episode_0175

CLXVII.

Honestly, I never thought that there would be demons left there as we went straight through the dungeon to find its core.

Because, unless there are special restrictions, most demons are no match for the party here. Even if the master of this labyrinth is a top-tier demon, May, who has perfectly applied the link card, can easily deal with them on her own.

May said it herself.

Glacia Labolas, who he had previously faced, said that he could win even if he faced her alone, although it would be difficult.

That’s why there was no option for the demons to show up in front of us. I thought there would be a trap or something like a gatekeeper.

But what about Taran~?

A demon has appeared. And it’s a demon whose level I can estimate. At most, a high-level one?

When the high-level demons confidently appeared and blocked our path, I wondered if there was a trap we didn’t know about.

From the moment you entered this labyrinth, didn’t you promise yourself never to let your guard down again?

So, I made the clown deal with the demons,

[May and the witch, take the core from the dungeon behind me.]

Separate orders were given to May and the witch.

We judged that the high-level scum that had boldly appeared before us was highly likely to have some kind of ulterior motive or a trap set up.

[That guy obviously has some kind of plan.]

And when the upper-level demons allowed themselves to be attacked too easily by the clown’s attacks, I decided that it was some kind of deception.

but,

“Khahahaha. Let’s all die! Let’s die together!!”

The moment the high-level demon guy started doing something while saying the villain’s usual lines, I realized that he was a worse guy than I expected.

Not worth being nervous about.

“See? What did I say? I said that was just another brain teaser? ”

But I responded calmly and shamelessly, as if I had expected it.

“Yeah! As expected, oppa is amazing!”

May enthusiastically agreed with what I said, jumping up and down while holding her heart in one hand and making a ‘Geueuung!’ sound.

My heart hurts.

Because May is so cute, but at the same time, it prickles my conscience.

“But what exactly happened?”

What? Why?

You said you expected something to happen, but you might not know exactly what it was, right?

“I don’t know exactly, but it seems like power suddenly burst out from the core of this labyrinth and spread throughout the entire labyrinth, so I completely isolated this heart from the outside world.”

Complete isolation from the outside world.

It’s usually not that difficult. Simply creating a vacuum requires a great deal of skill, but what the witch was saying just now was that she had completely blocked the flow of divine power.

“… Just a human?”

“There are things that are possible because you are human. It is impossible for the demon children who run away even when they feel like they are going to die.”

“Profit!”

“Trash. Why did you try to die? And after hearing from our brother that you didn’t smell like a demon?”

The demon boy closed his mouth in response to the witch’s sharp question. It was as if he was saying with his whole body that even if he died, he would not hear anything from her.

Who would have thought that the world would feel integrity, spirit, integrity, and determination all at the same time from the Demons?

Could it be that that kid isn’t actually a demon?

“You were crying earlier, but now you’re upset? Like a child?”

“Don’t insult me. Even though the self-destruct code didn’t work, Labyrinth is under my will. It wouldn’t be bad to become lost in space together.”

This time, an ominous energy flowed out from the demon’s body, not from his heart.

I didn’t realize what was happening, but I could tell that the situation was serious just by looking at the witch’s expression.

“What about space movement?”

The witch asked the two-horned man urgently, but the two-horned man bit his lip and shook his head. It meant that it was impossible.

oh my god.

Just a few minutes ago I was telling myself not to let my guard down, but who would have thought I’d be treated like this again?

The labyrinth shakes and trembles. The ceiling, walls, and floor collapse without any order or distinction. No, they disappear indiscriminately, as if someone had clicked on them with an eraser tool. And in the place where the labyrinth disappeared, something reminiscent of a black universe takes its place.

No, it’s not.

It would be more accurate to say that it was originally the background, and then it was revealed as the labyrinth overlaid on top of it disappeared.

The golden glow on Mei’s body brightened and dimmed repeatedly as she tried to move through space by casting spells.

“Tutátio!”

At that ominous moment, the witch took action first. The magic expressed in her clear voice enveloped us. A spherical membrane composed of interlocking patterns of hexagons and pentagons, just like the pattern of a soccer ball.

As a golden curtain surrounds us,

“Protect me from evil.”

As Santa knelt on the floor and prayed with his hands clasped together, a blue aura permeated the magic the witch had cast.

“Sanctuary.”

As the divine magic of the Huang Yi manifested, a brilliant light began to emanate from the ground we were walking on.

Nevertheless, the screams from the dark space between the collapsing labyrinth continued eerily.

Subspace.

This convenient magic used in magic pouches and magic backpacks was threatening our lives as it went out of stabilization.

Kuung!

Pieces of twisted space scatter in all directions, landing on the witch’s defensive magic, causing shock as if an earthquake had occurred.

“Ugh!”

A bright and vivid light from Santa, who was praying, seeped into the witch as she let out a rare moan from her mouth.

Only then did the witch take a deep breath and sigh in relief.

May took out the dolls made of wall paper and placed them tightly on the floor at the edges of the defensive techniques that the witch, Santa, and Huang had developed, and sat cross-legged in the center of the group, in the center of the circle that protected us.

Mei, who had been reciting an incomprehensible spell for a moment, opened her eyes and

“Tempelorden!”

The moment you recite the spell.

Clank. Clank. Clank. Clank. Crunch.

The sound of clashing iron armor is heard again and again, and from all directions.

And we could see.

Knights in iron armor are rising from the place where Mei had placed human-shaped figurines carved from a wall.

