Chapter 146: Underground Labyrinth Capture – Outcome and Conclusion

Perceiving that invaders has entered his domain, the Ghost King[1] Adalman curled his meatless lips.

Then, he made noise by grinding his teeth slightly.

It was hard to understand it, but it could be said that the Ghost King Adalman was grinning broadly, and sneering.

「You seems to be in a pretty good mood, Adalman-sama.」

The man, who was a Holy knight, and his trusted confidant, greeted Adalman.

He was a ghost, and didn't have a physical body. However, he stood with a figure unaltered from when he still alive.

Though he had been transformed into a ghost, which was considered a monster, he hadn't possessed any humans or monsters, but had construct his body, which was the same as when he was alive, from a multitude of corpses.

As for Adalman, he didn't have any attachment to his body when he was alive, though he was rather pleased with his current figure, which had became mere bones.

While Adalman's trusted confidant, who was the former Holy Knight Commander, may have had some attachment and pride towards his appearance during his lifetime.

It was because his appearance had the refreshing ――Though it was strange to say that a Ghost was refreshing ―― facial features of a young man.

But from the blue will-o'-wisp that flew around him, and his pale skin, it was clear that he wasn't alive.

「Yeah, I'm in good mood. Guests seem to have come, Albert.」

He informed his confidant, the former Holy Knight Commander Albert, of the presence of invaders.

He respond,

「I see, did they finally come?」

Understanding everything, Albert――who was now a Death Paladin (Ghost Holy Knight)[2] ――nodded joyfully.

In the past, they had gone to conduct a purification with good will to prevent the outbreak of a large-scale dead-spirits disaster in the battlefield in The Jura Great Forest.

In doing so, Priest Adalman and four holy knights had gone together, but they had encountered an unexpected situation.

When they had arrived at the battlefield's remains, a Dragon Zombie (Carrion Dragon)[3] an atrocious monster, was living there.

Although they had succeeded in defeating the Dragon Zombie after a desperate fight, they had used up all of their strength there.

There was no one to come rescue them, since they hadn't acted on the orders of the church, but based on their own convictions.

Thus, their fate was sealed, but their hearts, which wished for the peace of the Great Jura Forest caused a miracle.

Well rather than a miracle, it might have been a disaster for them though...

Adalman's group transformed into ghost after receiving the curse of the dead, and a large amount of magic essence [4].

However, with their strong willpower, Priest Adalman and Holy Knight Commander Albert succeeded in keeping their egos.

Priest Adalman became a Undead King, the king of ghosts.

Holy Knight Commander Albert became a Death Paladin.

And his three subordinates became Death Lords (Ghost Knight Leader)[5].

The Ghost King Adalman who, had acquired the abilities of a Necromancer (Dead Ruler)[6], was dominating the dead spirits in the surroundings, and stayed inside a cave.

That was an old story from more than several hundred years ago.

The rules of time didn't apply them, who had become undead, so the number of years that had passed couldn't be confirmed.

But, he noticed the birth of the new ruler of Jura Great Forest.

It was natural.

After the disappearance of the Storm Dragon Veldora, he had sent his subordinates to gathered information, since he had expected the forest to become turbulent.

The result, he choose to subject to the new Demon Lord. As things were, he had become its subordinate.

「Yeah. The time for us to become useful for Demon Lord Rimuru-sama, who gave us peace, has finally come.

If it's in this labyrinth, I can employ the deceased as I like, unlike during the long cave life, this place is overflowing with excitement.

We must make proof of our loyalty for our "God," that has bestowed us with such a wonderful environment.」

「Yes! This Albert, understands.」

Adalman nodded to Albert's response with a 「Yeah」.

His faith had died once before; Demon Lord Rimuru was chosen as the new target of his faith.

Of course Rimuru didn't know that.

Rather, Rimuru was thinking『I'm sorry, I don't think you guys can win』or something like that, but Adalman and his group didn't know that, since they were in high spirits.

