Of course, Shizuku didn't think that; that was purely a confirmation. The wariness in Shizuku's eyes was clear, and in fact, her gaze hadn't left the wall.

So it's no wonder she couldn't help but look surprised, "What are you talking about?" when she heard Guanghui say that.

However, Shizuku's eyes weren't looking at her, and her face had that expression on it, which seemed to touch Kouki's sensitive nerves instead. She blurted out words that were unlike Kouki's:

"...You'll easily believe what Nagumo says, right?"

"Kui-ki? What are you really talking about? I told you I didn't doubt you, didn't I?"

Shizuku was now forced to shift her gaze from the ice wall to Kouki. The arrogant and unreasonable sarcastic remarks made the usually gentle Shizuku frown angrily for a moment.

But when she saw Guanghui's bitter expression, she immediately showed a worried look.

“…I’m sorry, Shizuku, I—”

Seeing Shizuku worried about him, the dark cloud that shrouded Guanghui's heart seemed to dissipate a little, and he was about to talk to Shizuku.

However, when he saw Shizuku's expression, Guanghui couldn't help but swallow his words back.

The whisper seemed to say something to Shizuku, and her shoulders trembled slightly, as if she felt a pain in her heart, and she clenched her hands to her chest.

Then, though only for a moment, she looked forward.

What did she see, or who did she see? No words were needed. For Guanghui, her actions alone were enough to stir up dark emotions in his heart.

"Although there are no signs of movement at the moment, everyone should still be as cautious as possible."

Hajime used the Demonic Eye Stone to carefully observe their figures on the ice mirror wall, but in the end he still sighed and urged everyone to be careful.

Kaori and Suzu, who had been observing the two with their hearts in turmoil, nodded in agreement after hearing Hajime's nonchalant words and continued on their way.

After that, there was no supernatural phenomenon of their own reflections in the ice mirror making different movements, and the group discovered a huge space in front of the passage.

Shi checked the compass and felt that this was indeed the end of the maze.

As if to prove this, deep within the vast circular space, there was a majestic door, no less beautiful in appearance than the one seen previously.

No, considering this door is more than twice as big as the previous one, it should be called the "big door".

There was no totem or rose carving to hold a gemstone, but instead, a more unusual and striking symbolic pattern was carved into it. It was like a remarkable painting, deeply moving.

If I had to describe it, it would be several overlapping layers. Above was the sun, below was a scalding pool, and each layer in between was carved with people or animals representing joy, anger, sorrow, and happiness, as well as natural scenery.

(The overlapping layers contain joy, anger, sorrow, and happiness, the sunshine of the sky and the cauldron of hell... Is this pattern meant to represent the human heart?)

Whether it was the double doors with the totem or this main door, Bandu Shoni might be someone with an artistic temperament. Artists imbue their works with meaning. So, could the carving before me be a hint of the upcoming trial? Hajime speculated, scanning the space.

"Looks like we've finally arrived. That door is the end."

When Hajime announced that they had reached the end, everyone breathed a sigh of relief. That being said...

"...Hmm~ It looks suspicious."

"Yeah, I have a very bad feeling. Especially that layer of snow and smoke. I still don't know what it means in the end."

"That is to say, it is common practice to be attacked when entering a large space."

"It's probably because of the attack that they created this huge space."

That's right, this spacious space itself made it clear that it was impossible for the big maze to allow them to reach the end without anything happening.

At first, he completely agreed with this argument. So he used the Magic Eye Stone and his sensory abilities to their full potential and conducted some investigations, but...

“…Still no reaction. Anyway, I guess I’ll just have to charge in.”

Still, it seemed like he wasn't sensing anything. Hajime shook his head and took the lead, with Yue and the others following behind.

Then, as the group walked to the center of the room, as expected, a change occurred.

"Huh? ...The sun?"

Suddenly, a light shone down from above. Hajime looked up and said, "Yue and the others looked up. That thing in the sky should indeed be called the 'sun'."

A single point of light grew increasingly brighter in the snow-covered sky. Considering this was within a labyrinth, it couldn't possibly be the sun. Yet, the warmth of the sun was palpable. It was intense enough to create the illusion of the sun, and Hajime sensed impending danger.

"……beginning!"

Shi narrowed his eyes, wary of the fake sun, but heard Yue calling Shi with a warning tone.

Hajime suddenly woke up and looked back to the ground, only to see a fantasy world appear before him.

