They found themselves in a large dome-shaped cavern. Directly above them was the hole they’d fallen through. Due to some trick of magic, the water didn’t cascade through it. Not a single drop fell through as the water swayed to and fro within the top half of the hole.
“I guess this is where things get serious. Looks like we’re not underwater anymore, either.”
“It’s better that it’s not all underwater.”
Hajime put the submarine back into his Treasure Trove and called out to Yue before they advanced.
“Yue.”
“Okay.” Yue immediately deployed a barrier around them.
A second later, jets of water slammed into it from above. It was the same Rupture spell Yue had made use of back in the Reisen Gorge. The water jets had enough force behind them to cut people to ribbons, but Yue’s barriers, even makeshift ones, were made of tougher stuff. It easily deflected the barrage of water jets. Hajime had instantly detected the surprise attack, and Yue had easily picked up on Hajime’s thoughts. Their superhuman combination made surprise attacks largely ineffective. Naturally, Shea and Tio had sensed the attack coming too, so they weren’t surprised in the slightest.
However, Kaori wasn’t on that level.
“Kyaaa!?” She screamed in surprise and staggered backward. Hajime caught her as she stumbled.
“I-I’m sorry.”
“Eh, don’t worry about it.”
She glanced at Hajime, pale-faced. Normally, she’d be blushing at the opportunity to be in his arms, but right now she was just depressed at being the only member of the party to be shaken by the attack.
She was also still in shock at how amazing Yue’s magic skills were.
Back when she’d been in Kouki’s party, Kaori had often supplemented Suzu’s barriers with her own, so she knew a fair amount about defensive magic. She’d trained herself to death in order to reduce her casting time for barrier spells to the same level as Suzu’s.
Compared to Yue though, Kaori’s skills were nothing.
She’d felt like this when Hajime had saved her back in the Great Orcus Labyrinth too. That feeling of inferiority she’d pushed down to convince herself she was fit to travel with Hajime reared its ugly head once more.
Am I just slowing everyone down? That thought whirled around her mind.
“What’s wrong?”
“Huh? Oh, it’s nothing.”
“If you say so...”
Kaori forced herself to smile. Hajime narrowed his eyes, but he didn’t say anything.
Kaori felt both a little disappointed and a little relieved that he didn’t push the issue. She noticed Yue, who was still fending off the torrent of deadly water, staring at her. It felt as though Yue was seeing right through her. Angry, Kaori glared right back.
She wouldn’t let Yue make fun of her feelings any longer. If she let Yue walk all over her, she wouldn’t be fit to even call herself Yue’s rival.
She absolutely couldn’t let that happen.
Yue just smiled faintly at Kaori and turned her attention back to the ceiling. Tio unleashed a gout of flames at the same time, caking the ceiling with fire. Monsters dropped to the ground, burnt to a crisp.
At a glance, they looked almost like barnacles. They were likely what had been unleashing those water jets. They’d been hiding inside the cracks in the ceiling, which was why Kaori hadn’t noticed them. Now that they’d been burned to death, they looked rather disgusting.
It seemed sea creatures like these were especially weak to fire. Tio’s Spiral Blaze had taken them all out in one shot.
With the barnacles dead, the party was free to advance further into the cavern. The passage was narrower than the cavern they’d landed in, and was filled knee-deep with water.
“Grr...” Yue growled to herself. She was so short that the water came up to her waist, which made walking difficult. Hajime nodded to her, then lifted her onto his shoulders.
“H-Hajime... This is a little embarrassing.”
“But it looks like the water gets deeper further in. Besides, don’t you like it more up here?”
“I guess...”
The party continued wading through the water. Yue blushed, feeling like a little child. She wrapped her thighs around Hajime, hugging him tight. Shea and the others didn’t seem jealous at all. In fact, they were all snickering. They gave Yue looks that were full of pity.
Yue felt even more embarrassed, and shrunk back. Hajime had never seen her like this.
“Hehehe, you look really cute right now, Yue-san.”
“Ugh...”
“I see you’ve taken over Myu’s favorite spot.”
