Former General Is Undead Knight

Volume 1, Chapter 19: Lord of Underground Labyrinth⑤

「O pyroxene, Illuminate our path!」

As soon as the person finished chanting that aria, the dark passage was illuminated with gentle light.

「… seems like the adventurers who entered before us didn’t take this passage.」

Pyroxenes were embedded throughout the wall of Ainsaz’s Underground Labyrinth. It would shine with just a little bit of mana. That’s why even someone who only had the bare minimum ability to use magic could still use it.

However, since the pyroxenes didn’t shine, it meant that no one had passed through the passage for a while… in short, this showed that they wouldn’t be troubled by the other adventurers ahead. Or, that’s one of the theories the adventurers came up with when choosing a path.

「Do you have a similar experience of going into an Underground labyrinth like this one, Lambert-san?」

「Long time ago, I often went down to places like this. I knew of simple magic like pyroxene too. But at the time, my goal wasn’t to collect materials. Mine was to apprehend criminals who hid themselves deep inside the labyrinth. Ah, I miss those good ol’ days… when I competed with Glyph about who can hunt more ogre.」

「Hahaha…that certainly is possible for someone like the Brave Glyph.」

Despite him speaking the truth, Fiona took his remarks as his way of joking around to match his name with the Lambert of the warring era.

Delusional, as if something like ogres could be treated like “Hunting”, a wild game.

Lloyd secretly retorted in his mind. He was dumbfounded on the ridiculousness of Lambert’s story. Because, for people born in the current era, Ogres were an opponent that could only be hunted by a party of four top-rank adventurers. To show how strong Ogres were, take Fiona, Lily, and Lloyd as its opponent. Even if the trio ganged up on one Ogre, it wouldn’t be the Ogre that suffered but them. They would certainly be annihilated without even being able to put one scratch on that lone Ogre. So Lloyd and the others definitely took what Lambert said as a joke.

After that moment, they returned their focus on the dungeon. However, the trio was unable to do anything at all since Lambert was able to push through the 1st floor of Ainsaz’s Underground Labyrinth while mowing down every single demon that they met on the way. Soon, they passed through the 2nd floor, their original destination, in the similar vein, and went down all the way to the 3rd floor in the blink of an eye.

「HAAAAA!」

His great sword took down the incoming demons one after another, leaving mountains of hob-goblins along his trail.

「La-La-Lambert-san, the location of the Grim Cat we’re looking for are in the 2nd floor…」

「O-Old man! The area beyond this is dangerous! Especially… for us!」

Disregarding their words, Lambert shouldered his great sword, turning around to look at Fiona and the other.

「I might be dead if I dived into the innermost part of this labyrinth. The three of you, please return to the surface now.」

「I-Innermost part!? Old man, are you insane?! There’s an unbelievably powerful demon on the 4th floor! It has kept everyone from advancing further even up until now! Honestly, you should enter a bigger guild if your goal is to dive into the deepest part of the labyrinth! Not joining our small guild! The 4th floor and beyond is a dangerous place even if the four of us are together you know!」

「I alone am enough to do this.」

「LIKE HELL IT IS! FIONA, TRY TO PERSUADE LAMBERT OLD MAN!」

「Don’t call me old man, I’m not even 30 years ol… Eh? There’s red light coming from the other side. Another batch of hob-goblins?」

「Y-You’re just one step away from be-…」

Once again, ignoring the words spoken to him, Lambert went ahead by himself. Without any warning, two Ogres suddenly came at him from the T-junction, poised to attack.

「LAMBERT-SAN!」「A……」

「DIDN’T I TELL YOU BEFORE OLD MAAAAN! OGRES POPPED OUT EVERY NOW AND THEN IN THE 3RD FLOOR! GAAAH, WE’RE DONE FOOOOOR!」

The three of them screamed even as they chased after Lambert hurriedly. In their mind, even someone as powerful as Lambert wouldn’t be able to fight two Ogres at the same time.

「Tch… This kind of narrow place sure is troublesome.」

Lambert held his great sword horizontally as he ran with lowered posture. Meanwhile, the two Ogres leaped toward Lambert almost at the same time. However, at that moment, Lambert kicked the ground, spinning his body in the midair like a spinning top.

「HAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!」

Using the Ogres’ own momentum, Lambert’s great sword then tore their abdomen. It not only caught the ogres, but also came into contact with the labyrinth’s wall, creating countless sparks as it destroyed the wall.

「GUOOOOOOOOO!!」「UOOOOOOOOOOOO!」

Ignoring the recoil from destroying the wall, Lambert continued his attack with another slash that decapitated one of the two ogres’ heads. Then he continued on with crushing the other ogre’s head with the flat blade of his great sword in one sweep motion. After that, he delivered a roundhouse kick, as if he was throwing away trash.

