Dungeon ni Deai o Motomeru no wa Machigatte Iru Darou ka - Volume 9 - Chapter 5

CHAPTER 5 

HERETICS 

The white crystals covering the ceiling overhead go dark and bathe the entire floor in blackness. 

Blue crystals scattered about the forest and ponds start to glow in their place, producing a “nightfall” completely different from the surface. 

We’re on the Dungeon’s eighteenth floor, the Under Resort. 

“Night” falls on the safe point the moment we arrive. 

We traveled through the upper levels and middle levels at high speed while making sure to keep Wiene out of harm’s way. I think we pulled it off only because we used magic and items like there was no tomorrow. Then again, part of it could be due to our familiarity with the floors down to the eighteenth and knowing the quickest routes. It also helped that Goliath wasn’t there. 

We went straight north from the southern tunnel to the seventeenth floor, heading directly toward the massive tree in the center. 

Many magic-stone lamps sparkle from atop the island in the middle of the lake off to our left, but we ignore them. A quick stop in Rivira isn’t part of the plan. We’re going straight down to the twentieth. 

A few isolated encounters with small groups of monsters are all the resistance we find. We breeze to the middle ground and find the gateway to the nineteenth floor among the roots of the Central Tree. 

“Now for the hard part.” 

“Indeed. I passed through here once for the quest on the day we met Lady Wiene, but…” 

Wiene inclines her head toward Welf and Mikoto’s conversation. 

We can’t help but smile as we take our first and only planned rest. 

I doubt we’ll get a chance to catch our breath the rest of the way. Finding a secluded spot close to the entrance, we all try to replenish the energy we expended getting down here so quickly. 

The enormous tree’s roots surround us like a horseshoe, and we’re hidden safely in a hollow in its trunk. Thankfully, no one is going into or coming out of the nineteenth floor, since it’s “night” down here. 

Because hellhounds are no longer a threat, Welf, Mikoto, and I remove our salamander-wool cloaks. I feel lighter already. 

Not only that, the cool night breeze feels amazing. 

“Lilly, about the stink bombs…” 

“Yes, our supply is limited. Lilly would like to save as many as possible for our return journey. Of course, they’re an option in an emergency, but…” 

Lilly answers my question while dropping her backpack down on the grass. 

Our party will be in even worse shape on the return trip, so saving as many Malboro stink bombs as possible makes sense. I also understand that it’s impossible to avoid every battle. 

Lilly’s backpack is so full of weapons and items that it’s practically bursting at the seams. The pieces of equipment that didn’t fit inside clatter against one another as she riffles through the pack to make sure everything is in order. I watch her out of the corner of my eye, but the trip home is the last thing on my mind. It’s the mission that’s important right now. 

“Sir Welf, how many magic swords are in our possession…?” 

“Three. Li’l E, don’t go wasting yours, all right?” 

“Lilly knows already!” 

Welf answers Mikoto’s question before shooting a quick warning in Lilly’s direction. 

Our party brought along three Crozzo Magic Swords. Two of them are the size of daggers and are meant to help protect the rear of our formation. Welf has the third one, a much larger weapon strapped to his back alongside his greatsword. Welf makes magic swords in advance to help out during our regular trips to the Dungeon. This time, we brought every single one he had. 

Without a magic user to balance our party, I hope we can compensate for our lack of firepower with these… 

…But when push comes to shove… 

It all comes down to an adventurer’s strengths, what each of us can do. 

Weapons and items lend us their power, that’s all. We’re going to need quick wits and teamwork to make it through the truly difficult situations. 

The bowels of this merciless Dungeon are going to test our mettle as a party. 

I don’t know what’s going to happen…but I can’t forget where my trust belongs. 

“We should probably get moving.” 

I talk to the group after about thirty minutes of rest. 

As I down the last of the potion in my hand, we walk to the tunnel entrance as one. 

Tree roots carpet the tunnel floor, forming a stairwell. A single moss-covered path reveals itself to us as soon as we reach the bottom. This is the Colossal Tree Labyrinth. 

“Lady Haruhime, if you will.” 

“Y-yes!” 

Haruhime begins casting at Mikoto’s behest. 

It’s important that no one else sees her use sorcery. We split up to keep an eye on the path in front and behind as Haruhime’s beautiful voice echoes around us. 

“— Uchide no Kozuchi .” 

Sorcery is a kind of magic that only renarts can use—this one allows Haruhime to trigger her Level Boost skill. 

A hammer appears out of swirling magic energy, coming down on top of Welf at the head of our formation and enveloping him in light. 

“Good to go!” Welf says as he pumps his fist; sparkles glisten around his body. 

“So pretty…You’re amazing, Haruhime!” 

“N-not at all…This is the most I can do to contribute…!” 

Wiene has never seen Haruhime’s Magic before, and the spell’s glow twinkles in her eyes. 

Haruhime constantly casting Level Boost is our key to progressing deeper into the Colossal Tree Labyrinth. Being on the front lines, Welf must constantly engage monsters in combat. The stronger he is, the better our chances. 

We’ve done some experimenting with Uchide no Kozuchi and learned it can last for fifteen minutes—as long as Haruhime puts enough Mind into it. After the spell runs its course, she’ll have to cast it again. We need to be constantly aware of the remaining time and rely on Haruhime to maintain the effect. 

“Drink a magic potion while you’ve got the chance,” Welf insists. Haruhime responds immediately, saying, “Yes, right away!” Uchide no Kozuchi requires a lot of energy, so it’s better to be on the safe side. 

Bringing the vial to her lips, Haruhime downs half the potion. 

“Good, now we should be all set—Huh? Hey, Li’l E? What are you doing?” 

“Just in case.” 

Welf turns around to face us, raring to go, when he spots Lilly standing next to the Dungeon wall. Scrape, scrape. 

Using one hand, she is sliding a small knife under the moss growing on its surface. 

This plant—often called Lamp Moss—is the only source of light on this floor. Is she collecting some? 

“Lady Lilly, are you…? Surely you aren’t planning to sell that on the surface…?” 

