No matter how many times they looked at it, the result was the same.

“…This is the only place, right?”
“This is the only place, indeed.”

For nearly a week, they had wandered around aimlessly.

Keeping their left hands on the wall, they circled and circled, thoroughly exploring the floor to see if there were any other options.

And yet, it seemed there truly was nowhere else to go.

“So, we’re at a dead end, huh?”
“Indeed, a dead end. Without a doubt.”

While both Ziel and Lililia were specialists in their own eccentric fields, they weren’t so thoughtless as to neglect basic precautions.

They had the level of intelligence akin to a large ape or a human, and thus made sure to leave adequate markers on their path.

Since entering this floor, they had been marking every hallway they passed.

In other words, the only path left for them was to retrace their steps.

What they had stumbled upon instead was…

“Hey, Miss Lililia... Lililia, can’t you open this door?”
“Oh, Finally done with 'miss'.”

Clearing his throat, Ziel continued,
“This door, can’t you open it?”
“Not happening. Not without a magic specialist.”
“Aren’t you a specialist?”
“If humans could do everything solo, our population wouldn’t have grown this large, mister.”

It was an absurdly large door.

Even Ziel, with his naked eyes, could faintly make out that there was a door there.

It was black.
And huge.
Its height was such that even the giant horse they’d encountered earlier could easily pass through without lowering its head.

This enormous door now stood imposingly before the two of them.

Once more, Ziel placed his hand on the door.

He pushed with all his might, pouring every ounce of his inner strength into the effort.

Even so, the door didn’t budge.
If it wouldn’t move under such force, it had to be a magically sealed door—that much, Ziel could deduce.

“So, we really did take the wrong path…” he murmured with a sigh.

It wasn’t the first time he’d thought so.

Over and over, he had questioned whether they were truly ascending or actually descending deeper.
The complex ups and downs of the corridors had likely fooled their sense of direction, making him suspect they’d been steadily heading downward—further from the surface.

And now, the answer had finally become clear.
They had indeed gone the wrong way.

Otherwise, they wouldn’t have encountered such an elaborate dead end.

“Maybe not,” Lililia countered.

“Huh?”
“Well, dead ends aren’t always located lower down, are they?”

For instance, she said,
“I was on the fourth floor before… so maybe we’re on the fifth floor now, and it’s just a dead end here.”

“…Well, I guess that’s not entirely impossible…”

Ziel tilted his head. Could such a thing be true?

Large barriers like this were usually placed on lower floors, weren’t they? Though he had no other experience exploring labyrinths, his intuition suggested as much.

“And maybe it’s meant to open from the other side—the surface side—and not from here.”
“A pull door?”
“Or maybe it’s just magically one-way. Oh, but that’s probably tricky to manage, magic-wise.”

“Hmm…” Ziel scratched his head.
Now that she mentioned it, his theory didn’t seem so convincing. It was just a hunch, after all. And a stronger hunch could easily sway him.

He considered testing whether it might pull open, searching for any grooves or indentations.

“…Huh?”
He noticed something strange.

“Can you take a look at this?”
“What is it?” Lililia came closer at his call.

“It feels like there’s some kind of pattern… on the surface of the door.”

As she leaned in to inspect it, she said,
“…You’re right. What is this?”
“Can’t you tell by looking at it?”
“Nope. The black’s too dark, so I can’t make out any shadows…”

Lililia pondered aloud,
“If I traced over the surface, I might be able to recognize a magic circle or something.”
“But it’s so huge…”

The door was so tall that they couldn’t see its top, even if they tilted their heads all the way back.

Ziel would have to leap with all his inner strength just to reach its summit.

Climbing by hooking his fingers into crevices might work, but…

“I wouldn’t even recognize the shape of the magic circle,” Ziel admitted.
As a pure swordsman, his knowledge of magic was rudimentary at best, limited to techniques for combat.

Even if he could touch every part of the door, without the foundational knowledge, he couldn’t hope to memorize or replicate the design.

“Oh, I’ve got it!” Lililia exclaimed.

“What?”
“You can carry me on your shoulders. You climb while I trace the door.”

The rational part of him almost said, “Sure, let’s do it,” but he resisted.

“…That’s not a good idea.”
“Yeah, it’s way too big. It’d take forever doing something that meticulous. Maybe half a year?”

She laughed lightly.
“Why don’t we just live here together? It’s kind of fun, isn’t it?”

Eighty-year-old grandma.
Eighty-year-old grandma, eighty-year-old grandma, eighty-year-old grandma!

Ziel silently chanted such a spell in his heart.

Unfortunately, its effect was already beginning to wane.

"...I guess we can't really do that, huh?"

"Yeah. The food here isn't that great, and the person who was assigned to guard me… I feel bad for them. I should get back soon, too."

At that moment, a new possibility descended upon Ziel: the idea of a married person.

This was a hypothesis with considerable persuasive power that fit the situation.

