Jayr POV - Tortus, Grue Volo - 2013

  After the enter with the Magma Bull, the monster variations increased as we desded through the various floors.

  We entered bat-like mohat scattered magma from their wings, scorg red moray-like mohat jumped out from the wall it melted, hedgehog-like mohat shot out numerous needles of fme, chameleon-like mohat only produced its face from within the magma and attacked using its magma-covered tongues like a whip while swimming on the gravity-defying magma river overhead, and there were even bzing serpents made almost entirely of magma.

  It was indeed a little troublesome sihe monsters' bodies are magma or abze whiullified any half-assed magid some were using surprise attacks from the flowing magma rivers where they hid their body.

  The monsters not only would try to inflict fatal wounds by charging us, but a lot of them are also using the surrounding magma to their full advaurning it into a situatiohey have an infinite amount of ons all around them, and if they lose their advahey would run bato the magma to eheir safety.

  But the most troublesome thing is that the heat is gradually increasing the lower we go, so much that Eri is for sure reag her limit, I clearly see it in her eyes while she mutters as she takes deep breaths, "Haa, haa… it's hot...", looking at her state I think, 'Even if I use Ice Magi time to time to cool down our surroundings... The effect is really limited... it is just like sprinkling water over dry soil. Our sweat flows like an unstoppable waterfall!'.

  And seeing that Eri's sciousness begins to bee hazy, I decide that it is time to take a break, so I grab Eri and open the portal to my Soulboory, then I quickly lead her toward the swirling bck portal, and as soon as we are ohers side, I use my o to slowly lower her temperature and heal any damage she suffered from the excessive heat.

  And soon Eri starts to recover, the out a satisfied moan and says, "Ahh~ I feel alive again~ No I really want to have a cold shower to get the awful sweat off my body!", then she moves toward the Athena's Bidoof, looking at her back I smile wryly and say, "Really these trials always seem to push a others to the limit, almost reminds me of my Saint training... The Liberators truly tried to do everything possible to train someohat could go agai...", then I follow after Eri and walk toward the Athena's Bidoof to join her in the shower.

  Jayr POV - Tortus, Grue Volo - 2013

  After that little break, we tinued our quest of the various floors of this Labyrinth, and finally, we reach the st floor, the 50th floor, only our situation on this floor is a little special.

  We are currently b a brown-colored boulder, that like a small boat is sailing on the magma that is flowing like a big river mid-air, and sitting on it I'm cheerfully humming the theme of a famous movie franchise, "Pa-Pa-Pa-Paa~, Pa-Pa-Paaa~, Po-Po-Po-Paaa~, Pa-Pa-Pa-Pa... Ouch!", when Eri all of the sudden hits me with her staff and says, "Stop humming that them, pared to that archeologist Indiana Jones we are on hell mode here!".

  As for the reason why we are in this situation, truthfully, it was my mistake, while fighting against the monsters of the previous floor, Eri got careless because of the sta and was wounded by one of the monsters and I retaliated with a little too much force, sending the monster crashing hard against the wall and not happy about that I also used a strong Spēion Mikron Bary Men, to obliterate it without minding the surrounding wall of magma.

  I immediately noticed this mistake, because magma spouted with tremendous momentum and power from the now destroyed wall just like water gushing out from a cracked and colpsed dam, the hole from where it spouted quickly expanded as more and more magma rushed out.

  The overly tremendous momentum of the magma made the surrounding immediately filled with magma, so I used my on to create a small boat out of a solid boulder and brought Eri on top of it.

  The small boat was immediately heated up by the magma, but there was no problem since I used Creation Magi it tthen the boat by imbuing it with the Diamond Skin special magic so that it could resist the magma's crazy heat.

  Following that, we tio drift along the flow of the magma that is flowing mid-air, ahen realized that we could use this as a shortcut to quickly reach the st floor, so she used Gravity Magic to reduce the boat's weight so that we could tinue sailing this magma river, and so we flowed into the depth of Grue Volo using a different route from the stairs and ended up where we are currently at.

  I'm brought back to our current situation by Eri that says while pointing in a certain dire, "Jayr... There's aunnel... This should be the st one!", seeing the dire Eri poi, I see that we are indeed about to flow into a big hole on the wall along with the magma, and realize, 'Until now, we've entered a tunnel every time we dest a floor, it might be a shortcut prepared by the Liberator for some reason, but knowing their objective, for sure we will pay for using it... Probably we should expect a harder fight than the usual one...'.

  While drifting into the tunnel, I give the same warning to Eri, and so we prepare for what we will find oher side of the tunnel as the magma's sky road is tinuing in the middle of the big tunnel like a snake.

