Shizuku gazed at Irene hugging Leo from a distance. She was happy for her friend, still, a part of her was sad for not being able to join them. She knew Eri wouldn't refuse if she asked, but she still couldn't prioritize her own feelings over the lives of her classmates. Her friends needed her here more than the most powerful party in the world needed her.

Hajime told everyone except Kouki about the things he heard from Leo. Hajime had first hand experience of Kouki's denseness. Everyone panicked for a while before Shizuku calmed down by mentioning Leo. She felt a little guilty for using his name like this. She sighed and walked back to her room, a simple room unfitting of any girl.

She stared at the ring on her finger, a faint blush appeared on her face. She touched the ring with her thumbs.

"Summon."

A double-edged Katana appeared in her hands, it's color seeming suck the very light from the world. It was just an effect of him enchanting it with Spatial Magic. It can literally tear through space as long as the wielder has enough mana.

"Maybe I have a chance…"

She whispered and put back the sword and took out… the pink teddy. She jumped on the bed and rolled around the bed with teddy in her embrace.

Anyone seeing this, would be utterly speechless. The cool onee-sama is playing with a… teddy. Some certain girls will get hospitalized due to excess blood loss from bleeding noses.

A/N:- Soul Sisters xD

***

A certain figure standing on the top of Royal Palace watched Leo vanishing inside the spatial gate. Even Leo was unable to sense their presence.

"He is gone."

A soft voice leaked from his lips.

"Oh!"

A heavy voice echoed inside the figure's mind. 

"Our deal is still the same, right? I'll use your power to free them."

"Yes, yes, I just need his body… Cooperate with her."

He turned behind, a nun had her hands clasped in front of her chest as if praying.

"Y-You are…"

***

Leo stepped out of the gate accompanied by Eri, Yue, Shea, Hearst, Tio, and Irene.

Maintaining a gate inside Reisen Gorge is impossible when mana keeps dispersing here.

Shea looked around the place with a nostalgic smile on her face. She was happy and sad at the same time. This was the same where her tribe got attacked, this was also the place where she met Leo.

Feeling a gentle touch on her head, she turned her gaze to his worried eyes. She looked around and also noticed the worried expression on Yue's face.

She shook her head and flashed a dazzling smile at everyone. "I'm fine, this place changed my life... in a good way."

"That's my Shea... the musclehead rabbit," Leo muttered the last part under his breath.

"Nn."

Thud! Thud!

A motorbike and an offroad jeep appeared in front of him. The party now had more than seven members, they wouldn't fit in Drachen even if they wanted to.

"I'm driving the bike~"

"You really made them..."

A cold sweat fell down his cheeks in fear of her driving skills. Even though he was a Tier 3 who could survive falling from 5000m, but the experience won't be good for his sanity like riding the same vehicle with Shea as the driver.

He inwardly prayed for the ones riding with her and opened the door of Drachen. A sudden evil plan entered his mind.

Tio, who was appraising the vehicles as she touched every corner of them, never knowing such artifacts existed despite living for 500 years. Her curiosity for the young man, maybe he really can, she thought in her mind.

"Tio, go and sit with Shea. Drachen can only accommodate 5 people."

"If Goshujin-sama says so."

"Wait, what is Goshujin-sama? Master?"

"Fumu, Goshujin-sama... even though I want to do so much with you, I'll settle with this for now."

He ignored her weird whispers and sat behind the steering wheel. After the mini war for the front seat and his lap, which ended in Irene and Eri's victory, he started the Drachen.

He needed a headstart against the mad driver, any logic of driving was useless against her madness.

Drachen's speed created a small dust storm and drove on the switchback roads with a smirk. The Mad woman behind him won't be able to get past him here.

"Goshuuunjin-samaaaaa! Save this one!"

He heard Tio's pleading voice from above and two presences entered his perception. The thing he saw through the windshield once again reminded him, why she truly deserved the title of 'Mad driver'.

She had used the lowest roads as a platform to leap directly past him… straight to the top road.

Eri ignored everything and lazed in his embrace. The sneaky girl even used this chance to rub her lower body against him. He suppressed the rising heat with [Mental Fortitude] while driving with a poker face.

