With the disappearance of the surgeon, the water level, which had been full to the ceiling, drops. Immediately I swim upward and face the water. And I let Rustyala, who was holding it, breathe.

''--Hah, ghoho, gho!

　Stifling, Rustyala inhales a lungful of air.
　I see that Sera and the Reaper are also floating in the distance, and I feel a sense of relief.
Take a deep breath.

'Ha, ha.'

　It was a close call.
　I was so close to being in trouble.

　If Rastiara hadn't left herself to me, if the Reaper hadn't noticed my heart's cry, if Sera hadn't accepted the 'connection' without hesitation, if any one of us had been missing, we wouldn't have been able to attract this result.　

　It was a dangerous bridge to cross, no doubt. But I managed to get over it.
　The skill "?"? I was happy to have gone above and beyond the recommended method of

　The abominable skill '??' as a declaration of victory. cursing.

"-- who's going to cut it down ......!　What's cheaper if it doesn't kill you, how can that be? ......!

　It's like a skill '? denies it as if it were a human being.
　But I quickly come to myself. Surely the skill '??' I'm sure I felt a human touch from That said, treating it as an individual and cursing it as an individual is a fool's errand.

　Anyway, this time I regretfully activated the skill, but that doesn't mean I'm not going to get my way, I reiterate my vow.

　However, the cost of that vow seems to be high.
　I check the remaining MP of the four members of my party.
　They had only been using magic at full strength for a few seconds or so, but all of them had lost more than half of their MP. Most of the magic power that had been saved thanks to the Reaper has been consumed.
　The resonance magic of the four of them is powerful, but it's not very practical.

　The water level has dropped all the way down, and we are returning to the original shallow waters.
　Rustyala, who has finally calmed down to breathe, lets out an apologetic voice.

''I'm sorry, Kanami....... Because I got carried away .......

　Apparently, he thought I was mad at him when he heard my earlier cry.
　I shake my head and return the words gently.

'No, no. That wasn't angry at Rastiara. Skill '? I was just a little frustrated when 'Illwill' was activated. ...... Rastiara did a good job matching the resonance magic in that situation, thank goodness.
'What, '? (Ill Will)" at ......?　Ho, really. The confusion is up.

　Rastiara checked my status with 'Pseudo-God's Eye'.

''Skill '?' in a place like this? It's a bit of a sore spot for me to have used 'Illwill': ....... Well, it doesn't affect me too much, so don't worry about it.
'Well, that's fine, ....... But that ......, I couldn't breathe, and that--

　Rustyala's cheeks are red and her words are slurred.
　Because of the perceived 'sensitivity' and 'dimensional magic', I know what she's thinking. --I can understand the subtleties of her emotions.
　Seeing the situation, I am filled with a feeling of undoing. The situation I had feared has come true.

　Rastiara's emotions are running high due to the unexpected accidental kissing. But I can't share those feelings with Rustyala.

　While Rustiala is so embarrassed that she looks like she's about to run off, I'm as calm as if I were recalling an event that happened decades ago.

　It was a desperate temperature difference.

　And the worst part is that now I'm calmly thinking only about how well I can make this one work.
　I expected that falling in love wouldn't lead me down the same path, but when it happened, it was even more devastating than I had imagined.

　I had no idea how to respond in this particular situation.
　If I could think rationally and be honest, I'd like to pretend that there was no kissing. I'd like to end it the same way I did before, by saying something appropriate like, "The situation is just as cowardly this time," and that's it.

　But that's not going to happen.
　This time it's not an embrace but a kiss. It was a kiss, so to speak. No matter how much you try to excuse the fact that it was artificial respiration, you can't fake that.
　Since I took the lips of Rustyala, a girl, away from her, I have to bear a certain amount of responsibility for it. Yes, the values of the original world keep blaming me.

　My thoughts were spinning around in circles and I was lost for words to return, when a voice of relief interrupted me.

'Kanamiii, you, I've been watching you!　In the middle of a battle, oh, you and your daughter--!

　An enraged Sera crammed up to me, walking briskly through the shallows.
　That outright anger is very helpful now.

...... Mr. Serra, it was just a lifesaver. I don't feel guilty about any of it. I really don't (・・・・・) anymore.

　When Sera tries to grab me now, I answer in a terribly cold voice. I'm surprised at how cold-hearted her answer was. That makes me sad, and I furrow my brow.

　From the reply and the expression on her face, Rustyala realizes the situation.

''...... I see... (...)

　The reddish face turns down slightly.
　Skill '?' Rustyala realized what emotions the

　All the while, Sera continues to yell at him. I wish she would just punch him away, but she won't go that far.

'If it's okay to kiss me to save lives, I'm doing it!　I don't believe you had any guilty feelings!
'That was a necessary part of the battle, so don't worry about it. Sera.

　Skill '?' There's no, but Rustyala, who has successfully killed his emotions, intercedes.

　It's shameful. In the end, he's left a burden on Rustyala.

