Chapter 168 - Great Demon Realm (3)

Explorers.

People who enter the Labyrinth to hunt monsters and bring back magic crystals. Most ordinary people assume fighting monsters is the hardest part of the job.

But...

“If you actually ask explorers, you get completely different answers.”

The lack of light. Not being able to sleep when you want. Meals like animal feed and pent-up sexual urges. Sweat-soaked bodies and filthy bedding.

“It's less of a problem on the lower floors, where expeditions are shorter. But the higher the floors explorers visited, the more likely they were to say those things were harder than combat.”

“Hmm, I see.”

“Yes. Apparently, starting from the seventh floor, even major clans generally spend a month resting in the city after each expedition.”

As someone in that line of work, I could certainly understand.

But...

“So?”

It was the afternoon of day twenty-two. More precisely, it was mealtime, and I had just pulled some jerky out of my bag to eat. What was she getting at, bringing this up now?

She wouldn't be doing this for no reason.

“If you want something, just say it.”

I gave her a look telling her to get to the point, and Raven answered with a strangely determined voice.

“Let's have a proper meal today. Not jerky, but something cooked over a fire.”

Well, so that was what she wanted.

Just like a mage, making such a production out of saying she wanted something tasty today.

After a moment's thought, I answered.

“All right. Let's do that.”

“Even if you're the leader, Mr. Jandel, you still need to ask the other team members what they... Huh? What did you say?”

“I said all right.”

“Oh, really?”

Raven's eyes widened, apparently having expected a refusal.

Well, she must have known her request was a bit unreasonable. This wasn't the fourth floor. There, we had cooked every day, sometimes even grilling meat kept fresh with Preservation magic...

But the fifth floor, the Great Demon Realm, had an open-world layout.

“Are you really sure? If the smell spreads, there's a good chance the monsters won't even let us eat in peace.”

“You... What exactly do you want?”

“N-no... I was thinking I could probably deal with the smell to some extent using magic.”

Now I saw it. She had just wanted to tell me that.

Anyway, once we settled on cooking a meal, Aynar, who had been anxiously listening in, gaped.

“So this is a mage...?”

Apparently, she was impressed that Raven had won my permission with just a few words...

'Now that we're on the fifth floor, we do need to improve this side of things.'

In truth, it was something I'd already been considering. Our expeditions now lasted a full month, after all. I needed to pay attention to the team's stress levels, too.

When people grew irritable, even trivial things could set them on edge.

“Then we'll leave it to you, Miss Karlstein. Let me know if you need water or fire or anything.”

“Hmm, could you make the fire a little bigger, nyah?”

“Will this do?”

Soon Misha, our team's official cook, began preparing the meal with Raven's help.

On the menu was tomato stew packed with meat.

“It's delicious again today!!! Misha! Won't you marry me someday?”

“What are you talking about, Aynar? Miss Karlstein is going to live with me.”

“Uh, I'm glad you're enjoying it, but neither of those options really... nyah.”

Misha trailed off and glanced at me.

“...”

“...”

For the record, Mister Bear and I stood guard while they ate. Not a single monster appeared before the three of them emptied their bowls.

“Hmm, there's really almost no smell. What sort of magic is this?”

“I adapted air control and combustion spells. I gather the smell in one place and burn it away.”

“Hmm, I see.”

Mister Bear was delighted that we could enjoy decent meals even on the fifth floor.

So was I. Honestly, I was thoroughly sick of jerky by now.

“Now, you two should eat as well. We'll stand guard this time.”

The two of us sat down and helped ourselves to bowls of stew. As befitted a barbarian and a macho older fellow from the Black Bear Tribe, five minutes was plenty. Once again, no monsters appeared before we finished.

That wasn't solely thanks to the odor-removing magic.

'... There are fewer monsters overall.'

I'd noticed it over the past few days. There were far fewer monsters on the fifth floor than in the game.

Of course, I had a good idea why.

'Fucking clan bastards.'

In the Great Demon Realm, monsters respawned from mirrors located in each field, then spread out into the ravines.

But with clans monopolizing those hunting grounds and killing everything as soon as it spawned, hardly any monsters made it outside.

'... Well, that did help me find this sooner.'

I grinned at the moss growing at a bend in the path. It was different from the other moss we'd passed.

