2.28.

"Haah!!" Shiro shouted, slashing his longsword towards the goblin's flank. Pivoting, he staggered backwards with a shift of his center of gravity to dodge the incoming strike from another gray goblins.

One foot to the back, he lowered his stance and rushed to the right, attempting to amputate the hand of the second goblin when the previous first goblin intercepted him with its spear. Wedged between the two, Shiro threw himself to the side and created a small earth pit beneath. The one that came at him stumbled, he parried the falling sword away and swiftly sliced its neck.

The last goblin, out of anger, shot its spear forward. Shiro narrowly dodged by twisting his upper body. Grabbing the shaft, he used it as a fulcrum point; drew an arc with his sword and severed its head.

Shiro's limit was 3 E-rank gray goblins. By the end of it he was gasping for air.

"That was difficult," Risa said.

"Yeah.." Shiro shook his sword to rid the blood off the blade. It splattered across the ground.

"You're getting much better. Keep it up," Evelyn said to give him support.

"Shiro, what gifts do you have?" Sequencee asked.

"Gifts? I haven't decided," Shiro said after calming his breath.

"What have you bookmarked so far, and what is the criteria for the points? If you want me to tell you mine, I could. I think you already know this, but if you want to cheat your way to improvement, you have no choice but to use the system gifts."

"The bookmarked gifts I have so far are [Word Magic: Hex Chain], [Unique Skill: Reversal] and [Scientific Magic: False Physics]. My current gifts, the one which I had the day I arrived, were [Passive Trait: Emergency Reserves] and [Unique Skill: Inventory]."

[Word Magic: Hex], allows the chanting of magic to ease complex evocation. Also aids in the creation of original magic, buff magic, and transposition of another individual's magic.

[Unique Skill: Reversal], allows the individual to pull an equal counter no matter the difference in level.

[Scientific Magic: False Physics], allows the caster to alter the physics of an object or space. Offset of this incredible magic is the high mana cost.

[Passive Trait: Emergency Reserves], in exchange for a permanent reduction in all aspects, allows the individual to bring out the stacked latent ability in compressed bursts; the 'burst' is the accumulation of all the reduced portion of ability during the peaceful periods.

[Unique Skill: Inventory], no explanation needed.

"Hm.. you hadn't saved enough for any of the gifts?" Sequencee said.

"No. Not even close," Shiro said.

"What's the criteria for your system points?"

"Clues about Rika."

"Hero Rika?"

"I don't know about it myself. All I know is that I'll get points whenever I find something new about her. As an example– " Shiro took out a key from his pocket.

"For context, Rika was my best friend and my big brother's girlfriend," Risa said.

"What?" It seems this was also Evelyn's first time hearing about it.

'Wasn't Hero Rika from five centuries ago? How could her boyfriend be here then? Time?'

"I think more than fighting the demon lord, we need to find out what exactly happened five hundred years ago. That's the clue to prevent this era's demise, whatever it may be," Shiro showed the key to everyone.

A large triangular base with a long shaft. At the ends were complex teeths arranged in an unorthodox manner. Matching the dull gray shade of the dungeon, it looked like a dungeon key made especially for this place.

"I found this by accident in Rika's old office. There was a note saying to bring this to the dungeon."

"What does it do then? I don't think there's anything like a keyhole around here right?"

"That's the point. I want to know what this is about."

"What else did the note say?" Evelyn asked.

"She was lied to."

"L-Lied?"

Shiro and Risa had been informed much earlier during their arrival that the empire had no way of sending them both home. While they lamented this fact in the beginning, now having settled into this new reality, it didn't feel so bad. To them, they simply needed to do what a normal protagonist would– find a solution to return.

The people during Rika's era weren't as honest. Though it was irrational to retaliate against the people now simply because of the past, Shiro could help but feel indignant, "She probably left other research notes somewhere, for the hero that'll come after her so that they would pick up the missing ends and.. eventually find a way home."

"M-My condolence.." Evelyn said in a low voice.

