Reaching the end of the cave, we arrived at a vast area like two baseball fields combined, with a towering ceiling and absolutely no natural light. However, unlike the cave we moved through earlier, this place was filled with the light of countless different species of mushrooms. Now not just green, but also purple and blue, creating a colorful, captivating space as if it came out of a fairy tale.
But that's not what we need to care about right now.
It was a swarm of ants, not the tiny cute ants we usually see, but ones as big as a cow. Their mandibles must be as long as Ken's longsword; every time they clamped shut, they left a bone-chilling screeching sound.
Facing that ferocious red ant swarm was a group of three people. Based on their equipment, they were a swordsman, a mage, and a tanker. They were desperately trying to fight back against the giant ants. Additionally, on the ground lay a corpse that had its head sliced off.
Although not very good at Demon God Tongue—the only person practicing with me was Rudeus for the past three years—I could still understand a few things.
"Watch out for the one on the left!"
"Slash at the neck!"
Thanks largely to the efforts of the large tanker guy and choosing a narrow position to minimize the ants' strength, which is their numbers, the group of three adventurers managed to hold a fairly solid defensive position. However, if this drags on, when the tanker becomes exhausted, they will die.
There's actually a group of people. Just like the god in my dream said. But wait… then I should just let them die?
"Should we help them, Ken?" I looked at the person standing observing beside me and asked.
Ken looked down, his eyes showing no sign of sympathy or worry for those people's lives. I could see the cold calculation radiating from the knight's attitude.
"If we do nothing, they will all die." Ken stated his assessment frankly.
"Then we should-"
"But if we suddenly rush in without careful calculation, both of us might be killed." He suddenly cut my words.
"Eh? Why?"
"Because if there's a conflict with those people, the two of us might not win. So my suggestion is wait for one or two more of them to be killed and then intervene. Especially the big guy, we lack the strength to deal with someone like him."
So that must be Ken's point: let them solve the problem themselves, reduce the number to two lives, or even down to just one. Then, with a superior number, we will have a significant advantage in negotiation. A chillingly practical assessment.
"I don't think we should do that…"
"I know it's cruel but it's still a suggestion." Ken shrugged. "You are my master after all, your order is what matter most."
Although that's true but…
"Tch…"
I never thought there would be a day I'd have to make a life-or-death choice for others like this. And the lives of strangers who might be enemies, at that.
Should I follow Ken's advice? And that god in my dream's as well?
The Demon Continent is not a place to joke around. Monsters are one thing; the residents here, if they survive, they must be extraordinary as well. Looking at how that team cooperates, I can understand the only reason they didn't fight that porcupine mole was that the tanker might not withstand an attack from it.
Seeing them retreat immediately upon realizing the issue to avoid casualties showed their professionalism and cold operational method.
So if Ken and I had to face that group of three, we wouldn't be sure of our advantage. But what if they were just normal kind people? So two lives would die just because of my hesitation?
And wouldn't that be something I'd regret?
What about Eris? I certainly couldn't tell her I was cowardly and left others to die. She would definitely despise me!
"Watch out behind!"
Someone down there shouted, signaling the tanker but too late. The head of one of the four was within cutting range of a large ant climbing down from above. All it needed to do was clamp shut, and the massive man's head would shatter.
However, its head was sliced off by a flying sword. The sword flew a bit further, cutting two other distant ants before pinning to the wall.
"Phew..."
I let out a long breath; it seems my sword-throwing skills aren't bad.
"What happened!?"
"Is that Johjoh!?"
The group seemed to have realized Ken and my existence. But it didn't matter. It was my decision. I don't care what that god wants, I will do whatever I deem is the best.
"Please stand still, don't move!"
I shouted and, still in the sword-throwing posture, clenched my fist, pointing my index finger straight down. Mana immediately transmitted into my right hand; the magic circle on the gauntlet began to flash a glowing red-gold color. My hand became unreasonably hot.
"What—"
While the people below were still confused, a fireball appeared in the center of the ant swarm and exploded.
"Explosion!"
Immediately after, another fireball appeared from my left hand. "Fireball!"
Before the flames could even finish exploding, both Ken and I rushed straight down, starting our battle.
Whoosh whoosh*
Clang clang*
We rushed up like two harvesters, continuously cutting away any ant appearing in front.
Just as those people said, the only way to slash through these ants' hard armor is to cut into their joints. Luckily, I'm quite small, so running and jumping around these giant insects was quite easy, so I killed quite a few.
Meanwhile, that guild also started counterattacking, coordinating with us to create a pincer movement, pressing the giant ants.
After just over five minutes, all enemies were destroyed.
A decisive victory.
However, the smell of slime from them made me nauseous, nearly pushing up the 'lunch' I had tried so hard to force down earlier.
I fucking hate this place...
While I was questioning life and whether I was being punished by heaven for hugging a young 12-year-old wife all night, the group of three walked over to us. All three seemed to be of the Demon Race and belonged to species I had seen briefly in books Roxy sent Rudeus. However, since I didn't read carefully, I completely forgot what's special about them, urg...
