"Gah….argg…."
Hajime woke up with a terrible hunger carving into his body. He instinctively curled into a ball and hugged his stomach, which felt like someone had implanted a black hole. He wasn't simply hungry; he could almost feel how his body was eating itself up to survive.
"H, how many times…" Hajime croaked. He fumbled to get up, but his limbs lacked the strength to support his weight.
In the end, Hajime had to crawl to move, only to remember that he had dug himself into a makeshift cave and sealed the entrance so that he wouldn't become a literal bloodthirsty monster.
'Blood…'
Merely thinking about the word made his mouth water. But Hajime quickly shook the tempting image of the delicious claret fluid.
"I, I'll never eat another monster to survive…" He said to no one in particular.
Maybe he expected the disembodied voice to argue against his choice, but no one replied to his decision.
'Good…' Hajime thought, too weary to talk.
If that voice wasn't here for whatever reason, he might be able to abandon their original contract and find a way out.
He stumbled in the darkness, pacing a few steps back and forth to search for how he came in. When he was positive that he had found it, he wordlessly activated 【Transmute】 and stepped back into the dread corridor.
Right after he stepped out, the first thing his senses picked up was the sweat succulent scent of blood saturating the entire floor.
Hajime snarled, fighting back the primal urge to locate where the smell was originating from and feast on it. He will not become a monster.
'But is it really a monstrous thing to do…?' A small voice of reason passed his head, 'It is for survival, after all. Even cannibalism is forgiven when one's survival status is in question, right?'
"S, shut…up…" Hajime told himself, nearly tripping over a small pebble as he hobbled through the endless maze of corridors.
But even as he scolded himself, Hajime's feet unknowingly took him to the source of the luscious aroma of the crimson liquid.
'S, so…hungry…'
Hajime faltered in his footsteps when a collection of peculiar sounds came from upfront. He limped toward the site of the commotion, where a fierce battle was taking place.
"Kyu!"
A bunny no bigger than 8 inches was surrounded by half a dozen wolves, growling from deep within their throat. Hajime held his breath, even his hunger taking a back seat at the sight of a new species of monster.
The bunny was marginally similar to the variant back on earth, except for its legs, which resembled a kangaroo more than a regular small-sized hare, as they took up half of its body length and were filled to the brim with muscles.
But even so, Hajime knew that the wolves weren't slacking in any physical attributes. Besides, factoring in the size difference and the common sense of the food chain, it was apparent that the rabbit was holding the short end of the stick.
Suddenly, one of the wolves took action.
"Graaaaaah!" With a feral roar, it leaped forward toward its prey.
The two tails of the wolf stood up, crackling with electricity, until they shot out small bolts of red lightning at the rabbit. The bunny leaped up at a tremendous speed, easily dodging the duet of lightning, but the wolf was waiting to chomp down on its body.
That was when all common sense broke loose.
"Kuya!"
With a lovely squeak, the rabbit kicked the air, accelerating once more and avoiding the wolf's crushing fangs.
Then, the rabbit flipped around midair and leaped downward, rocketing down and slamming the wolf's windpipe with its head.
With a very ominous cracking sound, the wolf's head turned sideways at a very unnatural angle. Bloody foams bubbled down from the side of its maw as the lifeless body fell to the ground, followed by the rabbit a second after.
"Kyu!" The rabbit squeaked again and raised one of its front paws.
The other five wolves attacked at once.
Some shot lightning from their tails, others lashed out, determined to tear the abominable rabbit apart.
However, none of them managed even to ruffle the hair of the rabbit.
It split its legs and punted the two wolves advancing from either side, sending those flying head-over-heels until landing on their necks with a nasty noise.
The rabbit somersaulted over the third wolf and landed a drop kick at its hind, shooting the wolf like a torpedo and splattering it against the wall. By then, the remaining two wolves must have deduced that this fight wasn't worth it because they turned around and tried to run for it.
Unfortunately for them, the rabbit landed on their tails, its large feet stepping on their two tails each. With a yelp of desperation, the wolves tried to surge up electricity once more, but their mana was tapped dry from the previous assaults.
The rabbit bounced forward again and dropped its legs on the two wolf's necks like a guillotine, smashing their neck bones into pieces and claiming their lives instantly.
"Kyu!" The rabbit squeaked victoriously.
It prodded one of the corpses, wondering if it was worth dragging one to its layer when the pair of sensitive ears picked up a new presence.