“Are you so concerned with our familia’s finances that you must take measures even at times like this?” 

“Of course not! Lilly knows there is a time and a place!!” 

The combination of Mikoto’s groan of disbelief and Haruhime’s genuine surprise draws a snappish retort from Lilly, her face suddenly bright red. 

Well, I’ve heard that Lamp Moss sells for about the same price as the crystals from the eighteenth floor, but… 

I want to believe that Lilly has something else in mind. 

“There’s no pleasing some people…Lilly’s finished. Let’s go.” 

Gathering the Lamp Moss in a small pouch and pulling the drawstring shut, Lilly tucks it into her robe. 

Welf and I nod to each other as she stands up. It’s time to press on. 

“Bell…” 

“Miss Wiene, please stay in formation. You don’t need to worry about Mr. Bell.” 

Lilly gives Wiene a sharp warning from a different part of our formation, though her voice is dampened by the moss and tree bark covering the walls around us. 

Welf and I lead the formation, a simple column with no middle rank, where Lilly, Haruhime, and Wiene bring up the rear. Mikoto is at the tail end. 

Normally, Mikoto would be occupying the middle, but this floor is filled with monsters we’ve never encountered before. Yatano Black Crow won’t fully protect us from those monsters, so she’s in the back to respond to ambushes as quickly as possible. That way, Lilly can immediately provide her with whatever weapon she needs. Although Mikoto prefers to fight with a katana, she’s just as good with a bow and arrow. Her ability to adjust to any situation and any position has often proved invaluable. 

Lilly and Haruhime serve as our middle ranks in the formation, providing support with fresh weapons and items as necessary and, of course, Haruhime’s Level Boost. Despite nominally being the weakest among us, they are the party’s core. With Wiene between them, I can’t allow any attacks to get through. 

As the only Level 3 adventurers, Welf and I have the most difficult job—engaging monsters head-on or breaking past them. 

All this is to protect the one at the very center of our party: Wiene. 

“…Bell.” 

“I know.” 

Welf whispers to me, the lights surrounding him catching the corner of my eye. I keep my gaze trained on the path and nod. 

Several enemies are already lurking in the darkness ahead of us. I bet we’ve got only ten seconds or so before they show themselves, so I tighten my grip on the Hestia Knife and Ushiwakamaru-Nishiki. 

…Focus on what’s important. No matter what shows up, I will protect Wiene. 

A quick glance over my shoulder and I make eye contact with her. Her anxiety is written all over her face. 

—What if the monsters we encounter start talking just like her? 

—What if they possess the same feelings we do and can shed tears just like us? 

I tamp down those questions with the determination coursing through my mind. Those excuses that once held me back are gone. 

My heart is set; my eyes are focused. I am determined. 

Ready for battle, our party ventures deeper into the expansive wooden labyrinth. 

Clouds passed in front of the moon high in the night sky. 

Hestia looked up at the lines of gray clouds traveling across the heavens as she crossed the city streets. Her familia had just ventured into the Dungeon, their mission under way. 

The date might have changed, but the few people still in the bars and restaurants along Northwest Main Street—Adventurers Way—were still loud enough to be heard. Hestia traveled among flickering pockets of light around the magic-stone lamps, catching bits and pieces of their conversations as she passed by. 

“Fourth block of the seventh district.” That was the address on the document that detailed her familia’s mission and where she was supposed to wait. 

In truth, the place she once called home, the “hidden room under the church,” was in the same neighborhood. 

Simply put, it was inside a poor residential area. 

“……” 

Hestia arrived at the location and examined her surroundings. 

With no streetlamps, the clouds in the sky hampered what little moonlight reached the dim alleyway. Hardly a sound came from the houses that lined the narrow street, almost as if no one lived there. The only identification she could find was a sign that read F OURTH B LOCK nailed to a wooden stake at the corner. 

Everything about this dark street gave her the sense that something was about to appear. 

—And she was right. 

“…I suppose it would be foolish to ask where you came from?” 

A ripple passed through the darkness on the other side of the street as a figure silently entered her line of sight. 

The mysterious, human-shaped shadow was swathed entirely in black. 

The figure came to a stop about five meders away from Hestia, midnight-colored gloves creaking at its sides as the person flexed their fingers. 

Hestia forced herself to smile at this person’s unexpected arrival and slightly unnerving aura. The corners of her mouth curled upward. 

“It is an honor to make your acquaintance, Goddess Hestia. Thank you for traveling all this way.” 

“The pleasure’s all mine. So, mind telling me who you are?” 

The black-robed figure’s voice was so indistinctive that it was impossible to discern the gender of its owner. 

Was the cloak that masked his or her identity a way to counter deities, who could see through the lies of those who lived in the mortal realm? 

Hestia’s eyes narrowed as she carefully observed this newcomer. There was nothing to suggest anything about their identity as she pressed for answers. 

“You don’t strike me as a Guild employee. So why would you drag me all the way out here—” 

Hestia held up the mission document in one hand as she spoke, waving it from side to side before words suddenly left her. 

She froze in stunned silence. 

Divine eyes quivering, she peered deep into the darkness under the figure’s hood. 

“Are you really one of our children…a human? Something tells me you are…” 

“…My, my. No disguise can truly fool a deity.” 

The robe shifted as if its wearer was laughing drily at Hestia’s dumbfounded expression. 

The hooded figure’s leisurely demeanor was in stark contrast to the trembling goddess’s forced calm. 

“What in the world are you…?” 

“I would be more than happy to answer that and any other questions you have. However…” 

The hooded figure raised its gaze to a spot well behind Hestia, the top of a nearby building. 

“…it’s difficult to have a meaningful conversation while being targeted .” 

Hestia’s eyes flew open. With those words, the hooded figure spread both arms slightly. 

“I suggest a change of scenery.” 

Thick black fumes poured from the robe’s sleeves a heartbeat later. 

“—A smoke screen!” 

Miach leaned in for a closer look. 

