Master of the Floor

Despite no one having conquered the Golden Corridor, a fair amount of information about it is publicly known.

This is because Golden Dragon Irina herself disclosed some information when she created the labyrinth.

The common understanding is that she revealed there are fifty floors in total at that time.

And that there is a master of the floor every ten floors.

Advancing through the eighth and ninth floors, territories no one had reached before, the group took breaks between each floor.

The enemies here were completely different from the Labyrinth of Trials in terms of strength. After all, even with three vampires on their side—the same as the final boss from before—the battles took longer.

He had noticed it.

That it would definitely be easier to proceed with just the three of them, the immortal duo of Sei and Mako, plus Lavi in her transformed state.

But that would mean telling the others that they were a burden.

… However, it was also true that the time to tell them was approaching.

The tenth floor.

It was a dome-shaped space with only one monster.

Or should it even be counted as one?

It had a humanoid form.

A living armor… but the magical power it emitted was far too immense for that.

"A Death Knight… Level 200, huh…"

The level wasn't a problem. If it came down to it, they could just have Lavi transform and finish it with a single breath attack.

However, it would be a valuable opponent for giving experience to their companions. That is, if they could ignore its special abilities.

"What should we do?"

"Wait, let me think."

"It has a lot of status ailment attacks. Having our magic power drained just by its gaze is rough."

Both Kukuri and Mako likely knew this from their appraisal.

The problem was the members who didn't have resistance to mental status ailments.

Elves and dwarves might be able to endure them even without such resistances, since they have strong willpower.

But Bungol's stats in that area were average. No, considering his level, they might actually be considered high.

"This isn't like the Labyrinth of Trials. Mako and I will handle this. Rui-san and the others, please deal with it if it comes toward you."

"Understood."

"Ane-deshi…"

"No, Bungol. Just its gaze alone could knock you unconscious."

When Sei looked him in the eyes and said this, Bungol nodded sadly.

"Alright, let's go!"

"Leave it to me!"

The battle unfolded in a confusing manner.

The Death Knight's gaze alone drained Sei and Mako's magic power. But both Sei and Mako had Gifts and skills that allowed their magic power to recover at high speed.

The Death Knight blocked Mako's spear with its shield and clashed its longsword against Sei's katana.

"Your swordsmanship level is way too high. For it to be the same as mine, what kind of origin does this knight have?"

Mako's spear was also enhanced in durability and used a penetration gimmick, but neither was working against the Death Knight.

Simply put, it was strong.

And in complex ways too. They tried to attack from both front and back, but the Death Knight deflected everything by parrying with its shield.

"I guess level 8 shield techniques aren't just for show."

Still, the tide was turning in Sei and Mako's favor.

Attacking from all sides with magic arrows, they pierced every slight opening.

With an unpleasant grinding sound, Sei's katana slid across the Death Knight's armor.

He didn't know what kind of life it had lived, but this Death Knight was experienced in combat.

Well, knowing the divine dragons, they probably had all kinds of connections.

(Still, Master, shields really are useful, you know.)

Ria held the theory that shields were unnecessary, but Sei couldn't master the katana to that extent.

He felt that even magic barriers might be broken against this knight.

After all, the sword it held was emitting magical power.

"A mere magic sword can't beat Master's katana!"

A downward strike. The Death Knight's sword broke in two.

Having lost its weapon, the Death Knight grabbed for Sei's neck. But that was a bad move.

Sei's monstrous strength crushed the knight's gauntlet instead.

The Death Knight had lost its means of attack. Sei raised his katana to deliver the finishing blow.

But from the side, a spirit attacked the knight.

"Huh?"

[Return to the cycle of reincarnation.]

The undead knight's soul transformed into something pure.

Both the armor and shield crumbled away like sand, leaving nothing behind.

"Sorryyy, it looked like you were about to beat it, so I leveled up and…"

Laila looked like she wanted to say "tee-hee," but level-up sickness immediately struck her.

In front of the mirror leading to the eleventh floor, the group was discussing.

Whether to proceed any further with anyone other than the three of them.

"Let me at least check out the eleventh floor…"

After scouting ahead alone, Sei checked his map and immediately returned to the tenth floor.

"No good. From here on, it's a real labyrinth…"

They needed to take the shortest route at the fastest speed.

There was no room to protect anyone.

"From here on, just the three of us will go."

They had decided this beforehand, but he hadn't thought they would have to do it this soon.

"To be honest, I really wanted to bring at least Kukuri…"

Even if they knew where the traps were, there would be no one who could deal with them.

Still, if Lavi transformed into a dragon and trampled through, the traps would be meaningless.

"Then, we leave it to you."

"Understood."

