Songs in the Void

Arifureta Universe, Tortus, True Orcus Great Labyrinth, 54th Floor.

After watching the recording of Aletia's uncle, Dienleed, Aletia was at a complete loss for quite some time. Meanwhile, Tatsuo and Sumire gave her space to sort through her feelings. Finding out what you believed was a betrayal for the last three hundred years was actually done for you protection was a lot to take in, after all.

Aletia eventually came to her senses around the time Tatsuo and Sumire decided to lay down for the night. Yet, when she did, she clung to Tatsuo, most likely seeing him as a pillar of support, considering the fact that he was the one who freed her from the block of Shtal Ore.

As a result, she ended up sleeping in his bed while clinging to him, silently crying herself to sleep. Sumire, on the other hand, was not happy to see another woman sleeping in Tatsuo's bed. Yet, because of what Aletia had just been through, she let it slide... for that night.

The next day, the trio restarted their exploration of the labyrinth, and with Aletia's magical fire power, their exploration was even smoother than before, cutting down the average time spent on each floor by half a day.

Unfortunately, while each day was spent more leisurely, nights became more stressful, especially for Tatsuo. Though, he would admit to finding them rather amusing at first.

The reason for that was simple, after the first night that Aletia spent sleeping snuggled up to Tatsuo, she wanted to experience the same for every night after that, as well. However, Sumire had no intention of allowing that. As a result, much of each evening was spent with the two ladies arguing about the sleeping arrangements.

In the end, when the two got too annoying with their bickering that almost devolved into full on fights, Tatsuo put his foot down and told them that he could just make a bed big enough for all three of them to sleep in.

"Don't look at me like that." Tatsuo said nonchalantly while he [Transmuted] the three beds he originally made for the trio into one large bed while Sumire and Aletia looked at him with blank gazes. "You've been fighting over who gets to cuddle with me every night for more than a week. And to be honest, it's getting annoying. So, now you two can just share. Sharing is caring, after all."

After reaching that point, Tatsuo then put all three of the mattresses he took from the Heiligh Royal Castle on the new, larger bed before [Transmuting them into one large mattress. Meanwhile, Sumire and Aletia stared at him as if they could not believe that the brat in front of them had the audacity to suggest something like he just did.

"Tatsuo-Kun, I am your girlfriend, right?" Sumire asked in a dumbfounded tone.

"You are." Tatsuo replied with a nod while he looked over his work.

"Then, why should I have to share you with anyone?" Sumire asked.

"Because I'm tired of hearing the same argument." Tatsuo replied as if there was nothing wrong with what he said.

This naturally left Sumire at a loss.

Meanwhile, Aletia, who grew up as royalty, and had seen many things in her life before she was sealed, was the first to come to her senses. Then, she climbed up into the larger bed and laid down on the right side of the bed before patting the space in the middle while staring at Tatsuo.

Smiling in response, Tatsuo wasted no time climbing into bed, as well.

Sumire, on the other hand, stared Tatsuo and Aletia down as if she was ready to start fighting both of them. However, after a few seconds of glaring intensely, she exhaled a defeated sigh before climbing into the bed and laying down on the other side of Tatsuo.

"*Sigh* This is why I didn't want to bring her with us." Sumire murmured to herself in a voice so quiet that neither Tatsuo nor Aletia could hear her, despite their enhanced senses. "I knew this would happen sooner or later, especially after Tatsuo-Kun's dragon bloodline woke up, but I wanted to have him all to myself for a little longer. At least until we left this world, anyway."

In fact, because Sumire lived in a world separate from Tatsuo, she expected something like this, the beginning of Tatsuo creating a harem, to happen. Especially since because of his charm, there was no way he would not attract girls in his own world. Still, it did not make it any easier to accept.

After having that thought, Sumire, with a pout on her face, wrapped her arms around Tatsuo and buried her face on his shoulder. Tatsuo, on the other hand, smiled at her warmly while wrapping his arm around her, as well.