He was on the roof of a building overlooking the fourth block of Orario’s seventh district. At the handsome deity’s side was an equally surprised chienthrope, Nahza, her longbow set and arrow nocked, who also watched in disbelief. 

Hestia had requested their “protection” only a few hours earlier during the previous day’s evening. The goddess came to Miach and his followers after her own children were assigned their mission. She told him that the same message had summoned her to that spot. 

Since Hestia had personally come to his home on her own, Miach accepted her request. He told his followers that it was a mission from the Guild but kept the information about talking monsters a secret from them. 

Nahza, Daphne, and Cassandra had taken up positions around the appointed meeting place and watched over Hestia from afar. If the goddess ever appeared to be in danger, Nahza would use her Sniper skills to eliminate the threat. She had been standing by, ready to loose an arrow at the first hint of suspicious movement. 

“…?!” 

Nahza, eyes trembling, was stunned that the mysterious hooded figure was able to sense her. 

The ever-expanding cloud obscured Hestia in a matter of moments and blocked the entire alley from view. Miach watched the smoke screen—no, the black fog—inundate the area from his perch on the roof. 

He could also see the other deities who had answered Hestia’s call for help—Hephaistos, and Takemikazuchi with his familia—dart out from their hiding places…However, the alley was empty by the time the haze lifted. 

The hooded figure and Hestia were gone. 

“Lord Miach!” 

“…They saw right through our plan.” 

Miach donned a sour expression as Nahza raised her head toward him from her kneeling position on the rooftop. 

With Hestia gone, regret overwhelmed him. 

“O-ooooh! That was the ghost! The ghost, Daphne…!” 

“Ghost? The heck is that?” 

“A black shadow that patrols the halls of the Guild Headquarters in the dead of night…! The spirit of an adventurer killed by a monster long ago, unable to pass on…!!” 

“Let me guess, another dream of yours? Like I’m going to believe that.” 

“N-no, it’s nooot! I didn’t dream it! My old adviser at the Guild, Misha, told me about it…!” 

“Quiet down, you two!” 

The bickering of Miach Familia ’s new additions irritated Nahza, who was well within earshot. 

Miach took a deep breath before issuing orders to his followers. 

“We’re going. Staying here any longer would be pointless. For starters, we need to meet up with Hephaistos and the others.” 

Nahza, Daphne, and Cassandra nodded before taking their leave. 

Miach was about to join them, but he cast his gaze over the deserted alley once more and watched the last of the fog evaporate. 

“Hestia…” 

More clouds rolled in overhead, completely blocking the moon from view. 

“GRAHHHHHH!!” 

Welf roared as he brought his greatsword down on top of the mad beetle, cleaving it in two. 

No sooner did the bug monster fall in a spray of blood than a new monster trampled the corpse to take its place in the front line. 

It was a fierce battle. 

Bell’s party encountered a mob of particularly aggressive monsters in a room located along the main route through the nineteenth floor. 

“YAAAAA!!” 

“GAH!” 

In addition to mad beetles, Welf sliced into waves of bugbears on the ground as several gun libellulas swarmed overhead. 

A monster fell with each swing of his greatsword: instant kills. 

There were no exceptions. Haruhime’s Level Boost gave Welf Level 3 strength and speed, allowing him to send enemies flying with ease. His thick blade tore through their bodies with no room for resistance. Filling the dual role of attacker and wall, the High Smith single-handedly stopped the horde in its tracks. 

“!!” 

Meanwhile, Bell engaged the monsters at an even faster pace, leaving a trail of corpses behind him. 

Arcs of violet and crimson light cut through the air and vanished. With movements surpassing those of a normal attacker, more on par with finishers, Bell fought side by side with Welf to reduce their enemies one by one. 

After sending a bugbear flying with a single spinning kick, Bell unleashed an electrifying inferno into the air. 

“Firebolt!” 

The gun libellulas unfortunate enough to be directly in the spell’s line of fire were incinerated on the spot. Others in the area of effect caught fire from the intense heat and crashed to the ground. 

The surviving aerial enemies came around for another pass. 

Bang! Bang! The monsters launched a volley of the metal projectiles that grew naturally inside their bodies. 

Bell dodged the first round before using his Swift-Strike Magic to counterattack. Although he kept an eye on Welf’s battle with the mad beetles and bugbears, Bell prioritized the dragonfly monsters because of their long-distance attacks. 

Lilly, Haruhime, and Wiene crouched down in a tight circle behind Welf and Bell, who stood on the front line. Lilly’s and Haruhime’s Goliath Robes deflected every one of the missiles but did little to protect them from the impacts. Gritting their teeth, the two desperately held their ground to avoid getting knocked down. 

Their party had never experienced simultaneous ground and air attacks of this magnitude on previous levels in the Dungeon. 

Mikoto stood farther behind them, providing cover fire with a bow. Her main objective might have been to protect the supporters, but she also found time to assist Bell and Welf from the rear ranks. 

…Wiene! They’re going after her! 

The metallic rounds descended on them like rain. However, it was easy to see that most were aimed in Wiene’s direction. 

Cold sweat rolled down Bell’s face. 

Monsters, not much different from Wiene, pursued her with the same murderous intention as people above. It wasn’t just the howling bugbears that had her in their sights, but the mad beetles’ and gun libellulas’ insect-like, multifaceted eyes were clearly focused on the vouivre girl. 

The gun libellulas launched another volley. Wiene’s amber eyes trembled as she watched from beneath Haruhime’s embrace the missiles intended to kill zip toward her. 

Bell flipped through the air, landing in front of her like a knight to the rescue, and knocked down each of the projectiles with his knives. 

“Miss Mikoto, how many are there?” 

Assisting the front lines with her handheld bow gun, Lilly called out when she realized the enemy numbers weren’t diminishing. 

Mikoto responded with an equally panicked yell after puncturing a mad beetle’s head with an arrow. 

“Seventeen, no nineteen—it’s still rising!!” 

Now that Mikoto had fought these monsters, Yatano Black Crow told her that their relentless foes were about to receive reinforcements. 

Sure enough, more of the creatures poured through the entrance on the other side of the room. 

