Kousake leads Hajime, Yue, Shea, and Zane to the entrance to the Great Orcus Labyrinth. Once they are inside of the labyrinth, they move towards a portal. This portal teleports the group down to the 50th floor. Kousake explains there was a portal that went down to the 70th floor, but he had to break it in his escape. As such they will have to go from floor 50th to the 89th floor on foot.
As they are rushing to keep going down to the floor where all of the Hero's Party members are supposed to be, Zane notes that there are no monsters around. He finds this to be rather odd, since he assumed that the labyrinth was full of monsters. His only guess is that they were cleared out by the Hero's Party as they were going down.
Eventually the group reaches the 65th floor. A giant monster appears as soon as they step onto a walkway. Hajime shoots and kills this monster with a single shot. Zane happens to notice that Kousake is visibly stunned by this. This makes Zane guess that the Hero's Party had a hard time with that monster.
Now that they are on the 65th floor, Hajime says, "It is going to take too long for us to walk the rest of the way."
"We don't have much of a choice," Zane comments.
"Sure we do," Hajime states. He then pulls out his pile bunker. Hajime points this weapon at the floor and blows a hole in it. The hole extends all the way to the eighty-eighth floor of the labyrinth. The group all jumps down into the hole.
Upon reaching the eighty-eighth floor, Hajime is about to use the pile bunker again. Before he does Zane says, "I am not sure that is a good idea. It is possible that you could hit one of our classmates with it."
"That is their problem," Hajime declares as he blasts a hole into the ground of the eighty-eighth floor.
When the dust from this attack has cleared, Zane sees that the spike from the pile bunker has stabbed directly into two monsters that were down below. It is only about a meter away from Shizuku and Kaori.
Down below most of the Hero's Party as well as a collapsed Meld Loggins are all huddled against a wall. Shizuku and Kaori are the only ones separated from the group. Based on the pool of blood right in front of Shizuku, Zane is guessing that she just vomited blood a few seconds before.
The forming of this hole, has gained the attention of the people as well as the demon and monsters that are on the eighty-ninth floor. Hajime drops down to this floor right in front of Kaori.
Upon reaching the floor, Hajime looks around at everyone that is down there. He sees Shizuku and Kaori next to each other and comments, "I see that you two are still good friends. Good for you."
At this point Kaori shouts, "That's Hajime!"
Shizuku says, "Wait, you can't be serious. Uh. Hold on. I don't understand how... This is just insane. I can't believe you are standing there. No, really. What is going on?"
"Calm down. You are supposed to be the cool and collected one. Remember?" Hajime says.
At this point, Yue falls into Hajime's arms. He catches her. She then puts up a barrier that the others bounce off of as they come down to the ground. Shea and Zane follow down to the ground gracefully. Kousake on the other hand lands on his face after hitting the barrier.
Upon landing Kousake says, "Hey guys. I brought us some help from the surface."
This prompts several of the students to say, "It is Endou."
At this point Hajime starts to notice the monsters that are around the area. He says, "Yue, you are on guard duty. Keep the others safe. Shea, you get over there and check on those fallen knights. "
Both of them agree to do this and run off. Hajime then looks at Zane and says, "I guess you can take out the weaklings."
"Sure," Zane states.
Hajime then says, "Okay then."
Before anything else can be done Kaori shouts, "Hajime!"
Hajime replies, "I got this. Just sit tight."
At this point Zane says, "Just let us handle these beasts. We are perfectly capable of handling them. You should go join the others."
Following all of this happening the demon says, "Pretty bold of you to split your party before you know what you are up against."
Hajime replies, "If you don't feel like dying then you're free to leave.
The demon replies, "What?"
"I am just giving you a chance to run away before I kill you," Hajime states.
"How dare you? I will make you regret those foolish words when you die by my hand." the demon says.
"If you want to be my enemy then I am going to have to rescind my offer," Hajime states.
At this point Kaori shouts, "Look out."
Hajime promptly thrusts his hand into the space next to him. He grabs a monster that was hiding there by the head. He then says, "Okay. I'll bite. What is this crappy magic of yours? It's a neat party trick."
Seeing this Diasuke says, "No freakin' way."
At this point Hajime begins to easily massacre the monsters that are all around the room. He shoots both those that are visible and those that are not. This seems to stun the demon as she is visibly shocked by Hajime being able to easily kill her monsters.
The demon shouts, "How could you possibly have known where they were?"
