Vol. 11 - Chapter 570 - Earth Labyrinth RTA (3)
That item cost 20 chunks in the store. Merle and Galara descended from their golems hearing it be mentioned.
"I believe this should get Admiral Galara's board to 10 slots on the underside."
"O-oh. I told Merle that Zaurele should get one first though."
He said something that had been on his mind this entire time.
"General Zaurele will get the next one."
Zaurele was the general of the golem troops of Allen's Army.
"Yeah, I told you you should take it first, Admiral!"
Galara's party members also wanted him to agree.
"Admiral Galara, let me borrow your Magic Board."
"B-but the gold chunks…"
Without listening to his response, Allen took the Magic Board hanging from Galara's neck and turned it over, revealing 9 slots in the underside. The Magic Board Expansion Terminal looked like a screw, and it would open an extra slot on Magic Boards, which originally only had space for 10 Stone Slabs.
Voom
The Magic Board Expansion Terminal began to glow and then vanished. Then a 10th slot appeared in the underside of Galara's Magic Board. Those slots would allow Galara to empower his golem even more.
(This is such a good item, they should give it out in the S Rank Dungeon too, but I guess the only way to get them is to come here in the divine realm… Oh well.)
Everyone except for Allen looked nervous. They did not have the gold chunks to pay, and they had already used the item.
"Alright, I guess this is it. Everyone get a bit closer."
The human-sized sculpture stood on the entrance, which was more than 100 meters wide.
"Are we really going to do this…"
"This is important, so pay attention. All dwarves get on your golems as soon as you're outside."
"Huh? O-okay."
All the dwarves gathered right at the edge of the entrance, while Allen glanced at the sculpture and began whistling in an exaggerated way.
'You haven't paid the necessary gold chunks.'
"No! Go!!"
"I knew it! Why are we doing this!!"
Allen sprang into action. All the dwarves called their golems and rode them. Meanwhile the sculpture's eyes began glowing.
'Robbery discovered. Haniwa unit, Komainu unit, seize the thieves!!'
The ground began to shake and morph into clay soldiers with shields and swords, as well as grotesque stone dogs, which looked like the statues in front of old temples. Allen quickly activated Kuwatoro's [Appraiser Eyes].
[Name] Haniwa [Age] 1025 [Species] Earth Soldier [Strength] 38000 [Mana] 0 [Spiritual Power] 33000 [Attack] 42000 [Endurance] 34000 [Agility] 30000 [Intelligence] 34000 [Luck] 0 [Attack Element] Earth [Endurance Element] Earth, Physical Resistance (Medium)
[Name] Komainu [Age] 1025 [Species] Earth Watchdog [Strength] 27000 [Mana] 0 [Spiritual Power] 30000 [Attack] 28000 [Endurance] 17000 [Agility] 48000 [Intelligence] 23000 [Luck] 0 [Attack Element] Earth [Endurance Element] Earth, Magic Resistance (Small)
'Bow wow!!'
'You'll pay for this!!'
(That doesn't sound like they're asking for money!)
The 5 meter tall Haniwa and 3 meter tall Komainu rushed at Allen, earth weapons and fierce teeth ready. They did not seem like they would forgive Allen even if he paid now.
"Cecile, magic should work on the dog thing. Use your fire magic!"
Allen told Cecile to use what he thought would be most efficient.
"Urgh, if you really want that! Mega Fire!!"
'Kyan?!'
The Komainu was swallowed by Cecile's large fireball, crying in pain as it shattered. But then the ground and walls deformed to create hundreds more of them.
"Why are there so many of them! Ah, kyahh?!"
"Hmph!!"
Cecile screamed as a Haniwa lunged at her, but Allen cut it apart before it could attack. Then he plunged his orichalcum sword into the chest of the Haniwa before it could stand.
'P-pay…'
The Haniwa turned to dust.
(Why is the Grimoire not appearing after I defeated it?! Do they not give any Experience?)