Right now, they intended to bring victory to their new master.

Looking at each other's faces, and nodding, Adalman was burning with motivation, Albert was also the same.

And so, they began to think of countermeasures against the coming foolish invaders. −−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−

The three people, who came from the empire, were smoothly proceeding with the capture.

After parting with Damrada, and entering the Labyrinth City, they had registered in the guild there.

They had collected some information beforehand, but they had felt that the playful contents of the dungeon were mostly a heap of game elements.

However, this place was where Zhen Liu Xing's Sense Trap shone.

As for the monsters' strength that he had heard about from the stories, they didn't seem to be a big deal.

The problem was that the depth of the dungeon was unknown.

To advance, capturing the labyrinth in one go was a no-go, as there was a limit to the amount of food that could be carried.

But, such a worry,

「Ah, it's alright. When you find the stairs, there is a doorway to an inn.

It's possible to stay in that place. So, there's no problem even if we don't bring much food.

In addition, we could sell things that we don't need there, since there's merchant in that place, you know?」

So, it was really satisfactory.

Moreover, there seemsed to be an item called "Bracelet of Revival".....

「It's seems we are able to revive even if we die inside with this....」

Mark and Zhen looked doubtful when Shinji explained what he heard.

How to put it? In this serious world, it was only in here that the world was full of jokes, it was a very hard to describe feeling.

Since they were "Otherwolders" too, in this world possessing an ability would garner you favorable treatment.

However, it wasn't to the degree that you could do as you liked in this country.

Yuuki was considerably doing his best regarding improvements to the food problem, that also dealt with the circulation of goods in the Empire, but this place seemed to have surpassed that.

Takoyaki[7], Okonomiyaki[8] and Yakisoba[9]. On top of that, recently even Crepes[10] were about to be made.

Stalls were crowded and lined side-by-side.

The toilet problem was also dealt with perfectly, and the comfort of the inn was also wonderful.

「Should I live here? Say, shall we not return to the Empire?」

「Hey!」

「No, sorry.....it's a joke, only a joke. Don't get mad, Shinji」

「I'm not mad, I was wondering whether to consider it seriously.」

「...I also want to live here」

The three looked at each other,

「No no no, it's no use after all.」

「Right? Even if we complain to Yuuki-san, the war is starting....」

「Right.... what a shame...」

They gave up, and let out a sigh.

The town was lively, the food was delicious.

In addition to its comfortableness, it was as if the city was the center of culture and amusement, where new pleasures were born, one after another.

The enjoyment that they were extremely familiar with in their previous world, was a nostalgic one to them, that the Empire didn't know.

It wasn't like the Empire didn't have culture nor amusement, but it wasn't as free as in this city.

Above all else, the war was close to starting.

For the three of them, who knew the Empire's military strength well, it was useless to think that this country would have a chance to win against the Empire.

It couldn't be helped, they cut off such regrets, and challenged the labyrinth.

......

...

...

And now.

One week had passed after the labyrinth capture had begun.

The three member's of Shinji's group were relaxing in the inn inside the labyrinth.

「How should I say it... haven't we earned a lot this week?

Though it's said that this inn only offers the minimal facilities, it's still at a moderate level.

Comparatively, the inn fees are cheap, and unneeded equipment can be seld for money, haven't we saved a lot?」

Mark happily asked a question.

Zhen lifted his face like he was ia bit nterested.

Shinji took out a gold coin from the pouch like he was answering the two.

「Well, we saved a lot.

I heard that the highest capture group record here seems to be the 39th floor.

It seemed they had a hard time trying to capture the 40th floor.

The piece-by-piece weapons that begin to appear with empty hole seems to sell for a surprisingly high price.」

「I wonder what it is, that hole.

That kind of weapon didn't even appear until the 40th floor, right?

Two or three of them appeared in the 50th floor, didn't they?」

「Yes, that's right.

Actually, a treasure chest above the 30th floor seems to appear very rarely.

