Buhiiiiikk

With a loud thud, an Orc King fell to the ground and turned into mana, leaving only the 【Orc King's Necklace】and some 【Orc King's Leather】behind.

「That should be the last one.」Yuna

「Alright, then let's head to the next floor.」Grey

「Eh? We're not having lunch yet?」Yuna

「Ah, right...」Grey

After traveling for more than 5 hours, we've finally arrived in the staircase leading to the seventh floor. And needless to say, on the journey there, Yuna and I were able to collect a lot of quest items which can easily earn millions in total.

It's also worth noting that everytime we go down a floor, the number of monsters that spawn there are getting fewer, but to compensate for that, the monsters themselves become stronger.

But after traveling in the labyrinth for a while, I just realized how massive it really was. For all this time we've travelled, we weren't able to meet the other high-rankers who once travelled with. While it may have to do with us travelling faster than them, it also has something to do with the labyrinth's size.

I wonder, where are Aria-san and Kris-san right now... Well, wherever they are, I just hope they are safe.

After eating lunch, Yuna and I descended to the seventh floor, and when we did, the first one to greet us was a Greater Golem, a B-rank earth-attribute monster which easily exceeds 20 meters in height.

Thud Thud Thud

Noticing our arrival, the Greater Golem went straight towards us. Although its speed was slow, its strength is nothing to scoff at. Just from the reverberations of its footsteps, one can easily guarantee that.

But we didn't let it do what it wanted to. Before it could reach us, Yuna and I quickly ran past it and delivered blows towards its calves at the same time.

「《Magnum Caliber》!」Grey

「《Sickle Claw》!」Yuna

Receiving our attacks, the Greater Golem's lower legs broke down into rubble and the Greater Golem fell to the ground with a loud crash. Taking that opportunity, Yuna quickly springed towards its head and delivered the finishing blow.

「《Execution》!」Yuna

With Yuna's attack, the Greater Golem's head was turned into dust, and soon after, its whole body followed, leaving only its drops behind.

Hmm... To think that we would encounter a Greater Golem the moment we step foot on the seventh floor. This is getting hard...

Although Yuna can defeat B-rank monsters in a one on one battle, it would be a problem if they were to gang up on her. My guess is the most she could handle is 3 enemies simultaneously, more than that would be a problem.

I should really watch out for her.

After storing the Greater Golem's drops into my 『Storage』, I then continued my travel with Yuna. During our trip, we were able to encounter some monsters, luckily, none of them were in groups.

It's so peaceful... I wish this peace continues a little longer.

「Grey, I can sense a treasure room.」Yuna

「Where?」Grey

「Just up ahead, but...」Yuna

「But?」Grey

「There are 5 monsters near it.」Yuna

Great. Just my luck.

Just as I wished for the peace to continue a little longer, 5 B-rank monsters appeared ahead of us. I must have jinxed it.

「Yuna, I'll take care of it.」Grey

「Eh? But I want to fight too.」Yuna

「Then how about this. If a group appears then I'll take care of it, but if there's only one, then you can have it.」Grey

That way, I will be able to protect Yuna, and at the same time, Yuna will be able to train herself. This should be the best way to handle this. Though, if Yuna gets in trouble, then I will still assist her even if there's only one enemy.

「Mmm... Deal.」Yuna

「Alright... Then please stand back a bit. This will only take a while.」Grey

Heeding my warning, Yuna took a few steps back and just waited for me to finish off the enemies.

And after I saw Yuna taking a few steps back, I then focused my mana on both of my gauntlets, letting it surge wildly, and when I had visualized the art, I unleashed a fury of blows towards the enemies.

「《Rapid Torrent》!」Grey

A barrage of punches flew straight towards the enemies' bodies, boring a multitude of holes through them, and as if it was a war zone back on Earth, loud crashing noises reverberated throughout the labyrinth, and clouds of dust covered our whole view.

When the dust settled, all that was left from the enemies were their corpses, laden with holes and wounds. Moments later, the corpses turned into mana and vanished into the air as if they never existed in the first place.

If not for the labyrinth's natural strength, holes would have also been punched in the labyrinth's walls and the labyrinth would have collapsed from the inside. Thankfully, the labyrinth was enforced with mana, and such magnitude of attacks would not have the slightest effect on it.

