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Last Embryo Volume 6 Chapter 2 Part 10

Because she had her for a more of an outdoor type of person who would enjoy relaxing past times like watching autumn leaves, or taking a walk along the shore of a lake, or something along those lines.

「You might find it surprising, but Miss Kasukabe has quite a lot of hobbies. She is also quite good at cooking!」

「Is, Is that so?」

「I mainly learned it because I wanted to be able to always prepare myself something to snack on no matter the situation. And Besides, every main member of 『No Name』 is good at cooking, and my skills are about as good as everyone else’s.」

Now Ayato was very much impressed with her. It was her first-time hearing that You had such a talent. But just like she said, the maids and servants of 『No Name』 are all extremely capable people. And when it comes to cooking, their skills are truly second to none.

「Unexpectedly, that is the truth. If we ever get the chance, then I would like to check my own culinary skills against yours.」

「I would not mind that, but only if you promise to let me taste-test your dish as well.」

「As you wish. I might look like this, but back when I was still attending school, I always had full marks from all of the subjects related to home economics, but I never had any real chance to show my skills to anyone, which was a kind of a shame.」

「Now I am getting fired up. Once this Gift Game is over and we clear it, we have to make a gourmet all-you-can-eat party with everyone.」

Ayato and You got excited over their rare chance at a real girls talk. Asuka simply smiled wryly at them, and Uesugi laughed while pointing at the entrance to the Labyrinth.

「I hate to interrupt you while you are having fun, but we should probably move on. So, we are going to conduct the search while divided into two two-man teams?」

「No, I think that if we do it that way then we will not be able do find what we are looking for fast enough. That is why I think it would be best if I left the search of the Stone monuments to you while I will go challenge the monster at the bottom of the Labyrinth by myself.」

You’s sudden offer made the rest look at her in disbelief.

「M-Miss Kasukabe, I think that such a course of action might be impossible, even for somebody like you.」

「Yes, and above all, if this Game really is that dangerous that they had to warn us about the possibility of dying, then that is all the more reason not to go in there alone. We should stick to the plan and stay in groups to ensure our maximum safety. . . . . .」

「It is going to be okay, everyone, because I am not going to be alone in there. Remember what I said last night?」

「You mean that bit about you being able to summon another Floor Master to help you now that you have become a Floor Master yourself?」

「Yes, exactly that.」

Asuka thought back to the previous night and their meeting with Indra outside of The Giant Spirit Train after their battle with Krishna and 「The King of Murderous Species」was over. And while she was already thinking about that, she realized that the replenishment of 『No Name’s lacking manpower with Miss Uesugi was probably only possible because Indra himself approved of it, although what would his reasons for doing so be, Asuka did not know, and it was not the time to be thinking about that now.

「That friend of yours who you can summon, is she reliable, at the very least?」

「If I run into a battle beyond my own capabilities I know that I will be able to count on her, because her power and battle prowess are the same as mine, if not even higher, to the point where she would probably be able to take on any enemy by herself without me lifting as much as a finger. And besides, when it comes to battling the enemies that you know next to nothing about, there is literally no one more reliable than her.

「Hou. . . . .?」

Uesugi leaked a voice that was telling that she goy immensely interested in knowing who exactly was You’s mysterious helper. Being capable to always fight at your full power even in a situation where there was next to no information about the hostile targets that you would be engaging with is a rare and incredibly useful skill to have, and every warrior who possesses one must definitely be worth their salt on the battlefield. But aside from that, there is also a certain thing that every user of the Gifts of Summoning or Possession has to possess themselves: the wisdom to adapt to every situation, which can change in a split second while on the unknown battlefield. That, and also the absolute trust in the person that you are going to be summoning. No one in their right mind would ever risk summoning someone whom they would not be able to trust with their lives unconditionally, and if they done that, they would be one of two things: fools, or fools with a death wish.

「On top of that, you know that you cannot be using Miss Alma for the offensive purposes because she is going to be the key to your defensive strategies. And when a really dangerous enemy shows up underground, there is only s much that you can do, right?」

「. . . . Yes. As unfortunate as it is, I am afraid that I cannot deny that.」

「And that is why I will be the one to go to the bottom floor of the Labyrinth first. If things will start looking really dangerous then I promise I will fall back and regroup with you, and if it will not be so bad, well. . . .  I promise not to go too crazy down there.」

「If she is saying so, then maybe we should really leave the bottom floor to Miss Kasukabe and focus on looking for the stone monuments ourselves? Finding them all id definitely going to take some time, but at the very least this feels like a bold yet solid strategy.」

「. . . . *Sigh* Goodness gracious, I guess it just cannot be helped, huh?」

Asuka sighed and took out her Gift Card, and after a moment, a tiny Spirit in a pointy hat popped out of it.

