A few hours after we passed through the halls of slime, we found the stairs to the basement.

　Level 23.
　It was the same puddled, collapsing level as level 22.

　Dopapang.

Okay.
Phew.

　There are a lot of places where slimes live, and Solstice and I have been doing a great job with our magic.

　When the number of slimes was low, I asked Solstice to save her magic power and I was able to get rid of them on my own.

　At the 23rd level, I also encountered more demons than just slimes.

　The one that emerged from the darkness at the end of the corridor was

　(baby) vomit

(...a giant frog?)

　It was.

　About a little less than a mead in length.

　Its primary green and orange skin was mottled with black speckles, and its entire body was covered in mucus and glistening with slime.

　That's seven of them.

　They were approaching us from the far end of the aisle, scurrying toward us.

"It's not only the children who need to work, sometimes the strawberries need to work too.
I agree.

　Mr. Kilt and General Dardios, the strongest duo, step forward, saying such things.

　Huh, doch, guchon.

　The accurate 'Sword of Fire' split the heads of the frogs cleanly, and the powerful 'Great Sword of Thunder' crushed the frogs and made them paste their crushed bodies to the floor and walls.

　Less than ten seconds after the two of them stepped forward, the seven frogs were wiped out.

(Wow, I knew they were strong.)

　I'm impressed with everyone else,

　Iltimina said.

'Marle, that's a demon called 'Poison Frog' (Poison Frog). Never touch that blood or mucus. A human being can die in 30 seconds. Even a dragon, if it eats that frog by mistake, will die in five minutes.
..........

　Oh, really?

　Looking at them, the two who fought were holding their breath as they used 'fire' and 'lightning' to firmly burn their blood and mucus-stained weapons, carefully wiping them off with a rag to finish and dumping them on the floor.

　Looking at the frog's movements, it didn't seem so strong.

　However, its killing power was tremendous.

(....................Like slime, 'demons' are not to be underestimated.

　I learned one more thing.

　A professional sister who kills such demons.

'When you're walking past a corpse, don't stop, go quickly and hold your breath as you go.
Yes.

　I, of course, nodded broadly to that advice.

　And so the eight of us, moving forward.

　After a few more hours of occasional battles with such demons, we found the stairs to the 24th level.

　That day, we were to camp there.


　◇ ◇ ◇ ◇ ◇ ◇ ◇ ◇ ◇ ◇ ◇ ◇.


　That night.
　In front of the fire, while eating portable food, I muttered to myself.

"In these ruins, the monsters that appear in each level are completely different, right?

　They all look at me.

　Feeling the gazes of the seven people, I explained what I was thinking, somewhat.

　The first eleven levels were the Skeleton King, the Immortal Ogre, and the Petrified Demon Snake Woman.

　The 12th level was the knight statues of the gatekeepers.

　The 13th to 18th levels were without demons.

　And the 19-23 levels were dragon fish, slime, and poisonous frogs.

　See, the types of monsters have changed drastically.

(Well, I think the reason why there were no monsters from the 13th level is because of the knight statues.

　I think the knight statues on the 12th level were exterminating the demons that tried to invade beyond that point. That's why a large number of demons had gathered at the blocked 11th level, enough to wipe out 73 Arun Knights.

''Oh, that's probably right.

　Solstice nodded, moshing and nodding.

　Iltimina nodded, too.

Mahr is right, there shouldn't have been any demons after the 12th level. However, the groundwater from the tectonic movement brought in demons from the outside, and I believe that a new ecosystem of demons was born.
"Hmm.

(So those slimes and poisonous toads also used groundwater to get into these ruins?)

　Indeed, that one seemed like a water-based demon.

　Snap.

　Mr. Quilt chewed up a stick of hard, portable food.

We don't know if there are any other demons that have entered these ruins.

　I muttered to myself as the flames of the campfire lit up.

(A demon yet to be seen...?)

　Everyone went a little silent.　

　Swallowing the crushed stick, Mr. Quilt reached out his white hand and patted me on the head.

　Squishy.

Well, that's not going to change. From tomorrow, we will proceed with caution and aim for the lowest level, okay?　
Yes.

　That too.

　I nodded widely, and everyone laughed as well.

　We took our turn again, and in a combination of pairs, I stood guard for the night tonight, along with Illtimina-san.

　There were no demon attacks, and we greeted the morning safely.

　It's a morning in the dark 'Great Labyrinth' with no sun, and no sun.
　I do miss the sun a bit, though.

