6 The Great Orcus Labyrinth III

(A/N: There is the promised 7k chapter that my editor "asked" me to write, that's why it took a while (or not))

(E/N: Good job Duck! *Gives cookies*)

(A/N: Also new cover!)

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(Shirou's POV)

"...Who goes there?"

I heard a faint, hoarse female voice. I immediately raised my guard and searched for the source of the sound. When I looked at the centre, I saw a cube floating with "something" in it. Then the light behind the cube revealed that "something"'s form

"Is that a person?" I muttered and looked at her in shock.

There was a naked girl with golden hair and red eyes buried in the cube from the neck down. Her hair was covering most of her body and her face like in certain horror movies and she was looking at us with an expression of surprise, awe but mostly hope.

I and Hajime were very shocked since we didn't expect to meet another person in the depths of this labyrinth. She also seemed surprised too, so we stared at each other with a dumbfounded expression which created an awkward silence between us. So I looked at Hajime and we both nodded, indicating that he understood what I meant. So we took a deep breath, straightened our backs and turned around to leave.

""Sorry, we will leave now,"" We said at the same time and I could feel the surprised expression of the girl, but there is no way that we will go there. It was suspicious as heck to have a beautiful girl trapped in front of us because it could be a trap, not to mention that she must be trapped for a reason, and we aren't like some horny guys that think with their dicks.

"Wait!" She hurriedly called us. Her voice was hoarse and weak, but the desperation in it was clear. Despite this, we continued walking outside.

"W-Wait...! Please...! Help me..."

"Don't wanna," Hajime replied briefly.

"Wh-Why... Please... I'll do anything, so..." I could feel that she was really desperate. I sighed and gestured to Hajime to stop. I turned around and asked her.

"Then answer my question first and depending on your answer we will free you," I said which surprised Hajime and the girl, but Hajime just sighed and didn't say anything, "Why are you sealed down here in the depths of hell?"

I am not a saint nor a hero, but it also doesn't mean I am a cold and heartless person, at least no yet, so I wanted to give her a chance, but if she has any ill intent towards us I will immediately leave her alone or kill her.

"I-I was betrayed!" Her words were like arrows that stuck in our mind and I could sense that she was telling the truth. I don't seek revenge for my classmates or anything like that, but I promised myself that when I see Daisuke again, I will punch his face so hard that he will meet his ancestors.

So I started walking towards her and Hajime followed me.

"You were betrayed huh? But that doesn't explain why you were sealed down here, even if what you are saying is true. Why had people who betrayed you sealed you up down here?" I asked as I arrived in front of her, with Hajime a step behind me.

The girl stared fixedly at me with her crimson eyes, which made me a little uncomfortable.

"Hey, are you listening? If you don't want to talk, we will leave,"

"I am one of the original, atavistic vampires... because of the extraordinary power I was gifted with... I worked hard for the sake of my country and my people. But then... one day... my retainers all...said I wasn't needed anymore... My uncle... said that he would be king in my place... I...was fine with that... but because I had so much power everyone was afraid of me, they thought I was dangerous... They couldn't kill me... so they decided to seal me here instead... That's why..."

She spoke haltingly but desperately, her parched throat making speech difficult. I just sighed as she was telling us her story. She had certainly suffered a cruel fate. However, she said something that picked my curiosity.

"So that means you were some kind of royalty?" I asked to which she nodded.

"What do you mean they couldn't kill you?"

"...I heal automatically. No matter what kind of injury it is, it'll just heal by itself. Even if you cut my head off I'll regenerate eventually."

"T-That's quite the ability…" I was taken aback when she said that. She basically had the skill that almost everyone desired and envied to have. "So that's the power everyone was afraid of?"

"That too, but... the main thing was that I could control mana...directly, without a magic circle...."

I nodded and replied with a smile, "I see."

After eating monster flesh, I was capable of manipulating mana as well and although magecraft has a different kind of system than this world's magic, I still had its benefits as I didn't need to convert mana in the air to Od and could use it directly, which made my magecraft stronger and more effective.

However, different from me or Hajime, who have almost no affinity for magic in this world, this girl had a magical affinity and with the ability to manipulate her mana turned her into a powerful individual. Because while everyone else had to waste time preparing circles and chanting their spells, she could just blast off magic like CTRL+C CTRL+V. And to add to her immortality, although she wouldn't be undefeatable, she would be a huge threat to the majority of people out there, including my former classmates.

"...Please save me…" She begged as she looked at me.

