บท 73: Conquest of the Reisen Labyrinth

Jayr POV - Reisen Great Labyrinth - 2013

Dust drifts all around us, and numerous cracks are carved on the ground showing how intense was this fight, at the same time, all the floating blocks from Miledi's previous attack are still crashing down as they are no longer under her control, and we are now calmly looking at the huge golem that lays in the gigantic crater in front of us with my sword still impaled in its chest, waiting for the true controller to make its move.

While waiting for Milady, I pat Eri's head and say, "Your timing was perfect... Good job!", Eri closes her eyes and smiles, enjoying my touch then she says, "Un... I won't let myself become a burden... I'll become even stronger...", then she hugs me tightly with a clear intention of not letting me go.

While that happened between us, suddenly, a voice rings out of the golem, "Ummm~, although it's such a good atmosphere~, it's about to get dangerous for me, so can I have some of your time~?", it is the familiar voice of Miledi, and looking at the golem, I notice that the light in its eyes that was gone before has returned.

After a few seconds, she misunderstands our lack of action, for wariness, and says, "Wait, wait a sec, it's okay~. The trial was cleared! It's your victory! Because there is some power left inside the core's fragments, I wanted some time to talk~, it'll only take a few minutes", and as if to prove those words, Miledi's Golem is still completely unmoving, while the lights in her eyes parts are repeatedly blinking, like it could disappear at any moment.

Without waiting for our input she continues while giving off some kind of solemn atmosphere, "What I want to talk about... is more like a piece of advice. Even if you gather all Age of Gods magic from the Labyrinths you visit, do not underestimate the opponent... try to use all your power… because it will be necessary for defeating that shitty bastard…".

While saying this she acts like her power is almost exhausted, her words are gradually becoming blurred and more intermittent.

But, without worrying about that, I ask her, "All my power huh… Anyway, can you tell us the locations of the other labyrinths... Because a lot of time passed since I read of them, and I truly don't remember every location only Orcus, This one, and the one hidden in the forest...", hearing my question Miledi start to reply my question, while gradually Miledi's golem starts to lose the power in her voice, "Aa, there is that... I see the other Labyrinths' locations are now unknown… it's been a long time after all… Un, the locations… the locations are…".

Then Miledi slowly talked about the whereabouts of the remaining Seven Great Labyrinths that we have still to conquer then she says, "That's all… Good luck".

The current Miledi gives out an atmosphere as if she had no relation to the Miledi that prepared those annoying sentences and traps inside this labyrinth, with a completely different tone, filled with sincerity and seriousness, and listening to it I think, 'And she has also displayed it before the fight when she wanted to hear about my objectives... This is probably another side of her character... the noblest one, the one that made her bind her soul to these golems so that she could further test and train those that came here in hope of finding the ones that would truly try to defeat that shitty God and free this world...'.

As I'm thinking this, she continues, "Ahaha, I am sorry for my previous actions~. But… those shitty bastards… were truly unpleasant fellows… they only say unpleasant things… that's why, even just a little… I want you to get accustomed to it…", I move closer to the golem with Eri holding my arm and say, "Well you do not have to worry for me on that front... I have already fought against Gods with almost limitless power before... And can live to tell the tale... Compared to them from what I remember of Ehit... Well, he is trash... and I won't let him do as he pleases...".

Hearing that, Miledi says, "Fufu… that's good… it's okay as long as you can keep that promise… your choice… will surely… be the best… for this world…", and after she said this, the golem body is suddenly wrapped in a pale light and start to glows, then as if it becomes a bunch of fireflies, the light separates into smaller lights and ascend towards heaven.

It is similar to how a dead soul ascends to heaven, a very, very mysterious and beautiful scene, seeing this I think, 'Gotta admit that she knows how to put up a show...', and, at the same time, I slowly approach the Golem staring at those lights, and hear Miledi's voice as she asks in a whispery voice, "What is it?", and I in a similar tone say in respect for what she has done and lived through until now, for her alone, a great existence that kept waiting for hope at the bottom of the darkness, "Thanks for your hard work. You did well...".

