The first thing I felt when I stepped into the first level of the Holy Ruins was a sense of nostalgia.

　It would be the first time I had stepped foot in there since that mission to defeat the Titans.

''Kurohiko, is your luggage okay?''
''No problem. If it wasn't for the special nature of the Holy Ruins, though, I'm sure it would have been much more difficult with more baggage.

　I touch the stone walls, which glow faintly blue-white.

　The walls of the Holy Ruins are faintly luminescent in places.
　There's no need to bring a lot of light-based tools.
　As Cecily said, the lights are only used to pinpoint and illuminate the occasional darkness that exists, and some of them are only used to avoid demons.

　There isn't much food, either.
　In the Holy Ruins, it's not as appetizing as it is on earth.
　The amount of food can be less than usual.
　That's how it's made.

　In the Holy Ruins, the number of times we have to go to the toilet is also greatly reduced.
　There is no need to worry about having a toilet problem every few hours.
　They say it happens only once a day.
　I look at the parchment that Cecily has folded in her hand to make it easier to hold.

'Shall we aim at the sixth level for today?

　They say that while the number in the hierarchy is low, it's easier to move down the hierarchy.
　The problem is after the number of the hierarchy comes up?

''After defeating the guardian species at the fifth level, let's take a break at the sixth level. We'll check the situation there and decide whether or not we should continue on.

　The plan of attack was almost entirely left to Cecily-san.
　An attack on the Holy Ruins can't be achieved by forceful push alone.

　It's more like management.
　It's more like planning.

　I really felt that we needed someone who was good at that kind of thing.

''Oops.''

　The first demon we encountered.
　It was.

This is another one I've missed.

　A white imp.

　A goblin.

　It was the first demon I encountered in the Holy Ruins when I first entered the ruins.
　It's one of the lowest-ranked demons in the ruins.
　But I won't let my guard down.
　No matter what kind of opponent I'm dealing with, I won't let my guard down.
　If they're going to stand in the way, then I'll do everything in my power--

Gui..........gui.......
Hmm?

　The goblin with a twisted face took a step back.

''Gee, geeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!

　As it was, the goblin went back to the small side-hole it had appeared in.
　I, who had my hand on the hilt of my sword, pouted.

''...Huh?''
Looks like he's gone.

　Miss Currier said.
　Cecily smiled bitterly.

'Did you decide they were too bad for you?

　I put the blade I had been out to back into its scabbard.

'But he may have called for his friends and we should be vigilant and hurry onward.

　In the end, however, the goblins did not reappear even after reaching the fifth level.

　Along the way, we encountered the Little Cyclops, Twin Kobolds, Imps, and Unicorn Ants, all of which reminded me of old times, but we were able to defeat them with ease.

　We also met up with other attackers a few times along the way.

　At this level of hierarchy, there seemed to be other attacking candidates as well.
　They are not hostile to each other, but rather just exchanged brief greetings.
　Instead, for some reason, they paid tribute to me with crystals.
　It was easy to tell from the atmosphere of the male candidates that they were paying tribute to Cecily-san, though.

　After separating from the group of candidates who had contributed the crystals, Currier-san said to Cecily-san, who was walking beside him.

''No matter which squad you join, you're going to get by without difficulty.
'No, no, it's more like that, that's one of the reasons why I've declared ahead of time that I won't work with anyone other than Zeke and Hyrgis... No, of course I'm not not happy about the favor, but...'

　Cecily seems to have her own problems.

　So we stop in front of a large door.

　Curie-san looks at the door and crosses her arms.

'Well, so we've come to the guardian species room.

　There are guardian species in the hierarchy you are in now.

　In the hierarchy of five multiples, a powerful demon called the guardian species is waiting for you to prevent you from reaching the next level.
　In an RPG game, it would be like a mid-boss.

The guardian species doesn't appear every time a particular monster appears. It's just that the monsters that are appropriate for the difficulty level of the hierarchy will appear. As long as it's not the same as before, where the noise golem chases out the guardian species and sits on them.

　Demons that have appeared in this room in the past are listed.
　I flip open the mini-illustrated book, which is marked only with their names.

'........tsu, I don't know how strong they are.

　I've never encountered it, so I couldn't tell how strong it was by the name.
　Cecily smiles.

