The Demon Lord’s Labyrinth

February 25, 2022Zathael

Five days has passed since I left the mountain.
After passing through the marshlands, I arrive at a desert.
A vast desert known as the Golgotha Desert.
And deep within its centre rests the Demon Lord’s Labyrinth.

“There’s nothing but sand.
You know where it is, Takkun?”
“Yeah, using the sun’s position.
It’s already late so let’s camp for today and wait for the morning”

I set up a tent in the grasslands just before the desert.
I wasn’t able to bring food for myself but on the way I hunted a few rabi and ree.1
I swiftly skin and skewer them over an open fire.
The leftovers are put into a simple stone oven to smoke.
This should be enough food to last until I arrive.

“I didn’t encounter any monsters or large monsters on my way here huh”

The marshland is full of monsters like slimes and bloaters.
At the very least I was expecting to encounter them two or three times but I managed to reach the desert almost anticlimactically.2

“Karna, did you not feel any presences in the marsh?”
“Yeah, I didn’t sense any monsters.
Living monsters at least”

It’s just as she says.
During the journey, I came over countless monster corpses.
Not to mention they all seemed to have died recently.

“What about apart from monsters, like a human presence for example?”
“That’s a bit difficult to answer.
It seems they’re trying hard to suppress their presence, so I’ve been pretending not to notice them”

She’s more or less given it away but if Karna says so then I’ll also turn a blind eye.

“I made a bit too much food.
At this rate it’s going to rot.
It can’t be helped, I’ll leave it here.
It would be great if a beast or something could eat it though”

I monologue to myself in a loud voice.
From the shade of a tree slightly further away, a stomach growls.
I pretend not to hear it and enter my tent.

“Takkun really is popular huh”
“Hm? What do you mean?”

The next morning, the food that I left behind was completely gone.

Entering the desert, the number of places to hide is low so someones figure keeps entering my vision.

Suddenly, from beneath the desert, came out a giant earthworm like monster known as a sandwurm and I could clearly hear a voice cry ‘Takumi-san’ from my rear.

“Evil Dragon Darkness Great Flame Bullet!”
“Evil Dragon Darkness Great Flame Bullet!”

Following after Karna, I scream the name of her special technique.

Countless black orb spew out of Karna and attack the sandwurm.
They all strike directly and with an explosion, launch the sandwurm far into the distance.

“Ah”

My eyes meet with ‘somebody’ who is rushing up to me.
Carrying a child on their back.

“Sand has entered my eye.
That’s strange.
I can’t see anything”

As I rub my eyes, the figure disappears.

“Isn’t it fine to group up already?”
“Hm? What are you talking about?”

This is my own problem.
But I’ve used Karna, who can only be used once a day.
‘I’ll leave the rest to you’ I wish in my heart as I continue on.

After another three days, thanks to Karna’s detection and the mysterious helper, I arrive at the Demon Lord’s Labyrinth earlier than expected.

“Isn’t this a graveyard?”

Like Karna says, in the centre of the desert is many large steel crosses stabbed into the ground in what looks like a graveyard.
There’s 72 in total.
There’s what seems like various names written on them but it’s in the demon race’s characters and I can’t read them at all.

On one of them is ‘Nu’ enclosed in a circle.
It’s something Nuruhachi did when she discovered this dungeon.
I push the front of that cross and, along with the sound of creaking iron, the floor gives way to a staircase.

“So this is the Demon lord’s labyrinth”
“That’s right”

Ten years ago, without realising, I explored this place with Nuruhachi and the others.
Did Nuruhachi come here knowing it was the Demon Lord’s Labyrinth I wonder.

Deep in the dark, with only the light of the lamps, I descend down the stone spiral staircase that seems to go on forever.

I can hear footsteps overlapping.
They must be following behind me.
It was like this too when I came with Nuruhachi and Rick and the others.
I’m always being protected by strong comrades.

After this let’s properly return together.
Feeling a sense of comfort from those overlapping footsteps, I continue to tread down the stairs.

We arrive at the innermost portion.
The extravagantly ornate double doors have not changed at all since ten years ago.

“Impossible, it won’t open”

That reminds me, at first no matter how much she tried, Nuruhachi was unable to open these doors.

“I can’t open it even with the mana I’ve stored to my limits.
It can’t be, are they still becoming stronger!?”

She said something like that.
As expected, Nuruhachi knew that this place was the Demon Lord’s Labyrinth.
After that, Rick, Sasha, Bartz all tried various ways to open the door but it didn’t budge.

“If it won’t open then it can’t be helped.
Let’s go back and eat”

As the others resigned themselves, I leaned against the door carefreely and tried to comfort everyone.

At that time, my body began to tilt.
With my weight against the door, it opened easily as if it wasn’t locked at all and I fell into the room.
There I met Alice for the first time.

Why was I the only one able to open the door I wonder.
If it’s the same as that time, the door should be simple to open.
Tense and uneasy, I put my hand on the door.

With the sound of rusted metal, the door opens easily.

At that moment, I hear a thump behind me.

“You can come out now.
I know you’ve been following me the whole time”
“Is that so, as expected of you”

!?
I look over my shoulder in a panic at the husky voice I wasn’t expecting.

“So you’ve returned here as I thought.
Demon lord Takumi”

With the Holy Sword Excalibur in hand and wearing a blue cape, the pretty boy with red hair, the Hero End, is standing there.

“H- Huh! Where’s Reia and Chiharu?”

Behind End, the sad faces of Reia and Chiharu, whose entry scene had been stolen, can be seen.

“I don’t need to wait for the great martial tournament.
I’ll defeat you here”

Facing against End with Excalibur drawn, I reflexively draw Demon Sword Karna.

“Takkun, this is bad”
“Aah, since he’s the hero right.
He must be fairly strong”
“Not that.
From inside the room beyond those doors.
There’s something”

With a sudden chill, as if shrouded in darkness, an eerie atmosphere floods out from within.
Instinctively I look towards the room.

In that moment, End makes a great swing with Excalibur towards the crown of my head.

Translator’s Notes:
1: Another made up name for an animal, maybe a bird of some kind.
2: Bloaters are a reference to an enemy that appears in dragon quest 7.

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