'Where am I? Am I dead? No I'm not. I feel wet. What was I doing' in the dark cave a boy could be seen lying down in a puddle of water. The cave was dark, lit up only by some green crystals. Hajime cleared his groggy mind and started to move his body, but he ignored it for now.
"This place feels different. I can't really tell how but this isn't like the labyrinth we were in." Hajime looked around nervously; this place felt more eerie and terrifying than the labyrinth he was in. Hajime had started to move to explore where he was and moved toward down a passage. This place was nothing like the other floors; its passages were more narrow and big boulders were obstructing places, nothing like the rectangular passages on the twentieth floor. He moved very quietly. He had no weapons; he had to be sure he was safe from monsters but just as he was about to move from the boulder he was hiding behind, he saw something flash from the corner of his eye.
Hajime timidly peeked out from the boulder only to see a white ball of fur. Normally rabbits seen would be very cute at least the ones in anime Hajime had seen but this one wasn't very cute. It had dark red veins, it had very big hind legs and dark red eyes its size was also that of a dog. It clearly was a monster that Hajime would never be able to kill; he had to avoid it somehow. Hajime waited and moved patiently. He was going to jump from boulder to another boulder he was about to move but then his hand which was on the boulder hit a pebble. The pebble while very small made a lot of sound and it tumbled down very slowly as well. Hajime held his breath. 'Did that alert it?' He thought.
It felt like time had been slowed to a crawl. Hajimes heart had started beating fast; he stayed as still as possible but then.
"Graaaaaah!" A roar could be heard. Hajime thought it was the rabbit but he heard another sound so he looked. Only to see a white furred wolf monster come out from another boulder to attack the rabbit. After that two more wolf monsters came out to attack but the rabbit was not such easy prey.
"Kyuuu!" Making a cute sequel the rabbit jumped and headed down with its legs landing on one of the wolves killing it instantly. But it didn't stop there the rabbit using the force of landing went towards the other wolves killing them very quickly. Hajime witnessed this and stood still. this monster was stronger than anything he'd seen, he was pretty sure this monster could kill the behemoth as though it was a simple bug. That was until the bunny caught sight of him his eyes met the bunny he decided to run,but before he could comprehend anything he was launched back into another boulder with a strong force.
"Gahhh!" Hajime groaned in pain after hitting the boulder. He tried to gain composure but he couldn't, the pain in his left arm hurt way too much. He looked only to see that left arm broken bent out of shape, with a look of terror on his face,but Hajime had no time to scream in horror after all it was still there.
"Kyuu." The bunny had walked up to him staring at him. Hajime had tears rolling down his eyes, afraid to look at the bunny. "Kyuu kyuu." The rabbit started squealing even more though Hajime did not understand he felt that it was making fun of him. He closed his eyes ready to resign himself to his fate,but " kyuu! Kyuu! Kyuu!" The bunny started squealing though this sounded more like it was scared of something. Hajime timidly opened his eyes only to see a giant bear with white fur, crimson red eyes, and dark red veins. The rabbit tried to run away and the bear swiped its claws but missed. The rabbit stopped moving as it was slowly cut into pieces, Hajime eyes went wide open as the bear started to eat the rabbit.
The bear made disgusting noises as it was eating the bunny, then finally its eyes met Hajime's. Hajime saw the look in its eyes. It was eyeing him as an enemy, no it was eyeing him as food. The look terrified Hajime that his mind went blank. Then the bear made the same claw motion it did against the rabbit, Hajime acted quickly and jumped out of the way, the claw marks hitting the boulder behind it cutting it into pieces. Hajime started to move but then noticed something.
"Why can't I feel my left arm?" Even when it was broken Hajime could still have the feeling that it was there,but now he couldn't try and move it. Hajime looked down towards his left arm only to see it was not there and a stump with blood leaking out rapidly was there. He couldn't process the fact that his arm was gone, than it finally hit him.
"Ahhhhhhhh!!" Screaming in pain Hajime tripped over a rock and fell, the pain was excruciating. The bear started to walk back over to him and Hajime saw the missing left arm. The bear was eating it and it was almost gone. Hajimes mind broke. This scene had broken his mind, a scene normal humans would never see or ever think of seeing had broken his heart. Hajime felt the wall behind him and with tears and and dirty face uncaring of his appearance anymore he transmuted the wall.
