My stomach is full and I have plenty of energy and stamina. After all, sweets are the source of my energy.

　Charlotte floated up, rubbing her stomach.



"Well then, everyone, let's go treasure hunting!



　The girl who is pushing forward with a great leap, is followed by a group of people on foot.

　Except for Frey, who is running alongside her in the style of the Medjid, the three of them can barely keep up with each other.



　Lias asks Charlotte in a loud voice.



"Hey Charlotte, are you sure you want to continue straight?　If you turn right where you just passed, you will find one of the candidate rooms.



"Yes, it seems that the main goal is the most probable one, so if we take a detour, Mr. Numbers and the others will beat us to it.



　Marianne raises an eyebrow.



"Are they going to the same place?"



"It seems so. When they first went underground, they were moving erratically here and there, but a little while ago they started heading straight for their destination."



　Charlotte has a special warding attached to one of her eyes by Shiva.

　It works in conjunction with the transmitter-type warding that had been secretly placed on Alexei in advance to let him know where he is in the labyrinth and how he is passing.



　He seems to be having a leisurely tea time, but in fact, he was watching the enemy's movements.

　Raius' tongue is still rolling, but the question comes to his mind: "How can he be so deep-thinking at such a young age?



"Isn't this a coincidence?"



"That's a possibility, but to be on the safe side, we should decide and make our move."



　The early bird gets the worm.

　Even if there is no treasure to be found at the destination, it does not matter if the other party is also aiming at the same place.



　In the meantime, you encounter a demon.

　Not just one, but an orderly line of humanoid monsters in armor is waiting for you.



>

>




　Charlotte and the others do not hear it, but the students in the audience make a commotion.



"Destruction!　Tokkk!"



　But Charlotte is not afraid and does not panic.

　After all, she had fought him once. At that time, she was directly supported by Harte, and now she has various special wards attached to her stick.



　Numerous light bullets are fired. Although I couldn't crush him with a single blow, I completely defeated him.



"Phew!　Huh!"



　Irisphilia came in close to her frightened opponent and delivered a barrage of punches. As expected, she couldn't take him down with a single blow, but she didn't give him time to attack, and crumbled his armor into pieces.



"............"



　Frey, in the style of Master Medjed, also ran into a crowd of demons. Although he is covered with a large cloth and cannot attack with his claws, he explodes with a yakuza kick, a one-hit-kill attack.



"What is it with these guys? ....... They must be losing confidence."



　Lias covers him from behind with light magic. He did not get in the middle of crushing a difficult foe in a meatball fight.



"Frey, Iris has grown up tremendously recently.



"He didn't even make it to magic level until recently."



Is this some kind of awakening?　Anyway, we'll do what we can."



　I carefully cover them, watching their movements and those of the demons so as not to disturb them.



"That's it, that's it!



You're a bit of a jerk!



　Raius shouts at Charlotte, who fires a barrage of light bullets.



"Don't worry. We've added a special function to this magic stick to prevent friendly fire.



"That's not fair!"



　And so, in no time at all, Charlotte and her team had wiped out the hordes of demons.







　Alexei and the others went down to the lower level.



（Hmmm... It seems they chose the same route as us.)



　Charlotte and the others can accurately grasp the movements of their opponents with Harte's special warding, whereas Alexei has no way to do so.

　However, since he could control the demons in the ruins, he knew their approximate movements by knowing when the demons under his control had disappeared.



(He can read our movements ...... or does he have us? That's a pain in the ass.)



　It seems to have been specially crafted, but I can't make it out.

　I'm thinking that maybe they've done something to my body, so...



　Click.



　A small sound came from behind me, drowned out by the sound of my footsteps.

　He released his magical power to break through the warding. I couldn't do it before, but now that I can use a part of the power of the demon god, it's no problem for me.

　Now our movements should be undetectable.






(Well, at this pace, it looks like we'll be the first to get our hands on the (......))



　We cannot rest easy.

　Winning the treasure is not an instant victory.



　Even if we got the treasure first, we were not allowed to win unless we brought it back.



　We could not let them take it away from us in a direct confrontation.

　I don't think we can't win, but it would be a problem if Shiva secretly intervenes.



　If they are going to the same place, they may bump into each other on the way back. If they faltered, they risked an encounter at the very moment they were about to get the treasure.



"We'll keep going. Everyone follow me!"



　Now that we have lost track of their movements, we have an overwhelming advantage.

　We no longer think of tricks or concealment of wrongdoings, but gain the upper hand in the game of deception.



（So, Shiva, what will you do?)



　Alexei's interest was already--or rather, had been from the beginning--in Shiva.

　Charlotte was out of his mind. He thought that no matter how high her talent was, without Shiva's support, she would be an ordinary magician.





　--That was the reason for his defeat.





　Just after he was sure of his victory.



"If I beat my opponent in a direct confrontation, then I can relax and go treasure hunting!



　Charlotte and her friends appeared in front of us.