In the end, the fight against the Umbra Dragon hadn’t taken me that long, but that was because he had been weakened. If that hadn’t been the case, I wasn’t sure I would have managed to return to my friends safely. After seeing the state he’d been in, I was certain he must have been the first one to receive the Wicked One’s curse. Perhaps the Wicked One had wanted to see if his curse would work on the Umbra Dragon before putting his plan into motion. Who knew?
I pondered that question as I exited the labyrinth and found my companions waiting for me near the entrance.
“Hey, guys, I’m back.”
“Sir! You’re safe!” Lionel exclaimed first, seeming both surprised and happy to see me. I had noticed it before, but it seemed like he had become a bit more hot-blooded ever since I’d brought him back from the dead.
In contrast, Brod only looked relieved to see me for a split second before turning his gaze away and glaring at the labyrinth.
“Yup. The dragon was weakened because of the Wicked One’s curse, so he didn’t put up too much of a fight. It’s sunset already, huh?” I commented. Actually, the sun was almost completely down by now. Wait. Did that mean we’d cleared the labyrinth in a day? Well, more like a day and a half. Still, that was pretty impressive.
“We were just eating while waiting for you, sir. Would you like to join us?” Kefin asked me.
“Now that you mention it, I’m pretty hungry. I’ll gladly take you up on that offer.” I decided to join my companions for a meal.
“Despite how dark it was in that labyrinth, we managed to clear it without too much trouble,” I commented as I ate. “But I wonder if we’d have succeeded if we had done this one before the labyrinth in Grandol.”
“That one was indeed the perfect place to grind levels. We got through it in less than two days thanks to how much we’ve all improved, but if we hadn’t cleared the one in Grandol first, the Whirlwind and I would have struggled. Plus, you might have struggled a bit more to free the dragon, sir,” Lionel replied.
“I agree,” Kefin added. “There were many traps I wouldn’t have been able to disarm if the Whirlwind hadn’t taught me how in Grandol.”
I had a feeling the God of Fate and Monsieur Luck had guided our path all along. Now that I saw things that way, it made me feel like all the things that had happened back then—including losing my Holy Magic—had a purpose and that I was being rewarded for my efforts.
“Master, Lionel, you two leveled up quite a bit in there, right? Do you feel like you’ve regained some of your power?” I asked.
“Nope,” Brod replied.
“Yes,” Lionel said at the exact same time.
Ooh, looks like they had different opinions.
“Hah. You’re only at thirty percent of your original strength, yet you’re saying you regained it?” Brod asked Lionel.
“I’m obviously not as strong as I was at my peak, but I can probably manage in any one-on-one fight now.”
Once again, sparks were flying between those two. But I was glad to hear that Lionel had made that much progress. I needed him to kill the potentially demonized Cloud, after all.
“Well then, Dhoran and the others are waiting for us, so should we head back to Ebiza for now?” I suggested.
My companions hesitated for a minute before Lionel said, “Sir, can we clear the labyrinth one more time?”
“Why?”
“We’ve only used two days out of the seven we had before heading to Illumasia. We’ll be taking it easy on the last day, of course, but I’d prefer working on my skills to lounging around Bazack’s mansion,” he explained.
“I’m of the same mind,” Brod added, even though he and Lionel had been at each other’s throats mere minutes ago. They only ever seemed to agree when it came to fighting.
“What do you guys think?” I asked the others. I had a hard time picturing myself relaxing while thinking of the battle that awaited us in Illumasia. Plus, I didn’t think that working on our combat skills was a bad idea. I could try out the new powers I’d received from the Umbra Dragon and see if I could come up with a good use for them.
But the rest of my friends didn’t seem to be of the same mind.
“Wouldn’t the monsters be weaker since we’ve already cleared the labyrinth, though?” Kefin asked.
“Yeah!” Ketty nodded. “It’d be less dangerous for us to sleep in front of the boss rooms of that place than it would be to sleep outside in the wild. I think we should decide what to do after seeing how weak the monsters got.”
“I would like to return to Ebiza. There might still be spies from the empire in town, and I would like to go check on Mister Dhoran and the girls,” Estia chimed in.
I knew Kefin and Estia always gave me their honest opinions, but I was surprised to see that Ketty hadn’t blindly followed Lionel’s suggestion. Perhaps she’d started changing her way of thinking a little.
I sat there for a minute, trying to decide on the best course of action. While I did think getting stronger was a good idea, we were way past the phase where we could level up quickly, so challenging this specific labyrinth again wouldn’t be particularly effective. Besides, I didn’t need to be in there to use the dragons’ powers. Most importantly, Estia had a point. If the Illumasian spies were trying to sabotage our airship, we wouldn’t stand a chance. I couldn’t entertain Brod and Lionel’s demand under the circumstances.