Dungeon ni Deai o Motomeru no wa Machigatte Iru Darou ka - Volume 10 - Chapter 9

CHAPTER 9 

DREAMS OF BEASTS 

A cracked and broken blue crystal pillar gave way and crashed to the floor. 

Piles of scattered debris were the only remnants of tents and wooden buildings, while broken magic-stone products burned amid the rubble. The town of outlaws had fallen silent amid swelling dust clouds and pillars of smoke. 

The Dungeon, eighteenth floor. The Under Resort. 

On top of a large island in the middle of the lake on the western side lay the ruins of what once was the town of Rivira. 

The walls of stone and crystal that encompassed the town were badly damaged and crumbling from the north gate—a gruesome record of the attackers’ overwhelming onslaught. Blue and white crystal stubs stuck out of the wreckage; the ground was strewn with broken sword blades and shattered ax heads and splashes of blood. The wreckage spoke to the residents’ and adventurers’ desperate attempt to fight back. 

Smoke was still rising in small columns throughout the Dungeon’s outpost town, now a mere shell of its former self. 

“What have you done with my kind?! Out with it, human!!” 

A deep, monstrous voice speaking in the language of the surface echoed through the rubble. 

An ash-colored stone gargoyle stood with its massive wings spread wide over a male adventurer, who lay on his back with both legs broken, at the end of a now abandoned street. 

“Wha—huh…?! What’re you talking about, freak…? I don’t understand…!” 

The man was one of the few adventurers who hadn’t reacted to the monsters’ attack in time. He gasped at the pain while blood gushed from his legs. With tears building in his eyes, the man madly yelled at the ominous monster, insisting that the beast’s claims made no sense. 

Fresh blood dripped from the goliath’s stone claws—and Gros bared his menacing fangs. 

“Do not take me for a fool!! You reek of arachne acid!!” 

“……?!” 

“The will of my comrade says you’re filth!!” 

The human’s face contorted as Gros bellowed each syllable with burning rage. 

It wasn’t that the man had failed to escape in time. Unlike the other adventurers, Gros and the other Xenos hadn’t let him escape. 

He belonged to Ikelos Familia as one of the hunters who had attacked Ranieh’s group. The man left the group to receive medical attention for the venomous burns and entered Rivira after the hunt concluded, mingling with those who had a reason to hide from the law. 

The arachne poison’s acidic fumes guided the Xenos to Rivira just like a string of webbing would have. That was her goal all along. 

Monsters possessing an extremely acute sense of smell had no trouble leading the others directly to the source. 

Not only was destroying Rivira a way to weed out Ikelos’s followers, it also symbolized just how deep the Xenos’s anger ran. 

“Answer the question!! Where did you take my kind?!” 

The gargoyle’s grating yells continued as other Xenos with Gros formed a threatening ring around the two of them. Terror and despair flooded the man’s face at the dozens of deafening, beastly howls. 

The other two hunters who accompanied him had been discovered and slain soon after the attack on Rivira began. 

The claws and fangs of the enraged Xenos had torn them apart. Their shredded, bloody remains were sprawled out in front of the monster ring. 

With no way to talk his way out and no hope of escape, the deathly pale man shivered as his trembling lips formed a smile. 

“HAH! HA-HA-HA!…It’d be pointless to tell you, ’cause you’d never make it…!” 

He forced a brave face and tried to toy with his captors—but when Gros plunged a merciless claw straight into his shoulder, the man’s laugh turned into a high-pitched scream. “KYAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!” he yelled as blood sprayed from his wound like a geyser. 

“Speak!! Spit it out!!” 

The gargoyle leaned in, his fangs close enough to sink into the man at any moment. 

Gros’s terrifying interrogation was too much to handle, and the man quickly gave in. 

But rather than speaking, he lifted the only appendage still under his control, his right arm, and pointed. 

That trembling finger was aimed away from the island town—toward the forest that dominated the east. 

“The forest…? Where in the forest?! Tell me what is there!” 

“E-east edge…There’s a door…!” 

Gros glared down menacingly at the man whose face was a mess, covered in rivers of tears and snot. 

The Xenos were familiar with many Frontiers, like their Hidden Villages, as well as many shortcuts that adventurers didn’t know existed, but none of them had ever heard of the door on the eighteenth floor. 

Gros reared back with a howl, hoping to extract more information out of him, but… 

“Like I said, you don’t have one of those, so you’ll never make it inside…!” 

“Explain!!” 

“It’s pointless…! Just give up…!!” 

The man’s answer made one thing clear: they were wasting time on a pointless interrogation. 

The gargoyle’s stone-cold expression shifted into a fierce scowl, glaring with fire in his eyes at the Ikelos Familia hunter who had outlived his usefulness. His claws swiped down. 

Ignoring the severed hand rolling across the floor, Gros turned to face his fellow Xenos and spoke. 

“To the east! The surface dwellers have our comrades in a base on the forest’s eastern edge!! Find it!!” 

The monsters’ instantaneous howl of approval rumbled down the flattened street once the order was given. 

They took the shortest route, a straight line leading east. The Xenos who couldn’t fly bounded down the sheer cliffs around Rivira while winged monsters took to the air, their eyes locked on their target. 

“—Gros!” 

The gargoyle was just about to join them when another Xenos called out to him. 

He turned to look where his comrade was pointing—the eighteenth floor’s southern edge. 

“Those are…!!” 

A group of adventurers emerged from the tunnel that connected to the seventeenth floor. 

“Rivira…!” 

Bell spotted pillars of smoke rising from the west the moment he emerged from the dim, rocky tunnel. 

The subjugation team tore through the Dungeon at a breakneck speed and arrived on the eighteenth floor in record time. Ganesha Familia’s elites single-handedly eliminated the monsters in their way without breaking stride on the trip down, while Bell was the only one gasping for breath and struggling to keep up in his supporter garb. 

The thirty-member subjugation team arrived at the scene and wasted no time jumping into action. 

“Commander, your orders…!” 

“Wait, sister—look there!” 

The Amazon Ilta interrupted Modaka and pointed high above their heads. 

Several dark shadows were flapping along in unison just beneath the ceiling’s bright crystal lights. 

“Winged monsters…wearing armor.” 

Shakti had difficulty believing what she could still clearly see. 

Monsters equipped with protected plates and other armor. According to their information, these were the monsters that had attacked Rivira, and what they had been sent to tame. 

Ganesha Familia’s strongest adventurers narrowed their eyes, making Bell even more nervous, and stepped out of the tunnel. The group marched directly through the thin forest in their path and dashed into the vast plains beyond. 

“…! There’s other monsters, in the plains…!” 

“Moving eastward…to the forest? Why would they be going there?” 

Coming from where Rivira stood on the western side of the floor, they dashed across the plains and passed the Central Tree entirely, going into the lush forest to the east. 

Ganesha Familia watched the group of monsters, who outnumbered their winged companions, travel across the landscape. 

As for why the monsters that had destroyed Rivira would go into the large forest, the subjugation team could only guess. 

“Sister, what say you?” 

“…We’ll split in two. Momonga, take a small team to Rivira! See if there are any survivors!” 

“Yes, ma’am! Also, my name is Modaka!!” 

“The rest of you, with me! We follow the monsters into the forest!” 

The young man, his name mistaken yet again, swiftly assembled a team of five adventurers to join him before separating from Shakti’s main force. Bell paused for a moment at the back of the formation as both groups took off in opposite directions, wondering which way he should proceed, when… 

“Let’s make for the forest.” 

“Fels!” 

“Rivira is likely little more than a ghost town. Lido was among the group that went east.” 

Fels, practically invisible at Bell’s side, conveyed the information. 

It was true; Bell had seen them as well. 

He had seen a siren and gargoyle among the winged monsters in the air. And the ground procession included a lamia, a troll, a unicorn…and a lizardman racing across the plain. 

The truth was starting to set in for Bell, his heart pounding harder than ever before. The boy was relieved not to see the dragon girl among their ranks at first, but then it made him uneasy. 

With a deep breath to calm the surge of complicated emotions, Bell gave Fels a nod and turned to follow the larger group. He pumped his arms and ran so fast that his robe flapped behind him like a flag in the middle of a storm. 

The dense, thick forest that stretched from the southern edge all the way to the eastern perimeter of the eighteenth floor was shaped like a massive gulf, the perfect spot for a port if the safe point in the Dungeon were connected to an ocean. It was enormous, covering more than one fifth of the Under Resort. Compared to the southern region of the floor, the foliage of the eastern and southeastern areas was a deeper green, and the trees were noticeably bigger. 

Moss grew on the exposed tree roots. Tall trees formed a thick green canopy far overhead. Pristine blue rivers snaked along the ground. The trickling sound of water filled the air. White and blue crystals so large they could have been mistaken for shortswords sparkled. All this dreamy, beautiful landscape was nothing but a blur. Bell was so focused on keeping up with the subjugation team that he didn’t have time to wonder if the invisible Fels was still with him. 

Then Shakti, who had kept a consistent eye on the winged monsters far overhead through the branches and leaves at the head of the formation, raised her arm. It was a signal to her subordinates. They were on course to intercept their targets. The long-awaited encounter was upon them. 

Bell braced himself for the moment. But before he got close enough to see the monsters himself, snarling howls drew his attention elsewhere. 

“Huh…?” 

“What the hell is…!” 

Ganesha Familia accelerated toward the ferocious roars coming from just ahead and saw—monsters locked in an all-out brawl to the death. 

“They’re fighting each other…!” 

The leader Shakti, the Amazon Ilta, and the other members squinted and tilted their heads, struggling to comprehend what was going on. 

In fact, the only ones who understood what they were seeing were Fels and Bell. 

The Xenos, targeted by both humans and monsters like themselves, were under attack. 

At first glance, Bell didn’t realize that the monsters hell-bent on tearing their opponents apart were the ones he’d shaken hands with only a few days ago. Their aura was so different. It was almost as though bloodthirsty savages were hacking and slicing their way through obstacles—bugbears and mad beetles—in their way. 

Bell stared from beneath his hood, eyes trembling, when one of the Xenos realized they had company. 

Suddenly—the Xenos let out a roar and charged without a second thought. 

“?!” 

Battle broke out before Bell and Fels could process their shock. 

Seeing humans reignited the Xenos’s rage, and their bloodshot eyes pulsed as they descended upon the newcomers with beastly vengeance. 

“Forward, my warriors!!” 

Shakti spoke with calm determination, the rest of Ganesha Familia howling their own war cries behind her. 

The clashing of swords echoed through the forest. 

“Sister! Do we have to tame each one of these things?” 

“Only the subspecies! Focus on the ones wearing armor!” 

Without warning, all the monsters that had been fighting among themselves suddenly turned to attack the adventurers in a mad rush. Supporters hastily drew taming whips, passing them to Shakti as she issued orders to Ilta. 

Their targets were easily distinguishable. Monsters fighting with nothing more than the claws and skin they were born with stood out from the ones equipped with blades and steel. There was no question their focus was on the latter. 

But above all—they were strong. Even if their targets weren’t wearing armor, the adventurers could tell the difference immediately on contact. 

The bugbears and mad beetles fell easily, but they were at a loss as to how to handle the armed monsters. Ganesha Familia members scrunched up their faces in frustration as their weapons were effortlessly knocked away time and again. 

“Fels—!” 

“ORHOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!” 

“—Gah!” 

Bell became separated from Fels in the surge of enemies. It took all he had just to keep his feet. With no time to draw his knife, he dove, jumped, and evaded incoming claws and fangs until he was forced to defend with the gauntlets beneath his robe. 

The battle inside the lush forest had become a three-sided free-for-all. 

“Those Ganesha Familia guys are losing ground.” 

—A few sets of eyes watched from a high vantage point not too far behind. 

Aisha, Lyu, and Asfi lurked behind a thick bush as they observed the tide of battle. 

The three women had followed Bell and the rest of the subjugation team all the way here, staying far enough behind to avoid detection. The unexpected battle was well under way when they arrived. 

“The armed monsters…they’re strong. Some more so than others, but all are combat veterans.” 

“Yeah, and their blood’s boiling by the look of them. Good luck trying to tame that. So it looks like ‘Ankusha’ and the other leaders are holding their own…” 

“Well, that’s assuming they can even be tamed at all.” 

Asfi remarked in a quiet voice next to Lyu as the elf removed her helmet, appearing out of thin air. 

Ganesha Familia had more first-tier adventurers than any other familia in Orario, eleven in total. All of them might only have been at Level 5, but they could safely travel well into the deep levels on expeditions, making the group one of the Labyrinth City’s prominent familias. 

Now, the subjugation team was composed of thirty adventurers all at Level 3 and above. There was no shortage of first-tier adventurers in their ranks. 

However, being straddled with the unfortunate obligation to tame these monsters meant Ganesha Familia couldn’t fight at full strength. This unorganized scuffle of a battle only made matters worse. 

But their biggest fear was the armored monsters’ power. 

At the very least, three of them—a gargoyle, a siren, and a lizardman—had demonstrated the potential to go toe to toe with the subjugation team’s first-tier adventurers and come out on top. Stone wings went from being a shield one moment to a blunt weapon the next; powerful sound waves blasted from overhead; a longsword and scimitar moved with a skill belied by the wielder’s wild techniques. Other than Shakti, the adventurers were forced to defend lest the vicious counterattacks finish them off. 

With access to a plethora of information, Asfi had been aware of the Xenos’s existence beforehand. She stayed calm, carefully observing the situation from afar. 

“Asfi, Leon. Please avoid unnecessary engagements. Explaining ourselves if we’re seen will cause more trouble than it’s worth. Our purpose here is only to collect information and to serve as Bell Cranell’s—” 

Whoosh. Lyu suddenly stood up in the middle of Asfi’s directions. 

“I shall assist.” 

“Huh, wai—Leon!” 

The elf warrior’s sense of justice wouldn’t allow her to sit on the sidelines and watch Ganesha Familia suffer. 

“Moreover, we have lost sight of Mr. Cranell. I shall fight and search at the same time.” 

“Aren’t you being a bit overprotective there? That kid can fend for himself when he has to.” 

“You are the one who brought me here for the sole purpose of protecting him…or am I to believe that you will stay behind?” 

“Oh, you know I’m going.” 

Ignoring Asfi’s gaping mouth, the Amazon Aisha lifted her thick wooden sword and placed it on her shoulder with excitement. 

“A-at least wear the helmets! It’s much easier to move when unseen, and convenient besides…!” 

“I have a natural aversion to hiding my form in battle. Cowardly tactics don’t suit me.” 

“I don’t need it, either. All helmets and armor do is get in the way, am I right?” 

Asfi reached out, glasses sliding down her nose. “Wait…!!” she cried out in vain as Lyu and Aisha discarded their Hades Head items on the ground. Battle cloth shifting as they turned, the two women raced into battle. 

Perseus custom-made rare magic items, worth hundreds of thousands of valis each, lay abandoned on the floor. 

“I swear…!!” 

Asfi quickly moved to collect them. The item maker, whose life work had been rejected, left her Hades Head right where it was and stayed invisible. 

The fierce battle between surface people and monsters continued to escalate. 

With the need to tame their adversaries holding them back, the adventurers fought hard as the monsters unleashed their rage. 

The armed monsters—even the humanoid Xenos—were doused in fresh blood. 

It hid their normally tidy appearances and formed an outward sign of their inner fury, transforming them into hideous beasts. Pupils narrowed to vertical slits, dripping in the blood of their victims, they overwhelmed the adventurers. 

“?!!” 

“Guh…!” 

The Amazon Ilta fell to one knee after taking the brunt of one of the golden-winged siren’s malicious sound blasts. 

The two had been fighting at a blistering pace, zipping from tree to tree. The Amazon’s punches and kicks tore through the air, but her opponent’s ranged attack also damaged her nearby allies. With no answer for the siren’s troublesome technique, it was only a matter of time before the first-tier adventurer took a hit. 

The siren flapped its wings, launching a volley of feather bullets directly at Ilta—but… 

“Careful there!” 

“!” 

A large wooden blade swung in from out of nowhere, deflecting every bullet in one swoop. 

“You’re just full of surprises, aren’t you?!” 

“?!” 

Aisha kicked off a nearby tree into the air and forced the siren to jerk out of the way of her oncoming heel. 

Ilta, arms still raised to protect herself, watched in shock. 

“Antianeira?! Why are you here?!” 

“Don’t get hung up on small details, Amazoness. Let me get in on this.” 

Aisha looked over her shoulder with a grin the moment she landed. 

“Besides, you could use some help, right?” 

“…Enough sass. Defend us while we tame!” 

Ilta shouted and slammed the whip in her right hand into the ground hard enough to send a plume of dirt into the air as she and Aisha raced back into the fray. 

“Their strength is undeniable—but their rage blinds them.” 

“GAH!” a monster shrieked. 

“While they are a force to be reckoned with head-on, they are vulnerable to sneak attacks.” 

While the Amazonian warrior went her own way, delivering blow after powerful blow, Lyu dropped into battle from a tree overhead with her wooden sword ready to strike. She locked on to an armored silverback’s head and knocked it out with one blow. 

Lyu appeared just in time to save a male adventurer from certain death. Dumbfounded, he stared at her while she readjusted her hood to keep her face hidden. 

“Y-you! Who are you? What are you?!” 

“…Just a traveler passing through.” 

“You can’t be serious!!” 

Ganesha’s antics had made his followers familiar with the art of responding to nonsense. The unknown hooded adventurer joined the battle in support while others chimed in. 

“Reinforcements…? Must be adventurers who came up from the deep levels. Then again, that elf…” 

Shakti took notice of Lyu and Aisha almost immediately. She realized that having two warriors not restricted to taming in battle could be advantageous. After sending a charging troll flying backward with a single punch, she whirled away from a unicorn trying to skewer her and knocked it off balance with her whip. The monster spun to the ground. 

Her battle cloth probably would have been more appropriate at a festival rather than the battlefield. The long slits in the fabric allowed her freedom of movement and whipped around as the other members of Ganesha Familia regrouped around her. 

“SHAAA!!” 

“Wh…?!” 

Elsewhere, Bell was struggling to defend himself just beyond the newcomers’ range. 

A lamia’s long, sharp blades flashed out of his line of sight. Its green hair, splattered with just as much blood as its face, billowed behind it. A putrid smell assaulted Bell’s senses as the creature attempted to slice him apart. 

A combination of fear and sorrow prevented the boy from calling out to the Xenos who had once shaken his hand. Bell’s throat tightened, his eyes filled with anguish. 

“!” 

He tried to jump past the lamia to dodge a swipe, but it drove its bladelike claws straight through his robe. 

Bell lost his disguise along with his backpack and revealed himself to the battlefield. 

The Xenos fighting the forest monsters were on the verge of regrouping despite the adventurers surrounding them, when suddenly— 

“GRAAAAAAAAHH!!” 

A single lizardman burst through, appearing from between an adventurer locked in combat with monsters. 

—Lido!! 

The lizardman charged headlong toward the momentarily frozen Bell. 

Rather than using the longsword and scimitar strapped to its sides, it grabbed hold of both of Bell’s shoulders and drove him to the ground instead. 

“—Why have you come, Bellucchi?!” 

“?!” 

The lizardman was several times heavier than Bell and overpowered him as they rolled across the forest floor, but he spoke like a sentient being. The two became entangled, moving away from the battle as Bell got an eyeful of Lido’s monstrous face. 

Next, Lido used the centrifugal force to throw Bell farther into the forest. 

When the lizardman jumped back to his feet in pursuit, Bell understood what he was trying to do. So rather than fight his momentum, he let it carry him even farther away from the battle. 

“Newcomers…More surface dwellers have come!” 

A fair distance away from Lido and Bell’s scuffle at almost the same time… 

The gargoyle Gros studied the tide of battle from behind the Xenos’s line. 

His eyes narrowed at Lyu and Aisha, glaring with hatred as his kind fell into disarray. 

“—Gros!” 

“Fels?!” 

Gros turned to the side at the sound of his name. 

Out of the adventurers’ sight, the black-robed mage appeared in a crystal pillar’s shadow. 

Casting the veil aside to disable the invisibility, Fels called out to the airborne gargoyle. 

“Bring an end to this battle at once!! There is no point to our conflict!” 

“No!! Should we stand down now, those adventurers will slaughter us!” 

“I promise you, I will not allow that to happen! Please listen—!” 

Clashing metal and the roars of battle drowned out the conversation. 

Fels pleaded with the Xenos leader, desperate to convince him to see reason within the chaos, but… 

“Then make the adventurers retreat!! We will rescue our comrades!” 

“?!” 

“You promise with words, show me action!” 

Fels had no immediate response for Gros’s demand from overhead. 

The goliath looked down at the mage, then howled with an explosion of anger as if he already knew the answer. 

“That’s impossible, right, Fels?! Because at the heart of it, you are on their side!!” 

“……!” 

“You must put humans first, not us! You could never understand our rage!!” 

Nearly fifteen years had passed since Fels first made contact with the Xenos. 

It had taken many conversations over those longs years to establish trust. 

However, the gargoyle was so consumed with rage that he had forgotten the bond they shared. 

“I will not be swayed by your sweet words!” 

“Gros, I’m…!” 

“It’s far too late now!!” 

Gros turned his back on Fels as if to signify the end of the conversation and chase away the last of his doubts. 

He took off deeper into the forest, ash-gray throat wide open and pulsating. 

“?OOo!!” 

It was a howl directed to his fellow Xenos. 

He called to his companions fighting in the forest with a sound human ears couldn’t distinguish. 

It was an order to search for their kind, and to follow him. 

—Rei, keep the humans distracted! 

—Understood. 

The gargoyle made eye contact with another airborne Xenos, the golden-feathered siren, just before leaving the battlefield. 

Rei, whose face was just as bloody and filled with rage as the other Xenos’s, led a group of their comrades into the fray out of the corner of his eye, and Gros turned his attention to the eastern edge of the forest, his destination. 

