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The Sun Maiden Can Fall in Love Too – Part 01

“Are you really leaving?! I get it. You’re so unbelievably stupid. Your tiny brain can’t even begin to comprehend the value of the various magics embedded in this great labyrinth.”

Just before Hikaru arrived at the 7th floor, he was on the 8th.

What a waste of effort, he thought.

Soaarunay’s gripes were plastered on every level. Hikaru couldn’t tell if she genuinely wanted to keep him here or was just ticked off about him brushing off the Great Labyrinth of Runay-aas, but he was dead set on making his way to the surface regardless.

Hikaru found her antics exasperating, but also irritating. He wanted to tell her off. He had been trudging through this dungeon solo for days, with no one to talk to, and his mind was consumed by worries about Lavia back in Japan. And yet, all he got were Soaarunay’s string of insults.

But ahead lay the 7th floor. He was seething so much he could’ve punched her if she were in front of him, but he let it slide, knowing he was almost out of here.

“But hey, I’ve scored big,” he said.

Hikaru had opened plenty of treasure chests on his journey.

He found a gold-plated cup imbued with magic, a book written in some ancient language, a shiny glass bottle filled with red liquid, a large but surprisingly light shield, beige gloves made from monster hide, jacket and pants that adjusted to a comfortable temperature when worn, a hooded cloak similar to his usual one, and a fist-sized sapphire.

His backpack was already full. Even though it held three times its apparent capacity, he couldn’t fit anything else, and it was too heavy to carry around. Good thing the large sea floor was behind him.

He had changed his clothes too. Aside from his sneakers, he almost looked like a local. Although those sneakers were caked with mud beyond recognition.

“This looks like… a canyon.”

He glanced up to see a sky stretching high and steep cliffs narrowing his view. He started from the bottom of those cliffs.

Hikaru’s Stealth worked like a charm here too, allowing him to evade the notice of dragon-type monsters preying on other creatures. Making for the 6th floor, he continued his march, munching on sweet and sour apples he’d harvested from the previous floor.

“But why bother creating such a huge underground space?”

Perhaps there was no real reason for it, but Hikaru found it intriguing. Every floor he passed had flora and fauna he’d only seen in Adventurers Guild documents marked as extinct.

Hikaru thought maybe it was modeled after Noah’s Ark, which sheltered pairs of every creature during a great flood, but this wasn’t Earth, and he had found no traces of anyone from there, so it probably wasn’t related. Each floor had its own theme, designed to keep itself going without needing human intervention.

“It’s like a biotope.”

The word biotope was coined from the Greek “bio” (life) and “topos” (place), meaning a habitat where creatures can live in harmony. Environments created for endangered species to thrive naturally were also considered a biotope. In Japan, as cities expanded and natural habitats shrank, the concept of biotopes was introduced to preserve what was left.

Each level of this grand labyrinth had its own self-sustaining ecosystem. Each floor was a biotope. That much he got.

But what was the point? That part he didn’t get.

“Well, it could be some great sorcerer’s whim, or an experiment. Or maybe it’s a test, like ‘only those who conquer all kinds of tribulations are true heroes.’ Thinking about it is a waste of time.”

Hikaru decided it was time to head back up. Just then, he heard it. Something collapsing.

“Hmm? From above?”

Chunks of rubble rained down from the sky, along with someone caught in it.

“S-Someone’s falling!”

Hikaru dropped his stuff and bolted. Not sure what he could do, but he dashed over anyway. The person was hurtling towards the cliff.

“Huh?”

A sword glowed blue. A magic sword, Hikaru realized. But using it to slow down by stabbing it into the cliff was reckless and dangerous. Still, there didn’t seem to be any other choice unless they could use magic.

“Whoa!”

The person must have had incredible strength because their speed slowed dramatically. But as the magic sword snapped, they were flung into the air.

They didn’t hit the ground. Instead, they seemed to bounce in mid-air. Hikaru quickly realized there was a huge creature beneath them. A dragon-type monster with stealth abilities.

Hikaru had faced a number of such creatures on his journey, but his Mana Detection made them visible. On Earth, where there was no mana, this skill was useless, but here it was invaluable.

The person landed on the far side of the dragon. Hikaru activated his Stealth and climbed up the dragon’s body. As he did, he sensed the dragon’s mana concentrating inside it. Quickly, he covered his ears, and sure enough, the dragon roared. The hooded cloak Hikaru wore offered some protection against such attacks, so he only experienced a mild ringing in his ears.

