Chapter 63: Haltina Labyrinth Part 2

Izumi and Kyouko walked inside the tree. As soon as they did, the bark closed itself plunging the couple into darkness.

"Izumi!"

"It's okay, Kyouko. Just hold my hand." The girl quickly did.

They were glad that they held each other's hands because, suddenly, a crimson magic circle appeared beneath their feet.

"A teleportation circle!" Kyouko exclaimed.

"Yeah. Looks like we're going to be teleported somewhere. Make sure to not let go."

'Who knows if we'll transform or not if we were alone.' he thought.

Soon, the room was engulfed in crimson before dimming and the light faded away as the couple were no longer in the room.

Izumi opened his eyes and saw trees surrounding him everywhere.

'So it's the same as in the web novel,' he thought.

"Kyouko?" he felt his hand and froze.

She was not there.

"Kyouko? Kyouko! KYOUKO!" Izumi shouted, but there was no answer.

'Fuck! So even holding hands didn't work. I guess the mental resistance I put on her armour worked since I don't have a copy of her with me. Though, I shouldn't bet on that. I have to quickly find her. Did the anti-transformation spell work on her?''

Suddenly, a flying monster burst out of a tree and made a beeline toward Izumi. Without looking, the boy caught it by its neck, These monsters made a bee look like a butterfly. That's how ugly they were. They looked like a horrifying cross between a baby, a spider, a bee, and a centipede. If Izumi weren't so angry, he would have been disgusted.

*Bzzzzt* *Bzzzzt*

"Fuck off," he said before crushing it without even looking at it.

He created multiple orbs of Dark Matter covered in different elements, such as fire, lightning, wind, and many more, and let them orbit around him. He then used (Memory Partition) to take care of these orbs that would attack any hostile beings. Meanwhile, he created multiple drones that he sent them flying throughout the forest. He then created multiple partitions in his mind that would each direct one drone.

At the same time, he occasionally sent a fireball into the sky and made it explode in hopes of attracting Kyouko. Although, it also attracted other kinds of monsters. Izumi had a simple plan, attract the attention of all the monsters in the forest and make them come running towards him. Since, in the series, Yue and Tio retained their intelligence as a monster, he would simply read the minds of every monster he encountered.

*BZZZ* BZZZZZT*

The first monster came and it was the same baby-insect demon. With a disgusted look, he quickly cast his mind-reading spell.

Nothing.

So the memory partition that controlled the orbs quickly destroyed the monsters. And so, monsters began to pour in as he broadcasted his location. Finally, he would also send pulses of Observation Haki to find Kyouko since she's a person and therefore has a higher will than monsters in here.

For an hour, it was the same thing. Attract, Read mind, and Kill. He would continue with this routine when suddenly his Haki hit something. It seems like the recipient also felt something as it began to move towards him. Izumi dashed towards it. Finally, Izumi stopped. The forest was so thick that almost no light could pass through. All of a sudden, Izumi could hear the bush next to him rustle and a goblin came out. He quickly gave a pulse of Haki and found its target. This goblin possessed a will way too high for its kind. He then sent a message to its mind,

'... Kyouko?'

'IZUMI! What the hell is going on! Why am I goblin!? Am I going to stay like this forever!?' Kyouko's thoughts began to smash into his mind.

"Wait! Wait, Kyouko! Calm down. It's going to be okay. I'm here now." Izumi said as he kneeled to hug the goblin after dismissing all of his orbs.

'I guess the teleportation must've had stripped her equipment before transforming her. So it was all for nothing."

He felt his shirt stain from her tears.

'C-Can you turn me back?'

Izumi cringed,

"I would, but I don't have enough information about your body. I can't use Metamorphosis magic on you."

'What about Restoration Magic?'

"I'll try."

He knew that it wouldn't work, but Izumi tried nonetheless. His hand glowed white and he places it on Kyouko. A few seconds in and it didn't work.

"Restoration Magic does not work, here. Sorry, Kyouko." Izumi grimaced.

'Why?'

"It probably has something to do with this place.

The goblin looked downcast.

'Is there nothing you can do?'

"Maybe we can find a way in the Labyrinth or I can also restore you when we complete the dungeon. One thing I'm sure of is that this Labyrinth wouldn't want you to stay like this since this is a trial.

"... Okay."

"I assume you lost all your items"

Kyouko shook her head,

'Most of my items are in my subspace that I can't activate since I can't use magic right now. Although, I... huh... lost the... necklace.' she said as her voice got smaller and smaller.

Izumi simply shook his head,

"It's okay. I'll make a new one."

'That doesn't matter! It was a gift from you.'

Izumi grinned,

'It's not like I'm not planning on giving you more gifts.'

"But it was still the first one you have given me."

"To be honest, I'm glad it did its job. Even if it was half."

'What do you mean?'

"The magic circle was supposed to read our memories. Then it was supposed to transport said memories into mimics which would copy our appearances and trick the other and backstab them."

'Oh, God.' Kyouko could simply say, "And that's just the entrance?'

"Yup. So let's go. We don't want to waste a single second here. I already found our next stop." Izumi said as he created a platform for the goblin to climb on.

Once Kyouko did, Izumi then ran in the direction of his drone all the while quickly killing the monsters. Kyouko watched in fascination at Izumi's speed and efficiency at monster-killing. At once has he slowed down to kill them, his elemental orbs do that for him.

Soon they arrived in front of a large tree growing next to an altar. Suddenly, the tree sprung to life and began attacking Izumi. This monster was a Treant and the teen had met many others of the same species while coming here. However, this one was the biggest one the couple had seen.

'I think it's this floor's Boss.' Kyouko's thoughts entered his mind.

