Editing/Standardisation: APM
Original Translation: UnnamedShadow (Edited and cleaned MTL)
Additional thanks goes out to Kubor. Join our discord

Continuing from the Guides perspective

―――――――――――――――――――――――――――――

It’s the thirteenth day since entering the labyrinth. We have arrived at their original destination and are currently thinning out the monsters and investigating the cause.

But we were left scratching our heads.

“There are no monsters around.”

“Yes. The report said that there was an unusually large number of monsters, but there’s no sign of that.”

“Yeah. There were far more on the way here.”

There were certainly a lot of monsters along the way. I usually try to avoid combat as much as possible, but this time one of my important jobs is to thin out the monsters.

Every time a monster was discovered, the knights had to fight it. Because of this, the planned 10 days journey has extended to 12 days. Accounting for the return journey, we need to proceed with the investigation as quickly as possible.

“Well, it’s only the first day of the investigation. There’s no need to rush. Besides, if the monsters are gone, that’s a good thing. The anomaly has settled down, and the matter is now closed.” the commander tells me.

“I hope so.”

　Although I’m optimistic to the commander, I don’t believe a word of it myself. The bad feeling I’ve felt since entering the labyrinth has only gotten stronger. Typically when I feel this way, nothing good happens. Still it seems best to be cautious.

　Day 15.

“There are no monsters here after all. Shouldn’t we take a bold step and check the main passage we’ve been avoiding so far?”

“Hmm. A main hallway, huh?”

The investigation yielded no results. This was only natural, as the monsters that were said to be there were completely absent. I hesitate to accept the captain’s proposal. It’s unlikely that the Queen just happened to be there, but the main branch also contained monsters on a level incomparable to those in the previous Tunnels.

Earth Dragons in particular are troublesome monsters with excellent physical abilities. I’d prefer to avoid the main Path, but considering my purpose this time, I guess I have no choice but to go.

“Well, that can’t be helped. Captain, if you judge it to be dangerous, retreat right away.”

“That’s right. Everyone listen! We’re heading towards the main branch now! If we bump into danger, be prepared to retreat immediately!” The unit advances at the captain’s command.

“Here it is.” i say as i point towards the main passage through the elroe labyrinth.

“Understood. Let’s proceed carefully from here on out.”

We move forward into the main passage. I look at the surroundings carefully. There’s no sign of monsters.

“There are no monsters here either?” i wonder aloud.

“Hmm. From what I’ve heard, this branch should have lots of monsters, right?”

“Yeah. I’ve never seen such a quiet passage before. It’s eerie.”

“It seems best to proceed with more caution.”

The bad feeling I have is getting stronger. My instincts tell me it’s dangerous to go any further.

“I don’t like this. I have a bad feeling about this place.”

“Me too.” The captain breaks into a cold sweat. Similar sweat trickles down my cheeks.

I advance ahead slowly. There’s something caught in my eye.

“Is this a spider’s web?”

“A Taratect type monster?”

It is the web of a Giant spider. A web that can only be seen by its owner, which at this size, must mean it grew into an adult already.

“Did the owner of this web the cause of this strange incident?”

“It might be so. Look at that” Where I pointed, there was the half-eaten corpse of an Earth Drake caught in its nest.
“Even the Earth Drake was hunted. It might have already evolved to a Greater Class.”

The Taratect species is one whose strength rises tremendously through evolution. The highest Queen rank is mythical. In contrast, newborn spiders are rated the lowest F rank. It goes without saying how greatly they change through evolution.

Greater Taratects are evolved individuals that occur extremely rarely. Its strength is B rank, close to A rank. Considering how the Earth Drake was defeated, it wouldn’t be surprising if they had reached A rank.

“Can we take on an A-rank monster?” i ask the captain.

“That’s impossible. Although it might be possible to subdue it if challenged resolutely, such a thing cannot be done.”

“Yeah. We should go back. This is too much for us to handle.”

“I agree. We should get out of here as soon as possible.”

The captain and I agree. Both of us nod, and right as we start to leave the place An extreme chill came over me.

Breathtaking. A spider web I turned my back to. Something had appeared there. I exchange glances with the captain beside me. I nodded and looked back slowly.

Then, our eyes met. It’s a spider. It resembles the familiar Taratect species, but it’s slightly different. It’s a small black spider monster that has the hands of a sickle.

I realized it in an instant.
This thing is dangerous.
I don’t know how it suddenly appeared, but it’s dangerous.

My body stiffens with fear.

Greater Taratect?

It’s not at that level. This isn’t that simple.

“Retreat!” I come back to my senses when I hear the captain’s shout. I ran away at full speed.

Our formation falls apart. Just trying to escape from it all, I desperately moved my legs, almost lunging. We ran for some distance and eventually made it out of the main passage. I looked back but it wasn’t following us. Sighs of relief were heard all around.

The captain let out a sigh and began a roll-call immediately. No soldiers were missing.

“Let’s get out of the labyrinth right away.” i tell them.

“Yeah. I need to contact my home country. There’s nothing we can do about that monster.”

We didn’t actually fight. But I knew at a glance. That is an incredible monster.

The reason there were so many monsters was because they were chased by that monster, lost their habitat and overflowed into the outskirts. The reason there were no monsters around here was because they had fled from that. No matter how you look at it, this monster easily surpasses A rank.

It might even be an S rank.

Only the Hero and the elites of each country can fight against such a thing. There’s nothing ordinary people like us can do to oppose it.

“Zoa Ele” Someone muttered.

“What’s that?”

“It’s that monster. A spider monster that signifies misfortune. But there shouldn’t be such a monster” Apparently, that monster is a species called Zoa Ele.

However, I have never heard of such a monster appearing in the Great Labyrinth. Did it mutate suddenly from the Taratect species?

It seems to be clearly different from the normal Zoa Ere, so there’s no doubt that it’s a mutant. Anyway, there’s nothing more we can do about it.

We quickly escaped from the labyrinth after that.

Editing/Standardisation: APM
Original Translation: UnnamedShadow (Edited and cleaned MTL)
Additional thanks goes out to Kubor. Join our discord

Eight days have passed since we entered the Great Labyrinth.
We’re approaching an area where the anomaly is. I didn’t have high expectations for these knights, but they were quite useful in combat and only lacking in brains.
At first, I thought that I had been pushed to join a unit made up of nobles’ spoiled young men, and in fact, it seems that this unit contains the second and third sons of such nobles. But as expected of the Renxandt Empire, it wasnt just a decorative unit.

“It’s true that we are a ragtag group of nobles, but we have the same training and combat experience as the other units. We are a unit made up of people who cannot inherit titles. Everyone is desperate to achieve success by raising their skills.”

Or so I’ve been told. Although they still had the arrogance of a former nobleman, they seemed to have experienced their fair share of hardships and were surprisingly flexible in their response. For instance they didn’t really listen to my instructions before entering the labyrinth, but once they entered the and experienced its harshness, they obediently apologized for their previous behavior and began to follow my instructions.

“Honestly, I underestimated the Great Labyrinth. The lack of common sense is a flaw of a former noble’s unit. It may be prudent to allot some time to general education training from now on.”

