The Spearmaster and the Black Cat

Kuna used .

"You're going to fall in love with me."

"…You're right. I love you." The final member of 【Algos' Flying Swallow Band】 in knight armor answered with a vacant look in his eyes.

He was part of a big clan, mostly active in a labyrinth city, but he fell prey to a demon. The outward face of the charming woman in front of him was that of a beautiful B-Rank adventurer. But, hidden underneath was a kin of Demon Kshanan. In other words, she was one of those kins that had come to the surface through a Spirit World Tear.

Right now she was mostly focusing on her job of charming people and luring them into the traps of the demonic labyrinth in a way that they wouldn't suspect anything several times a month. All was for the sake of offering the energy of the sacrifices to the Spirit World's Dark God Rivograph, whom her master worshiped, by turning adventurers into nourishment for the demonic labyrinth.

However, Kuna didn't honestly obey that Dark God. She had been following some gods after falling under their influence by touching certain items, but while hiding several secrets, she very obviously possessed an ego centered around her hobby of collecting items.

Indeed, she possessed an ego.

She maintained superficial connections with several companies, and made a profit by running her own store. And, as leader of 【Thorny Tail】, she had also made herself known as a member of the underworld, to the extent that she would repeatedly negotiate with other dark guilds.

She had extended her feelers into all sorts of fields, obviously possessing multiple faces. The targets she chose as one looking for the bizarre often concentrated on handsome adventurers with big magic sources, albeit completely unrelated to their races.

In case her target was exceedingly handsome, she'd step on them, and stab them with her tail, tormenting them to death with laughter.

Today she had also succeeded in luring new adventurers into an octagonal room while capitalizing on her lovely, good looks which could even be described as peerless.

"Fufufu," Kuna chuckled with a face making it clear that her prey had fallen for a deadly trap. She basked in a feeling of elation as if spellbound by her own way of getting the job done.

And then, she smiled broadly, feeling completely satisfied. After casting a very charming sidelong glance at the captured adventurers, she started to walk towards the middle of the octagonal room. As she calmly walked with her plump, voluptuous breasts swaying, she suddenly went down on a knee.

While bending down, Kuna reported to the labyrinth manager, "Sabeed-sama, it looks like things are proceeding well this month as well."

Sabeed relaxed the muscles of his oval face as if to release the worm-like, blue veins at his temples. He had six eyes. When meeting him for the first time, Kuna wasn't able to read the emotions on his face. However, nowadays she had become able to guess them to some extent.

"Tonight, the third floor's Swift Mystery Tabulance easily slaughtered a great number of adventurers, using . These accomplishments are truly magnificent…we're being granted more and more magic sources of souls through the labyrinth as well."

"…So your Swift Mystery is properly doing his job, eh?" Kuna snorted lightly.

Kuna wasn't eager to listen to the achievements of Sabeed's subordinates. Honestly, she wasn't amused at all. However, she made sure that her boss Sabeed wouldn't suspect any of her feelings on this matter.

Her devilish smile slightly stirred Sabeed's heart.

"…So, Kuna, it looks like you brought some fodder for the labyrinth today." Sabeed used a voice that made him sound dignified.

While sitting on a luxurious armrest chair, he shifted his eyes to behind Kuna.

"I did what I could."

Just as Kuna said, many adventurers could be seen inside the crest magic's crest 《Black Prison》 behind her.

"What's the meaning of this?" "Let me out of here!" "Kuna-san, you're kidding, right!?"

"…That means it was a trap?"

The fate of the people talking inside the trap with anxious looks was already decided. If Kazane were to look at them with her , she would see the trap's space being filled with letters of death.

Sabeed kept pondering, The labyrinth has had more than enough nourishment, but…the higher the number of sacrifices, the more delight it'll bring to Dark God Rivograph-sama. …Now then, the important talks are going to start from here on.

The labyrinth master finished his deliberations, and stood up, relying on his burly muscles.

"…Kuna, Zuibel is going to come here."

"Zuibel-sama comes eastwards? How unusual."

Sabeed turned his six eyes left and right in response to Kuna's question.

Kuna continued speaking, "Did something possibly happen to the western demonic labyrinth under Zuibel-sama's control?"

"Correct. I heard he stopped sending sacrifices to Rivograph-sama after the labyrinth got encroached upon. Zuibel abandoned the labyrinth, and apparently plans to build a new demonic labyrinth beyond the eastern seas or the northern desert."

