Petra let out a relieved sigh as she removed her hand from the shadow. Thanks. Have you had spiritual cooking before, or should I just prepare something?

You know you’re not supposed to be able to buy my favor with sweets, right? The spirit questioned back, though it transmitted its voice only to Petra that time.

Yep. So, chocolate strawberry, or shortbread? Petra asked as she smiled, though the others present seemed confused by what had just happened.

...Can I ask for both? It seemed that this world spirit had never sampled spiritual delicacies before, so she was at least eager to give it a try. Hearing that, Petra nodded her head.

“They should be back soon.” Where should I send them? She asked the two questions at the same time, one verbally while the other was transmitted with her spirit. To her, it was no different than talking with Thelsa while speaking with those around her.

Anywhere’s fine. Just call for me the same way you did just now, and I’ll show up. After the spirit said that, it gradually faded away, the circling breeze returning to normal.

Noticing that the spirit was gone, the pilot walked over with a concerned look. “What happened, Petra?” When he asked this question, the others all began to pay more attention, as they were curious to find out as well.

Petra smiled in embarrassment. “I left a scouting device in the city, so that I could watch for any emergencies. Just now, I accessed it and saw that the city was being attacked by a large number of giants. It’s way too far for me to reach with my powers, so I needed to ask the world spirit to connect the darkness between the two points.”

The others gasped at that, but did not seem suspicious. After all, even among Maxers like themselves, there were few powers able to attack across such a vast distance. Unless someone was a dedicated attack mage that had mastered the control of their mana to an insane degree, such a thing would be unbelievable.

Of all the Maxers, there were maybe three capable of a feat like that. However, those three had long since retired from personal combat, and typically stayed a few floors down where they could relax.

Ten more minutes passed by, and a golden portal opened in front of the gate. From the portal, Marly emerged along with five other priests. These figures all had dusty clothes, even sporting a few rips where they had not been able to avoid the debris. “Sorry, guys…” Marly apologized as she returned. “It was…”

“We heard.” The pilot confirmed, glancing towards Petra. Marly blinked in confusion, but simply nodded her head.

“Ah, well. Anyways, we should be good to go now, if you still want to?” As she said that, the priests moved over to begin touching the gate, making sure that they filled their prerequisite to bring other people here as well. Afterwards, they did not delay, instead returning immediately to help the situation at the city.

“Might as well.” Petra smiled, looking at everyone. “We’ve come this far, right? What’s ten more steps to see what the environment is like on the other side?”

Her words reminded everyone that they had truly been looking for exactly this gate for months now. Why would they stop now that they found it? What good was a door that was never opened?

One by one, they nodded their heads and made their way towards the gate. As they vanished into the black slab, Petra let out a sigh of relief before following after them. In truth, she was worried that her actions would not have been accepted so easily. This was the most blatant force she had ever shown with her shadow powers, so she believed that people would doubt her.

In fact, her title as the Daughter of a Greater Goddess made it so that these few people truly expected her to be able to perform unbelievable feats. If it had been someone else, they would have suspected them of hiding dangerous secrets. But, because it was Petra, it was ‘to be expected’.

When she passed through the gate, she was able to see the shining crystal walls that Thelsa told her about. No matter where she looked, there was not a single shadow. Instead, she was greeted by the sight of numerous reflections from the smoother surfaces.

Those few people that came with her were looking around in wonder, until they noticed Petra coming behind them. At that point, they seemed to remember something. She was the Demigoddess of Shadows… but there were no shadows here.

The human mage stepped closer to Petra, a sad look on his face. “It seems fate is a bit cruel, to arrange a land like this that negates your power. Perhaps at night time, you will instead reign supreme?” Although his words may have sounded suspicious at a glance, they were said with what Petra believed to be genuinely kind intentions.

“I still have my strength.” She answered in a confident tone, pumping one arm into the air. Only she was aware that this layer did not have anything like ‘night’. “But for now… I think it would be best to report back. It looks like the way forward is pretty narrow.”

When Petra said that, everyone turned, noticing that there were only three paths leading out of this crystal courtyard. Each path was indeed narrow, barely enough for three people to walk side by side. Those who wielded larger weapons would be rather handicapped in such a passage, and there was no telling what sorts of monsters were waiting here. Going forward with just the seven people here was simply suicide.

Fully aware of that fact, Marly nodded her head in agreement. “Right! We can’t go charging blindly just because we got excited. If we got here once, we can get here a hundred times!”

After saying that, Marly directly opened up a portal for everyone. Through the portal, they were able to make out the city that they had not been to for several days. Thinking it over, they decided to walk back through, one by one.

