Death March — Fixed

“Tek here, when I was a child I was always good at solving the maze on the back of cereal boxes--when I became an adult, the only mazes I solved were in the games I made.”

The maze’s entrance is a tower that is around one-and-a-half meters high, and well hidden by vegetation--so it would be very, very difficult to find if you didn’t already know about it.

There are some traces of people entering and leaving, but even those are few.

Opening the door, I enter the tower--strangely it’s neither locked nor trapped.

I look up information on the enemies inside the maze, to make sure I have the necessary weaponry prepared in advance. The majority of them are Flying Ants at level five to eight, and Skeletons which are between level one and three. The slightly stronger ones are the level eighteen bone golems, and the level fifteen wood golems.

There are some curious ones, like level five slime-type enemies homunculi. I am a little interested in the ‘Nature Art’ Skill that the Homunculi have.

What kind of skill is that?

Is it similar to Nature Magic?

If the situation allows, I’d like to find a way for Arisa and the Beastkin girls to learn it.

The high level enemies are the Iron Golem located in a large room in the center of the maze, and the Mage in the Master Room.

The equipment I decided on is a saber for one-on-one combat, and a submachine gun type Magic Gun for multiple enemies, or enemies that are a distance from me.

Actually, the SMG is rather high performance--able to fire fifty shots per second, when charged with Magic Power once; it can fire all shots at once is a super burst-mode, but requires a ten minute cooldown, otherwise it can fire as fast as you can input Magic Power and pull the trigger.

For this occasion, I choose to use the ‘Scatter Shot’ mode, since I don’t have to worry about friendly fire. Even though it lowers the power a little, it’s more than enough for fighting all bar the strongest enemies in here--well, I may need to use the ‘Super Burst’ to take on the wood and bone golems.

I put on one of the cheap robes I bought from Seryuu; it may not look too good, but it’s enough to protect me from the blood of my enemies.

While double-checking my equipment, I go down the spiral staircase.

***

After leaving the stairs, I’ve officially entered the maze.

The ground is different from the resin-like stuff that made up the floor of Trazayuya’s Room. Although it looks like stone pavement, it somehow feels like plants. The corridor also has good visibility because there are light sources set below the floor, sending illumination up through specially designed cracks.

This is good, because I don’t have a torch--though I have the Light Drop, it would be rather inefficient for long-range combat with my SMG.

I could hear the sound of metal clanging from somewhere, although I don’t know what kind of thing could produce that sound, since only one of the enemies was metal, and it was far away.

Since I have no intention of fighting slowly or carefully--nothing in here could pose even the slightest threat to me--I look up the shortest route to the Master Room.

As I run, I kick and destroy all the Skeletons I meet, then throw the bones to eliminate the Flying Ants that approach because of the noise, since I am not trying to be subtle or stealthy either.

Even though I prepared a nice Magic Gun, it didn’t get a turn.

Oh?

This Skeleton’s skull isn’t that of a Human--it’s probably from a Ratman.

This maze isn’t like the one typical in a game where you follow a staircase down a level as soon as you clear a level. Rather, they seem to be blocks that are connected in three-dimensional formations, and you might go up and down in complex paths.

It sort of reminds me of a theme park somehow.

While thinking about that, a Skeleton that I kicked, left a big Magic Core. Since the Magic Core came out without any effort, I pick it up--I thought that it’s strange, so I checked the log, it turns out that the Monster I defeated was a Bone Golem, not a Skeleton. There is a level difference of six or so, but to me--it felt no different from the other small fries.

The enemies resistances are week, and I advance quickly--but the road becomes a dead end.

According to the map, there should be a path through here, though?

I check on the map, it’s certainly a dead end.

It seems that the maze is changing its shape and the position of the joints--the metallic sound I heard seems to be caused by the change or whatever drives it.

What a uselessly amazing gimmick--it’s something that even modern science would be hard-pressed to reproduce in any way.

I continue advancing through the maze, making sure to check the map every time I hear the metallic noise.

Since I run with my eyes on the map, I suddenly plunge into a passage where a lot of slimes gathered; it’s finally time for the SMG--and they all die in less than three seconds, but the ground becomes so slimy that it’s disgusting.

***

I’ve finally arrived at the large room in the center.

This place is unmoving, serving as the halfway point--it’s five meters high and twenty meters wide here.

