Labyrinth Expedition #8

The classroom of Heroes departed the city at dawn, just as Olivia had instructed. Although they traveled together in a caravan, they had separated into their own cliques– as usual, friends were sticking with friends and alliances were seldomly formed.

They entered a forest, overpopulated with a goblin clan, and fully integrated themselves into the ecosystem. The circumference of the forest was barred by walls of wood and cobble, and gates and fortresses were swarming with cannibalistic green goblins making it impenetrable– forming a protective shell over the center, where the goblin Emperor reigned.

But such an obstacle was almost too easy and simple for the caravan of heroes, who were treating it like a picnic and were chaotic.

"I worry about the future, how could a class not have any team spirit," Olivia grumbled to herself. "Well, they do– just not the positive kind. An unspoken alliance has been formed with the intent of surpassing those two."

Swish!

"Haap!" Ayama groaned, swinging the long two-handed sword with one hand on the hilt and the other on the grip behind the parrying horns– slicing four cannibalizing goblins.

Sharing his back, Akiro swings a large scythe, twirling it in between strikes– complimenting Ayama's strong, wide but infrequent attacks with fluid, precise and quick ones. "Ha!"

Swish!

Both tuned to the same frequency of attack, working in tandem and perfection– those two boys would cleave anyone and anything that came, even mixing in magic occasionally when their formation breaks because of a mistake.

"[ Water Bullet! ]"

"[ Fireball! ]"

The bullet of water landed on the Hobgoblin's eyes, blinding it, and when it dropped its weapons to clutch its wounded head– it was destroyed by a ball of fire.

"That's that last of 'em!" Kaiser called out, making all the heads turn to him, wiping his sword and returning it to its sheath. “The floor keeper, the goblin Emperor, is the only one standing in our way.”

Masashi grinned, raising his hand, “Let me at him, coach! I’ll slaughter him solo!”

Haruto raised his hand too, to volunteer, “Sir! Let me and my team do it!”

Akiro looked at the most popular boy in his class and his Popularityclique. Haruto Itsuki was a high-knight wearing silver armor with wyvern-like ornaments on his helmet and shoulders; Shimizu Sango, the healer wearing a nun’s uniform; Tahara Katsumi, a lightning mage wearing steam-punk-themed clothes and goggles; Tahara Maki her sister, a wind mage wearing pure white robes; Takeshita Eri, a fire mage wearing scarlet, maroon, and blood-colored uniform; and Yasutake Keiji, a support magician who specializes in buff and enchantments.

“Apart from Keiji-san, their team looks like a typical harem isekai party. A single knight monopolizing a healer, an enchanter, and three elemental mages– talk about a glass cannon formation.” Akiro scoffed, watching his classmates give him slight and quick side glances.

Ayama, too, was taking note of the progress of his classmates, especially the Athletes. Kenji Hinote, a heavily-armored tanker wearing bulky armor in the form of a castle’s wall; Yamazaki Toshiyuki, a martial artist wearing a judo uniform, a belt, gauntlet, and shin guards; Nishimura Hitomi, a samurai carrying Nodachi her height, a katana, and a tachi: and Hashimoto Mari, who was carrying a cannon-like artifact slung on her shoulder like a rocket-launcher. Unlike the Popularity clique, they were well-balanced in terms of defensive, offensive, and support.

Hamasaki Masashi the berserker; Onishi Akiko, a temple paladin; Matsumura Shigeko, a priest; and Sasawa Yaso comprised the Mean group. They were perfectly balanced in all aspects, like the Athletes.

Akiro and Ayama share a look of disapproval, ironically they couldn’t really judge considering they were a two-man cell. The rest of them were leftovers who were forced to coexist for survival.

Tomigura Takumi, an ice mage and a slave owner of two curvaceous criminals classes unknown; Teramoto Toshio, an elusive ninja; Furutani Ryuta, a tamer; Matsuko Rei, an Alchemist, Kagiwara Tsukio, a dark mage; and Shinohara Mitsuko, a light mage, comprised the leftover team.

