Chapter 42

We walked the Main Path of the 23rd floor while trying to catch our breath.

However, the further we walked, the more our stamina drained. The breath I wanted to steady refused to settle. The temperature of the 23rd floor was abnormally high compared to the 22nd floor we had just left.

Lastiara flapped the collar of her shirt, her expression one of utter fed-upness. Even from a distance, I could tell she was sweating several times more than I was. Apparently, she was the type who sweated easily.

“Hot, hot, hot, hot… Christ, water.”

“Yeah, yeah.”

I pulled a leather canteen from my Inventory using a bag and handed it to her. It was the one I’d taken from her this morning, and it was quite sturdily made.

Without a moment’s hesitation, Lastiara guzzled the water down.

Thinking to myself that even her way of drinking reflected her personality, I asked her about the 23rd floor.

“Hey. Why is it so hot on the 23rd floor?”

“Mm—it’s because magma flows through the 24th floor.”

“M-magma? Have you seen it?”

“No, I heard it from an explorer who comes to visit my place. I only know up to the 23rd floor.”

“You’re acquainted with an explorer who’s been to the 24th floor?”

“The famous Glen Walker. The guy they call the strongest explorer.”

Glen Walker.

If I recalled correctly, that was the name of the record holder for Labyrinth exploration. However, based on the stories I’d heard, he was only supposed to have explored up to the 23rd floor.

“I heard that person only went as far as the 23rd floor.”

“To be precise, he only managed to establish the Main Path up to the 23rd floor.”

In other words, the rumors about the 23rd floor referred to the laying of the Main Path. It seemed that without the constraint of establishing a path, the strongest explorer, Glen, could go much deeper.

“I see. No wonder you’re so well-informed. You’ve been hearing stories from the top explorer in the world.”

“Mm, pretty much. It’s true he’s my main source of info.”

“So, what’s he like?”

I asked about Glen with a bit of excitement.

It seemed I had a weakness for the title of “Strongest.” As someone who loved games and a bit of romance, I was very interested in a figure like Glen.

“What’s he like…? I can only describe him as a pitiful guy, just the way I like ’em. He leads an interesting life where no matter how far he goes, he can never get what he truly wants… If he actually had some talent, things might be a bit better for him, but…”

To Lastiara, the man known as Glen Walker seemed to fall into the category of the “unblessed.” I had assumed he was a man overflowing with talent, loved by the world, who had everything go his way.

He was the exact opposite of the “Strongest” I had envisioned.

“Huh, is that so…?”

“He’s weak-willed, clingy, and loves self-deprecation. A total loser… but well, he’s strong.”

“Wait, he doesn’t sound strong at all.”

“Actually, he isn’t even that incredibly strong…”

I could feel my internal image of the “Strongest” crumbling.

The strongest man in this world didn’t seem like he was going to live up to my expectations.

While I was feeling disappointed by the wretched reality, my Dimension magic detected the end of the Main Path.

The monsters on the 23rd floor didn’t tend to approach the Main Path, so things progressed smoothly. Lastiara and I reached the end of the Main Path without encountering a single enemy.

“So this is the goal. For now, today’s objective is complete.”

I felt a certain sense of accomplishment.

With this, I had finally stood shoulder-to-shoulder with the current peak of humanity.

“All right! Then next up is the 30th floor!”

“No way.”

I stopped Lastiara as she tried to head even deeper.

The time it took to get from the 20th floor to here was short, but there had been many first-time battles, and my fatigue was starting to pile up. I was physically hesitant to enter even deeper floors—a world I hadn’t seen yet.

I explained as much to Lastiara, but naturally, she wasn’t convinced.

“Ehh, we can totally keep going! Look, I’m still this energetic!”

“I figured you’d say that. In that case—”

Ultimately, we decided to meet in the middle and focus on exploring the 23rd floor today.

I told Lastiara that since there were no more Main Path markers from here on, mapping work would be required. She reluctantly agreed.

With that as our guideline, we walked.

I relied on my Map to fill in the chart of the 23rd floor.

Fortunately, none of the monsters on the 23rd floor were a threat. Most likely, the giant monsters that appeared on the 21st and 22nd floors couldn’t survive in this high-temperature environment. The monsters here were all high-durability types that could withstand the heat, and they didn’t feel particularly troublesome.

Above all, Lastiara’s high attack power made the exploration advantageous. No matter how tough an enemy was, it meant nothing in the face of Lastiara’s absurd strength.

Summing it all up, I judged that the primary threat of this floor was the exhaustion of explorers due to the high temperature.

The floor stalled you with high-durability enemies, stripped you of water through the heat, and drained your stamina. Depending on how you looked at it, it was more problematic than the 21st or 22nd floors.

“Ah, aaah… Christ, water…”

Lastiara consumed large amounts of water every few minutes.

My throat was parched too, and I was hydrating quite frequently, but not nearly as much as Lastiara. Her terrible “fuel efficiency” threatened to create the worst possible situation on the 23rd floor.

