Tearing apart a bronze-scaled dragon with a single strike of his silver spear, Laplace leapt out from inside the creature's body.
The beast's body split open from within as Laplace pierced through its flesh, emerging from the other side drenched in red.
The colossal corpse began to fall immediately after, spinning through the air before crashing into one of the floor's ruined mountains.
The once-majestic Technique God no longer had any trace of his divine bearing left.
Not only was he filthy and covered in blood, he was also tired.
His white cloak had been stained in so many different places that it could no longer be called white. His silver hair was matted with dried blood, some of it running down the side of his face.
This Bronze Dragon was a king among dragons, and its Magic Roar attacked the mind directly.
Neither Laplace nor Badigadi had any particularly effective means of dealing with that ability.
So, following Hitogami's advice, Laplace had deliberately allowed himself to be swallowed within the very first minute. Once inside the beast, the roar had no effect.
And once he was inside, killing it was simple.
Simple for someone like him, at least.
Even so, Laplace was clearly fatigued. It was a scene that would have been practically impossible under any other circumstances for a being like him.
His body was still monstrously powerful, and his martial skill still made any beast in that world look ridiculous by comparison.
But even a body like that accumulated wear when forced to cross nearly three thousand floors of the most dangerous labyrinth in the world under constant pursuit, with no time for any real rest, carving a path by force through monsters that only grew more and more irritating.
Still covered in blood, he complained to his companion:
"How is the Beast God moving this fast? We should have gained at least three hundred floors on him! We're already in the final stretch!"
But to his misfortune, his companion did not seem worried in the slightest.
Badigadi stood atop a cracked boulder with the enormous backpack strapped to his back, laughing as if he were just beginning a fun trip through Dragon God's Hole.
"Bwahahaha! Don't underestimate the brat, Slime! If he knows we're coming, he can speed up so much we won't even see his shadow! Hahahaha! That would be interesting!"
Badigadi had as much energy as he had at the start of the journey.
His physical and mental resilience was far greater than almost anyone's, both because he was an Immortal Demon and because he had already lived for thousands of years.
On top of that, he was not the main combatant for the time being. While Vita handled the most irritating work, Badigadi mostly just followed along and waited for the truly fun part.
Even after crossing 2,979 floors, he was still in perfect condition.
Laplace frowned.
"At this rate, we'll have to face him on the final floor... that'll be troublesome, especially because of the Sword God. Be careful with her."
Badi made a puzzled face.
"Huh? That little redhead, Eris? She won't be a problem. I beat her even without the Armor!"
Although he knew perfectly well that Badigadi was an Immortal Demon, somewhat stupid, and had a distorted sense of time, Vita still could not help but disdain his limited intelligence.
So he replied flatly:
"It's been more than ten years already. For a human, that's a long time to improve. By now, she should be at Gall Farion's level or above it."
He cast a glance at the six-armed demon.
"Even wearing the Armor, be careful."
For a moment, Badigadi fell silent, as if he were genuinely trying to fit that information into his head. Then he slammed one fist into the palm of his other hand and made an expression of sudden understanding.
"BWAHAHA! That's right! Man, humans change fast! Bwahaha! Well, that just makes everything even more interesting! Let's go already!"
Without waiting any longer, the black demon leapt across the ruined floor toward the portal.
Laplace followed him at great speed.
---
Meanwhile, at that exact same moment, Rygar and Eris stepped onto the penultimate floor.
Floor 2999.
But instead of being greeted by the familiar hostile environment presented by the Dragon World, they found themselves inside a cave.
Rygar spread his senses throughout the entire place and spoke with genuine surprise:
"No monsters?"
Eris had a frown on her face as she looked into the future with her Foresight Eye.
She stayed silent for a few seconds, alert, waiting to sense any line of attack, but nothing came.
"Hm, I don't see any attacks coming!" she said suspiciously. "Is it broken?!"
Then she tapped her own temple twice, as if that would "reactivate" her power.
She would not have been surprised if it was failing, since her mind had been somewhat hazy lately.
Rygar chuckled softly at the sight.
"No..."
He looked around again, analyzing the cave.
"There's something different about this floor. Let's move!"
Eris nodded immediately, and then both of them ran.
Rygar led the way toward the point where he believed the entrance to the final floor lay.
The cave was lit by white crystals embedded in the walls, a natural formation of that place.
The path was wide, around fifty meters across, and the corridors stretched out in labyrinthine fashion in every direction.
But since Rygar had already mapped the entire place with his Demon Eyes and heightened senses, they simply ran straight toward the central hall.
Along the way, unlike on every other floor, they encountered not a single obstacle.
There were no beasts, nor were there any visible or invisible traps.
There was no hostile presence at all.
The silence of that place was, in itself, stranger than any monster.
Eris seemed shocked by how things were unfolding.
She ran with her hand always on the hilt of her sword, ready to react at the slightest sign of danger.
Seeing that, Rygar tried to reassure her:
"Eris, you don't need to be so tense. Just stay alert. I don't sense any danger in this place..."
Eris fell silent for a moment, then replied, still suspicious:
"Hn, but I'm activating the Foresight Eye every minute!"
Rygar simply nodded.