“Temple Oden! Protect the Holy Land!”

May’s command, like an abstract one, is given,

“Hu―ldigen!!”

The knights simultaneously shouted while placing their right hands on their chests, and the red lightning enveloped them, and they used their shields to ward off the flying pieces of space.

But a storm is brewing that will cause the rift in space to collapse.

Will I be able to survive on this alone?

As ominous thoughts continued to linger, the collapsing space began to squeeze us.

◈ ◈ ◈

Daedalus knew something was wrong the moment the self-destruct code failed to execute. Although he was confused and wanted to know why, he knew what was important.

They caught me doing something I absolutely should not have caught them doing.

Even if you survive by that alone, you are not really alive.

So I chose it.

A clean and comfortable death called self-destruction.

Don’t you want to live?

What useless questions are you asking? Of course I want to live.

I told you before.

If my mistake were to reach their ears, I would suffer such excruciating pain that death would be the happiest thing I could do.

But I never dreamed that the suicide attempt would fail.

In this world, there is a human who not only possesses divine powers, but also blocks the resonance of the magical energy used by the demon race.

How monstrous is this. What the hell.

A brilliant scheme? A tactic? A strategy? That could work on a monster that would never have guessed that he was a weak human.

I wonder if there’s such a thing!

The only way out is to die together.

So Daedalus quickly changed his mind. How could he die in this situation?

His power is ‘construction’.

I think I’ve mentioned it a few times.

Anyway, what is the first thing to do when building a building?

It is the work of breaking down what was there before and leveling the ground or making it suitable for the purpose.

His power of construction can therefore have an additional power called ‘demolition’, limited to buildings.

His labyrinth is also a building.

If the self-destruct code has not been activated, you can just destroy the Labyrinth.

I don’t believe that just because the building collapses or this labyrinth collapses, what will happen to those monsters?

If the Labyrinth is ‘demolished’ in its current state, the subspace that fills it will be distorted.

In the first place, the concept of subspace itself is to forcibly pull in a gap in space and use it.

And if the Labyrinth were to collapse now without any prior treatment, this labyrinth would be engulfed in the exploding subspace and would inevitably take a huge hit.

The reason Daedalus did not use this method first was not because he was afraid of death.

As I said before, it’s actually easier to die.

The problem is when you get lost in a space rift, or survive for a long time as a cripple or disabled person.

Because I don’t want to die while struggling in excruciating pain until I die.

“But it’s over now. Let’s die together.”

Daedalus muttered to himself with a sense of self-loathing.

Surprisingly, at the moment he decided to die, he felt that it was not as bad as he had thought and he even laughed in vain.

however,

“Tutátio!”

Suddenly, I heard a sound of magic that should not come from a human mouth.

―How can humans use the anti-disaster defense magic that is only told in legends!

“Sanctuary.”

―Hey, you crazy bitch! If I summon the Holy Land, I’ll die!! Ah, I decided to die. But why isn’t it painful?

Just entering the holy land would be painful enough for a human to experience a rejection reaction all over their body, as if they were in a radioactive contamination zone.

But Daedalus was not in any pain at all.

Why is that?

But he couldn’t continue his thoughts.

“Tempelorden!”

A scene unfolding before his eyes that he had never experienced, heard of, or imagined in his long life as a demon was unfolding before his eyes.

-This is the epitome of what the Demons hate!

A knight-like doll that seemed to be shouting was rising and actively thinking, kicking away fragments of space.

Red is fire, the crackling is lightning, and there are knight-shaped dolls with an energy similar to life force flowing through them.

A concentration of energies that make you feel sick and repulsed just by looking at them.

– But why am I okay? And why aren’t they responding to what I say?!

Only then did Daedalus realize that something was strange. No matter how crazy the situation was, it was so strange that there was no response to his words.

And Daedalus, who lowered his head to examine his own body,

-My body… … . Why is it like this?

I couldn’t find my body.

There was no neck to lower his gaze to, no arm, no hand, no leg, no waist left.

His vision was simply fixed on Gray and his group, and he was in a bizarre state where he could not look anywhere else.

At one moment, while he was so flustered, Daedalus was able to see his own reflection in the sword of the lightning spirit knight that Gray called Punishment, using the excellent eyesight of another demon.

As if a photograph had been cut into pieces and left floating on water, Daedalus’ body was torn into dozens of pieces and floating through the gaps of black subspace.

Only the face above the neck remained intact and uncut.

Daedalus, having confirmed his own appearance, felt the pain that seemed to melt his brain.

But in the midst of those waves of pain,

-K, hahahaha, hahahahahahahahaha.

Daedalus laughed loudly. With all his might.

-Anyway, it’s the end.

The moment you bring out the words that are inside you, your vision becomes distorted.

The human group also appeared as multiple groups, as if looking at things through broken glasses.

Daedalus realized.

-Oh, is your head going to disappear too?

The moment I think that way, my vision darkens.

Now, ironically, the only sense left was hearing.

It also seemed like I could hear many different sounds.

But Daedalus laughed at the humans’ struggles. It was a bit disappointing that there were no cries of begging or resentment for their lives, but they would end up in the same situation as me anyway.

So I listened more closely.

To scream, or to witness someone’s death and hear someone calling out their name in longing.

“Tebebelle!”

A girl’s cry, as if to say, “Huh. No.” is heard, to Daedalus’ anticipation mixed with self-mockery.