Infinite Labyrinth (episode)


 * This article is about the anime episode titled "Infinite Labyrinth". You may be looking for the location or manga chapter.

Infinite Labyrinth (無限迷宮) is the seventh episode of Season 2 and the thirty-second of overall episode The Rising of the Shield Hero anime.

Synopsis
Naofumi wakes up in a strange prison to find him and his party at level 1, and Filo missing. They start to raise their levels in order to escape, but things quickly turn against them when a dangerous monster suddenly appears…

Plot
In a beautiful forest place, a young girl carrying what seems to be a fishing rod sees a white glowing falling from the skies and rushes to verify it.

Naofumi and Rishia see themselves alone in a prison cell with a huge hay bale, Raphtalia and Filo are nowhere to be found, and there is a new Shield which Naofumi doesn't recognize. The Shield Hero finds out that both his and Rishia's levels dropped back to 1, and concludes this is Kyo's handiwork. Raphtalia suddenly jumps out from the hay bale, but Naofumi and Rishia are shocked to see the party's level reset turned the tanuki girl back into a child. The prison cell is eerily unlocked, there are no guards around, and they still have their weapons. Raphtalia is clumsy in her "new" state, but assures she's still Naofumi's sword, which makes him remember their first moments together. Strangely, somebody seems to live in the other cell of the prison - it has some belongings, including a cooking stove. Following through a doorway that leads to a white shiny light, which is revealed to be a magic portal, the trio ends up on a very strange beach island - a very strange one indeed, since the sea has waves but no wind, and nothing seems to exist beyond the horizon line, so they decide to venture into the forest behind, still worried about Filo's whereabouts.

Suddenly, a monster which looks like a white cardboard box appears, Raphtalia rapidly kills it, and Naofumi feeds a piece of it into his Shield, unlocking the "White Cardboard Shield". The Shield interface shows that they still gain EXP as a party, so Naofumi decides to grind some level in the meantime - this proves specially difficult for Raphtalia, due to her reduced size. As they gain some level and drink water from the sea nearby, they are attacked by a kappa (a mythological Japanese water creature resembling a humanoid frog). The monster badly injures Naofumi, and Raphtalia and Rishia cannot fight him due to their low level. Someone attacks with Slaughter Wire and shreds the creature to pieces, and it's revealed to be the fishing rod girl from earlier, who introduces herself to be a Cardinal Hero from this world, the Hunting Hero Kizuna Kazayama.

Naofumi introduces himself as the Shield Hero, something that Kizuna never heard of. She asks Naofumi is he is Japanese, which makes him question if she is as well. Naofumi notices his level values are all messed up, possibly because he still has no level enough to use his new Shield. Back to the prison, the party treats Naofumi's injuries and talk about Kizuna being living in the prison since she was captured years prior. When asked about the Waves of Calamity, she claims to not know about them, but she recognises the names of L'Arc and Glass when Naofumi mentions them, saying they are her best friends. Surprisingly, Kizuna says she is already 18 despite her child-like appearance (which Naofumi calls her a "loli hag", much to her dismay). Kizuna invites them for a meal, but Naofumi refuses because he doesn't trust the Hunting Hero who is friends with Glass. Kizuna then morphs her Cardinal Weapon into a black sword and slashes at Naofumi's neck, but the Shield Hero notices there is no wound at all - the Hunting Hero proves a point that her weapon is harmless against other Cardinal Heroes. Naofumi then prepares a complete and high-quality meal for everyone, but Raphtalia, as a Demi-Human child, still feels hungry as she needs to grow up and grind levels.

Kizuna explains they are all inside the Infinite Labyrinth, a temporal prison without any way out, but has day and night normally, and Kizuna has no idea on how much time she spent there alone. Next morning, they head to the magic doorway they went through before, and this time it leads to a long corridor emulating the Ancient Egypt, followed by a European-like cathedral whose main wall is partly collapsed but has a white light passageway which Naofumi's group cannot go through because it leads to another world - and Cardinal Heroes are forbidden from going into. Speaking in video game terminology, Naofumi deduces the "exit" is a gaming bug, and they decide to use a BioPlant Seed - which instantly grows into a huge tree in order to destroy the entire room and allow them to go into the light passageway. The Shield Hero's party plus Kizuna go into the opening and end up in a nightly place resembling a traditional Japanese Shinto shrine, and Kizuna is happy to be back in the world which summoned her. With tears of happiness, Kizuna doesn't feel alone anymore.

Light Novel & Manga Differences

 * In the anime, Raphtalia was transported to the Infinite Labyrinth with Naofumi and Rishia. However, in the light novel and manga, she was transported to a separate prison with L'Arc, Glass, and Therese.

Trivia

 * TBA