“Ngh…I’m using it!!” 

Lilly watched as Bell and Welf took down monster after monster without making a dent before she reached to her belt and withdrew a golden dagger—a magic sword. 

The two young men immediately jumped away as soon as her voice reached their ears. Her path clear, Lilly brought the blade straight down with all her might. A stream of energy burst from its tip. 

The electrical blast cut a straight line across the battlefield toward the entrance on the opposite side of the room. Every fiend in its way burst into crackling flame, bringing the fight to a swift end. 

A boom exploded within the room a second later as though the intense blast of energy had collided with a wall farther down the passageway. 

“…!” 

Crack! Not even a moment later— 

The yellow blade shattered. 

Several hours had passed since they set foot on the nineteenth floor. The monsters they’d encountered were so strong that the group had been forced to use the magic weapon several times just to keep going forward. 

It had reached its limit. Golden shards fell from Lilly’s grasp. 

“It gave out…Guess we relied on it a bit too much.” 

“But just now…!” 

“I know. We needed it…but it just wasn’t strong enough.” 

Several emotions crossed Welf’s face as he looked at the remains of his handiwork and stopped Lilly’s counterargument by raising his hand. 

While it was true that Crozzo Magic Swords were extremely powerful, the blades themselves were actually rather frail. 

“This is my problem,” Welf bluntly stated, caught between his skills as a magic-sword maker and his pride as a smith. 

At any rate, the battle was finally over. 

“Bell, is everyone okay?” 

“Yep, I’m fine. Didn’t get hurt.” 

“But currently there are only two of Welf’s magic swords remaining…Lady Lilly, what is our location?” 

“We have pressed past more than half of this area. The twentieth floor is close.” 

Wiene bounded up to Bell, her salamander-wool cloak flapping behind her like a flag on a windy day, with a big smile on her face. At the same time, Mikoto approached Lilly for an update on their location. 

Pulling out a map of the floor, Lilly pointed to a spot about three-fourths of the way down the main route. One of their three magic swords was gone, and they had consumed far more potions and magic potions than expected. However, the rest of their weapons were still intact and in good working order. Leaving their item situation aside, the party remained on track. 

The group paused for only a moment to share the update before moving on to their next task. 

Lilly instructed everyone to gather the loot scattered about the battlefield. 

“Again, please don’t leave behind a single magic stone. Bad things will happen should a monster find and eat one. Take any drop items that will fit…As for the larger ones, we have no choice but to throw them into thicker grass.” 

“Y-yes.” 

“I’ll help, too.” 

Lilly issued the orders to make sure that their secret mission remained a secret by covering their tracks. The fighters and Wiene helped the supporters finish the job before pressing forward. 

“I’m just gonna put this out there. I know that the monsters here are stronger and there’s a higher encounter rate, but…Bell and I didn’t run into this many last time. Or is it just my imagination?” 

“That’s probably because there aren’t as many other adventurers. More than likely, there’s nothing else to distract the monsters from us.” 

Consecutive battles were unavoidable, but the numbers were staggering. Lilly tried to offer an answer to Welf’s doubts. 

There were many reasons—one being that suspicious adventurers often flocked to this floor—but very few parties passed through during the night and early morning hours. Even adventurers who used Rivira as a base camp preferred to avoid operating during this time of day. Lilly explained how hungry monsters would gather from far and wide when prey was scarce. 

“……” 

“Lady Wiene?” 

“This place is…familiar…but scary…and cold.” 

The vouivre timidly wrapped her arms around her body as she scanned the Colossal Tree Labyrinth. 

Haruhime wasn’t faring much better, fox ears and tail visibly shaking. Even so, seeing Wiene so afraid was worse. Putting on a brave face, she reached out and held the girl’s hand. 

Bell glanced at the girls in the center of the formation before resuming his constant vigil. Mikoto, who had slain the many types of monsters they had encountered thus far, never forgot to activate her Skill periodically as they advanced. Lilly and Welf were just as quiet as the rest of the party, inspecting the walls around them as if the bark might crack open at any second to reveal another wave of monsters. 

The ceilings inside this sylvan domain were surprisingly high, and small hollows dotted the walls. While birds or small animals might have called these alcoves home on the surface, they were the perfect places for monsters to stage an ambush. Clusters of plants indigenous to these floors popped up all over the place, fascinating the adventurers who passed through. 

Bizarre mushrooms with red and blue spots, grasses with golden thistles sprouting like cotton, and an astounding amount of vines hanging off the walls like snakes filled the passageways. Bell caught a glimpse of a dead-end room with beds of silver flowers, and it was so beautiful that he would have loved to paint the scene if he had the talent. 

Everyone knew it was only a matter of time before the next encounter. These moments of peace were just the calm before the storm, so they stayed in tight formation and gained as much ground as possible. 

…We’re still being watched. And… 

There were more of them. 

Bell studied the surrounding fauna, his head on a swivel, as goose bumps broke out along his skin. 

Had the unknown watchers from aboveground followed them this far? 

There were more of them here on the nineteenth floor. Of that he was certain. 

The hollow alcoves above his head, the treelike network of branching paths, the dark spaces behind massive leaves—Bell’s gaze traveled from one suspicious spot to another, seaching for any movement in the shadows. While he saw nothing, he knew their observers were concealing their presence somewhere nearby. 

Just who were they? What were they trying to do? 

The ominous air made Bell’s heart beat a little harder. 

His shallow breaths quickening and dread saturating his veins, Bell knew he had no choice but to keep pressing forward. 

He tightened his grip on the Hestia Knife in his right hand. 

“…?” 

Without warning— 

An unexpected obstacle halted the party’s considerable progress. 

It completely blocked their path. Confusion ran rampant through the group at the very sight of it. 

They came to a stop in front of a motionless wall of mushrooms . 

“No way forward…” 

“A-are we going the right way?” 

“Hey, Li’l E, what gives?” 

“P-please wait a moment. This shouldn’t…” 

Stretching from wall to wall and floor to ceiling, a colony of gigantic mushrooms sealed off the route. 