「…… EH?」

Fiona’s eyes turned into dots seeing the unbelievable sight in front of her.

「Uhm? Lloyd, get down!」

Sensing something, Lambert turned around to Fiona and the others. After making eye contact with Lloyd, he then raised his great sword, ordering Lloyd at the same time.

「EH?…… UWAAAAAAAAA!」

And he suddenly flung his great sword. The tossed sword traced a beautiful straight line that was parallel with the ground and passed right at the place where Lloyd’s head was moments ago before he squatted down. Then, it smashed onto the head of the hob-gobling that was sneaking behind them. The body of the hob-goblin that had lost its head stumbled back for three steps before it crashed on the ground like a sack of potatoes.

「T-That’s so close… Thanks old man, your battle is too awesome.」

With the crisis over, Lloyd fell on his butt. He then turned his head behind him to look for the sword, only to find that Lambert’s sword had continued its straight flight until the turning point of the corridor and only stopped after it’s blade had stabbed into the wall. Seeing that sight, Lloyd once again realized the vast difference between his power and Lambert’s own.

「… Oi, shall we go back to the 2nd floor with just the three of us?」

「Yes, I’m with him.」

「But, I’m also curious about this place since this is the first time I have come here… I see, the 3rd floor structure is made like this huh.」

Contrasting Lily and Lloyd, who were eager to go back to the 2nd floor, Fiona who had never dived in until the 3rd floor of Ainsaz’s Underground Labyrinth was getting excited. Anyhow, to her, the reason for becoming an adventurer was to experience an adventure. That’s why, there’s no way she’s going to miss this rare chance.

「How rare of you to make this kind of slip, Fiona.」

「That old man is a special case. No amount of life is enough if you associate yourself with that oldman. Understand? We should go back while we can.」

Lily and Lloyd persuaded Fiona to go with them. And though Fiona didn’t seem to be willing to leave Lambert alone by himself on the 3rd floor, she couldn’t do anything since she knew that the three of them would only become a burden if they kept sticking with him on this floor. While they could persuade Lambert to follow them, but seeing him easily dispatching two ogres alone, she got the worst feeling that Lambert wouldn’t change his mind.

And that was proven by Lambert’s look, who didn’t seem like he would go back. So, the only choice they got was to separate here with three of them going to the 2nd floor and him going forward. Occupied with various thoughts and considerations for the plan, Fiona then sighed. In the end, she decided that the only plan for the three of them was to go back to the 2nd floor safely.

「Lambert-san! We’ll be waiting for you near the staircase which leads to the 3rd floor, please don’t push yourself too hard.」

「I understand.」

After a short reply, Lambert then went ahead toward the T-junction, trampling over the corpses of the ogres as he walked forward. Meanwhile, Lloyd squinted his eyes as he looked at the ogres’ corpses that got squashed beneath Lambert’s feet.

「… That armor of his must be really heavy. He killed those two ogres in just a moment, no need to worry about his safety, we should go back to the 2nd floor.」

The three of them agreed with Lloyd’s assessment and ran as fast as they could to the 2nd floor, passing by the mountain of corpses that was laid to waste by Lambert a while ago.

「Now that I looked at those mountains of corpses again, I really wonder whether Uncle Lambert is really a human…」

While Fiona was smiling wryly at hearing Lloyd’s mutter, Lily suddenly paused her gait.

「… Eh, what’s the matter, Lily?」

Lily had already pressed her ear against the wall, all the while frowning when Lloyd and Fiona turned around to see her.

「Suspicious. Someone is coming towards our direction. Their numbers are… four… perhaps more. This floor has many branches, so it’s almost impossible for them to take the same route as us assuming that they came to hunt but…」

「E-Eeeh!? Well, I mean Uncle Lambert has basically left behind mountains of hob-goblins’ corpses whose numbers are usually enough to annihilate an entire party in an instant. This might get troublesome if we met this group, but…」

「… They might come to make trouble with us, aiming for the moment when we got back from the 3rd floor to rob us of our loots.」

「A-Are you kidding me!?」

In their current situation, human beings could be far more terrifying than demons.

That’s why their mind had already come up with questions about just what kind of evil humans who had pursued them this far. After all, if they were unlucky, they might just run into two ogres on this 3rd floor. But, by being able to continue their pursuit… means that the people who were chasing after them were quite powerful.

「W-What shall we do? GEH!」

「I think… Nothing good will come about if we met them.」

Lloyd’s face turned red while Lily’s face immediately paled at those words. However, Fiona kept her wits with her, so after pondering for a moment, she turned around toward the passage that was used by Lambert a while ago.

「Let’s go after Lambert-san! There should be few demons left alive in the passage used by him. He should be close by if he advanced while fighting the demons along the way… we can’t stay here since those people who are chasing after us might be too powerful for us to defeat.」