The Water Magician

The retrieval of the demon prince's magic stone was unsuccessful, but the three surrounding monsters had been defeated with their heads cut off, so it seemed possible to recover the magic stones.

Upon confirming that, Ryo approached Abel.

"Thank you, Ryo. You really helped me."

Abel bowed his head sincerely, showing his gratitude.

"No, no. The feeling of gratitude can be conveyed with just one dinner at the cafeteria, right?"

"Got it, got it. I'll treat you to dinner every day for about a week."

With that, Abel laughed and patted Ryo on the shoulder.

"Ouch, ouch! Abel, you have such a strong grip. I won't forget that it's for a week!"

By that time, other members of the Red Sword and their advisor Arthur had also gathered around Abel.

"Abel... I'm so glad..."

Rhea, with tears in her eyes, hugged Abel.

As soon as she hugged him, she started to sob.

Next to them, Warren bowed his head to Ryo while holding Lin, who was still unconscious, in both arms.

"I am Arthur Velasis, the advisor of the Royal Magic Guild's investigation team. I truly appreciate your assistance."

Saying that, Arthur also bowed to Ryo.

"Ah, no, please don't mention it. I came here because Natalie from the magic guild asked me to. I'm glad I made it in time. I never imagined something like this would happen."

In Ryo's field of vision were the members of the Royal Magic Guild’s investigation team, who had not fully recovered from their mana depletion, and the bodies of those from the Central University investigation team, which had been incinerated by the devils.

"Those over there are the members of the Central University investigation team, right?"

"Yes... it was beyond our power..."

"Even if we can't recover the bodies, should we at least bring back some belongings?"

"Our magic guild members should wake up soon, so once they do, we can start collecting any belongings."

Advisor Arthur answered while looking toward the magic guild.

"Ryo, let's go collect the magic stones from the devils."

Accompanied by the tearful Rhea, Abel proposed to collect the magic stones.

"I want to make sure some of the proceeds go to the families of the deceased."

(Seriously... Abel isn't suited for being an adventurer. It would be more adventurer-like to say something like, 'We'll use all the loot we collected for ourselves since we're the ones who survived!')

Ryo, despite being considerably junior as an adventurer, had a rather condescending tone.

(Well, I suppose that's quite typical of Abel.)

It was a condescending thought to the end.

However, he kept it to himself, realizing that saying it out loud might provoke anger.

But then he caught an unexpected word.

"Did you just say 'devil'? Those earlier ones were devils?"

As Ryo looked around the battlefield, he noticed the grotesque figures scattered about.

"Yes. It’s our first encounter with devils as well. It’s said that devils hadn't appeared in the Central Nations for hundreds of years... I have no idea why they are here."

(So 'devils' and 'demons' are completely different beings... Michael (alias) must have noted in the monsters encyclopedia that it was demons, not devils. It makes sense why Michael (alias) wrote something like, 'Strength: from weak to strong (even the weak can easily obliterate an entire city alone)'... If it weren't for that sealed corridor during the battle with Leonor, the City of Run would have sustained significant damage.)

Having thought that far, Ryo suddenly remembered something.

"Speaking of which, when I used exploratory magic on the thirty-ninth floor earlier, I encountered something strange. Since it's near the stairs to the thirty-ninth floor, we should check it out on our way back. It may have something to do with this incident."

After Ryo defeated the demon prince, the barrier that had covered the fortieth floor had disappeared.

(It felt more like a failed sealed corridor than a barrier... The sealed corridor that appeared in the City of Run probably utilized the solar eclipse to exist. That demon Leonor mentioned it was a constraint she couldn't handle herself... I had assumed it was a bridge connecting subspace to somewhere else besides Run... Well, I still lack information; I don't fully understand it.)