We were advancing through the third stratum of the Krater Labyrinth, and as we entered the noble district, the monsters that appeared changed once again.
From the entrance of the third stratum up to the Safe Area, we encountered Hobgoblins, Redcap Goblins, Goblin Princes, and Goblin Princesses. However, after passing the Safe Area, they were replaced by Garums, Terra Garums, and Stella Garums.
Garums appeared normally until we reached the area with ordinary houses. But as we got closer to the noble district, their appearance rate decreased. I had expected that different monsters would appear once we entered the noble district, and that’s exactly what happened.
What’s more, they were actually Amazoneses, and while my prediction was correct, I felt no joy whatsoever.
“There really were Amazoneses here.”
“This stratum has a nasty personality.”
“I can’t say for sure since we haven’t investigated other districts, but goblins at the entrance and Amazoneses at the exit certainly shows a nasty personality.”
We are advancing through the noble district, hunting Amazoneses. The noble district is wide from east to west, but not so much from north to south.
Because of this, the number of Amazoneses we’ve hunted isn’t that large, but that doesn’t make me happy about my prediction coming true.
I wholeheartedly agree with Mana, Ludia, and Mako’s opinions.
The third stratum is a full urban stratum, modeled after the city of Bestia.
This means we can enter buildings, and it’s no exaggeration to say that almost all of these buildings are monster lairs.
Moreover, some buildings were as tall as five stories, which the demi-humans exploited to mount ranged attacks.
These demi-humans had descended from the second stratum; immediately after, we encountered higher-class, rare, and anomalous species of goblins. Upon entering the noble district in the northern sector, we encountered normal, higher-class, rare, and anomalous species of Amazoneses.
It’s not unusual for rare or anomalous species to appear in a labyrinth, but isn’t the sheer number excessive?
“We’ve only confirmed Garums among the monsters, but considering the size of Bestia, there might be others.”
“That’s probably true. Perhaps their territories are decided by district?”
“That’s possible.”
As Flam, Prim, and Meena said, the only monsters confirmed besides demi-humans were Garum species.
Therefore, if we are to investigate this stratum, we must assume that other monsters are present, or we will suffer unnecessary casualties.
Prim’s prediction that monster territories are likely determined by district aligns with my own thoughts. I believe that there are definitely monster territories in the Priests’ Guild in the west, the slum district in the southeast, and the residential area in the northeast.
“We’ll investigate that another time. What’s more problematic is…”
“Yes. The individual at the castle gate, isn’t that a Queen? I thought there might be gatekeepers, but I didn’t expect a Catastrophe Species to be one.”
The Helios Orb Labyrinth does not have stratum bosses.
This is because the stratum transfer array, which allows us to move to the next stratum, is always located within a Safe Area.
Safe Areas are inaccessible even to O-rank monsters, with the exception of familiars and summoned beasts. Therefore, even if there were stratum bosses, they wouldn’t be fighting in front of the transfer array.
However, the Antlion Queen waiting before us is clearly positioned in front of the transfer array.
More accurately, it’s in front of the Safe Area where the transfer array is located. I’ve never heard of or recorded any monster doing such a thing.
“What shall we do? Though, we have no choice but to defeat it.”
“Indeed. While ignoring it is an option if our only goal is to investigate this stratum, if it waits for us so brazenly, I feel it will attack even if we ignore it.”
“Right.”
“Yes. If we fight the Antlion Queen head-on, we can also verify where reinforcements will come from and whether we can slip into the Safe Area. This can also be considered part of the investigation.”
Mana is right.
Since only the Antlion Queen is positioned before the Safe Area with the transfer array, it should be possible to slip into the Safe Area.
However, it’s certain that Amazoneses will swarm out from the surrounding noble mansions, and more importantly, creating an opening to attack the Antlion Queen seems extremely difficult.
The Antlion Queen is an M-C rank monster, but due to it being in a labyrinth, it’s equivalent to an A-C rank, and thus an O-rank demi-human.
No, since Catastrophe Species are said to be two ranks higher, the Antlion Queen before us might be close to a Demise Species.
When such an Antlion Queen commands a multitude of Amazoneses, even fighting with a small, elite force could be challenging.
If we go with a small group, the only approach would be to evade her Multi-jointed Sword in her right hand and her spear in her left, and then perhaps, for just a moment, catch her off guard and pull her away from the Safe Area to create an opening to slip in.
Fortunately, the Antlion Queen has a human-like physique, similar to Humans and Elves, so she doesn’t rely on attacks that leverage immense size.
I expect her to be fast, but if we can blow her back a considerable distance, I believe it’s possible.
However, an attack capable of blowing back a Catastrophe Species would be difficult even for High Class without Alloy weapons.
“Yamato, may Flam and I handle this?”
Just as I was about to say something, Meena suddenly spoke up.
Her and Flam, facing the Antlion Queen?
“Yes. We want to test how far we can go against an O-rank equivalent monster.”
“Please.”
They both bowed their heads. What should I do?
Meena and Flam evolved to Ancient Class during the Solemne march, but they are not without experience fighting Anomalous and Catastrophe Species.
In fact, both of them fought and defeated the P-C rank Antlion Queen and the G-I rank Antlion Princess at the Klagen battle.