Risa held his hands.

"Master.." Linzy called out with concern.

"It's alright.."

Sequencee dimmed the lights and gazed to the front.

'The hero wants to go back to their original world.'

He looked at the key that he held.

'So Hero Rika was tricked into killing the demon lord? In that case, that would explain why Shiro isn't hostile towards our kind. Still though.. this means our goals don't align. Could a reverse summoning spell actually be possible?'

Sequencee began racking his brain for the probability of a magic formulae something so absurd.

===

"Sequencee, I want you to show us your full power," Shiro requested.

"My full power?"

Crunch. Gii–

A large iron golem stood in the way of their advance. The scratching sounds between the mechanical part and plates, the crumbling of rock under its feet, the ominous red glow of the visor and the hidden reactive core in its chest humming like an engine. It was a B-rank non-living beast at least three times larger than Sequencee him.

"Well, I don't think I can display all I've got in such a small space unless I get someone hurt so.." Sequencee said nonchalantly as he distanced himself from the other three. He extinguished the few hundred beads surrounding himself and erected a barrier between him and the four behind himself.

The eyes of the golems glinted, Sequencee had entered its range. Without missing a beat, it changed towards him like a raging steam train, creating a powerful recoil that shook the tunnel.

Evelyn watched in panic.

Shiro and Risa's expressions turned stern, they could sense that something amazing was about to happen.

Linzy stood close to Shiro and leaned against him as she held his sleeve. She looked sleepy.

And Sequencee..

'The core is directly at the center of the chest, not at the left side like the human heart.'

He shifted the invisible tears in space to best protect the core for easy removal– when the golem entered his kill zone, he pushed the spell two meters forward. Empty sparks followed by the sound of flying blocks of iron. The blocks hit the physical barrier a couple meters in front of Sequencee and grandly fell to the ground. He took a couple steps backwards to observe the result of his new fusion spell.

A golem that had been cut into nine parts, with the core intact. The lights at the eyes dimmed until it was no more.

Sequencee turned to the rest behind him.

"How is it? I couldn't do anything flashy so I used spatial magic."

"S-Spatial magic?" Evelyn felt like she was going to lose her soul.

"What in the hell was that.. not even I could finish it by just standing there," Risa's eyebrows twitched.

Sequencee released the illusion magic to reveal the black fissures in space. Risa thought he should play tic-tac-toe with that.

As powerful of a magic this was, the downside of it was that it took a lot of mana to maintain. Sequencee quickly released the spell.

"One core done, four more to go.." Sequencee muttered.

"If it's alright, should we return where we came from?" Risa suggested.

"I was thinking the same. We've been hunting for almost an entire day now, I think we should prepare and head to base," Shiro said, glancing at Linzy.

"Alright. Let's go."

Risa stowed the golem core with the rest of the internal engine at the center into the inventory. After which everyone took the route back to the campsite. Along the way they encountered gray orcs and goblins which didn't pose too much of any threat. Nevertheless, it was plain annoying.

===

"Ow.. ow.."

"My apologies."

Evelyn was healing Risa's wounds with her magic. She hadn't realized that a large cut ran from the lower scapula to her upper shoulders until they were back at base.

["We have almost all the proof we need to advance. If we're lucky, we should be able to find the last centipede."]

"Good to hear. How far are you from the exit?"

["A good twenty or so kilometers, that's based on displacement calculation. But by estimate, it should be around thirty. How about things on your side, Sequencee? What do you have left before you can cross the termination point?"]

"So far we've racked up enough gray orcs. We're still left with five blind basilisk fangs, four iron golem cores and a crazy shrew."

["Are you kidding me? How are you supposed to complete all that in two weeks?"]

"No idea."

"We just got to work hard, that's all," Shiro interjected.

["Beyond hard work, the dungeon spawn had concerns luck, you know? There's no guarantee you would make it in time. What were the instructors thinking?"]

"I think it should be possible. It's only been two days, we still have about twelve."

["Sequencee, I know I don't need to remind you this but be careful."]

