The Armored Warriors emitted a metallic sound as they moved, the grinding of their plates echoing through the narrow corridor as they advanced with heavy steps.
Rudeus stepped back and positioned himself next to Roxy. From there, they watched as Arthur moved forward without the slightest hesitation, his posture firm, his body slightly leaning forward, ready to take the impact.
"Here they come," Paul murmured.
The battle erupted immediately.
One of the Armored Warriors charged at Paul with a metallic roar, swinging its four arms at once. Paul responded with brute force, blocking one of the attacks with his sword while twisting his body to evade another, returning a slash directly at the monster's joint.
The second enemy went straight for Arthur.
The weapon came down violently, but Arthur sidestepped at the last second. The blow grazed where his shoulder had been and crashed into the labyrinth wall, tearing fragments of stone loose.
Arthur didn't lose his rhythm.
He took advantage of the opening and launched a direct punch at the monster's torso, reinforcing it with touki. The impact resounded like a hammer striking iron, forcing the Armored Warrior to stagger back half a step.
"Now!" Roxy shouted.
"'Icy circular blade… seek and destroy my enemy.'"
"Glacie Acutus."
A compressed disc of ice formed in front of her and shot forward at high speed. Arthur's Armored Warrior tried to retreat, but Arthur stepped forward, cutting off its escape. The spell struck the monster's legs head-on.
Metal creaked.
Ice spread through the joints, slowing its movements.
Arthur didn't give it time to react.
He spun on his axis and delivered a downward kick, concentrating touki in his heel. The blow shattered the layer of ice—and with it, the monster's balance. The Armored Warrior dropped to its knees with a dry crash.
At the same time, Rudeus acted.
He extended his hand toward the ground beneath Paul's enemy.
The earth compacted instantly, trapping the Armored Warrior's legs as if the labyrinth itself were holding it in place. The monster struggled, but its movements became sluggish.
"Good job!" Paul grunted, seizing the opportunity.
With a shout, he focused all his strength into a single strike and pierced the weakened armor, driving his sword into its core. The Armored Warrior trembled one last time before collapsing.
The other monster tried to rise, its four arms trembling, but Arthur was already upon it. With cold precision, he concentrated touki into his fist and struck exactly where hi inthe weak point beneath the metallic skull.
The impact was clean.
The armor cracked from the inside, and the Armored Warrior's body fell inert to the ground, echoing with a dull thud through the labyrinth corridor.
Arthur let out a calm breath.
That was fairly simple, he thought, turning his gaze toward the rest of the group.
Rudeus was enthusiastically praising his father, while Paul responded with his usual carefree attitude, trying—without much success—to hide the proud smile creeping onto his face.
Elinalise noticed immediately.
"Come on, Paul," she teased. "That face doesn't fool anyone."
Talhand, for his part, watched the scene with a wide grin, clearly in a good mood after the well-executed battle.
Arthur then looked at Roxy.
When she noticed his gaze, she quickly looked away and adjusted her hat slightly, as if trying to hide behind it. The gesture was subtle… but Arthur couldn't help noticing it.
He blinked once, surprised.
"Why do her reactions seem so cute…?"
The thought caught him off guard.
Arthur looked away immediately, focusing on cleaning a dried bloodstain from his gauntlet, as if that simple action could restore his composure.
And yet…
"Seeing Roxy—behaving so reservedly, almost shyly, just because he was looking at her—stirred a strange sensation in his chest, an urge to protect her."
"Focus", Arthur, he told himself.
Then, his attention shifted elsewhere.
Gisu.
He was at the back of the group, but curiously, the one who unsettled him the most. Arthur didn't know much about him. His knowledge was limited to what he had seen in the anime, and that wasn't enough to put him at ease. Since the expedition began, he had the feeling that Geese was watching him—not openly, but with calculated attention, like someone evaluating a piece on a board.
Arthur lifted his gaze just in time to meet his eyes.
Geese returned the look without hesitation and immediately flashed a broad, carefree smile, giving him a thumbs-up in a friendly gesture.
"Good job," he seemed to say without words.
Arthur didn't respond right away. He held the gaze for a second longer than necessary before giving a slight nod.
He didn't know why… but that smile gave him no peace of mind.
And Rudeus, barely exchanging words with him, still seemed bothered by Arthur.
"Well, guys, let's keep going for a while and then head back," Paul said.
With those words, the group continued exploring for some time before returning to Lapan.
Upon arrival, a meeting was held at the base to report everything they had explored and to buy more provisions.
While Rudeus busied himself preparing more light magic scrolls—which were already starting to run low—he also took the opportunity to teach Shera how to properly draw the magic circles.