「I am going to leave Merun’s younger sister with you. If you get lost or anything unexpected happens, just ask her, and she will take you straight to me.」

「Sure. Thanks for the guide.」

「Thank you very much for your help. You should be careful as well, Miss Asuka.

And with that, the four of them began to move in different directions: You headed towards the lowest level of the Labyrinth by herself, while Asuka, Uesugi and Ayato started their search for the stone monuments.

* * *

The Underground Labyrinth, first floor.

The cave they arrived in bore unexpectedly many signs of maintenance being performed in it. The floor has been laid with stone pavement, and there were quite a few gas lamps installed so that they could see their surroundings clearly. At the entrance there were still a number of small animals scurrying around, but the deeper they went in, then the traces of any living beings were growing increasingly scarcer. Even though it was supposed to be a Labyrinth, it looked like a tourist attraction more than anything else. As they were going through it, Asuka, Ayato and Uesugi began to share their initial impressions about this place.

「You know, this feels rather disappointing. I thought there is going to be more monster or evil spirits in here.」

「Despite it being called a Labyrinth, the internal structure seems to be getting more and more complicated the further we go. I do not know about the other stages, but I feel like maybe the word Labyrinth has been intentionally misused here.」

The differentiation between the words 「Labyrinth」 and 「Maze」 has been repeatedly suggested by the string of Games related to the continent of Atlantis before, so it is extremely unlikely that this would be the only exception from that rule.

「And look at all these people coming and going here. Maybe they want to perform some kind of ritual in here, and maybe that means that the upper levels are relatively safe for civilians to be here. . . . . . . no. . . . . . 」

Uesugi then cut her sentence halfway through. She then looked into the passage on the right of them with her keen eyes. The air around it was calm and tranquil, but her trained eyesight saw something altogether different in there. Brandishing her sword, Uesugi told Ayato to stand behind her by stopping her from going any further with her right hand.

「. . . . . . .Now then, according to the rules of the Game, killing of other Players is expressly forbidden, so care to explain what that intense bloodlust is all about?」

Uesugi called out into the air, apparently noticing that someone was already waiting for them in that corridor. And when Ayato got closer to it, she immediately recognized that bloodlust and aura, even though she could not yet see who they belonged to. Uesugi glanced back at her and then asked:

「Is that somebody you are acquainted with?」

「Yes. And if I am not mistaken then I am going to be their target, so let me take care of this.」

Ayato shook off Uesugi’s hand and walked forward with her hand already on the handle of her beloved segmented sword. Right now, this was a perfect occasion for Ayato to forget about all of that embarrassment that she went through earlier. With her fighting spirit raised to the maximum, Ayato brandished her sword, ready to battle at any moment now. Perhaps her opponent was also itching for a fight, because as soon as Ayato stepped up, they also made their move and left the shadows that have concealed their figures up until now.

「Well look who we have here? I honestly did not expect to be running into you here, but now that I got myself a chance for a little payback, you can be sure as hell that I am going to take it!」

『To tell you the truth, we should be offering you our gratitude. Now that all three of you have come to us together, you saved us the trouble of having to go look for all of you separately so that we could kill you. But in the current situation, I would go as far as to risk a wager that the odds of victory are stacked heavily in our favor.』

The ones who showed up were a Chinese girl and a Divine Beast with pure white fur, causing Ayato’s gaze to sharpen at a moment’s notice. They were the same people who attacked the Giant Spirit Train During 『The Bull of Heaven』 Incident, one of the Immortal Sages from Chinese Mythology, Shen Gongbao from 「Investiture of the Gods」and Byakko, The White Tiger of the West and one of the Four Heavenly Beasts.

Without wasting any more time, Shen Gongbao raised the flaming spear she was holding I her hand towards Ayato and then declared her own name with a fearless smile on her face.

「Allow me to introduce myself properly to you this time. My name is Shen Gongbao, currently working as one of the pawns pushed around by 『Avatara』. Now, have at you!」