“…Soma-san, what were those two spells?”(Rimi)

“Some time ago I thought that if I had some single-target instant death and single-target sealing spells it would be very convenient for future situations. But for such spells to be powerful enough to work on any kind of enemy regardless of their strength, they need to be on the level of Great Magics”(Soma)

“Why? Why only Great Magic? Great Magic doesn’t have the image of being a single target, no, realistically speaking, Great Magic is only used to annihilate a large number of targets”(Alice)

“People tend to not realize that Great Magic has the best controllability among all levels of Magic, and since I might not know the power level of my opponents in the future having the spells be as powerful as possible is better. But there are no Great Magic spells that are single-target, and so my only option is to create my own Great Magic spells. So, to create two spells with the power level of Great Magic, I fused two Great Magic spells with my own Mana Control skill for each of the spells I need. For the {Divine Flame} I fused the Great Magic spells {Purgatory Flame} and {Sacred Purification}, and for {Cursed Ice} I fused {Cursed Seal} and {Great Ice Prison}. And the result was as you saw”(Soma)

“…That explains the spells, but what about those movements? How were you able to kill them that efficiently without allowing even a drop of blood to fall on you?”(Rimi)

“Ah, that was a skill that Soma-kun has! It’s a skill that lets him have a full grasp of any movements and presences in his reach and that reach is in the shape of a sphere. The skill name is Control Sphere”(Marina)

“Well, it’s a convenient skill that helps me when fighting in one-vs-many situations. You can gain the skill by fighting against a big number of enemies continuously for an extended time without being hit even once, and the more enemies there are the faster leveling the skill up will be”(Soma)

“…So you had such an experience? I hope you would tell me more about yourself!”(Rimi)

“…”(Soma)

“Rimi-chan! I have Soma-kun’s full story in this book! If you want I’ll lend it to you!”(Marina)

“Please!”(Rimi)

“…Can we please return to the point?”(Alice)

“The existence of these Shadow Wolves is evidence enough to prove that something fishy is going on in the mines, for now, let’s keep going forward and look for signs of people instead of monsters”(Soma)

Soma and the girls proceeded forwards while being careful not to miss any signs of a presence that might be waiting for them. On their way, they encountered more Shadow Wolves but this time it was the girls' turn to fight and for Soma to give them pointers to improve their performance. After encountering Shadow Wolves three more times, Soma stopped the girls from going forwards. The three girls were confused but Marina who was able to notice first thanks to her senses as a half-beastman informed Rimi and Alice of what she is able to sense.

“…There is a strange flow of Mana, it’s so small I feel like I’ll lose it the moment I divert my attention from it”(Marina)

“…I don’t feel anything, even with my Mana Control skill I can’t sense it”(Rimi)

“…Me too”(Alice)

“This flow of Mana is from a Magic Item and the Mana Control skill will not help you sense it unless you are a Magic Item craftsman with some other skills. This Mana flow is from a detection type Magic Item, and from the movement of this Mana, there are three Magic Circles in this particular Magic Item. One circle to detect allies, one to detect enemies, and the last one to hide the flow of Mana in the two circles. Since the flow of Mana in the third circle is minuscule and specialized in stealth, it’s hard to detect”(Soma)

“But the fact that such a Magic Item is here means…”(Alice)

“We have caught the tail of the rat”(Marina)

“Let’s follow the paths where the Magic Items are installed”(Soma)

Soma and the girls ignored the paths that didn’t have the Magic Items in them and followed the ones that do have them, of course, after disabling them as they went in order to not alert those who installed them. But after going for some time, they came to a dead-end.

“A dead-end?”(Rimi)

“How? If so what was the purpose of all those Detection Magic Items?”(Alice)

“Don’t jump to conclusions, try touching the wall at the end”(Soma)

“Got it….. Whoa!”(Rimi)

As Rimi touched the wall, she was surprised by its texture. The texture of the wall was unrealistically smooth unlike how it looked.

“…It’s a barrier!”(Rimi)

“Exactly, barriers are hard to detect even though they are made out entirely of Mana, especially barriers of this type that are erected to block entry and to hide what’s behind them. For now, let’s stop here and go back outside”(Soma)