Eri giggled at his face while Irene cast an envious glance at her friend and looked at the metal balls revolving around Leo. She had heard his explanation of training his new skill or something. She had never heard of any skill that can directly control things without mana.

Yue and Hearst discussed magic spells in the back. 

In a few minutes, they arrived at the place where the Labyrinth entrance was supposed to be. A narrow ravine was here in which only three people could enter the gap at once. He got off Drachen.

"Yeaaaaah!!!"

Shea energetic voice boomed behind him, he turned back and gawked at the massive hordes of monsters following her. Tio was clutching Shea's waist with teary eyes. Even her perversion couldn't take the beating of more than a thousand monsters.

He let out an annoyed sigh and ready to focus his intimidation to kill them, but someone stopped him.

"Let me deal with them."

Eri stared at the monsters with a menacing glow. She pointed her upgraded wand at the Monsters, a ripple of fire gathered around the tip of the wand, slowly increasing to a massive wave of scorching fire. She had to concentrate hard to stop the mana from dispersing.

"Flame Tide"

A wild wave of fire blasted at the monster, Shea panicked and activated diamond skill on Schnelle, she forced the bike to slide below the fire spell and stopped in front of Leo.

Tio panted heavily from the pain her body experienced. Shea sneakily stored the Schnelle in her ring and smiled innocently at Leo.

Leo gazed at the destruction caused by a middle-rank spell of Eri. The area around monsters was completely burnt, the rocks behind the monsters were still red from the heat.

He put his hand on Eri's head and patted her long black hairs. 

"Great job."

"...That was a good spell."

Eri's lips curled upward from the praise. "Thanks, Yue-san."

"Nn."

He smiled at their interactions, he would only feel guilty if they always fought amongst each other. Now, seeing them getting along he was quite happy.

"Let's enter."

He entered the narrow gap between the rocks which led him to a wide place. He examined the place with a narrow gaze and caught sight of a rectangular board fitted in cuts of the walls.

"Please come in! Into Miledi Reisin's Thrilling Great Labyrinth?"

Eri read the characters carved on the board, her skill [Language Comprehension] helped her read and speak any language. He awkwardly scratched his cheeks being left as the only uneducated person in the group.

Everyone except Leo's lips twitched at the board, it irritated them for some reason.

"...Leo, the name Miledi was written in Oscar's Logs."

"Hmm… I think it's legit, my map also shows this place."

Irene felt a great sense of adventure traveling like this, though her mind was working on how to earn his affection. She came to the conclusion that she will give her all in this labyrinth and become strong enough to stand side by side with him to look him in the eye and confess her true feelings once again.

"This one thinks we should find a way inside."

He nodded his head and glanced at his map, it showed the path was in front of him, but there was only the signboard in front of him.

He touched the signboard with a bit of force, it got pushed back and showed a way inside. 

The party entered the revolving door one by one. They were inside a dark place, his senses alerted him of danger. He unconsciously used extreme focus, around twenty sharp arrows covered in black were coming from the front.

He glanced at his party, everyone was already aware of the danger and ready to block the attack. He also equipped the cursed sword and Clang! Clang! knocked down the arrows headed for him. Yue enveloped the eight-meter area around her in a barrier to protect others.

At the same time he defended the arrows, the surrounding walls began to shine. The place they were in looked about 10m in all directions, in other words, a 10m square. In front, a narrow passage appeared and a board was placed on their right with few characters carved on it.

"Hey, Did that scare you? Hey, did this scare you? Then you are kid, Niya Niya."

"Or, were you injured? Did someone die? ...bufu–"

Eri said in a tone filled with ridicule as if reciting the same tone as the one who carved these words.

Veins popped out on everyone's heads, this fucker, they all thought.

Before they could rage on the board, Leo urged them to go inside.

"This one thinks that a madman created this labyrinth."

Everyone simultaneously nodded their heads at Tio's remark.

[Quest Available: Clear Great Reisen Labyrinth]

Conquer the Great Reisen Labyrinth and acquire its Ancient Magic

Difficulty: B

Rewards: 5000SP

[Accept / Decline]

'Something is better than nothing, accept.'

This was the start of most frustrating experience for Leo and girls.

—X-X-X—