All right, let's have a good day.

　bang

　A slap on the cheek to get us going.

　Once everyone was ready to leave, we descended the stairs leading to the 24th level.


　◇ ◇ ◇ ◇ ◇ ◇ ◇ ◇ ◇ ◇ ◇


　The 24th level was similar to the one above.

　Puddles and collapsed ruins.

　The monsters that appeared were slime and poisonous frogs, and this time, the tentacle anemone that attacked Solstice in the submerged passage at the 11th level was also living in the puddle.

　Hupang!

　I slash away the tentacles entangled in my legs with ease.

(On the ground, you can use your swordsmanship, too.)

　Yeah, I'm not the enemy.

I'm not a threat to you, my dear.

　Meanwhile, the girl next to her is kicking an anemone with slashed tentacles over and over again, as if to make up for her resentment at the 11th level... It's kind of like bullying the weak, Solstice?

　Eventually, after half a day, they found the stairs to the 25th level.

　Finally, the 25th level.

　But before we could get too emotional, we started our search.

(.........Huh?)

　And I immediately noticed something strange.

''........What?　Isn't there a demon at all?
So it is.

　Rapt muttered as if he was out of sync, and Mr. Kilt nodded suspiciously.

　Puddles and the collapsed interior of the ruins.

　The environment should be the same as the levels above, but there was no slime, poisonous frogs, or tentacle anemones in sight.

　Ooh-oh-oh.

　The darkness at the end of the aisle is eerily still.

(...disgusting.)

　With an ominous feeling of foreboding, we moved forward.

　Eventually, the passage we were walking through led to a single hall.

　There was no particular demon in sight.

　As we were about to walk on.

...What's that?

　Suddenly, Frederica-san, the Black Knight, shouts in surprise as she looks up above her head.

　Our gazes also follow the tip of her gaze.

(.........What?)

　It's a hole.

　There's a big hole in the ceiling.

　I'd say it's about five yards across, right?

　The thick walls of the ruins had been breached, and even the outer bedrock could be seen. A large amount of debris and sediment had fallen on the floor directly below.

　Porta Porta........

　A few drops of water dripped from the hole.

'What, that?'

　I muttered.

　Mr. Illtimina replied in a voice that was unusually full of tension.

''Rubble and sediment have fallen inside the ruins. In other words, it's likely that 'something' has invaded the inside of these ruins from the outside.
...What is it?

　There was a pause for a few seconds and then.

We don't know what it is. But we do know that it is powerful enough to penetrate the thick walls of the ruins.

　The 'Silver Seal Demon Hunter' announced.

''............

　I couldn't help but look around the empty hall.

　I wondered if this large hole had anything to do with the cause of the 25 levels where no demons could be witnessed at all - the cause of that?　And what is the identity of the 'something' that has invaded?

　The diameter of the large hole is five meters.

　An unidentified being of that size is in the ruins.
　This fact gave me a sense of inscrutable fear.

"Don't be afraid, Male.

　Kushan (dynasty of India)

　Mr. Kilt strokes my head once, hard.
　Then he looks around at all the faces.

As I have said many times before, what we must do remains the same. Let's keep moving forward, gentlemen.

　A voice that boosted everyone's morale.

We nodded at the command of the Golden Mark Demon Hunter and began to walk again.


　◇ ◇ ◇ ◇ ◇ ◇.


　A few hours later, without encountering any demons, we found the stairs to the 26th level.

　The passage leading to the staircase was submerged, with the right side collapsing down.
　It looks like a swimming pool.

(.........by the left side.)

　As we were all trying to get past the water, careful of the water, we noticed a few white lumps settling in the water.

'Hm?'

　Mr. Kilt seemed to notice, too.

　He put one hand up and stopped everyone's steps.

　Ta-boom. Ta-boom.

　Wetting the water up to my thighs, I grabbed the white lump that was closest to the first and pulled it up to the floor.

　We all peeked at it.

(.........bones.)

　As it turns out.

　It's a white bone, about 1 mead.
　It must have been part of a much larger creature. The bone was lined with several holes and cracked.

　Mr. Kilt frowned.

'This is....'
Are these bones the bones of a giant octopus, the devil spider?

　Iltimina-san, who bent down to peer in, continued to do so.

(.............Demon Spider Great Octopus?

　Noticing our expressions, the sister of the awesome demon hunter tells us.

