Source
https://kakuyomu.jp/works/822139844414118669/episodes/822139846167674806
Beyond the fully open door lay a dimly lit space bathed in a pale blue glow.
The space, as large as—if not larger than—the hall outside, had a ceiling so high it was hard to look up at, and the walls were adorned with candelabras bearing blue flames spaced evenly apart.
A massive magic circle was etched into the floor, and two shadows could be seen at its center.
“――!?”
My feet stopped of their own accord.
One was enormous. A massive, pitch-black figure, likely five meters tall. A humanoid monster, its entire body covered in heavy armor, was swinging a black iron battleaxe.
The other is a white shadow darting around the room, seemingly toying with the monster.
Flailing its long white hair, the slender figure dives into the black iron’s embrace.
“……A girl?”
Someone’s voice escapes.
Without a word, the girl swings the sword clenched in her hand.
Sparks fly, and the black iron armor is chipped, but it isn’t severed. Seemingly unfazed, the monster swings its battle axe.
A thunderous blow strikes at the girl, but she kicks off the floor and dodges it by a hair’s breadth.
Everyone present fell silent at the series of refined movements.
“…She’s used to fighting.”
It was just as I muttered that.
The girl’s gaze turned toward us.
Her red eyes, peeking out from between her white hair, locked onto us, and for just a split second, they widened in surprise. At that very moment—a massive black-iron arm swung down.
“—Watch out!!”
I shouted without thinking. —But it was too late.
A dull thud echoed through the hall, and the girl’s body flew through the air.
Her white hair traced an arc as her slender body bounced and rolled across the floor several times, then was slammed against the wall near the entrance with the full force of her momentum.
“……!”
The girl didn’t move.
Blood trickled from her forehead as she lay there lifelessly, like a puppet whose strings had been cut.
The black iron monster stared at the girl for a moment with the red eyes visible through the gaps in its helmet, but eventually, as if it had lost interest, it turned its gaze toward us.
Grit—!!
The next targets were—us.
“—It’s coming!”
Elisia’s voice rang out.
The armored figure gripped the battleaxe and raised it. That alone made the air groan, and then a thunderous roar echoed through the area as the battleaxe was brought down.
“Uwaaaaaaaah!!!”
The students serving as the vanguard were all blown away at once.
The shockwave rippled across the ground, causing the magic circle on the floor to glow even more intensely.
“Spread out! Don’t bunch up in front of it!”
Elisia’s command rang out, and we moved to avoid the front of the armored monster.
In the midst of that, I caught sight of Liene running toward it from the monster’s side.
She closed in on its feet at a terrifying speed, raised her greatsword, and dropped low into a crouch.
Then, she stomped down with enough force to shatter the floor beneath her, twisting her hips to the limit. A sweeping horizontal strike, driven by her full body weight, roared as it slammed into the monster’s unguarded leg.
“――Guh!? It’s hard!?”
Her strike sent sparks flying, echoing with the high-pitched clang of metal on metal.
It didn’t quite cleave it in two, but she could see the armor had been heavily gouged away.
“If the surface won’t work—!”
Ciel lunged in from behind the monster.
A flurry of strikes from her dual blades struck its joints, and the monster let out a silent scream.
Giiiiiiiiii—!!
The red light wavered for an instant.
The blades sank into the gap in the joint armor, and the black iron groaned.
“It’s going through! The joint!”
Someone shouted.
The next moment, the monster’s knee shot upward. A kick, as if swatting away swarming insects, closed in on Ciel, who was attacking the joint.
“……Guh!?”
Her body, which had barely managed to twist out of the way, was sent flying across the floor by the impact.
She rolled across the ground several times before finally coming to a stop after slamming into the wall.
Without a moment’s pause, the monster’s battle axe swung in a horizontal sweep. The impact, as if tearing the very air itself, sent the students caught in its path flying, slamming them against the wall.
Many students coughed up blood and were unable to move from where they fell.
Giiiiiiiiiiiiiik!!
The battle axe was raised once more.
Its target was the front line—including Ciel, who lay on the ground.
“Like I’d let you!!”
I leapt in front of the monster and crouched low.
I gripped the hilt tightly with both hands and held the blade at an angle.
(—If I block it head-on, the sword will snap first! Don’t block it! Deflect it!)
Just as the battle axe’s blade came down, I thrust my sword diagonally into its path.
A tremendous impact jolted through my arm, and a scream escaped my lips before I could stop it.
“Guh, Uwoooaaah!!!”
At the moment of impact, sparks flew.
My sword screeched, and my arm went numb. Facing a force that felt as though it would crush me, I twisted my body to deflect the battleaxe’s path to the side.
The axe grazed past Ciel’s head and slammed into the floor beside her.
The floor shattered, sending fragments flying. A shockwave slammed into my entire body, sending me flying several meters backward.
“W-what kind of brute strength is that…?”
Rolling along the ground, I thrust my sword into the floor to forcefully stop my momentum.
Both my arms were numb. My grip was about to slip, and I couldn’t help but let out a wry smile.
“I’ve fought countless monsters as an adventurer, but this is a first. —As expected of the Primordial Labyrinth. It’s not going to be easy.”
My armor slowly pulled out the battle axe that had been driven into it.