The rabbit leaped around, ready to run for life in case it was the monstrous white bear. However, the newcomer's identity was nothing like it had ever seen before.
"Kyu?" The bunny tilted its head in confusion while Hajime stared at the dead wolf.
Its splattered remains were coated all over the wall. The tempting scent of the blood and raw meat was too much.
Hajime couldn't help but reach out for the wolf's corpse.
Wham!
Hajime felt the winds getting knocked out of his body as a sudden impact slammed into his side. Before he could understand what had happened, Hajime was flung across the corridor, skipping on the smooth surface several times, and ended up as a heap on the floor.
"Ow," Hajime muttered.
Despite what he said, the massive kick from the bunny didn't leave anything more severe than a bruise. On the other hand, his patients, or perhaps his rationality, was shattered into pieces.
'That attacked first,' Hajime dully thought as he crouched, 'I can kill it without remorse.'
With a hefty pounce, Hajime tore through the corridor. The simple walls blurred into one as he ran through 30 meters in seconds, closing the gap between him and the rabbit.
The bunny's apt hearing was its saving grace; before it could see Hajime, the massive ears picked up the near-silent sounds of rushing footsteps and the whooshing winds.
It jumped right over Hajime's first swipe. The bunny rotated in mid-air once more and slammed its feet down. However, the bunny smashed into the corridor floor instead of pulverizing the target.
Broken tiles flew everywhere as if someone had set off a small bomb in the area. However, the bunny kept its ears and eyes open, frantically searching through the dust clouded the air.
Then, the bunny heard something shuffle to its right, disrupting the dust formation a little.
"Kyuuuuu!" With a victorious screech, the bunny leaped into the air and spun around, swiping the air in a deadly arc with its foot.
Smack!
"Kyu?!"
The bunny squeaked in surprise as its foot kicked a dead wolf's head clean off—right behind the corpse, holding it up as a shield stood Hajime, who grinned maliciously.
Thrusting the headless body aside, Hajime reached out for the rabbit's body. The rabbit anticipated the attack and kicked the air, launching itself over Hajime's head with a front flip.
As soon as it touched the ground, the rabbit raced away. Clearly, engaging in a fight against that creature wasn't worth the trouble. The best move now was to escape and alert the rest of its familia about the new creature in town.
Thump thump thump!
But then, a horrifying sound chased after the rabbit.
The bunny turned around.
The very beast was pursuing while being down on all fours, its claws ripping chunks of the ground with ease.
"Eeeep!" The rabbit squealed and tried to pour on the speed, but it was too late.
In a single leap, the monster caught up to the rabbit and snatched it between its teeth. A loud crunch echoed throughout the maze as Hajime relished the meat and blood filling his mouth.
The rabbit trembled feebly as a set of fangs slowly chewed deeper and deeper into its body. If he wanted, Hajime could've killed it before he feasted on it, yet he chose not to—simply because the meat wouldn't feel as fresh.
Crunch…Crunch….
Soon, there was nothing left of the rabbit in sight besides the cluster of white bone and a tiny crystallized mana.
With no more action to keep him distracted, Hajime sighed and slumped against the wall.
"That was delicious…" He muttered, a satisfied grin hanging from his lips.
However, that small rabbit was far from enough to quench the excruciating hunger. Hajime stood up and traced back the way he came, where five corpses of the wolves were castrated.
Hajime swiped the drool trickling down his chin, then started to dig in.
Crunch…Crunch….Crunch….
The sound of the rancid meal rang across the Labyrinth, alerting every creature about the birth of a new monster in the floor.
After the fulfilling meal, Hajime glanced at the massive pile of bones left behind.
Without the obscene hunger preventing his common sense from working correctly, the sight of five sets of wolf bones stacked against each other sent a chill down his back.
He was the one who did this. Maybe he didn't kill the wolves, sure, but he gleefully gorged down the monsters without a second guess in his mind.
Hajime looked down at his hands. They were covered with blood all the way down to his elbow, the sharp talons sparkling slightly under the dim light from the Glowstones.
"...I had no choice," He told himself, which wasn't a lie.
The choice was between either starving to death or eating monsters. And even if he wasn't yet comfortable enough to admit it, Hajime didn't regret choosing the latter.
His stomach still ached as he thought back on the crucifying emptiness. An hour like that, and Hajime was sure he would've died from starvation.