“W-wait, Lastiara… Are you reeeally that thirsty? At this rate, that massive supply of water we had is going to run out.”

“I’m serious, my throat is so dry it’s dangerous.”

After wandering around for a few hours, I couldn’t hold back and asked her. But Lastiara wasn’t joking; she begged for water with a dead-serious expression.

“If you consume any more water, we’re going to have to head back once.”

“Wait, did I really drink that much?”

“Yeah. You were gulping it down with a dazed look on your face.”

The speed at which this water was being consumed was enough to require a complete overhaul of our exploration plan.

Since the 24th floor we were heading toward was supposedly a magma zone, our current water supply wouldn’t be anywhere near enough.

I had no intention of taking a fatal blow just because my consciousness was hazy from thirst.

“Hmm. Maybe it’s because I sweat so much?”

“Seems like it. We won’t be able to continue the exploration unless we have several times more water than planned.”

As for me, I wanted to turn back right now.

I could accept failing due to unforeseen circumstances, but I hated the idea of failing because of predictable physical illness.

“…Are we going back already?”

“We’ll be out of water otherwise.”

“…I guess that can’t be helped then.”

Lastiara was dissatisfied, but she seemed to hate being thirsty; her face clouded over as she imagined exploring without water.

“But we’ve got a general grasp of the 23rd floor. We made some progress.”

“I left the mapping to you, Christ, but are you really sure we can get back properly?”

“Don’t worry about that.”

Explaining the entirety of the Map system would take too long, so I had simply told Lastiara that I could memorize the path. Since Lastiara had been wandering around in a daze, she had no idea how to get back and seemed anxious.

To dispel Lastiara’s anxiety, I retraced our steps with a steady stride.

Having cut the exploration short, we headed toward the Connection magic circle on the 20th floor.

On the way back, we were attacked by many monsters, but they were all types we could handle, so there were no issues.

However, the problem was on the 20th floor, which was supposed to be empty.

I felt a snag in my Dimension magic and used my magic to investigate the situation before entering the 20th floor.

There was a single girl knight there.

And one wolf with bluish fur.

A knight who could reach the 20th floor—most likely, she was one of the Celestial Knights.

I extended my magical senses from the 21st floor and focused my Gaze on the girl knight and the wolf.

The girl knight’s name was Ragne, and the wolf was named Sera.

“Eh? Is that wolf… Radiant?”

Surprised by that fact, the words slipped out of my mouth.

“Christ, what happened? Why did you stop?”

“Ah… I sense a wolf that looks like Radiant on the 20th floor. And a girl named Ragne.”

“Oh, that’s just two of my girls. Good luck, Christ!”

“Well, I don’t feel like I’m going to lose, but…”

Lastiara probably thought it wasn’t a big deal.

In fact, neither did I.

We ascended to the 20th floor with a casual air.

Upon entering the floor, the knight positioned in the center bowed to us. It was just like yesterday.

“Milady, are you safe?”

A girl knight with a short haircut gave a slight bow, concerned for Lastiara’s well-being.

She was an energetic-looking girl, a bit shorter than me. While not a peerless beauty, her features were well-defined, and she had a charm appropriate for her age. She wore a high-quality short-sleeved shirt on top and an unusually long skirt below. With several layers of waistcloth wrapped over that long skirt, her lower body looked incredibly heavy.

“Ragne, it’s been a while.”

Lastiara was already on a first-name basis with her, calling her Ragne. She looked younger than me anyway, so I followed suit and settled on Ragne as well.

The two of them continued talking.

“So, Ragne. Why are you here?”

“I heard it from that old man Hopes. That the boy in question is a Labyrinth explorer and would be around the 20th floor.”

“Ah, I see.”

I didn’t miss Lastiara muttering, “That old man and his big mouth…” under her breath.

“Man, honestly, I just wanted to relax at the Cathedral…”

Ragne gave a wry smile while looking at the wolf beside her. Feeling that gaze, the wolf let out a single bark.

“Eh? Ah, yes. I’ll do it, I’ll do it. Right away.”

Barked at by the wolf, Ragne seemed to understand its intent and immediately drew her sword.

Curious, I whispered to Lastiara.

“That wolf is definitely Radiant, right?”

“Yeah. Radiant is a beastman with a strong bloodline. It seems she’s talking to Ragne through magic. I can tell exactly what’s going on thanks to my ‘Eyes,’ but let’s just pretend we don’t know. It’s more fun that way.”

“…Let’s do that.”

I didn’t want to point it out and deal with her getting noisy. This was probably her version of “not showing her face.” I’d leave it alone.

I drew my sword and stepped in front of Lastiara.

Then, Ragne pulled something like a memo from her pocket and began reading it aloud.

“U-um, my name is Knight Ragne Caicula. I challenge Christ Eurasia to a duel with Milady as the prize. The rules are the same as the ones used previously with Sera Radiant. Now, let us fight fair and square—is what it says.”

Yeah, she has zero motivation.

It felt like a junior member of a sports club being forced to do something by a senior.

