Traitor.
He said that someone targeted Cleon's life and trapped him and crashed him between the seventh and eighth layers.
The floor of the great hall where the wing tiger, the last enemy of the seventh level, was located, collapsed.
I thought it was a trick of the ruins themselves, combined with the muddy demons that came down from above.
But if you let Cleon tell you, he's not.
"Look, Solon. We have been fully prepared for this attack. New Knights members of the general regiment gathered reports of past Necropolis investigations from our executives."
"I looked it up, too. Looks like there were a couple of adventurer parties that did a successful break through the seventh tier, but I haven't reported any of them having this kind of trap"
"Exactly. What this means is that this collapse is an artificially triggered trap."
"But not all adventurers exhaustively record even ruin traps. Besides, the last enemy in the seventh tier seems to have been a golem before, but this time it was a wing tiger. It's no surprise the trap is changing."
"Even if the demonic ecosystem changes more, it often doesn't even change the structure of the ruins. Solon would know, wouldn't he? I'm writing a report on the ruins for later adventurers. If there was a trap like this, there's no way you wouldn't write it."
"I don't know. Still, it's just a guess that the traitor set it up."
"There is conclusive evidence. The muddy demons that attacked us."
"Demons prove it?
Cleon took something like a hard stone out of the Knights' white uniform pockets.
And point it with your finger.
"This is the nucleus of that demon tribe. And this nucleus..."
"Wait a minute. I'll take out the lupe."
"As always, you're ready."
"It won't hurt to have it."
In the ruins offense, Lupe helps plain.
It's an appraisal of the material on the wall, an investigation of the treasure found, and a determination of the demon clan that defeated it.
I enlarged the nucleus in Cleon's hands in Lupe.
Something small is written on the surface of that nucleus.
No, pale letters are floating around.
Its letter, which moves around like dancing, was "O devil, obey reason, obey God, the Holy Spirit and me".
It's a spell for the sorcerer to control the demon clan.
"The summoned demon tribe?
"The traitor must have summoned him."
If it means summoning and serving the Demon Nation, it is the Summoner Notaras that comes to mind all the time.
During the Knights of St. Sophia, he seemed to think differently than Cleon, and there may be a motive when it comes to killing Cleon.
However, the summons of the Demons themselves can normally be used as long as they are some high-ranking magicians, even if they cannot operate as massively and efficiently as Notaras.
The traitor is not necessarily Notaras.
But I'm pretty sure this was someone's set trap.
"Solon, let's keep this to ourselves."
I nodded.
Morale will be lowered if the offensive team is informed of the story that there has been betrayal, and besides, it is not good in the sense that the traitor will alert you.
It was just an accident, it seems best to keep it that way.
But in any case, we also have to reveal who tried to target Cleon's life.
I got myself caught up in this and I almost died.
Has Cleon gradually recovered, or was he ready to take part in the battle already?
In the sense that we are aiming for power as descendants of the Demon King of Philia, Cleon is my enemy.
If at the end of the day we can successfully attack this ruin and bring the Demon King back to life, then Philia will be sacrificed.
Only then will me and Cleon have to confront each other.
Cleon and Arte don't think I know about the Demon King's Resurrection Plan.
So you don't know I'm moving to stop the plan.
If I set my people up against the two caught off guard, and Philia makes a decree as a princess, the crowd leans this way.
You could probably beat the Creons.
Besides, if you enlighten the disadvantages and surrender them, you won't have to kill them both.
But now we can't get out of here without working with Cleon.
We fought back-to-back and proceeded through the confined space of the ruins.
I've tried chatting to Cleon a few times, but Cleon doesn't respond to me much with an unsolicited attitude.
But we're former buddies, so working together is pretty smooth, even silently.
The enemies were quite handy and included demonic tribes that I couldn't surely defeat on my own, and even Cleon, with his high strength, would not have been able to win all the time by wearing them out on his own.
We put our strength on each other and managed to move forward.
After a while, I saw faintly shaking light from beyond.
The faint white light gradually grows.
And the footsteps were small, but clearly heard.
Without a doubt, multiple people are coming this way.
We walked fast and joined our allies.
We followed the passage to the eighth floor.
"Mr. Solon!
It was Lisa the White Devil who approached me to jump.
Lisa hugs me like that.
"Wah, wah, Lisa!?
"My, I thought Mr. Solon might have died because of me..."
After that, he didn't seem to sound like he was whimpering.
Tears in her eyes, Lisa looks up at me.
Clinging to my arm all the time, Lisa tells me she's finally ready to breathe.
"I was worried...... I was worried. I couldn't help but worry."
"Sorry."
That's what I said and smiled.
I think Lisa was worried about me because she was the beloved Virgin and the benefactor of her life.
He also made Lisa blame herself for how I got caught in the collapse.
When I looked back at Cleon, Cleon seemed a little troubled, clinging to Carreria exactly the same way.
That mighty Carreria was pouring tears and whispering like she felt "Well done, you're safe..."
For Carreria, Cleon is an admirer and a thinker.
So it would also be natural for Carreria to be disturbed.
By the way, only a few more allies have joined us: Lisa, Carreria.
And Philia wasn't there either.
I asked Lisa what happened.
"After Mr. Solon and the Holy Knight disappeared, Arte, the wise man, began to command the entire offensive team."
"I guess so. Sequentially, it does."
"Sage says Mr. Solon and the others must be dead, insisting we move on..."
"Arte would do that."
Even if I were in Arte's shoes, I wouldn't have thought we'd be alive in the collapse.
The decision to abandon it and move on is also plausible.
"But the Empress told me that Mr. Solon was alive."
"Philia did?
When asked, Philia said, "Me and Solon know that Solon is alive and where because the magic circuit is connected," and opposed Alte's decision.
Arte, however, forcefully took Philia away and instead kept sending a small search party of Carreria Lisa and the others.
"Thanks, Lisa"
"Why are you thanking me?
"A handful of search teams is obviously a dangerous mission."
It's dangerous to act in large numbers, and it's Necropolis that scares the demons to appear.
A search party with small numbers and no other elite than Carreria can be seen to be in considerable danger.
That's why Lisa came to help us until she made a mistake.
With that said, Lisa blushed her face red, "Because..." she smashed and mumbled.
Anyway, we have to catch up with the Artes soon.
Though Notaras, Lascaros, and Nasha are solidifying around Philia, I'm quite anxious.
Philia must be worried about me, too.
And I don't know what the purpose is, but the offensive team is mixed with traitors.
Moreover, the extraction of Arte is a problem in itself.
Arte is good as a magician, but not for the commanders of the organization.
Leaving it alone can give unscrupulous instructions and create useless sacrifices.
That seemed to agree with Cleon.
We nodded and stepped behind the ruins.