Being stuck in a place like this for one month—nearly two now—with only the two of them, yet feeling awkward and flustered alone… That itself was strange. The other party was too composed. Of course, one could argue that age played a significant factor in cultivating such calmness, but wasn't this actually the kind of composure only someone already committed to another could possess? Yes, that must be it. Without a doubt, Lililia was a married woman in her eighties. Her every word and action was nothing more than natural behavior, a reflection of her bright and cheerful personality.

Meanwhile, Ziel alone was caught in this mess, feeling as though his heart were being squeezed painfully tight. It was the classic "uh-oh, big trouble, haha" kind of moment. This conclusion explained everything.

"What should we do from here?"

"—Ah!"

"Huh?"

"No, it's nothing."

This wasn't the time to be lovesick.

Ziel pulled himself together and calmly thought it over.

An eighty-year-old married woman. Yes, let’s go with that. Case closed. Let’s stop having these perfectly ordinary adolescent worries. Honestly, in this situation, thinking such frivolous thoughts was borderline insane—and creepy. Ziel convinced himself of this, refocused his mind, and returned to his role as a traveling swordsman with reasonable skill.

"Honestly, from an objective—or maybe subjective—point of view… Yeah, whatever. This place feels like a dead end to me."

"Really? I don’t know about that."

"That's how I see it. Which is why I think we should turn back…"

At this point, his mind entertained a thought about the two kinds of directionally challenged people: those who get lost mentally while on the right path, and those who wander off entirely.

"If, as you say, this is the surface, we'd have to spend a long time diving back down to the depths."

"I don’t think it’ll take that long this time, though."

"We’ve taken out most of the notable floor bosses. But since we didn’t do a complete map while progressing, we should allow at least 20 days. There are probably still unexplored floors, so if we include those, it could take a month, maybe two… If we’re wrong and end up having to come back, it’ll be more than four months."

Ziel added with a sigh, "I didn’t mark many landmarks when I was traveling alone."

"If this really were a dead end, that’d be fine. But if it’s not…"

"We might end up wandering aimlessly here forever, huh?"

Both folded their arms, tilted their heads at almost identical angles, and pondered.

If they turned back and it turned out they had missed a way through this door, they would lose valuable time.

On the other hand, if no such method existed, staying here would only mean growing old without accomplishing anything.

The estimated four-month journey was not something the two, both still young, could take lightly.

"...How about this?" Lililia suggested.

"Let’s wait here for about two weeks."

"Two weeks?" Ziel asked.

"Yeah. That way, we’ll hit either the full moon or the new moon."

"...Ah, I see."

He nodded, understanding her reasoning.

The ebb and flow of magic.

The full and new moons caused peculiar shifts in the magical energy of this world.

Ziel himself had encountered phenomena such as "meadows blooming during the winter full moon" or "lakes freezing during the summer new moon" in his travels.

It was entirely plausible that the door might open in response to such cycles.

"Then wouldn’t it be better to wait about a month? There’s no guarantee it’ll work with just one phase…"

"A month feels too long. I think two weeks is about the limit of what we can tolerate emotionally."

"...Well, yeah, fair enough."

Waiting a whole month felt unappealing. In that time, they could reduce the four-month detour by at least some portion.

"I think I heard there’s going to be a solar eclipse soon. I’m tempted to wait for that, but lazing around for too long isn’t great, either. I’ll spend the two weeks investigating the door to see if anything turns up. What do you think of that plan?"

"...Ah, hold on. Just one thing."

"Hm?"

"Can you enchant this sword for me?"

Ziel held out his sword as he spoke.

"Oh," Lililia said, catching on to his intent. She cast the spell.

"Step back a little," Ziel instructed.

He moved to the side of the door—specifically, a part of the ordinary-looking wall—and raised his sword.

He remembered something.

The reason he had been left behind in this labyrinth in the first place.

Goddaha's Demonic Sword Release—and the subsequent collapse of the ground.

This labyrinth could be destroyed by brute force.

"Secret Sword—Bursting Thunder!!"

Light exploded in a flash.

The air heated to such an extent that the ground nearly melted. Ziel himself felt the searing heat on his skin as he unleashed the technique.

Smoke billowed everywhere, but Ziel swung his sword to clear it.

The result was...

"...I can’t see without my glasses."

"Alright, alright."

Lililia ran up and took a look for him.

"Ah…"

"What is it?"

Ziel squinted hard, trying to see, as she frowned.

"Doesn’t look good. The wall’s scratched up, but beneath it, there’s this black stuff… Looks the same as that door. Probably surrounds us entirely from the inside."

Not that easy, huh? Ziel slumped his shoulders.

"Well, the idea wasn’t bad," Lililia said, patting his shoulder.

"I’ll think of a way to reveal the magic circle. Meanwhile, you can go around smashing walls. Maybe there’s a hidden passage somewhere."

"Sounds like a plan," Ziel agreed.

And so, they decided to stay put for two weeks.