Ankoku Kishi Monogatari ~Yuusha wo Taosu Tameni Maou ni Shoukansaremashita~

The giant started moving as it pointed its sword toward us .

Reiji stepped forward .

「OVER MY DEAD BODY!! SUNDERING FLASH!! 」

The giant stopped moving due to Reiji’s continued barrage of lightspeed attack .

「Dodge, Reiji-kun!! MAXIMUM TRIPLE EXPLODING BULLETS!! 」

I fired three enhanced Blast Bullets as soon as Reiji dodged to the side .

The giant exploded and fell backward .

「Did we defeat it? 」

「NOT YET!! 」

I replied to Sahoko .

Upon a closer look, the four swords in the giant’s hands shone as it guarded against my attack at the last moment . Just like before .

We could damage it, but we couldn’t defeat this thing .

When the giant stopped moving, the room shone for the second time . The light recovered the giant’s damage .

It seems we couldn’t defeat this thing with just half-baked attacks . But using even more powerful attacks could damage the room .

「EAT THIS!!! 」

Nao threw her boomerang .

The boomerang approached the giant as it generated kamaitachi [wind blades] .

[TL: Kamaitachi are weasels in Japanese myth which generate vacuum blades]

The four swords shone again, then a golden shining membrane coiled around the giant’s body .

The flying speed of the boomerang reduced considerably once it came into contact with the membrane and then it was repelled by the four swords .

「Ooh?! This guy is a tough one, huh . 」

Nao exclaimed in admiration .

Despite her excellent detection ability, Nao’s offensive power was on the weaker side .

It seemed her attack couldn’t even scratch the giant .

「Nao-san, Rino-san, you two get back!! I’m gonna defeat this guy with Reiji-kun!! 」

Rino and Nao couldn’t even scratch this golem . I guess Reiji and I were the only ones who could defeat it .

But Reiji ordered me to fall back, too .

「No, Chiyuki . You fall back too . Leave this thing to me . 」

「Are you sure, Reiji-kun? That golem seems to be a tough one . 」

「It’s okay, Chiyuki . I want to test something on that thing . 」

Reiji flashed a daring smile at me .

He drew his other sword . Although not as powerful as the Holy Sword, this sword which was given to him by Rena was made by a certain famous dwarf .

Reiji wielded both swords, each in one hand . It was the dual-wielding style .

Honestly speaking, this form was never shown to Shirone, because it was Reiji’s trump card to defeat Shirone’s childhood friend .

The defeated Reiji sought out the dual-wielding style for more power .

[TL: Uhm… Lloyd?]

Reiji progressed at a monstrous speed . The current him might be able to defeat Shirone’s childhood friend . Reiji wouldn’t be defeated a second time .

He charged at the giant, who used its four swords to intercept Reiji’s attack .

Reiji handled that giant greatsword skillfully with his two swords .

「Reiji-senpai is amazing . Even Nao can’t move like him . 」

Nao praised Reiji . She had the highest physical abilities among us . Reiji, who could move in a way that was impossible even for Nao, a true monster .

In fact, Reiji was ambidextrous . He could write with both his hands at the same time . I was extremely surprised when I discovered that .

That might be the reason why he could use swords with both hands so skillfully .

The giant wielding 4 greatswords was far bigger than Reiji . Against that Reiji was dual wielding swords . And yet, the giant was pushed back .

Reiji wasn’t even short of breath as he kept overwhelming the giant with his lightspeed attacks .

Although I couldn’t see his face, I knew he was laughing .

It seemed he was enjoying the fight . For Reiji, an opponent of this level was nothing more than a playmate .

But the room shone every time the giant was wrecked . We really couldn’t beat this thing .

「As I thought, this guy is troublesome… Then how about this!! 」

Reiji retreated as he opened some distance from the giant .

「TAKE THIS!! LIGHT WINGS SUNDERING HEAVEN!! 」

He lowered his sword and sprung towards the giant as if his whole body was a huge coiled spring . His overwhelming speed made him look like a light arrow .

I’ve seen that move before . It was a ramming attack where one jumped as they used their whole body like a spring . Although it was relatively easy to dodge that move due to its glaring pre-motion, its power was enough to pierce anything struck by it .

Reiji’s strike punched a hole right in the giant’s center, leaving a big space in its abdomen . The giant collapsed with numerous cracks spreading from that hole .

The room shone again . But the giant didn’t get restored .

It was pulverized with no possibility of being fixed again .

「YAAAAY!! 」

「Reiji-san!! 」

「Rei-kun!! 」

The three of them rushed toward Reiji . They embraced him while showering him with numerous praises .

I felt the same way as them . In the end, only one person truly defeated the giant .

Moreover, Reiji didn’t seem to have given his all .

I rushed at him too . Although I wouldn’t embrace him, I couldn’t stop myself from praising him .

「Good job, Reiji-kun!! 」

「Naturally . How’s that, falling in love with me again? 」

Reiji smiled as he looked at me .

To be honest, I thought it would look better if it wasn’t for his cocky attitude .

Couldn’t be helped, it was Reiji after all .

「Geez, what are you talking about?! Let’s get going . 」

I dismissed his words as I looked at the gate that the giant had been protecting . I didn’t know what awaited us behind that gate .

