Chapter 13: Reunion with the Teacher was the Worst – 4

“Wow… this is amazing.”

Wald marvelled as he observed the hemispherical zone moving with us, maintaining a pleasant environment despite the harsh desert conditions on our journey towards Duamutef’s Great Pyramid.

“To think you can keep such a comfortable environment in the desert. Maybe I should have just learned magic.”

“You can use magic too.”

“Well, yeah, but I can only use a few basic spells with the power of my class.”

Now that I think about it, the rare class, Magic Swordsman, doesn’t grant many new spells, even though it enhances both swordsmanship and magic.

It was balanced that way to match the rarity of the class.

Since Wald originally started as a swordsman and only later obtained the Magic Swordsman class, he couldn’t use any magic beyond what the class provided.

Considering the setup of the Magic Swordsman class, if

Balt reached a high enough level, he would have a rich array of spells comparable to a mid-level mage.

But for now, he could only use some combat spells.

“A comfortable environment, indeed. I used to think you were just a pretty face without any real abilities, a slacker who dared to insult our GM. But it seems you have some unexpected talents.”

Perizet joined the conversation.

No real abilities, huh…

Considering I can’t use anything properly except illusion magic, it’s not entirely wrong.

The power I’m using now is not exactly magic but more like an exploit of system privileges.

But I couldn’t tell them the truth, so.

“Haha…”

I could only laugh it off.

Then

Srrrrrk

“Huh?”

The ground began to descend slightly.

As I looked down, I saw that the sand around us started swirling downwards, forming a vortex cantered on the ground we were standing on.

“What the heck is this!”

“Ugh!”

Wald and Perizet seemed startled.

Suddenly, I realized what this phenomenon was.

It was one of the gimmicks I had personally set up.

There are three ways to progress from the second to the third floor of the Tower of Labyrinth.

All three methods activate once the second floor of the Tower of Labyrinth is cleared by players:

The first method allows you to head directly from the first floor to the third floor, bypassing the second floor entirely.

This entrance exists in case the player who gains control of the second floor after clearing its main quest decides to restrict access to other players.

The second method involves a warp gate located at the edge of the Spriggans Desert.

This entrance, is permitted by Brigand, the Demihuman King who rules the desert, is currently the most popular among players.

The third method is to enter through dimensional rifts that randomly appear throughout the desert.

If you throw yourself into one of these briefly appearing rifts, you can pass through to the hidden entrance.

This entrance, with its extremely low appearance rate, was created to give an advantage to players who use the more challenging paths to enter the next floor.

The first entrance, being the easiest, starts you in a more dangerous area of the third floor of the Tower of Labyrinth.

The second entrance is safer.

The third entrance, matching its extreme difficulty, rewards players with a companion at the start.

This setup was intended to give benefits to players who cleared the second floor first and encourage more adventurous gameplay.

No player had ever found this third entrance before due to its extremely low appearance rate in the desert.

‘And it appears right under my feet.’

It seemed almost like someone had manipulated it, a situation hard to believe.

“Ah, Albus!”

Wald struggled through the sand to reach me, trying to pull me out of the sandy vortex.

But

“Whoa!”

He suddenly fell down as the sandy ground gave way beneath him.

It was a terrifying sight, and if I didn’t know better, I might have screamed.

Well, it should be fine.

Since this is a hidden entrance, there shouldn’t be any real danger on the other side.

In fact, there’s an NPC ally I specifically created.

So, even if we fall, nothing should go wrong.

But meeting that NPC, a character I put a lot of effort into creating and acting out, from a player’s perspective might be interesting.

I might be looking forward to this.

“Please… No… GM, watch over your little lamb.”

Finally, when Perizet, who was trying to escape through the sand, also fell down, I could finally smile.

Indeed, being in a player’s body rather than a GM’s feels completely different.

Perhaps I had been so caught up in managing Rudera that I had forgotten something important.

This fun.

This thrill.

This excitement.

Yes.

I need to remember this excitement.

The excitement and thrill I used to feel whenever I played a new game in my previous life.

It was a nostalgia I hadn’t felt in a long time.

I seeped into the darkness beneath the sand.

With a flash, after a single warp, I appeared in a completely different and alien space.

It was a place so shrouded in darkness that you could barely see anything unless it was right in front of you.

“Ugh… Where am I now?”

Wald stood up, clutching his head with one hand and grimacing.

“Did we fall underground in the desert?”

“No.”

Perizet answering Wald’s question, revealed herself.

“This is not the desert. The sand here is entirely different from the desert we were just in. If it were the underground of the desert, there wouldn’t be such a completely different type of sand.”

She picked up a handful of sand from the ground and held it up.