  After the magma's sky road is going lower, it suddenly cut ht after a curve, no, more accurately, it is a sudden downward slope simir to a waterfall, and I quickly stab the ground with my sword to fix my position and yell, "Again… Eri, don't get shaken off!", Eri nods and gs to my waist, and the moment, the impromptu boat falls down, the waterfall like magma.

  I hear the sharp sound of the wier my ears, as I and Eri use Gravity Magic to shift the weight and trol the boat as we desd on the rapid magma, at the same time, I notice that the magma's own speed increases by a few times as if it didn't have any viscosity.

  And while all this is happening, I also make sure to check over the surroundings thinking, 'After all, usually at such times…', but I do not have the time to finish what I was thinking, and I notice three bat-type monsters, that scatters magma from their wings, closing on us, and so I quickly raise my hand and use Sagitta Magica, Series Obscuri to deal with them.

  Then I click my tongue and say, "Tch, they have e after all... These Magma Bats are not much of a threat alohey only have siderable speed and are capable of scattering magma like fme bullets... However, the troublesome point about Magma Bats is that they atta swarms!", and indeed, although I instant-killed the three Magma Bats, I hear the sound of a rge amount of fluttering wings amidst the wind ing from the rapid dest.

  But just as I'm about to make a move, Eri says, "… Jayr, leave them to me... As long as they are living beings this new spell should be able to easily deal with them all!", thearts a very long and embarrassing t.

  At the same time, the crowd of Magma Bats be seen in the distance, and it isn't an exaggeration to call them one living creature, the numerous Magma Bats are moving as one big mass, like a group of perfectly ordered birds.

  Their appearance is just like a dragon if seen from the side, 'It might be more accurate to call it a fire dragon because each of its wings was bzing magma...', but as the mass of Magma Bats is quickly approag us it divides into two on their way, creating pitack from the front and behind.

  However, the moment Eri finishes her t, "... Brih to my enemies and make their soul writhe in agony, Cry of the Banshee!!", and a big magic circle appears above us, that gees an eerie dark pulse, that soon hits all the Magma Bats around us, for a moment, nothing happens, but just as I'm about to think that Eri's spell failed, the instant, all the Magma Bats start to fall lifeless on the ground, oer another without being able to resist, just like a short squall.

  Then Eri sits dowo me breathing heavily, clearly the magic she just used took a lot from her, so I lightly touch her cheek and ask, "Are you okay?", she closes her eyes enjoying my touch, and with a small smile on her face, she expins, "Yeah... Only this spell really drains my Mana but the effects speak for themselves... an Instah spell the only downside is that it only works oures that are alive and whose souls are weaker than mine...".

  And so we calmly tinue our dest, until, all of the sudden, as if to take down our posure, the desding magma up begins to asd, and after climbing several tens of meters with tremendous speed, we finally see the light ahead, it is the exit of the tunnel, but a new problem presents itself, the magma is cut off, for real this time.

  I hold Eri with my arm and yell, "Hold on tight!", and soon the small boat is thrown outside with tremendous momentum.

  While in mid-air, I quickly transform my Tactical Arms it its Flight Form to fly over this new space, in this form, the on bees a backpack, the bde split open being two folded wing-like pos, that allow me to move in an irregur manner, making it difficult for the eo aim, while the Gatling that points at the ground also be detached in its Gatling Arm Mode to give me some other form of offense.

  At the same time, I firm the dition of our surroundings, the space we find ourselves in is simir to the room where the st trial of Reise Labyrinth took pce, a vast space.

  However, it isn't spherical like the room in Reise Labyrinth, it has a distorted shape which makes it impossible to pletely uand how vast the space truly is, but it is at least more than three kilometers wide.

  Almost all part of the ground is filled with magma, but the boulders appear in some pces and create some footholds, on the surrounding walls there are protruding pces and versely, there are also shaved-off pces.

  And in the air is just like the rest of the byrinth, numerous rivers of interseg magma, that all verge below, into the boiling, scorg o of magma, from which, fre-like pilrs of fire spout from it, looking at it I excim impressed, "Wow... This is really close to one of the prisons of the Underworld... The ohat builds this pce really worked hard to impress or scare the challengers...".

  However, the most noticeable thing among all these things is the small isnd in the ter of the o of magma, the isnd is raised around 10 meters above the magma's surface, moreover, the isnd is covered by a dome of magma.

  The spherical magma is just like a small version of the sun, but the thing in the middle of the isnd is enough to catch our attention, so I fly closer to it, to be sure of it, and Eri, who is also looking at the middle of the isnd, asks, "...Is that the dwelling?", I vigintly start to look around and reply, "Yes... and sihis is the st room, we should expee kind of Guardian or some kind of trial like the Hydra or the Golems... Moreover, it be said that we cheated to get here, so an increase in difficulty is guaranteed...", at the same time, I notice that while listening to my words, Eri is looking in a certain dire.

  Trag Eri's gaze, I see a staircase beyond the rge foothold, the staircase tinues into the wall, that is it is the proper route that leads to this space.