Meanwhile, Aletia, who wanted to gain points by being the first to accept the new sleeping arrangements, frowned when she saw how warmly Tatsuo was smiling at Sumire. Then, she spitefully pulled Tatsuo's collar before biting into his neck, not letting go or going to sleep until she was completely satisfied with her late night meal.

Arifureta Universe, Tortus, True Orcus Great Labyrinth, 60th Floor.

The next day, the three continued their descent through the True Orcus Great Labyrinth. And although most of the monsters they ate along the way did not provide them any more Skills, Sumire's Stats continued to increase. Meanwhile, Tatsuo continued to increase his [Stats] by putting pressure on his muscles, bones, brain, and tendons by circulating his [Energy] through his [Mana Reactor] heart at ever increasing speeds whenever he got the chance to do so.

"I don't like this Floor." Sumire said while using her spear to cut down the 5'2" tall blades of grass the trio was walking through.

No, to say that the trio was walking through the grass would be inaccurate. Two of the three, Tatsuo and Sumire, were walking through the grass. Aletia, on the other hand, was sitting on Tatsuo's shoulders, because the chances of the group losing her, who only stood at 4'7", in this grass was pretty high.

"Yeah, it's pretty annoying." Tatsuo muttered while following Sumire with all his [Perception Skills] active. "Still, I doubt anything would be able to sneak up on us, though."

"Why does it sound like you just raised a flag?" Sumire asked while sweeping her spear once again.

*Bang!*

"That's just your imagination." Tatsuo replied as he pulled one of his pistols and shot a monster that was trying to sneak up on the group through the tall grass. "Anyway, let's go take a look at the monster I just killed. This will be the first one we've seen since we entered this floor, after all."

With Tatsuo's suggestion, the group changed direction. A few seconds later, they stood over the corpse of a dinosaur-like magic beast that resembled a velociraptor with green scales that blended in with the tall grass.

"A dinosaur?" Sumire asked while looking down at the dead magical beast.

"That's what it looks like." Tatsuo replied with a nod. "But I find this more interesting."

As Tatsuo spoke, he bent down to pick up a flower.

"Just a flower." Aletia said while tilting her head at the flower in Tatsuo's hand.

Although the fact that Tatsuo was taking interest in a flower was confusing to Aletia, Sumire knew what he was getting at. He had explained to her that there was a floor where all the monsters were being controlled by a single monster who used parasitic flowers to control their nervous systems.

And because they were not willing to give Aletia some sort of existential crisis by letting her in on the fact that her world appeared in a form of fiction in another world, they did not reveal anything they knew about the world or future they were aware of.

"Yeah, but there are no flowers in the field of tall grass." Sumire said, answering Aletia's question.

Once again, Aletia tilted her head, not understanding what the big deal was. However, she did not have much time to think about it, as Tatsuo patted Sumire on the shoulder.

"Let's get moving." Tatsuo said.

"Yeah, there are a lot of them coming this way." Sumire replied with a nod.

Meanwhile, Aletia, who also noticed the incoming monsters, this time, raised a hand to the sky.

"[Crimson Javelin]." Aletia said, naming the skill she intended to cast.

Although calling out the names of her skills was not necessary to use her magic, Aletia found it easier to visualize her spells when speaking their names aloud. As a result, the ball of crimson red flames she conjured rapidly stretched into the shape of a spear.

A moment later, Aletia swung her arm to the right, causing the flaming spear to fly off at subsonic speed.

*Roar!*

Not even a second later, the sound of a beast's roar echoed over the area. At the same time, the roaring beast, a 15' tall monster that looked like a tyrannosaurus rex raised its head while it was engulfed in flames. However, the pain-filled roar did not last long, as the monster, with a large, cauterized hole in its torso, fell to the ground lifelessly.

*Boom!*

The monster's fall caused the ground to shake slightly. However, before they could even be affected by the shaking, Tatsuo and Sumire had already taken off and started running away from the raptor's corpse.

"Damn, there are a lot of these things coming after us." Tatsuo muttered while running with Aletia on his shoulders.

