Leon Greyrat: The Second Son – Mushoku Tensei OC

Chapter 65 – The Teleportation Labyrinth

— Leon Greyrat —

With Roxy’s awakening, and our relationship somewhat settled, we then both made our way downstairs to the main room, where the rest of the group was resting.

“Ah! She’s up!” Lina said, getting up from her chair and walking over to us. “Do you feel alright, Roxy? Do you need-?” 

Her words were cut off as she looked between us.

More specifically, Lina was looking at the lack of distance between our bodies.

Ever since we had left the room, Roxy had positioned herself at my side, leaning against me as her hand loosely held my sleeve.

It was really hard to not immediately put a ring on her and take her to bed when she was acting like this, but I remained firm in my decision to wait nonetheless.

Plus, this way, it acted as another motivator to get my Mama’s as soon as possible.

“…It seems you two have grown closer,” Lina said as a proud smile graced her lips, reminding me a bit of how Mama would look at me when I was with Sylphy and Eris. “Did anything particular happen?”

My eyes unconsciously drifted to Roxy’s face, or rather, towards her thin, kissable lips.

Remembering the soft texture of them, even when they were chapped in the labyrinth, I felt an instinctual pull that I had to force myself to fight off.

Still, I persevered. 

Looking away to distract myself from those thoughts, I glanced up to see Roxy staring at me with a blush.

But her eyes weren’t exactly meeting mine, rather a little lower…

Oh, she was staring at my lips too.

“Oh my? I guess you showed quite a bit of urgency, Leon,” Lina said, nodding approvingly as I looked back at her. “…I’m impressed.”

And there was that feeling of embarrassment again…

Paul then made his way over, looking between us for a moment before shaking his head with a resigned smile.

“Well, it’s good to see you back, Roxy,” he said, giving her an apologetic smile. “Sorry you had to wait so long. You were just too damn useful to our progress.”

“Ah, thank you, Paul,” Roxy said, waving her hand. “I appreciate the sentiment enough. And as for being useful… well, I think we have some better replacements now.”

Paul looked at her for a moment before nodding, “I don’t think you should sell yourself short like that, but you aren’t wrong. We were just talking about that, so how about you come join us.”

We then went over to the large table, where Geese and Talhand were looking over a sprawl of maps and the book on the teleportation labyrinth.

“Ah, Roxy! Glad to have you back!” Geese said, turning her head. “And now that you’re here… I guess there’s another reason to head back into that place right away. Aside from rescuing Zenith and Lilia quicker, that is.”

Hm?

What did that mean?

“Not that I mind rushing to clear the labyrinth, but… why would that concern Roxy?” I asked.

“Well, it’s a common thing you see,” Geese said, shrugging. “After someone deals with a bad situation like Roxy was in, they often can’t return to adventuring.”

Is that so?

“Unless they go back into the place right away,” Lina said, joining in. “So we need to have Roxy enter the labyrinth after such an unpleasant experience.”

“Oh, please don’t mind me! It wasn’t the worst since…” Roxy then glanced toward me before averting her eyes as she started to fondle a braid of her hair. “N-Never mind.”

Paul stared at Roxy for a moment with an indescribable expression before looking back to the map.

“Anyway… we’ve already gone over the plan for our next dive with Rudy and Sara, and they just left to gather some supplies,” he said, before pointing to the map of the labyrinth. “According to this book, as well as the party from a year ago, the bottom of the labyrinth is on the seventh floor.”

Tapping one of the papers, he continued, “There’s no information on this floor, both in the book and from other adventurers, but we do know about the floors leading up to it, thankfully.”

I nodded my head, taking in the information.

“And what about the formation? Is it the same as last time with Roxy added onto the back line?” I asked.

“Basically,” Paul said. “We considered switching Talhand and Roxy, since her or Rudy can fill his magician position, but he also acts a tank for the back line.”

So it would be me, Paul, Elinalise, Talhand, Geese, Roxy, Rudy, and Sara.

A party of eight.

