Side Flam
After our short break, we proceeded to the southwest area and successfully found the Safe Area and the portal to the second level.
Of course, monsters attacked us along the way, but since I, Mina, Lydia, and Ludia had evolved to Ancient Class, we quickly defeated them.
It’s said that the evolved Ancient Class, including Grand Hunter’s Master, experience their weapons and armor getting damaged quickly due to their overwhelming magic power, but we, using alloys and materials from high-ranked monsters as proposed by Yamato, can use ours without worry, which has been a great help.
“It’s as the information said, but I never imagined there would be so many volcanoes in a row.”
“Right? These mountains have normal vegetation and even ponds.”
The volcanoes we are in now are very similar to the mountains in Amister.
The difference from Seryado Volcano is that there isn’t any snow.
Or rather, I can see volcanoes in the distance with a faint dusting of snow, so like the 7th level of Solpreza Labyrinth, we should assume that the environment varies from mountain to mountain.
“An environment similar to the 7th level of Solpreza Labyrinth appearing right in the second level. That’s tough.”
“It is. Maybe Krater Labyrinth is more difficult than Solpreza Labyrinth and Instant Labyrinth?”
“I have a feeling it is. Solpreza Labyrinth has 7 levels in total, and Instant Labyrinth has 6, but this one might have more.”
Athena, Ludia, and Yamato are speculating about the difficulty and the deepest part of Krater Labyrinth. Indeed, I can feel the difficulty is high.
For us, labyrinths with fewer levels where high-ranked monsters appear from the first level are beneficial in terms of materials. However, for typical Hunters, it is not just difficult.
Furthermore, Krater Labyrinth is located in Golud Great Glacier, so even High Hunters might hesitate to enter.
If people don’t enter the labyrinth, it could lead to a Labyrinth Flood, where monsters multiply. Therefore, the area around Krater Labyrinth should be properly maintained, or the labyrinth should be conquered.
However, judging by the Guardians of Solpreza Labyrinth and Instant Labyrinth, the Guardian of Krater Labyrinth is likely to be an A-rank Monster. It seems that conquering it would require more than 10 High Class individuals, or at least several Ancient Class individuals.
“Regardless, let’s continue our investigation. Fortunately, this level has varied environments due to the mountains and volcanoes, so we’re unlikely to miss anything.”
“That means the monsters that appear will be more diverse, which is actually more troublesome.”
The volcanoes in this second level include not only those with exposed rock faces but also volcanic icebergs, volcanoes covered in vegetation, dense jungles, and those boiling with lava. Therefore, the monsters that inhabit them vary depending on the volcano.
Even with the same rank, monsters have different ecologies, attack methods, and threat levels. Therefore, we must thoroughly investigate which volcano hosts which monsters.
“Right. Like the first level, let’s proceed with caution here as well.”
As Yamato sent a glance, Viola, who was acting as the driver, gave a signal, and Jade began to pull the Tree-made Multi-functional Beast Carriage forward.
About 20 minutes later, the first monster appeared on the second level.
“Is this… a Fire Lizard?”
“Yes, it’s an S-rank Monster that is found in considerable numbers in labyrinths.”
Eos informed me. Perhaps this Fire Lizard is the giant lizard that Saber saw?
However, a Fire Lizard is indeed about 2 meters in size, but not exactly “giant”…
“Fire Lizards are S-U rank, but the G-R rank Blazing Scale measures over 5 meters, so they might have seen that one.”
Eos apparently fought a Blazing Scale in Maldosso Labyrinth about five years ago.
“As the name suggests, the Blazing Scale’s scales are aflame. I encountered one in Maldosso Labyrinth about five years ago, and Raid, with whom I was close at the time, also suffered significant damage. That’s why I had no choice but to fully transform into a dragon.”
Eos was a High Class at the time, so even with full dragon transformation, they wouldn’t deplete their magic power after just one battle.
However, prolonged battles are dangerous. Eos defeated it by fully transforming and using an enhanced Ether Breath.
Even so, Raid was half-destroyed, and Eos was considerably drained of magic power. They then left Maldosso Labyrinth, and Eos, still in dragon form, returned to Mount Wilness to heal their wounds. After that, they continued to serve as Butler on Mount Wilness.
“A Hy-dragonian who transformed into a dragon was so heavily injured that they couldn’t revert their transformation?”
“Yes. The Blazing Scale is quite fast and strong. Furthermore, its scales are constantly burning, so close combat was impossible even when transformed. Also, the location was a narrow canyon, so I couldn’t move properly and took a direct charge. The damage wasn’t that severe, but some scales did shatter.”
It is said that a fully transformed Dragonian can defeat P-rank Monsters even at Normal Class.
Of course, it’s not uncommon for Dragonians to sustain damage, but if they have evolved to High Class, their offensive and defensive power increases by more than a quarter.
A charge that can shatter the scales of such a Hy-dragonian would be difficult for other races to defeat even if they have evolved to High Class.
“In that case, if the giant lizard Saber saw was a Blazing Scale, then Saber’s decision to retreat was correct.”
“That’s right. And, ‘Shielding’! Take that!”
While we were talking, the Fire Lizard spat out a Fire Breath, but Mina used Shielding to block it and then crushed it with Mace Quake.
