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There had been fifty golems standing by in the corridor in front of the arena, which would enter one after another to stop Machina Guardian from healing. But Soul Howl noticed they had all been destroyed simultaneously.

Mira followed him out of the room they were in, rushing to the arena while looking out for the Mechanical Prowler.

They moved through the corridor and made various turns, two more corners and they would be in the last stretch leading to the arena. There they noticed something.

「Say, isn’t there a burnt smell in the air?」

Mira called it a burnt smell, but it was closer to the heat and slight scent that comes off a pan left on the fire.

「Yes, I’ve also been wondering what that smell is.」

Soul Howl had also noticed that, sniffing as his gaze became sharper. It was clearly coming from ahead of them.

Things were even stranger than before, so the two became even more watchful of their step as they got closer to see what had happened.

They went past the next corner, and now there was only one left before their destination. But when they reached the last corner, both of them stood still, looking at the wall.

「What in the world… How can such a thing even happen..?」
「I don’t know, but this clearly isn’t normal.」

The walls of the entire floor were made of some white metal, but the walls in front of them were charred black.

「I can only think of skeletons that use fire magic, but are there any nearby?」

From the black soot on the wall, the burnt smell, and the lingering heat, Mira deduced that this had been caused by some type of fire. The only enemy that could use such attacks in the seventh floor were skeletons that fought with fire spells. But Soul Howl shook his head, saying there were none like that nearby. Necromancers had the ability to sense any nearby undead monsters, so Soul Howl had already checked for that.

「Not just that, but I can’t feel any remnants of mana either. I don’t think this was caused by a spell or magic.」

His eyes carefully looked ahead as he continued talking.

Spells were all the skills used by the nine classes of spellcasters. Magic was used by monsters, dragons, spirits, and some specific races.

「Hmm… mana remnants…」

Both magic and spells required mana to be activated, and would always leave lingering traces. By searching for them it was possible to determine whether magic or a spell had been used in an area recently.

A skill known as Sorcerer’s Watchful Eye was needed to detect mana remnants. Said skill did not exist during the game days, it was a new skill that had been developed during the last thirty years.

She had only learned about it recently from the Encyclopedia of Skills though, which she had been reading the last few days. The skill itself did not require complex knowledge or training, so she had already mastered it.

「Hmm, yes, there’s no remnants here.」

Mira tried her best to look like an experienced spellcaster, acting like knowing that spell was something she had done her entire life.

「We won’t figure anything out without getting closer.」

Being watchful of whatever could be ahead, Soul Howl built an iron golem and let it walk in front of them.

「I don’t remember the Prowler using fire attacks. Maybe there’s a new variant.」

Mira also summoned a Holy Knight just in case, and let it walk ahead.

「A new variant… I wouldn’t say that’s impossible. I’ve seen some while visiting various dungeons, and some of those were unusually stronger as well. Not to mention that they always were at the furthest ends of dungeons like here.」

New variants was the term they used to refer to monsters that did not exist in that world back when it was a game. Ever since it became reality, those had been spotted much more frequently.

Usually Mira was excited to hear about new variants, wanting to see them herself. But this time she hoped that was not the case.

「Somehow… I don’t really feel like going too far now…」

The seventh floor was known for having the Mechanical Prowler, an enemy so powerful even the Nine Wisemen had to be careful. If it had evolved into a powerful new variant, it was hard to say just how strong it would be.

(And I can’t exactly summon a thousand Dark Knights in here.)

Summoning an army was one of Mira’s trump cards, but the corridors were so narrow that an army would be restricted from moving. The same went for larger summons like Isenfald.

(Though I could do it in the room from earlier.)

If things got ugly, Mira decided they could just lure whatever enemy lay ahead back to the room where they were resting, and cautiously proceeded through the corridor.

「It… goes all the way to the end.」
「And yet there’s still no mana residue whatsoever. But it also doesn’t look like this was a normal fire either.」

The two stopped right at the corner, only barely peeking over at the corridor where the golems had been stationed. It was a stretch of around fifty meters, and all the floor, walls, and ceiling were scorched black.

「Hmm, what do you think caused this? A new variant after all?」
「I don’t know yet. We came through the only path here and didn’t encounter anything, so whatever did this has to be in the boss room.」

They looked at that burned corridor, the air still feeling warm, and glanced at the end of it.

Machina Guardian’s arena was past there, the final boss of the seventh floor. If the new variant had gone inside there, Mira and Soul Howl would have to fight both enemies at the same time, but trying that would be absurd.

「If anything happens, I’ll lure whatever it is out of the corridor. You go in and set up your golems again after that. Sounds good?」
「Hmm, I do like that plan. That’s assuming there is a new variant there.」

Settling on that plan, the two ordered the Holy Knight and golem to move forward through the blackened corridor.

The Holy Knight and golem walked with heavy footsteps, while Mira and Soul Howl peeked over the corner to watch what happened.

Slowly they reached the spot where the golems had been, and went through without issue. When they reached the arena’s entrance, nothing sprang out or tried to damage them, so things were looking promising.

But the mystery of the forty golems that were defeated remained.

「My golem will go in first.」

Soul Howl said and told the golem to enter the arena. It went a step in, then another, and a third one, while Mira and Soul Howl watched with bated breath.

An instant later the golem was pierced by something resembling an enormous lance, getting instantly destroyed.

But Mira and Soul Howl were unfazed as they watched.

「That was just Machina Guardian, wasn’t it?」
「Yes, it’s one of the leg attacks. It seems it hasn’t entered the healing phase yet.」

It had been Machina Guardian’s leg that pierced through the golem and destroyed it. The leg still had cracks on it, so they could tell the damage from earlier was still there. That was a relief to see, but they did not lower their guard yet, looking closely to see if there was anything other than Machina Guardian in the arena.

And then they noticed something.

「Say, isn’t it looking at us a bit too much?」
「Yes, I was about to ask you the same.」

Machina Guardian remained in front of the arena’s entrance, staring at Mira and Soul Howl before leaning its body down. They could see the robotical spider’s abdomen next to the ground, which was usually kept up in the air.

That was something that could never be seen so close to the entrance. The Holy Knight was in the way so it was a bit hard to see exactly what was happening, but it seemed like the Machina Guardian was staring at them.

They had never seen that happen before, so they waited to see what it meant.

Mira told the Holy Knight to move aside so they could see better, just as Machina Guardian’s abdomen split open, revealing a glowing red crystal inside.

「What?! Pull back-!」
「This can’t be right?!」

Mira and Soul Howl shouted at the same time and moved back, scrambling to get as far as they could. Mira used Ground Shrink to get away faster, while Soul Howl created multiple rows of golems to act as shields.

Just mere moments later, the red crystal let out a flash, followed by a beam of light that spread through the corridor.

The beam was blazing hot, vaporizing anything it touched. It was Machina Guardian’s secret attack, Ancient Ray.

The heat and light quickly spread with a sparking sound, easily incinerating the Holy Knight, some of it even making it around the corner and destroying some of Soul Howl’s golems.

After the fifth golem was destroyed by the heat waves, they finally subsided and the corridor returned to normality.

「Well, I can see where the forty golems went now.」