While it was one person larger than the usual seven, it should still be manageable, especially since Geese wouldn’t be in our fighting formation anyway.

“And when are we going?” I asked.

“Hmm, we were thinking about a week from now, but since Roxy seems just fine…” Geese said, looking down at his map before looking at Paul, the two of them sharing a short nod. “Let’s say a couple of days. And like last time, we’ll camp outside the night before so we don’t need to camp in the labyrinth.”

So in three days, we would finally start searching for Mama in earnest…

“Alright,” I said, sitting down on a chair as Roxy joined me, sliding her chair closer to my side. “What’s the plan?”

No, in three days, we wouldn’t only be searching for Mama.

We would find her.

I was sure of it.

— Leon Greyrat —

We had already reached the fourth floor on our expedition, and our new group was even stronger with the addition of Roxy.

While Rudy was still the better mage, both in control and power, Roxy was able to use silent spell casting up to the Advanced rank as well, which was all we needed for the monsters we were facing.

And unlike Rudy, who was often hesitant with using his magic due to his inexperience with the party, Roxy had been fighting alongside them for over a year, so she was able to confidently launch spells without the need of communication.

Our group was also working much better together compared to last time, both because of Roxy, and also the fact I wasn’t pushing ahead.

But I didn’t regret it.

After all, it was my impatience that led me to finding Roxy, and I did so without us suffering any casualties, so I wouldn’t do anything different.

Standing in front of us, right before the room that held the teleportation circles to the next floor, were a group of Sand Golems.

They were monsters that were made of stone, with a sort of spirit that possessed nearby rocks, sand, and stones and used them as their own body.

While they were strong, they weren’t exactly deadly, but they were quite tough to take down, as you needed to cut it into various parts at once.

But for my father and I, that was quite easy.

Plus… I wanted to show off to Roxy, and Paul seemed to want to do the same with Rudy.

So, facing down the pair of large golems, I dodged the left one’s strike, using my sword to carve up its arm as I quickly reached its neck, unleashing another slash that decapitated it, sending a large rock slamming to the ground.

Of course, that wasn’t enough to kill it.

So, crouching down, I let my touki fill the air as I decided which parts of the wall and ground I would use as launching pads, and breathing out… I released the pressure, jumping forward to deal my first cut.

Not wasting a moment after landing, I launched myself once again, continuing the action over and over until I felt that I had dealt enough damage.

My perception of time returning to normal as I stopped enhancing my senses, a sonic boom echoed through the room, and the next moment, the two golems I was facing crumbled into many pieces of carved stones.

Hmm… they weren’t moving, and I couldn’t see any mana around them anymore, so I think it was fair to say they were dead.

Standing tall, I slowly sheathed my sword as I briefly glanced over at Roxy, giving her a confident smile that she returned with a giggle.

Hm?

What was so funny?

“And there we go!” my father said, finishing off his golem with his new dual-sword style as he looked back. “How was that, Rudy?”

“It was great, Father,” Rudy said earnestly. “You’ve gotten stronger.”

“Hee~ that so~?” my father said, scratching his ear with a dumb smile. “I’m actually a bit weaker than my peak, you know?”

Right. 

Well, his new sword definitely helped with that.

Since my father, while able to manipulate touki, could only do it unconsciously, he was missing quite a bit of cutting power to go alongside his experience and talent.

But with his short sword he had bought from a local merchant, which was a curved double-sided black blade, he was able to overcome that weakness.

Not with skill, of course, and certainly not with smarts. 

In this case, it was all because of the sword. 

More specifically, it was the sword’s ability which increased its cutting power the harder an opponent’s armour is, compensating for his previous weakness.

Since it couldn’t even cut bread, as bread wasn’t known for its defensive capabilities, my father was able to buy it quite cheap, and he quickly found its use as he melded it into his combat style.

Getting back to the present, Geese simply sighed as he brought his palm to his face, while Lina simply watched us both with a warm smile.

“Stop acting so stupid, you two! We’re in a labyrinth!” Sara said, her face set in a scowl as she shook her head in disappointment. “Seriously… are you a pair of kids?”

