In a sense, it is a garden in the sky that creates an optical illusion, similar to a trompe l'oeil.
"This is still an underground space, there's no doubt about that, but..."
Looking up, I could see a ceiling that looked like it was made of stone. In the center of this vast underground space, a gigantic tree stood, seemingly connecting heaven and earth.
However, the unusual thing was that there was no end in sight above the giant tree—because it went through the ceiling.
Are there so many such unusual giant trees in this world...
"...Big tree?"
Yue stated her speculation, and Shia nodded in agreement.
"It should be the big tree, right? In other words, is this the space directly under the big tree?"
"But if that's the case, then the big tree we saw on the ground is..."
Kaori seemed overwhelmed by the size of the tree and spoke in a trembling voice.
Tio, who had been stroking her chin in thought, spoke up.
"Yes, this tree is the great tree, Uya Aruto. Branches are growing from the trunk underground, which means the true roots are buried even deeper. So, the part we see above ground is just the tip of the tree, right? I never imagined that after all this time, the world still surprises me. It turns out that the great tree above ground is only a small part of it."
"How big is the real size of a big tree?"
Guanghui asked in a surprised tone, but no one could answer.
Everyone was stunned by the realization of the tree's staggering size and unconsciously looked upward.
Although their view was blocked by the ceiling wall, everyone still had the illusion that they were seeing a towering tree.
For a long time, everyone continued to look up at the tree in silence, as if in awe.
Just then, Shia's bunny ears began to twitch.
She seemed to hear a sound. "What's that sound?" Shia thought, wiggling her rabbit ears, trying to find the source of the sound.
Shia heard a faint rustling sound. For some reason, the sound made her feel physically disgusted, and it seemed to come from far below.
The shrill voice made Xia frown, and goose bumps appeared on her snow-white and smooth skin unconsciously, and the hair on her rabbit ears and tail all stood up.
Shia was confused about her own condition while peeking down from the edge of the branch passage.
"Hmm~ It's too dark to see... Look, I'll use my body to enhance my vision."
While improving her eyesight, Xia also improved her night vision.
Then, she froze instantly.
"? What's wrong, Shia?"
Shia didn't respond, her rabbit ears and tail standing up like never before.
The rabbit's ears and tail seemed to have doubled in size, becoming furry and stretched straight.
Seeing Shia's unusual reaction, Hajime was surprised and looked down as well. Because Hajime had the skills of 『Night Vision』 and 『Far Vision』, he could clearly see the space far below. Yes, very clearly.
Then, Hajime froze.
“…H-H-H-What’s wrong?”
"Hajime-kun!?"
"Master, are you alright?"
Not only did Hajime not move, but even the bystanders could see that he had goose bumps all over his body. Yue and the others didn't know what was going on, and called out to Hajime worriedly.
Hajime turned around stiffly, like a machine that had forgotten to be oiled.
Seeing his expression, not only Yue and the others, but also Guanghui and the others opened their eyes wide in shock.
Hajime, who should have been arrogant and daring, turned pale as if trembling with fear. What on earth did he see?
Hajime stared at Yue intently, muttering something incomprehensible like, "Ahh, my soul is purified," and then he spoke briefly:
"...Devil, there is a demon."
"""""demon?"""""
Hajime's words were incoherent and left everyone confused.
Kouki, Ryuutarou, and Ling looked at Hajime with eyes that said, "There is indeed a devil-like guy in front of us." However, Hajime himself quickly used his finger-snapping technique, and tears welled up in their eyes.
"Uh~ Nagumo-san, the demon you're talking about is... that demon?"
Shizuku looked at the three people, Kouki and others, who were crying in pain, with a subtle look, imagining the devils that appeared in the Bible, and asked Hajime a question. Hajime saw that she had misunderstood, so he shook his head and said:
"No, they're even more vicious. The demons of Hell are incomparable. They're the black creatures you're all familiar with—the kitchen demons..."
