AN: Hi everyone! This is your Author wishing you all are in safe and sound condition.
Especially to our friends staying in the Middle East, I hope you are all well and fine.
Let us all join together to pray for everyone's safety and that this ongoing conflict will end soon.
Let's set aside our differences and remember, in the end, we are all the same living beings who live on this world.
May peace and understanding come soon.
For the best of everyone.
===================================
Maze of Trazayuya, DesuMachi Planet…
The golem looked imposing as it thudded and clanked toward Hachiman, each step shaking the floor slightly. But the sheer slowness of its movements stripped away most of that intimidation.
"Number 6, Number 7, use 'Body Strengthening' and station yourselves to the left and right. We're using Formation Z."
At first, Hachiman tuned them out, assuming it was some archaic chant. Then he caught it clear English mixed into their speech.
'Trazayuya abandoned the homunculus facility before completing it… so they learned that from Zen. And if he's like Arisa…' He narrowed his eyes slightly. 'Another reincarnator.'
The three women split apart as they had planned, taking up positions on different sides of the chamber. A faint glow lit up their foreheads. When he looked closer, small magic circles—no larger than a five-hundred-yen coin—had formed there. In the next instant, their status displays change to Body Strengthening.
"So this is Nature Magic?" he murmured.
The enhancement wasn't overwhelming. At best, they were now thirty to forty percent stronger than a normal person.
"…So this is your trump card?" he muttered.
While he was analyzing them, the golem finally closed the distance and raised its massive fist overhead.
He could easily evade by ducking under it.
He glanced downward.
"…I'd rather not."
Instead, he poured MP into his holy sword until it shone with a blinding blue light. Without hesitation, he swung it toward the symbol engraved on the golem's forehead.
The word EMETH was written there in Roman letters. He erased the first letter with a precise arc of light, turning it into METH.
Technically, it should have been written in Hebrew, but the principle was the same. Just like in the old template from the world where they came from.
The golem froze mid-motion.
Then it collapsed.
"Impossible! I do exclaim!"
"This is why I said we should have concealed its weak point, I do remind you!"
"For now, we must determine a course of action, I do insist!"
The three women pressed against the walls clearly hadn't expected the battle to end so quickly. Their composure cracked.
'I suppose that's fair,' Hachiman thought. 'I just dismantled their level-30 main force without effort. And they're only level 7.'
He let out a small sigh, feeling oddly tired despite barely exerting himself.
"Number 5, Number 6, leave this to me and proceed without me, I do declare!"
"Number 7! We will not forget you; I do withdraw!"
"Number 7, I believe you mean 'retreat without me,' not 'proceed without me,' I do jest!"
They all shared the same face, yet the differences in their reactions were subtle but unmistakable.
Hachiman was mildly concerned that Number 7 had raised a death flag so enthusiastically—but since he had no intention of killing any of them, it didn't truly matter.
The three women turned their identical faces toward him. Fresh magic circles bloomed on their foreheads.
Transparent Magic Arrows formed above them.
"Fiiire!"
On Number 5's command, the arrows shot forward in perfect synchronization. She really was the leader—likely the earliest model. Without waiting to confirm the results, Numbers 5 and 6 spun on their heels and began to retreat.
They leapt toward ropes hanging from the rear wall, wedged their feet into the knotted ends, and were immediately pulled upward.
The Magic Arrows whistled toward Hachiman.
With a single lazy swing of his sword, he shattered them into fragments of light.
Number 7 lunged in with her rapier.
He sidestepped.
He caught her wrist, twisted just enough to break her balance, released her arm, then released his grip on the holy sword and struck her abdomen with the heel of his palm.
The impact knocked the breath from her lungs. She went limp instantly.
"…Sorry about this," he muttered as he caught her before she hit the floor.
He couldn't exactly drag her around with him, so he pulled a blanket from Storage and laid her carefully in the corner of the room.
A faint mechanical sound rang behind him.
He turned.
A spiral staircase descended into the center of the chamber.
'Looks like I've met the victory conditions,' Hachiman muttered to himself as he made his way toward the staircase.
—----
The room on the far side of the fairy circle was also made of ivy, much like the one the dryad had occupied below—but this one felt different. Another cocoon rested at its center, yet the vines forming it had withered and dried. Inside lay nothing but a brown, mannequin-like husk.
Hachiman quietly draped a dark cloth over the body and poured out a little water as a makeshift memorial.
"…Rest easy," he muttered.