A silent barrier of red- and blue-polka-dotted mushrooms stood in their way. 

Mikoto and Haruhime voiced their disappointment at reaching a dead end. Lilly defended herself from Welf’s frustration as she pulled out the map and opened it for a closer look. 

“This is… weird .” 

Welf sniffed and grumbled under his breath. 

An inexplicable feeling of recognition overtook Bell upon hearing those words. 

…… 

And he realized immediately why those warning bells were ringing in his head. 

However, this was more than a sense that something was off or baseless déjà vu. 

It was the knowledge of the lessons drilled into his head by a certain half-elf “older sister” of his. 

If you think you’re in trouble—it’s already too late. 

Many of the gigantic mushrooms making up the colony opened slits that looked remarkably like eyes beneath their large umbrellas. 

“……” 

Dropping the act , the mushrooms of many sizes revealed their dark-purple bodies at once and moved as a unit. 

“It’s not a wall—they’re dark fungi!!” 

A wave of cold fear swept through the party as Lilly screamed loud enough to injure her throat. 

Dark fungi. 

The mushroom-like monsters had evaded Mikoto’s Skill due to the fact that she had zero experience dealing with them. These monsters preferred to wait for prey to come to them, hiding among the gigantic fungi that naturally clustered together inside the Dungeon. 

Just as infamous as the many species of insect monsters inhabiting the Colossal Tree Labyrinth, these creatures produced enormous clouds of poisonous gas. 

“!!” 

The mushroom caps swelled right before their eyes. 

Their clouds of toxic spores made the purple moths’ poisonous pollen in the upper levels look like child’s play. It was potent enough to inflict Status ailments on contact and could even bring large-category monsters to their knees with little resistance. 

A series of explosions rang out a second later as the fiends expelled their gas. 

It was too late for Lilly and the others to get out of range as the purple clouds flooded into their path. 

In the same instant— 

“Firebolt!!” 

—Bell made his move. 

As the only one equipped with Eina’s lessons, it was up to him to keep the venomous clouds at bay. 

Nine bursts of electrifying flames burned through the cloud. As waves of extreme heat surged through the dense mass of spores like a tsunami, the Swift-Strike Magic slammed into the colony of dark fungi directly behind it. 

The purple clouds that threatened to engulf the party went up in smoke. 

“~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~!” 

Susceptible to fire, the mushroom monsters writhed in pain as they perished in the flames. 

The conflagration engulfed fungus after fungus, and even the actual gigantic mushrooms ignited to become towering torches in the passageway. 

Bell’s quick reaction bought Lilly and the others time to escape the edges of the poisonous gas cloud even as bits of the spore cloud burned in midair—but the Dungeon wouldn’t allow them to escape so easily. 

A dark shadow suddenly appeared on the other side of the inferno, and a colossal boar burst through a moment later. 

“A battle boar?!” 

Nearly two meders tall, this was truly a large-category monster. 

The wall of flames parted in its wake as the monster charged through with sheer brute strength. Its eyes locked on the adventurers, and its fur bristled. 

It wasn’t alone, merely leading the charge of its peers. It roared at the top of its lungs as a swarm of bugbears and other monsters followed it through the flames. 

“Damn it!!” 

Welf planted his foot on the ground and charged back into the poisonous purple haze. 

Casting aside his greatsword, he grabbed the large shield hanging from Lilly’s backpack on the way. 

He held it directly into the boar’s path to protect his friends. 

“OOOO!!” 

“!!” 

The silver shield, forged by his own hands, collided with the monstrous boar. 

Only with the strength granted to him by Haruhime’s Level Boost did Welf, twinkling lights still hovering around his body, manage to stay on his feet and absorb a blow that would have sent many upper-class adventurers skyward. Digging in his heels, he lost only a few steps’ worth of ground before bringing the monster to a complete stop. 

That was when Mikoto rushed into action. 

“HYAAA!!” 

Jumping clear over Welf’s head, she drew Chizan, one half of a set of twin daggers that she always kept on her person, and drove it into the monster’s neck from above. 

It was a clean strike, sending a gush of blood into the air, but it was not enough to behead the battle boar. Mikoto carved several more slashes into its hulking body as she spun through the air. The monster collapsed to the ground at the same moment the blood-spattered girl landed at its side. 

“—HA!!” 

Bell dashed by the boar’s body and straight into the oncoming rush behind it. 

He brandished his double knives—a flash of violet light slashed through a bugbear’s neck, sending its head tumbling through the air, as a crimson streak rode the momentum to strike another monster down in the same moment. Bell’s trademark agility caught the oncoming horde by surprise; they were powerless before him as he drew them into the fray. 

He tore into the bugbears, slaughtering them one by one as Welf and Mikoto arrived with bigger blades, greatsword and katana; the three of them joined forces to take care of the rest. 

“Haa, haa…!” 

Bell slew the last monster as the combat came to an end. 

The three humans struggled to catch their breath, faces illuminated by the burning mushrooms. 

Haruhime gawked at the piles of corpses surrounding them and was about to rush to her companions’ aid when Lilly grabbed hold of her wrist. “It’s not safe yet,” said the prum, her eyes following the last wispy trails of poisonous spore clouds. 

“Sorry, but could a guy get an antidote…?” 

“Y-yes, right away!” 

Welf groaned as he staggered his way back to the supporters, skin glistening with sweat. 

Haruhime quickly retrieved a vial of green liquid and handed it to him. Inhaling the toxic spores inside the purple cloud had poisoned Welf. He downed the concoction in one gulp. 

“Seriously, Bell roasted most of them, and I still got hit…Guess this means upper-class adventurers can’t just blindly charge in and hope for the best.” 

“Consider yourself lucky. There are worse cases of poisoning, and those take much longer to recover from…” 

Lilly continued by explaining how the unlucky ones would have died on the spot and rummaged through her backpack as Welf’s breathing returned to normal. Pulling out a few items, she turned to the others. 

“Mr. Bell, Miss Mikoto, how are you feeling…?” 