The captain of the knights seems to be quite a capable man. However, while it was a pleasant surprise that the knights were more useful than expected, I couldn’t help but have a bad feeling about the expedition. Although they hadn’t yet reached the area where the reports were received, there were more monsters than usual. There have been no casualties so far, but there have been several injuries. It’s not a problem as we have a healer, but the scary thing about the Great Labyrinth is that you never know what’s going to happen.

We brought lots of poison antidotes with me, and some of the knights have acquired [Poison Resistance] in recent battles. I don’t think anything terrible will happen, but I still have a bad feeling about it.

Is there a Queen nearby? It’s not impossible. If Taratect hunting is becoming popular on the other side, it means the Queen has laid eggs. In other words, she’s came to the Upper Stratum. The Queen Taratect is an over S-rank moving calamity. The only record of one being defeated was by the Hero long ago together with a large army in exchange for their lives. Even if you remove that one, there are still five left in the world.

One of them lives in this great labyrinth. They usually live in a lower layer than the Upper Stratum, but go to the Upper Stratum to lay eggs. She usually returns down below immediately, but she sometimes lingers on the upper levels, so you can’t let your guard down.

I don’t think that will happen, but if we were to meet such a beast, no matter how many lives I had, it wouldn’t be enough. I suppose we should avoid large passages where the Queen could pass through. I suppose we should avoid large passages where the Queen could pass through.

　Another thing that bothers me is that there’s an entrance to the Middle Stratum in the area where the strange abnormality is occurring. Logically speaking, perhaps some powerful monster appeared from the middle floor and drove the original inhabitants out of their homes?

But, is there really such a powerful monster on the Middle Stratum? The Middle Stratum is a scorching hell where magma’s spread all over. It was a flame realm that humans could never conquer. However, the monsters’ strength shouldn’t be much different from those on the Upper Stratum. This was testified to by the adventurers who had once challenged the Middle Stratum and came back.

Those adventurers had spent many years building up their [Fire Resistance], fully equipped with fireproof gear before taking on the Middle Stratum. In the end, the Middle Stratum was so vast that they ran out of food and gave up exploring further. However, they became the first adventurers to explore the Middle Stratum of the Great Labyrinth and return alive.

The Great Labyrinth is said to consist of an Upper, Middle, and Lower Stratum. There are several huge holes in the Upper Stratum that connect to the Lower Stratum. Although there were adventurers who went down the hole, most of them didn’t come back. The few adventurers who returned testified that the place was overflowing with a frightening number of monsters of C rank and above. It’s said that the Queen makes her base in this Lower Stratum, but it is also said, although this is only an urban legend, that there is an even lower Strata, a Bottom Stratum.

I can’t verify the authenticity of this, but as long as they’re not entered intentionally, the Lower and Bottom Stratum are irrelevant. Or perhaps the recent anomaly was caused by something crawling out from below through the Middle Stratum? I fantasized about such silly things.

“I think we should rest here for today, what do you think?” The Captain asks me. “Yeah, that would be great. It’s almost dark outside.” i answer without hesitation.

“Time intervals get messed up inside a labyrinth. It’s amazing you can tell the time like that.”

“Well, if you’ve been going in and out of labyrinths since you were a kid, you’ll eventually get used to it. That’s how it is with all guides.”

“Huh. I guess the guides are more amazing than I thought.”

“Not really. In terms of direct combat ability, the knight is far superior. It’s all about putting the right person in the right place. We specialize in getting through labyrinths. The knight specializes in fighting. That’s it.”

“I see. By the way, excuse me for asking, but how many skills do you possess?” he suddenly inquires.

“Hmm? Skills, huh?”

“Sorry. I just happened to be curious. If you don’t want to tell me, there’s no need to. I apologize if I offended you.”

“Oh, no. It’s not like that. It’s rare for people like us to be appraised with appraisal stones. It’s been a long time since I last looked, so I don’t remember what my skills are.”

“Oh my. Skills are a lifeline. Wouldn’t it be better to at least be aware of your own skills?” he asks curiously.

“Well, I remember that my [Night Vision] and [Danger Perception] have become level 10, but I’ve forgotten everything else.”

The commander looked back at me in amazement as I laughed heartily. Well, that’s half a lie. It’s true that I don’t remember all of my skills, I remember their general range. But there’s no need to go out of your way to teach other people your skills.

These things are a matter of life and death afterall, right?

Ugggh, I’m sleepy. I’m getting pretty dangerously drowsy here. Camping out without even a simple home is really starting to get to me. I thought I’d be able to stick with it, but at this rate I’m going to be in serious trouble if I can’t find a way to get a decent night’s rest.

Really, though, if it was that easy to just get a good night’s sleep, I wouldn’t be forcing myself forward to the point of exhaustion like this. Although it does look like the Earth Dragon isn’t going to chase me here, this place is still swarming with other strong monsters. A simple home is probably not enough protection.

On the other hand, making a proper home is completely out of the question! I am absolutely not going to settle down here. I need to get out of here as quickly as I can. Taking a ton of time to make a more durable home is a huge mistake.

So, the only option I really have is making a simple home, although I don’t know how effective it’s going to be against the monsters that lurk around here… and so on and so on.

What should I dooo? I think, as I shake my sleepy head. Even if I’m just making a simple home, can’t I make it better by doing things a little differently? Like, I don’t want to build it just anywhere; I need to find a place where it’ll be less likely to be found. Easier said than done, though: the rocks here are really craggy, so there’s not really any places to hide among them. Ugh.

Wait, hang on. Do I really have to hide? All I really need is a home that other monsters won’t mess with, right? If that’s the case, I’ve got a great idea.

Immediately, I start to move. My destination? The top of these tall, tall cavern walls: the ceiling.

Whoooaaaa. So hiiiiigh. I’m scaaaaared. Can I really sleep up here? Well, I don’t see any monsters around here that could either fly or climb the walls to get me. Oh, well, there’s the snail-bugs, but that doesn’t matter. I haven’t seen any wasps flying around in this wide-open cavern, so if I make a simple home in the corner between the wall and the ceiling, I should be able to sleep safely in there.

All right then, shall we start building? Whoa, I’m seriously high up. I’ve got to be about a hundred meters off the ground… how many stories is that? If I fall from here, I’m definitely dead. Well, I guess I can fasten a lifeline so that I won’t fall far if I slip, but working with zero safety gear other than that is pretty terrifying. [Fear Resistance], work harder please!

<Proficiency has reached the required level. Skill [Fear Resistance – LV 5] has become [Fear Resistance – LV 6]>

I’m sorry! I didn’t mean it. There was no need for that perfectly-timed rebuttal. Man, you startled me!

S… so anyway, I’ve finished the basic frame. It’s pretty simple, just some basic sticky webbing stretched between the wall and the ceiling. I think that next I’m going to hang up some kind of hammock-like web to sleep in.

Hmmm. Although, wouldn’t I then be completely exposed? If something had a long-ranged attack like that Earth Dragon’s breath weapon, I’d be helpless against it. So, how should I hide this… I wonder if I could surround it with loose rocks?

I descend from the ceiling, and find a rock. Hmmm. This one’s pretty big. How can I make this work? Can I chop it up with my silk? I wrap a thread around the rock, and activate Severing Thread. Pull! Hmm, it cut in a little bit, but this isn’t going to work. Maybe if I run it back and forth like a saw…? Oh! It’s working, little by little.

