We've arrived at the bottom of the Marco ruins. The statue of the goddess is right in front of us.

"Hmm? Master, the boss isn't coming out?"

"He went on the final mission of the Zombie House. According to the Dungeon Core, it was a 4-meter-tall muscular zombie equipped with a rocket launcher for some reason."

"Onee-sama, what's a rocket launcher?"

"Simply put, it's a modern weapon with destructive power that can turn Jin and Rikka into tiny pieces with just one hit."

"What, Jin and Rikka? How powerful is that weapon?"

As they examined the statue of the goddess, they found a jewel embedded near the pedestal. Come to think of it, now that I had become a saint, would it react if I tried to activate it with my magical power?

"Let me try passing my magic power through the jewel."

"Stop it! Are you trying to destroy the jewel?"

"Why not?"

"I'll do it instead, Onee-sama. Although you are a saint, you are also a deity. Sphire-sama might show a refusal response."

"I, I can't argue with that."

"Okay then, I'll pass my magic power through the jewel."

The jewel shone, and eventually, a beautiful and clear voice of Sphire was heard.

"Thank you for coming to the bottom of the Marco ruins. I would like to talk to you about one of the masterminds who is cornering me and the person who rewrote the Dungeon Core system of the Marco ruins and Zombie House. I cannot reveal their name. This person is among the summoners from 500 years ago. The summoning 500 years ago took place in Alteheim. There should still be some records available. I want you to find their weakness based on those records. They are an incredible magician who could destroy the world if they wanted to. Even if you encounter them, do not make them angry. I have one more request. If you have come this far, you must have followed either the normal route or the Zombie House route. Please rewrite the Dungeon Core in the Zombie House. If you pass your magic power through the core, the information will come into your mind, and it should teach you how to rewrite it. Many people from different worlds have been taken into the Zombie House and turned into zombies. Please free them. It will take at least 100,000 magical power to rewrite it. Saint, please save the people in the Zombie House."

It seemed like the message had ended. The first half of the message was okay since they didn't know some of the things mentioned, but the problem was with the latter half. Did Sphire intend to have Iris, the saint, do this? Enough with the nonsense already!

"O, Onee-sama, please suppress your magic. P-Please!”

“M-Master, please suppress your magic. The Marco ruins will collapse!"

Oops, I can't let my anger get the best of me. A little bit of magic leaked out.

"I'm sorry, both of you. I'm feeling a little bit like punching Sphere too."

"M-Master, what do you mean? Sphere-sama intended to have Iris do the rewriting. Is there a problem?"

I know because I rewrote it myself. It's at least 100,000! That's no joke. You need a magic manipulation skill level of 10 and 300,000 magic.

"There's a big problem. That Sphere woman is teaching Iris some careless things. The conditions required for rewriting are a magic manipulation skill level of 10 and 300,000 magic."

"300,000?! I only have around 26,000 now, and even with all my magic wraps, the most I can get is about 160,000. Onee-sama, 300,000 is definitely impossible."

"Yes, Iris is completely innocent. Even humans with 300,000 magic, let alone those who are not saints, do not exist in this world right now. If we train Iris a little more and do it with all our magic wraps, we can barely meet the conditions. Even if we defeat the boss of the Zombie House, which is the final mission, expose the dungeon core, and erase Suzumi's magic through hacking, it will take about six hours to complete the rewriting of the Zombie House's core. Can Iris do it?"

"It's impossible to do it for six hours with all our magic wraps!"

"Yes, that's why Iris is completely innocent. Someone like Sphere may be able to do it, but humans cannot."

"I'm sure Sphere-sama had a reason for this. She was under pressure when she inserted the message and probably didn't think about the system. "

Iris, that's impossible. Since the system itself was created by Sphere, she should know it completely. That Sphere woman is really planning on having Iris do it. If a lot of people come here and give their power to Iris, they can clear 300,000. But the problem starts here. Sphere and other evil gods, who are originally gods, can easily analyze and control information, but Iris is human. Moreover, she is just an amateur with no knowledge whatsoever. Her head would explode just from analyzing information. Even if she succeeds, she will undoubtedly be unable to adventure for the time being. However, since Iris said it, she must not be a bad goddess.

"I learned from this message that Sphere is a good god who doesn't consider other people's feelings."

“Um, Onee-sama, is that compliment?”

"Compliment? --- No way! Someone who talks about their own ideas without considering the impact on others is the worst. Most likely, she's talking like she thinks the Saint I approved of should be able to do it. But I tried it myself and hacking is a very dangerous act. If your own magical power is lower than the magical power stored in the core, the core's magical power will invade you. Sphere probably came up with the idea but hasn't actually tried hacking. If she had tried it, she would have pointed out some kind of danger. If I had let Iris do it, you would have been unable to adventure again. Sphere is speaking in a mournful voice, using the kind of language that makes it seem like you can do it. What would have happened to you if I wasn't here?"

"Um, well, we will raise our magical power through training to around 40,000 and then try it. We will also go with a large group to consider the worst-case scenario."

