Chapter 4 (Part 2)

Smoke billowed from her chest as she flew backward, and the recoil sent Hajime flying in the opposite direction. He fired another anchor off at a nearby platform and swung himself up onto it. Then, he took a closer look at what had become of Miledi. Yue and Shea jumped onto nearby blocks as well.

"...Did you get her?"

"I definitely felt it hit, but..."

"I really hope this is the end." Yue looked cautious, while Shea seemed hopeful. Hajime's expression, on the other hand, was unreadable. As he expected, Miledi started drawing nearby platforms to her as if nothing had happened, and spoke to Hajime with a voice full of admiration.

"Maaan, that was close. I actually thought I was done for. If this dungeon didn't dissipate mana, and that artifact had been able to fire at full power, I really would have bit the dust. Yep, I'm a genius for spending so much time making my labyrinth like this!" All he heard from the Miledi Golem were words of admiration for herself, which Hajime paid no heed to. His expression was grim. Behind her regular armor plating had been another set of jet black armor. Schlagen hadn't even been able to scratch that. He remembered seeing that armor before.

"Hmm. So you're interested in this, huh?" Miledi noticed where Hajime's gaze was directed and pointed to her jet black armor as she spoke gleefully.

"Well..." she continued suggestively, but before she could continue, Hajime spat out a curse and answered her question.

"Shit. It's Azantium."

Azantium was the hardest metal in this world. Plenty of Hajime's own equipment was forged out of it as well. Even a light coat of it would be tough enough to withstand a full power shot from Donner. No wonder Schlagen didn't do anything. Breaking through Azantium was next to impossible, which made Hajime furrow his brows.

"Oh? You already knew about it? Well, I guess that makes sense. You beat O-chan's dungeon, after all. There's no way someone capable of using creation magic wouldn't know of it. Now, since you're finally starting to despair a little, how about we get started with round two!?" Miledi finished repairing her outer armor with materials stolen from the platforms and fired her flail while rushing forward at the same time.

"Wh-What do we do now, Hajime-san!?"

"We're not out of options yet, but we have to seal her movements first somehow."

"Okay, leave it to me." Shea was on the verge of panicking when she realized they lacked sufficient firepower. But Hajime still had a trump card up his sleeve. He'd need to stop the Miledi Golem from moving to use it, though. When he mentioned as much to Shea, she regained her composure for the most part, and together with Yue she prepared to jump out of the way of the flail. However—

"Not this time~" Miledi said in a singsong voice as she started rotating the block they were standing on.

Hajime and the others all lost their balance. The flail smashed into their platform with overwhelming force. The trio was flung away from their now pulverized foothold. Before Miledi could reel her flail back in, Hajime grabbed onto its chains. Yue used the crumbled remains of their old platform as a foothold while she used Updraft to carry her to safety. Meanwhile, Shea maneuvered to a nearby platform using Drucken's explosive bursts to propelher.

Next, Miledi followed up by swinging her heat knuckle down on them.

"Kuh!"

"Mmm!"

They managed to avoid a direct hit, but the heat of the explosion generated by the impact still scorched them. Even while they were crying out in pain, they didn't stop fighting. Yue used Rupture to hack away at Miledi's arm, while Shea activated Drucken's spike and drove it into Miledi's armor.

While Yue's Rupture managed to cut partway through Miledi's arm, it couldn't sever it. She jumped back to safety with a frustrated expression.

On the other side, Shea had managed to climb up Miledi's left shoulder, and aimed a swing right at her head. However, Miledi changed the direction of her gravity again, making Shea lose her balance and fall.

"Kyaaa!" Shea screamed as she fell. Hajime swung himself off the flail's chain and caught Shea in midair.

"Hajime-san!" Shea cried out joyfully. She was finally being carried by Hajime like she'd always wanted. Even though she knew this wasn't the time, she couldn't help but be happy. But of course, Hajime had to ruin the moment. He held her up with one hand, like he had the time he'd thrown her into a mob of monsters.

"H-Hajime-san!?"

"Do it again!" With a metallic whoosh, Hajime reloaded his arm shotgun and fired it again. He started rotating in place and used the centrifugal force to aid his throw.

"Hajime-san, you bastaaaard!" Shea let out a scream of enraged desperation as she readied Drucken. Just when she thought her wish had finally been granted, he'd thrown her to the wolves again.

Even Miledi was taken aback by the heartlessness of Hajime's actions. However, she still moved to intercept, and made a fist with her right hand. But before she could fire her heat knuckle, the chain that had returned to her along with her flail exploded.

"Wawawah!? What was that!?" Miledi cried out in surprise. When he had still been hanging on to the chain, Hajime had attached a large number of grenades to it. The force of the explosion blew half of the chain away and ruined Miledi's left arm. The shockwaves were powerful enough to throw her off balance. And it was at that very moment that Shea appeared with Drucken in hand.

"Uryaaaaaaaaaah!" With a spirited yell, Shea pulled Drucken's trigger, firing off a barrage of shotgun shells. The recoil accelerated her hammer to mach speeds.

Miledi reflexively raised up her damaged left arm to guard, but Drucken slammed into it with tremendous force, pulverizing whatever remained of Miledi's arm, shattering it from the shoulder down.

The force of her swing sent Shea spiraling through the air. Trying to get revenge for her destroyed left arm, Miledi swung her heat knuckle down on the defenseless Shea. But before she could reach, a jet of water surged up from below and struck the area that had been cut earlier. The second wave of water was enough to cut through it completely, so Miledi lost her right arm as well.

"Fufu, you let your guard down." Yue smiled triumphantly as she said that.

"You! How dare you!" Miledi's facade finally cracked, and anger spilled into her voice. Meanwhile, Hajime had used his anchor as a pendulum, swinging around on it to catch Shea. But he wasn't doing a princess carry this time. Instead, he held her beneath his arm like a sack of potatoes.

"Hajime-saaan, that was the perfect opportunity to carry me like an actual girl. Don't I deserve a reward? Read the mood a little."

"Please don't talk about me like I'm dense or something. In fact, why don't you learn to read the mood instead? You're always trying to twist every situation into an opportunity to satisfy yourself."

Shea started complaining the moment they landed, but Hajime shut her up with a tired rebuttal. For some reason, Miledi wasn't drawing nearby platforms to her in order to repair her arms. Instead, she was looking up at the sky, her eyes glowing brightly.

