Goodbye, Great Labyrinth (See you once again)

[ ~ Chapter • Start ~ ]

Satoru, along with all his students approached a part of the wall where two elevator gates were present.

And while he did, Aletia rode his back, which had made Eri very annoyed at the display. Satoru didn't mind that much, anyways.

Earlier on, the vampire princess had persuaded him to carry her on his back, because she still had an aching lower body from their activity that lasted for hours.

The moment they were near enough, Satoru turned to his students.

"As you may have noticed, for days I have been doing lots of things around this temporary base; modifying it, doing tasks related to your preparations in taking over several dungeons, and even telling you my plans. But right now, we will finally be able to return to the surface after months of hard work!"

The students clapped their hands and even cheered for their success, knowing that they've all packed enough items from the entire abode.

Most of them were even in suits and clothing that Oscar excellently crafted two thousand years ago. And because they're all artifacts, it makes sense that they're much stronger and better than their previous clothing.

Satoru had also modified the abode to turn it into their secret base if ever things were to go awry, and had made a copy of it where the challengers will fairly get their rewards as intended.

"Now, I present to you.... the elevator that will lead us back to the surface."

A button was pressed, and certain contraptions inside the walls began to be heard, and the gates of the elevator opened.

"No questions needed to be asked, just get in."

[ ~ Line • Break ~ ]

Surprisingly, the interior of the elevator had been wide enough to house around a maximum of 50 persons.

Because the elevator was now beginning to move up, albeit slowly, there was nothing to do for now other than wait.

The barr silence in the room was occasionally interrupted by the muffled sounds of the contraption above.

One female student noticed a glowing red button on the wall near Satoru, and in a burst of curiosity, she asked: "Teacher, what does that red button do?"

"A quicker way up. Want me to press it?"

He replied as casually as he could while his hands lightly groped on the button.

Some students were immediately alarmed, but it seems as they were too late, as said female student nodded curiously.

Satoru slapped the button instead of normally pressing it.

Suddenly, the mechanism present on the elevator stopped, for a moment before the elevator began to move upwards much, much quicker.

It surprised the students, as they thought this elevator would crash to the ceiling above and possibly launch them out of the Labyrinth.

Therefore, most of them had already began casting barrier spells.

"Teacher! Can't you just stop it from rising faster and faster?!"

"No! Can! Do! We're going around Mach 2 at this moment!"

"WHAT!?"

Seconds later, the elevator suddenly stopped, but strangely enough, no students were flung up to the ceiling. It was, of course the work of [Gravity Magic] engraved to the elevator that prevented the students from that accident.

Meanwhile the acceleration of the elevator was through [Restoration Magic] which accelerated it's time by several times.

"We have arrived to the First Floor of the Great Labyrinth of Orcus. Now, let's get ourselves out of here."

One by one, the students began to move out of the elevator, following Satoru who was leading them out.

The path wasn't that long, compared to an ordinary exploration on a floor down below. No monsters were around, because Satoru modified it and several floors to have none but several mana crystals that light up the deeper path.

It was time for them to leave, after all. Even so, they still wondered what happened to the outside world between their months of exploration in the labyrinth.

Honestly? They were actually doubting what had happened on the outside world.

What if the demons had already attacked the human kingdoms and settlements? What if those demons were still in the process of attacking them?

What if.... they were too late?

Their doubts were many, their fears were few, without hesitation they left the labyrinth.

While they were hit by the bright light of the sun and had a few seconds to adjust their eyes, they saw something that actually surprised them, not much, but they didn't expect this to be seen.

Holward only had a few buildings that were standing upright, and several destroyed buildings were all around it. Obviously the guild hall was still there.

Several buildings, however looked like they were still in the process of being rebuilt. Albeit, no one was assisting in doing so.

"What happened here? Did demons already attack this town?"

Kaori asked the moment they walked towards the Guild, and Satoru only sighed, remembering something that had already happened days ago.

"No, your battle against Oscar Orcus probably had affected."

This reply of his had given the students an understanding what truly happened that time a little more.

Of course, they wandered around the broken town, not meeting a single person, until several groups of bandits showed up from the shadows.

"Who are they, and how did they get here!?"

One of the bandits yelled, taking out his sword, ready for battle in a serious manner, unlike some of his allies who were all eyeing the girls.

"Holy shit, boss! They've got many good girls on their group! Why not have some fun with them once we're done killing the men? We're a few hundred and are around level 45 and abive, and they're just two dozens!"