The weapon was surely of good quality, maybe this is the reason? That's what I thought...

There seems to be a secret.

Even when I asked the merchant, they didn't tell me, and just smiled.」

「Hey, that's suspicious.

However, if you talk about good quality, it's this one. Look at this!」

While saying so, Mark took out the Minos Bardiche, and showed it off.

It shone with a beautiful silver color.

A supreme gem made of Mithril.

It was an item obtained from the treasure chest guarded by the guardian of the 50th floor, it was a Unique class weapon.

「It's a Unique class weapon, you know? Even in the Empire, we wouldn't be able to get one so easily.」

「Or rather, in addition to that Bardiche, there's that empty hole right. What might that be?」

「Even so, it's a pretty weapon. Though the shape is weird...」

「This is so surprising. We are seriously trying to capture this labyrinth, we earned income, we're also enjoying this...

Rather, to be able give out a weapon like this freely, isn't this country more than what we had previously surmised? Isn't this bad?」

Mark and Zhen nodded at Shinji's words.

There were many more things to be considered.

Firstly, the 50th floor boss was strong.

Among the monsters that had appeared around the Empire, not once had a monster with that class been born in these 100 years.

According to the ranking of disaster class that Yuuki had established, it was an "A" rank monster.

As for this monster class classification, the Empire had also adopted it as the common way to refer monsters, because it was easy to understand with it.

There was also the reason that, if the classification was different, then it could cause problems, since this classification system was widely used by merchants.

Aside from it.

In the 40th floor, there was a snake which had begun to attack with a dangerous breath, it was agreeable to say that it was an "A" rank monster.

It would not start attacking if the enemy was outside its breath range, though there was no escape in the narrow room.

It hurled itself with its body's tough muscles, it was a monster that you couldn't be careless with.

And, it was certain that the one they had met in the 50th floor was an Over "A" rank monster.

In the 30th floor, that guys movement were handicapped with chains and weights, but in there his movements were unrestrained.

He was a dangerous boss, befitting the status as a devil amongst the Demon Lord's subordinates.

But, he wasn't a enemy that the three couldn't defeat, though it was another story if one of them could win against the enemy alone...

「Surely. I'm worried that a monster of such class was guarding the 50th floor.

The class of the floor boss seems to lose against the guardian class boss of every ten floors...

Isn't the strength just increasing in one level from the 40th floor to the 50th floor?」

Mark agreed with Shinji.

After smoothly passing the 50th floor, they were now on the 55th floor.

But, they didn't worry about the next boss in the 60th floor.

Ghost type monsters had appeared since the 51st floor. They are thinking that the boss was surely an undead type.

Fortunately, Mark had obtained the Minos Bardiche, as for Shinji and Zhen, they didn't have any weapons that were effective against undead.

Even so they didn't think that they would lose, though it was common sense that you shouldn't let your guard down.

「Oh well, even in the worst case, it seems we're not going die, so shall we do our best without being careless?」

Mark and Zhen also nodded at Shinji's words.

Their goal was the bottommost floor.

To determine the existence or inexistence of the research facility.

It was unknown how many floor there were until the bottom, so they needed to proceed with the capture without being careless.

They retired that day after they had finished confirming the plan once more.

And then, three days passed.

They finally arrived at the stairs of the 59th floor after they had cleared the poison marsh, and the corrosion zone.

They went down those stairs――reaching the 60th floor――the floor display increased by one number once they went down.

They finally arrived in the front of the boss room.

They had gotten enough rest last night, and their preparations were done.

Actually, they had arrived in front of the stairs yesterday around noon, but as a precaution they had taken a rest.

It was because they had just fought desperately against three Death Lords, so this was an additional reason for why they hesitated to force their way through.

They had the strength of the strongest class amongst ghost type monsters, without a doubt it had strength above "A" rank.

When they came here, they felt that the enemy's strength had risen considerably.

That was why the three rested, to replenished their energy.