"Transmute! Transmute! Transmute! Transmute!" He kept transmuting in hopes to get away from the bear. The bear was going after him but Hajime kept making the holes smaller and smaller til the bear was no longer able to chase after him. Hajime kept trying to transmute but nothing was happening, his mana was all gone. He could only fall into unconsciousness as his body had endured multiple amounts of stress.
Change of location: Heiligh kingdom
"I, the knight captain, greet his majesty and his holiness!!" Captain Meld kneeled in front of the pope and king sitting on their thrones. It had been 6 weeks since that day and the students were still traumatized, well most of them were. Kouki had stated that he would still fight and he wouldn't let hajimes death go for granted. Some other students, riled up by Kouki's enthusiasm, joined him. While others were terrified of going back into the labyrinth.
"I see well his death will not be useless, he saved our hero after all." The pope had said, he showed a little bit of respect though most already knew he thought of Hajime as useless. The other nobles did not have such kindness, they spoke words such as" that useless bastard is gone? good ''finally the hero doesn't have to deal with that useless prick '' it's good that he died rather he should've been killed the moment he was found out to be useless." The hero's of course hearing their words Kouki was about to say something but Shizuku stopped him.
"I see well all of you are to be dismissed, maids please take the hero's to the dining room for them to eat." The king gave his orders and the maids started to take the students to the dining room. The students changed out of their armor and started to eat. Not one person talked they didn't want to. Some of the students still hated Hiyama, he of course when they finally got out immediately prostrated himself and said he was sorry which made the students become less hostile towards him but it could be seen that they were keeping their distance from him. Shizuku had been really worried she was scared but she didn't let it show after all.
"Kaori are you okay?" Shizuku looked at her best friend who had been impacted most due to hajimes death. Kaori was eating naturally though shizuku knew she'd rather be training.
"Of course I'm okay shizuku-Chan why do you ask?" Kaori looked confused. Shizuku still didn't know what was going on in Kaori's mind. Back in the city where the orcus labyrinth was located she had woken up and refused to believe that Hajime had died, and it was simply just a bad dream. Shizuku of course held her down and stopped her from doing anything rash. She cried her eyes out for 3 hours but she refused to believe he was dead." I refuse to believe nagmou-kun is dead, he has to be alive! I won't stop believing until I see his body shizuku-Chan!" Shizuku had thought she was just trying to cope but she could see in Kaori's eyes that she had a fire that couldn't be easily diminished. So she said that she'll help Kaori even though she believed Hajime was dead. The students kept eating in silence until Kouki had spoken up.
"Hmm where's kaede?" Even though Kaede had told Kouki to call her by her last name he never did any and didn't even use honorifics. The students also looked around and nobody could find her. They looked all around and there was no trace of her. Nobody had even thought of her since that day, no they didn't want to think of her. After all the way she coldly looked at them and blamed them caused them to look away from her.
"Don't tell me." Shizuku had suddenly said. She knew what kaede will do after all kaori had said she'll do it as well than
"Shizuku-Chan what's the matter?" Kaori had heard her and brought everyone's attention to her.
"She must've gone back to the labyrinth for nagmou-kun." If no one else saw her since that day then that was the only place she could've gone after all she loved Hajime more than anyone could comprehend. The students grew silent till Kouki finally yelled.
"Why the hell would she go back!! Is she an idiot!" Kouki couldn't comprehend the reasoning behind her actions. Kouki had already thought of Hajime as dead and he'd just have to move on and he assumed everyone else had his thought as well since he was the hero.
"Kouki. She left to go find him, that's all there's to it." Shizuku said, as if trying to calm Kouki down. Everyone had already caught on to Kaedes feelings except Kouki, and Ryuutarou had been the only ones who couldn't notice her feelings. Kouki, unwilling to accept the fact that someone left without his permission, kept arguing until Shizuku shut him up.
"Kouki it was her decision, she loves nagmou-kun and we couldn't stop her." Shizuku had said as a matter of fact nobody could stop her after she was stronger than most of the hero party except Kouki.
"What do you mean love why would she love that lazy, incorporative otaku?" Kouki had said even though they thought Hajime was dead he let out his true thoughts about Hajime. Shizuku glared at him Harshly.
"You don't get to decide who she loves. She went back for him and that's the end of it." Shizuku refused to let Kouki argue anymore and made sure the conversation was done. The tension was even more unbearable in the room right now. Of course there was a certain girl who would've done the exact same thing if it wasn't for her best friend
