Chapter 10

"Hero and want to be hero, your challenge lies before you," I can hear Zen's voice like he is speaking over an announcement system. "Conquer the Cradle of Trazayuya and defeat me to earn your prizes."

I look at Satou, and before I can even say a word, he transforms into the mask-wearing person who helped me take down that demon. So it was him. Before we can even begin to speak, both Pearl and Henry wake up. Looking down at them, they seem to be confused like I am as to how we got here.

"Are you two okay?" I ask as soon as they are standing.

"I'm fine," Pearl says, glancing around the area taking everything in before her eyes narrow on Satou.

"I'm okay as well," Henry replies looking at Satou too. "Are you the person from the maze that aided Hero Kura?"

"…" Satou doesn't say anything and just nods his head.

"It's fine. He appears to have been brought here like us by the undead king," I tell them, but they still seem wary of him.

"Fine, but something feels off about him. Keep your guard up," Pearl replies relaxing slightly, but her hands still grip the hilt of her sword.

"We should head back to the city and gather reinforcements," Henry suggests, but I stop her and point to the ground.

A ring of shadow encircles the area giving me a bad feeling. I don't know why but if I were to guess, I would put it down to my Danger Sense ability, but I know that getting near those shadows will be dangerous. I have a skill that should let me disarm traps, but I doubt it will work.

"It doesn't look like we will be able to escape until we defeat him," I tell her and to prove my point at that moment, a small bird tried to cross the shadow circle only to be dragged down into the void.

"Void trap…" I hear Satou mutter.

"We should keep moving," I say, and Satou and Pearl nod. "The sooner we beat him, the sooner we will be free."

"What are you saying? We need to stay here for help,"

Henry was the only one to object. She's shaking. I walk toward her and put my hands on her shoulder.

"Henry, I know it is not the best situation to be in, but we need to push forward," I tell her. "We can find shelter, food and water up ahead, and I promise you that I will keep you safe."

"But I… if we go in…."

"Henry, look at me," She meets my eyes. "I will protect you, and we will get back to Seiryuu City alive."

"O… okay…." Henry says with a blush as she steps back. "Let us get moving then. Oh, wait, one moment." Henry stops and says many words speaking too fast for me to understand, before a golden eagle appears hovering above her. "This is my friend and familiar. I am not that good in a fight, but I can use healing magic, and Goldie here can scout ahead for us."

"Sounds useful," Pearl comments as Goldie flies ahead of us and we start to move.

<0>

We enter the tree and are imminently attacked. We barely had time to take in the sights of the dark, dusty hall before a group of Flying Ants attacked us. Huh, how can I suddenly see their names, levels, and health bars? It must be because of what happened in that dream. I don't question it for now and take in the enemies. They are all level five, and… hey, I can get more information by focusing on them. They poison, and acid attacks, the acid burns, and the poison is the paralysing type. At the same time, their bodies are protected by a rigid exoskeleton.

Still, it isn't as bad as it was before. It turns out Satou had the items I ordered and sent to the inn before that demon showed up, and I became a hero. The beginner's Alchemy Set and books were useless, but I feel safer wearing the leather armour I brought. Luckily it fits under my robes, so I still get the magical recovery effect from them.

There are six Flying Ants in total diving down from high above, with several more watching from the ceiling. Satou brings down one with a fire shot spell while I take out two more with my Lightning Strike. As for the three that made it down, Pearl cuts down two of them, and Goldie takes out the last. Unfortunately, we don't get a moment to breathe as twelve more dive down on us.

I fire my Ice Storm taking down seven in total. I really should have used that spell last time. Satou takes down another with a fire shot and two more with some kind of gun. I'm sure he will tell me about it later, so I will stay focused on the fight for now. Pearl and Goldie take down the remaining two, and we move on with no other threat present.

"You guys are really strong," Henry mutters as we start to climb what I am sure was once a grand staircase.

"It is just experience," I tell her. "I'm sure you will be just as strong when we get out of here."

"I hope so,"

The second floor is filled with more ants, but we force our way through, and Henry is starting to gain some more skills and levels. She has risen from level twelve to level thirteen in only ten minutes. This must be that goddess's doing because I can see her's and Pearl's stats, skills and levels. After about two hours, we take a break after reaching the tenth floor. We could have kept going, but we needed to let Henry rest after her level jumped to level twenty, causing her to fall prey to level up sickness.

We stopped for an hour, giving her recovery potions but she is still not fit for combat when she can finally move. We move on with Pearl and me taking turns in helping Henry walk. She really needs to rest longer, but we don't have the time or safety to give her the rest she needs. Henry agreed to move on and insisted on it, constantly apologising for holding us back. It didn't matter how much we assured her that this wasn't her fault. Henry still blamed herself.