I stared at her and she also stared back. We spent some time gazing at each other while Hajime was waiting for my decision and looked at me with a blank expression that said "Hurry up! I don't want to waste time here!". I was thinking if I should free her or not. Then I just sighed and turned to Hajime and placed my hand on his shoulder.

"Dew it," I said briefly and Hajime nodded and went to the cube and placed his hand on it.

The girl looked curiously at Hajime but Hajime ignored her and used [Transmutation] on the cube as his mana began flowing to his arm, creating dark red sparkles from his arm. However, the cube he was trying to transmute remained unchanged and was resisting his mana, but using [Structural Analysis] I could see that it wasn't meaningless as Hajime's mana entered little by little to the cube.

"Guh, this thing's tough... but I'm not so weak anymore!" He poured yet more mana into his spell. I could see his determination to break this seal, not because he wants to free her, but he sees this as an obstacle for him to overcome. Finally, he felt his magic start taking effect. The tremendous volume of mana dazzled bright crimson, illuminating the entire room in a fiery red hue.

And yet he continued pouring more mana and a part of the cube started to crumble.

"I'm not done yet!" He pushed even harder, pouring even more mana. Sweats were forming on his forehead. I could feel it, if he lost his focus for a second, the massive amount of mana that he was using would go berserk. But even after all that, the cube refused to budge.

At some point, he was burning so much mana that his entire body glowed crimson. I couldn't do anything because I didn't have a way to free her and Hajime was the only solution. I continued to watch until one portion of the cube entrapping the girl began to melt like hot butter and fell to the ground, slowly releasing her from her seal.

As rocks slowly fell to the ground, her modest breasts were fully visible. Next came her waist, then her hands, her thighs, and finally the cube melted away entirely and she was free. We could see her entire naked body and although she had a childish appearance, it didn't lower her charm. She slumped to the ground in an exhausted heap as soon as her body was fully free. It seemed she wasn't strong enough to stand.

Before anyone said anything, I went to her and sat there, while taking off my bear coat and covering her. Hajime fell on the ground with an exhausted expression and he was panting heavily from wasting all his mana.

I smiled and patted his shoulder.

"Good job, Hajime, I knew you could do it," I said and received a grin from him.

"Yeah.... you... bet it" He said while closing his eyes and falling back, laying on the ground.

I grabbed a container filled with Ambrosia and threw it at Hajime, which he caught and started drinking. Then I looked at the girl and she was staring intensely at me. Her face was emotionless but I could feel a lot of emotions inside her crimson eyes.

"Thank you," She said in a small and trembling, but powerful voice, but it was enough for the girl to transmit her feelings.

"You welcome, but you should thank the guy over there," I said with a smile

"Th-" She turned to the laying Hajime and said, but she was cut off by him.

"You shouldn't thank me, instead you should thank Shirou, if it wasn't for him, I wouldn't bother to unseal you, no hard feelings,"

"Oh, so you are finally calling by my first name," I said with a grin.

"Shut up! Leave me alone!" He said with an annoyed expression.

I just smiled and looked at the girl who was looking curiously at us and I quickly noticed that I almost forgot something that I should have done at the start.

"I almost forgot to introduce ourselves," I said while facepalming myself as Hajime also realised that, "My name is Emiya Shirou, Shirou being my first name and Emiya my surname", I said and then turned to Hajime and pointed at him, "And that guy is Nagumo Hajime, Hajime being his first name and Nagumo his surname", I said as Hajime waved his hand.

Then I turned to the girl but then I heard her murmuring.

"Shirou, Shirou, Shirou,..."

"So what is your name?" I asked, ignoring completely that she was repeating my name like a yandere.

"Huh?" She seemed surprised by my question so I asked again.

"What is your name?"

"Give me one," She said softly.

"Huh?" This time it was my turn to be surprised and asked, "What? Give you one? Did you forget yours or something?"

Thinking back, she has been sealed here for a long time, so she might forget her name, but the girl in front of me shook her head.

"I don't need a name from the past... I'm fine with whatever name you give me, Shirou."

"...Haah, It's not so easy to just think up a name..." I somehow knew why she wanted a new name. She wanted to throw away her old self and be reborn. And the first step was getting a new name. But I was never good at naming, especially people, so I looked to Hajime for help. When our eyes met, he immediately averted his eyes as if he didn't want to take a part in this.

'This bastard…' I cursed him in my mind and looked back at the golden-haired girl. She was looking expectantly up at me. I scratched my cheek thinking about a new name for her.

