An ordinary profession creates the world's strongest

Shia, carrying Druken, looked around with wide eyes, as if searching for prey. She was clearly furious, extremely furious. Even her tone was strange. The reason was easy to imagine, considering Millardy Lathan's malicious prank.

Hajime and Yue understood Shia's feelings perfectly, so they couldn't say anything. Being around someone who's extremely agitated can sometimes calm them down. That was the state of mind Hajime and Yue were in right now. While they'd made considerable progress, they'd already encountered various traps and the same annoying carvings they'd encountered before. If Shia hadn't been completely furious, Hajime and Yue would have been furious too.

Hajime and the others were a little scared of Shia who finally started to laugh strangely like "Puhehe" and they continued on the road while carefully observing their surroundings to see if there were any extremely bad traps set.

Then after a while, they came to a complex and strange space.

The stairs, paths, and entrances leading deeper into the cave were connected in a chaotic, haphazard sequence, like a place randomly assembled from Lego blocks. The stairs extending from the first floor connected to the path on the third floor, which then sloped gently down to connect with the path on the first floor. And the stairs extending from the second floor were just a blank wall, a complete mess.

"In a sense, this place could be best described as a labyrinth."

"...Yeah, I feel like I'm getting lost."

"Hmph, as expected of a labyrinth built by someone whose belly is rotten to the very bottom. This messy state symbolizes her heart!"

"...I understand how you feel, but it's about time you calm down."

Shia was still furious, and Hajime looked at her with a half-helpless, half-sympathetic look, thinking, "Okay, how do we move forward now?"

“…Hajime, just thinking about it is useless.”

"Hmm~ Well, that's true. Anyway, we can only move forward while making marks and drawing maps."

"Um……"

Hajime agreed with Yue. Mapping was fundamental to exploring a maze, but how accurately could one construct such a complex maze? Hajime frowned, seeming to be bothered.

Furthermore, the "marking" Hajime mentioned refers to his special magic, "Tracking." This special magic uses magical power to "mark" wherever it touches, allowing Hajime to track the marked area. When marking a living being, Hajime can see its movements. In this case, marking a place like a wall serves as a marker indicating that the person has passed through it. The "mark" is visible, allowing Yue and Shia to recognize it. Furthermore, because the magical power is directly attached, its effects cannot be affected by decomposition.

Hajime immediately made a "mark" on the right side of the road closest to the entrance and decided to try to move forward.

The path was about two meters wide, composed of countless blocks, like a brick building. The walls themselves emitted a faint glow, providing unobstructed vision. That light was a pale blue, a mineral unlike that of chrysoprase.

A tentative use of "Mineral Identification" revealed it to be "Phosphate Rock." Apparently, it glows when exposed to air. Perhaps the original room had been treated to prevent the rock from initially glowing. Imagine it as a place where rocks appear in the sky, and where an old man can hear the rocks. However, the phosphate rock doesn't seem to stop glowing even when exposed to air.

And then, when famous Japanese anime works finally began to emerge in Hajime’s mind and he was moving forward on the long road, suddenly——

clang dong!

A sound rang out, and Hajime's foot sank into a patch of floorboards. That patch alone sank under Hajime's weight. Hajime and the others let out a casual "Huh?" and looked towards his feet.

At that moment——

Whoosh whoosh!

The sound of a blade sliding echoed as it spun at high speed. A massive, circular, serrated blade vibrated, shooting out from the gaps between the walls on both sides. The one on the right, launched at neck height, the one on the left, at waist height, slashing across from the front.

“Get out of the way!”

Hajime cried out in an instant, falling backward like a protagonist in a quest to avoid the two fierce blades. Yue, being short to begin with, simply crouched down to avoid the blows. Shia seemed to have dodged just as well, and from behind, she could hear her trembling, "Gwaa ...

In fact, she dodged it so narrowly that the hair on the tips of her rabbit ears got shaved off... but that's probably okay.

The two blades, laden with murderous intent and malice, passed through Hajime and the others before disappearing back into the wall as if nothing had happened. Hajime carefully looked around for a moment, wary of a second wave of attacks. But it seemed the previous attack would be the last. Just as Hajime breathed a sigh of relief and was about to turn back, he felt a sudden, intense chill.

He rushed out, following his instinct, tucked Yue and Shia into his arms, and leaped forward. The next second, countless blades, like guillotines, shot from overhead towards where Hajime and the others had been, then were sucked into the floor like butter, vibrating at the same high speed as the previous blades.

Hajime, sweating profusely, stared at the blade that was just a few centimeters from his feet. Yue and Shia were also completely frozen.

"...Are these all physical traps? That's why the Mystic Eye Stone can't sense them."

The reason Hajime fell completely into the trap was because he was focused solely on detecting magical traps. In the mazes he'd explored so far, almost all of the traps were set using magic. Hajime's Mystic Eyes would have been able to see through any magical traps. Therefore, he had the preconceived notion that "if the Mystic Eyes didn't react, it was fine." Simply put, he overconfidently trusted his own power.

“Huh~ I thought I was going to die~ Anyway, Hajime-san! Please block that thing! Why did you get a prosthetic arm?!”

