Ch 133: Speedrunning The Dungeon

“What’s going on?!”

Bal was stunned by the scene before him; he couldn’t quite understand it.

“That ornament is a magic item; using the wrong removal method will kill the wearer. I really don’t know who made such a vicious item, or why they gave it to Colt.”

After listening to Phia’s explanation, Bal went to Colt’s side. He reached out and touched the ground, chanted a simple spell, and the ground beneath Colt sank. After it was completely out of sight, Bal used the Holy Flame to completely cremate the corpse, and finally covered it completely with Earth Magic.

“Rest in peace.”

Bal and Phia stood at Colt’s place of death, silently mourning.

“What deceased person? Who’s deceased?”

A voice sounded from behind Bal. He turned around, his face instantly turning white.

“Holy crap! Ghost!”

Bal’s yell startled Phia. She raised Bal’s longsword and began swinging wildly.

“Don’t… don’t come closer! I’m mourning the deceased!”

“Wait! It’s me, I’m Colt, “Mercenary” Colt!”

The self-proclaimed Colt desperately dodged Phia’s longsword while explaining his situation.

“You just burned my custom magic puppet; I’m the Main Body!”

“Huh?”

Bal was stunned by this statement.

“Really, I’m not lying, make her stop!”

“Oh, I’ll do it right away.”

Bal approached Phia from behind, seizing a brief moment when she wasn’t swinging her sword. He hugged Phia, then touched Phia’s tail root and lightly bit Phia’s ear. Phia let out a muffled groan and collapsed into Bal’s arms. Colt watched the scene and grinned.

“Buck, your technique is pretty skilled. Where did you learn that?”

“That’s my Wife, you stupid idiot.”

Bal glared fiercely at Colt, who realized he shouldn’t be looking and turned away.

“Dumb… Dumb Dog, don’t do that again.”

Phia, lying in Bal’s arms, blushed, not daring to look Bal in the eyes.

“Okay, I understand. It was an emergency this time, will you forgive me?”

“Mm.”

After comforting his Wife, Bal sheathed his sword and helped Phia tidy her clothes. Only after Phia had calmed down did Bal allow Colt to turn around.

“Your magic puppet is quite lifelike.”

“That’s my Life-Saving Trick. I just sent it to explore the Maze; I didn’t expect to meet you guys.”

“That ornament was…?”

“A security measure. You wouldn’t want a magic puppet that looks exactly like you to fall into someone else’s hands, would you?”

“True. So, why did you come here? I remember this is the first time the Guild has encountered this Maze, right?”

Bal’s eyes sharpened. As the Adventurer’s Guild Master, all intelligence regarding this kind of Maze would pass through him. However, Colt seemed to be faster this time, making Bal wary.

“I was privately commissioned to find a horse, and I found it here.”

Hearing about finding a horse, Bal and Phia were both wide awake, because they were also looking for a horse.

“Could it be Councilman Sheffield’s commission?”

Bal tentatively asked Colt, who nodded immediately upon hearing Sheffield’s name.

“That’s right, how did you know?”

“Because Councilman Sheffield initially commissioned the Guild. I was out for a while, and Anda forgot about it. I saw the commission today and came immediately.”

“Looks like we have the same goal!”

Hearing Bal’s words, Colt was excited and put his hand on Bal’s shoulder.

“I suspect that horse might have entered this Maze.”

“Are you even listening to yourself? With a Maze of this scale, if it had existed for so long, wouldn’t the Guild have known something?”

“Oh yeah!”

While Bal was still thinking about how to find Sheffield’s horse, Phia patted his shoulder. Bal looked in the direction Phia was pointing.

“Councilman Sheffield riding a horse into the Maze. Why would I dream something like this?”

Bal rubbed his eyes, surprised by what was happening.

“Councilman Sheffield just ran into the Maze.”

Colt walked to Bal’s side and told him what he saw.

“No choice, it seems we have to enter the Maze. Colt, do you want to come along?”

“Sure!”

So Colt followed Bal and Phia into the Maze through a gap in the vine wall.

“What are you doing, Colt?”

Hearing Bal’s question, Colt was also confused.

“Don’t you guys take any measures to prevent getting lost in a Maze?”

