Weekly chapters (1/2)
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Translator: Raizu
Editor: Sushi
Chapter 88 – The White Devil of the Labyrinth
Having put some distance between us and the Smiter, I stabbed the doorknob of the Dimension Room onto the nearest wall.
When I did that, a rectangular frame of light ran across the green wall.
I then turned the doorknob and pulled it toward me after the light subsided, the wall then opened as though it was a normal door.
Through the door, was the same white space that I remember from when I tested it before.
The doorknob on the inside has a lock, and I made sure to turn it.
Monsters outside shouldn’t be able to get in with this…… Probably.
[Haa… We’re saved for now.]
[Okura-san, how are your injuries from just now? I’ll heal both Noru-san and Okura-san in any case.]
[Oh, thanks. It actually hurts quite a bit…]
I’m glad I was able to fully block the Smiter’s White Meteor, though I can’t put any strength into the arm that I used to take the hit and it has been numb for a while now.
Just how powerful was that attack… It would have been dangerous if I didn’t have my trusty Pot Lid.
Shisuha approaches me and gives me a simple body touch, the pain in my arm subsided instantly.
She then moves over and gives Noru a touch too, which concludes the treatment.
Is direct contact more effective than using her magic indirectly?
Meh, I’m sure the effects would still be potent even if Shisuha did it the normal way.
[I never thought something like that would come out at the end.]
[I know right. So, how do we go about defeating that.]
I was so happy as it should have been the last obstacle to conquering this place, I even went out of my way to blow it into smithereens but this was the result.
It was pretty obvious a strong monster was inside(the coffin), but nobody expected it to be this dangerous.
Honestly I’m starting to think that it’s okay for us to turn tail and go home.
All of us went “Hmmmmm” in tandem at our predicament.
As that was happening, I noticed Noru was looking a little depressed, as she sat silently hugging her knees.
[Noru, what’s up?]
[Uu… Urm, I’m sorry for what happened earlier…]
Seems like she’s still bothered about her earlier mishap.
I’m sure no one here thinks any of this is her fault……
Nobody could have foreseen the Rigasmanus entangling her legs while in liquid form rather than its usual arm shaped form, and none of us noticed it until she had already tripped and fell.
It was pure coincidence that Noru was the one who got grabbed, it’s very possible that it could have happened to any of us.
[Don’t mull over it too much. Nobody could have avoided that.]
[But….]
[Ahー, it’s alright. Here, drink this and cheer up.]
[….. Thank you.]
I gave Noru a light tap on the shoulder, and handed her a Hi-Potion.
I’m sure she’s fine HP-wise, but a nice drink should brighten up her mood.
Not only is the Hi-Potion better than a Potion, it also tastes better. In modern terms it is orange flavored.
Noru still appeared depressed after receiving the drink, but she did also start sipping the Potion.
Alright, this should do the trick.
[Now, time to talk about what to do about that.]
[Is the choice of “Not defeating it” still on the table?]
[About that. The door at the back won’t open if we don’t defeat it.]
I’d be more than happy to ignore it(the Smiter), but it also appeared very impossible to force that door open.
That’s why, we need to find a way to defeat the Smiter somehow.
[Can’t we just keep killing it until it truly dies?]
[Hーmm, that does seem to be the most plausible but…]
[If we do it that way, the last stretch will be very dangerous.]
Luna was sitting cross-legged, resting her elbow on her leg and resting her cheek on her hand, looking terribly annoyed.
I don’t even want to imagine the process of killing something that gets stronger every time it dies……
There’s nothing scarier than not being able to see the finish line.
It’s already that strong from us only killing it 3 times, imagine what would happen if we had to keep going til it’s “gone” gone.
I want to leave the thrill of “1 more time and it’s over!” for the Gacha instead of that monster.
Noru chimed in on the danger of that choice, it seems she has pulled herself together.
Personally, I’m thinking of giving up and hightailing if it buffs up 2 more times.