''Hi. Shall we fight for a while?　From my analysis, I don't think these three are the only people I'd have trouble with... and the only one that's a little bit tricky is the Spear Spider.
Yeah.

　Mr. Currier, who agreed, opened the door without hesitation.

'At least we don't have the option of running back here.

　The door closed noisily as I entered the room.

　Hmm?
　This presence...

Upstairs.

　At the same time as Currier-san said that, we looked up at the ceiling.
　The one clinging to the ceiling corner of the dimly lit room was

Spearspider, right?

　White body.
　Red eyes.
　Many long legs.
　A spider demon that uses the tips of its sharp legs to pierce its prey like a spear.

　A spider demon.

　Cecily pulls out her twin swords.

It's a good thing that you're not the only one who's been in a position to do this.
"Pee-gee...

　We let out a screeching sound and the spider spider spider spat out a spider thread.
　We avoided the thread.

'I see. So you catch your prey with the thread first, and then come down and kill it?

　The ceiling is surprisingly high.
　It's a delicate altitude to see if you can reach it with a leap.

'What do we do now?　Would you like me to fly over and take them down with the fifth curse?

　Oh, I suppose the Ninth Counterspell could work too.

I suppose I could use a magic trick to bring it down...

　A moment.

　A short, sky-cutting sound.

　Currier-san threw a Revelgate with tremendous force, aiming at the Spear Spider.



　The blade pierced my head.
　That agony.
　It seemed to have hit a vital point.

　The spider fell straight down and hit the floor with a bang.

　The body begins to dissolve.

　When the demon was completely melted away, the revergate and a crystal the size of a coin were left on the floor.

　After Currier-san picks up the Revelgate, she picks up the crystal.
　She flicked the crystal she picked up with her fingers and handed it to Cecily-san.

''Toto?''

　Cecily-san panicked a bit and caught the crystal in both palms.
　Currier-san seemed to have plenty of time to spare and sheathed her sword.

''Then let's move on.


　　　　　*


　We proceeded to the sixth level and found an empty small room.

　We decided to take a break there for once.

''Crystals don't have to come from a different species, do they?''

　Until now, I thought that crystals were only supposed to come from different species.

'It seems like it's easy to come out of different species, though. And from other demons, even if they do come out, they're usually small. It's rarer that the crystals remain.

　Cecily explains to me.

　You were lucky earlier.

　I put down my backpack and ask.

''Didn't the difficulty of the Holy Ruins go up from the tenth level?

　Cecily replies as she unfolds the parchment.

''It's said that the general speed of attack is to get to the tenth level within a year of entering the school. It seems that the guardian seed room on the fifth level just now is the most difficult part for the first year students.''
''Well, as I recall... if you can get past the fourteenth level in the second year, you'll be good, and most of the time you'll reach the nineteenth level before you graduate?
Before that, though, it seems to stop at the eighteenth level for the most part.
Eighteen levels?
''There are three powerful demons on the eighteenth level, the three difficult demons, Gila Horse, Deltrel and Vuelzegio.
Three demons. It sounds like a great idea.
''Also, there will be Cyclops on the fourteenth level - that is, this was a demon that Kurohiko had already had experience defeating, right?

　The mysterious rumbling that used to occur frequently in the early period is now gone, I hear.
　The cause of the rumbling is believed to be the noise from a foreign object, the golem that was created in the ruins and a blockade installed in the ruins.

''The Holy Ruins have the characteristic of being easy to reach once you reach the first level, but we have yet to reach the sixth level and beyond...''

　After all, all three of them had reached the highest level at the moment, the fifth level was the highest level they had reached.
　The place where they fell through a crack in the ground and encountered a bunch of Blue Goblins was the fifth level.
　When it was time to defeat the giants, the giants appeared when they had reached the third level.

　Oh, I see.

''For us, these six levels are already a personal record........''

　The clarity of the black crystal fitted into the bracelet has also increased heartily.

''It might be somewhat difficult from here on out but.......let's aim to defeat the tenth level guardian species today. Can you two keep this up?

　I stood up quickly as I re-packed my sack and stood up.

"Of course.

　Mr. Currier followed.

'No problem.'

　Deciding to continue on to the lower levels, we left the small room and moved on.