Bashkatha Troia stood there, stunned.

　Looking up, he saw a giant as big as nine lathals.
　The giant had no eyes, nose, or ears, only a gaping mouth viciously lined with sharp teeth.
　This is the reason why they have a black body with orange vein-like lines running through it, which reminds me of lava.
　It certainly does look like it was born out of lava.

　But right now, the lines running through the giant's body are emitting a blue-white light, giving it an eerie appearance that can't be called lava.

　Bashkata looks around.
　The place where Bashkatha is standing now is called the guardian species room.
　It is one of the difficult places to capture the Holy Ruins that must be passed through in order to reach the next level.
　Inside the room, the students of the Phiburg Squad are in a state of panic and are running away.
　The students were being chased around by a small species of lava giants that could only reach 2 lathals or less.

　Several students had already been killed.
　The leeway they had in the beginning has disappeared.
　At first, things were fine itself.
　Bashkatha reminds them of who they were not long ago.
　They were not yet trapped in despair.

　As soon as they rushed into the guardian's room, Bashkatha, with the holy magic sword in hand, and Phibruk, with the magic sword in hand, raised their flames and slashed at the giant's legs first.
　It's not just a matter of time before you are able to get your hands on a new one.
　With a thud, the room shook with the impact of his knees.
　Continuing on, Beoza's "ice spear" technique pierced the giant's shoulder.
　Then the range from the point where the ice spear pierced the arm was frozen.
　Furthermore, Bashkatha slashes the giant's non-frozen arm.
　The giant's arm was nearly torn to shreds.
　Unusually for a demon from the Holy Ruins, it didn't seem to be a demon with blood.
　However, although there was no bleeding, it was certainly not lightly injured.

　Bashkata looked at the other students who had launched their attack late.
　As expected of the upper echelon of the Little Saint rank, they were hunting down a small species of lava giants that were wriggling around in the room.
　See, Vashkata thought.

　-- why do they think they can beat the giants as they should?

　Bashkatha smiles with satisfaction as she thinks of that sassy woman's face.

　Fool.
　It's natural to win.
　I'm the sixth in the Little Sacred Order.
　With a group of people like this, led by the first-ranked Beosa, there's no way I'm going to lose.
　You're right.
　No way.

　--Impossible.

　The meaning of that word was instantly transformed into another meaning.
　He woke up from the fantasy of ten minutes ago, which he had been daydreaming about, and once again, Bashkata's eyes were bombarded with an a-hazardous scene.

'Hey Bashkata, what are you standing there in a daze?　If you don't fight, you can't win anything!　Get a grip, man!

　Fibruk is shouting something.
　Bashkatha keeps his mouth open.

Oh, oh...

　I only replied.
　But the hand holding the slack hanging holy magic sword did not rise.

　What is happening?
　What had happened?

　Once again, Bashkatha's mind replayed the events of ten minutes ago.

　Her leg was slashed.
　His left arm is frozen.
　His right arm is on the verge of being torn to shreds.
　At the time, the giant was dying.
　It seemed that way to everyone.

　And to put a stop to it, Bashkatha approached the giant with great enthusiasm to cut off his head.
　It was then that the giant opened its mouth wide.
　The giant's mouth opened wide.
　A blue-green light gathered in its mouth.
　Then, the lines that had been emitting orange light changed color to blue-green.
　The other smaller species behaved in a similar manner, and then showed the same change.

'Something's wrong!　Get back, Bashkatha!

　Beoza shouted.
　Overshadowing Bashkatha is the shadow of a giant who regenerates his injured leg and arm and stands up.
　Vashkata looks up.
　He tightens his expression severely.
　Then he bares his teeth and smiles.

You'll be able to see that your regeneration ability is.......well, that's the end of it. But they're not our enemies!　Let's destroy it so thoroughly that its regenerative capacity doesn't even matter!

　Bashkata swings his sword.
　But - seeing the speed of the giant's arm wielded by the side-nagging, it immediately turns into an evasive action.
　It's not just a matter of time before you'll be able to get your hands on it.
　The roar of the heavy arms felt above his head cutting through the sky caused cold sweat to erupt from Bashkata's entire body.

