Magical Creatures

They entered the eighth floor.

"Ahh, normal air."

The one who said that with relief was Gig, who had the lowest magical aptitude. Carlos nodded in agreement.

However, Maal with her Fairy Eyes and the three magic users immediately noticed the floor's abnormality.

"Woow, the mana here is crazy dense."

Rather than magical power, it would be more accurate to say the magical essence preceding it was dense, but she wasn't far off.

The smooth stone passage glowed ivory, and that light seemed to be emitting strong magical power.

The two magic users could feel their magical power recovering far faster than usual while resting. In Ria's case, she hadn't used enough magic to even feel depleted in the first place.

"I love this floor. Depending on enemy strength, it feels perfect for leveling up."

Serge said excitedly.

That was half correct, and half incorrect.

"Excalibur!"

For the umpteenth time, Serge's space-cutting magic broke through the chimera's magical defenses, bisecting its body.

"Yes!"

A manticore that had attacked from the opposite side was also finished off by Ria's katana.

"Is everyone alright?"

At Ria's call, each person raised their hand.

It had been difficult until they got used to it. The enemies on this floor were mostly synthetic creatures with attack methods that inflicted status ailments like poison and paralysis.

Their magic resistance was also high. The fact that Serge's trump card—the one he'd used against the fifth floor's demon—was now being used against ordinary monsters roaming the labyrinth made that abundantly clear.

"Somehow, the enemies are ridiculously strong…"

Where had his initial excitement gone? Serge sighed. But it was understandable.

The eighth floor's fodder enemies had about the same strength as the fifth floor's guardian. And they could use magic too.

"Magic recovers quickly, but the mental strain is exhausting."

Lulu was also mentally fatigued. Regardless of their ability to sustain combat, each individual battle took quite a toll. These were opponents that could kill you in one hit if you slipped up.

"I dunno though. If the small fry are this strong, was the Dogeazer really all that powerful?"

Serge raised the question based on his past-life knowledge, but even Lulu, who knew its ecology, didn't know its actual strength.

Similarly, Ria with her own past-life knowledge didn't know what a Dogeazer was. She knew things like goblins and elves because they were famous, though.

"In the first place, there are few sightings of them. Since they're creatures created by magic, there might be individual variation."

Even with Lulu's knowledge, aside from when discovered in labyrinths or ruins, it wasn't a monster that existed in the wild.

For now, its appearance was a giant black sphere with a huge eye and mouth, with several tentacles growing from the top. It moved by floating gently and wasn't particularly fast.

Its physical attacks were limited to body slams and bites, but the problem was its special abilities.

First, its giant eye reflected magic. If you carelessly attacked with magic, it would bounce back at you.

Then, its tentacles could fire magical rays with various effects. The types apparently varied by individual.

"A metal disintegration ray would be trouble…"

Carlos exchanged glances with Gig. He wore plate armor, and Gig wore chainmail. Their weapons were also metal.

"If it has a bio-disintegration ray, that alone would be game over."

"Either way, a magic defense barrier should be able to block them."

Lulu went without saying, but even Serge could use that magic.

"With paralysis and mind control, I probably won't be much help in combat."

Maal was likely going to be on distraction duty again.

"Either way, I'll Identify it first and let everyone know what rays it uses."

After a short rest, the group headed toward the labyrinth's depths.

From there, many magical creatures appeared, centered around chimeras.

The time per battle grew longer, but they gained more combat experience accordingly. It felt like enemies that used magic gave more experience points than simple monsters.

After several hours, the group arrived at the guardian's chamber.

The room was circular, about thirty meters across. A black sphere roughly three meters in diameter floated gently within.

"Paralysis, petrification, freezing, hypnosis, mind control, metal disintegration, bio-disintegration, deadly poison—eight types."

"Rays aside, what about its defenses?"

Ria asked. Serge's Identify could measure that precisely, which was convenient.