The thought of death made Hajime shiver. He never had a chance to give the subject much attention, but now he realized that was only because he was lucky enough to be born in a world where those things were unanimously guaranteed.
Here, things were different.
'I'm in one of the Seven Great Labyrinths, made by humanity's worst traitors,' Hajime told himself, 'Nobody could guarantee anything to anyone; it is just like the voice said in my mind—here, it was eat or get eaten.'
He glanced at the pile of bones. If he had met those same five wolves before, they wouldn't have hesitated to tear his flesh off his bones; neither would have the rabbit.
'If I really want to make it out of here, I need to be smarter,' Hajime thought, 'There is no time to feel bad for monsters.'
With his mind wholly set, Hajime returned to his base. He might be a match for the wolves or the rabbit, but he still remembered the monster that imprinted the brutality of the Labyrinth—the White Bear.
It would be ideal if he could leave here without re-encountering it, but throwing caution to the wind was never how Hajime Nagumo operated.
He rummaged around his ragged clothes, hoping the specific artifact was still with him.
"Yes!" Hajime exclaimed joyfully when his hand found the slim silver plate the size of his palm.
He activated the 【Status Plate】 to look at his status. It was evident that his abilities had drastically improved by...whatever the mysterious voice did to him.
Hajime Nagumo
※ Using the Status Plate on a foreign species may show inaccurate results
Age: ? Gender:? Level:?
Job: ?
Strength: 220
Vitality: 300
Defense: 150
Agility: 350
Mana: 10
Magic Defence: 300
Skills: Transmute, Mana Manipulation[+Mana Corporealization], Iron Stomach, Blood Conversion[+Conversion Type: Stamina][+Conversion Type: Mana], Language Comprehension
"What in the..." Hajime frowned.
First and foremost, he was concerned by the warning that appeared at the top.
"It has to do something about the vampire stuff, I suppose..."
Hajime flexed his hand. The bloody talons were anything but humane, not to mention the sharp fangs in his mouth. Still, it wasn't uplifting to get a confirmation that he was no longer a human.
With a sigh, Hajime diverted his attention to the more positive aspect of the Status Plate: His buffed status and several new Skills.
The status increase was something Hajime had desperately wanted ever since the first time he witnessed how weak he was. This was not how he imagined it, but it was hard to argue against the results...except for the mana—that was still low as ever.
"You can't have everything handed to you, I guess."
Hajime was also excited by the several Skills he had newly obtained. He wasn't sure if these came from his morph into a semi-vampire or consuming monsters, but he was overjoyed to have a more diverse arsenal under his belt other than [Transmute].
"Alright...let's check [Mana Manipulation] first."
If he took the words literally, that would mean he had gained the power to directly control mana. The problem was, he had no idea how to do that.
"Mana...mana..."
Hajime sat in place, wondering what would be the best approach to this problem, until a solution came to him: All he had to do was try to use magic, a simple one, and see if anything was different.
He decided to try out 【Flare】, a simple fire magic that helped him before when he first woke up deep inside the Labyrinth.
When he focused, dark red veins came up to the surface of his skin. Hajime felt something flowing through those veins, and focused on the sensation.
As he did so, the strange sensation, or rather his mana, began slowly flowing down to his hand.
"【Flare】." Hajime said, skipping over the incantations completely.
Normally, it wouldn't have worked for Hajime. Activating magic without incantations was only capable by handful of skilled magicians, much less an out of course student like him.
Despite all of the odds, a small fireball appeared at his feet.
No incantation or magic circle required.
"Whoa!" Hajime exclaimed in amazement.
That was when things went wrong.
Hajime felt a wave of nausea hit him. He swayed in the spot, narrowly catching himself before he fell face-first into the fire he created—which was steadily growing in size.
"Wait, hold on, what is going on?!"
Hajime's mana was continuously flowing to the fireball, making it bigger and hotter by each passing second.
Hajime tried to shut off the connection, but it was harder than he had anticipated; it was as if he was trying to suppress a strong guiser from a garden hose by the middle.
Finally, Hajime had no choice but to open a hole under the fireball and quickly seal it off, letting it fizzle out thereby shutting off the link.
"That's another problem," Hajime muttered, staring at the dark red veins as they slowly disappearing back into his skin, "I'll have to postpone on using that Skill until I get the hang of controling mana."
Next was [Mana Corporealization]. After his previous experience, Hajime was much more skeptical on testing out this Skill, but he decided that it would be better to see what the Skill was about before judging it.
