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Chapter 155: Magic Mirror I

We\'ve made it to the 39th floor without any problems.

But this is where we\'ll encounter a problem.

There are portals every five floors. And on the floor before that, there\'s always a guardian. Well, the word "guardian" may not be the most accurate term, I suppose. Or is that simply how Babel interprets it?

In front of our party stretched a straight path. We were in a corridor of ice that seemed to go on forever.

In the distance, we could see what looked like stairs leading downward.

The long line of polar bears had left as soon as we stepped foot on this floor. After confirming that we were now safe, we released the otters.

Ea had wanted to keep one, but keeping monsters from the dungeon could have a negative impact on the city, so I told her no. Apparently, it\'s okay for them to live outside as long as they\'ve gone through a screening process. Frankly, I won\'t know anything about how to get that done unless I ask the Guild. Though I\'m pretty sure it\'ll be a hassle.

It\'s cute, so I know how she feels. But we already have two pets at home, Lars and Misuranika-sama, so she\'ll just have to be content with that.

「Now」

The guardian of this floor is known as the "Magic Mirror".

According to the king\'s information, transparent walls will appear along this corridor and they’re absolutely impassable if we proceed in a tight formation. However, if a person advances alone with some distance between them and the rest of the party, the walls will trap that person inside them instead.

Then, the guardian will appear, and by defeating it, the party will be able to advance.

And there will be exactly as many guardians as there are people in the party.

Thankfully, the king\'s information also included a secret trick.

「I\'ll go first」

In a rare turn of events, I stood at the head of the party.

「Eh? You’re serious?」

「I\'m serious. You\'re after me, Shuna」

「Then why not just let me go first?」

「It\'s hard to explain what we\'re up against, so I\'ll fight first and the rest of you can see for yourself. And Shuna, if you feel that I\'m in serious trouble, I\'ll leave it up to you to―――――」

I whispered to Shuna an explanation of the secret trick.

I thought about sharing it with the rest of the party, but that would take away some of the tension of the fight. Without a sense of danger, the experience gained from fighting is minimal.

Valuable experience is the greatest nourishment for an adventurer. For us to be able to continue adventuring even beyond this point, this is something everyone needs to experience. For all we know, it could come in handy down the line.

「Well, I got it」

Shuna nodded in understanding with a weird look on his face.

「I’m counting on you」

「Leave it to me」

I jogged ahead of the party and became trapped in the corridor. A wall as transparent as glass had appeared, separating me from the party.

I felt like I could hear Rana and Ea\'s voices.

Otou-san looked like he was going to try cutting through the wall, but was stopped by Shuna.

It\'s okay, I signaled to the party.

The next thing I noticed was that my shadow had become strangely dark. Like it had a will of its own, it moved until it was directly in front of me, and then formed itself into the shape of a human being.

What it formed into was an ordinary-looking man with wavy hair that was a little dog-like.

His features were hard to grasp as they were so unremarkable that even if someone drew a portrait of him and pasted it on a wall, no one would even look at it as they passed by. The glasses and poncho that he wore did make up for the lack of distinctiveness to some extent.

He had an AK slung over his shoulder. And in all likelihood, a Government hidden somewhere on his person.

It\'s me.

It\'s me from the past, back when I had just come to this world.

The me of today wears a top hat, an antiquated adventurer\'s outfit, and a cloak that has absorbed dragon blood. My weapons are a magic sword, a demonic katana, and a masterwork sword with no name.

The only thing that\'s the same is the glasses-shaped devices we wear and everything else is different.

In other words, this "guardian", this "magic mirror", is all about overcoming one\'s past.

I met eyes with the "shadow".

「Agathion!」

The sound of gunshots rang out suddenly. I was able to react as I was watching his fingers.

I had the magic sword spin in mid-air to deflect the AK bullets fired by the shadow.

The sheath that protects the magic sword is designed to be able to withstand anything under 50 caliber. To think that Makina making the sheath bullet-resistant just in case would prove helpful in such a way, I guess I have no choice but to praise her.

I counted exactly thirty shots as I waited for the gunfire to stop, then got ready to attack. Certain of a small hunch I had, I peeked out from behind my magic sword for only a split second.

The sound of the 31st shot that I had induced rang out.

As I thought, the shadow had chambered an extra round. I had thought about doing it in the past, but I never thought I\'d see it here. This may be the me of the past, but it\'s possible that it\'s the optimized version of that me.

The AK\'s magazine hit the ground.

