Hey, will you answer me, Elf Woman?
Dressed like an a**h*le.
You're not ready for the Great Maze, kid. Go home.

　You're tangled up in this.
　There are over 10,000 adventurers in this labyrinthine town.
　Naturally, there are the bad guys too.
　I remember Lucas-san threatening me, "A young party like you guys will definitely get tangled up with them.
　Come to think of it, the Adventurer's Guild of McAllen were all good people.
　They even gave us two weird names.

　Nevertheless, the way to deal with a situation like this is to not be sneaky anyway.
　I'm an Iron Rank adventurer.
　Let's be magnanimous.
　In order to say something back, I set the 'Clear Water' skill to 99% and breathed in heavily.

''Huh?　What are you talking about?　We're adventurers who took down the Gryphon in McAllen!　I don't care about small fry like you!　Go away, shush.
Oh, hey. Lucy.
　Lucy is dependable in these situations.
　At any rate, her attitude is bigger than anyone else's.
　But don't you think you're being too aggressive?

"What?
　Sure enough, the grim face of the grim man in front of him turned grim.
　He pulled out the sword at his waist.
　Oh come on, you're being too short-tempered.

''Who says I'm a small fry?　What?
You're the gryphons?　You can lie a little better than that.
You're a cheeky little brat.
　He is surrounded by grinning, goons.

　The guild begins to buzz.
　Maybe the guild staff will stop it in a while, though.
　I feel like I'm going to be licked in the future if that's the case.

　It seems that the other party isn't stupid enough to suddenly cut me off.
　Maybe the young adventurer got a little too cocky for him to back down.
　I take a step forward to protect Lucy.
　In front of me, a drawn sword is shining.
　What a mess.

It's a pretty nice sword.
'Ha!　No wonder.　This is the best armorer in the Land of the Sun (Highlands)...
　The thug adventurer got good at it and tried to explain it to me.

--Shallan, and draws his dagger.
I sliced through it.

　It cut like butter.
--It's a good idea to be able to have a good idea of what you're looking for.

　I'm sure you'll be able to find a way to make the most out of your time with this dagger," he said.

''Ahhhh, my mithril magic sword aaaaaaaaaaah!
　The thug adventurer screamed.
　Geez, it was mithril material?
　That was indeed a bad idea.

　Weapons made of mithril are insanely expensive.
　But the bad thing is that they got involved first.
　Let's see if we can't get a handle on this.

"You're using an inferior quality sword. It's disgusting to see an inferior product being cut by such a dagger.
　I tell him in as sarcastic a manner as possible.
''Te Te........''
You guys got into this first, didn't you?　We're disciples of Lucas Dalmore of McAllen. If you're selling a fight to us, you're selling a fight to Master Lucas.
'Gee, Lucas the dragon hunter...'　

　This whole idea of being Lucas's apprentice thing isn't true.
　He's a swordsman and I'm a wizard.
　I've heard that Lucas has a reasonably high profile in the Grand Maze.
　I've been told I can use his name if I get in trouble with some rogue adventurer.

"Tsk, tsk, tsk, tsk. Let's go, boys.
d*mn it.
　The goons left.
　Oh, Lucas' name is as good as it gets, isn't it?
　Huh, I was nervous.

"Makoto was a disciple of Lucas-san?
　You're carefree.
　I don't know who's to blame for the near-collapse.
I'll explain later, all right? Let's get out of here.
'What?　Hey, don't pull me!
　Lucy and I left the Adventurers' Guild.

　◇　

Hmmm, I didn't know you were so famous, Mr. Lucas.
Apparently every adventurer a long time ago knew Lucas the dragon hunter (dragon slayer).
You're right, there have been a lot of requests for dragon slayers. Mr. Lucas.
　It reminded me of the various sagas I'd heard about in the McAllen stalls.

'Well, let's take a light dive into the dungeon. It's only light.
'Yes!　It's exciting!
　Head to the entrance to the huge dungeon at the back of the town.