Another yelled, confident that they could eventually overpower the group of students.

"What do you think, boss man?"

There also was a well-dressed bandit, who immediately frowned while he observed the group. Despite it, he doubted they could even win.

There was something about the group that unnerved him, and it actually is surprised when they almost looked annoyed.

One young boy aimed a metal staff towards him, and several others stepped forward.

And of course, the short-tempered student known as Atsushi Tamai gritted his teeth in anger.

"Shut up, you fucking fodder! Fall off your roof!"

The boy's angry words had enraged the bandits, even their boss was offended at him.

Then he glanced at three people, one who looked like the one who was their leader talk to two girls younger than him, just before he felt the bob-cut haired girl stare at him with immense amount of malicious intent that reached from a large amount of distance.

"...!!!"

He took a step backwards in fear, as if noticing that something horrible was about to happen.

"Boss, are you okay?"

Although one of his men was worried about him, the boss of the bandits shook his head to clear his thoughts.

"This must be a trick..." he muttered under his breath. "Of course, let's go with that. I can't even let too many of my men die here; they've been with me for years! Now, we have a new home, this Holwick, which used to be one of the accursed kingdom's towns. I cannot let it be taken! Unless..."

Clenching his fists, he focused on what he needed to do for the betterment of his subordinates. Even if it meant they had to do some difficult things to survive.

"I'm fine! It doesn't matter what tricks they have in store; we are going to defeat them!"

The bandits made a warcry, and then several bows were aimed and fired at the group. But as if something had gone wrong, the arrows never reached their targets; a dome of light repelled them.

The leader of these bandits, Ducere, began focusing on using many strategies that were highly effective, utilizing everything that would be useful in various situations.

But then he began to realize something as time passed.

"Those people are too strong."

He still had two options to choose from: to keep fighting or to leave this place to the people who suddenly emerged from the labyrinth.

Ducere remembered hearing about an important group of people who had challenged the labyrinth, and only 23 had died; which probably meant that the group they were fighting against was presumed dead for months.

When about 30 of his men had been killed, he tried to have his men retreat with him, but they actually refused.

The only problem was that the path back had been blocked by a boy who used magic to swiftly raise up the earth.

Therefore... there was nothing to do but use the third option, which was to surrender.

It took a while, but was it really worth it?

Unless you count the fact that they have been enslaved through a magic contract from the black haired sorcerer, along with his men who were risen back from the dead, and were in a horrifying state of being between life and death.

Their eyes looked completely empty, yet they still had normal expressions as if that was natural. They didn't even need any food to begin with!

Aside from that, they were forced to assist them in rebuilding parts of the town, just before they left. There were enough supplies left by the group for them to survive for a few weeks.

The most troublesome part is that they literally were stuck in Holward and nothing else.

And so, our group of very powerful beings take their steps forward a staircase that leads to another! Their adventures in the outside world have just begun!

[ ~ TO • BE • CONTINUED ~ ]

Author's Commentary: And here we end Arc 2!

Status Update: Only Shizuku (still thinking of a way to build their relationships up) and Eri are the students that are in Satoru's harem.

Also.....

I admit I used Fanfiction dot Net's mobile app's grammar correction AI. It's pretty hand

[ OMAKE ]

The Royal Alchemist knelt in front of the mural of Ehit, who honestly looked like a totally fake blonde Jesus.

He smiled with utter satisfaction, believing what had been told to him by his God in a dream.

Apparently he had no need for the hero for just randomly killing monsters left and right and gaining fame while causing trouble to the , and because he didn't kill people, it actually bored him to such an extent that he wanted him as a corpse.

"Ehit's will be done. Father Lombard, we have heard his words, right?"

The Alchemist asked the Pope, who scratched his long beard, before he smirked creepily.

"Hm.... You are right, the Hero is worthless. He couldn't kill, and is easily tricked. His other companions proved to be worthless, dying in the labyrinth too early, there's even a sitting duck of a worthless brat."

Ishtar criticized under a venomous tone, as he shook his head and sighed.

"May I be given the best ingredients hidden inside this holy church? I have a plan to use him as a pawn that will cause chaos and utter disorder to the eastern empire. That way it will weaken."

"Under Ehit's will, of course. Take your time, Giftstern vi Goldwater. Godspeed."

Their plans definitelt will come to fruition.

A Hero shall fall soon.

Something ancient will awaken, and the "good" of that child will be... gone.

(A/N: Giftstern is German for "Poison Star")