Ankoku Kishi Monogatari (WN)

◆Valkyrie, Shizufae

「Shirone-sama has already departed to enter the labyrinth.」

Kaya-sama replied curtly to Novis.

We weren’t able to meet her yesterday and when we’d gone to the inn she was staying at this morning, she’d already departed.

「Geez,  give it up already, Novis…」

「No wa~y, Shizufae!! I'll make sure that she teaches me this time!!」

I could only heave a sigh as I failed to stop Novis.

「Geez… You're just bothering Shirone-sama.」

「No way in hell!! I'll show her how useful I am!! Do you know where Shirone-sama is currently at, Kaya-sama!!?」

Kaya-sama just shook her head, as if giving up upon hearing Novis' question.

「Shirone-sama and co are currently diving into the labyrinth.」

She replied lightly.

「The labyrinth!!? Then I should be able to guide her!!」

「That's impossible. The path Shirone-sama and co took are the shortcut that you're not familiar with.」

「You mean, a secret path?」

「Yes, the secret path. The one you deemed as too dangerous…」

Kaya-sama looked towards the horizon as she told us so.

◆Sword's Maiden; Shirone

I'm currently diving into the dungeon alone with Kuroki.

In my hand was a map we’d gotten from Novis and co. But really, this map was a useless piece of junk.

If you ask for the reason, it’s because we’re going a route that has never been taken by any other freedom fighter. According to the information that Kuroki extracted from Atlankua, there seems to be a shortcut which would lead us straight into the UG 1st floor beyond the room littered with bugs.

I looked towards Kuroki.

He’s wearing his usual clothes, not the Dark Knight armor. He wasn’t wearing it because I really hated that armor. Naturally, he’ll change into that armor if he deems necessary, but I wish that he won’t wear it aside from that situation. Moreover, it’s nice to be able to have a closer look at his face now that we’re finally alone after a long time.

Hence, that was why his clothes were composed of just simple gear, an ordinary sword, a black mantle, and thick clothing.

「We're about to arrive at the bug littered room… Are you sure about this, Shirone?」

「Don't worry about me, Kuroki!!! Bugs are not a big deal!!! I used to catch a lot of rhinoceros beetles in the mountains a long time ago, remember!!」

I smiled wryly as I spoke, recalling the memories of that time.

We used to run around the mountain a long time ago. There were so many nice old memories about catching beetles and climbing trees together.

「Then let's go and finish this quickly.」

Kuroki walked ahead of me.

I only realized a while later that the bugs littered in the said room weren’t the cute kind like rhinoceros beetles.

But still, they couldn't stop us.

「Let's go, Kuroki. We'll save them for sure this time!!」

◆Black Haired Sage; Chiyuki

「Bumomomomo!」

There was currently a Minotaur wielding a double-edged great axe blocking our way.

Double-edged axes were the weapon of choice for Minotaurs, not to mention, it was also the weapon of the Evil God Labrys.

By the way, both Centaurs and Elves preferred the bow and arrow as their weapon of choice while Dwarves preferred an axe or a hammer.

「Incoming! Reiji-kun!」

「I know, Chiyuki!!」

Reiji replied to me with his usual tone.

A Minotaur swung his axe towards Reiji.

In a swift movement, Reiji parried the axe with the sword in his right hand and cut through the Minotaur’s abdomen with the sword in his left hand.

Another Minotaur immediately leaped at us from behind the collapsed one.

But it was no use. They were no match for us.

We defeated one Minotaur after another by using Reiji as the center for our tactic. After an intense combat, we were able to defeat all the incoming Minotaurs.

Following the battle, we decided to take a short break, being currently in UG 7th floor.

It seems that the lake which we’d fought the Tarrasque in was UG 6th floor.

According to the information we’d heard beforehand, it seemed that from UG 7th – 9th floors was an underground city where the Minotaurs lived. The underground cities were spiraling downwards, with canals flowing under those cities that spiraled downward in a similar fashion and carried the water from the lake in UG 6th floor. The cities were also equipped with magic illumination like the one on the 5th floor.

This labyrinth was extremely well constructed. I couldn’t even imagine our home world being built in a similar underground structure as this one.

As we followed the canal from the 6th floor to the 7th floor, we were finally able to enter the city, where we’d met and fought against the group of Minotaurs from earlier.