At this point Kouki asks, "Who is this guy?"
Kousake replies, "I know that it is hard to believe, but that's Nagumo."
"What?" Kouki asks.
Kousake shouts, "Like I said, it's hard to believe! But this is the same guy that fell off the bridge that day."
"There is no way," Kouki says.
Ryutarou says, "I do find that hard to believe."
"I mean it doesn't make a lot of sense to me either, but that doesn't change the facts," Kousake states.
Daisuke shouts, "It is not him! Quit making things up, Endou! Nagumo is dead, we all saw it happen!"
"I checked his status plate to be sure, and there is no doubt about it --- that's him," Kousake states.
"Then there is only one explanation! He forged a plate and he's plotting something! We can't trust this guy!" Daisuke shouts.
Yue states at this point, "You are so loud. You aren't planning on getting in his way again, are you?"
In the fight against the monsters, Zane is quickly engaged in a fight with a chimera monster. It has three heads, one is a lion, one is a goat, and the last is a snake on its tail. The tail of this monster tries to bite Zane as soon as Zane reaches the monster. Zane is able to effortlessly block an attack from the lion head and cut off the tail in one fluid motion.
With its tail now severed, the chimera tries to lunge at Zane to kill him. Zane creates a shiler of ice that the monster collides with. When it bounces off this shield, the belly of the monster is open for attack. Zane takes this chance to lunge forward and drive his rapier into the heart of the monster. This kills it.
Now that the chimera has been killed, Zane then moves in to attack a giant bee-like monster. This monster tries to dodge Zane's attacks. It succeeds in dodging several attacks and then moves in to sting Zane. As it does this, Zane uses fire magic to light the bee on fire. This kills it immediately.
Zane next moves in to attack a black cat monster. This monster is much faster than the others that Zane has had to fight. It is able to easily dodge each of his sword strikes. It also is moving too quickly for Zane to be able to use magic to hit it.
The cat finally does make a fatal mistake. It tries to jump at Zane. When it does this, Zane uses his ice shell skill to create an ice shell around himself. The cat was moving so fast that it was caught in the shell. Now that it is frozen in place, Zane is able to easily kill the black cat.
As all of this is going on, Hajime, Yue, and Shea are easily dispatching the other monsters. They kill several butterfly-like monsters, as well as chimeras, black cats and many other things. These monsters do not stand a chance against them and are being torn to shreds.
Seeing all of this going on the demon says, "What are you?"
Hajime replies, "Is that all you got?"
At this point the demon uses a gas type spell. This seems to be worrisome to the students. Zane notices this and guesses that the demon used that same spell on them earlier on. Based on the fact that Suzu's legs appear to be stone right now, Zane is guessing that this spell is the reason for that.
At this point almost all of the visible monsters have been killed. Considering how quickly the other monsters were dealt with, the demon knows that the rest will not last much longer. Realizing this the demon decides that the only way she is going to survive is by running for her life.
With this plan in mind, the female demon turns and tries to run away from the area. She makes it only a few steps when a spike from Hajime's pile bunker strikes the ground right in front of her. This stops her in her tracks as the path she was about to take has now been blocked. She is now trapped.
The demon then says, "So this is the end, then?"
Hajime states, "Sounds about right."
"My high level magic meant absolutely nothing to you. Are you sure that you are really human?" the demon asks.
Hajime says, "I definitely used to be, but not anymore."
The demon states, "You are some kind of monster."
Hajime then walks over to the demon and says, "Right then. I am not really interested in the sentimentality of last words. So how about this. You tell me how a demon like yourself got ahold of all these monsters. Then you can tell me what you are doing down here. Those can be your last words."
"Give me one good reason that I should talk to you," the demon states.
In response to this, Hajime shoots the demon through both of her legs. He then says, "Well let me tell you what I think. I think those monsters of yours were created by a form of ancient magic. And there is only one way to gain the ability to use ancient magic as far as I am aware, so I bet you demons cleared a great labyrinth."
This results in the demon gasping. Hajime then says, "Looks like I am right on the money. Tell me. Did you really think you were strong enough to make it to the end of this nightmare?"
The demon says, "It is starting to make sense. If you are anything like them, then your monstrous appearance and inhuman strength would check out."
"Anything like them, huh?" Hajime comments. He then continues by saying, "So the monsters were given to you by the person who actually did the dirty work. Well that answers all my questions. Time to kill you."