Not far from there, Arthur sat with his sword resting across his legs. He carefully wiped the blade with a cloth, checking every small scratch. That sword wasn't just a weapon—it was a gift from his grandfather, and he treated it with the respect it deserved.
Elinalise approached quietly and sat down beside him, crossing her legs casually.
"I see you two still haven't made up," she commented, briefly glancing in Rudeus's direction.
Arthur continued cleaning the blade for a few seconds before responding.
"There's not much to make up," he said. "I just… wanted to go with you. I felt I had to do something for them. Even though I don't know Zenith personally, I know she's someone important. I've heard a lot about her from Norn… and from Rudeus."
Elinalise watched him carefully.
"I see…" she murmured. "You're a good kid, Arthur."
Then, more openly, with that blunt air that characterized her:
"Whoever ends up marrying you will be very lucky."
Arthur fell silent for a moment. Then he looked away, scratching the back of his neck awkwardly.
"You really think so…?" he laughed softly.
Elinalise let out a small laugh, amused by his reaction.
After that conversation, the day went on, each person attending to their own matters.
…..
The next day, the group moved with mechanical efficiency. Since the path was already familiar, they crossed the third floor and entered the fourth in record time. They explored every corner, every branching passage that had once caused hesitation, but Zenith still didn't appear. Still, their morale remained high when they found the circle leading to the fifth floor without having used much of their supplies.
"Let's not stop," Paul ordered, seeing everyone still full of energy. "At this pace, we'll cover a lot of ground."
Upon entering the fifth floor, the environment grew even more hostile. Alongside the familiar Mad Skulls and Armored Warriors, a new nightmare appeared: Little Devils. Repulsive creatures that crawled along the ceiling with their disproportionately long arms, waiting for the perfect moment to drop down with mouths full of fangs.
While Paul and Elinalise engaged loudly with the heavy Mad Skulls, a dozen shadows moved along the ceiling, positioning themselves directly above Rudeus and Roxy.
Rudeus raised his staff, but before he could cast, a sharp, bitter smell flooded the corridor.
Arthur had pulled out a small cloth pouch and was shaking it in the air as he positioned himself in front of the mages. It was the Tarafo Berry, a plant the research book mentioned as the most effective natural repellent against Little Devils due to their hypersensitive sense of smell.
"Get down!" Arthur commanded.
As if struck by an invisible hammer, the monsters released the ceiling, writhing in disgust and crashing to the floor, stunned by the odor.
Arthur didn't waste a second. He drew his sword, a bluish glow of touki enveloping the blade. He moved like lightning among the fallen creatures. Each slash was precise, each thrust deadly.
Indirectly, he was using the battles to refine his style, making it increasingly instinctive and fast.
"Incredible…" Roxy whispered, lowering her staff as she realized the threat had been neutralized in seconds. "Arthur, when did you prepare all this?"
Arthur sheathed his sword with a soft metallic click and turned toward her as the rest of the group finished off the stragglers.
"Yesterday, while we were reviewing the book," he replied calmly. "It mentioned that Little Devils avoid areas where this plant grows. I bought several berries just in case."
Roxy looked at him with a mix of admiration and curiosity.
"I hadn't thought of it that way…" she murmured. "You're very thorough."
Arthur simply smiled at the praise.
A few steps away, Rudeus watched them in silence. He couldn't help feeling a bit dejected. His relationship with Roxy—his goddess, the person he had admired since childhood—felt different. More distant. He didn't understand when it had happened… but with Arthur, she seemed relaxed, natural. Just the way he had always wanted things to be between master and student.
"What am I thinking…?" he scolded himself internally. I promised Sylphie I wouldn't be unfaithful.
"Still, the pang of jealousy didn't completely disappear."
"I don't think they'll end up together… right?"
The group advanced quickly. Upon reaching the sixth floor, the sight was disheartening: the ceiling was completely covered with Little Devils, like a living plague. Paul swallowed and tightened his grip on his sword.
"This is going to be exhausting…" he murmured.
"Not necessarily," Arthur said, pulling out several more sacks of Tarafo berries.
Following his instructions, Talhand and Rudeus used controlled gusts of wind to spread the pollen through the corridor. What should have been a long, draining battle turned into a swift execution. The monsters fell one after another, unable to even get close.
Arthur advanced at the front, his sword reinforced with touki cutting with precision. For him, that labyrinth—the same one that had once nearly cost Roxy her life—was becoming a training ground.
In a quieter stretch, Roxy approached him again.
"Arthur… I can't help but ask," she said curiously. "What kind of style do you use exactly?"
"You could say it's a mix of the North God Style and the Sword God Style."
Roxy's eyes widened in surprise.
