Day 8 of the viewership race.

　Today is a day off, and just like four days ago, I'm entering the labyrinth alone.

　The number of viewers is steadily increasing and has reached 600 million, but my rank is still eighth.

　If Earth's population is 7 billion, that's about 8.5% of the global population.

　It's a solid number—no, one could even say an astonishing number—but I'm still eighth.

　Since I started with a small number of viewers, I won't be able to reach first place unless I eventually gather an overwhelming number of viewers.

　It's safer to assume that I won't reach first place at this pace, just as before.

　There's only half the time left. To claim first place, I'll need something extraordinary.

　Something unique—something no other transmigrant has ever achieved before.

We live in an information society.

If someone accomplishes something, the news spreads across the world in an instant.

Especially when it comes to those who’ve been transferred to another world, it’s even more so.

But I couldn’t think of what exactly that would be.

So I’ll risk my life.

Today I’m descending alone into the fourth layer, the "Rain Dragon Great Waterfall"—

up to the second layer, I can bypass all monsters without issue, but on the third layer I must eliminate every monster I encounter as I advance.

The tactic of sneaking through using Darkness Fog, which worked on the first and second layers, won’t work here.

If I push forward recklessly, I might end up dragging every monster I meet along with me.

It’s safer, therefore, to kill them the moment I encounter them.The three-layered map was purchased from the guild. Judging by how cheaply it was sold, it was probably distributed for almost no more than the cost of paper. From the guild's perspective, there was no point in hoarding such information.

The more explorers there were, the better; the fewer deaths, the better.

Since I have a good sense of direction, I didn't have any trouble finding the shortest route with the map. However, reaching the staircase down to the fourth layer required walking almost the entire length from one end to the other, making it unavoidably time-consuming.

Moreover, I had to consider the return journey as well, which made me understand why Refrea's statement about how difficult it was to venture beyond the fourth layer made sense.

　

Anyway, I finally reached the staircase leading down to the fourth layer and took a brief rest.

While I could use spirit magic many times without issue, my body wasn't so resilient.

I couldn't tell how much my own rank—what they call level—had increased, so I had no real sense of whether I'd gotten stronger or not.

(Maybe I should make a request to the gods? If there's a level system, at least make it clear.)

Apparently, I could ask the Great Spirit, but since I can't do that, I have no idea what my current level is. Levels are just benchmarks, sure, but those benchmarks are surprisingly important—guilds even set recommended minimum levels for descending to each floor.

For example, the recommended minimum level on the second floor is six.

On the third floor, it's ten.

On the fourth floor, it's twenty.

And these numbers assume a party of six, with nearly everyone able to use spirit magic.

Until then, you're supposed to push yourself harder—raise your rank, find companions, save up money for a spirit contract.

The recommended six-person party composition is said to be "three warriors, one healer, one scout, and one porter兼backup member."

And then, my rank.

My blacksmith father looked at my swings and said around nine.

Since I’ve obtained "Strength Up Level 1," I can estimate that I was probably around rank four to six back then.

And since it hasn’t been more than a few days since then, realistically, my current rank is at most around ten. In other words, barely strong enough to enter the third layer with a full party.

And yet, I’m doing it alone—on the fourth layer. It’s utterly reckless.

But I’m doing it anyway.

That’s exactly why I’m doing it.

Then, I think I'll descend to the fourth floor. The fourth floor is said to be significantly more dangerous than the third, so I'll need to stay focused. I don't want to die, after all.

If I die, there's no way to bring Nanami back to life—everything would be for nothing.

I must survive, yet still deliver the best performance possible.

I'll descend the stairs without using Darkness Fog, relying solely on my natural abilities.

I must stay vigilant, but I've heard that monsters don't appear on the stairs. Of course, even if I say "that wasn't supposed to happen," no one will come to help me, so this might be quite a risky move.

Since I'm already taking that risk, it's pointless to worry now.

"The recommended level for the fourth floor is supposedly level 20, since it requires a full party. I can't say for sure what my own level is, but it's definitely not 20."

Speaking as I descend, making sure not to fall silent.

"The monsters that appear on the fourth floor are the 'Giant Club,' 'Slime,' 'Mantis,' 'Sahagin,' 'Lizardman,' 'Lamia,' and the 'Scylla.' The ones that seem least compatible with darkness are probably the Slime and Lizardman. If they attack regardless of being hidden in darkness, they're quite troublesome."

This time, I gathered information from the guild.

If I were to enter the dungeon blind and nearly die, viewership might increase—but weighing that potential audience growth against the risk of dying from a first-time mistake, I concluded that knowing the fourth floor's details was necessary.

The monsters in the fourth layer seem significantly stronger than those in the second or third layers.

For now, we should be especially careful with slimes—they appear weak against spirit magic, so we'll have to go with a search-and-destroy approach.

As for the lizardmen, it depends on whether they're snakes or lizards. If they're snakes, their vision is likely poor, but they may have heat-sensing organs instead—making them particularly dangerous.

As for monsters that don't respond to darkness, the treants from the third layer were like that, but they were slow-moving and not particularly strong in attack.

Still, the lizardmen look intimidating and seem fast on their feet. A foe that can't be evaded through darkness is a major threat to me.

Incidentally, lamias have snake-like lower bodies and human upper bodies, so they probably don't have heat detection. …Probably.

In any case, we must test whether any monster can be affected by darkness.

The monster considered the strongest, Scylla, appears as a woman with long, tentacle-like legs, and since all her limbs function as weapons, she's a formidable opponent even to approach.

Moreover, she's sometimes accompanied by three or four Lamias, and in such cases, even veteran high-level parties have been known to be completely wiped out.

The guild recommends, upon encountering her, immediately fleeing while scattering all available dried meat and smoke bombs.

Guilds display various kinds of information, and according to them, monsters are said to be creatures affected by 'Chaos Spirit Energy,' with their forms becoming increasingly chaotic the more they're influenced—such as lamias, which resemble snakes and humans mixed together, lizardmen showing traits of lizards and humans, sahagins combining fish and humans, and mantises merging mantis and human features. These types of monsters are said to have a higher chance of dropping 'Chaos Spirit Stones.'

Chaos Spirit Stones can also be obtained from ordinary monsters at a certain probability.

I've collected several during my previous solo exploration and from our recent expedition with Refreia, and actually have them stocked away.

I plan to try using Create Undead in the fourth floor. There's an arcane technique using dark spirit magic that allows one to summon creatures based on the original monster from which the Chaos Spirit Stone originated, provided you have the stone.

The fourth-floor exploration will be done alone.

Moreover, unlike before, parties exploring the fourth layer are significantly fewer.

There's little risk of being seen even if using Create Undead.