What nonsense is this guy talking about... Kouki and the others stared at Hajime.
Hajime didn't pay much attention to it. He took out a cross-shaped floater and maneuvered it to fly below. Then, Hajime held up a small crystal display for everyone to see.
Yue and the others peeked at the crystal display. After a slight noise, what appeared before their eyes was...
"""""!?""""
It's those guys! Legend has it that if one is spotted, there are twenty more. Feared by the people, they're often called the Black Demons. (*The Japanese pinyin begins with the letter G.) They're a sly, lurking chaos, slithering through shadows at high speed, relying on their incredibly resilient vitality to survive with a relentless scramble. Once they take to the air, they unleash their inherent magic, causing chaos and panic even on Earth. They're the mortal enemy of mothers and restaurants. (Editor's note: Cockroach is pronounced "GOKIBURI" in Japanese.)
Its name is - cockroach.
There are millions, tens of millions, no, an incalculable number of cockroaches moving around at the bottom of this underground space.
If I were to use a metaphor, it would be like a sea of cockroaches, with the waves of cockroaches rising and falling like the tide. The rustling sound is the sound made by the huge number of cockroaches moving.
"How, how could you show this to someone..."
"Hmm~ There are so many~ so many G~"
Shizuku and Suzu's faces were as pale as Hajime's. They turned their heads away, not daring to look, and both of them had goose bumps all over their bodies.
Kouki and Ryuutarou also let out strange "Ouch..." noises and tried their best to look away.
Shia, who had recovered from her stiff state, covered her rabbit ears with her hands and squatted on the ground with tears in her eyes; Tio was in a relatively good condition, but even so, her face was still a little pale.
And Kaori...was already rolling her eyes.
“…Hajime, burn them.”
Light, uncharacteristically, makes dangerous remarks.
Kaori, rolling her eyes, suddenly opened them, regaining consciousness. She seemed to agree with Yue's opinion. Despite goosebumps covering her body, Kaori stared wide-eyed, expressing her determination to expel him. Kaori adopted an unusually belligerent attitude, shouting dangerous words like "Disintegrate! Disintegrate!!"
"...I think we should just forget it. There are so many of them...what if a few slip through the net and fly over en masse?"
“““…”””
Thousands of cockroaches swarmed in—
Perhaps imagining such a scene, Yue and Kaori's faces changed and they immediately lost their fighting spirit. Their spirits seemed to collapse in an instant.
"Anyway, as long as we don't fall, we'll be fine... probably. Let's move on and finish the conquest quickly. Staying here might just lead to more attacks."
After hearing what Hajime said, everyone's expressions became more serious than usual, and they nodded in agreement more confidently than usual.
So the group started to move forward on the path of extremely thick branches.
Because there was a square in the distance where four branch paths converged, the group headed there first.
Although they were nervous about the possibility of a swarm of cockroaches flying up, Hajime and the others continued to hop between the branches and finally arrived at the square. The square was about as spacious as a park in a residential area, so they had plenty of room to observe the surroundings.
"Okay, what should I do... Did you see anything?"
“…Hmm, nothing I found…”
"No."
"Nagumo, could it be on the other side of the tree?"
Just as everyone was looking around the room and exchanging opinions...
——Pa pa pa pa pa!!
The sound that everyone had been dreading was heard: the sound of insects flapping their wings, and there were a lot of them.
“——!?”
Hajime and the others had stiff expressions as they hurriedly checked the base of the tree.
As expected, at the bottom, one could see a large number of cockroaches like a black tsunami, flapping their wings and climbing upwards with great momentum.
“Damn it!!”
“Hmm~~! — Thunder Dragon!”
"You're so annoying~~!! Look at me, I'll beat you up!"
“Aaaaaaaaa!! Demolish, demolish!!”
“Don’t, don’t come over here! —『Flame Breath』!”
Everyone's hair stood on end, and the unbearable disgust made them scream and half-unconsciously attack with maximum power.