「Nevertheless, it's such splendid structure and yet the Minotaurs who live in this city are a savage tribe.」

I took a look at the minotaurs.

They wore splendid sets of armor.

The ones who’d come to attack us seemed to be the soldier-class Minotaurs. And yet, despite having better physiques compared to other Minotaurs, they were still just muscle brained. All they’d kept doing was keep coming at us using the waves tactic.

There were no twists and turns or any sort of complicated tactic. All they’d done was come at us with bloodshot eyes.

Well, they really do act like rampaging bulls.

Moreover, there seemed to be some internal conflict among the Minotaurs as to who would get the women in the group. I wish they’d start those kinds of arguments only after beating us. Well, it made it easier for us to beat them because of that though.

The level of intelligence of the beings that resided in this splendid city was really low.

Maybe this whole space wasn’t created by Minotaurs at all.

「Uuuh…」

「Are you okay, Sahoko-san?」

「Are you okay, Sahoko-san?」

Rino and Nao were comforting Sahoko who was crying on the side.

Apparently, Sahoko was the Minotaurs' main target.

It seems that Minotaurs prefered women with big breasts. That was why they’d targeted Sahoko, the one with the biggest bust size amongst us. Some of them were even going commando, in other words, n*ked.

Naturally, all of them were cut down by Reiji’s sword of light before they could even reach Sahoko.

But even if she didn't suffer from any physical damage, any girl would cry if a pervert cow monster flashing their "Burun Burun*"  between their legs were rushing at them. [TL : This is Chiyuki's code for size of pe*n1s]

At times like these, I feel glad that mine aren't that big.

By the way, the rank from biggest to smallest were Sahoko, Kyouka, Shirone, and lastly, me. Kaya's were bigger than our smallest duo, aka Rino and Nao, and a little bit smaller than mine.

Sahoko is still crying. That was just how much she was grossed out by those perv minotaurs.

Nevertheless, we must keep going forward.

「Reiji-kun. I heard that it's not just Princess Euria. The other kidnapped women are also imprisoned in the lower floor.」

We heard that the Minotaurs tortured the captured men to death while the women were g4ng r4ped by them.

For them, women were nothing more than a tool to produce children. Even if they said it was their culture, I couldn't bring myself to agree with that kind of culture.

「I want to save them if possible… But they might be held captive in an even lower floor.」

Reiji told me so while looking down below.

According to Zuun, only Minotaurs whose strength cut above the rest could leave behind their descendants. They were also granted the privilege of living on the lower floor, closer to the evil god. That's why the captured women must be held in their prison on the lower floor.

「I see… well they might be just a little bit stronger than these guys.」

I sent a sidelong glance to Sahoko who’d finally managed to get a grip on herself and was currently talking to Rino and Nao.

Maybe the scenery of what happened to those captured women was going to be little bit too much for Sahoko.

「Then it's okay, no need to worry and just stick by my side.」

Reiji flashed his usual daring smile.

「Y-Yes. You're right…」

Sahoko stuck by Reiji’s side. She was the kind of girl who would go through a sea of needles and fire as long as Reiji was there. [TL : Typical 2D heroine]

But, Reiji had no idea at all.

He had no idea what kind of face Sahoko had made when he was on the verge of dying due to the Dark Knight’s, Shirone's childhood friend, attack.

Just how powerful was the Evil God residing in the deepest part of this Labyrinth? Will Reiji suffer the same critical wound as before?

That's why I should've stopped him.

But, my efforts to persuade him were meaningless. He was the kind of person who will ignore any kind of danger just to save a princess.

Naturally, he also involved the rest of us but still…

「EVERYONE, LET'S GO!!」

Everyone of us girls nodded in unison.

Thus, we continued forward even deeper into the labyrinth.

◆Dark Knight; Kuroki

「KYA~~~!! GROOOOOOOOOOSSSS!!!!」

Shirone was clearing away the bugs with her flame sword.

This was the scene when we’d entered that bug filled room.

It was just an empty room a while ago, till all kinds of bugs suddenly filled the room, creeping into the room from all crevices.

「Yup, this is… mentally challenging indeed…」

I've got no problem if there's only one or two of them.

But, like hell if anyone can keep their calm when those guys are basically filling the entire room.

The bugs were kinda like small black scarabs which often came out in horror movies. According to Novis and co, these bugs ate any human who dared to enter this room till there was nothing left of them.