Chapter 11

After finishing the Labyrinth exploration with Dia, my experience points had increased by about 100. I needed roughly 600 more to reach the next level.

100 experience in two hours…

Personally, the growth felt so slow it made me want to yawn.

However, considering that seasoned adventurers around thirty years old were only about Level 10, this could be called rapid growth. After all, if I kept this up for six more days, I’d be Level 5. At this pace, it wouldn’t even take a year to catch up to those who had been fighting for over a decade.

Still, that was only a relative comparison; I wasn’t satisfied in the slightest.

My goal was to clear the Labyrinth up to the 100th floor.

To achieve that, I let my gamer brain run at full throttle, drafting a new, efficient exploration plan.

First, it was a priority to gather everything necessary for Labyrinth exploration.

There was much I didn’t know due to my lack of experience, but the first thing I realized during the run with Dia was the importance of “sustainability.”

I had ended the exploration because my MP ran dry, despite not losing a single point of HP.

In other words, if I had a way to recover MP or a way to conserve it, I could keep fighting indefinitely. That would lead to a higher rate of experience gain.

The other factor was how to hunt monsters of a rank that actually challenged me.

With Dia’s excessive firepower, it would be more efficient to target stronger monsters to improve both experience and gold income.

It was a common story.

In short: securing recovery methods and cherry-picking hunting grounds.

This was the absolute fundamental of power-leveling in things like online games.

“The objectives are clear, then.”

I muttered the thought to myself as a way of reconfirming it.

“Oh? And what exactly is clear?”

Lynn reacted to my monologue.

“No… it’s just, since I’ve started showing my face in the Labyrinth again, I thought it was important to know what kind of monsters are where.”

The employees of this tavern had deep knowledge regarding the Labyrinth.

Hoping for some sort of advice, I spoke without hiding anything.

“Huh. You said you’d given up on it, but you’re already challenging it again?”

“Yes, well, I’m free in the mornings. When I have time to spare, I just end up heading toward the Labyrinth…”

“I guess it can’t be helped, since you came all the way to Wald for the Labyrinth. It’s only natural.”

“I’m making sure not to get injured so it doesn’t interfere with my work at the shop.”

“No, you should prioritize your own dreams over the shop. One way or another, this place will keep running. Besides, you were talking about monsters earlier; I think you should just ask the Manager about that kind of stuff.”

That was exactly what I had been thinking.

After all, the Manager was Level 15.

Among all the people I had seen so far, he was a top-class power player.

“You’re right. I have a few things on my mind, so I think I’ll try consulting the Manager.”

“Yeah, yeah. That’s the way to do it.”

Our light banter ended there.

After that, I was buried in work by a massive influx of customers—

The next day, after finishing my shift at the tavern.

The second Labyrinth exploration with Dia began.

Last night, I had listened to the Manager’s stories and gathered knowledge about the powerful monsters that appeared in the Labyrinth. I also picked out the monsters that granted the most experience among those we could likely handle with our current abilities. Preparations were complete.

“Alright. Today, we’re going to target high-rank monsters, or perhaps a Boss Monster.”

“Ooh, a boss! Nice, I like that, I really like that!”

When I met up with Dia at the church and laid out today’s plan, he gave me a very enthusiastic response.

“Based on my research, solving the MP problem requires expensive items… so for now, we’ll focus on the quality of each individual battle.”

“I agree. Since we’re doing this, let’s go for a boss. A boss!”

It seemed he hadn’t been fond of yesterday’s one-sided slaughter after all.

The desire to fight stronger enemies was likely welling up inside Dia as well.

“Well then, we’re going a bit far today, so keep up.”

“Got it.”

I called up the “Display” for the map.

Having this map made it easy for us to explore the deeper areas.

Following the information I gathered at the tavern, we made our way toward the area where a Boss Monster was likely to be.

I made a conscious effort to conserve MP along the way. While I couldn’t afford to slack on enemy detection, I refrained from using the magic “Dimension” during combat with low-rank monsters.

As we walked through the Labyrinth, picking off monsters we could defeat easily, the corridors gradually began to transform.

From featureless stonework to a path of lush, vibrant greenery.