“Come on, isn’t it kind of cute how they want to show off?” Lina said, patting her shoulder.

“No, it’s dumb,” Sara spat, looking at us. “Be better.”

I guess my display had angered Little Sis.

At least Roxy got to see my skills.

Besides… even if I wasn’t using my full strength, I really enjoyed fighting together, with everyone here.

There was my temporary family in the Fangs of the Black Wolf, and then there was my current one with Rudy, Roxy, and Sara.

Seeing them all together like this… with me… working as one unit…

It was really awesome.

— Leon Greyrat —

“This would be a good resting place, but… what do we do about those things?” Geese said, looking up at the Cave Bats, their red eyes covering the cavern’s ceiling. “Hmm… Maybe that incense for the Devouring Devils would work?”

Hmm… bats were sensitive to sound, right?

I know these were monsters, but that trait should still be the same.

“…Let me try something,” I said, stepping forward.

I haven’t used sound magic in quite a while, since wind magic was simply better for combat. But in a situation like this, I really wished I had explored it a bit more.

Well… better late than never.

Raising my hand, I pressed my fingers together as I focused, picturing the vibrations moving through the air, creating an intense sound, but one imperceptible to the human ear.

Outward like a cone so it wouldn’t hurt us… oscillating vibrations through the air that converged at the bats’ location… the molecules of air moving so fast they transformed into imperceptible razors…

Keeping the image in my mind, I snapped my fingers as I infused my mana into the surrounding air, imagining my mana merging with the sound I had created. 

Luckily, it seemed to work just as I had hoped, as I was instantly attacked by a slight headache and a ringing in my ears.

But I wasn’t the only one hurting from that move.

A good third of the large group of bats instantly fell to the ground, their bodies tucked inward and tense.

At least I gave them a quick death.

The rest of the bats released a collective screech before quickly flying away, their bodies impacting the walls as they carelessly flew.

Rudy said they used sound to see, right? 

Echolocation or something… I guess I blinded them.

Whoops.

“…Well, that’s one way to do it,” Geese said, whistling appreciatively. “You aren’t a bad magician yourself, Boss’ Brother.”

“It’s Leon, but thanks,” I returned, healing my ears back to full health.

Hmm, thinking about ‘sound magic’, I really had been missing out on its possibilities, even if it was difficult to separate it from wind magic.

I wonder… could I mask my sound for stealth?

I bet if I practised, I could also use it in combat, creating a silent sword that still shattered the sound barrier with its speed without the accompanying sonic boom.

And then, there were the vibrations.

“I wonder… could I become a bat?” I said. “…No, that wasn’t quite right.”

“Leon?” Roxy said, looking at me with concern. “Are you alright?”

Oh, I said that out loud, didn’t I?

“N-No, I’m fine, sorry,” I said, waving off her concern.

“If you’re sure…” she said.

Right, I didn’t need to become a bat, but rather… could I do what they did with their echolocation? 

Could I use vibrations in the air and through solids to scout and search?

It would be useful, since while my Demon eyes could see through objects, it could only see mana, and if a wall infused with mana, I would be blinded.

Hmm… it’s a thought for later.

Using the now monster free, open space as a small camp, our group began resting before we headed out to clear the rest of the fifth floor.

Sitting on a rock, I soon found myself with company, as Roxy slid down to sit next to me, casually resting her head on my shoulder.

“I’m having fun, you know,” Roxy said, moving a bit closer so that our legs were touching. “Clearing the labyrinth with you, that is. Though… I do wish we were alone.”

Looking down at her cute face as her eyes fluttered shut, I decided to reach down and take her hand, her fingers easily sliding between mine as she accepted my advance.

“I do too,” I said. “We can do it more once we’re back home. I’m sure Eris would love to join.”

“Right,” she said, her head nodding slightly before burrowing into the crook of my neck. “You did say that she loved such stories from our letters. You said she’s at the Sword Sanctum right now, correct?”

So she wasn’t mad at me bringing her up… that’s good.