Pushing open a set of heavy metal doors leads us into another large hall filled with monsters. This time multiple armoured suits are moving by themselves. Living Armours. I quickly learn what they are called as soon as I look at them, and they are level twelve. Behind the suits of armour is a Living Armour Knight riding a horse who is at level fifteen.

It seems easy enough to deal with them. I cast Lightning Strike, and my spell travels from one monster to another. Until only the Living Armour Knight is left. I managed to damage it but not kill the monster, but Satou quickly shot it with that strange gun, finishing it off. It fell to pieces, but the cores were intact, so we quickly collected them and were about to move on before Satou stopped us. He somehow finds a hidden door and leads us through it.

Everything is covered in ivory, and there are so many twists and turns, but Satou somehow knew where to go. He leads us all the way to a small chamber where some large cacoon lays. There is nothing else here, but Satou stops like we have arrived exactly where we should have.

"Don't hide. Come on out," Satou tells the cacoon, prodding it with his toes.

The cacoon opens up in response to Satou's actions, blinding us with a bright green light. Something steps out. I can't tell exactly what it is, but it is small and looks like a child.

"Oh, come on, don't bother me. I don't have much magic right now, you know. We can fight some other time."

"I'm sorry, but I can't do that."

"Ughh, I'm telling Traya about this. I'm not gonna go easy on you!"

It was a child, or at least that is what it appears to be at first glance. But then I notice her skin is green as the blinding light fades. The child looks more like a plant than a person despite her humanoid body. Bright green eyes glare at us as a blooming flower opens up on top of her head. She is not human. I didn't need that pop-up information to tell me that. This girl is a dryad and a level twenty-one, so she is no pushover. But then she lightens up when she takes a closer look at Satou.

"Are you a human? You should be mine!"

"Come again?" Even Satou looks taken aback by that. "I'm sorry, but if you're proposing to me, I'll have to ask you to wait another fourteen or fifteen years."

"I'm hungry. Gimme food!" Well, this girl knows how to change the subject quickly.

"All I have is some dried meat. Will that do?"

"I don't need your dumb human food. Gimme magic!" Well, she does have powers like "Charm Person," "Drain Spirit," and "Drain Magic." That must be how she feeds. "It'll only hurt for a second, then it'll start to feel good. Come on, please."

"All right. How does it work?" I get a terrible feeling when Satou asks that.

"Like this," Before anyone can react, the girl kisses Satou. "Phew, I'm stuffed!"

The kiss only lasted for less than a minute, but the girl seemed happy, and I believe she might have slipped her tongue into Satou's mouth. Still, when she breaks away, she looks proud and smiles mischievously. Puffing out her flat chest, I would even say the girl looks proud of what just happened. But since Satou had his back to us, I don't think anyone became aware of his identity.

"As thanks, I'll open the corridor for you! You wanna use it, right?"

"Yes, please do."

At least that wasn't for nothing. She moves some vines out of the way, revealing a hidden passage. Unfortunately for Satou, he appears to have gained a rather unfortunate title.

The room we are led to appears to be some kind of laboratory. It doesn't look like it has been used for a long time due to all the dust and cobwebs. At least I don't see any spiders crawling around. Still, the musty air in the room is a smell I can do without. The area was fully equipped with a dining room, a bedroom, and a bathroom. Zen had probably never been to this place, judging by the dust covering the floor.

The lab's library was full of books and written notes. Still, most of them had become so deteriorated that they were impossible to read. It is a shame since most of them were spellbooks, but I did manage to find a book on wind magic that is still in a readable condition. We didn't find anything else, so we left with nothing but a few damaged books. At least Henry has recovered enough to walk back herself while we were there.

"Oh? Welcome back," Sprawled out on a bed made of ivy, the Dryad rolled to the edge of the bed and draped her arms over languidly. "That was fast. Did you wanna smooch some more?"

"No, I'll pass. I just want to get to the upper floors. Is there a portal or something, by chance?" Satou asks as we file back into the room.

"Right there," Looking bored, the Dryad rolled over onto her back and nodded lazily, pointing at one of the room's corners. The spot in question was a little flower bed in the centre of a circle of mushrooms. "Just stand in the middle of that fairy ring." We do as the Dryad instructs at step inside the circle. "What floor do you wanna go to?"

"If possible, I'd like to get to where the master of the Cradle is," Satou requested, but the girl shook her head.

