“I’m surprised you didn’t wear a mask this time.” Pamela, Vice-Guild Master of the Adventurers Guild in Sussex, said to Martel was sitting adjacent to her. Currently, the two of them were conversing in a meeting room within the guild.

“It’s better if I show my face now. In all appearances, the shield hero was rescued by Kuro, who belongs to a mysterious organization behind the Red Dragon Trading Company. Everyone will be focused on a nonexistent Kuro instead of thinking everything stems from me.”

“Smart, but is it alright to tell me this?”

“It’s fine. I trust you, and it’s not the end of the world if it does get revealed.”

“I should be happy to have your trust, but it feels more like you consider me too insignificant to be a threat. At any rate, what do I owe the pleasure of your company this morning? Surely you didn’t pull me from my busy work schedule just for some idle chat while your new party members register, right?”

“No. We are going to challenge the Labyrinth, and I wanted to inquire about any prerequisite procedures and as much knowledge as possible.”

Pamela cocked an eyebrow. “Aside from being registered to the guild, paying a small head fee, waiting in line, and hiring a guide, there are no significant procedures. As for the information, are you willing to pay?”

“Yes, if the knowledge isn’t common. What is this about a guide?”

“The Guild certifies individuals that have passed certain tests and levels of strength to be labyrinth guides. The intent behind the labyrinth guide is to ensure that newcomers don’t die due to overconfidence from a lack of information. Therefore, we require hiring a guide for first-timers as it drastically reduces the failure rate. For your guide, I would recommend Sakura.”

Martel slightly frowned. “The part-timer? May I know the reason why?”

“According to her, she traveled from the Usagi territory, which is adjacent to the Centaur’s land. She is working to earn money so she can treat her sick mother, so I’ve been helping her out.”

“Are you sure she didn’t make that up?”

“No, but I don’t need to be. She’s an extremely hard worker and earned every copper we spent on her. In addition, she just passed the labyrinth guide certification with near-perfect marks at a record speed, so she only lacks personal experience. However, taking a look at your current party, she won’t be able to help much in that regard.”

“Very well. Do you mind if we borrow this room?”

“Not at all. I’ll let them know.” Pamela replied as she got up and left.

As Martel waited, he went through the information on the Labyrinth in his Codex. After having scanned the royal library, he was surprised at how little information it had besides a basic introduction. However, he could also understand why the Adventurers Guild would collect that information. Instead, the kingdom would focus on history and specialized knowledge, including magic and potion recipes, etc.

*Knock knock* 

“Come in.”

The door opened, and his party, plus a pink-haired bunny girl, also known as Usagi, entered the room.

“I understand you wish to hire me as a guide for the labyrinth?”

“Indeed. I believe this is the going rate.” Martel replied as he handed her a bag of coins.

“… Yes! Everything is an order. You can consider myself hired for the day.” Sakura replied with a happy expression. “Would you like to head straight to the labyrinth, or would you like the information now?”

“Why don’t we get information now. We have little knowledge of it except for hearsay. Go over the history and the basics, and be thorough.”

“I understand. First, I will go over the history. The once-prosperous dwarves created the overall structure of the Labyrinth. They dug tunnels throughout the entire continent in search of materials.” Sakura began, and everyone’s eyes turned to Crystal.

“The dwarves created the labyrinth?” Ariel asked her.

Crystal nodded with a bitter smile. “Kind of. At that time, we were flourishing in numbers and metalworking. Adamantine was a rare and desired material that we sought even more so than mithril. We got greedy, dug too deep, and awoke an ancient true dragon sleeping in the magma that wiped out most of our race. Even though that happened several hundred years before the first Invasion, which was over 2000 years ago, we became completely isolationist. Since then, our population has dwindled to its current several hundred.”

“Sorry if you find the discussion unpleasant,” Martel replied.

“Not at all.” Crystal said as she waved it off. “That was well before my time. Now, my only concern is improving my smithing and propagating my race.”

Though her reply was stoic, Martel had to pretend to ignore Crystal’s look that she sent in his direction. “Sakura, please continue.”

“Yes! Shortly after the first Invasion, the demon Lilith escaped within the Labyrinth and was presumed dead. It wasn’t until a couple of decades later that it was revealed she had lived when she stole the Grimoire of the Wand-goddess right after it was discovered. Given the importance of the Grimoire, and the threat of the demon, the entire continent was in an uproar. Because of this and the size of the dwarven tunnels, every humanoid race, including newly flourishing demi-humans, sent troops to subjugate her. The result was 90% of those sent in never returned, including a hero and a true dragon. Several ancestral figures quit after losing thousands of subordinates without seeing Lilith’s hair. To this day, not even the waves compared to the casualties lost in that failed subjugation.”

Several cold deep breaths were heard from those who did not know the inside story. 

