The Death King Adalman detected intruders within his domain, and his lipless jaw curled upward in a semblance of a smile.
In doing so, his teeth scraped together with a faint sound.
It was hard to tell, but by Adalman's standards, this counted as a grin.
"You seem to be in fine spirits, Lord Adalman."
The man who had once been his trusted holy knight spoke up.
He was a undead — a wraith without a Physical Body. Yet he stood there looking no different from how he had in life.
He had been transformed into an undead monster, but rather than possessing the living or the dead, he had constructed a body identical to his living form from one of the countless corpses available.
Adalman had no lingering attachment to his former flesh. In fact, he rather preferred his current skeletal appearance.
But his trusted retainer — the man who had served as captain of the Holy Knights — presumably still held sentiment and pride for his appearance in life.
He had the look of a fresh-faced young man. The adjective "refreshing" applied to a wraith sounded odd, but that was the best description.
Blue phantom flames drifted around him, and his skin was deathly pale — making it abundantly clear he was no longer among the living.
"Indeed, my spirits are very much high.
He informed his trusted lieutenant, the former Holy Knight Captain Albert, of the intrusion.
Upon hearing this, "I see. They've finally arrived."
Albert — now a Holy Knight of the Wraith — nodded with evident delight, having understood everything.
They had once ventured into the battlefield within the Great Forest of Jura, motivated by goodwill, to purify the massive undead outbreak that had erupted there.
Adalman had gone as a priest along with four Holy Knights, but they had encountered an unexpected situation.
When they reached the battlefield, a fearsome monster had already made its lair there — the
After a desperate battle, they succeeded in slaying the Carrion Dragon, but they had been completely spent.
They had not been acting under orders from the Church. They had gone of their own conviction, which meant no rescue party ever came.
Thus, their fate should have ended right there. But their earnest wish for the peace of the Great Forest of Jura sparked a miracle.
Though for them, it was perhaps less a miracle and more a curse…
Adalman's party had been drenched in the death curse of the undead and bathed in an enormous quantity of Magicules, transforming them into wraiths.
However, thanks to their iron will, Priest Adalman and Holy Knight Captain Albert had managed to retain their sense of self.
Priest Adalman became the Undying King — the Death King.
Holy Knight Captain Albert became a Holy Knight of the Wraith.
And the three subordinates became Wraith Knight Commanders.
Having acquired the ability of Wraith Dominion, the Death King Adalman took control of all wraiths in the area and withdrew into a cave.
That had been over three hundred years ago.
Immune to the ravages of time, they drifted through the ages without even keeping track of how many years had passed.
But they had taken notice of the new ruler of the Great Forest of Jura.
Of course they had.
Since the Storm Dragon Veldora's disappearance, they had anticipated turmoil in the forest and dispatched agents to gather intelligence.
The result: they chose to submit to the new Demon Lord. And so they took their place as subordinates.
"At long last, the time has come for us to serve Lord Rimuru, the Demon Lord who granted us peace!
Within this labyrinth, we may freely command the dead. Unlike our long years hiding in caves, this place is brimming with stimulation!
We must prove our loyalty to the 'god' who bestowed upon us such a magnificent environment!"
"Ha ha! This Albert understands perfectly!"
Adalman nodded at Albert's response.
His faith had died once, and a new object of devotion had been chosen — Demon Lord Rimuru.
Naturally, Rimuru had no idea about any of this.
In fact, he was thinking something like "Sorry, but you guys don't stand a chance," but Adalman and his men, ignorant of this, were fired up.
Now was the time to offer victory to their new master.
Adalman, burning with enthusiasm, and Albert in agreement, exchanged glances and nodded to each other.
Then they began devising strategies to deal with the foolish intruders who were on their way.
—————— The three who had come from the Empire were making steady progress.
After parting ways with
They had gathered information beforehand, but it sounded like the underground labyrinth was packed with game-like elements — an absurd setup, really.
However, detecting traps was Shin Ryuusei's specialty.