Hajime stiffened. I've got a bad feeling about this. Shea, who was standing right next to him, paled as well.

"Hajime-san, Yue-san! Run! She's making them all fall!" Hajime assumed Shea's Future Sight must have activated again. That could only have meant that something life threatening was about to head their way again. Hajime spared a quick glance at Yue, who was standing nearby, before readying himself.

A second later, it happened. The entire room rumbled. Rocks started raining from the sky. No, they weren't rocks. Miledi was bringing the entire ceiling down on them.

"Huh!? No way!"

"Fufufu, here's my revenge. Aside from the knights, I can't give multiple objects orders at once, but I can make everything fall. Try dodging this~" Miledi's words irked Hajime, but there wasn't any time to worry about her. There were a few platforms making up part of the room's wall, but its ceiling was made almost entirely of platforms. Each of those platforms was easily ten tons, and they were falling as thickly as raindrops. Cold sweat poured down Hajime's forehead.

"H-Hajime-san!"

"We've gotta regroup with Yue!"

Hajime hugged Shea close and swung down from his anchor toward Yue. Yue too, was jumping from block to block to try and reach Hajime.

Meanwhile, Miledi continued staring up at the ceiling. She'd mentioned it before too, but the way she controlled the platforms was different from how she controlled the golems. Judging by how quickly they adapted to their situation, the golems must have had some level of autonomy to them. That was why she could coordinate with them and give them sophisticated orders.

However, giving precise commands to things without autonomy was difficult, which was why she could only control one or two objects at once. Even giving orders as simple as "fall" to numerous objects took up all her concentration.

The time it took for her to focus also bought Hajime and Yue enough time to regroup. The moment the three of them met up the sky started falling.

Rrrrrrrrrrrrrrrummmmmbbllle! When the shaking finally stopped, it was replaced by a series of loud booms as the platforms started falling. Worse, because Miledi could control the trajectory to some extent, the platforms were heavily concentrated where Hajime and the others were standing. Considering the fact that Miledi probably didn't intend to kill herself too, Hajime guessed the space around her must have been safe. However, the falling rocks were nearly upon them, and they only had time to huddle near a wall. It was too late to try and make a break for her.

"Yue, Shea, grab hold of me! Don't let go, no matter what!"

"Okay."

"You got it!"

The moment they grabbed on, Hajime took Orkan out of his Treasure Trove. Then, he started firing missiles at the rocks coming down from the ceiling. Each missile found a mark and Hajime pulverized stone after stone.

The sky, which had been covered in gray stone, finally started to show some cracks due to Orkan's barrage. Slivers of sky could finally been seen through the blanket of stone. Hajime returned Orkan to his Treasure Trove and instead pulled out Donner and Schlag, firing both of them repeatedly. In order to increase their chances of survival by even one percent, Hajime accurately calculated where he needed to shoot to break apart the right fragments, then he shot them down with precision.

But even he could only do so much. The rocks were finally upon them. After making sure Yue and Shea were still hanging on tight, Hajime activated one of his special magic skills, Riftwalk. The world suddenly slowed down around him, and Hajime could make out each piece of death falling toward him.

Using the minimum amount of movement possible, Hajime nimbly weaved his way through the falling barrage. At the same time, he reloaded his pistols and shot aside the rocks he couldn't evade. He couldn't afford to make even a fraction of a mistake. Even the level of perception he'd had when he'd first learned Riftwalk in the fight against the Great Orcus Labyrinth's guardian wouldn't be enough. He would need to surpass all his limits to survive. Hajime activated another one of his skills, Limit Break.

Crimson light enveloped his body, then dissipated seconds later. Normally, Limit Break would triple his base stats, but because mana was dispersed upon being released from the body, it was rendered ineffective. That was because Limit Break achieved its effects by wrapping its user in an aura of mana. But it also wrapped the inside of its user's body with another layer of mana. Which meant that even if the strengthening was rendered ineffective, his heightened senses from using the skill remained.

He was breaking his limits in the very literal sense of the phrase. Naturally, this placed a huge burden on his body. Especially because he'd already enhanced his senses to the limit earlier with Riftwalk. Had his body not been transformed by monster meat, it would have broken apart from the strain of his own abilities. As it was, Hajime was still bleeding from his eye and nose because of the burden.

With fluid motions, he dodged death by a hair's breadth time and time again. This was all the more impressive because Yue and Shea were still clinging to him. He jumped from crumbling platform to crumbling platform with a godlike level of balance, sometimes even using the falling rocks as footholds.

Now that time was moving in slow motion, Hajime was able to see the cracks in each stone as it fell past. Having long since surpassed the limits of any human, Hajime continually found the one thread of life in a sea of death. To Miledi, who was watching from across the room near the far wall, it looked as if Hajime had been swallowed by the barrage of rocks. They fought hard, but I guess they just couldn't handle that kind of barrage. Slightly disappointed, Miledi released her hold on the rocks.

The few platforms that hadn't been totally destroyed floated aimlessly among the remnants of the fallen sky.

"Well, I guess it was too much for them after all. But if they can't even survive this, they'd never have been able to take on those bastards." Sighing, Miledi started searching for Hajime's corpse. But at that moment—

"I thought I already told you that I don't care about fighting those bastards."

"Huh?"

She heard a familiar voice. It was the voice of that arrogant white-haired boy that wore an eyepatch and used artifacts she'd never seen before. It was Hajime's voice. Miledi turned around, her voice a mixture of surprise and joy. He looked down at Miledi from his perch on one of the few intact platforms. He was bleeding from his eye and nose, but otherwise looked unharmed.

"H-How did you..." She was sure she'd seen him get swallowed up by the barrage of rocks, yet here he was, standing before her. Hajime smiled victoriously.

"I don't mind telling you... but don't you think you should be worrying about something else?"

"Huh?" she said again. But her confusion vanished an instant later when a magical attack slammed into her.

"Rupture!" Yue's cool voice rang out through the crumbling chamber, and multiple jets of water cut through Miledi's back, legs, head, and shoulders. Entire chunks of her armor were cut off.

"No matter how many times you try, the result won't change~ I'll just fix it all up when I fix my arms~"

"You won't get the chance to." Hajime fired an anchor at Miledi and reeled himself close to her. He was holding Schlagen in his right hand.