"We're balanced in terms of magic and melee firepower," Ayama hummed, "I'm strangely excited for what kaiser has in store for us."

"If I team up with Takumi, I'll kill myself." Akiro scoffed, watching the weeb of the class talking with his two slaves.

To be fair, they were well-dressed and well-nourished thanks to Takumi's extensive care for them, but only an idiot would not be aware of the degenerate's fantasies. There was a reason why he was outcasted of the class and even Akiro did not want to be in his company. Takumi used to be round and quite flabby, but it seemed that with Olivia’s magic training, he had deflated into somewhat of an above-decent-looking human.

"I can only hope that it was consensual." Akrio sighed, "Then again, with his Ice-magic, he can take the role of magician and tanker leaving the support and damage role to them. What are their roles anyway?"

"Let me appraise them for a second–" Ayama squinted, "A renowned bandit and an alchemist guilty of…producing drugs."

Akiro just sighed, joining the others as they approached Kaiser, who was holding Olivia's hat in his hands.

"Please gather around!" The knight called out, motioning with his arm. "We're going to have a team-building exercise."

Akiro and Ayama look at each other, not an ounce of excitement to be found, and what little they had dissipated.

Kaiser smiled at the unexpectant teens. "Now, I'm aware that you all have your own circle of friends but being able to be effective in whatever formation is the goal of today's exercise."

Olivia nodded, "That's right, It's about time you all have team spirit."

"This is very important," Sebastian chimed in, "This is a very chaotic place, unlike any dungeon, and anything and everything can happen."

the three professors convince them with persuasive and logical arguments, making even Akiro and Ayama finally cave in.

"Ugh!" Ayama grumbled, "fine! Can we just hurry up and kill the boss? We're burning daylight."

"Finally, golden boy," Masashi scoffed, "We can agree on something."

"Let's do this!" Haruto cheered, raising his sword, "We definitely need this exercise."

Takumi sighed, fixing his round glasses, "Why bother? We have the firepower to overpower the boss as a team, but if Kaiser-sensei wants it– then we'll do it."

Akiro sighed, putting the scythe into the dirt. "Well? Let's get this over with."

Kaiser shoved his hand into the hat, unamused by the small group’s combined annoyance, thus a mischievous thought overwrote the agenda he had planned and his hand did not pull out any paper.

“I have a different idea–” Kaiser grinned, glaring at the group of boys, “Akiro, Haruto, Ayama, Masashi, and Takumi– you five will team up against the Goblin Emperor.”

As soon as the words left the knight’s mouth and entered the boy’s ears and were processed y their brain, a chorus of different reactions arose.

“Are you kidding me!?” Masashi grumbled, “I have to be in the same group as this– deranged fucker!?” He yelled, his eyes motioning at Takumi.

“Great.” Akiro deflated, not even surprised.

“Well, Fuck.” Ayama chuckled, his temple veins bulging, “Kaiser-sensei really has a great sense of humor.”

Haruto was startled, but his idealistic sense overrode his previous opinions of Takumi, Masashi, and Akiro, “Well! That’s awesome! We have a very strong line-up!”

“Is this fucker on drugs!?” Masashi, Ayama, and Akiro internally thought, looking at each other with a look.

“Fufu~ This is good, with our combine powers–” Takumi murmured, fixing his glasses, “We can beat the Goblin emperor without much effort.”

“Great! Now, off you go,” Sebastian cheered, pushing the boys towards the tall wooden gates of a wooden perimeter. The door opened when Haruto marched gleefully past its gates and it sealed shut.

In full honesty, the group was indeed powerful but cohesion was nowhere to be found, as displayed by the disappointing gazes of the three professors as they gazed at the boss room through an orb artifact.

“What are they doing?” Kaiser sighed disappointedly, watching Masashi getting flung against the solid wooden wall.

Bam!

“They’re worse than I thought,” Olivia frowned.

“I hope they find a solution soon,” Sebastian added.