And from what they had heard, the monsters were nothing special either.
The problem was that the dungeon's total depth was unknown.
They wanted to push forward quickly, but there was a limit to how much food they could carry.
But even that worry was unfounded.
"Oh, don't worry about it. Whenever you find a staircase, there's an inn entrance right there.
You can stay overnight on each floor. So you don't need to carry that much food.
Plus, there are merchants inside who'll buy off anything you don't need!"
Everything was provided for.
And there was even an item called a "Resurrection Bracelet" that could bring you back to life…
"Apparently you can resurrect even if you die in here…"
When Shinji relayed what he had heard, Mark and Shin both wore complicated expressions.
How to put it — in the midst of such a serious world, this place alone felt like a gag manga. The feeling was hard to describe.
They, too, were "otherworlders" who had been granted considerable abilities in this world.
But nowhere else had they seen a place where you could do whatever you wanted like this.
Yuki had worked hard to improve food culture, and those innovations had made their way to the Empire, but this town seemed to surpass even that.
Takoyaki, okonomiyaki, yakisoba. They even had crêpes, which had only been invented recently.
Food stalls lined the streets as far as the eye could see.
The restroom situation was perfect. And the inns were wonderfully comfortable.
"Hey, I'm thinking about moving here. Come on, stop me from going back to the Empire."
"Hey!"
"No, sorry… Just kidding. Don't get mad, Shinji."
"I'm not mad — I was actually thinking maybe we should seriously consider it."
"…I want to live here too."
The three looked at each other.
"No, no, no. We can't, right?"
"Right… Yuki-san would complain. And a war's about to start…"
"Yeah… Shame…"
They sighed and let it go.
The town's lively atmosphere, the delicious food, the comfort of living here — and on top of all that, new entertainments seemed to spring up constantly, as if this town were the center of culture and recreation.
All of these pastimes were familiar from their original world, which made them nostalgic for people who had only known the Empire.
It wasn't that the Empire lacked culture or entertainment, but nothing there was as free-spirited as this town.
Most importantly, war was imminent.
This city was a definite target, and it could not escape the ravages of conflict.
For the three, who knew the Empire's military capabilities inside and out, the possibility of this country defeating the Empire seemed like nothing more than a waste of thought.
Reluctantly severing their attachment, they resolved to challenge the labyrinth.
………
……
…
And now.
One week had passed since the start of their labyrinth conquest.
The three of them — Shinji, Mark, and Shin — were relaxing in the labyrinth's inn.
"By the way, haven't we made a killing this past week?
They said this inn only had the bare minimum facilities, but it's pretty decent.
And on top of that, the room rates are cheap. Plus the money we got from selling off unneeded gear has really piled up, right?"
Mark asked cheerfully.
Shin raised his head with mild interest.
Shinji answered by pulling gold coins from his bag.
"Yeah, quite a hefty sum, actually.
Apparently the best record from the labyrinth's regular challengers is floor 39.
They couldn't break through floor 40.
The weapons with holes in them that have started appearing around here sell for astonishing prices."
"What's the deal with those holes anyway?
There weren't any like that up to floor 40, right?
Two or three started dropping around floor 50?"
"Yeah, that's right.
But apparently they actually showed up rarely in treasure chests on floors 30 and above.
The quality is undeniably high, so maybe that's why? But…
There seems to be something more to it.
Even the merchants just smile and won't tell me."
"Oh boy, suspicious.
But hey, if the quality's good, then check this out! Look at this!"
Saying that, Mark produced his Minotaur War Axe and showed it off gleaming.
A beautiful silvery sheen.
The supreme masterpiece, forged from mithril.
A special-grade weapon — looted from the treasure chest guarded by the floor 50 boss.
"It's a Unique weapon, you know? Something even the Empire can barely get its hands on?"
"That halberd of yours has holes in it too, doesn't it? What's up with that?"
