Near the wall by the entrance.
A spread of white hair caught my eye in the shadows of the debris. The moment I realized it belonged to the girl the monster had swatted away earlier, I was moving toward her without a second thought.
I broke into a run, weaving through the cheering crowd.
I leaped over rubble and scrambled across the fractured floor, heading straight for her.
(...What is this? I shouldn't even know her, yet—)
It should have been our first time meeting, but the sensation was more akin to reuniting with a long-lost first love.
Overwhelmed by a feeling like I’d finally found a missing treasure, I reached her side and dropped to my knees, gently placing a hand on her shoulder.
She was warm.
"...She’s alive."
The relief in my voice surprised even me.
I was genuinely heartened that she was breathing. But why? I didn't know a single thing about her. Yet, watching her chest rise and fall in shallow rhythms and seeing the faint breath escaping her peach-colored lips, I felt a profound sense of peace.
It was then that a sharp voice cut through my thoughts.
"Yuu."
I looked up to find Elysia standing a short distance away. Her deep purple eyes were fixed on me with intensity.
"Do not approach her so carelessly. We still know nothing about her."
Her voice was calm, but it carried a clear note of warning.
Some Cores—the Dungeon Bosses of these labyrinths—can be remarkably stubborn, rising after defeat to transition into a Second Form. They might sprout extra limbs, change their shape entirely, or manifest as a different entity altogether. There was no denying the possibility that she was part of that phenomenon.
"—I know. I know, but..."
The moment the words left my mouth, I saw the girl’s white eyebrows twitch.
My heart squeezed, and for a second, I forgot to breathe.
"I can't leave her behind."
The declaration came out naturally.
It wasn't a matter of logic. Whatever the reason she’d been with that monster didn't seem to matter anymore.
Leaving her here was simply not an option.
"—!?"
Suddenly, the ground groaned beneath my feet.
The Magic Circles etched into the floor began to flicker erratically. It felt as though something that had lost its Vessel was now thrashing about, deprived of its anchor.
A low rumble vibrated through the chamber, and the blue flames in the wall sconces flared violently. The ceiling began to shed dust and pebbles, and from deep within the distance came the grinding sound of stone shifting against stone.
"...Is it collapsing?" Ciel asked.
"No, this likely isn't a collapse. It's a Reconfiguration," Elysia replied steadily.
"The Primal Labyrinth is a calamity that has endured for over a thousand years. Past Conquest Records show instances where the Core was destroyed. In a normal labyrinth, that would be the end of it—but they say the Primal Labyrinth changes its form every time it happens."
Cracks spread across the walls like spiderwebs, and with a sickening crack, a stone wall burst outward. Through the swirling dust, I watched as entirely different slabs of stone slid into the newly formed void.
"...It’s rebuilding itself?" I muttered.
Elysia gave a sharp nod.
"Records indicate that entire floors have vanished in the past. In other cases, they were replaced by completely different structures."
The floor tilted, and the edge of the platform we stood on began to sink slowly.
The ceiling groaned as stone was compressed and molded into new shapes. Even as an adventurer who had conquered many dungeons, I had never seen anything like this.
"...Retreat! Everyone, get ready!"
Elysia’s command snapped the students out of their daze.
They scrambled to recover their weapons, hoisted up the wounded, and began a frantic dash toward the exit.
"...Then that's all the more reason I can't leave her here."
I scooped the girl up into my arms.
She was light—impossibly so.
It was like picking up a bundle of silk.
"Yuu."
Elysia was suddenly standing there, her voice low. Her sharp, regal gaze pierced right through me.
"...You intend to take her?"
The question was blunt, devoid of either approval or condemnation.
I met her gaze and nodded firmly. I wasn't going to budge on this.
"...Yeah."
I tightened my hold on the girl, and she let out a tiny, soft breath.
Elysia shifted her gaze from me to the girl, then back again. Her eyes narrowed ever so slightly.
Then, she let out a sigh that sounded halfway between exasperation and resignation.
"I suppose leaving a young girl to be crushed by shifting stone would weigh heavily on the conscience..."
She gave a small, wry smile and shrugged.
"Do as you wish. However—do not let her die."
She stepped closer, her voice dropping an octave as she stared at the girl in my arms.
"This is your call. Take responsibility for it until the end."
The labyrinth roared again.
A section of the ceiling gave way, showering the floor with stone fragments.
I nodded again, my resolve hardening.
"I will. Absolutely."
Elysia said nothing more. She turned on her heel and barked out another order.
"Clear the way! Move to the exit, now!"
