CH 25

Chapter 25: The First Labyrinth

Calling out to Spino and the others who seemed to have stayed up all night at the guard hut, the group gathered around Truuma.

When I cleared away the clay I had blocked the entrance with as "tidying up," a rather unpleasant smell came flowing out from the depths of the cave. With my detection skill, I sensed that there were quite a number of monsters deeper inside.

"They're kobolds, about ten of them scattered around, buzzing about. Hmm, in the back, there seems to be some that are quite high level," said Larouque, grinning behind me. Truly worthy of a scout's scouting skill.

Like me, she had been chosen as a support member to enter the labyrinth.

The main party consisted of six members: Zag, a level 8 knight; Berisha, a level 7 adventurer; Kalena, a level 6 priestess; Cecily, a level 6 warrior; Butter, also a level 6 warrior; and Igris, a level 6 knight.

They had gathered high-level members as much as possible, excluding Sebastian the elder. However, from the perspective of an RPG otaku like me, except for Kalena, everyone else seemed to be frontline types, and the balance appeared to be off. Is this really okay?

In front of the guard hut, Berisha gathered the members in a circle and chanted, "Party formation!" In an instant, something resembling a string of light appeared, connecting the six people together.

Additionally, there were five others called "support members" who were also going to enter the labyrinth: Greon, a level 8 slave warrior; Larouque, a level 5 scout; Beth, a level 4 magician who had leveled up from boar hunting; Valon, a level 3 priest; and myself.

Although my adventurer level remained at 7, my skill "Doll Play" had increased to level 6, the same as Clay Play, and I had gained the ability called "Whispering." When I tried it out, it seemed like I could have telepathic conversations with Lina without speaking out loud, even if we were a certain distance apart. Well, talking to dolls inside my head seems even weirder. Will it be useful?

I had seen Valon during the recent battle, but he was an unremarkable, taciturn middle-aged man. Born as the fourth son of a knight, he had been entrusted to the temple since childhood, just like Kalena, but it seemed that living in the temple didn't suit him, so he willingly left the clergy and joined the service. It must have been possible because having someone with healing skills is valuable.

We weren't specifically told to form parties, but Greon suggested, "Since we have adventurer Shiro with us, why don't we team up?" and Larouque agreed, saying, "I don't mind, and Beth is fine too." So, it was decided that we would do that.

Let's take a look at what Velisha did and try to imitate it.

"Party formation..."

I chanted those words.

Somehow, it felt like electricity was flowing through my body, and there was a sensation as if the four of us were joining the party of our own will, coming one after another. At the same time, a string of light connected us.

It's as if I can somehow sense where the other four are and what they are doing.

When I asked Greon about it, he said that when you form a party, not only is the experience evenly distributed, but even without special skills like detection, you can somehow sense each other's whereabouts and coordination becomes easier.

It's not exactly being of one mind, but it definitely means forming a party.

Suddenly, when I looked at Greon, there was a slightly different sensation from the identification skill, and his information appeared.

<Greon - Human - Male - 26 years old - Warrior (LV8)

/Slave (Subordination: Kalena Folo Orbania)

Skills: HP Increase (Medium)

Close-range Attack Power Increase (Medium)

Physical Defense Increase (Small)

Strength Increase (Small)

Close-range Accuracy Increase (Small)

Physical Evasion Increase (Small)

Sword Technique (LV4)

Hammer Technique (LV1)

Riding (LV2) >

Huh? With the basic identification skill, I could only see the job and level, but now I can see the skills too. Is this also the effect of party formation?

There's too much information, so I couldn't fully grasp it immediately, but it seems that warriors indeed have abundant combat-related skills.

When I looked at the adjacent Beth, she had reached Level 4.

It must be because she dealt the finishing blow to the magic boar. It seems that her repertoire of spells has increased, not just limited to fireballs.

<Beth - Human - Female - 17 years old - Mage (LV4)

Skills: Magic Knowledge (LV2)

Potion Creation (LV1)

Riding (LV1)

Spells: "Fire," "Water," "Earth," "Wind" >

Huh?