<Proficiency has reached the required level. Skill [Poison Resistance LV2] has become [Poison Resistance LV3]>

“Proficiency requirements met. Your skill, [Severing Thread (LV 3)] has been raised to level 4.”

The skill level went up partway through, so my work got a little more efficient. Alright! The rock slices are complete. Now, if I can get these attached to the outside of my nest, I’ll have some camouflage!

I firmly attach threads to each of the rocks, then ascend the hundred meters up to where my nest is. Right, now all that’s left is to start pulling on these threads! Yyyaaaargh! H… heavy! Rggggggh! Ugh, maybe if I use my body weight… And… pull!!

“Proficiency requirements met. Your skill, [Strength (LV 2)] has been raised to level 3.”

At some point my Strength skill leveled up. It leveled up, but man this is still heavy! I’m burning through all of my stamina! This… is… hard!!

“Proficiency requirements met. You have gained the skill [Alacrity (LV 1)].”

“Proficiency requirements met. You have gained the skill [Endurance (LV 1)].”

I picked up some skills! It’s not like I have time to figure out what they do, though! Now… PULL!!

Hah, hah, haaaaaaah. I finally have them all up. Whoa, now that I look, I actually burned through all of my Overeating stockpile and cut into my actual stamina. Maaan, this was way too hard.

Hmm? That’s weird, I thought this was supposed to be a quick-and-easy way to get some sleep… why did I put so much effort into this? Hmmm… no matter how I think about it, this is my own defeat. Yyyyep.

Alright, after all of that effort, it looks like the rocks I’ve got hung up around my nest are doing a great job of hiding me from view. Now all that’s left is making a bed… and… done!

Ahhhhh. Ab, so, lute, bliss. You just can’t beat the comfort of a nest! Now I can finally, finally get some sleep in safety and comfort.

Oh! Let’s check my new skills real quick before I sleep.

Alacrity: Increases the amount of instantaneous Stamina available.

Endurance: Increases the amount of long-term Stamina available.

Oh! The stamina versions of Strength! It looks like my stamina went up from 40 to 41. Stamina is super important, so this is absolutely delightful.

Alright, skills have been checked, and since I’m super exhausted from all that heavy labor, sleep time! After so long, I can finally, finally sleep soundly, so I’m going to rest to my heart’s content.

And, so, good night.

After bullying my friend the pillbug for a while, I’ve gotten up to [Cutting Thread – LV3]. To be honest, I want to keep leveling it a little more, but the pillbug’s remains are at this point entirely unfit for daytime TV, so I can’t really keep going. [Cutting Thread] still isn’t inflicting serious injuries, even at level three, but the garbage still keeps piling up. Pillbug, I will probably, surely, absolutely never, ever forget you. Oh, of course, once I was done I ate it and, of course, it was disgusting as always.

Hmm, now that I think about it, there really wasn’t any reason for me to use the pillbug for target practice! Hitting that rock over there would probably been good enough. Oh crap, did I hurt its feelings? Nah, nah, I bet that its soul is weeping tears of joy, since it was so useful to me. Hm? “Brute”? I have no idea what you’re talking about!

So, after I finished up with bullying the pillbug, a new monster showed up, drawn by the sound or something like that.

{Anograch – LV 8 – failed to appraise status}

First time I’ve seen one of these. It’s a monkey-looking monster, about two meters tall. Since I couldn’t appraise its status, I wanted to just slip past it, but, nope, it spotted me.

Well, somehow it turned out splendidly. It looked like the type that used speed to its advantage, and, guess what, I’m faster. I just dodged around its flailing arms and then, in an instant, snagged it with my thread and tied it up.

That was really scary! No, seriously. It’s been a super long time since I’ve had to fight head-on like that! And this monkey was really strong, too! That terrible whooshing noise its arm made while it was flailing around made it abundantly clear that this guy wasn’t a joke. If it hit me, I was absolutely dead. I dodged every swing as if it were life or death. If I had a mouth, I would have been screaming. Like, “Eeeeek!!”? Yeah, of course like “Eeeeek!!”.

Thanks to my frantic scrambling around, I earned the [Evasion] skill. Appraising it gave predictable results: it’s a skill that raises my ability to evade. Finally, the king of speed-specialization skills! On top of that, as soon as I defeated the monkey, I leveled up.

<Experience has reached the required level. Individual Small Taratect has increased from LV3 to LV4.>

<All basic attributes have increased.>

<Skill proficiency level-up bonus acquired.>

<Proficiency has reached the required level. Skill [Concentration – LV1] has become [Concentration – LV2]>

<Proficiency has reached the required level. Skill [Throw – LV1] has become [Throw – LV2]>

<Proficiency has reached the required level. Skill [Hit – LV1] has become [Hit – LV2]>

<Skill points acquired.>

Three skills leveled up in one go. Sure, they’re the plain, utilitarian skills, but I’m still really happy! After leveling up, my stats now look like this:

Just as before, everything but my speed stat is terrible. If I didn’t have [Skanda], my speed would be terrible as well, and then all I’d have going for me is my thread. Praise be to [Skanda], and all that.

I may be happy that I got a bunch of stuff just now, but now’s not the time to get careless. I could have attracted more monsters here than just the monkey. So, first things first, time to eat.

Mmm. This guy isn’t poisonous! It’s not bitter at all. It’s got a really peculiar stink to it, though, so it’s still not in the slightest bit tasty. Man, I really miss cows. And pigs. They were the best.

My stamina might be full, but thanks to my [Overeating] skill nothing went to waste. [Overeating]… when I first got it, I was really cautious about it thanks to its negative-sounding name, but now that I know more it’s really quite a useful skill.

I’ve mentioned this before, but I am extremely dependent on my stamina. Spinning webs and running around both drain it considerably, so a skill that lets me store up an extra pile of stamina is super useful for me. If I could use any of my magic, I might wind up spending less stamina, but there’s no point in dwelling on things I can’t do anything about.

Oh, on the subject of magic, I got around to appraising each of the spells I know.

{Discomfort: Manipulates the target’s soul to directly induce discomfort.}

{Phantom Pain: Manipulates the target’s soul to induce illusory feelings of pain.}

{Dark Shadow: Darkens target shadow.}

{Poison Touch: Inflicts poison damage on target touched.}

Discomfort is, just like it’s name, a mind attack. Phantom Pain is pretty similar, too. Poison Touch seems to be pretty powerful, but it’s a level one spell, so there’s probably some sort of downside. Dark Shadow… does exactly what it says it does, but how useful is this? Hmmmm. Do I maybe link this up with higher level Shadow Magic spells? It looks like there’s not really a good basic use for this.

Well, of course, it’s not like I can use any of it anyway! Now then, I’ve finished eating up this monkey, so let’s get back on the road.

Editing/Standardisation: kubor04
Formatting/Extras: APM
Original Translation: Blastron
Additional thanks goes out to mae and Legit-rikk. Join our discord

---

Sneak, sneak.

Left? Clear! Right? Clear! Target acquired, dead ahead!

Ahead of me is a monster that’s kind of like a giant pillbug. Well, it’s got the body of a pillbug, but its head looks more like a rat’s. Is it an insect or a mammal? I want to know. Since it’s pillbug-like, it’s really likely that it curls up into an armored ball when it needs to defend itself. I fought a turtle monster before, and when it retreated into its shell I had a stupidly tough time with it. Well, if I get that pillbug wrapped up in my silk, it won’t be able to curl itself into a ball.

