"That peculiar dress… Are you perhaps Ryugu?" I asked the woman.
"Indeed, Ryugu is this one's name," the woman—Ryugu nodded honestly and said, "And you are the Savior, I presume?"
"Yeah. And I'm here to take Elma—the 'Sword' Saintess back."
"Yes, I'm aware. I've been waiting here to guide you, after all. Now, please come this way. I will lead you to our Creator's sanctuary—"God's Garden"." With a seductive smile, Ryugu turned around and started walking away.
『...』We looked at each other with a look of confusion. However, we had already considered the possibility of traps before coming.
There was no way we'd stop here.
"—Let's go. We'll just break through traps or whatever it is they throw at us head-on."
『*Nod*』
After seeing everyone nod, I followed Ryugu with them trailing behind me.
"Fufu," Ryugu looked back and flashed us a faint and meaningful smile without stopping her feet, before facing forward again a moment later.
◇ ◇
And so, we arrived at a place that appeared to be an eerie-looking lake.
It seemed to be a fountainhead, but the water that filled the lake was black and thick like poorly processed oil.
Wait, this water…
"It's 'filth'…" I muttered.
"Yes… This world is like a garbage dump wherein ends up 'filth' overflowing from the other world… The 'filth' accumulated here then flows further down through that 'hole' over there…" said Phinis-sama, sounding somewhat lonely. When I followed her gaze, I found what appeared to be a hole open on the surface of the lake.
For some reason, it gave me really bad feelings.
"I see. In other words, that ominous hole leads to the middle layer—"World of Oblivion: Black"." I said.
"Yes, that's correct." Ryugu nodded.
"Hou?" Arca narrowed her eyes and asked, "I've got a feeling that we have no need to go out of our way to pass through it, however. Is it just my imagination?"
"Fufu, I expect no less from a saintess. Indeed, it is as you say. However, you have never experienced 'world-diving', haven't you? I simply figured I should let you try it at least once." After opening her umbrella, Ryugu began to slowly walk on the surface of the water. "But of course, you always have the option to take another path if you're afraid, you know?"
Arca snorted. "Hmph, you think such a cheap provocation would work on us?"
"Fufu, in that case, please follow me. Let's have a fun world-diving." Ryugu proceeded forward, chuckling.
Left with no other choice, we made up our minds to follow her.
But just in case, we formed pairs consisting of one saintess and one goddess, and each pair deployed barrier magic.
With this, we should be able to cope even if an unexpected situation occurred.
Incidentally, the pairing went like this: Arca + Phinis-sama, Magmell + Sinus-sama, Ophir + Turbo-sama, Zana + Igniver-sama, Tirna + Terra-sama, and Shiva-san + Fluga-sama.
It was decided in consideration of the balance of offense and defense, but in Ophir and Turbo-sama's case, it was mainly because of their compatibility.
They were parent and child, so even if both of them specialized in offense, they'd be able to compensate for each other's weaknesses.
Incidentally, it turned out that Sinus-sama (non-giant form) was surprisingly a full-frontal offensive type.
She said she mainly fought with her trident, and her fighting style was similar to the 'Spear' Saintess Arca.
She always carried herself with a gentle demeanor, so I found it beyond my imagination, but well, what mattered was that we could depend on her.
"All right, shall we go?"
Anyway, Ryugu jumped into the hole without the slightest hesitation.
『...』
As such, we followed her so that we wouldn't lose sight of her, but—
"—Uo!?"
At that moment, an extremely strong pulling force sucked us down, and I reflexively transformed into Vermillion Bird Form.
"You guys okay…!?"
I turned my eyes to see how the others were doing, but it appeared that they had managed to maintain a stable descent speed thanks to the protection of the goddesses.
I didn't think that the pairings would produce a result this quickly, but in any case, I was glad that everyone was safe.
"Still, what's up with this place…" after patting my chest in relief, I frowned at the surrounding scenery.
How should I put it?
The inside of the hole was like the inside of the body of some massive creature.
Under the illumination from the barrier magic, the quietly wriggling wall-like 'filth' truly appeared like digestive organs. It reminded me of when I was swallowed whole by a flying dragon before.
Is Elma really beyond this hole?
That needless worry crossed my mind when—
『―!?』
Out of nowhere, a flash of light shot up from far down the hole, and we reflexively squinted our eyes.
"—It has been a long time, Savior."
"…Huh?"
When I opened my eyes, I found the digestive organ-like walls and the girls gone. I was now in a stone hall, with him being the only person around beside me.
"Yomi…"
Yes, he was one of the demons who had attacked us in the graveyard of the oni—Yomi.
Looked like we had been forcibly teleported.
Fortunately, sensing their presence, the girls were separated in pairs. However, the problem was the fact that Yomi was before me.
In all likelihood, they were also faced with other demons.
I have to regroup with them as soon as possible, as I narrowed my eyes, Yomi manifested a sword from thin air and said, "Previously, you said you could defeat me in a place clear of 'filth'. Now that we are in"World of Oblivion", which is full of 'filth', can you still say the same?"
"But of course. In fact, I'm gonna prove it to you right here and now."
Blaze! Manifesting my own longsword, I got into a fighting stance.