"Oh, no, no. I can't do that," The dryad replies making an X symbol with her arms.

"Then send us up as high as you can," I say once we are in position.

"That would be the one-hundredth floor, in the Guardian Knight's Area. The guardian there is strong, so be careful."

"Sure, not a problem," Satou says, and the rest of us nods our heads.

"Well, don't say I didn't warn you," She shrugged and muttered.

When the Dryad's spell was complete, the fairy ring produced glowing green spores, and they blew around like a whirlwind, creating a cylinder of light. When the light faded, we arrived at the one-hundredth floor. It doesn't seem fair to be dropped right into the middle of a boss room, but we did ask for this, so none of us has the right to complain.

In front of us stood a giant iron golem with a level of thirty and a damage reduction ability. It is the perfect tank and even had a large steel shield to add to its defence. Just to its left are three women who could be identical triplets, but when I focus on them, I learn these girls are Homonculus and not really human. The women were level seven. According to the information displayed, they had Foundation type skills and abilities. All three had the Magic Manipulation skill. They shared the title Zen's Puppet. They are shocked to see us and jump up from playing some kind of wooden block game, accidentally knocking over whatever it is they were building.

"Just a moment, I do declare." One of the women spoke up unusually, putting out her open hand to stop us.

None of us moved too surprised by the turn of events to make a move. Even if we did want to move, the only staircase leads back down. Each of the three women equipped a belt that held a rapier-like sword over their short, simple dress. The handles of the swords were carved with a fashionable relief designed to look like a rose. They put on gauntlets and greaves but, for some reason, nothing else. As soon as they were dressed, two of the women who had finished putting on their equipment carried the table into a corner of the hall while the third started up the golem. Although all three had the same rapier equipped, only one had the "One-Handed Sword" skill. The other two had Polearm and Spear instead.

Now fully booted up, the golem raises even higher until it is ten feet tall, raising a massive axe as its eyes glow blue. It doesn't look like the golems I am used to seeing in games and anime. Its body is rougher, consisting of patchworked metal held together by large rivets. With their arrangements complete, the leader of the women drew her rapier and brandished it in our direction. Clearing her throat with a cute little noise, the woman speaks to us again.

"I am impressed that you made it this far, Sir Labyrinth Explorer. Miss hero and companions,"

"I'm just a merchant,"

"I'm just a friend,"

"A merchant… a friend…." The women were taken aback and looked at one another uncertainly. After exchanging glances silently for a while, they seemed to arrive at some conclusion. They turned back to us and continued. "…Sir Labyrinth Explorer. Miss hero and companions! We are impressed, I do admit."

So they are still going with that.

"You have earned the right to do battle with the guardian, I do declare. If you can defeat the guardian, you will be entitled to proceed, I do acknowledge. The winner will receive a reward from our master, I do promise," The woman continues. "Now, you must fight. Iron golem, there is no need to hold back."

The golem hurts my ears as it roars to life. It sounds like a loud motor has started, and black smoke billows from the back of the golem.

"Number Six, Number Seven, use 'Body Strengthening' and station yourselves to the left and right. We're using Formation Z," The leader of the women orders.

The women dispersed to three sides of the room, and a light glowed on their bodies. I saw that a little magic circle appeared on the foreheads. As I watch them get into position, I can't help but wonder if they are wearing bras. Each woman is well endowed in the chest area, and those impossible lumps sway back and forth freely. As I see Satou's eyes drift there, I have to fight the urge to cover his eyes, knowing I will need him during this fight.

The golem had finished its approach and raised its axe into the air as if to punish him while he was distracted. But Satou doesn't panic. He calmly raises that strange gun and fires. In an instant, the golem stops moving before falling to pieces. Oh, I see what he had done. There are letters on the golem's head. METH. I don't know what letter he shot out, but now it spells dead in Hebrew.

"Impossible! I do exclaim."

"This is why I said we should hide its weak point, I do remind you."

"For now, we must determine a course of action, I do insist."

The three women standing against the room walls clearly hadn't expected me to win so quickly and were starting to panic. Heck, even I thought it would be a more challenging fight. I guess that made sense. They would panic. He just destroyed the main force that was their level thirty golem without batting an eye, and the three of them were only level seven.

"Number Five, Number Six, leave this to me and proceed without me, I do declare!"

"Number Seven! We will not forget you; I do withdraw!"

"Number Seven, I believe you mean 'retreat without me,' not 'proceed without me,' I do jest!"

The women turned their identical faces toward us. New magic circles of light appear on their foreheads, and above the magic circle, transparent Magic Arrows appear.

"Fire!"