“Lido…!” 

In a small clearing a great distance away from the tree-lined battlefield… 

Bell and Lido stood face-to-face in a clearing surrounded by thick tree trunks and tall blue-and-white crystals. 

“Why…Why did you come here, Bellucchi…?!” 

Roars of battle were off in the distance. 

Nothing stood between them in this place Lido had chosen for their discussion. 

In any case, he didn’t want their reunion to be like this. 

Clutching a scimitar and longsword, the lizardman narrowed his reptilian yellow eyes as though trying to bear great pain. 

“I heard…I heard that Rivira, the adventurers’ town, was destroyed by monsters armed with weapons…! Was it…was it really the Xenos? Did you guys do it?” 

“…Yes. We attacked it.” 

At those words, Bell remembered the face of a brokenhearted girl. 

“But why?!” 

“My comrades were murdered…by adventurers in that town. No, by hunters.” 

His rubellite eyes opened wide. 

Lido continued, strengthening the verbal assault on the motionless boy. 

“Those humans also took Wiene and Fia…!” 

Bell’s blood turned to ice. 

Hunters had captured Wiene—Ikelos Familia? 

The god Ikelos’s unnerving smile appeared in the back of Bell’s mind. 

The possibility had been eating away at him since the beginning, and now he knew it was true. Buckets of cold sweat poured from his skin. 

“Sorry, Bellucchi…Turns out we’re just as the surface races say: monsters.” 

“Huh…?” 

“I tried to stop them, all of them. But it was no use!” 

He couldn’t stop Wiene from being taken and couldn’t stop his kind. 

Lido offered an apology, stewing in his own uselessness. A powerful resolve soon took its place, however. 

“But it’s not only them. I’m just as furious!! Can’t control…the rage…!” 

Bell gasped as he saw the lizardman’s irises split in two, the whites of his eyes turn bloodshot and become their natural form. 

“I thirst for revenge, to kill the ones who killed my…!!” 

Bell could see every muscle in the monster’s body twitch, as if preparing to charge and exact revenge right now. 

Lido’s eyes pulsed, and Bell knew his monster instincts were taking over. 

He lost himself for a moment and took an involuntary step back. Bell desperately tried to force his muscles to stay in place. 

—But that’s… 

The same as humans. 

Humans also burned with indignation should anything happen to their friends and allies. 

All the emotions coursing through Lido and the other Xenos right now were not monstrous. 

Bell opened his mouth to put his thoughts into words, but nothing came out. Those thoughts remained silent, buried in his heart. 

“Our comrades are here, in the eastern forest.” 

“…! How did—?” 

“Forced it out of a hunter in the town; he said there’s a door around here. We’re going to rescue Wiene and Fia.” 

Bell was stunned, but it made sense. All the Xenos’s seemingly bizarre actions now made sense. 

There was so much he had to think about. 

However, right now, Wiene being in captivity came first. 

“—Lido, I’m coming, too.” 

No sooner had the words left his mouth than— 

“Stay back!!” 

Lido swung the longsword, slicing into the ground at his feet. 

Bell immediately shielded his face with his arms from the oncoming wave of rocks and dust. 

“……!” 

Bell had to swallow his surprise as soon as his vision recovered. 

A long, deep crack had appeared in the ground between him and Lido, separating the two. 

A visual barrier keeping their worlds apart. 

“Bellucchi, do not cross. Go back.” 

“Lido…?” 

“We’re finished. There’s no taking back what’s done. Our dreams will never come true,” the lizardman stated, tightening his grip on both swords. All hope was lost. 

“But even so, we will stop at nothing to free our comrades…!!” 

However, the fighting spirit in his eyes was still burning bright. 

“We will take Wiene and Fia back…So Bellucchi, stay out of it.” 

“……!” 

“If you’re seen with us, you’re finished, too. All of this is our fault. I don’t want you involved.” 

Please don’t cross that line. 

Lido was pushing him away. 

He was trying to keep him off the path to ruin. 

He was trying to keep his burning hatred for surface people at bay. 

He was afraid of being betrayed. 

Bell couldn’t move under the gaze of those beady reptilian yellow eyes, contorted with pain. 

No, he didn’t move. 

He couldn’t bring himself to agree with what the “monster” was saying. 

“…What are you hanging around for, Bellucchi? What if you’re seen?! Go back to the surface, back to Lillicchi and the rest!!” 

Bell bit his lip, trying to gain control of his trembling body with Lido’s fuming voice in his ears. 

His knees shook, his gaze was locked with Lido’s, and he wouldn’t tear his eyes away. 

Crystal light flashed off the lizardman’s two blades, burning his eyes. 

As far-off echoes overtook them—the gargoyle had left the battle. 

“You are human, Bellucchi! Don’t waste time worrying about monsters!!” 

“Lido…” 

“Go!” 

“Lido…!” 

“Get out of here!!” 

“Still, I—!” 

Bell took one step closer, over the crack in the ground. Lido didn’t let him finish. 

“OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!” 

A shiver of fear traveled down his spine at the monstrous roar. 

The boy’s face contorted, his spirit broken as the lizardman howled his flat-out refusal. 

“—Mr. Cranell!” 

““!”” 

A sharp voice sounded; a thin wooden sword flashed between the two of them immediately afterward. 

Lido deftly dodged the attack aimed in his direction, jumping back as a hooded adventurer wearing a torn cape landed in front of Bell. 

The lizardman took one look at the elf protecting the boy before spinning around and racing off in the other direction. 

Bell was left behind, watching that thick tail disappear into the trees. 

“Are you injured, Mr. Cranell?” 

“…Miss…Lyu? Why…?” 

“I shall provide details at a later time. For now, it is dangerous to proceed on your own. Rendezvous with Ganesha Familia for the time being.” 

Lyu, who had followed the lizardman’s howl to the clearing, turned to leave. 

Although Bell saw her cape flowing from her back, he stood firm, as if his feet were nailed to the spot…and looked down. 

“Mr. Cranell?” 

Realizing the boy hadn’t followed, the elf turned to face him. 

“I’m sorry, Miss Lyu…” 

Then Bell looked up to meet her gaze. 

“That monster…I’m going after that lizardman.” 

“!” 

Lyu recoiled in surprise beneath her hood as he shouted what was in his heart. 

“I…have to follow that lizardman…!” 

The boy might have been on the verge of tears, but there was no wavering in Bell’s eyes. 

Lyu fell silent before him. 

“May I know your reasoning?” 

“……” 

Bell responded with only silence when she finally spoke up. Lyu studied him, unblinking. 

Her sky-blue eyes probed his rubellite ones. 

“Have you not been drawn into the Evils’s…Ikelos Familia’s foul plot? I have heard as much.” 

“!” 

“You have not been yourself as of late. Syr is worried……As am I.” 

“……” 

“Your reasoning for chasing after that monster is a mystery to me. However, I…I do not want you involved with that familia.” 

With eyes full of unrestrained emotion, Lyu extended her right hand to the boy as though sensing danger, as though afraid of what was to come. 

Just as on that day when they shook hands on this very floor. 

“Will you not return to the surface?” 

Bell didn’t look away. 

He stepped away from the hand trying to stop him. 

That step took him across the crack in the floor, bringing back the painful memories of how it got there—and thus Bell retreated from Lyu, just as Lido had done to him moments ago. 

“I see…” 

A second silence fell. Lyu looked away from the fiercely determined boy. 

It pained Bell to turn a cold shoulder to one so kind, but he knew he needed to endure. Suddenly, an incredibly powerful noise from the battlefield blew through the trees. 

A siren’s song of destruction was protecting the Xenos’s rear flank. 

Lyu narrowed her eyes at the rush of sound that was far more powerful and damaging than those thus far. 

Then she made eye contact with Bell once again. 

“You have become a full-fledged adventurer.” 

“Miss Lyu…” 

“Any attempt to stop you would be futile. Follow it.” 

Lyu pulled a small pouch from her waist as she spoke. 

She then proceeded to pull out an assortment of high potions and other healing items. 

“However, I will be following right behind you…Once the subjugation team is out of danger,” she added. 

Bell couldn’t turn her down. 

He had no choice but to accept. 

“Thank you very much…and sorry.” 

Bell took off at a sprint. 

He sensed Lyu run off in the opposite direction behind him as he tightened the pouch’s drawstring and raced forward. 

“Dix, word is that the monsters are closin’ in on our base.” 

Dix looked up at the stone-slab ceiling once he heard Gran’s report. 

“Baroy or somebody couldn’t keep their mouth shut…I’d love to drive my fist through their faces, but they’re probably already dead anyway.” 

Sitting on top of a small, empty cage, the man in goggles started laughing in joyous anticipation. 

He then looked back toward his subordinate and lobbed something over to him. 

The large man caught the piece of processed metal, an ingot that fit in the palm of his hand. 

“Gran. Open the door, would you?” 

“D-Dix? Are you sure? If monsters get in here…” 

“Ganesha’s followers can’t be far behind ’em. It’d be real annoying if they got suspicious, seeing a whole bunch of monsters hanging around outside.” 

The man grinned below his goggles. 

“I say we give the monsters a little invitation.” 

A dark, evil chuckle came from his throat. 

“We hunt on our home turf.” 

“Gros!” 

“You’re late, Lido!” 

The lizardman caught up with the gargoyle leading the Xenos’s advance. 

They had arrived at the forest’s eastern rim. The end of the floor. A steep rock face rose all the way to the ceiling in front of them. 

There was no way forward. The ground didn’t go any farther than this. 

Many Xenos were scouring the vegetation and crystal pillars for clues, combing the area for any minor detail they might have missed, leaving no stone unturned. 

“What of the door? Have you found it?” 

“No, there’s nothing here!! Our comrades won’t answer, no matter how much we call!” 

Gros was getting anxious. Lido joined the search, his field of vision obscured by trees or stone in every direction. Nothing seemed out of place in the repetitive scenery. 

Perhaps they had been deceived after all. Gros, Lido, and the other Xenos fought to remain calm as a certain hunter’s last words—You don’t have one of those, so you’ll never get inside!—rang in their ears. 

“—Lido!” 

That’s when it happened. 

A red-cap goblin cried out in shock as it pointed. 

Lido’s gaze followed the goblin’s extended finger. 

“That’s…” 

Bell was dashing through the trees, jumping over roots that crisscrossed the ground like giant tentacles, when suddenly a black shadow came into view. 

“Fels!” 

“Bell Cranell! You’ve come!” 

Long robe flapping, Fels joined Bell to run by his side. 

“Are you all right?” asked the mage with a sigh of relief once they were shoulder to shoulder. 

“Yes!” Bell answered. 

“I made contact with Gros, but it was no use. He mentioned something about taking back his kind…The only conclusion I can draw is that the hunters sparked their attack. Nothing can stop the Xenos now.” 

“I spoke with Lido!” 

Bell recounted his conversation with the lizardman. He told Fels that several Xenos were killed, that Wiene and Fia had been captured, everything. 

A painful groan escaped from beneath Fels’s hood. 

“While I do not want to admit it, the hunters were a step ahead…I believe it is safe to assume that they belong to Ikelos Familia.” 

“…!” 

“But this door you mentioned…Does it lead to the enemy’s home base?” 

Fels and Bell exchanged words as they advanced, matching each other stride for stride. 

“Fels, what about…the Xenos fighting Lyu and the subjugation team? What about them…?” 

“Not an issue. Ganesha Familia has been ordered to tame them. I doubt any of the Xenos will die. I’m more concerned about the tamers, to tell the truth. The Xenos are not themselves at the moment…although, now that Gros and Lido have left the battle and divided their forces in half, I’m sure those fears are unnecessary.” 

Fels explained that now was Ganesha Familia’s chance. 

“We might have failed to convince them to retreat, but we are able to move about unimpeded. Now, we must find and infiltrate this hidden base.” 

“I’m right behind you…!” 

At last, a clue to find the hunters was in their grasp. The memory of Wiene’s tears when they parted ways spurred Bell onward, and he picked up speed alongside Fels. 

The dome of branches overhead thinned, and the trees in their path parted to reveal a stone wall. A cluster of blue crystal pillars stood in an oddly circular formation nearby. But the two figures didn’t bother taking in the view, instead rushing at top speed to reach their destination. 

“Is this it…?” 

“Yes, the eastern edge of the forest and our destination. However…” 

Fels’s voice trembled slightly next to a startled Bell, who surveyed the area after coming to a stop. 

“The Xenos are nowhere to be found…Disappeared? Inconceivable.” 

They had followed the path of destruction the Xenos made on their way through the forest, and there were uprooted plants and broken crystals scattered everywhere. The Xenos were here, of that they were certain. 

But they were nowhere to be seen. Bell and Fels listened closely to their surroundings, but there was nothing. 

The Xenos had vanished. All those monsters were gone, in the blink of an eye. 

“What exactly is the door? Did they find it…?” 

The two stood back to back, scanning the area with increasing urgency. 

But they couldn’t find any spot, any clue that would signal the existence of a “door.” Between the eerily tranquil forest air and the demolished floor surface, their uneasiness only continued to grow. 

As the sound of his own heartbeat was starting to mess with Bell’s head—something caught his eye. 

Fragments of a large crystal destroyed by the Xenos were scattered across the ground. 

While it was the sparkle that caught his attention, the crystal’s rapid regeneration kept it there. It was re-forming right before his eyes. 

A certain sound reached his ears as the crystal began to take its former shape, a sound that he had heard once before. 

I’ve seen this before, but where…? 

“…The Xenos Hidden Village?” 

A wall of quartz had kept the Frontier entrance well hidden. That quartz repaired itself in no time at all. 

Bell’s eyes opened a bit wider when he realized the patch of crystals on the wall was the same type of quartz, and that they were recovering just as fast. 

Then Bell felt something hot under his armor as he took one determined step in that direction. 

“Huh?” 

“Bell Cranell?” 

Feeling Fels’s inquisitive gaze on his back, Bell reached for the hot spot, equally confused. 

His hand wrapped around the pouch that Lyu had given him. 

Reaching inside, his fingers worked past the high potions and antidotes until—he pulled out a piece of metal, an ingot that fit in the palm of his hand. 

“Bell Cranell, what might that be…?” 

“A magic item…?” 

Streaks covered the edges, as though the metal had once been so hot it almost melted. But yes, it was a magic item for sure. 

The roundish silver object was probably made from mythril. 

A red orb was embedded deep within the metal—like an eye staring out from the core. 

A very simple character that wasn’t written in Koine or hieroglyphs had been inscribed on the item’s surface: a D. 

“Wh-what is this…?” 

The circular magic item kept producing heat, giving the two no time to acknowledge the dread growing in the back of their minds. 

What’s more, the heat and intensity varied based on location as though it were responding to something nearby. 

Bell’s mouth hung open as he let it guide their path. 

The magic item brought them to a protruding segment of the rock wall. 

“Nothing looks unusual about this…” 

“Fels, this area…it’s the same as the room that led to the Xenos Hidden Village.” 

There was nothing different about this piece of the wall from any of the other jagged formations that spread out in either direction as far as they could see. As the magic item reached a fever pitch in the palm of his hand, Bell told Fels about his earlier observation. 

The black-robed mage paused, gazing at the wall with the utmost intensity. 

“Stand back, Bell Cranell.” 

A right arm appeared from the swishing black robe to point at the wall. 

The intricate patterns on Fels’s glove flared to life. 

Suddenly, a colorless shock wave burst forth from the palm. 

“…!!” 

“Well, that’s unexpected…” 

Not only had the thundering wave caught Bell off guard, but what lay beyond the wall after the explosion left him speechless. 

A single tunnel entrance yawned before them as the last bits of quartz fell to the ground. 

It was large enough to allow large-category monsters to easily pass through, and the passage was made of numerous types of rocks and minerals. 

“This is not a natural Dungeon formation but something…artificial,” said Fels in a stunned whisper, taking a step inside. 

After they crossed the regenerating threshold, Bell forgot to breathe as the two made their way farther into the tunnel. 

Their path was suddenly blocked by a towering metallic gate not even five meders in. 

The two froze in front of the gigantic doors. Two demonic statues looked down from either side of the gate in front of them. 

“Orichalcum—a masterpiece ingot that can be forged into unbreakable Durandal-class items. It surpasses even adamantite.” 

It was the densest rare metal in the world, the end result of blending various materials together with human and demi-human techniques. Even Bell, still on the outer edges of the adventurer hierarchy, had heard the name. 

“It is physically impossible to destroy…But.” 

Fels glanced over and beckoned the boy forward. Bell stepped closer. 

He held out the magic item with trembling hands—the crimson jewel buried deep within the item flashed in response. 

The tunnel rumbled around them as the door rose. 

“Unbelievable…Something like this, inside the Dungeon?” 

A dim tunnel was waiting for them on the other side, barely illuminated by flickering magic-lamp light. 

Bell cleared his throat, staring down at the round item in his hand as Fels whispered quietly at his side. 

The magic item was the “key” that opened the door. 

Did Lyu know about this when she gave me her pouch? Or is it just a coincidence? 

Ikelos Familia—the Evils—was an organization said to have infested the Dungeon a mere five years ago but was much more prominent than today, and a vile group. 

Lyu said that she had fought to the last with Astrea Familia—their emblem depicted a winged sword of justice—to protect Orario from them. 

Bell thought back to the day when the elf ex-adventurer told him that story on this very floor, in a hidden spot where her comrades had been laid to rest. 

She might have seized this magic item from one of her foes during her quest to avenge her fallen allies. 

Many thoughts crossed through Bell’s mind as his hypothesis came together. Then he looked up. 

The stone tunnel in front of him had clearly been designed and constructed by human hands. 

The statues weren’t the only indication. 

Since it was hidden behind a regenerating Dungeon wall in a safe point where monsters were never born, construction could have gone unnoticed. 

But that triggered so many more questions, like who built it? When? How? The list went on. 

Fels walked past Bell, who didn’t even notice the cold sweat covering his skin, and approached a piece of the wall beyond the door. 

The stone surface was silent but for a single shabby sign in Koine. 

“…Daedalus.” 

Fels read a single name in a hollow voice. 

A cold chill completely unrelated to the Dungeon swept through Bell. The boy stared into the dark abyss that seemed to stretch out endlessly before him. 

The bright sun of the surface started to sink from the center of the sky. 

Babel Tower stood tall in Central Park, which was still crowded even though the subjugation team had long since departed. 

Ganesha Familia was still hard at work maintaining a no-entry zone around the tower. Other adventurers approached them for information, but most of the crowd was anxiously waiting for a triumphant return. As time passed, however, the tension waned to an easy lull. 

“Dammit, are we really stuck waiting on the sidelines…?” 

“With this heavy surveillance, sneaking inside is out of the question…Every adventurer and deity who tried got caught.” 

“Waiting is hard, isn’t it…? I do this every day, Welf.” 

“Master Bell…” 

Welf, Mikoto, Hestia, and Haruhime had gathered in a corner of Central Park. They exchanged words while gazing at the white tower from afar. With no way to assist Bell’s return or find out the Xenos’s fate, all of Hestia Familia was on edge. 

“Back to what we were talking about before…If it’s true that those hunters started this whole mess by kidnapping one of the Xenos, why don’t we try to find their base? If they’re working the black market and selling to collectors or whoever, they gotta keep their stock somewhere in the city, right?” 

“That must be true…but if the honorable Fels and the Guild have been unable to locate their hiding place, what point is there in us trying…?” 

“Hermes is good at this kind of thing, but…then again, capturing monsters and selling them for profit? Only someone with no fear of the gods or the Dungeon would even try.” 

Hestia voiced her displeasure as she listened in on Welf and Mikoto’s conversation. 

That was also the moment when Lilly, the brains of the group, had an epiphany after hearing Hestia’s words. 

“Sell monsters for profit…” 

She tilted her small head to the side as though memories were flooding through her mind. 

“Lure out monsters, capture them, and sell them for profit…” 

“…Li’l E?” 

“A-are you feeling unwell?” 

Welf and Haruhime glanced at the prum with concern as Lilly continued muttering to herself. 

Suddenly, the small girl’s head snapped up as the rest of her familia eyed her. 

“Let’s go.” 

“Supporter?” 

“Lilly might have a lead.” 

Lilly turned her back on Babel and strode away with those words. Hestia and the others made brief eye contact before taking off after her. 

“Go? Where to?” 

Lilly turned around to answer Welf’s question. 

“Lilly’s former deity—to Lord Soma.” 

Soma Familia’s home and “wine cellar” stood between East Main Street and Southeast Main Street in Orario’s third district. 

Lilly led the group to the former first. 

“Lilliluka Erde…How is your health?” 

They met the god Soma in his private quarters. 

His long hair kept his eyes and the vast depths behind them practically hidden. He looked more like a hermit than a being from a higher plane, but he was also none other than Lilly’s former god, the head of Soma Familia. 

“It has been a long time, Lord Soma. Lilly is very well, thank you.” 

“Hey, Soma, what’d you mean by that? Does it look like I’ve been that rough on Supporter to you?” 

Lilly bowed to the deity she had not seen in nearly two months as Hestia jumped out from beside her. “Sorry…” said the god in a feeble voice as Hestia scowled at him with puffed cheeks. 

Soma Familia’s strange behavior had become all but nonexistent after Lilly’s transfer and the War Game. It was because Soma had stopped using the divine wine soma as a reward to manage his followers. 

Lilly knew just how little Soma cared for the people of this world, so his slightly friendlier appearance made a deep impression on her—and made her happy as well. 

She briefly summarized their situation. “All right…” Soma nodded without any resistance. “I’ll summon Chandra…” 

He motioned to one of his nearby followers. A rugged dwarf appeared at the door a few moments later. 

“It has been a long time, Mr. Chandra. Lilly heard you became the leader. Congratulations.” 