Those words were truly unexpected for Miledi because I can clearly feel her blank surprise in the long silence that followed them, but after that long pause, Miledi simply replies in a soft voice, "…Thanks", to which I simply nod, then she says, "… Well then, … it's time… from now on… you should freely… do what you want…", these words are pretty similar to the one that Oscar left behind in his last message, then, Miledi becomes fleeting lights and disappears into the heaven.

Then Eri breaks the solemn moment by asking, "Now that we have gone through this farce can we finally learn the Age of Gods magic and leave this place?", and at the same time, I notice a light shooting out from a corner of the wall, and say while pointing at the wall, "Yes, you see over there is the exit...", then I retrieve my weapon and we walk toward it.

We jump onto the floating block on the upper part of the wall, and as soon as we land, the floating block that served as our foothold starts to move, carrying us toward the shining wall, surprised by the fact that the floating block is transporting us Eri mutters, "At least this labyrinth has a good after service...", but I reply, "Come on, Orcus wasn't so bad either, it had a fully furnished and comfortable summer villa...", and hearing that, Eri nods and says, "That is true...".

We quickly advance toward the shining wall, and after ten seconds, the floating block completely stops five meters in front of the wall, and following that, the shining wall, as if waiting for that timing, starts to lose its radiance, and, with a whistling sound, the part of the wall that is still shining start to split and in its place, appears a passage with glossy white walls.

Then the floating block slowly advances into the passage, going toward, hopefully, Miledi Reisen's dwelling where we will finally learn another Age of Gods magic.

After advancing for a while, we find a huge door, just like the door leading to Oscar's dwelling inside Orcus Great Labyrinth, there is even a similar wall with the same seven distinct patterns engraved on them.

Once we are close enough to the door, as if the wall was waiting for that exact timing, the wall slides to the sides, opening the way towards the interior, and the floating block continues advancing without stopping towards the wall on the other side.

What we find on the other side is, "Yahhoo, short time no see! It's Miledi-chan!", a cute small mechanical golem that has a smiley face and is dressed in bright robes greeting us.

(Image Here - Miledi Golem)

Both I and Eri already knew that she didn't truly die, so we already expected to see her here, and seeing our lack of reaction, she says, "Aree? Aree? Isn't the tension too low~? It's okay to be more surprised, you know~? Ah, is it that you are so surprised that you can't say anything? If that's so, then my surprise is a bi~g success ?", then Eri surprise me by saying in a tone totally lacking any kind of emotion, "Whoa... Miledy-chan is still alive... I'm so happy...", then she asks, "Is this good enough?".

But Miledi quickly shakes her head and says, "No way, no way, no~ way! Totally wrong~! I almost feel like dying seeing that kind of crappy act~! Especially after my great performance before~!", hearing that I nod and say, "Right that was a very good act, if I didn't know beforehand that you didn't die, I would have believed you... Especially the disappearing into the light part... That was a very iconic and beautiful scene..."

The small golem who has a lot more human features smiles and says while puffing its nonexistent chest, "Fufufu, wasn't that well prepared? That "production of the play"! Oh my, Miledi-chan truly has talent as an actress! What a frightening woman!".

While Miledi is still laughing hard, I ignore her and start to observe the room, it is white all over, there is nothing in it except a magic circle that is carved on the floor in the center of the room, the only other thing is a door-like thing on one part of the wall, that I guess it the one leading to Miledi's dwelling that is on the other side of it.

I slowly approach the magic circle then start to study it, and then, I hear Miledi drawing close as she says, "You~ it's not good to examine it without permission... I keep looking at it so intensely you have to take responsibility for it~", but then she quickly jumps back as a black dagger impale itself into the ground, then Eri moves forward from behind my back and picks up the dagger and says, "I won't allow it... In this world, I'm Jayr's only woman, and the only one that can keep those hoes away from him, it is better to keep temptations away from him... Even if I personally like you I won't allow you to get close to him...".