"Ahaha, this again? You know that can't pierce my Azantium armor." Miledi was still confident they couldn't win. She even let Hajime swing up to her and point Schlagen at her chest again. She didn't bother trying to block with any of her remaining platforms.

From her perspective, it made sense. The fact that Hajime's weapons couldn't penetrate her Azantium armor had already been proven. She assumed that because they were trying the same thing again, they'd exhausted all other options... But that negligence proved to be fatal.

"I know!" Hajime fired, and Schlagen's enhanced full metal jacket bullet slammed into Miledi's body. Like before, Miledi was blown away by the force of it. But this time, Hajime didn't fly back after firing. He kept theanchor firmly embedded to stay close to Miledi, then fired all of his prosthetic arm's shotgun shells into her chest. She was sent flying even further back, and crashed into one of the floating platforms behind her.

"N-No matter what you do, you still..."

"Yue!" Hajime ignored Miledi's words and shouted out to Yue. Yue jumped up and fired another spell.

"Freeze— Crystal Coffin!" She chanted the name of a spell meant to encase its target in a tomb of ice, but it was an advanced level water spell. In this labyrinth, Yue shouldn't have been able to use anything stronger than an intermediate spell. However, in order to restrain Miledi, they needed it.

The part of Miledi's back that was resting on the floating blocks froze, keeping her stuck to the platform.

"Wha—!? How can you use advanced level spells!?" Miledi shouted out in surprise. The reason Yue had been able to use the spell was simple. Like with Rupture, if she used water that was already present, then the amount of mana required to cast the spell went down. Yue had coated the block Miledi had landed on with water ahead of time. And when Miledi had shown an opening, Yue had doused her back with water as well. That was what her initial Rupture had been for.

Even then, it had taken up a huge amount, and Yue had depleted all of her accessories' stored mana to cast it. Panting, Yue retreated to a platform further away.

"Nice job, Yue!" Hajime stood on top of Miledi's chest and pulled his trump card out of his Treasure Trove. The object he pulled out was a two and a half meter long cannon. The outside was covered in all manner of odd knobs and switches, while the inside was loaded with a twenty centimeter wide jet black spike. There were four sturdy stands attached to the lower part of the cannon, while the middle part connected to his prosthetic arm, allowing him to operate it.

Hajime used the arms to hold it in place over Miledi, who couldn't move, and fired two anchors for good measure. All told, there were six stands firmly holding the cannon in place. Then, Hajime started pouring mana into it. Red sparks started flying off the cannon, and the jet black spike inside it started to rotate.

Whiiiiiiiir! The spinning spike let out a high pitched whirring noise. Hajime's smile was so ghastly that had Miledi not been a golem, she surely would have stiffened in fear.

This was one of the auxiliary weapons for his left arm, a pile bunker. With his compression synthesis, he had managed to fit a four-ton mass into a spike twenty centimeters wide and one meter long. The entire thing was coated in a thick layer of Azantium, making it the densest, hardest object on the planet. He ignited the massive amount of compressed blastrock inside the pile bunker and accelerated it with Lightning Field for good measure.

"Eat this." He drove the spike straight through Miledi's heart, as if he were staking a vampire.

With a resounding crash, his pile bunker pierced through Miledi's Azantium armor. Cracks spread around the point of impact, the damage spreading throughout the plating. The platform Miledi was stuck to had nearly shattered, the force of the impact pushed it down a good distance, and the friction of the spinning pile bunker created enough heat to make plumes of smoke rise from her chest.

...However, the light in Miledi's eyes was still burning bright.

"Ha...haha. Looks like even that wasn't enough. But well, props to you guys. You pierced through a good three-fourths of my armor, you know?" Her voice was shaky, but she tried to feign confidence. Internally, she was panicking. The pile bunker she'd just experienced had been one not fully accelerated by Hajime's max power Lightning Field. That was the only reason it hadn't penetrated all the way to her core. And yet, despair still didn't color Hajime's eyes. It was almost as if he'd expected it to not be enough.

"Now, Shea! Finish it!" Hajime put everything but the spike back into his Treasure Trove and leaped out of the way.

From above came Shea, falling from a great height. Her rabbit ears were flopping in the wind as she held Drucken high over her head.

"Wha—!?" Miledi instantly guessed what was about to happen. There was real panic in her eyes now, and she desperately tried to break free. Realizing that wouldn't work, she tried to move the platform she was stuck to instead, but she quickly realized it was too late. At the last moment she stopped struggling, accepting her inevitable fate.

Shea fired off multiple shotgun blasts to accelerate her even further, then slammed down her war hammer with all the power of gravity behind it.

With a thunderous roar, the spike sank deeper into Miledi. But even then, it didn't pierce all the way through. Shea squeezed Drucken's trigger relentlessly, blowing all of her ammunition.

Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang!

"Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!" Shea's scream echoed across the room. She poured every last ounce of her strength into her war hammer. Every. Last. Ounce.

The platform fell even further from the force of her blow. It crashed into the floor below at breakneck speed. Finally, the spike pierced through Miledi's last layer of Azantium armor. There was a satisfying crack as her core broke.

The moment the platform hit the ground, Shea somersaulted over Drucken and leaped into the air. Then, with her body strengthening focused on her legs, she kicked Drucken's handle, making doubly sure that Miledi was done for.

The spike drove even further into Miledi's chest, breaking the core apart, shattering it completely.

The light faded from Miledi's eyes. Shea let out a sigh of relief, then let the tension drain from her body.

She heard two objects land behind her and turned around. As she expected, it was Hajime and Yue. Shea broke out into an ecstatic grin and gave them a thumbs-up. Both of them smiled back and returned her gesture.

They were certain of it now. They'd cleared the final trial Reisen's labyrinth had to offer.

"Nice one, Shea. That last smash of yours was perfect. I might even respect you a little now."

"...Yeah, you did good." Dust as thick as smoke swirled about them as they talked.

A spiderweb of cracks radiated out from the crater that had formed when the Miledi Golem had crashed into the ground. Shea was exhausted enough that she had to lean on Drucken just to stay on her feet.

She would have gladly just slumped to the ground, but she wanted to look cool in front of Hajime and Yue. And as a reward for her efforts, the two of them gave her looks of admiration.