Or so he thought.
"Wateeer!"
"Huh?!"
Small white hands suddenly shot out and grabbed his wrist just as he was putting away the bottle, dragging it toward a tiny mouth.
The clay-like face began to soften as it drank. Color returned. Texture shifted. Within minutes, the mannequin reshaped itself into a little girl—identical to the dryad he had met on the lower floor.
"Okay, now gimme magic!"
"…Are these things really dryads, or are they succubi?" Hachiman grumbled.
This time, instead of letting her latch onto him, he condensed a small sphere of imaginary energy in his palm and held it out. The dryad eagerly absorbed it.
"Ahhh…"
She let out a deeply satisfied sigh—like a middle-aged man downing a cup of sake after a long day.
"Oh? You gave magic to the me downstairs, too."
"'The me downstairs'?" Hachiman asked, frowning slightly.
"We're all me!" she said cheerfully. "You humans are the weird ones, splitting into separate individuals like that. Trees and spirits and stuff are all connected, y'know. I just can't talk to the others unless I have enough magic."
"…Right."
He decided not to dig any deeper. The explanation sounded like something that would only get stranger the more questions he asked.
"Can you teleport me to the top floor?" he asked instead.
"Yeah, sure. Wait a sec—" She tilted her head, eyes unfocusing slightly. "Hmm… something's interrupting my connection. If I had an elf with Forest Magic, I could send you anywhere. But right now… looks like I can only get you to floor 180."
"That's fine. Thanks."
"Leave it to meee!" she declared, puffing out her chest with exaggerated confidence.
Hachiman stepped into the fairy ring.
A swirl of green light wrapped around him, and in the next instant, he was standing on the 180th floor.
—--
"An infestation?"
Hachiman muttered under his breath. The trees and ivy forming the floor and walls of the 180th floor had been disastrously chewed through, as if something had been feeding here for a long time.
'So this is what interrupted the dryad's connection…'
Without hesitation, he swung his holy sword and cut down the insect monsters blanketing the corridor. Their mandibles clicked and gnashed as they swarmed toward him.
There were so many that, in theory, they could have crushed him through sheer numbers. In reality, the gap in their levels made that unlikely—but that didn't mean he wanted to be buried in bug guts.
He moved lightly through the ten-foot-wide passageway, carving clean arcs of light through the swarm. By the time he reached the next grand staircase, he had already lost count of how many he had defeated.
In the space before the stairs, even more monsters waited, writhing and oozing over one another.
"…Gross."
His irritation showed in his next move. He poured more MP into the holy sword than necessary and released a sweeping slash.
The result was excessive.
The arc of light tore through the insects—and the wall behind them. An enormous hole burst open. The outer structure must have already been weakened by corrosion and constant gnawing.
A sudden pressure change created a violent gust that nearly dragged him forward. He grabbed onto a thick strand of ivy to hold himself.
When the wind finally died down, he stepped toward the opening, casually eliminating the remaining insects along the way.
"What a beautiful view."
Under different circumstances, it would have been something worth admiring.
Now, it was simply unsettling.
The room was on the opposite side from the entrance Hachiman had first come through. Through the hole he had just created, he could see that many of the giant tree's leaves had fallen or changed color.
He couldn't see the top through the thick clouds, but when he looked down, the bark along the trunk was in terrible condition—gnawed and hollowed by further infestations.
"This doesn't match what I read in Trazayuya's notes. The monsters shouldn't have any reason to damage the tree like this… in theory."
The insects that had been blown away by the gust were already regrouping and crawling back toward him. Without hesitation, he erased them with another arc of light from his holy sword as he made his way toward the grand staircase.
The guardian of the door to the 190th floor resembled a massive sea anemone, firing ice bullets from its tentacles. Hachiman cut it down with a single clean slash. It didn't leave much of an impression.
Beyond the door, there were no more insect swarms. Instead, manufactured wood golems were silently repairing the damage left by the infestation.
They paid him no mind—nor did they attempt to block his path.
So he ignored them and kept moving.
—---
After that, he reached the main chamber without any serious resistance. Not even an hour had passed.
In the back of the great hall, Zen stood waiting for him.
"I didn't think you would make it up here so quickly."
"Oh? Is that so?"
Zen's eyes widened slightly, but Hachiman only gave a small shrug.
Keeping his pace slow and measured, Hachiman stepped forward.
"Is there any chance we could settle this without a fight?"
Zen let out a chuckle.
