A short while later, the eight members of “Maple Tree” had finally become able to explore every section of the 8th Layer. With that out of the way, their next course of action had been decided.

  “We can finally go wherever we want, Sally!”


  “Yeah, we can finally search everywhere in here.“


  They were, of course, going to look for a place where they could use those two rare items.

  Naturally, they were looking for a place like that while looking for parts, but they couldn’t find anything like it. Of course, they couldn’t deny that the reason why they hadn’t found it was because it was very well hidden, but they figured that the first thing they should be doing was to go to an unexplored area.

  That way, everything they came across would certainly be unknown.

  “I’m ready when you are!”


  “If it’s okay with you, we should get going at once. Do you have Iz’s items?”


  “Yeah! I have lots of things that will help me last longer underwater.”


  “Then let’s get going. We might end up having to check every single place individually, so the more time we have underwater, the better.”


  As they walked out of the guild home, Sally got the jet ski ready outside of the city as usual, and helped Maple get on it with her.

  “Hold on tight!”


  “Okay~!”


  Sally stepped on the gas and instantly accelerated the jet ski, and they started dashing over the surface of the water at a great speed.

  “Where should we start?”


  “Let’s check the largest one of the new areas we can go to now. It’s going to be much more difficult to continuously explore small areas that are all scattered about.”


  “I see.”


  “Besides, the place we’re going now is quite high, and I feel it’s the most likely to be our winner.”


  “Ohh~! We might end up finding what we’re looking for there!”


  “If everyone’s predictions so far are correct, yeah.”


  Sally and Maple kept on riding the jet ski for a while, then Sally checked her map and slowed down until she stopped completely.

  “Is it down here?”


  “No, it’s a little farther ahead, but…… you’ll need to see for yourself.”


  Sally had her put on her diving suit as Maple wondered what Sally could have meant by that, and they jumped into the water. Down there, they could see the endless water and a tall mountain range. And there was a wild current that surrounded it completely like a storm.

  The visual effect of the water current was made so that it was easily noticeable, but rather than being there so that they could find a spot where they could slip through, it was more of a sign to prevent them from being swept away and dying.

  “You may be able to survive it, but…… If you end up not being able to escape from it, I won’t be able to help you, so be careful.”


  “O-Okay. I will.”


  Since she already had a recent painful experience underwater, Maple decided she wouldn’t get close to that current, even if she could survive it.

  “So we shouldn’t go that way then.”


  “But we are going that way.”


  “Huh!?”


  Sally had just explained how dangerous it was, and even Maple could easily see that it was a place that was best avoided, so Sally’s words came to her as a shock.

  “Looks like there might be a way we can go through it. Let’s check that current thoroughly.”


  “Okay, so you know about this place, Sally?”


  “I haven’t gotten past the current, but I know where the entrance is.”


  “Oh~! Just as I would’ve expected of you, Sally!”


  As they dived deeper towards the bottom of the endless ocean, they advanced towards the foot of the mountain range. It seemed that the strong water current was not present at the altitude that was originally on ground level, so they were able to approach that place without any problems.

  “The mountains are so big that there may be some other entrances, but…… This is what I know for now.”


  In front of them was a cave leading into the mountains. They didn’t know if there would be anywhere in there where they could resurface to refresh their oxygen timers, but as far as they could see from the outside, it was completely submerged.

  “If things look bad, we’ll get out of here as soon as possible. We need to be very cautious of our timers here.”


  “Sure! I just hope we don’t have to stay underwater for too long in there……”


  Thus the two entered the underwater cave. Since the brightness was adjusted inside, it wasn’t particularly dark, so there was no problem with visibility.

  Since they didn’t know what the dungeon was like or what kind of monsters they would find inside, they simply started to explore inside without using “Dedicated Charity” for the time being.

  “Huh? Is something there?”


  “There is. Though it’s a bit hard to see.”


  Floating in the water were three slime-like monsters whose entire bodies seemed to be made of water. They would have been difficult to find if not for the fact that they had a slightly darker color than the surrounding water, so that their contours could be seen.

  “Well, victory goes to those who make the first move!”


  After Maple deployed her weapons, she attacked the monsters with a large volley of bullets all at once.

  It was a barrage that could have easily dealt with a small fry, but this wasn’t the case.

