The Man Picked up by the Gods Volume 3 Chapter 30

TL Note: I made a quick edit for the last fight scene.

Volume 3 Chapter 30

As we completed our preparations, the time to enter the labyrinth finally came.

When speaking of labyrinths, you might imagine something grand, some exaggerated image, but this labyrinth isn’t quite like that. This labyrinth does have a tinge of melancholy to it, but from the outside, it’s really nothing more than ruins.

With a light slime on my head, and a king scavenger slime following along, I entered the labyrinth along with everyone else.

The labyrinth is mostly rectangular in shape. Going deeper into the labyrinth from the entrance, one could see the lodging for the executioners and the convicts. And then, there’s also a place for waiting during work, and a reception center for the convicts. The execution grounds themselves are divided in an order, and no traps or treasures could be found in the area.

The interior of the labyrinth was dark, having no light. But with a portable alcohol lamp or light magic from either ours or the light slime, we had no difficulties finding our way.

As we continued to walk, a wraith suddenly slipped through the walls. But with a single shot from my ‘Light Shot’, I made short work of it. The rest of the zombies and skeletons that were in the area were taken care of by the king scavenger slime who would swallow and melt them.

Since the path was small, the king scavenger slime could easily fill the path with its ‘Enlarge’ skill, and with its ‘Overeating’ ability, it could freely feast on the undead, and protect us at the same time. The sight of us moving forward with the king scavenger slime in front like that looked much like a tsunami.

Thanks to that, we had little burden on our end, and the only thing we had to do was dispose of the wraiths that would pass through the walls.

“And here I thought we’d have to work our asses off since we didn’t thin them out enough.” [Rheinbach]

“I did think the slimes would be a strong hand after seeing them fight yesterday… but I didn’t expect that we’d end up walking through this labyrinth so comfortably.” [Shiva]

“Understood, ‘Water’” [Sebasu]

Sebasu-san conjured some water with his water magic, and the king scavenger slime happily drank it. After 10 seconds, the king scavenger slime’s body shook, indicating that it was full.

“Thank you very much, Sebasu-san. That’s enough water now.” [Ryouma]

“Yes, they should be growing at the execution site in the basement. I’ve gone there plenty of times to train the new recruits, and have seen those herbs a lot, so they should be there.” [Shiva]

The eternal darkness (herb) that we’re looking for is a kind of herb that grows gregariously in places with no light like caves. When Shiva-san heard that, he mentioned that he had seen such herbs before by the execution site down the basement.

Speaking of which, there are various methods by which execution is done in this facility, so the place that the eternal darkness (herb) is growing in is one of those.

That area is an execution site with nothing but an ever extending spiral staircase going deep down into the ground, a hole, and an apparatus for restraining the convicts. Also known as the execution grounds of starvation. As the name implies, the convict is left within the execution site with no food or water, leaving him there until he dies of starvation.

The other execution sites also appear to be equally cruel, but they are not being used in present day.

“This is also something related to the godchilds. They said that it was inhuman, and most of the godchilds, along with Masaharu and Shuu, protested against it in the past.” [Rheinbach]

Halfway to the execution grounds of starvation, we entered the reception center for the convicts, and the path suddenly grew bigger.

“The path suddenly became wider.” [Ryouma]

“With all the cells gone, the path became bigger. And if you look closely, you’ll notice that there are also unnatural holes both on the floor and on the ceiling.” [Rheinbach]

Now that he mentions it, there are definitely holes on the ground and on the ceiling.

Around that time, undead with a different atmosphere from the others suddenly came out.

“K…Kill…” [Undead]

“Come to think of it, it’s your first time, right, Ryouma? The change in atmosphere is because we’re near the center of the magic labyrinth.” [Rheinbach]

“Because the magic power in the surrounding area is stronger normal, there’s also a chance that a powerful magical beast might have been born, so be careful.” [Shiva]

Like that we proceeded with careful attention to our surroundings. After a while, we entered a hallway with windows. From the window, a courtyard-like area with gallows could be seen along with a great number of undead prowling it vicinity.

“Then I guess it’s my turn to shine.” [Remiri]

A roam weapon is a weapon that floats and attacks living beings by itself. It’s an undead-type magical beast.

Weapons that have killed many men and beasts alike that have been left for a long time in places with dense concentration of magic power have a tendency to become roam weapons.

And the only way to defeat these roam weapons is by destroying them. Either with magic or by physical attack. However, being a weapon by nature, they are quite tough, and difficult to destroy with physical attacks. Because of that, magic is generally the common approach to subjugating them.

“It’s here.” [Remiri]

Suddenly, 2 maces, an axe, a spear, and two one-handed swords suddenly came flying at us at running speed.

We were also ready to fight, but with the magic Remiri-san calmly invocated, there was no need for us to fight.

“’Shadow Bind’” [Remiri]

“Thank you very much. I’ll be in your care.” [Ryouma]

“It’s thanks to Shiva, who knew the place well, and Ryouma’s slime. Normally, it would have taken a lot more effort.” [Rheinbach]

In order not to let the undead reach the three up the stairs, I made sure to put to practice the advice I got from Shiva-san a few days ago.

After defeating the ghouls in front of me, a group of ghouls tried to jump over their corpses, but I quickly fired a ‘Lightshot’ towards them, causing them to fall down to the ground. More ghouls came to attack me in that window, coming from the right. So moving my blade up from the right shoulder to my left flank, I cut the ghouls apart. The ghouls’ claws came slashing at me, but I dodged their claws, and at the same time, I wielded my sword at my left flank, fired a ‘light shot’ to the ghouls that fell before and were now trying to stand up, and then cut the ghoul that was in front of me from its waist.

There are still holes in my swordplay and magic, I thought.

In the next moment, two zombies came attacking at me at almost the same time from both sides from diagonally in front. The one to the left was closer, so I dodged its attack first, and struck it with my blade, and kicked it, making some distance. The one to the right came almost right after that, so I cut that one’s arms, and then severed its body with a swing of my sword. But they weren’t down for the count just yet.

Then I faced toward a ghoul that entered from my left while I was fighting the other two. I wielded my blade on my shoulder, casting ‘Lightshot’ from the tip of my blade, extinguishing the ghoul behind me. The ghoul before me came slashing at me with its claws, and with a flick of my magic and the swing of my blade, I extinguished the ghoul to my right, and severed the ghoul to my left. And the ghouls did not stand up again.

Was that good? Normally, it’d be impossible to show my back to an opponent I couldn’t cut, but with magic, I could kill my opponent, and wield my sword to face another at the same time.

Like this, I fought the ghouls while combining my magic and my marital arts, honing my abilities as I did. From time to time, I would also get advice from Shiva-san during the fight.

After 20 minutes of continued fighting, we finally finished killing all of the undead. 

Chapter end