Chapter Three – The Betrayal

Alvin D-Rod here to say Arifureta – Rising of Irregular Hero has new chapter coming out today!

I think I know why everybody is asking themselves on why I am updating this story so early for. Well, it was my birthday and I wanted to give everyone on Fanfiction something. I decided to update this story sooner. I have amazing news to tell everyone that this story has destroyed my email and the views on this story has passed 1K which I am still having a hard time on believing it.

Special thank you goes to Xyaqom who has helped me by beta-reading my stories so far, so please check out his stories when you get the chance to. I have heard that he has rewriting Drogons into a incredible story which I hope it goes well for him.

(Front of Orcus Labyrinth)

"We are about to enter the labyrinth for the first time, and please watch each other backs." Commander Melds told everyone with a firm tone, and his expression showed fierce since he did not want to lose anybody in the labyrinth then. Commander Melds and the classmates enter the labyrinth with their minds were filled with nothing at first because the monsters were nowhere to be found.

The journey of Orcus Labyrinth kept getting a little more dangerous as small creatures began to attack the group. Still, they were no problems for the Kouki to manage them as his sword skills were getting better, yet Daisuke was striking them down with annoyance inside of his expression. Hajime was barely leveling up with his defense and attack with only two-level up as his thoughts, "I guess it's better than nothing." The group continues the labyrinth, and the floor begins to descend to the lower floor as Kouki was leveling up fast like the others were leveling up as quickly as them.

Hajime is holding his sword with both of his hands which dark blue lizard who stands at 6'3 in height and his weight is 158 pounds with his eyes are dark golden which his armor is black armored chest area, shoulders, and knees down to his sharp raptor feet. He was trying his best to find a weakness, but the lizard kicked Hajime down as he was ready to strike the weak enemy down with its blade. However, Kouki slices the head off, and the rocks are knocked down from his powerful attack by his blade with glowing bright yellow by using his aura surrounding the blade.

The lizard drops down onto the solid ground as Kouki looks down at Hajime, and he shows a gentle smile because he was living his dreams about becoming a hero. "Don't worry, I'll keep everyone safe," Kouki speaks towards everyone with a soft tone, but his expression shows pride inside of it.

"Thanks, Amanogawa," Hajime responds to him with a friendly tone, and his expression shows been smooth about how he saved his life from being killed.

"I don't know why you are bothering with a sword because you don't have any magic affinity and your spells are nothing but useless." Daisuke was talking down to Hajime. His tone was harsh, and Hajime got up onto his feet, then he began to walk forward with the others like he was ignoring the comments that Daisuke was making since he had enough of hearing about how he was the weakest one inside the group. "Hey loser, where do you think you are… going?" Daisuke asks him with the same tone, but Hajime stops inside his tracks to see the bright sapphire crystal in front of them. Hajime begins to feel something is not right since his lessons with Noint came back into his mind.

"That's a Glanz Crystals, which are popular to propose rings." Commander Melds speaks with a firm voice, and he is ready for anything because Hajime could something was not right about the crystal.

"Well, I need to get firsthand it first," Daisuke told everyone. His voice was smooth since he wanted to get his hands onto the crystal, which Hajime and Commander Melds screamed at him to stop him from touching it.

"Daisuke! Do not touch it!" Commander Melds/ Hajime screams top of their lungs. Still, Daisuke's right hand took hold of the crystal at the same time is, where Pope Leader Ishtar and the followers of Lord Erit made the spell circle appears below everybody, but it was blinding light to transport them down to the lower floor been the sixty-five level.

(At Floor 65)

The blinding light sets down, Hajime and the others first see a large stone bridge with dark silver stone flooring and walls with dark yellow outline railing. Everybody was becoming more worried since a dark purple magical circle appeared on the other side of the bridge. A large creature with black scales and pale three pale horns at its head and eyes are dark golden slit ready to strike the intruders down as Commander Melds speaks, "This is the sixty-five floors." His voice is fierce and a bit worried since his classmates were not ready for the challenge of the sixty-five floor.

"This is the lowest level that anybody has gotten in the floor for the labyrinth." Hajime was telling everyone with a firm tone as he heard someone was telling them to look at the other side was an army of skeletons with a sharp silver blade as their eyes were crimson.

Nothing stopped both forces from attacking everyone as skeletons were giving everyone a run for their lives, which the simple spell was nothing to them. The battle was intense as the behemoth was charging forward. Still, Commander Melds uses a strong defense spell to protect everyone as Hajime feels useless since he cannot use any of his skills or abilities to help anyone out.

