Shirou and the others officially arrived at the maze city of Labyrinth.
This is a huge city. The dirt-yellow street scene spreads outward from twelve distinctive white pillars at the center. The buildings are made of mud and materials taken from monsters. Also, because it's located in an oasis, the city is full of green plants, and you can see trees that look like coconuts.
Of course, the most eye-catching thing in the city is undoubtedly the huge monster skeleton, which seems to pierce the sky, covering everything like a dome.
"It's amazing that North God the Second was able to kill such a huge monster."
Rudeus watched the monster's skeleton and made a surprised noise.
Elinalise, also surprised, nodded and said, "It is said that North God the Second had an incredibly exaggerated weapon in his hand that could cut rivers and tear mountains, but these are stories from a long time ago and may be made up. It's easier to kill such a huge monster with magic."
"That's right."
Rudeus nodded. He thought that this monster named Behemoth was most likely killed directly by a king-level, or even higher-level, grand magic.
Ordinary weapons, even if used by a Sword God, probably couldn't kill such a terrifying monster.
Shirou didn't comment on the two's opinions.
Because he had learned from North God the Second himself that he once owned a weapon called the King Dragon Sword, made by a god-level smith, with extremely great power.
If that King Dragon Sword was really as powerful as North God the Second himself said, maybe it could really kill such a huge monster with one strike.
While wandering through the town of Labyrinth, Shirou and the others also learned more about the maze city's stories.
It is said that the maze city of Labyrinth was born because North God the Second didn't properly dispose of the body after defeating Behemoth, causing the huge monster's body to nourish the monsters in this land.
Since monsters become stronger by eating the meat of powerful monsters, the monsters in this area became powerful after being nourished. In addition, since most monsters in the desert environment are insects, and insects naturally like to dig out a lot of nests, the number of monster nests here is terrifyingly high.
After a long period of time, many insects died out, and the nests changed, causing them to turn into mazes.
Due to the large number of mazes clustered together, adventurers began to gather in this city, along with various merchants who provided support for the adventurers, filling the market.
Adventurers obtain magic crystals, weapons, and magic tools from the mazes and sell them to the merchants.
The merchants provide various supplies and goods, relying on each other.
Gradually, the once deserted city developed into a huge metropolis, and the maze city of Labyrinth was born.
It developed rapidly, almost becoming a paradise for powerful adventurer teams and merchants.
However, to come here, you must have knowledge and other abilities for traveling in the desert. Many ignorant adventurers and merchants died in the dry desert before even setting foot in Labyrinth.
As the saying goes, risk and reward go hand in hand.
…
After arriving on the streets of Labyrinth, Shirou and the others didn't hesitate and immediately went to find Paul's team, heading straight to the Adventurers' Guild.
As they approached the Adventurers' Guild, more adventurers dressed in familiar styles began to appear.
Each adventurer looked battle-hardened, and their strength was clearly much higher than that of adventurers in the Northern Continent.
If you were to compare the quality of adventurers, probably only the Demon Continent could match it.
Shirou was wondering where to find Paul and the others when he suddenly heard a conversation from nearby.
"Hey, I'm begging you! Just participate in this one hunt!"
"I can't, I can't."
"Can't you help? Time is of the essence!"
"Time is of the essence? The person you're looking for might already be dead in the maze."
"No, they definitely aren't dead yet! And even if they are, we at least have to find the body... I'm begging you. I asked you because I value your Sword God Style upper-level skills. Having you there would make it much easier to attack the maze."
"Sorry, find someone else. I don't want to die yet."
After a heated argument, a beast-race adventurer strode out of the Adventurers' Guild, his face full of bad luck.
At the same time, behind him, Paul and his companions looked helpless, even bitter.
"Tch! Cowardly bastard! How can a guy like that even be an adventurer!"
Paul angrily clicked his tongue, but his face showed more powerlessness and helplessness.
Behind him, Viera and Sylphy, the search team members, also looked worried. Geese, whom Shirou had met in the beast-race village, and the maid Lilia were also there. They and a few other unfamiliar faces also looked bitter.
"Looks like they're at their wit's end."
Elinalise, seeing this, waved her hand and stepped forward, "Hey, Paul, Geese, I brought people."
"E, Elinalise?"
Seeing Elinalise's appearance, Paul was stunned and then asked in surprise, "Didn't you send Norn and Aisha to magic university? Why are you back so soon? Did something dangerous happen to them..."
Paul immediately showed a look of nervousness and worry.
This was normal.
Generally speaking, it takes at least a year or two to travel back and forth between the Beqaritt Continent and the magic university, but Elinalise returned in less than half a year, far exceeding the time frame, so Paul naturally suspected that Elinalise had encountered danger on the way, and that Norn and Aisha were also in trouble.
Elinalise quietly said, "Don't worry, Norn and Aisha are both safe and sound. Nothing bad happened on the way, and I also called in reinforcements."
"Reinforcements?"
Paul was stunned at first, then looked behind Elinalise.
When he saw Shirou, he was stunned for a moment, and then showed an excited expression.
It wasn't the kind of attitude a father would have when seeing his son, but Paul obviously couldn't care less about his fatherly dignity at the moment. He ran over excitedly and grabbed Shirou's hand.
"Shirou, you're here?! That's great, that's really great! If you're here... Waaah..."
As Paul spoke, he couldn't help but shed tears.
He had obviously suffered a lot of torment and pain during this time. The situation of trying to recruit strong people to support him but failing to do so had probably happened countless times. Seeing his Sword Saint-level son arrive, his heart was undoubtedly relieved on the spot.
