82 Teaching a Lesson

Jayr POV - Tortus, Orcus Great Labyrinth - 2013

Soon after my shout, everyone stops moving and a weird silence envelopes the room of the Labyrinth where the fight was taking place, everyone in the Kouki's party is looking at me with eyes wide open in shock, but I also notice a hint of wariness in their gaze, the most obvious is Kouki that doesn't seems to understand what is going on, while Kaori seems to daze off and Shizuku seems stunned.

Then I notice Shizuku's gaze move from me to the person beside me and see her red eyes widen even more in realization, and the next moment she yells, "Eh? Eh? Is she Eri-chan? Eh? What? What's really happening here? She is still alive?", and her shout seems to wake everyone up from their state of stupor, as they quickly start to chatter things like, "Is she really Nakamura-san?", "Is this some Demon ploy?", or "What is going on here?", while at the same time lowering their guard and ignoring the wounded that are still laying on the ground.

Seeing that Eri makes some fake cough to catch their attention and reminds them, "We will explain everything but... Shouldn't you hurry to heal Suzu and the others over there?", and hearing her question, Kaori wakes up from her daze and quickly moves next to Suzu and the other on the ground and start to chant, "O' light of grace, bring your healing and warning to this place, Heavenly Burn! Heavenly Burn! Heavenly Burn!", and cast one after the other of her strongest light recovery spell.

And soon Suzu and the other bodies are enveloped in bright white light, and soon they start to quickly heal and recover, at the same time, the annoying screech of the white crow on Freid's shoulder is also heard and I notice that the bodies of some of the wounded members of Kouki's party are enveloped in a dark red light, and their wounds too, start to quickly heal under the stunned gaze of the others that are looking at Freid, with clear confusion in their gaze.

At the same time, I can't help but notice the clear relief in Kouki's gaze as he looks over everything that is happening around him, but also some kind of distrust toward me, Eri, and about what is going on, and remembering what Eri told me, and what I have read about him, so I realize, 'It seems that he is relieved that he doesn't have to fight Freid anymore... he is also trying to make sense of what is going on like the others, but unlike them, it seems that he is starting to twist the facts so that he can mask his negative feelings and insecurities regarding this situation... For sure he is going to accuse me of having some kind of evil plot...'.

The calm and soft atmosphere is quickly broken, by Suzu who once recovered, opens her eyes and looks at Eri, then she quickly gets up and rushes toward her shouting, "ERIRIN~!! Un... I gwlad ywou awe alwive!!!", and start to tightly hug her as to confirm Eri's existence with her own body, while at the same time, she starts to cry in relief.

Eri, who received this crushing hug from Suzu, seems unsure, hesitating to respond to Suzu's current state, as until that event on the bridge of the 65 floors of this Labyrinth, Eri was so blinded in her pursuit of Kouki that she didn't care about anyone else, they were all but tools useful to get closer to him, all but Suzu, as she later realized that she was the only one to treat her sincerely, and after a few moments of hesitation, Eri simply hugs back Suzu and says, "There, there... I'm fine... In fact I have never been better...", at the same time, I notice that her eyes are growing slightly misty before she closes them.

But soon, this warm scene is broken by Kouki that couldn't stand not being in the spotlight anymore and he starts to scream while rushing toward Eri, Suzu, and me, "Heeey! What is truly going on here!? How is Nakamura still alive!? And why it seems that she is working together with this man from the Demon Race!? Did she join the side with the Demons and betray the Human race? And who are you? What is your objective!? Speak now or I'll force you!!", and point his sword at me.

His outburst seems to wake some of the members of his party up, as they quickly start to raise their guards while looking between Eri, Freid, and me warily, and Shizuku says something about, "Kouki read the mood!", but before I could say anything, Freid start to laugh out loud as if he heard some kind of joke then he says, "Ha, ha, ha! You will force him? You? Really!? Sorry to burst your bubble, but if you aren't even able to defeat me when I'm holding back, how do you think you can do anything to him when he is much stronger than me?".