Everything around is shining brightly.

There are two reasons for this. The first is the sunlight that penetrates the snow smoke that obscures the sky. The second is ice crystals that drift in the air without being noticed. This is called glacial dust.

However, compared to naturally occurring diamond dust, the scene before me was nothing short of bizarre. The reason for this was that the light was noticeably too strong.

It was like the Milky Way appearing on the ground. As if on the verge of becoming a first-magnitude star, the ice crystals grew brighter with time, making the scene before us look even more fantastical. Furthermore, as adjacent ice crystals merged, they grew into ice fragments, their brightness intensifying even further.

The beautiful scene lay before him, but instead of being mesmerized, Hajime felt a growing sense of danger. In Hajime's eyes, the gleaming ice fragments looked like turrets charging with energy.

"It's a bit too dangerous to call it diamond dust. Everyone, defend with all your might!"

Guided by a chilling sense of danger, Hajime barked out instructions.

At this shout, the stunned Kouki and the others instinctively gathered together, Yue and Ling unleashed their "Holy Shot." At that moment—pure white light blazed everywhere.

"! It's a laser weapon!"

This description is very appropriate.

Dozens and hundreds of flashes of light pierced the air. Those flashes were heat rays. The ice fragments accumulated the energy from the false sun shining down from the sky and converted it into heat rays for release.

Its power was so astonishing that it even left scars on Yue and Ling's double "Holy Decisive Attack".

"This is the same laser weapon as Nagumo-san's."

Shizuku recalled the solar beam laser cannon "Hyperion" she had seen Hajime use in the royal capital. She recalled the devastation caused by that weapon and cried out in a mournful manner.

Hajime observed carefully, and then for some reason, a smug smile appeared on his face.

"Yeah, you know it was made by Oscar, right? He was from a long time ago, but he's even more evil than me. He has good taste."

"Now is not the time to admire others!"

Kouki's rebuke was justified. That being said, this weapon was indeed of a terrible nature.

After being concentrated, the heat rays become extremely fine and are reflected randomly and without any order between the ice pieces and between the ice mirrors in the room, making it extremely difficult to predict the trajectory of the rays.

The sight of heat rays ravaging space was like a three-dimensional spider web. Once you stepped into the area, there was no escape. You either got pierced by the rays or you got cut. There was only one choice.

Under these limited circumstances, this heat ray is certainly more brutal and ferocious than the anti-military annihilation weapon "Hyperion".

To make matters worse, there seems to be a time limit.

Because the snow smoke covering the sky is slowly lowering in altitude, if it continues like this, within a few seconds, the visibility will become the same as that of the Hartrina Sea of ​​Trees.

Lasers are naturally attenuated in the atmosphere, and this is even more pronounced in smoke and dust. So, Hajime suddenly thought that the snow smoke might render laser attacks less threatening...

"The designer can't be that stupid."

Hajime shook his head, discarding the thought.

"Being enveloped in smoke and having our vision obscured is troublesome, everyone, get ready to charge!"

At Hajime's command, everyone charged forward simultaneously. Even then, the heat rays continued to mercilessly attack Yue and Ling's dual "Holy Destruction," rapidly weakening the barrier's light. However...

"You two, focus on the barrier! — 'Keinaga'!!"

Kaori used regeneration magic to restore the state of the previous second every second, turning the barrier between the two into an iron wall.

Furthermore, Hajime used "Blink" to expand his perception and caught the trajectory of the heat ray. He used Quick Shot to destroy the ice fragments in front of him, opening a hole in the heat ray's cage.

The exit door is about a hundred meters away.

However, or perhaps it should be said that as expected, the Great Maze was not kind enough to let them pass.

The snow smoke approaching from above spewed out countless ice blocks, each as big as a car.

The ice blocks hit the ground with a loud crash, blocking the way for Hajime and the others. The ice blocks seemed to be quite heavy, and the impact of the fall cracked the ground, creating a hole in the ground.

The ice was so transparent that one could even see through it. This wasn't stone throwing, it was ice throwing. However, dark red crystals could be seen within the clear ice, clearly indicating this wasn't ordinary ice.

"Phew, here comes the real killer move."

Hajime smacked his lips, and then, as if responding to him, the ice made a cracking sound and changed shape in an instant.

It was a humanoid ice statue about five meters tall. Its huge body was as fat and short as a golem. In one hand it held an axe made of ice, and in the other hand it held a tower shield.