　--What is this?

　The sluggishness of the giants from the previous day had disappeared.
　Even the other smaller species that hadn't even bared their teeth a moment ago were moving differently.
　Their strength itself had clearly increased along with their ferocity.
　Ah, a voice escaped from Bashkata's mouth.

　One of the students had stolen the holy sword lent by Bashkata from him by the smaller species.
　Eh?　And the students dish out their eyes.
　And the next moment...

　The student's belly was slashed by the holy sword in the small species' hand.
　A scream went up.
　The student whose belly was slashed open fell forward in agony.

　And then the small species, which had rapidly increased in ferocity, attacked the students all at once.
　But that's where Beosa comes in to stop them.
　I'm sure you'll be able to find out more about this in the future.
　It's a good idea to have a good time.
　That standing is what makes him worthy of the first place.
　A magic tool that instantly generates anything other than coordinates and activation formulas by pouring the holy element into it.
　Even though she is using it, even with her remaining one hand, she doesn't rest her hand on constantly emasculating the higher level magic formula.
　It's a good thing that you are not a good user to continue to use such a continuous formula.

　--You can do it.

　With that in mind, Bashkatha regained his strength and faced the giant again.　
　You can't stop here.

The only thing that can make this happen is that the color has changed and the strength has been raised a bit, so I don't think we're going to lose!　Don't be afraid!　Let's go!

　Bashkatha aimed at the giant's legs again and poured the holy element into the swinging holy magic sword and slashed it.
　However, the next moment, the unbelievable thing happens.
　That blow was a critical strike for Bashkata.
　A slash that concentrated everything he had cultivated until now.
　And yet, not only was it crunchy - it couldn't even put a scratch on the giant's leg.
　In addition, a sense of discomfort.
　I look at the holy magic sword in my hand.
　There is no light.
　The power that the holy magic sword is supposed to have is not being demonstrated.
　There is no luminescence, and not even the magic formula has been activated.

''What do you mean...?　Ugh!

　With a thud, the giant stepped forward in front of Bashkatha.
　At this moment, he realized.
　The giant that stood before him was no longer the same creature that had been driven to death by them.
　Everything was different, from the intimidation to everything else.
　Probably the higher-ups of the Little Saint rank who had been killed before had been killed by this figure of a giant.
　His knees laughed and wouldn't say anything.
　Fear rules his body.
　Fear had stripped him of his will to fight.

　--I can't.

　You can't beat the giant in front of you.
　That blow had reaped Bashkatha's will to fight by the roots.
　In addition --

　With a thud, there was a sound of rocks cracking.
　Another giant burst through the wall and appeared.
　Moreover, a small species emerged from the hole in the wall.
　The two words that enveloped Bashkatha were two words: despair.

　Thus, the sixth holy rank has become a wooden doll that can only stand around.
　There is no escape.
　When he entered the guardian seed room, the door of the room was closed and would not open for a while.
　It won't open for at least another ten minutes or so.
　How long can you run around in this room with not even a single pillar as a barrier?
　Can it buy you that much time?
　'Impossible,' repeated Bashkatha inwardly.

'Uh-oh!

　Fibruk finally turned his back on the giant.
　The scream brings Bashkatha back to himself a bit.
　Fibruk turned his feet toward Beosa.
　Yes, Bashkata thought in his head.
　Beosa.
　Beosa is the only one who can handle this situation.

　With a clinging feeling, Bashkata turns around.
　But Beosa, who should have been his last hope, was breathing heavily with anguish on his face.
　He was so exhausted that the sweat from his floating balls was running down his face and down his chin.

　Why, Bashkatha wondered.
　Dealing with the sacred element - if you use a jutsu, the body will take a load.
　It's a good idea to be able to have a good idea of what to expect.
　But Beoza was known for his endurance.
　Even if he continued to use the techniques, he would hardly get tired.
　That's why he is an irreplaceable presence for the capture team in the capture of the Holy Ruins.

　That Beosa is already so exhausted like that.
　Bashkata suddenly looked down at the Holy Demon Sword in his hand.
　The next moment, he felt his liver chill.