“Ngh...”
“Fufufu... Should we start calling you Yue-chan from now on?”
“Do you want to die, Kaori?”
“How come I’m the only one you’re yelling at!?”
Yue blushed with embarrassment, but when Kaori joined in on the ribbing her glare turned stone cold. Hajime watched the exchange with a laugh.
Their lighthearted banter came to an abrupt end when another wave of monsters assaulted them.
These monsters resembled shuriken. They came spinning at Hajime and the others. Hajime calmly unholstered Donner and shot them all down. As they fell lifeless to the ground, Hajime realized they were actually starfish who had been spinning so fast they looked like shurikens.
Yue noticed a horde of sea snakes slithering toward them right after, and skewered the lot of them with ice spears.
“Aren’t these a little too weak?” Everyone except Kaori nodded.
Normally, the monsters that appeared in labyrinths were dangerously powerful on their own, or had abilities that made them annoying in groups. Or both. However, the monsters they faced were around the same level as the monsters who’d attacked the sub when the underwater volcano had spit them out. In fact, they might have even been a little weaker. Certainly nowhere near labyrinth level.
Only Kaori, who didn’t have any experience with labyrinths, wasn’t confused by their weakness. But they didn’t have to ponder for long, as the answer was revealed in the next room.
“What the...” The corridor opened up in a massive room. As they walked inside, a translucent, jelly-like substance blocked the passage forward.
“I’ll get it! Oryaaah!” Shea leaped forward and smacked the jelly wall with Drucken. Some of the jelly at the surface of the wall scattered, but the blockade itself remained in place. Some of the jelly splashed onto Shea’s chest.
“Hyawah! What is this stuff!?” She screamed in surprise. Hajime and the others turned to her. The jelly had begun melting through her clothes. Her voluptuous cleavage came into view as the cloth covering it melted away.
“Shea, don’t move!” Tio burned away the jelly with masterfully controlled fire magic. A few stray flames singed Shea’s skin, making it turn red, but the fire otherwise hit only the jelly. It appeared the jelly had caustic properties.
“Watch out!” The party leaped away from the wall, but this time countless tentacles came down from the ceiling. The tentacles’ tips were pointed, like a spear, but they were made of the same jelly as the wall, which meant they were likely just as dangerous. Yue hurriedly jumped off Hajime’s shoulders and deployed a barrier above the party. Tio cast her flame breath at the same time, burning the tentacles away.
“Man, the combination of Yue’s barriers and Tio’s fire is broken.” An ironclad wall combined with one of the most powerful attacks. Frankly, Hajime was impressed.
Confident Yue and Tio could handle things, Shea sidled up to Hajime and puffed out her mostly-visible chest. She blushed and looked up at Hajime.
“Umm, Hajime-san. I got burned a little here, so could you put some medicine on it?”
She never missed an opportunity to come onto Hajime. Truly a clever bunny girl. Sadly, Hajime just gave her an exasperated look.
“Is this really the time?”
“Well... I mean Yue and Tio are unbeatable, so it should be fine. If I
don’t show off at times like these, I’ll start losing to even Kaori-san.”
Shea showed off the numerous small burns on her breasts. Just then—
“Grant respite to these divine warriors— Divine Blessing!” Kaori healed Shea’s wounds with a smile.
“Nooo! My chance to let Hajime grope me!” Shea wailed, but everyone just stared coldly at her.
“Hm...? Hajime, this jelly can melt magic, too.”
Hajime looked and it did indeed seem that the tentacles were melting the barrier wherever they touched it.
“Ah, that explains it. I was wondering why my flames had been having so little effect. It seems the tentacles can disintegrate the mana my fire is composed of.” If what Tio was saying was true, then this jelly was far more dangerous than Hajime had initially thought. Plenty powerful, and plenty annoying. This was what he’d come to expect from labyrinths.
Just then, the monster controlling the jelly showed itself.
It squeezed out of a crack in the ceiling, and expanded in midair. It was translucent, and roughly in the shape of a human. Though its limbs were shaped like fins, and its entire body was covered in miniscule, glimmering red flecks. There were also two feelers of sorts growing out of its head.