"Hmm, that blade should be pretty sharp, right? I shouldn't be cut off, but I might be damaged. After all, I can't use 'Vajra' right now."

"Damaged... Which one is more important, the equipment or me?!"

"...Anyway, isn't it good that you're safe?"

"Wait, why are you avoiding the subject? You're kidding, right? I'm more important, right? Right?"

Shia, almost grabbing her, tried to question Hajime, who had been evasive. However, Yue verbally abused Shia.

"...Incontinent bunny, the fact that you almost died only proves your immaturity."

"Incontinence... Please take that back, Miss Yue! It's too insulting to say anything like that!"

Shia, unable to tolerate this new addition to the "○○ Rabbit" series, protested fiercely. Having already faced two life-or-death situations in this short time since entering this maze, she remained surprisingly spirited. Indeed, Shia's greatest strength was her indomitable willpower, though she would likely vehemently deny it.

As Shia complained, Hajime instinctively avoided the completely unexpected attack. But if it were him, he could have blocked it with his prosthetic arm or the barrel of his gun. The coat itself was made of monster leather, boasting impressive defensive capabilities. Underneath the coat were armored areas at various vital points, making it invulnerable.

However, the hidden power of that trap was clearly too much to kill an ordinary person. If it were ordinary armor, it would have been ripped in two without a care. If you didn't have weapons and armor made from Naraku's minerals like Hajime, there would be no other way to survive except to evade.

"But, that level of things shouldn't be a problem."

Hajime glanced at Shia and Yue, who were arguing (?), and muttered to himself. No matter how powerful it was, a simple physical trap couldn't reliably kill Hajime. Yue, on the other hand, could "auto-regenerate," so even if caught in a trap, she wouldn't die. So... the only person in serious danger was Shia. I don't know if Shia was aware of this, but there was no doubt that the pressure on her was sky-high.

“Eh? Hajime-san, why are you looking at me with such pity…”

"Stay strong and live on, Shia..."

"Eh, eh? What's wrong with you all of a sudden? I have a very bad feeling..."

Shia's sudden, strange words of encouragement made her look terrified and rub her arm. Hajime and the others continued forward, leading Shia, who looked around even more anxiously than before.

No monsters had appeared yet. While it was possible that this was a monster-free maze, that was probably overly optimistic. It wouldn't be surprising if monsters suddenly appeared in the form of traps.

Hajime and the others arrived at a space in front of the passage. There were three paths leading deeper into the room. After marking them, they chose the leftmost path, which contained a staircase leading downstairs.

"Wow~ I have a bad feeling. My rabbit ears seem to have sensed something~"

As they reached the middle of the stairs, Shia suddenly uttered these words. As Shia said, her rabbit ears perked up and swayed slowly from side to side.

"Don't throw up those weird flags. If you say something like that, something will almost immediately make a 'clang' sound... just look!"

"No, it wasn't me!"

"!? ...This stupid flag-planting rabbit."

While Hajime and Shia were still talking, an unpleasant voice rang out, and the next moment—the level difference of the stairs disappeared. The previously steep, difficult-to-navigate stairs had become a slope. Furthermore, countless small holes appeared on the ground, from which a slippery, tar-colored liquid gushed out.

“Ugh, damn it!”

As the stairs vanished, Hajime, about to fall, instantly transformed the iron plates on his shoe soles into nails, and nails also appeared on the fingertips of his prosthetic hand to support him. Yue instantly jumped towards Hajime, preventing him from falling. Perhaps she had expected Hajime to support her? They had perfect tacit understanding in this regard.

However, there was one person who couldn't cooperate. Needless to say, it was Shia.

“Ughhaa ...

She screamed as the staircase, where the level difference disappeared, fell to the ground, the back of her head hitting the ground hard. As she struggled with the pain, "Ouch, ouch!", the liquid coated her body and made her slide down. And then, with her legs spread in an M shape, she slammed into Hajime's face.

"puff!?"

The impact knocked the nails off his prosthetic arm, and Hajime fell backwards, clutching Yue with his right hand. The nails on his feet also fell off, causing him to slide headfirst down the slope, while Shia, facing the opposite direction, sat on Hajime's back.

"You stupid rabbit! Get out of here!"

"I'm sorry, but I can't move."

The speed of his fall gradually increased. Hajime desperately tried to drive the nails of his shoes and prosthetic hand into the ground, but they were already too fast to penetrate. So, he tried to create stairs directly, but due to the powerful decomposition of the maze, he was unable to do so.

Shia struggled hard, and finally managed to stand up, straddling Hajime in a riding position.

"Driving Drucken's stake in!"

Hajime instructed Shia. Shia's hammer, the Druken, had several mechanisms, one of which was a mechanism that caused the flat surface of the hammer's head to eject a spike, concentrating the impact force and increasing penetration. Hajime instructed her to use it to pierce the ground to stop the fall.

"Y-yes, leave it to me!? Hajime-san! Lu...!"

Shia reached behind her to unhook Druken from the harness on his back, but the next moment, Shia, looking ahead, screamed in panic.