"I know."

["Ah– a monster appeared. Sequence, I'll call you again."]

"Good luck, take care.."

The gem dimmed. Sequencee tucked it back into his clothes.

"Where did you get those communication crystals?" Shiro asked.

"I only know that Schwii gave it to me. Where she got it from is a mystery– probably made in the demon empire? I've not been there personally so I don't know."

"You don't know huh? Even though you're the prince of demons."

Sequencee narrowed his eyes. Shiro raised his hands in arrest, an apologetic expression on his face. Luckily Evelyn wasn't in their vicinity when the conversation took place.

"Speaking of which, earlier, what did you say about food preparations?"

"Right. We're cheating a little. Most instructors don't know that we have the inventory skill," Shiro pointed his finger towards a wall and swiped the air, he pulled out a bowl and proceeded to arrange things like sandwiches, onigiris and fruits inside.

Sequencee blinked a couple times. The sandwiches were still warm, and the fruits were fresh. If a normal person had such a gift, it would make exploring so much easier. For a moment Sequencee thought the hero could earn an amazing living by becoming a porter for an expert mercenary party if he decided to quit.

"We made enough to last a month," Shiro said.

"How much stuff can you put in your [Unique Skill: Inventory] anyways?"

"About infinite."

"..."

"It's upgraded to the fifth tier, so that's to be expected, right?"

Sequencee had never heard of a fifth tier. His mom said that the fourth tier was the highest. The only gift Sequencee had that wasn't first tier was [Passive Trait: Growth Multiplier] at the first tier.

===

Depending on how strong an individual is, coming into eye contact with a true basilisk could result in death or coma. Blind basilisks however, don't have such a capability. It could at most petrify someone temporarily.

Fighting a blind basilisk required one to focus on not focusing. The rule of thumb being to zone out when fighting and scan instead of look. Sometimes, the students can be drawn to the wormhole-like gaze of its eyes but– they should resist.

Sequencee did his best not to look down at the wrong place with Evelyn sticking close to him. Her neck craned towards the battlefield, amethyst eyes wide open, unblinking. Meanwhile, Risa and Linzy were in co-op to take down the giant lizard.

All Sequencee could do was look away lest he became like Evelyn who– had her hands frozen around his body. He could feel her chest pressed against his.

'Is she doing this on purpose?'

Shiro had already warned everyone to not raise their heads. Yet for some reason this princess came up to Sequencee, and pulled him into her embrace. By the time Sequencee realized it, she was petrified in place.

"Hora. We got two fangs! This means we actually only need to kill two more," Risa said.

"Can we look up now?" Shiro asked.

"Un," Linzy tugged at his shirt.

"GAh– Her Highness got petrified!" Risa shouted with her finger pointed at Sequencee.

"Petri.. wow…" Shiro voiced his amazement.

"Sequencee, how does it feel to be embraced by the empire's princess?" Risa asked with a grin.

"Petrifying."

"Ahahahahaha–" Shiro couldn't hold it any longer and bawled out laughing.

'Seriously. What's so funny about this.. Schwii would kill me if she knew.'

Whatever it was, they had to wait a few minutes until she recovered. So for five minutes Sequencee had to resist the temptation to relish the soft object pressing against his chest, for five minutes he had to resist the temptation to play with her hair and enjoy the cuddle.

"A-Ah.." Evelyn finally came to. Her body trembled greatly as her eyes shook.

She turned to Sequencee and pressed her face into his shoulder.

"I-I'm sorry.." she croaked.

"Then let go.."

"I'm scared."

"..."

"Your Highness. He's a taken man. Any more and you'll have to face the wrath of the demon!" Risa grabbed Evelyn by the shoulder and tugged.

"No!" Evelyn struggled. Like a cat resisting removal from a cat pole, Sequencee felt hurt inside.

Nevertheless, the 'cat' did come off eventually. Though she did become petrified, the part about being afraid was a lie. After all, what's there to be afraid about when she was in his arms?