“Enough of that. I ain’t cut out to lead a damn thing…Can’t drink soma like I used to, either. Just adding insult to injury.” 

Chandra Ihit’s surly response was somewhat fatigued. The short-haired, short-bearded dwarf who had joined Soma Familia for the sole purpose of drinking the world’s finest wine had assisted Lilly in her time of need and now sat at the head of the struggling organization. 

He led Lilly and the rest of the group to the wine cellar, taking a swig from the gourd hanging at his waist as they moved along. 

While Soma Familia’s home was relatively close to the city center, their wine cellar was located only a few blocks from the city wall. 

The deity had all but given up on producing soma, a wine potent enough to entrance any person on Earth. The familia was now focused on developing delicious wines essentially for the purpose of earning small profits, and the wine cellar had been renovated to support this research. However, only one place remained unchanged: 

The holding cell, where the familia used to keep unruly members under control. 

“You there…Food! Where’s the food? Hurry it up, I’m starving!” 

A gruff man’s voice, not much different from a stray dog’s bark, came from deep within the stone hallway. 

As unreliable magic-stone lamps flickered and the damp air cooled on their skin, Soma and Chandra led the way with Hestia Familia close. Lilly tensed. 

“Pipe down, Zanis. Quit your yappin’.” 

“Ehh? Chandra, what’re you doing here…? Oh, if it isn’t our lord and…You lot…” 

A familia member serving as a guard pointed them to a certain cell containing a human man. 

The prisoner with sunken cheeks gazed at his visitors one by one until he reached Lilly at the end. His lips curled into a sneer almost at once. 

“Ha-ha-ha-ha-ha……! Never thought I’d be seeing you here.” 

It took everything Lilly had to keep her expression steady under his unblinking stare. 

The man’s name was Zanis Rustra. He was a Level 2 upper-class adventurer like Chandra, and he had been in charge of Soma Familia until recently. 

He was a shadow of his former self. There was no trace of intelligence in his visage, and his glasses were nowhere to be seen. Given his ragged and torn clothes, the word shabby summed him up nicely. 

Zanis had been stripped of his position after the events that led to Lilly’s departure from Soma Familia. 

In addition to the many victims of the familia’s violent, rowdy behavior, the deciding factor for his dismissal was how he used and sold Soma’s divine wine to manipulate others for his own personal gain. 

His Status sealed by Soma as punishment, the man now spent his days confined in the holding cell. 

Welf was visibly angry, and the man cast a hostile glare in his direction as he walked up to the black iron bars and addressed Lilly at the front of the group. 

“Come to laugh at poor Zanis, have you, Erde?” 

“……” 

“My, my, how things have changed. We were on opposite sides last time…” said the unshaven former leader, peering at her with a dark grin. 

Lilly looked up into Zanis’s tortured, hate-filled eyes. 

“…Lilly has…a question for you.” 

“For me? What could the one who robbed me of everything possibly want to ask?” 

She ignored Zanis’s sarcasm and asked in a calm voice: 

“About talking monsters…Would you happen to know where the ‘business venture’ you mentioned is based?” 

The man froze, completely silent after hearing her words. 

But it was only for a heartbeat. His sneering chuckle swelled into delighted laughter. 

“Now I get it…Ha-ha-ha-ha! Did you see one? Did you meet one of those talking monsters, Erde?” 

The man’s laughter resounded in the hallway. 

So it’s true, Lilly thought upon seeing his reaction. Chandra cocked an eyebrow, Soma silent at his side. 

It had all happened just before the War Game, when Zanis locked Lilly in this very cell during negotiations with Apollo Familia. The man came to Lilly in her weakened state and asked for her assistance. 

His plan was to use Lilly’s transformation magic, Cinder Ella, to capture monsters. 

“There’s a project in which I would love your participation. Nothing much, just a new business venture. Luring out monsters, capturing them, and selling them for profit…Isn’t that simple?” 

Lilly had laughed it off at the time. Monsters profitable? She told him as much, and the man laughed right back at her with greedy eyes. 

But now she knew. She knew which monsters would fetch a high price. 

Because now she knew of the beautiful and sentient Xenos. 

Zanis had known about them that day, possibly even well before then. 

Judging by the way he spoke, it was highly likely Zanis was involved in the black-market dealings, selling the talking monsters to depraved collectors. Therefore, he was much more involved with these secret transactions and the hidden base where the Xenos were kept than any of Hestia Familia. 

Hestia and her followers watched with trembling eyes as Lilly frowned and demanded an answer. 

“Fwa-ha-ha-ha-ha…! Well then, you might find something interesting on Daedalus Street, should you be going that way.” 

The man twisted around with a sneer on his face, and his sunken eyes fell on Lilly as he provided a tantalizing clue. 

Lilly’s nerves tightened as she pressed for more information. 

“Where exactly would that be?” 

“Go find it yourselves. I’m not saying another word.” 

Zanis’s laughter once again echoed through the stone halls; he clearly enjoyed the position Lilly was now in. “Wanna convince him with a little force to talk?” offered Chandra, but Lilly shook her head, declining the violent suggestion. 

Zanis would never break. At the very least, not until this incident was resolved. 

“Our best lead lies somewhere on Daedalus Street…Let’s go.” 

Lilly turned her back on the holding cell and addressed her allies. Once they gave her a nod, she asked Soma and Chandra to keep what they heard to themselves before leading the group back down the hallway. 

“Best of luck to you, Erde…Hah! Ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha!” 

With the man’s sinister laughter echoing behind them, Hestia Familia set a course for Daedalus Street. 

“This place…connects to Daedalus Street…?!” 

Bell made his way through the stone hallway, unable to hide the surprise in his voice. 

“Yes, I have no doubt. A route to the surface that circumvents our surveillance and allows illicit sales outside Orario…Should this structure go aboveground, it would be the last logical piece of the puzzle. It’s safe to assume there’s an underground passage leading outside the city wall as well, enabling them to avoid inspection at the gates.” 

Fels explained his train of thought as the two ran deeper into the hallway. 

The intertwining network of stone hallways was complex. Each fork and intersection had been painstakingly measured to create perfect angles that didn’t exist in the Dungeon, signifying this was a man-made labyrinth. If it weren’t for the trail of blood left by the monsters wounded from battle, the two would have gotten lost in no time. Although no monster would be born into the darkness from these walls and ceiling, eerie sculptures and statues depicting the beasts stood throughout the halls. 

The feeble lights embedded in the walls illuminated Fels’s vague, floating outline. 

“The assumption that this connects to Daedalus Street is based on that sign carved into the wall…” groaned Fels. “Mad Daedalus…A famous architect who lived at the turning point in history when gods came to this world, the one who built Babel Tower and several other structures that became the very foundation of Orario…” 

Fels explained that this human lived nearly one thousand years ago, long before the Sage’s birth. 

The black-robed mage delved deeper into the story of one of history’s greats. 

“Legend has it he was among the followers of Ouranos, the first deity to grant Falna on Earth.” 

“!” 

“He made many contributions to Orario, following Ouranos’s will…However, it is said that the man’s speech and actions grew more outlandish with each passing day once he entered the Dungeon. Hence, the epithet ‘mad’…Then at some point, he disappeared from Ouranos’s sight and Orario itself.” 

Fels explained what he knew, bringing the situation to light. 

“Apart from Daedalus Street, his citywide sewer system and other creations have been a thorn in the Guild’s side for some time. Do you not remember, Bell Cranell? The bizarre network of passages that exist beneath the city.” 

“Now that you mention it…” 

Fels’s words triggered a few memories, specifically ones involving Haruhime and Syr. 

The hidden tunnels beneath the Pleasure Quarter. Phryne and Haruhime said that it was because Daedalus Street was so close. In the same vein, Bell recalled the stairwell behind the orphanage that he had used along with Syr and the children. That confirmed it for Bell—Daedalus’s legacy was ingrained into Orario’s very core. 

Back then, people had shuddered to think that one man could build so much on his own, but Fels explained that might be the reason Daedalus the Artisan lived on as one of history’s greats—and as a madman. 

Bell swallowed, completely awestruck by the prodigy who had surpassed the physical limits of the human body thanks to a Blessing. He didn’t know the man’s face or if Daedalus was even his real name. 

“We have considered for some time the possibility of a second entrance into the Dungeon separate from Babel. Of course we investigated Daedalus Street, but…Damn it.” 

“Fels…?” 

“…To be blunt, this far exceeds anything we ever imagined.” 

Their thoughts dwelled on the legendary architect as the two arrived at another metallic gate. 

Fels withdrew Bell’s key from the sleeve of the black robe and pressed it against the gate. The tightly closed door swung open. 

Once inside, Fels reached toward a nearby wall. Light traced through the glove’s intricate designs, and another colorless shock wave burst from the palm. Bell looked over his shoulder in surprise to see a completely intact metal plate beneath the crumbling stone surface. 

“What’s that…?” 

“Adamantite. I noticed a metallic gleam coming from behind a deteriorating rock face on the way here. These hallways were first lined with adamantite before a layer of stone was adhered to the surface.” 

Although its purity varied by level of origin, adamantite was an extremely rare, dense metal that could be mined in the Dungeon. It went without saying that the expensive substance was not easy to acquire. 

Another shock ran down Bell’s spine. 

“A main entrance protected by orichalcum, hallways constructed with adamantite…Without this magical key, it would have been next to impossible to infiltrate, even if we did manage to locate this structure.” 

Crick! The glove on Fels’s outstretched hand creaked as it clenched into a fist. 

“A series of artificial passageways connecting to the Dungeon…As difficult as it is to believe, only history’s most famous madman could have accomplished this feat.” 

But unanswered questions still remained. 

Was it physically possible for one man to create a structure from the surface to the Dungeon’s eighteenth floor, and possibly farther? There was also the orichalcum-and-adamantite issue to contend with. 

Fels spoke up as if reading Bell’s mind. 

“We have yet to comprehend the scale of this structure. Daedalus might have been in a league of his own, but it would be next to impossible to do this alone. However…” 

Fels let that word hang as he peered farther down the dark hallway. 

“The answers we are looking for surely lie ahead.” 

Another entrance to the Dungeon, one created by human hands. 

They had discovered Ikelos Familia’s hidden base. 

Years of hard work and suffering finally had borne fruit. The mage’s voice trembled with swirling emotions. 

“We finally found it, Ouranos…!” 

“I’ve found you—Ikelos.” 

A voice drifted out across the sky. 

On the surface, far above the underground labyrinth… 

Hermes addressed a certain god from behind as he stood on the roof of a tall brick tower. 

“…Hee-hee-hee! So you have.” 

The god Ikelos slowly turned around on the deserted rooftop. 

It was part of a series of residential buildings designed with no rhyme or reason, inconsistent in height and breadth, making the area difficult to navigate. 

Hermes and Ikelos stood on top of a brick tower directly in the middle of Daedalus Street, Orario’s “dungeon town.” 

“How did you ever find this place, Hermes? Truth be told, I never thought anyone would catch up after coming this far.” 

“Sure wasn’t easy…finding a god who’s hiding his trail with his power. It might not be much, but using your ability for your own gain while here on Earth borders on blasphemy…You broke the rules.” 

“Hee-hee! What’s wrong with showing off a little bit? Not like it would do anything to stop those high-level brats…Besides, how boring would it be if I got caught before all the fun started?” 

Ikelos stood at the railing-less tower’s edge. 

All of Daedalus Street was visible from this spot beneath the sky over Orario. 

Alleyways weaved in all directions, surrounding the tower like a web. Stairways led up and down amid a jumble of multistoried buildings. Only those close to its creator could understand the source of his inspiration, the chaos he was trying to emulate. 

Hermes ran his fingers along the wide brim of his feathered hat, glaring intensely at his quarry through narrowed orange eyes. 

As for Ikelos, the god was laughing as if enjoying a game. 

“You’ve won this round of hide-and-seek, Hermes.” 

“……” 

“It won’t stop the show, but…I think I’ll answer any and all questions as your reward.” 

The navy-blue-haired, wheat-skinned god opened his arms as if teasing the other deity. 

A faint grin on his lips, he narrowed his eyes at Hermes. 

“So then, what would you like to know?” 

Several shadows passed over the stone floor under the magic-stone lamps. 

Footsteps in sets of two and four echoed through the man-made, stone-enforced hallway, closely followed by the sound of dragging tails and flapping wings. 

More than twenty monsters marched onward. 

“Our comrades’ scent guides us closer—advance!!” 

The airborne gargoyle shouted as the battle boar’s acute sense of smell led the way. The faint scents lingering in the air guided the procession of monsters, the Xenos, through the stone passageways. At every fork in the road, the Xenos always chose the direction with the strongest traces of their companions and picked up speed every time. 

“Lido, every door in our path has been open…We’re being lured in!” 

“I know that, Lett! But we have to go…!!” 

Lido squeezed the hilts of his swords as he responded to the red-cap goblin just behind him. 

Once the group broke through the wall of rock on the eastern edge of the forest, they immediately saw an open door at the end of the tunnel. 

Fully aware that this was the enemy base, and most likely a trap, the Xenos charged headlong into this man-made realm. 

Driven by insatiable anger and a singular purpose—rescuing their captured friends—the Xenos found themselves at their ultimate destination. 

“What is this place…?!” 

When they reached the top of a stone stairwell, a vast chamber unlike any of the tunnels appeared in front of their eyes. 

It was perfectly rectangular, over one hundred meders wide and several times that in length. The whole area, including the high ceiling, was constructed from stone and shrouded in darkness. The incredibly massive space shared many characteristics with the Great Wall of Sorrows at the end of the seventeenth floor. 

But Lido, Gros, and the rest of the Xenos were focused in one direction. 

“Everyone…!” 

Countless lines of black cages. 

And inside this hellish prison were lamia, Scylla, and mermaids, along with many other dazzling monsters with human characteristics as well as extremely rare monsters like a carbuncle. Every one of them was scarred from torture and locked in a cage with heavy chains. 

The harpy Fia was in the first cage in the row, clinging to the bars. 

“?!!” 

Lido, Gros, and the other Xenos could hear the rage seething inside themselves. 

Whoosh! As their fur and feathers stood on end, they rushed forward en masse. 

“Break the cages!! Set our comrades free!!” 

Gros howled as he tore the nearest cage to pieces. 

Lido and the other armed monsters hacked and slashed their way through the iron bars while others bent and twisted the metal with brute force. Free of the chains on their limbs, the prisoners were finally released from the cages. 

Gros led the Xenos farther back, leaving broken cages in their wake. While some of the freed monsters were indeed once part of the Xenos, there were others they had never seen before. They had two things in common: a sparkle of intelligence in their eyes and an inability to break free themselves due to weakness and injury. 

Time passed. The number of cages never seemed to decrease no matter how many they destroyed; the calls for help never ceased. Catching their kin on the verge of collapse, embracing them one after another, the Xenos destroyed cage after cage amid the echoes in the vast chamber. 

“Fia, where’s Wiene?” 

“I don’t know. They dragged her away, unconscious, toward the back…!” 

After Lido set her free, the badly injured harpy willed her muscles to move, pointing a feathered wing into the darkness. 

Narrowing his reptilian eyes, Lido left Fia in Lett’s care and took off at a sprint. 

“—Such a touching reunion.” 

Then, right there… 

A hollow clap echoed through the air, as if its maker had been waiting for the right moment. 

“…?!” 

“Welcome to our humble abode, monsters. Do make yourselves at home.” 

A man wearing goggles appeared from deep in the darkness. 

Lido came to a screeching halt, and Gros turned away from a broken cage. Every set of Xenos eyes zeroed in on him. 

They stood face-to-face with the dreaded hunter at last. 

“Are you the hunter selling off our kind…?” 

“Oh? You knew about that? Yeah, I’m the one who snatched your buddies and turned them into cash—once I taught them some manners so they’d obey the customers, that is.” 

“Bastard…!!” 

A grin formed on the man’s—Dix’s—face as he tapped the shaft of his wickedly curved red spear against his shoulder. He didn’t bat an eye under the waves of hostility rolling off Lido, Gros, and the rest of the Xenos. 

“Well, I shouldn’t really say ‘I.’ More like ‘us,’” he said, and hunters appeared all over the chamber. 

A few stepped out from behind Dix, others from the walls on the left and right, and some even materialized from the entrance the Xenos came through. 

Lett and Fia jumped in surprise from their spot behind the Xenos line, watching a variety of humans and demi-humans move to surround and trap the group. 

The Xenos and the broken cages at their feet were encircled by hunters. 

“…!” 

“You might have the edge in numbers, but…can you protect all of your precious cargo at the same time?” 

It was just as Dix said. The newly released monsters could barely stand. 

The healthy Xenos could never fight at full strength if they had to worry about protecting their allies. Luring Lido and the rest into this chamber and waiting for the Xenos to free the other monsters was all part of the plan. 

Lido and Gros bared their fangs at their crafty, grinning foe and menacingly clacked them together. 

“—Lido!” 

“Wha…Bellucchi?!” 

That moment, Bell and Fels burst into the chamber from the stone stairwell. 

Lido was the first to whirl around in surprise. Gros and the other Xenos quickly followed suit. As for the hunters, they were absolutely stunned. 

“You’re that boy from…You, why have you come?!” 

“Now’s not the time, Gros!” 

Gros’s reaction turned to anger at the fact that Bell had followed them here, but Lido held out his arm to hold him back. 

The lizardman looked up, his reptilian irises meeting Bell’s rubellite ones. 

Why, how, turn back already—so many urgent words and questions appeared in Lido’s gaze before disappearing. 

“Oh come on…Gran, you idiot! The hell’s going on? Why do we have guests in our ‘secret’ base? Did you seriously forget to close the doors?” 

“I c-closed them all! I ain’t lying to you, Dix! Once the monsters were through, I closed them all, I swear…!” 

Sweat poured down the towering bald-headed man at Dix’s cold voice, and he desperately pleaded his case. 

Gran had arrived with the second group of hunters behind the Xenos, and Bell and Fels had a clear view of the item in his possession. 

“Isn’t that…?” 

Bell whispered in disbelief as Fels looked down at the similar magic item in his grasp. 

“A key…?!” A wave of disbelief passed through the hunters once they saw it, too. 

“Ohh, so that’s how it is…So, what bumbling idiot did you take it from? Guess we shouldn’t pass those things out left and right after all.” 

One look at the magic item in the newcomer’s hand and Dix seemed to connect the dots. His mood worsening by the moment, he smacked the red shaft of his spear against his shoulder and berated himself. 

Gran and the other hunters were not keen on facing enemies on two fronts. They moved out of the way to rejoin their allies, allowing Bell and Fels to approach the Xenos. 

“Signor Bell…” 

“Surface dwellers…Have you come…to help us?” 

“……!” 

The harpy, sitting up with the red-cap goblin’s support, spoke from her spot on the floor. 

Painful cuts and bruises covered her body. The chain might have been severed, but a pair of shackles far too big for her little legs was still firmly in place. A wave of nausea overtook the newcomers at the depraved sight. 

Bell couldn’t speak as Fia looked weakly up at him. 

Where’s Wiene?! 

Bell couldn’t help imagining the dragon girl in a similar state and immediately started searching for her. However, despite all the people and monsters in the chamber, she was nowhere to be seen. 

“I can’t believe it—a chamber this size…” 

While Bell was growing more and more anxious, Fels studied their immediate surroundings with a groan. 

The Sage’s hood shifted and turned toward Dix, and the mage called in a voice loud enough to be heard across the great distance between them: 

“Hazer, Dix Perdix…So you’re the mastermind.” 

“Who are you, mage? Gotta say, that’s a shady getup you got there…How about telling me what you are to these monsters? You, too, Little Rookie.” 

Fels and Dix exchanged words as the hunters and Xenos glared at each other in the chamber. Uneasy boot steps echoed off the walls as the tension between the two groups became severe enough to explode at any moment. 

“I’ll cut right to the point. This is a Daedalus creation, is it not?” 

“Ha-ha! Noticed, have you? It’s probably exactly what you think.” 

“…How long has it been in use? No, when did you learn of its existence?” 

“How should I know? The ancestors dumped it on me. As a descendant, it shouldn’t matter when or how I use it, yeah?” 

Dix’s words not only caught Fels by surprise but stopped Bell in his tracks. 

“Ancestors…Descendant…?!” 

“Do you claim to be part of Daedalus’s family tree?!” 

Both the boy’s and the mage’s voices shook with surprise and confusion. A satisfied smile appeared on Dix’s face as the Xenos lent their ears to the conversation, doubting his claim. 

“I ain’t bluffing. Look—I’ll prove it right now.” 

With that, the man raised his goggles. 

“?.” 

His fearless red eyes were exposed for all to see. 

There was a D marking his left iris. 

“There, proof of my Daedalus heritage. Anyone with even a drop of that lunatic’s blood in their veins is born with this mark in their eye.” 

A cursed bloodline. 

He confronted them all with proof. 

Whether it was authentic or not, they couldn’t be sure. There wasn’t enough information to make a decision either way. However—Bell stopped breathing when he looked at Fels’s hand. 

The sphere inside the magic item bore the same mark. 

The thing embedded inside the ingot didn’t merely resemble an eye— 

“The doors in here only respond to our eyes. They were made that way so that descendants could go where they pleased and get to ‘work’…But nowadays we carve the eyes out of their dead bodies and use them as keys to take advantage of it.” 

Fels, Bell, and the Xenos stood like statues as Dix declared its name. 

“The man-made labyrinth Knossos—a ridiculous piece Daedalus left for all his descendants to work on.” 

“Knossos?” 

Hermes repeated what he had just heard. 

Ikelos responded with a grin and a quick “Yeah.” He was answering the other god’s questions as part of his “prize.” “That’s what’s written in the notebook, anyway.” 

“Notebook? You can’t mean…” 

“That’s right, Daedalus’s Notebook.” 

The breeze atop the tower rustled the deity’s cheap black clothing and carried his voice to Hermes. 

