Chapter 61 - Second Floor — Labyrinth (4)

Explorers typically strongly avoid unplanned combat.

Some might wonder what that meant.

While an Explorer's essence was adventuring in the Abyss and uncovering mysteries, their steady income came not from ruins or relics that might never be found, but from hunting monsters and their byproducts.

However, such hunting was thoroughly planned due to exploration being a long-term operation.

Recovery through potions wasn't omnipotent.

There were diminishing returns.

This meant drinking many potions in a short time reduced their effectiveness.

Therefore, whether one was a martial artist or mage, there was an inherent limit to combat duration.

This was why expedition teams set long schedules and stayed in the Abyss for months.

So logically, retreating would be the correct decision here.

Even the training center taught us to avoid unexpected combat when possible.

However, that was only when one thought logically.

If you're beyond common sense, there’s no need to follow it.

Our trio's opinions unified without words.

"Die!"

Naturally, Rei charged out first.

Rei's talent shone, rapidly shifting the color of her mana.

Her initially clumsy switching between Azurail and Argentooth had become remarkably smooth after just one real combat experience.

Azurail not only let one walk on air but fundamentally strengthened leg power.

Launching like a cannonball, Rei removed Azurail right before colliding with the approaching monster horde and wrapped Argentooth's silver mana onto her fist as if it were gloves.

BOOM—!

Dust filled the Labyrinth corridor, blocking vision.

But wind immediately swept it away.

Mana flowed from behind and brushed over our skin with the wind.

A distinctly lighter feeling than Leaf's usual stream-like mana flow.

It was the mana flow of Leaf's newly acquired air spirit, Aerial.

"Aerial! Compress and shoot air!"

At Leaf's command, air condensed in space, shimmering like heat haze.

The compressed air bullet slammed into a scorpion-shaped monster targeting Rei's feet from below.

THUD—!

But what burst was the compressed air bullet, not the monster's head.

"What's that!?"

Rei's Argentooth-wrapped foot crushed the monster's head.

With that much mana coating, it probably would've blocked the monster’s attempts at injecting poison. 

Rei probably thought the same and ignored it.

But Leaf, embarrassed at her bold shout producing underwhelming results, spoke hesitantly, "W-well, that didn't work as well as I thought."

"You were copying me, right?"

"Ah! Yes! You noticed!"

Of course, I noticed.

The mechanism was exactly the same as mine.

It was simple enough to copy, but just changing the material from an Archdemon's mana to regular air drastically reduced its power.

Beyond that, either she skimped out on mana, lowering Aerial's output, or Aerial itself lacked power.

Since she said it was similar to Undine who shoots those vicious Water Jets, probably not the latter?

Leaf could research the reasons later.

For now, I'd advise on what was certain.

"You need to use more mana. Power without going through the device of magic isn't that great."

"Hmm... I was trying to conserve mana just in case..."

Mana management?

That's for ordinary human mages.

Beast-folk with innately superior physical abilities and vast mana reserves based on that and elves, nicknamed “the magic race” for their uniquely superior magical abilities.

There was no need to talk about Rei, a pure-blooded beast-folk.

And though half-blooded, Leaf's abilities weren't inferior to pure-blooded Elves.

While our only normal comparison was Elowen, the sole Elf among our classmates, Leaf actually had more abundant mana than Elowen.

And the finishing touch, the cheat among cheats.

Me, with infinite mana, using an otherworld cheat that made racial cheats look insignificant.

Our three-person team had no need to worry about mana management.

Well, it wasn’t completely unnecessary, but it was a very low priority.

"Can we save the lesson for later?"

At Rei's words, I resumed firing Magic Bullet.

While Rei handled the actual combat with Leaf supporting, my role was handling potential variables.

Seriously, what if there’s another Shadow Stalker?

It would be quite troublesome if one suddenly appeared while Rei was fighting like this.

It might even be able to pierce Rei’s defenses with its attack power.

Only I, with Blink, could handle such situations.

But ultimately, there were no such creatures.