  It was correct to be cautious because immediately, bullet-like magma shot out from the magma rivers flowing in the air, seeing this Eri says, "Let me take care of this!", then she quickly summons hundreds of freshly reanimated zombie Magma Bats, which starts to swarm around us intercepting all the magma bullets, and easily withstanding them thanks to their fire immunity.

  However, that attack was only the beginning signal, immediately after Eri tered the ining bzing masses thanks to those zombie bats that became our shields, more bzing masses are shot out from the o of magma like a mae gun.

  But still, the zombie Magma Bats are still able to block every attack without being overwhelmed, but looking at this attack that seems to never end and the sweat that tio fall from Eri's body because of the boili ing from the o of magma that distorts the air, I say, "This is a stall... we 't tinue like this, we will only be at a disadvantage if we keep staying still... Moreover, this heat is too much for you... I'll go out and check the dwelling...".

  Eri silently nods and summons one of her flying Undead Puppet, and once she rides it, I fly out of the shielding bat formation, dodging all the dangerous masses of magma with a quick series of aerial maneuvers, thanks to the Tactical Arms Flight Form.

  But still, the number of magma masses tio increase, and soon, I'm surrounded from all angles with no way out, but I remain calm in such a situation and foy Magic Power, then I use one of the first Gravity Magic I came up with by once again shamelessly copying other media, and just for fir I spread my arms wide and in a deep voice I t in Latin, "Dolor hidus oscet! Omnipotens Dis!! (This world shall know pain! Almighty Push!!)".

  At the same time, as the name of the spell rings out, I use my mana to create a repulsive force, which pushes away everything in the viity, blowing away and dispersing all the magma masses in my viity, and with this breathing space created between the barrage of magma masses, I quickly fly toward the magma-dome of the middle isnd.

  While flying in the air towards the middle isnd, I receive a message from Eri through Telepathy Magic imbued in her ring, "Are you really quoting that character from that ninja anime?", stunned for a moment I ask back still using Telepathy, "And how do you know Nagato from Naruto? I didn't take you for someohat likes anime...", and soon, she replies, "It is difficult to ignore when two years ago when he debuted a bunch of kids, ibyou, and otakus started to quote and imitate him...", and I admit that her words did make me kind embarrassed of what I just did.

  But before I could say ahing, I stop because with my senses I picked up something quickly closing on me from the magma o below, and think, "Strange... my special magics do not se, but in my senses, it is as clear as day... Maybe because this pce is filled with magma that Sense Heat does not pick it up... Moreover, the magma o itself is filled with magic power so Detect Magic also doesn't notice it, and for sure si starts with a sneak attack it has something like Hide Presehat ters Sense Presence...'.

  While thinking that, I hear the bellowing, majestic roar, and the moment, I see a gigantic serpent right under me who is in mid-air with its opened mouth ready to swallow me whole, but I easily twist my body dodging the attack with minimum space between me and the serpent, then I flip my body in mid-air just like a cat, and aim the muzzles of the Gatling at the passing Magma Serpent's head and fire.

  The fsh with certain killiructiveness doesn't miss its mark and hit the Magma Serpent's head, blowing it away, but I'm surprised to find out, that the only thing that scattered from the Magma Serpent's head is only magma but none of the iter, moreover it is clearly still alive.

  Looking at the serpent falling in the magma o and squirming over it, I think, 'All the other monsters magma in this pce are only wearing the magma, and have their own flesh... None of them is posed of only magma! But this Magma Serpent seems to be posed of only Magma... Could it be a struct like the golems... or a being like a slime that has only a core as a vital point...'.

  Realizing this I start to shoot at various parts of the serpent's body trying to find the position of the core, but the result is only a Magma Serpent with holes all over its body, and just as I'm about to use a spell to deal with it, a chill runs down my spine and following my instinct, I ighe Magma Serpent and start rising to withdraw from this zone.

  And the instant, the pce I was just a moment ago, is assaulted by ma Serpents, at the same time, I notice that the endless barrage of those magma masses finally ended and that Eri is quickly flying toward me, and once she arrives, she touches my arm and asks worried, "Jayr... Are you hurt?", I shake my head and smile then without looking away from the enemies I say, "No problem. More importantly, the real things finally appeared".

  As I said this, more and more Magma Serpents e out of the Magma O surrounding the tral isnd, until there are 20 of them all gring at us, Eri also focuses on them and says, "As expected that isnd is the st stop, and it seems that we have to defeat all of them if we want to pass...", then she looks at the Magma Serpent that I fought before as it regees and adds, "... But are they beatable?", and soon that Magma Serpent is already back to its former appearance as if nothing happened.

