Dungeon ni Deai o Motomeru no wa Machigatte Iru Darou ka Gaiden – Sword Oratoria - Volume 3 - Chapter 4

CHAPTER 4 WHITE-HAIRED DEVIL 

“Loose your arrows, fairy archers. Pierce, arrow of accuracy!” 
A beautiful voice spread through the air like waves over water. 
Lefiya cast a short spell and lifted high into the air a staff designed specifically for magic users: Forest’s Teardrop. Made from a white ore called seiros that mages were rather fond of, the staff was capable of increasing the base strength of Magic. Compounded with a magic crystal and a rare item known as Tear of the Elder Tree, it was extremely suitable for elven magic. 
The crystals at the end of her staff flashed at the same time a magic circle expanded. 
“Arcs Ray!” 
An arrow of light appeared at her forceful call. 
The powerful spell barreled forward, supported by her Skill, Fairy Cannon, and filled the narrow hallway with a bright light. The twenty monsters in the target zone howled before disintegrating as the spell overwhelmed them. 
Only scattered ash remained when the radiance faded. 
Confirming there were no survivors, Lefiya lowered her staff. 
“That’s right, you’re from the Wishe Forest—a homeland known for possessing high magic power even among our kin…With magic such as that, it’s no wonder.” 
“I-I’m nothing special. This is the only job I can do…” 
After neutralizing the monster band barring their path, the small three-member party continued ahead. Filvis looked at Lefiya with satisfaction. 
They had arrived on the twenty-fourth floor. Their mission to catch up with Aiz had led them through a complicated tangle of twists and turns as they descended deeper into the Dungeon. At last, they had reached the appointed floor. Walking between Bete and Filvis, Lefiya could hear only the sound of their tapping footfalls on the wooden ground. 
The party had set their sights on the northern pantry. According to their information, the outbreaks were occurring along the main route that wound through this floor. They discovered piles upon piles of ash and some uncollected loot. Perhaps there wasn’t enough time for the previous party to collect it all. It stood to reason that only top-class adventurers could take on so many monsters on this floor at once. They were almost certain that Aiz and her companions were behind it. 
More monsters appeared on the main route, forcing the small group into battle—and costing them valuable time. So they chose a slight detour, which brought them to a narrow hallway sheathed in tree bark. However, the passage was narrow only compared to the main route. Over five meders in diameter, anything short of a big party would have no problem passing through. 
The bluish green moss growing on the walls illuminated the happy smile Lefiya wore during her conversations with Filvis. The black-haired elf’s praise and the sense that the barrier between them was eroding away were the reason for her expression. 
“Enough blabber. We got company.” 
Bete rolled his eyes as he jumped in front of the elves. 
He was on top of the monsters at the other end of the hallway in the blink of an eye. Flipping through the air like an acrobat, he nailed several deadly hornets in midair before driving his heel into the grotesque, plump body of a two-meder-tall hobgoblin, cleaving it down the middle. 
Bete eliminated the monsters in their path as quickly as possible to not waste any time. 
Crack! The walls around Lefiya and Filvis suddenly opened. 
“!” 
“Fall back, Viridis!” 
Seeing Lefiya surrounded by newborn monsters, Filvis called out her name before rushing to defend her. 
Drawing a shortsword, she slew the monsters bearing down on Lefiya. A lizardman led its brethren into combat with a deafening roar, but Filvis’s combination of swift stabs and sweeps felled them quickly. Dodging their thick tails, she removed lizard heads from torsos. 
Lefiya stood still, unable to join the fray as the enemy numbers decreased by the second. Filvis removed a wand from inside her belt. 
“Purge, cleansing lightning!” 
Still engaged in combat with the remaining two lizardmen, she formed an incantation on her lips. 
As Filvis began Concurrent Casting, the two monsters fell to the floor in pieces. 
Then she pointed her wand at three dark fungi expanding their mushroom umbrellas in a threatening manner. 
“Dio Thyrsos!” 
Her short-trigger-spell magic flared to life the same moment the dark fungi released poisonous spores into the air. 
Sharp flashes of lightning roared through the hallway, roasting the dark fungi and burning the spores out of the air at the same time. 
A-amazing… 
Lefiya marveled at Filvis’s prowess in battle, dispatching the entire swarm on her own. 
Unlike the casters suited for the rear ranks, Filvis was a magic swordsman. 
Sought after for mid-formation positions by many parties of adventurers—in demand and extremely popular—they could balance any combination of combat strategies. While able to fight on the front lines themselves, they could provide more powerful ranged support with their Magic than any arrows or thrown weapons ever could. They were magic users capable of holding their own with speed; Lefiya idolized that battle style. Even among magic swordsmen who fought with short-trigger spells, Filvis was exceptionally fast. 
With sword and wand in hand, she excelled at short- and long-range combat. The ability to use Concurrent Casting made her a force to be reckoned with even in the fiercest of battles. Driving enemies back with her sword, feet moving like a rhythmic dance, burning them down with Magic, her elegant beauty—she shone like a jewel on the battlefield. 
Lefiya stayed mesmerized for several moments after the battle was over, a feeling of inferiority overtaking her. 
“Now if only you could pull that off.” 
“Uwhaa…” 
Bete came up to her and delivered a verbal knockout punch. 
Lefiya was a pure-magic user, meaning she couldn’t contribute to a battle without the help of a Wall, practically helpless without allies for support. 
Compared to the all-powerful Filvis who was fine in solo combat, the difference was like night and day. 
Her head drooping with depression setting in, this time it was Filvis who came to her defense. 
“It is cruel to expect that from a magic user who wields such firepower. It is highly likely Viridis’s strength will be essential to completing our mission.” 
Filvis firmly pointed out that it was the party’s role to protect magic users like Lefiya long enough to unleash that power. 
Indeed, the technique Bete was referring to—Concurrent Casting—was an extremely rare ability among those who specialized in pure-magic power. So rare, in fact, that the only other person Lefiya knew of who could do it was Riveria. 
Filvis pushed her point even further by saying that powerful magic users were a party’s ace in the hole. Bete, on the other hand, took one look at the two girls and snorted. 
“Gotten really buddy-buddy, haven’t you, elves.” 
When Bete pointed out how much their relationship had changed in a short amount of time, Filvis clenched her mouth shut. Lefiya’s cheeks turned bright red as she looked between the two. 
The werewolf chuckled drily before focusing his gaze on Lefiya. 
“You satisfied like this? Having to count on others ’cause you can’t protect yourself?” 
Amber eyes unblinking, he didn’t pull any punches. 
His voice might have been full of the usual contempt, but it was the serious look in Bete’s eyes that made Lefiya’s shoulders tremble. 
“Those airheaded Amazons are spoiling you, but I ain’t doing that. As long as your Magic is the only useful thing you got, you’ll never be anything more than baggage.” 
“……” 
“You are soft.” 
There wasn’t a shred of kindness in the man’s verbal onslaught. His amber irises bore down on Lefiya as if cornering her on the edge of a cliff. 
Bete always chose the words that would hit someone in their weakest spot. He didn’t pour salt on their wounds, he tore them open. 
That was one of the reasons he wasn’t well liked. His aggression and lack of restraint turned words into cutting instruments, opening old scars and drawing the ire of adventurers far and wide. 
At the root of this was his own inability to face the scars of his past. 
Lefiya had no response as she spiraled deeper into despair. Even still, a part of her knew that she had no choice but to change. It was the same part that had pained her during the incident at the Monsterphilia. 
In order to not hold back her idol, Aiz, and the others—in order to be allowed to stand side by side with them, Lefiya had to find a way to reach a new height. She must never forget the tears she’d shed at her own powerlessness, nor the burning desire to catch up. It would be a lie to say that Bete’s words, with his amber eyes glaring down at her, didn’t sting. 
Lefiya felt Filvis’s concerned gaze on the side of her face as she held her staff in both hands, squeezing as hard as she could. 
“……?” 
At that moment, Lefiya looked up from the floor. 
After saying all those things, Bete was walking away. Filvis, too, was a few steps down the hall, although she was looking back over her shoulder at her. 
A strange feeling crept over Lefiya as she watched their backs. 
Magic…? 
Rooted to the spot, she had a look around. 
