Vol. 1 Ch. 2 - Level and various kinds of problems.......

Part #1

After that night, I went back to my room feeling heavy after Is saw Kurosawa having such demonic smile. I wasn't able to sleep much last night so I read almost half of my room's books in the bookshelves.

Waiting for the sun tp rise up, I wasn't able to sleep a wink. Because of that, I was able to learn some of this world's words and magic incantations. Though at first I was surprised that I was able to read this world's language perfectly considering it was the first time seeing such language. It looks like as one of the heroes summoned here, I am already able to read, speak this world's languages.

As of now, i've read the basics of alchemy of this world. Transmutations of material objects, the recipes of potions and how to make them, the system behind sword techniques and magic spells.

I'm still grasping the magic thing and sword techniques; though alchemy, transmutation, and compounding is pretty much similar to my world's sciences and chemistry. I was able to learn how to make magic circles as well since it was in a guidebook that it is needed to survive in the wild.

But.....well, who would have thought that monsters are real in this world; Dragons roam the skies, demonic beast walked the earth, sea beasts swim through the abyss of the oceans and freaks of nature like goblins and gremlins live amongst this world's ecosystem.

Ugh..... I wonder what time is it... I can see the sun up so high so it's probably noon.... No, that's impossible; I didn't slept so it's probably still morning.

My head hurts.... I want to sleep....

 

"Good morning, Hero-sama. The other heroes are being called in the dining hall for breakfast, please come immediately"

 

Before I was even trying to close my eyelids, a knock came and maid spoke from the outside. I heard her so I promptly washed my face in my room's bathroom sink and took a change of clothes. I guess breakfast is being served already huh?

.

.

.

.

 

I went to the dining hall as ordered. Along with a maid as guide I was led to the noisy halls filled with the people I came together with.

It seems that those who fainted yesterday were briefed by Inomiri-sensei and now arguing with Taiga. There were guards stopping them but, they were useless and Taiga and the other guys brought up to a fight. Amazingly, none of them were bruised nor scratched afterwards. I was told later that the whole castle has some sort of healing type of barrier so no one would get injured no matter how much they fight.

After breakfast, we were all lead to a wide field where there was enough space to be called a race track. Anyways, each of us was given a piece of card.....the same one sensei and Kurosawa received last night... and was told to place it on the mark we have on our body. Mine was on my left arm. It was like a circuitry that goes down to my wrist. I was even shock when I saw it last night but, I heard from the king's talk last night that it was given to us when we arrived in this world.

The guy named Albert chanted the appraisal spell he used last night on sensei and Taiga. Line brightly shone around us and came afterwards the card glowed pale-ish blue light. I looked on its surface and saw my 'Status' like the one that Albert-san told Sensei last night.

 

°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°

---Kyoushiro Kagami----

----17 yrs. old----

----M----

---Level 10----

Job class: - - - - -

Skills: Appraisal, Language acquisition, Transmutation, Compounding.

 

°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°

 

U-Un..... Although I’m no hero, my stats are pretty much normal huh? Only 50 were the normal stats huh? I don't have a job class but I have useful skills like 'Transmutation' and 'Compounding'.

Still..... What am I to this world if I’m not considered as a hero? A villager, maybe…

 

"Those who have seen their 'Status' please come to me if you have further questions"

 

Like have any..... Well, I’ll do some research on my own regarding this card. Anyways, Albert was crowded by female students obviously. He was being asked by countless students about their 'Status' cards.

 

°°°°°°°°°°°°

Minami Todoroki

16 yrs. old

Female

Job class: Master healer Level: 10 

Skills: Heal, wide heal, fast heal, decay, Healing barrier, Regeneration (small), Magic power conversion. Focused heal. Holy reverence, God healing, Fatigue reliever.

 

°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°

°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°

Hayato Koizumi

17 yrs old

Male

Job class: Lancer

Skills: Spear edge, Magic spear thrust, Lancer spirit, limit break, Stance of heaven and earth reversal, Brionac, Javelin throw, Lance strike, Land mower, Light weight, Multi-layer crumble strike.

