We cleared through to floor ten lightly, without a single person escaping.
'What kind of monstrosity comes out from floor eleven, I wonder.'
Maybe because I'd seen the Explosion Talisman's power. I wasn't especially worried.
“A different monstrosity will come out on floor eleven, right?”
“I think so! Won't it be Three-Horn Stags plus a new monstrosity this time?”
At the end of the corridor the children gathered in threes and fours and talked.
'Oh, morale is good.'
And no wonder.
That last fight was pure gravy.
Forget anyone dropping out, there were barely any injuries!
'The other halls are going to struggle quite a lot.'
They can bring it down if everyone combines their strength.
But an Elite Three-Horn Stag did not look like a monstrosity children could handle simply.
I deleted it in one shot so I can't judge precisely, but a fair number of escapees will probably come out here.
We're completely out in front, aren't we?
The corners of my mouth crept upward.
The Explosion Talisman's effect was one thing.
The children getting used to combat was quite a large factor too.
'It's lucky the children copied Adrian blocking with his shield.'
Adrian, far larger in build and height than his peers, was reassuring just by going out front and blocking a monstrosity.
A quality that gave the frightened children courage and made them step forward too!
'Adrian holds the front line firmly. And Lumiel and Corin support the rear solidly.'
Lumiel's ice magic was a little dubious, admittedly.
I'd worried that I was the only melee dealer. Fortunately there were two more pulling more than their share.
'Lionel Rondoa, Viera Tribel.'
I knew Lionel's face, but this was my first time seeing Viera.
-She's been on the aerial panel a few times.
'I only looked when I was checking my own face and my score.'
I was busy running the mission; I could hardly be watching a panel.
At any rate.
Lionel apparently had reached the stage of loading holy aura into a sword.
He sliced monstrosities up very crisply indeed.
'That was not cutting power a seven-year-old should produce.'
Honestly, I hadn't expected there would be children keeping pace at roughly my level.
Thanks to which it was very comfortable.
'I knew he was outstanding.'
Innate talent really is a different thing. Tch.
You lot should just be the reincarnators.
-That's a humblebrag, that is.
It is not.
At any rate.
It was time to move to the next floor.
Now it's basement floor eleven.
***
The commentary box's confusion — or rather, Dean Marel's confusion — settled.
And the broadcast resumed.
“The Zerotil Hall entrants are advancing onto floor eleven.”
“Ah, Dean Marel. From here it's going to be rather hard for them, isn't it?”
“Indeed, yes. From floor eleven the Class 4 Silver-Mane Wolf appears.”
The difference between Class 4 and Class 5 was enormous.
You might say it's only one class apart.
But the power you feel is completely different.
Because Class 5 monstrosities are based on herbivores, while from Class 4 they are transformed omnivores and carnivores.
“The best record among entrants is basement floor thirteen, isn't it?”
“Yes. A record set by the Zerotil that Priestess Lilliad Ludersk belonged to. And this time that record might just be broken.”
“Why is that?!”
“Because Zerotil's current strength is far too strong. Their pace is also markedly fast.”
The top three were carrying completely.
'No. It would be fair to call it Lian's carry.'
Lionel and Viera were fighting well too.
But Lian's showing was far too large.
Lian, receiving without knowing it an assessment that he might surpass his mother's record!
“Even so! Even so, from Class 4 monstrosities they will struggle.”
“Why is that?”
“That exploding technique can't be used forever either, can it?”
“I suppose not!”
Dean Marel judged that the explosion could not be used without limit.
'Used to the maximum, it lasts one floor and ends.'
If they fail to herd the monstrosities properly, the bombs could run out before even one floor is finished.
“I'm curious how Zerotil will handle it.”
“I imagine casualties will start appearing now, about as many as Belladen's.”
“And escapees too.”
Zerotil still had not a single escapee, but the other halls had been producing them little by little from floor six.
“Now then, from here — how long will Zerotil endure as they descend! And can they truly set a new record! Please watch closely!”
But they did not know.
That Lian had already dispatched a Silver-Mane Wolf before.