It’s already pretty dangerous as it is, we won’t be able to handle it if it gets any stronger.
[What about trying Shisuha’s Blessed(?) attack?]
[Hーmm… Even I can’t say for sure. When the monster is that powerful, I don’t think my abilities can purify it.]
It would be nice if Shisuha’s effective damage to mummies could do something about it.
Was what I was thinking when I asked her about it, but she gave a NG with a frown.
With a monster of that level, she probably needs to literally jam her hand or staff into the body for it to have an effect.
It’s impossible for us to restrain that monster with 5,000 attack power, letting Shisuha get in close proximity of it is out of the question.
This is bad…… We seem to be out of options.
I can’t come up with the image of us beating that thing safely, no matter how much I try.
We can’t just keep killing it, we can’t restrain it either.
A way to defeat it while maintaining its current state, killing it without letting it revive…… Ah, holup!
[Maybe there is one. A way to defeat it.]
[Onii-san, you figured something out?]
When I said that there might be a way, everyone’s eyes turned to me.
Ugh… Such harsh gazes. It’s just something on the level of “maybe”, so I can’t say I’m confident when it’s so vague…
[Y, yeah… I don’t know if it’ll work for sure. Even if it succeeds, I don’t know if it will count as us having defeated it.]
Kudos to me for coming up with something, except the plan is full of holes.
I intend to take on the most dangerous role, but whether we succeed or not is a whole other thing…
[Still, that’s amazing Okura-dono! Only you can come up with something like that!]
[Ever since we entered this labyrinth, you did make some good calls.]
[I’m looking forward to seeing what Onii-san has come up with.]
[Here’s hoping this plan of yours ends it.]
The girls look at me with great expectations.
I can’t say I’m thrilled when so much is riding on me…… What should I do if this fails…
With butterflies in my stomach, I spilled my plan to the girls.
=================================
In order to carry out my master plan, I am currently staking out the Smiter alone.
It has been wandering around the Labyrinth after it lost sight of us, which made locating it a pain in my butt.
It has yet to notice me, as I have the Invisible Mantle equipped right now.
I carefully followed behind the Smiter, checking the Map App as we went.
This should be close enough……
[Heーy! Over hereー!]
We have gotten close enough to the target destination, so I removed the Mantle and let out the loudest shout I could manage.
The Smiter reacted to my voice and turned around, it then started running towards me with its usual highly raised legs and jiggling body.
After confirming that it had started to chase me, I hurriedly started running towards my destination.
Luring it to chase me is the most important part of the plan. Failure is not an option.
I got the girls to clean up the monsters around the area of the destination, so there’s no worries about encounters.
However, there’ll be some Mummies wandering along the path.
[Uooh! Outta my way!]
The Mummies that noticed me running moved in to block the passage.
I rammed and pushed away the Mummies that were in the way, all while shouting angrily at them.
As more Mummies in the surrounding areas reacted to the noise and came towards me, I ignored them as much as possible, and tackled or pushed away those that I couldn’t avoid as I kept running.
The White Devil of this Labyrinth was closing in on me from behind while all that was happening.
I don’t have the time to deal with the mobs!
In terms of time this chase took less than 5 minutes, that was when the target room entered my field of view.
Despite this being a supposedly short distance, it felt incredibly long to me due to how desperately I was running.
Then, I finally reached the room, I kept on running through the entrance and then turned around to look behind me.
[Now!]
The moment the Smiter got close enough to the entrance of the room, I shouted the go sign.
Hearing that, Noru made her entrance from her hiding spot in a nearby room.
She usually enters the fray with energetic shouts, but this time she was silent.
Thanks to that, she was able to quickly approach the Smiter without being noticed, she then gives the Smiter a shield bash from its blind spot.
The sneak attack sent the Smiter flying into the room as intended.
Okay… Everything is going according to the plan so far.
The room in question was the room with the massive hole where we found the 3rd fragment.