"But it's such a gorgeous weapon. The shape is eerie, though…"
"Pretty mind-blowing, honestly. Seriously conquering this place would let you earn money and have fun at the same time…
I mean, the fact that they can casually produce weapons like this — doesn't that mean this country is way more dangerous than we imagined?"
Mark and Shin nodded at Shinji's words.
There was plenty that fit.
For starters, the floor 50 boss had been powerful.
Among the monsters that appeared around the Empire, a creature of that caliber wouldn't be born even once in a hundred years.
Disaster-class — or, in the ranking system Yuki had established, an A-rank monster.
The Empire had adopted the same classification for monsters. It made things easier to understand.
Since the rankings had spread through merchants, having a common standard reduced confusion.
But setting that aside— The floor 40 boss had been a serpent that could reasonably be called A-rank, attacking with a dangerous breath weapon.
Even if you tried to attack from outside the breath's range, there was nowhere to dodge inside the narrow chamber.
It charged with its powerfully muscled body — a monster you absolutely could not afford to let your guard down.
And what awaited them on floor 50 was unquestionably an A-rank-plus monster.
The thing that had been chained and weighted down on floor 30 was now moving freely.
A dangerous boss equivalent to a high-ranking demon under a Demon Lord.
Well, with the three of them working together, it wasn't unbeatable. And each of them was confident they could handle it solo if they wanted.
"That's true. What's really concerning is that a monster of that class is guarding floor 50.
The guardian bosses are every 10 floors, and floor bosses tend to drop in rank, but…
The jump from floor 40 to floor 50 saw a massive spike in difficulty."
Mark agreed with Shinji.
They had smoothly cleared floor 50 and were currently on floor 55.
But they couldn't help feeling anxious about the floor 60 boss.
From floor 51 onward, undead-type monsters had appeared. The boss was almost certainly an undead-type as well.
Mark was lucky enough to have the Minotaur War Axe, but neither Shinji nor Shin had weapons effective against the undead attribute.
That said, they didn't expect to lose. Still, the shared understanding was that they should not let their guard down.
"Well, it seems like death isn't even the worst-case scenario here. Let's just try our best and stay sharp."
At Shinji's words, Mark and Shin nodded.
The goal was the lowest level.
Specifically, to determine whether a research facility existed down there.
Since no one knew how deep the lowest level went, they should proceed carefully and methodically without being careless.
They confirmed their plan once more, then turned in for the night.
Three days later.
After conquering the Poison Swamp and the Corrosion Zone, they finally arrived at the staircase before floor 59.
Going down these stairs — though the floor number increased as they descended — would bring them to floor 60.
At last, they had reached the room just before the boss chamber.
They had rested well the previous night and were fully prepared.
They had actually arrived at the staircase around midday the day before, but they had decided to rest once as a precaution.
They had just fought a desperate battle against three Wraith Knight Commanders and were hesitant about pushing forward without respite.
Those creatures were the strongest class among undead monsters, without question above A-rank.
They could feel the enemy's strength ramping up significantly at this stage.
Having rested, all three were in top condition.
They believed that if they handled the upcoming boss calmly, it would be fine.
The three nodded to each other, gripped the door cautiously, and threw it open.
—————— A fierce battle began.
Let me describe it as nothing less than ferocious.
I had been taking it easy, idly playing cards while keeping an eye on things, but I watched the boss fight with full attention.
The result was a complete victory for the Death King Adalman.
It was a victory so decisive it was almost dumbfounding.
The analysis of the three intruders' skills was also complete.
Shinji — Estimated A-rank [EP: 64,000] Unique Skill: "Medic" Attack method: Virus manipulation, air composition control, poison. Healing was also within his capability.
Mark — Estimated A-rank [EP: 73,000] Unique Skill: "Thrower" Capable of throwing anything. Anything he could grab — even monsters — could be hurled. No elemental attribute, but the damage pierced through all defenses. An annoying ability.
Shin — Estimated A-rank [EP: 58,000] Unique Skill: "Observer" Intuitive evasion. Danger detection. Trap detection. Monster detection. Presence detection. Above all, incredibly fast. The nemesis of any labyrinth.