"No. Certainly not. By defeating the iron golem, you have proven yourself qualified."
He continued smoothly, as if reciting from a script.
"However, you must still face a formidable opponent—one you cannot possibly defeat. As a reward, I shall grant you this Holy Sword, Gjallarhorn."
Zen presented the blade, still sheathed. The scabbard was long and narrow, shaped like a tapered cone. The display confirmed its name as Gjallarhorn. It appeared genuine.
"So this is supposed to motivate me?" Hachiman asked flatly.
"Of course. If you return this lost sword, Gjallarhorn, to its rightful kingdom, your position and status will be secured, Hero. Those Nobles will swarm around you, praising your majesty."
The last word carried a sharp edge.
Hachiman's brows knit together. Zen spat the word Nobles with such venom that it sounded closer to filthy dogs.
'Still… I can't read him,' Hachiman thought. 'Does he actually want to be killed?'
"Here are your opponents."
As soon as Zen spoke, his shadow stretched unnaturally across the floor, pooling at the center of the chamber. From within that darkness, three iron golems rose.
Unlike the ones he had faced before, these bore no writing on their foreheads, no obvious weak points, no convenient markings. They must have been kept somewhere deliberately concealed.
"…You prepared backups," Hachiman muttered.
Zen smiled faintly.
Then he spread both arms wide and lifted his face as if addressing the heavens themselves.
"Therefore, I shall grant you the blessing of the gods."
A pause.
[Limit Break.]
—-----
A violet aura flared from Zen's body and washed over the three golems. From the way he had declared it, this was clearly some form of strengthening magic.
"Now… I look forward to an excellent battle to the death."
With that, Zen placed both hands on the music-stand-like structure housing the Maze Core and began manipulating it with precise movements of his fingertips.
A thick wall rose between the throne platform and the main hall. At the same time, the platform itself lifted higher, transforming into a spectator's balcony. A perfect viewing seat.
"So you're really treating this like a show," Hachiman muttered.
A magic arrow suddenly shot toward his head—punishment for checking the map at the wrong time. He tilted his head just enough for it to graze past.
More arrows followed.
He zigzagged across the floor, weaving through them.
"Was this many really necessary?" he clicked his tongue.
When he glanced toward the source, he saw the same women from the 100th floor firing in unison, their eyes burning with theatrical fury.
While he was busy dodging their barrage, the golems advanced.
They were far faster than the ones he had faced earlier.
On closer inspection, glowing rings of magic spun around their arms and legs—a clear visual effect of Zen's Limit Break. The rings pulsed rhythmically, feeding power into their frames.
However, the power boost clearly hadn't reached their control systems. Their movements were clumsy, overcompensating with every step. They looked like they might topple over at any moment.
Hachiman chose the first golem and stepped in as it swung at him. He slipped inside its reach, grabbed its arm at the point where it had overextended, and flipped it over with a simple judo throw.
It was almost disappointingly easy.
Taking advantage of the brief opening, the seven women used the fallen golem's massive frame as a blind spot and unleashed another volley. Three magic arrows each—twenty-one in total—shot toward him at bullet-like speed.
"Shine, Excalibur."
At the command, his holy sword burst with mana. The blade extended to nearly three meters.
He swung it once.
The incoming arrows vanished in a flash of light, and the first golem was cleanly bisected before it could even regain its footing.
The second golem was already moving.
It charged in with surprising speed, its arm cutting through the air with a violent gust. Hachiman sidestepped calmly.
Putting distance between them, his Geo Emblem lit up. Several geo spears materialized in front of him and shot forward.
Three hits were enough.
The golem's knee shattered. It skidded across the floor, carving a deep groove as it collapsed.
Before the third golem could close in, Hachiman adjusted his grip on Excalibur and spun his body like a top, slicing through the second golem's torso as it tried to crawl back into the fight.
—-----
In modern-day Mondstadt, while Teyvat remained under time dilation…
A young girl in a maid outfit let out a small, adorable sneeze.
"Ahh… Is someone talking about me?"
She tilted her head in confusion, then quickly shook it off.
"Never mind!"
With surprising ease, she lifted two crates far larger than her own small frame—one in each hand.
"Anyway, I have to finish Lady Alice's request! Or she won't introduce me to my future lord! The younger brother of Lady Alice's husband!"
—----
"Strike, Excalibur!"