I let out a sigh and move forward and pat Eri's head to stop her and say, "Eri, stop! She is just joking... In fact, she isn't even attracted to me... I can clearly remember that she is in love with someone else...", she shivers and looks at me sniffling a little, she says, "… Jayr, please stop... I won't kill her... It is just that you're such a 'monster' in bed that I can clearly feel that I'm not enough for you... So I get scared that you will abandon me one of these days when you grow bored of me...".

Seeing her still so insecure, I hug her and say "You do not have to worry about that... I may be lustful, but I won't give up on any of you for another... As long as you want to be with me, I'll always be there...", Eri shakes her head and says "No! You are wrong... No one sane of mind will want to leave you...", then I hear her whisper something but it is too low for even my sense to fully catch it, as the sounds that Miledi is making in the background cover it.

Eri POV - Reisen Great Labyrinth - 2013

While in his warm embrace, I can clearly feel his own insecurities, it's like he thinks he doesn't deserve our love only because he can't fully commit to only one person, but that is just wrong, he clearly told me that he love two other girls, but even so, I can also see and feel that he cares and loves me, and I have never felt so much care and love before in my life, he for sure has enough love for everyone that will fall under his charm, but not everyone is qualified to receive such love, and he is too good to reject them, in fact, he even accepted someone like me.

Realizing this I shake my head and say, "No! You are wrong... No one sane of mind will want to leave you...", then whisper "And I will deal with everyone that dares to take advance of you with every means possible...", and think, 'I wonder what kind of girls are that Saori and Seika... From what he told me, they seem to accept and embrace everything about Jayr, his good and bad sides... But only when I'll meet them will I see if they are truly qualified to be at his side together with me!'.

Jayr POV - Reisen Great Labyrinth - 2013

As I'm hugging Eri, I hear Miledi says, "How cute~ Seeing you two like this warms my old heart~... But can you stop ignoring my presence~? Eto... Okay, fine... I'll activate the magic circle now~", and a somewhat annoyed Miledi stop joking around, and finally begin to activate the magic circle, seeing this, we look at each other and then enter the shining magic circle at the same time.

This time, because Miledi herself knew we cleared the trial, there is no need to search our memories like that time in the Orcus Great Labyrinth, and soon I feel the information on how to use the Age of Gods magic as they are directly carved into my brain.

After a few seconds, the process finally ends and we easily obtained Miledi Reisen's Age of Gods magic, and Eri next to me mutters "This is… Magic to manipulate gravity as we expected", hearing that Miledi says, "That's ri~ght. Miledi-chan's magic is gravity magic. Use it well… is what I wanted to say, but you don't have the best aptitude for it~ You have to work hard to make it somewhat work, and only in a very limited scope! While Jayr-chan, with some training you can easily master how to use it".

Having heard Miledi's somewhat serious explanation, I could only nod and think, 'That is true... My aptitude for Age of Gods magic in general is quite good... But from what I can feel, I won't be the best at it... As Hajime where his aptitude for Creation Magic is unparalleled but for the rest he is quite shitty... But, I'm also sure that this change when I enter into my Cosmo-Mana Mode... I still didn't fully test the effects it has on my Age of God magic aptitude, but I know that it changes my water, darkness, and ice aptitude to an all element one, so it is probable that the same will happen...'.

Then I look at Miledi thinking about one particular scene I have read that I still remember and suddenly asks, "Miledy... would you like to be reunited with the other Liberators?", hearing my question, Miledi stops in place in silence for a few seconds then she shakes her head and dejectedly says, "Even with all the right Age of Gods magic that isn't possible... in most cases, there is no longer a body for Restoration Magic to work on, my body was turned into ashes, like many others, only O-chan skeleton remains... And while it is possible to bring someone back from the dead with Spirit Magic that is also limited to the time of death, and too much time passed since they are gone... It is impossible... moreover some of them also wouldn't want to resurrect...".

