Haltina Great Labyrinth 1

Jayr POV - Tortus, Haltina Sea of Trees - 2013

After we advance for 30 minutes using the Mana Compass as a guide while I sensed the ongoing battles and give some info from time to time, our party finally arrive at the Great Tree, and our first impression of it isn't the greatest as the sight of it catches our attention, especially Freid who says, "... the heck is this?" while being half-surprised and half-doubting.

On the other hand, Eri also wears the slight expression of someone who has her expectations crumbling, while Tio seems the less surprised about the current state of the Great Tree, at the same time, I think, 'I'm sure that we all were expecting a really majestic tree, imposing and full life, but the tree in front of us is splendidly withered.'

Indeed, the size is not that far off from our imagination, its diameter alone can be estimated to be around 50 meters but the tree looks almost dead, there is also a bizarre difference from the surrounding trees, while the surrounding trees have the ever-expanding green leaves, only the Great Tree is withered.

Then Tio starts to explain, "The Great Tree was already withered even before the founding of Verbergen. However, it never became rotten, from what my grandfather told me this Great Tree always remained in this kind of state, and in the end, this place became a sacred place for the Beastmen."

At the same time, I look around the Great Tree's roots, and just as Miledi said, there is a lithograph built, and recognizing the Liberator's engraving on it, I walk toward it without hesitation followed by Freid, Eri, and Tio.

Once close to the lithograph, I start to search for the empty dents where we can insert the proof of conquest of the various Labyrinths we conquered, and quickly I find them on the other side of the lithograph, there are seven of them, each one belonging to one of the Seven Great Labyrinths.

Without hesitation, I pull out the ring that represents the proof of conquest of Miledy's Labyrinth and insert it into the hole corresponding to Reisen's crest, and the next instant, the lithograph begins to faintly shine.

Then when the lights gradually fade away, I see a set of characters appear on the lithograph.

Four proofs.

Power of Regeneration.

The Guide of those bound by Destiny.

To those who have everything a new trial will be opened.

Seeing this, Tio comments, "Will it be fine? We didn't have anyone to guide us here...", but I calmly reply, "Well, technically it is impossible to reach this place without the help of the Beastmen, so this requirement should be fulfilled as soon as we reach this place, and the wording "bound by destiny" is also quite vague... You can say that Miledi, Oscar and Meiru also qualify as "bound by destiny"..."

Then without hesitation, I put the other proof of conquest, Gruen's pendant, Laus' coin, and Freid's proof of conquering the Frost Caverns of Schnee, Vandre's coin, as Oscar and Meiru's proofs of conquest are in Hajime's custody.

Each time one is set into the lithograph, its light strengthened up, and immediately after placing the final coin, the light is set free and scatters onto the front of the big tree, this time the big tree is the one that shines brightly.

Seeing this scene Freid comments, "A crest has appeared on the Great Tree." followed by Tio that looks with great interest at the pattern that appeared on the trunk, and says, "... Next is, the power of Regeneration...", and so, I walk toward the shining trunk of the Great Tree, and place my hand on it, and soon after touching it, I start to use Restoration Magic.

Immediately afterward, the Great Tree is wrapped up in a light incomparable to before, a wave of light is continuously rippling toward the top from the place that I'm touching.

The Great Tree that is shining brightly, gradually revives as the light spread out to every corner as if it is absorbing water from its roots, and soon I notice that more and more leaves start to appear on it as the tree regains its vitality each passing moment, and soon the regains its bright green looks.

And the next moment, as a slightly strong wind blows by, the sound of the Great Tree's leaves rustling around can be heard.

Then, all of a sudden, the front of the tree trunk is split from the right and left and a cave appears, it is a big cave that can fit several tens of people inside.

As soon as the cave appears, we look at each other, and without hesitation, we step into the cave, but soon I notice something strange, I look at my surroundings, but there isn't anything particular in the cave, it is simply a huge space that extends out like a dome, and soon Freid asks, "Is it a dead end?"

But before anyone could answer, the entrance to the cave begins to shut behind us like some kind of horror movie trope, and the light from the outside begins to gradually thin out, and when the entrance closes completely, the inside of the cave is instantly wrapped in complete darkness.

Then a huge magic formation appears underneath our feet and starts to emit a strong light, seeing that, Eri comments, "Come on! This is getting old! How many times did something like this happened in a Labyrinth!? When we get out of here, I'll complain to Miledi and the others!" at the same time I agree with Eri and think, 'That is true, I lost the count of the times we found ourselves teleported somewhere by a magic formation...'

And while I was thinking that, I notice that Freid and Tio are also taking this "sudden" change pretty well, as they prepare for anything that could happen on the other side, then I'm blinded as the magic formation activates and starts teleporting us, but at the last moment, I notice a familiar feeling coming from the magic formation.