"Corporealizatoin...that sounds like it can manifest mana into a physical form. Let's see..."
With much more caution, Hajime recalled the mana from within his body. The red veins popped up once more, and this time, instead of trying out magic, Hajime pictured a simple, tiny sphere of energy by the end of his forefinger.
Sure enough, the mana around his finger compressed into a small ball. Hajime waved his finger around a little, and the small ball of mana followed it around, leaving a short trail of light behind.
'Hold on, what if I...'
Hajime made a finger gun, aimed at a nearby wall and imagined the projectile flying across the room. The sphere of mana complied to his imagery and whizzed through the air until hitting the wall and scattering harmlessly.
"That might come in handy."
The three other Skills weren't something Hajime could test out immediately. However, he was positive what each of those meant.
The [Iron Stomach] would be the Skill that enables him to consume Monster Meat without lasting repercussions.
The small Skill tree of [Blood Conversion], [Conversion Type: Stamina], and [Conversion Type: Mana] must be derived from his "Vampire-ish" nature, where drinking blood would help him refill his stamina and mana.
All in all, Hajime had received quite a lot of gifts. But at the same time, he'll need much practice to utilize them to their fullest.
If he wanted to become strong enough to take down the White Bear, he would have to train.
A lot.
Hajime slapped his cheeks from either side of his head.
"Let's do this."
[Line Break]
Back at the surface, the sun had long since set over the Divine Mountains.
The nightfall had driven most of the adventurers and the shopkeepers to their beds, but a handful of people were still gathered at the entrance, patiently waiting for their friends to return.
Eri Nakamura cautiously approached the gaggle of people.
As she did, Suzu looked up with a small smile, although it was obvious that she was tired beyond belief.
"Suzu, you look awful," Eri commented, "You should take some rest; it has been a long day for everyone."
Suzu knew her friend was right, but she shook her head.
After a sigh, Eri turned to others waiting as well, however none of them budged either.
"I need the Joker card back," Kaito muttered. He absentmindedly shuffled through the deck of cards, not daring to peal his eyes away from the entrance.
Ryutaro was snoring in his seat, his head threatening to fall down and hit the ground every few seconds, but whenever he briefly woke up, he glanced at the Labyrinth.
"What are you doing here, anyway?" Satoru asked, looking up from his game of poker against Jose, "I thought you were busy caring for Kouki."
Eri chewed on her lower lips, "He is asleep at the moment," she said, "The court healer said he'll be fine by next morning."
With that, Eri grabbed Suzu by the shoulder, "Come on, Suzu. I'm taking you to bed."
Regardless of her tired status, Suzu tired to resist, "But Kaori and Shizuku hasn't..."
"Suzu, be realistic; waiting here won't make them magically appear out of thin air."
It was a blunt statement, but it was true.
Suzu's shoulders slumped. She turned back at the dark entrance of the Labyrinth with no signs of any triumphant returns happening any time soon.
"She has a point," Jose said, "All of you must be worn out after the expedition. The Knights can keep on watching in case the Captain returns..." The vice-captain paused for a moment, as if even he didn't fully believe they would return, "On the meantime, get some sleep. We'll be leaving early next morning."
When Jose implied that they should rest, the students reluctantly shuffled their feet to the Inn they had booked.
"Ryutaro, would you mind taking Suzu?" Eri asked, handing Suzu to him without waiting for an answer.
Ryutaro hurriedly caught Suzu before she was thrown on the floor, "Wh, what about you?"
"I have something to ask..." Eri said vaguely, pointing at Jose.
When the students were out of sight, Eri hesitantly approached Jose, who rubbed the tiredness from his eyes and smiled softly.
"How can I help you, Ms. Nakamura?" He said.
Eri fidgeted with her fingers. Her staff flickered with murky grey lights like an old lighthouse in a thick fog.
"I, I have been meaning to talk to Captain Meld about it..." She took a deep breath and said, "I...it's about my Job."
"Ah," Jose nodded.
He recalled Eri's job being 【Necromancer】; it was more memorable than others because she was the only student who was actively crept out by their job.
"Do you still have trouble handling your Job?" He asked.
Eri nodded, "T, the last time I asked the Captain about this, he said I could focus on using other magic...and I thought it worked good enough until...well...today."
She glanced at the entrance of the Labyrinth as well. She saw a woman with long silver hair dart out in less than a second and hide into a nearby alleyway.