“Um, Mr. Bete…?” 
“Yeah?” He responded verbally first. “What?” He then turned to face her but apparently didn’t sense anything wrong. 
“Is something the matter?” 
“Ehh, um, well…” 
Lefiya failed to string words together after Filvis asked as well. 
Just my imagination? she thought, tilting her head and observing the other two. They weren’t sensing it. 
“If it’s nothing, then we’re going. The pantry ain’t that far away.” 
Bete started walking again, his mood worsening because they’d lost even more time. Filvis followed close behind. 
Lefiya examined the path behind them, paused for a moment, and then hurried to catch up to the other two. 
The girl’s golden-yellow hair swished as she disappeared down the hallway. 
“……” 
A figure in the darkness watched her leave. 
It emerged from the corner of the path Lefiya had been looking at. 
This figure, clad in a violet hooded robe and hiding its face behind an ominous mask, followed the adventurers’ footsteps farther into the Dungeon. 
 
“Sword Princess! Hey, can’t you hear me?!” 
Lulune yelled loudly enough to be heard over the roaring monsters. 
Separated from Aiz, Hermes Familia was doing its best to fend off the pincer attack from two swarms of man-eating flowers. 
But with wave upon wave charging in from farther down the hallways, the swords and spears constantly plunging into monster flesh weren’t enough. 
“What the hell just happened?! Asfi, what do we do?!” 
“…If you have the energy to be concerned about her, use it to protect yourself. We must evacuate this location the moment a path is clear!” 
“Have you no heart?” 
“She’s the Sword Princess!!” 
No matter how loud Lulune yelled, there was no response from Aiz on the other side of the wall of pillars. Fearing for the girl’s life, Lulune pleaded with Asfi for help. But their leader would not budge, saying that it was a waste of time to worry about a top-class adventurer, and quickly issued orders. Aiz Wallenstein was an experienced veteran, with enough skill to warrant the label War Princess. Asfi’s first priority was the safety of her party. 
New monster reinforcements were still arriving from both the front and the back. 
“New enemies on the rear flank! Five of them!” 
“More from the front, too!” 
Hearing the frantic calls of her allies, Asfi made a swift decision. “Scatter the magic stones!” 
At their leader’s command, the entire party took a deep breath. 
Each of them had a small pouch tied to their belts. Thrusting their hands inside, they pulled out handfuls of the purple crystals and threw them against the walls. 
Suddenly, the carnivorous plants weren’t interested in the adventurers anymore. Ignoring them completely, the monsters went straight for the magic stones. 
“All units, forward!” 
Thanks to Aiz’s information, Asfi knew how to manipulate these monsters’ predilections and guided the party ahead. Motioning for Lulune and the others to keep going, she wanted to use this window of opportunity. 
Falling back to the rear of the party, Asfi drew three vials of Burst Oil from her holster to make sure this encounter ended here. 
“Nelly, a magic sword!” 
She hurled the liquid grenades directly into the swarm of monsters still devouring the magic stones. 
The human supporter did as she was told, drawing a magic sword and swinging at the beasts. 
A stream of fire erupted from the dagger-shaped, magic-infused blade and collided with the three vials of Burst Oil, setting off a gigantic explosion. 
The defeaning blast drowned out the roasting monsters’ cries of pain as a mushroom cloud formed in the passageway, eliminating the possibility of counterattack. 
“Asfi, there’s a ton coming from the front!” 
Lulune called out to alert her of another wave coming in. 
She did not, however, slow down as she shouted. Her blades flashed as she jumped between the massive creatures. Monster blood sprayed in her wake. Thanks to Lulune’s distraction, other party members carrying larger weapons had a clear shot at the monsters’ heads. Most of the bud-like appendages split on impact. 
“Apparently, they don’t want us going any farther down this hall…!” 
Asfi’s eyes narrowed, and the corners of her lips turned upward as she looked past their enemies. 
Judging by the increased intensity of the monsters’ attacks, she was certain there had to be something worth protecting on the other side. She moved from the rear of the party up to the front lines and forced the wall of monsters back with her own blades. Her allies followed, steadily advancing at the same pace. 
Asfi and the war tiger Falgar, who was wielding a greatsword, drove the swarm of enormous creatures out of the way. 
“…What is this place?” 
It was after they’d plowed through more waves of monsters than they could count. 
The party saw bloodred light at the end of the long passageway, unlike the dim light from the flowers. 
“Could that be light from the quartz? So the pantry is up there?” 
Just like her allies, Lulune examined the view ahead. 
Pantries were located in the deepest corners of many floors in the Dungeon. These vast caverns all had one thing in common: a towering pillar of quartz crystals. The pillars produced a nutritious fluid that monsters traveled from far and wide to consume. They also constantly generated a mysterious light. 
The quartz pillars on the twenty-fourth floor gave off red light. That telltale sign at the end of the tunnel let everyone know their destination was just up ahead. 
“Asfi.” 
“…We advance at full speed.” 
The party followed their leader’s order without question. 
Slaying the final flower monsters in their path, they dashed through the passageway of green flesh. 
The smell of rotting tissue thickened with every breath. At long last, the party made it to the exit near the source of the red light. 
Their boots hit the ground of the cavernous pantry floor. 
“—” 
What awaited Asfi and the others once they made it inside took their breath away. 
The same disgusting green walls they had seen up to this point also encased this large, open space. The only major difference they could see was the thousands of flower buds sticking out of the walls. 
However, what quickly captured all their attention were the enormous monsters on the pillar of quartz inside the pantry. 
“Parasites…?” 
Three in all, they looked like overgrown plant monsters. What’s more, they were firmly attached to the pillar, which stood over thirty meders tall. 
Three gigantic, richly colored flowers bloomed in different spots on the pillar. In terms of length and girth, these creatures were at least ten times the size of the carnivorous flower monsters. A vast network of vines sprouting from their bodies connected them to the pillar. 
It could have been due to the bloodred light, but the vines themselves looked like veins traveling up and down a giant limb. 
“Don’t tell me…It’s sucking the goo straight out of the pillar?” 
SLURP! A low sucking noise echoed through the cavern every so often. Asfi’s eyes trembled as she watched every drop of the liquid from the quartz disappear. 
However, the gigantic flower monsters’ roots and vines didn’t stop there. They extended to the walls, ceiling, and floor to create the soft green surface that the party knew all too well. There was no doubt in their minds that these gigantic flower monsters were behind the dramatic changes around the northern pantry. 
They fit the definition of a parasite exactly. 
The Dungeon constantly produced a nutritious liquid. The monsters were able to exponentially grow their bodies by using it as an energy source. The resulting abomination changed the Dungeon’s very structure. 
“Th-that’s…” 
Asfi and her party were not the only people inside this vast green cavern covered with countless flower buds. An unknown group was already there. 
Each member wore large robes that hid their upper bodies from view as well as masks that left only their mouths exposed. The sudden appearance of Hermes Familia startled the unknown faction hiding their faces and origin. At first, they looked to one another in panic, until one of them pointed to the newcomers and started yelling orders. 
The atmosphere in the chamber quickly turned much more serious, even deadly. However, Lulune was still looking past the unidentified masked group to something attached to the quartz pillar. 
Specifically, the base of the structure, covered in the vines and roots of the three gigantic flower monsters. 
There was a green sphere containing a feminine fetus attached to it. 
“The orb from before…?!” 
“So they made it this far.” 
While Asfi and her party were trying to recover from shock… 
The ones already there were figuring out how to deal with them. 
A man dressed in all white stood at the base of the quartz pillar, staring at all fifteen of the intruders. His white hair peeked out from beneath the skull drop item he’d fashioned into a helmetlike mask. 
It was the tall man who had spoken with Levis, the red-haired tamer, not too long ago. 
“How? What have you been doing?!” 
“The violas weren’t enough to stop them.” 
A human approached the man dressed in white and offered an explanation as he kept his gaze concentrated on the intruders. 
This newcomer was clad in a different color from the rest of the masked faction. The man in white did his best to contain his anger as he responded to the excuse. 
“Fill your role, Evils’ Remnant. Become her shield.” 
After sending a glare in the human’s direction, the man dressed in white cast his gaze up at the pillar. 
