An ordinary profession creates the world's strongest

The simple-minded Ryutaro showed rare consideration for the dejected hero.

Afterward, Kouki and his companions returned to town, where they reunited with Captain Melda and the other raiders, led by Nagayama and Hiyama. After a good rest, they set out to challenge the uncharted 70th floor.

No one realized that there was a huge dangerous bomb hidden inside.

Then, no one noticed that a huge black shadow was quietly approaching -

Corpses are everywhere.

The bottom of the [Rysen Grand Canyon] perfectly fits the description. One monster's head was crushed into the ground, another's head was shattered and lying on the ground, and even one monster's entire body was reduced to charcoal. Although the methods of death varied, they all seemed to have been killed in a single blow. Of course, someone who could accomplish such a thing in a place feared by everyone in the world, a place like hell and a place of execution...

"One strike, one kill!"

Bang!

“…I’m in the way.”

Boom!

"It's annoying."

Boom!

There were only Hajime, Yue, and Shia. After leaving Brooke's town (with Yue and Shia's supporters watching them off), Hajime and the others, using their magic-powered two-wheeled vehicle, the Hutiof, arrived at the entrance to the [Rysen Grand Canyon] they had visited before. Now, they were camping as they journeyed deeper into the canyon. After passing through the cave that concealed the [Orcus Great Labyrinth] teleportation array, they continued on for about two days until they arrived near here.

In the [Lesin Grand Canyon], the monsters that didn't learn from their mistakes attacked them in unison.

Every time Shia swung her hammer with her immense strength, it would literally crush the monster with a single blow. The attacked monster, helpless against the impact, far exceeding its tolerance, perished. The destructive power would make even a mochi-pounding rabbit turn pale.

Yue unleashed her full magical power, forcibly unleashing her magic, slaughtering the approaching monsters one by one. While Yue's own magical power was immense, the magic stored in her magic crystals was even greater, making her attacks like an endless stream of explosive strikes. While the magic decomposition at the bottom of the valley shortened both activation time and range, the ultra-high-temperature flames were instantaneous, reducing the monsters to charcoal without exception.

Hajime, needless to say. He was piloting the Heotifu while sniping at the monster's head with his Donner. While pouring mana into the Heotifu while continuously activating "Thunder Entanglement" was quite draining, he didn't seem to be running out of mana at all.

The hellish beasts that roamed the valley floor were treated as mere fry. They searched for signs pointing to the Great Labyrinth, slaughtering any monsters they could find as they moved forward. The road was littered with the corpses of monsters.

"Alas~ I only know it's somewhere in Leysen, but the information is still too vague~"

They kept an eye out, hoping to find caves or similar places to investigate, but they couldn't find any similar places. Hajime finally couldn't help but complain.

"Never mind. We're just looking for it on the way to the volcano anyway. Just think of it as a win if we find it, isn't that enough? Besides, if we conquer the volcano's maze, we might find a clue."

“That’s true…”

"Yeah...but monsters are annoying."

"Ah~ Miss Yue doesn't like places like this~"

They continued to advance for three days, complaining in this way and feeling annoyed by the large number of monsters.

That day also ended in a fruitless dusk. Looking up from the valley floor, a beautiful, shimmering crescent moon hung high in the sky. Hajime and his companions were preparing to set up camp. They unpacked their tents, prepared dinner, and brought out the cooking utensils along with the ingredients and seasonings they had gathered in town. This tent and cooking utensils were, in fact, artifacts meticulously crafted by Hajime.

The camping tent was created using Genesis Magic, equipped with a "heating stone" and a "cooling stone" to maintain a comfortable temperature. Furthermore, he also used the cooling stone to provide a "cold storage" and a "freezer." Furthermore, he incorporated a "breath-blocking stone" into the metal frame, making it difficult for enemies to detect them.

Among the cooking utensils, there were pans and pots that adjusted their heat output according to the amount of magic power flowing in, requiring no fire, as well as sharp knives with the "Wind Claw" effect, and even a steam cleaner. Each of these was Hajime's favorite item for enriching his travel meals. Furthermore, the fact that they couldn't be used without direct magic power was also a form of deterrence.