Her staff gave off another sets of flashes as Jose sighed, "There is no need to beat yourself over the outcome of today's incident, Eri."
Eri nodded, placing one of her hands inside her rob.
"Have you tried talking to Mr. Yukitoshi?" Jose suggested, "If I remember correctly, he is a 【Dark Mage】, perhaps he is facing the same problem."
"I've tried, but he doesn't seem to have much gripe with his Job," Eri said, "Besides, our Jobs are very different: His Job is mind-controlling monsters and creating illusions.
My job is directly controlling the dead—just like you."
Before Jose could even process what Eri just said, the Apostle silently flew in from the back and stabbed the vice-commander with one of its greatsword.
"Gah...!" Jose gasped, only to get his mouth clamped shut by the Apostle, who dug in the sword deeper into his body.
Eri watched calmly as the final sparkles of life left Jose, and his limbs went limp. Apostle slowly lowered the fresh corpse to the ground.
Eri turned her gaze to the owner of the Apostle.
"What took you so long? What happened back down there?" She demanded.
Hiyama scowled, "I ran into some trouble. The bastard Captain and his crew: the bastard, Kaori and Shizuku."
Eri frowned, "And?"
Hiyama huffed and smacked the thigh of the Apostle, "This one killed Meld easily, but then the others fell down a sinkhole or something."
"What do you mean a sinkhole?"
Hiyama rolled his eyes, "A hole that goes down deep. I don't know why it happened, but they are stranded deeper in the Labyrinth, so they are also good as dead."
He lowered his gaze to the body of Jose.
"What are you going to do with this?" He asked, nudging the corpse with his foot, "If you want to dispose the body..."
"Get your stinking feet off it," Eri scolded and pulled out a custom magic scroll from inside her robe. "That's a valuable experiment subject. And have your puppet cast a concealment magic around us."
Hiyama frowned in discomfort, but did as he was told.
When they were properly hidden from prying eyes, Eri laid the magic scroll over Jose's body and started to mutter a full paragraphs worth of enchantments.
As she did, the staff glowed with blinding grey light which moved to the complicated magic circle drawn on the scroll, and the grey mana flowed into the body.
Suddenly, the dead body of Jose jolted. Hiyama yelped and hurridly hid behind his Apostle as Jose slowly stood up in front of Eri.
"Jose, how to you feel?" Eri asked, prodding his forehead with her staff.
"...Tired..." Jose answered in a soulless tone.
Eri clucked her lounge in irritation.
"Wh, what is going on? Did you revive him?" Hiyama stammered.
Eri snorted, "Partly, sure. I'll still need to work on the details if I'm going to follow through the plan. At least the Apathy won't be too odd considering what happened..."
She was about to walk away when Hiyama stopped her.
"W, wait, where do I go from here?" He demanded, "You promised me that I'll be able to have Kaori, and look what happened to me right now! I can't even go back to the castle!"
Eri sighed. She was already regretting recruiting Hiyama of all people into her plans. But as annoying as his attitude was, she couldn't deny that he was doing well enough...for now.
"Go to the Divine Mountain and find the Church where they summoned us. They'll give you a place to stay and everything."
"And...can I keep her?" Hiyama pointed at Apostle. He looked up and down the beautiful woman-like puppet and licked his lips with greedy and anticipation.
Eri waved her hand in consent, too disgusted to bother talking to him and returned to the Inn where everyone else was sleeping.
Hiyama smirked at the zombie of Jose. He planted a kick at the zombie's joint, then cackled when it stumbled where it stood.
"I'm liking this a lot..." Hiyama muttered before turning to his Apostle, "Take me to the church up at the Divine Mountain."
Apostle nodded, wrapped her arms around Hiyama and they flew through the dark sky, leaving the murder scene without a hint of remorse.
A few hours later, Jose moved to wake up one of the knights to take his place on the watch. Said knight was slightly disturbed by Jose's overly lifeless attitude, but shrugged it off as him being tired.
A/N:
And that is another chapter done!
I've went through multiple versions, telling different stories in different perspectives until I finally decided on this one, so I hope this one lands well with you guys as well!
As always, leave your reactions or question at the reviews—each and every one of them encourages me to not drop the story(You know, because that's the only way I can tell how you guys react)
The next chapter, we'll return to Kaori and Shizuku going through the early floors of the Labyrinth. Would they be able to reunite with Hajime before things get past the point of salvation?
I hope you had a fun time reading, and I'll see you all next chapter!