Regardless: Set Casting Net on standby… take this!! Direct hit! [Thread Control] will take care of the rest.

<Condition satisfied. Acquired Title [Thread User].>

<Acquired skills [Thread Control – LV1] [Cutting Thread – LV1] as a result of Title [Thread User]>

<Skill [Thread Control – LV 1] has been integrated into [Thread Control – LV 5].>

<Proficiency has reached the required level. Skill [Thread Control – LV 5] has become [Thread

Control – LV 6].>

Oh? Ohh?! I got another title!! [Thread User], huh? This titillates my inner special snowflake.

Hey, pillbug, listen, something’s come up, should we just wrap this up now? Does that sound like a plan? …No? Too bad. So; [Poison Fang], [Poison Fang], drag you back behind a rock. Yep!

Now, let’s get straight to figuring out what this new title does. For a title like [Thread User], the requirements must be… using threads, right? Hm? Wellll, If that’s the case, it’s kinda weird that it’s taken me this long to actually earn it. There’s got to be some other requirement.

Well, I’ve got it already, so it actually really doesn’t matter what the acquisition requirements are. I’ve got a better question: is this usable? This time, I’m confident: this title will be very useful. Ah, well, I mean, it bumped my [Thread Control] level up, which is already huge! Day after day I’ve been focusing on grinding this thing out, so having it finally level up makes me so, so happy. Just from that alone, this title is worth something.

What’s really caught my eye, though, is this other skill. [Cutting Thread]. Seriously, doesn’t that sound like something a kid that’s way into anime would come up with? But, is this it? A skill that lets me slash at my enemies with my threads?

It… it can’t be!! Cut down by something I did not see… how?! What could have done this?! Urk… is… is this… thread?!

I can make a scene like that happen, right? Hehe. Yeaaah. This is greeeeat!

Well, special snowflake delusions aside, this is obviously a pretty decent boost to my combat abilities. The only real offensive attack I’ve had up until now was [Poison Fang], but now, at long last, my number of usable attacks has increased to two. Furthermore, this is my thread, my main weapon!

Whoops, haha, I haven’t even appraised this or done any experimentation yet, I need to avoid getting ahead of myself here. First things first: Appraise.

{Cutting Thread: Applies the slashing attribute to threads.}

Umf. It does what its name implies. I was seriously a little worried about what I would have done if it was something completely ridiculous instead.

Well, that’s one worry down. The remaining questions are: can I apply this to my [Spider Thread], can I actually figure out how to activate this skill, and how effective is this at level one…

You know what will come in handy right about now? That monster I just brought down. Come, pillbug, be my lab rat!

Step one, spin some webbing. Crank the strength all the way up to maximum, drop the stickiness to zero. I swing it at the corpse of the pillbug while concentrating on the words [Cutting Thread]. Oh! I definitely feel like it activated.

The thread glanced off of the pillbug’s body. Mmm. It’s level one, alright, I guess it can’t put out very much power? Ah, wait, it cut in a little bit! Isn’t this great for a level one skill? The other skills so far have been pretty terrible at level one, so the fact that this can take a piece out of the pillbug’s tough shell makes it a really amazing skill.

Which reminds me, what does this cost? Did it consume any mana? Hmm… my mana hasn’t gone down at all. My stamina… well, thanks to [Overeating], my stamina isn’t going down at all so I can’t really tell if this had any impact. Keeping in mind [Poison Synthesis], I don’t think that it’s possible for there to be anything that doesn’t consume something. So maybe if the actual red stamina gauge didn’t go down by a full point, something internally must have ticked down a little bit. But while I don’t know exactly how much this costs, the actual cost/performance ratio doesn’t seem that bad. On top of that, I’ve got [Overeating] keeping my red stamina gauge filled up, which makes this pretty convenient!

Next step is to see if I can use this with a sticky thread as well. Once again, I swing a thread at the pillbug. Hm? Hmmm. I’m sure I activated it correctly, but it didn’t even leave a mark.

Well, that’s basically what I expected to have happened. From all of the experimentation I’ve done on my thread, I know that there are some limits on how far I can customize each strand. For instance, if I want to max out a thread’s stickiness, it’s really difficult to keep its elasticity. It’s not that it’s impossible, though; it’s just not really effective. It’s like a thread has a number of points that I can assign to its attributes, and I have to distribute them based on what I want the thread to do. So, when I increased the adhesion attribute, I wasn’t able to max out the slashing attribute anymore. Compatibility-wise, mixing those two attributes isn’t impossible, it’s just not a very realistic goal to have.

Seriously, though, [Cutting Thread] is a pretty substantial skill. It’s basically perfect for me. I need to get its level up as quickly as I can.

So, Mr. Pillbug, that’s what’s happening. You died before your time, and now I’m whipping your corpse, but please help me raise my skill level!

And, so, I continued slashing away at the pillbug’s remains with my [Cutting Thread].

—–

Translator’s notes for this chapter:

1 – The Japanese chapter title is a kanji pun wrapped in a pop culture reference. The theme song for the Street Fighter II anime movie was called “恋しさと せつなさと 心強さと” (Love, Sadness, and a Strong Heart). The first part of the first word is “ito”, which is usually written with the kanji for love (恋) but can also be written with the kanji for thread (糸), which shares the same pronunciation. If that wasn’t enough, the second word was written as 切なさ instead of せつなさ. This actually doesn’t change the meaning at all, since that’s the correct kanji to use in this situation, but it’s deliberately written using kanji (instead of spelling it out in hiragana like in the song title) because the kanji 切 means “cut”.

Honestly, I gave up on this one and put in whatever. The proper thing to do would be to come up with an equally niche American song reference that has equally good punning capacity but, well, fuck it. I’ll fix it if I suddenly think of something (or if someone’s got a really good suggestion!)

Editing/Standardisation: kubor04
Formatting/Extras: APM
Original Translation: Blastron
Additional thanks goes out to mae and Legit-rikk. Join our discord

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Invisibly, I lurk behind the rocks.

A little ways away from the crags I’m currently hiding behind, this guy slowly creeps along. What… is… this thing? If I had to describe it, I’d say it’s like… a really huge fish that grew arms and legs? Naaah, that’s not quite it. I can’t really pin down what I’m getting off of this mysterious life-form.

Well, I don’t actually care about this strange and mysterious creature. Ah, no, I can’t really say that I don’t care. If it spots me, that would suck.

But before that, I have some extremely important news! Yes, the lovely Miss [Appraisal] has outdone herself once again: I can see my enemies’ stats!! Sure, it might just be their health, mana, and stamina, but just that is amazing, right? The success rate isn’t very good, though, since it hits maybe once for every three or four tries, but knowing even just a part of an opponents’ stats is still huge!

Even with just a rough idea of my opponents’ HP, MP, and SP values, I can still get a pretty decent grasp on how strong they are. So, if I see a huge difference in these values, I absolutely should not fight them. My strategy is self-preservation.

So, in the immediate future, fighting this mysterious life-form is out of the question. These stats are ridiculous, you know! 818 hit points? What the heck? If you hit that guy hard enough to kill me twenty times over, wouldn’t it still have health left? This is inflation, right? Oh man, if this weird-looking thing with the stupid-looking face has stats like this, that Earth Dragon has to have 4-digit HP, doesn’t it?