“You beat me to it.”
“It’s a shame, but we’ll have to save it for another time.”
While I was contemplating, Ludia and Lydia murmured with disappointed expressions.
You too, huh.
“It’s fine, isn’t it? If it really gets dangerous, they can intervene immediately.”
“Lydia and Ludia, as well as Meena and Flam, have good compatibility. Since they’ve also evolved to Ancient Class, they shouldn’t fall behind to demi-humans, even if they are O-rank equivalent.”
Even within the same Raid or Union, individual compatibilities exist.
There are various reasons, such as personality or combat style, but Meena and Flam seem to have matching personalities and combat styles, and they’ve been training to improve their coordination since immediately after joining the Union.
At Wing Crest, the pairs are Meena and Flam, and Lydia and Ludia. However, Lydia and Ludia’s pairing is largely due to them being twin sisters, and with their combination of Twin Swordsman and Martial Artist, there are occasional coordination errors.
Still, they are not fatal mistakes, so it’s not a major issue.
“Understood. Then we’ll handle the Amazoneses that will likely emerge from the other mansions.”
We don’t know how many there will be, but we have to do it.
Side: Meena
With Flam’s support, I marched straight towards the Antlion Queen.
“Haaah!”
I swung Mace Quake preemptively, but the Antlion Queen blocked it with her spear in her left hand and counterattacked with her Multi-jointed Sword in her right.
However, this was within my expectations, so I defended by combining Silverio Shield and Knight Magic: Shielding.
“Gyaraaaah!!”
As we created distance, the Antlion Queen began swinging her Multi-jointed Sword in her right hand like a whip.
Having sparred with Mana many times, I’m quite familiar with Multi-jointed Swords.
However, to my surprise, the Antlion Queen’s Multi-jointed Sword’s blade extended and became like a whip.
I reflexively used my Unique Magic, Fielding Protection, to defend, but I never imagined the blade itself would turn into a whip.
While Fielding Protection is managing to block the Antlion Queen’s swords attacking from all directions, I can’t see an opening, and there’s a sense that it might break if I let my guard down for even a moment.
At that point, Flam shot arrows to harass her, but the Antlion Queen skillfully spun her spear in her left hand and shot them all down.
“Troublesome…!”
Flam seemed to feel the same, as she continued her attacks, switching from arrows and magic to her Unique Magic, Arrow Rain Tempest.
Arrow Rain Tempest is a Fusion Magic that Flam uses to combine Water and Thunder attribute magic, for which she has an affinity, raining down arrows like a downpour.
Depending on Flam’s magic power, the arrows can become like spears or needles, so even the Antlion Queen won’t be able to block them all.
“Meena! Let’s do that!”
While using Arrow Rain Tempest, Flam called out to me.
That thing?
I’ve tried it several times, but it didn’t work, and I’ve never succeeded once. Are we really going to do that?
No, there’s no time to hesitate.
“Understood! Please!”
“Yes!”
I deployed Mace Quake and Barrier Magic onto Silverio Sword, and Flam unleashed Tidal Blaster towards that Silverio Sword.
The Mace Quake that received Tidal Blaster, combined with Flam’s Fusion Magic, transformed from a mace into a greatsword.
Success!
Setting aside my joy, I swung the greatsword.
Perhaps because the greatsword was a combination of Mace Quake and Tidal Blaster fused into one by Fusion Magic, not only lightning rain arrows but also lava arrows shot out when I swung it, which surprised me. But the Antlion Queen seemed equally surprised.
She couldn’t block it with her Multi-jointed Sword, and arrows pierced her body. Her rotating spear also gradually lost momentum, perhaps because the needle-like arrows passed through its rotation.
Furthermore, Flam unleashed Arrow Rain Tempest once more, completely immobilizing the Antlion Queen, no matter how formidable she was.
“Taaah!”
Seizing the opportunity, I brought down the Silverio Sword, now a greatsword, vertically.
The greatsword struck the Antlion Queen’s left shoulder, severing her left side.
Even a Catastrophe Species cannot survive being cut in half.
The Antlion Queen, bisected from her shoulder, fell and extinguished her life.
“We did it… We did it, Flam!”
“Yes, we did!”
Even though Yamato and the others were still fighting, Flam and I embraced in joy.
But we couldn’t afford to revel in our victory for too long.
“Flam, let’s go!”
“Yes!”
I sent my gaze around and saw Amazoneses, numbering more than a hundred.
No, most of them have been defeated, so the number still moving is less than twenty.
The defeated individuals included not only Amazoneses, Venus Amazones, and Virgo Amazones, but also Antlion Princesses. Their fighting strength was far greater than that of an ordinary settlement.
Ah, right, Amazoneses inhabit forests and use trees to conceal themselves and attack.
Since this is an urban area, their characteristics as forest dwellers are diminished, which might have led to a decrease in their combat effectiveness.
As the Queen of the Dense Forest, this urban stratum probably wasn’t to her liking.
However, I feel no sympathy.
If I had, it might have resulted in my own life being cut short.
Regaining my composure, I re-readied Silverio Sword and Silverio Shield, and Flam readied her Lapislazuli Light Longbow. We then headed to support Yamato and the others.
