Occupational Adventurers

In the mayor's mansion garden, dyed by the morning glow, two silhouettes faced each other.

A girl who, despite wearing two swords at her waist, stood empty-handed, and a beastkin girl with knives at the ready in both hands.

"Come at me seriously. I have a Gift that can deflect blades like those knives."

Watching Ria stand calmly were her four companions.

"It's alright, Maal. Ojou will definitely never get hit."

Carlos casually urged on Maal as she readied her knives.

When Maal stared at Ria and saw her give a firm nod, she charged in all at once.

"Ahhhh, I can't win."

After being thrown about ten times, Maal collapsed onto the grass.

Of course, Ria didn't have a scratch on her. She wasn't even sweating.

On the contrary, she hadn't even made Maal break a sweat either.

That was because they would be diving into the labyrinth after this, so she couldn't afford to let Maal exhaust her stamina.

It felt like she had been completely toyed with, dancing in the palm of her opponent's hand. An overwhelming sense of defeat.

"This happens because you rely only on your physical abilities. Once this exploration is over, I'll teach you various things."

"We're only one year apart, so how did it come to this…"

Even with her past life memories, Ria's combat strength was undoubtedly outside common sense. At this young age, she had already far surpassed the peak of her previous life.

Rather, because she possessed knowledge of unique martial arts developed in her previous life, she had a great advantage in one-on-one combat.

"Anego, I'm next."

"It's almost breakfast, so wait until we return from the labyrinth. I'll teach you properly then."

Gig also relied too much on his innate abilities. He had both power and speed, but lacked technique.

"Today's goal is the third floor, then pushing straight through to the ninth floor. Withdraw the moment someone dies, understood?"

Everyone nodded. They had become quite resilient, when she thought about it.

When they entered the guild building, Maal sensed something was off.

The number of people was fewer than usual. And something about the atmosphere was different. Was it bloodlust? Or was the intensity somehow different?

"Ah, Maal."

She went to the usual reception desk and immediately started gathering information.

"Did something happen?"

"It was something you all did."

In other words, it was this:

For people who become explorers, given the nature of this profession, they all start out with grand goals in their hearts.

However, as years pass and they come to know reality, they end up just getting by with the life in front of them. Especially here, at the Immortal Labyrinth.

Then suddenly, a party like a storm appeared.

Not just young, but a composition that could even be called childish.

Going into the labyrinth for the first time, and without losing a single person, they defeated the fifth floor's devil and brought back a magic crystal.

The impact was immense. Enough to ignite the flames of those who had been smoldering.

"I see. So they stormed into the labyrinth all fired up."

Even hearing this, Ria didn't feel particularly moved.

"That has nothing to do with us. Well then, shall we go?"

On the first floor, there were no longer any monsters that could be considered enemies of the party.

The sounds of battle occasionally heard from afar were probably from other explorers. There was no need to go out of their way to check on them.

While destroying the labyrinth walls, they reached the floor boss's chamber. This time, Ria cut it down in a single stroke without giving it a chance to respond.

On the second floor as well, there were explorers. Though they caught glimpses of each other, they passed by without incident, as was the unspoken understanding in such situations.

The floor boss appeared to be a different individual from the other day. It attacked without showing fear when it saw Ria's group.

Carlos halted its movements, and Serge dealt the finishing blow.

After instantly killing the third floor's golem, they reached the fourth floor. They made camp here. Despite the labyrinth being made of stone, Ria went out of her way to destroy that stone to make a bath. At this point, it was almost admirable.

They discussed the next day's plans here, and unusually, Carlos pushed for something.

"Until it becomes truly dangerous, I want to fight the Minotaur one-on-one."

I see, the pride of a knight.

Ria graciously approved, and the next day, Carlos fought the Minotaur as planned.

Level 65 should still be a tough opponent for Carlos alone.

However, he skillfully utilized the power of his new shield, deflected the heavy battleaxe, and thrust his sword into its body.

As he roared triumphantly, everyone applauded and said "Congratulations."

On the fifth floor, they once again advanced in formation.

With each battle, everyone's levels rose, and combat became easier.

"Getting used to this place makes it dangerous when we go back outside."

Serge's casual murmur made the party nod deeply in agreement.