Hearing that, I nod understanding her worries, but then I say, "That isn't actually true... Maybe in this universe, it is impossible... But by mixing the abilities of other Universes something can be done... And even with the powers of this world something can be done...", even in her golem state, I can clearly feel the intensity of her stare as she asks with none of her joking attitude present, "What do you mean? Explain yourself!".

Following that, I look at her and explain, "From what I know, in this world, there are two magics that allow a form of resurrection. Restoration Magic, which allows the user to restore the state of anything to either its previous or original condition by manipulating its time... So with it, we can restore Oscar's body to its peak condition, but of course, with his soul gone reviving him is impossible, and Spirit Magic, which allows the user to manipulate the soul of a living being directly... Or like in your case with your body gone, your soul was transferred in this golem body giving you a somewhat immortal life...".

And listening to my explanation, Miledi nods and says, "That is right, I have thought for a long time on how to help them, but I reached the same conclusion as you, and now 2000 years passed since they died, nothing left of them...", I nod but then say while looking at Eri, "But what if someone with a strong talent in it uses Spirit Magic and tries to summon the souls of the Liberators... and in case they are damaged or not whole we use Restoration Magic to fix them?".

Miledi again stops moving and lowers her head, then she mutters, "Well... If there is truly a small trace of them left... Something like that is theoretically possible...", then she looks at me and says, "But who can do some..." but stops as she notices me still looking at Eri and understand what I'm implying and asks, "Her...?", then she remembers what she has seen in the Labyrinth and exclaims, "A Necromancer!!".

I nod and pat Eri's head and say, "Yes, and quite a talented one at that... On her own, she invented an original Necromancy magic spell through personal research alone, a spell that can be regarded as a degraded version of Age of Gods magic... What do you think she will be able to do with the true Age of Gods magic and a little bit of time?", hearing my genuine praise, I notice that a happy and proud smile appears on Eri's face, and see that Miledi now stands rooted on the spot, her golem body is now lightly trembling.

Then I continue, "And I can use a medical technique from my Universe that allows me to completely regenerate the body of a person even if it is completely destroyed, I just need to know how they were before... an information that I can easily get from their souls... so there is still hope...", at that moment, Miledi looks back between me and Eri, then she asks still in her serious tone, "And what do you want in exchange...?".

I smile and say, "Simply that you and the other become my friend and allies and that you enjoy the rest of your lives... I truly do not know what to expect from the other Champions, they could become so strong that can easily destroy this Universe, join forces with other powerful individuals from other universes... or even join forces with other Champions... So in case I need help, I want to have as many friends as possible willing to lend me a hand", then I offer her my hand and ask, "What do you say?".

For a few seconds, I continue to feel Miledi's stare, then she moves closer as she rustles her chest pocket and pulls out a ring from it, then she takes my hand while giving me the ring at the same time and says, "Deals... If you can really revive O-kun and the others, I promise that at least I will become your ally until I die! As for the others you will have to convince them yourself...", I nod and shake her hand saying, "Deal...".

Then I give a quick look at the ring that she gave, the proof of this Labyrinth conquest, it is a big ring that has a design of upper and lower ellipses with a stake piercing them, then I look at her and say, "Thanks... By the way... If everything goes well, another party will come here challenging the Labyrinth, a young man, and two women... He is the one that would have killed Ehit if I and the other Champion didn't make our appearance, and he is a Synergist like Oscar... So give them a hand if they need it", hearing that, Miledi start to grin as she says in her usual tone "Fufufu~ Then this Oneesan will for sure prepare a lot of gifts for them~", and I shudder at the thought of what they could really go through in this Labyrinth.