"Please, Gods and Goddess, don't allow this creature of darkness supposed no threats or harm to anyone. Holy Ground!" Commanders Melds speaks the spell as it was a large dark blue dome of magic which Kaori uses some of her magic to keep the spell as well then Hajime barely dodges an attack from skeleton which he takes his blade out because he was going to fight this creature alone then his mind brought the memories of how he fought Noint in practice matches as she told him to not expect an attack from the sides, front or backward because the battlefield is always chaotic. An enemy can come at the person anytime.

Hajime strikes the skeleton down with power with his blade glows crimson with a black outline which cancels the mana crystal inside of the skeleton, but he was breathing in then out. Everyone was wondering what was that and how Hajime did do that?

The protective dome was breaking apart as Hajime turned his head to see the behemoth coming towards them. Hajime rushed forward as Commander Melds, Kaori, and the team faced death in front of them, but Hajime placed his hands onto the bridge.

"Transmute!" Hajime speaks his spell with a black stone wall that appears in front of the behemoth as he continues to speak towards Commander Melds, "Please go, and I regroup with the others." His voice is firm, and his expression shows focus on saving others from harm.

"We will save you." Commander Melds speaks of his serious voice, and his expression becomes focused on saving Hajime because he wants to ask him about that black power that he has used during the vault with the skeleton warrior.

Hajime looks at the stone wall and tries his best to hold the stone wall together since he turns his head to see Commander Melds helping Kaori and the team back to the others. They were gathering the mana to use the power of light blue fire blasts, and the first row was sent to hit the behemoth, which stuns the monster. Hajime begins to race forward to get back with everyone to regroup as Commander Melds tells everyone to gather another blast inside of their hands.

"Everyone gets the mana ready for another blast!" Everyone gathers the mana inside their hands as someone shows a sinister smile and begins to show it because he would follow the orders that Pope Leader told him to get the one he wants.

(One Day Before Labyrinth)

Daisuke was furious with Hajime's attention from Kaori in the hallway, which belongs only to him. "That loser, I want him gone and never return." He speaks the request fiercely, and his eyes show darkness inside them.

"Maybe we can achieve something we both want." Daisuke hears a voice and looks up to see the person was speaking to Daisuke with a sinister tone as the plan begins to play out, "So how about we send you down to the lower floor then you get your chance to eliminate the one who stands in your way." Daisuke listens to the plan and shows a sinister smile because he enjoys the plan of the sinister plan.

Daisuke begins to leave the hallway back to his bedroom, and he begins to think about the sinister plan from the shadows as the person to reveals to be Pope Leader: Ishtar.

(At Floor 65)

Hajime's head turns to see the blast were attacking the behemoth and his head turns to see the light blue fire blast was coming towards him. "Wait… Is that blast targeting me, but why!?" Hajime's thoughts brought the question towards him with a serious voice, and his eyes could only watch the fire blast towards him.

The blast destroys the stone bridge and begins to fall into the labyrinth's depths in which the behemoth was roaring, and Hajime gets sent downwards with it. Hajime begins to fall with the behemoth, and he grabs it with his hands, trying to get top of it as he would need to use it to soften the hit onto the ground, and his thoughts, "What the fuck!? Why did they do this to me for?!" Hajime could only watch. The others were not even trying to see if he were all right or going to be safe.

(Present)

Hajime begins to open his eyes to see the light blue sphere hanging on top of him, and he wonders if he found a Healing Crystal that produces Holy Water. "This… This is a Healing Crystal, and I believe Noint said it's impossible to find one." Hajime was telling himself with a soft and emotionless tone with his head lifted to see the stone wall that he created was still holding together with his lips were releasing soft sigh because he was a little glad that it was holding together.

Hajime lays his head back down with his thoughts brought the possibilities that his classmates had just betrayed him, and they wanted to get rid of him. "That bear is a lot stronger and faster than the behemoth." Hajime was telling himself with a scared tone as his eyes were gathering the tears because he was frightened about the solution. He got himself into it when he entered this labyrinth then his mind begins to remember how his parents were always there to give him the courage and strength to move on with any challenge.

His eyes were half-closed because he felt nothing but betrayal, and his mind was getting new feelings for his classmates, or should he even think about calling them an unfamiliar word… Fucking traitors.

"I… I should not be thinking or saying those things because some of them were nice to me." Hajime was telling himself with a soft tone as his eyes closed themselves with his mind brought the names into his mind. Those three were the nicest and most gentle people that Hajime wanted to keep close to him. However, who did this to him was trying to rid of him for unknown reasons. "Is it possible that I misjudged it about this world because everything seems different and challenging here?" Hajime continues to speak towards himself with a depressing tone because nobody will be here to save him or tell him that everything will be alright. The people who betrayed him could not be anyone from the Heiligh Kingdom because some were still in the kingdom, and the rest of the classmates were there too. His eyes opened to reveal a determination to figure out the truth, yet something would stop him from learning the truth. Then Hajime begins to speak about his new plan, "I don't think… Anybody is going to save me here." Hajime becomes more intense as his right-hand grabs a rock and then holds it tightly, making his hand release a crimson liquid from his blood.