The floor boss was a devil with a different form than before.

A giant crow with horns growing from its head.

Flying through the air, it launched feathers that became blades.

Occasionally it let out piercing cries that tormented their ears.

It also moved swiftly, and magic couldn't hit it.

"There was a time when I used to think that way too."

The lightning Serge fired struck the devil dead-on without giving it time to evade.

That wasn't enough for an instant kill, but its movements slowed and its altitude dropped.

At a height that would normally be unreachable, Ria was an exception.

Switching to her spear, she pierced its vital point in one thrust. Leaving behind a magic crystal, the devil vanished.

And then they arrived at the unknown sixth floor.

The labyrinth passages were made of metal. The faint glow was the same as the other floors.

The enemies were golems. There were wooden ones, stone ones, and even golems with rubber-like bodies.

Carlos's sword couldn't penetrate the rubber golems, but Ria's katana sliced through them splendidly.

Since destroying the metal passages was understandably difficult, the party finally had to conduct a proper labyrinth exploration.

Treasure chests placed in wall recesses and on passageway altars. Maal's fingers twitched eagerly.

After confirming the type of trap, either Ria opened them by brute force or Maal demonstrated her lockpicking skills.

Then they stepped into the guardian's chamber.

It was a massive lump of iron.

Like an even larger body than the Minotaur, clad in armor.

The guardian of the sixth floor: the Iron Golem. In its hand, a gigantic war mace.

"Lulu, use magic to strengthen Carlos! Carlos, pair up with Gig and focus on defense! Gig, attack from the left! Serge, aim your space magic at its legs!"

And Ria herself, having issued her orders, charged at the golem from the right.

Can you cut an iron golem with iron?

You can. Yes, you can.

At the very least, she could slice through iron armor like paper.

"Ooooooh!"

Ria shouted and released a slash from the hassou stance.

The golem's left wrist was severed cleanly at the joint.

"Alright, we can do this!"

Even if both were iron, the hardness was completely different from tempered steel.

Each time Ria swung her katana, the massive body was damaged. But since it wasn't a living creature, it didn't translate to direct damage.

For inflicting damage in a single strike, a katana was a difficult weapon to handle.

Ria sheathed her katana at her waist and pulled out a spare weapon from her bag.

"Ta-da-da-daaaa, Minotaur's Axe～"

In a tone like a certain blue cat, she switched to the battleaxe she'd claimed as spoils. After all, the mass was completely different.

Though her light body made it difficult to balance, she still spun while swinging it, slamming it into the golem's leg.

On the opposite side, Carlos and Gig were fending off the golem's weapon.

"LON-GI-NUS!"

Piercing through space, Serge's magic struck the golem's leg directly.

It wasn't enough to completely destroy the armor, but it seemed to have dealt significant damage to the joint area, and the massive body dropped to its knee.

At that moment, Ria leaped up and swung the axe down with all her might. The giant axe stabbed into its neck, then shattered from the pressure.

But with that, the golem also stopped moving.

"Phew～, that was tiring."

Carlos, who had focused on defense, was the most mentally exhausted.

"Good work."

After receiving fatigue recovery magic from Lulu, they looked at the collapsed massive form.

"But how do we extract the magic stone and core from this?"

"Hm? It shouldn't be too difficult."

Ria took out her katana again and made an incision in the golem's chest.

Then she struck that spot with the giant war mace the golem itself had wielded, and the armor cracked open to expose the interior.

Inside was a massive golem core and a magic crystal.

"This one's also a magic crystal, not a magic stone. Do strong monsters above a certain level all have magic crystals?"

Ria pondered, but since the presence of magic stones differed between labyrinths and nature, it wasn't something she could determine immediately.

"Nee-chan, let's collect the golem for now. It's a lump of iron, so it might be useful for something."

Despite its size, Serge stored it whole.

In the end, they decided to camp in the floor boss's chamber that day.

This was because the Ogre King had said that the next floor was a demon realm unlike anything they'd faced before, and they shouldn't let their guard down.

Despite the floor being metal, Ria had Serge use magic and slammed the giant war mace into it to create a depression that would serve as a bathtub.

"A bath cleanses the soul."

That night, the floor guardian did not revive.