And not only that — that over a year he had analyzed that brainless, stupid wolf and taken it apart piece by piece.
***
“So the entrance is Three-Horn Stags.”
“Argh, my hands shake every single time I hit this thing!”
The children seemed entirely unable to get used to the Three-Horn Stag's paralysis effect, and grumbled in irritation.
'Good reaction.'
-Is it? They're irritated, though?
'It means the Three-Horn Stag isn't much of a threat.'
It meant that with ordinary Three-Horn Stags rather than Elite ones, the children were no longer intimidated.
“Urk! Lian, why don't your hands shake?”
Adrian held his shield to one side and shook out his hand.
“They shake.”
“No, they don't...”
Adrian stared at me as though dumbfounded.
'They really do shake.'
I simply apply force and lock them so they don't.
-That is what not shaking means, isn't it?
'It's different.'
When struck, a weak paralysis came with the trembling.
Only, I have mastered a way to stop it efficiently.
'If they lifted, none of them would shake.'
-Don't spread strange ideologies to the other children.
To not know the happiness of lifting.
'I'm joking. Elly, do you remember when I went on a business trip to Japan and caught that jellyfish yokai? It's a technique I learned then.'
-Ah, that time! It was hilarious!
Oh dear. Is my suffering merely comedy to you.
'When is the new monstrosity going to show up.'
At any rate.
Floor eleven was progressing smoothly too.
Meanwhile.
“Hyuuuaargh!”
A One-Horn Rabbit rammed the flank of a child whose hands suddenly shook and dropped his weapon.
“Aaagh!”
“Hey, get back, quickly! Back!”
“Uuurgh...”
At the other halls, injuries were appearing one after another.
Belladen, arrived at floor six.
Those who charged in aggressively in particular saw injuries rise sharply after reaching floor six.
Holy aura is not a force you can handle freely simply because you have grasped the method.
It can only bloom after being tempered by a great deal of training.
The children, still new students, naturally fell short in ability.
They were merely covering for it with swordwork better overall than the children of other halls.
“Urk...! Is there anyone who can heal?”
“I'll do it!”
Belladen has people with healing talent too.
Worse than healing-specialist Witis, but enough to hold out.
“Haa... this is hard? I heard the Infinite Descent was the easiest.”
“Injured already — how many floors can we get to.”
“My brother said he got to basement floor nine.”
At the end of the corridor, before crossing to the next floor. The children catching their breath talked.
“What's the best record again?”
“Basement floor thirteen, I think.”
“Wow, that's a long way off. Floor six is this hard already.”
“It was Priestess Lilliad Ludersk, wasn't it? Wow... will a new record even be possible from now on.”
They did not know.
That in Zerotil there was one child who might set that new record.
***
“Huk! That's a Silver-Mane Wolf!”
And around that time.
Zerotil encountered a new monstrosity.
“Ooh—”
The exclamation was brief.
“Hey, that one's showing up.”
“Nice to see it?”
“Mm...!”
A Silver-Mane Wolf, met on floor eleven.
The other children were horrified at the sudden appearance of a Class 4 monstrosity.
'As expected of our Group 13!'
My Group 13 friends, who had often trained with me, were rather pleased to see it.
'From about two months before the academy entrance ceremony we practically lived together and trained.'
Memories come back fondly.
'No, are they fond?'
Debatable.
At any rate, thanks to the training, this 'Silver-Mane Wolf' at least we could bring down perfectly.
“Uuu! A Silver-Mane Wolf! That's a Class 4 monstrosity!”
“Silver-Mane Wolves come out from floor eleven?!”
“How are we supposed to dispatch this!”
The other children were in a panic.
'Well, this is the normal reaction.'
But to crack the Infinite Descent Match, the old Group 13 alone isn't enough.
'If we're all going with nobody left behind!'
Everyone has to be in it together!
I gave Adrian's shoulder a tap.
“Go! Adrianmon!”
“Hraaaargh!”
Adrianmon! Deploy!