  I take my stance as I tell her my guess, "It might be simir to the Golems from before, having a core, a magic stoo form the magma body. Though my senses ot specify the location because of the obstru from the magma… but ohe core is taken care of it should be quite easy to deal with them", hearing that, Eri nods and summon even more zombie Magma Bats and with them, she attacks the 20 Magma Serpents.

  In respohe Magma Serpents rise from the magma o like a sor fre and shot out masses of fme from their mouths attag from all dires.

  But Eri's zombies, quickly swarm around us and block the attack, buying enough time for Eri to cast one of her more destructive spells, one she came up with by melding Dark and Fire Attribute magi, "Hellfire!!", a a huge amount of bck magic poears before Eri as she thrust her staff out.

  It presses itself into a dark bck fme, that then shoots out in the shape of an enormous bck serpent-like fme, that quickly moves forward ing all of the Magma Serpents in front of Eri without any trace left behind, furthermore, she swings her staff direg the bck fme serpent that like a fsh it annihites ma Serpents in its path.

  Immediately, eight Magma Serpents are annihited, and so we take advantage of this opening to dash out from the encirclement, while looking at the result of Eri's spell I think, 'As expected, by annihiting them without leaving a trace, the magic core is also be annihited no matter where the location was...', meanwhile the 12 remaining Magma Serpents instantly fall bato the o of magma and disappeared for a moment.

  And when they reappear, their numbers went back up to 20, seeing this Eri excims, "Oi oi, I've firmed the disappearance of the core, you know? Was defeating it not the dition to clear this trial?", as I don't remember this part of the novel very well, I also start to doubt that defeating these monster is the right answer, but then I notiething and say while pointing at the isnd, "Eri, calm down! Look at that! The shining wall!".

  Then I see her gaze fog on the isnd, there, a part of the Rockwall shots light as big as a fist, the e-colored light is ing from some kind of crystal buried uhe wall of rock, with my eyes I see that a rge number of simir crystals are buried on the Rockwall in an orderly fashion.

  The isnd itself is drical, so sidering the interval between crystals and the isnd's surface area, around 100 crystals are buried, and the crystals that are currently shooting out light are eight, the same number of Magma Serpents Eri annihited before, so I say, "We o defeat a hundred of these Magma Serpents to clear this trial...", Eri realizes this too as she says, "… In this heat, fighting a hundred of them… it matches the byrinth's cept...", then her expression that was showing clear signs of exhaustion, ges, and now she wears a fearless and fident smile on her fad she adds, "Good... Now that I have a clear goal I just have to persist a little longer and we will quer this Labyrinth...", then we spread out and start to attack the Magma Serpents, who in respoart to make irregur movements to catd burn us to ashes.

  With her Undead Puppet mount Eri, flies up and uses a mix of Scatterdust, Phantom Pain, and Corrupting Spear, to stun and bombard the serpent to annihition, then she yells, "This is the ninth! Presently, I'm is leading, Dear! If I defeat the most of them then I want a lot of rewards! So much that I end up with a baby!", then she moves to attaother one, with even more ferocity.

  I use my Gatling in its Magic Mode to shoot out a single Sagitta Magica, Series Obscuras enhanced with Gravity Magic that hits a Magma Serpent on its head, then at the moment of impact, a bck ripple, a gravity shockwave spread from it geing a violent impact.

  The moment, the serpent immediately explodes from the head until the part hidden in the o of magma, leaving behind only sparkling minerals floating on the magma o, the core was simply crushed by the impact from the magic shockwave, then I yell "I already told you! It is too soon!", at the same time, a mass of magma is approag me from behind as I'm still in mid-air after killing that one of Magma Serpent.

  However, I simply use the Flight Form to rise and so easily dodge the sneak attack, then with its calcution ing off, the Magma Snake passes through the empty spader me, and I taking advantage of this opening, I aim with the Gatling and shoot anravity enhanced Sagitta Magica, Series Obscuras, killing anma Serpent and once again crushing the core whiow flutters as it sparkles in the air with the Gravitational Shockwave.

  Seeing this I think, 'Dark and Gravity Magic are strangely patible... The Dark attribute is what is able to tain the Age of Gods Gravity Magic the best... Maybe because it is an offshoot of it... I have read somewhere that the current elemental magic is a degraded version of the inal "A Magic", which could trol the fual elements that govern the ws of a world...', at the same time, Eri kills another one and yells "… Then, I want a massage... oh happy ending included!".

  I nod, then, without turning around, I rapidly fire my Gatling over my shoulder towards the ining Magma Serpent behind me and reply, "Deal! But if I win, I want the same reward...", the bullets are fired evenly on the Magma Serpent's body and the impacts of the Gravity Shockwave blown the serpent's body up, destroying its core.

  Eri nods and with a fident smile, she starts to summon all her other puppets to unleash even more hell upon the Magma Serpents fully intending on winning this small petitioween us.

  Odyin