Bal and Phia both shook their heads. Phia didn’t need to because she could use Magic Detection to detect the path and generate a map in her mind. While still at school, Bal was the number one Maze destroyer; he had broken down all the walls of the underground Maze built by the school. After becoming a Hero, Bal skipped classes endlessly, always using the Holy Silver Sword Light Cannon to clear any Maze set up by the Demon King’s Army. Now, with an even stronger sword, he didn’t need to worry about the twists and turns of the Maze; if there was no path, he would simply make one.

Bal drew his longsword to demonstrate his Maze traversal method to Colt. He infused the longsword with Magic, softly chanting a spell. The sword’s Light gradually began to shine and agitate. Bal raised the sword above his head; the sword’s body instantly increased in length due to the amplification of the Light. The Light-formed sword body slashed downwards with Bal’s swing.

“EX… Excalibur!”

With one strike, the Maze’s vine wall fell as smoothly as butter being cut with a hot knife. Bal glanced back at Phia, a smug expression on his face.

“Heh, how about that? Am I cool?”

“Stop showing off, run! The vine wall has a self-repair function.”

Phia took her spear and ran first. After hearing Phia’s words, Bal carried the unconscious Colt and ran.

“What about Colt?”

Bal caught up with Phia and pointed to the Colt he was carrying.

“It’s fine, he’s fainted. The Magic you gathered just now was too much; he might have been overwhelmed.”

After using her Magic to briefly check Colt, Phia said.

“That’s good… watch out, left!”

Bal ran alongside Phia. He saw a Maze Minotaur he had seen before running out from Phia’s left. Phia didn’t seem to hear; she didn’t even look at the Minotaur. Bal panicked, but he underestimated Phia. Phia reached out and waved her hand in the direction of the Minotaur, which immediately exploded.

“Don’t get distracted, keep running, those Monsters are no match for me.”

After running for half an hour, Phia and Bal finally reached the center of the Maze. Bal put Colt on the ground, intending to use the Physical Awakening Technique on him. He raised his hand to slap Colt’s face, and the dazed Colt sat up after being awakened by the Physical Awakening Technique.

“Who am I? Where am I?”

“We’re in the center of the Maze now. You lost consciousness earlier, and we were attacked by many Monsters on the way.”

Bal looked at the large red mark on Colt’s face, recalled the hard times he’d experienced in his life, and finally suppressed his laughter.

“But why does my face hurt? It burns.”

Colt touched the red mark Bal had made, completely confused.

“I said we were attacked.”

“Oh, that’s how it is, you guys are pretty good.”

Bal couldn’t hold back his laughter and quietly chuckled to himself.

“Alright, let’s ignore that idiot. Now let’s think about what to do next. We are currently in the center of the Maze, but we don’t see the Maze Core.”

Phia walked to Colt’s side, reducing the swelling on his face while speaking.

“What if the Core is above us?”

“Huh?”

Colt looked up and pointed at the Luminous Crystal above. Phia followed Colt’s gaze.

“It seems that’s it.”

After reducing the swelling on Colt’s face, Phia went to Bal.

“That crystal above should be the Maze Core. How do you plan to handle it?”

Bal looked up and said without thinking.

“Destroy it, what else would we do with it?”

Phia looked at Bal disdainfully, leaving Bal confused.

“Idiot! The Maze Core is a highly valuable item. If we can retrieve it, we can sell it for a lot of money.”

“But nobody here would want to buy this thing, would they?”

“True… then I’ll dismantle it.”

Just as Phia was gathering Magic to destroy the Maze Core, Bal seemed to remember something and quickly stopped her.

“I have an idea!”

“Huh? What is it?”

“We can move this Core to the school and build a teaching Maze! You should be able to set up the Core, right?”

“Hey, that’s right! We can put it in the school! Okay, I’ll get it!”

The Magic Phia had gathered didn’t dissipate, but she changed her spell. The Maze Core stopped shining and slowly fell to the ground.

“Take out your bag.”

Bal took out his Magic Bag from his waist and handed it to Phia, who put the Core into the bag.

The moment the Core disappeared, the vine walls that formed the Maze began to collapse, and the Monsters inside also dissipated.

“Good! Let’s go home!”

Just as Bal was about to go home, he saw someone unexpected.