Chapter 47

Stepping down into the 24th floor, the first thing that struck me was the sheer scale of the space.

Until now, the Labyrinth had been nothing but a series of mazes true to its name, with no vast areas existing outside of boss rooms.

The 24th floor, however, completely ignored that rule.

Past the stairs, there was no corridor to speak of. Instead, a massive expanse stretched out, reminiscent of the 10th and 20th floors. That said, it wasn’t exactly an open plain with good visibility. Countless stone pillars rose from the ground, giving it the feel of a giant cavern. Most striking of all was the lava—boiling magma flowed in streams, forming a network of fiery rivers.

If the 23rd floor had been unbearable for an average person, the 24th, with its flowing lava, had become a literal death trap.

No, a normal human probably wouldn’t even be able to breathe here. It was only because Lastiara and I were standing here now that our bodies had been strengthened by the blessings of our levels.

“Ch-Christ…”

“What is it…?”

“You’re going to find the stairs with your perception magic, right…?”

“Yeah…”

In an instant, with few words, we finalized our plan of action for this floor.

Neither of us had any objections.

Lastiara and I were united by a single, desperate desire: to not stay here a second longer than necessary.

I deployed “Dimension” over a wide area, searching for the location of the stairs.

However, even after gathering information with “Dimension” across a radius of about one kilometer, I realized the stairs weren’t within range. It looked like we were going to have to move.

“Lastiara, the stairs aren’t nearby. We have to go deeper.”

“Got it…”

I led Lastiara, who could barely manage a response, further into the 24th floor.

She was sweating buckets, so it was clear I needed to find those stairs as quickly as possible.

Increasing our pace, we moved forward while weaving between the flows of lava.

The number of monsters on the 24th floor was extremely low.

Fortunately, the lava was the only real thing we had to watch out for, allowing us to progress without any major obstacles.

After traveling about 500 meters from our starting point, I came to a halt to send out another pulse of “Dimension.”

“I’m going to use my perception magic again.”

“Okay…”

Handing Lastiara some water, I focused on my magic.

At that moment, a sound like bubbles bursting in boiling water echoed nearby.

The instant our guard dropped—the enemy struck, taking advantage of our momentary lapse in focus. A monster lunged out from the shifting lava nearby.

The creature looked like a lizard. However, its size was dozens of times larger than any lizard from my world. Using the momentum from its leap, it tried to rip into the distracted Lastiara with its claws.

“—!”

Lastiara managed to dodge the claws at the very last second.

She even evaded the lava that sprayed everywhere upon the monster’s emergence, thanks to her incredible reflexes.

The lizard monster, its claws having missed their mark, exhaled a puff of colored breath as it backed away, keeping a fixed glare on us.

I calmly used “Focus” to check the monster’s details.

Seeing “Poison” in its name, I made a mental note of the danger.

The breath the Poison Salamander exhaled was the most suspicious thing about it, so I quickly warned Lastiara.

“Lastiara, there’s a chance that thing’s breath is poisonous—”

“Ah, sorry. I already inhaled a bunch.”

Because she had been so close to the Poison Salamander, Lastiara was standing right in the middle of the cloud of toxic breath. Even though she’d dodged the physical attack, she hadn’t been fast enough to hold her breath.

I checked Lastiara’s status—

It was confirmed; she’d been poisoned.

Looking closer, Lastiara’s complexion was terrible. The poison was being layered on top of the physical toll taken by the extreme heat. Even for someone like her, this looked painful.

To lighten Lastiara’s burden, I lunged at the Poison Salamander at full speed. However, noticing my approach, the lizard immediately dived back into the lava. Naturally, it left behind another cloud of poison as a parting gift.

Once it did that, we were left with no way to attack.

We couldn’t even get close.

Frustrated, I tried to at least pinpoint the Poison Salamander’s location with “Dimension.” However, my magic didn’t penetrate the flowing lava well, and I couldn’t get a clear read on its movements.

For the time being, I covered my mouth with the edge of my cloak and hurried over to the pale-faced Lastiara.

“Dammit, I can’t track it once it dives in… Lastiara, are you okay with the poison?”

“Ngh, my head is spinning a bit. The heat makes the poison feel even worse… But I’m fine. I’ll heal it with magic right now… ‘Water that combs through illusions, blood that never returns’…”

Lastiara began chanting her spell, attempting to treat the toxin.

However, the Poison Salamanders weren’t about to let her. Two of them lunged out of the lava at once.

To keep the enemies away from Lastiara, I pulled a spare sword from my “Inventory” and batted both of them aside.

I moved to follow up immediately—but the Poison Salamanders put distance between us again.

After glaring at us, they exhaled a parting gift of toxic mist and dove back into the safety of the lava.

The veil of poison surrounding Lastiara and me grew steadily thicker.

“—Cure.”

Lastiara finished her chant. However, the spell was a waste of effort.

Even if the poison was purged, we would just be infected all over again standing in the middle of this mist.

Despite covering my mouth with a cloth, it seemed I hadn’t escaped the poison while standing in the heart of the fog.

“Lastiara…! If we don’t shake these guys off first, we won’t be able to recover properly. Let’s head back!”

“It’s frustrating, but I guess so… Though I’m pretty sure I could take them out at the next opening.”