Hajime begins to think of his classmates or traitors, believing they are guilty of sending him down to his death. His eyes opened them to see that he was still alive, but how?

"Why… I should be gone now or dead!" Hajime was telling himself fierce with a new voice, and his expression showed great anger. The rock was crushed in intense pressure as Hajime was thinking about how he was thinking about how to get out of this, and Hajime thought about his normal home, but the idea that nobody did want him there. "Why should I go back home with them? besides, nobody cares about me, so I should stay here." Hajime told himself firmly or promised to do everything to make this world a better place for himself, and he did not care if he had to kill to get a new life here.

Hajime leans in, then starts drinking the Holy Water to heal his wounds and body. He stops drinking as the water heals everything inside of his body, and his mind begins to think about the monsters surrounding him, which is "Right, I don't care if I have to eat a damn monster." Hajime speaks with a fierce tone as he places his right hand onto the solid ground then makes a deep hole for the creatures to get trapped inside it.

He gathers the strength to sit up and get the same stone, but it was a sharp diamond been dark green as Hajime says, "Transmutes." The diamond begins to take the shape of the sharp spike, and he tore some of the clothes of his jacket to tie it down onto the solid hard staff that he had made from the ground.

"Now, I just need to lure them here," Hajime says with a firm tone, and he jumps over the hole as he goes to the entrance of the cave.

The same howl was heard as Hajime looked up to see the two white wolves with dark crimson strips running from their heads onto their backsides as their crimson eyes were looking at Hajime as they found their meal again. Two wolves chased Hajime, but they got trapped by the hole that Hajime had made before. His right-hand placed the solid ground again to get rocks were spiking at the wolves of trying to end their lives quickly, yet two of them with Hajime's staff with a sharp diamond point then begins to stab the wolves to kills them with his sharp knife with the staff.

The wolves were killed as Hajime begins to skin the wolves as he places the dark red meat onto the solid meat, which he grabs the piece of the meat then begins to eat it. Hajime begins coughing slightly and throws the meat away because he feels something burning inside his throat. "What the hell! Do you get poisoned by eating the monster's meat!?" Hajime was screaming at himself with his painful voice and dropped onto his body, which his head drops onto the Holy Water as his eyes become slightly closed and his eyes extend of pain. He screams in pain, and his body is starting to change into a different form as his height changes 5'7 and his weight is 162 pounds as his body becomes more muscular with his arms and legs following the muscles transformation.

(In Past)

Hajime opened his eyes again to see his parents were getting ready for another day at their job as his hands were reaching out on telling them how they were going to kill today. His voice was dried or burnt to mouth the words, and then his eyes showed great tears, been sad and disappointed since he could not save them since he was not strong enough to save them.

"Why am I so weak for?" Hajime is asking himself with a gentle voice because he became more focused on getting the power so that nobody would get killed in front of him again.

(Present)

"A dream… or nightmare?" Hajime asks himself with a firm voice, and he sits up then turns his head to see his reflection as his hair is pure white and his eyes are dark crimson. He turns his head towards the right, then left, trying to figure out what happened to him, and Hajime becomes more curious about his new body or this transformation that has done to him. "Now, let's see," Hajime told himself with his right hand to reach into his pocket then taking out the status plate to sees what his status is now with his eyes became surprised by the new numbers and skills that he had obtained when he ate that monster's meat.

Name: Hajime Nagumo

Level: 8

Strength: 100

Vitality: 300

Defense: 100

Agility: 200

Magic: 300

Magic Defense: 300

Skills: Transmute (+Mineral Appraisal), Mana Manipulation, Iron Stomach, Lightning Field, Language Comprehensive

"Monster meat did this to me, and it gave me an unmanageable boost," Hajime speaks about his monster meat having given him a new set of skills and his right hand onto the solid ground, which the rock goes upwards into the air. "Interesting that I don't even have to say the spell," Hajime told himself with a smooth voice, and his expression became firm. Then he looks down at his right hand, and which his light crimson lightning surrounds his hand.

Hajime gets up onto his feet which are his thoughts about how to build a weapon for himself to use inside of the battlefield. He begins to walk out of the small cave, yet his right-hand grabs the black rock on the wall with his mind begins to know the name been: Taur Stone. Hajime begins to walk forward to avoid the other monsters because he is not ready to face them yet since he continues his journey to find more stones, which leads him to a new area filled with many stones.