'Is this the struggle that every parent feels when they are choosing the name for their newborn baby?' I thought before finally coming for a name for her.

"What about Yue? I'm not really good at naming, so I can try thinking up a different one if you don't like it,"

"Yue...? Yue...Yue..."

"Yeah. Where I come from, it means 'moon.' When I first came into this room your golden hair and red eyes reminded me of the moon, so what do you think?"

She seemed surprised and for some reason, I saw her eyes sparkling.

"...Hmm. Then from today onwards, I will be Yue. Thank you." She nodded and thanked me.

"Glad you like it."

Then I took out a container that had the same appearance as the one that I threw at Hajime and I started drinking it, recovering some of the strength that I used in previous battle, but I immediately froze, and it seemed that Hajime noticed it too.

On the ceiling, there was a powerful monster right above us. And at the same time when we detected it, the monster decided to drop down from the ceiling.

I immediately grabbed Yue and used [Flash Step] to get away and Hajime followed behind me.

*BOOOOM!*

The ground trembled and raised a cloud of dust. I stopped running after getting some distance and looked behind. But immediately spikes came out from the cloud of dust and were flying toward us. I embraced Yue to protect her from the spikes as I chanted my aria.

"Trace on!" I shouted my aria and traced a nameless sword in my empty hand and deflected the incoming spikes, but I didn't defend all of them as some pierced through my skin.

"Ghr!" I groaned in pain and it seemed that Hajime was no better.

"Shirou! Hajime!" Yue shouted in concern.

"I let my guard down!" I said, "Yue help Hajime first!"I ordered her since Hajime only has one arm, so it was better to help him.

Yue nodded and went to Hajime and removed the spikes in his body. I also removed it from my body and looked at the monster who was visible now.

The monster was nearly five meters long and possessed four arms that all ended in razor-sharp scissors. It had a further eight legs that clacked noisily as it scuttled around. It also had two tails, each of which ended in stingers. The closest thing it resembled was a scorpion. And obviously, the two stingers contained poison.

I felt cold sweat run down my forehead since this monster was the strongest I encountered so far. I grabbed a container and drank the Ambrosia in it and all my injuries were healed.

"I guess it is here to make sure you don't escape," I said as Yue came back to me as it was easier for me to carry her than Hajime. I kneeled on the ground and Yue climbed on my back and gave her another container filled with Ambrosia. She started drinking it as I got up from the ground and was preparing to run.

"Let's go, Hajime!" I shouted.

"Yeah!" He shouted back as he took out his Donner and fired at the giant scorpion, but it seemed that it didn't have much effect on it.

"Trace on!" I chanted my aria as I traced Kanshou and Bakuya in my hands as Yue was on my back.

"Ha!"I shouted while swinging Kanshou and Bakuya to slash the monster.

*Kssing!* *Criang!*

"It's tough!"I screamed in my mind as Kanshou and Bakuya in my hands broke when they hit the monster's exoskeleton. I immediately retreated back with [Flash Step] and dodged its stinger in time.

'I know that my tracing isn't as advanced as that guy, but for them to break so easily to this monster!' I thought.

"So what's the plan? My bullets don't seem to work nor do your swords," Hajime said while continuing to fire at the monster.

'Think! Think! Think!' I was screaming in my mind when suddenly Yue, who was on my back, moved a little and bit me on my neck. I was surprised and felt my blood being sucked, I was about to tell her to stop when I remembered that she said that she was a vampire, so I stopped what I was about to do. Then the monster turned towards us, so I immediately shouted at Hajime.

"Hajime! Buy us some time!"

"Roger!" Hajime shouted in response and kneeled and placed his hand on the ground.

"[Transmutation]!" He shouted as the earth under us started moving up, blocking its way toward us, but suddenly the earth started going down.

"It can manipulate the earth around it!" Hajime said before a grin formed on his face, "But how unlucky of you, that is my speciality too!"

The earth raised and lowered again and again as if Hajime and the monster were competing their skills with each other. Hajime raised the earth to immobilize the scorpion while the monster lowered the earth or destroyed the earth that was coming in its direction.

Then Yue stopped sucking my blood and removed her mouth from my neck and whispered in my ears, "Thanks for the meal." And she got off of my back and stood on the ground, then she walked in front of me and raised her arm.

"Azure Blaze!" She said as blue flames were forming above the monster and expanded, forming a giant ball of blue flames.