The swordsman stepped up first; he belonged to some race with a face quite similar to humans. If there was a difference, it was the long black hair wrapping around almost his entire face, making him look quite like a wolverine. However, thanks to pleasant features and big round eyes rather than sharp ones like someone who pops claws from their hands. In short, this friend looked quite gentle.
Beside him was a woman—a mage with a rather slender figure and quite large breasts; she had the face of a cow. So overall, she was like a female version of a Minotaur.
And finally, the large tanker with armor covering from top to bottom. That person also took off their helmet, revealing a head like a rhinoceros with a large horn on the tip of the nose.
The whole group bowed.
"Thank you for your help. Without you two, we would surely have been killed by those monsters." The swordsman spoke up, his voice extremely sincere. "Our party is named The Diggers, and who are you guys?"
With my crappy Demon God Tongue proficiency, I only understood bits and pieces. Plus, with this slightly high-pitched voice, as someone who only practiced with Rudeus alone, it was hard for me to be sure of what I heard. However, thanks to 'Reading' and also hearing roughly half of it, I could guess they were thanking us and asking for names.
So I stepped out, displaying a polite expression and my noble greeting posture perfectly. "My name is Atur, and that knight is Ken. Hello you guys, it's nice to meet you."
Actually, I wanted to say more, but with my ability, I could only say that much. Suddenly I felt a bit regretful for not trying to learn Demon God Tongue better. Sigh... Life is truly full of mistakes.
"My name is Nelu." The swordsman said. His name reminded me of a different species than a wolverine; he extended a hand. "A B-rank adventurer swordsman."
I grasped the hand wrapped in a leather glove and shook it lightly. Nelu then introduced the remaining two.
The mage was named Jikiki, and the tanker was Gangton. Later we learned their party was supposed to have 6 people, with two lives just lost here and one where I appeared.
"We were on a quest to collect ant eggs in this labyrinth when we were ambushed." Nelu sighed. "And this has… happened."
Although I'm no stranger to adventurers losing their lives on missions. After all, back in the Royal Capital or Roa, occasionally a few people lost their lives like that. But seeing with my own eyes like that was indeed a first. Not to mention the possibility that all of them would have died if I hadn't intervened.
I have issues with Asura's system, true, but I have to admit that place being so safe is a big plus. Now I don't know whether to feel unlucky for being teleported here or lucky for being born and raised in Asura…
"You guys don't look like locals." Nelu continued asking, looking a bit suspicious. "Where do you come from?"
"Ah... it's a long story."
Actually, it's quite short, but because I'm terrible at this language, it became a long story. I had to spend quite some time explaining for these people to understand.
"So basically you don't know why you're on the Demon Continent?" Nelu asked, he seemed quite surprised.
After knowing that they understood my situation, I breathed a sigh of relief.
"Yeah, basically. Do you have any idea what happened?" I asked.
"Hmm... I never heard anyone suddenly get teleported like that before." Nelu crossed his arms in thought.
Meanwhile Pikiki, the mage girl, seemed to realize something and raised her hand slightly. "Maybe it's due to a Mana Calamity."
"Mana Calamity?" I asked.
"Yeah." Pikiki nodded. "I'm not sure about the Central Continent, but sometimes in the Demon Continent, every few decades, an inexplicable natural phenomenon like that occurs. Like endless rain, giant tornadoes and stuff, sometimes even fire hail."
Woah what the hell is wrong with this place?
"Like the heavy rain in the Biegoya region recently, right?" Nelu snapped his fingers.
"Yeah, that was also a form of Mana Calamity." Pikiki looked at me. "Maybe something similar happened where you were, so you got teleported here."
So it might be a large-scale disaster? That means not only Ken and I were affected, but maybe everyone in Roa? Eris, Sylphie, and Rudeus's group were near Ghislaine, so they should be safe. If they were teleported together, surely nothing bad happened. But what about Hilda and Philip? If they ended up in a place like me then...
Suddenly I started breaking out in a cold sweat.
Just then, a hand placed on my shoulder. It was from Ken.
"You're worrying again, Young Master." Ken's voice was strangely calm.
"Yeah. Sorry."
I sighed and took a deep breath to try and purge those bad thoughts from my head. Then I recounted what I heard to Ken. He listened with an unchanging expression, as expected.
"That's still a hypothesis, so don't overthink it." Ken said. "The most important thing is still to get out of here and return to Roa."
"You're right." I nodded.
After all, if the worst had happened, I couldn't do anything to change it except change my own fate.
While I discussed with Ken, Nelu's group also began performing burial rites for their teammate. They did just as Ken and I did earlier, taking important equipment and burning the body with fire magic. I don't know how close their relationship was, but Pikiki cried throughout the process.
Seeing that, I also returned the card I had found from the initial corpse to them. A little reward money isn't as important as returning a memento to those who truly value it.
After finishing, everyone decided to sit and rest a bit more before discussing the next steps. Everyone looked ragged right now anyway. I felt a bit tired too, but perhaps due to stress, I didn't dare relax and nod off like Nelu there.
Well, it's because I don't 100% trust them yet. The things that god told me in my dream is still lingering in my thoughts.
