Regressor, Possessor, Reincarnator

Allen’s team became increasingly familiar with the ruins with each passing day.

Unlike the second day, when they spent most of their day passing through the first floor, their pace on that floor began to quicken over time.

On the third day, they not only went down to the second floor, but passed through about 30 percent of it.

And on the fourth day, they succeeded in almost completing the entire second floor.

If William hadn't been exhausted by the cumulative fatigue from the days of hard work, they might have even gone down to the third floor.

On the fourth and fifth days, they took a break to recover from the fatigue they’d accumulated.

On the sixth day, the party entered the ruins fully recovered and passed through the second floor down to the third floor.

The third floor featured ghouls and sandmen; however, golems also began to appear.

The group tried to move past the third floor as quickly as the second, but they had to spend time adjusting to its difficulty, hovering around the entrance for most of the day because of the unexpectedly strong golems and stealthily laid traps.

But on the seventh day, they fully adapted to the third floor. And on the eighth day, marking the halfway point of their practice-raid, they succeeded in reaching the fourth floor.

After returning from an arduous night-long journey, morning came.

Ariel began to speak, her face serious, "We can’t keep going like this."

"What do you mean? Aren't we doing so well, though?" Evan responded with a quizzical look as he adjusted the bonfire.

The saucepan fixed over the fire gave off a savory scent. Unlike their first day, when they’d only eaten bland soup, Evan got used to cooking this dish well enough that he could make it palatable. 

Well, it was more a result of the salt he’d gotten from a merchant.

"Absolutely not. Evan, how long did it take for us to get down to the fourth floor?”

"…Well, six days, not counting the days we took off?"

“Yes! Six days! We’re already halfway through the practice-raid and we’ve only gotten down to the fourth floor!”

Despite her fervent implorings, Evan wore an unimpressed expression.

"But there are only three floors left until the seventh floor. I think it's doable considering how much of the time we have left."

"The lower you go, the harder it gets! Even if we do our best over the next six days, I think the fifth floor is going to be our limit. It's just too much."

"Isn't that enough?”

Ariel drummed her fingers on the ground, agitated by the pushback. "No, didn't you hear? Maria's group has already mapped all the way down to the second floor and entered the third floor!"

She looked different from before. Devoid of any makeup and wearing simple leather gear on top of the Academy’s school uniform, the proud princess who entered the Academy was nowhere to be found, leaving behind only an archer whose only drive was to come out on top.

"…What? Wasn't the reason why we gave up on exploring each floor completely because it was supposed to be too difficult? But they got down to the third floor even after getting all the way through the second?”

"Yes. I tried not to think about it, but…”

That was all she said. After examining Allen's expression, she went on.

“A group from the supplementary class apparently found a lot of relics in every room they went in. Each relic only gives you a few extra points, but I think that since they got so many, they could be at the top of the ranks.”

She wasn't the only one who had changed. Evan had shed some of his previously useless mannerisms, bravado, and arrogance in his trips in and out of the ruins.

"That means we're not the only ones who're ahead right now.”

"…Then that’s a problem.”

"Wh-what should we do, then?” William, who had emptied his bowl of soup, asked carefully. “Shouldn't we change our goal to completing a run of each floor? We won’t be the first to do it, but…”

Ariel shook her head in disagreement. "It's too late. It’d take too long to explore each corner of every floor, even if we started right now.”

"…Then what do we do?"

"We'll have to revise our goals a little bit.”

Allen was the only one who hadn’t undergone significant character development since they’d first met.

"I had something in mind… but what about you, Allen? Tell us what you’re thinking first.”

If it weren’t for the hint of aristocratic mannerism already ingrained into their behavior, they could easily pass for young mercenaries or adventurers.

Or perhaps, just regular colleagues or students.

He was no different from them…

“Allen?”

“Huh?”

Allen came to his senses at Ariel's questioning gaze. His team members' steady gazes pierced him.

"Is there something wrong?”

"Are you hurt? I can treat you…”

"I was just thinking about what to do."

"Does that mean you have a plan…?”

At the faint hint of anticipation in their eyes, Allen recited the answer he had occurred to him earlier.