He himself was also being especially cautious, even though his Sixth Sense was silent.
In fact, that was what bothered him the most.
There was not even the feeling that they were about to be tested.
It was as if that floor served a completely different purpose from the others.
They ran like lightning through the stone labyrinth, making sharp turns, crossing broad corridors, secondary tunnels, sloped passageways, and forks that would have confused anyone without Rygar's senses.
Then, finally, they reached the hall.
And for the first time since entering that Labyrinth, Rygar was completely stunned.
The gigantic dome inside the cave was not a battlefield.
It was a research laboratory.
More specifically, a magical research laboratory.
Several stone tables were arranged throughout the place, some covered with corroded tools, others with petrified remnants of reagents and structures that must once have supported much more complex experiments.
Stone pillars supported a second level above it. There were shelves, niches carved into the walls, higher workbenches, crystal stands, shattered containers. The entire space had the functional organization of a place built for research.
On those tables, there were scrolls.
Even though they had likely been there for thousands of years, many of them were still intact to a certain extent.
There was even a stone cabinet containing dozens of carefully stored scrolls, as if someone had once truly expected to return and continue that work.
And on those papers was a script unknown to most people.
The ancient language of the Dragons.
Something the Future Diary had taught Rygar perfectly.
At the center of the hall, seated on a stone chair, was a "monster."
But it did not look alive. Its hair was silver, and its pupils, though lifeless, were golden and reptilian.
Its skin bore scattered silver scales, and on its back were two dying wings.
It was dried out, completely withered away.
Eris looked confused as she took in the hall.
"Hm? Is the penultimate floor just papers? What are we supposed to do with this, read them?"
Rygar did not answer immediately.
His mind was already racing.
Within the slowed time of his perception, he analyzed the environment in detail with his Demon Eye. Everything inside the hall passed through his attention in an instant.
And that was how he found the key to the next floor.
Literally, it was a key.
Black in color, with intricate ancient details, hanging from the chest of the withered monster seated on the stone chair.
Farther in, beyond the main hall, there was an enormous white marble staircase, broad and grand, and at the end of it rose an immense gate.
The gate was around a hundred meters tall.
It was made of the same white marble as the staircase, but its entire surface was covered in carvings and inscriptions, telling stories.
Dragons fighting one another. An enormous flying fortress. Five warriors descending from the sky like calamities. Entire scenes carved in intricate detail.
And right in the middle of the gate was a small keyhole.
Knowing what led to the next floor, he turned his attention back to this floor itself.
Floor 2999, the penultimate floor of Dragon God's Hole.
A research laboratory of the ancient Dragon Race, filled with records, and just ahead, a monumental gate guarding the final floor of the oldest labyrinth in the world.
He wanted to stop and read all of it before moving on.
He wanted to find out why that place existed, what the dragons had studied there, what they had been trying to create or understand. But he did not have time for that.
After thinking about it, he said to Eris:
"I've already found the way out, Eris. We don't have time to waste..."
He started to move forward, but then another thought crossed his mind.
Although...
There was still one thing he could do.
Rygar raised his hand.
And with mastery, he used his telekinetic magic to manipulate all the records and papers scattered throughout that hall.
Even without knowing exactly what they were, he knew they had to be important.
The records whirled as they organized themselves around him for a few seconds, and when they had all finally gathered, Rygar placed them inside his spatial storage, which at that moment already contained various materials and monster cores collected throughout the descent.
When he finished storing everything away, a thought suddenly crossed his mind.
Had Oldgar gone through the same thing?
Rygar often wondered why information about Dragon God's Hole seemed to be missing from certain parts of the Future Diary.
But...
What if Oldgar had also been hunted?
If that were the case, not only would he have had no time to analyze everything in depth, he also would not have been able to store a single item, since he possessed no kind of spatial storage.
The more Rygar thought about that possibility, the more sense it made.
And that only increased his curiosity about the contents of those studies.
What could possibly have interested the ancient Dragon Race enough to research it?
What kind of knowledge was worth storing on the penultimate floor of the oldest and deadliest labyrinth in the world?
After storing all the papers, he went with Eris toward the gate.
As they approached, the sensation emanating from that structure was a strange, oppressive aura.
Looking at those carvings and engravings was like looking directly into the heart of a volcano. As if those images had been made to convey something the mind was never meant to absorb in full.
That was the entrance to the final floor.
The final boss of the oldest labyrinth in the world.
It was all or nothing.
Rygar looked at Eris.
She seemed especially nervous now as well, to the point that for a moment she had forgotten her own exhaustion. Her eyes were fixed on the gate, and her hand gripped the sword hilt harder than usual.
Then he spoke:
"Let's finish this already."
Eris nodded firmly.
Without saying anything else, Rygar brought the key to the lock with Magic.
The black tip fit perfectly.
Then he turned it.
At that very instant, the enormous gate trembled.
A crash echoed throughout the entire Labyrinth, like thunder, like an announcement. It was not only the gate that seemed to react. Dragon God's Hole itself seemed to answer that sound.
The immense gate began to open slowly.
And from the first dark crack between the two halves of the gate, a black light immediately escaped.
Rygar and Eris moved forward at once.
----
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