When I arrived in the room, the door automatically closes, and the Magic Formation in the center begins to shine. An Iron Golem emerged from the Magic Circle, standing beside it is a beautiful blonde woman, like the one in the Master Room. This golem looks like it is made from metal and rivets, it looks like something found in a steampunk game.

I see now, this girl is a Homunculus--this explains why there are several people with the same faces; judging from their faces, I wonder if Mia is the base.

I really like Homunculi--they are basically the Magic version of Automatons.

The Iron Golem is close to four meters high--there are the same letters on its forehead as the stone golem in the labyrinth.

“You did well to have come this far, explorer.” The blonde girl has a beautiful voice, but she speaks in a monotone.

“I’m a traveler though.”

“traveler? -- O explorer! You did well to come here,” After a puzzled look flashes through her eye, tilting her head, she tilted it back and continued to talk--she moves like a doll.

You’re insisting on me being an explorer huh.

“I’ll give you the right to fight the Guardian--if you should beat the Guardian, I’ll admit that you have the qualification to advance ahead--the winner will be given a reward from the Master of the Maze.”

The beautiful woman continues speaking, following the scenario, “Now, let the fight begin. O Iron Giant, there is no need to hold back.”

After finishing her rather long speech, the woman walks to a corner of the room--her eyes look satisfied, or rather, proud.

After the woman got to the corner of the room, the Iron Golem starts moving.

I pierce the ‘E’ character on the Golem’s forehead with a single burst from the Magic SMG--changing the ‘EMETH’ to ‘METH’, the golem stops moving like in that story--yes, the story from my world.

Probably not expecting this to end in an instant, the beautiful woman in the corner becomes confused.

I ignore her and head towards the exit.

“You’re careless!” She suddenly attacks me from behind with a rapier--still talking in her monotone--it looks like she used some kind of Magic reinforcement, her stab is quite a bit faster than what is normal for her level.

While being careful not to break the woman’s hand, I grab her wrist and stop the rapier.

“Come to think of it, what is the reward for the winner anyway?”

She tilted her head like before, finally speaking after hesitating for a bit, “--Me?”

Why is it a question?

Apparently, she didn’t prepare any rewards, since she didn’t think that I’d win.

With a quick hit to the back of her neck, being very, very careful--I knock her out.

I probably would like to take her up on that reward, but I decide to take her rapier as the rewards--since the hilt design is cute, I will probably give it to Lulu or Zena as a present.

Carefully, I lay the woman on the floor and advance ahead.

***

Afterwards, I arrived at the Master Room without any considerable setbacks. The latter half of the maze had traps, but since I avoided all of them using the Trap Discovery skill, I didn’t even get to see what kind of traps they were.

The Mage is obviously still inside the Master Room.

Mia is still sitting on the throne, seemingly unconscious--her HP has fully recovered, but her Stamina is still only about 30%.

“I really didn’t think that you would come this far, this fast.” The Mage sounds surprised.

“Is that so, I’d like to avoid fighting and just get Mia back.”

The Mage laughs at my words.

I continue to walk towards the throne while talking--I’d rather not get thrown into the underground lake again.

“Impossible, that’s impossible--you have shown your qualification by defeating the Iron Golem.” The Mage is still talking to himself, “however, your title is insufficient to go against me. I’ll have you fight more formidable adversaries so you could gain the title ‘Hero’. As for your rewards, I’ll give you this holy sword: Gjallarhorn,”

The Mage made a sword appear in his gloved hand.

The Heads-Up-Display indicates that the sword is actually the Holy Sword Gjallarhorn. Its performance is inferior compared to some of the stronger Holy Swords I have, but it’s still far superior common Magic Swords.

I really don’t understand what this guy intends.

Does he really only want to commit suicide?

“Your opponents are them.” The Mage’s shadow expands towards the center of the room as he talks--three Iron Golems appear from it; moreover, five beautiful women come out from the door beside the throne and line up behind the Iron Golems. Their faces are the same as the beautiful woman earlier, but their hairstyles all differ, showing that they have at least some individuality.

“However, you would merely get killed by strong enemies like this, while the title of Hero is obtained by overcoming life-and-death struggles.”

Well, from this guy’s viewpoint, my level is 10--it should be impossible to beat three level 30 golems.

The Mage spreads his arms toward the heavens, the continues his words, “Therefore, I shall grant everyone here the blessing from my god--Limit Break!”