Labyrinths were apt to spawn in areas of highly concentrated mana. The true nature of mana was still poorly understood, but it altered animals and plants and could sometimes even effect changes in inorganic materials. Labyrinths themselves were caves and ruins that had undergone such changes. As more and more mana accumulated, it brought about unfavorable effects. Monsters multiplied, trees grew thick, and sometimes sickness broke out. It was one thing for us demons, but a human body would wilt if exposed once to a great volume of mana. Though it seemed humans had grown unexpectedly hardy in recent times, for I now rarely heard of such cases.
The laws of how mana gathered were a mystery to me, but perhaps mana had some property where it was drawn to itself—monsters attacked humans to feed on their mana, and labyrinths absorbed the creatures that perished within them. This was why humans built their settlements and flourished in places where the mana was thinner. Towns and villages of the present day sprouted up in places where the concentration of mana was low. Even Rikarisu, where Kishirika’s castle once stood, was the same. There was nowhere else on the Demon Continent with such thin mana. Or at least, it had been so once before. Things appeared to be different now.
None of the above applied to Atofe’s fortress, by the way. I imagined she thought living in a place crawling with monsters would look the part for a demon king. My older sister was simpleminded like that.
But let us return to labyrinths. Labyrinths often spawned in places seething with highly concentrated mana—that is, so-called mana pools. The denser the mana, the vaster, deeper, and more enigmatic the labyrinth grew. Thus, labyrinths usually sprouted up within forests, wild places, mountains—places away from people. Such places started off rich in mana, and so were prone to the development of mana pools. Mana pools were naturally occurring, but they had a limited capacity. Mana pools that exceeded that set capacity were, in a sense, artificial creations.
Death. When a person died, mana remained. Under normal circumstances, the mana quickly dissipated or else was used to turn the body into an undead.
Should a great number of lives come to an end in a small area, the mana, through its property of mutual attraction, would not scatter but instead begin to converge. At the end of the Second Great Human-Demon War, the blast that occurred when Laplace and I struck one another down wiped out the continent, and together with it, multitudes of people, animals, and monsters. The mana it produced converged at the origin of the explosion and gave birth to a labyrinth. That labyrinth was the Devil’s Cave.
It was the worst of the worst, easily on par with the Pit of the Dragon God on Mount Dragoncry in the Red Wyrm Mountains and Hell on the Divine Continent.
“Phew… So, is this where we go down?”
It was perilous to venture into its depths. First, there was a vertical tunnel spanning around twenty meters that connected the entrance to the first level. The walls were waterfalls flowing in reverse, and behind them lived great swarms of sea snakes large enough to easily swallow a person whole. Even for me, it would take three days to properly clear the place.
“Did the Man-God say anything?”
“‘Jump.’ The snakes will go for any sucker who goes along the surface of the water, but if you fall through the middle, they don’t care.”
“Fwahaha. Then this shall be easy! Hup!”
“Oowah!”
I jumped! With Geese still on my shoulder, I leapt into midair and let momentum carry us into the center of the hole. Wind rushed about my body as I dropped down into the abyss. Ah, the sensation of dropping down was always a good one! Let me see, when was the last time I dropped from a high place? Was it when I jumped down the cliff in the Red Wyrm Mountains, or was it when I jumped into the great canyon on the Demon Continent? I cannot soar through the skies like Atofe or Kishirika, so it had been quite some time.
Ah ha, there were a great many eyes peering out from the water’s surface. Those would be the sea snakes. I supposed if I were to so much as brush the surface with my fingers, the snakes would immediately burst forth and attack. That’s right! They had an incredibly dull name: Fall Dragons. Humans had a bad habit of pinning the name dragon on anything with a head shaped a bit like a lizard, even when they looked nothing at all like dragons.
Now, while some monsters will always attack, sometimes you get beasties like these that lay in wait. Funny how that happens.
“W-whoa there! You can land properly, right?”
“Fwahahaha! Contrary to what you might think, landings are my specialty!”
“They’d better be!”
Such a skeptical man! Then again, Geese’s fears were justified. The bottom of the hole was dark, and it was hard to make out where we’d come down. I didn’t know myself yet, so I supposed he couldn’t help but worry I’d botch it.
“Light as a feather!”
I never botch anything. I hit the ground with both legs, using the springs in my knees to their full capacity to absorb the impact even as the bones cracked. My hip bone cracked as well. By using my internal organs for cushioning, I stopped the force from traveling through my upper body. Then I used six of my fingers to lift Geese up and killed the last of the force with my elbow.
It was perfect!
“Guh!”
At least, I thought so, but Geese turned blue as all the air was knocked out of his lungs.
“Ack, ack…” After a few moments of silence, he gave a loud cough and started breathing again. How weak he must have been, to struggle to breathe after a little bump like that!
“I was right, was I not?”
“Yeah, well.” He seemed displeased but could not complain. His life had never been in any danger.
“Now, then.”
We were on the first level. Spread out at the bottom of the vast hole was an equally vast underground lake. Great pillars towered up to support the roof. Strange as it was to say, there was water pooling up on the roof as well. The place was inundated above and below. Just like the sort of riddle you’d find in ruins. Land was visible here and there, but the edge of the lake was lost to view. If we were to go any further down, we would have no choice but to immerse ourselves in the watery depths…
At the bottom of this lake, there were little crab-like creatures. I mean truly tiny, no bigger than your little finger. They accumulated at the bottom. At a glance, you might not think them any great threat, but when a foe dived down below a certain depth, they’d all strike as one, stripping flesh from bones in seconds.
Were I alone, I could endure it. Geese they’d turn into a skeleton.
None of the monsters from here on had names, by the way. If Laplace were still alive, the old dog would probably have come and named them one by one. They say he was meticulous like that.
“Fwahahaha! What will you do from here?”
“Gimme a second,” Geese said, then got down from my shoulder and closed his eyes. He turned three times in a circle, then raised his arm. “Guess it’s that way.”
“Fwahahaha! Fascinating! Some little charm your people use, is it?”
“Nah. The Man-God said if I did it, we’d get through.”
“Fwahaha! You asked for the answer? How very boring! When you explore a labyrinth you make a map, with all the minutest details, do you not?”
“I don’t have time for that!”
I imagined he did not. For my own part, I was rather partial to the kind of exacting work that would go into searching for the only path to the bottom of this whole sprawling space. Shorter-lived races always wanted to cut down on wasted time. Even though wasting time was what made that time so special…
“Fwahahaha! Then let us be off!”
“Yeah.”
I laughed, then put Geese on my back and started swimming through the total silence of the underground lake. I sensed something squirming around far, far below us, but I was sure they wouldn’t come up.
I swam like that for a long time. Around when Geese started nodding off on my back, I saw an island poking out of the underground lake. Tentatively, I went ashore and found it had a stone floor and, in the center, a staircase that led down.
“It took this damn long to get through the first level? At top speed? Just how big is this place?”
“Indeed…” As I listened to Geese’s grumbling, I narrowed my eyes at the staircase. Something about it was familiar.