"Taur Stone – A hard black rock. Hardness 8 and Toughness 8. Strong against the forces and heat but weak to cold. Weakens when frozen. Add heat to bond." Hajime was telling himself with the same tone as his mind began to think about making some modifications to make a weapon for himself to use during the heat or cold seasons inside of the world. His right-hand placed onto the rock to break some of it into small pieces, then placed all of them inside of his pocket, and Hajime went away to find more stones that might help with his journey to escape out of this labyrinth.

The next stone was dark red at the center of a large area. His thoughts brought more questions than answers about the stone, but he saw many stones at its center.

"Blast Rock – A flammable stone. It can explode when pressure and heat are applied in a closed space. With enough volume and pressure, produces explosions that rival the highest tier of fire magic spells." Hajime says about the stones or rock with his sight looks down at the solid ground of thinking about how his classmates used a fire magic spell against him to send him down here.

Hajime shows little smile since his idea of Blast Rock could be used to make gunpowder into bullets as Hajime begins to create more bullets using his skills of Transmute, which he begins to build a black with dark crimson outline handgun as it could hold six bullets at once. "Now to add a dash of lightning to my new friend." Hajime was telling himself with his right hand holds the handgun as light crimson lightning surrounded the handgun to gain the power to shoot the bullets.

Dark golden claw strikes went for Hajime, and he jumped out of the way to dodge the attacks, which Hajime was not going to have any rest since something was coming after he was the white demon rabbit scratching for another round.

"Well, looks like I get try out my new friend," Hajime told the white demon rabbit with a fierce tone, but he avoided another golden claw strike. His right hand pointed his revolver towards the white demon rabbit, but the rabbit kept moving too fast with its skill: Quickstep.

Hajime jumps away of trying to create some distance. His right-hand summons a tent of rocks, and he makes a hole in the ground to escape inside it. The white demon rabbit tilts its head slightly, then strikes the rock tent with a whirlwind of gold as the rock begins to crack. Then one final attack destroys it. White demon rabbit was looking around, trying to find Hajime, yet he was nowhere.

"Looking for me!" The voice speaks out as the white from turn its head to see Hajime standing at least four feet away then he pulls the trigger which it fires a bullet towards the white demon rabbit then its head begins to gather together then it blows up.

(Aftermath – Floor 65)

"Nagumo!" Kaori screamed with the frightening inside of her voice and expression with her right hand was reaching out, but the bridge was gone, and Hajime's screams were gone. She promised herself that she would always be there for him, but the promise was gone inside of her. Then Kaori continues, "I promised that he will be alright."

Commander Melds hits the backside of her neck to knock her out, and Shizuka puts her onto her shoulder because he has no choice to do that.

"Commander Melds, what are you doing?" Kouki asks him with a worried tone as everyone stays silent because they know what he has to do.

Everyone had no choice, but they began to leave the labyrinth's sixty-floor as Shizuka carried Kaori onto her backside, which she was strong enough to do. Nobody didn't notice that Daisuke was smiling in a sinister way as Hajime was out of the picture, but when someone would turn to see, his expression would always change into a normal expression. Medical mages greeted them as they were there to see who got injured, and medical mages placed Kaori onto the medical mat to transport her to the kingdom.

Noint was hiding inside the shadows as she looked around for Hajime, yet the medical mages asked Commander Melds, "Is that everyone?" Their expressions changed into worried since Commander Melds turned his head away from them, and he could not believe what just happened in the labyrinth.

"One of us meet death." Commander Melds speaks with an emotionless tone, and his expression is unknown, which Noint falls onto her knees with her eyes extended of shock, and great sadness appears inside her eyes.

Her black robe was getting wet as her eyes were dropping tears of sadness, and she had lost someone. "Why… Why am I feeling like this for?" Noint asks herself since she's the only Apostle of God Erit, yet Noint never got a chance at life or choice inside her life on what she wants or who she wants to be with.

For the first time in her life, Noint found herself in sadness state, and she began to wonder how she could get Hajime back, and she was not going to lose him again. She got up onto her feet with her thoughts found themselves surrounded by the idea that Hajime was gone, yet small parts of her found it difficult to accept it since she knew that Hajime was alive somehow. Noint begins to walk towards the Heiligh Kingdom with her clear blue eyes and shows her feelings inside her eyes because she was slowly becoming a normal girl with feelings thanks to Hajime Nagumo.

The only question that is racing through her mind is when will Noint see her Hajime again.

To Be Continued!