Specifically, at the green orb containing a feminine fetus attached to its base. 
Protected by several thick vines from the gigantic flower monsters, it, too, was absorbing the nutritious liquid produced by the quartz. 
The Dungeon was known as the “mother” of all monsters. Now, it was nursing a child. 
However, this selfish infant cared nothing for the struggle of its mother. 
Paying little attention to the constant groans coming from the weakly glowing quartz, it kept growing as it consumed all the nutrients the pillar could provide. 
The man watched, a look of ecstasy in his eyes every time the fetus kicked. 
“…That’s a given!” 
The man dressed in white didn’t take his gaze off the shifting orb as the other masked human frowned before turning on his heel. 
The man in white and the female fetus watched as the human issued orders to the other Evils’ Remnants. The group of masked warriors was quick to draw blades. 
 
“Let no intruder survive!” 
An angry roar cut through the din. 
It came from a man wearing a robe different from the rest—those around the human followed his command. The masked faction inside the cavern sprang into action. 
Weapons held high, they charged forward to engage Asfi and her party. 
“Hey, these guys aren’t playing around!” 
Lulune could see the intent to kill on their faces and warned her friends. 
Hermes Familia was still at the cavern entrance, watching their new, unknown enemies charge at them at full speed. 
“We shall meet them in battle. It doesn’t look like we will get any information out of them without a little persuasion, now does it?” 
The enemy’s strange energy made Asfi’s skin crawl. She quickly looked to all her allies in turn. 
The green walls hosted many exits besides the path they had used to arrive in the cavern. A large, black, cage-like apparatus was located next to each of them, housing carnivorous plants. 
At the same time, more monsters were being born from the fleshy green walls. The flower buds started to bloom, mature ones sliding forward with their bodies dangling from the wall surface before flopping to the ground and slithering across the floor. Apparently, the green coating from the gigantic flower monsters had the ability to bear live young just like the walls of the Dungeon itself. 
The question now was whether the enormous floral creatures had been artificially created or if they were purely a new species of monster. Were all plant monsters born this way? 
Every hypothesis passing through Asfi’s mind sent shivers down her spine. No matter the answer, she didn’t have a good feeling about it. 
The leader took another look around the unrecognizable pantry, her mind working overtime. 
There were still many questions that needed answers, such as how this space was created and where they would take the cages lined up at the exits. 
“Kill them!” 
“Engage!” 
Leaders of both companies issuing their final orders, Hermes Familia clashed with the group of masked warriors. 
Large robes and masks concealed the identities of the faction that held a considerable numerical advantage over Hermes Familia. Their front lines descended on the adventurers like a storm, blades and war cries bearing down on their targets. In response, Lulune led the other demi-humans in the middle of their formation up to the front lines, matching the attackers’ intensity with their own. 
The war tiger’s shield knocked swords and spears to the side, opening a lane for several elves to engage the robed warriors at point-blank range. 
Every time enemy archers unleashed a wave of arrows into the air, magic users were quick to respond with short-trigger spells. The air was clear in moments. 
Hermes Familia combined their capacity to cover one another’s weaknesses with the exceptional strength of their individuals to overwhelm an opponent trying to win on numbers alone. Robed warriors late to enter the fray saw the strength of upper-class adventurers among the intruders and lost the will to fight. 
With their teamwork, the familia steadily advanced against the bloodthirsty ranks of the masked faction. 
“One! Two!” 
“Argh!” 
Lulune inflicted precise cuts on all four limbs of her opponent before driving her knee square into his chest. 
The masked figure, likely human, cried out in pain as he was removed from the fight. 
“Now then, why don’t you tell me your familia?” 
Hauling the man up by his collar, Lulune’s interrogation began. 
The man’s bleeding arms hung limp at his sides, his eyes glaring at her from beneath his mask. Though the battle still raged, he kept his cloth-covered mouth shut tight. 
“……!” 
“Shoulda figured. But silence will get you nowhere.” 
A vicious smile appeared on Lulune’s face at the man who refused to say a word. She grabbed a vial from beneath her combat gear. 
It was filled with a clear red liquid and had a small crystal floating inside—Status Thief. It had the ability to pick the “lock” that deities could use to hide the Blessings on their followers’ backs, their Statuses. With this, it was possible for her to figure out not only what familia the man belonged to but his name as well. 
The man’s eyes trembled when he caught a glimpse of the vial between Lulune’s fingers. 
“……” 
Determination appeared in the man’s eyes almost immediately, as if he’d come to an important realization. 
“My Lord, I shall follow through on our pact…” 
Muffled words sounded beneath the kerchief over his mouth. 
It happened in an instant. 
The man’s eyes flashed as he reached up with his bleeding arms and grabbed the robe at his waist, tearing it away from his body—to reveal what lay beneath. 
A dark-red rock that looked as though a flame had been petrified mid-burn and sealed in stone was strapped to his chest. 
“—” 
The sight of it made Lulune forget to breathe. 
—An Inferno Stone. 
This drop item could be obtained by defeating monsters called flame rocks in the Deep Levels of the Dungeon. Unaltered, these pieces of the monster’s body were highly flammable and could easily explode. 
The man’s Inferno Stone was especially large compared to the others she had seen. What’s more, there was more than one, all of them tied along one long rope against his skin. 
Her blood ran cold as she saw his hands move. 
The stones were attached to a small box at his waist—a detonator with a string attached. The man grabbed hold and gave it a sharp yank. 
Lulune immediately let go of the man’s collar and jumped away with all the strength her legs could muster. 
“My life for Iris—!!” 
Flinging his body backward, the man crossed his arms over his chest. 
Sparks emerged from the detonator a moment later, igniting the stones. 
“?!!” 
The resulting explosion launched Lulune even farther. The heat blast overwhelmed her, followed by a shower of ash. She landed flat on her back, burns peppering her exposed skin. 
Willing her body to sit up, the first thing she saw was a mass of smoldering flesh not too far away. The words fell from her lips. 
“…H-he blew himself up?” 
The charred remnants of the human body on the ground were still burning. 
She stuck out both arms as she collapsed back to the ground. With that much damage to his skin, there was no point in using Status Thief. Of course, the man could no longer be counted among the living. 
The man had sacrificed his life in order to prevent an information leak. 
His level of devotion stunned Lulune. 
“—May this unworthy vassal find salvation!!” 
Suddenly, more of the robed warriors started exploding all around her. 
The first ones to pull their cords were too injured to continue to fight. Then the ones who had lost hope of their chances of survival self-ignited. Still others decided that if they were going down, they’d take someone with them, and lunged forward with their arms extended. With each burst of flame came a blinding flash and thunderous roar filling the cavern. 
And the cries of Hermes Familia were right in the middle of it. 
“Asfi, these guys are zealots!!” 
Having lost her composure, Lulune screamed as loudly as she could. 
These warriors had committed everything to completing their mission. 
A group of fighters prepared to face the ultimate fate—death. 
Screams echoed through the chamber as a small army of warriors willing to turn themselves into bombs advanced on their position. 
—“Syle’s down!” 
—“Someone, heal!” 
—“Oi! Stop theeeem!” 
The sight of explosions swallowing her allies one by one reflected in Asfi’s stunned eyes. While her cloak protected her from the intense heat waves, the stench of gunpowder and burning flesh stung her nose. The entire battlefield was drowning in it. 
“My brothers, fear not death!” 
A new voice swept over the battlefield from behind the masked warriors. 
A man in a robe different from the others urged his comrades forward, dark light pulsing in his bloodshot eyes. 
“All we have dreamed of lies on the other side of death! Our Lord makes it so—show him loyalty!!” 
The eyes behind the masks of the robed warriors changed at the voice. Their fear was gone. 
They advanced as one, their half-covered faces already dead. Together they moved like a somber white inferno. 
“Forgive me, Sophia!” 
“Reina, I will now atone—!!” 
“Alas, Julius!!” 
Lives provided the sparks to ignite a chain of explosions. 
The thunderous booms rendered hearing useless. A flabbergasted Asfi watched as the detonations showed no sign of stopping. 
Names of deities…No, people?! 
The last shouts of men and women on the other side of the explosions began to die down. Asfi’s blood ran cold as soon as her ears recovered enough to catch what sounded like people’s names echoing in the air between explosions. 
