How deep the Elro Labyrinth of this world was, no one knew. Nearly a thousand years had passed since its discovery, and magical power continuously overflowed from within, creating various kinds of monsters.
These monsters were vastly different from those outside.
Once slain, these monsters would dissipate, but particularly powerful ones would leave behind crystals, or even corpses.
Life created from pure magical power sounded like a fantasy.
But that's how labyrinths worked in this world.
Furthermore, people in this world discovered that labyrinths also contained abundant magical crystal mines.
However, most of these were embedded in rock. Large-scale mining could easily cause the labyrinth's structure to collapse.
Essentially, it was a one-time deal, ultimately not worthwhile.
But if they let the magical crystals slowly release their power, creating monsters, then obtain crystals by slaying those monsters, the benefits would be endless.
A long, long time ago, after deciding to stop mining the labyrinth's ore deposits, adventurers came into being.
The Elro Labyrinth was, without a doubt, a super mine.
The crystals within were astonishingly abundant!
Naturally, these were found in the deepest parts, which were extremely difficult to reach. Inside, you couldn't even use teleportation magic properly; spatial magic was greatly disrupted by the labyrinth's nature.
It was like electronic devices encountering a magnetic field.
"Currently, adventurers have explored down to about the 56th floor. The Adventurer's Guild classifies floors 1-20 as the Upper Stratum, floors 21-40 as the Middle Stratum, and below that is the Lower Stratum."
Mamako explained the Elro Labyrinth to Kaito.
It was clear that this labyrinth differed somewhat from the Elro Labyrinth in the So I'm a Spider, So What? World, but some of the monsters were similar.
For example, the monkeys and lizards appearing on the 18th floor were monsters found in the I'm a Spider's Elro Labyrinth.
Kaito didn't concern himself with the floor divisions.
Based on his detection, the labyrinth was incredibly deep!
It likely reached depths of over 20,000 meters. Deep underground, Kaito detected a vast number of magical crystals, many of enormous size. The smallest were as big as an ordinary house, the largest as big as a building.
Of course, these were each a single, whole crystal.
One could imagine how massive these magical crystals were.
No wonder this world had such abundant magical power; even ordinary magical worlds probably weren't this luxurious.
In terms of floors, assuming an average height of 50 meters per floor, there would be about 400 floors left.
"There we go..."
Around the 150th floor, Kaito finally found a colossal giant spider in a huge cavern.
Namely, the Spider Queen from the I'm a Spider World.
"Chiyo, among your Demon Gods, is there one with a spider as its true form?"
"Hmm? How did you know, Kaito-nii?"
Chiyo was stunned for a moment, then turned her head curiously.
"Oh, just a guess. Do you know her name?"
"Hehe, her name is Ariel. She's the Demon God of Gluttony, and the strongest among the seven Demon Gods! If she wanted, she could even become the Demon God of Wrath or the Demon God of Pride! She actually defeated them in the past and took their Authorities, but after humans started wars, she casually threw the Authorities back to them."
'Uuuhh...'
'That fits, then.'
'The Elro Labyrinth had a Spider Queen, and among the Demon Gods, there was Ariel with her spider body. Therefore, Shiraori (Kumoko) must also be in this labyrinth!'
'But with so many spiders in the labyrinth, finding her would require slowly filtering.'
Kaito didn't know how far Kumoko had grown. If she had reached the stage of defeating the Earth Dragon, she'd be easier to identify. If not, it would be tricky.
Come to think of it, there were many Earth Dragons in this labyrinth, both strong and weak.
There was also volcanic magma within the labyrinth, rising from the planet's core.
As for Ariel being the Demon God of Gluttony... well, considering Kumoko eats anything, that made sense...
"Are you interested in her, Kaito-nii?"
"Not really. I just happened to find a very strong Spider Queen in the labyrinth, so I was curious."
Kaito answered casually while using his ability to create a passage through the rock.
Possessing the SSS-class abilities of Rex Lapis, he could easily descend straight to the deepest levels.
But he was looking for Kumoko and also wanted to experience being an adventurer, so he didn't do that.
Incidentally, the first 20 floors were illuminated by magical lamps, but below the 20th floor, it was dark. You needed to carry lamps made from special magic stones for light; otherwise, torches would do.
If there was a mage in the party, they could use illumination magic, creating a small ball of light.
Inside, the Elro Labyrinth was incredibly winding and rugged.
Beyond the 30th floor, there were no proper paths to walk on. Many places required jumping and climbing, and during that time, monsters would inevitably jump out from some corner to attack.
"It should be around here."
On the 39th floor, Kaito stopped descending using his abilities.
According to his detection, there was a lone spider on this floor. Kaito wanted to see if it was the Shiraori he was looking for.
Since this world had summoned a Hero a while ago, Shiraori should have made her grand appearance by now.
"Kaito, why are we stopping on this floor?"
"I want to see if there are any interesting monsters to adopt."
"Huh? Keep a monster as a pet?"
It wasn't unheard of, but the idea of Kaito keeping a pet made both Mamako and Chiyo curious.
Honestly, most monsters in this world weren't very cute.
"Yeah."
What was wrong with keeping the spider as a pet?
Hehe~
Of course, not an ordinary spider. This was specifically for Kumoko.
Even though he knew Shiraori's true identity and such, this wasn't the same world.
"Hmm? That spider went back to its nest, and it has an Earth Dragon egg?"
'Emmm...'
'I see. It must be Kumoko for sure!!'