Chapter 83 : Difficult path 

Honestly, I have long believed that even without my intervention, the labyrinth could be completed, although it is not impossible to do what I did, such as defeating three five stars or destroying the fortresses with bombs, it should be possible to achieve the labyrinth. 

 But since I want to have better rewards, I will keep intervening until the end. In fact, when I asked Hayato what would have happened if I hadn't been there, he told me that they would have to use the kingdom treasures, which are single-use relics but could break the fortresses' defenses. 

And that just saving them from using them was a great merit. In fact, although the other mazes are difficult, once you understand what to do, the mazes are easier to complete. I am sure that now, it is only a matter of time to complete this maze. 

With that in mind, we began the last siege that was slowly being committed. At that moment, I felt an overwhelming presence that made even Hayato shiver. It was the six-star ogre. 

 The highest rank of the three kingdoms is five stars and there is no being above that, so the kingdoms saw this as a threat to their existence, but the three kingdoms already had preparations. 

From the Kazan Kingdom, General Kai brought out a golden rock that was covered with lightning. At that moment, it could be felt emitting a dominating air, he and the kingdom elite charged forward in the direction of the red ogre and the monster elite , ignoring all the other monsters and demons with the dominating aura surrounding it pierced through everyone easily as they fled in upon sensing its presence the few that didn't turn away were stripped of their life just with the momentum they carried. 

'I guess that's like his trump card'. At that moment, the two collided. There were some casualties among General Kai's subordinates, but even so, the exchange of blows between the ogre and the elite subordinates of both sides began, and surprisingly they were evenly matched. 

Even when I could see that the ogre elite and the six star ogre himself had the demonic rank that made his elemental mana darker. 

I thought this was already beyond what we as three stars could handle so I took it like watching a movie or something, not letting my guard down since we are still in the middle of the war. 

"Lucien-dono I hope you can protect the kingdom, so that it will overcome this difficult period." 

 I was about to ask him what he meant by his words, but at that moment, my attention was drawn to Sakura and her elite heading towards the main fight to support General Kai, but for some reason I had a bad feeling the closer they got. 

--- 

What a fool I was. It was at that moment that I realized my mistakes I thought it was all over because the rest were out of our reach. But it was at that moment that I was able to connect the dots I had missed. 

 When I was fighting the kobold wizard a few months ago. I didn't notice that what he was doing was basically a spell to increase the range of the rift, although at the time I instinctively stopped him, then I realized that it wasn't something unknown to me it was something I had seen many times in my previous life. 

Now I could see that goblin wizards, ogres and demons were doing the same thing on a larger scale. That means they are looking to expand the rift so that more powerful monsters can get through. 

I knew about it the moment I first came here on reconnaissance and had informed Hayato. 

At that time, I saw that for an instant he had a grim face, but then it changed to determination. At that time, I guessed it was because there wasn't much time left and he had resolved to finish this as quickly as possible. 

It seems I'm still not good at understanding people. At that time, I asked him what he was going to do and he told me he had a solution to deal with the rift and overlooking that was my first mistake. 

 There are three ways to close a rift: one is by defeating all the monsters inside as well as the monsters outside, or all the monsters inside come out. In fact, for the rift to last long enough inside it there must be monsters or demons that are the most powerful in the rift in question, meaning that inside the current rift there are at least six more stars, which can cause catastrophes to the three realms. And finally, use a sealing artifact. 

I assumed that, although it was not my current era, there were some artifacts found in dungeons or given by the gods that would fulfill the sealing function, so I did not question it further and assumed that they would close the rift with the artifact. And I wasn't wrong in fact that was their plan. 

 Feeling that there was something wrong I was looking at Sakura who was slowly approaching making her way towards the main fighting place, where both sides were concentrated ignoring the rest of the battlefield. 

"By his majesty's orders, give your lives for the kingdom." 

While it was true that his words fit perfectly with a war situation, the feeling in me that something was wrong was increasing by the moment. I turned my gaze to Hayato, who in his hand held a cross while chanting something difficult to understand. 