*Hissssssssssssssssssssssssss!*

The scorpion hissed at us and Yue slowly lowered her arm as the giant blue fireball was also lowering. And then Yue closed her fist and the giant ball hit the head of the monster. Eventually, the giant ball disappeared and it revealed that the scorpion was writhing as if it was in pain. Then Yue lost her balance and was about to fall, but I quickly ran behind her and caught her.

"Are you okay?" I asked in concern.

"Mhn… just very… tired..."

Then I looked at the scorpion who was still writhing in pain and I suddenly had an idea. Then I looked at Yue again.

"I know you are tired, but can you do it again?"

"I can, but it'll be smaller..."

"That's enough," I replied with a smile, "When I give you the signal, I want you to hit the same place where you hit previously."

"Hmn!" She nodded adorably.

"Hajime! Distract it a little!" I shouted at him.

"Understood!" He replied as he fired with his Donner at the same place where the fireball hit and started running away.

Hajime successfully got the aggro of the monster and it seemed enraged with him, so it started chasing him while firing spikes from its stingers or trying to cut him in half with its claw.

Yue was preparing her spell as I took out my bow and an arrow and started running towards the monster while concealing my own presence. As I was running, I was feeding the arrow with prana.

"Now!" I shouted. Then the blue fireball, which was smaller than the previous one, started descending and hit the head of the monster.

*SCREEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!*

The monster screeched in pain, but before it recovered, I jumped over the body of the monster and pulled back the string with the arrow at the same time. The arrow was leaking prana due to the overload. When I was over his head, I aimed down and released my fingers from the string.

*BOOOOM!*

When the arrow hit the head, it exploded and released all the prana accumulated in it.

*Thud*

The monster stopped moving and dropped on the ground, with a hole on its head. The idea I got was to fill the arrow with prana to its limit and when it hits the monster it will explode. It was based on one of my attempts when I was still learning [Reinforcement].

(Flashback - 7 years ago)

"Ghr," I groaned in pain as I just exploded a rock in front of me when I tried to use [Reinforcement] on it. I was in the garden while doing my daily magecraft training, but somehow, it always ended in exploding which frustrated me.

"Shirou," I heard my dad calling me, so I looked behind and saw him coming towards me. Then he kneeled next to me and picked a rock on the ground.

"When reinforcing an object/living being; you have to fill it with prana so that you can strengthen the purpose of the target, but if you put too much prana on it, the prana inside it will go berserk and normally it will explode, so be careful when you are using it," He explained as he exploded the rock in his hand by pouring excessively prana in it.

Then he got up and patted my head before his face tensed and returned to the living room where there was an angry mum and baby Illya

"That's hell you're walking into slouch…" I said before I resumed my attempts at [Reinforcement].

(Flashback End)

I walked towards them and suddenly Yue asked.

"Why?"

"Hmn?" I hummed in confusion.

"Why didn't you leave me behind and run?"

"I am not that low, you know. Furthermore, what type of person would I be if I abandoned the person that I just saved?" I asked in return while unconsciously patting her head.

Hajime was approaching me and he gave me a thumbs up. I just smiled and turned around.

"Let's go."

"Hmn." They nodded and followed me.

(Timeskip)

Currently, we are around a campfire on some floors under the one we fought with the scorpion monster. I and Hajime were eating cooked scorpion's meat, while Yue was looking at us. We were eating in silence so I decided to break it.

"So… you are at least 300 years old, right?" I asked.

Suddenly, Yue was releasing a menacing aura while looking at me.

"That's a rude thing to say to a lady," She said in a cold voice and I felt a chill in my spine.

"Wait, that means you are a loli ba-" Hajime said but he was cut off by a fireball fired by Yue.

Then it suddenly turned into an awkward silence.

*Cough* *Cough*

I faked a cough to break the awkward silence and try to start a new topic.

"In the books, I've read about vampires, it said that they went extinct 300 years ago. Do vampires live that long?" I asked and it seemed to have picked Hajime's interest as he was rubbing his head.

"I'm special. With [Auto-Regeneration] I don't age," She said while bringing her knees closer to her chest, "When I was 12 years old, I awakened my powers from atavism...I have been like this since then. By 17, I was the queen of the vampires." She said as we finished eating the meat and Hajime brought out his utensils to do alchemy. And she continued her tale.

"One day, when I was 24, my uncle suddenly became the king and I was to be executed as a monster. But thanks to [Auto-Regeneration] they couldn't kill me. So in the end, I was sealed here and when I woke up, I was in that room."

"I see, that is why you were in that kind of place," I nodded as I started doing maintenance to my bow, as, unlike my swords, it was a physical object and not created by magic.

