Rosha looked up into his purple eyes.

The first trial, the second trial, and even stopping the golem’s movement or skillfully disarming the magical traps.

Froy was questioning her about all of it.

‘He saw my special ability, but that alone can’t fully convince him.’

Of course, she could insist here that it was thanks to her innate ability. Rosha had actually intended to do so.

Until she heard Froy’s story about the secret experiment, that is.

‘Froy seems to have answered as honestly as possible…’

The question she had asked was broad enough for him to mumble a vague response.

With Froy’s intellect, he could have easily fabricated a plausible story in a short time.

Which was why she hesitated even more to hide the truth.

“You’re hesitating.”

The man muttered softly.

He seemed to have gained some understanding from her hesitation, but still wanted a decisive answer.

However, not wanting to force her, he leaned his body towards her and asked lightly:

“Are you still not sure about me? Shall I try harder?”

“Ugh, step back a bit.”

“But you said you find my face appealing.”

Froy blatantly lowered his head towards her.

Apparently, her earlier reaction had amused him greatly, as Rosha retreated step by step until her back was against the wall before finally deciding to reveal part of the truth, if not the whole thing.

“For the first and second trials, they were indeed my first experiences. However…”

“However?”

“There are things I’ve seen and heard through other means.”

That’s right. She had fallen into the midst of the fifth trial in the previous world, so she hadn’t directly experienced the preceding trials.

However, one of her teammates had gone through all those trials.

-The second trial? It was nothing special. You just had to somehow escape the trap-filled maze and reach the front of the shrine. There was no boss, so you just had to go inside the shrine and obtain the treasure.

Having endured hardships, his head had turned completely white, earning him the nickname ‘The White Falcon’.

Additionally, as the owner of a sharp tongue, he often served as the aggro-puller.

After briefly recalling him, Rosha continued with a faint smile:

“So what I’m saying is…”

But at that moment.

Bang! Bang!

Two signal flares were fired over the tall walls of the crystal maze.

…Two flares?

Suddenly, the memory of shooting two flares in case of danger flashed through her mind.

At the same time, an ominous feeling washed over her entire body.

And then.

“Aaaargh!”

A scream echoed from not too far away.

A short but anguished voice, filled with suffering from some unknown ordeal.

Realizing it was Cassis’s voice, her vision went blank. Simultaneously, her whole body began to tremble uncontrollably.

Cassis wasn’t one to scream easily.

He was someone who had laughed and received treatment even when a practice sword had accidentally broken his bones during a match.

Yet he let out such a scream?

‘…Where is he? Where is he?’

Unconsciously activating [The Guiding Lantern], Rosha whipped her head towards the direction indicated by the cluster of light.

Perhaps due to the maze structure, it was vaguely leading away from where the scream had come from.

At that moment, Froy suddenly grabbed her hand.

“I’ll help you, so hold my hand. And we’re going that way.”

His outstretched finger was pointing towards a crystal wall. Only then did she recall the man’s special ability beside her.

Without waiting for Rosha’s answer, he led her along. As they walked together, the scenery before her eyes rapidly changed.

They had simply passed through the wall.

It felt strange, as if walking on a flat, open field, but that feeling didn’t last long.

After passing through about three walls, a different sight came into view.

There was a strange demonic beast that looked like a dense aurora.

‘But I heard there were no demons?’

However, she couldn’t deny the existence now visible before her eyes.

Slowly lowering her gaze, she saw Cassis lying powerless beneath the aurora.

His eyes were glazed over as if seeing something, and his abdomen was pierced through by what looked like a crystal blade of some unknown origin.

Seeing the red blood flowing onto the floor, her heart sank.

“Seems to have fallen victim to an illusion.”

Koko, barely clinging to her through the Duke’s ability, whispered as he watched Cassis’s faintly moving chest.

“He’s still alive… but we need to cast healing magic first.”

She had already been gathering mana in one hand the moment she saw the demonic beast.

A flame of combustion that could completely devour even formless demons bloomed from Rosha’s fingertips.

Hwaahruk-

What appeared was a fist-sized fireball.

The elongated fireball, stretching like a pillar, positioned itself near the demonic beast and began to forcefully draw in everything around it with unbelievable power.

Like a vacuum cleaner, the empty space was being pulled in towards a single point.

Kiiiiik!

The demonic beast, realizing its trailing ends were gradually being drawn in, let out a shrill scream.

Demons that used illusion-type psychic magic tended to hide their main bodies, as they generally lacked physical strength.

Especially a formless one like this was particularly troublesome.

However, Rosha was still maintaining [The Guiding Lantern].

‘No time to waste. I’ll kill it as quickly as possible.’

Rosha’s golden eyes flickered with hot flames.

As she persistently grasped and tore apart the demonic beast trying to cut itself free and escape, a heart tightly wrapped in layers of aurora became visible.

The beast tried to move its metal bead-like heart away, but flames suddenly erupted, blocking its escape route.

It was Rosha’s dual casting, having reached the 5th stage.

Gooooooo-

Perhaps due to the haze, the space around the rapidly growing pillar of fire seemed to warp and distort.

The demonic beast, thrashing about to avoid being drawn in, finally fell silent when its heart melted upon contact with the flames.

It was a rather pitiful end for something that had done such harm to Cassis.

However, Rosha had no time to confirm its demise.

“Brother, are you okay? Can you hear me?”

She swiftly rushed to Cassis and checked his condition. As the demonic beast died, he was gradually awakening from the illusion, but his injury was already severe.

“You… alive…?”

Blood gurgled from Cassis’s mouth as he spoke in a hoarse voice.

Feeling her heart pounding with anxiety, Rosha quickly assessed the extent of his injuries.

“I saw an illusion. Of you and Cedric dying in a fire…”

“Don’t say it.”

Three of his ribs seemed broken, and several organs appeared punctured.

Since the crystal blade piercing him wasn’t removed, blood wasn’t gushing out like a fountain, but if left alone, he wouldn’t last long.

However, there was one slim hope.

‘The secret shop. I just need to get there.’

That hope alone was driving her now.

Glancing down at the back of her hand, Rosha asked Froy with her still golden eyes:

“We need to go to the secret shop. It’s just fifty steps from here, can you move him like this?”

“Let’s try.”

She carefully cut off the front and back of the crystal blade piercing Cassis’s abdomen. Froy then levitated his body, beginning to move it.

It was a model example of magic and special ability cooperating, but Rosha’s mind was in utter disarray.

‘…I thought things would be different because of Hardmode.’

That’s also why she had suggested entering the shrine in the center of the maze together.

Of course, she hadn’t expected a demon to appear this early, and of all things, an illusion-type was particularly ill-matched against Cassis.

But that didn’t mean she could just leave him behind.

‘That’s right. Getting injured is normal in trials. This was bound to happen sooner or later. I’m just experiencing it early.’

She hadn’t actually thought Cassis would be unharmed, so how long would she remain shocked and dejected like this?

However… looking at him with pale, bloodless lips from excessive blood loss, her resolve seemed to disappear like water down a drain.

Hope and despair tempered her like a hot and cold bath. The only solace was that the secret shop wasn’t far from here.

Just in time, as they turned a corner, the compass needle rapidly shortened.

They were almost at their destination.

Confirming this, Froy looked around and said.

“It should be around here. But…”

His words trailed off. And with good reason – there was nothing resembling a shop anywhere.