Chương 195: Miledi Raisen

"Shishishishi, so did you live? Don't tell me someone died? Bufufufufuf, how pathetic of them!"

"MILEDI!"

Shia shouted as she smashed yet another sign to pieces after they all avoided yet another trap. Her actions were ultimately fruitless just as with every other sign she smashed the last several days, as a few minutes later it simply reformed. No one said anything about her doing so however as they all felt the same way, with even Alex starting to lose his patience with this labyrinth. As he already knew what to expect he wasn't too affected by the traps and the taunting of the signs, but after a week of this he was starting to get annoyed. First there was the storm of arrows when they first entered the labyrinth, then there were the blades hidden in the walls, poisoned arrows, spike pits, scorpion pits, acid pits, even a giant ball rolling down the tunnel to smash them. All of these were mostly considered inconveniences, but the constant taunting from the signs while they seemingly never got closer to their goal wore on them.

"If this person were alive they'd soon learn the meaning of the word 'retribution'!" Even Grayfia said in irritation, earning several nods of agreement from those gathered. Alex said nothing, and continued making his way down the current path they were on. Normally they might've finished it already, but the labyrinth would occasionally shift its rooms and send them back to the starting line to retry the traps all over again. While Alex could've simply smashed through the walls until they found the end, he didn't want to "cheat" too much and risk everyone not passing the labyrinth, so they did things the hard way.

"This wouldn't be nearly as annoying if we could use magic like normally." Rias said bitterly, while Yue reluctantly nodded. The inside of the labyrinth was the place within the canyon that had the strongest oppression against magic; though everyone was strong enough they could still use magic to an extent, it was a lot less powerful than originally and a lot more taxing. This was particularly hard on Rias and Yue, as they were the two that relied on magic the most as bishops. Alex was of course ok without it as well as Shia, Hajime's only issue was that the firepower of his weapons was lowered but was otherwise seemingly unaffected, similarly Anne could only make use of her close range attacks but was thankfully still able to use her telekinesis, while both Grayfia and Kuroka were now extremely glad Alex made them practice their close combat capabilities so much. Plus the labyrinth only effected magic, so Alex, Kuroka, and Grayfia were all able to use ki still to fly and attack.

With increasing tempers the group continued wandering the labyrinth as they were repeatedly shuffled around and antagonized, until they finally found a room that was distinctively different than what they had seen so far. In it was an altar with a yellow crystal on it and a large door behind it, seemingly leading to the next area. Other than that however was the multitude of what seemed like golem knights standing ready to the side, putting everyone on alert as they waited for the attack.

"Let's hurry, before the rooms change again." Alex said, making everyone recall they were on a time limit. They proceeded forward with both caution and haste, as they watched the surrounding golems for movement. As soon as they reached the center of the room, the now too familiar sound of a trap going off sounded out, and the eyes of the golems started glowing. As they were being surrounded Alex pushed everyone forward and told Kuroka,

"Try to open the door, we'll hold the golems while you figure it out." Kuroka nodded in confirmation before she started working, while everyone else started to easily keep the golems at bay. There was obvious haste and worry in their movements, not from fear of the golems, but of being sent back to the beginning after coming all of this way. After several painstaking minutes of waiting and fighting the seemingly never ending golems, Kuroka finally shouted out,

"I did it!" Prompting everyone to hurry through the newly opened door. It didn't shut after they passed through however, allowing the golems to swarm in after them. No one bothered worrying about this though, and kept hurrying towards the end of the passage while hoping the reset didn't happen. The passage ended at an enormous room with the next part a ways away from them. With help from Anne for those who couldn't use ki they all safely made it across, only to watch the golems knights swarm the air instead.

"Oy seriously? These guys are just too annoying!" Hajime said out of irritation, already preparing his weapons for the fight. That was interrupted however when both Shia and Alex suddenly shouted,

""MOVE!""

And pushed everyone off of the platform they were on onto another one. No sooner than that happened than a giant glowing red mass suddenly impacted it and destroyed the platform, making everyone thankful for Shia's 'Automatic Future Sight' that will automatically activate when her life is threatened, and Alex's Haki. Their relief was short-lived however when in the empty space below them everyone could suddenly hear something moving, and a giant golem king knight flew up with the same glowing red mass attached to its right hand, while its left held a giant morning star flail. At the same time the regular golem Knights swarmed the air around them to completely entrap them, ensuring they had no way out now. Normally this would be considered a hopeless situation, but compared to the traps and annoying signs left by Miledi, everyone agreed this was the best part of the labyrinth so far. Suddenly the large golem with its glowing eyes spoke up,

