..........

　I'm sorry.
　I'm sorry, from the bottom of my heart.

　I wasn't normally aware of the position or anything like that.

'Whoa!　I'm sorry!　I didn't mean to!　Ooohhhh!

　I was so embarrassed I tried to run out.
　But he grabbed me by the arm with a gasp.

'It's okay.......I understand.......you were trying to encourage me, right?　But Kurohiko isn't used to acting like that, so you weren't that aware of it...?

　Despite my shame, Cecily forgave me with a forgiving heart.
　But, however, my heart was filled with guilt.
　In fact, because she treated me with tolerance, on the contrary, I felt sorry for her.

　About ten minutes later, the demon's screams echoed in that room.

''Kyeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee?

　As if to escape the guilt that fills my chest, I blinked away the insectivorous plant-like demon in the guardian seed room on the thirty level.

　I exhale deeply, full of fatigue.
　It's not because the battle consumed my stamina.
　He was fatigued by his own screw-ups.

　Why does it happen at a time like that........

''Fufu........ thanks to Kurohiko's goofy reaction, I noticed that the bewilderment in my chest seemed to have gone somewhere.

　Was there a side benefit to the fatal one-step mistake earlier?

　The anxiety that had been there earlier was gone from Cecily-san's face.
　And Cecily-san, with her fingertips on her lips, sent me a bewitching sink-eye.

''Every time I get bothered, ku, should I ask Kurohiko to poke my chest?
It's not good!　Pull yourself together, Miss Cecily!　It was my fault!

　Currier-san sheathes Revelgate, who has never been in the guardian species room he's currently in, into a sheath.

''Oh dear.......Looks like there's still plenty of room for both of you.

　Taking out his pocket watch, Currier-san snorted, "Hmm," he said.

'Since we don't know how long it will take us to reach the lowest level, we'd like to proceed as far as we can, but the strength of the demons and traps aren't much of an obstacle at the moment. Okay, for now--

　Tucking the watch away in her pocket, Currier-san looked at the door leading to the thirty-first level.

''Let's try running through it like this until we can get there.


　　　　　*


　As we moved down the hierarchy, the structure changed.
　However, the basic elements remained the same.

　The demons become stronger.
　Their numbers increase.
　The number of different species also increases.
　The traps become bigger and bigger.
　It was like these elements become more powerful through stages.

　As for the traps, the main point is that they become bigger and bigger.
　It was a relief that the traps only became bigger.
　We haven't encountered anything like that, a trap that was cleverly staked out.

　Cecily-san.

Perhaps they didn't set up anything complicated on purpose because it would be troublesome if the monsters inhabiting it forgot the structure of the trap.

　He analyzed it.
　I see.
　An overly elaborate trap could even kill the demons that could be said to be the guardians of the ruins.
　Therefore, the traps themselves must be based on the intelligence of the demons.
　That's probably why many of the traps have simple activation conditions.

　The strength of the demons seemed to be twice as strong as Cyclops.
　The strength of the demons that normally appear in the room is probably about the same as the guardian species that fought at the twenty-fifth level.
　Of course, the strength of the monsters in the guardian species room increased in proportion to the hierarchy.

　But they weren't our enemies yet.

　However, due to the increase in the number of appearances, the problem of fatigue accumulation is coming up in a big way.

　If we are going to attack for a long period of time, it's not a good idea to drag fatigue into the next day.
　I decided to remove fatigue as much as possible before moving on from the 36th level.
　It would take a long time to get distracted.
　This is the spirit of hurry.

　Cecily carefully wrote down the information she obtained every time she took a break.
　There wasn't much information after the thirty levels.
　There are only records left behind by some of the holy warriors who are believed to have conducted the attack before the academy was established.
　Many of the records do not even state which level they were on.
　More than half of the documents have not even been verified or organized yet.

　To begin with, there probably aren't many people who have the time to write down their records during an attack.

　Incidentally, Cecily's reasons for writing them down are

It might come in handy when you go to the Special Class Holy Ruins.

　It was a good thing.

　On the way to the guardian seed room on the 40th level, I found a room that seemed to be Noyes' "Fortress".
　The contents of the shelves and boxes were empty.
　The knights must have confiscated them.
　However, what looked like a device that was taller than his height and a large desk remained intact.
　It must have been determined that it would be difficult to carry them to the return room.

　How Noyes managed to get such a large piece of equipment here by himself in the first place is a question.
　When I mentioned this, Currier-san gave me a guess.

　Her guess was that he must have used a super valuable magic tool that could change the size of inorganic objects.

　She said that Noyes from the Sixth House era had once told her about the magic tool, prefacing it with a special lesson only for Currier-san.