"So theoretically, if I left you alone during the fight against monsters, would you be fine and just heal yourself?" I asked in curiosity.

She shook her head and said, "No, I didn't have the necessary magic power for regeneration at that time, so I could've died."

'So she has "Nigh-Immortality" as long as she has enough mana, huh…' I fell in deep thought before being interrupted by Yue, who was sparkling.

"And I also have compatibility with all types of magic and I can use it without chanting." She said proudly puffing her moderate-sized chest out.

A tick mark appeared on my head as well as Hajime's because we didn't have any affinity with any type of magic in this world. He was just doing his stuff while listening to us.

"So, do you have any idea how to go towards the surface?" I said while trying to maintain my calm.

She shook her head and said "Unfortunately, I don't know. However..." She paused as if she was unsure of what to say next, but then she continued with an unsure tone, "According to the legends; this labyrinth was built by one of the Mavericks."

"Mavericks?" I asked as it never was mentioned in the books in the Royal Library, even Hajime stopped doing his work and looked directly at Yue.

"Mavericks; They were the followers of a God that challenged their own God during the Age of Gods. It is said that they tried to destroy the world. Their plan was discovered by God and they fled to the ends of the world, which originated the now known as '7 Great Labyrinths'" She explained emotionlessly

"...It's possible that there might be a path to the surface there, in the deepest part of the labyrinth..." Hajime said.

"I see. I can't imagine there being some huge, thousand stories long staircase at the bottom. But if this whole thing was made by someone from the Age of Gods, then there's probably a teleportation circle or something." I said, as they nodded and Hajime returned to his work, as he was finishing making a new weapon

We continued to talk for a while and Yue asked questions about us when she suddenly asked.

"Why are you two here?" She asked innocently, but right after she finished asking her question, she bombarded us with other questions, like "How are you able to control mana directly? What is the magic you used? How can you use the monster's skills? How are you able to eat monster meat and not die?" and many others.

I already was expecting her to ask her first question, after all, this was the depths of the labyrinth, where no one but monsters call this place their home. But I was surprised after she asked many questions. Then I looked at Hajime and he just shrugged his shoulders and I sighed.

"*Sigh* Well, it isn't interesting, but do you wanna hear?" I asked.

"Yes!" She replied enthusiastically.

Then I told her the summary of what happened to us, from our class summoning as Heroes to the labyrinth expedition and our fight with the Behemoth, to the betrayal of one of our classmates, our fall, the fight that I almost died with the rabbit monster, the tracing, etc. Hajime also told us his side of the story, which was almost the same as mine but he added how he lost one arm, etc.

Somehow, I found myself comfortable when I was talking to Yue, but then I heard her sniffing after we finished telling her our story.

"What's wrong?" I asked in concern.

"*Sniff* I-It's so sad. *Sniff*"

"Don't worry about it. All that stuff's in the past now. There's no point in getting hung up over it. I don't care for the majority of our classmates, except for one though…" I said while I wiped her tears.

"For now we need to polish our skills, so we can make it out of here alive and find a way to return home,'' I said while patting her head.

She was like a big and a very cute cat while enjoying my petting, but she suddenly jumped and asked.

"You're going to go back?"

"Of course, I have my family and some important people there waiting for me,'' I said, 'And the slouch will probably make some kind of a nuclear waste if left alone in the kitchen…'

"...Okay…" She said with a depressed voice and brought her knees to her chest, "I don't have a place to go back to anymore…"

I scratched my cheek and said, "Humn, you know…" I stopped and waited for her to pay attention to me, then she looked at me and I continued, "You can come with us, I mean, to our world."

She widened her eyes and replied happily, "Yes!" and I subconsciously patted her head.

Then we continued talking and I explained my magic.

"About my magic, I named it [Tracing] and it is a derivation of [Projection],"

"[Tracing]? [Projection]?" She asked while tilting her head and Hajime got interested since I never really explained my magic.

"Yes; it's basically a magecraft that materializes objects, in accordance to the caster's imagination, through the use of magical energy. And it slowly fades after being created and it is usually hollow inside. But in my case it is different, I can not only reproduce the substance and the shape of an object; but also its history. For example…" I said while extending my arm to the side and muttered, "[Trace on]..."

Suddenly, a sword with a golden hilt and silver blade and golden armaments appeared in my hand.

"That is…" Hajime exclaimed in surprise and Yue raised an eyebrow

"Yes, this is 'Holy Sword Uralt', wielded by Kouki, although it is a weaker version than the original," I said.