"Magic of the Age of Gods is Super Convenient"——

This was what Hajime said when he created a cooking utensil-shaped artifact and a fully air-conditioned camping tent. If someone with modern magic heard this wasteful declaration of divine power, they would definitely roll their eyes and turn away from reality.

Incidentally, dinner that day was tomato stewed with Krulu. Krulu is a flying chicken, its texture and flavor identical to chicken, and it's a popular poultry in this world. This dish involves cutting the bird into bite-sized pieces, coating it in wheat flour, and then stir-frying it. It's then simmered with various vegetables in a tomato broth.

The flavor of the butter and gravy is perfectly locked into the meat, while the tangy tomato flavor permeates it. The moment you take a bite, the flavors spread throughout your mouth, the meat gradually melting in your mouth. The potatoes (similar to) soaked in the tomato broth are piping hot, while the natural sweetness of the carrots (similar to) and onions (similar to) permeate your tongue. The bread, softened by the sweet broth, is also delicious.

After a hearty dinner, Hajime and the others lingered, enjoying the aftertaste of their food and chatting as usual. As long as they stayed inside the tent, the Chi-Severing Stone would maintain its effectiveness, keeping monsters away, allowing them to relax. Occasionally, when a monster approached, Hajime would simply reach out through the window attached to the tent and shoot it. When it was time to sleep, the three of them would take turns guarding the tent until dawn.

It was almost bedtime, so Yue and Shia prepared to go to sleep. Hajime was the first to watch over them. The tent had a soft quilt, making it comfortable even for camping. But before Shia got into bed, she walked out of the tent.

Shia said to Hajime, who looked puzzled, with a pretentious expression:

"I'm going to pick some flowers." (Editor's note: meaning to go to the bathroom.)

"There are no flowers at the bottom of the valley?"

"Mr. Shi~!"

His crude question made Shia's pretentious expression fall, and she glared at Hajime. Hajime, of course, knew what she meant, so he said "Sorry, sorry" with a wry smile on his face without any apology.

Shia, furious at Hajime's actions, walked out of the tent, and after a while...

"Hajime-san~! Yue-san~! This is terrible! Please come here~!"

Shia yelled, forgetting that this might even summon monsters. "What happened?" Hajime and Yue locked eyes and ran out of the tent at the same time.

They ran toward the sound of Shia's voice. There, a massive slab of rock leaned against the canyon wall, a gap opening between it and the wall. Shia was waving her arms in front of the gap, her expression filled with excitement, as if to say, "I've seen something incredible!"

"Here, here! I found it!"

"I get it, but don't pull it for now. You've already maxed out your body enhancements, so you're probably a bit too excited."

“…So noisy.”

Shia noisily tugged at Hajime and Yue's hands. Hajime felt somewhat helpless, while Yue frowned irritably. Shia led them to a crevice in the rock, where they discovered a surprisingly spacious space deep within the wall. They reached about the middle of the space. Shia said nothing, but pointed to a certain part of the wall with a look of pride on her face.

Hajime and Yue, who had shifted their gaze in the direction of her finger, blinked unconsciously and uttered a stunned "Huh?" when they saw what was there.

Ahead of them lay a rectangular sign. It looked like it had been carved directly from the wall, and it was adorned with ornate decorations. Conversely, it was inscribed with a rounded, inexplicably girlish handwriting.

—Welcome! Millety Raison's Heart-Pounding Maze♪

I'm really irritated by his inexplicable obsession with the "!" and "♪" symbols.

“…What the hell is this?”

"……What's this?"

Hajime and Yue said in unison. Their expressions could best be described as "seeing something unbelievable." They stared blankly at the sign, which looked so out of place at the bottom of Hell.

"What are you asking about? It's the entrance to the Great Labyrinth! I stumbled upon it while using the restroom... ahem, picking flowers. Oh my goodness! There really is a Great Labyrinth inside the Rasen Canyon!"