"Ehehe, thanks guys. But Hajime-san, shouldn't you be saying you might have fallen in love with me a little instead?"

"Not happening. Not even a little." Though his words seemed curt, his expression was nowhere near as stern as it usually was when it came to Shea's pathetic jokes. In fact, he was even willing to admit to himself that Shea might have just looked a little sexy when pounding the finishing blow into Miledi.

The fact that she'd been able to fight so well despite never even holding a weapon until a few weeks ago was because of how strongly she'd wanted to stand on the same stage as Hajime and Yue. It was that strong determination, combined with Shea's own latent abilities, that had allowed her to overcome the trials of one of the Seven Great Labyrinths and deal the finishing blow to its guardian.

In truth, Hajime hadn't necessarily needed Shea's help to finish off Miledi. He had expected the pile bunker would fall short, so he had a backup plan for powering it all the way in. But he'd seen how such a gentle and peace loving bunny girl had resolutely stood by his side through all of their trials. Despite having no combat skill to speak of until just recently she had never once cried that she wanted to go back, and despite all of her fear and uncertainty she'd pushed valiantly forward. That was why he'd decided to entrust the final blow to her. A choice he was glad he'd made now.

That last strike of hers had actually been cool enough that Hajime would have fallen for her under normal circumstances. The depth of her feelings had been conveyed to him together with the shockwaves generated by her attack. However, Hajime still couldn't give her the kind of affection she sought. Still, the strength of her determination and guts had moved him. As a result, he definitely looked at her with kinder eyes than he used to.

"Fweh? I-Is it just me... or are you actually being nice to me for once, Hajime-san...? I-Is this a dream?"

"Now look here... Err, actually, I guess it makes sense that you'd think that considering how I've been treating you..."

Shea pinched her cheeks to make sure she really wasn't dreaming. Hajime wanted to protest, but he realized that he really didn't have any right to say anything.

Yue walked up to Shea, who was still busy pinching her cheeks. She grabbed Shea's arm, pulled her down into a crouch, and gently patted her head. Then, she started to straighten out Shea's disheveled hair.

"U-Umm, Yue-san?"

"It's a shame we can't get Hajime to pat your head. You'll just have to make do with me for now."

"Y-Yue-saaaan. Huh? Why am I crying?

Fweeeeeeeh."

"...There there."

Shea waffled about in confusion for a moment, but burst into tears and hugged Yue tight when she realized she was being praised. Taking on one of the Seven Great Labyrinths for her first trip outside the forest must have been pretty tough. Only the resolve to stay together with Yue and Hajime had kept her going. Finally being accepted as someone capable of fighting together with them after overcoming such a difficult trial was more than enough to move her to tears.

As an aside, even Yue's comment didn't persuade Hajime to pat her head. Since Shea was the kind of girl that got carried away easily, Hajime didn't want to give her the wrong idea by being too nice to her. Dealing with her misunderstandings was too much of a hassle for him. With all that they'd been through, Shea was definitely a member of his family. Still, the kind of love Hajime felt for Yue wasn't something that he could really share between multiple people. After all, that was what having a "special someone" meant. Besides, Hajime couldn't imagine ever doing anything that would make Yue sad.

And most of all, when he saw Shea crying tears of happiness and relief into Yue's bosom while Yue gently patted her head... Well, he could guess where things were probably headed.

Hajime watched on with a strange expression on his face. Suddenly, a voice called out to the three of them.

"Ummm... Sorry to interrupt your little party, but things aren't looking so hot for me, so I'd like to get this out of the way before it's too late." They knew that voice. The three of them all turned back in surprise. The light from Miledi's eyes, which had gone out moments ago, had returned. Instantly, they all jumped back. They all eyed Miledi warily, as they were certain they'd destroyed her core.

"Hey, hey, no need to be so tense. You did it! You won! I'm just using what little power's left in my core to talk to you guys for a bit! I'll be gone for good in a few minutes." The fact that the light in her eyes was flickering and fainter than before, combined with the fact that she didn't move, seemed to support her statement. She was on the verge of disappearing for good. Really does look like she's gonna die in a few minutes...

Relaxing slightly, Hajime cautiously responded to her.

"So? What'd you want to talk to us about, you half-dead golem? Seeing as you're about to die and still can't read the mood... I guess I'll posthumously award you the title of most insensitive Liberator."

"Heeey, there's no need to be so mean. I was just starting to like you, too."

"Whatever. Anyway, I thought I told you I have no interest in fighting your world's shitty gods." It almost felt like Miledi sighed before she responded.

"Don't worry, that's not what I wanted to talk about. There's no need to. I'm just... here to give you a piece of advice. Even if the spell you're looking for isn't in the labyrinths you explore, you'll need to acquire all of the ancient magic the Liberators left behind... in order to achieve your goal..." It certainly did seem like Miledi was on the verge of disappearing. Her voice was growing fainter and there were long pauses between sentences. Unconcerned, Hajime continued pressing her for answers.

"All of it, huh... Well, why don't you tell us where all the other labyrinths are, then. The records have been lost and no one knows where most of them are anymore."

"Ah, I see... So it's already been so long... that people have forgotten where the labyrinths are... Okay, well... they're..." Miledi's voice grew weaker and weaker. It looked like she was reminiscing about the past. Yue and Shea looked down at her silently. They respected her determination. For the sake of her goal, for the sake of her dream, she'd abandoned human form and transferred her spirit into this inanimate object.

Miledi mumbled out the location of the remaining Great Labyrinths. Among them was one that came as a surprise to everyone.

"That's all of them... Good luck."

"You sure are acting nice now. What happened to all the harassment and traps you sprang on us?" Like Hajime had said, the annoying cutesy speech and insulting tone was nowhere to be found. Instead, she was speaking with sincerity he could hardly believe from her. She had shown hints of this personality before their fight, so Hajime was beginning to suspect this really was her true nature. And now that she was moments from death, she had no need to keep up the facade.

"Ahaha, sorry about that, really. But you know... those fucking bastards... are real scum... They do these kinds of underhanded annoying things all the time... So I just... wanted to help you get used to it before..."

"Hey... How many times do I have to say it? I have no interest in fighting your mad gods. Quit assuming I will."

The reply that came back had such a level of earnest tone to it that Hajime couldn't doubt her words.

"You will. As long as you stay the same... you'll... definitely kill them."