“Rather… it would make more sense to say that we’ve come to a completely different world.”

“A completely different world?”

“Yes. The GM who governs this Rudera is omnipotent, so it’s not strange to have crossed into a different dimension. I believe we have come to the third floor of the Tower of Labyrinth.”

Perizet answered with a sudden act of worship towards me.

To think she realized we came to the third floor of the labyrinth just by touching the sand once.

Such insight.

Or perhaps her faith in the GM is so great that she overestimates and thinks we’ve crossed into a different dimension?

“The third floor of the labyrinth?”

Wald looked around.

“Indeed, the players who have been to the third floor of the labyrinth said they fought monsters in such a dark space… But I can’t tell what’s what because I can’t see anything.”

I opened the administrator interface and adjusted the light level.

At the same time, I chanted the incantation for a light spell unnecessarily.

“Light.”

Since I decided to use magic, it was to avoid unnecessary suspicion.

Then the surrounding area lit up brightly as if it were daytime.

“Oh! Albus!”

Wald exclaimed.

“Wow. I said I’d protect you, but I haven’t done anything, and I’m just benefiting from you. Haha.”

Wald scratched the back of his head awkwardly.

It seemed his attempts to protect me in the sand pit were to keep his promise.

“What are you talking about? There’s no such thing as that between friends. And you’ll protect me when we encounter an enemy I can’t handle, right?”

“Albus…!”

Wald looked at me with a face full of emotion.

“You’re the best, Albus!”

“Whoa!”

Then he tried to hug me.

“Hey! Get off!”

Of course, I had no desire to hug a man, so I grabbed his shoulders with both arms and pushed him away.

Boom

“I never expected adventurers to find their way here.”

Just then, a rough female voice came from behind us.

“Huh!”

“A woman?”

Turning around, we saw a woman in leather armor, arms crossed, looking down at Wald and me as we were scuffling.

As expected.

It was her, appearing just as I had intended.

Even though I created this character through role-play, seeing her speak and move so realistically gave me a special feeling.

“You there. You can put down your weapons.”

The woman turned her head to Perizet, who had already assumed a battle stance with two daggers.

Perizet stood still, watching her warily.

“Aah. It seems you’re a novice who can’t even properly recognize the difference in strength between you and your opponent. Baring your teeth so recklessly.”

Crack.

The woman twisted her neck.

Thud.

“Ugh!”

Suddenly, she appeared in front of Perizet and punched her in the stomach.

“If I intended to kill you, you’d already be dead. You need to properly assess whether your opponent bears hostility toward you and the difference in skill level. That’s the way to survive.”

A formidable expert who even overwhelms Perizet.

“My name is Solaris. Nice to meet you.”

She was an NPC created to assist players who entered the third floor of the Tower of Labyrinth through a hidden route.

“…Hmm? What’s this? There’s another one? You don’t seem to have any malicious intentions… Why are you hiding? Come on out.”

Suddenly, she turned her head towards a darkened corner of the cave wall.

“Huh?”

There’s another person?

This isn’t an event I set up.

I turned my head in surprise towards the darkness.

Footsteps.

A man emerged from the darkness, and I was astonished.

***

Following a boy who wielded the powers of a god, I secretly tailed him, eventually crossing through a dimensional rift he fell into.

Considering the powers he possessed, he could have easily sealed the rift, but he chose not to, implying he passed through it intentionally.

Was it to lure me in?

The first Emperor Ahenobarbus concealed himself in the darkness after passing through the dimensional rift.

What is his intention?

Is it to oppress a human like me who has surpassed mortal limits?

Or to punish a human who has deviated from the natural order?

Although tense and speeding up his blood flow…

“I never expected an adventurer to come here.”

A familiar, dearly missed voice, one he hadn’t forgotten for even a single moment, caused him to unwittingly reveal himself from hiding.

It couldn’t be.

No.

It must be a hallucination brought on by longing.

That appearance.

He never forgot her face.

The woman he knew looked exactly the same.

“If I intended to kill you, you’d already be dead. You need to properly assess whether your opponent bears hostility toward you and the difference in skill level. That’s the way to survive.”

‘If I intended to kill you, you’d already be dead. You need to properly assess whether your opponent bears hostility toward you and the difference in skill level. That’s the way to survive.’

The words she said when she threw me to the ground the first time we met, when I lunged at her.

Her advice that has kept me alive until now.

There’s no way I could forget.

“Hmm? What’s this? There’s another one? You don’t seem to have any malicious intentions… Why are you hiding? Come on out.”

She motioned with her finger for me to come forward.

Ahenobarbus took a step towards her unconsciously.

Master.

Why are you here?

Why in this place?