　-- Not enough.

　The holy element, not enough.
　Bashkata looked up at the giant who was glaring at the students as if taunting them.
　There was one thing to consider.

　Due to these guys absorbing the holy elements in this area, the concentration of holy elements in this area has been extremely diluted.
　That's why the holy magic sword couldn't exert its power when I slashed at it just now.
　Not only in the Holy Ruins, there is no such thing as running out of holy elements on earth.
　However, he had learned in class that depending on the location, the concentration of the holy element sometimes changed.
　And I've heard that absorbing and kneading the holy element in a place where the concentration was thin would take a bigger load than usual.
　In other words, Beoza was now desperately kneading the holy element and activating the magic formula while under a powerful load.

　Still, Beoza and two or three other students are the only ones who somehow showed the will to fight back against the giants.
　It's a good idea to use the same techniques as the rest of the team.
　However, the cruel reality is that even that higher level technique is not enough to defeat the giants, which further plunges Bashkatha into the depths of despair.
　It wasn't that it was completely ineffective.
　After all, as expected of the strongest jutsu user in the school, it could be said that he was indeed the strongest jutsu user in the school.
　Beosa blew off the giant's right arm with an explosive technique and cut its body into pieces with a wind technique.
　However - the giant quickly regenerated the damaged area.
　Absorbing the holy element in the surroundings.
　If the concentration of holy element in the space becomes even thinner, naturally, the burden on Beosa will also increase.

　--I can't do it anymore.

　Vashkata felt the strength rapidly draining from his body.
　But somehow, he couldn't feel the reality of his current situation.
　It was probably death that was looming.
　Still, I couldn't create a sense of danger.
　The reason for this would be due to the characteristics of the Holy Ruins.
　Even if you die in the Holy Ruins anyway, you won't really 'die'.
　You will only fall into a deep and long sleep.
　So my life is not over here.



　Bashkata laughed as he took down his holy magic sword.
　What could be heard incessantly from behind was the screams of the students and the frantic shouting of a few students who hadn't yet given up on fighting.
　Fibruk is ranting about something too.
　But Bashkatha's brain refused to recognize it.

　We're not going to make it, Bashkatha was on the verge of giving up.

　But it's no good, and so is 'they'.
　Bashkatha was amused to imagine the people of Ira's group running away, just like him.
　Then it occurred to him that those guys had already entered the Holy Ruins.
　Had they already entered the Holy Ruins?
　If so, how many levels were they on now?

　This place was on the fourth level.

　Prior information had told me that they were in the guardian room on the ninth level, but for some reason, the giants were in the guardian species room on the fourth level.
　Well, maybe it wasn't so strange.
　This is because in the recent Holy Ruins, it is said that demons that were not supposed to be in that level originally appeared in the Holy Ruins these days.
　No - it doesn't matter.

　My mouth forms a nihilistic smile.
　While imagining the humans of the Isla squad suffering in fear.

''Ugh!

　And - something pierced Bashkatha's stomach.

''........Ah?''

　Bashkata looked down at his belly, which felt strange.

''Isn't that my.......holy magic sword.......''

　I look up.
　The holy demon sword that had slipped from his hand earlier had pierced Bashkata's stomach.
　The one holding the sword in his hand was a small species.
　Moreover, the holy demon sword is emitting light.
　It is performing its original function.
　The magic circle of the jutsu style emerged at Bashkata's feet.

"I don't remember lending it to you, I don't remember lending it to you....

　Suddenly, the darkness in front of him grew darker.
　Bashkatha looked up above her head in a vague awareness of what was going on.

'Huh?'

　There was a giant figure clenching his fists and raising his arms in the air.

　--Oh, I'm still scared.

　'No, I don't want to.

''No ... no ... no ... no ... no ... no ... no ... no ... no ... no ... no ... no ... no ... no ... no ... no ... no ... no ... no ... no!

　Bashkatha hid her face with her arms as she shielded herself.
　But the giant's arm, which was ruthlessly swung down, didn't wait for the Holy Demon Sword's effect to take effect, and directly crushed the Little Saint's Sixth Rank.