It might have been insanely selfish of me, but I did want my three lovers to get along, and knowing how close Mama and Lilia were, I knew it wasn’t impossible.

Plus, unlike Mama, these three weren’t hampered by the Millis traditions.

“Yeah, or rather, she’s on her way,” I said, leaning back slightly as I wrapped my arm around Roxy’s lower back. “But despite being adventurers, we never had any time to clear a dungeon on our travels, so I’m sure she would love something like this. Maybe Sylphy too, now that I think about it. At least if she didn’t have Ariel.”

Roxy nodded again as her hand squeezed mine.

“Leon,” she said softly. “You’re tense.”

Oh, was I?

I thought I was doing pretty well in masking my anxiety, but I guess nothing gets past Roxy.

That was part of her older woman appeal.

“Can you tell me what’s wrong?” she said in the same gentle tone.

She moved her head from my shoulder to look at me, the concern evident in her beautiful blue eyes, forcing me to explain.

“I’m just… worried,” I said, clenching my hand around Roxy’s back into a fist. “I’m so close to Mama… so close to everything being over… I just don’t want to mess up when I’m at the very end. I… I don’t want to make a big mistake and-”

My rambling was interrupted by the feeling of soft lips covering mine, prompting my eyes to open wide in surprise before closing again a moment later.

Enjoying the taste of Roxy as she slowly embraced me, I let her tongue wander across mine while her lips tenderly caressed mine before we separated.

Mmm… that was nice…

Feeling much calmer than before, I opened my eyes as Roxy slowly did the same, her face forming a warm smile as our gazes intersected.

At least, that was before she had realized her forwardness, as her cheeks quickly gained a deep flush before she hastily averted her eyes.

I was happy to simply enjoy the flustered look on her face, but not a moment later, she clenched her fists above her chest before looking back at me, embarrassment replaced with determination as she extended both of her hands to hold my cheeks.

“Listen to me, Leon… you can do it,” she said. “You’re amazing enough to do anything you put your mind to, so I know you can do it. But even if you can’t…”

She gave me a gentle peck on the lips before staring into my eyes, her expression brimming with faith and conviction, rendering me silent from shock.

“You’re not alone. We can do it. We’ll save Zenith and Lilia, and get everything back to normal,” her cheeks then gained a bit of colour as she let go of my face, fiddling with the edge of her braid. “…And when we get back… we can start that family you want so bad.”

Ah… I think I had fallen in love all over again.

Her maturity, the feeling of a confident guiding hand… and then of course that innocence and flustered cuteness.

She really was the perfect mix.

“You’re right,” I said, smiling as I leaned forward to gently kiss her nose. “We can do this. Thank you, Roxy.”

“A-Anytime… now look away from me!” she said, moving to sit back at my side as she leaned against my back.

I guess all that was still a bit much for her.

But… thank you, Roxy. Truly.

Right! I’m feeling damn motivated now!

Mama… Lilia… I’m coming for you!

I… No, we will definitely save you!

— Leon Greyrat —

We had finally reached it.

After manoeuvring through the sixth floor, home to nearly only Devouring Devils, we had finally reached the last room.

But as we began to understand the situation…

“The fuck is this?” Paul muttered, looking down at the two teleportation circles.

I was also confused.

Truly… what the fuck was this?

“What do they look like?” he said as Geese walked over to them, pulling out his notepad to compare.

“Err… it’s not looking good, Paul. These both look like one-way teleports,” he said, scratching his head. “I don’t get it! The inter-floor circles were always two-way, and that’s not even mentioning not knowing which one of these to take…”

Well, shit.

It seemed that we were in quite the bind.

“What should we do, Father?” I asked.

“Hmm… usually in a situation like this we would flip a coin,” he mumbled out. “But that was only when we had Ghislaine to do it…”

…What?

I don’t remember anything like that from my childhood!

Relying on chance like that… how did they even survive this long?

“Wait, Father,” Rudy said, stepping forward. “There must be something more to this. All the floors had a teleport to it, so just give me a moment.”