“Yeah, that’s fine. But I want to change one thing. Can we add ‘not bringing any other knights’ to my reward?”

“Ah, sure thing. Also, if possible, let’s end this as soon as someone gets a single scratch. I don’t want to get a major injury over something like this.”

“Of course, that works.”

Ragne nodded easily and added more rules. Apparently, she wasn’t into this at all. In contrast, the wolf beside her let out a low growl. Ragne looked frightened, so I wished the wolf would stop.

“Then, can we start?”

“Yeah, go ahead—”

“—Wait just a moment.”

Just as Ragne drew her mismatched, luxurious one-handed sword, Lastiara cut in. I looked at her, confused. She whispered to me.

“Christ. That ‘first scratch loses’ rule you just accepted is quite disadvantageous. She specializes in exactly that.”

“Huh? But her stats are low, aren’t they?”

Ragne’s stats were lower than any of the Celestial Knights I had seen so far. I didn’t feel anything from her that would justify Lastiara’s grim expression.

“She’s a girl whose ‘numbers that don’t show up in stats’ are irregular. …I won’t say more because that would be playing favorites too much, but don’t lose to the ‘first move.’”

Lastiara’s eyes were serious. Regarding the fights against knights, she had been optimistic until now, but she couldn’t stay relaxed once the “first scratch” rule was involved with Ragne.

The “first move.”

Ragne was irregular and would use an unexpected opening attack that transcended her stats.

Talk about getting a massive hint…

I couldn’t afford to lose after being told this much. I deployed my Dimension: Gladiator at full power.

“So, is now okay?”

“Yeah, I’m ready.”

We confirmed with each other, took our stances, and bowed.

And then, the duel began.

I went to deploy my support magic immediately—

“Magic: F—gh!?”

An unidentified blade lunged toward my throat.

Because I was tracking the beginning of that extension with Dimension: Gladiator, I managed to swing my sword up, parrying the trajectory and successfully dodging.

Then, I confirmed the nature of the blade.

Ragne hadn’t moved the luxurious sword in her hand even a millimeter. Instead, a blade of solidified mana had extended from her other, empty hand. I hadn’t dodged by sight; I noticed because my magic gave me an overhead view of Ragne’s entire form.

If I had fought normally, my eyes would have been glued to her sword since she was a knight. But thanks to the nature of my magic and Lastiara’s advice, I escaped without a scratch.

Having her opening move parried, Ragne immediately retracted the mana blade, looking flustered.

“Gah. You dodged that perfectly.”

Without giving me a moment to breathe, Ragne’s second and third strikes came at me. I parried them with the tip of my sword, redirecting the force.

The distance between us was about ten meters, but it felt like we were fighting nose-to-nose. It felt as if I were facing a laser gun that was constantly firing.

However, just as Lastiara said, the only thing to worry about was the “first move.”

Once I knew the trick, she was no match for me.

Ragne’s techniques were completely unrefined. To put it simply, she lacked sense. It was as if she had no “feeling” for landing a hit.

As I grew accustomed to the extending sword and began to close the distance while parrying her attacks, Ragne immediately raised both hands.

“Ah, it’s no use. I lose. I think this is the first time I’ve lost with such favorable conditions.”

Apparently, she judged she had no chance of winning if she continued. Ragne threw her luxurious sword onto the ground roughly, signaling her surrender.

“Yeah, it was an interesting match. Thank you.”

“No, thank you as well.”

I closed the distance, and we shook hands with genuine smiles. It felt a bit like the camaraderie in a sports club.

In the background, Radiant—Ragne’s senior—was barking her head off, but I decided to ignore it. Ragne, still being scolded by the wolf behind her, replied with a half-smile.

“Ehh, I couldn’t help it. This guy is strong, looks kind, and he’s handsome. Is there a problem? If Milady wasn’t already here, I might even fall for him.”

The wolf continued to bark loudly in response. Ragne translated it for us.

“U-um, let’s see? ‘How could that lovely, beautiful, pure and innocent Milady, like a single flower made of untainted first snow, be taken by a man like this?!’ —Ehh, Milady is actually pretty wicked, you know?”

Lastiara reacted to that.

“Ah, Ragne, how cruel. I’m always just speaking my mind as it is, and you call me wicked… I feel like I might burst into tears…”

Lastiara pretended to be hurt by Ragne’s words, acting like she was collapsing in tears. At that, the barking wolf began biting Ragne.

“W-woah! Senior, stop! See, Milady being like this is exactly why she’s wicked!”

After the wolf and Ragne played around for a bit, Lastiara confirmed that Ragne would strictly keep her promise. As a knight, Ragne swore she would not break her word.

Then, calming down the excited wolf, Ragne prepared to leave.

“—Well then, Milady. Catch you later. Handsome guy, see you too.”

With a breezy attitude, she started walking back toward the 19th floor. Since we could travel via magic, we didn’t follow her, but waved until she was out of sight.

And so, I cleared my third challenge from the Celestial Knights.