The corridors gradually widened, and trees began to grow thick.

As we pushed further in—it became a forest.

Any semblance of a corridor vanished, replaced by a vast, dark woods stretching out endlessly.

This was proof that we had entered the Unmanaged Zone in the deep reaches of the first floor.

“Alright, we’ve entered the special area for the Beetles. Now, I’m going to snipe the master of this area, the Boss Monster: ‘Queen of the Forest’.”

“Huh?”

I made my sniping declaration with solemn composure. Despite having told him I intended to pick off the boss from a safe distance whenever possible, Dia looked bewildered.

“No, really. I’m going to snipe it. Snipe, snipe.”

“Wait, wait. You said ‘if possible’ we’d snipe it, right? Are you saying you can actually pick it off easily from all the way back here?”

“Let me explain the plan.”

“Wait, hold on—!”

Dia was usually so assertive, so seeing him this flustered was actually quite cute. I ignored his protests and continued my explanation.

“If my info is correct, I can pinpoint the boss’s location even from here. Then, I want you to fire your magic at full power in the direction I point. That alone will probably kill it instantly. I want to pick up the loot, so I’ll shoot down any trash mobs nearby as they pop up. I expect the small fry to head our way, but we’ll whittle them down from a distance too. If they actually manage to close the gap, I’ll act as the decoy. In that case, I won’t worry about MP efficiency. I’ll go all out, and you’ll provide back-up. That’s the plan. With our abilities, this should be a breeze. Any questions?”

“Uh, umm…? Can you really do that?”

“No doubt about it.”

I was talking a big game so as not to put pressure on him, but it was a fact that this mission was easy given our specs.

That was just how abnormal mine and Dia’s abilities were in this world.

If there were even one normal adventurer present, this plan wouldn’t work.

This strategy was only possible because I had used my power to see through talent to make the outlier, Dia, my sole companion. I thought about it again—my other skills aside, the power to see the abilities of others through the ‘Display’ was a total cheat.

“Fine. I owe you, Christ, so I’ll trust you.”

“You don’t have to be so tense. If things go the way I think they will, this really will be easy. You’ll see when it’s over. You’re really strong, Dia.”

I gave him some encouragement to ease his mental agitation.

“For… for real?”

“For real. …Alright, I’m going to scan the area, so give me a second.”

I activated “Dimension: Multiple” and extended my awareness toward the direction of the intel I’d gathered.

I brushed through the forest trees in my mind—and found it. A monster about five meters long, resting its back against a massive tree.

It was a bipedal monstrosity, possessing butterfly-like wings combined with the armor of a crustacean.

Several monsters, presumably its kin, were prowling around it.

I pointed my finger toward that spot.

Through the magic, spatial information accurate to the millimeter expanded in my head.

Unless there was an error, the impact point would be the heart of the Queen of the Forest.

“Okay, I’ve got it. Put your arm over mine. Then, fire your magic in the direction I’m pointing. Don’t worry about the wind or obstacles. Most things won’t affect your magic, and if something does look like it’ll interfere, I’ll correct the path.”

“…Understood.”

Though still hesitant, Dia followed my instructions and rested his arm over my shoulder from behind.

“The target isn’t moving. I don’t think it’ll act unless we get close. Fire whenever you’re ready; just try not to burn my hand…”

“I’m good. I can fire right now.”

Saying that, Dia closed his eyes to concentrate.

After a few seconds of silence, he snapped his eyes open—and shouted.

“Here goes—! ‘Flame Arrow’!!”

In an instant, a flash of light streaked out.

I felt an intense heat on the top of my arm, so I immediately pulled away from Dia.

The released thermal energy punched holes through the trees as it traveled in a straight line.

My “Dimension” magic tracked its progress.

Then, at the end of that split second, the “Flame Arrow” pierced the Queen of the Forest’s throat.

I had actually been aiming for the torso, but a slight deviation caused it to hit the throat.

Even so, the head and torso were severed, and the target died instantly.

It seemed that when Dia fired at full strength, his aim drifted slightly upward.

As I confirmed the Queen of the Forest was vanishing, I checked the ‘Status’ for myself and Dia. A massive amount of experience had been added, split fifty-fifty between us. I didn’t know the exact formula for experience distribution, but it seemed that cooperative parties generally divided it equally.