“Daedalus…Dix’s forefather went a bit off the deep end after seeing the Dungeon. He just had to create with his own hands a piece that outdid the labyrinth in every way…How stupid is that? Hee-hee! There used to be so many crazy children back in those days. Now they’re all just stuck-up brats.” 

The god sneered as if nothing were more entertaining than the notebook of a man’s regrets and burning desires. 

“Of course, one man could never finish something like that. I doubt it could ever be done at all. But at any rate, Daedalus died when the project was still in the beginning stages, and he willed it and the notebook to his offspring.” 

“……” 

“Along with a nice blueprint to go with it. And those descendants have been following it ever since.” 

Hermes let a few moments pass before responding. 

“Ikelos, if what you’re saying is true, then…those descendants have…” 

“That’s right, Hermes. Those descendants have been working on Knossos for nearly—” 

“—One thousand years,” Dix said as he pulled his goggles back down over his eyes. “That’s how long the ancestors were building this thing without the Guild finding out.” 

Bell, Fels, and even the Xenos had difficulty believing the man’s incredible claim. 

“Impossible! All those years and not a soul caught on…?!” 

“Okay then, mage, how would you explain how the labyrinth you’re standing in got here? Do you think this piece of ‘artwork’ running along the Dungeon’s edges was seriously built overnight?” 

The Dungeon layout was circular. 

It expanded outward with each floor wider than the last. 

And—Knossos was concave around it. 

Bell used his knowledge and Dix’s claim to arrive at that conclusion. 

Daedalus’s blueprints called for a structure that sat in the negative space around the Dungeon’s circular edges, transforming it into a pillar of sorts beneath the city. This man-made labyrinth wrapped around the Dungeon’s circular floors. 

The underground network of sewer systems that Fels had mentioned, the secret tunnel that Bell had found, all of it was built as part of the plan to create this one grand piece. 

Bell’s face turned pale as he struggled to comprehend Knossos’s full scale. 

“My old man, granddad, and other ancestors expanded Knossos all the way down to the middle levels, and I don’t even know their faces.” 

A thousand years had passed since Mad Daedalus’s death. 

Knossos was the result of one thousand years of insane, blood-driven obsession. 

Bell could almost see Daedalus’s flawed vision taking shape, as hands crawling out from beneath his feet. 

“But on the other hand…one thousand years and still only the middle levels.” 

Only 30 percent of the blueprint had been completed, he told them in a spray of spit. 

“…I never would’ve believed this was the truth behind the suspected link between Ikelos Familia and the Evils…” Fels whispered to himself, certain he was on to something. 

Dix sneered at him. 

“I ain’t got a clue when the ancestors first started working with the ones you call Evils. But by the time I was born in this shady labyrinth, they were practically joined at the hip.” 

“—And all to finish that project of theirs.” 

Ikelos went on. 

“Daedalus’s piece cost time, labor, and way too much money.” 

Orichalcum and adamantite. 

Not to mention an abundance of rocks and other building materials. 

Knossos didn’t have the Dungeon’s regenerative ability—it was imperative that this piece be nearly impossible to break in order to realize Daedalus’s vision. That was because the madman’s intention was to create something that surpassed the Dungeon itself. 

And of course, the materials required to build Knossos were extremely difficult to acquire. 

“So that’s why Daedalus’s descendants got involved with the Evils and other shady groups…” 

Consequently, those descendants from Daedalus had connections with a wide array of underground and black-market organizations. They sought out organizations that had an abundant supply of orichalcum, building materials, or gold on hand. They didn’t care if it took unlawful business dealings or downright theft. 

As a second entrance into the Dungeon, one far away from the watchful eyes of the Guild, Knossos became their bargaining chip. 

The man-made dungeon expanded deeper over time. Some organizations doubted its usefulness in the beginning, but they eventually discovered Knossos’s value and made contributions of their own. The evil groups worked together to conceal its existence from the Guild. 

Everything fell into place in Hermes’s mind as he ran his fingers along the brim of his hat. 

Knossos itself became a hotbed for evil—the darkness had threatened to consume the city for centuries. 

“Word has it these descendants did whatever it took to complete their dungeon. Becoming obsessed with acquiring Enigma, kidnapping women to make sure there would always be someone working on their piece…” 

Ikelos went on to say that Dix was born from one such abductee. 

Half siblings and incest were common. 

“While it might be Daedalus’s legacy, I find it hard to believe that these descendants would devote their lives to such an absurd work…” 

“What can I say? Must be something in their blood.” 

Ikelos shrugged off Hermes’s comment. “Cursed blood…as Dix puts it.” 

A smile spread on the deity’s lips as he gazed down over the Labyrinth City. 

“Daedalus’s descendants were all dancing to the tune of a single notebook, building this thing.” 

His red eyes were just barely visible behind the translucent lenses of the goggles. 

With those words, Dix lifted his spear, the same shade of red as his eyes, into position and drove his point home. 

“…In other words, selling captured Xenos is a way for you to acquire funds.” 

As to when Dix and the hunters had become aware of the Xenos, that was yet unclear. 

However, Dix needed a great deal of money to contribute to Knossos’s completion. After joining a familia to gain a Blessing, he gradually took control of the group, guiding them toward Orario’s black markets. 

Dix snorted at Fels’s hypothesis. 

“Yeah, at first.” 

Those words sent an uneasy chill down Bell’s spine, and then—BANG! 

“Enough talk!!” 

He looked over in time to see Gros’s claws tear through a nearby cage, destroying it. 

The gargoyle’s eyes flashed, and the ash-colored wings on his back spread wide. 

“Your cruelty to our kind and your murder of Ranieh remains unchanged!—You will feel our wrath!!” 

The gargoyle took flight, launching himself toward Dix in one swift motion. 

The man in goggles quickly grabbed a nearby subordinate by the collar, throwing him directly into the gargoyle’s path. “Huh?” The man’s confusion quickly turned into a blood-chilling scream the moment Gros’s stone claws made contact. 

That first splash of blood ignited the battle. 

“Gros and I will lead the charge! Dole, have your team protect the injured!” 

“Wha—GYAH!” 

The lizardman shouted orders to his allies while inflicting a deep gash into the nearest animal person. Other Xenos moved to protect their newly liberated comrades, crossing blades with the attacking hunters. 

“Damn it all!” 

“Keh…Firebolt!!” 

Overwhelmed by the fierce sounds of combat at first, Bell was forced into battle when a group of hunters charged him. 

However, they thought better of it when the red-cap goblin held the battle-ax aloft at his side and Fels moved to protect the injured harpy, and the enemies backed off entirely once Bell’s Swift-Strike Magic was triggered. 

“Oh come on…Kinda strong, ain’t they? We underestimated ’em.” 

Meanwhile, shocked members of Ikelos Familia were feeling the same way. 

Every hunter other than Dix raced into battle, but just as he said, the hunters were losing ground. Aiming for the weakened monsters only served to enrage the Xenos even further, and the monsters’ sheer might quickly dismantled the humans’ formations. 

This was especially true around Lido and Gros. Dix’s smile twisted with irritation as his allies fell to the ground one by one. 

“No time to hold back…Guess it’s time to use it,” Dix said. He held his spear in his left hand and thrust out his right arm. 

“?.” 

The only reason Fels was able to react to this horrid sight in time— 

—was due to a wealth of experience that far exceeded the other’s. 

—But it was already too late. 

As Gran and the other hunters took cover as though their lives depended on it, a chill ran through the body of bones that bordered on absolute zero. 

The mage’s black robes swirled behind the main battle. 

“—Get behind me, Bell Cranell! NOW!!” 

Bell, eyes wide, was shocked at the disappearance of Fels’s usual calm demeanor and obeyed without question. 

Holding Lett and Fia close to his chest, Bell dove behind Fels just as the mage extended both arms wide. 

A moment later… 

“Become lost in an endless nightmare.” 

The vibrations rose from the man’s throat to form a spell. 

“Phobetor Daedalus.” 

A wave of crimson light burst forth from his fingers. 

“?.” 

A red glow swept over the battlefield. 

The ominous light devoured the darkness. There was no explosion, however—not even a shock or vibration. It engulfed everything in range before continuing on, but all it left behind was a hair-raising, malice-filled tone ringing in their ears. 

Bell and the two Xenos hiding behind Fels cupped their hands over their ears as they cautiously looked out from behind the robe to investigate. Just then… 

“?OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!” 

Every single monster was thrashing about, completely out of control. 

“Wha—?!” 

“Lido, Gros!” 

“Everyone?! Why…?!” 

Bell, the red-cap goblin, and the harpy all looked on in disbelief as the Xenos tried to destroy everything in sight. 

The lizardman’s eyes were bloodshot, the gargoyle howling like a lunatic. Gobs of drool sprayed from their mouths as they hacked and slashed with swords and claws. Like actual monsters. 

All the Xenos had one thing in common: their eyes had taken on the same crimson hue as Dix’s. 

Metallic echoes surged as cages flipped and stone crumbled underfoot in a deafening frenzy that threatened to rend their eardrums. 

It wasn’t long before their wild thrashes connected with their own kind. The battle became a free-for-all where ally fought against ally. 

“Wh-what could have possibly…?” 

The fully armored and healthy Xenos weren’t the only ones affected. Even the newly liberated and badly injured monsters joined the fray with just as much vigor. Bell watched it happen, terror written all over his face. Blood poured from their open wounds, but they continued to attack anything in their vicinity. A chorus of screams and howls filled the air. 

His hair stood on end at this growing monster massacre. 

“A curse…!!” Fels rasped with horror next to Bell and the others, who were still in shock. 

Curses. 

Like magic that summoned fire or lightning and enchantments that increased physical attributes, they required a trigger spell to be cast. However, their effects were still worthy of being called “curses.” 

Confusion, restriction of movement, physical pain—there were many types. 

The most troubling thing about curses was that they were difficult to block and cure. Only specialized items would do the trick. Even the Advanced Ability Immunity provided no protection. 

It went without saying that the monsters were completely defenseless. 

Like magic, this technique was unique to humans. There was nothing the Xenos could do except take a direct hit. 

“Aww~, everything’s as good as over once I cast it…or at least it should be.” 

Dix watched the monsters’ frenzy with glee in his eyes—that is, until he spotted Bell and Fels standing on the other side of the battle. 

“Didn’t work on some of them—is that robe of yours a magic item, mage?” 

“…Well spotted. It protects against curses and anti-Status magic.” 

Dix shouted across the battlefield, but Fels’s response was so quiet that it was unlikely to be heard. 

It was the mage’s black robe that had protected Bell and the two Xenos behind him from the curse. “Though I’m not sure a curse would do much to this bony body of mine,” the mage known as the Fool whispered, glaring back at the smiling goggled man. 

“That curse must be the reason their hunts remained undiscovered, and why they withdrew upon discovering Hermes Familia…!” 

The curse provided the last piece of the puzzle for Fels, connecting all the loose ends. 

If anyone who happened to witness their activities got caught up in the curse, they became a monster’s next meal even if the hunters didn’t get their hands dirty. If, by some miracle, said witness managed to survive long enough to regain their senses, memories from before the curse took effect would be vague at best. 

It was also the real reason why they retreated from Asfi’s team of adventurers from Hermes Familia. Dix was concerned about Perseus’s magic items—there was a possibility that she carried something like Fels’s black robe or another item that could nullify the curse’s effects. He sacrificed that hunt in order to prevent her from learning anything about them. 

Bell understood as well. 

Dix’s curse had the most impact on first sight. 

“Phobetor Daedalus.” 

A curse that mystified targets, confusing them. 

Its extremely short trigger spell and wide range made it a powerful, deadly technique. 

Anyone exposed to it without protection was instantly drawn into a wild frenzy—and wouldn’t live to encounter it again. 

Bell couldn’t hide the horror in his eyes at a curse that forced its victims to rampage until their bodies gave out. 

This was why Dix always seemed so confident. 

The reason he had captured so many Xenos. His trump card. 

“We’re gonna incur some losses, since I had to bust this out, but…” 

There were some hunters on the battlefield who were unable to escape from the unannounced curse in time and others who didn’t have the magic item necessary to block it. They, too, howled like monsters, slashing at other humans and monsters alike with broken swords in an erratic fit. 

Dix gazed out over the afflicted people and monsters and said: 

“Eh, oh well—bon appétit, monsters!” 

Suddenly, two monsters landed directly in front of Bell. 

“?!” 

They were Xenos trying to tear each other apart. Another monster’s attack had knocked them all the way up to his feet. 

The confused creatures scrambled to their feet and jumped at Bell’s group. 

“AAAAAAAaaaaaaaaaAAAAaaaAAAaaaaAAAAAAAaaaaaaa!!” 

“Not good!” 

The curse now had them in its clutches. 

All four dove away from the reckless, unrestrained swipes of claw and fang. One attack slammed into the stone floor with a bang and a spray of debris, and the monsters’ wild eyes bored into Bell, Fels, Lett, and Fia. The red-cap goblin and the harpy froze in fear at the sight of their terrifying comrades. 

As the crazed hunters continued their onslaught despite their serious injuries, the four quickly found themselves at the center of an all-out brawl. 

“??!” 

“?!” 

Bell couldn’t raise a blade to the Xenos, who should be on his side. With blocking and dodging as his only options, the boy was unable to escape a griffin that caught him between jumps. Just before its sharp beak could tear into his flesh, a troll’s massive club slammed into them. The pair was launched high into the air. 

“Signor Bell?!” 

His vision blurred as he careened toward the main battle. 

The griffin had taken the brunt of the club and was now writhing in pain and losing its grip. Although Bell managed to escape, he had been separated from Fels and the others. The red-cap goblin’s call disappeared into the swirling pandemonium of screams and roars; Bell was completely isolated. 

Pushing the griffin off his body to escape, Bell raised his head, and out of nowhere… 

“?.” 

A lizardman stood in front of him, his weapons held high. 

—Lido. 

Bloodthirsty, terrifying eyes. Scimitar pointed toward the ceiling. The boy recoiled at the terrifying visage. 

Bell’s mind went blank as he watched the lizardman prepare to slice him in half. 

Looking up at the savage expression—murderous intent as plain as day—Bell brought up a knife but could move no farther. 

The lizardman brought down the scimitar without waiting another beat. 

Time slowed to a crawl. As if in a trance, Bell watched the blade descend, tracing an arc directly at his body. In that moment— 

“GEHH!” 

A colorless shock wave slammed into the lizardman from the side, sending the monster flying. 

“??!” 

Time returned to normal, and Bell spun around to see a mage’s right arm and gloved hand extended in his direction. 

“Forgive me, Lido…!” 

Fels’s long-range burst of energy had saved Bell’s life. The mage then shouted: 

“Stop Hazer, Bell Cranell!!” 

“Huh?” 

“This type of curse lifts once the caster is defeated! The Xenos will return to normal!!” 

Bell turned away from Fels with a start and immediately spotted the man with goggles and a red spear. 

Very little distance separated them. Now in the center of battle, Bell was the closest to him. Within striking distance. 

Bell glared into the red eyes behind the man’s goggles. His whole body burning from within, he jumped to his feet. 

For the first time today, the boy who had only been swept along by the course of events showed signs of a fierce fighting spirit. 

“Coming at me, Little Rookie? I’m Level Five, you know!” 

“…!!” 

“That ain’t no bluff. Some of those talking monsters were real strong. Doing this as long as I have means surviving more adventures than I can count.” 

Dix’s words were no lie as he watched the boy get to his feet with interest. 

Bell’s eyes trembled at the intimidating Level, but… 

“Curses may be strong, but they come with a price! That man should be dealing with it at this very moment!” 

“Aww, damn. Keep your mouth shut.” 

An aggravated smirk appeared on Dix’s face when Fels’s voice echoed past them once again. 

The main difference between curses and magic was the price the caster had to pay. 

Curses required compensation; they inflicted some kind of penalty while they were in effect. 

Bell’s eyes flashed with determination. 

With his black knife in his right hand and his short crimson blade in his left, he charged. 

He made a beeline straight through the battlefield. 

Weaving past the claws swiping at him, he left the monsters in the dust to engage the man at point-blank range. 

“Dix.” 

“It’s fine. You lot finish off that mage.” 

He jerked his chin at the nearby subordinates, lips curling into a sneer. 

They left him, most feared of all the hunters, alone to face the boy closing in at full speed. The man lifted his spear. 

“Take him down, Bell Cranell!!” 

As the mage’s voice echoed across the background, knife and spear collided. 

Sparks flew with a high-pitched metallic ring. Bell and Dix crossed blades. 

“Hey! I found a survivor!” 

“You all right? Answer me!” 

The town of Rivira was showered in crystal light. 

The small party that had split from Ganesha Familia’s main force made their way through what was once the Dungeon’s outpost, looking for signs of life. Members of the group called out to each other, rushing in to heal the dwarf they had found buried beneath a pile of debris and an elf lying on the side of the street. 

“H-how horrid…” 

Modaka discovered several brutally mutilated corpses among the wreckage. 

They were nothing more than piles of flesh lying in pools of blood, shredded to the point that their faces were unrecognizable. It was almost as if this massacre was to satisfy a personal grudge. 

They had no way of knowing that all these bodies were once adventurers belonging to Ikelos Familia. 

Modaka’s face paled, his hands over his mouth as he surveyed the damage from within the town’s smoldering ruins. 

“……?” 

Focused on the cruel fate that had befallen his fellow adventurers, Modaka happened to catch a glimpse of something far beyond the edge of the cliff from the corner of his eye. 

What he saw on the other side of the plains, in the middle of the floor, were monsters emerging from the tunnel connecting to the nineteenth floor at the roots of the Central Tree. 

A white ball of fur was sitting astride a four-legged black monster. He was too far away to know for sure, but his instincts told him that they were a hellhound and an al-miraj. 

Shaking his head at the bizarre pairing, he saw them make a mad dash for the eastern forest. 

“Huh? What was that?” Modaka whispered to himself in confusion—when a new shadow appeared from the tree roots, freezing time for a moment. 

“…Oh crap.” 

That was all he could say. 

“Oh crap, oh crap…! Craaaaaaaaap!” 

“Oi, what’s wrong with you?” 

“Run away!! We need to find the commander and get out of here!” 

“What are you talking about?” 

“This is no time for taming!!” 

Other members of Ganesha Familia gathered around Modaka, who was on the verge of panic. 

Sweat gushing from every pore, he screamed with all his might. 

“An Irregular!—A subspecies from hell is here!” 

“Great work! Now take control!” 

“Only four left!” 

Several members of Ganesha Familia worked together to corner and restrain a thrashing lamia. 

Deep in the eastern forest… 

The subjugation team had gained the upper hand against the armed monsters, mainly because most of the creatures had disappeared deeper into the forest, leaving only a few behind. The hooded adventurer’s support helped turn the tide, allowing them to suppress the monsters still fighting back. 

Taming methods had almost no effect on the armed monsters. Although the sounds of combat still echoed through the leaves, the battle had been reduced to isolated pockets. Only a few of the monsters were still unrestrained. Forest-monster corpses and piles of ash were scattered about the woodland floor. The battlefield had shrunk to one small area. 

“Yeesh, all that banging and clashing…gave me one hell of a headache.” 

“That golden siren intrigues me…It seemed to avoid inflicting fatal wounds.” 

Aisha lowered her large wooden blade next to Lyu, who was doing the same. Meanwhile, Ilta and the rest of Ganesha Familia had the golden siren trapped on a tree branch just overhead. 

It was one of the last of the monsters that had fought fang and claw to the end. While the siren’s powerful sound waves had kept the adventurers at bay, Lyu’s sudden return after parting ways with Bell and subsequent sneak attack had knocked it out of the sky, allowing the adventurers to engage the monsters in hand-to-hand combat. 

Strength equivalent to a first-tier adventurer made no difference when outnumbered to this degree. Without the siren’s deadly sound waves for support, the other monsters didn’t last long and fell almost simultaneously soon afterward. 

“……!” 

The siren sat perched on the branch, chest heaving up and down as it glared at the adventurers below through one eye. 

She was the only monster left that wasn’t tied down. Her injured wings were folded against her body. Her face was contorted, dyed red by what appeared to be the blood of her enemies running down her cheeks. 

“Finally, the last one…” 

Their commander, Shakti, took a deep breath and surveyed the battlefield during a lull in the action. 

I doubt we would have struggled to this extent were it not for orders to tame…but that is not for me to say. 

It was Ganesha’s will, she reminded herself with a nod. 

Shakti knew they had to pursue the second group of monsters that had fled into the forest and was about to give the order… 

“……?” 

She turned around. 

She had heard something pushing its way through the underbrush, and her eyes found the source of the sound. 

—A hellhound and al-miraj? 

Rather than attack, the two monsters rushed by her. In that moment… 

“?.” 

She saw it. 

And then… 

WHAM! 

“…Sister?” 

A loud thud drew the Amazon Ilta’s attention away from the monster overhead and back over her shoulder. 

She could see the woman she revered as a sister leaning against a thick tree trunk farther back. 

All her weight was on the tree as her head and back rested against it. 

No, she wasn’t leaning. 

She had collided with it. 

Slip! Suddenly, she shifted. 

Coughing up blood, Shakti scraped against the bark as she slid down to the forest floor and landed in a heap. 

“Eh…?” 

Crick, crick! Ominous cracking sounds came from the tree before it toppled to the ground with a thunderous bang. 

Lyu, Aisha, the adventurers, and every monster turned to look. 

The forest shook around Shakti’s helpless body as she lay motionless and facedown on the ground. 

“Sister!” Ilta screamed. Lyu’s eyes went wide, along with everyone else’s. 

Feeling no need to hide, the presence uprooted trees and plants as it shook the forest, cracking the ground with each step. 

Unbeknownst to the adventurers, the siren had taken flight with a sigh of relief the moment it appeared from among the trees. 

“Wha—?” 

It had fists the size of boulders. 

