Labyrinth Expedition #9

 Kaiser, Olivia, and Sebastian may not have had the ability to hear the interaction between their students within the boss room, but they can undoubtedly deduce from the lack of infighting, struggle, and an overall increase in communication and teamwork– their task of helping the students learn teamwork when placed in challenging scenarios, is certainly paying off!

Just five minutes ago, they were struggling to deal damage to the Goblin Emperor, but now they have dealt significant damage to the monster after they had regrouped. But their worries were not gone entirely as for the next half-hour, the group struggled fruitlessly as the wounds they had inflicted kept regenerating and the emperor had seemingly bottomless strength and stamina.

Their worries were then alleviated as Takumi smiled hopefully.

“Good!” Takumi celebrates from the back line, “Sear his wounds so they don’t heal! I’ll try my best to freeze him so he doesn’t regenerate them! Keep it up!” he said, pointing at the seared wounds created by Ayama’s fire magic.
“On it!” Akiro replied instantaneously, rushing forward with wind-slicing speed. “I’ll take out his eyes!”

Akrio had joined the front lines, leaving the back line to Takumi and his two slaves. The ex-bandit was surprisingly skilled in blocking the stray debris of rock and wood from hitting Takumi, and the priest was quick-witted in applying heals, buffs, and other helpful spells for the constantly injured front line. In a blink of an eye, he was underneath the large monster, just underneath his legs.

“I’ve got to admit,” Akiro smirks to himself even as he ran up almost perpendicularly on the Tall monster’s back, his scythe running into the monster’s back, carving up the flesh and revealing his organs, “Takumi is one hell of an Ice mage. Every Ice formation he had generated came from the imagination of his mind being made a reality by a spell he made himself. It’s extraordinary.”

Akiro reached the goblin’s shoulder blade before jumping off of it to dodge a swinging arm, with the wind produced by the arm whizzing past millimeters from his face was strong enough to cut.

Swish!

“Takumi!” Akiro yelled.

“On it!” Takumi gave a nod, channeling magic power, “Haruto! Ayama! Take out his legs on his signal!”

The goblin emperor was annoyed by the large cut given by Akiro on his back and swung his left arm at him whilst turning around to glare at the annoying pest. Unfortunately for him, Akiro has something else in store.

“[ Water Whip ]!”

The large mithril scythe was thrown to the side by Akiro and a rope of magic-conjured water attached itself to the end of the handle– slashing both the green emperor’s eyes in one stroke, slicing through the bridge of his nose

The beast let out a gravelly roar, shaking the ground beneath them with the strength of his voice alone. “Guuuuwwwoooooh—agghhh!”

“Ice Magic: [ Crystallization ] Splinter Bomb”

But the emperor was not pained by the initial shock of being blinded, it was the two bombs of spear-shaped ice that entered both wounds and splintered like a spiked ball.

“ARRRGHHH!”

Using the momentum of the spin, Akrio lands on the ground with the tip of his toes, rolled forward into a handspring back in the middle of Ayama and Haruto. But the momentum was still too much so he stuck his scythe into the earth like an anchor, stopping just in front of them.

“Go!” Akiro gave the signal and the two sword wielders charged.

The two, hero and Knight, charged forward with strong strides, cracking the earth as it crumpled beneath them. Like a subject viewing itself through a mirror, the image is reversed and was just like for them. Ayama’s sword was in his left hand, and Haruto’s was in his right. With their backs shared, they together sliced the giant’s knees– not enough to sever both his legs, but enough to cut the major tendon and muscle connection that is required to keep his massive body standing. Ayama and Haruto separated in either direction, away from the falling monster.

Boom!

The large monster fell to its back, the ground reverberating with the force the collision produced, but Ayama and Haruto were safe with both of them just beside the goblin’s ears.

Akiro looked back to Masashi and Takumi, “It’s now or never!” he yelled, watching Takumi warily as he was bleeding through his nose, probably from the mana he had spent.
“Do it!” Takumi yelled.

Akiro looked forward, channeling every drop of magic power he had left, and conjured a tall wall of water, but angled at a seventy-five-degree angle.

“A-[ Aqua Wall! ]” Akiro hoarsely yelled, the large spire of water taking a rectangular shape.

“Ice Magic [ Crystallization ]: Override!”

Takumi infused his magic power into the stream of water, modifying the shape into stairs, taking control over the summoned molecules, and forcing them to stop completely and freeze. Akiro falls limp, supporting himself only with his weapon, struggling to stay conscious while Takumi faints.

“M-Masashi–” He breathes, “It’s all on you–”

“Master!”

“Hold on Master! I’ll heal you right away!”

The Berserker nodded in understanding, his haughty attitude dissipating like the smoke produced by a fire. “Since you gave my wings, I’ll gladly fly.” He said, channeling all the magic power he had left.