“It hurts, but I can stand up…” 

“Everything feels heavy, no energy.” 

Mikoto and Bell returned to the supporters, their faces off-color. 

Unlike Welf, the two of them both possessed the Advanced Ability Immunity. However, it wasn’t effective enough to completely nullify the poison yet, and they became painfully aware of the dark-fungus spore cloud’s potency. 

Sharp claws and fangs weren’t the only things adventurers had to worry about in the Colossal Tree Labyrinth. 

“Lady Wiene…You look perfectly normal.” 

“…? I’m fine.” 

Being a type of dragon and born in the middle levels, Wiene must have been born with a high resistance to Status ailments. All the adventurers were looking at her with concern, but she couldn’t understand why. 

Lilly sighed before instructing Haruhime to drink an antidote, just to be on the safe side, and then followed suit. 

“Lady Mikoto, Master Bell, what will you do…?” 

“Conservation is of the utmost importance. Sir Bell and I will share one.” 

Living in poverty as a member of Takemikazuchi Familia for so long had taught her to scrimp and save whenever possible. Mikoto didn’t give it a second thought when answering Haruhime’s question. 

Bell took the antidote—stamped with Miach Familia ’s emblem—from Haruhime and said, “I-in that case…” After drinking half of it, he handed the bottle to Mikoto. 

Her heart skipped a beat. With the half-empty vessel in her hands, the realization that Bell had just drunk from it shot through her like lightning. She stared at it for a moment before her face became bright red. Only then did it hit Haruhime, fox ears standing up straight as she quickly covered her eyes. 

“One, two, and…” Mikoto whispered to herself, cheeks still flushed, before drinking the rest. 

Even Bell started blushing. A cunning strategy… Lilly thought to herself, fists clenching as she watched with jealousy in her eyes. 

“……” 

Then, once everyone had recovered… 

Wiene’s ears started twitching. 

“I hear…something.” 

“You do?” 

Wiene turned, her elfish tapered ears guiding her. 

Their surroundings were quiet. Bell followed the girl’s gaze down the path from which they had come. There was nothing out of the ordinary. 

Welf and the others started to wonder if something was wrong with Wiene when… 

“…Ah.” 

“I hear it as well…” 

Bell and Mikoto definitely sensed it. 

A strange sound. 

One that they hadn’t yet encountered during their time on this floor. 

Wiene possessed enhanced monster senses, far superior to the adventurers’. Fear flashed across her face—an omen of what was to come. The vouivre girl took a step back. 

“Are those wings? No, not quite…” 

It wasn’t the telltale signs of other adventurers locked in combat, nor was it a monster’s howl. 

The unusual sound reached Lilly’s ears. She, too, thought it was the flapping wings of a bird at first, but it was too metallic. A bead of sweat rolled down her neck. She adjusted the straps of her backpack as Welf lifted his greatsword into a defensive position. 

The peculiar noise grew louder. 

Something was approaching along the path. 

The entire party took a few steps back as the ominous tension became too much to bear. 

When their nerves had been wound tighter than a bowstring—the sound’s source revealed itself. 

“Are those…bees…?” 

Haruhime asked her question in a shaky voice as black shadows began to appear at the very edge of her vision. 

Their insect-like bodies were covered in thick black plates resembling armor. Angular and menacing, each shadow was as tall as an adult human. Pincers shaped like scissors jutted from their jaws, but the adventurers were more concerned about the other end—a poisonous stinger shaped like a pike. 

“…Deadly hornets.” 

Bell turned pale as he said the species’s name. 

They normally appeared on the twenty-second floor and below as one of the monsters that prevented third-tier and second-tier adventurers from advancing into the deep levels. 

Its fearsome pincers were one thing, but the deadly hornet’s stinger was powerful enough to pierce heavy armor and even kill Level 2 adventurers in one thrust. Those who survived its sting usually succumbed to blood loss soon after. With armor strong enough to deflect attacks that didn’t land just right, they were like killer ants with wings. 

Killer ants were known as “novice killers” in the Dungeon’s upper levels; in the same vein, deadly hornets had a nickname of their own: “upper-class killer bee.” 

Each of the lethal monsters was equipped with four wings, two on each side. More and more shadows emerged, their number surpassing twenty. 

“—RUN!!” 

Welf’s scream was the signal. 

The whole party turned their backs on the deadly hornets and took off as fast as their legs could carry them. 

“Hornets—really, really big hornets!! And too many to count!” 

“Please stay focused, Lady Haruhime!!” 

“Bell, I’m scared!” 

“So am I!!” 

Racing past what was left of the gigantic poisonous mushroom colony, the party sprinted down the middle of the wide main path. 

The screams of the terrified adventurers joined the near-deafening buzz of their deadly insectile pursuers as they fled. Many had painful memories involving bees, such as a grandfather drawing off a swarm to help him escape or the searing pain in her tail when she had been stung at her family’s home, but nothing compared to this very moment. 

If the hornets caught up, they would be impaled before those massive pincers devoured them. 

Bell’s party raced across the wooden ground, their bodies soaked with sweat. 

“Why do deadly hornets have to show up now of all times?!” 

“This ain’t a time for questions, Li’l E! Run for your life!!” 

“LILLY IS RUNNING!!” 

Lilly screamed, lamenting the Irregular that had ascended several floors to meet them. Welf howled back, greatsword resting on his shoulder. 

The supporters were the slowest members of the party, and the others had no choice but to keep the same pace. Lilly and Haruhime were going as fast as they absolutely could. 

“…I’ll slow them down with Magic!” 

“No, Bell! It won’t work!” 

The insects were too fast. A ranged attack would never land against monsters that could move so freely. 

In this wide and cavernous passageway, taking down any one of the extremely agile deadly hornets with Firebolt while on the run would be next to impossible. What was worse was that magic swords weren’t an option because there was too much space overhead, nearly ten meders. They could easily dodge the blast. 

But above all else, there were too many. 

Welf yelled out that it would be like trying to empty an ocean with a bucket. 

“And we do not have time for that…!” 

“!” 