"But how?" Hajime asked.

"As I said, I can reproduce an object to almost at the level of the original, especially if it is a sword, that I saw at least one time, but I still need more training to reach that level." I said while fading the sword.

They were surprised and Yue continued her questions, and when I finished answering all her questions, she turned to Hajime and she started asking him questions , especially about his weapons, after all, it was a modern weapon from our world after all.

Then suddenly, I got a question that was bothering me for a while.

"Yue," I called her.

"Yes?" She replied curiously.

"As you lived 300 years in that room until now, didn't you feel hungry?" I asked.

"I was hungry, but I am fine now,"

"Really? Did you eat something?" I asked as she never ate anything since she was with us.

Then she pointed her finger at me and smiled, "Shirou...you were very tasty…"

"Huh?" My mind stopped working.

I stopped moving and Hajime stopped what he was doing and looked at us and asked in surprise, "Wait what? When did you…" he asked.

I recovered when Hajime asked and the corner of my mouth started twitching and said "I am sure it's not it," I said and turned to Yue with an "Explain yourself" face.

"You have a mature taste," She said while started crawling to me.

"W-What are you talking about?" I asked since I am sure I am still a virgin and the only thing that she did to me was….wait don't tell me…

"Your blood..." I knew it! And then she continued talking, "...Your blood has the taste of a Unicorn…"

"My blood should be disgusting from eating nothing but monster meat..." I said while sweat dropping. I was feeling something bad will happen.

"And it has a deep thick taste…" She said as she was already near me and jumped over me.

"Gah!" I tried to resist but it was futile, it seems that her skills in capturing prey are already top grade. Then I quickly glanced at Hajime for aid but he looked away with a shit-eating grin.

'Damn you Hajime! You traitor!' I cursed in my mind as I felt my blood being sucked again.

(Timeskip)

After getting sucked, we rested for a while until we decided to set out for the bottom of the labyrinth. We cleared many floors and it went smoothly, as I and Hajime almost didn't do anything, since Yue was killing them in one hit with her devastating magic or due to Hajime's new equipment or me exploding them.

Currently, we were running away from a group of tyrannosaurs with a flower on their heads. They weren't strong but it was a pain in the ass to kill all of them since one appeared after another and we were already tired of killing them. We found out that the flowers were some kind of parasite and were controlling the monsters.

"Why are there so many of them?! I'm already tired of killing all of them over and over again!" Hajime complained as he fired at them.

"Hajime, Shirou, up!" Yue said and we jumped at the same time.

"Ice Prison!" She casted the spell and froze every monster that was chasing us.

"*Sigh* Finally it stopped, but why did they become more fierce when we were running in this direction?" Hajime complained..

"Maybe because they were stopping us from coming there?" I suggested.

"Well, the only way to find out is going there" He said and I felt someone tugging my sleeve.I looked down and saw Yue looking at me.

"Shirou, carry me," She said while raising both of her arms.

"Are you a child?" I looked at her with a deadpan face.

I ignored her and started walking, I looked behind and saw Yue pouting.

"Shirou no baka..." I heard her muttering and followed me. Hajime sighed and also followed me.

We continued exploring in that direction and the more we went further, the more monsters we encountered, which already became an annoyance. Finally, after cleaning the monsters that were chasing us, we arrived at a mountain with a fissure in the middle.

"This must be the place," I said.

"Yep..." Hajime agreed.

"C'mon let's go! I don't want to waste time on this floor anymore!" I said while entering the mountain.

Inside of the mountain, there was a corridor that was all dark, but for us, it didn't matter since we could see clearly as Batman with preparation.

"Be careful, the monster must be waiting for an opportunity to ambush us..." I said as they nodded and raised their guard.

"Trace on..." I muttered my aria and traced my usual weapons.

We arrived at the end of the corridor and entered a big room that was also dark, but there weren't any monsters. We looked around and explored for a bit.

"I'm not sensing anything, but I have a bad feeling about this..." I said while tightening my grip on my weapons.

"Yeah, we encountered monsters that could hide their presence, so it isn't impossible for one of them to appear here…" Hajime said while preparing to draw his Donner at any moment.

"Keep your guard up, especially you, Yue" I said.

"I can take care of myself," She pouted.

*Rustle* *Rustle*

I heard a sound coming behind Yue so I immediately turned around.

"Yue! Behind you!" I shouted.

"Ah?" Yue was surprised and turned around. Behind her, there were several seeds flying in our direction like bullets.