For the boss after this, they thought that they wouldn't have any problems as long as they faced it calmly.

The three nodded to one another, laid their hands on the door carefully, and then push it open without stopping.

−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−

An intense fight began.

It was truly an intense battle, or at least, that was my impression.

While slumped, and watching the situation in the middle of a casual game of cards, I watched the boss fight seriously.

The result was a complete victory for the Ghost King Adalman.

It was a brilliant victory to the degree that I was dumbfounded.

The analysis of the skills of the three people had been completed as well.

Shinjy ... Estimated A rank [EP: 64,000]

Unique Skill『Master Medic[11]』

Method of Attack: Virus Manipulation. Air Composition Manipulation, Poison.

Naturally he could heal as well.

Mark..... Estimated A rank [EP: 73,000]

Unique Skill『Thrower[12]』

He could throw anything. As long as it was graspable, it was possible to throw anything, even a monster.

As there was no attribute, it had penetrating damage. A troublesome ability.

Zhen..... Estimated A rank [EP: 58,000]

Unique Skill『Observer』

Instinct Evasion. Sense Danger. Sense Trap. Sense Monster. Sense presence.

Anyway, he was nimble. He was the natural enemy of labyrinths.

I felt the outline was like that.

I would deliciously take their abilities into account.

When you only looked at their strength, you would think that they would win against Adalman.

Nevertheless.

That guy, Adalman, seemed to have grown greatly in the span of one year.

Or rather, the egoless Death Lords group that didn't have any big changes in their original fighting strength, were a contrast to Adalman and Albert, who were proud of their current strength, which couldn't be compared to before.

Anyway, even I didn't know it either,

「Hehehe, you were surprised, right!

Actually, though it's a secret...

The youngster named Arnaud, or something similar, trained himself in Adalman's place!」

So, Ramiris told me with a feeling of 「Ramiris's surprise was a success!」 .

N? Arnaud was training? It wasn't the Adalman group, but Arnaud?

As for the source of the incongruity, the Holy Knights had actually passed the 50th floor quickly, and seemsed to have arrived at the 60th floor.

But, they were defeated by one knight there.

The Holy Knight, who was rumoured to have been the strongest several hundred years ago.

Albert, Adalman's trusted confidant, who became a Death Paladin.

「Has the quality of Holy Knights these days fallen?」

While saying that, he handled the sword techniques he had had when he was alive with his monster specs, and overwhelmed Arnaud, or so I was told.

"Eeh, wasn't the holy attribute his weakness?" That's what people thought, I thought the same.

The cause of the defeat of those three was tied to Adalman's trump card.

"Holy-Demonic Inversion"

With this skill's ability, holy attribute was reversed into demonic attribute. The target was himself, so there was no worry of there being resistance.

They thought it was a joke, something like holy skeletons, but Adalman and Albert had nullified the holy attribute due to the Holy-Demonic Inversion.

In the first place, on top of having resistance towards physical attacks, they also had resistance against all attribute attacks.

So, against the two that had overcome their holy attribute weakness, it had become a hopeless situation.

With such feelings, those three were defeated quickly, and had become light particles.

By the way, there was also one more trump card, that was summoning a Death Dragon (Ghost Dragon).

I was told, that after having a desperate fight with Adalman's group, the Dragon Zombie became their companion, and seemed to have evolved.

「My master (Rimuru)! Were you able to witness it?

Our victory is for your sake!!」

While looking at Adalman that shouting that loudly,

(This is, the forces that protect the 60th floor are too overpowered right...)

Was my honest thought.

After I calmed down, I started questioning Ramiris.

With that kind of attitude, she should have something else that she was hiding.

「Eh, that kind of thing... I'm not hiding anything though...?」

Ramiris who was clearly behaving suspiciously, became restless.

It was clear that she was hiding something.

Just as I threatened her, that from now on cake would be prohibited, Ramiris began to talk rapidly like a machine gun.

First, Arnaud and his group had reached the 60th floor at an early stage, and seemed to have been defeated by Adalman.