Pasiphae awkwardly cleared her throat. “I heard that my fellow Minotaurs were almost exterminated. How did one person do that much damage?”

“We’re fairly certain it’s because of the Grimoire. Before it was stolen, several people got a look at it. The book itself seemed to provide information regarding the fundamental principles of magic, allowing for the creation of spells. It’s believed that Lilith used the Grimoire to manipulate the terrain and create many traps efficiently with magic. However, due to the heavy losses and the massive logistic costs of containing the subjugation, it was eventually called off. Since then, Lilith has never appeared and is most likely dead. Even Elves, who have the longest known humanoid lifespan, rarely exceed 1000 years. The only change occurred to dwarven tunnels themselves as they became the Labyrinth.

“The Labyrinth has many entrances around the continent. You are guaranteed to find a labyrinth entrance at every capital and occasionally ducal cities. However, instead of long winding tunnels, they were sealed to become large pockets of space underground. Within these pockets spawn shadow creatures. We call them shadow creatures because they are black creatures, built of mana.  They appear to simulate a creature killed in the tunnels and only have a part of their strength in life. We believe what the creature’s shape takes is based upon the soul that inhabits it. It seems as though a large number of other creatures were also killed within the tunnels as they also appear. From what we can tell, the souls of those who die within the Labyrinth are trapped there forever, doomed to become shadow creatures. Upon their destruction, shadow creatures drop a false mana crystal. These mana crystals are just like normal ones. However, mana slowly leaks from them, rendering them useless if enough time passes. We believe that Lilith created the Labyrinth to protect herself by making it much difficult to reach the end and generate mana crystals. That being said, we have taken advantage of the latter.

“We refer to each pocket within the Labyrinth as a floor. Each floor gets larger and deeper within the ground, and increasingly powerful shadow creatures will appear. We aren’t certain about the method used to travel between floors. However, it seems to be similar in principle to the Red Dragon Trading Company’s teleportation. After destroying the shadow creatures on a floor, you have 10 minutes to touch a glowing line that travels down that sends you to the next floor. If you don’t go in that period, shadow creatures will spawn again. However, the new shadow creatures will provide nearly empty mana crystals. They inherently provide no XP, so this isn’t worth doing. Every third, sixth, and ninth floor will allow you to rest for up to an hour, but you can decide to touch a line that travels up to send you back to the entrance. You also have this option on each 10th floor, which we call a boss room, which typically has a single strong enemy for you to defeat. However, there is a chance that more than one creature will spawn in the boss room, which is highly possible given the size of your party. The amount of shadow creatures that appear corresponds to the number of adventures that enter a floor. This seems to be a ratio, so you can get a good idea beforehand. You also don’t have to worry about another party showing up as every party is separate. Any questions?”

…

“I can’t believe it,” Sakura said as she watched the spectacle before her, awestruck and dumbfounded.

As soon as the party had entered the first floor of the Labyrinth, Hestia shouted ‘get over here’ before her body burst into flame. Currently, the numerous shadow goblins throughout the entire floor were focused on her. However, there was no danger as they couldn’t penetrate her Ki and were instantly disintegrating due to the reflective damage of her Soul Armament.

“Everyone got stronger thanks to Papa.”

“Yes!… This is incredible!” Sakura replied to Kogane, though the latter half of her reply was subdued.

Martel had been steadily keeping an eye on Sakura, and he noticed that she seemed withdrawn around Kogane. However, Kogane didn’t seem to notice as she went out of her way to talk to Sakura, which was also subtly different from her normal character. However, these thoughts disappeared from his mind when a pleasant sensation pressed up against his back. He slightly flinched as two slender arms wrapped around his upper body.

“Yes, hubby is amazing,” Rio happily said as she seemed to be intentionally breathing in his ear. “It makes me want to strip him… of his secrets.”

“Can you please stop acting in such a way?” Hestia suddenly said at Rio’s actions, unable to hide the miff in her tone. “I know the first floor is extremely easy for us, but you should never let down your guard.”

Rio smiled as their gaze momentarily met provocatively. “What’s wrong, Hestia? Is it wrong to pick up boys in a labyrinth?”

[… I always liked Rio, but I’m feeling ticked off for some reason.] Alessa said to Martel.

[It’s just you being too sensitive, loli-big-boobs.] “Rio, she’s right,” Martel replied as he ignored the angry protests from within the shield. “This isn’t the time or the place.”

“… I understand.” Rio applied with an exaggerated look of disappointment. She slightly pulled back before she switched direction and whispered loud enough for everyone to hear. “So you mean in your room at night, then?”

“Mama! Stop that!” Kogane said as she quickly injected herself between the two, taking the chance to hug Martel’s side.

“See, Pasiphae? You need to take a bolder approach.” Eferhild unabashedly said. “Look, you can see how effective her attack was written all over his face.”