 

°°°°°°°°°°°

°°°°°°°°°°°

Mikoto Aizawa

17 yrs. old

Female

Job class: Monster tamer

Skill: Eye of coercion, Persuasion, Taming seal, Support ability boost up, Palm of submission, King of the wild; order of king, King's roar, Berserk, Absolute submission.

 

°°°°°°°°°°°°°

 

The skills and stats the others have are twice than mine. Mikoto Aizawa is Todoroki's best friend. She has slightly red hair and dark chestnut eyes. Aizawa was also the team captain of the archery club back in that world. I wonder why her job class is Monster tamer instead of Master archer or something. Does she like animals? I don't know her that well so i'm not sure.

Hayato Koizumi on the other hand has ikemen like features like Taiga. His hair was light brown that covers his dark eyes, same height as Taiga, 178cm and has popularity comparison to Todoroki's fan club.

They and the other two have the highest stats and distinct skills amongst us 18 heroes. No, I’m not even considered as one so I think I shouldn't think of me as one of them.

 

"Hey there kid"

"G-Gaius-san......"

 

I was leaning against a tree when Gaius, the swordsmen that is the one that will teach us how to fight with our skills, came behind me. Due to his amazingly tall height and huge body, it's relatively easy to mistake him as one of those horned bears said in the book I’ve read last night.

 

"What are you doing here? You should join them; they’re your classmates’ right?"

"Maybe..... But, I don't trust people who wear masks to cover their true self"

 

That's right. Many of those people are amongst the people I call my classmates. I've seen too much of their true side, even of by accident, I’ve seen their wicked side. Like the relatives that wished me dead.

 

"'Masks' huh....?"

"What is it?"

"It seems that you've been through quite a lot Kagami"

". . . . . ."

"Why fell silent?"

"Nothing I'll be in your care from now on Gaius-san"

 

Saying that, I left Gaius standing there behind the tree; I've noticed the gaze of my classmates on me when they saw Gaius talking to me. Because of that, I left immediately to avoid them from over thinking things.

 

 

 

 

Part #2

After the gathering in the training field, we moved on to magic training. Those who have magic skills are taught while those who haven't were left to themselves as self-study. Some were training with Gaius to obtain sword skills while others are being drilled for body strengthening.

Since I was left with nothing to do, I went to the castle's library to gather more information in this world. Accidentally, I run into the unusually young queen there. I merely greeted her with a bow and proceeded to the very corner of the library.

However…

 

"Hey Kagami-sama, what are you doing here?"

 

She persistently followed me inside. I tried to avoid her as much as possible but, she was too stubborn. So, as I surrendered to her stubbornness and persistence, I just silently let her do what she want.

 

"So you're reading stuff about our world?"

"Yes"

"Does our world interest you?"

"No"

"Are you going to fight to save this world?"

"I'm forced to"

"Do you like me?"

". . . . . . ."

 

From questions with logical answers to useless ones like what she asked earlier. I didn't answer that question of her to avoid problems in the near future. Because I didn't answer and kept on reading, the queen became bored and hummed a soothing tone. She swayed her body left to right then leaned on my shoulder, continuing to hum that soothing tone.

After a few hours later, she fell asleep on my shoulders so I moved her body to lay her upper body on the table and covered her with the coat I was wearing.

 

-----There are 13 demon lords in this world. The ones were first reported were the ancient demon lords before the war had started. From the first 8 demon lords are the ones that are called:

The 1^st demon lord, the vampire king of the underworld; lord Vlad.

The 2^nd Demon Lord: Urn king, Akuzdtu the Poison King.

The 3^rd Demon Lord: Lady Snow of the Iceland.

The 4^th, Demon Lord: Hydra king Ruxtorth

The 5^th Demon Lord: Ox king Gaul.