And then for several months, they seemed to have been training in the 60th floor under the coaching of Albert.

Adalman acquired the "Holy-Demonic Inversion" skill from Ruminas who sometimes came to the research institute to play.

Adalman helped with various research, and with getting along with the vampire researchers, and seems to have caught Ruminas's interest.

He seemed to have improved upon Ruminas's "Day and Night Inversion" and have acquired it.

Of course, as a token of gratitude he taught Ruminas this skill too.

And Arnaud came in when Adalman had acquired this skill.

If you thought about it, he was a man with bad timing, but because he could receive training from the strongest knight of some hundred years ago here, it could also be said that his lucky was good.

With such feelings, the 60th floor was transformed into a dangerous domain.

「Hey, hey... then, Arnaud and his group are where now?」

「Well... maybe because of the training, they easily defeated the boss of 70th floor, and are now in a deadlock on the 79th floor!」

「Umm... from the 61st to the 70th floor is a golem zone right...」

「That's right. They were defeated easily though...」

The guardian of the 70th floor is the perfect reproduction of the spirit protector colossus which I had made to guard the floor .

Because I had previously broken the one that Ramiris made in the Labyrinth of Spirit, I created it as an apology but...

「I don't need it, because I have Beretta!」

She said, so I deployed it on the 70th floor.

There was no worries of it being defeated, since it was a super heavyweight class with high defense, due to Demon Steel.

It was a guardian of steel that wasn't affected by poisons, virus, and air quality.

My confidence came from my trust for Demon Golem (Demon Lord Protector Colossus)[13], formerly spirit protector colossus, though....

「Veldora, who do you think is stronger, Adalman or Demon Golem?」

「Umm. Without a doubt, it's Adalman.」

As expected...

In the past year, he seems to have greatly increased his strength.

No, I think he was already strong from the start, I may have failed to notice it.

Anyway, as for the Death Paladin Albert, I just noticed him for the first right now.

Therefore, I was surprised by Ramiris.

「Okay, then starting from today, the 51st to the 60th floor will be switched with the 61st floor to the 70th floor」

「Understood! Just leave it to me!」

And so, the inside of the labyrinth was switched.

Then, there was one more thing that I had in mind.

「By the way, the boss of the 80th floor, was it that strong?」

「Eh? What?」

「Well, wasn't Arnaud as strong as an Arc Demon?

Or rather, isn't it that that fellow, Adalman, has become as strong as an Arc Demon before I noticed!

Eh, huh? The shell of Insect type monsters on the 80th floor were coated with Demon Steel, right?

After the golems with slow movement, it was arranged for there to be Insect type monsters with high-speed movement, this is...

Hey... What is going on in this place?」

「Well, you see....」

I keep pressing Ramiris, who behaved suspiciously, with questions, and I understood the current situation.

Arnaud didn't seem to be in a deadlock with the 80th floor's guardian.

It was with the one before it, the floor boss of the 79th floor.

His progress seemed to be hindered by the Insect Queen, Apito.

With her super-speed movement, and her ultimate poison.

Arnaud couldn't touch her with his reflexes in sword techniques which he'd trained.

What the!![14]

I felt like screaming.

「But, but! It's not just me, Shisou was also coaching, or something similar, the insects were trained by him, you know!」

「Yo, you fool! You, did you betray me!?」

「Because, it's unfair if only Shisou has that face saying that you're unrelated!」

「Gunununu...[15]」

It seemed Veldora did the same thing.

It might have been my mistake to have entrusted the labyrinth to these two.

having achieved an abnormal evolution, the Insect Quee Apito seemed to be included in the ten strongest individuals in this labyrinth.

Having evolved into humanoid form, her insect-like appearance from before was gone.

Getting a beautiful form. It was a result of the abnormal evolution.

And so, the strongest individuals in this labyrinth...

There was a chance that they had the combat power of Executive class.

