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]
“Indeed, we’re barely lifting our fingers here.” [Remiri]
“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]
“Ah, Sebasu-san, please give the slime some water.” [Ryouma]
“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]
“If it’s something like this, please feel free to ask me anytime.” [Sebasu]
After that, we continued to walk a bit more.
I don’t know what it’s like for the other labyrinths, but this labyrinth is quite spacious. But then again, perhaps it’s only expected. After all, the place needs to accommodate the convicts on death row and the employees. Just the lodging alone would take a lot of space, but then they even have other facilities too.
“Shiva, the herbs (eternal darkness) are down at the basement right?” [Rheinbach]
“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]
“Punishment nowadays is mostly limited to fines or forced labor. Intensity of which varies according to the weight of one’s crimes.
For example, a mere fight in a town would only get one fined. Pickpocketing and theft on the other hand, would be forced labor for the first time. The second time around would just increase the duration. But robbery and banditry would have one penalized to an indefinite period of forced labor. The sentence can be reduced with some negotiation, so the exact period can’t be defined.” [Shiva]
Since we weren’t having any trouble with the undead at all, I spent the time talking with Rheinbach-sama and Shiva-san about the execution grounds and its history. As a result, this entire trip has started to look more like a tour rather than a dungeon search.
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]
“There used to be rooms for the convicts at both sides in this reception center, but after the entire facility was shut down, they took away everything that could be used.” [Shiva]
“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]
“Money…Money…” [Undead]
The zombies until now have only been groaning at most, but these ones were actually repeating comprehensible words!
“These are zombies with attachment to the world when they were alive. That attachment has just been passed on their zombified forms. They’re not any stronger than their normal zombie counterparts, but to differentiate them from the others, we call them Intellizombies. This isn’t an official name however.” [Remiri]
After Remiri-san’s explanation, we quickly exterminated the Intellizombies with the king scavenger slime’s help. The king scavenger slime took care of the center, while Shiva-san and I disposed of the undead attacking us from the flanks.
And just as Remiri-san said, the intellizombies weren’t any stronger than the normal zombies.
After that we continued to walk again, and after some time, we left the reception center and reached a boundary leading to an execution site. Suddenly, the atmosphere changed. The atmosphere hasn’t changed at all since we entered the labyrinth, so the sudden change gave me a bad feeling.
“This…” [Ryouma]
“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]
“It feels different because it’s the place where the magic is gathered. Magicians in particular feel the change in atmosphere the strongest.” [Remiri]
“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.