Nai waaaaaaaa.

From what I’ve gathered so far in the last few days, monsters with levels higher than ten are all powerful. These things are what you’d call advanced monsters, I think, that don’t have any evolution past level ten. So, if I see a monster of a species that can have levels greater than ten, I shouldn’t engage it, even if its own level is less than ten. On the other hand, if I haven’t seen a level ten-plus monster in a given species, then it’s probably weak.

What was really shocking, though, was that even some of the small fry I’ve been hunting had crazy-high stats. Some of them even had triple-digit health! Seriouslyyy, I didn’t know you guys were so strooong, and so on. For sure, fighting these things head-on would have been suicide. I’ve been betting everything on my surprise attacks: an entire battle decided in an instant.

Man, now that I think about it, these things I’ve been calling “small fry” are, uh, higher-rank than I am. Wow, my [Spider Thread] must be a really good skill, if it can immobilize these powerful foes without trouble at all. If it wasn’t the case, then, well, I’d probably be dead by now, haha. Stats may be important, but skills are just as important too!

I really want to know what my opponent’s skills are now… if I knew that, I’d have such a great edge in a fight. When it comes down to it, if you took my skills away from me I’d be left with only my speed. If you bring along fire to burn my webs and an antidote to nullify my [Poison Fang], my odds of winning drop to basically zero. Oh maaan, skill countermeasures suuuck. If I fight someone with that level of preparation, I’m basically just straight-up dead!

Well, I don’t really think the monsters down here are bright enough for that. That’s why a weak little monster like me can survive down here. Intelligence is supreme! It’s humanity’s greatest strength.

Hmmm… humanity, though… I wonder how much of this dungeon humans have explored? The only time I’ve seen humans so far is when they showed up to burn down my nest. I’ve seen footprints, of course, but ever since I wound up in those labyrinthine tunnels, I haven’t seen any. Hmm, if this is indeed the world’s largest dungeon, maybe their exploration isn’t making very much progress?

Now that I’m thinking about it, I’m able to eat the monsters down here while humans would have to bring in their own food. If you wanted to explore a huge dungeon like this, you’d need to carry around a huge pile of food. That’s already a huge amount of physical labor required, and on top of that you’d need to fight off all of the monsters down here too. If you had a skill or spell that gave you, say, an inventory screen where you could store all of your stuff in a pocket dimension, that would be a little different, but food is still a pretty big limitation.

Based on this, I think human exploration efforts have probably been limited to the Upper Stratum; and, on top of that, probably just a small section of it. If that’s true, then it makes a lot of sense as to why I haven’t seen very many footprints. If there’s no footprints, it’s out of the explorable range, right?

Hm? Wait a sec… the first set of footprints I found was… back where that huge spider was, in that area with those huge groups of strong-looking monsters? Whoa, that’s in their exploration zone? Even though my mother’s there? …No way, can they defeat that thing?! No way!! If my guess is right, that thing’s got to be about as strong as that Earth Dragon, right? They can defeat that thing?! It’s not impossible? And if it’s not impossible, then wouldn’t that make humans crazy strong?

…I just had a really nasty thought. If humans are strong enough to take out my mother, then I should just avoid the outside world completely. No matter how hard I struggled, I wouldn’t be able to survive. Living down here in the dungeon would be way easier.

Well, for now, let’s just keep on struggling forward, trying to get back to the Upper Stratum. Once I finally manage to get back there, I can find a place where humans won’t go. Wait, no, even if it’s kinda dangerous shouldn’t I go find a human and Appraise their stats, just to be sure? Ah well, it’s not like I’m in a huge hurry. I still have zero clue how to get back up there.

Original Translation: APM
Editing: Legit-rikk
Additional thanks goes out to Kubor. Join our discord

This is written from the perspective of an old man

---

I let my gaze drift over the gathered knights and swallowed the sigh I wanted to let out. If I actually did, my son would probably get angry.

“Knights, right? Do you have even the slightest idea of what you signed up for?” 

As soon as I let out my exasperated voice, the knight’s faces began to show annoyance. My son next to me also slowly begins to get angry. My bad, seems like I let my true thoughts slip there for a second.  “That doesn’t concern guides like you. You are only here to show us the way.” Well, that sounds promising.
“Ah, I see, in that case I’ll just drop this job then, do what you want. Ask for another guide or something.”
“We will do that then.”
When I was about to stand up, I suddenly got hit by my son.
“No! Dear knights, I am sorry. My father might be quite rude, but he is still an excellent Labyrinth guide. Besides, there is a shortage of Labyrinth guides right now because of the Taratect hunts that are going on right now on the other side. If we were to drop out of this, I’m not sure if you could get any other of our colleagues.”
I really want to punch this brat. Well, leave it to my smooth-talking son. They had no idea how influential I am in this industry. If I dip out, the rest will too.  Didn’t they do some basic investigation before coming here?

“Hrm, fine. You can take me with you, but you better thank me.”
“Yes, that’s fine with us” 

Ah, what a pain this is…
“Well then, Sir knight, when are we planning to enter the labyrinth?”
“As soon as possible.”
“I see, so you honorable men have already made all the preparations like food and antidotes. As expected of knights!”
“Wait, food and antidotes?”
“Yes? Could it be that you have not already prepared them?”

My son makes a face of deep concern. I understand what he means, but still, this sly fox
“Why do you need food for reconnaissance?”
“Huh? Because it takes 10 days alone to travel to the place where you want to investigate?”
“Excuse me?”

The good for nothing ‘Sir knights’ begin to rustle. These guys are absolute dunces it seems. How did they come this far without knowing anything about the labyrinth? I wonder how such a team of idiots was sent to investigate the labyrinth. I hope they just didn’t throw them in there randomly because they were too incompetent for anything else.

“Honored Sir knights, is this the first time you are entering the Great Elroe Labyrinth?”
“Yes, indeed it is.”
“The Great Labyrinth is so huge, it connects two continents. It is one of the only means by which people can traverse continents, instead of the ocean which is impossible to navigate because of the water dragons. Are we clear on that?”
“Are you trying to ridicule me? That much is common knowledge.”
“Indeed, it should be. However, it is said that because of its grandness, it is impossible to go into the Great Labyrinth without a guide who specializes in that field to lead you. Those who do not do this have a survival rate of almost zero. I don’t know if it is true or not, but I heard that in the past even a Hero who went into the labyrinth alone never came back.”

The ‘Sir knights’ faces begin to pale. Ha. It seems like they are finally getting what it means to dive into the Great Labyrinth when even a hero didn’t return alive.

“The great Labyrinth is a large and complex structure with countless branches. If you were to get lost, you will never get out alive. Even us guides are not aware of all the paths. Do you know what this thing is?”
“What, do you mean that bundle of papers?”
“This is a map of the great labyrinth, albeit just a small part.”
My son pulled out a map of the safest and shortest intercontinental route the guides often took in the upper levels of the great labyrinth.  That alone was enough to fill a bundle of papers. Even the upper levels have yet to be completely mapped out. This is what they mean by “Great Labyrinth”.

“The place where the honored Sir Knights are investigating is about ten days from this entrance. It takes ten days to travel one way, ten days for the investigation and ten days for the way back. If we do not have at least thirty days’ worth of food, we will have to turn around on our way there. Also, if possible, I would bring at least another ten days’ worth of food as backup.”