The speed at which the shadow was changing magazines was quick.

Even so, the fact that we were a mere six meters apart was far too close.

In a burst of speed, I instantly closed that distance and cut the shadow\'s left hand off with a single swing of my demonic katana. The return swing of the katana ended after cutting through the Government.

It had been avoided.

By sacrificing his pistol, the shadow had gotten within striking distance. In his right hand was a karambit similar to the one I had in my left.

The claw-like blades clashed. After they were locked together for a brief moment, my blade cut into the shadow\'s neck.

Unfortunately for you, this blade is different.

No matter how optimized you are, there\'s no way you can stop me using the modern world\'s standard of physical strength.

The blade dug deep into the shadow\'s flesh and severed his carotid artery.

I had a vision that it was really me who had suffered a mortal wound.

But a vision is just a vision. I am me, and the one in front of me is an enemy.

I slipped my index finger out of the karambit’s ring and raised my demonic katana with both hands.

Even after sustaining a mortal wound, the shadow didn\'t lose his will to fight.

Suppressing the blood spurting from his neck with the one hand he had left, he wobbled closer like a ghost.

Yeah, that\'s right.

This is the kind of person I am.

I decapitated the shadow. And then, for good measure, I stabbed him through the heart and impaled him into the wall on the opposite side of the party.

「That should do it」

I\'m kinda amazed I managed to stay alive till now. I really was lucky.

Pulling my katana out of the shadow, I wiped off the blood and slipped it back into its scabbard.

Just as it clicked into place, the shadow disappeared.

「Dear, are you alright?!」

Rana had slipped back into polite speech.

「I\'m fine」

It appeared that the transparent walls would disappear when the shadow did.

Our party had gotten one step closer to the stairs.

「Umm, everyone, as you\'ve just seen, that’s the kind of enemy this floor\'s guardian is. Who wants to go next?」

「I\'ll go, allow me」

Rana rephrased her words, making it sound a little weird.

「Rana-sana, it\'s my turn」

Ignoring Shuna, Rana walked on ahead.

「No, forget I said anything」

They\'re in the same martial arts school, and Rana is by rights Shuna\'s junior, but for some reason, Shuna is the one being deferential.

Rana got trapped inside the transparent walls, just like me.

What appeared before her was, as expected, the Rana of old.

Her shadow had on a white robe. Leaning on her staff, she was slightly hunched over. Her fear and lack of confidence showed on her face. She had the anxious look of someone who had suffered through a great deal.

Rana showed great displeasure at the sight of her shadow.

Although she had her back to me, I could tell what was on her face.

In a sudden about-face, a look of madness appeared on the shadow\'s face as she began to chant her magic.

I couldn\'t hear anything. The walls blocked off all sound. But I felt the impact that made the walls tremble.

It took but a single blow.

Rana burst into a run, her footsteps crushing the ice beneath them, and slammed her bare fist into the shadow\'s abdomen, sending it smashing into the far wall, just like I had done.

Blood spurted from the shadow\'s mouth and then it disappeared. Rana had ended everything with one blow.

The walls let us through, and our party was yet again one step closer to the stairs.

「………………How unpleasant!」

Rana roared.

I see, you hate the person you used to be, huh? I do find her lovable though.

「Alright, next person」

I was thinking of letting Shuna go next………

「This looks interesting. I\'ll go next」

………but Otou-san stepped forward. Shuna had a look on his face that said, "Ehhhhhh."

Otou-san got himself trapped inside the walls before anyone could stop him.

My party members are bad at waiting for their turn, it seems.

The shadow of Otou-san that appeared was surprisingly young, maybe about Shuna\'s age. He was wearing leather armor that was not as well-used as the one Otou-san had on now, a plain round shield, and a scimitar that I had never seen before.

It\'s completely different from the longsword he used to carry. The scimitar seems to have some kind of blessing on it as well. Even such things can be recreated, huh?

The shadow\'s black hair was cropped short and he had no beard.

Also, the shadow didn’t have an eye patch over his left eye.

『Eh?』

Shuna and I shouted out at the same time.

The shadow raised his scimitar to attack.

There was a split-second flash of faint silver light.

As Otou-san turned back towards us, the upper body of the shadow slid off diagonally before disappearing. The slash had been so quiet that not a single drop of blood had even fallen. Moreover, we weren\'t even able to catch any of the preliminary movements for drawing the katana.

It was so terrifying that it made me shiver.