Red and green moss grew there in equal measure. And where the two met was a marble-sized patch of black moss.

'The problem is how to steer things this way naturally....'

While I was considering that, monsters appeared up ahead.

Eight rank-six Hell Hounds.

Picture tiger-sized wild dogs with four eyes. Their bodies being wreathed in black flames was an added bonus.

[GRRRRR!!]

“Prepare for combat.”

We'd killed so many of these monsters over the last few days that we went straight into battle without needing a briefing.

It took about ten minutes to finish.

“Are we going farther down now?”

Raven asked about our plans, and I thought for a moment.

We still had plenty of time before we needed to camp. How could I keep us here without making it seem strange?

'Tsk. If it weren't for that odor-removing magic, we'd be fighting monsters right now.'

I was smacking my lips at the thought when it happened.

'... Huh?'

The black moss at the bend disappeared, as though something invisible had picked it up.

'... It's here already?'

I quickly gave an order.

“Raven, I get the feeling there's something near us.”

“What? What do you—”

“Try using detection magic.”

Perhaps it was because of the trouble the masked man had caused us on the fourth floor. Even though my order was based on intuition, Raven cast her spell without questioning me.

“Dire Taniv Karsachi.”

A wave of mana spread outward in a circle. Soon, her expression turned serious.

“There is something. Right up ahead.”

“A person?”

I asked, feigning ignorance. Rather than answer, Raven cast Track.

WHOOOSH!

Clumps of light clung to empty air like clay. Before long, the light faded, revealing the creature that had been hiding there.

“... Huh?”

It was a squirrel, about the size of a six- or seven-year-old child.

It sat hunched in front of the moss, nibbling the black patch with its front teeth.

[SQUEAK?]

Perhaps sensing our gazes, the squirrel tilted its head.

“Ah...! It's so c-cute, nyah!”

“It looks delicious!”

Misha and Aynar exclaimed simultaneously.

Then Raven shouted excitedly.

“It's a Millar Rodent! We need to kill it right away!!”

Yes, you understood just how hard this thing was to find.

“Oh, right... It's a monster too... nyah.”

Misha raised her sword with a somewhat sorrowful expression.

Mister Bear, on the other hand, loaded his crossbow faster than ever.

Raven wasn't the only one who recognized its value.

“We're lucky. Finding a Millar Rodent on your first expedition here.”

“W-wait! Spellbend! I haven't cast Spellbend yet!”

Raven stopped Mister Bear and quickly recited an incantation.

Not just ordinary Spellbend, but Greater Spellbend. Now there was a higher chance the monster's corpse would remain intact when we killed it.

[SQUEAK, SQUEAK!!]

The moment Spellbend hit it, the Millar Rodent went into a fit.

Maybe it was an instinct etched into its DNA. Most of its ancestors must have croaked after getting hit with this.

“Avman!”

A crossbow bolt flew at my shout. But, true to its nature as one of the Labyrinth's few herbivorous monsters, it nimbly dodged.

I immediately dashed forward and grabbed its tail.

[SQUEAL! SQUEEEAL! SQUEAK!!]

It struggled, letting out frail cries.

Doing this really did make me feel like I was hurting an animal...

But what could I do? This was the way of nature.

I smoothly reached out, intending to crush its head and kill it.

“Wait!”

Raven stopped me.

“Could you kill it with as little damage as possible? I hear its hide sells for quite a bit, too.”

Just what you'd expect from a mage who valued rationality.

I readily agreed and restrained the Millar Rodent by its neck and tail.

Then...

“Misha.”

“H-huh? D-do I have to do it, nyah?”

“Your blade is the thinnest, isn't it?”

Aynar used a greatsword, and Mister Bear's bolts were too big to really call bolts. My mace went without saying.

This was still a monster, after all. Killing it cleanly with an ordinary knife would be difficult.

“Stab it between the eyes.”

“Ugh...”

Misha looked distinctly uncomfortable, but in the end, she drew her sword and put it to rest.

[SQUEAK...]

The Millar Rodent went limp, as though its power had been switched off.

I swallowed and counted.

'One second, two seconds, three seconds....'

By now, it would normally have been registered as dead and vanished into light.

“Bjorn!! We got meat!”

The corpse hadn't disappeared.

* * *

The rank-seven Millar Rodent. A squirrel with a mirror on its back.