A red glow flashed intensely across my chest and around my eyes. It wasn’t over yet. It was as if it were saying, “This is just the beginning.”
“Yuu! Get out of the way!”
The moment I heard Elisia’s shout, I reflexively leaped backward.
“Fire!!!”
A furious shout rang out from the rear.
Fireballs were launched one after another, tracing crimson arcs as they slammed into the armor.
Explosive flames spread out from the monster, causing the black iron armor to glow red-hot.
“Next! Follow up!”
A torrent of water raced across the floor.
The roaring current wrapped itself around the monster’s legs, soaking the ground and blurring my vision with white mist.
Steam filled the air in an instant.
My vision was completely blocked; the monster’s red eyes flickered, and the light on its chest wavered.
In that instant—
“Now! Retrieve them!”
The students who had been waiting behind the vanguard all rushed forward at once.
They ran to their fallen comrades, hoisted them onto their shoulders, and dragged them back.
“Can you stand?! Give me a hand!”
“Hang in there!”
Two students lifted Ciel, who had been lying against the wall.
Wiping the blood from her lips, she opened her eyes slightly.
“…I can still fight…”
“Don’t be stupid, get back!”
With that, Ciel was forcibly pulled back as well.
The other wounded were dragged away one after another and carried to the rear.
All the while, fireballs, lightning spears, torrents of water, and blades of wind were relentlessly hurled at them.
Explosions erupted, steam swirled, lightning streaked across black iron, and wind gnawed at the armor. These were attacks that would have made short work of any ordinary monster.
Yet even after enduring all that—it still did not fall.
“……!!”
Beyond the steam, a red light pulsed, thud, thud.
The monster groaned as it swung its battleaxe, sweeping it in a wide arc.
The water vapor blew away, and the flames scattered. The wind blades shattered, and the lightning dissipated.
The view cleared instantly.
The monster standing there was glowing red all over.
The pattern on its cracked chest pulsed intensely, and red light poured out from the wounds on its legs.
“…This is bad, its magic power is gathering!”
Someone’s scream echoed through the air.
The magic circle on the floor began to growl lowly.
The battle axe gripped in both hands slowly rose. The pattern engraved on the battleaxe, now raised above the monster’s head, began to glow with an intense brilliance.
“Everyone, defensive formation!!”
As Elisia’s roar echoed, a wall of light appeared between us and the monster.
The geometric patterns overlapped in multiple layers, forming a solid barrier.
At that very moment—the raised battleaxe slammed down with tremendous force.
The air exploded, a circular shockwave radiated out from the creature, and the light walls shattered one after another. I managed to withstand the gale that the light walls couldn’t block by gritting my teeth and driving my sword into the ground.
“…That was close.”
When the shock subsided, the hall lay half-destroyed.
All but the very last light barrier had been shattered into pieces. The magic circle on the floor was cracked, and numerous fissures could be seen in the walls.
Every student’s face was frozen in shock at the ferocious impact.
What would have happened without the light barriers?
—But it seemed their endurance had paid off.
The monster’s movements had visibly slowed.
The two arms supporting the battleaxe trembled slightly, and the red light leaking from the wounds on its legs flickered erratically. The pattern on its chest was also chaotic, as if the pulsing from moments ago had been a lie.
It was a different quality from the “heartbeat” of before. It was an unstable light, like scorching heat or labored breathing.
“Don’t miss this chance! Strike all at once!”
Knowing this was their only chance, Elisia’s command rang out.
A barrage of magic fire from the rear ranks began once more. A rain of spells, cast as if they didn’t care about their remaining mana, struck the monster, further slowing its movements.
Its massive body swayed.
“—Shh!!”
A shadow in brown closed in on its feet once more.
Shouldering the greatsword, the shadow lunged forward, aiming for the exact same spot as before.
lowered center of gravity, gathered strength, and then, as that person lunged, swung the greatsword through.
Metal screeched like a death cry. Sparks flew like a waterfall, and the black iron leg was severed clean off at the knee.
Red light gushed from the cut, and black particles swirled upward.
Giiiiiiiiiiiii—!!?
Having lost its footing, the monster could no longer hold itself up and collapsed, its battle axe still raised high.
“Now!!”
Along with Elisia’s shout, which sounded almost like a roar, I sprinted forward.
I kicked off the shattered floor and leaped in front of the fallen creature. Gripping the hilt with both hands, I drove the blade into its chest—which was still flickering—with all my might.
The moment the blade made contact—the cracked patterns groaned.
A hard sensation transmitted through my palms.
“…Break!!”
I threw my entire weight into it and pushed even harder.
A dry crack echoed, a fissure ran through the armor, and red light burst out from within.
A flash of light filled the hall, and with a thunderous roar, the black iron armor crumbled to the ground.
The battle axe falls to the floor, and all strength drains from the colossal form.
The flickering that had been pulsing ceases, and the body begins to vanish, dissolving into black particles.
After a moment of silence.
“…We did it.”
Someone’s whisper escapes, trembling.
The next instant, cheers erupt like a dam bursting.
“We took it down!!”
“We won…!”
“We did it!”
Some raised their swords, others collapsed to their knees, and still others patted each other on the back.
The students’ victory cries echoed through the half-destroyed hall.
The tension melted away, and though everyone was breathing heavily, they were still smiling.
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