That voice, uttered to no one, is filled with a hint of affirmation. It's a good idea to be careful, but if you have all these wizards and they are all stranded, it's a mistake.
　It is still a single mage to break the tense atmosphere, and that may be the reason why they are so powerful.

　It wasn't so hard to move the troops who had turned into scarecrows.

''S-rate...'' uttered Ilyce, but her voice sounded so vague and weakly muttered that I wondered to whom the question was addressed.
　S-rate class demons are taking shape as complete forms of existence itself. At a glance, it would be possible to identify it as a truly deformed individual appropriate to its magical power.

"We don't want to get anywhere with this. We must hurry onward.
'I agree. But.....

　And Ars turned to Ilyce, who urged him to go ahead, including a certain thing with his gaze. Ilyce, who noticed this, saw that he had a point and nodded back.
　Loki watches such a silent exchange between the two of them with confusion. Since he didn't dare to use words, it must be undesirable for the content to be heard by many others here.
　Even if you have come to that conclusion, Loki, who wants to take the lead at the time of need, is not sure how to get out.

　He has to get ahead of everyone else and make sure that Ars doesn't fray his nerves on the chores. And yet, I couldn't decipher the meaning of Ars's silence to me.
　A fire of frustration starts to smolder on my back as I chirp.

　As if pushed by the burning back, Loki slips one step further than Ars.


　Ars had one thought in mind: he wanted to get information before he went downstairs. Because if this deposit was related to Babel as Ars had predicted it could be a clue to back it up.

　It is shared only with Ilyce.
　Just when the two of them felt they wanted to see it with their own eyes, oddly enough, a high-pitched sound clicks through the ground from the center - the innermost part of the giant room (pocket).

　In front of the mixed forces, a flickering light comes out in the huge space. The soft light gradually increases in volume and begins to expose the darkness. The place was filled with the intense light emitted by Mithril, a complete change from the previous time.

''So that's [Celket]?

　Multiple legs strike the ground irregularly, gradually revealing the monster's form. A robust outer shell, unique to crustaceans, covers its entire body. The pointed legs and pointed arms were like steel that had been forged many times... no, each one was like a gem-grade lance.

　His vision was blurred and he couldn't catch the two lancets clearly.
　Ars squinted his eyes as he stared at it, noticing the faint vibrations of the space surrounding the lancets.

　--It doesn't look like it's going to be a straightforward matter. The problem is more than that........

　The light was filled by Mithril, who reacted to Serketo's magical power. A nauseating and horrific scene that could be faintly acknowledged deep within Serketo by it.

''It's like a monument, isn't it?''

　Stepping out unabashedly, Ars spat out in disgust as he looked out over the huge space from near the entrance, one person spat in disgust.

　Behind Serketo, huge crystals had formed a cluster. They stretched messily at various angles like a sword mountain. At the tip of it was decorated with a human being pierced through the abdomen.
　It was like a quick sacrifice.

　More than a dozen people had all been pierced by a dozen crystals one by one, and the huge crystal group was stained with their blood. The crystal group, as well as its size, emitted an exceptionally strong bright red light.

　And just behind Serketo, all of their gazes were glued to the tail that dizzyingly swayed in the middle of the crystal group and the main body.

''O, Lord Ordwise!

　With a face tinged with astonishment, Garginis squeezed his mentor's name in the back of his throat. His chest was pierced by a giant tail, which was held up to play with him. Blood spattered from the limp, powerlessly waved corpse - like a wet towel waved to blow away the moisture.

　It's to be expected.
　But Ars's eyes remained steely, glued to the ghastly scene. The narrowing of his eyes told him that he had confirmed something.

　Magic leaked out of Garginis' red armor, which was probably the most shocking thing he had ever seen, in an emotional way.
　All of them can all sense the urgency of the situation.

　The damming of the faucet that was left out is like forcing a hand to block it. Garginis endures silently behind his armor.
　The sound of his fist clanging was closed tightly for his shameful thoughts.

　The way the single mage dammed up the vast amount of magic power that resided in his body and still leaked out was so aggressive that even the troopers of Galginis's squad were gasping for breath.
　Garginis's magic power is extremely easy to interpret.
　It's an anger, a self-centered rage that can be described as unreasonable.