As Rudy began to crouch down in thought in front of the two circles, inspecting them closely, I sat down next to him.

“You know… the labyrinth doesn’t have to be fair,” I said, looking at the teleportation circles with an analytical eye. “It’s not like there’s any benefit for the labyrinth to do so, right?”

“No… while I have only been in a few, it always has rules,” he said, shaking his head.

“Rudy’s right,” Roxy said as she sat down next to me. “While labyrinths can form numerous nasty traps, the magic crystal must be reachable. Otherwise, it wouldn’t be able to draw in any monsters.”

Hmm… so it was like that, huh?

I knew I could trust Roxy and her experience, but still… I wonder if those rules weren’t about drawing in monsters, but rather drawing in adventurers with a false sense of security.

Narrowing my eyes, I activated my Demon eye as I searched for anything wrong in the magic circles in front of me.

…Nothing was odd.

They were just like all the other traps that we had navigated past.

All the other traps…

Was this… really the end?

Or maybe there was another entrance to the next floor?

Or perhaps-

My thoughts came to a halt as I noticed a wisp of mana from below.

Pouring more mana into my eye, I discovered that there was a circular pattern of mana glowing brightly below.

A magic circle…

That’s just playing dirty.

Getting up, I walked over until I was just above the circle.

Readying my fist as I narrowed my eyes, I ignored Roxy and Rudy’s confused stares as I enhanced my body with touki.

“Hey, Leon? What’re you-!”

I interrupted my father’s shout by punching down, a shockwave spreading out from where my fist hit the stone as the floor easily gave way, crumbling into pieces to reveal a dark, narrow staircase.

“…I think we found it,” I said as I looked forward.

And there, at the end of the small hall, was a magic circle, it’s lines glowing a menacingly dark red as it faintly lit up the dark corridor.

Finally… we were at the last step.

— Leon Greyrat —

After a few minutes of preparation, which consisted of dropping off all of our non-combat supplies, double-checking our equipment, and taking a final drink of water, our group was ready to continue towards the last stretch of this expedition.

The final floor, which would probably hold the guardian for this labyrinth.

That was what laid behind that teleportation circle.

We were about to set forth, with me following behind my father, before he suddenly stopped and turned to me.

“Leon, hey, uhh…” his words trailed off as he suddenly looked a mix between serious and conflicted.

What was it?

For better or worse… very often for worse… my father was one to freely speak what was on his mind.

“Is there something wrong?” I asked.

“Er, no, just…” he then looked at me before clenching his fist. “You… I know that no father should say this, but… save your mother and Lilia… even if it kills you… please.”

I stared him down for a moment before shaking my head.

“First, they’re both my mothers,” I said. “And second… I was going to do that anyway.”

He looked at me for a moment before nodding with a smile, “Right. You… you’re really damn reliable. Both you and Rudy are. So much so, I feel a bit lacking as a parent.”

“Well, good. You should feel that way, because you are,” I shrugged. “I mean, what kind of parent says that? Mama would be livid.”

“And she can scold me all she wants later,” he said, his expression a bit better now.

I don’t think Mama would stop at a simple scolding for that, but I decided to let him find that out later.

“So… is everyone ready?” my father said, resting his hand on his swords as he looked over the group.

With everyone nodding seriously, Paul sighed before turning back to the teleportation circle.

“Then… let’s go.”

Our party then stepped forward onto the magic circle, engulfing us in light a moment later, before we then found ourselves in an unfamiliar room.

It was a large, rectangular hall, and styled like a temple as pillars lined the walls.

The room was dark, only lit by a bright, pale blue light that sat at the other end, and in front of that light…

“Father…”

“Yeah…”

We both understood.

That thing, was a monster.

Likely the guardian of this floor, and thus the entire labyrinth.

Our party wordlessly stepped forward, with Rudy conjuring some light as we began walking down the silent hall, only the sound of our echoing footsteps entering our ears as we continued.