Kaiser was crowding the orb with his face, watching in anticipation as Masashi jumped in the air and the flow of red magic transferred from his legs to his two hands. Haruto and Ayama saw him descending and readied their blades to strike the goblin’s head.

“[ Drumming Fists of the Silver-Backed Gorilla ]”

“[ Art of Swords ]”

“[ Dawn of Light ]”

Perfectly timed, the three attacks converged into one single point, eradicating the head of the first floor’s gatekeeper with explosive force. The convergence of Ayama’s purifying light vaporized a dark, sinister force that was controlling the monster, empowering it; and the death of the floor keeper severed the true monster’s view of the spectacle.

“Oh?” A voice spoke, raspy and deep, his figure darkened in shadows but his sinister smile could not be hidden, “The Prophecy is true– The Demon King was right! H-He’s here.” he said, maniacal laughter ensuing in the very pits of the labyrinth.

“He is here!” The Demon rejoiced, “The Lord’s blood! Has arrived! Hah-Hah-HaHa!”

However his celebration was cut short, his nose tingling as if he smelled something foul and detestable. “I-Is that the stench– of Divine Power!?”

The demon raises his hand, pouring magic power so sinister, its color was that of black. “Disgusting.” he scoffed, “I suppose the gods are starting to make their moves– they are avatar candidates after all. Pompous bastards, how dare you touch my playthings.”

Akrio was awoken by the feeling of being inspected. With his sharp senses, he could deduce the hands that caressed his arms; they were soft, small– those of a lady. He could feel magic power being inserted into his body through his arms, soothing and pleasant– unblocking the clogged channels and he started to feel at ease.

“Ugh–”

“You’re awake!” she said, her voice joyous and pleased, “I was starting to get worried, You’ve been asleep for three whole days!”

“W-Who are you?” Akiro slowly opened his eyes.

“Ah! I forgot my manners,” She said, “My name is Tsukiko Kagiwara, at your service.”

“Thanks–” Akiro nodded, groaning as he got up by pushing himself up with his arms, struggling and groaning because of the soreness. “A-Ack– god–”

“You really shouldn’t push yourself! You overused your magic channels so it’s only natural for your body to be strained.” Tsukio said, trying to stop him from pushing himself.

Akiro shook his head and finally pushed himself upright, “It’s fine, I’ll heal.”

“Really?” she sarcastically frowned, “I was just told you got cursed so healing magic might as well be cursed to you. It’s not like I had a choice but to be your caretaker.”

Akiro rolled his eyes, “Well thanks but I don’t like getting freebies. Every time I need your help, I’ll compensate you.”

Tsukiko frowned, flicking his shoulder– sending a cactus of pain.

“Agh!” Akiro grumbled, “What was that for?!”

“That was for being a prick,” She hissed, jumping up and storming away, “I’ll go tell our professors that you’re finally awake.”

Akrio frowned but he sighed, deflating his annoyance. He rolls out of bed, looking around his room. It was better than their previous room, which was bare-bones compared to this. The walls were thick and covered in a layer of grey plaster, and the floor was treated wood. The room was well furnished and his bed was quite soft, similar to a memory foam mattress.

He buried his face in his palms, rubbing his face to try and stay awake. “What floor are we?” he asked himself

“That would be the ninth.” Ayama replied, entering the room, “You’re awake! Thank goodness.” he said, reaching for a hug.

“W-Wait– my body hurts like hell, no hugs please– but thank you.” Akiro winces, “How did we get here so fast?”

“Yeah,” Ayama frowns, reminiscing, “That goblin did something to you, you were this close–” he illustrated with his index and thumb, “I don’t know what happened, but a shadow or something entered you– you radiated crazy magic power.”

“O-Oh,” Akiro looked down, “How close was I?”

“Way too close for comfort,” his best friend quickly responded, “Don’t ever do that again!”

Despite his early protest, Akiro nodded, allowing himself to be jabbed in the chest– despite it hurting, he grits his teeth, understanding his best friend’s plight. “I’m sorry.”

“You better–” Ayama frowned, looking at him, a small tear escaping his eye, “Only Tsukiko and the professors know about it, excluding me. I’ll find a way to disrupt this curse, I promise.”

“Don’t push yourself too hard.” Akrio joked, trying to lighten up the mood– only for a searing headache to disrupt his concentration. “Ughhh–”

“Fine, I’ll be downstairs with Haruto– Kaiser is giving us lessons on how to use a sword. Don’t forget to make it up to Kagiwara-chan, she seemed pissed when she stormed out.”

“Okay, I’ll follow after you– I’m just going to change first.”

“Okay, don’t hurt yourself–”

When the door closed after Ayama, Akrio’s knees crumpled, bringing him to the floor in great pain. “U-ugh— f-fuck– Why does it hurt so much— I get it, you don't have to be so annoying about it.”

[ The price for causality has been paid. ] [ Slowly, armaments will be administered in exchange for achievements, outstanding performances. ]

[ The Battle of the First Tower will be costly. ]