"...I don't get what you're trying to say. I mean, sure, I guess I'll blow them to kingdom come if they get in my way, but..." Hajime replied hesitatingly. Miledi only laughed cryptically in reply.

"Fufu... That's fine... live your life however you wish... I know... your choices... will definitely... help this world..." Glowing blue light enveloped the Miledi Golem. It flickered faintly, like the pale light of a firefly as it floated up to heaven like a soul finally being freed. It was a wondrous, mystical sight.

Yue suddenly walked up to Miledi. There was almost no light left in her eyes.

"What is it?" Miledi's voice was barely a whisper. Yue replied in the same hushed whisper, giving her last parting words to the great Liberator.

"...You did well. You can rest now."

"..."

Words of praise. It was all one of the living could give to her, an almost legendary hero that had waited all alone in the darkness for centuries, never giving up hope that her dream would one day be realized. It might have been odd hearing those words from someone far younger than her. Still, Yue could think of nothing else to say.

Miledi hadn't been expecting that either. She just stared in surprise for a while. Finally, she spoke. Her muttered words were far gentler than anything they'd heard her say thus far.

"...Thank you."

"Mhmm."

Just get on with it already! Behind them, Hajime was nearing the end of his patience. The way Miledi had sounded so sure about what he was going to do had pissed him off. And yet, Shea pinned his arms behind his back and covered his mouth with her hand before he could do anything.

"Who's the one who can't read the mood now, huh!? Just stay quiet until they're done!" Shea whispered furiously into his ear. Fortunately, neither Yue nor Miledi noticed them, so the solemn atmosphere between the two of them remained.

"Now then... it's finally time... I pray that... the blessings of the gods... never reach you..."

Hold on, those were the same words Oscar told us back in his house... With that parting remark, Miledi Reisen, one of this world's Liberators, vanished. Entranced, Yue and Shea watched as the light of her soul rose up to the sky.

"...At first I thought she was just a rotten, twisted little woman, but she really gave it her all, didn't she?"

"Yeah..."

Their words were somber. However, one member of their party didn't seem to care about Miledi's passing at all, and hurried the two of them up.

"Alright, done yet? Let's get out of here. Also, I know for a fact that that annoying part of her personality wasn't faked. There's no actor that good, she had to have been a bitch from the start."

"Come on, Hajime-san. There's no need to speak ill of the dead. That's just cruel. See, I knew you were the one who was worst at reading the mood."

"...Hajime, are you dense?"

"Not you too, Yue... Bah, whatever. Also, it's not that I can't read the mood, I'm just choosing not to."

In the midst of their conversation, they noticed a section of the wall had begun to glow. Cutting their discussion short, they started heading toward it. It was relatively high up, so they'd have to hop across a few floating blocks to reach it. But the moment they jumped onto the first one, it started moving and took them right to it.

"....."

"Wawawa, it just started moving on its own. Well, at least it saved us some trouble."

"Is this a reward for winning?" Shea yelled out in surprise, while Yue tilted her head. Only Hajime looked unhappy. After ten seconds of travel, it stopped about five meters before the glowing part of the wall. At the same time, the light began to fade and the part of the wall that had been glowing fell away. Behind it was a passageway made of polished white stone that shone with a brilliant radiance.

The floating block they were standing on began taking them through the passage. I guess this is what's going to take us to Miledi's house? A short while later, they found themselves staring at a wall engraved with the seven Liberators' crests. It was the same wall that had led to Oscar's house in his labyrinth. As they approached, the wall slid to the side. The block didn't slow at all and took them through that opening as well. On the other side, they found...

"Hey there! Not-so-long time no see! It's me, Miledi-chan!" A miniature version of the Miledi Golem.

"..."

"What'd I tell you? I knew she'd pull something like this."

Shea and Yue were stunned speechless. Hajime just looked annoyed. He had been hoping his guess was incorrect.

He'd already guessed that both the serious Miledi and the prankster Miledi were just two facets of the person that was Miledi Reisen. The intricacy and annoyance factor of her traps was too great to have come from someone who was just putting on a facade. Furthermore, she'd purposely chosen to leave her spirit behind to judge potential challengers. In which case, it didn't make sense for her to set things up so that she'd just vanish once she was defeated. After all, that would mean subsequent challengers would no longer have any trials to overcome.

That was why Hajime had predicted that even if they destroyed her golem, Miledi herself wouldn't vanish. His assumption was confirmed when the block they jumped on started guiding them on its own. Only Miledi could freely control those blocks.

In stark contrast to Shea and Yue's glum expressions, Miledi seemed sickeningly cheerful.

"Huh? What's this? Why's everyone all quiet? Come on, shouldn't you be more surprised? Or are you just so surprised you don't know what to say? I guess my surprise was a huge hit!" The miniature Miledi Golem looked a lot more human than her giant counterpart. She had a white mask over her face and her slender body was clad in a white robe. Though it was rather off-putting that her mask was in the shape of a smiley face... Speaking in the same cutesy manner she had when they'd first met, Mini Miledi walked up to them. Yue and Shea's bangs were covering their faces, hiding their expressions. Hajime could see where this was headed and quickly took a step back.

Yue and Shea whispered quietly.

"...Then what was that back there?"

"Hm? Back there? Oh, did you think I died? Nah, no way! I'd never leave!"

"But we saw light leaving your body."

"Fufufu, pretty good performance, right? I'm such a good actor! I really am a genius at everything I do!" Miledi got louder and louder as she spoke. She became proportionally more annoying as well. Yue stuck her hand out while Shea pulled out Drucken.

"Uh oh, did I go too far?" Miledi muttered worriedly.

"U-Umm...." She looked apprehensively from Yue to Shea, momentarily at a loss for words, but then she seemed to resign herself to her fate as she spoke.

"Ehehe, just kidding~"

"Die."

"I'm going to kill you!"

"W-Wait! Please wait! This body's really weak! I really will die if you smash it! Calm down, please! I'll apologize, I promise!"

That marked the start of a scuffle in which a great deal of the surrounding area was destroyed, but Hajime paid it all no mind and explored the room they were in instead. The floors and walls were all white, and aside from the magic circle engraved into its center, the room was empty. There was a single door set into the far wall, which Hajime assumed led to Miledi's house.