Was this a sign of complete and total loyalty to a deity? Or was this the will of a deity they were being forced to obey? 
Just what kind of familia were they fighting against? That thought sent another chill up Asfi’s spine. 
At the same time…“Should this kind of thing be allowed to exist?” she wondered aloud in a shaking voice. 
“Such broken souls. Fools bound to a deity…Disgraceful.” 
—Elsewhere in the chamber, at the farthest corner away from Asfi’s party… 
The man clad in white scoffed at the battle unfolding in the distance and raised one hand. 
Aiming his palm at the battlefield, the eyes behind his white skull mask narrowed. 
“Violas.” 
Every monster in the chamber looked up the moment that word left his lips. 
As if they were connected by one mind, one overarching will, their heavy slithering movements broke the silence in the cavern. 
Monsters contained within the black cages broke free and joined the rivers of green flowing directly for Hermes Familia. 
“Wha—?!” 
“Monsters, too?!” 
A joint attack of masked warriors and plant monsters was now under way. 
As the monsters jostled to advance on their position, the adventurers cried out in terror. Vine whips and gigantic fangs mercilessly bore down on them. 
“UWA-AAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!” 
The floral rampage was not only aimed at Asfi and her allies. The tendrils wrapped around anything they touched, and the remaining robed warriors directly in their path were first. The last human was soon halfway down a monster’s throat, screaming and thrashing about as his blood splattered everywhere. 
The monsters were on track to wipe out everything, friend and foe alike. 
“This is a massacre…!!” 
The battle had turned into pandemonium. 
However, the army of zealots paid no attention to the carnivores feasting on their allies and continued their attack on Asfi and her party. They ignited their Inferno Stones the moment they were in a creature’s grasp, catching as many combatants in the blast as possible. Hermes Familia’s teamwork and defenses were not enough to hold the devastation at bay. Chaos was spreading, the battle deteriorating into a nightmare. 
Barely able to defend herself, let alone the casters in the back of the formation, Lulune cried out as the overwhelming number of monster whips caught up to her. 
“Not good…!” 
With her carefully constructed battle formation in ruins, Asfi’s eyes flared to life. 
Allies and enemies were dropping one after another; there wasn’t enough time to tell which was which. 
At this rate, annihilation was just a matter of time. The relentless attacks of the monsters and the fear of the remaining robed warriors detonating their stones kept the still mobile members of Hermes Familia from advancing. 
Retreat was close to impossible in this situation. The party would be mowed down the moment they lowered their weapons to run. 
That white-robed bastard…! 
Shortsword in hand, Asfi rushed to the aid of her allies. Breaking through the front lines of the enemy, she slew masked warriors and monsters alike on her way forward. 
The mysterious man in the white robe and drop-item mask stood far in the distance, well behind the man in the unique robe. Asfi managed to catch a glimpse of the man moving his arm an instant before the plant monsters launched their attack. 
—A tamer, no doubt! 
Asfi developed her own theory about their enemy’s true identity from her limited information. 
It was illogical for one tamer to have so many large-category monsters under his command at one time. However, if this tamer was also behind the mutation of the pantry, a theory could start taking shape. That would also explain their current situation. 
The destruction of friend and foe was the enemy’s—no, the man in white’s plan all along. 
Even if the zealots failed in their mission, the easiest way to clean up the mess was to set the monsters loose. 
If only she could destroy the “head,” including the man in the unique robe guiding the zealots. 
Asfi kicked off the ground, determined to put an end to the chaos. 
“Falgar, take command! Gather everyone together and hold your ground!” 
Even before she finished issuing the order, Asfi tossed a vial of Burst Oil directly into the fray. 
Her target was one particular robed man. His eyes opened wide as the vial hit him square in the chest, flared, and ignited his own Inferno Stones. 
Monsters, masked warriors—everything in the immediate vicinity was caught up in the blast and launched into the air. That provided a window for the war tiger to reestablish formation and for Lulune and the others to catch a breather. Asfi, however, charged directly through the cloud of smoke in front of her. 
Wrapped in the cloak that she designed herself for protection, the swirling heat of the explosion had no effect on her. She cut through the blazing battlefield like a streaking arrow. 
Surprise and horror spread over the face of the man in the unique robe as she broke through the wall of zealots and monsters under the cover of smoke. 
By the time he had drawn his own weapon and braced for combat, it was already too late. 
“GAH!” 
Asfi was already past him, the man collapsing into a pile behind her. 
Aqua-blue hair streaming behind her, she left his bleeding body in her wake. 
She maintained that momentum with her eyes focused directly on the man dressed in white. 
Asfi’s course was set for the ominous figure standing at the base of the quartz pillar, shortsword tightly locked in her grip. 
“You would have been spared so much pain if you’d only let the violas consume you…You are delaying the inevitable,” her target mumbled from the corner of his mouth as he ran to meet her head-on. 
Leaving the feminine fetus at the base of the pillar, the man didn’t back down. 
The distance between Asfi and him disappeared in a heartbeat. Asfi thrust her blade toward the still unarmed man and increased her speed before jumping at her target. 
“Now.” 
“?!” 
In that moment… 
When she was only five steps away, green spears erupted from the ground. 
Sensing danger from beneath, Asfi roughly threw her body to the side. Her desperate change in direction allowed her to dodge the surprise attack by the slimmest of margins. 
When she regained her footing and faced her enemy, the man was already protected by a thick mass of vine whips growing directly out of the floor. What’s more, the surface below was cracking open to reveal more floral beasts. 
Had they been lurking under their feet the whole time? Either way, this new swarm of monsters stood in front of Asfi like an elite guard protecting the master. 
“You move well, adventurer…or should I say Perseus.” 
“Geh—?!” 
“But you shall die.” 
The man spoke in a calm, cold voice as he manipulated the monsters. 
Just as Asfi returned to her feet after her emergency evasion, the swarm charged forward at the man’s command. 
Their fanged blossom heads rained down on her in quick succession like the legendary hydra. Never able to truly regain her balance, Asfi desperately flipped and contorted her body to evade. However, the countless whips swiping at her cut off every escape route. 
She retreated while using her white cloak as a shield, but blows assailed her from every direction at once. 
Asfi grimaced and clicked her tongue before reaching down and stroking her sandals with the tips of her fingers. 
“Talaria.” 
With that word, Asfi disappeared from the path of the whips and fangs. 
The green flesh of the floor shattered on impact, its groans of pain echoing throughout the chamber. 
“What?” 
The eyes behind the skull mask widened in surprise. 
There should have been a corpse lying where the whips and fangs connected, but it wasn’t there. Asfi had disappeared without a trace, leaving the monsters confused as they searched for her. Meanwhile, the man’s gaze had turned to the ceiling. 
There he spotted a figure seemingly floating in midair, standing on white flapping wings attached to her sandals. Asfi. 
“In the air…” 
The man in white couldn’t hide his surprise. Even the remaining masked zealots raised their eyes as Asfi stared down at them. 
Talaria—a magic item created by Perseus herself. 
Each sandal was equipped with two white wings, allowing the wearer free movement through the air. It was the crowning achievement of prodigy Perseus’s inventions thanks to her Advanced Ability Enigma. 
Asfi adjusted her silver glasses while observing the swarm of monsters and the man dressed in white, who were all staring back at her. 
“You have forced my hand. This ends here and now.” 
With those words, she thrust her hand beneath her cloak. 
Her hand emerged with an entire holster-load of Burst Oil between her fingers. Flinging her arm open in a wide arc, she spread out the hail of vials, including her spares, over the targets below. 
The eyes beneath the skull mask opened as far as they would go. 
The crimson liquid grenades triggered a new wave of explosions over the area. 
“?!” 
The destruction had begun. 
Each burst of brilliant red flame hurled monsters haphazardly across the room. Even their dying cries were drowned out by the explosions. Shreds of deeply colored flower petals, fangs, pale-green flesh, whiplike roots, and snakelike bodies were strewn about the floor. 
The rain of Burst Oil was composed of everything Asfi had left. 
She watched the carnage unfolding below with a stoic expression on her face. 
“Tsk!” 