I look at the somewhat flustered Kouki and say, "I know that we only meet each other for a few minutes and during that time you were so focused on playing the hero part that you didn't care about my presence, but you should at least remember a bit about me after all only 4 months passed...", but all I have in response is confusion written all over Kouki's face, and like always Shizuku comes to the rescue, "Kouki, he is that adventurer that fell in that trap with us, Jayr if I remember well, he is the other one that fell from that bridge together with Hajime and Eri".

That seems to evoke back the few memories he had of me and so he says, "Haa...he is tha-", but is soon interrupted by Kaori, who pushes him to the ground as she rushes forward, and once she stands in front of me, she grabs my clothes and asks with a mix of hope and desperation in her voice, "Did you see Hajime-kun!? If you survived, did he survive too!? Where is he!?", but before I could answer, Kouki gets up helped by his friend, ignore Kaori's feelings, and says, "That isn't important, what I ne-", but again he is interrupted, this time by Suzu, who looks a Shizuku and says, "You are wrong! He didn't fall together with Eririn... He jumped to save Eririn, I saw it with my own eyes, he is the only one who noticed what happened to Eririn and moved to save her! And I'm very grateful that he was successful".

That seems to shut everyone as an awkward silence envelopes the room for a few seconds as it seems that this is still a sore spot for them, then Eri with an evil grin moves closer to Kaori while Suzu is still clinging to her, and slowly says, "I'm sorry to tell you this, but Nagumo-kun is no longer...", and she makes her last word linger a little longer, just to give Kaori a wrong impression, and just as tears are about to fall from her eyes, Eri continues "... virgin! He is alive and well... Already out of this Labyrinth!", and again once her words fall a weird silence envelope this room.

Looking at Eri I shake my head and think, 'Damn it, Eri! You are savage... You know about Kaori's crush on Hajime, and the first thing you say is that?', then the silence is broken the next second by Kaori who with a relieved smile she says, "Ahh... So he is alive...", and Kouki who says with a surprised voice, "Nagumo, eh? You mean Nagumo is alive!?", but then Kaori's countenance changes, she is still smiling but behind her, the phantom image of an Hannya appears as she asks, "Eh? What do you mean he is no longer virgin?".

But again the conversation changes paces when someone yells, "L-Lies. Nagumo is dead. Wasn't that the case? Everyone also saw it. There's no way he is alive! We have already agreed on that!", the one who said that is Hiyama, who is now looking slightly pale at the idea that Hajime is still alive, I look at him, then at the faces of everyone here and letting out a sigh I use my Mana to put some pressure on him and say, "Shut up...", making him stop his rambling as he shakes in fear.

Then I look at everyone around me and see that they have all more or less recovered and are up, so I say, "Since you are all fine now, let me explain... First, yes, I, Eri, and Hajime are indeed alive, we survived the fall, and found ourselves on the 101st floor of this Labyrinth...", and soon the members of the Hero Party around me start murmuring things like, "Wasn't this place of only 100 floors...", and, "They are fooling us right?".

I raise my hand to stop their chatter and yell, "Let me finish first! Just like good high schoolers raise your hand and wait for the teacher to give you permission before asking questions... Yes this Labyrinth isn't of 100 floors like everyone thinks but is made of 200 floors, and the first 100th are only a slight warm-up made of traps and weak monsters before the real thing starts...", and with this declaration, they can't help themselves but start chatting and questioning what I just said, not believing that everything they had gone through until now is only a warm-up for the real thing.

But before further chaos could be ensured, Eri moves forward and says, "Let me show you guys...", then her shadow enlarges and from it, a huge skeleton monster starts to slowly emerge, it is the Hydra, that looks down at the members of the Hero Party with its menacing and powerful eyes, who look at it with a stunned and scared expression, some of them even fall on the ground as their legs are unable to withstand their weight any longer, seeing this scene I think, 'Even if the Hydra to me looks ridiculous as it is barely able to move in this small room, to them it almost looks like an insurmountable monster...'.