Hajime walked over to the magic circle and started examining it. Miledi hurried over to him when she saw what he was doing. A bloodthirsty vampire and a murderous rabbit chased after her.

"Heeey, don't touch that. Also, they're your comrades, right!? Don't just ignore me, do something about them!" Miledi cowered behind Hajime's back, hoping he would provide some protection against the two demonic girls chasing her.

"Hajime, move. I have to kill her."

"Please move, Hajime-san. We need to kill her. Soon, preferably."

"Didn't think I'd be hearing that from you guys. Anyway, quit playing around, we've got work to do." Hajime reprimanded Yue and Shea in a tired voice. Behind him, the Mini Miledi jeered.

"Yeah that's right, take this seriously!" But then she was cut short by Hajime's metal arm grabbing her face. He tightened his hold on her until her smiley face mask was twisted in a grotesque expression of pain. There was an ominous creaking noise coming out of her head.

"If you don't want to end up like your bigger self, hand over the ancient magic."

"Heeey, you do know you sound totally like a villain— Creaak! Okay, okay, fine, I'll give it to you! I promise, so please stop! I'm really going to break if you keep going!" Seeing Miledi finally humbled, Yue and Shea calmed down a little as well. Realizing any more fooling around might really get her destroyed, Miledi quickly started up the magic circle.

The three of them stepped inside it. Since Miledi herself had been the one to test them here, there was no spell that searched their memories like the one in Orcus' home. Instead, the knowledge of how to use the ancient magic she protected was transferred directly to their brain. Hajime and Yue had gone through this once before, so they didn't show any reaction, but Shea jumped in surprise when it happened.

In just a few seconds, all three of them had the knowledge of how to use Miledi's ancient spell.

"This is... I knew it, a spell that lets you manipulate gravity."

"That's right~ My specialty was gravity magic. Make sure you use it well... Or so I'd like to say, but it looks like you and that bunny girl over there don't have any affinity for it. Like none at all, holy cow!"

"Oh shut up. I figured that would happen anyway." Just as Miledi had said, though Hajime and Shea now had the knowledge of how to manipulate gravity, they wouldn't easily be able to use it. It was like how Yue didn't have any aptitude for the creation magic Hajime used.

"Well, that bunny girl over there can at least use it well enough to make herself heavier. And you... you've got your creation magic, so think of something. At least Blondie over here is fit to use it. Train hard until you master it, okay?" Hajime shrugged his shoulders, Yue nodded seriously, and Shea looked stricken. She'd finally gotten her hands on god-level magic only to be told the most she'd be able to do with it was make herself heavier. The shock must have been pretty great. Obviously, she had no intention of making herself heavier, but even learning how to make herself lighter wouldn't be of much help. Becoming lighter could mess up her body proportions just as badly. Either way, it was of no use to her... Shea sunk to the ground, clearly depressed. Hajime ignored her and continued mercilessly making more demands.

"Hey, Miledi. Hand over the proof that we conquered this dungeon. Oh, and give us all the useful artifacts you have hidden here and all the high-quality spirit stone you've got stored up."

"You do realize that you sound like a mugger right now, right?" It felt to Hajime that the eyes behind the now warped smiley face mask were glaring at him angrily, but he ignored them. Mini Miledi ruffled through her pockets before pulling out a ring and throwing it to Hajime. He caught it in midair. Reisen's crest was two ellipses connected by a single stake piercing through both of them.

She then brought out a large quantity of ore from seemingly nowhere, then rifled through it, picking out the same ore the dungeon was made from. She must have had a Treasure Trove of her own. Considering how easily she agreed, maybe she planned on giving all this to us anyway. For whatever reason, Miledi seemed convinced that Hajime would indeed end up fighting the gods, so it made sense for her to offer all this assistance.

Though, leave it to Hajime to not be satisfied with all that. He started packing the ore into his own Treasure Trove while he looked coldly at Miledi.

"That's a Treasure Trove, isn't it? Hand it over. You've got some good artifacts in there too, right?"

"N-Now look here, that's everything I have to give you. I need the Treasure Trove and all the other artifacts I have left to repair and maintain this labyrinth."

"Like I care. Hand it over."

"Hey, I said no!" Miledi hurriedly stepped back, away from Hajime's grabbing hands. Besides, these things wouldn't be of any use to them anyway. She explained as much to Hajime, but it seemed to be of no use.

"Hmm, I see... Alright, hand it over." At this point, he really was acting like a villain.

"I told you already, I can't! Now go home!" Miledi fled from Hajime's groping clutches and jumped up onto the block that had led them here. She manipulated it so that she was floating somewhere near the ceiling.

"Don't run. I just want everything you own as part of my reward for clearing your dungeon. I'd say that's a fair thing to ask."

"There's something wrong with you if you think that counts as fair! Ugh, can't believe I ended up saying the same line O-chan always used to give me..."

"Just so you know, it's O-chan who taught us this is fair."

"O-chaaaaaaan!"

Hajime eventually managed to corner Miledi with the help of Yue and Shea, who still held a grudge toward her for all the teasing she'd done and wanted payback. She knew half of this was her own fault, but the part that really stung was that half of it was the fault of the guy who'd made the other labyrinth.

"Haaah, to think the first people to conquer my dungeon would be this crazy... Whatever, I give up. I'm sending you three out of here! You better not come back!" Just before Hajime could leap at her, a rope suddenly appeared from the ceiling, which Miledi promptly pulled.

"Huh?" Hajime looked up in confusion, but then he heard that same terrible noise he'd grown to hate.

Clunk!

"Wha—!?" She'd activated another trap.

A second later, water started rushing into the room from all four walls. Because of the angle it came out at, the room they were in was soon a raging whirlpool of water. At the same time, the magic circle in the center of the room sunk, creating a neat little hole in the floor. The whirlpool started draining into it.

"Hey! You little—" Hajime stiffened as he realized the humiliation they were about to be subjected to. A circular white room, a hole in its center, and water whirlpooling its way down said hole... Miledi had led them to a massive toilet.

"How about we let this water wash away our animosity too?" Mini Miledi's mask winked at them.

Annoyed, Yue quickly tried to cast her usual flight spell. Mana in this room didn't get dispersed, possibly because the magic circle was in this room, which was why Yue could easily have lifted them all up despite her depleted mana reserves.