Just from this action, Hajime understood. Once they reached the end of this slippery slope, they would probably be thrown somewhere.

"!moon!"

"Um!"

Hajime instantly called Yue's name, and just from that, Yue was able to correctly understand Hajime's intention.

"Shia, hold on tight!"

“Y-yes!”

Shia maintained her riding position, holding onto Hajime tightly.

Then, the landslide finally came to an end, and Hajime and the others were thrown into the air. They entered a moment of weightlessness, and Yue took advantage of that opportunity to cast magic.

“—‘Come on!’!”

It was a basic wind magic, capable of generating a powerful updraft to increase jumping power. A skilled user could even simulate flight. However, in this realm beyond the reach of magical power, Yue's magic was only able to levitate Hajime and the others for a few seconds.

"That's enough."

Hajime's voice echoed with appreciation. Indeed, for Hajime, just having a little extra energy to check the surroundings before being thrown out was enough, and Yue also met his expectations brilliantly.

Hajime grasped Yue with his right hand, letting Shia hook her arm around his neck as he lifted his prosthetic arm toward the ceiling. He then let his magic flow, and then… "Swoosh!" With a sound of air expelling, an anchor, tied to a thin rope, shot out from the inside of the wrist of the prosthetic arm and pierced the ceiling wall with all its might. Immediately afterwards, the anchor's claws popped out, firmly securing them there.

At first, they were hanging from the ceiling by a rope, and after confirming that the anchor had not loosened, they breathed a sigh of relief. Then, they all looked down carelessly and felt a deep regret.

Crunch, crunch, crunch, swishing, swishing, squeak, crunch, crunch, crunch, crunch, swishing ...

Countless scorpions below, each about ten centimeters long, were making noises and stirring. While they didn't pose as much of a threat as the scorpions they'd encountered before, the physical revulsion was definitely stronger here. If they hadn't used their anchors to prevent them from falling, they would have been swept into the sea of ​​scorpions. The thought gave them goosebumps.

“““…”””

The three of them fell silent. Not wanting to look down, they turned their gaze to the ceiling and noticed some glowing words. Although they had already guessed, they couldn't help but read the words.

"They don't have any deadly poison."

"But it can give people measles."

"Please enjoy your time sleeping in the same bed with these children, Puhaha--!!"

Perhaps the phosphate rock's density was deliberately increased, but the words stood out in the dim space. Anyone who fell in here would surely be covered in scorpions, desperately trying to move their paralyzed bodies, reaching toward the sky, grasping for a lifeline. And then they would discover—these spoofed words.

“““…”””

They began to fall silent again, in a different sense. They told themselves, "Ignore her, ignore her," and finally pulled themselves together and looked around.

“…Hashi, there.”

"Um?"

Then, Yue seemed to have noticed something and pointed to a place below where there was a horizontal hole in the wall.

"A horizontal cave... What should I do? Should I just crawl back to where I fell, or should I go over there and take a look?"

"I, I will follow Mr. Hajime's decision. After all, I'm always causing trouble..."

"No, I'll punish you after we get out of the maze, so don't worry about it."

"That makes me worry even more! In times like this, just say 'don't worry'!"

"...How shameless! Double the punishment."

"What, Miss Yue is joining too!? Ugh, even if we successfully conquer the maze, the future will still be dark..."

Shia sighed at Hajime and Yue's cruelty and ruthlessness.

"Ah, if only you could activate your 'Future Vision' more often~"

"Ugh, that's still a little off. I've been practicing, but..."

"Future Vision"—Shia's special magic, capable of peering into the hypothetical future. However, due to the magic power consumption, it can only be used once a day, making it rarely useful. Shia's strength lies in her physical enhancements, so if her magic power runs out, she's nothing more than a sorry rabbit. While she's been practicing daily, gradually reducing her magic power consumption, she still has a long way to go before she can fully master this magic.

"Never mind. Forcing yourself to have something you don't have isn't the right approach. It's more comfortable to move forward than to turn back. Let's go through that horizontal hole."

"……Um."

"yes!"

Hajime fired another anchor, adjusting his position and moving with the skill of Tarzan climbing a rope, and finally reached the cave safely.

The passage, illuminated by the phosphate rock, continued deep into the cave. There were no detours; it was a perfectly straight path as far as the eye could see. Given Meredith's ill intentions up to that point, the lack of detours was even more suspicious.

While keeping watch, they advanced forward through the passage, advancing several hundred meters. The almost unchanging, regular stone passage subtly confused their sense of distance, giving them the illusion of continuing in the same place.

As Hajime and the others began to feel increasingly uncomfortable, the passageway, as if sensing their feelings, finally shifted. Ahead lay a large room. Though they expected it to feel strange, their feelings of relief were somewhat alleviated, so they entered without hesitation... The next second, a familiar sound echoed.

“! What’s that this time… the ceiling!?”

“…Shia!”

“Y-yes!”

The moment everyone turned their attention upwards, the ceiling collapsed, just as Hajime had said. It was a fairly classic trap, but in this area where magic was so difficult to cast, an area trap was simply too much of a rip-off.