Then, trying to make her focus on something else so that she won't torture Hajime so bad that he will truly try to kill her, I ask, "By the way... How do we get out of here? You know I want to get to the other labyrinths as soon as possible...", but the next moment, I feel that I made a mistake.

And indeed, I feel Miledi grin as she joyfully says, "Ee~i, I wanted to talk some more with you! But since you are in hurry, go back already!", then Miledi turns on her heel with all of her might and runs toward the wall.

She elevates the floating block that we used to come here and starts to float toward the ceiling.

Then Miledi grasps the string that unbeknownst to me now hangs down from the ceiling, then she pulls it, then an unpleasant sound we've already heard many times before resounds, it is the sound of an activated trap.

The moment the sound rings out, it is followed by a somewhat familiar roar, and next water gushes out of the four walls with tremendous velocity.

A large amount of water gushes out like a flash flood, not from the front but diagonally above, and the room is filled in no time with a rapid current, at the same time, the magic circle in the center of the room sinks like an antlion's nest, and in its place, there is a hole in the center of it, and the rapid current rushes toward the hole.

And I quickly notice what is it, 'She is really flushing us out... Really nasty till the last seconds...', at the same time, I hold onto Eri and whisper, "Keep calm...", then I use water magic to make a bubble around us so that we can easily breathe underwater.

Next, I finally realize what this room really is, a white room with a hole in the middle of it, also the water that whirls and flows into it, this is just like a toilet, then I hear Miledi say, "See ya~, good luck on conquering the other dungeons~. Come back soon~", and see that she is winking at us as we quickly sink inside the currents.

Soon after we got flushed like filth, we are now begin swept by the rapid current into a tunnel-like place at tremendous speed, we obviously can breathe underwater thanks to my spell, so we only had to advance while submerged in the water, while I control the bubble so that it won't crash against the wall.

While we are simply guided by the currents, I see many shadows pass by, and say "Those are fishes... It seems the place we are swept into is an underground vein that is connected to rivers and lakes all around the Reisen Gorge!", however, unlike us who were washed away, the fishes are boldly swimming inside the rapid current and come to pass them by.

Then I notice a particular fish that moves closer and stops in front of us, it is a human-faced fish that has oldman-like eyes, looking at it Eri says, "What is that thing?".

I don't avert my gaze from it and reply, "Some kind of monster maybe...", meanwhile I and the old man fish continue to advance inside the rapid current while staring at each other, then a voice resounds inside my head, 'Just what are you looking at?', there is also the sound of a click of the tongue, and I realize that this is some kind of sentient monster so I simply use telepathy and reply, 'Sorry for staring, this is just the first time I saw someone of your race and got curious... That was rude on my part... Anyway nice to meet you my name is Jayr...'.

Because of the sudden telepathy, the fish's eyes twitch for a moment in response, then it followed by shifting its gaze from Eri in my embrace to slowly looking back at me, then he says telepathically, 'You show some manner... Good grief... All the youngsters should be like you... Anyway, apologies accepted, my name is Lehman, nice to meet you...'.

Then Lehman asks, 'I want to ask one thing. You, why can you use telepathy? There's no sign of the use of human magic… It was as if you are the same as me', and since I have nothing better to do, I explain that I'm able to use it by eating the monster that was capable of using telepathy.

He looks at me for a few moments that he says '… That's a lot of hardships for someone so young...', it seems that he is sympathizing with me, he thinks that I was so poor that there was no choice other than eating the monster meat.

Then I spent the rest of the time chatting with Lehman while making sure that Eri is fine, I asked many things, for example, does a monster have a clear will? How were the monsters born? Are there any other monsters people that we can communicate with?

Lehman's answers were that most monsters didn't have a clear will, he didn't know any other monsters that could understand human language other than his species, moreover, he didn't know how the monsters were born, then he went away after saying goodbyes.

We got along quite well so much that in the end, he called me "Jay-boy", and I decided to respect his old age and call him "Mister Leh".