"Up—"

"Nope~" Before she could finish, however, Miledi stuck out her hand and Hajime and the others felt an enormous weight press down on them. It felt like there was an invisible object trying to crush them. Miledi had increased the weight of the air pressing down on them.

"Bye bye~ Good luck with the other labyrinths!"

"Ugh... Damn you! We're not shit to be flushed down! I swear I'll come back and destroy you!"

"Urgh... I'll never forgive you."

"You're dead, you hear me!? Dead! Fugwaah!"

With those parting remarks, Hajime and the others were sucked down the massive toilet bowl. Just before he vanished from sight, Hajime chucked something at Miledi in a last desperate act of revenge. Once Hajime and the others had disappeared, the water drained away as fast as it came, leaving the room looking the same as it had before.

"Haah, what a bunch. Still, to think he'd be a Synergist like O-chan... Fufu, it almost feels like fate. Keep struggling for the sake of your dream... Now then, looks like I'll be busy fixing the golems for quite some time... Hm? What's this?"

Miledi wiped nonexistent sweat off her artificial golem brow as she mused to herself. A second later, she noticed something strange at the corner of her sight. There was a knife stuck to the wall with a black object dangling from it. What on earth is that? As she got closer, she realized she recognized that shape.

"Huh!? Wait, isn't this—"

The black object was one of Hajime's hand grenades. Just before he'd disappeared down the drain, Hajime had thrown it as his last act of revenge. Since he'd used it so many times in the dungeon, Miledi recognized what it was instantly. Panicking, she quickly tried to get away. However, manipulating gravity took up large amounts of mana, and Miledi had used all of it up in that last chase, which meant she had no means of softening the explosion.

She tried to make a break for it on foot, but it was already too late. The moment Mini Miledi turned around was when the grenade went off. The entire room was enveloped in light, followed by a massive shockwave.

Miledi's screams echoed throughout the labyrinth. Some time after, there might have been a very depressed golem going around crying as she had to spend even more time repairing her dungeon. Meanwhile, the trio that had been flushed out of the room was currently being carried down a long tunnel by a powerful current. There was no breaks for them to take a breath, so they just got swept along. It took all of their concentration just to stay conscious and avoid crashing into the walls.

They caught sight of a number of shadows passing them by as they were being swept away. Fish. The tunnel they were being funneled through must have connected to a river or lake somewhere. Unlike Hajime and the others, the fish were able to swim against the current and many of them passed the trio.

One of them even came up to Shea's face as it swam by, keeping pace with her. She looked over at it. Their eyes met. Hers and the fish's. Or rather, what she'd thought was a fish. Though it had the body of one, its face looked like that of an old man. It was a difficult impression to convey, but that was the best way to describe it. Shea had run into a fish with a person's face. Its apathetic expression was oddly reminiscent of the fish in the old game Seaman.

Shea opened her eyes wide in surprise. She almost let out the breath she'd been holding in, but she managed to clamp down on her mouth in time. Still, she couldn't take her eyes off it. The two of them stared each other down as they were swept away by the current. They might have spent all eternity gazing into each other's eyes, but Shea was abruptly interrupted by a voice that popped up in her head.

—What the heck are you staring at?— It was even accompanied by a mental clicking of the tongue. This time Shea couldn't contain her surprise.She opened her mouth with a garbled scream, letting out the air she'd been holding in. Wait, is this fish a monster of some kind!? One that can use the telepathy skill? But Shea's question would remain forever unanswered as the torrent of water swept them away, while the fish continued swimming in a different direction.

All that was left behind was a white-eyed bunny girl suspended limply in the water, as their party continued to flow down the water for quite a while...

A single carriage escorted by a team of horses plodded down a beaten highway. The horses' hoofbeats punctured the silence at regular intervals. They naturally had people riding them. Three men and one woman, all of them dressed like adventurers. The carriage was being driven by a fifteen year old girl and a... cross-dresser that resembled a monster.

"Sona-chaaan, there's a spring coming up ahead, so let's take a break there."

"Alright, Crystabel-san."

This Crystabel was the same Crystabel that had helped outfit Yue and Shea back in the town of Brooke. The girl sitting next to him was the receptionist of the Masaka Inn that they'd stayed at, Sona Masaka. Despite her strange sounding name, she was an ordinary girl with maybe just a little more curiosity in the more adult side of things than was normal for her age.

The two of them were on their way back to Brooke after an excursion to the next town over with a hired escort of guards. As his giant frame would suggest, Crystabel was insanely strong, so he often went out to collect his own supplies to craft his clothes. This trip, in fact, had one such instance.

Sona had come along because one of her relatives in the next town over had gotten pretty badly hurt and her parents were too busy to go, so she'd delivered get well gifts in their place. The adventurers had been on the way back from a quest, so they decided to tag along as well.

They were around a day's ride out from Brooke. The party decided to rest at a nearby spring for the afternoon.

They let the horses drink from the spring while they made preparations for lunch. Sona headed to the spring to get water for the group. The moment she put her canteen into the spring, it started frothing. Gouts of water flew up from its center, splashing the nearby area.

"Kyaaa!"

"Sona-chan!"

Sona let out a surprised shriek and fell back. Crystabel instantly rushed over to protect her, with the other adventurers not far behind. The fountain's spray increased in intensity, creating a column of water rising ten meters high.

This spring was a well known resting place for travelers, and never once had anyone reported something like this happening. Hence why Crystabel, Sona, and the other adventurers gazed on in shock, heedless of the spray that was soaking them. A few seconds later—

"Dowaaaaaaa!"

"Aaaaaaah!"

"..."

Three people were spat out of the fountain... two of which screamed as they flew out. Crystabel and the others cried out in surprise. They flew a good ten feet through the air before crashing spectacularly to the ground on the opposite shore.

"..."

"Wh-What on earth was that..." Crystabel and the adventurers were shocked speechless, while Sona muttered what they were all thinking.

"Ack... Ugh... God, that was terrible. I'm gonna crush that little bitch into pieces, mark my words. Yue, Shea, you alright?"

"Ack, urgh... Yeah, somehow."

Hajime spat out a string of curses while making sure Yue and Shea were fine. However, only Yue responded to him.

"Shea? Hey, Shea! Where are you?"

"Shea... where'd you go?"

