Inside the labyrinth.
　An area inhabited by insect monsters.
　I run through the damp, green corridor alone.

　I dodge the scythes that attack me from all directions, sometimes deflecting them with my sword.

　In front of me is a giant butterfly boss monster.
　And a military monster in the form of a praying mantis surrounds me.

　I sort out the information given to me by the 《Dimension》 in my mind and figure out the shortest route to break through this situation. I leave the Mantis Scythe behind and charge towards the giant butterfly - Queen of Forest without turning aside.

　In contrast, the Queen of Forest shakes its wings, generates a mantis weasel, and releases it at me.
　It's not much of a threat.
　With a blade of air only a few meters wide across, it's no different than being slashed at normally. I bent down and dodged it without any problems. Then, I closed the distance as it was and brought my sword out to the enemy's heart.

　The Queen of the Forest held out her shell-covered arm in front of her in an attempt to block the sword.
　After seeing that, I change the trajectory of my sword.

　My sword neatly decapitates the enemy and also slashes the limb that has lost its power.
　The vociferous voices of the surrounding kindred grew louder and more furious as they attacked me.

　But to no avail.
　The Queen of the Forest's vanguard, which has lost the protection of its long-range attack, is not enough to deal with it.

　I slashed the attacking mantises in turn.

　Thus, the battle, which lasted less than a minute, was over.
　The Queen of the Forest and her attendants are turned into light and disappear.

'Fufu......'

　A breath of fresh air.

　Looking at the results alone, it was a fight we could afford.
　And rightly so. It's a different level than before.
　However, the mental sense of accomplishment of defeating a boss alone, which was defeated by two people before, is great.

　I immediately check the status.


[Status]
　Name: Aikawa Uzumi HP302/322 MP506/512 Class.
　Level 10.
　Strength 6.19 Strength 6.28 Skill 7.21 Speed 9.44 Wisdom 9.33 Magic 21.66 Elemental 7.00　
　State: confusion 8.59
　Experience: 17501/20,000
　Equipment: The Treasure Sword of the House of Alais
　　　　otherworldly clothing
　　　　A sturdy cloak.
　　　　Shoes of the Otherworld


　After defeating Tida and gaining tens of thousands of experience, I had improved to level up to level 10. Compared to level 6, my abilities have jumped up dramatically, and now I feel like I can even keep up with that Tida's movements.

　However, the confusion of the example has also jumped up a lot.

　By the way, I saved my skill points.
　The bonus points were transferred to HP.
　Since I'm not yet dissatisfied with my strength and magic, I poured them into HP, which I discovered could replace MP for the time being.

　If his level had risen to this level, it would only be a small amount in the Queen of Forest's experience. However, I feel that something that doesn't appear in the 'display' is growing greatly.

　I stop deploying "Dimension".

　It's a decision that I don't need to spend MP in the early layers.
　I know the monsters and traps in the early layers, and there is less risk of dying from a level perspective.
　Most importantly, normal explorers don't have a useful radar like Dimension. I'm going to refrain from relying on it for exploration and try to develop my natural observation and attention. If I can save these, my ability to take over will also improve.

　I put the dropped items into 'belongings' and 'map' into 'display'.

　The paths I've traveled were mapped out and the shortest distance to the next layer was marked.

　I proceed along that path, not with magic, but with my five senses keenly perceiving my surroundings.

'Oh ....... It's usually scary ......

　I muttered to myself for the first time in a long time.

　But it wasn't a sad soliloquy like the first day.
　It's something I need to tell myself that I'm still going to be okay.

　I walk down the corridor, sometimes talking to myself to make sure I don't miss anything.


◆◆◆◆◆ ...


　I have two goals for today.

　The first is to advance through the labyrinth by myself.

　However, there's no point in only advancing on the 'right path', so I'm aiming to defeat one boss per layer.
　It was also to prevent you from going through too many enemies and advancing to a layer that is not suitable for your height. ...... In the early tier bosses, there wasn't a single one that would be my opponent at level 10.

　I made it through the second, third, and fourth layers without any problems.

　Then I walked through the fifth layer and reached that space.