There\'s no way to avoid a technique like this. It can probably kill the opponent without even letting them feel any pain.

「It\'s so-so, I suppose」

I don\'t know what\'s so "so-so" about it, but Shuna has been petrified in shock. With him like this, it\'s impossible for him to go next.

Our party advanced.

「………………」

Wordlessly, Lys stepped forward next.

Out came a woman in a maid\'s outfit that I didn\'t recognize at all. I looked at Shuna, but he shook his head and said, "I have no idea."

Could it be that this is the real Lys? For a woman who claims to be St. Lyridias, she looks plain and unremarkable, like someone you could find just about anywhere. Just like………me.

Lys killed the unresisting maid with a single stab of her sword. And that was that. It couldn\'t even be called a fight.

A strange mood hung over the party as we advanced in silence.

Two more before we reached the stairs.

「Who’s going next?」

「Alright, I’ll go」

Finally, Shuna got his turn.

I watched the back of the boy swordsman as he boldly stepped forward.

The shadow that appeared before him was the Shuna from when we first met. His hair wasn\'t as long, and there was no red pattern on the longsword he pulled out.

A sword fight began.

Sword clashed against sword as if it were a form of art.

What started out as small swings gradually became larger and more powerful, and eventually, the wind whipped up by the swords became as fierce as a tempest. Sparks flew as the blades clashed together multiple times every moment.

Perhaps it was because I was so entranced by it, but it felt like the dance of swords went on for an unusually long time.

The end, however, came rather abruptly.

When the shadow fell to his knees after running out of stamina, Shuna finished him off with a thrust of his sword.

「How\'d you like that?」

I burst into applause. Influenced by me, Rana also clapped her hands.

「Yes! I\'m getting stronger!」

No no no, I think you\'ve always been strong from the beginning. Maybe Shuna never had a chance to realize his own growth because the people around him were all too insanely strong? Regardless, it\'s good to be more confident. Just don\'t let it become arrogance.

Lastly………

「Alright, it’s your turn, Ea」

「Umm, Onii-chan………do I really have to do this alone?」

That was unexpected.

My usually confident sister was hesitant and had a bitter smile on her face.

「If possible, this should be done without help. Are you not feeling well? Then let\'s come back another day」

「No! There\'s………nothing wrong with me physically」

I had been thinking that it might be that time of the month for her, but it appeared that I was off the mark.

「This is all about fighting our old selves, isn\'t it?」

「That\'s right. I was surprised by how extremely young it was in Otou-san\'s case, but the magic mirror probably creates a "shadow" that reflects the person "in their prime" from any time other than the present」

Even things that don\'t exist in the present, like my AK or Otou-san\'s scimitar, can be recreated.

In other words, the magic mirror shows what\'s inside the adventurer\'s memory.

Hence, the magic mirror is a guardian that won\'t allow anyone who hasn\'t had any growth to advance.

「Sorry, I might lose this one」

「There you go again with the jokes」

She has a compound bow made using modern technology. On top of that, she has Lola\'s cloak, which can turn her invisible.

I don\'t know what Ea was like in the past, but I don\'t think there’s any way that the Ea of today would lose.

She\'s been doing a good job both in detecting enemies and supporting us in combat. Even discounting the bias I have for my family, I can say that she\'s an outstanding adventurer.

I watched over my sister\'s back, which looked awfully small as she advanced, then saw the shadow that confronted her.

I used the secret trick in the strategy guide to help my sister.

As a result, we won and were able to clear the floor. We reached the 40th floor without sacrificing anyone.

Souya’s fight was pretty interesting, wasn’t it? But I thought I’ll mention something that the author hasn’t done too much of but really went full tilt this time: The author wrote this fight scene in a way that requires a lot of reading between the lines(which, if you forgot, is one of the themes of this story). For example, the part “After they(their karambit blades) were locked together for a brief moment, my blade cut into the shadow\'s neck” that was followed up by Souya saying his blade is different, the implication is that his Damascus steel blade cut through the shadow’s cheap karambit. And the slipping his index finger out of the karambit’s ring part is also an implication that he let go of it, which is why him holding his katana with both hands is emphasized immediately after. Well, it’s a slightly different way of going about fight scenes, which I liked, but I can understand if you were confused by it at first since it’s slightly different from what the author usually does.

Are you curious? The old Ea is stronger than she is now? Why? How? And what did you think of Lys’ shadow? There’s a lot more to come, so stay tuned!!!