The Broken Promise.

By the time we descended the tower, it was past 2:00 PM, so I decided to fill out the map for this floor. After walking around for about an hour, I confirmed that I hadn’t missed anything.

As for the general structure, the north and south consisted only of winding corridors where the only monsters were Shadows. In contrast, the central tower contained only Skeletons—a biased distribution, though strictly limited to the undead. Aside from the tower, there were no eye-catching locations or gatherable materials. If I hadn’t obtained the handbell, I would have branded this a “dud” floor.

“So the boss is a Skeleton, with Shadows as its entourage.”

In a large room in front of the stairs stood a somewhat massive skeleton with four arms. It held a sword, a shield, a mace, and a dagger respectively—it looked surprisingly strong. Four shadows drifted around it. Without a way to quickly dispatch the Shadows, the combination of a physical-attack boss and debuff-focused minions would be a significant threat.

“But Kuu alone should be enough.”

“Koo!”

As if understanding the praise, Kuu flapped his wings and landed on my shoulder. He began rubbing his fluffy feathers against my cheek with great enthusiasm. Seeing this, Yoru rushed over, scrambled up my body, and perched on the opposite shoulder. Having soft sensations pressed against me from both sides was pleasant, but I felt they were being a bit too clingy.

“Hm? What’s wrong? Are you hungry?”

“Hehe. I believe they are lonely because you have found yourself new servants, my Lord.”

“Ah, is that it?”

I peeled the two of them off and held them in my arms, enduring their weight while I reasoned with them.

“Listen, the exploration itself wouldn’t even be possible without you two. You’re that useful. And even setting that aside, Yoru and Kuu are incredibly important to me.”

“Master—!”

“Kooooo!”

I nodded as they hugged me with eyes sparkling with joy, but my arms reached their limit, so I set them down on the ground. I spoke to them in a gentle voice.

“But stay on the sidelines this time. I want to train the others too.”

An ace is indispensable to a team, but it’s also true that relying solely on them is risky. In Dra-Chro 2, there were plenty of events where the first-string party members couldn’t participate. Plus, I wanted to gauge the strength of my skeletons.

“How cruel—”

“Koo koo.”

I stroked their bellies as they rolled around on the cobblestones and threw a tantrum, while briefly explaining the strategy. Our “walls” for this fight would be the Blue Slimes. However, that sharp dagger had a chance of piercing their skin, so I’d have Paula handle that. The sword was so rusted it was basically just an iron rod, so I didn’t need to worry about that. I’d have Yo the Fairy and Gob-tchi focus on supporting against the boss skeleton. <Fairy’s Kiss> wouldn’t work on it, but it would flinch at the light-attribute .

As for the four Shadows…

“I’m counting on you, Kone-ko-chan One and Two!”

It was the first battle for my cute maid skeleton squad. Since skeletons only have physical attacks, they couldn’t actually kill the shadows; they were strictly decoys. Also, I’d numbered them, but I couldn’t actually tell them apart.

Reacting to the maid skeletons flanking them from both sides, the Shadows split into groups of two to meet the challenge. Just before the boss skeleton could move, blue flashes streaked across the floor. Using high-speed movement powered by their bounce, the Blue Slimes reached the boss’s feet in an instant.

The skeleton immediately thrust its shield and dagger. Likely due to having a body composed of only bone, it seemed to have the upper hand in speed. Sue-chan was met with a sharp thrust. However, the sound of a whip cutting through the air echoed. The wrist holding the dagger was struck hard, forcing the weapon in a different direction. The shield managed to parry Rah-chan, but Gob-tchi was waiting and loosed an arrow. This time, the swung sword skillfully swatted the projectile away. Those four arms weren’t just for show.

But as expected, the sword and mace couldn’t pierce the Blue Slimes’ skin. The two “walls” bounced around, parrying attacks. Gob-tchi’s accurate shooting and Paula’s perfect whip-handling were coordinating beautifully.

Yeah, looks like things are going well.