These Knight guys have been deployed to a certain area of the labyrinth because the number of monsters has recently been increasing. They are supposed to investigate the cause and thin them out, but considering it’s them, I wouldn’t expect much.
The area where the monsters are increasingly present is right where the prior mentioned shortest route runs through. So, considering the future, it would be nice if we could determine the cause and eradicate as many as possible. I wonder what is going on there.

“Also, many of the monsters in the great labyrinth are poisonous, so antidotes are mandatory. In addition, we need light sources and fuel. If possible we should use fire, that way you can free yourself if you are caught in a spider’s web. That said, honored Sir Knights, I will make a list of supplies and ask you to buy all of them. As a guide we do have spatial storage, so leave transportation to me. Oh, and why don’t you also write to your families? It will be a long journey ahead.”

The ‘Sir Knights’ could only nod their head dumbly and astonished, as my son continued talking like a machine gun . If they already can’t handle this, our future is going to look bleak. 

At the very least I’m going to try not turning their family letters into suicide notes.

Original Translation: APM
Editing: Legit-rikk
Additional thanks goes out to Kubor. Join our discord

Eating.

Eating.

I am eating. 

Little by little, in order to not be noticed I slowly nibble away my food.

< Proficiency has reached a certain level. The skill [Heretic Attack LV1] has become [Heretic Attack LV2]. >

I am a spider. And I am in a pinch right now as I am slowly getting cornered. What should I do? 

The monsters all but disappeared. Are you kidding me? Why is there nothing here?

They won’t get caught in my nest, and I don’t see any of them once I go out. That is a problem isn’t it? 

A dangerous monster from the middle stratum turned up all of the sudden. It’s a dangerous creature that releases a tremendous amount of intimidation, spreads curses and paralysis, and is casting spells non-stop!

What do you think you would do in such a situation? Of course you run away if you aren’t an idiot.

Ha-ha! Isn’t that crazy monster just me? 

Right. Yeah. If you look at it that way, I am really crazy, aren’t I? And that is why the monsters run away.
Because if they don’t, they just get eaten.

haaa-

Really now, what is going on here. I have to go quite far to find anything in the upper level. In the middle level they are also all doing home office inside the magma. 

I am not worried about starving to death, because I have enough food stocks left over, but if I don’t think of a countermeasure now, it may be at some point be too late to fix it.

Well, it’s not like I am totally done, I still have one last ace in the hole:

Spatial Magic Level 9 [Teleport]!

This dreamy magic can take me to any place I know. Moreover, it can be combined with Lady Wisdom’s map to give me an accurate way of pinpointing a location!

But I think I am not  going to do that for now, rather I think it is time to start looking for a real exit. So I roam around and expand my scope of activities looking for prey and an exit, and when I get tired I just teleport back home.

I think I will repeat this process and continue to raise my [Fire resistance] while I am back home. If I can’t find any prey, I just transport to the lower level, where I run into Monsters just by walking a bit. I don’t think I will lose there unless the earth dragons appear again. Saying that, I am honestly not that keen on the lower level because of that risk. 

Now that we have our thoughts in order, let’s go out and expand the map! And coincidentally get a meal on the side! Well, it’s not like the monsters in the upper level taste that well though…

Wandering around the upper level and teleporting back to my home. I’ve been living like this for a while now and my Upper Stratum map has expanded quite a bit because of it. But it is still only about 10% of the Middle Stratum. I lived in the Middle Stratum way too long.

I didn’t see a lot of Monsters while doing this, which is only natural considering they were running from me, right? But thanks to that I’ve had a hard time obtaining food and experience.

However, one time I got a treat, experience AND food. I came across a passage that was as wide as the middle stratums and ran into an earth wyrm – an Elroe Fenegrad. It looked like some kind of T-Rex, and I thought I saw it somewhere before, but it was just a part of the crowd of monsters I saw when I was just born. Though it is a long way from there to here, so it might just be a different member of the same species.

When we fought it was strong. Yes, strong. I might have restrained him with strings and stopped him completely with my [Inert Evil Eye] and sucked him dry with my [Jinx Evil Eye], but he was still strong. 

There was no mistaking he was powerful.

But that’s all, isn’t it? I am a dragon slayer, and a mere wyrm is nothing to me. Come to think of it, even a fire wyrm could be beaten rather easily. There is an unconditional gap between a wyrm and a dragon in terms of strength.

Thanks to defeating him, my SP stock increased, and I got some tasty experience. But sadly, I cannot say the same about his flesh. Thanks to the Jinx Evil Eye, even my SP is getting filled up without eating, so it is great that I have more SP to spare now. Thanks to that function my fear of starvation has been put further back. I can just string up the uneaten corpse, and when my SP gets low I just can eat them bit by bit.

The experience was also very delicious. It was almost the same level as the fire wyrm, so I am very close to leveling up. It is still not enough, but at this rate I’m sure to level up soon. Then I am finally going to evolve. Evolving is not going to be the end, but a milestone. I think it is more efficient to have smaller goals and achieve them one-by-one. 

Well, my next goals are the following:
– Evolve

– Level up Fire resistance

– Find a way out of here

As for the way out, I am in no hurry, so I just hope I find it eventually. It would be bad to encounter some humans unprepared. 

Humans, huh..

What should I do if I encounter them? I don’t think I would be willing to kill them, but if they try to then I will fight back.

To be honest, I don’t think I have as much of an aversion to killing as I did when I was in Japan. Hm, maybe I didn’t have that much of an aversion about it in the first place. I just didn’t do it because it was troublesome and there was no point in doing it. Thinking about it, wouldn’t it also be troublesome to kill people in this world? 

I don’t want to be noticed after all.

Yeah. I’m just going to run away when I meet humans. I don’t even know how strong the humans are in this world. There is no way all of them are dragon class, right??? 

Well, if they haven’t captured the Middle Stratum yet, they are probably not that strong. Anyhow, lets just hope I don’t run into them.

Original Translation: APM
Editing: Legit-rikk
Additional thanks goes out to Kubor. Join our discord

Something is strange around here.
I’ve had that feeling for quite some time now. But only recently have I realized that. Before now it was only a subconscious feeling.
Something is definitely wrong.
But what exactly it is, I still don’t understand. While this discomforting feeling is following me, I cannot put my finger on it.

I have to figure out what it is, no matter the cost, otherwise I will regret it.

I have been called to father’s room, which is uncommon. He seems to be busier than ever these days. As it pertains to me, I know about how the rumors of the Hero’s death are spreading from the battlefield among the ordinary people.

We cannot hide the death of Brother Julius.

It seems like the church plans to officially announce the passing of the hero, and to announce a new one at the same time. Which means that I have to finally take the stage as a hero. I guess that is why I have been summoned today.

But why did Sue also get summoned alongside me? Currently we are walking side by side.
I wonder for what reason they called Sue together with me, all the way from the school. It seems Sue wasn’t informed either.

Thus, we arrive at the room clueless. But I guess we are going to know once we are inside. 

I knock on the door.

“It’s Schlain.”
“hm? You may come in.”
“Well then, excuse me.”

I open the door and enter; Sue follows silently.

“What is wrong?” asks Father while writing something on a document. Isn’t that my line?