"Ah... hey, Atur?"
"Hmm?"
While I was deep in thought, Pikiki—The Diggers' mage girl—suddenly walked closer.
"You're a Magic Swordsman, right?" She asked, her big round eyes clearly showing curiosity. "First time I've seen someone use two spells at the same time. And without chanting too, that's cool..."
Despite the praise, I could sense a bit of discouragement in those words. She must have thought if she were as strong as me, her friends wouldn't have died, right? If so, this wasn't the time to joke about my real class being a 'thief'.
"Ah actually, I can do that thanks to a magic item."
"Magic item?" Pikiki surprised.
"This thing."
I held out my white glove. There was a magic circle engraved on the palm, another on the back of the hand.
"I transmit mana into my hand and just shoot out magic." I explained. "Two hands can use two spells at once."
However, can't I actually use chantless magic? So why go around with this trick?
Actually, everything has a reason; let me explain.
Chantless magic is quite convenient, but it doesn't suit someone like me. First is the pros; the strongest characteristic of chantless magic is the attack speed is faster than chanted magic. However, to boost that speed, the user depends on constant practice to get used to the sensation. I don't have that kind of time, and as everyone knows, my mana pool isn't big enough to practice repeatedly. As a result, my magic usage is pretty sluggish and nowhere near as fancy as how Rudeus does it.
Meanwhile, the other strengths of magic—whether chanted or chantless—are the ability to adjust the power, size, speed, blah blah blah of a spell. But sometimes, that's exactly what slows down the attack speed because the magic needs to be adjusted after it's formed; for a swordsman fighting in close quarters, speed is absolutely critical. If I want to incorporate magic into combat, I need to make it even faster than chantless magic.
So I came up with a way.
Surely everyone remembers the time I gave Eris a glove capable of enhancing strength and adhesion? Yeah, her 10th birthday gift. Honestly, I'm quite proud of it because Eris likes it (I really love my wife). So I spent some time researching and upgrading a few versions.
There was a type where I doubled the destructive power, but that was a bit difficult because daily activities would be problematic. Imagine becoming Superman and unable to control your own strength; casually patting someone on the shoulder would break their bones (sorry Rudeus). Plus, enhancing strength consumes quite a bit of mana, so that thing wasn't very feasible.
So I considered that adhesion feature to see what I could do. To climb walls? Becoming Spiderman is cool too; with it, I would become a true ninja.
However, the truly unorthodox idea must be even more than that.
What if I stick magic circles on it? I thought so and really did it.
The glove was improved to enhance mana absorption with veins inlaid with treant wood. I don't know if it increases the power of spells because I haven't had much time to test it. However, the adhesion worked quite well. I can easily attach and detach magic circles from the back or palm of my hand, thereby executing any magic I want.
Since magic circles don't require the user to think about the feeling or chant, it skips quite a few steps, so using magic is also much faster. I just need to infuse mana, extend my hand, and shout the activation command, and it executes immediately, just like how classic J-RPGs usually do.
So with two hands, I can attach a circle on the back of my hand and one on the palm, meaning I can use four different types of magic in many situations. I can even stick other circles on.
Although this way isn't as versatile as chantless usage, or mana-saving as chanting. Maximizing speed like this suits a swordsman better, so I decided to become a Mega Man like that. Am I like Zero? Holding a sword and shooting magic pew pew, so cool haha!
Back to the situation earlier, after I fired that Explosion spell—an intermediate fire magic—half the ants were destroyed. Normally I shouldn't use such large magic, especially fire type. Because as Ken instructed, fire magic creates deadly poisonous gas; I guessed it was Carbon Monoxide, so I hadn't used magic since teleporting to this labyrinth, only focusing on swordsmanship. However, with this place having a large space plus the magic attack earlier focusing on explosion rather than sustaining combustion, and the ceiling being quite high, the amount of toxic gas created wasn't significant enough to cause harm.
After all, that gas is lighter than normal air and when it's hot, it will rise up; we down on the ground didn't have many problems.
"But doesn't using magic through magic tools cost more mana?" Pikiki asked curiously.
Well that's true but… Hmmm… How to explain this?
Actually, I know how, but my Demon God Tongue is too poor to explain something this complex. So I found an ant leg and started drawing on the ground for illustration, while adding words verbally.
Basically, I didn't just pick up a magic circle from a book and slap it on my hand. I modified it, obviously. So the amount of mana I use for spells through the gauntlet is equivalent to silent casting.
That is the result of years of research. Generally, I'm quite proud of my achievement.
However, my explanation attempt seemed unsuccessful. After nearly an hour and Pikiki still looked blank, I gave up.
So break time was over, others felt more comfortable too.
The Diggers party, after a final discussion, decided to finish their mission. After all, they reached the final floor and couldn't leave. Either way, the last thing to do was harvest ant eggs, so the rest wasn't very dangerous.
Nelu also suggested I join and promised to share the reward money for travel expenses back. Since this mission is B-rank, the reward isn't small, so I agreed and continued deeper into that ant cave.
At that time, I didn't know that was the last chance to escape the nightmare about to come.