"Everyone watch out!" Yue shouted and casted a barrier.

I used [Clairvoyance] and saw a plant monster so I immediately threw Kanshou and Bakuya in its direction, but I missed so I could only trace a new pair.

Then I looked at Yue who was acting strangely so I asked.

"Yue are you alright?" I asked in concern.

"E-Every....one...run…!", she stuttered and suddenly attacked us with a fireball.

We immediately dodged the spell that was aimed at us. I looked at Yue and saw a flower on top of her head. The monster approached her and was standing behind her and put its hands on Yue's jaw while grinning at us.

"I'm sorry…" Yue apologised while struggling with the monster, "My body...I can't control it…" I just looked at her with a stoic face while waiting for me.

"Hajime...just shoot...at me!" Yue begged Hajime.

Hajime looked troubled and glanced at me, waiting for my decision. I gesture him to wait

*Whoosh* Whoosh* *Whoosh*

I could hear the sound of the wind approaching us and I grinned a little. The monster looked behind, but it was too late. The first pair of Kanshou and Bakuya that I threw before were returning like boomerangs and it pierced the monster's back.

*UWAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!!!*

The monster screamed in pain and before it could do anything, I dashed at it and slashed it with an X-shape. The monster died and fell on the ground while the flower on Yue's head withered and disappeared.

"It seems everything went well," I said.

"Shirou, that was amazing! How did you do it?" Hajime asked curiously.

"Well. these swords…" And then I explained to them the properties of these swords.

(Timeskip -Several floors later)

Some days after the plant monster incident, we cleared many floors and now it will be the 100th floor after our fall. In the books it was said that there were 100th floors in the Great Orcus Labyrinth, however, it is obvious that this wasn't the Great Orcus Labyrinth that everyone knows, but I am sure that we are far deeper.

We were resting in the middle of a huge room supported by white pillars made of something like quartz and the floor with the same colour. There was a double door on the wall and it probably will lead us to the last boss of the labyrinth.

"It's pretty obvious that beyond these doors is the final boss," I said.

"I think the same, although [Presence Detection] isn't picking anything," Hajime said

Then I took out my status plate to check my current status and it was far superior than before.

[Emiya Shirou | Age: 17 | Male | Level: 80

Job: Magus

Strength: 2280

Vitality: 2310

Defense: 2220

Agility: 2240

Magic: 2340

Magic Defense: 2340

Skills: Incarnation of Sword [+Weapon Appraisal] [+Swordsmanship] - Archery [+Arrow Projection] - Clairvoyance [+Hawkeye] - Eye of the Mind (True) - Magecraft - Projection [+Tracing] - Reinforcement [+Alteration]- Structural Analysis [+History Visualization] - ⬛⬛⬛⬛⬛⬛ - Magic Manipulation [+Mana Discharge] [+Mana Compression] [+Remote Manipulation] - Iron Stomach - Lightning Field - Air Dance [+Aerodynamics] [+Flash Step] [+Steel Legs] - Night Vision - Presence Concealment - Presence Detection - Heat Detection - Magic Resistance - Poison Resistance - Petrification Resistance - Diamond Skin - Language Comprehension]

I gained a bunch of new skills since my summoning and improved my magecraft, even mastered how to use [Alteration], which I only had theoretical knowledge but I didn't know how to do before.

"Well, we are almost clearing this labyrinth and closer to our goal," I said while getting up.

"So let's go, everyone!"

"Roger!" "Mhn!"

Hajime already drew out his Donner and I already had Kanshou and Bakuya in my hands and when I opened the doors we were greeted by a spacious room. Suddenly, a magic circle appeared on the floor.

"A magic circle!" Hajime shouted in surprise.

'It is the same as the Behemoth's. No...This is larger!' I thought while feeling cold sweat forming on my back.

"Everyone stand back! This is going to be a big one!" I shouted.

The magic circle started shining and blinded everyone. When the light died, it revealed a wingless dragon with six heads with different colours from each other.

*ROOOOOOAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAR!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!*

"Oh c'mon! That's a motherfucking Hydra!" I complained. That was a legendary monster that appeared in Hercules's legend that is said to possess an insane regeneration, almost immortal.

Then it raised one of its heads and opened its mouth.

*ROOOOOOOOOAAAAAAAAAAAR!!!!!!!!!!!!*

It roared at us and a giant fireball came out of its mouth and was flying toward us. I started running around the hydra and Hajime pointed his gun at the fireball.

