"Haha, the monsters look like ants from up here."
"I want to go home..."
"We just reached the 24th Floor, and this is already happening?"
Below the valley, the landscape was a sea of monsters—endless, swarming hordes.
A procession of filthy beasts was unfolding right before our eyes.
Under normal circumstances, it would be best to avoid a death trap like this.
Unfortunately, we were in a position where we had no choice but to break through.
The pantry on the 24th Floor, our destination, lay beyond this valley at the far end. There was simply no other way.
From the start, we had been backed into a corner.
Just as the party was debating their next move...
"I'll go."
"The Sword Princess?!"
Ais, who had been quietly observing from the rear, finally stepped forward.
In an instant, she descended into the valley below.
—Kyaaaah!
"Out of the way."
Slash!
And then, the sword dance began.
Under her overwhelming force, the monsters of the middle floors were reduced to mere fodder, cut down in a whirlwind of steel.
To her, they were nothing more than pebbles on the roadside.
"No way..."
"Do we even need to be here?"
Watching from above, the members of the Hermes Familia could only feel a sense of emptiness as Ais displayed such absolute strength.
Faced with such an enormous gap in power, it was hard not to wonder if their teamwork even mattered.
Everyone seemed to be wearing the same stunned expression.
Except for one person.
Their captain, Asfi, was the sole exception.
"So that is the Sword Princess. A Level 6 first-class adventurer."
Of course, even she wasn't entirely unshaken by Ais's prowess.
But even in her surprise, she never stopped analyzing Ais's skills, calculating how to use that strength to their advantage.
Indeed, she was an impressive young woman in many ways.
Still, did I hear that correctly?
"Level 6? Wasn't the Sword Princess Level 5?"
"Ah, you hadn't heard? She ranked up to Level 6 recently. The Guild officially announced it."
"Oh? Level 6, huh."
I could tell without even looking; my eyes were likely brimming with curiosity.
It was only natural. Among the adventurers whose skills I had analyzed in this city, the highest I had seen was Tiona back when she was Level 4.
A superhuman beyond that level...
That power, that speed, and that wealth of experience.
The chance to witness it all firsthand had fallen right into my lap. How could I not be interested?
If possible, I wanted to record it and replay the footage over and over.
Too bad I hadn't brought that kind of Mystic Code with me this time.
Grr, how frustrating!
I made a vow to myself that next time, I would craft one in the form of an accessory to carry at all times.
While I lamented my lack of equipment, my eyes remained fixed on her back.
Before I knew it, the monster horde filling the valley had been completely eradicated, and the sword dance came to a halt.
Ah, what a pity.
I wanted to watch a little longer.
I wanted to analyze her movements in finer detail and preserve them as "data."
Regrettably, I had to give up for now.
"That's all of them. If we leave the magic stones, they'll become a headache later. Everyone, keep watch while we recover the stones..."
Following Asfi's instructions, we cleaned up the area and moved on.
After a while, we reached our destination: the pantry on the 24th Floor.
Or more precisely, we reached the area "in front of it."
"Asfi! Come look at this!"
"What in the world is this...!"
"A wall? It looks like some kind of plant."
"This wasn't on the map."
What appeared before us as we followed the map was a massive wall.
However, the wall wasn't made of stone or rock.
As Asfi noted, it looked like a plant—as if several thick stems had tangled together and fused into a single, grotesque mass.
Just in case, I asked Ais, who had the most experience in the deeper floors, what she made of it.
"What do you think, Sword Princess? Have you ever seen anything like this in the deeper floors?"
"No, this is my first time seeing it too."
"Really? Let's see... oh? Huh, look at this? It's alive!"
Unfortunately, she didn't have the answer either.
Well, I hadn't exactly expected her to know, so it didn't matter much.
Driven by curiosity, I stepped up to the wall and touched it. The texture was bizarre.
It was hard yet tough, somehow squishy, and despite its appearance, I could feel a throbbing pulse, as if it were a living creature.
And yet, the temperature it gave off was cool, like a plant.
I'd felt something vaguely similar before, but what was it?
Uh, uh, definitely... ah, right!
"It's like entrails. No, that's it! It's much more fitting to call it a lump of flesh than a plant. Or maybe a jar full of snakes, or a swarm of earthworms."
"Ew, what is that? Just hearing it is gross."