Then, he simply drove a dagger into a precise spot on the dragon’s neck, where it supported its massive head. With his Assassination skill, the dagger slid smoothly through the skin, severing the dragon’s cervical vertebrae and ending its life.

As the dragon collapsed, Hikaru landed on the ground and walked toward the person.

Though she was dirty, he immediately recognized her as Selyse Lande of the Four Eastern Stars. Why was she here? Shouldn’t she be in Ponsonia’s capital performing the spell for crossing worlds? Questions swirled in his mind, but now wasn’t the time for answers.

“You okay? Well, I guess not. You fell from the sky and survived. Talk about a stroke of luck.”

Hikaru drew closer.

“…”

Selyse looked up at Hikaru, stunned, and tears began to well up in her eyes.

“What?!”

She burst into tears.

“Uh… huh?”

Hikaru had no idea what she had been through—the fierce battle she had fought, her past. Her sudden crying left him bewildered.

She wailed like a lost child finally found by her parents. Hikaru did not know how much it meant to her to be rescued when she needed help.

“Um, are you hurt?”

Of course, she was. Her hands, which had been gripping the sword, were covered in blood, and her clothes were filthy. Her usually immaculate blonde chignon was a mess.

“A-Are you okay? Can you stand—”

“Waah!”

“Whoa!”

When he tried to help her up, she threw her arms around him with surprising strength. He couldn’t pry her off. Selyse cried and cried. Hikaru, still not understanding why, gently patted her back.

“Thank you… thank you… Sandra…”

Who the heck is Sandra?

---

Selyse was too weak to walk, but Hikaru decided it was better to move to the passage leading to the 6th floor, where there were fewer dragon-type monsters. He retrieved his things, carried the sleeping Selyse on his back, and started walking.

Selyse, equipped with her gear, was heavy. He felt bad about leaving behind the half-broken sword that had fallen nearby, so he put it in his bag, making it even heavier.

“Well, as long as she’s alive. Healing magic can heal her wounds. Wait, does that mean the 6th floor and up have already been cleared? I might get to the surface today!”

Hikaru felt a surge of motivation.

He used the Soul Board to increase his Strength from 2 to 4, making it much easier to carry her. He even felt his body getting better overall.

Since entering the dungeon, Hikaru’s Soul Rank had increased significantly from killing many monsters. It had gone up by a whopping 12 levels.

He had also allocated 1 point each to Natural Recovery and Stamina. With the 2 points for Strength, he had used 4 points total, leaving him with 8 points.

Using Group Cloaking, he could move without being detected by monsters. Hikaru decided to follow his Instinct to find the exit to the 6th floor.

“Uh, it looks like we should head that way. Huh?”

There was a crash. Hikaru’s gut stirred. The noise came from right ahead.

“Crap.”

When Hikaru reached the spot, he was rendered speechless. The cliff had collapsed, blocking the path.

It was clearly connected to the earlier ceiling collapse. Cracks ran from the broken ceiling, and part of the outer wall had also fallen, landing right in front of Hikaru.

“This can’t be happening.”

A large “7” was scrawled on the wall ahead of him. Judging by what he had seen so far, the entrance to the passage leading to the 6th floor was likely buried under the rubble.

He laid down the sleeping Selyse and his luggage to inspect the scene more closely.

“You have got to be kidding me.”

Clambering up the rubble, he saw the full extent of the collapse. The cliff had slid down in a massive landslide, gouging out the wall. He could see the stairs leading to the 6th floor, but they were badly damaged. Hikaru had no way of knowing that Serika’s magic and a rampaging chimera had caused this.

“Seriously?”

After making it all the way here, he was stuck. The 6th floor was so close, the surface within reach.

Hikaru plopped down on the ground, crestfallen. Clearing rubble was his least favorite task, and his Stealth skills weren’t suited to it. He glanced at the wall and saw words appear just below the number 7, slightly above eye level.

“Above the 6th floor is your typical, maze-type dungeon. You, a magic enthusiast, won’t be able to handle the monsters there. Oh, since you have no interest in this great labyrinth, you’re not really a magic enthusiast. More like a coward. I don’t know what kind of trick you used to get this far, but you can go ahead and die now.”

Another taunt from Soaarunay. Hikaru had seen many of these messages on his way here and had always ignored them.

“Oh, yeah?”

But this one got under his skin. He had finally come this far, he could see the goal, and now this mountain of rubble. Even Hikaru had a breaking point.