　The last room leading from the 5th to 6th layers.
　It's the space where you fought Tida.
　This is where I'm going to find Dia's arm, the second goal of this search.

　I looked around the room, but I couldn't find it.
　At that time, I gave up because it didn't go into my 'possessions' and I didn't have my hands free, but by the looks of it, it seems that it won't come back again.
　Someone may have taken it away, or the labyrinth may have some kind of mechanism to cleanse it. For example, there are monsters roaming around that feed on filth and garbage.

　I can't help what isn't there, so I go down the stairs to the next layer.
　Then, using the information I got from the bar, I spread out the Dimension and try to search for the nearest boss...

"--Whoaahhhhhh!

　He was interrupted by a high-pitched scream.

　It's a common occurrence in the labyrinth.
　Everyone is challenging themselves at their own risk, so normally I would keep my heart cold and ignore it. However, this time the screams were of the wrong kind.

　A high-pitched scream.
　In other words, it was the voice of a child.

　If this had been the voice of an adult, I would have been able to walk past it. But when it's a child, my conscience starts to assert itself.

　I knew it was hypocrisy, but it was painful to keep fighting my conscience here.
　The night in the other world, which is even harder to sleep through, becomes even harder to sleep through.

　I run in the direction of the scream, disgusted with my s*xuality.

　--I'll go quickly and quickly help.

　I unfold the 《Dimension》 and acquire information before I arrive.
　A few hundred meters away. In a wide corridor with a wide width, a party of four people were engaged with the monsters.

　A giant monster with countless tentacles rages in the center, and there are about ten octopus-shaped monsters that seem to be its attendants.

　One boy in our party of four had been captured by the monster.
　The twin-tailed girl is about to forcefully charge at the boy to save him. The other two are dealing with an octopus-shaped monster in their midst, and they can't seem to cover him.

　--This is the worst.

　A party of searchers about my age. And there are even women and children in the party.
　If I leave them to die, my stress will be too much.

　I keep running as fast as I can, and the water in the corridor around me increases.
　Finally, when it was as if I was running in shallow water, I reached the battlefield.

''--I'm not the enemy!　I'll help you right away!

　The first thing I did was to declare that I had no intention of being hostile.
　In some cases, I would be treated like a hyena and risk being attacked.

　While making the declaration, I approached the enemy.

　Things are getting worse.
　The boy who was being held is approaching the monster's huge mouth.
　If you look closely, you can see that in the short time that we've been here, the girl who was forced to go, has also been captured.

The girl who was being forced to do this has also been captured.

　As soon as I cast a spell, the military monsters, who have noticed my intrusion, reach out to capture me.

　I dodge them with minimal movement, cutting down anything that stands in my way as I push forward towards the giant monster.

　First I reach the girl who is caught by the tentacles and is about to be thrown into the air, and I slash at the tentacles with my sword.
　I quickly put the sword back in its sheath and hold the falling girl in my arms.

''Kya--...... eh?''

　The girl didn't seem to know what had happened.
　After a small scream, a question mark appeared.

　Then, after a few moments, the girl blushes as she realizes that I've held her in my arms.

　Immediately I set the girl down on the ground and run.
　The biggest problem is the boy.
　I can't leave this girl alone.

　Any minute now, the boy is about to be thrown into the monster's mouth, and I'm just in time.
　I quickly slice through the tangled tentacles and hold the boy in my arms, protecting him from the monster's huge mouth.

''--You're okay!
Oh, uh, ......

　The boy seemed too scared to speak.
　He was probably a little younger than me at his age. His face was pale and his body was trembling. I'm sure that if this is the case, his body will not be able to move very well.

　Seeing this, I pat the boy's head.

It's all right now. It's not a problem. So stay away from me for a while.
Ah, ah, yes ......

　I smiled as best I could, trying to appear gentle.
　When the boy saw my face, he nodded and stepped backwards.

　Then I turn my body back to face the monster.

　The subordinate was an octopus, but its master, the monster, was something else.
　The countless tentacles are reminiscent of an octopus, but the part that hits its body is reminiscent of a crustacean, looking like a combination of an octopus and a shrimp. With an uncanny clinking sound, what looked like a crustacean's legs were wriggling around its huge mouth.