Something like that, roughly.
I'll gladly put their abilities to good use.
In terms of raw power alone, they looked like they could beat the Death King Adalman.
But here was the thing.
That Adalman fellow had grown dramatically in just one year.
Well, the Wraith Knight Commanders , who lacked self-awareness, hadn't changed much from their original combat strength. But Adalman and Albert, who possessed their own will, had become incomparably stronger than before.
I hadn't known about any of this, of course.
"Hee hee hee, surprised you!
Actually, it was supposed to be a secret, but…
A young man named Arnaud was training under Adalman!"
Huh? Arnaud was training? Not with Adalman's group — Arnaud himself?
Something felt off, so I pressed for details. It turned out the Holy Knights had actually blown through floor 50 quickly and made it all the way to floor 60.
But there, they had been defeated by a single knight.
A Holy Knight who had been the strongest of his era, hundreds of years ago.
Albert — the Death King Adalman's trusted retainer who had become a Holy Knight of the Wraith.
"Have the Holy Knights these days gotten weaker?"
He had said something like that while wielding his pre-death swordsmanship with a monster's stats, overwhelming Arnaud.
Now, those of you thinking "but the holy attribute is their weakness" — you'd be right. Same as me.
You're not wrong.
It was also the reason behind the three intruders' defeat — Adalman's trump card.
"Holy-Demonic Inversion."
This skill's ability converted the holy attribute into the demonic attribute. The target was himself, so there was no chance of resistance.
A holy skeleton sounded like a joke, but Adalman and Albert had used Holy-Demonic Inversion to nullify the holy attribute entirely.
On top of their natural resistance to physical attacks, they also possessed resistances to various elemental attacks.
And now they had converted their own weakness — the holy attribute — into their strength. There was absolutely nothing the three could do about it.
And so, the three were defeated in short order and dissolved into particles of light.
Incidentally, as another trump card, Adalman had also summoned a Wraith Dragon.
Apparently, it was the Carrion Dragon that had fought Adalman and his men to the death long ago, which had subsequently joined their ranks and evolved.
"My lord! Did you witness our victory?!
Our triumph is for you!"
As Adalman shouted this at the top of his lungs, I thought: (This is overkill for a floor 60 guardian force, isn't it…?)
That was my honest reaction.
After calming down, I began interrogating Ramiris.
At this rate, she had to be hiding other things too.
"Eh, that's… I'm not hiding anything…?"
Ramiris was clearly acting suspiciously, fidgeting restlessly.
It was obvious she was hiding something.
The moment I threatened to ban cake from now on, Ramiris spilled the beans at machine-gun speed.
Apparently, Arnaud and his companions had reached floor 60 early on and been defeated by Adalman's group.
After that, they had spent several months training on floor 60 under Albert's guidance.
Adalman's skill, "Holy-Demonic Inversion," had been taught to him by Luminas, who occasionally visited the research facility.
Adalman had befriended the vampires at the facility by helping them with various research, and Luminas had taken a liking to him.
He had refined Luminas's "Day-Night Inversion" and managed to master the technique.
Naturally, as a token of gratitude, this technique had also been passed on to Luminas.
And it was right when Adalman had mastered this skill that Arnaud arrived.
In hindsight, his timing was terrible. But being able to receive instruction from the strongest knight of centuries past at this point — one could call it fortunate.
And so, floor 60 had transformed into a truly dangerous zone.
"Wait, wait… So where is Arnaud and his group now?"
"Well, let's see — they beat the floor 70 boss easily as part of their training, and now they're stuck on floor 79!"
"So floors 61 through 70 are the Golem Zone, right?"
"Yep. They got plowed through."
The guardian of floor 70 had been the Sacred Guardian Statue, fully recreated and set to guard.
I had destroyed the one Ramiris had created in the Spirit Labyrinth before, so this also served as an apology.
"But I already have
She had said that, so I had placed it on floor 70.