The 6^th Demon Lord: Serpent empress Yulka.

The 7^th Demon Lord: Titan king Erbernd

The 8^th, Demon Lord: Armour king Delfigner.

These first eight are the long lived demon lords that have stayed neutral in their respective lands; But came along the five newest demon lords with desires of greed wanting to take over the world. These newest lords are known as:

The 9th demon lord: thousand hand lord Kakal.

The 10th demon lord: Shadow king Crats.

The 11th demon lord: Flame knight Esmeth.

The 12th demon lord: Dark lord Trause.

The 13th demon lord: soul eater Vraheim.

With powers equalling to the ancient ones, they waged war to them, conquering lands and devour the lives of the innocents. Blood has spilled and corpse became mountains, not knowing what lies before those who have survived, hope was lost and the fate of the world was left to those that wished to fight----

 

The book ends with such premise. So in short, only five were new and were trying to take over the world. The first eight are considered neutral for now but, I can't say that one of them may defect to the new ones and help them conquer the world. Still, why were there 8 demon lords in the first place? If I were one of this world’s, I’d try to first fight the weaker ones and end the life of all demon lords but.... nothing in the records have said that anyone fighting against the ancient demon lords nor were stories about heroes summoned before us to fight them. Were they really in neutral stand? Or was the people in this world did not consider them as a threat? Moreover, the existence of the newly added 5 weren't recorded. It was as if they weren't a threat to begin with.

Damn...... why is the information regarding the demon lords so small? This doesn't make sense.... Was there a tampering in the records? No, books may get replace but the story differs from each author. So even if the information here in this library were changed, similar information should still exist. The problems are that how to find those.....

Argh!!! Why is it that I have to be summoned here in the first place!!!

 

"Uuuunn.....Ka...gami-sama? Did I fell asleep?"

 

N? The queen woke up huh? I guess it's already time for lunch. I placed down the book I was reading and breathe in slightly.

 

"Yes, your highness. I request you to head over to your chambers if you are tired"

 

Ugh..... Speaking formally really doesn't suit me.....

 

"No, I’m fine. Better yet, let us eat lunch together, Kagami-sama"

"Un, alright. I am hungry as well"

"Yay!! Let's go!! Let's go!!"

 

I wonder why she's happy. She's the queen so shouldn't she have lunch with her husband? I really don't understand this world.....

.

.

.

.

.

 

After my lunch with the queen, all heroes except me, left and went to the labyrinth. It was for to make them stronger. In this world, strength is based on stats on a card. I doesn't base on the very individual's inner potential. In my case, my stats are normal level. It isn’t so high to be called a cheat or too low to be called incompetent. Just normal, just like that.....

Currently, I’m spending my time in the castle harden reading a book about the mark on my right arm. It's like an octopus tentacle wrapped around my arm down to my shoulder blade. Although it is a cool design, it's still black, ominous even. That is why I researched about the 'Hero mark' but found nothing about the mark on my right arm.

 

"U-Um.....H-Hero-sama.....?"

"???"

 

As I was reading, the black haired maid from last night was standing behind a tree. She looked shy obviously, so I just waited for her to walk towards me. Now that I got a good look at her, she indeed has braided black hair and dark eyes; Short but cute. Her height is about a middle school student. Still, she was nervously walking towards me with her face hidden by her bangs.

 

"Is something wrong?"

"A-Ah no, there is not......"

". . . . .?"

 

I wonder why she's acting like this. Her face was being dyed red. Does she have some fever or something?

 

"W-Well.... there is something I wish to ask you, Hero-sama"

 

Being called hero feels itchy for some reason... I'm not even regarded as one....

 

"S-Sure.... but, please just call me 'Kyoushiro' or 'Kagami'. It feels sort of weird to be called a Hero"

 

And it really isn't my type of thing....

 

"I-I-I cannot!! You are a hero, Hero-sama!! So addressing you by your name is just...!”

