From Mimic to World's strongest daughter

Chapter 17

Y/n's POV

"Wow, master, you seem surprisingly relaxed." Tio said, looking at papa. The wing from her spell faded as the air remained cool in the little chamber we were in. "I'm just playing it cool. The heat's worse than I thought. Could really do with some air conditioning artifacts right now." Papa said.

"Like in Brise?" I asked.

"Yeah, kind of." Papa answered.

"Huh, if it's having that effect on you, master. Then perhaps we've identified the concept behind this labyrinth." Tio mentioned.

"The concept?" Papa asked, looking at Tio confused. 

"That's right. The great labyrinths are designed to test those who seek to fight god, correct? Then it follows that perhaps they each have a unique testing concept." Tio explained. I looked at papa before thinking about the labyrinth I was born in. "What would the labyrinth's test be for where we met?" I asked. 

"Great question. The Great Orcus labyrinth is designed to fight various monsters and gain valuable combat experience. The Great Reisen labyrinth tested your ability to respond to all types of attacks without the help of mana, which is an important power. I hypothesized the Great Gruen Volcano is a test to see if you can maintain focus in extreme conditions. Like this heat and respond to ambushes and surprise attacks." Tio pointed out. Papa looked away from her as he processed what Tio had explained. "Interesting thought. It never even occurred to me to be honest, but it makes me wonder if maybe the tests themselves could be teaching of the liberators or...." Papa said, looking at Tio again. He looked down from her head to her chest before turning away and gasping as he looked at mama. Mama had opened her shirt to wipe the sweat away before she saw him looking at her. "Wanna come wipe me down, Hajime?" Mama asked.

"Nope! Not happening with Y/n around. She's clearly too young!" Papa shouted, standing up and looking away from everyone. Everyone started laughing at papa's response before we got ready to continue the trek into the labyrinth. We eventually reached a floor where it was nothing but lava on the ground. Papa summoned a small boat to use as we continued deeper into the labyrinth. "This is like an amusement park ride through hell." Papa said. 

"What's an amusement park?" I asked.

"It's a place where people go to have a fun time." Papa answered. I looked around, confused about why people would want to come to a labyrinth to have fun. "This isn't a lot of fun." I commented. I heard papa sigh before he looked back at me. "That was just a comment I made. Amusement parks aren't actually like this." Papa said.

"Oh..." I said, looking at him. Tio and Shea looked at each other, confused. "Look, Hajime, there's another tunnel up there." Shea pointed out.

"Altitude wise, I think we're around base level. This could be something." Tio added. 

"Yeah..." Papa said, looking at the tunnel. The sound of the lava bubbling and moving got louder before papa shouted for us to hang on. We went over the edge and plummeted towards the lava below. We landed on the lava, shaken from the hard landing, before we continued on. The second time we fell at the end of a tunnel, mama used a wind spell to keep us from hitting the lava too hard. In front of us was a dome with a few rock spikes around us. "Woah... that's pretty." I said.

"Yeah. It looks like there are gems imbedded in the walls. Assuming there are some we can't see, I'd bet there are about a hundred gems total." Papa said.

"Do you think that could be the liberators' hideout?" Mama asked.

"Given the depth that we are and general looks of it, it could be. That means we could have company, though." Papa said.