It had a gigantic, towering frame. 

It was equipped with thick armor. 

It brandished a double-sided ax, a Labrys. 

The dark shadow with pitch-black skin glared at the adventurers. 

“Damn you!” 

Ilta roared with rage as the rest of Ganesha Familia readied their weapons and charged forward. 

The black shadow that appeared before them—howled. 

“Lett, Fia, can you escape from here?” 

They were cut off from the Dungeon. 

A frenzied brawl unfolded within an immense chamber deep in Knossos, the man-made labyrinth constructed over a baffling number of decades by countless people. 

“To rescue Signor Bell?! Given this situation…!” 

“No, to the entrance behind us!” 

“!” 

“Return to the eighteenth floor, reunite with Rei and those who stayed with her. I want you to explain what has happened and bring them all here. You can even bring Ganesha Familia at this point!” 

Fels knew this was no time to be picky as he shouted out orders left and right. 

If adventurers learned of the Xenos’s existence, it would turn society on its head, but that was preferable to being wiped out by Ikelos Familia here and now. 

The two Xenos nodded, understanding his intention. 

“Do you remember the route here?” 

“Yes!” 

“Take this key. It will open all doors.” 

Fels quickly held out the spherical magic item to the red-cap goblin. The short monster tossed away his enormous ax and turned to face the harpy seated at his side. 

“Fia!” 

“I can fly…I will fly!” 

With the oversize fetters still binding her legs together, the harpy opened her wings and forced her body to take flight. 

Airborne but unsteady, the red-cap took hold of one of her legs. The two Xenos climbed high, passing over their crazed brethren before disappearing down the stone stairwell. 

“Mage, what have you done?!” 

“!” 

A voice as rough as a stray dog’s growl reached Fels’s ears before the mage could see them off. 

Ikelos Familia hunters had arrived. Eight men and women who had been spared from Dix’s Phobetor Daedalus curse charged in with weapons held high. 

“There’s something I’d like to know. Why do you follow that man’s orders? From what I’ve seen, he’s but a human who leads with an iron fist.” 

If they all fought as one, their numbers would be too much to overcome. One well-orchestrated attack would be all they needed. 

Fels instantly decided to fall back into the chaotic brawl between the Xenos. 

“’Cause it’s fun as hell, why else? Do what Dix says, and all the money and women we could ever want come to us! Monsters are nothing but toys!” 

“…Why did I even ask?” 

Fels chose not to respond to that answer with words but with a counterattack instead. 

Now the monsters’ full-powered swings became obstacles for the enemy to deal with. Whenever one of the hunters somehow managed to make it past the raging monsters or climb over the remaining cages to get in range, Fels blasted them with a shock wave before they got too close. 

“Gah!” 

“Son of a—!…What is that thing?! Some kind of magic item?!” 

“I don’t see what’s so hard to understand about magic energy being used as a projectile.” 

“A few monsters do something similar with a Howl,” the mage explained. 

The utter chaos of the battlefield was Fels’s best friend. Although the thrashing monsters did pose a threat, the fact that the enemy couldn’t use magic was far more important. 

Completing a trigger spell was next to impossible. Even enemies capable of Concurrent Casting would have difficulty finishing a chant. Anyone who left the chaos to stand and cast unaware would be an easy target for Fels’s shock wave, which required no time to unleash. 

The gloves were magic items designed for attacking: Magic Eaters. 

A projectile weapon designed by Fels for the mage’s personal use. 

“While its inefficiency is a minus…I’m quite jealous of Bell Cranell’s Swift-Strike Magic.” 

Using the Xenos’s free-for-all to its fullest potential, the mage felled another marauder. 

“If it weren’t for those dirty tricks of yours…!” an animal person spat as he closed in on Fels, cursing the mage’s black robe among the other magic items that put his opponent on par with or even above Perseus. 

“But at this range—!!” 

A longsword came slicing in. 

Fels snatched it out of the air like a hawk. 

“?!” 

“These ‘dirty tricks’ you hunters keep complaining about required several Advanced Abilities to create,” Fels replied, easily stopping the blade with a gloved palm despite the hunter’s full strength behind it. 

The black-robed mage coolly explained to the dumbstruck hunter. 

“I happen to be Level Four. Though I’ve been unable to update since the flesh rotted off my back.” 

Expressing hatred for a past deity, Fels reached forward and pressed a flat palm against the opponent’s stomach. 

“Wai—!” 

Then—bang! 

The colorless shock wave exploded directly into his gut and blasted him backward like a cannon. 

“Oh, and I was once known as the ‘Sage.’ I’m quite confident with my ability to use magic energy and Mind,” the black-robed mage said with a hint of sarcasm. The intricate designs on Fels’s gloves glowed. 

Four hunters down. Once the rest were taken care of, Bell would need help. And just when that thought crossed Fels’s mind… 

The mage barely managed to dodge an attacker from behind. 

“That’s odd. I happen to be Level Four, too.” 

“…!” 

It was a hulking bald man with a black tattoo on his face—Gran—who sliced off a piece of Fels’s black robe with a greatsword. An Amazon, an animal person, and a dwarf had made it through the chaotic battle and were closing in on the mage along with him. 

They were the ones who killed Ranieh. Ikelos Familia’s main force. 

Fully aware of the disadvantage, Fels waved both arms, releasing another shock wave. 

A series of shrill explosions and shock waves erupted on the other side of the battlefield. 

Bell launched strike after strike at the man in front of him as the heavy vibrations pounded his eardrums. 

“Are you really Level Three, boy? Got some quick feet there.” 

“…!” 

The man in goggles spun the two-meder red spear, knocking each hit away with ease. 

Simply stated, Bell’s attacks hadn’t inflicted so much as a scratch anywhere on Dix’s body. The man had avoided every single slash of the boy’s mad rush. 

With the bloody roars of the Xenos behind him, the man in goggles forced the boy back with a series of devastating blows from his spear. 

The two separated for a brief moment. 

“What that mage said is true. My curse makes my Status drop like a rock.” 

“……!” 

“Can’t help that everything feels slow and heavy.” 

It was as though the man could see doubt in Bell’s eyes, wondering if he was really debilitated in any way. So, Dix revealed Phobetor Daedalus’s cost outright. 

Bell’s opponent normally had strength to go head-to-head with first-tier adventurers. 

Even if his Status had dropped by a full Level—he was still Level 4. 

The boy’s face tensed, but he knew the difference in their Statuses already and gripped his knives without fear. Then he launched his attack anew. 

“I was just gonna mess around a bit, but it looks like I got no choice. The rumored Rookie lives up to the hype.” 

But he was getting bored. 

The man in goggles smiled. 

“Ready for my turn?” he asked lightly. 

He was done playing around, and the spearhead suddenly struck down with murderous intent. 

“?!” 

The incredible impact knocked Ushiwakamaru-Nishiki from Bell’s grasp. 

As the short crimson blade spun through the air, the wickedly curved crimson spearhead was already back on the offensive. 

“Kah!!” 

He dodged by a hair. 

Bell kept twisting his upper body as strands of his white hair fell away, using his momentum to spin toward Dix with a backhanded Hestia Knife. 

“Shifty, aren’t you, boy?” 

“Gahh!” 

However, Dix whirled by him, driving the butt end of his spear into Bell’s face on the way. 

The boy’s strike hit nothing but empty air, and his face burned in pain. The world shook for a second for Bell, but he was quick to regain his bearings. Planting his feet, he turned to face Dix, who was already behind him. 

“??!” 

The first thing he saw was the crimson spearhead coming right for his eyes. 

Catching a glimpse of the man’s evil sneer, Bell used every bit of Strength he possessed to force the Hestia Knife upward and knock the weapon to the side. 

“Ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha!!” 

The spearhead had been deflected, but it rotated at the last moment and sliced into the boy. Dix’s laughter accompanied the attack. He had warned Bell; it was indeed his turn on the offensive. 

The long spear appeared to curve through the air, striking like a snake with bared fangs. He ramped up his onslaught on the boy, who was forced to defend with only the Hestia Knife and quick, shifty movements. There was no pattern—Bell had no idea where the next attack would come from. What’s more, the man combined a few violent kicks with his relentless assault, knocking the boy off balance and making the next attack even harder to predict. 

Bell was driven farther back by the man’s spear and its unrefined, wild aggression. 

“Nice knowing you!!” 

The man thrust the spear forward to finish off the stumbling boy. 

Bell saw the spearhead coming—and his eyes flashed. 

—It worked! 

His free left hand swung behind his back, and an instant later, a crimson arc burst forth from a sheath. 

It slammed into Dix’s spear with incredible force. 

“!!” 

The red eyes beneath the smoky-quartz goggle lenses opened wide. 

It was the spare Ushiwakamaru, accompanied by a technique he had learned from watching the Sword Princess: bait and switch. 

Bell remembered the vigorous training sessions alongside an Amazonian girl on top of the city wall just before the War Game and showed an opening when he was at a clear disadvantage. 

“Their guard is lowest when the final blow is near.” 

As his idol’s words replayed in his mind, Bell’s body became a blur. The first crimson knife allowed him to dodge the spearhead by the slimmest of margins, and he closed in on his floundering opponent. 

A spear’s weakness was his knife’s strength—close range. Bell moved to take full advantage of his weapon. 

However… 

“?.” 

Dix, who should have been wide-eyed in surprise, was sneering with confidence. 

The man held a battle knife, large enough to be mistaken for a shortsword, behind his back, hidden from Bell’s sight. 

A gleaming arc flashed from the side opposite the spear, burning an image into the boy’s frozen rubellite eyes. 

It was as though the man had copied Bell’s technique, pulling a blade out from around the waist and swinging toward his shocked opponent’s exposed stomach. 

It was a perfect counterattack. The battle knife’s tip scooped upward. 

“!!” 

Falling into his own trap, Bell immediately pulled himself into a crouch with all the strength he could muster. 

“Oh?” 

His line of sight fell just as the strike intended for the boy’s stomach was deflected to the chest. 

The battle knife’s tip came to a halt against his breastplate. The silver armor blocked Dix’s weapon with a loud metallic clang. 

“Ha-ha-ha! Got some good armor there!!” 

“Uwh!” 

Still recovering from the impact to his chest, Bell was launched back by a front kick. 

As rivers of sweat covered his skin, Bell adjusted the breastplate with his right hand, still holding the Hestia Knife in a reverse grip. 

Welf…! 

The smith had boasted about the dual adamantite mixed into the fifth incarnation of Pyonkichi. 

“I poured a lot of money into that ingot metal. You better not break it,” the red-haired man had said with a laugh. Bell silently thanked him for the armor from the bottom of his heart. 

That armor had protected him from an enemy’s killing blow, saving his life. 

“Well done, boy. Here comes the next one.” 

Dix struck again, his lips curled into a grin. 

Bell had no choice but to defend against his spear-wielding foe, who had returned his knife to its sheath. 

—He’s strong. 

Dix’s skill and tactics would never disappear, no matter how far his Status fell. 

Of course not. They had been developed in actual combat, from real experience. 

No matter how close Bell came in Status, even if his greatest weapon, his Agility, was comparable, the amount of experience separating the two was insurmountable. In short, hunter Dix Perdix was strong, even without his powerful curse. 

Bell became painfully aware of that fact as the spear shaft knocked him to the ground. 

The unstoppable approach of burning despair began at his toes and fingertips, much as it had when he was facing Phryne. 

“Gah!” 

Although Bell managed to roll out of the weapon’s trajectory, the crimson spearhead still carved a slice out of his cheek. 

A moment later, Bell was back on his feet and trying to gain some distance when… 

“Hot…!” 

The intense, searing pain in his cheek made his whole body flinch. 

“Careful now. One bad hit from this spear…and you’ll be dead on the spot,” Dix said with a grin, lifting the wickedly twisted, ominous spear up to eye level. 

“Custom ordered it from a mage. It’s got a curse built in. Whatever it cuts won’t heal, not even with potions or magic. As long as the curses are intact, anyway.” 

“!” 

Shock was written all over Bell’s face. Another wave of cold sweat ran down his neck at the same time. 

No matter how many times Bell wiped the blood away, it wouldn’t clot. Dix’s claim was true. The blood dripped from his cheek, staining his skin and armor red. 

There was no way to recover from even one hit; it truly was a cursed weapon. 

Bell gritted his teeth at the crimson magic that exacerbated his wounds. 

—Haven’t I seen that before? 

He glanced down at the gash’s reflection in the knife blade. 

He was perplexed at the twinge of a memory in the back of his mind. 

“No matter how many times you put monsters in their place, they heal up sooner or later. It’s way easier if you cut them up so bad they can’t move and the wounds never heal.” 

Bell’s eyes flashed as he listened to Dix casually explain his horrifying method. 

“Could it be…That barbarian on Daedalus Street…?” 

Behind the orphanage. He and Syr had entered an underground tunnel after the children asked them to do a quest. 

Bell remembered the large-category monster he fought in the darkness. 

“Hey, seriously, boy? You ran into that?!” 

Bell watched, dumbfounded, as Dix nearly burst into laughter. 

“You bet, we caught that big one. I sliced it up real good with this spear, but…it escaped from my idiotic underlings before we could get it out.” 

“…!” 

“The damn tunnel caved in during the chase and it got away. We kept looking, too. Couldn’t exactly let it be.” 

That large, bloodstained body had had countless bleeding wounds, and yet none showed signs of closing. 

Its howls were filled with anger, pain, and suffering. 

Bell had been taken aback by the monster’s “lament.” 

Had that barbarian been a Xenos, too…? 

“That thing caused us a lot of trouble, so we’ve been killing all the big ones right away since then, but…So you cleaned it up for us. Thanks for the assist, Little Rookie.” 

A chill ran through Bell’s veins at the grinning, laughing man in front of him, who was far more terrifying than any monster or even the Dungeon itself. 

The “evil” Lyu mentioned had to be something like this. 

An indescribable sense of cold wrapped around Bell’s body. 

“Why…” 

“Hn?” 

“Why do you hurt these monsters…?” 

The words came out of Bell’s mouth before he knew it. 

“Told you I needed money, didn’t I?” 

“Is that…is that really all…?” 

How was he able to continue inflicting so much pain on the Xenos after hearing the lament that Bell had? 

Monster howls filling his ears, Bell leaned forward and demanded an answer. 

“……” 

Dix shut his mouth for a moment as the boy’s words hung in the air. 

He placed a hand over his goggles…and grinned. 

This smile was different from any before it. 

“Little Rookie. You have any idea why Daedalus’s descendants listen to our crazed ancestor from beyond the grave…? Do you understand why it’s gone on for a thousand years? Do you?” 

Bell flinched, surprised by the sudden question. 

Dix didn’t wait for an answer. 

“’Cause our blood makes us.” 

“What…?” 

“Our blood tells us to,” he said, pushing the goggles down onto those wide red eyes with all his might. 

The man’s voice reached a fever pitch. 

“It won’t shut up! ‘Complete this frickin’ huge labyrinth,’ it says!!” 

“?!” 

“It won’t even let me stop for a breather!! Daedalus’s blood forces me back up!!” 

It was the first time his voice had any emotion. 

Dix ignored Bell’s reflexive step back and continued his tirade. 

“It’s been the same way ever since I was born in this dark, grimy trash heap! The blueprints for Knossos in that notebook work us to death!! No one can escape, not from this cursed bloodline!!” 

Dix laughed a laugh brimming over with anger and indignation. 

Bell shuddered in fear at the torrent of hatred on display. 

—Cursed bloodline. 

Mad Daedalus’s tenacity had continued uninterrupted for nearly one thousand years. 

The unyielding obsession the man had possessed, the drive to create a piece that outdid the Dungeon, surpassed the gods themselves. 

Was it as Dix said? Had the man’s brilliance and insanity been passed down to his offspring through his blood? 

“It’s bullshit, yeah?! The only one allowed to order me around—is me!” 

Bell was caught between what was possible and his own guesses, but there was one thing he knew for sure. 

This man in front of him, Dix Perdix… 

…possessed a fierce sense of individuality, one strong enough to fight against his cursed blood. 

“…I’d love it if this whole thing just disappeared. I ain’t joking,” Dix remarked coldly, his grin unchanged as if all his built-up anger had been vented successfully. “I hate this labyrinth more than anyone else in the world.” 

But he couldn’t break it. 

The blood wouldn’t let him. Daedalus’s curse was too strong. 

It insisted the opposite, to finish the piece. 

Dix finally removed his hand from his goggles. 

“I used to take it all out on the Dungeon. I hated the labyrinth that drove Daedalus and all my ancestors crazy. I killed monsters, just kill, kill, killed them one after another.” 

“……!” 

“But of course, it wasn’t enough.” 

Then, Dix looked past Bell toward the Xenos still brawling behind the boy. 

“How was I ever going to feel satisfied…? That was all I could think about, building this labyrinth. But we found the talking monsters around that time, and the hunts began. Let’s see…ah, yeah. Would’ve been right after those stuck-up bastards Zeus and Hera disappeared.” 

Dix looked down, chuckling to himself as soon as the words left his mouth. 

Chills ran through Bell once again as the man’s ominous, guttural laughter sounded in his ears. 

“They were no ordinary monsters. They cried and begged for their lives. Imagine that. Monsters born from the same Dungeon that turned Daedalus into a madman, begging for mercy…Ha-ha, still gets me.” 

“?.” 

The smile plastered on the man’s face when he looked up was so horrid that Bell was lost for words. 

“—I found it at last! A desire that could quiet the damn curse!!” 

Dix swung the crimson spear forward with his right hand, slicing through the air. 

“My first taste of satisfaction came from making those monsters suffer and cry out in despair, treating them like trash! I could slake my thirst and quiet my blood!!” 

“Wha—?” 

“Just as my ancestors once said, I purely pursue what I desire!” 

The man didn’t stop talking. 

“Oh, the rush—pure joy! Finally silencing the blood! Going up against yourself and winning!! No amount of ale or drugs could measure up—it was pure euphoria!!” 

Bell saw the man’s insanity before him and understood. 

In other words, there was no greater meaning to what Dix did to the Xenos, no grand scheme. 

Its only purpose was to satisfy his desires and tremendous sadism. 

And those fierce desires were strong enough to overcome the curse of his blood. 

What the man was after…was to satisfy his insatiable sadistic will, and everything he did was to that end. 

This was completely different from Welf’s battle with the Crozzo blood in his veins. It was presumptuous to compare the two. 

Dix had stopped fighting against his blood altogether—replacing it with a more powerful desire, thus becoming more monstrous than monsters themselves. 

“That’s why…!!” 

He had done what he did to Wiene and the Xenos… 

Bell’s shoulders trembled as he watched the man drowning in his own pleasure. 

“You did all this?” 

Dix’s expression vanished in the blink of an eye. 

“Get over yourself, boy.” 

“??!” 

“You’ll never understand what it’s like, having blood-driven impulses run your life.” 

He charged forward, one-handedly stabbing with his spear over and over as Bell frantically dodged to avoid being run through. 

“You’ll never understand a guy who can’t do anything about a curse burning his eyeball from the inside out!!” 

The man funneled all his rage into one arcing sweep. Unable to absorb the blow, Bell was thrown from his feet. 

“It was all for the money at first,” said Ikelos, surrounded by the blue sky. “Like I told you before, completing Knossos requires money—lots and lots of money. So much money that no amount of treasure brought up from the Dungeon’s deep levels can ever hope to cover it.” 

“……” 

“Plus, the risk of losing allies got too high. If you found a way to safely line your pockets, you’d dive at the chance, yeah?” 

Ikelos reminisced about when the Xenos were discovered by accident and the black market first got under way. 

Hermes’s face remained neutral as he listened. 

“That’s what got Dix started, but…Hee-hee-hee! The guy changed.” 

“Changed…?” 

“Yeah. While he was teaching the monsters to fear pain before bringing them outside…at some point, his eyes started lighting up when he heard them scream and saw them cry.” 

Ikelos continued by saying that “something” inside him must have woken up. 

He then explained that the goal and method of capturing Xenos had switched places. 

“I loved it. He looked like a guy going after what he wanted. Those savage eyes, trembling, practically screaming in pleasure…!” 

“…That’s worse than horrible, Ikelos.” 

“Hee-hee-hee-hee…!! We gods wouldn’t have it any other way, would we? Those brats are a real pain, but I love them all in my own way.” 

Ikelos’s voice faded into the breeze, as though he were cheering for his child to turn the tide against his cursed bloodline. 

“Looks like Daedalus’s last wish might die with Dix’s generation.” 

“……” 

“He’s lost all interest in finishing Knossos; that idea’s gone to bed.” 

Ikelos narrowed his eyes. 

“Now, he’s got what I love—a monster’s dream.” 

Impossible…! 

Asfi was overwhelmed at the sight. 

Arms and legs lying limp on the ground, red blades of grass dripping tears of blood, glimmering shards of broken weapons scattered about. 

Bodies of fallen, barely breathing adventurers were sprawled out below her vantage point in the trees. 

They’d been wiped out. 

Ganesha Familia’s elites, Orario’s first-tier adventurers, were all defeated by a single monster. 

Much like Shakti, Ilta had been felled by a single blow. It was over for the rest before they knew what hit them. 

The enemy had specifically targeted the subjugation team’s strongest members, taking them out one by one before moving to overwhelm the ones left standing. The floor shattered with every single-handed swing of its double-bladed Labrys. It felled large trees and stomped out the adventurers’ formations with its massive feet. 

Its black skin bore no damage whatsoever. 

Huff, huff! Intermittent breaths from its powerful snout echoed throughout the quiet forest. 

It stood at the center of the battlefield strewn with adventurer bodies laid out like corpses, like a king of calamity. 

A black minotaur…?! 

She didn’t know. She’d never heard of anything like this. 

A monster of this magnitude didn’t exist anywhere in Asfi’s wealth of knowledge. 