"Yahooooo, it's me Miledi~tan! It's nice to meet you all, and congratulations for making it this far! But sadly this is where it ends, since it's impossible for you to beat me! Shushushsushushu!" The large golem that claimed to me Miledi looked at them with expectant gazes, waiting for their exclamations of surprise or amazement at seeing her, but instead,

"Fufufufufufufufufu. I see, so you're the creator of this labyrinth, Miledi." Grayfia said as a silver aura radiated off of her. All around her Alex saw everyone else having similar reactions after having spent the last week being harassed by Miledi's traps and signs, some of which were more questionable than lethal, like falling into tubs of suspicious white goo. For an entire week they endured Miledi's antics, and now the origin of that suffering was in front of them, regardless of the form she apparently took.

"Wait what?" Said Miledi, put off by the unusual calmness everyone was showing at the situation.

***

Only a little bit later they were in another room made of white stone and Miledi was in a very different golem as Grayfia held her by the scruff its neck, as she was whimpering from the brutal beating she just received at their hands. She had never seen such unreasonable and overpowered people before, but there was a small consolation in being beaten by them.

"So you intend to fight those shitty gods?" She asked Alex, as he looked down on her new golem body after they trashed the last one. Now she was cloaked so they couldn't actually see her new body, but had a smiley faced mask on. Alex nodded, and said,

"I'm just traveling different world's while building a harem, and I have an idea or two regarding that God so I intend to beat him up." Hearing Alex's words Miledi nodded, convinced that Alex might fulfill what he said and fight the god. She then activated the magic circle in the room to grant them the age of gods magic she processed, Gravity magic.

[NOTICE! Gravity Manipulation has been upgraded to Gravity Mastery!]

Alex raised his brows in surprise, as his Gravity control made a monstrous increase after getting the age of gods magic, to the point it even changed the skill. Looking around he could see that the rest of his peerage members also got the notifications, while Anne also checked her own status and Hajime pulled out his status card. After doing so Hajime then shocked everyone when he declared,

"I want those induction stones you used for the golems as well, hand them over." Though none of them had any complaints about being rough towards Miledi, they also couldn't deny that Hajime was making himself sound like a villain now.

"Hey you're making yourself sound like a robber right now you know?" Miledi complained as she dutifully removed the materials Hajime requested. He then opened his mouth for more demands, but the back of his head was slapped by Alex who said,

"That's enough dumbass, I need to talk to her about something else." Miledi looked at Alex in a way that showed confusion even with a mask for a face, until he explained,

"Miledi about what I mentioned before, there's several comrades we have that are also challenging the labyrinths for training and to increase their strength. I'll pass along word to them not to actually kill you, but I wanted to give you a heads up." Miledi was silent for a few seconds as she processed Alex's words, before saying,

"Then it's looks like I'm going to be very busy soon! By the way I'll need a few days to repair damages before the next person shows up, and I won't be holding my strength back if they even survive making it to me, so don't blame me if they die, ok?" Miledi said as if with a smile, earning a few glares from the girls once more. Alex on the other hand shrugged in response to her words, but then mentioned the other thing he wanted to talk about.

"I only have a year here so me facing the god will happen relatively soon from your prospective, after that would you like to join us?" At his words everyone looked at him in complete shock, as even Miledi froze from his offer. In response to their confusion he only said,

"It just seems like it'd be better than staying trapped in a cave for eternity, or do you plan to die after your goal is met?" Miledi was silent for brief second before saying,

"I refuse!" She didn't say why but Alex could guess it was because she wanted to see her comrades once more after their goal was met just like he said. Though he couldn't recall all of the details, Alex knew Miledi was actually a very serious person along with her joker-like attitude, and had actually gotten her whimsical personality from the maid that used to serve her. He then said,

"Well if you change your mind I'll be back later, and a couple of things about my offer; first is that we'd most likely be able to grant you your old body back instead of a golems body, and secondly I think your comrades would want you to live a happier life than being trapped in a cave, at least really live a while longer so that you have some stories for them when you meet again." When Alex mentioned that she might be able to get her body back Miledi's mini golem body shook, but the biggest reaction was when he mentioned her comrades. She turned to say something but they had disappeared, leaving behind only a small cloud of mist.

Miledi's emotions were in turmoil as she walked to one of the walls and activated a hidden button, revealing a small room with several bookshelves and a single bed without even blankets on it. As her body was a golems she didn't require most necessities, and merely had books to pass the centuries. Her attention however was on the several photos that she had in the room, with several people in them. There were two in particular that she looked at, one with herself and the six other liberators, and the one who started her on this path, her red haired maid Belta Lievre.

"What should I do?" She asked the emptiness, as silence returned to her.