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The next three chapters will be Kufar’s side of things. Do note that Nicole won’t appear.

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One Slime was crawling within the darkness. You could sense a human-like impatience in its movements.

“S̲h̲i̲t̲, s̲h̲i̲t̲! Damn you, Reid! You keep getting in my way again and again!”

Ashella’s assassination, Berith’s chaos. He wanted to cause all that and isolate the half-demons, and then bring them over to his side. However, his plans were prevented by Reid alone.

Moreover, he was even discovered when he was making an escape, and ended up losing nearly half of his body. Even after he somehow escaped, he ended up in the forefront of the demonic region, which was the World Tree. Now that he has lost his power, he had to leave this place as fast as he could.

Fortunately, his camouflaging ability which was native to Slimes helped him lower the chances of getting attacked by low-intelligence monsters like Kobolds. Still, other Slimes could see through that camouflage, so the risk wasn’t nonexistent at all

But that wasn’t exactly bad for the current Kufar. The Slimes that attacked him weren’t particularly strong, so Kufar had a winning chance in a devouring battle. And like this, he ate several Slimes, complemented his body and he could finally sigh in relief.

“In this state, I should be able to deal with Kobolds even if they attack in groups. But what should I do now…”

With the current matter, Kufar’s side ended up with quite a big loss. He lost most of his close aides, and with no gains like this, they would fail to continue as an organization.

He had to somehow regain his combat power and collaborators, otherwise, there would be no future for him.

“Tsk, I’ll have to focus entirely on rebuilding the organization for some time. Everything is the Six Heroes, no, Reid’s fault.”

His force positioned in the north also couldn’t accomplish anything big due to the Six Heroes getting in the way. They were also being targeted by the kingdom too already, so Kufar was thinking hard about whether he ought to give up on the north.

But he was within the labyrinth now. A dangerous place where carelessness would lead to instant death. While he was thinking, A Slime crawled closer from above and swooped down on him.

However, Kufar had no head or anything, so that wasn’t even a surprise attack. Normally, it could be a fatal attack that could block one’s respiratory organs, but it was no harm for Kufar who didn’t even breathe.

They got mixed up together, and he dragged the Slime inside his body and devoured it in reverse.

“Good grief, I can’t think calmly around here. Oh well, it should’ve calmed down outside already, so I suppose it’s time to leave.”

It has been a few hours since he escaped inside the labyrinth and was running about in it. Since there were no signs of Reid chasing him, it was either that he was defeated by the Devils he summoned, or he gave up on the chase.

Chasing a Slime hiding inside the labyrinth would be too difficult even for someone like Reid. Chasing a specific Slime, on top, would be practically impossible.

“There’s a chance that he’s planning to ambush me at the entrance… but I’ll just escape back at that time.”

Kufar had an advantage when it came to running around inside the labyrinth as his racial trait. Thinking optimistically, Kufar headed towards the entrance.

Having said that, after running about for so long inside, he didn’t know where that entrance even was. He loitered around for over an hour and finally saw the outside light. It seemed that night had passed while he was inside and it was already morning.

Just in case, he clung to the ceiling that worked as a blind spot, and crawled slowly towards the entrance in vigilance. But Reid was nowhere to be seen, and there were no signs of ambush.

“Did he really get defeated by the Devils? I wanted to take him down myself if possible.”

He assumed a human appearance while grumbling and tried to step outside the entrance, but suddenly, one boy appeared before him to block the way.

“Hey now, you should stay where you are.”
“Wha-, you’re…!”

Kufar remembered this boy. It was the same one he saw together with Reid. However, since he didn’t act hostile, he might’ve simply been asked to teleport Reid back then.

If he wasn’t antagonistic towards Kufar, there could be room for negotiation. Thinking so, Kufar revealed an amiable smile.

“Oh, my bad. I remember you helped Reid back then. I am—”
“Shut up. I don’t care who you are. However, I can’t overlook the labyrinth monster stepping outside due to my position.”
“What did you say?”
“I am presently entrusted with the management of the World Tree. It’s my job to make sure no monster leaves this place.”
“Please wait. I’m not a monster of the laby—”
“It’s not my concern where the monster was born. Sorry, but can you return back to the labyrinth? I don’t mind if you resist either. I’ll just erase you through force.”
“D-Don’t screw with me!”

Kufar would normally not get so indignant over this much. However, his plans were thwarted by Reid, and he had to flee after his defeat. He couldn’t maintain his calm after being so cornered.

He faced the boy and threw his toxic body fluids toward him. It was a deadly poison that made even Reid faint. Regardless of who he was, he couldn’t possibly endure it.

“—or so you’re thinking, right? Sorry, but this level of poison has no effect on me.”
“W-Why…?!”
“Oh, I didn’t introduce myself, did I? I am the Dragon God Bahamut. I’ve been called Baa lately. I’m something of an acquaintance of the God of Destruction.”
“God of Destruction?!”

God of Destruction Yuuri who once broke the World Tree. It was certainly the name of a God that was connected to the World Tree. And the Dragon God Bahamut was also connected to it.

In the legends, he was the one who had conquered the World Tree labyrinth for the first time and obtained immortality. That was Bahamut. But the king at that time wanted his immortality, and asked Bahamut to bestow that power to him too.

Naturally, doing so would require climbing the World Tree, so he couldn’t grant that wish. The king lost his temper at that reality, and tortured him.

The torture put him to dying over and over and reviving due to his immortality, eventually going insane and changing his body into that of a Dragon and burning down most of the world, or so it was said.

However, connected to the World Tree or not, he couldn’t believe that gods really existed. Some of the healing spells certainly needed faith to cast. But even so, gods were such far-off existences that no one would believe that one would appear before their eyes.

Before Kufar, who trembled in astonishment and disbelief, Bahamut slowly raised his hand. His hand grew visibly wider and longer, and his claws turned sharper and gigantic. It was no longer a human’s arm, but instead that of a Dragon’s.

“N-No way…”
“Unfortunately for you, it is. Good grief, I’d have gone easy if you just listened.”

Bahamut swung his claws down while looking completely bored.

Kufar’s body, which was supposed to be a lump of poison, was scooped out and blasted to the back. He then crashed to the floor, rebounded to the ceiling, and once again fell to the floor, at which point, most of his body was scattered away.

Even his core seemed cracked and he momentarily lost consciousness. His only saving grace was that he felt no pain in this body.

While being flown away, Kufar finally found an answer to one question. That is, why did no monsters leave this labyrinth if there was no gatekeeper? It was because this Dragon God was standing watch.

It was just a single attack, which was only at the level of lightly swinging his claws from Bahamut’s perspective. But that was enough to blast most of his body away. That fact made Kufar realize the reality. That it would be impossible to leave from this entrance.

As he rolled on the ground, he came to that conclusion in his fading consciousness.