That same hole which seemed bottomless, as it did not return any sound when I tried dropping a statue into it.
My plan was to drop it down this pit, as it shouldn’t be able to get back up regardless of how much it can revive itself.
It may not count as us legit defeating it, but this was definitely worth a shot.
The girls weren’t able to come up with other feasible ideas, so we ended up rolling with my plan.
[I’m not about to let you get out so easily!]
The Smiter immediately made its move, to exit the room.
Estel came out of her hiding spot at this exact timing as well.
Her body was giving off a purple aura, a no brainer sign that she has used her Skill.
She launches the same dodgeball sized fireballs from the outside into the entrance, forcefully pushing the Smiter back into the room.
The fireballs may look the same, but every fireball had incredible firepower due to her Skill, causing explosions that shook the surrounding walls with each impact.
If White Meteor was used, Estel’s normal magic wouldn’t be able to push it back.
I do feel a little bad for her because of the Skill’s recoil, but this was necessary to keep up the pressure.
The Smiter fell to the Skill enhanced barrage before it could use its own Skill, and was sent flying into the air above the abyssal pit.
Yosh! Victory is as good as ours if it falls down there in its defeated state! There’s nowhere for it to go but down in that state!
[We did―― Eeeeeh!?]
[It’s quite nimble……]
I was gloating at it falling into the hole, but the Smiter’s body started glowing white before gravity took hold.
It then shook violently, rotated once in the air and landed neatly on the floor, which was only the width of one human foot.
I, it can revive that quickly!? Bruh… It managed to foil our ploy…
[O, Okura-dono! Are you not done yetー!?]
[Okura-san! The Mummies are gathering! We need to hurry――]
[I know! Shit… this is bad.]
It was Noru who was shouting, she had been dealing with the approaching Mummies from the surrounding area with Shisuha and Luna after her surprise attack on the Smiter at the entrance.
The plan was to have Estel do the heavy lifting while I protected her, with the remaining girls keeping the surrounding mobs away.
As expected, more and more Mummies were getting drawn to the sound of the explosions along with increasing amounts of liquid form Rigasmanus.
Furthermore, the Fraum Mummies we defeated while we were running away from the Smiter have also revived and are running toward us one after another.
Aha, this is a veritable hellscape.
[Ah, it’s coming! Estel, be careful!]
[Yes, this time I’m shooting you down!]
The Smiter made its way across the tiny footpath, doing brilliant backflips as it moved to the foothold where the treasure chest was located.
From there, it then charged towards the entrance, shrouding its body in white light as it ran.
It was the Smiter’s next level White Meteor.
“This is definitely going to hurt more than the first time”, ran through my head as I gripped my Pot Lid tensely.
There’s no way I’m letting it get out of the room.
Estel’s Skill duration has yet to end and she launches yet more fireballs, only this time she did so with the intent to finish the job.
I watched her from my spot, where I am able to cover her at any moment.
It’s times like this, where I feel the pain of not having proper ranged options of my own.
The Smiter charged face first into Estel’s barrage of fireballs, and it managed to get through.
However, the white light blurred slightly and the sides of its eyes twitched every time it took a hit.
It appears to be impossible for it to emerge unscathed from Estel’s Skill buffed magic.
Even so it still continued heading towards us, as it charged through the fireballs.
It doesn’t look like we’ll be able to stop it.
The other girls have their hands full with the incoming mobs too, this might be the time to throw in the towel…
Even if it’s for the Gacha, I can’t force the party to take even more risks.
We’ll retreat this time.
[Get out of the way! I’ll do it!]
[Luna!? Hey, it’s dangerous!]
As I was thinking about using the Escape Device to retreat, Luna, who was supposed to be fighting alongside the other girls, jumped into the fray.
She moves into the room and takes a stance with her spear facing the Smiter, which was still charging straight towards the entrance.
Considering the situation, I hurriedly chased her but the Smiter was already closing in on Luna.