Adrian settling into position at a perfect angle and timing, unlike with the One-Horn Rabbits or Three-Horn Stags!
The results of the training were visible.
“Grrrwaaargh—!”
TOONG—!
A perfect block with no loss of force at all, using only the iron portion of the shield!
He blocked perfectly, so there wasn't a scratch on the wooden part. This is a fairly important technique.
However good Adrian's build, he's seven.
To manage the shield's weight, mixing in wood was unavoidable. And a shield with wood mixed in naturally has weak durability.
That is why the technique matters.
“We can do this, everyone!”
The moment Adrian shouted and raised their courage.
Lionel, Viera and I sprang forward at the same time.
Thuthuthud—!
Pow! Pop! Pop-pop-pow!
Shweeeng—!
A Silver-Mane Wolf beaten down in an instant!
FWAAASH—!
Fwu-fwu-fwoom—!
And onto the wounds pours Corin's healing attack at the same moment!
“Wh-whoaaa!”
“We can do it!”
The children, taking courage, flung magic from behind.
A Silver-Mane Wolf deboned in the blink of an eye!
How about it, pretty easy, right?
***
Starting from floor eleven. We cracked the stages one after another.
When packs of Silver-Mane Wolves began pouring out, I used Explosion Talismans as appropriate.
'I don't have many of them.'
It was obvious that another extremely strong individual would appear on floor twenty.
“Floor thirteen done too.”
Before we knew it we had finished floor thirteen as well.
'Ah, this is where they said Mother's record was set.'
Is it all right to break a record this anticlimactically?
'Who cares.'
Achieving it easily is all the better.
“Everyone, let's crack the next floor properly in particular.”
I proposed it before going down to floor fourteen.
The real inter-dormitory match happens during term anyway, doesn't it?
So we should practice while we can practice properly.
'We need to know how to fight.'
If only to earn Osten Coins, the inter-dormitory match is going to matter a great deal.
And so from floor fourteen, Spartan education detonated.
“Silver-Mane Wolves have a tendency to charge. Pull the aggro and then hit the flank and they can't respond!”
“Don't be intimidated by Class 4! It's the lowest of the Class 4 monstrosities anyway. And they're stupid!”
“Right below the ribs! I told you that's the vital point easiest for us to aim at! Aim for it relentlessly!”
I released every scrap of know-how I had.
Thanks to which the children's ability went from strength to strength!
“Is he insane.”
In the end even Lionel's mouth produced high praise.
'Says the fellow who's a monster himself.'
The tens being cracked at tremendous speed!
Watching it, Dean Marel jiggled his leg.
'Floor twenty — they can't break floor twenty, can they?!'
To call it the Infinite Descent Match and have floor twenty be the end — how humiliating would that be!
'It'll be fine. On floor twenty I placed the chieftain among the Silver-Mane Wolves...'
The chieftain was naturally an Elite monstrosity.
A monstrosity three times the bulk of an ordinary Silver-Mane Wolf, and the only individual with a technique called Claw Slash!
'Surely they won't catch even that.'
Having thought that far, Marel's expression eased a little.
“How far have the other halls gone?”
“Belladen has finished floor eleven and is deliberating. Witis and Delucel are still working floor ten.”
Freeze!
The pace gap with the other halls was still enormous. So there was no problem with the difficulty after all.
That Lian Ludersk is the strange one.
'It really is going to be all right, isn't it...?'
Creeping, creeping.
Unease bloomed in a corner of Marel's chest.
Marel shaking his head hard to dispel it!
'It's fine... it'll be fine!'
However.
“Ohhh! Floor fourteen cleared!”
“Floor fifteen cleared as well!”
“What! Going straight on without one person escaping?! Floor sixteen cleared as well!”
Descending one after another like that.
“Floor twentyyyy!!! Lian Ludersk delivers the final blow to the Elite Silver-Mane Wolf!!! Floor twenty! Cleaaaared!!”
“Whoaaaaa—!!”
'Nooooooooo!!'
Very lightly indeed.
Zerotil broke through floor twenty as well.