The walls of the great hall were being crushed as new stone surged forward. The labyrinth was wasting no time in remaking itself.
I shifted the girl’s weight and broke into a run across the shuddering floor.
As we reached the exit, a thunderous boom echoed behind us. I glanced back to see half the hall we’d just been in being swallowed by the shifting earth, stone grinding against stone as it morphed into something new.
Time was running out.
"Wounded to the front! If the records are right, monsters shouldn't respawn yet! But the layout is changing! Don't stop—keep running!"
Elysia’s instructions kept the panicked students in line.
The reality of their victory over the Core and the undeniable signs of the Reconfiguration gave her words absolute authority.
The students flooded toward the exit like a breaking wave, supporting each other and lending shoulders to the injured without looking back.
Elysia watched them go for a split second before turning her attention to a different staircase. It was the direction where the Violet Lightning continued to flash—the route leading to the most dangerous floor, where Rai was.
"You three can still take the safe path out," Elysia said flatly to those of us who remained. Her voice was quiet, but it possessed a steely resolve.
"Not a chance," Lene said, stepping up to stand beside Elysia.
She shouldered her Greatsword and looked toward the stairs. There wasn't a trace of fear on her face.
"I am Lord Rai’s Personal Maid. What kind of maid would abandon her master to flee?"
She spoke with a mix of pride and matter-of-fact certainty.
I moved up to stand on Elysia’s other side, with Ciel right behind me.
"I'm going too," Ciel said. "Anyone who pulls off a stunt as insane as that Decoy Operation is definitely doing something even more reckless further in."
"Exactly. We can't just leave him there."
Ciel gripped her Twin Swords tight, and I adjusted my hold on the girl.
Elysia looked at each of us in turn, then let out a small, weary breath.
"...Fine."
Without another word, she sprinted toward the stairs. There was no hesitation in her stride.
The staircase was already beginning to groan as we ascended. Steps were crumbling or melting away, replaced by slabs of stone sliding into place like puzzle pieces.
We didn't have a second to waste.
"Hurry! The structural change is accelerating!"
We followed Elysia’s lead in a dead sprint.
The higher we climbed, the more violent the vibrations became. The Mana Torrent grew denser, and the flashes of Violet Lightning became blinding. No one said it aloud, but we were all drowning in the same sea of anxiety.
(Rai... please, just be okay!)
Constant sounds of impact echoed from the top of the stairs—the shriek of heavy metal and the dull thuds of things being pulverized. The very air seemed to ache from the pressure, and my heart hammered against my ribs.
Violet Lightning danced across the stone walls, making the air pop and crackle. The acrid scent of ozone and scorched earth grew almost suffocating.
"...The Mana Concentration is insane," Ciel whispered.
Her voice was nearly drowned out by the roar of the dungeon.
We scrambled up the final few steps and reached the top floor—and the sight that greeted us made us all stop dead, the air leaving our lungs.
It was a battlefield. There was no other word for it.
A line of Black Iron Giants stood before us.
These were the same Armored Monsters we had just nearly died fighting in the hall below.
And there wasn't just one. There were two. Three... a whole squad of them.
"............"
Speechless, we stood frozen.
We understood instantly, at the most primal level, that we couldn't win. This was a level of power we simply couldn't touch.
A four-legged Beast-type Monster let out a deafening roar.
High above, an Aberration clinging to the ceiling shrieked as it rained down Mana Bullets.
Seeing this chaotic melee, where every creature possessed strength equal to or greater than the Black Iron Giant, I felt the resolve we’d gathered earlier begin to shatter.
Whatever faint hope we’d held—the idea that we could actually help—was pulverized.
My legs went stiff. My throat felt like it was lined with sandpaper.
The pride we’d felt just minutes ago for "defeating the Core" seemed pathetic in the face of this absolute despair.
Then, a roar tore through the air.
In the center of the chaos, one of the Black Iron Giants was sent flying sideways. it smashed through a thick stone wall, tumbling amidst a spray of debris. A fraction of a second later, a boom like a localized thunderclap followed.
"...Huh?"
Beyond the settling dust, Violet Lightning flickered.
In the center of the scorched air stood a single silhouette.
The ground around him was gouged and the stones were molten; the surrounding monsters were actually keeping their distance. It was as if he had carved out a private domain where the rules of the labyrinth didn't apply.
Rai was there.
He stood with one arm still extended from the follow-through of his strike, then slowly looked up.
His eyes were calm, almost cold—yet they burned with an unmistakable intensity.
"Looks like you guys managed to take down the Core safely," Rai said.
He wore a gentle smile that was utterly, bafflingly out of place in the middle of that carnage.