Rio winked at Martel as she knew full well he was using this as an excuse to grind his acting, though she couldn’t help but be impressed at how believable the blush on his cheeks was. However, she eventually turned her attention over to Sakura. “Has the power structure of the labyrinth changed at all?”

“No. It’s the same difficulty for three floors with the next three floors being similar or more difficult. Every 10th floor is the boss room.”

“I see. Then we should be able to make it to the 60th floor.”

“What!?”

“Is there a problem with Rio’s assessment?” Martel asked.

“… What do you think the party strength is?” Sakura asked Rio.

“Conservatively, A- by the time we get there.”

“Then absolutely not! The 50th floor is pushing it, and I recommend the 40th floor!”

“What is your reasoning?”

“Up to the 60th floor, the encounters will reach B+. I know you’re thinking, but only having an A- party isn’t recommended. Your party is estimated to be 25% stronger than most of the encounters, but that isn’t enough! Labyrinth exploration is a forced marsh where you can only return at certain checkpoints. On top of this, you can’t skip any floors, so the Labyrinth is inherently a battle of attrition. The resources spent and injuries gained can pile up if you are too greedy for success. So, let’s stop at 40, please?” Sakura quickly replied with an expression that seemed like she was trying to hold back tears.

Martel turned to Rio. “Why do you think we can make it to the 60th floor?”

“Because we can, and it will be good for us. Including myself for unique circumstances, we all got a quest that gives flat XP every time we clear the boss floor for the first time. While there isn’t much XP in the grand scale of things, it will be difficult for us to gain a similar amount of XP before the next wave hits. Although the first four waves are considered easy, that is only about being easy to survive. The strongest enemies are relatively weak, and the average enemies are even weaker. But how will you expect a few hundred people who just started fighting a couple of months to do against an entire army? Increasing our level quickly helps our survivability and allows us to kill more enemies before we need to retreat from fatigue. This is extremely beneficial due to how XP is calculated during a wave. Unlike normally, the XP will assume that you are no stronger than your foe. This, coupled with the normal bonus for large amounts of enemies, means we can harvest more XP than normal.”

“Even if that’s true, it’s not worth risking your life for!” Sakura quickly interjected. “I can’t die yet.” She then mumbled before she began to bite her nails at the thought, given that she was only Rank C.

“But this is a very calculated decision,” Rio replied before she turned back to Martel. “From what I see, we have two options. The first is to do a short labyrinth expedition, go to a couple of low-level farms, then fight the Wave before coming back here. The other option is to go as deep as we can now, focus on personal and team training, then fight the Wave. I recommend the latter considering that low-level farms are over-hunted due to the military, even though we can quickly reach them with teleportation. Going from the 40th floor to the 60th should raise everyone’s levels from around 3 to 6. This means we will be around 50% stronger, if not more so, for the Second Wave than if we take the first option, which means more XP from said wave. After the wave, we can go further into the Labyrinth before traveling to more remote areas to train. While the second option may not be the most efficient in terms of XP gain, it is more risk for more reward, and we can level up faster. However, I wouldn’t recommend it if not for this party.

“While we haven’t been working together long, this party has astounding growth when it comes to teamwork and coordination. Everyone achieved a level that most would take several weeks to achieve and is still noticeably growing. On top of this, I’ve never seen a party of such talented individuals. In my first party, excluding Jonathan, there were only five party members with top-tier Talents. This party, while being larger, almost entirely consists of such Talents. Most notably, we have up to four tanks and three healers, which are invaluable for prolonged fights. In addition, our party has more than enough when it comes to potions, gear, and other resources. While there is a delay between taking potions, I don’t perceive it to be a large problem. Most importantly, I expect that you can get us out in a pinch.” She finished with a smile.

Martel cocked an eyebrow before he subtly tried a teleportation spell, which succeeded. “Very well. Will hit the 40th floor and see how things go from there with our goal being the 60th floor.”

“I can’t die yet. I can’t die yet.” Sakura mumble-chanted as her bunny drooped to cover her face while she bit her nails and rocked back and forth in the fetal position.

“You can leave at any time, but your cat will be larger the further down we go,” Martel replied, which caused Sakura’s floppy ears to come to attention. “After all, most newcomers won’t go beyond the 20th floor. This means you can only get Rank 1 false mana crystals while you can get up to Rank 5 fake mana crystals, which are worth exponentially more if we can make it to the 60th floor.”

“Yes! Let’s do it!” Sakura suddenly exclaimed with all her fear and hesitation gone. Instead, there was a fire in her eyes… Or rather bags of coins.

Martel cocked an eyebrow at her sudden personality change but didn’t seem too surprised.