“There’s no guarantee there are only two of them. My magic doesn’t penetrate the lava well, so I can’t get an accurate count.”

“Hmm. Then I guess it can’t be helped…”

Lastiara and I broke into a run, heading back the way we came.

However, as if to say they weren’t letting us leave, the Poison Salamanders struck at our exposed backs.

Having anticipated this, I struck down the emerging Salamanders with my sword. As long as they weren’t inside the lava, I could react to them regardless of their blind-spot attacks.

Having warded off the pursuit, we kept running.

As we moved, I could feel the poison circulating through my system, steadily chipping away at my HP.

I considered retreating all the way to the 20th floor safety zone, but since there were fewer lava streams and enemies around the stairs connecting the 23rd and 24th floors, we decided to attempt recovery there.

“—Cure Full. And one more Cure Full!”

After removing the poison with Lastiara’s magic, she cast healing spells repeatedly until our HP was maxed out. However, the cost was high; she lost a significant amount of MP. Between this and the battles on the 23rd floor, we had relied on magic too often, and Lastiara’s MP was nearly depleted. I wasn’t exactly overflowing with reserves either.

“We’ve both burned through too much MP. Should we call it a day…? I can deploy a ‘Connection’ gate right here and we can get home instantly.”

“Let’s do that…”

I expected Lastiara to complain, but it seemed even she didn’t fancy fighting while out of mana.

Perhaps her usual composure and confidence were directly tied to her remaining MP levels.

With Lastiara keeping watch on our surroundings, I constructed the “Connection” gate.

Passing through the makeshift door, we brought today’s exploration to an end.

“Back early again, I see…”

On the other side of our escape from the 24th floor, Maria was waiting, currently in the middle of preparing dinner just like yesterday.

“…Yeah. Things didn’t exactly go according to plan.”

I grumbled to Maria about the lack of progress in our Labyrinth crawl.

Hearing this, Maria gave a small, stifled laugh.

“I can tell just by looking at you.”

She pointed at our outfits.

The cloaks we had worn out were gone, and both Lastiara’s clothes and mine were scorched and tattered in various places.

From Maria’s perspective, it must have looked like we’d been beaten and sent packing.

In reality, she wasn’t wrong.

Lastiara tossed aside her ruined clothes and began changing into a fresh set. She didn’t strip down to her underwear, but it was still awkward to know where to look, so I wished she’d stop. Maria hurriedly shifted her position to block my view.

Lastiara let out a deep sigh and slumped over the table in the center of the living room.

“Phew… It was so hot. I’m exhausted, and it was so hot.”

Apparently, the high temperatures of the 23rd and 24th floors were Lastiara’s Achilles’ heel. Looking completely drained, she hung her head wearily against the table.

“Lastiara. I’m going out to buy some items to deal with the heat. Do you want to come along?”

If we were going to challenge those floors again, there were several things we needed to restock. I also wanted to gather information about the volcanic zones, so I didn’t intend to stay cooped up at home. I checked to see if she wanted to join the shopping trip.

“Hmm, I guess I’ll go too.”

Lastiara stood up, wobbling slightly.

“You don’t have to push yourself. If you tell me what you need, I can pick it up…”

“No, it’s not like I can’t move.”

Sent off by Maria, who was busy with the cooking, Lastiara and I left the house.

For the time being, we made the rounds to shops to restock on water and food, and checked taverns and the library for strategies on conquering the volcanic regions.

The shopping itself went smoothly, but we couldn’t find any good information regarding the volcanic zones. Whether I asked around or looked it up, the advice always boiled down to “don’t go near the lava,” and there was nothing that seemed useful for the 24th floor.

If anyone had the answer, it would be Lastiara’s acquaintance, the strongest explorer Glen Walker, but we were told it wasn’t that easy to meet him.

In the end, it seemed our only strategy for the volcanic zone was to just ignore the monsters and run for it.

As I was about to head home after finishing our errands, Lastiara made a suggestion.

“If it’s the volcanic zone, don’t you think Alti could do something about it? That girl is a fire-attribute boss monster, after all.”

Lastiara brought up the very idea I’d been keeping in the back of my mind and rejecting, presenting it as if it were a stroke of genius.

I struggled to respond.

The reason was likely the terrible experience I’d had with Teida, who claimed to be a fellow Guardian. I wanted to avoid involvement with the girl known as Alti—a monster—as much as possible.

However, it was undeniably a practical plan.

She was a character who seemed almost tailor-made for this exact hardship. If this were a game, talking to Alti would be the first thing I’d do. Yet, in reality, my legs were heavy.

“Alti, huh…”

“Oh? I thought it was a great idea, but was I wrong?”

More than just a great idea, it was probably the correct answer.

Since our exploration had ended early today, we had enough time to reach the 10th floor where she lived. Plus, I had things I wanted to ask her regarding her teaching magic to Maria and Dia.

I had no valid reason to reject Lastiara’s proposal.

Reluctantly, I agreed.

“I suppose so… Let’s go…”

Taking Lastiara with me, I decided to head for the 10th floor from the Labyrinth entrance. Since both our MP pools were low, I chose to go on foot from the lower-difficulty entrance.