Like the Mimic, it was classified as a Rare variety, because finding one was damned hard.

“Hehe, we caught an incredibly rare monster thanks to you, Mr. Jandel. Have you ever caught one before, Mr. Urigfried?”

“This is my first, too. That's how rare they are.”

Even Mister Bear, who had spent years on the fifth floor, had never hunted one before.

Considering its habits, that made sense.

It was a non-aggressive monster with permanent stealth. And if you kept detection magic running, it wouldn't even enter the spell's range. You practically needed a miracle to encounter one.

Assuming, of course, that you didn't know about the black moss.

'All you have to do is wait here and cast one detection spell. Guaranteed catch.'

Of course, that was easier said than done. I had only discovered the method after being stuck on the fifth floor for over a year.

The game was full of hidden pieces, after all. Convinced that the Millar Rodent might have specific spawn conditions, I went through all my recordings. In one, I noticed moss disappearing from the terrain.

At first, I wondered if it was a bug...

'This game is seriously twisted.'

After checking, I found it wasn't a bug but a hidden feature. Casting detection magic as soon as the moss disappeared revealed a Millar Rodent one hundred percent of the time.

Whether Spellbend succeeded was another matter, of course.

“Beginner's luck must be on our side. Even Spellbend worked on the first try—”

“Greater Spellbend. Not ordinary Spellbend.”

“Ah, yes. Greater Spellbend...”

In the game, Spellbend had a twenty-percent success rate on Millar Rodents. Even Greater Spellbend didn't quite reach thirty percent.

I'd expected to have to kill three or four before getting a corpse.

“Anyway, could you hand it over?”

“You know how to butcher them, too?”

“I did it every day as an apprentice.”

Under Raven's butcher knife, the limp corpse was separated into hide, organs, and bones in no time.

She was far faster and more precise than Rotmiller.

Wow. A specialist really was in a different league.

“But which part of it is so expensive, nyah?”

“The hide is in demand because it's rare, and the tendons are used as magical ingredients. But... the truly valuable part is something else.”

Raven finished the butchering by cutting free the mirror attached to its back hide.

“This mirror.”

“The mirror?”

“Yes. We can't take it back to the city, but it's incredibly useful inside the Labyrinth.”

Raven then explained the mirror's purpose in detail, and I watched with satisfaction.

'Is this why you need a mage on your team?'

Things went so much more smoothly. Before, I'd had to explain every last detail myself. Whew. Could I finally live like an ordinary barbarian now?

“You must have good instincts too, Mr. Jandel.”

“Hm?”

“There's no way you could have actually sensed the Millar Rodent.”

Raven gave me an odd look, but let it pass without any particular suspicion.

Since she'd experienced something similar on the fourth floor herself, she apparently didn't think it was impossible.

Okay, that was taken care of.

“So how do you use this?”

In the game, you just equipped the mirror on a mage and clicked a button.

How did it work in real life?

“Uh, I'm not sure either.”

Huh?

“The book didn't go into that much detail. Maybe it'll work if I channel mana into it?”

“... Give it a try. Ah, wait. Let's cast Unity first. Just in case.”

“Good idea.”

After renewing our Unity magic, Raven held the mirror and closed her eyes.

She seemed to be channeling mana into it... but as a barbarian with no magical aptitude whatsoever, I couldn't feel anything.

Then, after some time had passed, there was a flash.

The mirror emitted a brilliant light that engulfed us.

And when I came to my senses...

「Your character has entered the Mirror of Fire.」

We had left the darkness-filled Labyrinth and were standing in a vast wasteland.

“With the surroundings changing so suddenly, it feels like we've entered a rupture!”

That was Mister Bear's assessment.

But this place was distinctly different from a rupture. For one thing, it had no Guardian, nor was it laid out like a dungeon.

It was an open world simply teeming with monsters.

In other words...

[“Go somewhere else, barbarian. This is our clan's territory.”]

This was the world beyond those mirrors, where clans sat around scooping up every monster that emerged.

I had always called this hidden field...

“Bjorn! Monsters are coming from every direction!”

“Prepare for combat!”

The Burning Zone.

「Field Effect - Otherworld is applied.」

「Magic crystal drop rate greatly increases.」

「Essence drop rate slightly increases,」

Let's get exactly two Essences to drop. No more, no less.