I didn't want to know, but various dragons seemed to have evolved to Dragon King class.

It had become that there were four Dragon Kings.

In addition,

Guardian of the 90th floor, Nine Head Beast Kumāra[16]

Guardian of the 80th floor, Insect Kaiser Zegion[17]

Floor Boss of the 79th floor, Insect Queen Apito[18]

Guardian of the 60th floor, Ghost King Adalman

Vanguard of the 60th floor, Death Paladin Albert

Also,

Guardian of the 50th floor, Gozurl and Mezurl.

Frankly, excluding Gozurl and Mezurl, there's still 9 people――rather, should it be 9 being?[19]―― which were equal in strength.

The Dragon Kings are Ramiris's subordinate, but the remaining 7 people seem to be my subordinates.

Though I thought that Gozurl and Mezurl were better off as Ramiris's subordinate.

The two would do anything in gratitude for becoming Ramiris's subordinates, and wished to continue to serve under me.

Hence, they could use the "Bracelet of Revival" many times.

Incidentally, without me knowing, they had become emotionally attached to it.

Anyway, I would give a proper order to these guardians so they don't raise their hands, except against the ones who invade the labyrinth.

Otherwise, it would be impossible for an ordinary person to travel in the labyrinth.

It was somewhat sad, it had become a situation where you couldn't challenge the labyrinth without having several Demon Lords.

Thus, during the observation of the three invaders, I noticed the current, unexpected, condition of the labyrinth.

Oh well, it was good to become strong, but I would be uneasy if it evolved beyond my imagination.

It might be the bad habit of a timid person.

I praised Adalman for his splendid deed, and I told him that the floor was changed as a reward.

He was considerably moved, and said that this was a mark of his wish to be useful to me in the future.

Well, I wished him to do his best.

What I noted next was that, the three intruders seemed to have gone back without invading again.

They may have had some objective, though they might have grown to fear the overwhelming power of the Death Paladin Albert.

Anyway, as for the Death Dragon that waited in the rear, there really was no need to move it.

It seemed they thought that it was useless even if they challenged it many times.

I felt like I wanted to obtain a bit more information, though it might not have been a problem.

After all, it would eventually arrive.

With such feelings, the curtain closed on the current riot.

[1] Btw the kanji for his title is死霊王 Shiryou Ou. Mean Ghost/Dead Spirit/Deceased Soul King.

[2] 死霊聖騎士(デス・パラディン) Shiryou Hijiri Kishi (Desu Paradin).

[3] 腐肉竜(ドラゴンゾンビ) Funiku Ryuu (Doragon Zonbi) – Funiku= Rotten Flesh.

[4] 魔素. Should I keep using Magic power or changing them into magic essence/Ether/Aether/Mana as it's actually different with Maryoku. Which is Mamoto in the environments/Surroundings, while maryoku is inside living being. Magic Essence more correct in the context of the line.

[5] 死霊騎士長(デス・ロード) Shiryou Kishi Chou (Desu Rōdo)

[6] 死霊支配者(ネクロマンサー) Shiryou Shihaisha (Nekuromansā). Dead/Ghost/Dead Spirit Ruler.

[11] 医療師 Iryoushi. Master of Medical Treatment so Medic Master.

[12] 投擲者Toutekisha. The one who throws thing.

[13] 魔王守護巨像(デモンゴーレム) Maou Shugo Gyouzo (Demon Gorēmu).

[14] Dondakedayoどんだけだよ

[15] SFX for anger, seething.

[16] 九頭獣クマラ Kyutou Kumara. It's a hydra, right? Right? XD

[17] 蟲皇帝(インセクトカイザー)ゼギオンChū/Mushi Koutei (Insekuto Kaizā) Zegion. Emperor or Kaiser.

[18] 蟲女王(インセクトクイーン)アピト Mushi Joou (Insekuto Kuīn) Apito.

[19] Rimuru first use 体(mei), a counter for people, then he changed into 体(tai), a counter for humanoid beings.