There were nine of them, the same number as Hajime and the others. Was it just a coincidence? Because of their enormous bodies and weapons, they lined up in a row, blocking the path to the door.

"Defeat them."

The snow smoke was already not far overhead. Amidst the torrential rain of lasers, and even beneath the snow smoke, they couldn't let the battle drag on.

As soon as he finished speaking, Hajime immediately pulled the trigger, and Donal emitted a bright and intense flash.

The red light spear flew out, ready to penetrate the enemy's heart (magic stone), but Frost Gorem instantly raised his tower shield to block it, and the bullet was blocked just before it reached the heart (magic stone).

"It seems the tower shield isn't just ordinary ice."

After entering this large maze, for the first time, an enemy appeared that Hajime couldn't defeat with one blow.

The tower shield, though shattered, still managed to block the reinforced electromagnetic cannon. Donal's single strike shattered the tower shield, likely designed specifically for defense. I didn't know whether to admire the tower shield's defensive power or shudder at Donal's destructive power.

In short, the Frost Golem's defense is obviously extraordinary.

Immediately after Hajime's first strike, everyone else, except Yue and Ling who were focused on defense, also launched their attacks.

"If you can't defeat me with one strike, I'll attack continuously!!"

"Can a mere block of ice stop my flames?"

Druken, in bombardment mode, fired a series of explosive shrapnel, and Tio's outstretched palms emitted a high-heat flame. At the same time—

"If only I could fire 'Flash' out—'Flash'!"

"That would be too invincible. Very scary, Shizuku-chan."

"Your decomposition is the most terrifying. I've experienced it myself."

Shizuku used Wind Slash, Kaori fired Disintegration Blast, Ryuutarou used Shock Wave, and Kouki used Light Slash.

However, the direction of the attack was their own people.

「!?」

This was a completely unexpected attack, and even Hajime couldn't help but gasp. After all, they were all inside the barrier, meaning this was an extremely close-range attack.

Kouki swung the light of "Tenso Flash" and Ryuutarou released a shockwave, and both of them were already before him...

“Pfft!”

Hajime smacked his lips, and while activating "King Kong," he used his right hand, which was holding the Donner, and his left prosthetic hand to cross-defend.

A powerful attack struck Hajime. Their attacks were so powerful that Hajime regretted even strengthening them. Though Hajime was barely injured thanks to his Diamond and Cross Defense, he couldn't stand still and was thrown out of the barrier.

Fortunately, Hajime was in the state of activating 『Instant Light』. If he had no defense at all, he wouldn't just be knocked away. And he certainly wouldn't be able to use his magical skills while being knocked away, and just flip his wrist to snipe and cancel out Shia's 『Flash』.

Hajime felt time slow down, and a beat later, he heard Kaori's cry.

“No~~!”

Kaori forcibly moved her entire hand away, deflecting the disintegration bombardment directed at Yue.

Yue was slow to react to the unexpected situation, and was unable to dispel some of his "Holy Severance" in time. As a result, his ability to disintegrate everything created a large hole in the barrier.

Even so, only a single hole was created, thanks to Yue's skill. Ling's "Holy Spell" was destroyed in one blow, and she let out a mournful cry.

Then it began to slide on the ground and landed.

"Eh?"

The first to let out a stunned cry was Kouki's. He couldn't comprehend what he was doing, and the look of astonishment on his face said it all. The same thing happened with Ryuutarou and Shizuku. Even when Suzu reactivated her "Holy Zetsu" and asked in shock, "W-What are you all doing!?", they didn't even react.

“…What are you doing?”

"...Kaori, you're so brave."

"Shizuku-san, did I do something to anger you?"

The Frost Golem took a step, causing the ground to vibrate. Snow Smoke had already descended several meters above. While there was no time to waste, Guanghui and the others' strange behavior couldn't be dismissed as a joke.

Hajime dodged the heat rays, using bullets and grenades to distract and stop the Frost Golems, while simultaneously questioning Kouki and the others' true intentions with his eyes.

A vein bulged on Yue's forehead, her expression saying, "...Kaori, you really deserve a beating." Shia, believing Shizuku disliked her, seemed deeply shocked, her cheeks twitching. Kouki and the others, having recovered from their dazed state, appeared panicked.

"No, no! I didn't mean that at all! It's just that when I found out... I was telling the truth."

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