Jayr POV - Tortus, Haltina's Labyrinth - 2013

As soon as the light from the magic formation fades away I start to look around, and what is reflected in my sight is a lush forest, a sea of trees inside of a tree.

While I'm checking my surroundings I hear Freid's voice as he asks, "Is everyone alright?" followed by Tio who says, "This one is fine...", and I take a quick look at them, and they seem fine, but then I frown, as I notice something wrong and without hesitation, I pull out my weapon in its Sword Arm Form and with a swing of the twin blades, I bisect, Freid, Tio and Eri without hesitation.

Soon the severed half all fall on the ground, but instead of guts and blood, what comes out of their bodies is a rust-colored slime that quickly stains the ground, then their body also turns into that strange slime, and soon after they become absorbed into the ground and disappear.

Seeing that, I let out a sigh and say, "As expected from a Labyrinth, a nasty surprise right at the start, as it transferred us to this place the magic formation also read our memories so that it could use these fakes to fool us. I admit that those copies could have fooled almost anyone else, but I know their bodies way too well, I lost count of how many times I healed them, so much that I can recognize their bodies and magic power instantly and those slimes felt way different from Tio, Eri, and Freid... Moreover, I already knew that something like this would have happened, it is just that I was expecting to be the one that would have been exchanged with an impostor, not the other way around...".

Then I start to look at my surroundings and see that the place I was transferred to is a vacant circled lot where I'm completely surrounded by trees at 360 degrees, there isn't a guidepost indicating which way I should go either, moreover, exactly like the Sea of Tree above, the whole forest here is covered in thick fog.

Seeing this, I break a small branch from one of the surrounding trees and say, "In such a situation, the best way to act is to follow the same old reliable method..."

Then I once again use the good old silly good luck ritual, I take a handful of salt and throw it behind me, spit three times on the ground in front of me, made the gesture of the horns with my hands using my index and little finger pointing at the ground while saying three times, "Tiè, tiè, tiè!", then I take the broken branch and throw it in the air a watch it falls on the ground.

Then, without hesitation I move in the direction it points while leaving behind a mark using Tracking Magic on a nearby tree, pointing at the direction I'm going to move in so that Freid, Tio, and Eri, can follow it to find me.

After doing all the preparation, with still my weapon, now in its Sword Form, on my shoulder, I step into the foggy sea of trees, ready for all kinds of annoying encounters I will have with the monsters infesting this forest.

And it doesn't take too much time for the monsters to make their appearance, as after walking for just 5 minutes, I'm attacked by a swarm of toddler-sized bees, with a malicious yellow and black hue, jaws that creaked as they open and close, their stingers that have green liquid dripping from it, their limbs that wave around eerily, and their dark red compound eyes, plus that annoying electric fan-like buzzing sound that their fast translucent wings produce.

Overall, they are an annoying bunch of monsters, luckily an Omnipotens Dis and a volley of Sagitta Magica, Series Glacialis, is all it took to take care of them, but looking at all the monster corpses surroinding me, I mutter, "Luckily, I do not need to eat their shit meat any longer to grow stronger... The monsters in the Orcus Great Labyrinth are some of the strongest in this whole world, so after eating their meat, there isn't a need to do so anymore, as all the other monsters are small fry compared to them, and won't give me any advantage..." and once again shudder remembering the shitty flavor of that meat.

After the light scuffle with the bees, I also encounter other insect-type monsters, like 3 meters tall ants that I crushed using the Tactical Arms, or fast and deadly 2 meters tall mantis, that I sliced in half using Rupture, the intermediate water spell, but none of the monsters can stop my advance, and so I continue to walk further into the forest.

After searching my comrades in the sea of trees for approximately 30 minutes, I encounter a new type of monster, and surprisingly they aren't insect-type.

The monsters are monkey-type that quickly attack me in crowds, the attacks fly from all angles freely as they use the trees as a foothold, moreover, they are equipped with swords and clubs and other weapons that I have no idea where they got them in this forest, but even with their quick movement, I easily mow them down using the Gatling Form.

It also seems that these monsters have some kind of intelligence as they realized that they are no match and try to withdraw and to distract me one of them uses an ability that is similar to that of those rust-colored slimes from before and takes the appearance of a half-naked and wounded Eri while two other monkeys drag her away from me as she requests my help while the other monkey run away in another direction, but without hesitation, I easily shot the fake and the remaining monkey down with a mix of normal and magic bullets.

After that, as I look around and mark another nearby tree with Tracking Magic, I sense the presence of a small monster quickly running toward my direction, and judging from what I sense, it isn't a very strong one, and more important, it is alone, 'A small and weak monster coming at me alone, strange, especially since all the monster until now attacked me in swarm...' then I remember some details of this trial and mutter, "Could it be...?", then look back at the sea of trees, in the direction of the coming monster.