Before he does this the demon declares, "I won't be going alone."
"It is pointless to make an empty threat," Hajime states.
At this point a chimera that had camouflage itself against one of the walls of the labyrinth appears and lunges at Shizuku, Kaori, and Suzu. Kaori is busy looking at Suzu's stone legs. Shizuku is looking towards Hajime and the demon. As such she does not see the chimera coming.
Zane on the other hand is standing further back. He sees the chimera as it materializes. None of the others do. The chimera is too far away from Zane for him to reach it. With the only thought in his head being that he wants to save the three girls, Zane acts on instinct. He opens a portal and summons his merlion in front of Shizuku.
Immediately upon being summoned the merlion jumps over Shizuku's head and into the chimera. It bites into the neck of the chimera and rips the throat of the lion's head out. The goat and snake heads then try to attack the merion. At this point, Zane has reached the chimera though. He stabs it directly through the heart with his rapier.
All of this happens in only a few moments. The noise from this attack has drawn the attention of everyone in the room. The demon whispers under her breath, "So he can control monsters too. I guess I never stood a chance."
Following all of this happening the merlion walks over to Zane and rubs against him. Zane says to it, "Good job." He then sends it away.
Right after this incident, Hajime returns his attention to the demon. He says, "Time to die."
The demon replies, "One more thing before I die. My lover will hunt you down and kill you for what you have done today."
Hajime replies, "Heh, demon or god, I don't care. I'll kill anyone who comes after me. But if your lover's just a puppet like you are, they won't be able to touch me."
Kouki sees that Nagumo is going to kill the demon and says, "Nagumo, don't do it. It's over, she cannot fight us anymore. You don't have to kill..." This is met by the sound of a gunshot, as Hajime shoots the demon right through the head, killing her instantly.
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Zane's Status Panel
Job: Pactmaster
Occupation: Adventurer (Silver Rank)
Strength= 723
Vitality= 900
Defense= 717
Agility= 841
Magic= 757
Magic Defense= 976
Skills
Language Comprehension (Can understand any language)
Pactmaker (Able to form up to five pacts. Receive small stats boost based stats of monster pact is formed with.)
Improved pactmaking (Allows up to ten pacts to be formed. Increases the stat boost obtained from formed pacts.)
Pact Telepathy (Allows pactmaster to communicate telepathically with creatures pacts are formed with.)
Will of the master (Boosts stats of all monsters pacts are formed with when near the pactmaster.)
Kinship (Grants one skill from each monster a pact is formed with.)
Fire Immunity- Immune to damage from fire. Can still feel heat. (Grand Phoenix)
Underwater breathing- Can breathe underwater. (Merlion)
Physical Resistance- Increases the physical resistance and recovery rate of the user. The degree of impact is reduced as well. (Mythril Golem)
Hypersensitive Hearing- Enhances hearing. (Imperial Bat)
Ice Shell- Creates a wall of ice that protects users from physical attacks and deals ice damage to those that attack it. (Glacial Tortoise)
Air Purification- Automatically purifies any air that the user breathes in making them immune to airborne toxins. (Master Sylph)
Storm Summon- Allows the user to cause a rain storm in his or her vicinity. (Celestial Thunderbird)
Body Strengthening- Allows the user to expend mana to strengthen their body temporarily. (Doom Minotaur)
Spatial Magic
Metamorphosis Magic
Formed Pacts
Grand Phoenix (Agility +180 and Magic Defense +180)
Merlion (Strength + 50 and Agility +100)
Mythril Golem (Strength +150, Vitality +220, and Defense +220)
Imperial Bat (Vitality +180 and Agility +180)
Glacial Tortoise (Defense +250 and Magic Defense +250)
Master Sylph (Agility +125 and Magic +250)
Celestial Thunderbird (Magic +300 and Magic Defense +300)
Doom Minotaur (Strength +250 and Vitality +250)
Artifacts
Treasure Trove (Allows user to store items in another dimension)
Ring of Mana (Grants user the skill mana manipulation)
Divine Amulet (Dramatically increases the mana of the user. Dramatically increases mana recovery rate. Also grants the user the ability to see the mana of other living beings)
Ring of Resistance (Grants user the skills poison, paralysis, petrification, and fear resistance)
Magical Cloak (Grants the user the skill all elements resistance)
Boots of Air (Creates platforms under wearers feet when they are falling, or jump)