　At the entrance of Lavulinthos, the receptionist of the Adventurer's Guild is counting the entrants.
　In the great labyrinth where people go missing almost every day, it seems that the guild is always checking who comes and goes.
　It's kind of like an amusement park.

　We told the receptionist that it was a day trip adventure.
　If we don't return until tomorrow, we'll be on the adventurer's guild's missing list.

'Hey, Makoto. Which way do you want to go?
Hmmm, yes.
　I was troubled while looking at the Labyrinth Map (upper level) that was sold at the guild.
　Honestly, the upper level has been fully explored, and there are few unexplored areas.

　Where should I go?

　Left: Green Cave ←←
　Middle: Water Cave
　Right: Cave of Fire

'Oh, long time no see' RPG player skills.
'What did you say?'
No, whatever. Then let's go to the water cave.
Well, it's true, isn't it?

　The entrance to the huge dungeon (cave) is divided into three parts.
　I chose the most suitable path.　　

　The Water Cave, as its name suggests, has waterways and streams running along its sides.
　Its water source is water seeping out of the walls of the cave.
　Hence the water cave.

The constantly flowing water has eroded the walls of the dungeon, making them brittle and vulnerable to strong impacts. That's why we can't use Lucy's 'Meteorite Drop' because it's vulnerable to a strong impact.　
'Yes!　Yes.
'You didn't hear Marie's explanation...'
　Sigh.

'The demons in the upper levels are weak, you know. I don't think it's a problem.
But there's a minotaur. That's a high class, right?
The minotaur guards the stairs leading down to the middle level.　It's like he's inspecting the adventurers on their way down the stairs.
Hmm.
　Puddles of water, large and small, spread out under my feet.
　I stomped my way through them, chomping on them.

'Yo, now?'
Hi. Are you back?
　On the way, I was approached by a returning party.
　I could also see other adventurers' figures in the dungeon.

　It's indeed the busiest dungeon on the continent.
　According to rumors, there are also bold businessmen who set up shop inside the dungeon.
　By the way, the prices of goods are said to be 10 times higher than those outside the dungeon.

"Demons are becoming more and more active these days, you have to be careful. Be careful.
Is this a sign that the Great Demon Lord is back?
Don't be so scared. Bye.
Yeah, thanks for the heads up.
　He waved his hand in a flutter and thanked her.　

　◇

Hooray.
　He wandered through the dungeon, creeping up behind Kobold.
　I created a fog to take away his vision, and used my 'Covert' skill to muffle the sound.
　With the Goddess's dagger, I finished him off.

'It's done, Lucy.
This is no different than hunting goblins.
　Lucy's lips twitched in frustration.
　'All that comes out is a scattering of slime, goblins and mooks.

'Well, I don't need to bring out Lucy's magic if it's this bad.
You could say that, but you know what?
　Well, it was definitely a bit of a letdown.
　The dungeons are large and there are many types of demons, though.
　The Demon Forest was more crunchy in this one.


''Gaaaaaaaah!''

　A scream rang out.

''Lucy!''
Let's go!　True!
No, I'm not going.
　What's he talking about?

'You don't have to go.'
Yeah. You're not going to help?
The traceability skills confirmed it. If you ignore them, they're coming to you. Keep the chanting on.　Small rockshot.
Okay!

　Keen, the 'Danger Sensing' skill echoes in my head.
(This sound is a higher class of demon.)

　The upper level of the Great Maze Labyrinth Labyrinth.
　Originally, this is a level where only small fry are present.
　However, there is only one type of higher class demon.

''They're here!
The Minotaur!

　An upper level gatekeeper appeared.
　In both hands, a great axe.
　There's one.

I thought they were only at the back of the dungeon!
Maybe it's a stray. Or maybe it's the result of demon activity.

　He held up the Goddess's dagger as if in prayer.

　It's starting to look like a great labyrinth.