Chapter 111
“Kyaaaaaaah!!!”
“Whee, whoooo!!!”
Amid cheers and screams, the Bima raced through the sky.
Maybe it was because it was an SSR-grade magic tool, but it shot forward exactly as I directed it.
When I turned the handle, it changed direction accordingly.
A fairly powerful pressure was exerted on my body.
“Domain Casting, Barrier.”
I considered putting Elena in my Inventory, but I wanted her to have a good experience, so I cast a barrier around her.
This was quite a difficult spell, you know.
Be grateful, Elena.
“Wh-what is this!?”
“Move!!!”
I quickly overtook one of the Bima flying directly ahead of me.
Speed surpasses everything!!
Elena squeezed her eyes shut and clung to my waist.
“Huh? We’re running low on magic stones.”
No wonder it seemed like our speed was dropping.
Turbo mode had automatically shut off.
“Whaaaat!??”
“Then I’ll just put some in.”
I broke the magic stones into pieces and shoved them into the fuel tank.
The Bima then roared and picked up speed as though nothing had happened.
And so we covered a distance of dozens of kilometers at blistering speed, and—
—KRAAAAAAANG!!!
We crashed straight into the mountainside.
Of course, barriers were strong against simple physical force like this, so it didn’t break.
What happened to the contents was another matter.
“Haa, haaah…”
“What’s wrong? Want some water?”
Elena gulped down the water I offered her.
Then she shouted.
“What kind of insane person thinks to remove a Bima’s limiter!?”
“It was there, so I removed it. Limiters exist to be removed in the first place.”
“That’s not how common sense works…”
If this surprised her, things were going to be difficult for her from now on.
While Elena was despairing, I looked around.
A forest where I could hear the sound of a stream.
And the faint sensation of a majestic wave of mana.
It was similar to what I felt from the fixed gate, but definitely different.
“Looks like we came to the right place… let’s see.”
It was over there.
A place where the tree roots were unnaturally tangled together.
When I dragged Elena over there, I saw the entrance to the ruins, along with three uniformed mages.
“You’re the first to arrive. May we see your tokens?”
When Elena and I showed our tokens, the examiner in the center began explaining things to me.
“The details are simple. Enter the ruins and collect five different types of tokens.”
Oho.
The handout we received showed the shapes of the tokens.
The Beginner’s Token, Water Token, Fire Token, and Grass Token.
And the Deepest Region Token.
“Your group will receive a perfect score if you collect all five types of tokens.”
Would it be something like capture the flag?
The difference from last time was that the flags had been completely meaningless to me then.
“However, please note that there are only two Deepest Region Tokens, and that the monsters in the deepest region are quite strong.”
“Okay.”
“Elena, let’s go in.”
“Yeah!”
Elena spoke solemnly.
* * *
—Gwoooooor!!!
There were all kinds of monsters inside the ruins.
It was quite a spectacular sight to see plants approaching us with their mouths stretched wide open.
“Encode, Fire Storm!”
“Encode, Bullet, Triple.”
Of course, they were no match for us.
“There are quite a lot of them.”
“The ruins have the property of regenerating monsters within a few minutes even after they’ve been defeated.”
“Really?”
“Yeah. And as far as I know, this is one of the largest labyrinths in the Empire. We can’t let our guard down.”
“I’m not letting my guard down.”
We defeated the monsters one by one.
Magic stones didn’t appear often, but they did occasionally drop.
That was how we obtained one token in a fairly large room.
It was quite heavy and bulky, as though Weight Increase had been cast on it.
Was it meant to prevent one person from monopolizing them?
‘But who would collect so many things when having more than one is completely useless?’
[Beginner’s Token (R)]
I pretended to put it in my bag, slipped it into my Inventory instead, and looked ahead.
There were three paths branching out before us.
“Which route are we taking?”
There were many forks, but the routes marked on the map could broadly be divided into three.
Whichever route we took, we would reach the deepest region, but the monsters that appeared from this point onward would differ.
“Let’s just run for now.”
I chose the middle path.
With our current firepower, we could break through any route head-on.
Elena’s firepower wasn’t bad either, and if things got rough, I could use the dragon’s mana.
“Yeah, let’s hurry to the deepest region! Encode, Haste!”
Elena kicked off the ground and sprinted.
The route we took was the Water Path.
Perhaps because of that, water-related monsters appeared.
Slimes, corrupted water spirits, frost golems, and so on.
“Hmm… Fire magic doesn’t work very well here.”
Elena said this with a troubled expression.
“I’m starting to get annoyed too.”
I was getting tired of using magic to deal with every single one of them, too.
“Then what are you going to do?”
“Malleang.”
It was time for Malleang to demonstrate abilities beyond housework.
“S-Slime? No… what is this?”
“Kyu?”
“Deal with them.”
The moment I said that, Malleang’s tentacles changed into a shape resembling tree roots.
Malleang dashed forward and lashed its tentacles like whips.
The frost golem was sliced perfectly in half.
It drove its tentacles into the slime and absorbed it as though drinking water.
The water spirit fled the moment it saw my face, so we couldn’t catch it.
“Kyuu!”
Malleang extended its head as though asking to be praised.
When I petted it, it cried out happily.
“Good job, good job. As expected, you’re supposed to counter Water-types with Grass-types.”
I wasn’t entirely sure whether it was a Grass-type, but whatever.
“Let’s go.”
At least for today, I’ll let you ride the bus.
* * *
It took quite a while to reach the deepest region.