Even from beneath his hastily formed shield of plant-monster bodies, Asfi’s flaming claws drew ever closer. Crimson light dominated his entire field of vision, and the monsters that had absorbed the blow in his place were peeling away. 
The carpet-bombing rattled the very walls of the cavern. 
“—!!” 
Only now did Asfi descend into the plumes of smoke rising toward the ceiling. 
Making it through the outer layer of the hazy dome, she picked up speed. Her knowledge as the creator of Talaria allowed her to move through the air at any speed or direction she wished. She descended into the devastation like a bird of prey searching for its next kill. 
The white smoke filling the air provided her with cover. It was time to strike. 
Too slow! 
She swooped in to ground level directly behind the man dressed in white. 
He had been scanning the space overhead, but she used the smoke to her advantage to attack from a blind spot. He moved to defend himself, but Asfi was faster. 
Now that it was impossible for him to dodge, Asfi thrust her blade toward the chest of her unarmed enemy. 
—You’re mine! 
The sharp blade of her shortsword flashed through the smoke. 

“—” 
But… 
“?!” 
He stopped her blade by grabbing it with his bare hand. 
“Huh…?!” 
Asfi’s eyes went wide, stunned by what she was seeing. 
The man was only halfway turned in her direction, his left hand around the blade of her shortsword. Her momentum died. 
Grabbing a weapon with an unprotected hand was a reckless, desperate defensive tactic. But even so, the man had, with one arm, completely shut down an aerial strike at Talaria’s full speed. 
It defied comprehension. Even though the man’s fingers bled, the sharp edge did little more than penetrate his skin. All the power that Asfi’s Level Four strength could muster was unable to propel the weapon any farther. 
Staunch muscles and a terrifyingly strong grip. 
Two frigid, inhuman eyes fixed on her from beneath the white skull mask. 
A chill colder than anything she’d felt before swept through Asfi’s veins. 
Alarm bells blared inside her mind. She released her sword in a last-ditch attempt to escape, but her enemy didn’t allow it. 
“Nha!” 
“Gah!” 
Grabbing hold of her collar with his free hand, the man in white slammed her to the floor. 
Strength that surpassed comprehension sent Asfi rolling after the impact. Colliding with the charred remains of flower monsters that littered the floor, her body flung chunks of black flesh into the air. 
Searing pain shot through her shoulder. She managed to slow down by digging her feet into the floor, grimacing as she clenched her molars together. 
She leaped to her feet, straight into a cloud of smoke that still hung in the air. 
The man was gone from her line of sight. Head on a swivel, she desperately tried to find his figure in the smoke and scanned every detail in the ever-shifting cloud. 
Just then. 
SHING! 
“—!” 
A sickening sound came from her torso. 
Time stood still for a moment as a burning sensation spread from where the sound came from. 
A red blotch spread out from beneath her combat gear. Only then did she notice the glimmer of the blood-spattered blade protruding from her stomach. Trembling, she looked over her shoulder. 
The man in white was right behind her. 
He held the familiar blade piercing her body, white hair shifting with his momentum. 
Asfi had been run through. Knowing that her opponent got behind her faster than her eyes could see sent a bead of cold sweat down her cheek. Blood spilled from her mouth a heartbeat later. 
SHUCK! She collapsed to the floor, a bloody mess, the moment he pulled the blade out of her. 
She cursed her weakness, and the fact she hadn’t been able to tell the difference in their power, as she fell. 
“Asfi?!” 
Clatter. A metallic echo filled her ears as the man discarded her shortsword. 
Lulune screamed from far away. The sight of their leader collapsing threatened to break the spirit of Hermes Familia. The ranks they had so desperately held in their attempt to fend off the enemy attacks started to fall apart. 
Amid the distant sound of clashing blades, the man in white approached Asfi. 
First, his gaze went to the still extended wings of Talaria, and he smashed them underfoot. Next, he grabbed hold of her neck. 
“Ga-ha, gahh…?!” 
“So, you still cling to life?” 
He proceeded to lift her body high into the air as if she weighed nothing. Asfi’s feet dangled limply above the floor. 
Her combat gear and white cloak had been stained red with her blood, making her look like a crucified martyr. Yet even now, she possessed an undeniable beauty. 
The blood dripping off her boots started to form a red puddle beneath her feet. 
A grin appeared on the man’s lips as his fingers wrapped all the way around Asfi’s thin neck. 
“Be at ease. Adventurer’s tenacity runs deep within you…I’ll suffocate it.” 
Fingers plunged into her skin as he tightened his grip. 
Her weak struggling came to a sudden end, her face contorting. A sadistic gleam in his eyes behind the skull mask, the man squeezed again in an attempt to break her warm neck in half. 
However—that was the moment that the rumble of lightning echoed through the cavern. 
“?!” 
The man in white searched for the source of the noise. What he saw was a werewolf kicking everything in sight—and two elves carrying magical staffs. 
 
“Proud warriors, marksmen of the forest. Take up your bows to face the marauders. Answer the call of your kin, nock your arrows.” 
Lefiya entered the cavern just behind Bete and started using her Magic the moment Filvis’s spell was complete. 
The three adventurers had entered the pantry by the same route Aiz and Hermes Familia had, by breaking through the fleshy “gate” and wandering through the passages. The appearance of this mutated Dungeon—the foul plantlike walls and ceiling—was enough to make them feel physically sick, providing even more incentive to quicken their pace. 
The larger party had left a trail of crystals. That, combined with what they could discern from the slain monsters left in the passageways, guided them directly to the main cavern. 
“The hell’s goin’ on in here?!” 
The first thing Bete saw upon passing through the entrance was a party of adventurers engaged in a desperate fight with a strange group of masked warriors and a swarm of flower monsters. With a surly shout, he raced headlong into the fray. 
He made a split-second decision to eliminate the monsters bearing down on the party. Lending his strength to their cause, his boots connected with the first of the vicious plants at the same time that Filvis unleashed her Magic to cover him. Surprised adventurers watched in shock as he single-handedly pushed the front line back with a flurry of attacks. 
“Bring forth the flames, torches of the forest. Release them, flaming arrows of the fairies.” 
Every enemy on the attack was now Bete’s target. 
The remaining masked warriors started to scream in the face of his onslaught and reached for their cords. But it was already too late. Before they could detonate their payloads, Bete punched and kicked them high into the air, knocking each one unconscious with a single blow. 
At the same time, Filvis dealt with the beasts drawn to Lefiya’s magic by generating her own as a distraction and finishing them off with precise swordwork. 
“Fall like rain, burn the savages to ash!!” 
The moment her chant ended, a golden magic circle illuminated her in a bright light. 
A prum caster in the adventurers’ rear guard looked over her shoulder when she saw the flash. Then her expression changed as she yelled, “E-everyone, take cover!” 
As a specialist herself, she knew the Magic packed into that spell was greater than normal. 
Heeding her warning, the party immediately fell back. Lefiya unleashed a spell powerful enough to frighten another magic user the moment they were clear. 
“Fusillade Fallarica!!” 
Innumerable flames appeared high above her head before descending as a downpour over the battlefield. 
The wide-range offensive spell wiped out the monsters trapped beneath in a matter of moments as a tremor passed through the battlefield. 
Lefiya had pushed both the power and range of the spell to its absolute limit. The surviving robed warriors fled the fiery rain in a panic, leaving the plant monsters behind. Some managed to get away from the inferno by the skin of their teeth. The blazing salvo spread out to cover almost half the cavern, incinerating every large monster that happened to be in the area. 
The vision of all present burned red. 
“Wha—?” 
The man in white took his eyes off Asfi for a moment to gaze at the destructive spell’s aftermath. 
Just barely out of range, a few of the flaming missiles had landed right in front of him. The floor split open at the point of impact, sending tremors under his feet as the man used his free arm to shield his face. 
As the tide of battle turned, Asfi’s blue eyes cleared and locked onto the arm holding her aloft by her neck. Whipping her body in one swift motion, she drew a knife from her holster and slammed it into the man’s wrist. 
“Nah!” 
“!!” 
She drove her heel straight into the man’s chest the moment she felt his grip weaken. 
With missiles still falling behind her, blood continued to flow from the hole in Asfi’s stomach as she broke away from the man’s grasp. 