There was no response. Hajime quickly jumped back into the water and started looking for her. As he'd expected, Shea was laying at the bottom of the spring. She'd lost consciousness and didn't float because of Drucken's weight.

Hajime pulled a really dense ore out of his Treasure Trove, making him quickly sink to the bottom. Once he'd grabbed Shea, he kicked off the ground and leaped back out.

He dragged her with him to the shore. Then, he laid her on her back and took a closer look at her. She was pale-faced, her eyes had rolled back into her head, and her heart wasn't beating. She must have seen something quite terrifying as her expression was still frozen in one of disgust.

"Yue, you've got to give her CPR!"

"CPwhat?"

"Gah, I mean you need to clear her airway of water and..."

"Huh?" He tried to get Yue to give Shea CPR, but she just looked at Hajime blankly. Does the concept of CPR not exist in this world? She wasn't exactly injured, and feeding her more liquid when she was already drowning seemed like a bad idea, so the Ambrosia probably wouldn't be of any help. Yue wasn't very well versed in healing magic, so he doubted she could cast something specific enough to make Shea spit out all the water and get her heart pumping again.

He didn't know when it was she'd lost consciousness, but at this point time was of the essence. Hajime steeled his resolve and started performing CPR.

Naturally, that meant he would have to do mouth-to-mouth as well... Yue watched on unhappily. But she realized Hajime was doing this because it would somehow save Shea, so she kept quiet. Instead she just stared.

Hajime tried to ignore that cold stare as best he could while he worked to get Shea's heart pumping again. Unbelievable. I'd just started to think you might not be that worthless after all, but then you go and nearly kill yourself after we've already won... You really are just a worthless rabbit. Hajime grimaced, and after a few rounds of CPR, Shea finally started coughing up water. He turned her head to the side so she wouldn't choke on it again. From an outside perspective it looked like he was kissing her passionately.

"Hic, ack... Hajime-san?"

"Yep, that's me. Unbelievable, I can't believe you almost got yourself killed— Mmf!?"

Despite his harsh words, Hajime looked thoroughly relieved. Suddenly, Shea interrupted him by throwing her arms around him and giving him a deep kiss. It was so unexpected that Hajime didn't have any time to move out of the way.

"Mmmf!? Mmmmm!!!"

"Mmmpch... Mmm..." Shea wrapped her arms and legs around Hajime, locking him in place while she mercilessly ravaged his mouth with her tongue. Her inhuman strength and the leverage her position gave her made it impossible for Hajime to break away.

Somehow, Shea had been aware of all the "kisses" Hajime had given her while he was performing CPR. Perhaps it was a special condition brought on by the fact that Shea had activated her body strengthening right before she'd lost consciousness.

Regardless, Hajime's repeated kisses had flung her into full overdrive mode. She kept Hajime firmly pinned in place while she returned his kisses a hundredfold.

Off to the side Yue looked... very unhappy, to say the least. Still, she did nothing to stop them. In a small voice, she muttered "As a reward, just this once..." It appeared she was willing to forgive this transgression.

Though it was obvious from her expression and the dangerous look in her eyes that she was quite conflicted. Tonight, she was going to make sure Hajime spent the whole night with her... She wouldn't let him rest for even a second.

"Wawawah! What's going on!? A-Amazing... they're completely soaked, but they're wrapping around each other so passionately... A-And... they're doing it all outside! These people aren't normal!" That exclamation came from none other than the easily excitable girl, Sona. Next to her, Crystabel muttered "Oh? Aren't you two..." It seemed he remembered them. Off to the side, the three male adventurers were burning up with jealousy, and it was with great effort that they managed to keep their swords in their sheaths. The single female adventurer gave them a withering glare.

Shea was still half-delirious from passion and near-death euphoria. She panted heavily as she kissed Hajime, until finally he got so fed up that he lifted himself to his feet, taking Shea with him. He then grabbed Shea's.plump butt, giving it a firm squeeze.

"Aahn!" She let out a garbled moan. In that second, her ironclad grip loosened. Hajime peeled her off and flung her into the spring.

"Ugyaaaaah!" He watched as she fell into the spring with a tremendous splash. Then, he took a few seconds to catch his breath and comb his hair back.

"I-I was careless. I didn't think she'd come at me like that... just after regaining consciousness." Hajime watched as she lumbered out of the spring like a banshee, her bangs covering her face, and shivered.

"Uuuu... How cruel. Hajime-san, you're the one that started it."

"Excuse me? I'll have you know that that is just a lifesaving technique, nothing more... and wait, you were conscious that whole time?"

"Well, I'm not exactly sure... but I could kind of tell what was going on. Just that you were kissing me over and over, Hajime-san! Uhehehe."

"Please stop laughing creepily like that. Look, I only did that to save your life, nothing more. Don't get any weird ideas, okay?"

"Really? But a kiss is still a kiss. At this rate you might really fall for me!"

"Like hell I will. And Yue, you could have stopped her, you know?"

"Just this once... I mean, Shea worked so hard... but still..."

"Yue? Earth to Yue?"

Yue stared back with blank eyes, muttering incoherently. Hajime sighed as he realized she was done for too. Finally, he turned to Crystabel and the others. They'd been staring at them this whole time.

His gaze passed over the four adventurers, stopped for a second at Sona, and returned to her after he took one look at Crystabel. He'd like to pretend he never saw Crystabel at all.

Sona jumped with a start when she realized Hajime was looking at her, then blushed bright red.

"S-Sorry for interrupting you two! D-Don't mind us. By all means, please continue!" She turned around to run, but Crystabel grabbed her by the scruff of the neck before she could. She then walked up to Hajime and the others.

Hajime nervously stepped backwards, but Shea greeted him with a cheerful "Oh, hey, you're the shop owner." It appeared she knew her.

After they sorted everything out, Hajime discovered they'd been spat out a day's ride from Brooke, so they decided to head back there with Crystabel and the others. Crystabel offered to let them ride in their carriage, which they happily accepted. They changed out of their soaked clothes and chatted amicably with the others as they rode back. The sound of hoofbeats became the soundtrack of their travels as the warm rays of the sun smiled down upon them.

Together with their newfound comrade, Hajime and his party had cleared their second labyrinth. Hajime let the feeling of victory settle in as he laid down in the back of the carriage. Warmed by the sun, he smiled faintly as he thought of all the travels that still yet awaited them.