"You're right," Izumi said.

Since this was just a bigger variant of the Treant, Izumi simply used his normal strategy: Kill it with fire. The Treat launched its roots towards the couple, however, the latter had already predicted it and launched himself in the air along with Kyouko who was tightly clinging herself to the Dark Matter platform.

Since Treants can't fly, it was like shooting a fish in a barrel for Izumi. He brought forth his hands towards the monster and shot a torrent of flames.

*SCREEEEECH*

The monster began screeching as it was burned alive. Izumi noticed nearby trees being dragged over to the monster and were being used as shields.

"What a persistent bastard. I didn't want to use it for now, but I guess I have no choice.

Izumi snapped his fingers.

*BOOOM*

Suddenly the monster exploded. Izumi had materialized a Dark Matter bomb inside the monster and detonated it He quickly put a mana shield around him and Kyouko to block the shockwave and heat. The forest around the remains of the Treant was now bathed in flames. Izumi quickly summoned a large amount of water and doused it all out.

'Is it done?' Kyouko asked.

Izumi shook his head,

"This is just the beginning of the Labyrinth. There are still many more trials to overcome. Let's continue."

'Wait! Look!' Kyouko shouted.

They both looked at where the boss had died. Soon the earth moved and a small planted surface out of it. It then began to grow bigger at an accelerated pace before finally the same tree that previously occupied the place returned.

'It regenerated!'

"No, wait. Look"

they saw the tree not moving or attacking. Suddenly, the bark split open similar to when they first entered the place.

"Looks like that boss was also our way to the next trial."

They were about to enter the place when Kyouko suddenly began to panic,

'Wait, Izumi! What if we were separated again? I don't want to separate from you again. I can't even fight since I was transformed into a goblin!'

Izumi understood her worries. He placed a hand on her head,

"It's okay. Here." Izumi said as he gave her a bracelet.

"This bracelet will allow me to find you. It's essentially a tracking device," he said as Kyouko put the bracelet on her goblin wrist.

"You don't have to worry since I will always find you."

Kyouko calmed down a little and they both entered the bark. Soon another teleportation magic circle glowed beneath their feet and everything went dark.

***

Izumi's eyes snapped wide open as pain wreaked havoc in his mind. He grabbed his head, but it felt much heavier than usual. He wanted to groan, but he couldn't even breathe. Looking around, it looked like he was submerged in an amber semi-liquid semi-solid matter. Looking up, he could see something was beyond whatever he was in. Pain once more assaulted his mind and he resisted the urge to scream. The last time he felt like this was when he fought Saiki and the latter tried to mind-control him and failed. It seems like something was trying to access his mind without his consent.

Izumi had to get out of here.

He quickly compressed his mana over his body before letting it loose in a shockwave.

*BOOM*

Whatever he was in exploded forward and Izumi quickly stumbled out of it.

*Cough* *Cough* *Cough*

The boy coughed out the amber sludge that he had accidentally swallowed in the pod, before gasping as he drank gulps of air.

'What the hell!' internally shouted Izumi as he caught his breath. "It wasn't supposed to go like this! I even opened up my mind to let the circle read my thoughts so why didn't it work?'

"Is it the same reason Saiki couldn't control my mind? Is there something in me that prevents mental-attack like the (Gamer's Mind) or something?"

Izumi's thoughts were in disarray.

'Since I didn't even participate in this trial, will I even get the Ancient Magic!?'

He quickly shook his head and took deep breaths to calm himself. The unexpected situation has thrown a wrench in his plan. Suddenly, he remembered,

"Kyouko!"

The boy looked around and saw another pod similar to a coffin beside his now ruined pod. Looking inside, he saw Kyouko suspended in the amber substance, Luckily, she had transformed back into her human form and with her clothes too. He sighed in relief when he saw her. He was glad that she was currently undertaking the trial of Dream. He then looked around and saw that the room barely had any light and it was completely bare. He decided to sit down and think about his situation.

"Alright, I wasn't able to complete this trial. I read that if one fails this trial, they could continue, but they won't get the reward. But what if someone didn't even take it, does that mean I fail too. That can't be right. Let's think this through. I know that this mysterious ability stopped the Labyrinth from interfering with my mind even if I let it. I will research that later. I should find a way to get the Ancient Magic. Maybe, I could have Kyouko complete the Labyrinth and have her copy the information in my mind? I could work, but it's not a guarantee. I could tamper with the circle? Perhaps, I have multiple copies of it from the different Labyrinths. I could go to My Reality Marble and find a way to extract the information without having to gain its approval. It will leave a bad taste in my mouth, but I've got no choice."

Izumi sat on the ground in a lotus position and entered his Reality Marble: Dreams of the Fool. The boy awoke on a familiar throne. Looking up at the sky, the solar system has greatly changed. A new planet was added at the very end. But this one was different. He could feel it is incomplete. The planet was covered in six different colours. But like pieces of a puzzle, a part of the planet seemed hollow.

'That must be the planet representing Concept Magic once complete.' he thought.

He then noticed when he looked at the sun. When he first manifested his Reality Marble, at the center of the sun, there was a simple black dot. He didn't think much of it. But now, that black dot had grown bigger, but it was not by much. Although, it still worried Izumi a little. He didn't know what that black spot represented and he didn't want to find out anytime soon.

Looking down on the ground, he saw the energy vein representing mana had grown tremendously. Izumi nodded before bringing the magic circles of the different Labyrinths forward. The magic circles appeared one by one before his eyes and he got to work.

'I should find a way to bypass the approval of the magic circles before Kyouko wakes up. Although, I'm sure she will pass the test.' he said as he brought the first magic circle before him. It was the circle at the Orcus Labyrinth.