“Damn you…” The man yanked out the knife impaling his wrist while cursing Asfi’s feeble escape attempt. 
She gained a bit of distance before collapsing in a fit of coughing and falling to her knees in pain. The man held his bleeding wrist and took a step in her direction…when a large explosion and another flash of light caught his attention. He stayed still. 
Ignoring the dying girl at his feet for a moment, the man focused on the new intruders instead. 
“Haah, haah…What…what is this place…?” 
Lefiya muttered as she lowered her staff and took a look around the cavern after eliminating the swarm of monsters. 
The area was composed of relatively soft green walls, and three gigantic flowers bloomed on the quartz pillar. Her Magic had done immense damage to the floor, but it was beginning to heal with stomach-turning gushing noises. More flower buds than she could count dotted the walls and ceiling while the open, vividly colored flowers wiggled their way free. New plant monsters were being born. 
Every one of those buds was a new enemy—that realization made Lefiya’s face turn pale. The mysteries of the living labyrinth were only increasing. 
The sight of human bodies among the corpses of monsters left her lost for words. 
“There were several factions in the battle…?” 
She saw the smoldering corpses of what looked to be adventurers and an incredible number of flower monsters. Filvis stepped up next to Lefiya, frowning as she spoke. 
“Don’t I know you…? No way. Lefiya?!” 
“Eh? Miss Lulune?!” 
A chienthrope—Lulune called out to her, and Lefiya rushed to her side. 
The two had met just prior to the attack on Rivira. The elf was concerned, seeing her acquaintance and her allies covered in injuries. 
“Why are you here—?” 
“Oi, is Aiz here or not? Answer me!” 
Lefiya was interrupted by Bete, who stepped in front of her and approached Lulune. 
Down on one knee, the chienthrope did her best to string words together under his furious gaze as her tail trembled. 
“Sh-she was with us, up until a while back…We got…separated.” 
“Huhh? Whaddaya mean, ‘separated’?” 
“B-b-but right now, please save Asfi!” 
Lulune fell forward, desperately pleading for Bete and Lefiya to leave the questions for later. 
She looked toward the opposite end of the cavern to where the man in white stood. The other adventurers could see a blood-splattered female body on the floor near him. 
The sinister figure looked their way, white hair peeking out from under his mask. 
“This screwed-up pantry, all those freaky monsters—he’s behind everything! It’s all his fault!” 
“…!” 
“We’ll tell you anything you want to know! Just please, save Asfi first…!” 
Confirming Lulune’s assessment, the man raised an arm, causing two flesh-eating plant monsters to emerge from the wall and start slithering toward them. 
Bete narrowed his eyes at the man capable of manipulating monsters. A stunned Lefiya stood next to him. 
The stare from underneath the skull mask was enough to let them know he was their enemy. Bete braced himself for battle beside the elves. 
“Oi, my blades.” 
“R-right away!!” 
Bete didn’t take his eyes off the white-dressed man as he issued Lefiya a command. 
The jittery elf quickly took the tubular backpack off her shoulder and drew twin blades, each fifty celch long. Bete had prepared them before they left home. 
“It’s a pain in the ass, but why the hell not. Can’t stand that look in his eyes.” 
The man had thrashed Asfi within an inch of her life, and Lulune knew the rest of them didn’t stand a chance. Her only choice was to plead with the elite adventurer. Bete’s amber eyes flashed with intensity and locked with the masked man’s gaze. He knew in an instant that their enemy had no intention of letting them walk away whole. 
The carnivorous flowers thundered their broken-bell howls, as if Bete’s equipment change was the signal to attack. They lunged forward from their positions beside the man. 
“Leave the guys in the robes to us! We’ll manage somehow! Both of you, please, go!” 
“O-okay!” Lulune shouted as she watched Bete race into battle. 
The last survivors of the robed faction that managed to regroup were renewing their attack. While Lulune and the rest of the party consumed their healing items and took hold of their weapons, Lefiya nodded. 
Filvis also dipped her head affirmatively before joining her in a race to catch up with Bete. 
The curtain had risen on the second battle within the transformed pantry. 
“?!!” 
“Outta my way!” 
Bete held the twin blades in a reverse grip as he charged straight toward the oncoming flowers. 
Jumping between them, he inflicted fatal gashes along their bodies with two silver swipes. He left Filvis and Lefiya to put the writhing monsters down and continued his advance toward the man in white. 
Filvis begrudgingly fulfilled the job pushed onto her before following suit. 
“Got any more tricks up your sleeve?” 
“More than you could ever imagine, filthy adventurer!” 
Bete had come within striking distance of the man dressed in white. 
Jumping into the air and bringing his blade down like a scythe, Bete missed his furious target. Dodging the attack with ease, the man made a move toward the werewolf’s exposed back, but the ash-gray adventurer was faster. 
A quick pivot on his plant leg and Bete unleashed a fully extended sweeping kick. A tinge of surprise flashed over the man’s face as he was forced to use his right arm to block it. 
“Gah!” 
A shocked grunt escaped his lips. The blow was powerful enough to make his arm go numb. 
“Tsk!” 
Bete clicked his tongue, frustrated that his opponent not only blocked the kick but did so with his arm in one piece. 
“Vanargand…A member of Loki Familia! You came in pursuit of the Sword Princess!” 
“Bastard, what have you done with her?!” 
A grin appeared beneath the skull mask. Bete bared his fangs and intensified his assault. 
Dodging the twin-blade strikes by a hair, the man commenced his own counterattack as he answered. 
“My associate is seeing to her. She should be all but subdued by this point, and I’m sure the Sword Princess is in great hands.” 
“—You die, now.” 
An aura more threatening and murderous than any monster’s emanated from the werewolf as his attacks reached a fever pitch. 
His body became a blur, his frenzied attacks struggling to reach his enemy. The man dressed in white smirked, moving his powerful arms at the same rate and knocking Bete’s blades away. 
“Mr. Bete!” 
“Viridis, stay back! Ready support—!!” 
The two elves had arrived in time to witness the hand-to-hand brawl between Bete and the man. The two began casting to assist their ally. 
However, their desire to help was pointless because their target was moving too fast. Every time they caught a glimpse of him and pointed their staffs, the enemy was already gone. 
H-he’s so fast— 
Aiming is impossible! 
The high-speed battle overwhelmed Lefiya and Filvis. Neither could get a clean shot. 
Their eyes could hardly follow the exchange of powerful blows and counterattacks. The instant an attack was blocked, the defender had already wheeled around to strike from the exposed side. By the time one of the elves had lined up for a ranged attack, the battle had already moved to a different location. The two elves spent so much time lining up their sights that neither could pull the trigger. 
Afterimages of gray werewolf fur and white streaks of hair behind the skull mask streaked across the battlefield. 
“On par with a strong upper-class adventurer…” 
Filvis’s red-gem eyes shook with fear. Lefiya’s dark-blue irises were also trembling, but out of disbelief. 
—A match for Mr. Bete?! 
The man in white clearly matched the fastest member of Loki Familia blow for blow. Trying to comprehend how this man was competing with a captain of the strongest familia in Orario was too much for her to handle. 
He might have been slightly slower, but there was no mistake the man was physically stronger than Bete. Even more disturbing was his ability to endure damage and continue attacking. 
The werewolf’s metallic silver boots landed hit after hit all over the man’s body, but it did not faze his enemy in the slightest. Bete snarled with rage as his opponent countered from every angle with enough force to tear the werewolf limb from limb should he connect. Each near miss ripped long gashes in Bete’s combat gear, sending bits of fabric to the floor below. 
It was the same feeling—Lefiya had seen that strength before. 
The battle between Aiz and the red-haired woman in Rivira replayed in the back of her mind. 
The Sword Princess had failed to defeat the woman who was also able to block Lefiya’s magic with her bare hands. 
The raw power of Bete’s opponent was extremely similar to what she saw on that day. 
“Violas!” 
The battlefield changed once again while Lefiya was lost in thought. 
On the plantlike ceiling, several red flower buds far above the combatants’ heads bloomed. The creatures opened their mouths wide, baring their fangs at the battle below, and dropped down at the man’s call. 
Bete was quick to dodge the massive incoming shadows. A chorus of dull, thudding impacts filled the chamber as the monsters rose from their landings and began their pursuit. 
