Lilia

The entrance to the hidden passage was narrow, with barely enough room for one person to squeeze through sideways.

I went first. It was colder on this level, and when I looked back, I saw Rudeus and Roxy shivering slightly.

The ground sloped downward beneath our feet. The incline wasn't steep, but it kept going down. After about five minutes, the passage suddenly widened. Marks appeared on the walls, but they were different from the ones before: some kind of older, winding pattern.

Rudeus pressed a hand against the wall and sensed it for a while.

"There are traces of mana in these patterns," he said. "They're very old. They might have something to do with whoever built the labyrinth."

"An ancient labyrinth, ancient magic. Who on earth built this place?"

We continued downward. The passage narrowed and widened by turns. Sometimes we had to duck, and sometimes we had to turn sideways. After about twenty minutes, we came to a fork. The passage on the left was wider, while the one on the right was narrower.

Rudeus crouched down and sensed for a while. "Left. The passage on the right is a dead end."

We turned into the left passage. After we had gone a little farther, our surroundings suddenly changed.

The temperature rose. Shallow water appeared underfoot, covering the soles of our boots. It was warm and smelled of sulfur.

"Why is there warm water in this dump? Is there a hot spring deep in the labyrinth?"

"The mana concentration is rising," Roxy said. The tip of her staff glowed faintly, lighting the way ahead. "We're approaching a deeper level."

We went a little farther, and a sound came from the passage, like stones striking one another.

It came from about fifty meters ahead, and there was more than one source.

Rudeus stopped. His left eye twitched slightly as he activated his Demon Eye of Foresight.

"There are things ahead," he said. "At least four. They're made of stone-gargoyles, patrolling back and forth in the passage."

"Gargoyles?" Paul tightened his grip on his sword.

"Yeah, they're bigger than the ones on the first level."

Elinalise came over beside me, her golden ringlets glinting in the light of the staff. "Oh my, it looks like we have a welcoming party."

"I'll go first." I drew the Nameless Sword from my waist and charged.

No one objected.

I rushed into the passage. Fifty meters ahead, four gargoyles were patrolling back and forth. They were a size larger than the ones on the first level, with wingspans of about three meters. Their stone claws made a grating sound as they scraped against the walls.

The first gargoyle spotted me. It spread its wings and lunged at me.

I sidestepped its attack and slashed upward, striking the base of its wing.

Crack.

The gargoyle's wing broke off at the base, leaving a clean cut. Stone fragments flew out, bouncing off the wall several times. The gargoyle lost its balance and fell to the ground, breaking into several pieces.

"The Nameless Sword had been with me ever since my time on the Demon Continent. It had no special abilities; it was simply made of very hard material. I liked the weapon a lot because Rudeus had given it to me himself, and it was also a gift from Roxy's father, Rowin Migurdia. It felt natural in my hand and had never let me down."

The second gargoyle lunged at me from the side. I turned and swung my sword, smashing him to pieces. Fragments scattered everywhere.

The third and fourth lunged at me from both sides at once. I ducked into a crouch and swung my sword horizontally, cutting off both gargoyles' legs at the same time. They fell to the ground, and before they could get up, I struck twice more, smashing their heads.

Four gargoyles, in about fifteen seconds.

Paul came up from behind and looked at the rubble on the ground. "That's a nice sword. It's called the Nameless Sword, right? Where did you get it?"

"Rudeus gave it to me." I didn't tell Paul where the sword had come from. It wasn't important, and there was no need.

We continued forward. The passage grew wider and the temperature rose higher. The warm water beneath our feet grew deeper, going from covering our soles to covering our ankles. The smell of sulfur in the air grew stronger.

Rudeus suddenly stopped.

He crouched on the ground with both hands against the surface of the water. Mana spread from his palms, extending along the water into the depths of the passage.

"There are people ahead," he said.

Paul's body went rigid. "Are you sure?"

"I'm sure they're human, at least three of them. They're about two hundred meters ahead, and they're still alive."

Paul ran in that direction.

He didn't wait for anyone, running straight into the depths of the passage. His footsteps sent water splashing, the sound echoing through the passage.

"Paul's running so fast. Does he know who's ahead, or has he already guessed?"

I followed him, with Rudeus and Roxy chasing after us and Elinalise and Talhand bringing up the rear.

The passage made a wide turn ahead, then suddenly became very spacious. A huge hall lay before us, its ceiling at least ten meters high. The walls were covered in ancient patterns, even more densely packed than those in the passage before. A stone pillar stood in the center of the hall, surrounded by scattered traces of makeshift campfires and tattered blankets.

There were three people in the hall.

Two men and a woman. The two men leaned against the stone pillar, their faces sallow and their lips cracked. They looked as though they hadn't eaten in a long time. The woman sat on the ground with her back against the pillar, one leg straight and the other bent. She wore glasses, and her wine-red hair was tied in a bun. Her clothes were tattered and covered in dirt and dried blood.

Paul stopped at the entrance to the hall.

He stood there, looking at the woman.

The woman raised her head. One lens of her glasses was cracked, and her eyes behind them found Paul.

Her lips moved.

"Master Paul...?"

Paul rushed over and knelt before her. He gripped her shoulders, his fingers trembling.