"Gah! Now I feel sick just imagining it...!"
"Don't tell me that's the source of the monster outbreak?"
"That would seem to be the case."
I shook my head at the party's wild guesses.
Yes, the premise of this whole incident had been wrong from the very beginning.
"No, this isn't the source of the monsters' 'outbreak.' It's the source of their 'migration.'"
"Migration? What do you mean... ah!"
"Looks like you've figured it out."
Asfi looked startled.
I continued the explanation for the others.
"The Dungeon's pantry is the monsters' food storage. No matter how you look at it, they're still living creatures. Without nutrition, they can't survive."
But right now, the path to that pantry was blocked by this bizarre wall.
So, what would hungry monsters do when their path was cut off?
The answer had already been confirmed on the way here.
"Then they'd move to the pantry on another floor...!"
"Exactly. That is the reason for this abnormal situation, and the cause of it all."
At my answer, everyone in the party stared at the unknown wall with grave expressions.
Among them, one person voiced the question that had naturally arisen in their minds.
"Then... what's inside beyond this wall?"
"Well."
I paused and took a small bottle from my pocket, sprinkling its contents onto the ground.
It was my prized Mystic Code, Volumen Hydrargyrum.
"[Boil up, my blood]."
Gurgle, gurgle... rattle!
"[Slash]."
Shhk, thud!
Under the silver blade, an entrance was carved into the wall, revealing a dark passage beyond.
As I stepped inside, I answered the earlier question.
"Wouldn't we know if we went in and checked?"
"I suppose there's no helping it."
Asfi and the rest of the party followed after me with determined expressions.
And just as the last person entered...
Rustle
"Ah! The entrance!"
The opening we had cut was quickly filled back in, vanishing beneath those ugly, fleshy growths.
Well, it wasn't exactly something worth worrying about.
"It's fine. We can just cut it open again."
"Th-that's true, but..."
Lili, the beastwoman, looked needlessly uneasy.
But she wasn't the only one reacting that way.
Everyone felt a similar sense of dread.
Of course, that wasn't my concern; I was too busy satisfying my curiosity about this interesting space.
Still, if I wanted to learn anything more, it seemed I'd have to go deeper into the passage and identify the real source of the problem.
"Let's keep moving. Sword Princess, sorry to ask, but could you take the lead?"
"Understood."
"You lot handle the rear. Don't worry about me. I haven't shown much yet, but as long as this thing is with me, we should be fine."
"That is... hmm, understood. Lord Hermes did tell me a bit about your skill. Very well."
"Well then. I appreciate your understanding."
That settled the party formation.
We moved forward, keeping watch in all directions for any possible threat.
As for me, Volumen Hydrargyrum's [Automatic Targeting] and [Autonomous Defense] handled everything, allowing me to relax and satisfy my personal curiosity at my own pace.
"Hey, can I say something scary? What if this squishy, disgusting wall is actually made of monsters..."
"Then we might get dissolved by digestive fluids like we're inside a monster's stomach. That's certainly possible. There are floor bosses, so there's no reason there couldn't be a monster even bigger than that."
"Eek!"
"Hey, Lili! Don't joke around like that!"
"Aaaah, sorry!"
But contrary to our worries, no attack came.
Thanks to that, the tension seemed to ease a little. Starting with a few mood-makers, the group began exchanging trivial chatter.
Kikus kept trying to win over Asfi with his affection.
The dwarf siblings complained about their lot in life while pretending to pick a fight with Ais.
Lili got caught by Asfi while messing around with Kikus and was scolded along with him, and so on.
To an outsider, it might have looked like their lowered vigilance could lead to a serious problem, but in truth, this was far better than the heavy atmosphere from before.
You could call it the composure of veterans.
Just as a taut bowstring needs to be loosened from time to time, the same principle applied here.
In the first place, a certain amount of relaxed tension often helps more in actual combat.
"By the way, are you a mage like our captain too? You've got a strange magic item."
"Huh? This is a magic item? I thought it was obviously a slime tamer."
"Is that so? Or is it not?"
"What do you think, Captain? Can you tell what it is?"
Suddenly, the conversation shifted to me.
Normally, I wouldn't have paid it any mind, but since the person involved was Asfi, things were different.
After all, she was an excellent mage—a maker.