Her pounding heartbeats shook her whole body from within. She struggled to catch her breath against the powerful rhythm. Desperate not to make any noise, she had to hold her arms and legs to keep from shaking the magic item that kept her invisible. 

Pangs of regret tormented her. 

She hadn’t prioritized information gathering and leaving the battlefield. 

Allowing Lyu and Aisha to influence her and letting her sense of justice convince her to provide assistance from the shadows—it was all a mistake. 

She should have escaped, and quickly. 

Seeing what lay before her, fighting against her uncooperative body, Asfi regretted everything. 

“This has gotta be some kind of joke…” 

“……” 

In addition to the black monster, two people still remained upright in the forest battlefield. 

Aisha and Lyu. 

They weren’t able to join the battle before the one-sided onslaught came to an end. A sense of urgency had overtaken their faces. The two stood, overwhelmed and unable to budge in its presence. 

All the other monsters were gone. Almost as if they had known this was going to happen, they had all left the battlefield and disappeared into the east. 

……?! 

Run away, Asfi silently pleaded. 

Get as far away from here as possible! her heart screamed at the other women. 

However, the elf and the Amazonian warrior quietly raised their weapons, symbolically rejecting Asfi’s plea. 

The women were surrounded by the bodies of Ganesha Familia members. 

However, they were all still breathing. 

Unable to abandon these adventurers on the brink of death to their fate, Lyu and Aisha pointed their blades at the black monster. 

Asfi gnashed her teeth, feeling powerless. 

“………” 

Tension filled the forest air. 

Lyu sank low, Aisha’s wooden blade whistled, and Asfi reached for a holster at her waist amid the stinging unease. 

Three hearts beat as one. 

“?Ooo.” 

Then… 

The black monster’s first step was the signal. 

“!!” 

Lyu and Aisha took off at a sprint at the same moment an invisible Asfi jumped from her spot in the tree, throwing sharp needles and Burst Oil at the beast. 

The monster easily blocked the three needles that appeared from thin air with the gauntlet strapped to its arm. The Burst Oil detonated after an intentional delay a moment later. It wasn’t intended to inflict damage. However, the smoke and flames would interfere with their adversary’s vision. Lyu and Aisha circled around in different directions, charging in from the left and right. 

Caught in a speedy pincer attack, the enemy—aimed for Aisha. 

“““?!””” 

A black shadow broke through the smoke. 

The distance between them was reduced to zero with one kick of its mighty leg and a cloud of dirt. The trio shuddered in fear—Lyu, the beast gone from her line of sight, Asfi with her aerial view, and Aisha, the target. 

Aisha raised her large wooden sword to defend herself from the Labrys on a collision course with her face 

“?.” 

Her weapon was utterly destroyed a moment later. 

The bones of her fingers cracked on impact. The thick blade shattered in one blow right in front of her face, and a rain of silver shards filled Aisha’s vision. While the Amazon had successfully sacrificed the weapon for an opening of her own to attack, she had no way to block the monster’s follow-up. 

The enemy wildly swung its right hand, smashing into Aisha less than a heartbeat later. 

“?Gahh!” 

The enemy’s palm connected just above Aisha’s left arm, pushing her off her feet and launching her backward with a sickening crack. 

The woman collided with a massive tree trunk, slid down to the ground, and didn’t get up. 

“Antianeira!” 

As if drawn by Lyu’s scream, the black shadow wasted no time turning to face her. 

“!” 

Lyu needed every ounce of her high-speed reflexes to drop to the ground in time to avoid an oncoming sweeping blow that defied the laws of inertia. 

The Labrys passed just over her head as the elf practically hugged the forest floor. The wind whipping by in the weapon’s wake was powerful enough to shred her cape, tearing off the hood along with it. Lyu’s delicate facial features were now exposed. 

The elvish warrior wasn’t about to let this go unpunished, slashing her wooden sword forward as the enemy passed by—but it was able to dodge her attack with only a single-legged jump. 

“……!!” 

Its massive frame hit the ground, sending a tremor through the battlefield. Lyu rolled away, shaking off her surprise. 

The black monster that appeared directly before her was already locked on to her with the Labrys held high, despite the distance between them. 

—Is it going to throw it?! 

It did not. 

Going against Lyu’s expectation, the enemy drove the double-bladed ax directly into the ground at its feet. 

The crystals, stone, and vegetation exploded into a wave of projectiles hurtling right for her. 

“?!” 

Although Lyu managed to get clear of them in time— 

“—Geh, agh!” 

—she heard several crystals shatter on impact behind her, as well as a pained scream. 

“Wha—?” 

Lyu glanced over her shoulder and gawked in surprise. 

Asfi was sprawled out on the ground behind her. 

Lyu understood in an instant. 

The enemy’s true target hadn’t been her, but Perseus and her magic item. 

Whether it was by smell or a gut feeling, the monster had detected Asfi’s general location and sent a spray of projectiles over a wide area. 

Lyu had no way of knowing that she was blocking Asfi’s view, delaying her reaction. 

“Andromeda…” 

The Hades Head had broken under the hail of crystal shards. 

No longer invisible, the beautiful young woman had landed on her back. The white cape she always wore was now riddled with holes and stained bloodred. Her silver-rimmed glasses had been knocked from her face and now lay on the ground some distance away. 

“……” 

Lyu stared at Aisha and Asfi in disbelief. Seeing that neither would be able to rejoin the battle, the elf turned to face forward. 

The monster stood before her, a nightmare come to life. 

Step, step! The Labrys, splattered with the blood of many adventurers, or perhaps countless monsters, swayed as the beast’s advancing footsteps sent tremors through the floor. 

Lyu remained silent, lowering her stance and raising her weapon. 

She faced down the enemy, gripping her wooden sword with both hands. 

The black monster took notice and came to a halt. 

Gazing inquisitively into Lyu’s stoic, emotionless eyes for a moment, it quietly raised the Labrys into position. 

Lyu confronted the monster alone. 

“……” 

Having lost her hood in the enemy’s attack, her elfish beauty was exposed to the forest. 

Her will to fight was as strong as ever. 

Her eyebrows arching high, she stared down the enemy with the commanding presence and expression of a warrior. 

However, the rivers of sweat pouring down her face betrayed her true state of mind. 

It has been quite a while… 

The feeling of being at death’s door. 

Lyu hadn’t experienced it since she quit being an adventurer and washed her hands of the Dungeon. 

There was an absolute line between life and death, one that she had always managed to avoid crossing by the skin of her teeth. 

It was before her again, except it was thicker and more distinct than she’d ever felt before. 

The brief silence stabbed at her ears. 

As her racing heart pounded a warning in her ears, she relaxed her hands around the wooden sword to adjust her grip, then squeezed it tight. 

The next moment… 

“?OOOOO!!” 

“!!” 

Lyu and the monster made their moves. 

She dropped to all fours to avoid the ax slice that accompanied the battle cry and thrust the wooden blade forward from below. 

That strike missed, but she didn’t care. Lyu kept her legs moving and picked up speed. 

Aisha’s battle had taught her that trying to block the enemy’s overwhelming strength was not an option. Even the slightest contact had to be avoided at all costs. She ran like the wind, dodging attacks like a blustery storm. And, with the power of a gale, she launched her offensive. Lyu poured her entire being into evasion and counterattacking, utilizing every opportunity to strike the black monster. 

Her opponent’s ferocious potential always robbed her of the first move, forcing Lyu to read and react at all times. 

The monster had skill, and it was adapting to and predicting her attack patterns. It had been the same with a fraction of the armed monsters as well. For Lyu, that was the most intimidating factor of all. Dread threatened to overwhelm her with each enemy strike, but she refused to be afraid. Fear led to defeat and, ultimately, death. 

Maintaining low posture in the face of her towering adversary, she tenaciously bombarded its legs. 

“—Uoo.” 

The monster’s eyes widened when it realized Lyu’s attacks were hitting harder, and each blow’s precision and speed was steadily increasing. She could see joy in its expression. This beast was unlike any other she’d ever encountered. 

This monster wasn’t interested in massacring people but fighting against them. 

That thought crossed her mind. And Lyu was certain she knew what that meant to their battle. The difference between a mass murderer and a warrior lay in the latter’s insatiable aspiration to reach new heights and desire to taste victory. Lyu’s unhidden, elegant features contorted. 

And so the battle between an elf, moving fast enough to leave afterimages in her wake, and a monster’s seemingly limitless strength was about to come to an end in less than a minute. 

Lyu had fought at full strength from the start, with no intention of drawing out the encounter. 

Knowing that she was near her limit, the warrior attempted to finish the battle once and for all. 

“HYAAA!” 

“?!! OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!” 

She thrust from the side. Crouching like a wild beast, Lyu launched herself forward into one of her tried-and-true techniques as the black monster swung the Labrys high above its head. 

The massive ax came crashing down far faster than its opponent’s mad dash. 

“?!” 

As the ensuing cyclone carried the wooden blade into the air, the monster’s shoulder twitched. 

It didn’t feel right. 

There should have been some slight resistance at the moment of triumph, but the Labrys had cut through sheer air on its way to the ground. There was nothing. 

Then, a shadow grew over the monster’s body in the momentary lull. 

—You’re mine. 

It was Lyu. 

She’d leaped into the air from a sprint just before the double-bladed ax came down. 

The first part of her strategy had been to keep her opponent focused down. She had manipulated its thought process to set up her own sneak attack. 

Lyu played her trump card, an aerial battle. 

The moment her enemy was required to adjust from land-based combat to an attack from above, it opened a fatal window. 

Lyu’s tactics exceeded the monster’s strength and skill. 

“HAAAAAAAAAAAA!!” 

Aiming for her stunned adversary, she drew two shortswords from her waist. 

“Twin short swords.” She had received them both from a Far Eastern familia that no longer existed. 

Lyu sought to carve out the monster’s life, blades flashing. 

“—Wha…!” 

However—it blocked her. 

What stopped Lyu’s twin-bladed strike in its tracks was a single horn. 

The crimson horn grew from its forehead, like a bull’s. 

It took the twin-bladed attack head-on, staying strong as if it would never break. 

From there, the monster used its neck muscles to fling Lyu’s vulnerable body through the air with incredible force after absorbing the impact. 

“GhAH!” 

Crash! Lyu’s lean body slammed into a tree, and a boom reverberated through the forest. 

Gasping for breath as the air was knocked from her lungs, she saw a black shadow fall over her in an instant as she struggled to stand. 

“?!” 

The Labrys rose high in front of her eyes, and it was too late to evade. 

Lyu gazed up at the massive black shadow, knowing that she would die. 

“?……” 

But just before the ax came down… 

Her enemy stopped to look in a completely different direction. Wide-eyed, Lyu heard it, too—a monstrous howl from the distance, far deeper in the forest. It was almost as though it was conveying a message. 

Falling silent, the black monster lowered its ax and began walking away from Lyu. 

Leaving behind the gawking elf, it disappeared into the forest with footsteps that shook the ground. 

“…I have been…spared.” 

Lyu whispered weakly to herself as the creature disappeared from sight. 

She stared at her trembling hand, unable to clench a fist, before giving in to her exhaustion and leaning against the tree behind her. 

She looked toward the floor’s signature blue sky. 

Many adventurers lay strewn across the battlefield illuminated by the crystal light penetrating the forest canopy, but she was the only one who moved. 

“Do I make you that angry, Little Rookie?” 

Dix asked him a question amid the ceaseless frenzy. 

“They can talk, that’s all. Doesn’t change the fact that they’re monsters.” 

“Gh-ah…!” 

Bell had taken considerable damage. 

While Bell had managed to avoid the cursed spear itself, the man still had an advantage in battle and inflicted a great deal of pain. Since the beginning of the skirmish, Bell had received so many cuts and bruises that it was safe to say he was injured from head to toe. 

However, the boy’s eyes were still clear, shining like the sun without a cloud in the sky. 

“What’s wrong with killing them in a pool of their own blood?” 

“Ghah?!” 

“You’ve been doing it, too, haven’t you? Take out some monsters, get some cash. Ain’t that the same thing?” 

“GAH…?!” 

The boy could barely move, and Dix knocked him back with the shaft of his spear. 

Though he could intercept the weapon with his Hestia Knife, Bell couldn’t completely protect himself from the long, diagonal slashes. His legs, arms, and face had taken more hits than he could remember. 

Dix was just toying with Bell, smacking him around for fun with a smile. 

He wanted nothing more than to see the light leave the boy’s eyes and watch his spirit break. The words were there to twist the knife for good measure. 

“…Even…if…even if that were true…!” 

“?” 

“Lido, all of those monsters can smile…and laugh…! They can shed tears, just like us…!” 

Bell glared at Dix with his rubellite eyes. 

“They can…shake hands…!!” 

Bell clenched his right fist, remembering the warmth that he once felt in that palm. 

“…Boy, you’re out of your mind,” said Dix, his grin deepening. 

With his red eyes sparkling behind his goggles, it was almost as though the man’s sadistic spirit had caught fire. 

“Now, what to do…” 

“UgHA…!” 

A solid hit to the top of Bell’s shoulder sent him down to one knee. 

Dix looked at the boy, who was supporting himself with his left hand as he gasped for breath. 

“If I remember right…you had a thing for that vouivre, didn’t you?” 

Like a switch… 

…time came to a screeching halt for Bell once he heard those words. 

“—All right then, I’ll show you what’s what.” 

A cruel grin grew across the man’s face. 

“What are you…?” 

“Time for a nap.” 

A powerful kick caught him right beneath the chin, and Bell tumbled across the stone floor. 

The chuckling man’s presence drifted farther away. Trapped in a swirling, nauseating fog for a moment, the boy bit his lip and fought his way back to his feet. Then he kicked off the stone floor. 

Stumbling, Bell ran deeper into the chamber, where Dix had disappeared into the darkness. 

What greeted his eyes when he got there were several tunnels fitted with orichalcum doors, as well as a hole in the floor, with exposed metal beneath the stone, that appeared to be an unfinished passage. As the crazed Xenos howls faded far behind him, Bell tore through one of the dim hallways. 

A single magic-stone lamp lit the way. 

Darkness shifted around him. 

Pushing through the blackness that shrouded his path like a veil and nearly tripping over his feet, he made it to the end of the short stone path and heard: 

“—Bell!!” 

The dragon girl was shackled to chains that hung from the ceiling. 

“Wiene!!” 

Bell’s eyes went wide, and he rested his hand on the stone wall for balance. 

There was nothing in this space other than the dried blood speckling the floor. 

With her hands chained together, the girl looked as though she was about to be sacrificed to an ancient god. Her legs were fettered, too, and her bruised and battered torso resembled Bell’s. 

Her silver-blue hair shifting, broken scales flaking off her light- blue skin, Wiene looked up at Bell with tear-filled amber eyes. 

It was a long-awaited reunion. They had finally met again. 

But this was wrong, completely wrong. 

This place, this situation, this physical and mental suffering wasn’t what they’d wanted. They would never wish for this. 

In that fleeting moment, a flood of countless emotions raged through Bell’s heart. 

And the one who caused them, the man in goggles, was standing right next to Wiene. 

“Pop quiz, Little Rookie.” 

Dix grabbed a fistful of the vouivre’s silver-blue hair with a faint grin on his lips. 

“Ahh…!” 

Wiene squealed in pain as he jerked her head and chin upward. 

Furious, Bell was about to howl at him to let her go… 

“What would happen if…I tore the jewel from its head?” 

“?.” 

Bell’s felt an icy hand around his heart as Dix brushed the garnet jewel on the girl’s forehead: 

A Vouivre’s Tear. 

The reddish stone was said to be worth more than a man’s wildest dreams. It was a mystic jewel well worthy of the nickname “Prosperity Stone.” 

However, the vouivre would turn incredibly violent and vicious the moment it lost the jewel… 

“NO!!” 

Bell shouted with every fiber of his being. 

“N-no, stop! I…I won’t be me anymore…!” 

“Ha-ha! So you know, do you?” 

The boy launched into a dead sprint. 

His legs, driven by uncontainable rage, carried him toward her. 

Toward the chained, frightened, shaking Wiene. 

It was far—infinitely far. The distance between them felt endlessly, hopelessly vast. 

Shouting Wiene’s name, Bell reached for her. 

Her teary amber gaze lifted, as if she were reaching out to him. 

“Nice knowing you, beastie.” 

The man ripped off the garnet jewel with a forceful flick of the wrist. 

“?.” 

For Bell, time skidded to a halt. Colors turned to black and white. The world stopped turning. 

A trail of light followed the garnet jewel after its violent removal, tracing an arc from the girl’s head. 

“Aa?.” 

As the girl’s lips formed a fractured cry, she bent backward and stared blankly at the ceiling. 

Her amber irises shrank; her delicate limbs trembled. 

“? Ah, agh.” 

Shudder. 

One last convulsion surged through her body like a giant wave before she became eerily still. 

The chains binding her rattled as if in fear of what was to come. Then… 

A powerful roar burst free from her throat. 

“?a, AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA?!” 

Bell froze in place, in awe of the incredible sound coming from the girl right in front of him. 

The chains rattled and screamed as her body started changing. A large lump appeared in the girl’s light-blue-skinned back before a massive wing burst free, following its twin into existence. 

But that wasn’t all. The girl’s arms and legs quivered, swelling with each pulse. 

It wasn’t stopping. Her transformation was not stopping. 

Amid the eerie squelches of flesh, the girl——became a monster. 

“……Wie…ne.” 

Her chains shattered under the strain, pieces of metal falling to the floor. 

A cloud of dust filled the shaking chamber like smoke around Bell’s broken voice. 

“Keh-ha-ha! So that’s what happens.” 

Dix chuckled, clutching the severed garnet jewel as he made a quick exit. 

“?aAA.” 

Bell looked up from his spot, still frozen in place, at the monstrous face looking down at him. 

The moment those emotionless amber eyes met the boy’s gaze—it howled. 

“?!!” 

And charged. 

Two arms took hold of Bell and flung him like a rag doll back against the stone flooring. 

As the walls zipped past him in a furious blur, he heard that massive body break through the tunnel as he landed on the main chamber’s stone floor. 

“Wh-what the hell is that…?” mumbled Gran with his weapon held high, staring in awe at the thing that appeared at the back of the chamber. 

“It…couldn’t be…Is that Wiene…?!” a voice whispered in disbelief. 

Cornered by the attackers and now wearing black tatters, Fels leaned against the wall. 

Caring little for their surroundings in their frenzy, the rampaging Xenos kept howling as the new shadow slowly rose to its full height. 

“…ah.” 

Bell, in considerable pain from the hard landing on his back, gazed up at the massive body standing over him and froze once again. 

It had to be more than seven meders from head to tail. 

Her two legs had fused together to form a giant, snakelike lower body. A pair of ominous ash-colored wings spread outward from a small upper body in an unsettling asymmetry. 

Her long, sickle-like dragon claws were sharp once again, and wickedly warped scales covered patches of the creature’s body. All that remained of the girl was her silver-blue hair flowing down to the base of the wings and soft light-blue skin. 

As for the head on top of its neck, it looked as though a dragon’s face had been painted over the girl’s; its expression was frozen and its cheeks split. Those hollow eyes were devoid of pupils, white and bloodshot as if to symbolize her savage transformation. 

Only a blackened depression remained in the space that the garnet jewel, the third eye, had once occupied. 

Finally back on his feet, Bell was lost for words, staring up at Wiene towering three meders over him. 

“Ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha! Why do you look so surprised, Little Rookie? Everything’s exactly how it should be!!” 

The man came back into the chamber a moment later, his laughter ringing in Bell’s ears. 

He was right. 

This was a vouivre. 

It matched the lamia-esque type of dragon Bell knew from his studies. 

A dragon—a monster. 

“…A, A, A, AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!” 

The dragon monster’s long hair fluttered as it unleashed a shrill, earsplitting cry. 

The sound made his skin crawl, and Bell could only absentmindedly stare at the creature and try to keep his balance as its dragon tail slammed into the stone floor again and again. 

The Wiene he knew was gone. 

Her innocent smile, her warmth, her tears were all buried beneath this monstrous visage. 

There was no denying it. 

This was a monster, through and through. 

“Can you look at this and repeat those pretty words, Little Rookie? No, no, Bell Cranell!!” 

Bell’s face twisted as though it were about to split open. 

Dix’s words echoed in the boy’s mind as though evil itself were speaking to him. 

The creature’s intimidating frame was nothing like a human’s; its ferocious teeth inspired visions of blood; its wild and savage howl rang in his ears. 

It was inhuman. 

It was abominable. 

Revulsion and disgust, the emotions that drove people to fight, were indeed flooding his body. 

Dix was not incorrect. 

There was nothing wrong with these emotions. 

Faced with the dragon monster’s true form, Bell was sickened—nauseous. 

“…RUUuuuu…uUuuuuuuUUUUUUUUUUUU!” 

“Gah!” 

The dragon’s tail whipped around, striking Bell as he cowered in fear before it. 

It was like being nailed with a scaly tree trunk, and the boy skidded across the floor in a trail of dust. The monster’s appendage had caught him in the small of his back, shattering the glass vials of his potions on impact. Precious healing liquid leaked from the pouch at his waist. 

When he finally came to a stop, Bell was facedown on the floor, coughing up blood and writhing in pain. 

“Now do you get it, Bell Cranell?!” Dix hollered at the boy once again. 

Bell peeled his bleeding body off the floor as the droplets stained the stone surface red. However, the man’s verbal jab was followed by another. 

“Look around! What’s in front of you?! What’s behind you?!” 

In front of Bell… 

A ferocious dragon with monstrous instincts. 

Behind him… 

A swarm of crazed monsters, howling like wild dogs. 

He was trapped between violent monsters that would never see eye to eye with people. 

“The things have nearly killed you! Just now and before!” 

The vouivre and the lizardman. 

As their bloodcurdling howls sounded in his ears and their bloodthirsty glares stared him down, he had been mere seconds away from death. 