" Even if you try, if you hack it, your head will explode when you try to analyze the information. Even if you succeed in rewriting it, you will be bedridden for a while."

"Eh?! Did Sphere-sama intend to make me do such a thing?"

"Yes, that's right. However, the person or rather the god herself, doesn't understand the difficulty of what she said at all. Maybe, Sphere's ---"

"What do you mean maybe?"

"Nothing, forget it."

Maybe Sphere couldn't cover up for the many things her system couldn't handle and the mastermind behind it all, Ryoichi Suzumi and his accomplices, appeared and she couldn't handle it, so she abandoned her job and left it to you. If that's the case, she's the worst kind of god in a different sense from Ryoichi Suzumi.

"--- Anyway, with this, all the work here is done. Oh, and let's make sure nobody dies in the Marco ruins and the zombie house. From now on, we'll make monsters like the evil tribe using my magical power in the dungeon core and let them fight the humans. Everyone take a little break."

Let’s access the dungeon core in the Marco ruins and tweak it a bit.

"At last, no one will die here. I wonder why Sphere-sama took such action, but for now, let's do what we can."

Yes, Iris, that's the right answer.

"Iris, I'm just concerned about what will happen to this ruins in the future.”

“What do you mean, Finn-nee?"

"Well, thanks to our master, no one will die anymore. But, I don't think that's all our master intends to do."

"Oh! You're right about that."

Oh, Finn is on point. Of course. Even if no one dies, if an attack with a death penalty is triggered, punishment will be given. First, let's send the adventurers in the Marco ruins back to the entrance and set up a sign that says "Dungeon Improvement in Progress." Let's change the rules as I have planned.

________________________________________

"All right, we're done!”

“Master, that was a long one. Is everything finished now?”

“Yes, I've set new rules. There's a signboard installed at the entrance of the first floor, so adventurers should be surprised.”

“By the way, what kind of rules did you make?"

Rules:

1.   When you defeat an evil race, the targeted body part will change into meat or an item with a 10% chance of transformation.
2.   The zombie house is currently under renovation.
3.   If you receive a fatal attack judgment, you will be forcibly sent back to the entrance. However, as a punishment for dying, all items except underwear and rings with jewels will be confiscated and converted into magical power.
4.   There are a total of 50 floors. A mid-boss is placed every 5 floors. When you defeat the mid-boss, it will reappear in a dismantled state. You have a 20% chance of getting rare items.
5.   The dungeon configuration changes every 5 floors. However, this configuration changes in 3 days, regardless of whether adventurers are present or not. Only the safe zone with the goddess statue does not change.

"In short, it's like this. I only changed the major skeletal structure. In the future, I will also change the placement of evil races and prepare powerful traps when I have time."

"Oh, the punishment for dying is harsh. Onee-sama, that's too bad.”

“What are you talking about? You're adventurers, so it's better to have a punishment like this than to die. There are two compulsory return sections, one for men and one for women, located near the entrance. Especially for the women's section, it's set up so that it cannot be seen from the outside and cannot be entered by men, so there's no need to worry about being attacked by men. Men, just forget about it! You can use the rings with 'Item Box' or 'Magic Bag' that will be sold from now on to put on spare equipment at the compulsory return section."

"Oh, Master, you have thought of everything. That should be all right then."

"Onee-sama, I understand that men attacking women is a problem, but I don't quite understand the situation where men attack men."

"Oh, Iris, you don't have to worry about that."

Now that the improvement of the Marco Ruins is complete, shall we escape?

"Everyone, let's escape from here by teleportation. Gather around me.”

“Sasha-sama~. Shall we use the goddess statue?”

“Rikka, if we use it now and appear at the entrance, they will know that I improved the Marco Ruins in just one go. Let's return to Bilbrem by teleportation."

"All right!"

And thus, our exploration of the Marco Ruins has come to an end.

In this adventure, I got some new information.

1.   Sphere is basically a good god. However, if an event occurs that they cannot handle themselves, they have a tendency to irresponsibly pass it on to others without understanding the dangers involved. Can we just excuse this as a problem caused by being chased by the mastermind?
2.   There are multiple masterminds, one of whom is Ryoichi Suzumi, the creator of the Zombie House and a skilled magician. Judging from the quality of the core's magic, his magical power is around 12 million, although it does not match that of a evil god. While hacking, he seemed to have nullified the evil power of the evil god. In my opinion, he's just a small fry. We plan to give him a harsh punishment for the people who died in the Zombie House.
3.   Ryoichi Suzumi was summoned 500 years ago in Altairheim. If we go to Altairheim, we might be able to find out something about the other masterminds.
4.   The upper limit of the management system's numerical value is 100 million. They raised it this high because there is an evil god.

That's about it. Honestly, it might be better not to rely on Sphere too much. Well, there is another ruins in the Gardia Empire where there is one more message from Sphere, so let's see the contents and judge.

Now, it's time for the fighting tournament where Rikka will participate. There might be some unexpected turns.