At the same time, I clear my throat and say, "Well this is the Hydra... The last guardian of this Labyrinth, I'm sure that even in its undead state you can still feel its power... This is after all, Eri's strongest undead...", everyone with still some capability to resist the Hydra's presence slightly nods, and those are Kouki, his best friend Ryutarou, Shizuku, Kaori, Suzu, Nagayama, Kosuke, and surprisingly Shimizu, then with a nod, I tell Eri to put back the Hydra as there is really to little room for it to keep standing here.

With the Hydra gone, they start to recover their bearings, and so I continue to explain everything, I tell them about the Labyrinth, then I start to talk about the Liberators, the Ancient Ago of Gods Magic, and Ehit's plot, on how he is manipulating the various race for his own entertainment, how he summoned them here just to further the conflict, then I talked about how I and Eri, went to the other Great Labyrinth where we further confirmed this truth, Our meeting with Freid, how we defeated him, and how I convinced him to follow us and see the truth of this world.

Then I talk about the elephant in the room, about why Freid attacked them, I explained that it was to make Freid realize who truly were the "Heretical God's Apostle", the enemy of his race, who were summoned here only to wipe out his race that he wants to protect, but also to make them realize in what they truly were getting themselves into, and how absurd was that some "God" kidnapped them from their world and "asked" them, a bunch of total newbies, to fight to save the "rightful" Human race from the "evil" Demon race giving them a bunch of cheats when he could simply do the same to someone of this world, and how they went through it without even questioning what is truly going on.

In the end, my explanation is met with a lot of mixed reactions, some part of Eri's classmates believes in what I said, especially since some of them noticed that something was off, but chose to hide their heads in the sand and hope for the best, while others are still doubting me, and are wary.

The most notable among the first group are Kaori, Shizuku, Suzu, Nagayama, and Endou meanwhile, the second group is made up of Kouki, Hiyama's gang, and Shimizu, as I can clearly feel from their body language that they are still somewhat wary of me.

Then after hearing my explanation, Shizuku asks confused, "So... What are we gonna do now? From what Jayr-san and Eri said, then the Heiligh Kingdom isn't a safe place for us anymore...Then there is also the matter of Aiko-sensei and the others that didn't want to take an active part in the conflict any longer... they could be easily used as hostages to force us to fight for them...".

But soon Kouki can't hold back any longer and says, "Come on, Shizuku! You can't really believe them? The Heiligh Kingdom and the Church always helped us since we came here! It is obvious that this is that demon's plot to divide and weaken us! I'm sure he is using some kind of brainwashing magic on this Jayr and Eri! The Demons are invading the various territories of the Human Race! They are the bad guys!".

Hearing Kouki's outburst, some of the hesitant members of the Hero Party seem to lean more on his side, believing in his title as the "Hero", while Kaori looks conflicted, Suzu still clings to Eri, and Shizuku lets out a resigned sigh and mutters, "Here we go again...", at the same time, I see Freid scowl as he looks at Kouki in disgust, and I take this chance to use Telepathy to talk to him, 'Look at how he comes up with all kinds of excuses and delusions to fool himself into believing that he is in the "right"... Reminds you of something?'.

And in response, Freid looks at me with a fierce glare for a few seconds, before letting out a sigh, then he turns around to check his familiar, not caring anymore about the Hero Party.

At the same time, Eri loudly snorts in response to Kouki's accusation and says, "Hmpf! As always you are ignorant of everything around you, Amonogawa-kun, and just do whatever you feel believing that you are always right, ignoring reality...", Eri's sharp tone makes everyone stop and focus on her with eyes wide open, even Suzu that is still clinging to Eri looks at her in surprise and let go her grip on her, probably because this is the first time that they hear her talking like, especially to Kouki.