Unlike the Blazing Scale, the Fire Lizard’s scales are not burning, and its Monster Rank is S-U. For Mina, who is a G-rank Order and an Ancient Human, it would be an easy monster to deal with.
“Well done. However, this is the first encounter on the second level, so we need to investigate a bit more to confirm if it was indeed a Blazing Scale.”
“Yes. It’s not impossible that it could be a Saur species or a Flm Mist Heat Haze instead of a Blazing Scale.”
“Speaking of which, where did Saber descend to the second level from?”
As Yamato and Sir Yuri said, it’s not yet certain that the giant lizard Saber saw was a Blazing Scale.
However, as Ludia mentioned, if we don’t know which Safe Area Saber descended from, the investigation could take considerable time.
“Lady Hilde, are you listening?”
“Of course. Mirei.”
“Understood. Here is the map recorded by the Saber’s Guild.”
Mirei, following Lady Hilde’s instructions, used the mapping linked to her stereoscope to bring up the map. Mirei is registered with the Hunter’s Guild as well, isn’t she?
Looking at the map Mirei displayed, it seems Saber descended from the southwest side of the mountains where we are currently.
“It’s a bit of a distance.”
“Looks like we’ll have to cross about three mountains.”
“Investigating along the way, it seems impossible to get to the third level today.”
Yamato, Ludia, and Athena frowned slightly.
Indeed, there are more than 10 volcanoes visible.
Fortunately, they are not particularly tall mountains, but we are here for investigation, and since the environment varies from mountain to mountain, we must visit all of them.
It’s still the end of winter, so we have only about 5 hours for investigation, and it seems unlikely we can visit all the mountains today.
“It can’t be helped. However, I am in no particular hurry, so let’s prioritize the investigation over proceeding further.”
“Let’s do that.”
“Understood.”
With Lady Hilde and Mana deciding on the course of action, it was decided that we would conduct our investigation of the second level today.
The volcano we descended from the first level has trees and flowers, but the monsters that appeared were Fire Lizards. We should consider its ecosystem to be different from the mountains of Amister.
Most volcanoes are of similar height, around 500 meters above sea level.
In the volcano we’ve decided to call the “Grassland Volcano”, besides Fire Lizards, we found Treants, Bloody Treants, Buster Monkeys, Cannon Monkeys, Shell Grizzlies, Forest Bees, Silent Bees, Forest Bee Queens, and Orcs.
Demi-humans are considered one rank higher in labyrinths, so even normal species are equivalent to B-rank.
There were no abnormal or catastrophe species, but there were rare species, leading us to conclude that the difficulty of Krater Labyrinth is considerably high.
“It’s not strange to have demi-humans in a labyrinth, but having Giant Orcs on the second level seems like they’re trying to kill Hunters.”
“I agree. Since they are treated as G-R rank within the labyrinth, it would be more than just difficult for even High Class, let alone Normal Class, without alloys.”
Yamato and Prim are dumbfounded, and I agree, as do everyone else.
Since S-rank monsters appeared from the first level, there was a sufficient possibility of G-rank monsters appearing on the second level. However, facing rare demi-humans or Bee Queens, even High Class individuals with alloys cannot afford to be careless.
“Personally, the Buster Monkeys were quite annoying.”
“From the name, I expected them to attack from a distance, but they charged in themselves. And their power was comparable not to G-rank, but to P-rank, yet they were only S-U rank, which is unbearable.”
The Buster Monkeys that Mako and Yamato are talking about are monsters that strengthen their bodies and charge at terrifying speeds using wind magic.
The speed of their charge is incomparable to the cannons developed in Solmne, and their power is far superior. It can be said that they are unfavorable monsters for archers like myself, spirit mages like Sir Yuri, and mages like Mako and Aria.
Oh, “Mage” is a newly coined term used as a general term for those who fight primarily with magic.
They are also found in Amister, but they are weak to cold, so they only inhabit mountains with scorching hot summits.
The normal species is called Barrel Monkey, a B-N rank. Their attack method is the same, so it’s a relief that their annoyance and countermeasures are common.
They are not seen in Feel or Float areas, but they are treated as top-tier difficulty in certain regions.
The rare species of Buster Monkey, the Cannon Monkey, charges with lightning magic, so even if their attacks are blocked, paralysis can occur, often causing significant damage even to High Class individuals.
“Finally, we’ve descended the mountain. To the next mountain… it’s quite a distance.”
“Indeed. Could this place be as vast as the 7th level of Solpreza Labyrinth?”
“It seems plausible. However, unlike Solpreza Labyrinth, the foothills here are open grasslands with good visibility, so it’s helpful that we can easily spot monsters attacking.”
As Rica, Mana, and Lydia mentioned, the foothills connecting the mountains were quite extensive.
This scenery is similar to Amister.
However, unlike Amister, there are no trees, so the visibility is good, and we can quickly spot monsters attacking.
“Only this part feels like the second level.”
“It might be a trap to make us complacent.”
As Ludia said, that’s also a possibility, which is troublesome.
“We’ll deal with it if it happens. Well, since there are Monster Traps like in Instant Labyrinth, I have no intention of deviating from the path.”
The Monster Traps on the 3rd level of Instant Labyrinth spawned a large number of P-rank Monsters.
That labyrinth was quite maliciously designed, and this place has similar characteristics, so I would prefer not to stray from the path.
Everyone else seemed to think the same way, and without any objections, we headed for the next volcano.