“Wasn’t it Father who summoned me? What can I do for you?”
“Huh? I didn’t call for you.”

Eh?
By the time I thought that, things were already in motion. Before the sound voicing my doubts could even leave my mouth. Not that they could anyways. Some kind of muting wind magic was placed around me. Constructed and activated so quickly that I couldn’t respond. I only know a few people who could do that, one of them standing right next to me. 

Sue. 

What? 

When I voice my thoughts the air around me drowns out the sound. The tricky part about this magic isn’t that it doesn’t silence you, but instead drowns out your sound with wind. Once it is active, my voice will never get out, unless I cancel it.

As I stand there confused, insult gets added to injury. 

Sue attacks Father.

My eyes widen in surprise.
What?
Why?

Sue uses light magic, the magic I am best at. And Shoots my father in the forehead.

 “Iyaaaaaaaaaa! BIG BROTHER! WHAT ARE YOU DOING!?” Sue screams at the same time.

I am too confused to get a clear thought. 

Suddenly, Brother Cyrus and an armed knight escort violently open the door , entering the room 

“What is going on!?”
“Big Brother…” exclaims Sue, “He… The king…!”
“Seriously!? You’ve lost your mind Schlain!” 

No it wasn’t me!

I didn’t do it! 

What’s going on? 

I wanted to shout that, but my Voice was drowned out.

“Guards! Schlain attacked his Majesty the King! Apprehend him!”

The armored knight next to him moves right after. He drew his sword and swung it down on me. I was momentarily confused, but thanks to my training I quickly got up and pulled out my own sword to stop it. The armored knight’s sword swiftly splits mine in half.

Impossible. Even though I haven’t reinforced it, there was no way the sword of a Hero would shatter that easily. Yet it got split in half like that.

The constantly changing situation made it hard for me to comprehend what was happening. My hesitation didn’t elude the armored knight however, as he sliced me on the way back up. Thanks to the fact I backpedaled after losing my sword, I wasn’t fatally wounded. Still, the diagonal slash inflicted a serious wound. 

“Yo. You look great right now, my dear lord hero.” Mocks the armored knight. His voice was slightly muffled by the helmet, but I could still clearly make it out.

“You… Hugo!?” I gasped.
“That’s right!” and with that, he takes off his helmet. And standing there is Hugo. The Hugo that should have lost all his skills. That should have lost his position.

Cyrus looks startled. “Hugo, why did you reveal yourself?” Upon hearing that, Hugo  scoffs, “Isn’t it fine? It’s a nice memory to take to the underworld”.
Cyrus just talked as if he knew that the armored knight was Hugo the whole time. Like he knew him prior. But why?

Hugo spots my confused expression. “Oh, so you want to know? Your Esteemed Brother wants the throne. I want revenge on you and Oka. So, we both wanted you out of the way.” 

“But isn’t Cyrus supposed to be the next king anyways?”

“On the contrary. The King that kicked the bucket just now wanted to make you the next king. That way, by announcing your pampered ass as the next king before your announcement as a hero, you wouldn’t have been able to be sent to the battlefield so easily.”

“I will not let such an idiotic action snatch away my throne!” screamed Cyrus bitterly after Hugo’s words. But of course, they also were silenced, so no one but us could hear them. 

I look towards the one who cast that magic.

“Big Brother, its unfortunate, but could you please die?”

Despite sounding like usual, her voice came over like a different person. The complete opposite of her flat but usually passionate voice, she now sounds cold and indifferent, as if she despises me.
“Sue? What’s wrong?”
“Big Brother,” she just answers flatly, “I have discovered true love, and for that reason I am willing to kill you.”

Something is strange. Thinking that there is something wrong with her, I activate appraisal. [Hypnosis], [Brainwashing], and [Charmed] were all displayed there.
“HUGO! Did you do that??”
“Oh, you noticed? You see it now? That’s right. I did that. How does it feel? How does it feel to be robbed? Are you frustrated? I know exactly what you are going through right now! Hehehe.”
“Turn Sue back to normal right now!”
“You really think I’m going to turn her back just because you asked? Are you an idiot?”
My eyes slowly redden. My body does not respond like I want It to.
Hugo raises his sword. “The guards will be here soon. I guess it’s time for you to ‘take your leave’ now.” 

“I WON’T LET YOU!” Suddenly, a small elven body inserts itself between us, and blows him away with a shockwave of wind; leaving me shocked.

“OOOKA?!?” Hugo reacts a second later.
“Let’s run.” Without sparing Hugo a glance, teacher runs off. Someone is carrying me. 

“Hyrince!” I exclaim in shock. “Hey, I’m confused too, but let’s just think about surviving right now, ok?”

I cast healing magic to mend my wounds, while teacher’s magic blows away the approaching guards. On the way here and there, I could see fellow soldiers fighting each other. “What is going on?” 

“Mutiny” answers Oka. “Mutiny?” “Indeed, led by the first prince Cyrus and Hugo. They probably intend to pin the blame on you shun, as if they were the ones to quell the rebellion.”

Teachers’ explanation leaves me lost for words. 

“Right now, Leston is fighting. We escape while he buys us time.” Saying that, we finally escape the castle and head for a single house.

“We will rendezvous with Leston there, and then we are going to flee the country.” Teacher then states calmly.
“Wait a second Teacher! We have to do something about Hugo and Sue!”
“We won’t.”
“But teacher, if we deal with him right now, we can resolve this whole mess. I know I lost before, but my wounds are healed now, and if we go back to the castle to get him…”
“No.” The same statement as before.
“Teacher! Please!”
“The church has already announced a new Hero. And his name is Hugo von Renxandt”
“eh?”
“That means that even the church is in on this.”

I stumble involuntarily. Luckily Hyrince catches my shoulder, before asking cautiously, “Miss elf, do you have any idea on why the church is involved in this nonsense?”
“It’s reasonable to assume that Hugo’s Brainwashing has penetrated deep into the church.”
“That’s impossible! Such brainwashing usually wears off nearly instantaneous. It should not be able to lead to such a situation.”
“Yes, generally that should be the case.” Oka elaborates, “But there is one exception.”
“Exception?”
“The Top level Skill series, ‘Seven Sins’: ‘Lust’. The Brainwashing effect of it is unmatched by any other skill. I have no doubt that Hugo possesses this skill.”

‘Seven Sins’? Are there skills like that? There was no such skill among the ones I’ve checked, does that mean that it is a Skill that can’t be acquired even with 100,000 Skill points?
“With that being clear, I have no idea how far Hugo’s reach is, but it is safe to say this whole country is already a lost cause.” Hearing that, I can only let out a faint “Oh no…”. 

Right during my dilemma, Brother Leston and two more familiar faces entered the house together. Instantly he shouts “Shun! Are you all right?”. The first one, Anna greets me with “It’s been a long time, your highness” and the other, Klevea adds “You have grown up splendidly, your highness”. These were the two maids that once worked as our personal chambermaids. Compared to the still young looking Half-elf Anna, Klevea looks older than before. Still, she came to my aid in my time of need nonetheless. Suddenly I became desperate.
“Anna? Not you too!”
“Yes?”
“You too, you are also under Hugo’s control!” Anna’s status clearly states [Hypnosis], [Brainwashing], and [Charmed] after appraising it. At the same time I was shouting, Anna suddenly squints her eyes and begins to construct magic. I intercept her and knock her out with my hand, now that my sword is gone. Immediately, I try to cleanse her status with healing magic. However, the letters didn’t disappear from Anna’s status.
“Shit! They even got Anna”, Brother Leston clenches his fists in frustration. 