The three of them yell out, firing a range of arrows that force us to duck for cover. Without waiting to see whether they'd hit their target, Numbers Five and Six turned on their heels and started to flee. They leapt onto ropes hanging from the back wall and jammed their feet into the knot at the bottom. Immediately, they were yanked upstairs as Number Seven charged at us with her rapier.

Number Seven aims for Satou, but he effortlessly dodges out of the way, striking her in the abdomen with the palm of his other hand. Number Seven lost consciousness, and he caught her in my arms. He looks around before spotting a bed in the room, where he quickly moves to set her down. Now that everything is over, I can't help but feel disappointed that everything ended so quickly. At least we have some good loot out of this disappointment. We each walked away with two health potions and one magical recovery potion. I also found a bracelet that gives me minor stamina and MP recovery. With this bracelet and my robe, I should have no problem when it comes to restoring my MP.

Hearing faint sounds behind us, we turned around to see a spiral staircase descending into the centre of the room. I guess this is where we need to go next. It was nice of them to give us a chance to rest and loot the area. We all gather at the base of the stairs and ascend together.

<0>

The room on the far side of the fairy circle was made of ivy like the one the Dryad had occupied, but it was a bit different. This area had a cocoon, too, but the shoots forming it had withered and dried up, and all that lay in the cocoon's bed was a brown, mannequin-like husk. We had fought through countless floors to get her, with Peal and I gaining two levels and Henry two. It was all for nothing as the Dryad here had already perished. That was what I thought until Satou poured water over the dried-up corpse to bring the girl back to life.

"Water!"

"Huh?"

Small white hands shot out and grabbed Satou's as he tried to put his water canteen away, pulling it up to a small mouth. The little face, which had looked like it was made of clay, began to change as it drank the water. In a matter of minutes, the corpse turned into the shape of a little girl. She looked just like the Dryad we had seen on the lower floor.

"Okay, now gimme magic!" And she is just as greedy, quickly pulling Satou into a kiss. "Oh? You gave magic to the me downstairs, too."

"The me downstairs?" Satou asked the girl.

"We're all me! You, humans, are the ones who're weird, splitting into individuals like that. Trees and spirits and such are all connected, you know. I just can't contact them unless I have magic."

"Hey, can you send us up to a higher floor?" Satou asks, and the girl nods.

"Yeah, sure. Wait a sec— Hmm…it seems like something's interrupting my connection. If I had an elf with Forest Magic, I could send you wherever, but right now, it looks like I can only get you as far as floor one hundred and eighty."

"That'll work. Thanks."

"Leave it to me!" She declared, puffing out her chest confidently. We stepped into the fairy ring and were teleported to the one hundred and eightieth floor.

Well, it becomes clear why we can't go any higher. Something has chewed up all the plant life as if an infestation has taken over the floor. I was guessing this bug-eaten section was why the Dryad's connection was interrupted. Pearl and Henry only have to kill the odd insect with Satou's gun and my magic as we force our way forward through the swarm. There were so many of them that I was afraid they'd overrun us. Probably impossible because of the difference in our levels, but I still didn't want to be covered in bug guts. We didn't collect the cores because we didn't want to get covered in bug guts, but I'd probably defeated at least a hundred of them when I reached the next grand staircase.

<0>

It took us nearly a whole day, but we finally made it to the top, where Zen was waiting for us. Some girl was on the throne that Satou seemed to know, judging by his reaction. I'll have to ask him about her later. For now, she doesn't seem to be endangered. She is just unconscious with a fatigue status.

"I didn't think you would make it up here so quickly."

"Oh really?" Both Satou and I mutter at the same time.

It would have taken us at least several days to get her if we were normal. Zen looked surprised, but we simply shrugged.

"I don't suppose there's any way that you could return Mia to me without a fight?" Satou asks, but Zen only laughs.

"No, certainly not. By defeating the iron golem, you've demonstrated that you are qualified," Zen says. "However, you do not have the right title to fight me. I'll have to have your friend." He turns to me. "You hero of the hero of the Shiga Kingdom. Defeat me, and I will give you this. The Holy Sword, Gjallarhorn."

Zen held out the sword in his hands, still in its scabbard. The scabbard was shaped like a long, narrow cone. I had heard of this sword before from the earl. The king who'd founded the Shiga Kingdom had made it, if I remember correctly. After Zen spoke, his shadow spread out to the centre of the room. Then, three iron golems appeared from inside. Unlike before, there is no writing on their foreheads. Seven identical women join them, including the two that retreated earlier.