"Paul, it's okay."
Shirou habitually patted Paul's shoulder and then said, "And it's not just me who came, Rudeus came to help too."
"Rudeus?"
Paul then looked at the boy next to Shirou.
Because the father and son hadn't seen each other since the great transfer, Paul didn't recognize Rudeus at first.
"..."
The father and son had not seen each other for a long time, and could only stare awkwardly at each other for a moment, but with a simple trigger, they both laughed.
The atmosphere on the scene also suddenly relaxed.
…
As the joy of reunion faded with time.
Shirou took the lead in asking, "What's the situation now?"
"As you can see, it's quite difficult."
Paul frowned, "Zenith is trapped in the deepest part of the maze. This is the information we got from other adventurers, but we've tried to attack that maze several times without success. Because we're worried that Zenith might be in danger at any time, we've been trying our best to gather strong people, trying to pull together a powerful team to attack the maze, but most people gave up as soon as they heard the name of the maze."
"Gave up? Is that maze very difficult?"
"Difficulty level S, it's one of the most dangerous mazes around here."
Paul looked bitter and said, "It's called the Teleportation Maze. It's a famous death trap in the maze city of Labyrinth. Even the strongest S-class adventurer teams won't attack that kind of maze."
"S-class? Teleportation Maze?"
Hearing the maze's information, Shirou couldn't help but frown.
He has some experience as an adventurer, but he has never attacked a maze before, so he doesn't really know what difficulty level S is.
But considering his and Rudeus's strength, plus Paul, a strong Swordsman, there shouldn't be any reason why they can't attack the maze.
"Shirou, don't be careless."
Paul saw what Shirou was thinking and quickly said, "The roads in the Teleportation Maze are completely connected by teleportation magic circles. If you step on the wrong magic circle, you'll be teleported to a completely unfamiliar place. Roxy ended up like that because she fell into a trap..."
"Wait, Roxy?"
Hearing Roxy's name, Shirou immediately interrupted Paul.
He then noticed that Paul and the others looked quite gloomy, and immediately realized that Roxy's situation might be quite bad.
As expected, he heard bad news from Paul.
After getting information about Zenith, Paul and the others rushed into the Teleportation Maze in a hurry. As a result, they stepped on many traps because they hadn't prepared well. Roxy was also suddenly teleported away by a teleportation magic circle, and was forced to leave the group.
The reason Paul and the others were frantically gathering strong people was not to rescue Zenith, but to rescue Roxy as soon as possible.
"Let's go now!"
Learning that Roxy was in danger, Shirou made a decision immediately without thinking.
Rudeus next to him also nodded quickly, not wanting Roxy, who taught him magic, to be in danger.
"Calm down, Shirou."
Paul said in a low voice, "We can't let impatience cloud our judgment. If we lose more people due to traps, we're completely doomed."
"I know what you're worried about, Paul."
Shirou quietly said, "But don't worry, the situation is different now, because we're all here. You're not fighting alone."
"..."
Hearing Shirou's words, huge tears flowed from Paul's eyes again.
This man, who was already a father, had now completely forgotten his dignity as a father, and only felt endless emotion and a sense of security from the bottom of his heart.
"Yeah, that's right, I'm not fighting alone anymore."
Paul wiped the tears from the corners of his eyes, and a slightly calm smile reappeared on his face.
As the leader of a top adventurer team, he naturally knew that you should never be discouraged at any time. You need to be confident forever to lead the team forward.
The group immediately organized the team and began preparing for the maze exploration.
The members participating in the maze exploration totaled six people: Paul, Shirou, Rudeus, Elinalise, Geese, and Tallhand.
The reason there were so few people was because the passages in the maze were narrow, and even if it was a multi-person team, they would only get in each other's way. It's better to reduce the team size and operate with elites.
Among them, Tallhand was Paul's former teammate, an S-class adventurer, and a Mine Clan member. It is said that he not only has intermediate combat abilities, but also knows intermediate magic.
Geese, another of Paul's teammates, has average combat ability, but can handle trivial matters other than combat to a high standard, including confirming maps, setting the direction of advance, managing food, filtering and stripping materials, and even judging when to retreat from the maze. He is a very powerful support.
After establishing the start of the maze exploration, the team didn't want to waste any time and quickly took action.
Shirou and the others quickly arrived at the location of the maze and prepared to explore the maze and find Roxy.
On the way to the Teleportation Maze, Shirou accidentally heard a rumor that, besides their team, a new adventurer also wanted to attack the Teleportation Maze.
Most people looked down on the newcomer who was alone and wanted to challenge the maze, and the person looked very young, and didn't seem to have much skill.
The adventurers all thought that the guy wouldn't survive a day in the maze.
Shirou was a little concerned about this rumor, because he had experienced the complex ecology of the Beqaritt Continent and knew that this desert could not be overcome and crossed alone.
If that adventurer really crossed the endless desert alone and came to the maze city of Labyrinth on his own, he would definitely not be an ordinary person.
However, because it was just a common rumor, Shirou didn't pay too much attention to it. He still focused his energy on rescuing Roxy.
"Are you ready?"
After arriving at the entrance to the Teleportation Maze, Paul held his twin swords and spoke with high spirits.
Shirou nodded and looked ahead, finding that the entrance was just a dark cave with nothing special about its appearance.
But if you look closely, you can see the terrifying magical power emanating from it.
Soon, after everyone said they were ready, the team walked straight into the cave, officially beginning their attack on the Teleportation Maze.
---
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