"No, no..... I really don't mind. Plus, my status card didn't even had a 'Job class' for me in this world so, saying I’m one is somewhat wrong"

 

I still don't get the qualifications as a hero but, if I have to live as a normal person here, i'd do it. Still, the fact that I’m still being treated as a hero is a real problem. Whenever I go and do something myself, various people always insult me behind my back. I hardly see any merit in being a hero so I’m thankful but.... being used like one is still troublesome...

 

"I-I-I understand!! I-I'll call hero-sama, Kagami-sama then!!"

 

Please drop the honorifics though......

 

"So? is there something I can do for you?"

"No, the compounding set you requested has already arrived. It was delivered in your room earlier but, the alchemist master recommended placing it in a different room to avoid accidents. So it was moved to an unused room that has ventilation. Please confirm the items, Kagami-sama"

"Un, alright"

 

Oh yeah, I did request it this morning. That reason for that is my 'Compounding' skill. Since I have such useful skill, I’ll try to make the things they called 'potions' in this world. I found a book of recipes for it last night so I hope that I could try it for myself. Further, the 'Transmutation' skill can be used for blacksmithing and crafting it seems. I had Albert-san read my 'Status Card' which in turn, he gave me a scowl. Though, he did answer my questions, his expression this morning was really irritated.

 

"Then please take me there"

"Understood"

 

Thus, I was led by the maid to the unused building, separated from the castle.

.

.

.

.

.

 

After I arrived at the site, I was really surprised to see the building....no, shed in front of me. It was mainly made of wood and was already run down. Tears on walls were everywhere and the roof was about to fall due to its old age... The area was......well, pretty much sanitary.

Uuu....Though I think this is fine, I wish they should at least give me something useable even if it’s old. In this case, this shed is too old. If I did conduct some experiment, if a failure may occur, this place will seriously blow up with me....

Haah....I guess I shouldn't be picky now since I’m the one that requested it. I already have the recipe book and all that's left are the ingredients. The maid said.....ah, I think she called herself Lina.... that I need to procure the ingredients myself since collecting materials means that I have to collect monster materials as well....

My level is ten and my stats are mainly 50 in all stats. My MP or magic power in this world is limited as well. 'Transmutation' skill lets me transmute material as long as I have MP. I don't know how it works so I’ll have to test it later.

For now, I need to sort out the tools I’ll be using for the compounding of potions. I'm somewhat experienced in chemistry already so I already know the basics.

Anyway, I’ll fix this place for now and test my skills later. I'll be busy for the past few days so I better get to this quickly...

 

..................................

 

Different place yet the same time as Kyoushiro, who was repairing the broken down shed, a place was darkness was present; a murky and dense atmosphere was a group of young girls and boys holding weapons unfit to their appearance. Although young, they were all clad in basic light armour, shield and equipment.

One by one, each beast of unknown figures perished after they were mowed down by bright lights from swords and skills from the young lads and gals. Some commanded familiar spirits, some wield bows and daggers. There were also those who safe guards those young boys and girls.

In a narrow chasm, the young warriors were being assaulted by gigantic rats, called 'Giganto Rats'. With size comparable to a four wheel truck, its gigantic size was causing the road to be block. But, with only a swing of the red haired hero's sword, the giant rat was severed in two and dropped on the floor, lifeless without a twitch.

Thick red blood flowed down and the group of young warriors proceeded while showering the red haired hero with praise....

 

"As expected of Kurosawa"

"That was amazing Taiga-kun!!"

"That was a splendid attack Hero-sama!!"

"You're so cool Taiga-kun!!"

 

Such were the praise that made Taiga Kurosawa so proud of himself.

 

"Hahaha, it was not that much. I only used [Sword flash] since the opponent was too big"

 

[Sword Flash] is a skill that focuses on a single strike that utilizes the speed the sword is drawn out from its sheath. It's only a one-strike skill that depends on how large or fast the opponent is. Though, its weakness is that once it's been seen through, it's accuracy drops and fails in multiple attempts.

