A Short Battle

"WOAAAAHH!!!!"

Kouki roared out, his aura oozing out of him when he used several of his skills at once.

"You bastard! I will never forgive you for killing my childhood friend, Oscar!!!" He shouted as he swung relentlessly.

And while Oscar was stone faced, he was cringing inside.

'Can't you just deliver a chant than some cringe one-liner? I'm waiting here, looking like you made me waste at least 40 percent of my mana for some spells to show off...' Oscar commented, accessing his Storage Ring for some things he can use.

For the obvious reason of wanting to beat the snot out of the hero black and blue.

He only had around 1 minute. And glancing at what his glasses were showing, he noticed that, although Kouki's stats have tripled, he was still weaker than the Labyrinth Master.

[ BP: 1,574 ]

"Your power has improved, but what about your skill? You only have... 56 seconds now, you know?" Oscar replied, clashing weapons with Kouki.

For some reason, the hero looked quite funny when his face is red.

Oh well, this was merely just a show for him.

With one single movement, Oscar turned and misdirected Kouki's slash and pushed him aside while accessing his Storage Ring.

And when Kouki turned around, he was met with several pellets to the chest.

The damage dealt by those pellets pushed his back to the floor, as he glanced up towards the weapon his opponent now had.

Oscar had a sawn off double barrel shotgun, though he used it only for a brief moment.

"Stand up, hero."

Kouki stood up, slashing upwards, his sword making a cut on Oscar's arm then slamming his shoulder to his chest, pushing the enemy backwards.

He followed up with another slash, that was parried away by Oscar's umbrella.

The Labyrinth Master then stabbed Kouki 15 times, ending that attack by using his umbrella like a baseball bat to launch the hero to where the Blade Slaves were.

"Blade Slaves, activate!"

Whilst aiming the tip of his umbrella and creating a large magical circle in front of it to the flying Kouki, the Blade Slaves floated up from the ground and began to slice Kouki in several different places.

"Grrhh---!!!" The Hero gritted his teeth, activating several skills such as [Diamond Skin] to gain some defense against the barrage of attacks.

When he felt like the attacks were over, he was wrong as a ball of pure energy hit him.

And another, then another, and many more.

It was like being hit by an assault rifle, before he realized it, he was being pressed onto a wall that was created several tens of seconds ago.

The pain he was having is becoming unbearable, to the point where a tear ran down his eye.

'I'm sorry, Kaori.... I couldn't protect you....'

Soon, the barrage of strikes ended, and he fell down to the floor, unconscious. His skills giving him a large toll on his body.

"Wow, that was.... Anticlimactic." Oscar commented, turning towards the group of people who had become scared of him. "Boring, even."

Then he sighed, looking at the damages caused by them. The Labyrinth's properties will soon restore the floor to what it once was once nobody is present.

When one of them was about to speak, Oscar glared at her, shutting her up with just his presence

"By the way, I haven't had company other than a vampire queen for, well.... 300 years. So this fight, even if boring, felt fulfilling for some reason." He began patting his clothing as he spoke, then put his umbrella on his Storage Ring.

"I have a lot to explain, I know. So right now, let's just be allies, and put down our hostilities."

Despite being reluctant to do so, the students had no other choice, even the guards and Meld couldn't do anything else other than recover the body of Kouki.

"Like I said, I am here to test you. So now what, you ask? Here's the deal for you outsiders, if you want power to fight the demons, and eventually their god, Alva..... Consider these..."

He explained while constructing his words as carefully as he could.

First, he told the members of the Hero Party that there were seven Labyrinths, and this one was the hardest to conquer so far, that nobody, except Atavists could even clear it.

One of them was the Great Labyrinth of Reisen, located at far east of this place, hinting by the fact that all external magic will be considered null because of the special properties of the area and the Labyrinth.

He also gave several hints on how to clear the other Labyrinths, and where they are, with the exception of the Holy Mountain's labyrinth.

One of the Labyrinths that the students need to clear was located east from the Demonic Country, deep in a cold snowfield.

He's also said to have sent some monsters to do a certain task southwest of the Hoelscher Empire.

With a plan in mind, he also told them something....

While being absolutely dramatic about it.

"You know, I despise Alva so much I could go out of the Labyrinth and try kicking his ass! But alas, I was cursed to remain here as a loser of the War of Liberation two thousand years ago with a weakened body.... By that, you know what I meant, right? After all, I'm not really Oscar Orcus. I just possessed this body."

Another sigh came out of his mouth, before he began to walk away.

"Remember what I said, mortals from my world and another world! Now go and return up there, may we meet again after you cleared at least 3 Labyrinths, okay? There's more I will tell you once you return and meet me at the 80th floor!"

Gesturing the wyvern to come, he hopped on its back and left to go down the mines, or what you called the "Abyss".

"Wait, we still have.... Many questions...." Suzu yelled out, but she was too late.

They were mostly devastated from this event, but with Oscar telling them many things that were important and also his vague speech recently, it made them question who he really is.

Even if they took it to mind, the challenges were great, meaning they also had to gain power if they wanted to ever clear a single labyrinth.

And so, they returned up the surface.

[ ~ TO • BE • CONTINUED ~ ]

Next Chapter: The Guilt of the Hero