Returning Rui's exaggerated greeting with a bow, Sei looked at the faces of his companions.

"It can't be helped, but tell me about the bosses and enemies later, okay?"

Kukuri grumbled. Gantz and Bungol also looked dissatisfied.

"Don't come crying to me when you're in trouble without a spirit user."

Laila said. Normally, this was a very well-balanced party.

But the level gap wouldn't allow them to proceed any further.

Even vampires, who were semi-immortal, would struggle from here.

"We might come back partway through if it's too much, so please be ready for that."

Sei, Mako, and Lavi placed their hands on the mirror.

The next moment, the three of them vanished from sight.

"Let us return as well. We wouldn't want the floor master to respawn."

At Rui's words, everyone nodded grudgingly.

Glancing back at the mirror to the eleventh floor, the seven of them headed to the surface.

If the labyrinth up to the tenth floor could be called simple, the labyrinth from the eleventh floor onward was complex.

"Just in case, I have armor for Lavi too…"

Lavi put on the leather armor that Sei took out. Honestly, her physical durability was higher, but having her robe torn would be unavoidable.

To make use of a dragon's monstrous strength, he handed her a tower shield and a warhammer normally meant to be wielded with both hands.

"Alright, we're taking the shortest route."

Sei broke into a run, Mako followed, and Lavi brought up the rear.

Fortunately, the labyrinth didn't interfere with the map function, so they truly traveled the shortest distance.

Though if there were too many enemies, they would sometimes take detours.

From the eleventh to thirteenth floors, there were no particularly fierce battles.

From the fourteenth floor, the labyrinth's structure became three-dimensional. Even viewing the map in three dimensions was quite difficult. An ordinary mapper would never be able to chart it.

In that sense, Sei's Map was truly a labyrinth killer.

After two days, they reached the twentieth floor.

The floor master here was an earth dragon.

This is often misunderstood, but an earth dragon is not a true dragon. It's a sub-dragon.

For a high-level party, it was the kind of opponent they wouldn't normally lose to.

However, this floor master appeared to be a special specimen. Not only was its level high, but the area around its neck had complex coloring, allowing it to breathe several types of breath attacks.

Above all, it was enormous.

Its body length must have been at least fifty meters. It had enough durability to deflect ordinary weapons and magic.

But its opponent was simply too much for it.

"Lavi, breath attack."

At the sight of Lavi transformed, the earth dragon clearly cowered.

No matter how much smaller Lavi was than itself, it could sense the immensity of her existence.

The earth dragon tried to unleash its greatest attack, its breath.

Lavi's breath struck directly into its open mouth.

The breath of a sub-dragon versus the breath of a divine dragon. It went without saying which was stronger.

The celestial dragon's breath tore through the poison-and-acid-laden breath.

Of all places, the breath struck directly into its mouth, and the earth dragon died instantly.

"That was lucky."

"Seriously… Lavi, are you tired?"

Lavi gave a small nod, but it was unclear if that was true.

At times like this, it was inconvenient that appraisal didn't work on her.

Either way, a short rest was necessary. They set up a bath and took turns bathing.

Lavi slept with her head on Sei's lap, which made Mako sulk a bit.

In any case, having conquered the twentieth floor, the three of them rested there.

A week passed.

They were definitely clearing at least one floor per day. But the journey had become extremely difficult.

"I'm pretty sure this was designed on the assumption that it couldn't be conquered…"

"It's meant for people at Quorfos-san or Demon King-san's level, right? And Ria-san or Carla-san too."

"Well, if it were Master, of course she could conquer it, but…"

Floors with thin air. Floors with strong gravity. Floors with extremely high temperatures. And conversely, floors submerged in water up to their heads.

There had been all these diverse types of floors before breaking through the thirtieth floor.

And having defeated the Wind Spirit King, the master of the thirtieth floor, the group was resting in front of the mirror.

Honestly, they hadn't expected it to be this harsh.

Both Sei and Mako had taken attacks that killed them several times over. Lavi would immediately transform to provide support, but even she had been wounded, taking attacks to her scales.

"But at least our levels went up…"

Sei and Mako had broken through the milestone of level 200. According to Lavi's self-report, she had also surpassed 150.

Dragons, having high base stats, apparently had difficulty leveling up.

"… Should we go back once?"

"… I'd like to, but challenging this again would be too hard…"

In practical terms, retreating would be meaningless if they couldn't increase their strength.

If they had to call on Ria or Carla, it would be no different from just fighting the evil god from the start.

Having finished resting, the group headed for the thirty-first floor.

It had been dangerous, but from here on it would only become more so.

Sei's death perception wasn't reacting, but without a doubt, the trials ahead would be greater than anything before.