  The slimes, who had entered a battle stance due to the approach of Maple’s bullets, spread their bodies like a thin net, catching all of the bullets.

  The bullets stretched the slimes’ bodies with their momentum without piercing through them, and when the stretching reached its limit, they returned to their original position, shooting all of the bullets back like a slingshot.

  “C-’Cover’!”


  Maple hid behind her shield and quickly stood in front of Sally in order to block all of the bounced bullets.

  She would be fine even if hit directly by her own attack, but if Sally were to be hit by a single stray bullet, it would be the end of the road for her.

  “Looks like only magic is going to be effective against it.”


  “Umm…… In that case……”


  “Times like these make me want to have some sort of poison immunity.”


  “I know, right~?”


  Maple’s means of attack were “Machine God”, “Seeping Chaos”, and “Hydra”, and from those, only “Hydra” could be considered a magical attack. Moreover, it had been proven so far that using poison while underwater would result in a chaotic situation where everyone, including Maple’s teammates, would be affected by the attack.

  Her own “Bizarre Eater” could eat up all of her own poison, but there was no telling how long it would take it to swallow up every little remnant of poison, not to mention that it would also eat up every single small fry in the vicinity as well.

  “I could use an item to create a weapon, but Machine God won’t work against this guy…… Sally!”


  “Yeah, leave it to me.”


  Maple didn’t have to force herself to find a solution. Sally was with her, and she had a wide range of skills which allowed her to respond to various situations.

  “I’ll follow you! It doesn’t look like I won’t be able to shoot at it from behind as usual.”


  “Yeah, you’re right.”


  As Sally accelerated towards the slimes, Maple followed her closely with her “Cover Move”. This would ensure they were well prepared in case something unexpected happened.

  “‘Cyclone Cutter’!”


  After the blade of wind swirling on Sally’s hand grew as large as the three slimes put together, she unleashed it upon them. This time, the attack wasn’t deflected, and it cut through their soft blue bodies, causing considerable damage.

  “They’re more fragile than I thought……? Is bouncing bullets back all they can do?”


  Even though these were 8th Layer monsters and that Sally hadn’t increased her magical power that much, the slimes’ HP had taken a serious cut by her sub-par magical attack. This caused Sally to think that the slimes’ stats must be pretty low in comparison with other monsters in this Layer, and that their only saving grace was their ability to repel projectiles.

  However, this wasn’t their only means to attack, since the three slimes joined forces to form a blue magic circle, from which a large mass of water was unleashed.

  “‘Cover’!”


  As Maple came to the front to receive the attack, the water mass burst at the same time as it came in contact with her, causing an impact.

  The impact was not a big deal for Maple, and she simply waited for Sally’s next move while saving her own “Bizzare Eater”.

  “How about this?”


  While Maple was blocking the attack, Sally quickly took out a crystal from her inventory and crushed it in her hand, adding a lightning to her weapon, and moved forward again by activating her “Water Coat” giving her attacks the water attribute as well.

  “‘Triple Slash’!”


  Her attack, which unlike magic, steadily continued to increase in power, burned the slimes’ body with lightning, and the subsequent water-based follow-up attack shaved away their remaining HP.

  “Okay, all done!”


  “Easier than expected, huh? But when they bounced my attack back towards us, they seemed to be quite scary……”


  “We may need to be extra careful if these slimes appear along with other monsters. It looks like if we keep on using these items, we can damage them even with our weapons, so we won’t have to worry too much about them as long as they keep coming at us by themselves.”


  “Okay, now let’s keep going~!”


  “Yeah…… I wonder if rushing forward is the safest way to go?”


  “And to think that there would be slimes underwater! I would’ve thought that they would dissolve in the water.”


  “Right. Isn’t it a bit unusual for slimes to be underwater after all?”


  They had seen many slimes bouncing around on the surface before, and their bodies didn’t seem to be suitable for underwater activities. In fact, these slimes they had come across seemed to have been drifting away in some water current.

  “Maybe they were using some kind of water-based spell to increase their speed in order to move. I don’t think it would be too weird for some monsters to be able to do that.”


  “Ah, like when I fly around using my ‘Machine God’, right?”


  “I…… guess? Something like that.”


  Though Sally felt there was a big difference in what Maple’s example looked like and the damage that it would normally do to the surroundings, Sally decided not to worry too much about it.