"Ugh… that hurt…" Masashi spits, stretching his arms. "Bitch threw me into the wall."

"That's what you get for rushing in so much." Takumi scoffed, his hands covered with freezing mana. "[Ice Magic: [Crystallization] Triangular Prism!]"

A triple-sided barrier covered Haruto and Ayama, who was busy distracting the gigantic Goblin. It stood at Fifteen meters, its hulkingly-obese frame being supported by two, great tree-like legs with incredibly tough skin.

Its face was ugly, the cheeks weighed down by fat, welts, and scratch marks. His arms were one and a half times as large as his legs and twice as long. The goblin emperor looked more like a slouching troll than a giant goblin and it had the regeneration of one too.

Akiro was beside Takumi, holding the water-magic grimoire while his scythe was on the ground.

"Any more information?!" Masashi yelled at Akiro, who was trying to appraise as much information as he could while the rest were buying him time.

[ [Appraisal] is too weak, cannot extract exact information.]

[ Name: Emperor Grubtuna Nurgle, first guardian of the #£&##£%# Labyrinth. Level 57. Status: ??,???– ]

[ [Appraisal] is too weak, cannot extract exact information. ]

[ Name: Emperor Grubtuna Nurgle, first guardian of the #£&##£%# Labyrinth. Level 57. Status: ??,???– ]

[ [Appraisal] is being interfered with–]

[ Appraisal Failure. Can no longer Appraise. ]

Akiro blinked, his appraisal skill wearing off. "Something isn't right!!" he yelled, "It's only level 57! But his stats are in the five digits!! My appraisal isn't working too well!"

"What!? That's not good!" Haruto yelled, his long sword blocking an incoming swing from Nurgle's club-like scepter.

Ayama followed his lead, his shield and zweihander lined up with Haruto's.

Clang!!

"Arghhh!!" They both yelled, being thrown back a few inches, their boots digging into the soil.

"Crap– just keep hurting him till he croaks!" Masashi charged, his body coated in flaming mana. "If it can bleed, it can die!"

Akiro frowns, unsure of the whole ordeal considering he had not fought without his appraisal skill before. Takumi glanced at him cooly, almost reading his mind.

"Stop thinking so much." He said, gathering more mana into his hands. "The more you think of how to win, the harder it is to think. Sometimes it's okay not to have a plan."

"Not planning is planning to fail, Takumi. What are you even spouting!"

"Hey! Don't talk to my master like that!"

"Yeah! Master is way smarter than you could ever be!"

Akiro frowned deeper at Takumi and his two slaves, an ex-bandit ringleader and an ex-priest. They were dressed properly and well, with the most noticeable aspect of their clothes would be the collar around their neck.

"I don't listen to criminals, especially mass murder and a drug-distributor." Akiro spat angrily at the two slaves.

Despite the uncertainty of the situation, they were well-equipped. An assassin, a skilled Ice-mage who can cover both defensively and offensively, a priest, and four melee fighters.

"Please, you honestly can't be saying that yourself!" Takumi retorted, "Don't think that I haven't known about how you've killed bandits! Murder is murder, with or without just reason."

Akiro opened his mouth to spit back, but he couldn't find the words as Takumi was right. He indeed was a murderer when viewed objectively, self-defense or desperation– it was still murder in the end. It was something he had not considered as any shape or form of earth's logic could barely apply here. Akiro forgot that morals also existed, and he was not one to speak.

"I–'m sorry." He said, looking at the ground.

Takumi sighed, looking at him with understanding. "It's okay, this whole ordeal– isekai-incident– has not been easy, even for me, a weeb who dreamed of this."

It was short, but when Akiro looked up at Takumi, his eyes reflected deep sadness– the same ones he used to see in the mirror all those years ago. He and Ayama were not the only ones broken.

"Say," Akiro softly wondered, "When this is over, wanna hang out?"

Takumi smiled brightly, "Of course. I've always wanted to know your tastes in cultural literature. But we have to focus for now!"