 I may never have studied in depth the language in which the Demons based their spells and runes, but I did study the language in which the gods and their apostles recited theirs, for I was one myself. I understood perfectly what Hayato was chanting and I did not like what I heard at all. 

I couldn't seem to stop him with my words, even if I did the situation would get worse. I accelerated my mind to the maximum, thinking of a solution. I didn't want to waste the efforts I made in completing this maze in the best way, but mostly I didn't like the direction things were heading. There had to be a way out, otherwise those side quests wouldn't exist. There must be something I overlooked, but I had no time left to think. 

It was already too late. I saw how Sakura instead of the ogre directed her weapons towards Kai and the rest who were concentrating on the fight while Hayato started to glow along with all the soldiers who had the military uniform of the tenjin kingdom. 

 With no room to think anymore, I did what my instincts were screaming: I took my dagger and, before he could finish with the chanting, I cut Hayato's arms that held the cross , forcibly stopping his chanting. 

"W-what are you doing? You know what you just did, it was our only option!" 

I didn't have time to watch his face turn to anger as he glared at me with murderous intent. I pulled with a fluid motion the katana from his waist and, with the art of heavenly punishment, I aimed towards Sakura, who almost reached Kai causing an explosion on contact I didn't hurt her seriously, but it was enough for Kai to notice her existence and ruin her intentions. 

 I immediately teleported to the sorcerers who were performing the ritual. So far no one had touched them, because we had to get through the six-star ogre but with the entertainer, it was easy for me, to get there. 

I had no concrete plan and was letting myself be guided by what I felt. As they were concentrated, in the ritual I eliminated them easily, breaking through the defenses they had prepared and ignoring the damage of the traps they had placed, causing me wounds that I immediately began to heal while still attacking, I eliminated them all. 

An overwhelming silence began to sweep through the chaotic battlefield. Everyone, from the dumbest monsters to the smartest strategists, looked in my direction without understanding whose side I was on and what my objective was. 

I knew what I had done and the consequences of it. As I thought at the time this happened, the blood red ogre moved away from Kai who now looked injured and with a less intense dominant aura, it seems that during the time my attention was away from the began to have problems with the ogre, with my eyes of truth I could see the characteristics of the necklace that emitted sacred magic on sakura's neck, as well as understand the reason for its actions, the ogre leader growled and at that moment, many ogres began to rush towards the rift with the intention of overwhelming me. 

 I knew it was useless; even if I stopped them, there was no turning back. So I stepped aside, took out mana recovery potions, healing potions and all the power-up potions I had saved in my inventory from the store I bought after entering the labyrinth, due to Gaia's restrictions, plus some that Chris had smuggled to me while we were in the meeting I drank them all and saw how they temporarily increase my stats not enough to be like a rank up, but it's better than nothing. 

I also took out several four-star monster cores, ignored Hayato's look of betrayal, as well as my companions' look of bewilderment, and concentrated. 

 I quickly teleported to Sakura's side, who was surprised by my sudden appearance near her and grabbed her necklace before she could stop me, I teleported again and without any resistance I was able to take the golden rock, unlike Sakura, Kai was able to resist me taking the rock and didn't look tired and injured enough for him to have taken the rock so easily, but I didn't stop to think beyond that and concentrated on what was to come. 

"hu... haaaa," I took a breath as I prepared myself. 

 [Lux, I know we can't die, but aren't you being greedy by choosing the harder path? It's not like I don't understand why though," Lili said in my mind. 

"..." I couldn't refute her. In fact, I was absolutely being greedy, but I still didn't want this story to end that way, I didn't want to be a bystander again, this reminded me of the events of the past. 

I could see reflected in the three kingdoms the same thing I saw in humanity in my past life. I could not let it end like this, I could not let those events happen again. 

If I ignored it with the excuse that it was just a labyrinth and I could try again if I failed, I would be repeating the mistakes of my past, and I could not allow it.