He had been on the receiving end of their strength and murderous intent. 

“That’s what these monsters are! That’s what monsters are!” Dix mocked. 

The truth in his words was irrefutable. 

“Open your eyes, Bell Cranell!! Get your ass on the right side!” 

The man’s joyous laughter echoed from every corner of the chamber. 

Bell’s trembling eyes opened wide as the floor darkened with red blood. 

“Ha-ha-ha! Really likes it rough, that Dix.” 

Watching the scene from a distance like Dix, Gran smiled with glee. He chose to watch the drama unfold rather than finish off Fels once and for all. 

“Bell Cranell…!” Fels called with agony, desperately trying to stand. 

“…RUUUUuuuuu…UUUUUuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu…!!” 

The crazed monster howls, the vouivre’s shrill screeches. 

Everything sounded distant to Bell’s ears. 

His eyes shook. Nothing was in focus. He was drowning in nausea, and his mouth tasted like iron. 

Repulsion mixed with the burning pain. 

He was surrounded by true monsters. 

And Bell—heard a resounding heartbeat. 

“Face it, you’re only here because you came along for the ride! Own up to it!” 

The man’s voice battered Bell as his head drooped. 

He was right; one thing had just led to another. 

He’d found a strange girl, involved his familia, and gotten drawn in. 

Everything, every single event had just led to the next. 

Were all his choices meaningless? 

He had gotten swept up in the course of events, unable to make his own decisions. 

So, this was his punishment. 

It was time to pay up. 

It was time—to give his answer—. 

Bell ground his molars, clenched his fists, and willed his body to stand. 

“…UuuU…!” 

Bell fixed his gaze— 

—directly at the massive, rampaging, flailing vouivre. 

“…Ruuu…!” 

Normally, a charging vouivre had a one-track mind. 

They became extremely aggressive in an attempt to recover the stolen Vouivre’s Tear. 

However, this monster showed no interest in the man holding the garnet jewel, Dix. 

“…Bluuuuu…” 

It was looking for something more important. 

“BELuuuuuuuuuuu…!” 

She was searching. 

Despite her horrific form, she was searching for Bell. 

Even as a monster, she longed for the boy. 

Bell clenched his fists even tighter and strode forward. 

“…i…ene.” 

Wiping the blood from his mouth, he forced his injured body to advance. 

“Wiene…!” 

He called her name in an unsteady voice. 

“? Aaa!” 

The vouivre swung its massive tail at the boy as he approached. 

As if she were crying out in fear of evil people, in a nightmare where all her friends were killed. 

The tail slammed into the boy. 

“Hey, hey! You’re gonna die if you don’t do something!” 

Dix’s ridiculing laughter filled the air. 

Bell climbed back to his feet and approached the vouivre. 

“…Wie…ne.” 

He was hurled backward. 

“Wie…ne.” 

Slammed to the floor. 

“Wie…ne…!” 

Even still, Bell approached the rampaging vouivre for a third time. 

“AAAaaa!” 

The monster swiped at the battered and bloodied human before it. 

Long, sharp dragon claws flashed. Its left arm came down in a diagonal slash, colliding with Bell’s right shoulder. 

“?a.” 

Bell’s body sank under the blow, the heavy weight forcing him down. 

But his legs held strong. The stone flooring cracked beneath his boots. 

The dragon claws that struck his shoulder, however, stopped. 

Even though they dug into his shoulder muscles, they didn’t penetrate any farther. 

Crick, crick, crick! The claws shook; metallic echoes abounded. 

Welf’s armor had absorbed the blow, kept the dragon’s claws at bay. 

“…I’m…fine.” 

Bell looked up. 

At the dragon monster looking down at him from directly above. 

“…I’m…fine, see?” 

Then, Bell smiled. 

Bearing with the pain, his eyes tearing up, he smiled with all his heart. 

Like he did when they met. 

Just like he did on that day. 

“?.” 

The dragon monster roared. 

“I’m…right here…” 

Ignoring the fresh wave of blood from his mouth, the boy reached up with his right hand and embraced the hand digging into his shoulder. 

He wrapped his fingers around her claw, stained with his blood. 

“It’s okay, Wiene……” 

He pulled her rigid, strange body close. 

He embraced the cold body and pressed the inhuman face against his chest. 

“?.” 

Dix stood, stunned, watching the scene unfold. Gran swallowed, and Fels was lost for words. 

Even the monsters that happened to catch a glimpse of him froze, trembling for a brief moment. 

“It’s all right…” 

He had acknowledged and accepted his own repulsion and disgust, but then he restrained them with a more powerful emotion. 

His warm, resounding heartbeat reached the girl who had always wanted to hear it. 

Bell had buried his lips in her silver-blue hair, eyes glistening with tears, and whispered to her. 

“Ah……” 

A clear liquid welled in her pupil-less amber eyes, too. 

One drop, two drops, and more. Both eyes were overflowing. 

Monsters shouldn’t know how to cry, and yet this one knew. 

“aa…aaAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!” 

The vouivre cried out in fear once again, throwing Bell off. 

Her large body thrashed around like a raging storm, and the girl’s spirit and the monster’s instincts fought for control amid flowing tears and lamentation. 

“Wiene…!” Bell yelled from his seat on the floor, his face twisting in pain. 

Just as he was about to rush to her side and comfort her once again… 

“—Buzzkill.” 

A red spear attacked from behind. 

“?!” 

Bell practically threw his body out of its path, whirled around, and stood up to face the spear-wielding man. 

Dix glared at Bell with annoyance, eyes narrowing beneath his goggles. 

“The hell are you doing, boy? Talk about a letdown. You should’ve carved that thing up with that knife of yours.” 

Spraying spit with every word, Dix thrust his spear forward with one hand. 

Bell gasped, drawing the Hestia Knife and deflecting the spearhead. 

“Told you, didn’t I? Monsters are monsters!” 

“…!” 

“What’s the point in getting sappy over them?!” 

An enraged Dix yelled from between spear strikes, his weapon a blur. 

“What do you owe them? Where’s the value in helping these things?!!” 

That instant… 

“!!” 

Bell’s eyes ignited from within. 

His wide, rubellite irises locked onto the spear’s wicked curves. What little strength remained surged through him—and he severed the spearhead. 

“Wha—?” 

“Anyone is worth saving! Person, monster—it doesn’t matter!!” 

The cursed spearhead hit the stone floor with considerable backspin and rolled away in a cacophony of high-pitched metallic clangs that faded into the darkness. 

His eyes burning with conviction, Bell shouted back at the surprised Dix. 

“They want help!!” 

That reason was sufficient. The boy readied his divine blade and howled. 

“That’s more than enough!!” 

Those words, and that will, were no one else’s but his own. 

The boy’s answer and sentiments echoed throughout the chamber. 

“Bell Cranell, you are…” Fels quietly whispered once the boy’s cry reached him. 

Something changed among the crazed Xenos at that instant. 

For some of them, their shoulders shook; for others, their chests expanded and contracted. 

A certain gargoyle’s stone eyes opened wide. 

Drops fell from a certain lizardman’s reptilian eyes. 

“—Boy, you’re a hypocrite!!” Dix responded to Bell’s declaration. His mouth open wide in a savage smile, Dix began his assault anew. “You’re saying you’d save anyone, man or beast? You’d save everyone and everything?” 

“…!!” 

“That’s impossible! Even punk-ass kids know that! Makes me wanna puke,” the man added with scornful laughter. 

Armed with his now curse-less spear and combat knife, he assailed the injured boy with merciless abandon. 

“Bell Cranell, you’re no rabbit. You’re like a bat!! You just flap around and never land anywhere!” 

“?!” 

Striking Bell across the cheek with those words, the man flung a long leg out in a wide arc. He nailed the boy in the chest, kicking him backward. 

“Ugh…!” 

“Ahh, so boring…You’re just a kid with shit for brains, after all.” 

Dix stepped forward, smacking his own shoulder with the spear shaft as he approached where Bell lay on the floor. 

Voicing his complete and utter disappointment, he twirled the spear. 

“Enough of this. Go to hell.” 

He aimed the beheaded yet still sharp spear point at Bell and brought it straight down. 

But just as the spear was about to run him through… 

“Thanks—” 

A red-scaled tail flashed into view from behind Dix. 

“—Bellucchi.” 

Lido, holding a longsword high above his head, his red eyes filled with bloodlust, brought his weapon down with incredible strength. 

“Wh—GAH!” 

Dix noticed at the last moment and managed to avoid a direct hit, but blood still splattered from his back. 

The goggled man retreated like an injured beast, snarling in disbelief at what he saw. 

“Y-you bastard!!” 

He had been rescued by the lizardman—Bell looked up at Lido in shock. 

Lido’s eyes were tinted crimson, proof that he was still under the curse’s influence. 

However. 

“Well, damn, I’m happy. Really happy…I feel strong and have no idea why!” 

“…?!” 

“Who knew people’s words…could make you feel so…hot…!” 

The burning determination in his heart had provided a solid foundation to brush aside the curse and reclaim his mind. 

Lido clenched his teeth together, nearly cracking them, and grasped the weapon’s hilt with all his might. A monstrous smile appeared through his tears. 

A dam had broken, sending rivers down his reptilian cheeks. 

“Sorry, Bellucchi…and thanks.” 

After apologizing for everything that had happened and offering words of gratitude, Lido turned to face forward, glaring. 

He then unleashed a curse-driven, bloodthirsty monster’s roar directly at Dix. 

“OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!” 

“!!” 

Seeing Lido inspired a second wind for Bell. Drawing every bit of strength from his muscles, he followed the lizardman into battle. 

Human and monster viciously slashed at the evil hunter, side by side. 

“The hell is this…?! How can you think straight, beast?!” Dix snapped in annoyance. But he also wavered in fear. 

In truth, he was at a great disadvantage. 

Bell was badly injured from head to toe, and Lido was still feeling the effects of the curse. Although neither could fight at full strength, it was still two against one. Even without his refined sword techniques, the lizardman still possessed the strength of a first-tier adventurer—the potential to match Dix blow for blow was still intact. His Status was considerably weaker while Phobetor Daedalus was active, so Dix couldn’t contend with Lido in this state. 

On the other hand, if he reclaimed his full power by dismissing the curse, all the crazed Xenos would come back to themselves and immediately turn on Dix and the other hunters. 

The man’s escape was barred by a foolish hypocrite and one single Irregular. 

“Dix?!” 

Gran called out in a panic upon seeing his chief losing ground. 

His curse was the only advantage that Ikelos Familia had at this point. The large man immediately took off toward the back of the chamber, leading a group of hunters to assist their leader. 

“?GHAA!” 

Just then, a powerful colorless shock wave slammed into the Amazon’s defenseless back. 

“I won’t let you…!” 

“Y-you?!” 

Gran and the others whipped around when their Amazonian ally slammed face-first into the floor. A mage stood before them, left arm extended and black robe in shambles. 

Fuming, the hunters charged Fels all at once. Whoom, whoom, whoom! Fels’s right arm extended as both hands unleashed shock wave after shock wave. 

“Damn it all! You guys, slaughter that mage! The rest of you lot, come with me to help Dix!” 

Gran didn’t wait for a response, leaving an animal person and a dwarf in front of him like a wall and sprinting off in the other direction. Along the way, he woke up the hunters knocked out thanks to Fels’s avalanche of shock waves with kicks and led the group around the crazed monsters still trying to tear one another apart on the battlefield. 

However, a heartbeat later… 

Shak! Half of Gran’s vision went dark as a fleshy sound filled his ears. 

“Ga…aah…?” 

It took the large man a moment to realize the left half of his face had been gouged out by an attack from the side. 

Craning his neck and whispering in confusion, he turned his remaining eye and found a gargoyle, its shoulders rising and falling with every breath. 

“A-GAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!” 

“Wh-why—GYAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!” 

Xenos that should have been under the curse’s power were coming after the hunters in a frenzy. 

Gros and the other Xenos who had found a way to resist the curse’s effects, as Lido had, were now descending with murderous purpose on Gran and the two hunters desperately trying to finish off Fels. 

“SHAAAA!!” 

“FHH!!” 

“?!” 

While the tide of battle turned in the chamber, Bell’s and Lido’s coordinated attacks were overwhelming Dix. 

The lizardman’s twin swords swung from the right, and the boy’s knife stabbed from the left. 

Seamlessly switching sides, the two alternated strikes and attacked in unison as the man blocked with his spear shaft and intercepted with his knife. The screaming of Gran and the other hunters in the background made Dix especially uneasy. 

The first beads of sweat appeared on the man’s ever-arrogant visage. 

Then—he noticed. 

“?.” 

Between Bell’s left-handed strikes with the Hestia Knife and the lizardman’s sweeping longsword and scimitar— 

—defending against three blades simultaneously, there was another sound. 

Ring, ring. 

“—Boy.” 

The swirling blades had masked a small chime-like melody. 

The sound from Bell’s fist was growing louder, loud enough to hear over the vicious battle. 

“—Hey!” 

White specks of light passed by him, gathering together. 

Dix watched the gleam reflected in his goggles—and screamed as loud as he could. 

“—What’re you doing, BOYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY?!” 

Argonaut. 

And a Concurrent Charge during the heat of battle. 

After first acquiring the skill in battle with Lido, Bell was now bringing it to bear while fighting alongside him. 

“GURAA!” 

“?!” 

The brief moment of confusion left Dix open to attack. Lido took advantage of it, thrusting his scimitar forward. 

Although the man dodged the blade by the slimmest of margins, he lost his balance as Bell closed the distance in the blink of an eye. 

SHWIP! Dix heard Bell’s left leg move into point-blank range. The man’s face froze. 

After a twenty-second charge… 

Bell drove his fist forward, roaring. 

“AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!” 

BOOM! 

“?GAHHHHHHHHHHHHH!” 

A plasma blast like lightning exploded into Dix’s armored chest. 

The devastating blow sent the man careening into black cages in a far corner of the chamber. 

“Hah, gah…!” 

Bell grabbed hold of his hand as intense, searing pain rushed through it the moment Dix was knocked away. 

Argonaut’s charge had shattered weapons in the past, and with much less time. The long charge had ruined Bell’s fist. 

Blood seeped from the torn skin, and with nearly every bone broken, Bell clenched his teeth as he tried to flex his fingers. 

“Ah?.” 

Meanwhile, the red tint faded from the eyes of Lido and the other Xenos. 

“…Wh-what was I…” 

“Gros…! Has the curse lifted?” 

Fels looked upon the Xenos with relief as they were released from Phobetor Daedalus’s control. 

Standing above the hunters they had wiped out in their involuntary frenzy, Gros and the other monsters shook their heads back and forth, finally calming down. 

“You did it, Bellucchi!” 

“……” 

No, I didn’t. 

Lido rejoiced as he came back to himself, but Bell was the only one who knew. 

The curse hadn’t broken because the caster was defeated. 

Dix had dismissed it himself just before impact. 

He had no choice but to lift the curse and restore his Status—return to Level 5 to prevent the unavoidable blow from ending the battle, which gave him just enough strength to weather Argonaut’s power. 

“GaHHH! Agh…That HUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUURTS…!” 

Dix cried out in pain from beneath a pile of broken black cage bars. Bell was still on high alert, and Lido realized it wasn’t over. The two turned to face him. 

Bell had put everything he had into the charged punch and inflicted a great deal of damage, as Dix was in obvious pain. Curled up in a trembling ball, the man was coughing up blood periodically as though the impact had broken every bone in his chest. Colliding into the mountain of cages hadn’t helped matters, and he was covered in cuts. Blood poured from the open wounds. 

“DAMN……! I’LL TEAR YOUR HEAD OFF…!” 

Holding the spear shaft like a cane, Dix pried himself out from the tangle of metal bars, his bloody eyes exposed beneath his cracked goggles, and roared with hatred as he climbed to his feet. 

“That’s my line.” 

“?!” 

Lido, who had already closed the gap between them, glared at Dix with a ferocious aura and brought his weapon down with a mighty swing. 

The man in goggles spun away before it could connect, but Lido mercilessly pursued him. 

“You will pay for everything you’ve done to my kind!!” 

“G-get away from me! Back off!” 

Dix had no choice but to jump backward, rolling this way and that to evade Lido’s vicious strikes. Bell spurred his body forward, fighting through pain and fatigue to save the vouivre who was still suffering in his periphery. 

“St-stop! I’ll actually die if you keep this up!” 

Dix fought tooth and nail, desperately blocking and evading Bell’s and Lido’s attacks. 

His arrogant sneer dissipating, the man retreated, and his stature shrank with each step back. 

Slowly, he withdrew into a corner near a row of doors where Wiene was still howling in pain and said: 

“Back off now or—” 

Dix suddenly looked up and stood tall, a grin growing on his lips. 

“—I’ll break it!” 

The two were about to charge once again when the man held out a single garnet jewel. 

““!”” 

Bell and Lido halted mid-swing. 

Wiene’s Vouivre’s Tear. The one and only key that could put an end to her pain. 

Dix sneered, taking advantage of their momentary lack of balance by knocking them back with his spear shaft. As he watched them hit the floor, he hoisted the jewel high above his head. 

“Is this that important to you? Fine, then. You can have it!” 

Then he flung it straight into the hole in the floor, the tunnel still under construction. 

“!!” 

“KEH!” 

Bell’s and Lido’s eyes shot open an instant before they moved. 

Lido caught up to the jewel in the blink of an eye, his physical prowess on display as he flung himself into the hole without any hesitation. 

As the lizardman grabbed hold of the jewel from behind, the slower Bell managed to dig in his heels and grab hold of Lido’s long tail at the last possible second. 

“That worked even better than I hoped!” 

Rather than watch the boy desperately try to pull the lizardman up from the edge of the hole, Dix instead pointed his finger at the vouivre. 

“Become lost in an endless nightmare.” 

An ominous wave of red light engulfed Wiene as soon as the short trigger spell was complete. 

“—AAAAAAA!” 

“What?!” 

The vouivre reeled backward, roaring. Fels, Gros, and the other Xenos had been rushing to Bell’s aid and saw everything that happened, eyes wide with shock. 

“That ought to do it.” 

Lastly, Dix discarded his broken goggles and exposed the D marking the side of his left eye. 

As it resonated with the door at his side, the entrance jerked open. 

“Go up to the sky.” 

“??!” 

The rioting vouivre charged through the door and bounded up the seemingly endless stairwell behind it. 

“You! What did you do?!” 

“My curse can make people see things as long as it doesn’t hit too many targets. Bell Cranell, that vouivre is chasing ‘you’ right now! And that passage connects directly to the surface!” 

Dix directed the first half of his statement to Gros before turning his attention to Bell, who had just pulled Lido safely out of the hole. 

His lips curled into a grin as he imparted the last piece of information. 

“If that monster makes it outside, it won’t last long!” 

“…?!” 

Satisfied with the boy’s gasp, Dix used his eye to open another door. 

“Dix Perdix!!” 

“Oh! Don’t mind me, you’ve got a beast to catch! Hah! Ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha!!” 

Deftly evading Fels’s shock wave, Dix disappeared behind the portal as his laughter echoed through the passage. 

“KUH…!” 

Gros took to the air, stone wings extended to their full length as he charged forward at breakneck speed. But the door slammed shut just before he could cross the threshold. 

With the orichalcum door sealed, pursuing Dix was now physically impossible. 

“—Lido, the jewel!” 

“Bellucchi?!” 

Bell snatched the garnet jewel from Lido’s outstretched hand and raced up the steep stairwell after Wiene. 

His body burning with scorching heat, he chased after the rampaging vouivre. 

“This is bad…Lido, Gros, I leave the rest to you!” 

Fearing the exposure of the Xenos, of what would happen if this monster appeared in a city already in disarray, Fels took off in pursuit. 

The mage raced after Bell and left the Xenos in charge. 

“Lido, Gros!” 

Rei, accompanied by the second group of Xenos, arrived at the chamber a moment later. 

The red-cap goblin Lett, the harpy Fia, and the others with Rei couldn’t hide their surprise upon seeing their freed comrades and the silent, motionless bodies of the hunters. 

“—! Rei, do you have a key?!” 

“What?” 

“The enemy leader has escaped deep into the labyrinth! That one is too dangerous to leave alive!!” 

Gros called out from the opposite end of the chamber. Unsure, Rei turned to face the others. 

The harpy and red-cap goblin who had led the siren here showed her the magic item. 

“Rei, there is only one key. We cannot split up and comb the labyrinth however we wish.” 

“…Then leave the key for the one yet to arrive.” 

After a quick exchange with Lett, Gros left the item in the small monster’s possession. 

After watching him disappear back down the path they came, Rei led the remaining monsters to rendezvous with Lido and Gros. 

“Rei, what of the adventurers?” 

“We managed to outlast them. As for casualties…I believe there were none. What about this side?” 

“As you can see, our comrades have been freed…However, Wiene lost her jewel and has gone berserk. Fels and…that boy are in pursuit.” 

The new arrivals fell silent upon hearing that Wiene was en route to the surface. The three leaders quickly shared their thoughts. 

“Our comrades who were captured are at their limit. They can’t move and must rest in a safe place.” 

“Then we must protect our kin and—” 

“We’ll chase after Wiene, too.” 

Gros, Rei, and Lido looked out over their exhausted comrades, the last of their strength spent while under the effects of the curse, before eyeing the door to the stairwell that Wiene and Bell had left through. 

The golden siren and ash-stone gargoyle turned toward Lido after his declaration. 

“Should we really leave everything to Bellucchi and Fels? Are you fine with just being helped? Going to the surface might cause a huge commotion, but…it’s our turn to help Bellucchi and Wiene if they’re in trouble. We need to.” 

Even with the worst possible outcome in sight, it was time for them to put their lives on the line to help the boy and what he held dear. 

Gros and Rei stayed silent in the face of Lido’s determined gaze. 