Anyway, in an expert swordsman's point of view, it was just a useless skill that relies on luck. It's like the sword stance 'Iai' of Japanese sword techniques. Though, it depends on the sword wielder on how fast he can execute the skill.

 

"But still, is it really fine to leave Kagami back at the castle?"

 

It was Mikoto Aizawa. Beside her was her tamed beast, 'Blue wolf'. It's a type pf magical beast that lives in icy and cold lands. The beast also has the power of ice to freeze enemies and hinder them immobile. 

Taiga heard her question, but only shrugged his shoulder is as if he does not care, no, in actuality, Taiga really has no room to mind other people's problems.

 

"It's fine right? He has no Job class and has no sword skills. So what's the point in taking such a burden with us?"

 

Taiga saw the information that Kyoushiro's status card possessed when Kyoushiro was talking with Albert. It was only a glance but, it was obvious enough that Kyoushiro was no hero; both on skills and in class.

 

"No, he is still our classmate you know? Whether he has one or not, shouldn't we all get strong together to find a way back to our world together?"

"What are you saying? He will be just a burden to us. Moreover, is he even one of us? Everyone knows here that Kagami was never one of us. Even back in our world, Kagami never participated in any of our conversation or invitations. He's just a burden on top of being am incompetent loser. How can we even trust our backs to someone we don't know anything about?"

". . . . . ."

 

It was the truth. Kyoushiro always kept to himself and never participated in amy events any of his classmate's invitation. Whenever he was invited to something, Kyoushiro always turn them down. Aside from him sitting on the back of the class while listening music with his headphones, nothing comes to Mikoto's mind whenever she was being asked if Kyoushiro was a social person.

Although his looks were not bad, people always stay away from him because of his eyes. It was always dark and emotionless. Like a water with no life in it. Neither ripples forming nor light was passing. Kyoushiro was always alone with a distinct aura of bad luck always hovering around him. Though, Mikoto Aizawa was the only one that noticed it.

 

When the conversation stopped, the group entered a wide room. There was nothing inside besides a gigantic crystals lighting up the wide room. The room was dome shape with no path inside. It was a spacious empty room without anything in it.

 

"Is this the end? Kind of bit anti-climactic I would say....."

"Can't be..... This labyrinth should be a hundred floors deep and we only went around 25 floors or so...."

"Is the information just wrong?"

"Impossible, if that were the case, the one who reported the labyrinth was 100 floors, would be in jail by now. The adventurers that go in and out of this place also said that the labyrinth has 100 floors when they arrived at the 50th floor"

 

Gaius and Taiga was confused of the place they arrived in. Gaius was shock about a wide room wasn't reported before. Before they entered the labyrinth, Gaius bought a well written map with full information regarding about the paths one should take in the labyrinth. Of course, Gaius and the group followed the map to the letter, and saw that there were no such room before. Because of that, to make sure that the room was no trap, Gaius ordered the soldiers to survey the room. After a while later, no traps was found and the whole group was able to rest for a while.

But that's where 'that' happened.

 

"T-The exit disappeared?!!!"

 

Someone exclaimed with great shock, which caused the whole group to turn astir. Nervously looking around, Mikoto anxiously looked around and saw that the exit indeed disappeared. The group became alert. With weapons armed and ready for battle, Taiga and the other level upped heroes were much more nervous about the disappearance if the path.

Without a single moment wasted the earth shook violently. A bright violet and black streak of light formed on the ground a few meters away from the group.

 

*Kaka...kaka....kaka*

 

Then appeared were those skeleton soldiers. Undead equipped with armours and swords, numbering almost one hundred and counting.

 

"W-Wha!! Those are skeletons?!!"

"T-There's so many of them!!"

"Find the exit!!Hurry!!"

"Someone, help me!!!"

 

The group of young warriors started to panicked. Reaching the wall were the path previously laid bare, the students began banging their hands and weapons on it.