Soon the approaching monster reveals itself, it is a creature that resembles a goblin, it has dark skin with an ugly and distorted face, wears a rag, and is about 140 centimeters tall, and as soon as it sees me, it cries out in a strange and excited voice, "Guaah!!", but soon its movement stops as if startled by its own voice, and looks at me.

We look at each other in the eyes for a few seconds in total silence, then I say, "As expected... You are the first to find me, Eri...", to which she joyfully replies, "Gugya!", then she asks, "Gyu?", and even if I can't understand her words, the meaning behind them is still easy to understand, so I repeat, "How did I figure out it was you?" to which the small goblin-like monster, repeatedly nods, and I explain, "Simple, I spent so much time with you that your every posture and subconscious movement is imprinted in my mind... You didn't realize this but every time you are particularly happy or excited, you unconsciously fix the position of your glasses, and you just did the same movement even in your current state...".

Hearing what I just said, Eri in her goblin state lets out a happy cry and with a bounce, it hugs me tightly, and I unconsciously hug her back, then I say, "Let's find the others and pass this trial, this way you will have your body back..." Eri in her goblin form nods, then we continue to advance through this forest while holding hands so that I can use the Telepathy Magic to communicate with her.

And while walking, Eri tells me that when the light faded away, she found herself, alone in that body without her equipment and unable to use her magic, and as soon as she realized her state, she started to move to search for one of us, and luckily she found one of my marks and following them, and the traces of combat that I had left behind, she was finally able to find me, she also told me that she was very happy that I was able to recognize her even in her current state, and that she will reward me once we have conquered this Labyrinth.

After walking for another 30 minutes, we come across an incredible scene, and as I stand rooted in place by the surprise, Eri that is still holding my hand says through our telepathic link in a deadpan voice, "... That is Tio isn't...", and look at the small goblin with an ecstatic smile on its ugly face, as it keeps hitting itself with a long and thick club, but even with that kind of beating it seems that it isn't receiving any damage.

Seeing that scene, I let out a sigh, and reply, "Aahh... It is indeed Tio..." unable to come out with a way to explain her particular and unique behavior.

At the same time, the goblin Tio notices our presence, and raises her voice, "Guya!? Gyaaaa!!", and throws away the club and starts running toward us with her eyes wide open, and once she is close enough she jumps toward me aiming at my chest with a very peculiar pose yelling "Gugyyaga!", that for sure means something like Master~ This one longed to see you!".

Her pose so much that I exclaim out loud, "A Lupin Dive!?" while thinking, 'How many years has been since I have seen one of these... The iconic perv jump of Aresene Lupin III... I remember using it as a kid to dive in the pool back home...', at the same time, just as she is about to reach me, Eri moves forward, and hits Tio in the jaw with a powerful uppercut, yelling, "Gyugiya!", that can probably be translated as, "Don't get close to Jayr, you Ero-Dragon!".

As a result, the goblin Tio makes an artistic backflip with four and a half turns, then she crashed into a nearby bush, but soon the goblin Tio comes out of the bush and hugs goblin Eri while looking at me with feverish eyes, at the same time, I get closer and touching their head I once again activate Telepathy and her Tio say, "Uh-huh, Telepathy Magic….. Do thou hear me, Master? This one finally met the beloved Master! Thou and Eri can abuse me together as much as you like..."

At the same time, I hear Eri complain, "Damn it. Even if the body changes, the toughness does not. It should just die already", and I quickly cut off the connection before hearing some more disturbing comments, and so we continue our search in silence as only Freid remains to be found.

Along the way, we meet many different kinds of monsters, ogres-like, gorilla-like, rabbit-like, then we also meet the same groups as before, like the goblins and the insects, but none of them stuck to me as Freid, 'That is strange with his attitude and focused aura, it should be easy to distinguish him among all these monsters...".

Then after walking for another 10 minutes, I finally notice something strange, it is a swarm of monster bee that is fighting against a group of ogres, but different from the ones I have met until now, this swarm looked a lot more organized and united, in fact, it is also using what I can only recognize as military tactics, moreover, their movement is quite similar to does of a particular group of monsters that I'm quite familiar with.

Soon, I notice the presence of a particular bee in the swarm, it is a lot bigger than the others, but it has shorter wings and a more pointed abdomen, it is a queen bee, moreover, from it, I can't help but feel a quite familiar aura, and realizing that I start to laugh out loud, "Ha, ha, ha! Freid became a queen bee!! Should I address him as her highness from now on?" but at the same time, I move without hesitation and start to help the bees in fighting the ogres, and as expected, at first they wanted to attack me, but under "Queen" Freid command, they ignored my presence and focus on dealing with the ogres, quickly covering me, and soon all the ogres are slaughtered.

