Who Can Take Down the Labyrinth Lord? [Western Fantasy]

A bunch of corporate drones team up to fight monsters, bleeding and sweating through a 996 work schedule, all to topple the tiny island village chief, no, the Maze Lord. But is the Maze Lord really just the Maze Lord? Seeing the other side nearly finish counting out the forces needed to destroy the world with the Seven-Headed Dragon, the workers can't help feeling more and more suspicious.

Volume One:

The mage Georgina brought a box back to the labyrinth city on the island. The box was said to contain a treasure that could make this city, stuffed with greed, change hands.

But none of that had anything to do with the workers. Georgina herself only cared whether the smuggler's ship she had taken would dock safely, and whether the boss would reimburse her for the black-market ticket.

Volume Two:

A plague ravaged the labyrinth city. People said it was divine punishment, because they had seen a white horse carrying an equally pale rider across the land.

The rider held a bow and wore a crown. He was a quarter of the divine will, the judge of the apocalypse, the harbinger of disaster. He drew his bow, and, just as the holy scriptures foretold, plague and death fell with a rain of arrows.

The serious blurb:

Since ancient times, the labyrinth city has been a refuge for exiles, a land without order, and a favorite of the ambitious and the opportunistic. Countless people have coveted the city lord's seat and its treasures. Their bones were crushed, their ambitions torn apart, and their blood seeped into every coin and every brick of the labyrinth city.

Now it has welcomed a new batch of would-be claimants. Some scheme and scramble for advantage, while others spread conspiracies. The wise and the cunning trade favors, while the noble and the sinister form alliances. They will do anything to seize the throne within the city.

And yet none of what they do is new.

Just as every prophecy comes true because it was foretold, so too did the city lord become the city lord.

The labyrinth city devoured the city lord, and so the city lord came to possess the labyrinth city.

The moment you desire this city, you are destined to become part of it.

Your heart is its coin, and your bones are its bricks.

All those hearts torn open, all those bones ground to dust, are weeping and roaring.

Day and night, without end.

Endlessly, without respite.

An ensemble cast featuring all sorts of... corporate drones, including a dark-skinned mage, a mad scientist with a humanities background, a stereotype-blond vegetarian elf, and a pure-hearted sister who can still be cut into pieces.

Content warnings: This is primarily an adventure story, but a few characters have minor romantic subplots.

This story includes brainwashing and the breeding and synthesis of beasts. Supporting characters with limited screen time, whether human or not, young or old, may meet particularly gruesome ends (

Theme: Wait for a wonderful future.