''It's a giant octopus demon that looks like a spider, about three to eight meads long. It's a dangerous creature that also preys on that dragon fish when it's hungry.
...Oh, the dragon fish?
''Yes. Fighting underwater is one type of demon that we Demon Hunters must definitely avoid as well.

　........that's right.

　Frederica-san's white fingers pointed at the holes that lined the demon's bones.

What's this?

　I ask.

　Mr. Kilt replies with a difficult look on his face.

'Predation marks, I suppose.
..........

　Huh?

...Predation?
Hmm, it's the tooth marks, in short. Something attacked the Great Octopus, the Ogre Spider, and ate it. --I suspect there was more than one or two that were preyed upon.

　We saw the countless white masses visible in the water and assured ourselves so.

　We were voiceless.

　Solstice asks in a faintly trembling voice.

'What preyed on the demon spider great octopus?
I don't know.

　Javon

　Throwing the bone in his hand to the surface of the water, Mr. Kilt stands up.

"I don't know, but maybe that's the 'something' that got in through the big hole in the hall earlier.
..........
And maybe that's how they ate all the demons in this hierarchy.

　The ripples created on the surface of the water faded away.

　We stared into the darkness of the stairs leading to the 26th level.

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

　Eventually, I let out a deep breath and we started down the stairs.


　◇ ◇ ◇ ◇ ◇ ◇ ◇ ◇ ◇ ◇


　Boom, boom, boom.

　The eight of us walked through the 26 uninhabited levels, relying on the light of the light birds.

　There are no demons on this level, either.
　And.

There are some weird scratches on that wall.
What?

　The Solstice next to me suddenly muttered something like that.

　Her young fingers pointed to a section of wall about three meters above the floor.

　There, it looked like something had been scraped, a line of stone scraped away, leaving behind a dozen or so yards long. Upon closer inspection, I saw that the scar was interrupted, but continued all the way to the back.

'What is this?'

　I nod my head too.

　And I noticed how Iltimina-san behind me was about to say something, but swallowed her words like she was lost.

'Miss Illtimina?'

　Staring at her, she let out a breath of contemplation.


..........

　A creature large enough to leave a scar at the height of a 3-med...?

(I shouldn't have asked you that, should I?)

　The Solstice next to me had the same face as mine.

　Frederica-san, the black knight, looked up at the wound on the wall with a pale expression on her face.

''........These ruins are really a horrible place that we can't even begin to comprehend.''

　I let out that.

　Ms. Illtimina lightly cowered her shoulders and did not affirm or deny her words.
　Instead.

Come on, Merle, Sol. Let's go.
Uh-huh.
I know.

　He smiled gently and lightly pushed us back with his hand as we stopped.

　A few hours later, we found the stairs to the 28th level.

　The eight of us found the stairs to the 28th level.

　The scars on the wall continued on the wall of that staircase.

(............)

　We decided to make camp there that day.


　◇ ◇ ◇ ◇ ◇ ◇ ◇ ◇ ◇ ◇ ◇


Three more levels to go.

　That night, as I sat around the fire, I muttered to myself.

　According to the lore of the Arun Divine Empire, this 'Great Labyrinth' - the 'Ruins of the Gray Goddess Callwood' - is said to be made up of thirty levels.

　It was estimated that the living 'divine armor' was located on the lowest level, the thirty levels.

''That's right.''
Yeah.
It's been so long.

　Yup.
　Twenty days have already passed since they arrived at the ruins.

　Three hundred of Arun's elite knights have also been sacrificed.

(...but finally.)

　Finally, I'm almost there, almost within reach.

　Geez.

　They clenched their fists in their hands as they chewed on various objects.

　The flames of the campfire lit up the room, and everyone looked pensive, too.

　Then it occurred to me.

''Come to think of it, if the 'Divine Armament' is found, who should use it, out of the three of us, me, Rapt and Recto Alice?''
What?
"Hmm?

　They all make a face that they have just noticed.

　No, it's good if there are a lot of 'Divine Armor' in this ruin, but if there's only one, who will get ownership of it?

　I am the "God Dog" protected by the Kingdom of Shumuria.

　The two of us are the 'Divine Fangra' that will be protected by the Arun Divine Kingdom.

　Even though it was a world crisis, there were many complicated ties in the world of people, so I had a feeling that who would own it would be a problem in many ways.

''.........''
..........

　Mr. Kilt and General Dardios, the two men who would represent both countries, also looked a bit troubled.