Its
Virus-based attacks, temperature manipulation, and even poison — none of them worked against this steel guardian.
My confidence came from trusting the Sacred Guardian Statue — now renamed the Demon Lord Guardian Statue.
But— "Veldora, who do you think is stronger — Adalman or the Demon Golem?"
"Hmm. Adalman, without question."
As I expected.
In just one year, his strength had shifted dramatically.
No, he had probably been strong to begin with — I had simply overlooked it.
After all, I had only just laid eyes on Holy Knight of the Wraith Albert for the first time today.
Which was exactly why Ramiris had been able to pull that surprise on me.
"All right, effective immediately — swap floors 51–60 with floors 61–70."
"Roger! Leave it to me!"
And so the labyrinth's floors were rearranged.
There was one more thing on my mind.
"By the way, was the floor 80 boss really that strong?"
"Huh? Why do you ask?"
"Well, Arnaud had reached the level of a High-Ranking Demon General, right?
Come to think of it, Adalman has also reached the level of a High-Ranking Demon General without me even noticing!
And wait — the floor 80 boss is an insect-type monster coated in Magisteel armor, right?
It was supposed to be a high-speed insect型 placed after the slow-moving golems to catch people off guard…
Hey… How exactly did that play out?"
"E-erm, well…"
I pressed the fidgeting Ramiris further until I had a clear picture.
It seemed Arnaud was stuck not on the floor 80 guardian, but on the floor 79 boss.
The
Super-speed movement, paired with ultimate poison.
Even with Arnaud's honed swordsmanship and lightning reflexes, he couldn't so much as touch her.
Just how strong was she?!
I felt like screaming.
"But, but! It wasn't just me — Master was training the insects too!"
"You… you traitor! You betrayed me!?"
"Well, Master was acting like he had nothing to do with it, and that's not fair!"
"Grrrr…"
It seemed Veldora had been in on it too.
I shouldn't have left those two in charge.
Apito, the Insect Queen, had undergone an abnormal evolution and was now one of the top ten strongest beings within the labyrinth.
She had evolved into a humanoid form and no longer resembled her former insect appearance.
She had a beautiful form — a gift of abnormal evolution.
And she was a labyrinth powerhouse.
At worst, she was an executive-class combatant.
Not that I wanted to know, but apparently the various dragons had also evolved into Dragon King-class.
There were four Dragon Kings now.
On top of that: Floor 90 guardian — Nine-Headed Beast
The various Dragon Kings served under Ramiris, but the remaining seven were still my subordinates.
I thought Gozurl and Mezurl would be better off under Ramiris's command, though.
Apparently, they had declined to join Ramiris and instead wished to remain under me.
That was why they wore the "Resurrection Bracelet" — an item usable without limit.
It seemed I had been quietly earning their loyalty without even realizing it.
In any case, I had ordered these guardians to hold back against everything except full-scale labyrinth invasions.
Without that, clearing the labyrinth would be impossible for ordinary people.
The idea of challenging a labyrinth with what amounted to several Demon Lords' worth of power sitting inside — just thinking about it was depressing.
As I observed the three intruders' exploits, I also became aware of this unexpected state of affairs within the labyrinth.
Well, getting stronger was a good thing. But when they evolved beyond even my imagination, it made me nervous.
Just the bad habits of a cautious person, I suppose.
I would commend Adalman for his splendid performance and inform him that his floor assignment had been changed as a reward.
He seemed deeply moved and spoke at length about wanting to continue being of service.
I hoped he would keep up the good work — in moderation, of course.
Incidentally, the three intruders had returned without attempting a second invasion.
They may have had some other objective, but they were likely terrified by the overwhelming power of Holy Knight of the Wraith Albert.
After all, the Wraith Dragon waiting in reserve behind him hadn't even needed to move.
They seemed to have concluded that repeated attempts would be futile.
I had half a mind to gather more intelligence, but it was probably fine.
They'd show up eventually.
And with that, this particular commotion came to a close.