　It's probably about five meters in size.
　Most of it is a mouthful of monster.

　It's one of the most creepy monsters I've ever seen.

''--!

　I held my breath and ran out, first with my sword, scraping around its unpleasant mouth.
　Then the tentacles, sensing the danger of the main body, gathered towards me.

　From the looks of it, the main body is dull and the tentacles seem to be the mainstay of the monster. It can be seen from its features that it is aquatic. However, it doesn't seem to be using any special abilities.

　I slice through the tentacles one after another, and finally slice the main body's mouth to the side. Then I find what I think are sensory organs, eyes and air holes, and crush them.
　Then, when the monster screamed and stopped moving, it jumped on top of the huge body and stabbed its sword through the brain.



　The monster let out a screeching sound.
　I refocused my efforts on the sword I'd stabbed into the brain and sliced it vertically. I felt the touch of a deadly blow and quickly moved away from the monster.

　The monster's body fluids poured out of it like a fountain and its huge body fell to the ground.
　Following it, the countless tentacles also stopped moving, and shortly afterwards, everything turned into light and disappeared.


[The title 'Darkness of the Deep Sea' has been acquired.
　A correction of +0.01 is added to your skill level


　After witnessing the 'display', I turn my attention to the surrounding military personnel.
　The genders in the labyrinth do not disappear even if the Lord falls. On the contrary, they are furiously attacking me for killing him.

　Good.
　The monsters that had been fighting with my party of four are now coming towards me, so it seems there will be no more deaths.

　I'm going to cut down the approaching monsters.
　Although they make use of their soft bodies to attack me, their movements are slow.
　If I had deployed Dimension Decisive Arithmetic (Gradiate), there was no reason to fall behind.

　The moment they reached me, the monsters were slashed, crumbled, and turned into light and disappeared.
　It didn't take long to finish the annihilation.

''--Ha, haha, haha!

　However, although he didn't take any damage, he breathes on his shoulder.

　As I breathe, I use my magic to make sure that there are no more monsters around me. The only thing left on the scene is one party and a magic stone that fell into the shallow waters of the corridor.

　Somehow, I think I can sleep in peace ...... tonight.

''Oh, um, ......!

　As I was reassured, one of the party approached me.

　It's the first girl I saved.
　She has long golden hair in twin tails - she is quite a fashion pointy girl. All she wears are expensive looking things, and she wears clothes that are disproportionate to the labyrinth. I thought it looked like a school uniform. It's a fine indigo-colored outfit, with an emphasis on cleanliness and practicality.

'...... Um. It looked dangerous, so I saved you, but no?

　I had no idea what to expect after I saved him.
　So a strange word comes out of his mouth.

　When the girl heard that, she shook her face, as if she was impatient.

''Yi, no!　That's not true!

　No, I don't, huh?

　It's the first time I've ever heard someone speak in both worlds combined. No, I've heard it in stories and games before, but I'm surprised to see a real live person who actually speaks.

'...... so. That's good to hear.
'Thank you so much for saving me from a dangerous situation. I can't believe you were able to defeat that ferocious monster in an instant: ....... If you'd like, I'd be happy to hear your name, if you'd like, .......

　The girl's eyes sparkle and she asks me for my name.
　Her cheeks are high from earlier, and her nasal passages appear to be slightly inflated. To put it simply, she seems to be in a state of excitement.
　Her neat face, like that of a deep-windowed daughter, is ruined.

'I, no, I don't need to call myself--'

　I don't want to get in trouble, and I've decided not to say my name. But then I'd have to use the phrase "not enough to say my name". It's a common phrase in stories, but for some reason it was embarrassing for me to use it when I did. That's why I was stuck for words in the middle of the story.

'Oh no, please ....... Your name is ......!
'Oh, yes. Christ.

　The girl's swordsmanship pushes her to say her name.

'Well, you say your name is Christ. How beautiful it sounds.

　The girl ruminates on my name with an ecstatic expression.

　-- Ah, what a bad person this is.

　My first impression of the girl was summed up in that one word.
　And that impression was not wrong, and I would soon regret that I should have walked away in silence.