“You bastard!” 
Four of the monsters charged him in unison. Bete was forced to divide his attention, defending himself with his twin swords and sending their gigantic frames flying with a flurry of kicks as the man in white charged in. 
The man smirked and punched with all his might. Bete blocked the straightforward attack with his metal boots. 
The force of the blow knocked him off balance, providing the reinforcements with an opening to flood the battle with vine whips. 
“Mr. Bete!” 
Even though all the whips were sliced down before they could connect, the man had already renewed his assault. 
Lefiya watched in horror as Bete was forced to contend with the man’s flurry of attacks without finishing off the monsters surrounding them. 
“—My apologies, Miss Filvis. Protect me!” 
Lefiya raised her staff and started casting without waiting for Filvis’s response. 
“Unleashed pillar of light, limbs of the holy tree!” 
Her magic circle expanding, Lefiya’s chant rose high into the air. 
The only way to help Bete now was to take advantage of the plant monsters’ instinct to pursue magic energy. By offering herself as bait, she could take some of the pressure off her ally. 
“Pay her no mind, violas! Kill the werewolf first!” 
“!” 
However, the man’s voice cut through the chamber the moment the monsters paused to look in Lefiya’s direction. 
They followed the man’s command and prioritized Bete, continuing their attack. The tamer’s quick reaction thwarted Lefiya’s plan. 
“Enough of this!” 
Wand and sword at the ready, Filvis charged headlong into the fray. 
Lefiya watched and realized the only thing left for her now was to provide ranged support. She continued her trigger spell. 
“You are the master archer!” 
Feeling Lefiya’s concerned gaze behind her, Filvis cut her way through a never-ending stream of monster vines. 
Broken-bell howls rent the air one after another as a streak of pure-white combat gear made it to the other side. Harnessing the powerful mobility that magic swordsmen were known for, Filvis swiftly beheaded the closest beast without losing her forward momentum. 
She dispatched another monster with the sword in her right hand before bringing the wand in her left forward. 
“Loose your arrows, fairy archers—!” 
“Purge, cleansing lightning!” 
There was no hesitation in her voice as Filvis ended her short-trigger spell. 
Concurrent Casting executed to perfection, she aimed her wand—at the man dressed in white. 
“Dio Thyrsos!” 
A thick bolt of lightning blasted forth. 
It tore into the flesh of monsters that happened to be in the line of fire, a jagged stream of golden plasma on a collision course with the eyes behind the skull mask. 
“You idiot!!” 
Bete roared as soon as he caught a glimpse of what was happening. 
While he was occupied beating the remaining three creatures to a pulp, the man in white grinned and ran toward the lightning. 
Filvis’s red-jewel eyes went wide, quivering at the sight. 
The palm of the man’s left hand stopped her golden lightning cold. Unable to continue forward, the bolt split left and right. Although it was a short-trigger spell, it was powered by Level Three magic energy. Time slowed to a crawl for the elf girl as she watched the man demonstrate his immense power, literally cutting her magic in half with his bare hand as he charged right for her. 
Lefiya was unable to scream during her incantation, but she turned pale as a ghost, lips frozen in place. 
“So weak!” 
Filvis saw the fist sweeping up at her and reflexively moved to avoid it. 
Raising her sword at an angle to guide the blow away from her body did nothing. Her weapon provided as much resistance as a toothpick, shattering at the moment of impact. The man’s fist broke through her defense, connected, and sent her flying. 
The man charged after her, catching up to the tumbling elf and reaching for her neck. 
“Dammit, elf!” 
“GaHA!” 
It happened the instant before the man’s hand reached its target. 
Bete’s foot collided with Filvis, sending her into the air once again. 
The elf’s limp body arced through the air as the man in white watched with a sneer. Bete’s tattoo rippled across his cheek. 
As if ridiculing the werewolf who rescued the woman, the man in white raised an arm to finish it. 
Lefiya’s magic would arrive too late. The tide of battle had turned too far in the man’s favor. 
All he had to do to end it was deliver the blow. Bete was defenseless, desperately trying to protect himself. 
“—” 
From out of nowhere… 
The eyes beneath the mask widened mid-leer. 
The attacker took evasive action. 
His forward movement came to a halt, body tilting backward ever so slightly as a red line appeared across his chest. Eh? Lefiya thought in surprise, unable to voice it. 
The sound of a blade slicing through flesh had come from the space where there shouldn’t be anything. 
The red line cut deepest just below the man’s neck, and a stream of blood sprayed into the air. 
Lefiya, Filvis, and Bete watched in shock as the man in white wildly swung at the air with one arm in a rage. 
“Wench!” 
His extended fist hit something with a sharp WHAM! 
A string of loud cracks rang out after the impact, and a young woman’s body materialized out of thin air. 
—Perseus!! 
Glistening aqua-blue hair reflected in Lefiya’s eyes, allowing her to discern the woman’s identity. 
A renowned item maker famous throughout Orario, and also the person Lulune had begged them to save. The leader of Hermes Familia, Asfi Al Andromeda. 
Despite her serious injuries and being on the brink of death, she had likely made herself invisible—with a magic item that hid her from sight—and ambushed the man. 
“—Look at you, now!” 
A dark-black helmet had been destroyed, disabling her invisibility, and its fragments were scattered about the floor. Her voice was weak despite the faint smile on her face as she collapsed. The shortsword clenched in her fist glinted next to her, the man’s rage-filled eyes reflected in its blade. 
That was the weapon that had inflicted the wound in the man’s neck, which was still gushing fountains into the air. 
The werewolf, already out for blood, licked his lips as he saw the enemy lose his balance. 
Eyes flashing, Bete renewed his attack with a vengeance. 
“GRAHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!” 
“GOAH!” 
A front kick, straight and sharp as an arrow, accompanied by whirling twin swords. 
The kicks kept coming—a storm of sharp slashes and powerful blows pummeled the man dressed in white. 
The force of each impact sent him staggering backward. The blades cut through the cloth covering his body, splitting the skin beneath before the metal boots hammered the man’s body like rampaging wrecking balls. 
For the first time, the man allowed one of Bete’s kicks to connect with his face. A web of cracks instantly spread out over his mask. 
“Don’t—PUSH YOUR LUUUUUUCK!!” 
Consumed by a new wave of rage, the man started to fight back against Bete’s onslaught. 
As if the grotesque number of cuts covering his body weren’t there at all, he took hold of the extended twin swords and drove his fist into the flat part of the blades, breaking them in half. Bete howled as he threw away the now useless weapons and coaxed even more speed out of his feet. 
Neither side was backing down. 
“—Pierce, arrow of accuracy!” 
The combatants matched each other blow for blow as Lefiya finally completed her trigger spell. 
The bow had been drawn, the arrow nocked, and all that remained was to let it fly. 
The man had yet to show any sign of pain despite the terrific strikes his body had absorbed. Unable to overcome a staunch defense that was reminiscent of a floor boss’s, Bete couldn’t deliver a decisive blow. If she was going to use magic, it was now or never. 
—But how? 
However, Lefiya was wavering. 
She’d seen the man physically overpower magic with her own eyes. What if what just happened to Filvis happened to her, just as the red-haired woman had done in Rivira? 
That woman’s ferocious visage overlapped the man in white, sending fear down Lefiya’s spine and freezing her hand in place. 
“The hell are you waiting for?!” 
“!” 
Bete’s yell made Lefiya’s shoulders jump. 
Despite being in the middle of an intense brawl, he made eye contact with her for a split second. His voice echoed through the cavern around the frozen Lefiya. 
“Do it, shoot!!” 
The look in his amber eyes provided the push she needed. The hesitation was gone. 
She pulled back on the loaded bow and let the arrow fly. 
“Arcs Ray!!” 
A flash of light from the magic circle accompanied the pillar of glowing energy hurtling toward her target. 
The man in white saw the straight beam approaching and moved to block it head-on. 
“When will you learn your lesson?!” 
The man thrust out his right arm to block the magic—when the beam of light started to turn. 
“?!” 
As for where the arrow of light was headed, it was now on course to collide with Bete’s metallic boots. 