"Yeah." Sumire muttered as she reeled her spear back.

In the next instant, Sumire threw her spear forward, aiming to pierce another raptor's head. However, the raptor lowered its head slightly in a somewhat mechanical manner. As a result, a flower similar to the one that Tatsuo had picked up earlier, that was growing from the raptor's head, was destroyed as the spear passed by.

Once the flower was destroyed, the raptor's movements froze for a moment as it watched the flower pedals waft down. Then, once the pedals fell to the floor, the raptor very enthusiastically began stomping said pedals. A few moments later, after it was satisfied with all its stomping, the raptor raised its head and looked at the ceiling with tears welling in its eyes.

*Swish!*

Unfortunately, before it could revel in its emotions, the group passed by. And when they did, Tatsuo swept the blade of one of his pistols past its throat.

"Did you really have to do that?" Sumire asked as she picked up her spear that was stuck in the ground after her throw. "It was having a moment."

"Yeah, and after that moment, it would have probably tried to kill us, just like every other thing native to this labyrinth." Tatsuo replied.

"Did you notice?" Aletia asked while patting Tatsuo on the top of his head. "When the flower was destroyed?"

"Yeah." Tatsuo replied with a nod while continuing to run.

*Bang!* *Bang!* *Bang!* *Bang!* *Bang!*

"It looked happy." Tatsuo continued while rapidly shooting his pistols in all directions. "Like it just regained its freedom, or something."

"Does that mean those flowers are controlling the monsters on this floor?" Sumire asked as if she did not know the answer to her question.

"Probably." Tatsuo replied while holstering his pistols. He then continued as he took several round objects out of his [Inventory]. "I mean, the monster's movements are a bit stiff, don't you think?"

Tatsuo then threw the round objects all around, except in the direction the party was running.

"Aletia-San, light 'em up." Tatsuo said.

"[Fireball]." Aletia said in response.

A moment later, balls of fire equal in number to the round objects Tatsuo had just thrown appeared around the trio. Then, they flew towards the objects. And when they made contact, the objects exploded, sending a large amount of burning tar from the 3rd Floor in all directions, burning all the grass and monsters within their range.

The next few minutes continued with the trio continuing to run through the field of tall grass while decimating their surroundings. Meanwhile, no matter how many they killed, monsters that looked like dinosaurs continued to try and surround them.

Eventually, the group left the grassy area. When they did, a large amount of it had been burned to ashes. On top of that, they came across a wooded area. Though, the trees were quite tall, nothing like the woods that could be seen on Earth.

"How do trees this big grow underground?" Sumire asked as she raised her shield to deflect the fangs of a raptor that leapt down from one of the trees.

*Bang!*

"Who knows?" Tatsuo replied after shooting the raptor that just attacked Sumire. "More importantly, I don't think setting up a base on this floor will be possible until we deal with whatever is controlling the monsters."

"Just keep running." Aletia said while she sent [Crimson Javelins] at every tree in sight. "I don't like it here."

On a side note, after a few days, Aletia's speech patterns became more fluid, more than likely because she had been speaking more often after regaining her freedom.

About fifteen more minutes passed while Tatsuo, Sumire, and Aletia continued to lay waste to their surroundings. After leaving nothing but scorched earth in their wake, they finally reached the end of the room.

"I think we just crossed the entire floor." Sumire said. "And the only way forward is that big crack in the wall."

While she spoke, Sumire pointed her spear ahead. Where her spear pointed, there was a crack that was only big enough for one person to pass through at a time. On top of that, it was too small for one of the tyrannosaurus rexes to pass through. Plus, only one raptor would be able to pass through at a time, as well.

"Well, we should be able to take a little break if we go inside." Tatsuo replied, already knowing what to expect inside. "So, let's go."

Without wasting any time, the group of three ran into the crack. And once they were on the other side, they found themselves in a large cave.

As soon as they were all inside, Tatsuo took Aletia off his shoulders, ignoring the pouting vampire princess as he did so. Then, he spun around and slammed his palms on the cave wall next to the crack.

