“Oooh! That’s amazing!”
Nakajima cheered and was followed up by the exultant voices of the pursuit force. After getting through the Woodlands, we found an enormous tree. Its trunk was thick enough that hundreds of people linking hands wouldn’t be able to form a circle around it. Its branches reached far and wide as if forming a lid over the sky. It was a divine sight, as well as our destination.
“That’s the entrance to the next world!” I yelled from Berta’s back.
“Okay! Let’s push our way through!” Nakajima shouted, nodding reassuringly.
There were naturally many giants around the tree, but they weren’t much of an enemy to visitors who were already used to dealing with them. There were broken giants surrounding the base of the tree before Nakajima and his comrades even began swinging their weapons. These were the ones Jinguuji’s group and Kudou’s army had defeated on their way through here.
Still, we’d caught up significantly. Jinguuji’s group—or more accurately, the half who’d survived—had been here only about an hour ago. We were closing in steadily.
“H-Hey, where do we go in from?!”
The pursuit force raised their voices in confusion. The building-sized tree had countless burrows in it large enough for a human to enter easily. These were all doors to the third world. However, where they sent us depended on the door. Picking poorly could lose us a lot of time. Conversely, picking correctly could shorten the time we needed to catch up significantly.
“It’s okay! I know the way!” I called out back to them.
Jinguuji’s group had a Dimensional Cornerstone, so they’d sensed that this tree was the entrance to the next world, but I had even more information thanks to connecting to the world itself. I’d already located the entrance that would take us as deep into the next world as possible.
“Circle around clockwise a bit more!”
“Follow Majima’s directions! Let’s clean up the guardians in the area!”
Nakajima gave orders to everyone as I gave directions. The whole group moved clockwise around the tree. The exploration team mowed down the giants in the way, Berta stomped over the fallen giants to leap through the air, and Lily and Shiran guarded us while skillfully using magic to provide support.
“There it is! The grotto above that root!”
“Okay! Let’s jump in!”
“Right on!”
Nakajima and Ishida took the lead as the entire pursuit force jumped through the hole. With that, we made it through the second world and into the third. What unfolded before me was scenery altogether different from the forest we’d been in.
“This is the third world?” Lobivia muttered in my arms.
“A castle...? Looks pretty old.”
We found ourselves in what appeared to be a castle corridor. The sense of scale was off, though. The corridor was vast and the ceiling was high enough that I had to strain my eyes just to see it. It was a castle for giants. What’s more, it wasn’t a fortress like Fort Tilia. It had the appearance of an extravagant palace. However, the ornamentation was extremely old and had weathered considerably. It looked just like an abandoned castle.
“Master.”
“I know.”
At Salvia’s urging, I immediately deployed the Misty Lodge and tried connecting to this world.
“This is getting pretty rough...” I muttered. The deeper we went, the stronger the defenses were.
“How’s it looking, Majima?” Nakajima asked.
“The defenses are tight,” I answered. “I don’t think I can get information on the place right away. I can at least neutralize the nearby traps, but it’ll be hard to grasp a wide area like I have been. I do know about the location of the last door, at least. The one we took was quite the shortcut, so it’s one floor above us.”
“I see. Well, that’s more than enough.” Nakajima twirled the radiant sword in his hand, then smiled daringly. “The floor above us? Normally, we’d start by looking for a staircase...” He then pointed the sword at the ceiling. “But there’s no need for that. We can just break the ceiling and make a direct passage.”
The ceiling above us seemed sturdy. Considering the scale of this giant’s castle, the ceiling had to be thick too. It wouldn’t be so easily broken. However, possessing the greatest power among the exploration team, it wouldn’t be impossible for him. The exploration team members started talking about what to do next as if it were perfectly obvious.
“The ceiling’s awfully high. I’m more suited to magic, so I don’t think I can jump up.”
“A meathead fighter could totally climb their way up. All we need is a rope or something to pull us up.”
“Who you callin’ a meathead ? Usin’ magic don’t got nothin’ to do with bein’ smart. I ain’t pullin’ no one up if you keep that up.”
“At worst, we can use wind magic to just blow everyone up there.”
“Ugh. I definitely don’t wanna. Do it yourself.”
Even as Nakajima readied his sword, the others cracked jokes to one another. They had maintained their composure, given the situation. It was reassuring.
However, they’d all forgotten something. In short, any other nicknamed cheater could have come up with such a simple solution and pulled off the same thing.
“What the...?”
As Nakajima was about to unleash his sword at the ceiling, he suddenly grimaced. I sensed it at the same time. It was difficult for me to use the senses of the Misty Lodge, so I’d only noticed last second. Something beneath us was...
“Get away from here!” I yelled.
Lily and Shiran reacted immediately. Berta followed shortly after, having spent so much time with us. However, the exploration team’s bewilderment took precedence.
“Evade!”
Having no connection to the world, Nakajima’s order was a beat too late. The confused exploration team members’ expressions changed—and an instant later, the floor exploded.
“Waaah?!”
A torrent of mana burst through the floor from below. Whoever it was had likely aimed for Nakajima. The dreadful mana he’d been unleashing had definitely made the perfect target. The floor collapsed where the exploration team had been gathered. No matter how strong they were, there wasn’t much that could be done about that. Losing their foothold, they screamed and fell through the hole. In their stead, a huge dragon appeared and spread its wings.