“Haa, when are we going to get there?”
“Aren’t we almost there?”
Because of Elena’s lack of stamina, we didn’t reach the deepest region in an instant.
I considered carrying her, but this wasn’t a bad thing either.
I had a plan, too.
For that plan, we couldn’t go too quickly.
After quite some time had passed, we reached the deepest region.
—Kishishishishik!!!
The final boss was none other than a house-sized giant spider.
It appeared to be a strictly territorial monster that didn’t launch preemptive attacks.
But the Deepest Region Token was beyond it.
The webbing was so dense that it seemed difficult to retrieve the token by ordinary means.
Elena seemed to think so too, because she looked at me and said,
“Once we get past this, it’s over! Prepare for battle!”
Even though she was exhausted, Elena admirably composed herself.
I looked at her and said,
“Ah, there’s no need for that.”
“What?”
“Oz Caster, Silver Shoes.”
—Kirik?
I immediately crossed the dense webbing.
This was why spatial magic was so nice.
High-speed movement couldn’t pass through obstacles, but spatial magic simply ended things with a click.
I picked up one token, put it in my Inventory, then used spatial movement to return.
The giant spider was just as dumbfounded as Elena for a moment, but when it realized its territory had been invaded, it became enraged and started chasing us.
—Kishaaaaaak!!!
“Let’s run!!”
We immediately fled.
By the time the boss was no longer visible, Elena asked,
“Wh-what, what did you do!?”
“Unique magic. Don’t ask how to use it.”
“You had unique magic too? Weren’t you a commoner?”
“I have my ways.”
Elena stared at me.
Her twin tails swayed slightly before whipping around and lightly smacking me in the face.
That was because she had turned her head away.
“I’ll definitely repay this debt later. Keep that in mind.”
“You don’t have to.”
Even so, thanks to Elena, we had made it here fairly quickly.
If Elena hadn’t found the way, we probably would have gotten lost.
“Hmph. Do you think I live off debts? Let’s go back. If we don’t hurry, the others will come…”
Just as we left the boss behind,
“Elena, defend us.”
I muttered quietly.
“Encode, Paralyze, Double.”
“Encode, Flame Wall!!”
After I told Elena to defend us, a spell suddenly flew at us.
It was an attack containing a considerable amount of mana.
It had been fired with us as its precise target.
“Wh-what is this!?”
If Elena hadn’t heard my voice, she probably wouldn’t have reacted in time.
“To block that… looks like you do have enough skill to make it to the deepest region.”
The sound of footsteps echoed through the ruins.
Then the person who had cast the spell appeared.
“My name is Rose. I’m a Rank 3 mage.”
Behind her stood a short, bespectacled woman who appeared to be a group member, along with around fifteen other mages.
“I’ll be taking that token.”
“Oho.”
Well, well. This had become an interesting situation.
Without hesitation, I pointed my wand at Elena.
“Wait, what are you trying to—”
“Oz Caster, Inventory.”
Elena disappeared into my Inventory.
I had saved my Inventory for this moment.
As long as they bore no hostility toward me, I could put them in my Inventory without any explanation.
“Wh-what the hell!?”
“She used magic on her own teammate!”
“Be careful! It might be a mind-affecting spell!”
“Of course! Who would attack a teammate? Stay alert!”
I smiled and said,
“Everyone, I have an idea.”
I approached Rose, the female mage who seemed to be their leader.
Unlike me, she had a tall, well-proportioned figure.
She also had a lot of mana, and judging by the spell she had fired at me, she was well-versed in theory.
‘She might be a graduate of another magic school.’
Rose, who wore a witch’s hat, asked,
“Are you proposing a negotiation?”
“Yes.”
I laid out my terms.
It wasn’t as though I always fought.
I also knew how to avoid a fight wisely—a man… no, a woman.
That was who I, Yumia, was.
“You think fast.”
“I’m the top student, after all.”
“Even so, you’re only a first-year. I’ve heard the rumors.”
“I’m flattered that they’ve spread so far. Go ahead and tell me your proposal.”
“If you hand over your Deepest Region Token, I’ll give you the Central Region Token we have. In return, I’ll protect you until you reach the exit.”
A somewhat heated reaction erupted.
“What!?”
“That’s not what we agreed on!”
It didn’t seem like she had reached an agreement with the people who had come with her, but it was a fairly reasonable proposal.
She turned to the others and said,
“That child only has one token. I don’t know what trick she used, but she must have rushed to the deepest region and acquired only one token.”
“Then shouldn’t we, as the strongest ones here, naturally get it? You would have had trouble obtaining your tokens without us, too, wouldn’t you?”
“That’s… true, but…”
“Then I’ll take it that there are no objections.”
Uh… but, over there.
That wasn’t what I meant.
“Er, I think there’s been a slight misunderstanding?”
“What? Are you asking for more? That would be difficult.”
“No? I meant that all fourteen people here should hand over every token they have to me… I’ll take only the ones I need.”
They seemed to be under some kind of misunderstanding.
Obviously, all the tokens were supposed to be mine.
That was how I would get a perfect score.
That was why I had skipped the Water Token and raced all the way to the deepest region.
“Haha, surely you’re not serious… Are you looking for a fight?”
“No? I’m serious.”
I had never intended to find the other types of tokens myself.
“What?”
An expression of complete bewilderment appeared on her face.
“I mean, wouldn’t it be better for both sides if you handed them over peacefully, rather than me beating you all one by one and taking them?”
I said it sincerely.
Because you guys are weak, you know.