Luna calmly took a step forward with her left foot, and thrust her spear forward with everything she had.
The thrusted spear glowed red, likely due to the use of a Skill, and makes contact with the Smiter as a massive rod of light.
The white light and red light collided, sending shockwaves through the room.
Both sides appear to be equal as neither budged an inch.
[Gu, kuh….]
Luna was letting out groans, as she appeared to be on the back foot in this clash.
Her black cape was fluttering intensely, showing just how much force she was being exposed to.
[Ah――]
It was but a fleeting moment, but she let out a slight gasp as she was overpowered.
The balance then broke, and the left foot that Luna stepped forward with began to get pushed back.
The red glow of the spear that was competing against the white light was also gradually being pushed back, as the white light threatened to engulf her.
[Whoa! Kuh, Luna! Don’t rush in by yourself!]
[H-Heihachi?]
[I’ve got your back, so let’s push it back together!]
I arrive behind Luna and grab her shoulders, supporting her as she was about to be knocked back.
I would take her place if I could, but that’s not something I can do right now.
So I did what I could, by supporting her from behind with whatever strength I had to stop her from being pushed back.
Holy bananas… That’s some immense force we are going against. It’s incredible how she is managing to hold out, with her petite frame.
[Aah, that’s some reliable backing.]
Luna let out a slight reaction, then responds softly without looking back.
The red glow from the spear which had been on the back foot, now gradually began to push back the white light.
The clash then returned to its initial state, and the white light was then overpowered as the spear pushed toward the Smiter’s body.
The white light surrounding it then dispersed as though it had lost steam, and Luna’s spear pierced the Smiter’s body.
The spear penetrates the Smiter’s body, with the pointy end sticking out its back.
Its upper body then slumps down with the spear still in its body, it seems it died from that attack.
Looks like Estel’s barrage wasn’t in vain, as it caused significant damage.
Luna then lifts up the spear that was still glowing red, and throws it into the abyss.
A streak of red light pierced into the pitch-black hole.
[Hah, hah….. W, we did it. We did it!]
[I managed to drop it somehow…..]
After confirming the glowing spear has disappeared from view, I let out a massive breath of relief and sat down.
Whoop dee doo! We gibbed it for real this time!
Luna also sat done like I did, relieved.
Shortly after light begins to gather in her hand, and her spear magically reappears.
Whew…… That’s the end of that.
[Okura-donoー! Now’s not the time to rest, come and help us out here! There’s a ton of Mummies to deal with!]
[Just how many of them are thereー?!]
[Ah, sozー! I’ll head over immediately!]
I wanted to bask in the glory of my plan’s success more, but Noru’s cry for help brought me back to reality.
We weren’t only dealing with the Smiter, our current situation of getting rushed by a horde of mobs completely left my mind.
I quickly stood up, and headed out to assist the other girls with Excali-Bar in hand.
[You can rest Luna. Estel you rest with her too.]
[Yea… I’ll do just that.]
With her Skill’s duration over, Estel sat down with a pale face.
Estel’s Skill recoil is pretty harsh, though it’s not as bad as Noru’s.
Luna is tired too, so I let the 2 of them rest.
[Luna, it may have worked out this time, but it would be nice if you stopped doing stuff like this. I thought my heart was going to stop for a moment.]
[Sorry. It looked like it was going to end badly so I kinda just winged it.]
It may have ended well, but I still chastised Luna a little for her fairly reckless ad lib move.
Her pulling such a reckless move was surprising if anything.
[…Heihachi, thanks.]
[Yeah, just get some rest.]
As I was about to leave the room, I heard Luna’s murmur.
When I turned to respond, she quickly turned away with her cheeks flushed.
I gave Luna a thumbs up, then headed out of the room to finish up this last task.
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This week gacha/mobages events:
Fate/Grand Order (JP)
Fate/Grand Order (NA)
Reverse 1999
Honkai Star Rail
Nega Translations 
Thanks.
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