*Zap!*

As soon as his palms came in contact with the wall, Tatsuo used [Alchemy] to close off most of the crack, only leaving an opening big enough so that air would be able to circulate through the cave.

*Sigh* I don't think I've ever run for that long while fighting." Sumire said as she scanned the cave. "Unfortunately, it doesn't look like we can take a break yet."

As if waiting for someone to say that, a cloud of spores came towards the trio from the opposite side of the cave.

"Something tells me that those spores are what was controlling the monsters." Tatsuo said after turning away from the wall.

"Then, I'll burn them all." Aletia said as she raised her little hand towards the spores.

"That's probably not a good idea." Tatsuo said as he placed a hand on Aletia's outstretched arm. "I mean, starting a fire in such an enclosed space sounds like a really good way to suffocate us all."

"Then, what should we do?" Aletia asked as she lowered her hand while looking up at Tatsuo.

However, Tatsuo was not the one to answer Aletia's question.

"Just kill whatever is sending out those spores." Sumire replied with her eyes narrowed and her spear raised into a throwing position.

*Swoosh!*

As soon as Sumire's words ended, she threw her spear with all her might.

*Screech!*

Not even a second later, a high-pitched shriek echoed through the cave. On top of that, the spores that were floating towards the trio lost whatever kept them afloat as they slowly fell to the floor.

"Ugly." Aletia muttered in reference to both the shriek and the creature responsible for it after looking in the direction Sumire threw her spear.

"Well, let's take a closer look." Tatsuo said as he started walking towards the other side of the cave.

Sumire and Aletia followed Tatsuo closely while he walked. Meanwhile, Sumire recalled her spear, just in case there were other monsters that she was somehow unable to detect.

Eventually, the group arrived in front of the corpse of a somewhat humanoid creature that seemed to be made of plants.

"It's like a dryad." Sumire muttered.

"But aren't dryads supposed to be beautiful?" Tatsuo asked. "Because this thing is the furthest thing away from that word that I can think of."

As they said, the corpse lying on the ground was like that of a dryad, a female humanoid creature that seemed to be fused with a number of vines. However, unlike the beautiful appearances that dryads were known for in the fiction they were familiar with, this looked like a woman whose skin had been burned by a potent acid.

"Does it matter?" Aletia asked curiously. "The two of you will eat it anyway."

"Nope." Tatsuo said without hesitation.

"Not a chance." Sumire added.

"Why?" Aletia asked curiously.

"Because it looks too human." Sumire replied.

"But... the cyclopes..." Aletia countered.

"They may have been humanoid..." Tatsuo said as he plopped his hand on Aletia's head and started patting her. "But humans don't have one big eye. She, on the other hand..."

Reaching that point, Tatsuo pointed down at the fake-dryad's corpse.

"... looks like a burn victim." Tatsuo said concluding his explanation.

"I see." Aletia said, not understanding the difference.

To Aletia, a monster was a monster. But she would not argue with them over their values. Instead, she raised her hands and grabbed Tatsuo's hand that was on her head while looking up at him with puppy dog eyes while her expression somehow did not change in the slightest.

"I want to take a shower." Aletia said after Tatsuo looked down at her.

"Okay, I'll start making the base." Tatsuo said with a smile.

"Take one with me." Aletia added while licking her lips seductively.

"Not gonna happen!" Sumire interjected while pulling Tatsuo away from Aletia and wrapping her arms around his torso defensively.

"Tch!" Aletia clicked her tongue while glaring at Sumire with an annoyed gaze.

Smiling at the routine he had gotten used to over the last month, or so, Tatsuo separated himself from Sumire Then, he started working on the base for this floor. Meanwhile, Sumire and Aletia decided to explore the cave. However, during their exploration, they only came across one thing of interest, the path leading to the 61st Floor.

And the next day, after getting a good rest, they proceeded down to the next floor. Making this the shortest exploration of a floor since Tatsuo and Sumire fell in to the abyss. And the next month passed smoothly, leading to the trio reaching the 100th Floor with little difficulty.