"Beth is only one year younger than me."

"H-Hey, what are you looking at?"

Seems like I made a mistake.

"You, don't say it out loud. Idiot."

Larouque looked exasperated.

Greon whispered quietly (That information is only visible to the adventurers in the formation. That's why women, in particular, are hesitant to join parties with people they can't trust). 

Well, tell me that before recommending party formation.

I apologized earnestly to Beth.

"Ugh, you must have thought I was just a kid."

There was a landmine there. Girls can be difficult, huh?

Anyway, after re-tightening the loosened tension, we entered the labyrinth following the main party.

At the forefront was Larouque, relaying scouting information to the main party members.

Everyone was provided with leather armor with metal chestplates, and besides melee weapons, they also carried short bows on their backs. Their backpacks were filled with portable food, water, and even a small blanket, perhaps for camping purposes. It was heavy equipment.

The backpack provided to me is about one size larger than the one I brought from my original world.

I wish we could avoid staying up all night in the labyrinth if possible. It's only for emergencies, right?

For a while after the entrance, the path was narrow enough to require stooping a little. The muddy ground was littered with rocks of various sizes, making it a situation where only one person could proceed at a time. So far, I don't feel much of a difference from a normal cave.

As we gradually descended, the light from the entrance no longer reached us, and we had to rely on the torches carried by a few people.

In the main party, Bata and Karena are holding the torches over there, while Valon and Beth are holding them here.

As we proceeded, the cave gradually became wider, allowing several people to walk side by side. Along with that, the presence of monsters sensed by my detection skill became stronger.

Suddenly, Laruke briefly called out to the main party.

"There are kobolds about 50 steps ahead. Six, seven... eight of them!"

At the same time, the voice of the adventurer Berisha from the main party also sounded.

"They're coming!"

The main party immediately dropped the backpacks they were carrying and lined up five people side by side, with Karena stepping back. As soon as they did, one after another, bipedal shadows emerged from the darkness, accompanied by beastly cries.

With wolf-like heads and smaller humanoid bodies than us, resembling beastmen, are these kobolds?

In the eyes of the me who recognized it,

<Kobold LV2> <Kobold LV2> <Kobold LV3>...

the display of the identification skill overlapped.

By that time, the figure that raised a stone axe and a dagger was already leaping towards the main party.

However, at that moment, the front line of the main vanguard had already formed a single row and completed the spear formation.

The Kobolds rushed in as if impaling themselves on the spears.

"Gyaah!"

A beast's scream echoed.

Nevertheless, without hesitation, the second wave leaped forward.

The Kobolds defended against it by pounding the spears that were still impaled. When the charge halted, the vanguard discarded their spears, drew swords from their waists, and struck at the remaining two or three Kobolds.

The Kobolds swiftly dodged instead of receiving the attacks, and then launched their own strikes, but they were easily parried by the swords of warriors and knights.

Three minutes passed, and Zagoo struck down the last Kobold, settling the matter. We, the support members, had no room to intervene in the narrow cave.

Behind the vanguard and us, who remained vigilant for the arrival of the third wave, Carena and Valon swiftly applied "purification" and turned the Kobold corpses into magic stones. The resulting stones were black with a slight reddish tint, smaller than Orc magic stones, about the size of pachinko balls.

After that, we encountered several more groups of Kobolds and creatures like large rats, snakes, and giant centipedes that couldn't be called demons, but the main party effortlessly dealt with them. Beth seemed to be afraid of snakes and let out a loud scream, receiving a quiet scolding.

According to the map skill, we had progressed around 4,500 meters from the entrance, I suppose?

Before I realized it, the surroundings had changed.

Until now, the terrain had been rocky and complex, resembling a cave or a limestone cave. But once the hole narrowed, I thought, suddenly the walls and the ground became slimy smooth, and the entire area seemed to emit a faint glow.

The shape of the hole was also close to elliptical, an unnatural form for a cave.

Not only me but also Beth and Valon felt a sense of unease.

"Be careful. The real labyrinth begins from here," Greon whispered in a tense voice.