239 - - underground crossing

The dead overflow into the aisles and begin to rush toward the living.

However, the magical technique unleashed by the child with the purple eyes had not yet lost its effect.

The monsters crawl on the floor, reaching out their hands in unison.

The passageway filled with dozens of spirits of the dead was truly a scene that should be called hell.

The prisoners, gradually closing the distance between them, finally reach the outside of the electric current.

One of the first prisoners stood up with a lively expression that did not seem to be that of a dead person.

Thor, who was waiting for him there, cuts him in two and vanishes.

The other one is cut off by the arm, and its head is cut off by the returning blade.

One after another, the spirits of the dead who have escaped from the shackles of magic are being reaped by Thor like wheat from the field.

Sora muttered to herself as she lifted her staff.

"It's a little pitiful, isn't it?

The hand of the dead spirit overflowing from the edge tries to touch Thor from the blind spot, but the hand from the elbow onward disappears instantly.

While sympathizing with Thor, his eyes caught the whole movement.

"Hang in there, Tor-chan!"

Moe cheered innocently in front of the horrifying scene.

He does not seem to feel any fear or pity for the prisoners who are now nothing but bones.

Perhaps he does not even recognize that these skeletons are human beings.　

"Mr. Mumm, you have five seconds to go."

"Rai raiiiiiight!"

At Yuril's words, the child once again unleashes his magic.

Purple thorns passed through the passage, and the spirits of the dead lifted their hands higher instead of grunting in vindictiveness.

In less than twenty minutes, the monsters were wiped out.

The group continues onward through the cleaned corridor.

They continue to search the northeastern area, but the map fills up without finding anything that looks like a staircase.

"Hmmm, I think this is the place after all..."

Sola pointed to a passageway at the far end.

There, too, were rows of prisons, and inside them, as a matter of course, there were spirits of the dead being held captive.

The only thing was that there was only one side of the prison, so if you walked along the wall on the other side, you could barely get through without being touched by the monsters.

"Oh, there's that again."

At the dead end of the passageway, there was still a chain dangling in the air, as if to show that it was there.

Thor and the others took up a position in front of the chain and covered the passage in front of them with Moo's "electric retarder" as they had done before.

The moment the chains were pulled, the bars of the prison rose and the prisoners poured out like a dam.

And then, with a simple magic trick of electricity, they are back to being prisoners again.

Thor and his friends, who have cleared away the approaching spirits of death, peep into the prison from the end.

Nothing resembling a staircase appeared, but Yuril noticed that the position of the bunks in one room was different from that in the other rooms.

"Doesn't this kind of thing bother you?"

"I don't mind, but it's just not natural."

At Thor's tideless reply, Ulil flicked the tips of his ears loosely in a regretful manner.

Moving a battered and rotting wooden bunk, he found a hole under the bunk that looked as if a person might be able to pass through it.

Inserting a magic stone lamp into the hole, we could see a foothold made of overlapping debris directly below.

"This is a very elaborate staircase.

That was the end of our time there.

The next week, Thor and his friends visit the prison again and dispose of the resurrected ghosts in the same manner as before.

Thor and his team descended to the seventh floor through a floor hole that looked like an escape route, and embarked on a search to fill in the map.

The north side of the corridor seemed to be the place where the prison was supposed to be, and both ends of the corridor were full of cells.

While quickly clearing away the ghosts of the dead, they sometimes pulled the chains to free themselves and proceeded onward.

We found a normal staircase on the seventh floor, so we reached the eighth floor without any difficulty.

Sola smiled to herself at the map, which was now properly enlarged.

It takes Thor and his team two days to finally complete the map to the ninth floor.

The north side of the building was a very difficult place to reach because of the large number of spirits of the dead.

It turned out that the sixth to ninth floors were divided into two sections, one on the north side with many prisons, and the other on the south side with many guards.

The area is completely separated from the seventh floor onward, and it is necessary to go up to the sixth floor to go back and forth between the two floors.

The stairway to the tenth floor is only on the south side, but it is blocked by iron bars.

The mechanism to open and close them is apparently this chain-linked room on the north side.

"Whew, that was a lot of work!"

"I guess I'll have to come over here first."

Helping Moe, who was trying hard to climb up on his back, Thor looks through a small window in the wall.

The bars in front of the stairs in the next room were still down.

But the watchman, a steel doll covered in a shell, is not there.

It has been more than three days since he was defeated, but he does not seem to have reappeared yet.

"So, which one is it?　Tall girl."

"You shouldn't touch it so carelessly, Ms. Sola."

With this advice, Yuril pointed to a spot on the wall.

There was a small hole in the wall.

There was a strong feeling that something might come out of it.

"Okay, I'll try it. You guys stay outside."

"Yes, sir."

Thor, sword dangling from one hand, stands in the center and grabs one of the chains.

With a firm tug, he pulls on it, and sure enough, the trap is activated.

But not from a hole in the wall, but from directly below.

Two long blades come out of the gap in the cobblestone pavement.

They leapt up vertically, as if they were pinning Thor's body between them.

Thor, who had been wary of the projectiles coming through the hole in the wall, was completely caught off guard.

--

Instantly, Thor's body vanishes, and the black blades pass each other soundlessly through the empty space.

The two blades then disappear under the floor without a sound.

"This is another tricky trick."

Using , we can safely check them one by one, but that would put pressure on the number of times we can use them.

We want to leave at least half of them for other traps or unexpected accidents.

Thor scratched the bottom of his chin at the sight of more than a dozen chains.

"Then let Moe take care of it!　Tor-chan."

With these words, the child suddenly released the insect cage.

Naturally, the rhinoceros beetle that had been inside jumped out of the cage.

Then, they stopped soundlessly on one of the chains and rested their wings.

"That's the one!"

"Really?"

Half-convinced, Thor tugs on the chain again.

Immediately, a familiar rattling sound came from the next room.

Thor is taken aback, but peeks in the small window to check.

The bars were completely up.

Just as he lets out a relieved breath, a new shadow appears in Thor's eyes.

It was the figures of several people who had entered the next room.