After the fight with the ogres, we continue to explore this forest, now followed by "Queen" Freid and his swarm, and after an hour of randomly walking around, we reach a clearing with a gigantic tree which is obviously of a different size compared with the surrounding ones.

As soon as we step into the clearing, the gigantic tree declares, "Defeat me if you want to go further!" and soon after it begins its relentless attack.

Huge branch bends and attacks irregularly like a whip leaves dance like a blade and scatter around, tree nuts are shot like cannonballs, and a sudden spear-like root dashes out from the ground like the sharp point of a sword, each of these attacks is fatal.

But I'm able to easily dodge all of them, even with Eri and Tio holding on my shoulders, meanwhile, Freid's swarm is getting decimated by these attacks, but even so, these bees do not hesitate to stand in front of Freid and protect him with their lives.

Seeing that, I choose to quickly deal with this huge treant, and so I rush toward it to get as close as possible, at the same time, a branch with the thickness of a log approaches me while cutting through the wind, but using my weapon I easily cut it in half and continue moving toward the trunk of the huge tree.

But soon I'm surrounded from all angles by the ever-present shuriken-like leaves, which fly like throwing knives and seeing no way out of this attack, I mutter, "How annoying..." and chant, "Omnipotens Dis!! (Almighty Push!!)" and use my magic power to create a repulsive force, which pushes away everything in the vicinity, blowing away and dispersing all shuriken-like leaves.

Then taking advantage of the opening created, I use Body Enhancement Magic, and with a powerful step, I close into my target, the huge treant's trunk, and without hesitation, I unleash one of my most deadly magic spells, "Spēlaion Mikron Bary Melan!" and create a medium-sized black swirling sphere, basically a small black hole, shoots toward the tree soundlessly obliterating everything as soon as it comes in contact with it, even part of the ground isn't spared by it as it gets gouged out.

Seeing it gone, and that all its attacks ceased, I let out a sigh, at the same time, I hear the telepathic message of Eri, "You are as dashing as ever when you unleash hell on your enemies!" followed by Tio who says, "This one agrees, Eri. Merciless Master… This one gets wet only thinking on being on his receiving end..." and that sparks another war of word between Eri and Tio, but before it could truly explode, the ground rumbles and from the gouged out earth a big tree grows rapidly returning back to its previous size.

It looks exactly like Restoration Magic was used on it and its surrounding, as every damage caused by the fight, disappears in a matter of seconds, and everything returns back to its pristine state.

The only difference is that the trunk tears open, the left and right side cracks and an open space in the middle is created, a cave exactly like the one at the entrance, and without hesitation, we step inside, and as soon as everyone is inside the cave.

The cave shuts us in and the ground below our feet begins to shine at the same time, seeing this, on instinct I pull Eri and Tio closer and mutter, "As expected, another teleportation...", then I hear a moved Eri mutter, "...Jayr." followed by an embarrassed Tio, "Ma-Master… Uu, this one is troubled by your gentleness." then the strong light of the magic formation momentarily blinds me, and I feel my surroundings change, then I blank out.

Jayr POV - ??? - ???

I wake up with a start and try to get up, but quickly feel the weight of several bodies restraining me, so I hold my urge to get up and start to look around and quickly notice the familiar environment, It looks like I'm in my room in the recently build villa inside my Soulbound Territory, moreover, surrounding me there are the naked bodies of Seika, Saori, Eri, and Tio.

I have to admit that the sight itself is heavenly and immediately causes my little brother to stand in attention, something that the four girl notice and so they quickly move to take care of it showering it in kisses and licks.

But at the same time, I let out a sigh and mutter, "So it is that kind of trial... Showing me my ideal world... but the funny thing is that my ideal world is one that I'm already building with my hands... what is basically showing me is my life after I'm done with this Universe, I'm already living my ideal life why should I be happy with a mere illusion?".

And declaring that I start to unleash all my magic power, and the girls around me wake up one after another begging me to remain, some of them even told me that they were pregnant, but I ignore them and focus on unleashing my magic power into my surroundings, and soon the space around me being to crack, and without hesitation, I also use Limit Break to unleash as much power as possible, and the whole illusory world is dyed in the crimson red light of my magic power.

Then I hear a loud cracking and know that I successfully broke this illusory world as fragments of the world are now fluttering like glass in the air, and shine like the familiar diamond dust of Camus, Hyoga, and Isaak.

At the end of its life, like sparking, the imitation Saori lets out a smile in the broken world, and as my consciousness begins to fade rapidly I hear her speak in an unfamiliar voice, "…You passed. With only being nice you don't stand a chance. There is no sense in only giving. Even if it's hard or painful, only what is piled up in reality can make you happy. Don't forget that".