We opened the door and found a stairway descending further .

Beyond that lay a huge room .

Despite its size, the room was smaller than the previous room .

There was a magic circle right on its center .

「Is this a teleportation magic circle? It seems we can’t continue unless we use it . 」

I commented as I approached the magic circle .

「Chiyuki-san . Someone dropped shoes . 」

Nao had found something .

Everyone went toward Nao’s position .

Rino was the first to speak .

「This are children’s shoes . 」

「Does that mean they took the children too? 」

「That seems to be the case, Sahoko . They might have been transferred somewhere with that magic circle . 」

I felt the same way as Reiji .

「What should we do, Reiji-kun? I don’t know how they were transferred ahead, but…」

「We have no choice but to go forward . The kidnapped people are alive . So it shouldn’t be a place where humans can’t live . 」

「Surely…」

The kidnapped people were alive . It was hard to imagine it, with so many dangerous traps here which could kill them in an instant . As long as the transfer area wasn’t inside a sea of fire .

After looking at the transfer magic circle, I found out that it was a one-way transfer . It would be a path of no return .

But we won’t know unless we try .

It might be for the best to leave one person behind . But that person definitely wasn’t Reiji, our most powerful fighter .

I’m in the same position as him in this case since someone had to start the magic . I wanted to take Nao too for her excellent searching skills . Sahoko’s healing magic couldn’t be excluded either . And despite her competency, Rino hated being left out .

So that meant no one would be left behind .

We nodded as we looked at each others’ faces . Then we stepped into the magic circle .

The magic formation shone .

The scenery distorted and then we were sent somewhere . The room wasn’t a secret room, because some light was coming in from the outside .

「Bright . How can it be? 」

We turned around to see the outside due to Sahoko’s statement .

「It’s really spacious… Doesn’t feel like we’re inside the labyrinth . 」

Like Nao just said, we had arrived at a spacious place . It was as if 10 cities could be crammed in this place . The ceiling was high, too . It projected a giant crystal as big as a city . That crystal was the source of the light .

It was thanks to that crystal that this place didn’t feel like the inside of a labyrinth at all .

「There’s a forest and a lake, too . It’s as if we’re outside . 」

Rino exclaimed in a loud voice .

I was surprised . I never thought such a place existed in this labyrinth .

「There’s a field, too . It seems people are living in this place . 」

Reiji gazed at a faraway place .

What appeared before our group was a wayside like a shrine . That small shrine was built on top of a hill . That was why we could see the surroundings .

「Looks like there’s a city but it’s rather far from this place…」

Nao was looking at a certain direction where she saw several buildings .

「Shall we go, then? That might be the place where they took the kidnapped citizens . Let’s go!」

We agreed with Reiji .

I had no idea what was waiting for us . But we had no choice but to advance .

We headed towards the city .

◆ Goddess of Spiders, Atlankua

Euria, the princess of the Pashipea Kingdom, was staying at my mansion in a certain place located in the Ariadya Republic . She looked outside the window .

「Fufu, Reiji-sama should’ve arrived at dear father’s place around this time . With this, Reiji-sama is mine… Don’t you think so, Atlan? 」

Euria muttered as she looked toward the direction of the labyrinth .

「Euria-sama… Zarxis also wishes for the Hero’s power . 」

「That person is too good for that undead . He should be mine . 」

I felt troubled when I heard her say those words .

The princess was born between the queen of the Pashipea Kingdom and Labrys .

Despite being a daughter of a god, she was a human . Her power wasn’t that great either .

Nevertheless, her father was Labrys, so it was better to be safe than sorry . Hence why I bowed my head .

The princess was quite the stunning beauty herself, just like her lucky mother . I believed her appearance might be that of a disgusting creature if she resembled her father .

「In that case, the promise is…」

「No can do . Moreover, I’ve already asked my father . As long as I am asking for it, his promise to Zarxis is a trivial matter . 」

She laughed . That laugh resembled Labrys’ for some reason .

Her father, Labrys, was a nasty man who loved to rape women and torture men to death . And she was as greedy and arrogant as her father .

The thing she wanted had to be obtained .

Labrys was the kind of man who could break a promise without even batting his eyelids . If his daughter wished for it, he could easily throw away his promise to Zarxis . Zarxis wouldn’t be able to suck the hero’s power .

Euria let out an innocent smile . Both parent and child were egoistic people .

「Moreover, your aim should be Rena, right? Just think how annoyed that goddess will get once she learns that the man she loved was snatched by me . 」

Euria was blushing .

I played one of my tricks for her to invite the Hero of Light . It seemed she really enjoyed the Hero of Light at that time .

And it was as she just said .

I wanted to slap that bitch Rena . Although I felt bad for Zarxis, this feeling of mine wouldn’t change . So I told him that everything went as planned as I pondered about that .

I wanted to say “Serves YOU RIGHT” right on Rena’s face . We caught your most important man . I am sure you are really vexed by now, right?

You matched very well with that brutal Labrys .

I smiled lightly as I thought of that .

Well, what are you going to do then, Rena? I couldn’t help but feel excited when I thought that way .