Mikoto screamed as she saw something farther down the passageway. Bell’s head whipped around, his eyes going wide. 

Dark shadows shaped like mad beetles slid over the walls up ahead, right in their path. Mikoto and Bell sped up, their faces contorted in desperation. 

It was up to them to eliminate the obstacles and clear the way for the rest of the party. 

“Hah! Haa, haa…!” 

Run. Run. Run. 

Their formation was in shambles. Welf was in the back, furiously pumping his arms and legs. 

The supporters raced past the corpses Mikoto and Bell left in their wake, sprinting deeper and deeper into the Dungeon. 

Their lungs burned as their ragged breaths echoed through the hall. Their pursuers were gaining; the swarm wasn’t going to let them escape. 

“Lilly, what’s up ahead?” 

“This is a straight path to the twentieth floor! Should be almost there…!” 

Bell slipped under a bugbear’s claws, his counterattack slicing the creature in half as Lilly’s desperate, almost pleading voice reached his ears. 

The party ran through the curving path and, just as Lilly had predicted, they spotted a large hollow alcove at the other end. 

It was the entrance to the next floor. 

Their goal suddenly in sight, everyone’s eyes flashed as they dashed toward the hole with even more vigor. 

However… 

Crack! 

“—” 

Crack! Crack! 

The sounds were coming from their destination as well as the walls on both sides of the path. A mere fifty meders stood between them and the entrance, but ominous cracks spread out like spiderwebs. Their environment was crumbling before their very eyes. 

The party fell into stunned silence as a massive horde of monsters was born simultaneously in the passageway. 

A monster party. 

The most underhanded of all Dungeon gimmicks. 

Mikoto reflexively triggered Yatano Black Crow. Forty-four enemies. 

Mad beetles, bugbears, gun libellulas, dark fungi, battle boars—a nightmarish parade was advancing toward them. 

They were trapped in a pincer attack from ahead and behind. The Dungeon had bared its fangs yet again, sending the adventurers into the deepest pits of despair. 

“Aahh—” 

Wiene’s face froze in fear, the deadly appendages reflected in her eyes. 

The rest of the party wasn’t faring much better, terror threatening to overtake them. 

That’s when— 

“—KEEP GOIIIIIIIIIING!!” 

Welf didn’t let it happen. 

He screamed at his allies, ordering them forward just as they started to slow down. 

Bell, Mikoto, and the rest decided to put their faith in the voice urging them from behind. 

Kicking at the ground, they sped up. 

Right into the jaws of the ferocious beasts roaring in their path. 

“!!” 

Welf sheathed his greatsword and jumped into the air. 

With a clear view over his allies’ heads, he grabbed a longsword’s hilt with his right hand—removing the magic weapon from the other sheath strapped to his shoulder. 

He brought the crimson blade down in one swift motion. 

“Breakthrough…!!” 

Roaring flames. 

The magic sword came to life in response to its creator’s call with a burning howl of its own. 

Torrents of flames crashed into the monsters barring their path. Even their dying howls of agony couldn’t escape the inferno. 

The rest of the party watched in awe, their eyes opening as wide as they could. 

Their path had been transformed into a smoldering gorge. 

The Dungeon itself seemed to scream out in pain, the magic sword’s overwhelming power incinerating the walls and ceiling and every plant in its path. 

Bell led the party straight into the charred wasteland at full speed. Enduring the heat and holding their breath to avoid burning their throats, they raced through the passageway’s charred remains. 

At the same time, a crick! sounded from the magic sword. 

Releasing that much energy at once took its toll on the weapon. Cracks appeared along the blade, now close to its limit. 

“Come on, buddy, hang in there…!” 

Welf called out to the sword in his hand, fearing the worst. 

Even as it started disintegrating, the magic sword continued to glow as if to reassure its wielder that it would fight to the end. 

“?!!” 

The swarm of deadly hornets closed in. 

There was almost no space left between them. The closest ones flapped their wings at a frantic pace, the echoes reaching a crescendo as if building suspense before the kill. 

Their prey was in range—the fleeing adventurers right in front of them. They raised their stingers. 

“!!” 

In that moment, Mikoto leaped off the ground. 

The farthest ahead, she dove the final four meders and landed inside the hole. 

Bell, Lilly, Haruhime, and Wiene were right behind her, jumping through the threshold one after another. 

As his companions bounded down the stairwell composed of tree roots, Welf made it inside. 

“Of course you’d follow! Take this…!” 

The deadly hornets didn’t hesitate. They swarmed into the hole en masse, determined to catch their prey. 

Welf twisted his body mid-leap to face the tenacious monsters, lips creased into a grin. 

His unblinking eyes on the deadly hornets, he gripped the magic sword with both hands and lifted it high above his head. 

Flight was meaningless. 

In this narrow tunnel, no amount of agility could save them in this constrained space. 

For the second time, Welf roared along with his weapon. 

“GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!” 

A massive fireball engulfed everything in its path. 

Every deadly hornet began glowing like hot steel in a forge. 

“?Ahhh!!” 

The swarm of lethal insects, having been drawn into the connecting tunnel, were vaporized into nothingness. 

At about the same time, the magic sword let out a high-pitched ring and shattered. 

“—Thanks.” 

This was no apology but gratitude. 

Welf smiled at the hilt still in his grasp as he performed its last rites. 

The shards gave off one last crimson sparkle as if offering their own farewell. 

Then, the explosion launched Welf, Bell, and the rest of the party into the air, as if to hurl them out of the wooden cavern. 

““““““?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!”””””” 

Torrents of wind carried them down the stairwell. 

Light appeared at the end of the tunnel, causing one boy to experience a serious case of déjà vu. Suddenly, the adventurers flew through the exit. 

Thud! Thump, thump! Thud, wham! Dull impacts rang out one after another. 

“The twentieth floor…” 

“Finally, we made it…” 

“W-we…we’re here…” 

“Hurry up and get off Lilly!!” 

“Ooph, oh…” 

“Ouch…!” 