"I wouldn’t quite call it a plan. Just, a sort of countermeasure, maybe."

“Hurry up and tell us."

Allen kept his answer short in response to the team's irritation, as if to tell them that it would all be okay.

"The guardian of the seventh floor."

"Oh!"

When Ariel flicked to Evan at his exclamation, which hinted at a sudden realization, he turned his head, looking sheepish.

"Well, I just thought it was cool.”

"…Sigh."

Ariel shot him a pathetic look.

"If you don't know, just keep quiet like William, Evan!"

"…O-okay. But isn't William always quiet…?”

"Even if he is like that half the time, you should still try to be more like him.”

"W-well, I'm not that quiet…”

"Just keep it in mind."

Evan quietly deflated as William sat, discouraged. 

Allen resumed his explanation. "Our original plan was to reach the seventh floor as quickly as possible, but… no matter how much progress we can make in a day, a realistic goal for us would be only the fifth floor, just because of how much ground there is to cover in so little time.”

“So because our issue is the amount of hours we have in a day, no matter how hard we try…”

"Then, do you think we could make it to the sixth floor if we worked all through the day without breaks? No, even if we get that far down, I don’t know if we’d be able to deal with the stronger guardians on the lowest floors.”

Evan couldn’t muster any argument against Allen's logic.

"We don't have the stamina to do that."

This time William's face darkened.

"Of course, it doesn't matter if you're satisfied with a decent score, but… if we’re working so hard anyway, shouldn't we aim for the top score?”

"…That's true."

"Y-you’re right."

Evan and William gave a quick nod in agreement.

"I originally thought we could aim for first place just by being the first to make it to the seventh floor. Since there are others closing the gap on us, we need a more fail-safe way to get ahead.”

"Allen, are you trying to say that there’s another way…?”

Ariel kept muttering that he was crazy, seeming to grasp the superstitions and guardians that Allen had spoken about. Finally, she asked, "Allen, I hate to say this, but… are you insane?”

⟬Oh, so I'm not the only one who feels that way?⟭

Allen tapped the sword, requesting that Vestla stay quiet.

"Even so…"

The corners of her mouth rose into a smile, unrecognizable from their first meeting.

“I like it. I like it a lot.”

William and Evan turned to face each other, dumbstruck at the impossible scene. Vestla burst into laughter at the sight.

* * *

* * *

There were many superstitions surrounding megaruins, and even ordinary ruins in general. 

One could, for example, look back to find their companion had vanished into thin air, or perhaps witness an ancient ghost roaming about. 

Most of the countless superstitions surrounding ruins were regarded as unsubstantiated lies… There were times when the claims possessed some levels of validity, however.

The reality of the ‘disappearing colleague’ story was that the person could’ve been transported via magic, swallowed whole by a large and carnivorous plant, or erased instantly by some unknown mechanism.

It was a trap that appeared quite often, and though the type of ruins varied, the space-shifting trap was one the more easily identifiable.

The specifics of the method was different by contraption, but the result was always the same: a member of the group would disappear the second they weren’t being observed by someone else. 

Being so common of a trap, there was no possibility that this type of trap would be entirely absent from these megaruins. 

Yet, Allen’s team had yet to encounter such an ordeal.

'Shouldn't we use this?’

⟬……⟭

‘They’re sure motivated.’

Presently, the other members of the team had gone their own way.

William headed for a commoner he knew, while Evan and Ariel approached their noble peers.

Alexius and Milred also stepped away, saying they would get information from the other upperclassmen and guides.

‘Vestla.’

⟬……⟭

‘…Vestla?’

She made a startled sound, as if she had only just now heard Allen. ⟬Oh, uh, yes. What’s up?⟭

‘Is something wrong? You haven’t been talking much lately.’

⟬No, I was just thinking about something else for a moment. My bad.⟭

She had been more docile since entering the ruins, perhaps because Allen didn’t use his sword much.

⟬It’s about what you were all talking about at the meal earlier, right?⟭

‘Yeah.’

⟬I think it's okay, though it is dangerous. But you’ll have the escape routes, so there’s virtually no risk.⟭

‘Yes. Among the many traps, if there’s one that moves you down a floor, we should be able to use that to move toward lower floors and widen the gap.”