Hajime fired a rain of missiles through Alcorn, Yue unleashed Thunder Dragon, Shia fired Exploding Shrapnel with Druken, Kaori fired Disintegrating Bombs, and Tio unleashed Flame Breath. Everyone shouted loudly as they used their special moves.
Guanghui and the others also instantly launched all the long-range attacks they could use. Only Shizuku unexpectedly let out a strange moan of "Kumi~", her consciousness was almost disconnected.
Having said that, this is truly the firepower of a plug-in character.
A sea of fire ignited in the sky below, and thunder roared incessantly. Countless pale blue and white ripples spread out, and flashes of silver and black flickered endlessly. Pure white sword light flashed, and the shockwave struck down like a hammer.
Hajime and his team displayed overwhelming destructive power. If they had displayed such firepower on the ground, in front of the Kingdom or Empire's army, they would have been forced to retreat.
However, even with such a powerful attack, it is just a drop in the bucket in the face of the violence of numbers.
The black tsunami made a terrifying sound like the flapping of insect wings. No matter how powerful the attack was, the tsunami continued to approach without any signs of abating.
——It was like attacking the ocean, which was pointless. The sea of cockroaches spread across the entire space, like birds moving in a group, soaring freely through the air in a unified movement.
“Wuwu, this, this is a holy place. I will not allow the enemy of God to pass through—‘Holy Severance’!!”
Despite having a sad face, Ling still opened the barrier.
Afterwards, a rustling sound was heard in the sky above the square where Shi and the others were, and a tsunami of cockroaches surged up as if pulled by gravity, attacking Shi and the others in one breath.
In an instant, the outside of the barrier was covered with a swarm of moving black objects - there were cockroaches that were squirting body fluids after being crushed by the barrier, and there were also cockroaches crawling around outside the barrier.
“—I can’t do it anymore.”
Ling, who opened the barrier, almost lost consciousness. Guanghui supported Ling in time and encouraged her desperately.
"Rin! Don't sleep! If you sleep, you'll die! Our spirits will die!!"
That's absolutely true. Just being drowned in a sea of cockroaches is an extremely powerful mental attack that even the magic of the Age of Gods cannot match. It will definitely cause mental abnormalities and even lifelong mental trauma.
"Yue, please add another layer of defense."
“…Yes, I will never let the barrier be broken!”
Yue raised his arm covered with goose bumps and unfolded another layer of "Holy Absolute" on top of Ling's "Holy Absolute".
"I feel like I keep encountering things like this since I came to this maze..."
"Hmm~ As expected of a dungeon designed to conquer other large dungeons, the difficulty level is probably several levels higher than the others."
Tio's expression was a little stiff, but she still analyzed calmly. Kaori trembled and shouted in a panic:
"Don't, don't, don't analyze this calmly. We need to think of a solution!"
Then, another calm voice spoke to Kaori. It was Shizuku, who had nearly lost consciousness a moment ago. With a remarkably bright and clear expression, she said:
"Don't worry, Kaori, it's fine, because those are just black sesame seeds. I really like sesame pudding and sesame furikake, and I especially like the soy sauce-flavored sesame furikake. It's delicious and goes really well with rice."
"What should I do! Shizuku-chan is about to break down!!"
Shizuku's eyes were dead.
As Kaori screamed in agony, Hajime decided he had no choice but to launch another annihilation campaign. Rubbing the goosebumps on his arms, Hajime prepared to activate the "Treasure Vault."
However, before he could act, something strange happened.
The cockroaches crawling on the barrier retreated in unison.
Shi and the others were surprised and didn't know what was happening, but they saw the sea of cockroaches condense into a sphere in the air in front of them, and then formed a circle around the sphere.
There was another ring outside the giant ring, and then countless cockroaches began to form columns of flying cockroaches around the rings. Hajime's cheeks twitched as he watched the cockroaches gradually form geometric patterns in the air.
"Hey, hey, hey, could it be that... they're going to form a magic circle?"
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