The Church of the Sun God's Tyranny

From the fifth floor, enemy strength jumped dramatically.

The Lizards grew massive, their hides even harder.

Azu and Elza could no longer land decisive blows, and they started falling behind on kills.

Even with blessings, it took too long to finish them off.

Azu gave up trying to kill them herself and committed fully to the vanguard decoy role, leaving Alexia's magic as the main source of damage.

Alexia's mood improved considerably once she was free to unleash her magic at full blast, and her complaints dropped off with it. A welcome side effect.

Unlike a pure mage, Alexia could fight back with her battle-axe when engaged, and by wreathing the axe in magic, she maintained impressive killing power.

A pseudo magic sword… no, a pseudo magic battle-axe. Watching it in action, Azu stared with open envy.

"I'm afraid this isn't something I can cast on other people's weapons."

"Aww…"

"You do get rather childish sometimes. Oh, right… you are the youngest among us."

"Pouty Azu-chan is adorable."

Elza gazed at Azu dreamily.

Alexia recoiled at the sight.

After some initial fumbling with the new tactics, they were soon advancing smoothly again.

"Alexia-san, how's your mana?"

"Fine. Thanks to this brooch, fire spells cost me almost nothing. It's a magnificent magic tool."

"That's good."

"Why are you the one looking pleased?"

The sixth floor's deepest chamber.

They arrived at the room where the Ore Labyrinth's master awaited.

"Everyone doing alright? Then let's go."

Azu opened the massive door.

The room beyond was a fairly spacious chamber. At its center sat a Black Great Lizard several times Azu's size.

Well, "sat" wasn't quite right. It was scraping the ground with its hard fangs and eating it.

The door closed behind them. The Black Lizard finally noticed the intruders.

Azu pointed her sword at the Lizard, and Elza blessed and enhanced her.

Alexia sighed and began chanting a fire spell.

Boosted by the blessing, Azu's speed had grown enormously since entering this labyrinth. Partly from the experience gained through Lizard kills, but also because she'd refined how she used her power.

The Black Lizard's attacks couldn't touch her.

Its long tail, its crushing jaws, its stomping limbs: she evaded them all.

Azu slashed whenever she found an opening, but the hide was tough.

Its hardness rivaled the Giant Centipede that had nearly killed her.

But it didn't feel as dangerous, Azu thought.

There was none of that despair.

She managed to nick it a few times and, satisfied with that much, fell back into her decoy role.

Where Azu could barely scratch it, Alexia's magic was devastating.

Each direct hit drew a massive shriek from the Black Lizard.

Every time it tried to charge Alexia, Azu slashed at its wounds to redirect its fury.

When a tail whip came during a chant, Elza deflected it beautifully.

Seeing this, Alexia muttered "gorilla woman" under her breath, but Elza turned around and answered with a smile.

"This priestess is terrifying…"

Alexia composed herself and prepared a higher-tier spell to finish the job.

Sensing mortal danger, the Black Lizard scooped up boulders in its jaws and hurled them at Alexia.

Azu placed herself between Alexia and the projectiles, assuming the same stance as the Ash King.

Alexia was mid-chant and couldn't move.

Elza couldn't grab Alexia and get clear in time.

The Black Lizard was already loading the next volley.

Knock the boulders away, then finish it with magic.

Azu made her decision.

She recalled the Ash King's movements and unleashed the sword technique she'd practiced endlessly.

She cleaved the first boulder, deflected the second with a return stroke. Then the next, and the next.

By following the logic of the blade, waste fell away from Azu's swordsmanship.

Compared to the Ash King's technique, hers was hopelessly crude, but Azu intercepted every last boulder.

Before the Black Lizard could launch another volley, Alexia's chant completed.

"—By my prayer. With the vow of scorching flame, be embraced by the King of Fire."

High magic, classified among the greater spells.

A spell Alexia normally couldn't have cast on her own, but more than enough to end the Black Lizard.

The charred hulk collapsed to the ground.

The smell of burning filled the air.

Azu's group allowed themselves a brief moment of relief and caught their breath.

Alexia used a spell to clean the air, sparing them the stench of charred flesh. A small mercy.

Ignoring the dead Black Lizard, they searched the room.

They'd been told the boss chamber always contained a treasure chest, but…

There was a small chest tucked in the back.

Inside sat a small but solid lump of pure gold.

Its brilliance was dazzling.

They packed it away, and Azu stood.

They'd collected all the ore they needed. The rucksacks were stuffed with silver ore.

With this gold nugget, the run was complete.

"Come to think of it, the labyrinth doesn't disappear even though we killed the boss."

Azu voiced the thought aloud.

Elza answered.

"It's the opposite. The catacombs kept their form because of the monster living in them. Once the master was gone, the structure couldn't hold. But here, as long as the labyrinth exists, a new master will always be born from among the Lizards. So it won't vanish."

"… Um."

"I have no idea what you two are on about, but the point is this place technically doesn't have a master. That's why it won't disappear."

"Ah, I see."

Azu nodded agreeably.

Alexia drove her battle-axe into the ground and leaned on it.

Then she sighed.

As they were packing up to leave, a commotion came from the entrance.

Azu gripped her sword and took a stance.

The other two went on guard as well.

They held their positions, eyes fixed on the doorway, until a group of men filed in.

The men were well-equipped and clearly not ordinary adventurers.

The tallest among them stepped forward and surveyed the Black Lizard's corpse.

"Hmmmmmm? Well, well, well."

After studying the body with interest, he finally seemed to notice Azu's group.

He spread his arms wide with theatrical flair.

"Prior patrons, I see. Young ladies, no less. Lucky or unlucky, I wonder… In any case, the Church of the Sun God will be reserving this labyrinth going forward. I must ask you to leave promptly."

"Reserving a labyrinth? That's—"

"We have authorization. You've already dispatched the master, so you have no further business here, yes?"

"… I suppose not."

They had no room to argue.

The men were armed, and they had the numbers advantage.

At least they didn't seem inclined to pick a fight as long as Azu's group backed down.

Azu made eye contact with the other two and they stood down.

"How agreeable. Splendid. Would you be willing to part with this carcass?"

"How much will you pay?"

"My, my. Hmmmm… Three gold coins. You can't exactly haul it out yourselves, can you?"

"Deal."

Azu pocketed the gold coins and left the room.

"Oh, I nearly forgot. I am Evris, Temple Knight of the Church of the Sun God."

After that, they rushed out of the labyrinth before anyone could change their mind.

Days later, the Ore Labyrinth was sealed off to all other adventurers, just as Evris had said.

The official reasons cited were some accident or another, all flimsy pretexts.

Azu found herself wondering whether adventurers were truly as free as people claimed.