*BAAM!* *BAAM!* *BAAM!*

The bullets went through the fireball and hit three of the hydra's heads, but only killed one.

"Yue! Assist Hajime!" I shouted.

She nodded and raised her arm at one of the heads and said.

"Scarlet Spear!" She casted and a spear made of fire came out from her hand and launched towards one head and it exploded without leaving a single bit of flesh.

I was approaching one of its heads and it noticed me, and it opened its mouth and an enormous ice shard appeared and launched towards me. I jumped and landed on it and used it as support to jump again. In mid-air, I used [Reinforcement] on the blades and slashed the hydra's head, separating from the neck.

*Thud!*

The hydra's head fell on the ground and when I landed, I immediately dashed to where the others were.

"Now only 3 heads remain..." I said, but right after I finished speaking, one of the remaining heads rose up and roared.

*ROOOOOOOAAAAR!*

Suddenly, the other heads that were supposed to be "dead" started glowing and they were regenerating at a fast speed.

"You are messing with me!" I said in annoyance.

"Probably each head has its own role," Hajime said.

"Yeah, I noticed that too," I said, "So we need to kill the healer first."

Hajime nodded and we dashed towards the Hydra again.

"Yue, you are on the support!"

"M-Mhm!" She nodded.

I ran to one of its heads and I was preparing to jump, but I suddenly heard Yue screaming.

"NOO!!!"

"Yue!?" I turned around, but one of its heads came towards me and tried to bite me.

"Tsk. Get out of my way!" I shouted as I jumped and slashed it, separating from its neck.

"Hajime, try to hold them!" I shouted, and then he shouted back, "Roger!"

I dashed to Yue and it seems she was in some kind of genju-I mean illusion!

"Ah...Aah..." She was making a noise as if she was afraid of something.

"Shit..." I cursed as I took out a container and poured it in her mouth, but she wasn't drinking it.

'What should I do? She isn't drinking it. Should I do CPR? No, I don't have time for that,' So without hesitation, I immediately kissed her. I felt her twitching and separated my lips from hers. Then I saw her was full of crimson.

"S-Shirou?" She stuttered.

"Yo. Are you alright?" I asked while smiling.

"Shirou...I was…" She leaned on me.

I patted her back and said to her, "It's okay. We're all coming home together, right?" I asked to which she nodded.

Then Hajime landed beside us and said, "Hey you two love birds! It would help if you stop flirting and give me a hand here!" He said while firing at Hydra.

"Let's go," I patted her head and she nodded.

"Hold it a little! I will use my new weapon!" Hajime said while taking out his new weapon, which was covered in cloth.

We nodded and I brought out my bow and started shooting explosive arrows at the healer, but other heads always got in the way and served as a meat shield for the healer.

"Scarlet Spear! Imperial Cannon! Frozen Rain!" Yue casted her spells and bombarded Hydra.

*ROOOOOOOAAAAAAAAAAR!!!!*

The monster roared again but Hajime didn't pay attention to it and took out the cloth from the weapon. It revealed a railgun with the same colour scheme as Donner. Then he pointed it at the Hydra.

"Be honoured! You will be the first opponent of my Schlagen!" He said enthusiastically and fired it.

*Kriing*

*Vooooom!!!*

It exploded all the six heads at the same, leaving only the lower part of the body.

"A-Amazing!" Yue exclaimed in surprise.

"As expected from Hajime!" I said while patting his shoulder, but I tensed as I suddenly felt that my instincts were telling me that there was danger behind us, so I immediately turned around to the "dead" body of the hydra.

But, instead of the "dead" body of the hydra, there was a new head on the body and it roared at us and it launched a fire breath in our direction.

*ROOOOOOOOOOOOAR*

'Shit!' I cursed in my mind as I dashed in front of Yue and covered her with my body while Hajime was in front of us and used Schlagen as a shield to protect us.

""Uhraaaaaaaa!!!!!"" We screamed in agony as we received the breath directly from the hydra.

I dropped on the ground and felt a warm feeling on my stomach, so I placed my hand on it and felt a hole in it

'Shit!' I cursed internally as I felt that I was losing my focus, then I saw that Hajime was also on the ground and Yue was screaming our names, but she was all right.

'At least she is alright' I said internally, but suddenly I remembered Illya and my family in my world, "No! I can't.... die here... They are... still.... waiting... for me!" I muttered under my breath and struggled to get up, but suddenly, the world turned grey and everything stopped.

""Do you want to live?"" I heard two distinct voices behind me.