''It seems it was originally owned by Tasogale. I remember hearing that it was a valuable thing that only had one, and that it was an object that could be broken after two uses: changing its size and returning it to its original size.

　So you used it sparingly.

　To generate a golem to be your soldier underneath the holy ruins where you thought no one would find you.

He didn't have the sense of 'waste' when it came to achieving his goal. However, he always thought only of bringing benefit to himself.
I had that impression.
I didn't really understand the noise thing until the very end.

　With a hint of sentimentality, Curie-san looked at the fortress for a while.

　After a short break in the fortress, we decided to do some serious packing.
　We had obtained crystals, holy swords, magic tools and other by-products before we came here.

　Cecily holds out her hand to me.

''Hey, can I have a look?''

　Cecily-san knows a lot about magic tools.
　I had them appraised again, one by one.
　Unfortunately, the magic tools were all known.
　Even the holy sword doesn't seem to have the ability to surpass Frias.

　After we finished organizing, we decided to leave our bulky items here.
　Some of the holy swords and magic tools are difficult to shove into the backpack due to their shape.
　The attack team who are looking for the by-products are even preparing special luggage carriers.

''Let's focus on high purity crystals and only take what we think will be useful in generating funds for future attacks.

　Me and Curie-san agree with Cecily-san's proposal.
　The objective is only to reach the lowest level.
　I'm not looking for the by-products.

''Well,''

　At this point, we know one thing.
　I heard that the knights who were investigating the Holy Ruins had finished their investigation when they discovered the noise blockage.
　In short, this was the end of the investigation for the skilled holy warriors.

　After this, it could be said that the rest of the world was full-blown uncharted territory.

''From here on out, let's be even more cautious than ever before and continue on.

　After we left the noise fortress, we defeated the guardian species of the 40th level and resumed the attack beyond that.

　After the forty-one levels, the speed of the attack finally begins to slow down.
　Given the limited amount of food, the sooner we attack the better.
　There is still the problem of long-term accumulation of fatigue.

　In terms of the strength of the demons, there was still plenty of room for more.
　I'm also progressing while draining as much fatigue as possible.

　However, the fatigue caused by the mental load, including the sense of entrapment of being caged in the basement all the time, will not be removed.

　Even when it comes to physical fatigue, the degree of recovery is naturally weaker than sleeping in a clean, fluffy bed.

　They will slowly accumulate like lees.
　The act of hiding in the holy ruins has a different element than a mere act of combat.

　Even so, we aimed at the lowest level without wavering.
　What we are aiming at is the special class holy ruins.
　This is not the time to be discouraged before the real thing.

　The reason why I'm not discouraged is because of my friends.
　If I had been diving alone, I would have been discouraged...I think for a moment.
　Sometimes we joke with each other, and sometimes we take care of each other while attacking.

　Perhaps the reason the school encourages students to form an attack team is to help them truly understand the importance of their friends.

　I thought about that too.

　Finally, after about a week from the forty-one levels, we finally arrived at what we thought was the lowest level.


　　　　　*


The front door doesn't appear to be there.

　Cecily said, while being wary of the door behind her.

　Yes - there was a door at the back of the front of the guardian species room so far that led to the next level.

''It's possible that the trick is that it will appear if you defeat the guardian species in this room... but this is the innermost room, too. Speaking of doors, I'm also curious about the door that came in...

　Mr. Currier turned around.
　The door we had come in had been destroyed almost entirely except for the frame, which seemed to be steel.
　That's not all.
　This room is a snarky shape.
　It's wide on both sides, with a thick pool of darkness beyond.
　Even compared to the previous rooms, it feels too large.

''Ugh........''

　Miss Cecily held her sleeve to her nose.

'What is that smell?'

　Indeed, the smell in the room was also somewhat unique.
　It smelled like a stuck and soggy animal smell.
　In the first place, this hierarchy itself gave the impression of a desolate slum.
　What is it?
　The atmosphere is very different from the previous levels.

　Hmm?

You're here.

　I sense a presence.

Ah.

　Mr. Currier seemed to sense it too.

'There's a lot of them,'

　This might be the lowest level.

　I let my backpack down on the floor.

　I pulled out the demon sword from my waist and released it.

　A sound could be heard.

　If I were to use a metaphor, it would be a grating roar like a shuddering phlegm in my throat, and I heard it from beyond the darkness.

''Bugog, gogogog.......woo, ni, ninge.......ninge........''
Are you saying that you're human?

　Currier-san takes up a battle stance with a sword in hand.
　A talking demon?
　I've never seen anything like that before.

　A light was lit at the back of the room.

　The torch on the wall was set on fire by something in this room.

''I see.''

　Miss Currier smiles thinly.

'An oak, huh?'