Ow Ow.

　I woke up with a dull ache in my head.
　He must have bumped his head when he fell into the pit and temporarily passed out.

　When I picked myself up, I found myself surrounded by darkness.

'Kanade?　Tania?

　I call out to him but he doesn't answer.

'Sola?　Luna?　Nina?　Tina?　Guys, are you guys not here?　Hey!

　The voice only echoes, but still no reply.

'Oh dear.......you got separated.

　I seem to remember rolling all over the place, so...
　That pit was divided into several holes.
　It must be a trap to break up the intruder.

　For now, I took the torch out of my luggage bag and....

"Fireball.

　He lights the fire with a minimal amount of magic.
　A light is born, dispelling the darkness around it.

　The destination of the fall is a small room.
　Broken vases and other furnishings.
　That and some dust and cobwebs, but nothing else.

　A somewhat large passage - a passage wide enough for three adults to walk side by side - stretches straight ahead.

''I guess we'll just have to move forward.''

　There may be a trap set up as before, but we can't stop here.
　We have to find everyone and meet up with them quickly.

''Wha........!

　With a crunching sound, countless signs were approaching.
　In the light of the torch's fire, the figure is revealed.

　It was a huge spider, about 30 centimeters long.
　Its fangs looked like spears and were unusually sharp and well-developed.

　It's a D-ranked demon chimeric spider.
　Since it's a D-rank, it doesn't have high fighting ability, nor does it have any special abilities.
　It's just........

There's a lot of them.

　One, two, three ... one after another, chimeric spiders sprang up and came out.
　There were so many that I couldn't help but wonder seriously where they were hiding.

　I held my weapon at the ready........

I'll go into it first, and then you guys...well, you're not there.

　I can't help but call out to my friends, as I always do.
　I don't know if it's a habit or what........

　We were all supposed to be there.
　If it was intentional, or if it was intentional, it would be the first time we've been separated from each other due to unexpected circumstances, come to think of it.

One...?

　It may sound pathetic, but I felt lonely.

'I've been relying on you guys a lot...'

　Sorrowfully, I think about that.

　However, I can't be depressed.
　If I'm depressed about this, they'll laugh at me when I meet up with everyone else.

''Let's do it!''

　I picked up my Camry and intercepted a pack of Chimera spiders.



----------



Kanade please wake up, Kanade.
Hmmm... yeah?

　Swaying and shaking, Kanade opened her eyes.

''........Sora?''
Good, you're awake.

　There was Sora.
　On her back, a fluffy ball of light was floating around.
　It must be Sola's magic.

''Uh ... what is this place?''

　It's a small room.
　There's nothing in there except a single passageway that leads to the back of the room.

'It looks like Sora and the others were split up by the pit.
I see........is Rain and everyone else okay?
'I don't think it's a problem. We're not all so fragile that we can't be easily beaten.
That's ... well ... yeah.

　Kanade agreed with a chuckle.

　He stands up and pans down to remove the grit and dust from his clothes.

'Well then, let's bust through the wall to join the others!
'No, no, no, no!　Please don't be so bland and obvious!
Meow?　Why not?
'You didn't listen to the test briefing!　You were told you'd be disqualified for doing that!
Oh, by the way,
I'm tired...
So, I guess we'll just have to look for it in the usual way?
That's right. It seems that the ruins are equipped with a mechanism that interferes with magic, and since we can't use detection magic very well we have no choice but to use our feet to find it steadily.
So, let's go!　Follow me.
I have a bad feeling about that...



----------



Nina, are you okay?　Does it hurt?
Yeah, I'll be fine.

　Tania was walking through the ruins with Nina on her back.
　Nina, being piggybacked, is holding a torch in her hand.

　Falling into a pit....
　The next thing I knew, it was Tania and Nina.
　Moreover, Nina seemed to have twisted her leg when she fell.

　Neither Tania nor Nina could use their recovery magic.
　Although Nina's sub-space storage took out the medicine and cured her, it didn't cure her immediately.
　The most certain way is to have Sora and Luna heal them.

　Therefore, I decided to not choose to wait for help and go looking for it myself.

''I........am not heavy, right?''
What are you talking about? What's the matter with you?　It looks like a feather.
Hmmm....

　Nina was a little embarrassed.

'I'm sorry ... Tania.'
Hmm?　Why are you apologizing?
I'm pulling my leg and...
Do you care about that?
I don't care, my friend.
Well, I don't care. You're one of us.

　Tania says in a cheerful voice.

'Friends are supposed to support each other in times of need, aren't they?　So I don't mind.
...hmmm....

　Nina's tail wagged happily as she was being piggybacked.



----------



Lightning Strike!

　Shiden ran through and kicked away the demons nestled in the passage.

　However, he couldn't capture all the demons.
　A few of them leaked out of the shot.

''First pitch........I threw it!

　Tina swung her arms wide over Luna's head....
　A lump of magic power was thrown at the demon.

　It was a hard ball.

　The mass of magic power caught the demon's head beautifully and poof!　And play it off.

'Hahaha, weak, too weak!　Is this what it's all about?
You can't stop us like that!

　Luna and Tina were fine, even though they were separated from their friends.