''But you see, Miss. It's too much to say that you don't care about what you just did--''
Let's pretend it didn't happen this time, too. That was just artificial respiration. It was a necessary part of the battle. Nothing more, nothing less. Okay?
You can't just sweep this under the rug, miss!　I will not tolerate such dishonesty!

　Serra insists that this is very true.
　After all, Serra's way of thinking is the same as mine. Our values are very similar. That's why I feel sad that I can't say the same thing to her now.

　Rustyala, who is aware of everything, including that sadness, tries to forcefully end the conversation.

''Look, Sera-chan. Calm down!

　Saying that, Rustyala lightly kissed Sera's cheek.

''Nya, nyah nyah nyah!　Miss!

　Sera's ears turned red and she was surprised.

She says it's no big deal. Look, I'm fine.
No, I'm not talking about that, miss. Well, I mean--
-- Just let it go, or do you want to ventilate, too, Serah?
Ye-yeah, not like that!

　Ms. Sera is thrown into chaos after being kissed by the young lady she wants to be with.
　All the while, Rustyala tries to make everything a moot point by taking an excessive amount of skin-to-skin contact with Ms. Sera.

　I could only take advantage of Rastiara's goodwill. This debt is a skill '??' I promise to return it when the

　Then I'm left alone, and a reaper speaks to me, who seems reluctant to talk to me. I can tell by the 'connection' that he is aware of my situation.

'I'm sorry, I'm not being helpful ....... Because of that .......
''No, the Reaper did a great job too. Thanks to the Reaper, I was able to compose an all-out freezing spell.
...... Next time you're dealing with a boss monster, let's keep your guard up.
'Yes. We were all caught off guard this time.

　The two of us warned each other about what we were going to reflect on this time.
　It was a mistake to fight the boss with a light mind. When collecting high purity magic stones, we should have more time to get them from the shallow tier boss monsters.

　Afterwards, Sera-san, who was forcibly convinced by Rath Tiara, said, "There's no next time, you know! He nailed it, and the search resumed.

Let's go, then. Kanami.

　And Lastiara was back to her usual ways.
　It was no longer possible to measure its inner pain.

'Oh, let's go,'

　I have the same skills. And it's business as usual.

　But inwardly, however, I'm in a panic, on the contrary.

　Clear thoughts are spinning at an unprecedented rate.
　Skill '??' has not been triggered since the Nativity. The skill 'Parallel Thinking' has been used in conjunction with it, and you can no longer stop your unconscious thinking.
　If it continues like this, I will notice things I don't need to notice. With that thought in mind, I desperately suppress my thoughts.

　I contort my face as I follow behind Rastiara, who is moving forward.

　And so the boss battle at the 34th layer is over. -- in the worst possible way.

　But the search for the labyrinth is not over yet.
　And the worst is compounded.

　And then I meet the white girl.
　That white girl...


◆◆◆◆◆


　After the battle with Gulfrad Jerry, we move further into the labyrinth. Since we were basically moving to avoid the enemies, our search progressed at a brisk pace.

　And we easily found the thirty-five layers of stairs.
　However, although it was good that we found it, we were forced to stop when we saw those stairs.

　Rastiara holds her head in her hands, her face brightening as she mutters.

'I knew it was going to be like this...' I thought it was a little thinly veiled at this point in the shallows, but...

　Sera holds her head up as well. This one's face is dark.

''I'm in trouble ....... We can't go on like this.''

　I reach out my hand to the stairs and touch the water with a chirp.

'In case it's just me, I could go to ......

　We were having a strategy meeting in front of the submerged staircase (・・・・・・・・・) in the water.

'Rastiala can't swim, can he?'
I am ashamed to admit it!
And the Reapers can't swim.
Yeah, I can't swim either!
'Thanks for the cheery replies, both of you. So, Serra, you're at dogpile level and .......
Next time you call me a dog, I'll kill you.
No, he didn't call it a dog: ......

　Sera, who was in a good mood because of her skin-to-skin relationship with Rustyala, instantly became unhappy. I thought I was just checking the facts, but apparently I chose the wrong words.

　Nevertheless, it was a situation that showed how grateful I was for the physical education class.
　It's surprising that I can't swim to Lastiara, who is very athletic. However, if you grow up in an area where there is no ocean or lake, this may be normal. It's highly likely that the three people waiting on the boat are similar.

'Let's go home. Let's practice our swimming skills and then try again.

　Thinking that my search this time was disastrous, I turned my back to the stairs and tried to make a 'connection' to the edge of the corridor.

　--That's when it happened.
　I can hear the sound of water splashing.

　All three of my friends are now in my field of vision. Nonetheless, a sound came from behind me.

　I turned around as quickly as I could while building up my dimensional magic.

　The one there was a strange girl.
　She's a stark figure, and I see her just as she's getting out of the water.

''Eh, a person--?''

　First the amazement that there is a person in these depths, and then the girl's appearance amazes me.