I thought another apex predator might show, coveting the Shadow Stalker's territory after its death, but nothing of the sort appeared.

Usually, they'd flee after watching heads explode up front, but they charged in like they were drugged.

The battle only ended after completely exterminating the monsters.

In other words, Rei carried.

But Rei didn't complain.

Rather, she stretched refreshingly as if thoroughly satisfied, placing both hands on her hips and savoring victory.

"Ahh... this is it. Finally, a good fight!"

What's with that morning jog-like reaction?

A beast is a beast even when young.

Though we often forgot, Rei was a beast-folk.

And among beast-folk, she was a lion beast-folk, known to be the most powerful and fierce.

"Well then..."

Rei swirled her mana again without showing any sign of collecting magic cores from the corpses as if entering another battle.

And it wasn't just Rei.

Leaf and I also hadn't lowered our mana.

The reason was simple.

Though the monster battle might be over, the fight itself wasn't completely finished.

I followed Rei's words, "What should we do about that one?"

Toward the man standing beyond the monster corpses.

§

"This is a misunderstanding."

The man raised his hands showing he had no intention to fight.

"I have no intention of fighting you."

They all start that way.

But it never ends that way.

"What should we do? Subdue him first?"

That was Rei alright, always ready to fight despite the man's attitude.

Using magic vision and mana detection simultaneously, nothing registered except this man.

Though assassination types might hide their presence, if that were the case, Rei's beast radar would've actually worked then.

Walking alone on the Second Floor? And in a situation where not only have monster numbers increased, but even their proper instincts seem broken?

Minimum Senior rank. Maybe Expert like Nathaniel.

Can the three of us defeat an Expert?

Nathaniel, a proper Expert, freely traveled to the Third Floor with Philon as baggage despite being a divine magic user rather than a pure combat class.

Mea, whose skills were Expert level, seemed impossible to defeat easily when I saw her in actual combat.

Thinking of their abilities, our Bong-sik probably would've failed the Expert evaluation.

Maybe he knew that and just kept his name as a candidate without taking the test.

"I understand. It's suspicious. But I came to help you. Though, I haven’t actually helped yet—"

"Well, there is something you can help with."

At my words, the man looked around, perhaps wondering if there were monsters he hadn't detected.

However, he remained calm without manifesting aura or mana.

Seems he worried about triggering our wariness.

"But all monsters are eliminated?"

That was why work remained.

"Help us collect magic cores."

Work.

Prove your innocence through labor.

§

The man's name was Luke.

Though his first name suggested walking the skies like Rei, his surname was Starling.

Luke Starling.

Contrary to my expectations, he was a Senior rank Explorer.

"Thanks to you, it finished quickly."

"If I've paid for the rare sight I witnessed, that's good."

Luke reminded me somewhat of Arthur.

They had a similar vibe.

The difference being, he was more composed.

"Hmm~"

Luke remained unfazed even under Rei's still suspicious glare.

"Our kid has some trust issues with humans."

"No, I understand. Probably got burned by people on the First Floor. The First Floor is overrun with thugs barely worthy of being called Explorers."

Luke, wrapped in composure, coolness, and seriousness, showed his first slight display of displeasure.

"The harmful effects of recklessly distributing licenses. Fools chasing instant riches without the resolve to face the Abyss. I don't understand what those above are thinking."

Shoving in politics here?

With my strong connections to the Grand Duchy, it was a difficult topic to discuss easily.

"Ah, that might have been inappropriate."

"It's fine. We're all proper training center graduates anyway. No school affiliation either."

We subtly revealed we have no backing.

Let's see how this man responds.

Those he verbally despised targeted only those without backing to worry about.

There was no guarantee he was any different.

And Luke, in a deeply moved tone, spoke, "Indeed. As expected, you have proper foundations. I thought you seemed different. You truly have solid basics."

Luke suddenly started preaching about the fundamentals as if he had witched dialects.

I turned my eyes from him to look between Rei and Leaf.

And we shared one thought through our gazes.

We've caught another weird one.