The way its limbs sort of floated in the air reminded Hajime of a sea angel. A sea angel that was ten meters long and oozed caustic jelly was a pretty monstrous sight, though.
Without warning, the giant sea angel launched a barrage of tentacles from its body. At the same time, it spit out a rain of jelly from its head.
“Yue, you focus on attacking! I’ll protect us! Hallowed Ground!” Kaori’s derivative skill, Delayed Activation allowed her to cast a spell she’d already chanted the incantation for ahead of time. Yue nodded curtly and combined her strength with Tio’s. The two of them shot a barrage of flames at the giant sea angel.
The flames all found their mark, and disintegrated the monster. Yue turned back to Hajime proudly, but instead of praising her he yelled out a warning.
“It’s not over yet! I’m still sensing something. Kaori, keep that barrier up. What the hell is this? I can sense it everywhere in the room...” Hajime’s Sense Presence was picking up a reaction from every corner of the room. When he checked with his Demon Eye, he saw the entire room covered in dark red. It was almost as if the room itself was a monster. Hajime looked around warily. He’d never seen anything like this before.
His fears had been well founded, as the giant sea angel reformed itself in the center of the room. Upon closer inspection, he noticed a large number of the starfish and sea snake monsters they’d defeated earlier melting inside the sea angel’s stomach.
“I see... So the monsters we found too weak were nothing more than this creature’s sustenance. Master, if it keeps regenerating indefinitely we’ll be worn down. Where is its mana crystal?”
“Come to think of it, how come we can’t see it? The thing’s transparent.”
Shea nodded and looked over at Hajime. Hajime focused his Demon Eye on the sea angel, but what he saw only confused him.
“Hajime?” Hajime scratched his head and reported what he’d seen.
“There isn’t one. I can’t find one anywhere inside it.” Everyone stared at him in shock.
“H-Hajime-kun? If it doesn’t have a mana crystal... does that mean it’s not a monster?”
“Beats me. I guess if I had to say, its whole body seems like a mana crystal. The whole thing shows up dark red on my Demon Eye, and so does the rest of the room. Be careful, guys. It’s possible we’re already inside the thing’s stomach!”
The giant sea angel attacked again as Hajime finished his explanation. This time, it sent chunks of its body out like torpedoes in addition to the tentacles and jelly rain.
Hajime pulled a giant black rifle out of his Treasure Trove. There was a compressed gas canister where the magazine would normally go. It was too large in radius to be a bullet of any caliber.
Which made sense, since it wasn’t actually a rifle. Whooooooooosh! It was a flamethrower.
He’d created it out of liquid flamrock. The flamrock ignited as it left the barrel, spreading unquenchable 3,000 degree flames everywhere. His target was neither the giant sea angel, nor the jelly attacks it had sent at them. Instead, it was the walls of the room. He knew Yue and the others could handle the sea angel’s attacks.
It seemed the sea angel could use camouflage as well. For when Hajime’s flames hit the wall, parts of it peeled away, transforming into jelly as it burned. Hajime breathed a sigh of relief. Thank god the whole room isn’t the monster.
But no matter how much of the jelly Hajime burned, more of it kept oozing out of cracks in the walls and floor. A sizzling sound came from his shoes.
Yue and the others redoubled their attacks on the sea angel as well. It seemed to finally be taking them seriously, and an unbelievable amount of jelly trickled out of every crack and hole in the room. The water level began to rise as well. At first it had only come up to their knees, but now it was up to Hajime’s waist. For Yue, it was already up to her chest.
No matter how many times Yue and Tio destroyed the giant sea angel, it just absorbed the nearby jelly and regenerated. There didn’t seem to be any end in sight.
Unless they found a way to eliminate it for good, they’d just be wasting their strength. On top of that, the rising water levels meant they’d soon be fighting underwater. The worst part was they couldn’t even hole up and hold out. Both Yue’s barriers and Hajime’s submarine wouldn’t last long against that caustic jelly.