When Shia's silly voice rang out, Hajime and Yue finally snapped out of their frozen state. They were speechless, looking at each other with undisguised confusion.

"... Yue, do you think this is true?"

"………………Um."

"You've been thinking about this for a long time. What's your basis?"

"...Miledi."

“So that’s it…”

The name "Milletie" is the name of Lassen that appears in Oscar's notes. While the surname Lassen is widely known and well-known, the given name is unknown. Therefore, the place where her name is recorded is very likely the Lassen Great Labyrinth.

However, it's really hard to just say "Oh, so that's how it is" and believe it...

"Why is this style so frivolous..."

He had reason to say so. Hajime had memories of countless life-threatening battles in the Orcus Great Labyrinth, so he expected the other labyrinths to be equally challenging. Therefore, for Hajime, such a lax atmosphere made him feel completely powerless. Yue also deeply understood the cruelty of the Great Labyrinth, so her expression suggested a suspicion that this was a prank.

"But I don't see any place that looks like an entrance. It's a dead end inside..."

"Where is the entrance?" Shia was completely unaware of Hajime and Yue's subtle thoughts. She looked around and knocked on the wall deep inside.

"Hey, Shia, don't be so..."

clang dong!

"Ah ah!"

Hajime was about to say, "Don't walk around so rashly," when the deep, recessed wall that Shia had touched suddenly spun around right before his eyes. Sia, caught in the middle of it, disappeared through the other side of the wall, like a trap door in a ninja house.

“…”

The unexpected discovery of the entrance to the Great Labyrinth reinforced the plaque's credibility. It seemed the Raison Great Labyrinth was indeed here. The entrance, resembling an invitation to an amusement park, had Hajime and Yue thinking, "Is this kind of Great Labyrinth okay?" or "Give me back the seriousness of Orcus." But they stared silently at the revolving door that had vanished Shia. After glancing at each other and sighing, they placed their hands on the door, as Shia did.

The door's mechanism activated, sending Hajime and Yue to the other side at the same time. It was pitch black inside, and the door returned to its original position before stopping.

At that moment, the sound of countless arrows piercing the wind echoed, and something flew towards them from the darkness. Hajime's night vision immediately revealed its true form—arrows. Countless jet-black arrows, completely devoid of reflection, flew towards them to repel the intruders.

Hajime held the Donar in his right hand, and with his left hand bare, he shot down all the incoming jet-black arrows. The clang of metal against metal echoed as he didn't miss a single one.

Twenty arrows, dull black as if whittled from a single piece of metal, lay scattered on the ground. As the last arrow hit the ground, there was a final clatter, and silence returned to the surroundings.

At the same time, light began to emanate from the surrounding walls, illuminating the surroundings. They were in a ten-meter square room, with a straight, excavated path extending deep into the room. In the center of the room stood a stone tablet, inscribed with a message in the same round, girlish handwriting as a signboard.

"Are you scared? Hey, are you scared? You must have peed yourself, hehe!"

"Still injured? Could someone be dead? ...Puff!"

“…”

For the first time, Hajime and Yue had the same inner thoughts: "How annoying~".

They even specifically emphasized the "hehe" and "puff" parts by carving them in extra depth, which is really infuriating. Especially if a team were to enter and someone died, the survivors would surely be furious.

Veins popped out on Hajime and Yue's foreheads, and they looked annoyed. Then, Yue suddenly seemed to remember something and whispered:

“…Where’s Shia?”

"ah."

Yue's whisper reminded Hajime of something, and he frantically turned to look at the revolving door behind him. The door rotated half a circle each time it opened. Therefore, if she wasn't in this room, it meant she had most likely gone back outside when Hajime and the others entered. She hadn't come in, even after such a long time. Hajime had a bad feeling, and he immediately went to open the revolving door.

As a result, Xia... was there... and was nailed to the revolving door.

“Ugh, Hajime-san… please don’t look at me~ But, I need you to help me take this off… Ugh, please stop looking at me and put me down~”

She looks so pitiful.