“This is bad! We’re surrounded!” After hearing Mr. Hyrince’s words, I looked outside the house and see numerous soldiers standing all around us.

“Let’s break through by force!” at teacher’s proposal, we all nod. Then Leston hands me his sword.
“What is that?” I ask, confused. “It is a divine sword of the royal family. This is better suited to be wielded by the hero Shun, rather than by me, who has no combat experience.”

“I understand. Thank you very much.” I answer, before following Mr. Hyrince as he leads the way into the encirclement. At the same time, Brother Leston’s troops launch a surprise attack from their hiding spot. “Now!”, on teacher’s command we break through the encirclement. But there is another unit ahead of us.

And the one leading them is…

“Shun! You are not going to get away with this!”
“Katia…”

My best friend from my previous life stands in front of me.

***************************************************

“Hugo, You bastard, you let him go on purpose, didn’t you?”
“What are you talking about?”
“Don’t act senile now! You know what kind of trouble he is going to cause if he stays alive!”
“I don’t give a fuck.”
“Bastard.”
“The fuck is wrong with you shithead?”
“huh?”
“Why are you telling me what to do, bastard? You’re just another pawn.”
“What are you saying?”
“I can kill you anytime I want. You should know that.”
“You…”
“It’s not like I am satisfied with only this much. They are going to have to suffer much more…”

Original Translation: APM
Editing: Legit-rikk
Additional thanks goes out to Kubor. Join our discord

I’ve returned, Upper Stratum! I am finally, finally back again!

Living for so long in the middle Stratum Made me long for the upper Stratum’s comfortable air. I forgot how wonderful “not constantly burning” felt.

Let’s enjoy the excitement of returning to the upper Stratum for a moment. It really has been a while huh? Ever since I got chased down to the lower stratum by that snake. The battle with the bees, and me being overlooked by that Earth dragon. 

The Lower Stratum was way too full of monster swarms wandering around. Like the Monkeys and their attack on me. Then, While preparing to enter the Middle Stratum, those damn Earth dragons showed up again. 

Once I finally thought I made it through, the scorching hell of the Middle Stratum comes around. Along with magma as our first and strongest opponent. The Catfish were delicious, the Eels presented a challenge, Mother came for a visit, Fire wyrms came in droves, and the Fire Dragon was stupidly strong.

Huh?

How come I’m still alive?

Well, what does it even mean to be alive?

What is considered as still alive?

I don’t care because I AM STILL ALIVE!

Well then, I reached my end goal traversing the Middle Stratum. So, what to do now?

A few days after my return to the Upper Stratum I simply chilled in a web near the entrance to the Middle Stratum. 

Mmmmmh, that’s it. That’s all I ever wanted. What a magnificent home. I can finally lay down and sleep without risking getting burned. Who knew life with strings could be that relaxing? Ahh. Sweet, sweet happiness.p

I have been looking around the area in the past few days, and I couldn’t spot any strong monsters. Even though this is the same Stratum, I am completely opposite to my starting point. The distance between there and my current point is so far that it could cover Japan’s main island.

I was wondering whether the ecology and the environment would change once you are that far removed, and indeed there were some unfamiliar monsters. However, I was also relieved to see some old friends. Like the Frogs.

The structure around the entrance to the middle level is quite wide, but once you get further in, it’s like a narrow passage branching. Because of that, there aren’t any large monsters nearby. Well, being large doesn’t equal being strong, but all the strong monsters I have seen so far have also been large. I haven’t seen any small, strong monsters like me, so I wonder if I’m a rarity here?

But even the small and weak ones can come in packs, like the monkeys and the centipedes, so that doesn’t mean I can drop my guard. Even though the me of now could wipe them out with Abyssal Magic… but if I did actually do so I would probably bring Mr.Cave’s roof to a very unstable situation. Yeah, I can only predict a major cave-in coming. I guess I will have to rely on substitutes like my poison, huh.

At least currently there seem to be no monsters that would pose a threat to me.And I have an escape route called “magma” I can easily escape through, should that change. Though I have a feeling there are less and less encounters with monsters as time goes on.

As I just desperately escaped from the Middle Stratum, I think I’ll live here for a while and hone my skills while taking it easy. Not as much as before I started capturing the middle stratum, but just some relaxation. Just a minute of laziness. As I’ve worked so hard until now, I should be allowed to do that right?

My level of security has increased immensely ever since I reached the Upper Stratum; while it is not guaranteed, it is definitely safer in the Upper Stratum than in the Middle Stratum where I can’t use my stings. Considering that, I want to do something that I haven’t been able to do for a while. This is the reason why I camp out so close to the middle stratum.

I move out of my new home and go back into the Middle Stratum. 

Ugh, the heat…

After experiencing the air of the Upper Stratum, you definitely realize how bad the air down here is.

I have no idea how I managed to endure all that, I really want to give myself a pat on the back for that.

 Well, I guess that’s good enough for now. 

Slowly, I approach the magma.

Ugh, it gets so hot the closer you get. I really don’t want to go near there. But nothing ventured, nothing gained!

Alright, let’s do this. Let’s plunge my scythe right into the magma!

UAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA! 

THE HEAT HUUUUUUUUUURTS!

<Skill proficiency reached. Skill [Pain Alleviation LV8] has become [Pain Alleviation LV9]> 

I constantly apply healing magic and treatment magic with the help of Magic Brain 1 and 2. Even so, the sickle is burning waaay too fast. Rather than burning, it is directly melting.

Holy hell, even my body is starting to burn.

Panicking, I pull my sickle out of the magma and put it out by using my poison. That finally extinguishes the fire wreaking havoc on my body. 

Haaaah. That was painful.

What I wanted to do was to improve my [Fire Resistance] level. Even though I had been walking in the Middle Stratum for such a long time, my [Fire Resistance] level was only 7. It improves so slowly, and even though I was in a lot of pain just now, it didn’t go up at all. Well, at least ain Resistance] got leveled up instead.

I already went through the Middle Stratum, but that doesn’t change the fact that I’m still vulnerable to fire. Since there is a place where I can train my [Fire Resistance] in this way, I think I should strengthen it to the point where it becomes [Heat Nullification]. Up until now, I’ve prioritized safety and never put the idea into action, but from now on, I can do it without worrying about that.

Oh, by the way, as expected my sickle melted completely. And [Healing Magic] at level 2 cannot yet restore missing limbs. It is just usable for small injuries. I guess I have to wait for my automatic recovery skill to kick in, and now that it’s evolved into [HP Rapid Recovery] it doesn’t take that long anymore.

Hum. Still, at this rate, it’s gonna take a long time before I acquire [Heat Nullification].

Name	Zoa Ele
Level	19
HP (Green)	499/687+0 (185 up)
MP (Blue)	5012/5012+1300 (916 up)
SP (Yellow)	636/636 (114 up)
SP (Red)	636/636+1191 (114 up)
Average Offense	590 (84 up)
Average Defense	685 (82 up)
Average Magic Power	4757 (856 up)
Average Resistance	4871 (850 up)
Average Speed	3152 (472 up)
Skill Points	0