The northern Great Goldix Desert and the eastern ocean are so ridiculously huge that it's hard to imagine… Kuna assessed while imagining the scenery as far as she could. Either way, this situation where Sabeed-sama won't be present here should become beneficial in various ways, ufufu?, she smirked.

After swiftly putting on a serious look, Kuna commented, "No way…"

But, he's Seven Demons General Zuibel, right? That Seven Demons General lost? Against who? For someone to turn the table on a dungeon master and encroach their dungeon instead… I wonder what kind of person is capable of pulling off such a monstrous feat…? Was it an ally who lived in his labyrinth? It should be unrelated to the Great One of the bugs. He might have picked a fight with an apostle of another Spirit World God.

Kuna let her thoughts wander.

Sabeed curtly told her, "Well then, I'm heading outside," and disappeared from the labyrinth, using Kuna's return stone.

Sabeed-sama is the manager here, but he doesn't really stay long in this labyrinth, does he? Just where the hell is he always going…? Is he collecting the Lorlent fruits growing at the cliff's edge of the Housand Plateau south-east from here? Or is he devouring adventurers in the southern Roshmale after disguising himself as a monster?

Even Kuna, who had pretended to be Sabeed's subordinate for a long time now, didn't know much about his private life. She retrieved a magic crest-shaped stone, which looked slightly different from a return stone, from her pocket. As soon as she poured mana into that stone, she instantly warped to a research room in the deepest part of the demonic labyrinth.

□□□□

The voices of the adventurers echoed within the octagonal space. All of them were ghastly pale, their faces stained with tears, as they remained locked up in 《Black Prison》.

"――Fufu, I'm here?" Kuna announced happily.

The destination of her warp was a research room littered with countless items as if pointlessly driving the entropy to its maximum.

It was a messy, dirty room, but…the area at Kuna's feet was clean within a fixed radius. The main reason was the magic crest she stood on.

It was a special transfer magic crest connected to Kuna's store on the surface. And, the clutter of items around her also bore a meaning. An earthen figure containing the mana of an evil god was enshrined in a conspicuous place, but this lacked any meaning.

However, she had set up special magic tools in crucial locations. The tools reacted with subtle sounds and mana waves upon detecting Kuna's mana. Those mana waves were regularly emitted into the air, fused with each other, and transformed into light particles. Those light particles changed into a brand new, dazzling lighting, looking like a pretty crest.

However, this was the room of the devilish Kuna. Hence it actually possessed another side as well. As a matter of fact, anyone entering this room without possessing the space-time attribute would explode. In other words, it used a magic trap based on a space-time barrier. At the same time, it also had multiple, special crest spells endowed with the effect to send the mana gathered from the labyrinth to Kuna.

Kuna looked like she was in a trance. She happily giggled as mana washed over her body like a shower. Seductively spreading both her arms, she breathed a hot, sensual sigh. And then, returning to her happy, cheerful mood, she sat down on a gorgeous stone chair while still smiling.

Using a quill for the parchment placed on a stone table, she kept writing down characters in a delirium, murmuring, "From organizations such as Zeze's Capital, Daizen's Virtue, Tail Sea of Love, Heavenly Garment Mitsurugi, Guygal's Shadow, Owl's Fangs, Nose of the Large Bird, Black Glove, Assembly of Stars, and Genie's Fist, to individuals like Suloza. In addition…the Eight Tributary's…"

"…Done."

After stretching herself, she stood up, and fiddled with her item box, taking out a large wand that looked like a combination of moon and tree, and readying it. The wand was linked with a magic tool in this room, which had a moon design added to it.

Immediately upon activating it, a huge screen expanded in front of her eyes. A festival being held in some country was displayed on that screen. While attentively watching a group of several thousand people on a gigantic stage…

In the middle of that stage, a tall person that had its body plastered with ornaments and gave one the impression of being an emperor or royalty…awarded a crown, the symbol of power, to a single man with intelligent eyes possessing double-edged eyelids.

I wonder where this is happening… I've never seen vehicles floating while being held up by countless birds. Even the festival, which seems to be a worshiping of their gods, seems to have another purpose, but…a chilly breath has started to blow from the gray sky, and the many birds - seagulls? - who have been influenced by that wind, have dispersed all over the place. The vehicles they carried are falling on the stage.

The birds are squeaking at the chilly breath as if having gone mad. It's really weird. I wonder what's about to happen there.

Kuna deliberated while staring at the strange images streaming past her eyes.

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