Hachiman turned to face the approaching third golem. He leveled the tip of his holy sword and released a compressed surge of mana that pierced straight through its chest, shredding its upper body in the process. A gaping hole opened in its core, and the construct was blasted backward as if struck by an invisible hammer. Another crater tore through the wall behind it.
The second golem finished repairing itself and rose to its feet. Hachiman waited until it aligned with the first one's remains, then raised Excalibur overhead, pouring an overwhelming amount of MP into the blade.
"Shine, Excalibur."
The sword extended further—nearly five meters—before he brought it down in a single decisive arc, erasing both golems completely.
He didn't need visual confirmation.
Out of the corner of his eye, he saw the red dots vanish from his minimap as he switched his focus to the other signals closing in behind him.
Three of the homunculi advanced side by side. The synchronization in their steps looked almost theatrical—but the weapons they carried said otherwise. The one in front held a large shield and a rapier. Behind her, one gripped a bhuj. The third carried a poleax.
'Frontliner blocks. Flankers attack on both sides,' Hachiman assessed instantly.
Hidden completely behind her oversized shield, the first woman lunged at him—far faster than Number 7 had been on the 100th floor.
Once she entered his range, Hachiman snapped a kick into the slightly angled surface of her shield. The force knocked her off balance, and she toppled backward onto the floor.
Right on cue, the other two rushed around her fallen body and attacked from the left and right.
"So predictable," he muttered under his breath.
He had intended to finish the shield user first, but their coordination was tighter than expected.
The woman with the poleax swung down with a sharp cry. Hachiman deflected the weapon sideways, slamming it into the bhuj coming from the opposite direction and disrupting both attacks at once.
Without hesitation, he grabbed the shaft of the poleax and pulled. As the wielder stumbled toward him, he drove his knee into her abdomen.
The impact knocked her unconscious instantly.
There was an unpleasant creak at the moment of contact.
'Too much force,' he noted. 'I need to dial it back. I'm not here to cripple them.'
Hachiman seized the fallen poleax and swung the handle upward under the bhuj‑wielder's chin just as she tried to adjust her footing. The impact snapped her head back and dropped her to the ground. Before she could recover, he tapped the butt end of the weapon lightly against her temple, ensuring she stayed down.
"Five to go…" he murmured under his breath.
The four who had been waiting behind the broken remains of the third golem were already closing in.
The shield user had regained her footing. Fine, she was first.
Hachiman brought his holy sword down hard against her shield, aiming to break her stance again.
It worked.
Too well.
The upper portion of the shield sheared off cleanly.
"…Right. I'm the one using an actual holy sword," he muttered.
They were wielding reinforced magic weapons. He was not.
From behind the broken shield, the woman slashed at him with a short sword. Hachiman twisted aside just in time.
A blur moved at the edge of his vision—another woman burst forward with a war hammer raised high, bringing it down with full force.
He deflected the hammer's path, but a third attacker circled wide. The woman with the greatsword stepped in, lifting the massive blade with both hands before swinging it sideways in a sweeping arc.
At this rate, his torso would be cleaved clean through.
Well, if he were normal.
He dug his toes into the floor, cracking the surface, and kicked upward with explosive force. Chunks of flooring tore free and shot upward as improvised cover. The move was meant as a distraction.
Instead, the shockwave launched the greatsword wielder into the air along with the debris.
He barely had time to register it.
The next attack was already coming.
The woman with the short spear slid beneath the shield user—who had been lifted slightly into the air—and thrust upward at him from below.
Hachiman's posture was already compromised. Dodging normally wasn't an option. He forced himself upward using only the strength of one ankle. It wasn't enough, so he seized the shield woman's shoulder and pushed off her to gain a little more height.
The moment he cleared the spear's tip, the homunculus with the war hammer swung again, aiming to crush him midair.
Using his hold as support, Hachiman twisted his body around the shield user's shoulder, narrowly avoiding the hammer by a hair's breadth. His feet touched the ceiling for an instant—
—and a magic arrow from the scimitar wielder shot toward him.
'This is getting out of hand.'
He kicked off the ceiling before the arrow could connect, letting it skim past. Landing on both hands, he spun low in a clean break-dance-like sweep. His heels struck true, knocking the war hammer wielder and the short spear user unconscious in a single spin.
The shield user managed to brace and parry the tail end of his kick, rolling away across the ground to regain distance.
"Haaaa….. High-defense enemy types are a pain," Hachiman muttered, eyes already tracking the remaining figures.
"Alright… three more to go."
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