Eri moves toward Kouki and continues, "You ignore the things that make you uncomfortable or twist them to adapt your vision of what is right... Like the fact that the humans of this world aren't so helpless and rightful... Did you not notice that the Human Kingdoms are the only ones in this world that practice slavery? The largest Slave trading group resides in this "just" Kingdom... Do you know that all the races that aren't human can be enslaved and sold off? No! You just ignore this even if it happens in front of you and continue to play the part of the hero for such people... Maybe believing that all the slaves you saw are some kind of criminal and that is the reason for their status as slaves!".

As Eri gets closer and her words sink in, I notice that Kouki's countenance starts to crumble as Eri's words cut apart his empty ego and his delusional, pathetic sense of "justice", meanwhile Eri continues, "Because of your self-righteousness and egotism, you simply can't accept it when things don't go the way you wants, making you act like a spoiled child... Like right now, where you just do everything and try to twist the facts so that you can deny the idea of Ehit's true nature as an evil god because you don't want to believe that you never were a chosen hero and that all your heroic efforts were completely pointless...".

Again Eri's words seem to give Kouki a huge blow as he starts to stutter, "N-no I... I-I'm...", at the same time, Eri is now standing in front of him and before anyone could react, and resounding sound is heard all over the room as she slaps him hard on the face, and as Kouki hold his cheek red cheek in shock, she yells, "Grow up! You already almost became a murderer back then when the aftermath of your careless attack almost killed me! It was thanks to Jayr that your mistake didn't kill me!".

Eri's last shocking statement, is the final blow, as I can clearly see Kouki's eye widen even more as the strength in his legs leave him and he sits on the ground in shock muttering, "I... You... No... not possible... a mistake... I... Hero...", seeing him like this and the dead look in his eyes, I decide to try and help him, so I move closer, and kneel down so that I can look him in the eyes.

Even in his confused and shocked state, Kouki notices my presence and when I see him focusing on me, I say, "Wake up! It's true, you did a mistake, just like everyone else in this world, nobody is perfect... everyone fails, it isn't the absence of mistakes that make you a hero... It is how you overcome your mistakes to become better and inspire others do the same... That is a True Hero... If you really want to be a hero and help others, then... Get up! Learn from your mistakes! Open your eyes! Truly look at the world in front of you and how your action affects it! And never give up on yourself!".

It seems that my words are having an effect on him, as a resolute glint start to appear in his eyes, and so I continue, "Hell, you don't even have to do everything by yourself, look around you! You aren't alone! There are you friends here that still support you...", and on cue, Ryutarou, moves closer and offer his hand to Kouki, who unconsciously take it, and saying, "Get up, man! This isn't like you! We were wrong, but this world still needs a hero! So move forward, like always I'll watch your back!", he pulls up Kouki, who looks at his best friend in the eyes and says "Yeah!".

Then this moment is interrupted by Shizuku who says, "So, now that you guys have affirmed your bromance... We still have to decide what to do now... Any suggestion?", the first to speak is Kaori who says, "Let's get out of here and reunite with Hajime! Then together we can all find a solution!", then she mutters, "This way I can also confirm what Eri said... And if it is true, then I'll...", but her muttering is interrupted by Ryutaro who says, "We don't we continue the conquest of the Labyrinth? This Age of Gods Magic seems a hell lot useful...".

Then Shizuku shakes her head and replies, "Kaori you are leaking out your true thoughts... And Ryutartou, we don't know how much time it will take to conquer this place... We struggled 4 months to get here and we didn't even conquer half of it, and from what Eri and Jayr-san said this is even the easiest part. Moreover, I'm worried about our classmates and Aiko-sensei that remained behind. If the Church is as dangerous as they claim then they aren't safe there...".

Suzu nods but adds, "You are right, but there is also the fact that as we are right now, we aren't strong enough to guarantee our safety, and even if we can get out of the Heiligh Kingdom where would we go?", and so they continue bouncing off ideas, meanwhile Freid, who got bored of waiting, said that he would move ahead, and so he left with his familiars, restarting his conquest of the labyrinth.