 

"Calm down everyone!!! These are just normal skeleton soldiers!! Their weak with blunt attacks and magic so focused on the enemy and not on that wall!!"

 

Gaius said so with a stern face. Since it was already obvious that the skeleton soldiers has weakness, Gaius instructed the students to keep attack and preserve the defence line and avoid any casualties.

Thus the whole group of students and army guards began the fight against the flood of unlimited undead warriors. Little that they knew, that it was such thing, Taiga gave them an incredibly idiotic encouragement.

 

"Defeat them and earn exp!! We all can get stronger by a short time with this numbers!!"

"Taiga!!"

 

Then, with a sudden dash, accompanied by a sword skill, Taiga charged against the flood of monsters recklessly. Gaius tried to stop Taiga's mindless strategy but, Taiga was just too fast for him. The other students that heard Taiga's remark all gave a smile filled with confidence with their strengths and followed along behind Taiga's assault.

 

"[Arrow Squall]!!"

 

An arrow was fired and came after the rain of multiple water arrows against the horde if undead soldiers. Since water too, has pure attribute, it became effective against undead monsters.

 

"[Brionac]!!!"

 

Hayato unleashed a ray of light against the horde and mowed them down and turned them all to cinders. With the numbers reduced, the students began their retaliation.

 

"[Heaven Smite]!!!"

 

Came along was Taiga's light sword skill that easily teared all the enemies apart with holy light attributed skill [Heaven smite] against the horde of uncountable undead soldiers.

 

"[Heal Barrier]!!!"

 

Todoroki activated her skill and exude a wide barrier that heals her companions but destroys the enemies. Since [Heal barrier] is made with Holy attribute magic, it was effective against monster such us undead soldiers and made their bones slowly disintegrating.

 

"Kuro, [Icicle Rain]!!"

"Woof!!"

 

With An order from Mikoto, her wolf partner roared an intense freezing gail against her enemies. Sealing away their movements with ice, the skeletons were immobile in their tracks. At the same time was a rain with sharp spear-like icicles that rained down against the flowed of undead soldiers.

Many of the undead has been defeated and hardly any of the students were exhausted yet. Later in time, the horde decreased exponentially and the students were left satisfied of their sudden rise in levels.

 

"Taiga, you idiot!!! No the situations more before you act recklessly!!"

 

With a hammer-hand chop on Taiga's head, Gaius scolded Taiga due to his reckless actions that could have led the entire group to their deaths.

 

"Luckily, those were only skeleton soldiers. If those were high level monsters like 'Mad ogres', 'Demonic wolf' or 'Chaos prime ape' we would have been done for!!"

 

Thonk!! Gaius again, lunge his knuckle on Taiga's head.

 

"But, they weren't right?"

"Idiot!! At least regret a little!! You almost led the whole group to their deaths!!"

"Well, we did grew a little after the fight"

 

It was already obvious that Taiga was not repenting. His stubbornness that always want him to be 'right' was a demerit in Taiga's hero attitude. Even though his statements were true, Taiga doesn't want to acknowledge the fact that he was rash in his decisions. Thinking things like 'I'm a hero so I won't die' and 'I just level upped a few levels so I’m getting strong'. Gaius sighed after lecturing Taiga and had ordered a soldier to search for another exit but.....

 

"There is no exit?"

 

That's right. The path didn't appear again after it disappeared before. Gaius was suspecting that the room was made to hold captives and let them fight monsters continuously inside the wide room. Since there was nothing like this in the report it might have been that their group was the first one to trigger the trap. Unlucky as it may be, Gaius was more worried about their supplies going down before they even leave this room. Since they only pack enough for three days, it was likely that they'll starve first before escaping room.

 

"This is seriously a problem......"

 

Thus, this was the start of the first life and death experiences the 16 heroes that were trapped within the labyrinth. Unknown as to where be the other were, it was for certain that the heroes were deep into a struggle inside the labyrinth.