Smirking at the predicted result, I moved to the next step.

“Yep, okay. Boss is down. Now let’s take out the surrounding kin. Though, they just seem to be running around in circles since they don’t know where we are. Let’s change the plan: we’ll move carefully, take out only the minimum number of enemies, and secure the drop items.”

“Wait? Is it… is it over already?”

Dia had a look of disbelief on his face, stunned by a battle that had ended so anticlimactically.

“It’s over, it’s over. Come on, let’s head in slowly. We’ll avoid the enemies, but keep your guard up since we’ll probably have to fight a little.”

With that, I scouted the situation around the drop items.

Half of the kin monsters were moving to find the enemy that had sniped their master. However, the other half remained on the spot.

Dia and I spent about ten minutes avoiding enemies until we reached the vicinity where the boss’s loot had dropped.

We were about a few hundred meters away from the items.

It took longer than expected because of the detours. After thoroughly confirming it was safe, I took aim at the three kin monsters lying in ambush around the drops—and Dia and I performed a coordinated snipe with a simple eye contact.

The first one was blasted away before it could even react.

Two left. At this point, the kin seemed to realize the direction the magic was coming from.

Both remaining monsters charged straight toward our position.

Seeing this, I had Dia perform the same action once more. I had his aim at the monsters closing in on a linear path—and fire.

Mid-charge, another monster was riddled with a hole.

And then, the last one. I would face this one with my sword. Since kin monsters were higher rank than normal ones, I fought without holding back on my MP.

For me, this close-quarters fight with the final minion was the true “boss battle.”

The monster resembled a mantis. Both its arms were sharp blades, which it swung down at me with blinding speed. I tracked them with my eyes, shifting my body to dodge. Before I could catch my breath, the mantis’s other blade swept upward from below. I parried it using the flat of my blade, kicked the mantis in the torso, and leaped back to create distance.

At that moment, I was certain of my victory.

There were no feints or tricky special attacks; it was just a relentless flurry of slashes.

It wasn’t targeting Dia behind me either; it was just kamikaze-charging me.

I focused entirely on defense to buy time—

“‘Flame Arrow’!”

The moment distance opened up again, the mantis’s head was blown away.

“Phew…”

“Are you okay, Christ? That was one hell of a fast bug.”

It was the fastest monster with the sharpest attacks I had faced so far. But honestly, I didn’t feel like I would lose in a one-on-one fight.

The power of magic was just that absolute. My spatial-awareness magic, “Dimension,” displayed peerless strength even in melee combat.

“I can still handle that level with room to spare. More importantly, that’s really the end of it.”

“I see. Well, that’s good then.”

Dia and I began collecting the drop items together.

After securing the boss monster’s magic stone and its unique drop, we made our exit from the special area to avoid running into any other kin.

We moved cautiously back to the “Main Path,” ensured our safety, and checked our remaining MP.

Seeing that I still had more than half left, I turned to Dia.

“Alright, Dia. Shall we go kill the next boss monster?”

“Wait, there’s another one?”

“The closest one from here would be the Goblin Settlement. They’re bipedal, humanoid monsters, and apparently, there’s a Giant Goblin among them, so let’s go take it down.”

“…Yeah, alright. I’m game.”

Dia agreed, rolling the magic stone dropped by the Queen of the Forest in his palm.

I headed toward the area I’d heard rumors about and repeated the same procedure.

Naturally, even with goblins as the opponents, the result didn’t change.

When we defeated yet another boss in just a few dozen minutes, Dia muttered with a look of dissatisfaction.

“This is kind of different from what I thought Labyrinth exploration would be like… I mean, it’s not bad. But, you know…”

“I feel the same way. But this is the safest and most efficient method given our abilities…”

A battle completely reliant on special abilities and abnormal mana was a far cry from a normal fight.

Still, Dia and I repeated this method.

After all, we were taking down boss monsters—the kind people usually risked their lives for—without even breaking a sweat. There was really nothing to complain about.

That day, Dia and I defeated a total of three boss monsters before leaving the Labyrinth.