Frosvirt: a second-tier Superior weapon. What set these mythril boots apart from the rest was their ability to absorb magic. 
“Now that’s what I’m talkin’ about!” 
Lefiya’s offensive spell, Arcs Ray, had the ability to hone in on its target. 
The elf was not targeting the man in white. This magic arrow would twist and turn until it connected with Bete. 
The man swiped at open air as the beam of light curved around him. Lefiya had correctly interpreted what her comrade had been trying to say. The corners of the werewolf’s lips curled upward. 
His right boot pulsed with magic energy as the arrow disappeared into it. 
“Rot in hell.” 
“!” 
His target in sight, Bete closed in at breakneck speed. 
The man in white spun to evade, but Bete didn’t give him the chance. 
Moving into point-blank range, he slammed his shining boot directly into his opponent. 
“?!” 
The man in white disappeared into the explosive impact of the magically enhanced boot. 
His smoking body blasted out of the plume a moment later, arms crossed defensively over his chest as he streaked through the chamber like a comet. 
The man landed on his back, but his momentum carried him deeper into the chamber, ripping holes in the fleshy green floor as he went. His path through the piles of monster ash sent black clouds into the air in his wake, all the way until he came to a merciful stop at the base of the quartz pillar. 
Just as the high-pitched echoes from the impact began to fade in the chamber, the sounds of battle on the other side also came to an end. Lulune and the rest of Hermes Familia had managed to dispatch the remaining robed warriors once and for all. 
“Asfi!” Lulune was the first to dash across the chamber, shouting, her allies not far behind. Everyone had uncorked high potions in hand the moment they reached where Asfi fell, and Lulune dumped a virtual waterfall of Tiger Cub Elixir on her leader’s body. Light from magical healing spells enveloped the woman’s body. 
Asfi, completely drenched in liquid, slowly but surely opened her eyes. Lulune was almost in tears as she dove in for a hug filled with pure joy and relief. 
“Did you get him…?” 
“I aimed to kill when I hit the bastard.” 
Filvis returned to the group, staggering as she clutched her injured shoulder while Asfi climbed weakly to her feet. Bete looked past the elf toward the clouds of ash. 
Having unloaded every bit of magical energy into that one kick, Frosvirt had returned to its normal appearance. 
No matter how good the man’s Defense attribute was, it was unlikely anyone could walk away from a hit like that. 
The awe-inspiring power was possible only because of Bete’s physical strength and Lefiya’s magic. The elf nervously waited as moments passed. 
A plume of smoke formed from the disturbed monster ash. The cloud expanded to overtake the chamber, blinding them. Only the sloshing sounds of the gigantic flower monsters absorbing the liquid from the quartz pillar could be heard in the darkness. 
“—?” 
The ash began to settle, a red light penetrating through the smoke. 
The ones who’d been watching the fading plume with bated breath suddenly trembled. 
A human figure stood in the middle of it. It took a few steps forward a moment later. 
“What kind of monster is this guy…?” mumbled Lulune as she lent her shoulder to Asfi, who was also frowning. 
Most corpses looked healthier than the man in white did, but he stood on his own two feet nonetheless. 
His arms were barely recognizable after taking the brunt of Bete’s attack. His forearms were broken in several places, the skin was burned to a crisp, and blood leaked from open wounds. His combat gear was in tatters, its once-white surfaces stained with blood in several places, especially across the chest. 
His white skull helmet hadn’t survived. The man’s dull-white hair flowed freely. 
“…That was a nice try.” 
The man’s pale lips opened. 
Though his face was downturned, mostly hidden behind hair, his devious smile was just visible. 
“However, bodies endowed with Her love don’t crumble so easily.” 
He raised his head with his mouth slightly open in a sneer. That’s when the adventurers saw it. 
The man’s body was changing. 
It started with the arms that Bete had all but destroyed and the cut from Asfi’s blade that had nearly taken off his head. 
The wounds were closing on their own. 
“Impossible—!” 
Lefiya couldn’t believe her eyes. 
The same was true for Filvis, Asfi, Lulune, and Bete. 
This was no healing magic but pure self-regeneration. Lefiya and the adventurers watched in horror as all traces of their battle started to disappear from the man’s body. Sparkling fragments of light—residue from magic energy—rose from his body like steam. 
No one present could say a thing. The last of the ash cloud dissipating, the man stepped into the light and revealed his identity. 
“Wha…?” 
Asfi was the first one to react. 
His face, paler than a dying man’s, was such a shock that she couldn’t move. 
“Mi…Miss Filvis?” 
“…Why?” 
Filvis had the same reaction as Asfi. 
Lefiya knew something was wrong immediately when she saw the expressions on the two women’s faces and sensed the tension in the air. 
Feeling Lefiya’s gaze at her side, Filvis’s lips trembled as she spoke. 
“Olivas Act…” 
The atmosphere became grave the moment that name reached the other adventurers’ ears. The man in white had their full attention. 
The group began to stir as confusion descended upon them. 
“Olivas Act…? The White Devil, Vendetta?! It can’t be!” 
Voice going up an octave, Lulune blinked many times as she studied the man’s face. 
It was as though her memory were arguing with her eyes. It took all she had to squeeze words out of her dry throat. 
“B-but Vendetta is…!” 
Lefiya looked around in confusion as the only one who had no recollection of that name. She desperately tried to meet someone’s eyes to get an explanation. 
Asfi was flabbergasted, absolutely stunned—until she couldn’t take it anymore and howled at the top of her lungs: 
“Impossible! A dead man cannot possibly be standing here!” 
Her high-pitched voice echoed throughout the chamber. 
Lefiya couldn’t quite comprehend the true meaning of her words. However, the intensity of her expression, as well as those of Filvis and all of Hermes Familia, made her blood run cold. 
“A…a dead man…?” 
Lefiya felt her lips shaking, but she was barely aware of her own voice as it spilled out. 
Asfi attempted to dispel her own doubts by voicing what she knew about the man under the red light of the quartz pillar. 
“Olivas Act…Estimated to be Level Three, he was a wanted man who was given the title ‘White Devil, Vendetta.’ His god returned to Tenkai, and the rest of his familia was wiped out.” 
Stepping away from Lulune’s shoulder, she took a defensive stance with her eyes locked onto him. 
“A known Evils disciple…and the mastermind behind the Twenty-Seventh-Floor Nightmare.” 
“—?!” 
Lefiya immediately turned to Filvis. 
The Twenty-Seventh-Floor Nightmare. A calamity of immense proportions brought on by the Evils who had claimed countless lives. It was also the event that had robbed her friend of her allies and taken her pride as an elf. 
Lefiya saw all the color drain from Filvis’s face. The elf was frozen in place. 
“Familias fighting in the name of the Guild cornered him during the battle, and he was consequently devoured by monsters…His death should have been confirmed when the shredded remains of his lower body were discovered.” 
Her gaze never left the man in front of them while she described his gruesome end. 
In the midst of her waking nightmare, she spoke to Olivas directly. 
“Did you survive…?” 
“No, I died. However, I have been revived from the brink of death.” 
Olivas answered with great pride. 
At the opportunity to show them his badly injured body—that is to say, the self-regeneration keeping him alive—a look of joy bordering on ecstasy appeared on his face. He then began to run his fingers up his legs, over his stomach, and up to his chest, caressing every curve. 
The sudden change in Olivas’s demeanor sent another chill up Lefiya’s spine. 
Her eyes followed his hands, leading her to notice something very unusual about him. 
The skin on his lower body, beneath the torn combat gear… 
Both his legs were the same shade of yellowish green as the plant monsters’. 
What’s more, shining through from under the skin healing just beneath his neck was a crystal. 
No, a richly colored magic stone was buried deep in his chest. 
“—!” 
This time, Lefiya screamed. 
Others around her had noticed, too. Each of them had turned pale. 
Olivas’s devious grin widened, his eyes flashing. Lefiya and the adventurers had lost all sense of calm, and the man wanted to press his advantage. Holding the wound open, he made certain that everyone could see the vivid magic stone in his chest. 
“I have been granted a second life by none other than Her!!” 
The red glow of the quartz pillar behind him made the man’s visage only more menacing. 
BA-DUM. The feminine fetus encased in the orb at the base of the pillar kicked its legs.