It might be best to retreat for now. The problem was, all the exits were covered by jelly. Hajime desperately examined his surroundings. He noticed one of the fissures in the floor had a small whirlpool above it.
“Let’s retreat and regroup! There’s a room below us, though I don’t know where it leads. Be prepared for anything!”
“Okay.”
“Roger.”
“Understood.”
“Alright!”
Hajime swung his flamethrower around, burning all the jelly around him. Once the area was clear, he transmuted the floor around the fissure. It grew wider, forming a hole large enough for them to jump through.
Hajime ducked underwater and pulled a small, cylindrical fifteen centimeter long object out of his pocket. It had a snorkel and a mouthpiece attached to the middle. The canister was actually an oxygen tank. He’d used creation magic to enchant the canister with air magic. The space inside was much larger than it seemed, all filled with air.
He’d originally wanted to make the space as large as his Treasure Trove’s, but he hadn’t had time. While in Erisen he’d prioritized repairing his damaged equipment. On top of that, he found enchanting things with air magic was extremely difficult for him. As it was, one of these canisters only had 30 minutes of air in it.
Keeping the time limit in the back of his mind, Hajime continued transmuting the hole, digging deeper until he finally hit open space. Then, he pulled out his pile bunker. He anchored it underwater and began charging.
It let out a loud hydraulic hiss as the mechanism engaged. A second later, it bore through the floor Hajime had weakened.
The sound was muffled by the water, but the vibrations could still be felt by everyone.
Water started rushing through the massive pit he’d created. The current was so strong that it knocked everyone off their feet and carried them to the hole.
Hajime pulled a massive boulder and a few incendiary grenades out of his Treasure Trove. He held fast against the current long enough to toss them before letting himself be swept away.
The boulder blocked the hole he’d made, while the grenades exploded all around the sea angel. Though Hajime had no way of telling if that had actually bought them any time, it felt like the smart thing to do.
“Ugh, ack...”
“Haaah... Haaah, you alright, Kaori?”
“Y-Yes. Somehow... How’s everyone else...?” Kaori looked around, coughi
ng up water. She noticed Hajime was holding her up, and that they were on a sandy beach of some sort. A dense jungle stretched out in the distance, and water floated near the ceiling above. Kaori didn’t see anyone else nearby. It seemed there was some sort of barrier keeping this area clear. The beach was massive.
“Looks like we got separated... Well, I’ve given everyone mini Treasure Troves, so they should be fine.”
“Yeah...”
Hajime put Kaori down and scratched his head. He could tell that hadn’t really reassured her.
Kaori watched as Hajime started changing right in front of her, then thought back to how they’d gotten here.
They’d all had to retreat from the giant sea angel. The giant room they’d fallen into had dozens of holes in the floor. Seawater gushed out from some, but flowed into others. The water’s currents had been unpredictable and wild, like a storm. The group had tried to stay together, but the water mercilessly tore them apart. Yue tried to control the current with her magic, but it was so random that she didn’t make much headway. Shea had managed to use her gravity manipulation and Drucken’s natural weight to fix herself in place and somehow link up with Tio.
Hajime had wanted to pull out his submarine and herd everyone inside, but the current made it impossible. And so, he’d grit his teeth and pulled out some extremely dense rocks from his Treasure Trove. He’d been hoping to use their weight to anchor himself like Shea had.
Luckily, Yue was being carried toward him as well. If he could just stay in place they’d collide with each other. Tio and Shea had already fallen down one of the holes and had vanished from sight.
Hajime had been about to reach out to Yue when he’d spotted Kaori being swept away to one of the holes. His eyes met hers. He turned back to Yue, who had her hand outstretched to him.
He had two options at that point.
If he caught Yue, Kaori would likely be swept down a hole, alone. And if he caught Kaori, it would be Yue who would be alone.
As it was, Hajime only had the ability to grab one of them. Time slowed to a crawl as Hajime deliberated. He exchanged one last glance with Yue, and made his decision.
Arifureta: From Commonplace to World's Strongest Vol. 5 Page 16