After that, if they could confront the final guardian on the seventh floor of the ruins, nobody else would be able to bridge the gap, no matter what they tried.

⟬That sounds great. Oh, I hope you’ll get a chance to use a sword again.⟭

Vestla grumbled in an unnecessarily exaggerated voice.

'Perhaps… that time may come sooner rather than later.’

⟬Really? For real?⟭

‘Yeah.’

⟬Hooray!⟭

Allen's eyes drifted toward the entrance of the ruins, where he could hear a commotion arising.

"What's going on?"

"Hey, didn’t you hear? The escape artifact someone tried to use didn’t work.” 

"What? Really? That’s insane…”

While he listened in on their summary, he saw the unconscious students returning, brought back by a group returning from their exploration of the second floor of the ruins.

Escape artifacts allowed students an immediate escape if they ever felt as if they were in too much danger. They were similarly triggered if a student fainted or fell; in other words, if a  student were unconscious, for whatever reason, the artifact would activate.

And yet, none of the unconscious students had been automatically transported to safety?

"Attention, all students are not to enter the ruins at this time! There has been an accident, so we will put the practice-raid on hold for now. Once again, attention…!”

"But, professor. What do you mean…?”

Something within the ruins had finally begun to make its move.

The entrances to the third and fourth floors held no information that seemed to relate to anything of interest to Allen—such as the mysterious black and white books—unlike the entrance to the second floor.

Thus, it was fortunate for Allen that this incident had occurred.

‘…Should I look into the old mythological era?’

Allen recalled the writing on the doorways down to the third and fourth floors.

Το ιερ? δ?ντρο δεν ?χει καν φυτρ?σει.

Ο Σο?ρι, που υποτ?θεται ?τι ?ταν στην κορυφ? στ?χτη?, ?χασε ?ναν φ?λο του.

Μ?νο ο γελοιοποιημ?νο? που κουβαλο?σε το πτ?μα κρ?φτηκε μ?νο? του σε ?να υπ?γειο.

μεγ?λο? βασιλι??, πατ?ρα? των σοφ?ν, Το Evil Thorns βρυχ?ται.

?χω κρ?ψει κρυφ? ?ναν πολ?τιμο θησαυρ?.

?ποιο? κι αν, θα αποκτ?σετε καλ?τερο? σ?ντροφο? για το υπ?λοιπο τη? ζω??.

The sacred tree could not bud.

Atop the ashes would the eagle rise if not for the loss of a dear friend.

Only the one who maligned the corpse snuck into the burrow alone.

The Great King, the Father of the Wise, and the cry of the Evil Hand.

For I have secreted away that most precious treasure.

Whoever should find it shall have the best companion to life’s end.

* * *

The seventh underground floor of the ruins had been entered by neither the students nor the advance team.

A hall lay at the very bottom of the ruins, a place that only the Academy's survey team had confirmed the existence of before quickly pulling out.

There, somebody was busy.

A golem the size of a hill, guarding the depths, remained in place, as if it didn't even recognize his presence.

His job was simple.

Scritch-scratch, scritch-scratch, scritch-scratch.

"I'll erase this and… leave this…"

Erasing the murals and phrases that needed to be erased, leaving only what needed to be left behind.

"I'm glad we finished it before the comet fell."

The middle-aged man, with brown hair, green eyes, and a pot-belly, finished the work without losing the smile on his face.

"If I had come a little earlier, we would have finished upstairs, too…”

His expression clouded with regret, as he pulled a small mirror out of his pockets.

He knelt down with a reverent look and began, "Master Kasha, I have completed the task."

"Well done."

A smooth voice came from the mirror.

He flinched in surprise, and then bowed his head deeply.

"Oh, no. It was all his arrangements!"

"Yes, all your hard work will be rewarded…”

The surface of the mirror began to fade to black.

"Fern."

"Ah…"

The blackened mirror emitted a flash of white light before expanding and swallowing the man.

The golem belatedly moved to confirm his partner’s position, but found nothing, as if there were nobody there at all.

The space fell into silence once again.

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