　Apart from the magic, Ars is beginning to understand why he has been on the bottom of the pecking order for so long. It's a good thing that magic is closely linked to emotions; it doesn't work well if it's unstable, and sometimes it can even go out of control.
　But in the case of Garginis.

　-- you control your magic power with the ups and downs caused by emotions?

　Ordinary magic power is consumed as energy, and in Ars's theory, it's manipulated as a skill. But in the case of Garginis, it's not a precise control of magic power, but specifically the degree of percentage adjustment through emotional ups and downs.
　No, Ars changes his mind. Simply put, that's just immaturity.

　So this should only be a more faithful response of magic power due to the heightened emotions.
　Magic power is constantly being produced in the body, and although there are differences between individuals, the amount produced is constant no matter how much is consumed. However, the current Garginis was forcibly increasing the amount produced by the height of his emotions.

　Of course, this couldn't be sustained for a long period of time without any cost, but it's not usually possible to intentionally increase the amount generated.

''Wow~Good~You're producing magic power. If you get hit, I'll take care of it for you.

　In a teasing tone, Fanon points the water at Garginis.

'It won't take long to clean up downstairs anyway, so at best you'll have to let them have it until then.
..........

　Galginis, who is silent, doesn't seem to have heard Fanon's words.
　After a beat or so, a muffled, heavy sound comes from behind the armor.

'I ain't long enough to wait for you!　Hey!　Ars Regin, we'll take this place as planned!
Can't argue with that. We're going to move on. All we have to do is be quick and silent and get rid of anyone who gets in our way.

　But," said Ars, looking at the demon. I felt like he saw me correctly.
　A bad feeling arises when he doesn't attack immediately.

　Ilyce agrees, but there's no need to say it.

'It's an unpleasant position, but it can't be helped, can it?

　As Ilyce says, the passage downstairs is at the back of the huge room 《pocket》. In other words, the means of movement is either to plow through in front of the demon's eyes, or to go around the perimeter.

I'll hold them back. Go quickly!

　As soon as he said it, the armed group, led by Garginis, rushed into the room at once.
　There was no signal and no timing. Although it was a forceful method, there was no more opportunity, and Ars and the others instantly started running.

　The perimeter of the room "pocket" is surrounded by multiple circles as if it were a circle. The only way to get to the downstairs is to go through one of the outer passages of the room.
　Whichever way you go, left or right, you will end up in the same place.

　But there's no point in foolishly going through one corridor together with each other.
　The troops going downstairs instantly split up into two groups, each aiming for the path downstairs.

　It's a split-second decision, so to speak, a gut feeling.

　Most of Fanon's troops went to the left. Ars and Loki went to the right, with Ilyce following Ars a beat behind.
　Even through the thick wall, they could see that the battle had already begun.

　Since Ars and others are passing through the stone, there is no indication that powerful magic has manifested.

　The time required to reach the distance is about ten seconds.
　It's not easy to see what's ahead because it's curved, but if there's nothing else, you should be able to maintain your speed.

　Suddenly, the small voices of Bosori and Ilyce sounded right beside Ars.

'You noticed, kid,'
Yeah, that's what I expected.

　She couldn't say much about it now, but it would have been enough to get through to her. The meaning of the demon's form and the horrific scene.
　She wouldn't say it, but even Garginis might be burdened by it. It was obvious that it wasn't just an S-rate.

　There's a measure of combat power required to defeat an S-rate: to defeat an S-rate, you have to bring in an elite force that incorporates a single magician. Even so, the probability of completion is said to be around 70%, including advance information, and the expectation of damage is 100%.

　Of course, the numbers vary depending on the ranking, but all countries share the same general consensus.
　And although Garginis's ranking was moved up because of the omission, he was still called a lowly one among single mages.

　It's safe to say that the above estimates are generally applicable.
　Naturally, there might be some affinity with demons and hidden powers. In other words, the latent values are not included, so to speak.
　So we can only hope for that.