As we reached a quarter of the way down, the monster seemed to notice our presence, slowly unfurling from its curled-up position as it rose, revealing a body covered in emerald-green scales and a set of nine heads, all with a long, snake-like neck each.

“W-What is that…” Sara muttered in fear.

“That… is that a fucking Hydra!?” Geese shouted in surprise. “You’ve gotta be kidding me!”

But I ignored the ruckus.

After all, as the guardian rose, it not only revealed its form, but also the giant magic crystal behind it, as well as the two figures that were inside of it.

I would never forget that long, silky blonde hair.

I could never forget those soft hands that held me so warmly, and sifted through my hair so gently.

And I would never… could never… forget that face which always looked at me so lovingly.

“Zenith?” my father said in surprise. “Fuck, I’m coming!”

Mama!

Mama was there!

And Lilia too, they were both there!

I instantly unsheathed my sword, narrowing my eyes as I shot forward, Paul screaming at my side as he followed behind me.

We sprinted down the hall, ignoring the concerned calls of our allies as the guardian roared, leaping forward to intercept us.

This bastard… it was blocking me from getting to Mama!

My Mama… how dare it!

All that I am… the man I grew up to become… she, who showed me how to love and how to be kind… everything was because of her!

“So get the fuck out of my way!” I shouted as a tear dripped down my cheek.

One of its heads moved toward me with its maw open wide, revealing a large set of sharpened teeth as it prepared to swallow me.

With the fluidity of the Water God Style, I easily evaded its blow, scraping my sword against the Hydra’s scales and taking control of its mana before I spun, slashing through it’s neck in an instant.

Its head flew through the air as I became showered in blood, the long, headless neck whipping around in a frenzy as another head came towards me.

Gritting my teeth, I coated my blade in touki, concentrating it on the edge as I yet again side-stepped the strike, cutting off another head as I passed.

Glancing over to my father, I saw that he had also dealt with a head, his face set in a fierce expression of anger as he pushed onward.

“Father, I’m killing this bastard,” I said, my tone tense.

“That’s my son,” he said, dodging a whipping, headless neck of the Hydra. “I’ll give you an opening.”

As he said that, I then began building touki in my entire being as well as my sword, while at the same time, I formed a compressed ball of fire, crackling with lightning as I imagined pure energy, pure plasma infused into the magic.

“Burn in hell.”

And then I released, sending the flame towards its body as I shot forward, using the Hydra’s scales to leap from neck to neck as I sliced every single head off.

Landing back on the ground, I looked down at my ruined shoes, the blood seeping out of my feet as the pain barely registered in my mind.

So its scales were sharp… good to know.

Turning my gaze back to the Hydra, I saw as the ball of fire and plasma scorched across the ground, Paul barely leaping out of the way in time as it reached the Hydra’s body and… disappeared.

I had watched the entire thing happen with my Demon eye.

The spell and all the mana just… disappeared, accompanied by a sound akin to screeching metal.

Could its scales resist magic?

Some sort of barrier?

Or perhaps it was similar to disturb magic.

Either way, with its heads all cut off, that should be it.

Now, I just needed to go and get Mama out of-

“Leon!”

Hearing Roxy and Rudy’s simultaneous cry, I leaped out of the way just in time to dodge two heads crashing into where I had just been standing.

…What?

I… cut those off, didn’t I?

I could even see the heads laying on the ground across the hall, so why?

Why wasn’t it dead?

“It regenerates, Leon! Let’s regroup!” Roxy yelled from the back as she shot out a barrage of ice spears, all disintegrating as soon as they touched the Hydra’s scales with the sound of grating metal.

Slowly nodding my head, I quickly looked at my father, who formed a difficult expression before turning back.

With Rudy creating a mist to block the Hydra’s sight, and me creating a barrier to block its movement, our party sprinted back to the magic circle, getting teleported back to the dark room as we soon as we reached it.

As soon as we made it into the room, I slumped to the ground, healing my feet from their cuts and washing off the blood as I watched my father pound the stone wall in anger from the side.

Mama and Lilia… we had found them!