Defense specialization and the eight-layer area.

The mist clears slowly the moment the enemy is defeated, and the lingering 'Demon King's magic' in the air becomes clearly visible.

Maple carefully stores it in her inventory, making sure not to forget.

"Yosh! 'Demon King's Magic V'!"

"Nice fight. That makes it just one more now."

"Uhh... the battle with the Demon King is really coming up."

"I'm nervous..."

The current state of 【Maple Tree】 allows for only one challenge attempt. Failure means enduring the boss rush once more. It is not surprising that Mai and Yui are tense.

"First, we gather the final 'Demon King's Magic,' so leave that to me!"

"Yes!"

"Please do your best, Maple-san!"

We could gather the reserve 'Demon King's Magic' from places we can reach during spare time. Not the fifth-floor area, but if we need to retry, it would save some time.

That sounds good!

There's nowhere else we absolutely must go...

That helps a lot!

With Mai, Yui, and Crom guarding them, they could face the boss with solid footing.

The discussion settled, they decided to return quickly. It wasn't fair to Sally.

I'll use [Ruthless] as soon as we're outside!

Yeah...

Sally, still drained after the boss fight, showed signs of having kept her fear at bay through focus. Maple and the others stepped onto the magic circle and left the Boss Room.

Maple and Sally had completed the exploration of the sixth layer without incident. Sally leaned back into the sofa, her posture calm, her breath steady.

“Haa… I don’t think I want to go near a horror area for a while…”

“Ahaha, you’re probably right. Not for a while, anyway.”

A vast area, specialized in theme, had been rebuilt anew. The final ten-layer summit aside, it was unlikely the same layer would be recreated.

“I hope the Demon King doesn’t pull anything strange out of nowhere.”

“Ah… maybe there’ll be a boss for each area?”

“Yeah. Even if not, they’ll likely summon something. After all, he’s a king. A king.”

“Must have a lot of subordinates, too.”

The best they could do was hope no undead would appear among them. If they did, priority would be to eliminate them immediately—just enough to limit the psychological toll.

“Anyway, that’s aside… the important thing is the Eighth Layer!”

“That’s right! I’ve got the diving suit, just like before!”

The diving suit used during the Eighth Layer remains functional. Maple and the others have already thoroughly experienced deep-sea exploration at that level, so the suit’s enhancements are sufficient for full-area traversal.

“Let’s transfer right away. Someone’s waiting.”

“Yeah! Let’s go!”

They move from one guild home to another. Upon completing the transfer and stepping into the lobby, Kanade notices them and waves lightly, smiling.

“Hey. It’s finally the Eighth Layer.”

“Yeah! How’s it going, Kanade?”

“Of course. I had plenty of time. There are still places that look interesting, and spots I couldn’t handle alone.”

Kanade’s output varies greatly depending on the book stock. Due to the magitech wielders’ limitation of only one shot per activation, recovering from having expended their primary skills in large-scale combat remains incomplete.

“We prepared for combat with others for a long time. Rebuilding the same skill set requires more than just effort.”

“The Demon Lord’s battle awaits. Kanade must conserve her skills as much as possible.”

“That is my intention. It suits me perfectly. That is why I waited for the two of you.”

“Is there a puzzle at the eighth layer?”

“Yes. I already know the solution… But solving it oneself is more rewarding than hearing the answer straight away.”

Kanade draws a bundle of notes from her inventory.

“Water does not obscure these clues. Perhaps you might solve it while using this hint. I can provide further guidance if needed.”

“Yeah, let’s try it, Sally!”

"Okay. Let's try putting our hands to it for now."

"Good. Then let's start with the first question we prepared. Heh heh, maybe we can tackle the ones we've already solved first."

Without needing to travel to the site, Kanade had already recorded several puzzles.

First, the puzzle tutorial at the unrestricted guild home.

The two girls looked at the paper Kanade had handed them, narrowing their eyes at the volume of information.

It contained a reference table for deciphering unfamiliar characters. And several short sentences.

"This is the most basic one. Once you decode the characters, the answer is written plainly."

"Hmm hmm."

"Where is this reference table?"

"From a book meant for gathering information. Looking for it from scratch might take some effort."

Kanade memorized the details with just a glance. Maple and the others did not.

It is a reference for that. Even if one cannot remember, the cipher can be decoded with this chart.

"Next, we'll center on these characters, and more complex transformations will be applied... That can come later. Now, read it."

Maple and Sally alternated glancing at the chart and the cipher characters, verifying the content and decoding the text.

"Um... this one is this one, so..."

"Right. This part becomes... a sentence."

As they decoded the cipher handed down by Kanade, step by step, they realized it described the correct path through the passage.

"Understood?"

"I think so!"

"Then let's go to the dungeon and test it. We'll check the answers on site, yes?"

"Got it!"

"Shall we go? We can fly there with the air machine?"

"Yeah, that's fine. It's not far."

Maple and the others exit the guild home and fly above the water. The Eight-Story Area lies at the edge even within the Ten-Story Area. A quiet, endless expanse of water stretches to the horizon, with only the tips of long-abandoned structures visible at intervals.

They halt their air machine at one such structure.

The building, long weathered, has no windows. From the open hole, a staircase descends into the dark.

"Beyond this point is underwater. Prepare your diving suits before descending the stairs."

"Got it!"

"Will there be combat?"

"Not right now. With two of us, there shouldn’t be any opponent too difficult. See, there’s no penetrating attacks here."

"Oh, then I’m relieved!"

"Then use the Love That Offers the Body."

That should work. It’s been a while since our last underwater exploration. We’ll need to verify the solution to the riddle as well.

Deciding to eliminate the possibility of losing in combat using Love That Offers the Body, the three of them wrapped themselves in diving suits.

"Alright, Love That Offers the Body!"

Maple extended angelic wings from her back, completed her preparations, and stepped forward into the water.

Inside the submerged building, as the trio advanced deeper, the stairs downward vanished. In their place, they discovered writing etched into the wall.

"Ah! Sally! Sally! Is this it?"

"True. It matches the text we just read. So… press the leftmost floorboard, facing away from the stairs."

"Shall we test if it’s correct?"

"Yeah!"

Maple swims forward and presses the instructed floorboard firmly. It sinks with a dull clack. After a moment, the section opens like a hollowed-out panel, revealing a passage downward.

"Got it!"

"Nice work, Maple. I see... this is how it works."

"Still just basic, though. The two of us should be able to move through here quickly."

"But if it's this simple, Kanade could've cleared it too, right? It was just a puzzle we could solve."

As Kanade said, it was basic code-breaking. Kanade had seemed to know the answer even before they arrived.

"Only if it's just about solving puzzles? The reason this place remains unpassed is something else."

Kanade smiles, faintly troubled.

"The boss is strong."

"Ah…"

"Ha. That's it. Leave the fight to me. I'm counting on the two of you."

"Got it."

"Leave it to us! We'll take her down for sure!"

Of course I’ll support you too. First, let’s descend to the Boss Room at the very back. Spending too much time exploring will cut into the time we have left to fight the boss.

That’s right, it’s underwater after all!

We’ll descend while asking Kanade about the boss.

I don’t know that much, really. I survived only because I was defeated too quickly.

The puzzles have already been solved. Maple and the others hurry downward through the submerged structure, deeper and deeper.