after spending a full two hours, the Demon Slayer Squad managed to break through to the second floor.

　We had reached the third floor.

　It seemed that it was customary to begin the Demon Slayer mission from two floors above the discovered floor—meaning if the Demon was found on the fifth floor, the search would start from the third floor.

"The Demon might already be in this floor! Everyone, stay alert!"

"Oh!"

　The large man at the front shouted to rally the group.

　Still, it was unlikely they'd have advanced two floors in such a short time. Since the Demon hadn't been around long, it was most likely still in the fifth floor.

Alex and I are only here as porters, but as you can see from our gear, we're more than ready to join the fight. It's a total of forty of us in the extermination squad. No one will care if the porters take part in the battle.

"They say the Demon King gets stronger with each level we ascend. You knew that?"

"No, I didn't."

"He was already pretty strong at the fifth layer, so if he's come down to the third layer, he must be even stronger than we can handle. What are we gonna do then?"

A faint trace of fear crosses Alex's face.

Just a moment ago, he was laughing, saying he was looking forward to fighting the Demon King, but now that the moment is here, he's starting to feel afraid.

...But that's normal.

It's not normal to be thrilled at the thought of battle.

Alex, who had set out to defeat the Demon King merely because it sounded interesting, could perhaps be considered quite enthusiastic.

"No matter which level the Demon King appears on, I'll fight him. That's why I'm here."

"Hikaru... yeah, that's right. Luck favors the hero, so now that we've come this far, there's nothing left but to go all in...!"

Alex grits his teeth, pumping himself up.

That's right. Now that we've come this far, there's no choice but to keep going.

I open my status board and check the viewer count.

I thought it might drop after taking a full day off, but instead, it's trending steadily upward.

(It's reached 900 million...! With only four days left, we can still grab the top spot in live viewership. Even ranking third overall is still very much within reach. It's oddly rising already, even though we haven't even met the Demon King yet. Maybe talking with Alex triggered some kind of synergistic effect?)

Actually, even just going on a date with Refrea yesterday boosted the viewership quite a bit.

Refrea looked stunning yesterday. Perhaps the people on Earth were captivated by her sparkling under the sunlight.

Or maybe it was out of jealousy toward me, playing around with such a beautiful girl.

...It might be a perfect plotline—having killed my childhood friend and now going on a date with a stunning beauty in another world.

Today's plan is to search the third layer for the presence of the Demon King.

They'll be conducting a full-day sweep of the third layer in two shifts of twelve hours each, and if the Demon King isn't found, they'll begin exploring the fourth layer the following day. In other words, even with this number of people, they're splitting the group in half.

If you accidentally pass by the Demon King and end up swapping places with them, they could ascend to a higher level. In the worst case, they might even emerge onto the surface world. That must absolutely be prevented. According to

, if the Great Spirits come to defeat the Demon King, it could lead to irreversible consequences. Once that happens, it would be impossible to return the Great Spirits to their original temple, and the labyrinth itself would collapse due to a breakdown in the balance of spirit energy.

Therefore, the Demon King must be completely eradicated by humans within the labyrinth.

That is the responsibility of the cities that artificially create labyrinths.

"Then, divide the entire group into three! Scatter randomly!"

At the command of the man at the front, the explorers scattered into three groups in a haphazard manner.

"Then, I'm heading to join up with those guys! Let's try not to die, okay?"

"Yeah. Let's do our best."

Alex raised his fist forward, clashing it with mine before we parted ways.

Refrea seemed to be among the group on the opposite side from Alex's party.

It looked like a group with a lot of women—

"Ah! Hikaru! Over here, over here!"

Refrea waved at me with a smile. The eyes of the fully armed women around her turned toward me, making me feel extremely uncomfortable...

"Oh wow! So this is Refrea-chan's boyfriend? Ah, I'm Gloria. Nice to meet you."

"I'm Moapple! I've heard about Hikaru-san from Flue. You helped us in the second layer. I want to say thank you too!"

"Whoa, he really is completely black!"

I panic when three women suddenly close in on me, one of them being Links.

Seriously, this whole group is made up of women!

"C-coming, coming, come on, isn't Hikaru in trouble?"

Refleia came to my rescue, but by hugging my arm, she only seemed to draw even more curiosity and interest from the others.

Even the other women nearby whistled in reaction.

"I mean, Refleia-chan was just saying she had no interest in men, so seeing her suddenly taken by someone was surprising... How nice for her."

"I’ve met lots of men before, but they’re all the same—explorers, you know?"

"Hikaru-kun, you’ve got that fresh, inexperienced look about you—kind of cute, actually."

"You’re right, we’ve never seen someone like this before!"

Female explorers chattering away freely.

Honestly, I really hate this kind of unreserved staring.

I feel like hiding in the shadows, but even so, using Darkness Fog here would be way too noticeable.

"Now now, everyone, enough chatter—let's go! The Demon King might be waiting, so we need to stay sharp, or we'll end up dead!"

"Yes, ma'am!" "Yes!" "Got it!"

"And you two, Refreia and your boyfriend—just stick close for now."

"Yes!" "Uh-huh."

The woman with red hair and red armor seems to be the group's leader.

Her full red armor stands out, but the massive axe she carries on her back is even more eye-catching. What kind of strength would it take to swing something like that?

It looks heavier than Refreia's greatsword.

The red-haired scout gave a single command, and everyone was quickly organized, marking the start of the expedition.

Three parties set off in different directions.

Our party consisted of fourteen members, including me—two parties plus me and Refrea. My role and Refrea’s were to guard the rear.

"Sorry about earlier. Everyone knew I was with Hikaru, so that happened."

"It’s fine. Anyway, that Links person… Moupal, was she really not a hired hand?"

"That’s right. Mopa-san is said to be a veteran of this path for ten years, with quite a high rank."

"She seems strong, huh."

Moupal stepped forward as a scout, leaping ahead with a bouncy gait.

Probably, the hired Links like Grapeflour are aiming to follow her.

The equipment is all made of mithril, giving it a cool look.

Maybe someone like an idolized senior.