NBAA Vol. 8 Chapter 1 Part 2
They were safely teleported into the Tower’s Great Labyrinth. While Reito was confused by the grassland that was all around them, Shizune spoke up after making sure everyone was there.
“Welcome, this is the first floor of the Tower’s Great Labyrinth.”
“Inside the labyrinth… no, this is the outside world!”
“No, Dain, look closely. We’re inside a building.”
As Dain exclaimed in confusion, Gonzo pointed upwards.
A huge ochre-colored ceiling spread out above their heads. Looking further into the surroundings, they were surrounded by walls that were the same ochre color as the ceiling.
It seemed there was no doubt that Reito and the others were inside a building. However, despite being indoors, there was a vast grassland and even a river flowing through it.
“What’s going on here, that it is?! Why is there grass and a river inside the room, that it is?”
“Because this is the Great Labyrinth. Don’t be fooled by the beautiful scenery, this is already a dwelling place for monsters.”
“Monsters… Ah, it’s true.”
While Hanzo and Shizune were talking, Reito muttered.
He pointed several figures in front of him. It seemed that the adventurers who had entered the Great Labyrinth earlier were fighting a group of goblins.
“Oraaaah!”
“Grrr!”
“Flame Lance!”
“Gyaaah!”
Young adventurers were engaged in a fierce battle with goblins. The young man swung his long sword, but the goblins easily avoided it with light movements. In another place, a magician was blowing away another goblin with a fire-attribute bombardment magic.
The goblins’ movements were faster than normal goblins, and they left fewer openings.
“Those are the goblins from the Great Labyrinth, right? They’re making some pretty good moves.”
“That group of adventurers seem to be new. They can be easily read with attacks like that.”
“Shouldn’t we help them?”
“Leave them alone. If it’s only that much, there shouldn’t be any problems. It’s best to refrain from recklessly helping other adventurers.”
While observing the battle, Shizune looked around and pointed to the center of the grassland.
“There’s a building over there, right? There’s a teleportation crystal installed there. Let’s move on to the next floor.”
“What, it’s over there?!”
“There aren’t any traps on this floor. But instead, a ton of goblins are making their home here!!”
““Grrrrr!!””
As soon as she finished speaking, Shizune pulled out her magic sword.
A group of ten goblins was approaching. Reito, Dain, and Gonzo quickly got into battle mode after seeing them.
Dain attacked first.
“Shadow Slip!”
“““Gyaaahh!”””
“““Geeeeeeh!”””
Dain’s shadow transformed into a whip and sweeped the goblins’ feet, but the five moving in front of him jumped into the air to avoid it. The rest were unable to avoid it and fell over. They were faster than normal goblins and seem to have quicker reaction times.
“That’s pretty quick!”
“Gyaaah!”
“Rapid Thrust!”
“““Gugiiiiii!”””
But Hanzo, an assassin with superior speed, pulled out her blade and sliced through one of them, while Shizune thrust her blade into the remaining four in their vital points at almost the same time.
Meanwhile, Reito also readied his Extermination Blade and swung it down on the five fallen ones.
“Helmet Smasher!”
“““Gaaaaah”””
A single blow combining the battle techniques “Strike Blade” and “Helmet Splitter” blew away five goblins in one go.
Even though the goblins had superior abilities to normal, they were no match for the Swordmaster and three people with abilities that rivaled her.
After seeing the scene, Gonzo had a complicated expression on his face, as he was the only one who couldn’t do anything.
“Hmm… I guess I didn’t get a chance to use it.”
“You could conserve your stamina. As I thought, this floor was too easy. Let’s move to the next floor.”
“Eh, already?”
“But before that, let’s collect Experience Stones from the goblin corpses. If you have the skill ‘Dismantling,’ please help.”
“…Experience Stones?”
Reito and the others looked at each other after Shizune’s words.
Shizune took out her dagger, grabbed the head of the fallen goblin, and sliced open its forehead. A glowing red magic stone spilled out from inside. It was shaped like an animal’s fang, and the blood that had been adhering to it disappeared as if absorbed into the interior.
Reito and the others were shocked, but Shizune picked it up without hesitation and showed it to everyone.
“Is this the first time you’ve seen it? This is an Experience Stone. It exists inside all the monsters in the Great Labyrinth, and is a magic stone that is condensed with experience points.”
“This?”
“Is it different from the fire magic stone?”
“It looks similar, but it’s a completely different thing. If you break it, you can get experience points without defeating monsters. That’s why it’s popular with people who aren’t good at fighting. You can get experience points without risking fighting monsters.”
“Do monsters have such things inside their bodies?!”
“Only the monsters in the Great Labyrinth. Most adventurers who challenge the Great Labyrinth make a living by selling the Experience Stones they get from these monsters to merchants. They can make a lot of money if they collect them.”
While Reito was surprised at the Experience Stone, a magic stone he had never seen or heard of before, Shizune put it in a small pouch on her waist. She then expertly collected Experience Stones from the other goblin corpses, and encouraged him to collect Experience Stones when he had time in future battles.
~
Reito and the others arrived in front of a building in the grassland.
The building was larger than Reito had expected. It was over ten meters tall, and designed so that even Giants could pass through.
They went inside the building.
The inside was decorated with teleportation crystals, and Shizune said that they could use them to move to the next floor.
“With this teleportation crystal, you can move to the next level, the level below, or back to the outside world. If you want to return to the outside world, you can go back to the entrance on the ground.”
“Eh? Do you really need to explain that? It’s not any different from the entrance crystals.”
“I didn’t explain it well enough… This is the first level, so you can only go to the second level. In other words, you can only move one level.”
“So with the entrance teleportation crystal, you can go to other floors. In that case, can’t you just return to the entrance and move to another level?”
“That would be difficult. For some reason, people who have returned once can’t use the teleportation crystal for 24 hours.”
“That seems convenient, but there are restrictions, huh?”
Convinced by Shizune’s explanation, Reito and the others activated the teleportation crystal while touching each other, and moved to the next level.
Just like with the entrance teleportation crystal, the view in Reito’s field of vision changed in an instant.
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