Itai no wa Iya nanode Bōgyo-Ryoku ni Kyokufuri Shitai to Omoimasu

The six of them descended the dark staircase.

There were turns midway in, and eventually, there was no light from the surface that reached them.

“I will prepare a lantern.”

Misery pulled out a lantern to light the dark steps.

Just one lantern gave off adequate light.

“Nothing has come out yet...”

Chrome kept his great shield up and looked around anxiously. The only thing they could see in the darkness was ash colored walls.

“...! I can see something now...I think?”

“Mi?”

Misery glanced over to Mi.

Mi was looking downwards.

She was shockingly comforted by just having Misery nearby.

“Uh, yes, I know...the stairs end just a little up ahead. And there is a door. We should be careful.”

Mi said, and both of her eyes were glowing red.

Mi had a night vision skill that allowed her to see things more clearly in the dark.

Just like Mi said, there was a stone door at the end. That being said, there was only an indented place to put your hand in and slide the door to the side.

Chrome put his hand in and pushed with all of his might.

“Hm? ...It’s no use. It won’t open.”

“Maybe it requires more STR. Let me try.”

Pain sheathed his sword and used all of his strength to try and open the door.

Then they heard the sounds of stone grinding against stone as the door slowly began to open.

At the same time, a blinding light poured out.

What lay beyond the door was randomly positioned paths and stairs that went in every direction, up and down, left and right.

Furthermore, there were also glowing magic circles everywhere and also a single, mysterious and old-looking lever.

In a word, it resembled a maze. That was the impression the six of them got as they looked at the scene.

“Ah...where should we start?”

Chrome asked Pain.

“We have too many options. I don’t know.”

Pain glanced to the left and saw 5 or 6 magic circles.

Nothing could be more tedious.

“What to do...I don’t mind any direction?”

Marx said with an expression that was a diluted version of his reaction upon seeing Maple use Savagery.

In other words, he was starting to really want to go back. The only reason he did not, was because there were so many members gathered here.

“We’ll just randomly invade. A few monsters won’t pose much of a problem anyway. I don’t think we’ll find an answer by just standing here and thinking.”

“Yes, you are right, Mi. I think we should just try to touch a magic circle or even that lever.”

“I’ll record the path we take. So at least we won’t get lost or forget where we came from.”

And so they all decided on their direction.

They would try and pull the lever.

“Okay, I’m going to do it, alright?”

Chrome approached the lever and touched it. He looked back at the others. They all nodded, and so Chrome pulled the lever back.

In the same instant, the stairs that were all over the place started to move and shuffle. Walls opened and new paths were created while others disappeared.

Magic circles faded and reappeared in different locations.

With just one pull of the level, the entire maze had transformed.

“Uh...”

Marx’s face was now fully what it was when he saw Maple use Savagery.

Even Chrome, who had been the one to pull the lever looked serious.

“What do you think, Pain? Do you want to choose the next thing we try?”

“To be honest, this is all very tedious. Haha, what about you, Chrome?”

As the two advance guards asked each other, Kanade spoke up.

“It looks like the magic circles on all of the stairs and paths have changed...but there is one path that didn’t change from before. Why not go there?”

Kanade had memorized the entire layout of the previous scene.

Even if the others didn’t notice it, it had stuck out like an eyesore to Kanade.

They had no reason to object to this suggestion.

And so they all headed in the direction that Kanade indicated.

At the end of the path that Kanade suggested, there was a similar room and another lever.

“If this keeps repeating...the others might all be traps then.”

“Kanade, we’re counting on you.”

“Of course!”

And so the six of them continued on.

They easily slipped past ferocious monsters and instant death traps.

All of the traps inside of the ruins were defeated by one player alone, Kanade.

The intelligence that protected the ruins were overcome by an even higher intelligence.

They continued to descend lower and lower. And finally, they reached a room that was clearly different from the others.

Far back into the room, there was a large coffin that was decorated with gold and jewels. But nothing else. Aside from the dry sand that was scattered over the stone floor, there was nothing unusual about the ground.

The coffin that was laid down on the ground was 5 meters long. And among the six of them, not one of them thought there was anything good inside of it.

And their prediction was correct.

Perhaps it had sensed their presence because the lid made a noise as it began to slide away.

What came out from the coffin was a skeleton king whose crown still shone brightly.

The dark pits where his eyes would have been were filled with black fire.

“Here it comes. Get ready!”

Pain shouted as the skeleton king moved. And so the fight began.