――……coming…

　――……my…coming…

　――…………come…come…

　I must have fallen asleep without noticing.

I was supposed to be woken by someone calling out to me… but Refreia beside me still looks asleep.

　――It's coming.

　――The fear is coming.

　――Run, run, run

　――The fear is right there, just around the corner

　This time, it was clear as day.

And from downstairs.

From deep within the endless darkness, I felt a pressure approaching—something like a mass of spirit energy.

"Refreia, wake up! It's the Demon King!"

"……Huh? Wait, what? I must've fallen asleep?"

"Never mind that—get ready. We need to go up to the top floor. We can't fight here."

"Huh, yes!"

We tucked the blanket into shadow storage and donned our coats.

Drawing our short swords and preparing for battle, we ascended to the third floor.

Alex and the others were sleeping by the fire at the foot of the stairs.

One of them was awake, keeping watch—Jajardan, I think.

"Jajardan! The Demon King's coming! Wake everyone up! We'll meet him here!"

"W-what? The Demon King!?!"

Jajardan panicked, caught off guard by the sudden situation.

In his flustered scramble to stand, he kicked hard into the "horn trumpet to sound when the Demon King is spotted," sending it rolling violently.

The trumpet rolled straight toward the stairs.

"Ah! No!"

"Seriously?!"

The horn's echoing blare faded into the darkness below.

"B-baka! What are you doing!"

"S-sorry! I didn't know the Demon Lord would suddenly appear!"

"Demons appear suddenly!"

Probably Jajardan wasn't a combatant, but rather a specialist in spirit magic.

Judging by the hair color, he might be a water spirit mage.

"What's going on? Oh, Refreia-san!"

"Huh!? What!?"

"The Demon Lord is coming close—both of you, hurry up and get ready!"

Alex and Canibell woke up but seemed confused about the situation.

"What should we do? Hikaru. Should we go down and investigate the horn's sound?"

"...No, I don't think we can make it in time."

A suffocating pressure is approaching from below. I don’t have the courage to descend.

Facing the Demon Lord in such unstable terrain is something I can’t even imagine.

"W-what should I do?! I kicked the horn away!"

Jajardan panics, flailing about.

"We need to get someone here immediately. Alex and the others, head to the staircase leading to the second floor and bring back the horn!"

The third floor is shrouded in thick fog. It’s unlikely we’ll run into other exploration parties easily.

But encountering monsters is inevitable.

And if we do, there’s no choice but to fight. It’s impossible for Jajardan alone to reach the entrance to the third floor. Even Refreia would find it difficult.

The only ones who might be able to make it are me, the transfer student, and Alex. And if Alex is going to leave, it'd be better for the entire party to go with him.

I don't know how Cannibal and Jajardan fight, so I can't coordinate with them.

"Ah, Hikaru! Actually—"

Refrea suddenly presses herself close and whispers in my ear.

Alex and the others exchange awkward expressions.

"Hey, what's wrong?"

"…Shh. Hikaru's a beloved one, so he might be able to draw the Demon King toward him. Instead of forcing me to fight alone here, wouldn't it be better to pull him all the way to the entrance of the third layer?"

"I see!"

The issue is distance, but the range of the Great Spirit's awareness of beloved ones is about 100 meters.

If the Demon King is within that range, he might sense me and come after me.

At 100 meters, visibility is barely possible in this misty great garden.

"Change of plan! Everyone, move to the entrance of the third floor! I'll cover the rear with Refrea—Alex and the others, take down any monsters that appear. Let's keep it quick!"

"Y-yeah, got it! By the way, Hikaru—did you see the Demon King? What was he like?"

"I haven't seen him yet! If we were close enough to see him, we'd already be in battle!"

I stared down from the staircase.

"Dark Sense!"

Since I don't know what the Demon King looks like, I'll activate Dark Sense just in case.

This spell's range is about 100 meters.

"Not here…?"

　

Yet the pressure continues to rise.

—He's coming.

—Run, run, run!

—I'm scared, he'll eat me!

The spirits whisper from afar, or right by my ear.

I, too, want to run away quickly, just like their voices urge.

But I can't flee now.

To win first place in viewership and bring Nanami back to life, I must see the demon lord's true form.

Glancing back, everyone seems ready.

It would be better to run away quickly, but since we're dragging them along, we have to lure them in a bit more.

"Alex! Is the shortest route to the entrance clear?"

"Yeah! Leave it to me—I’ve got it memorized."

"How many points do we have left?"

"Sorry, I’ve been using them up since we got them—no crystals left at all."

"Yeah… that’s right."

I’ve only got 48 crystals left, just a little more than one point.

Still, even in the worst case, we can exchange one point for a barrier stone.

Should I have switched it beforehand—

—It's here!

A voice, unusually loud, echoed, making me turn back toward the stairs below.

(Fire?)

In the darkness of the staircase leading down to the fourth floor, a flickering flame resembling a serpent danced faintly into view.

At first, the glow was barely more than a pinpoint, but it suddenly bloomed like a flower—appearing, vanishing, reappearing, and fading again, gradually growing larger.

The distance between the fire and us was shrinking.

And the moment I could make out the silhouette of whatever was producing that flame, cold sweat broke out across my back.

"It's here! Run!"

Our distance has already dropped below 100 meters.

No matter what, I have to reach the other explorers.

A party composed of three groups, split into three divisions, was searching for the Demon King on this floor.

In other words, it meant the Demon King couldn't handle fewer than that many people.

(The second half was supposedly mainly made up of Silver-rank parties. They should've blown the horn sooner and called in the stronger front-line parties, or things would get bad.)

Losing the horn was a serious regret, but there was no point complaining about it now.

Silver-rank explorers were fast on their feet.

After all, their strength was boosted by rank advancement.

I had just started to run away when—

a loud roar! A swirling flame burst out from the staircase, making me instinctively turn back.

Though I was far enough away to avoid being hit directly, I ended up locking eyes with the bizarre creature that emerged right behind the flames.

"This guy... is the Demon King!"