Shia must have sensed the rustle of the incoming arrows. Though she couldn't see them, she managed to dodge them with her innate ability to spot them. However, it seemed like a truly close call. Her clothes were pierced everywhere, pinning her down like the figures on the emergency exit warning signs.

Her rabbit ears bent into a lightning shape to avoid the arrow, trembling and twitching noticeably from the strain of bending. However, Shia wasn't crying out of fear of nearly dying, but because... there was a large wet patch at her feet.

"So, you were on your way to pick some flowers... Well, that's a common occurrence..."

“No way! Ugh~ Why didn’t you solve this first, my past self~!!”

As a woman, she wanted nothing more than to be seen, yet she was exposed in front of the man she loved. Shia burst into tears, her rabbit ears trembling even more violently. Hajime had already witnessed Shia's unpleasant side, the kind that could chill even a century-long love, from the moment they met. It was too late for him. So, he didn't look away, merely staring at her with a helpless expression, a gesture that stabbed Shia in the heart.

“…Don’t move.”

Yue, who is also a woman, knows what Shia is thinking. A hint of sympathy appears on her expressionless face, and she frees Shia from the crucifixion.

"...You figure it out on your own, that guy who never grows up."

“I’m too embarrassed to face anyone~uu…”

“…Hajime, take out some change of clothes.”

"Understood~"

Hajime took out Shia's change of clothes from the "treasure chest" and Shia quickly put them on with a blushing face.

Afterwards, Shia was ready and shouted, "Let's conquer the maze now!" As she excitedly prepared to move deeper, she noticed the stone tablet.

Shia lowered her head, her drooping hair obscuring her expression. After a moment's silence, Shia suddenly slowly drew out the Drukken and instantly unfolded it, striking the stone tablet with all her might. A clang! A destructive sound echoed, and the stone tablet shattered. Shia, seemingly unable to endure any more, swung the Drukken repeatedly with the force of a deep-seated hatred.

Then, beneath the shattered remains of the stone tablet, some words were carved into the ground. It read...

"What a shame~♪ This stone will repair itself after a certain period of time~ Fufufufu!!"

“Aa ...

Shia finally lost her temper and began swinging the Drukken even more frantically. The entire room shook as if a small earthquake had occurred, and terrifying impact sounds echoed around.

Hajime glanced at the frantic Shia and murmured:

"Regardless of the 'liberator', Meredy Lessen is undoubtedly the enemy of all humanity."

“…I totally agree.”

It seems that the [Lesin Great Labyrinth] and the [Orcus Great Labyrinth] are places that cannot be easily passed in different senses.

Several hours passed after Shia went mildly mad.

After just this short period of time, Hajime and the others felt painfully that their prediction was accurate to the point of disgust.

First, she couldn't properly use magic, due to a decomposition effect far more powerful than at the bottom of the valley. This place was a heavy burden for Yue, a magic expert. After all, not only could she not use high-level magic, but spells below intermediate had a very short range. Under these circumstances, she was thankful for the fact that the effect reached five meters. While she could still use it in combat if she could find a way to instantly increase her magic power, she couldn't deliver the powerful spells that she once used to knock down enemies with a single blow.

Furthermore, the consumption of mana stored in the magic crystal series should not be underestimated. Because it consumes so much energy, it must be used with caution. Because Yue is a genius in magic, she can even cast intermediate-level spells, something that would be beyond the reach of ordinary people.

This had a significant impact on Hajime. He couldn't use special spells like 'Air Force' and 'Wind Claws'—magic energy generated and released from outside the body. Even his reliable 'Thunder Wrap' had seen its output significantly reduced. Donal & Shulak's power had dropped to less than half, and even Shulagen was only at Donal & Shulak's maximum power.

Therefore, in this labyrinth, physical enhancement skills are more important than anything else. Among Hajime and his group, this area is Shia's personal stage.

And speaking of the rabbit that Hajime and the others trusted...

"Kill her... I'm definitely going to find her secret base, wreak havoc on it, and then kill her~"