　Her pure white hair, hanging in a knot behind her, swings like a tail. Perhaps it's the translucent white skin, but it's hard to tell the boundary between hair and skin. Her eyes are pale blue like ice, and her lips are the color of cherry blossoms. The girl is dyed white, as if she were a kind of work of art.
　The nude body reminds me of the virgin snow that spreads in winter, and at the same time, it also gave me the feeling of danger, as if it was guaranteed to be trampled down.
　It was her nudity that made her abnormality clear. There was too little flesh. She was so skinny like a sick person and looked like she was only skin and bones. However, her body's beauty is not spoiled. Rather, it was more of a decadent beauty.

　However, he was not surprised by its beautiful limbs.

　What surprised me was its face.
　A dainty face that matched her limbs, like a princess in a fairy tale.
　I admired that face - and felt a sense of déjà vu (déjà vu).
　A sudden sense of déjà vu hits me, and my heart beats faster.

　My eyes meet with the white girl.
　The girl is as surprised as I am, and mutters to herself.

'Sho, boy ......?　That and .......

　His voice was gentle.
　She was surprised, but her voice was soft without any spikes in it. I could tell from the way she spoke that she had been raised.

　And I felt a sense of deja vu (déjà vu) in her voice as well.
　An unidentified sense of nostalgia clings to my brain.
　I couldn't help but wonder why. So I would ask.

...... "...... Oh, um, do I know you from somewhere?
'What?　Um, that's--

　The girl gets impatient and stammering at the abrupt question.
　Seeing her reaction, she finally realizes her foolishness.
　This is as if I'm picking on her. Why did I ask this when there was something else I should have said?

　I'm puzzled by the unidentified impulse that comes from the bottom of my heart.
　And it was the girl who recovered from her confusion first.

　She stopped answering the question and clamped her mouth tightly shut.
　Her kind eyes narrow sharply, showing her intent to attack.

-'O wind that carves the dimensions,' 'surround the sound of the world' -

　With the chanting, the girl's magical power begins to swirl like a storm.
　From its wildness, you are convinced of the girl's battle intent.

'It looks like they're going to fight, Kanami!　I'm not mad at you for seeing me naked!

　Rustyala behind me yells at me.
　I lower my head hurriedly as I get caught up.

'Wait!'　I have no quarrel with you!　I'm sorry if I saw you naked!　No, I'm really, really sorry!

　However, the girl's chanting did not stop.

''-- 'Zeer Weird!

　On the contrary, they mercilessly unleashed their magic on me, who was out of sight.
　With the nostalgic name of the magic, the magic of the storm comes at you like a beast.
　I was sensing the occurrence of this magic with my "sensitivity" and I flew to the side to avoid a direct hit.

　Sera-san had 'beastified' and grabbed the Reaper's clothes and fled to the safe zone. Rastiara is evacuating as well.
　Unlike me, the girls hadn't let their guard down. With their experienced movements, they perfectly defeated the magic.

　When I was relieved that my companions are safe, the girl who had been running out of the room at the same time as the magic was activated approached me.
　I'm not sure where she got her twin swords from, but she swings them at me.

　I confirm the quality of the girl's swordsmanship while receiving the twin swords with the Aleis family's treasured sword, Lowen. This familiar fighting style is undoubtedly the swordsmanship of Helvilleshain.

　It was enough to change the feeling of déjà vu into conviction.
　This fighting style. This magic. This swordsmanship. And that face. The air he wore...

Ha, Mr. Hein?

　A trembling voice mixed with confusion and anticipation leaked out.

　To tell the truth, there were two (...) kinds of déjà vu.
　One I was sure of, the other remained vague.
　So whether it was negative or positive, it didn't matter either way to me--

　The girl smiles when she hears the name.

'You know exactly what I mean, boy: ......!　But it's incorrect!　-- 'Dimension'!
"Dimensional magic?

　-- fate tilted to one side. The possibility of the ambiguous one disappeared.

　As if to prove the incorrect answer, the girl used a magic that Hein-san couldn't use.
　She sharpened her senses and tried to slip her twin swords, which were sharper and sharper.

　His smooth swordsmanship was similar to Mr. Hein's. However, the power is completely different.
　The girl's wielding power, the speed of her sword, the skill with which she handles it, the magic power she wears, the movement of her eyes--everything is far superior to the Hain-san of the past.

　I'm going to 'gaze' at the girl to see through her abilities.

--Status.
　　　Name Haili Weissprope HP289/352 MP172/512-200 Class None
　　　Level 31.
　　　Strength 15.46 Strength 15.77 Skill 15.72 Speed 16.93 Wisdom 16.77 Magic 29.72 Element 3.25
--Inherent Skills: dimensional magic 1.79 water magic 1.03 wind magic 1.77 sacred magic 1.24
　　　　　　　　　　　Blood magic 1.01 Sword magic 2.52 Optimal action 1.02　
　　　Acquired skill: elemental 0.49 --

　Skill '?' The 'Parallel Thinking' accelerated the thinking that had just been made rational by the use of
　That inhuman reasoning power put a periphery to the girl's source.

''-- That bastard (Palinkron)!

　I did my best to swear at the leftovers of a man who wasn't here.