"Lilia, thank goodness, you... you're still alive."

Tears ran down Lilia's face from behind her glasses. Her lips trembled as she spoke, her voice so faint I could barely hear her.

"Master Paul... I... I thought I'd never see you again..."

Paul pulled her into his arms, his shoulders shaking.

I stood at the entrance to the hall, watching.

"Rudeus had mentioned Lilia before. She was a maid of the Greyrat family and Aisha's mother. After the Teleportation Incident, she had been transported to the Shirone Kingdom and placed under house arrest by Prince Pax. Later, the search party found her, and she entered the labyrinth with them, only to be trapped on the fifth level."

Rudeus came over beside me. His expression was calm, but I saw his hands clench into fists.

"Young Master Rudeus..."

Lilia had spotted Rudeus. She lifted her head from Paul's arms, tears still streaming down her face. She looked at Rudeus, her lips trembling.

"Young master... you've grown so much..."

Rudeus stepped forward and crouched down in front of Lilia.

"It's been three years. I've grown up." He paused. "Lilia, thank you for everything you've been through."

Lilia cried even harder. She reached out and gripped the hem of Rudeus's clothes.

"Young master... I... I..."

"It's all right now," Rudeus said. "We're here to take you home."

Lilia cried for quite a while. Then she wiped her face with her sleeve, adjusted her cracked glasses, and looked at me standing beside them.

Her expression changed, shifting from sadness to something... appraising.

"And this is...?"

"I'm Eris," I said. "Rudeus's fiancée."

Lilia froze for a moment, then gave a complicated smile.

"Young master... you're much more dependable than Master Paul."

Paul snorted beside her. "Hey."

Lilia ignored him.

The two men from the search party nearby had also recovered. One of them was older, with a scruffy beard and lips so dry and cracked they had bled. He looked at us and spoke in a hoarse voice. "Are you... from the search party?"

"Yeah." Paul stood up. "How long have you been trapped here?"

"Five days," the man said. "There were six of us originally, but we got separated after entering the labyrinth. The three of us ran into a group of gargoyles on the third level. We got scattered and fled here. As for the other three... I don't know what happened to them."

"What about food and water?"

"We finished the food three days ago." The man licked his cracked lips. "There's still a little water, but..."

He pointed to a small puddle in the corner of the hall. The water was murky and didn't look very clean.

Rudeus took rations and waterskins from his backpack and gave them to the three of them. Lilia's hands trembled as she took the food, but she didn't eat it right away. She first looked at Paul and only began eating after he nodded.

"Was that a habit from being a maid? Even after going hungry for so long, she still checked with Paul before she started eating."

Roxy walked over to Lilia. "What happened to your leg?"

Something didn't look right about Lilia's outstretched leg. It seemed to have no strength below the knee, and her ankle was badly swollen.

"An old injury," Lilia said. "I was hurt before the Teleportation Incident. I can't put any strength into that leg. Then I sprained it again when I entered the labyrinth, so..."

Roxy crouched down to examine her ankle. "It's badly swollen. It needs treatment, but... well, my healing magic isn't advanced enough. I can only reduce the swelling temporarily."

She raised her staff and recited a short incantation. A pale green light enveloped Lilia's ankle. The swelling went down somewhat, but she still couldn't walk.

"Can you walk?" Roxy asked.

Lilia tried moving her ankle. "Barely... but I probably can't walk fast."

"Then don't move," Paul said. He lifted Lilia onto his back.

Lilia blushed. "Master Paul... I can..."

"How are you supposed to walk with your foot like that? I'll carry you," Paul said.

Lilia fell silent and buried her face in Paul's shoulder.

Elinalise came over and nudged me with her elbow. "Oh my, how touching... oh~"

"Shut up," I said.

Talhand gave a muffled grunt. "I'll carry her. I'm stronger."

"No need," Paul said. "I can do it."

Talhand shrugged.

Rudeus walked to the center of the hall and looked at the stone pillar and the scattered traces of campfires on the ground. His expression changed from its earlier calm to something... grave.

"This isn't the deepest level," he said. "Zenith isn't on this level."

Paul stopped. With Lilia on his back, he turned to look at Rudeus.

"What do you mean?"

Rudeus closed his eyes and spread his mana deeper. His brows knitted.

"Mother should be farther down," he said. "On the sixth level, the deepest one, but..."

"But what?"

Rudeus opened his eyes. His face looked grim.

"There's something on the sixth level," he said. "It's huge, bigger than any monster you've sensed before, and its mana density is absurdly high."

The hall fell silent for a moment.

"What is it?" Paul asked.

Lilia lifted her head from Paul's back. The look in her eyes behind her glasses changed, her earlier frailty giving way to something... fearful.

"A snake," she said.

Everyone looked at her.

"A giant snake." Lilia's voice trembled. "Our search party encountered it when we entered the labyrinth. On the sixth level, it... it had nine heads."

The hall fell silent again.

Nine heads? It was probably the Hydra Roxy had mentioned.

Paul tightened his grip and hitched Lilia higher on his back.

"Let's go," he said. "We're going there now."

No one objected.

I looked at the entrance to the passage leading deeper. Air blew from it, carrying the scent of sulfur and something fishy and sweet.

Zenith was waiting for us.