“…Plus, we’ll get to see the surface we’ve longed for, won’t we?” 

“You fool. At a desperate time like this…” 

“Nevertheless, you are going, yes?” 

Gros scolded Lido for his attempt at humor, but Rei grinned beside him, aware of the gargoyle’s true feelings. 

“I had little hope when I spotted Bell in the forest…Then, once I heard he rescued one of our own…I’m now filled with joy.” 

Cheeks flushing pink and smiling, the golden siren Rei stumbled her way through the language of the surface dwellers to express what she felt in her heart. 

Other Xenos shared their feelings after hearing what their leaders had to say. 

Roaring and hollering at the top of their lungs, they voiced their intent to follow. 

Keeping his mouth shut, Gros spread his wings after a long pause. 

“…Fels is one thing, but I cannot rely on that boy.” 

He quickly divided the Xenos into a group that would stay and a group that would go based on their injuries. Then, a mighty flap of his wings carried Gros into the air and toward the staircase. 

Lido and Rei exchanged smiles before taking off after him. 

“So, Gros? Seems there are trustworthy humans after all!” 

“…Still no. Worse may yet come to worst…” 

“There’s just no pleasing you, is there?” 

“Gargoyles like Gros are always stubborn as stone.” 

“Enough!” 

Side by side, the three leaders guided the Xenos up the stairwell. 

Elsewhere at that moment… 

One man had managed to disappear during the massacre of Ikelos Familia. 

After sliding across the stone floor to avoid the Xenos’s attention, he had tumbled down stone steps. 

“Diiiix…Where’d you go? Save meee…Damn those monsters…They’ll pay…” 

He clutched a manufactured ingot in his right hand and a severed crimson spearhead in his left. 

The large human had lost the left half of his face, including his eye. Deliriously mumbling to himself, the man crawled deeper into the labyrinth. 

Red droplets hit the floor, echoing in the air. 

One man made his way through Knossos’s dark hallways, his path marked by splotches of blood. 

“Agh, burn in hell, ow…!” 

His face contorting into a monstrous expression, Dix supported his bleeding body and vented his anger and frustration by kicking at a painstakingly carved statue standing at the end of the hallway. 

Dix, able to travel anywhere in Knossos at will thanks to his “Daedalus Eye,” had been on the move ever since he escaped the main chamber. Having been forced to read the blueprints drawn in the Daedalus Notebook until it made him sick, he knew these complex hallways like the back of his hand. 

Now he was making his way toward the familia’s home, the underground base where all sorts of healing items were waiting for him and he could rest. 

“All those monsters and that punk-ass boy…! I’ll kill them if it’s the last thing I do…!” 

Apart from him, Ikelos Familia had been wiped out. Every Xenos they captured had been taken from them. 

Vowing in angry whispers to pay them back tenfold for what they had done after he found a way out of this mess, Dix glared with bloodshot eyes into the darkness. 

“……?” 

Dix came to a sudden halt. 

Something seemed different about the labyrinth he had always called home. 

It was as if the air was vibrating, as if the silent tranquility was trying to warn him, as if he’d wandered into the real Dungeon. The magic-stone lamps were few and far between, flickering like candles. 

Having passed through several orichalcum doors, Dix had felt safe in the knowledge that he could never be found. But now as he continued his escape, a cold chill ran down his spine. 

Impossible, it couldn’t be, the doors are shut, there’s no way— 

A piercing gaze was boring right into his back. As his anxious heartbeat intensified, Dix was running before he knew it. 

The pain shooting through his limbs didn’t matter. Gasping for breath, he tried to escape the chill threatening to envelop him. However, he couldn’t gain ground. That was when he noticed the trail of blood behind him, but hiding it would make no difference. Whatever was sending the chill through the labyrinth stayed close as though it was following his scent. 

As soon as Dix closed the next door behind him, he heard a different door open somewhere in the distance. His invisible pursuer’s shadow was drawing ever closer, driving him into a corner. 

“……?!” 

Even though he was following the route etched into his memory, every corner and every wall started looking the same. Fear and panic seeped in as reality and illusion blended together, distorting his senses. 

Daedalus’s obsession, this chaotic world of an acclaimed architect, showed its true face. This man-made labyrinth, capable of disorienting absolutely anyone, dragged the man into a never-ending nightmare. Was the pursuer coming from behind or approaching from the front? Dix couldn’t tell anymore. 

His confidence was gone. 

The comfort of knowing that, no matter what stood in his way, his curse would allow him to escape had been shattered. That was how much his situation—this ever-approaching something—had rattled him. Blaring warning bells dyed his thoughts red. 

Dix threw pride and dignity by the wayside and ran. 

Then… 

“?.” 

Dix came to a sudden stop. 

What he saw directly in front of him, in the middle of a seemingly normal hallway, wouldn’t let him continue. 

It was a frigid stone passage, so shrouded in darkness that it was impossible to see the other side. 

That darkness rippled. 

What emerged made Dix’s red eyes glaze over. 

It was like a dungeon master who had been residing in the deepest halls of the labyrinth, waiting for a sacrifice. 

A pitch-black monster—a black bull—parted the darkness and appeared before Dix’s eyes. 

“…C’mon…You’ve got to be shitting me.” 

Dix had made the mistake of getting so caught up in thoughts of hatred and revenge that he had lost the ability to make calm, rational decisions. 

Like forgetting that the enemy had a key of their own. 

But even more than that, his gravest miscalculation was not learning of this thing’s existence. 

Huff, huff. Rough breaths bashed against Dix’s eardrums. 

One step, then another. Stone cracked underfoot as the monster approached, but his feet wouldn’t budge. 

Foreboding light reflected off the blood-splattered Labrys, clutched in the beast’s rocklike left hand. 

“Where the hell’d you come from, MONSTEEEERRRRRR??!” 

A dark shadow fell over Dix as the man waved his arms and shrieked in terror. 

A heartbeat later—thud!! 

That was the end. 

Unable to activate his curse, the oncoming guillotine claimed his life instantly. 

The death of the wretched, violent man couldn’t have come soon enough. 

The monster walked past the splattered blood and lumps of crushed flesh, continuing on its way. 

It was hastening to join its kind. 

As if it was starving for a good fight. 

“Bell Cranell!” 

A long, large staircase stretched upward as far as the eye could see. Just stone steps climbing up and up, seemingly into infinity. Fels had caught up with Bell, black robe flowing, as the boy raced up the equivalent of seventeen floors of Dungeon stairs. 

“Your body is in no condition for this. You’re beyond exhausted.” 

“F-Fels…” 

Fels warned Bell, reminding him of the considerable damage he had suffered during the battle in the large chamber below. 

It was true. Since Bell was unable to move how he wanted, Fels had pulled even with him despite his head start. 

“You can keep running, but just wait for a minute.” 

Fels placed a gloved hand on Bell while the boy gasped for breath. 

“Rod of Asclepius, Asclepius’s motherly light. By the power regeneration, all shall be healed.” 

The glove’s intricate patterns shone like a magic user’s staff as a white magic circle appeared at their feet. It was a perfectly executed Concurrent Casting. 

Bell watched in surprise as Fels intoned the spell. 

“Dia Panacea.” 

Different-colored spheres of shining light enveloped Bell. He marveled as the wounds that covered his body disappeared, his broken fist healed, and even his fatigue vanished into thin air. 

“What’s this…?” 

“Healing magic that alleviates all types of injuries and ailments, similar to an elixir.” 

The high-level magic had completely restored Bell’s body. 

“Thank you so much, Fels!” 

Bell, filled with vitality once again, spoke a few words of gratitude to Fels and picked up speed. 

Fels was suddenly trailing behind as the boy hurtled up the stairwell eight steps at a time like a rabbit. 

“Seriously…?!” 

At the boy’s remarkable agility, the words of the gods and goddesses escaped Fels. “I can’t keep up…!” The mage moaned as Bell pumped his arms with reckless abandon. 

“Wiene…!” 

The crack of rock breaking sounded in the distance. 

Light shone through from far above, signaling that the monster had reached the surface. 

The setting sun drew near the city wall in the west, telling the citizens of Orario that night would be upon them in a few short hours. 

Hestia Familia had reached the city’s southeast block beneath the still-blue sky and entered Daedalus Street. 

“It’s no use. There aren’t any clues anywhere…” 

“It may be aboveground, but this place is more dungeon-like than the real thing.” 

“M-Master Welf, I haven’t the slightest idea what you’re talking about…” 

While the group made their way through the blackened brick streets, Mikoto scanned their surroundings, Welf scratched his head, and Haruhime began sweating beneath her kimono as each spoke in turn. 

“Supporter, looks like asking around is a lost cause. Even rumors that sound promising end up contradicting each other.” 

“Lilly never thought this would go smoothly, but…” 

Hestia and Lilly, who had done their best to gather information from the locals, exchanged looks. 

After parting from Soma Familia, they had come to Daedalus Street as Zanis had suggested. The group had tried their best to follow even the faintest of monster shadows, but instead they got lost in the slum’s complicated, intertwining layout. 

Stairwells led up and down, connecting to a jumble of houses and small buildings. Built mostly from bricks, there was no rhyme or reason to the size or height of any of the clustered structures. It was as though the familia were trapped in an optical illusion, an infinite maze of roads and stairs within a bounded city. 

“I’m sure Bell feels the same way…but I don’t have many good memories of Daedalus Street.” 

Looking up at the bricks as memories came flooding back, Hestia narrowed her blue eyes. 

Turning the corner onto a different road, the group referred to an ariadne sign in a red brick wall to check their location before wandering on. 

“—!” 

“Hey…What was that?” 

Mikoto and Welf were the first to notice something strange. 

They turned sharply enough to startle Hestia, and Haruhime’s renart ears stood on end a moment later. Lilly gasped a second after that. 

The goddess’s mind raced, trying to figure out why her followers were suddenly on edge—when a chorus of screams sounded again in the distance. 

“!!” 

“Let’s move!” 

“Yes!” 

Just as Hestia figured out what was going on, Welf and Mikoto led the rest of Hestia Familia in an all-out sprint. The group fought against the flow to reach the epicenter, bumping shoulders with panicked, screaming residents as they went by. 

Then, once they rounded another corner— 

“Whoa…!” 

“A monster?!” 

A creature resembling a lamia was running amok. 

Even in the Labyrinth City, this was unheard of. One of the buildings adjacent to the wide street was missing a corner, and rubble was strewn on the ground. The monster’s scaly light-blue skin was littered with stone fragments, proof that it had already destroyed several walls. 

Many citizens had yet to escape from within the thick cloud blanketing the area. 

Of course, the only familia or adventurers on the scene was Hestia Familia. 

“So a monster escaped from the enemy base…? That’d make sense, wouldn’t it?” 

“…W-wait, please wait. That’s…” 

The monster on the ground was shuddering as Welf unsheathed his greatsword, while Mikoto raised her long katana, Kotetsu, and spoke in a trembling voice. 

She activated her skill, Yatano Black Crow, the instant she heard the uproar. So even though she didn’t get a good look at it, she told the group that they had encountered the monster before. 

Lilly froze once the monster’s face finally appeared from deep within the smoke cloud, whispering its name with her eyes glued on its body. 

“…A vouivre.” 

“??!” 

Welf, Mikoto, Haruhime, and Hestia gasped in unison. 

Then they saw it. 

An unnatural hole—where the garnet jewel should be—in the forehead. 

“It couldn’t be…!” 

The instant the group understood what had happened to the vouivre in their sight, the monster made a move. 

“?!” 

Unleashing a shrill howl, it charged right at them. 

Welf’s and Mikoto’s reactions were instantaneous, crossing greatsword and katana to make a wall and stop its advance. However… 

“Ghwhoooo!” 

“Uwah!” 

They were knocked aside. 

The rampaging vouivre’s charge was so powerful that the Level 2 adventurers couldn’t hold it back with their blades. Although they did slow the monster down, Welf and Mikoto crashed through the walls of nearby buildings, provoking louder screams from the townspeople. 

“Lady Hestia…!” 

“Kh…?! Haruhime!” 

Hestia, pushed to the side of the street by Lilly, cried out when she saw the renart collapse right in front of the vouivre. 

Though she’d been knocked off her feet by tremors in the ground and covered in scrapes and scratches, the trembling Haruhime sat up, eyes open wide as she gazed up at the monster. 

“Lady…Wiene…?” 

Although they were glowing red, its eyes were amber. 

Having spent more time than anyone with the dragon girl, the renart whispered the name. 

Tears built up in her green eyes, seeing what had become of her friend. 

“AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!” 

The transformed dragon girl whipped its long body forward as if pursuing an apparition. 

Haruhime couldn’t move as the dragon whipped its tail, thick as a dwarf’s chest, directly at her. “Lady Haruhime!” Mikoto screamed. The rest of the familia called out to her, their voices echoing through the street, when suddenly… 

“—Wiene!!” 

Bell burst onto the scene like a gust of wind, his legs a blur. 

“Bell!!” 

Emerging from the hole Wiene had left behind, the boy threw himself onto the dragon’s tail and slammed his armored forearm into its side to alter the trajectory. The tail swiped over Haruhime’s head, hitting empty air. 

The boy heard his familia’s cries of surprise and delight as he stood with the renart at his back. 

“Master Bell…!” 

“Miss Haruhime, please get back!” 

Bell winced as though Haruhime’s teary-eyed, sorrowful voice had physically cut him, and he yelled back at her. 

Mikoto came in to support the girl who couldn’t move on her own and dragged her back to the rest of the group. 

I prevented the worst from happening, but…! 

Bell had followed Wiene’s path of destruction through the Labyrinth City after emerging from one of Knossos’s hidden entrances and caught up with her in the dungeon town. 

However, a great deal of people had already laid eyes on Wiene. His palms broke out in a sweat at the sight of so many onlookers. 

Now what? What should I do? 

No—the garnet jewel had to be returned to her first. Stopping the rampage took priority. 

Wiene was regaining her stance, recovering from the sudden attack as Bell stood tall in front of her. 

—That was when it happened. 

A gleam of light flashed down from the sky. 

“?.” 

From behind, over Bell’s head… 

It appeared from the corner of his eye—a long spear tipped with a golden blade—piercing Wiene’s left hand like a lightning bolt. 

“a ? AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!” 

The spear’s incredible momentum sent her careening hand-first through a nearby building. 

Wiene cried out as the spear drove deep into the ground, effectively pinning her to the spot. 

The sudden change of events caught Bell off guard, and his mind went blank for an instant. 

He forgot to breathe as his brain processed what just happened. 

More than likely, someone with incredible Strength had thrown that spear from behind him. 

“—So that’s what’s been causing all the noise, I take it?” 

Bell heard it, a voice from far away. 

Then ? cheers erupted. 

“?!!” 

“YES, WE’RE SAVED!” 

“ADVENTURERS!!” 

Those voices, that elation, the excitement. 

They all spoke of the ones who had appeared behind Bell. 

Hestia and the rest of the familia’s silence further implied what had arrived. 

Bell heard his heart pounding. 

Warning bells blared so hard in his ears that he couldn’t see straight. 

Dong! Dong!! DONG!! Bell slowly turned around as the increasingly insistent ringing drowned out the world around him. 

“……” 

The first thing he saw was a blond-haired, golden-eyed knight with a saber in hand. 

“It looks as though the residents have not sustained any casualties as of yet.” 

“What’s this? Looks like somebody got here before us?” 

“Wait a sec, isn’t that…?” 

“It’s Argonaut!” 

“That rabbit-kid again…” 

The next people to enter his line of sight were a high elf carrying a long staff; a dwarf with a large battle-ax over his shoulder; twin Amazons wielding Kukri knives and a long, double-bladed sword; and a werewolf equipped with metal boots. 

“A vouivre…Think there’s any connection with the earlier sighting of that ‘winged monster’?” 

The last was the one who had thrown the spear, a prum. 

Standing atop a cluster of buildings and looking down over Bell and Wiene were Orario’s strongest adventurers. 

“Braver” Finn Deimne. 

“Nine Hell” Riveria Ljos Alf. 

“Elgarm” Gareth Landrock. 

“Amazon” Tiona Hyrute. 

“Jormungand” Tione Hyrute. 

“Vanargand” Bete Loga. 

And “Sword Princess” Aiz Wallenstein. 

After their latest expedition, every single one of the leaders had reached Level 6. 

They had pulled even with their rival familia as heroes at the forefront of the Labyrinth City who would be talked about for generations to come. 

Orario’s strongest familia, Loki Familia. 

“Is that monster connected with what happened on the eighteenth floor? Those look like shackles, but is there any armor?” 

“I cannot be certain about that…but the Guild may have planned for this possibility when ordering all familias to stand by.” 

“Tsk, a heads-up would’ve been nice.” 

For Bell, time froze as the conversation among one of the Amazons, the high elf, and the werewolf passed through his ears. 

It didn’t make sense. They were too early. 

This was Labyrinth City’s Daedalus Street. Even if they raced here once the commotion started, they would have needed more time. The fact that other adventurers had yet to arrive proved it. 

Could it be—they saw it coming? 

They had watched the events unfold and analyzed the possibilities when they were ordered to wait on the surface? 

Bell locked his trembling gaze on the prum, who was calmly surveying the battlefield from above. 

“Captain, what about the monster…?” 

“The stone in its forehead is missing. Dispose of it immediately.” 

There was only one reason why they’d be here. 

To exterminate any monster that appeared in the city. 

The streets were inundated with cheers as though their triumph had rescued the city from the chaos befalling it. 

Bell nearly staggered under the sound. The members of Hestia Familia turned pale as the noise washed over them. 

Those adventurers stood as beacons of hope for the townspeople, having always admired their strength. 

But for Bell, they looked like the apocalypse. 

“Oh, come on. Why’d Loki’s brats have to show up?” 

On top of a brick tower, one of the highest points in Daedalus Street… 

Ikelos and Hermes were quick to notice the disturbance from their vantage point overlooking the dungeon town, and they watched the events unfold. 

“Just when things were getting interesting…Well, that about wraps it up.” 

“…Sure does.” 

The two deities watched Loki Familia’s second-tier and below adventurers file in behind Aiz down on street level. Ikelos slumped, bored now that Orario’s strongest familia would put an end to this. 

“Practically all my brats bit the dust…So much for loose ends.” 

Ikelos turned to Hermes, sarcastically congratulating him with a weak smile. However, Hermes was silent, his cool gaze focused on the boy’s face in profile. 

—Miss…Aiz. 

Amid the burning unease… 

Bell looked up, meeting Aiz’s gaze as she looked down on him. 

The boy’s idol was focused solely on him. 

Her golden eyes were inquisitive, as if asking, Why are you there? 

Uh, ahh… 

A certain man’s words came to life in the back of his mind. 

Hypocrite. 

Dix scornfully laughing at Bell’s foolish decision. 

That hollow laughter ringing in his ears asked another question: 

“So, what are you going to do now, boy?” 

“AAAAAAAAAAAAaa…?!” 

The vouivre screamed in pain. 

The spear had penetrated deep into the ground, literally pinning the dragon girl down. 

Bell’s thoughts clouded, and his vision pulsed. 

He stood in no-man’s-land, directly between the two sides. Forward or backward? Advance or retreat? 

Idol and monster, allies and scales, hero and villain, grandfather and girl, apology and repentance, promise and betrayal, genuine and fake, the fork in the road and the choice. Decide, decide, decide. 

The image burned in his heart: the girl’s smile and tears. 

Her outstretched hand, her warmth, that promise he made, swearing to protect her… 

All his thoughts blended together harmoniously, stirring Bell’s heart. 

Eternity condensed into a single moment. 

Bell. 

Bell. 

Bell—. 

“OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOooo…………?” 

The townspeople’s cheers began to die down. 

Instead, a swirling vortex of confused anger took their place. Lower-ranking adventurers craned their necks to see what was happening, and suspicion similarly darkened their expressions. 

An eerie silence had overwhelmed the ruckus in the dungeon town. 

“Hah?” 

The werewolf frowned at what he saw. 

“Hey…What’s with that?” 

“Little Argonaut…?” 

The Amazonian twins were stunned. 

“Am I seeing that right?” 

“Finn…” 

“…What’s he got in mind?” 

The dwarf, high elf, and prum coldly narrowed their eyes. 

“?.” 

As for the girl the boy idolized, her golden eyes shook with disbelief. 

“……!!” 

Bell was facing them. 

His back was to the monster writhing in pain as he blocked the people trying to dispose of it. 

As if he was protecting the monster and defending it from the adventurers. 

Beads of sweat rolled down his cheeks, his breathing was ragged, and his face was pale as a ghost. 

He raised his black knife in a reverse grip, prepared to stand in their way. 

Don’t be stupid…! 

Lilly, Welf, Mikoto, and Haruhime were lost for words. 

Hestia’s eyes opened as wide as they would go. 

“…!!” 

The same was true for the gargoyle Gros, who was watching from a distance. 

“What you think you’re doing, Bellucchi…?” 

Lido and the other Xenos had stayed out of sight by approaching through the backstreets, and now they stood overlooking the standoff. Even Fels, who had reunited with them, was in shock. 

“—Hee, HEE-HEE! EEHEE-HEE-HEE-HEE-HEE-HEE-HEE…!” 

It was Ikelos. 

Watching everything below, his shoulders convulsed with joyous glee. 

“Would you look at that, Hermes?! This is hilarious!” 

The deity roared with laughter, and his sparkling navy-blue hair swished back and forth. 

“I thought they were all cheeky brats nowadays…but it looks like there’s still some crazy ones left!” 

Standing next to Ikelos, whose body was hunched over with nonstop laughter… 

…Hermes’s lips silently curved into a distant, almost lonely smile. 

“You really are a foolish one…” 

The townspeople, adventurers, monster, and deities all focused on one point. 

The lone boy who had hurled himself into ruin. 

Bell, who had challenged Loki Familia to save a monster girl.