"However, you must fight me alone,"

Before we can react, we are teleported again. This time I am moved forward while the others are sent backwards. My friends are so close yet so far away with that same shadow trap from before keeping us separated and those golems and girls getting ready to engage them. In front of me, Zen take a step forward.

"Take Gjallarhorn!" Zen says, throwing it forward, so it sticks into the ground right in front of me. "Use it to fight me! Earn the right to wield that sword and kill me if you can!"

He doesn't wait for my response and rushes toward me. I barely have enough time to grab the holy sword and evade him before Zen shatters the ground where I once stood with a single punch. Zen quickly sends several shadowy whips my way, so I pour some magic into the holy sword and slice them in two before they reach me.

"Most wonderfully done," Zen says as he rights himself. "You have learned how to use the holy sword so quickly."

"Were you after a hero with a holy sword all this time?"

"Yes,"

"Then why wouldn't you just go to the Saga Empire instead of going to all this trouble?"

"Hmph, the hero of Parion? He had already been sent home by the time I arrived," Zen shakes his head. "I had no choice but to do this?"

"I heard there is another one now," I remember the earl telling me all about him when he taught me about the Saga Empire. "You could have sought him out."

"Is it that season already? Such unfortunate timing,"

"What do you mean by that?"

"Even if I explained, you wouldn't understand," He attacks me with more shadows, so I drop the subject.

"Well, Undead King? Do you really just want to die?"

"The answer to that is both yes and no," I really wish he would be more precise. Hey, why is he laughing now? "Ba-ha-ha-ha! Well, is that so? I see now. You are not the descendant of a hero but a fellow visitor from the land of the gods."

"I don't know any such place," He could mean Japan. I think I can remember it being called that at some point.

"Ah-ha-ha-ha, there's no use trying to deceive me. What did you pray to the merciless God for? What did you wish? What did you desire?"

"Nothing," I did meet a god in my dreams last night, but I didn't ask her for anything, even if she boosted my skills.

"Fwa-ha-ha-ha, how very selfless. Certainly unlike the heroes who came before you,"

"I take it you made a wish,"

"Surely you know? Do you not see it at this very moment? I am the king of the night, undead, immortal. I prayed to the almighty God for a body that would not die, a life without hunger, and the power to strike back against wanton violence."

"So that's why you were reborn in such a body?"

"You assume too much. No, God allowed me to be reborn as a healthy baby. Under his watch, I was raised by good, respectable parents. I was even destined to meet a brave and beautiful spouse of whom I was most undeserving," He tells me. "I became too accustomed to my new life. Even though my previous life had been stolen away so violently, I became convinced that this time would be different. I was imprisoned by a noble who had become smitten with my wife and executed for a crime that I didn't commit. When I was resurrected in this form by God's blessing, the first thing I saw was my parents' heads lined up along with those of the rest of my family. And underneath them, the body of my wife, thrown away like a broken doll…."

"I'm sorry," I say as Zen pulls down his hood and a tear rolls down his cheek.

"I have no need for your pity. I revived my family's bodies as undead monsters and those of many others who'd died under similar circumstances. I turned my fangs on the nobles who held all the power at that time, destroying everything," Zen continues. "After I obtained my revenge, I had intended to journey to the afterlife, where my wife awaits me. But the, God's blessing will not allow it. Even the Turn Undead spells of priests, even the Holy Sword I worked so hard to obtain, cannot bring me death. Truly, I have been cursed."

"I take it now you want me to kill you?"

"Hero, verily, you are strong. Strong enough that you might well lose yourself in your desire for more power. But do not forget this. Man is weak," He looks over to Satou, whose fight is coming to an end. "There is a girl in Satou's care. Pass on this warning to me. If he holds dear the girl who was with him, then be wary that you do not abuse the power the gods have given her." He turns back to me before looking down at his hands. "This power is too much for any human. Do not meet with a fate like mine…."

"I will pass on your warning,"

"Now then, hero. I have said all that needed to be said. Deliver the final blow! Destroy me before I am completely transformed into a demon lord!"

I step closer, ready to end this. Unlike before, I feel only pity and sadness as I cut Zen down. He doesn't cry out in pain or even looks hurt. Zen just smiles, looking up at the ceiling.

"I'm sorry," I mutter, but I don't think he hears me.

"Gah…ha-ha. Ena, my angel Liltiena. I will be with you again at last…."

Zen's body crumbled away like sand. A moment later, his empty robe fell to the floor. As the dust settled, I heard the words "I thank you…" echo faintly in the wind. I turn back to the others finding the Homonculus girls are lying unconscious on the floor while the golems are in pieces. Satou, Peal and Henry are running toward me.