「Cough, cough. You should have warned me if you were going to do that. I nearly got dust in my eyes.」Yuna

「Sorry... I'll tell you next time.」Grey

「It's fine... Ah, right. The treasure room!」Yuna

As if she had forgotten what just happened, Yuna quickly trotted over the treasure room she mentioned and opened it. And like usual, I appraised it before we took a step inside.

Just great...

-----------------------------------

【〔Labyrinth〕】

【Name】Labyrinth of Gale

【Structure】Treasure room

【Type】Trap

【Description】

A large treasure room with multiple hallways. Each hallway has a different trap in them that will reactivate every minute unless the treasure is opened.

-----------------------------------

... more traps... On top of that, it doesn't even say what kind of trap there is... This is just the greatest...

Well, since I don't know what kind of trap there is, I'll just use my summons to know what they are.

「《Horde: Goblin》.」Grey

With a single spell, I summoned a group of goblins to become my test dummies. And with an order from me, the goblins started walking in the treasure room's halls.

Bzzzzzttttbbzzzzzttttt

The moment the first goblin stepped foot on the room, electricity came crackling down out of nowhere and turned the goblin into ash.

Seeing that scene, I noticed that the caliber of the trap was on a different level than the ones in the previous floor. That electric trap just now should be able to completely destroy any C-ranker.

I'm really glad that we didn't step foot on it. Because even if we are at least of A-rank, that electric trap just now should be able to hurt us, especially Yuna. I need to be more careful.

One after the other, I sent the goblins to trigger the traps. There were traps that scorched the whole room, there were also ones that released extremely poisonous gasses, and even ones which exploded the hallway. If it weren't for the summoned goblins (test dummies), we wouldn't be able to pass the traps and safely arrive at where the treasure was.

「Grey, I'll open the treasure chest.」Yuna

「Oh, sure.」Grey

Haah... That sure was tough... Those traps were really dangerous, luckily, the treasure room doesn't have oneー

「Wait, Yuna!」Grey

Hearing my warning, Yuna quickly stopped approaching the treasure chest and looked back at me.

「Is there something wrong?」Yuna

Taking that chance, I quickly appraised the treasure chest, and when I did, it turned out my hunch was right.

-----------------------------------

【〔Monster〕】

【Species】Mimic

【Status】Healthy

【Type】Special

【Ability】Mimicry

【Mana Capacity】127 【Mana Quality】G

【Combat Power】22 【Threat Level】G

【Attribute】Null 【Magic Control】10%

【Physical Enhancement】15%

【Corruptive Prowess】0

-----------------------------------

I knew it... a mimic.

Although it's just a G-rank monster, it would still be bad if Yuna got attacked while her guard is down. Also...

「Yuna, do you detect mana from this treasure chest?」Grey

「No...?」Yuna

This monster sure is amazing, it can even hide from Yuna's『Detection』 . Too bad, it's got nothing against my『Appraisal』. Well, time to finish this.

「《Gust》.」Grey

Not even dodging my attack, the Mimic received it head on. Because of that, the mimic received a myriad of wounds and after a few seconds, its life ended as it vanished into thin air.

As expected of a monster without intelligence, they never knew when they are and when they aren't noticed. It should have at least tried to counter my attack.

「Eh?! The treasure chest vanished?!」Yuna

「Yuna, that was a mimic.」Grey

「Eh? But I didn't detect any mana from it...」Yuna

「Well, seems like some monsters are capable of hiding from your『Detection』, but don't let that get to your head, your ability is really helpful.」Grey

「Thanks... But where's the real treasure chest?」Yuna

Contrary to my expectations, Yuna didn't become crestfallen from learning that some monsters can bypass her ability, instead, she was more concerned about where the real treasure chest was.

「That... I doー」Grey

Psssshhhhiooooo...

I was just about to say "I don't know", but before I could finish my words, a contraption suddenly opened, revealing another treasure chest.

After learning our lesson with the mimic, we didn't carelessly approach the treasure chest, instead, I appraised it first. And it turned out to be real this time.

When we opened the treasure chest, wonderful treasures greeted our eyes. Just the contents of that treasure chest alone was already worth more than what we got from traveling all this time in the labyrinth.

The treasure chest contents are as follows: 3 【Gem of Tempest】, 3 【Heart of the Vampire King】, a 【Heart of the Storm】, a 【Sword of Hatred】, and a Moon Crystal (10 million kiels).