　Perhaps they hadn't yet come to a conclusion, to be flexible depending on the situation.

　And.

Of course he's the one who was chosen to be in that 'God's Armor'.

　Rapt said in dismay.

(Huh?)

　Recto Alice takes a sip of the 'Healing Spiritual Water' as she brushes her purple wavy hair up over her ears.

　She lightly rubs her lips, which are wet with the glowing water, with her thumb before

Did you forget, Merle?　The God's Armor is alive, you know?

　He smiled a little glossily.

'They decide for themselves who to use. We don't have a choice.'
Oh, really?

　The mature gesture made me a little nervous.

　And, noticing my condition, Illtimina-san hugs my body from my back side. .........Wha?

Then I'm sure my Merle will be chosen.

　I assured him.

　Recto Alice was miffed.

'You didn't hear?　It's the 'Divine Armor' that decides.
Still, Merle is the winner.

　An overprotective sister who won't let up.

'....Huh. That's not even close to the point.

　Recto Alice holds her temples.

　Kilt-san and Shogun are laughing and Solstice is dumbfounded.
　Frederica-san blurts out something like, "I, too, have a feeling about Maar-dono.......

　Rapt looks at me.

"I'm trusted by a lot of people, huh?
Haha.....

　I don't know if I'm being complimented or dismayed.
　But.

But I'm fine with whoever they choose. I'm sure Rapt and Recto Alice will use it correctly and I believe it will be fine.

　I laughed.
　We both laughed.

That's how I feel about Merle and Lectris.
Me too.

　We looked into each other's eyes and nodded to each other.

(Yeah, I don't care who gets picked!)

　None of the three of us lied in our hearts of trust.

　Everyone else was gazing somewhat dazzled at the three of us, the "Divine Attendants" of the three of us--.


　◇ ◇ ◇ ◇ ◇ ◇ ◇ ◇ ◇ ◇ ◇.


　The next morning we entered the 28th level.
　In front of us was an endlessly straight corridor and we walked through it.

　Heein'

(Oh...)

　At that moment, for the first time in a long time, the red glowing divine script came flowing through the white walls.

　Everyone also noticed.

　It seems that the function of the ruins is still alive in this level. Perhaps there is a safe 'control tower' present nearby.

''.........''

　We walked back down the aisle, looking away from the distant red light.

　Crunch, crunch, crunch.　

　The only reverberations were the scrape of armor and the sound of the soles of my shoes hitting the floor.

　Has it been about fifteen minutes?

　I suddenly saw something, a large shadow standing in the darkness at the end of the corridor I was walking on.

　All of us stopped in our tracks.

　As if it hadn't noticed us, that black mass showed no signs of moving.

'Marl.
Yes.

　Kilt-san's whispered instructions.
　I nodded, and in response to his intentions, a single light bird flew noiselessly forward.

　Eventually, a black mass lit up in its glow.

!

　Reflexively, my hand was touching the hilt of the 'fairy sword'.

　No, they all had their hands on their respective weapons.

　The true identity of that black mass was that 'two winged knight statue' that we fought on the 12th level - however, its upper body was crushed and gone.

(.........broken?)

　There was no head where the red divine script light should have resided, and there was no sign of movement.

''- be aware of your surroundings.

　Kilt's warning.

　We quickly formed a circle around Solstice and held our weapons on the outside.

　In the meantime, Mr. Kilt approached the knight statue and made sure it was completely silent, while Recto Alice's third eye glowed and sent its radiant red light into the vicinity.

　After about twenty seconds.

I'm fine. There's nothing nearby.

　We exhaled loudly at the sound of Recto Alice's voice.

　Mr. Kilt was kneeling in front of the wreckage of the knight statue.

Hmm... this piece of armor has been chewed to pieces.

　I said.

(Bite marks........)

　How big is an existence that can chew up the upper half of a two-medium tall human-sized knight statue like this?

　Solstice opened her mouth in disgust.

''Is that also the work of the guy who ate the demon spider great octopus?
I don't know.

　Mr. Kilt stood up, shaking his head.

　Then he looked at the end of the passage.

　We all stare at that darkened space, too.

'Either way, we have to go, right?'
Yes.

　At my words, Kilt-san chuckled and nodded.

　He immediately changed his expression and the eight of us proceeded to the end of the passage, leaving the remnants of the knight statue here.

　-- I had a feeling that somehow the 'Search for the Great Maze' was coming to a close.