s the same mystery attack that took down Rock Turtle.
An attack that was able to drain even Rock Turtle’s high HP in an instant.
Unable to withstand it for even that long, the soldiers collapse one after another.
Magic flies toward Master Ronandt as he prepares the teleport magic.
Knowing that my MP will soon run out, I summon more monsters to shield Master Ronandt.
The magic attacks come again and again.
Each time, I summon another monster.
I drink an MP recovery potion, then another.
I summon as I drink. My MP gradually recovers.
However, the amount consumed is higher than the amount recovered.
A spell, a summon, a spell, a summon.
After countless repetitions, I finally run out of beasts to summon.
And yet, the magic attacks don’t stop.
On the contrary, there are clearly even more than before.
As I look around for answers, I find that Ronandt and I are the only two left alive.
“Master Ronandt.”
“We have no choice. I will at least bring the two of us back alive.”
Ronandt tries to activate the Teleport spell, but the Ede Saine appears directly before him.
“Master Ronandt!”
“Eh?!”
A jet-black spear shoots toward him.
It’s full of a horrifying amount of magic power, making those Earth and Wind spells look like child’s play.
And it’s headed straight for Master Ronandt.
Ronandt is too focused on constructing his own spell to avoid it.
And I’ve used up all my summons, so I have nothing left to use as a shield.
The rest happens in the blink of an eye.
I use my own body to block the dark spear.
My body seems to burst open.
The black spear pierces right through me to attack Master Ronandt behind me.
Master Ronandt’s right arm and part of his flank are blown away.
Throwing myself in its path must have altered its trajectory just a little.
Master Ronandt looks anguished as he activates the Teleport spell.
The world around me warps. I close my eyes instinctively, and when I open them, we’re not inside the labyrinth anymore.
“Huh?”
People gather around us in shock.
“Someone, bring healing items or magic,” Master Ronandt commands, his face twisted with pain.
This must be the empire’s magic research lab, then. Immediately, there’s a clamor all around us.
“You must hold on a bit longer.”
Master Ronandt uses Recovery Magic on me.
“Nearly half your upper body’s been destroyed. I’m amazed you’re alive.”
“Guh…”
I try to say something, but all that comes out of my mouth is blood.
My body slowly begins to recover.
My HP creeps out of the red as well.
As Master Ronandt ignores his own wounds to heal me, other healers rush over to treat him.
I breathe a single sigh, completely exhausted.
There were a great deal of sacrifices, but we survived.
“What good is it being the ‘strongest human mage’? I couldn’t do anything, not a thing…”
As my consciousness fades, Ronandt’s bitter voice echoes unpleasantly in my ears.