Petra stayed to the end with Marly, serving as her protector and counting as people went through. First the dovah pilot, then the three defensive mages. Just as Petra was getting ready to walk through, she paused. Numerous complex equations passed through her head in a moment, some of which may have involved fish.

“We’re missing someone.” Her words alerted Marly, who gulped as Petra pulled out her axe. “You go through. Meet me at the lower floor’s gate in ten minutes. I’ll make sure nothing happens to you.”

As she spoke, she did not allow Marly to leave her line of sight, as if worried that doing so would give whatever took the other mage a chance to abduct her as well. She turned, circling the area while keeping Marly in her peripherals.

Thelsa, you got something to tell me? She asked as she watched Marly disappear through the portal. Thelsa had never mentioned anything about any monsters that could erase a mage’s existence like that without her realizing. Granted, the monsters on this floor all had some type of magic, so nothing was impossible.

I don’t. This is the first time I’ve seen something like this… Maybe it specifically targets mages? Thelsa wasn’t able to simply mass produce Maxers, so there were very few such high-level individuals. Of the mages that she had sent to explore this area previously, it was likely that none were high enough level to register as a true mage to the monsters of this floor. The only possible exception to this was Thelsa herself, who might have been protected by their shadow energy.

Yeah, well… I feel like making it mad. Petra closed her eyes, taking a deep breath and focusing. She conjured her minimap in her mind, looking for any sign of a dot aside from herself. With the new system, she would be able to pick up even the smallest trace, and that was all she needed.

There was, in fact, one dot to be found. However, it was not red, but yellow. This was the first time that Petra had seen such an indicator on her minimap, so she wasn’t sure what it meant. Turning in the direction of the dot, she opened her eyes and looked downwards, as it appeared to be five meters below the crystal surface.

Petra could see a blurry form, roughly two meters in size, suspended in the crystal. But, it was impossible to make out any clearer details. She didn’t dare use her mana, still unsure if that was what had triggered whatever killed the mage. Instead, she channeled her spiritual energy into her eyes.

Five meters below the ground, the missing mage ‘stood’ suspended, still having a smiling expression as if he was about to start speaking. There did not appear to be any sign of alarm to be found on his expression, and Petra could even see that his soul still clung to his body. He’s not dead!

Petra could tell that the man’s body had been perfectly sealed in the same state it was previously at. His health bar had yet to appear over his head, but that could just be a matter of time. If he was encased in the crystal instead of magically sealed, then he had to be holding his breath at this very moment. Time was of the essence to free him.

Grabbing her axe, she focused, the small but dense muscles on her arms bulging slightly. “Break for me!” She shouted, slamming the axe downwards. Her aim was careful, clearly avoiding off to the side of where the mage was suspended.

With her strength, slashing through several meters of crystal was not too challenging. In fact, most of it shattered beneath the weight of her swing. And then, she moved on to the other side. Each strike was carefully aimed, clearly avoiding anything that would directly harm the mage.

The worrisome part was that the crystals were visible healing as she worked, making it so that the hole she created was already starting to close up by the time she worked her way down to his level. Petra grabbed the mage’s body with one arm and leapt into the air to escape the closing hole. Her axe dug into the ceiling, anchoring them there for a moment as she watched the pit she created sealing itself.

Petra’s grip on the mage tightened, as she could feel a powerful attractive force between it and the walls all around them. The crystal was being drawn back to its source, unwilling to stay removed for long.

For a moment, the demoness saw the crystals beginning to creep down the ceiling along the blade of her axe, before she yanked it free and fell to the ground. Afterwards, she did not waste any time, turning and running for the gate. She dove through with her axe in one hand and her compatration in the other.

Okay, how do the monsters on that floor all have powerful magic, if the ground itself eats mages?! Petra shouted as she landed on the ground, panting with her axe at her side. The attractive force on the mage vanished, and he shuddered for a moment.

Soon, the crystals began dissolving, turning into gas that gradually rose into the air. What was left behind was a gasping mage, who abruptly sat up and clutched his chest. They probably have some method of protection that we need to find. Until we do, we can’t risk taking any great magic sources up to that floor.

“Thank… thank you.” The mage said, some of the gas from the crystals emerging from his mouth. Clearly, he had been fully sealed, inside and out. He knew that if Petra had not taken the risk to rescue him, he would have died before any sort of rescue team could be arranged.

Petra nodded her head, lifting one hand to form a thumbs up. “I hate that floor.” She muttered. “Hate it so much.”