"About the same as those giant insects. Its life force… or rather, its durability is around iron golem level."

Wasn't that quite tenacious? Well, maybe its defense wasn't that high.

"Then the three warriors charge into the room while the magic users support with defense barriers as much as possible. Any objections?"

None came. Each person nodded, and magic was cast on Ria, Carlos, and Gig.

"Alright, let's go!"

"This isn't what we planned!"

Ria's angry shout rang out. The three warriors had retreated from the guardian's chamber again.

"Well, about that…"

Serge pouted. It certainly wasn't his fault.

The trap was the room itself.

The ray the Dogeazer fired first struck Gig. The barrier blocked that hit.

When Lulu tried to cast another barrier, she noticed it.

"I can't use magic!"

Magical power dispersed upon entering the room. It couldn't take the form of magic—it merely dissipated when released.

Ria threw Gig, who had started attacking allies due to the mind control ray, out of the room, then removed the status ailment with magic outside.

When they tried firing a weak water sphere spell at the Dogeazer as a test, it turned to mere water the moment it entered the room and fell to the ground.

Barriers and such—magic that had already been fixed in place—didn't disperse. But offensive magic couldn't get through. That was the kind of room this was.

"What should we do?"

Carlos was at a loss. He couldn't think of a way to defeat the Dogeazer from this situation.

Gig felt useless and dejected. The two magic users felt the same.

"Well, I do know how to clear this place."

Ria's words surprised everyone. Why hadn't she said so sooner?

"You can break through using the same method as the Ogre King. Well, I guess there's no other choice."

Standing up, Ria handed her long and short katanas to Lulu just in case.

"Eh? What are you going to do?"

"I'd be in trouble if they got disintegrated by some chance."

What she pulled from her magic bag was the nostalgic Beat-to-Death Wooden Sword. Then she gripped hand axes in both hands. Though she wasn't used to these weapons, long-handled ones might be affected by the rays.

"The Ogre King struggled here too. In the end, he apparently defeated it alone."

The Ogre King must have had considerable resistance to status ailments as well, but that wasn't all. Now that she'd seen how magical power dispersed, she understood how he'd blocked the rays.

The Ogre King couldn't use magic. But he was abundant in magical power itself.

"Well, I'm off."

Leaving those words, Ria charged alone into the guardian's chamber.

The Dogeazer fired its rays. The magic defense barrier absorbed the first strike.

The second strike. It was resisted by Ria's innate resistance.

"Haaaaah!"

Her hand axe slash pierced the Dogeazer. She dealt damage with rapid rotations.

She dodged the Dogeazer's body slam and slashed again. Then rays were fired. This time it was the instant-death disintegration ray.

But it was negated by the magical power Ria released.

Yes, magical power.

Not magic. A raw mass of force before becoming magic. That blocked the rays.

The magic had dispersed into magical power, but the magical power itself wasn't erased. So if she released magical power in a torrent, she could use it to defend.

The efficiency was poor. She was using what should become magic—energy, essentially—that would normally be given direction and completed as a spell, using it raw as-is.

But in this case, it was effective.

The magical power the Dogeazer used to fire rays versus the magical power Ria used for defense. Even if the ratio was ten to one against her, it didn't matter.

She just had to crush the Dogeazer before her magical power ran out.

Ria relentlessly slammed her axe into the cracked-carapace Dogeazer.

After realizing its rays had no effect, it attacked with body slams and fangs. But it was futile.

Its body slams were sluggish, and its fangs were shattered by the hand axe.

In the end, Ria defeated the Dogeazer single-handedly.

"Somehow, can't you just beat everything by yourself, Nee-chan?"

To Serge, who greeted her with an exasperated voice, Ria shook her head.

"That's ridiculous. If I were alone, I'd have been overwhelmed by sheer numbers on some floor or collapsed from exhaustion."

That said, she secretly thought she'd like to challenge this place solo someday.