　A moment later - even the slightest concern that Ars had is blown away in an instant.
　Ars and Ilyce, who were running side by side, reacted at the same time and jumped back as if a repulsion had been created between them. They repulsed each other, vacating a large space where they had been.

　Then a sharp spear was inserted from the wall of the giant room (pocket) side and pierced the place where Ars and Ilyce had just been.
　The thick wall is easily pierced and a large hole is drilled into the wall.

　Yes, by the time they thought they had penetrated the wall, they had already been pulled in and only a hole was left.

　'What the hell is Garginis doing,' the expletive was spat out from Fanon, going the other way.

''Don't be silly, you wooden figure!

　The childish swearing that echoed inside. However, it was as if there was no tension in the abuse.
　Ars also wanted to say a word, but this is a situation that doesn't even allow for that.
　The momentary stab that comes out of the wall surface easily surpasses the reflexes of an ordinary person. It's easy in the sense that you can die without even feeling pain.

　From the way Fanon said it, he must have been attacked the same way on the other side.
　From the faintly visible shape, the stab was caused by the tail that Ordwise was thrusting into.

　To what extent each of them were able to understand the extent of the current thrust, that is the most necessary means to get out of here.

　--I'm sure these guys can't prevent that from happening. I'd rather evade than prevent it head-on. But if we're careful, we can do something about it.

　It's not just a matter of time before you get to the point where you'll be able to see the difference. In other words, it was close to a guess.
　It was probably due to a guess drawn from the sound of footsteps.

　If he had aimed accurately at either Ars or Ilyce, he would not have been unharmed.

　There was no other option but to run only looking straight ahead.

　At the same time as Ars looks back over his shoulder, a stab pierced through the squad members with unnoticeable speed and returned.
　Ars's prediction was correct. The second blow was misplaced.
　It doesn't hit or even snatch anyone.

　Such guesses are highly dependent on analytical skills and are directly related to life and death here.

　Three blows, four blows, five blows ... five holes in the wall within a second. There's no choice but to run through it, but that's just luck. Some people are injured because of the sheer number of shots.
　But that didn't stop us from running, and we shouldn't.

　We gradually go around from Ars and Ilyce at the front, and we see a passage downstairs that looks like a pitfall.
　On the other side, I've just caught sight of Fanon and Exeles.

　On the contrary, Ilyce turns his attention to the back, not the front.

Tch!　Don't try to fight it!

　At the end of the raspy voice, a man, perhaps no longer able to endure the death game left to his luck, looked through several open holes and attempted to deploy a barrier.
　Before he could finish bravely saying, "I'll prevent it, while--" the man's head was obliterated from the neck up, in the middle of building magic.

　Since he was in the middle of the line, he was probably trying to let the rest of the group go ahead to safety.
　But he had to tell Serketo his place.

　That would put the rear of the group at an even greater disadvantage. The two remaining members stopped in their tracks as they watched their colleague's head disappear in front of them, only to collapse while spurting blood.
　Rated prey.

　They were unaware that their own feet were stuck to the ground. They were forced to choose whether to turn back. It takes a lot of effort to start running again once you stop in an extreme situation. On the contrary, it's much easier mentally to start running to turn back.

　The brain judges that getting ahead of your colleague's death is a "dangerous path" and turning back is a "safe path".
　Therefore, stepping over a dead body is a psychological resistance.
　After all, the road ahead is full of holes, and from a demon's point of view, it's transparent.


　However, the roar of Garginis's cleavage resounds from the depths of the hole - the center of the hole.
　The sound as if the metal armor was being scraped away with a crunching sound also rang loudly.
　The thumping sound of the hole being drilled is also shortened. When these slipped out of the depths of the hole almost simultaneously - a sharp cutting edge slipped in front of the men following, and then stopped.

　Even the process of pulling back was something they couldn't even see. Strictly speaking, they didn't even see the shape of the tail that drilled the hole.
　For the first time, the mighty tail appeared before their eyes.

　The momentary stagnation was caused by Garginis.
　And this moment was the last pause that would save them from their predicament.

'Hurry!

　At the sound of Ars's voice, the men ran out to collapse and ran as fast as they could to the passage downstairs.