“My Prince, why are there goblins in here?” Ariel suddenly asked as she glanced around from her wheelchair. “I thought that the shadow creatures were supposed to be made up of the subjugation force against Lilith and not monsters from the invasion.”

“Most likely, it’s because they went into the labyrinth by accident or were brought into and killed by Lilith.” Sakura quickly responded. “Most shadow creatures in the first 20 floors are either goblins or humans killed in the Labyrinth. This is because the subjugation force wasn’t weak in the slightest, with the average soldier strength being around Rank C, which starts to appear past the 20th floor. We think that Lilith brought these weaker monsters both to add more creatures for her defense and to lure weaker adventurers for the same reason.”

“I’m done.” Hestia coldly replied as she had been the only one to do anything... Even though that was only to stand in place like everyone else.

“Arachne, could you gather the fake mana crystals,” Martel asked.

“Yes,” Arachne replied as a bunch of little spiders suddenly appeared and gathered them up.

“Go ahead and put them in the compartment,” Martel said.

Arachne was a little confused at his request. The crystals could easily fit within a storage bag, or he could keep or put within his inventory, but she obliged.

“I didn’t even notice that,” Sakura said as she glanced at the hidden compartment underneath the carriage. “Then again, it’s kind of weird to bring a carriage into the labyrinth, to begin with.”

“That explains the word looks we were getting,” Martel said. “Is it that unique? To my understanding, the Labyrinth is large enough for a carriage.”

“It is, but it is also dangerous to have steed that could potentially lose control or be attacked in the middle of the Labyrinth. Given that the only loot is also mana stones, a few space bags are typically more than enough.”

“I see. Well, we use that as group emergency resources.”

“I see,” Sakura mumbled as she seemed to be absentmindedly staring at the carriage.

Just as she finished speaking, the wall glowed as if veins existed just on the other side.

“Those are the veins that you touch to send you to the next floor,” Sakura said as the lights snapped her back to attention. 

“Yes, let’s hurry!” Kappa suddenly shouted. “I want to use my new toy!”

“All right, I understand your enthusiasm but be patient,” Martel said as his eyes flickered, and he glanced around the room. Specifically, he used his eye Talents to glean as much information as he could about how the Labyrinth worked. After a couple of seconds passed by, he could not hide the smile on his lips. He had finally found a clue to something he had desperately wanted.

The first thing that Martel noted was that the now glowing veins within the Labyrinth consisted of energy crystals within the walls. They had been filled with mana, causing them to glow. With the available information and an educated guess, he figured out a plausible explanation for how the Labyrinth worked. 

Energy crystals appeared a certain time after the death of someone who had sufficient mana, as they were the byproduct of a mana crystal that no longer contained the remnants of a soul. Thus, upon death, the essence of a person’s soul would break apart but remain. However, the exact mechanics depended upon the world’s rules where the death occurred. 

For example, in Miyuki’s world, where Martel’s alternate future self had died, the Well of Souls could completely collect the dispersed soul upon death. This allowed for the potential of reincarnation and was why there were little to no mana crystals, but only energy crystals. There was no such thing as a Well of Souls in this world, so the remnants of the individuals’ souls remained within the mana crystals. Thus they would not become energy crystals. However, the Labyrinth seemed to have a similar effect to Well of Souls, albeit artificially. 

The fake mana crystals of the Labyrinth produced were closer to incomplete energy crystals as the souls that made up the shadow creatures were removed to complete the process. However, it seems as though that Lilith, the creator of the Labyrinth, had taken great pains in doing so. Utilizing the vast amount of soul she had at her disposal, she seemed to have created the veins of energy crystal. These crystals allowed for the smooth passage of mana, powering all of the necessary spells.

Martel did not glean into the intricacies of the Labyrinth creation, but that was not what caught his eye. Instead, what caught his eye was simple magic that recycled the air within the Labyrinth to remain breathable. The effect itself wasn’t incredible as Martel could do the same, but it was the means that caused him to get excited. 

For Martel to do something similar, he would need either a magic circle or carved spell, but neither of those was present. It seemed as though only mana needed to reach a certain area to obtain the effect. Martel wasn’t completely ignorant of this concept, as his wedding band did the same thing in creating understanding. It used an enhancement with ‘spirits’ instead of formula. However, until now, Martel had never come across a mana-based example as it was incapable of carrying ‘intention.’

If one were to compare this enchantment to a method of casting spells, it would most closely align with conversion magic. This method of spellcasting involved only utilizing ‘intention’ or ‘imagination’ as the catalyst to create the result instead of a chant etc. However, Martel’s previous enchanting experimentation had all failed. Now, he saw hope at the end of the tunnel, which he assumed to be the Wand Goddess’s Grimoire. He now had a higher desire to obtain it.

With a smile, Martel reached out to the glowing vein, which is used as a medium to teleport them to the next location. “Let’s go.”