Then of all the people, Kouki surprise me as he looks at me and asks, "Jayr-san, you know the most about this labyrinth and the situation outside, what do you think?", and hearing Kouki's question, I feel the gaze of everyone in the room focusing on me, but I shrug it off, and instead I start to think of a solution.

After a few seconds, I come up with a good plan and reply, "Well, from my point of view all your problems are quite easy to fix... Sure for you guys alone to conquer this Labyrinth would surely take a lot of time, but with my guide, it will only take a few days, a week or two at most... The problem with the classmates you have left behind, isn't urgent yet, and my next destination after this, is the Divine Mountain as it is in fact another Great Labyrinth, so the chaos that I will cause will surely allow you to rescue them... And about where to go after... Well, there is the Beastman Country of Verbergen, a nation located deep within the Sea of Trees of Tortus. They do not follow any religion and are quite hostile to outsiders so you will be safe from the agent of Ehit, moreover, they will regard any individual who conquered a Great Labyrinth as "The Chosen" and would support them to the best of their abilities".

My answer causes another discussion among the Hero Party, which lasts for a few seconds before Kouki moves forward as the representative, and lightly bowing his head he requests, "Jayr-san, will you help us?", to which I nod, before I remember something and frowning I say, "Yes, I will help you guys, but not all of you...", then raising my hand and pointing my finger at Hiyama, I say, "I won't help him get any stronger, in fact, I will force him to go back to the knight force waiting for you at the 70th floor...".

My reply seems to shock everyone, at the same time, Hiyama gets angry and shouts as he moves closer, "Eh! You bastard! Why only me!?", then he reaches out with his hand to grab my shirt, but before the tips of his finger could even touch it, I use the special magic that I gained from the two-tailed wolf residing in this labyrinth, Lightning Clad, all over my body, shocking him and making him fall on the ground.

The sudden change stunned everyone, but before they could say anything, I look down at the young man's twitching body on the ground and say, "I don't want to be touched by a piece of shit like you... Unlike Kouki who is ignorant, hypocritical, childish, spoiled, incompetent, irresponsible, reckless, and delusional, at least he means well, he wants to help others, and that is why I want to give him a second chance even though he almost caused Eri's death...", and in response with my small list of defects, Kouki shoulder lower a little and he starts to look at the ground, meanwhile, Shizuku, different from the other classmates that are still clueless, seems to realize what is going on.

Then moving closer to him I continue, "But you, a little piece of shit, knowingly and willingly attempted to kill your own classmate, only because you were jealous of the attention he was getting from the girl you have a crush for...", and once my words falls a loud gasp can be heard all around me, meanwhile, still going through the aftermath of my little magic, Hiyama looks at me with venom in his eyes and yells, "Y-you b-bastard! H-how can you k-know about this!? You already fell w-with Eri before I aimed my fireball at that prick!!".

Then he suddenly stops as he realizes that he just admitted, everything, then seeing the look of shock, disgust, and hate in the eyes of his classmate, especially in Kaori, something in him snaps and he yells, "W-what are you looking at!? Ish all his fault! If it washn't for him, Kaori would've been mine!", but having enough of hearing his voice, I make my move, and with my finger, I start to press various acupoint in his body, and soon even if his mouth moves, all the sounds he makes are some kind of incompressible grunts, as I just cut off his sense of taste.

But feeling that it isn't enough, I think, 'Time to use one of the good old staples of my home universe...', and so I continue to press the myriad of acupoints of his body to cut off all of his other senses, and seeing him wriggling like that on the ground, Eri moves closer and asks without a hint of compassion or disgust in her voice only curiosity, "Why he is acting like that? What did you do?", I dust off my hand and reply "Well since there aren't any prisons nearby, and he is clearly a danger for everyone, I simply decided to cut off his senses, sight, so that he can't see, hearing, so that he can't hear anything, taste so that he won't be able to speak, smell so that he can't smell, and touch so that he can't feel his body and everything around him... Basically, he is now a living vegetable... Think of this as a punishment for what he has done!".