That made me genuinely curious about her evaluation, as she had a sharp eye for objects.
Even if it was a degraded replica, Volumen Hydrargyrum was still one of my own creations.
Naturally, I cared a little about how others perceived it.
"Hmm."
I could feel her serious gaze on me.
Indeed, Asfi. No matter what else, her keen eye should be able to recognize the true value of this Mystic Code...
"It's... rather cute."
...Professor, I miss you terribly today of all days.
Ah, if only Flat were here beside me!
"Squishy? Or fluffy? Jiggly?"
What, do they think this is some convenience store pudding?
Honestly, what is wrong with the magi in this world?
No matter how much their main role and identity in this world may be rear support and convenient Mystic Code production, this was going too far!
People who claim to handle mystery, and yet their basic posture is a complete mess, every last one of them!
"That's all? Nothing else comes to mind?"
"Huh? Um, well... the blade attack from earlier was quite fierce. It had considerable power. At that level, it should be enough to repel monsters from the middle floors. It's an excellent magic item."
"I see. I understand."
So this is what people who became mages through Falna are like...
Even she, whom I had considered a promising talent, was this bad?
I was honestly disappointed beyond words.
Though I had no right to say that, considering I made a degraded replica by copying someone else's work, this was still a bit much.
No matter how much magic in this world leans toward inborn talent and instinctive sense rather than research and study, this was really not okay.
For someone who had supposedly taken even one step onto the path of the mystic arts, that was all they had to say?
And that little dwarf mage behind her looked like she didn't even know what was what.
"Well, I suppose it can't be helped."
"Huh? What can't be helped?"
"No, nothing. Just talking to myself."
Leaving Asfi's puzzled reaction behind, I continued my observations.
But inside, I was already full of complaints, grumbling, and disappointment.
"Falna. The blessing of the gods."
Hah, blessing, my ass.
Personally, I see Falna as a kind of shackle or curse.
Of course, I agree that the system of becoming a superhuman through rank advancement via Falna is quite efficient and convenient.
But as with everything in this world, a dark shadow always accompanies the light.
Even this seemingly convenient Falna had its undeniable flaws.
Especially for a magus like me, Falna was something I could never accept.
Because the magic you can obtain through Falna is limited to three at most.
Any more than that is impossible unless you're one of those unusual cases like the Loki Familia's Nine Hells or Thousand Elves. That is the common sense of this world—an unbreakable limit.
What greater shackle or curse could there be for a magus like me?
I didn't spend my nights pulling all-nighters just to get what I wanted for no reason.
And yet the mages in this world blindly embrace it because it is convenient and strong, without understanding anything at all.
From where I stood, it seemed like this would only cause magic itself to decline further.
I also wondered what they'd do if those so-called great gods ever grew tired of life in the lower world and left.
Would humans in this world really be able to keep developing on their own when that day came?
The path of the mystic arts, the "road of magic," was by no means something so easy.
Humanity is humanity, and gods are only gods.
They won't solve everything in humanity's place forever.
Back in the old days, the magi of the Age of Gods in my previous world understood that much too.
In fact, that was what made those people even more incredible.
"Well, I suppose it's not something an outsider like me needs to worry about."
In the end, all of that was for the future descendants of this world to handle themselves.
It wasn't my concern, as my own path was already full enough.
For my ultimate goal, I'd at least need to set foot on the threshold of the [Root]...
"Wait, everyone, stop."
Then came Asfi's signal to halt.
And then.
"Falga, Kikus, follow me..."
"No, don't go."
"Huh? What do you mean...?"
"[Designated Attack. Pursuit Annihilation Maneuver]. Get ready. It's coming soon."
Something had timed itself perfectly to enter my detection range.
Direction: above!
"[Slash]!"
Shiiing, thunk!
—KuoOOOOOO!
It was a hideous monstrosity that resembled the flowers and stems of a plant, yet possessed none of a plant's freshness.
"Oh? It's tougher than I expected."
"Eek! What is that?!"
"A monster?!"
"Above us!"
"Tch, everyone, intercept them!"
As its identity was exposed, a swarm of monsters surged down as if they no longer intended to hide.
And beneath them, the adventurers hurriedly tried to counterattack.
"So these are the new monsters."
In the midst of the chaos, I smiled calmly, like a racer at the starting line.
New samples are always welcome!