"We're running! I know the way, so only fight back when necessary."
There was no reason to defeat them if they would not give anything in return.
"Alright! Move out men!" "Aye!!" "Got it."
The golems all went in the front, while Cecile and Sophie used magic to stop their pursuers.
"We've literally become thieves now!! You already found the stairs, right? Teleport us right now!!"
Cecile ended up screaming what everyone had been thinking about.
"There's only a limited number of times we can teleport. It's not too far, and it's not like we're going to die here. We can just make a run for it."
(I see, so the Haniwas and Komainus are there in case someone steals. This is really thought out. This would be disastrous if we didn't have the shovel and knew where the stairs are. There's a lot of options so that makes it fun though.)
If he did not know where the stairs were, the Haniwas and Komainus would catch up. Challengers had to decide between buying, stealing, or giving up, depending on their situation.
"Stop grinning like that already!!"
Cecile got annoyed by Allen's excitement over the dungeon design. She had already decided to beat him up once they were out.
"Oh! There's the stairs! Everyone, go down, quick!!"
Allen remained to hold back the enemy until everyone else was down the stairs. He was the last one to go down, and then stayed there for a bit to see what would happen.
"They stopped chasing us. I guess we managed to get away."
"Y-yeah, I'm glad they don't follow to the next floors…"
The room they were in had no ghosts either, letting Cecile and Sophie catch a breath.
"But hey, at least now we know that ghosts and the Haniwas won't follow us to the next floors."
"At least tell us that beforehand."
"Well, Merle never tried that so I didn't know for sure. We'll have to test everything to get to floor 99."
Allen had noticed that ghosts did not follow through floors, so he tested that with the store.
(Though we also want to get to Isiris' Temple, we can't stay here for too long.)
Allen also wanted to show Merle that being a bit rowdy could help sometimes. She could learn something, even if she was not a summoner.
"We'll steal from the next store we find too then."
Saying that, he used the Mana Recovery Item (Large) to replenish the Mana they had used to run away.
"Huh? You'll keep doing that even if there's gold chunks around?"
"Of course. Getting gold chunks is a waste of time if we can just steal."
'I can't understand. I need to learn more…'
Merle and Tam-Tam were struggling to keep up with Allen's antics. Once everyone calmed down, they left that room and proceeded through a corridor.
(I was too busy running away so I forgot about my summons. They should check this floor now.)
The Bird A and Bird F summons flew through the previous floor, dodging the Haniwas and Komainus to get to the 8th floor too.
(Hm? This looks like a straight path, I don't see any branches from this corridor.)
"Don't blame me if you get divine punishment for saying things like that."
"Wait Cecile, this floor is fishy. We might…"
The Earth Labyrinth's layout was randomized each run, but Allen noticed a few rules about it. This long corridor with no detours meant something had to be ahead. Soon that something looked at them.
'Grrrr!!' 'Shaaaa!!' 'Awooo!!'
"This is a ghost den, kill all of them!!"
"Aye!!"
"Mhm, let's do it!!"
Galara's party and Merle went to attack.
'Everyone stand back! We're not engaging! Merle you watch our rear!!'
"Huh? Wait, Allen, we need to get the items."
There were more than 100 ghosts there, and more than 10 chests, so Merle was startled. She wanted to defeat the monsters and check the chests, so she could not understand why Allen wanted to retreat.
(My summons aren't here yet, I have no choice.)
'That's just a waste of time and Mana. We've already used enough Mana on the last floor. We'll use the shovel now and go to the next floor.'
Saying that, Allen struck the floor with the shovel. The spot where it hit began to glow, and the light spread for hundreds of meters in all directions, which then opened into a deep hole to the next floor. At the same time, the shovel turned to light particles and vanished from Allen's hand.
"Hey, why did it disappear after only one use!!"
"Probably because you stole it earlier. You really have no luck, Allen."
Everyone nodded hearing Cecile's explanation and rebuttal to Allen.