And the situation with the Shadows was just as smooth. The shadows swarmed over the maid skeletons, but the skeletons remained completely unscathed. Meanwhile, Mia’s and flew through the air, causing the monsters’ dark bodies to vanish in an instant. In less than a minute from the start, the cleanup of the minions was complete.

“Alright, the boss is next! Kone-ko-chan!”

The maid skeleton squad raised their rusted swords and challenged the large skeleton. They tried their best to whack away at it, but they didn’t seem to be dealing any damage. Then, with a single horizontal sweep of the boss’s sword, they were shattered and blown away together.

“Number One! Number Two!”

I couldn’t tell them apart, but I shouted anyway. I rang the handbell to regenerate them on the spot immediately. Their original role was just to reduce the boss’s number of available actions, anyway.

Irritated by everyone’s concentrated attack, the boss skeleton suddenly raised three arms holding weapons.

“Yo, !”

At Paula’s prepared command, the fairy emitted a flash of light. The boss skeleton, which had been about to unleash its specialty, flinched and ground to a halt. Without a moment’s delay, the Blue Slimes switched to the offensive.

After that, it was just a repetition of the cycle. The four-armed skeleton, its leg bones battered, desperately unleashed its second specialty: Blade of Darkness. It was a nasty move that drained health from the target it struck. However, conversely, the activation of this skill was proof that its health was low.

“Alright, finish it in one go! Mia!”

“Hehe! I’m gonna burn it up!”

The boss, once again halted by , was struck by a barrage of fireballs. The large skeleton, engulfed in flames, collapsed on the spot and crumbled into pieces. The iron bars slowly lifted.

“Yay! Everyone was amazing!”

“Good work, Mia.”

“Kee-hee-hee!”

“Ge-he-ge-he!”

I collected a Magic Cluster from the charred remains of the boss skeleton. The wooden shield was burnt and useless, but I stored the three remaining weapons in my item list. It seemed that even against higher-tier monsters, we could manage perfectly fine without Yoru and Kuu—provided we took compatibility into account.

That said, I couldn’t expect much in terms of attack power from the maid skeleton squad. But being decoys and diversions is an important role, and there would likely be many other places for them to shine. Finally, I had the maid skeletons carry Yoru and Kuu—who were sulking on the ground—and we proceeded to the next floor.

The eighth floor was a deep forest. Massive, thick trees that looked hundreds of years old stood like pillars. Their trunks reached into the heights, forming a green corridor. Because of this, the ceiling was invisible, and while there was dappled sunlight, the overall atmosphere was dim. The undergrowth was fairly thick, and visibility wasn’t great.

“This looks like it holds a lot of promise.”

“Really? It feels kind of gloomy and depressing to me.”

“Yeah, there’s that. Well, let’s save the fun for tomorrow.”

We decided to call it a day after just confirming the floor. The journey back was trouble-free, and we reached the surface easily.

We are currently short on gallnuts, so the tanning process isn’t keeping up with the supply of hides. However, I’ve given the Goblins various other things to work on, so it should be fine. Levels are rising steadily: Paula and Mia reached 22; the Slimes, Fairy, and Gob-tchi reached 21.

Exultant with the sense of achievement from reaching the eighth floor, we returned to the village only to find someone collapsed in front of the tavern. I rushed over to find Heimo, the beastman with cute bear ears and a shaggy beard. Judging by his snoring, he was already dead drunk.

I bypassed him and entered the tavern, calling out to Ute-san at the counter.

“We’re back. Has anything happened?”

“Ugh, it’s been an ordeal all day long.”

“Did something happen!?”

At my shocked question, Ute-san let out a theatrical sigh and jerked her chin toward the entrance.

“You’ve gone and completely forgotten, haven’t you? Look, he was sleeping right there.”

“Pardon?”

The moment she said it, the memory came flooding back vividly.

…That’s right. I made a promise to the blacksmith. I told him that once he finished the White-Glow Stone stands, I would take him to the labyrinth.

“Once he found out he’d been left behind, he spent the whole day thrashing around in a fit out there. You better apologize properly.”</Fairy’s>