บท 177: Oscar Orcus

Almost instantly Alex blew right through the hydras black head, destroying it completely. He knew the black head was one of the more dangerous ones, capable of inflicting mentally crippling ailments, while the white one was a healer and the silver one had an acid like ability. His plan was to keep the black head occupied while the healing head kept the thing alive to ensure they all had a part of its death. As the healing light shined on the black head it was swiftly restored completely, only to be destroyed once more less than a second later. This caused all the heads to turn towards Alex as if he was the biggest threat, until the girls made their move.

They each got the attention of their respective heads, red to Yue, blue to Grayfia, green to Anne, and yellow to Kuroka. The red head shot a blast of fire at Yue, who swiftly dodged and returned an ice spear in return. The destroyed head was quickly healed once more, but since she only had to worry about the one it wasn't too much for her to handle. Grayfia on the other hand had a large block of ice hurdling towards her, courtesy of the blue head.

"Promotion, rook!" Was all she said before thrusting her fist into the oncoming large block of ice, completely shattering it. She then kept forward and slammed her super powered fist, buffed with both her 'Superhuman Strength' skill and her rook promotion, into its head, popping it like a balloon. This time it took a few seconds for it to be regenerated, as the white head was starting to have a hard time keeping up. Kuroka was using similar tactics, as her head was the yellow one in charge of defense. It would use a barrier to defend itself and the other heads, but with so many opponents it was struggling just to defend itself.

"How's this~Nyan?!" Kuroka taunted, as she threw a touki infused punch at the head, effectively causing its barrier to disappear for a second. She kept up the attacks, alternating between touki and magic as she held the head off. The one everyone except Alex was concerned about though, was Anne. She hadn't fought at all since entering the labyrinth, and even though she told them she grew up fighting monsters the girls had a hard time imagining her fighting. If they were being honest, she was more of a pacifist than a fighter with her nature. What they saw her do however completely blew them away.

"Sky dragons wing attack!" She cried out, with both her arms being surrounded by whirlwinds that bore down on the green head, effectively shredding it. After it was restored by the white head it started attacking her with wind based attacks, which Alex smirked at. Unless it was a higher tier than the slayer themselves could use, it was impossible to defeat a dragon slayer with their native element. While the girls also watched with worry as the wind blades bore down on Anne, they watched what they thought was impossible as she grabbed the wind blades themselves, and stuffed them into her mouth. She then started "chewing" the wind she just stuffed into her mouth, before taking a deep breath and saying,

"Sky dragons, ROOOOOOOOAAAAAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRRRR!"

As her roar filled the room they were in, a violent cyclone of wind erupted from her mouth and engulfed the entire head, completely destroying it. Each of the girls present made note of Anne's prowess for the future, now realizing the usually kind girl was not one to truly anger. With this pattern they all routinely destroyed their claimed heads, with Alex swiftly destroying both the black and silver heads when it made its appearance, until Rias's 'Extinguished Star' was ready.

"I'm ready, clear out!" Rias shouted to the rest. While the girls cleared out, Alex stayed long enough to destroy the black and silver heads one lasts time, adding the white one as well to ensure they didn't come back. With four heads still alive, Rias delivered the killing blow as her attack bore down on it. Sensing the danger coming from the large eerie sphere, the hydra tried using attacks from its remaining heads to destroy it, to no avail. It was soon dragged into the sphere of destruction, and every single part of it was completely destroyed.

Seeing the destruction of her attack, Yue gave Rias a sidelong glance, reassessing the one she considered her rival. Anne was doing something similar, and realized this was probably why Rias didn't do much fighting when they first entered the labyrinth, her attacks were simply too destructive to be used in an enclosed space.

With the hydra destroyed, the doors at the end of the room opened and revealed an area beyond them. When they walked through the doors everyone was filled with a childlike sense of awe, even Alex who knew what they'd find there. The space they entered was an underground living area, with a large manor, a field for crops, a place that was possibly for animals, and even an underground water fall feeding a pond filled with fish. Looking down on them from the top of the massive cave was an artificial sun, giving light to the entire place.

"Amazing..." Was all anyone could say, before Alex spoke up while headed straight for the manor,

"This way, we need to head up to the third floor, then we'll start the work." Kuorka was dragged out of her stupor at his words along with everyone else, and asked,

"What do you mean work~Nyan?" Alex explained,

"I said I plan to use a base on the bottom floor of the dungeon, this is that. We need to make preparations to make the place habitable, such as replanting crops and such while checking out the house for useable items and resources. The first stop however is to get to where the creator of this labyrinth is, and get creation magic." Curious about the age of gods magic Alex kept talking about, the girls all followed him to the manor, then up to the highest floor. There they found the skeletal remains of the liberator Oscar Orcus, creator of the Orcus Great Labyrinth, sitting in a chair in the same room where a giant magic circle waited. Alex led the girls onto the magic circle, which immediately started shining. They were in the same place, but the skeleton in front of them was suddenly a live person instead, and started talking,

"Greetings, congratulations on overcoming the trials. I am Oscar Orcus, the creator of this labyrinth." The girls all felt surreal seeing the skeleton become flesh and blood before it started talking to them, while Alex felt respect towards one of the people who tried to stand against Ehito, regardless of how the odds stacked against them. He then went on to explain in more detail than Alex how they fought against the mad gods of this world, but were defeated because the gods used the very people they wanted to protect against them. After he finished his story, Oscar ended his talk by saying,

"Good luck, and I hope you would live in a future with free will." After he gave his farewells the recording suddenly ended, and they found themselves facing a skeleton once more. The girls all showed mournful expressions after hearing Oscar's story, but then several of them became distracted by something as the notice rang out,

[NOTICE, you have acquired Creation magic!]

As they were all checking their systems, Alex said,

"Before we get to work lets properly bury him, then we'll have a talk with Yue." The girls all nodded since they knew what Alex was going to talk about, while Yue just looked at him curiously and wondered what it was. She was then seized by a moment of brief panic, and thought he might say he didn't want her with them. Was it because she kept fighting with Rias? Or was it because she was a vampire and kept drinking his blood? Or was it because of some other reason? With these questions and more going through her head, they collected Oscar's remains and buried him near the waterfall with a tombstone.

Alex made sure to collect Oscar's ring before burying him, as it was needed to open some of the locked rooms. The girls looked at him incredulously until he explained the reason and stated,

"If I intend to fight the God eventually, I doubt Oscar would mind me using his things. I'd like to think it would even make him happy his items helped realize his and his comrades dreams." They rolled their eyes at him, but didn't say anything. Before they explored the manor and grounds though, Alex sat everyone down and faced a strangely nervous Yue.