(Calm down. This is just a mock battle. It's a chance to test whether the anti-personnel tactics I've been thinking about actually work against someone like Warren-san.)
I silently reminded myself of my purpose to steady my rattled nerves.
"—[Seal Release: Eighth Layer Restoration Octuple]"
I further boosted my physical abilities and charged straight at Warren-san once more to close the distance.
Up until now, I'd relied mainly on magic and various tricks.
So this time, I deliberately chose to rely on my enhanced physical capabilities and clash with pure power.
Warren-san seemed to be on guard against surprise attacks using magic, based on my earlier approach.
His focus on defending against spells meant he couldn't keep up with my movements—no, of course not. He met my高速 sword swings with his own blade.
Thanks to [Seal Release: Restoration], my strikes were heavier and sharper than his.
I tried to overpower him with sheer force, but Warren-san's swordsmanship had changed from earlier.
If his previous style had been "hard" (gō), the current one was unmistakably "soft" (jū).
Just like Will's double-bladed sword, my attacks were effortlessly redirected. Before I knew it, magic activated from a small staff-like magical tool gripped in Warren-san's left hand, and an explosion assaulted me.
"—Guh!"
I used the blast to create distance again.
I'd managed to mitigate most of the explosion with a hastily erected mana barrier, so the damage wasn't severe—but this was the first time I'd taken an attack in this mock battle.
As Warren-san immediately tried to close the gap again, I activated [Reflective Wall] to block him.
Seeing the barrier appear right in front of him, Warren-san halted in place.
"That last attack had even more sharpness to your movements. You've... reached the true essence of the six basic support spells, haven't you?"
With distance between us, Warren-san spoke again.
The six basic support spells forcibly activated the target's ki through magic.
In other words—the essence of those spells was ki itself.
"...Yes. Did you master it on your own, Warren-sama?"
"Pretty much. When I told others, they didn't believe me—and even those who did couldn't learn self-buffs on their own. I thought it might be my unique ability, but apparently not."
It had been about ten years since I became an explorer, but aside from right now, the only person I'd ever heard mention support magic without spell formulas—or ki in general—was Hart-san from the *Copper Twilight*.
As far as I knew, only Hart-san, Fuuka, and now Warren-san were aware of ki.
Since Hart-san and Fuuka were from Kyokutou, I'd assumed it might be common knowledge in the eastern continent and looked into it myself—but even there, ki didn't seem widely known.
I'd experienced firsthand how much rigorous training it took to master ki—but I believed it was absolutely worth the effort.
Yet it hadn't spread, and Hart-san had even made me promise to keep it secret.
I had a few hypotheses about why, but none had solid evidence.
It would be great if I could get more information out of Hart-san someday.
...My thoughts were derailing. I needed to focus on the fight with Warren-san.
"I'd love to hear more about that later."
"Haha! Sure—if you can beat me!"
◇
After that, I unleashed every anti-personnel tactic I'd devised against Warren-san.
Some got close, but he countered everything. Nothing decisive landed.
Conversely, I managed to deal with all of his attacks too—so while both of us had taken some damage, neither was at risk of being unable to continue.
"...Fuu. Well, that's about it, huh."
After countless exchanges, Warren-san suddenly muttered that and shifted his aura from battle-ready back to normal.
"Is that the end of the mock battle?"
I lowered my stance and asked.
"Yeah. I'm pretty satisfied. We've both still got some cards we're holding back anyway... If you still want to keep going, I'll oblige—but how about it?"
I could vaguely sense that Warren-san was hiding various things.
One major difference between military personnel and explorers was the number of magical tools they used in combat—but aside from a few, most of the tools Warren-san had used were ones I recognized.
Given his proximity to the kingdom's central power, it wouldn't be strange for him to possess cutting-edge military-developed magical tools.
In other words—this fight hadn't been him going all-out. That much was certain.
On my side, I'd decided not to use [Instantaneous Ability Surge Impact], [Magic Sword Fusion: Alteration], or [Seal Release: Culmination].
The sole purpose of this mock battle was to gain experience in human combat.
I had no intention of revealing my trump cards.
"No—I've tested everything I wanted to test, so I'm fine stopping here. Thank you for this valuable opportunity, Warren-sama."
"Likewise—I enjoyed it more than I expected. Thanks... Selma-chan, you good with this?"
"Yes. I was only observing the flow of battle, so as long as both parties are satisfied, I have nothing to add."
It ended a bit anticlimactically, but the mock battle with Warren-san concluded in a draw.
◇
After the mock battle with Warren-san, we moved up the originally scheduled final briefing for the ninety-third-floor conquest.
The meeting wrapped up some time after sunset. I was now waiting for Warren-san in a private room at a restaurant in Tsutorairu.
After the fight, he'd asked for a one-on-one chance to talk—so we were about to have a private conversation.
"Sorry to keep you waiting."
A short while after I arrived at the restaurant, Warren-san entered the private room.
"No worries—I just got here myself."
"Good. Then let's drink. I've been running around since the mock battle, so I'm ready for some good booze tonight."
"Understood. I'll join you."
Once the ordered drinks arrived, Warren-san tilted his mug and downed it heartily.
"Puhaa! Nothing beats a drink after work!"
We began eating while chatting casually with the cheerful Warren-san.
"—Alright, shall we get to the serious stuff soon?"
After a while, Warren-san shifted to a more serious tone.
"You've got plenty of questions, right? You treated me to some good drinks, so I'll answer what I can."
"Thank you. Then I'll take you up on that. First—why was I the only one called here? I'm honored to be invited, but is there some reason you didn't include Selma-san or the other First Unit members?"
"Yeah, I figured you'd wonder. Simple: I didn't want Selma-chan hearing what we're about to discuss. Inviting the other four without her would've been unfair, so I just called you."
"..."
His unexpected answer surprised me.
So whatever came next... was something better kept from Selma-san?
No matter what it was, the tension was unavoidable.
"Before the mock battle, you said if you won, I'd tell you why I proposed it, right?"
"Yes. I couldn't imagine someone as busy as you would spend time like that without a reason."
"I planned to tell you anyway—so here it is. There are various reasons, so I can't sum it up in one sentence. But the biggest one is... as a senior explorer—more precisely, as a senior [Hero]—I thought there might be some advice I could give."
"...As a [Hero]? Something about mindset?"
[The Hero] was a title given to explorer party members who updated the deepest-floor record in the Great Southern Labyrinth.
Incidentally, other Great Labyrinths had different titles.
The Northern Great Labyrinth had [King], and the Eastern had [Sage].
The word [Hero] didn't carry much real weight.
The true hero from fairy tales was the one called the [King of Ability Users].
Since the Hero Party—the *Golden Dawn*—had disbanded, no explorers currently bore the title [Hero].
If our Silver Moon Rabbit of the Night Sky conquered the ninety-fourth floor and reached the ninety-fifth, the world would start calling us [Heroes].
So I'd assumed Warren-san—anticipating that moment—was offering advice on how someone who updated the deepest-floor record should conduct themselves. But he shook his head at my question.
"No, no. [Hero] is just something outsiders hype up—this title? It doesn't mean anything. There's no rule or obligation that says you have to act a certain way just because people call you [Hero]. You should understand that better than anyone, having been in the Dawn. The advice I mentioned earlier is this: you should assume you're already being targeted."
"Targeted... You mean someone harbors malice toward us from the outside?"
"Yeah. No point dragging it out—I'll just say it. The organization that sees you as targets is the explorers' natural enemy: *Amuntsāsu*."