"Combining them? I've heard of people learning multiple styles, like Paul… but never of someone creating one by mixing them."
Arthur smiled slightly.
"I guess now you've met one. For now, I call it… the Dawn King Style."
"Dawn…?" Roxy blinked and lowered her hat a bit. "I think, for someone like you, that name suits it perfectly."
A faint blush colored her cheeks.
"how cute", Arthur thought as he looked at her. After spending so much time with her, he could finally understand why Rudeus had fallen in love with her.
They continued exploring until they finally reached the deepest chamber of the floor, the last place described in the book.
It was a wide, square room built of solid stone. In front of each wall—except the entrance—there was a magic circle. However, the moment they entered, everyone felt that something was off.
"There's nothing but the circles…" Paul murmured. "That's strange."
Just before reaching the room, they had faced an absurd number of Little Devils and eggs—hundreds of monsters—and yet the chamber was completely empty.
"It's like something here prevents them from entering," Elinalise commented.
"Then we must be right before the Labyrinth Guardian," Roxy said, tightening her grip on her staff.
"Seems so," Talhand agreed. "As long as we stay alert, there shouldn't be any problems."
Gisu approached the circles, comparing their structures with the descriptions in the book, while the rest stood guard.
Rudeus joined the inspection, as did Arthur.
After hesitating for a moment, Roxy decided to stand beside Arthur.
Rudeus noticed and let out an almost imperceptible sigh. Lately, he had been too distracted. Thinking about Sylphie, his sisters… Hitogami's words. And now, Roxy as well.
"What do you think?" Gisu asked, breaking the silence.
Arthur studied the circles carefully before replying:
"Without a doubt… they're the same ones described at the end of the book."
After receiving his answer, Gisu compared the circles with the drawings in that section. In the end, they confirmed that the book described these three circles specifically as follows…
They found three magic circles and immediately knew that two would be random teleport traps and one would lead to the next level. They marked the one they believed to be correct and crossed together—but it turned out to be one of the traps.
Arthur, Roxy, and Gisu appeared in a dark room infested with elongated creatures. They recognized it instantly: a nest of Little Devils.
As soon as the monsters attacked, the response was immediate.
It was a massacre.
Arthur advanced without hesitation, his sword reinforced with touki tracing precise arcs, while Roxy covered him with spells that froze and shattered any that tried to escape onto the ceiling. Within minutes, the room fell silent.
After clearing the room, they found something strange.
At the center, on the blackened floor, lay a stone the size of a fist, perfectly polished. Engraved on its surface was a clear, deep number.
6.
"This…" Gisu murmured. "It can't be a coincidence."
Later, back at the point where they had to choose between two possible routes, Arthur felt something beneath his foot.
He stopped abruptly.
"Arthur… what is it?" Roxy asked, alert.
He looked down, carefully pressing his foot against the ground.
"I think I know where the real magic circle is."
Gisu blinked, surprised.
"Why do you say that?"
"Roxy, can you give me a little space?"
She stepped back, clearly confused, and moved a few steps away.
Arthur concentrated touki into his sword. The blade vibrated slightly… and then he unleashed a series of precise cuts against the floor.
The stone cracked.
A square opening was revealed, exposing a staircase descending into darkness.
"Incredible…" Gisu murmured. "How did you know?"
Arthur calmly sheathed his sword.
"It sounded hollow when I stepped on it," he replied.
"Well… actually, I already knew where it was. A while ago, I asked the Great Sage to analyze the area", he thought.
"Guys, come here!" Gisu shouted. "Arthur found the stairs!"
The rest of the group rushed over. Seeing the hidden entrance, several let out exclamations of surprise.
"Gyajajaja!" Talhand laughed, giving Arthur a strong pat on the back. "You're good, kid!"
"Good work, Arthur," Paul said, adding another heavy pat on the shoulder. "You're full of surprises."
Elinalise joined in with the praise as well.
Rudeus watched the scene in silence.
"I could have done better…," he thought, clenching his teeth.
"Ah, wait a second," Gisu interjected. "There could be traps."
"Rudeus-senpai, pass me three of those scrolls of yours!"
As he spoke, he gave Arthur yet another pat on the back.
Then Arthur felt a presence in front of him.
He expected another hit… but instead felt only a gentle touch.
"Good job," Roxy said softly, almost a whisper.
Arthur looked at her. She slightly averted her gaze.
"Alright," Gisu continued, breaking the moment. "It's clear. Let's move, but don't let your guard down."
"Yes!"
Cautiously, they began descending the stairs.
At the bottom, they found what they had been searching for.
A two-way magic circle.
But there was something different about it.
It emitted an intense, unsettling crimson glow.
To be continued…