Seeing how hard it would be to normally conquer this room, it would only make sense that the reward is very valuable, but thinking of how we did it easily, I felt a bit guilty about taking the treasures. But...

「Grey, what are you waiting for? Store these already.」Yuna

... it seems like Yuna doesn't have a single care about it.

After storing the treasures, we then continued our way inside the labyrinth. It took us almost 7 hours, but we were able to find the staircase leading to the eighth floor.

Also, since there aren't that many people who will reach the seventh floor, Yuna and I decided to take about two thirds of the treasure rooms rather than a third, making the amount of treasure we obtained to soar much higher.

When we entered the eighth floor, it was much quieter than the seventh, and even with Yuna's『Detection』, she only detected two monsters. It wouldn't even be an exaggeration to say that there were more treasure rooms than monsters.

After a few hundred meters of traveling, we finally met our first opponent for the eighth floor. It was Pixie King. Normally it would be a B-rank monster, but here in the Labyrinth of Gale, it's at A-rank.

Although Yuna and I can take it down, it would be a troublesome opponent because of its agility and size. Unlike other high-rank monsters, the Pixie King was only the size of a tall human, making it difficult to land attacks on it.

「Yuna, let's fall back before it notices us.」Grey

「Eh? But I can still fight.」Yuna

「No, you've been fighting since morning, your stamina and mana should be quiet low now. It's just too risky to take on an opponent that is hard to hit.」Grey

「I see...」Yuna

Without even having a single fight on the eighth floor, Yuna and I fell back and retreated to the staircase. And since it was about 8 o'clock already, I decided to cook dinner for us.

I don't know if she was dissatisfied with my decision, but while I was tending to the fire, Yuna stared at me quietly while holding a cup of water in her hands.

Ahh... I don't like this atmosphere. I need to say something before it gets more awkward.

「Something on your mind, Yuna?」Grey

「Ah, no. I was just wondering how you have changed ever since I met you?」Yuna

Change?

「What do you mean?」Grey

「Hm... How do I put it... You've become less impulsive. If it was you back then, you would have fought against that Pixie King without a second though, but now, you considered the possible outcomes and even retreated.」Yuna

Now that I think about it, even without me trying, my personality really did change for the better... But it's not only me.

「Don't you think you've changed too, Yuna?」Grey

「I did...?」Yuna

「Yeah. I've noticed it for a while now, but lately, you've stopped trying to act mature, in fact, you've become less restrained. You became more energetic and you started interacting more with others.」Grey

「Really? I didn't notice.」Yuna

「Well, it's not like it's a bad thing. I think that you right now are a much better person than you were before. So you don't really need to pay attention to it.」Grey

「Ah, thanks...」Yuna

Even though she noticed the change in me, she didn't notice it in herself. Well, it's the same for me. People really are strange...

「Grey, don't you think it's strange how people can easily see the change in others but can't do the same thing for themselves?」Yuna

「Funny, because I just thought of that too.」Grey

「Pfft. People really are strange.」Yuna

Yuna giggled as she slowly drank water from her cup.

Ba-dump Ba-dump Ba-dump

Seeing Yuna act that way, I can't seem to stop my heart from racing. It was racing the fastest it had ever been in my two lives. It was racing so fast, I thought it was going to explode.

「Yuna.」Grey

「Hm?」Yuna

「I love you.」Grey

Taken aback from what I just said, Yuna dropped the cup she was holding onto and the water spilled from it.

「W-What are you saying all if a sudden!?」Yuna

「"It's better to regret doing something than regret not doing it". That was the advice that Kris-san told me, and seeing you smile like that, I just can't help myself from saying it. At this point, I don't even care if I get rejected, I just wanted to say it to you.」Grey

Hearing my reason, Yuna became quiet and hung her head low. She won't even look at me in the eyes.

Ah, I've done it. I wonder if Yuna hates me now.

「Dummy.」Yuna

Yuna said as she raised her head and looked at me in the eyes, with her face completely red.

「Eh?」Grey

「Who said you were getting rejected. I'm the one who gets to decide that.」Yuna

「Eh? Then that means.」Grey

「Un... I love you too...」Yuna

Hearing Yuna's words, my heart was filled with extreme happiness and it raced even faster than before. It was the happiest moment of my life. And before I realized it, my body moved on its own.

The light from the torchstones shone ever so brightly, and the crackling of the fire filled the labyrinth with music as the hearts of two people became one.

CHAPTER 46 END