Mikoto tried to regain her bearings; Welf smiled through his bumps and bruises; Bell was filled with relief and Lilly with anger while Haruhime and Wiene shook their heads in pain. 

The party slowly untangled themselves after landing in a big pile. And an unexplored labyrinth filled with looming trees spread out before them. 

It all happened so fast. 

She remembered speaking to someone wearing a black robe before a black fog enveloped them. After she coughed a few times, some kind of fabric had been slipped over her head, muffling any noise. 

After that, there was just steady swaying like she was being carried, and then she was here. 

“…Was that some sort of magic just now?” 

“Nothing that impressive. Just a simple magic item and a shortcut, Goddess Hestia.” 

The cool air inside the stone passageway chilled her skin. 

Hestia trudged along behind the black robe’s shadow through the man-made tunnel. 

The tunnel itself was rather cramped, barely wide enough for three people to stand side by side, along with a low ceiling. While she couldn’t tell what material the walls were built from in the dim light, she could see the seamless surface was engraved with many patterns. Without any windows or doors to speak of, Hestia was certain this was a secret passage of some sort. 

Well, I sure got outplayed… Hestia thought to herself. From the moment her “guide” told her to follow, she had done so without complaint. Taking the immaculate planning and execution of her captor into account, she knew it was useless for a powerless goddess like her to resist. 

She still spoke with her usual casual tone, but both knew who was really in control. 

“Very few individuals are aware of this shortcut. It’s possible to count on one hand the number who have used it.” 

It went without saying that the black-robed figure lighting the way with a portable magic-stone lamp had their back to Hestia while speaking. 

Her guide seemed confident that the goddess wouldn’t try to escape. Either that or knew that Hestia could be easily caught if she did make a break for it. Probably both. 

Hestia held in a sigh, frowning slightly at the mysterious figure. Whoever it was, they didn’t seem to have any interest in hurting her. So she focused on the passing walls instead. 

“A shortcut, you say…” 

If her captor had been telling the truth, she must have been carried into this “shortcut”…That meant the entrance was extremely close to their meeting point in the fourth block. 

Visualizing a map of the city, Hestia thought about where the main streets and landmarks were to get a general idea of her current location. Then she asked another question: 

“Is this a shortcut for your master to use to escape in an emergency?” 

“……” 

Hestia was confident in her theory, but the black-robed figure’s response was only silence. 

Except she got the funny feeling this person was smiling beneath that hood. 

Not planning to answer me, I see…That’s fine. If my guess was right, then soon… 

She would learn everything she wanted to know. 

Her captor’s master would tell her. 

Hestia didn’t pry and kept up. 

“Oh? A dead end?” 

They reached the end of the tunnel a little while later. 

Hestia raised a suspicious eyebrow as the black-robed figure reached out to the wall and ran a hand across the grooves carved into the surface. 

“—” 

As soon as a few words like an incantation came from beneath the hood, the wall started sliding away with a low rumble. 

Did whoever this is say “Open sesame”…? Hestia jokingly thought to herself as the hidden door opened, disappearing into the adjacent wall to let them pass. 

It connected to a chamber shrouded in darkness. 

“……” 

Hestia followed the robed figure up a small flight of stairs and into a stone hall. 

She looked around the room as details emerged from the gloom. 

The floor was covered with large slabs. The ceiling was high overhead, its shadows seeming to hover in the air around her. The stones that composed the walls were showing their age. Perhaps it was once a temple, built in the Ancient Times and long forgotten. 

Disregarding the “shortcut,” there was only one other entrance to the chamber. It was located at the top of a stone stairwell, signaling to Hestia that they were underground. 

Then her gaze fell toward the middle of the chamber. 

“He” was present, sitting on an altar among four lit torches that provided the only source of light. 

“—Ouranos.” 

The guide led Hestia to the front of the altar. She turned to face the deity, looking him square in the eyes. 

The majestic yet wizened god sat on his throne—a large stone structure fit for a king. Over two meders tall when standing, he exuded an intensity, a presence, and a divine authority that were in a league of their own, unmatched by other deities. Heralded as a “Supreme God” while residing in the heavens, he was one of the truly influential deities. 

White hair and a similarly colored beard spilled from beneath the hood of his robe. His robust arms were propped on the throne’s armrests—a god immovable. He simply existed in that spot, surveying the chamber like a ruler and a statue at the same time. 

A towering, unyielding king, the true leader of the Guild lifted his chin to look down on Hestia. 

“It’s been a long time, Hestia.” 

“Yeah, Ouranos…I haven’t seen you in, what, over a thousand years?” 

There was no joy in this reunion. Ouranos maintained his calm expression and aimed his booming voice toward the young goddess. 

Hestia wasn’t the least bit intimidated by his overwhelming presence and addressed him like an acquaintance from days long past. 

The goddess had only recently arrived in the mortal realm as a participant. She didn’t know much about Ouranos—especially over the last thousand years—other than he was often referred to as the “Father of Orario.” 

She did know a few basics, such as the fact that he was part of the first group to descend to this world, one of the gods who brought an end to the Ancient Times and settled in Orario. 

He had worked together with the mortal children to plug the “Great Hole” in the ground that constantly spewed monsters—helping to build the “lid” that turned the Labyrinth City into the first line of defense. 

With his familia eventually becoming the Guild, he oversaw both the city and the Dungeon. However, he realized that someone with that much power must maintain a constant stance of neutrality. Therefore, he bestowed his followers with political power rather than Falna. 

The last thing Hestia knew about Ouranos was that he spent his days beneath Guild Headquarters, offering constant “prayers” to the Dungeon. 

These prayers—powered by his immense divine authority—kept the Dungeon in check. It was his will that prevented hordes of monsters from reaching the surface and plunging the world back into the original state from the Ancient Times. That was how it was explained. 

Given Ouranos’s presence here, Hestia reasoned that she must be in the Chamber of Prayers beneath Guild Headquarters. 

The two deities observed each other with the same shade of blue eyes, directly under Orario’s governing facilities. 

“This ends my role here, Ouranos.” 

“You have done well, Fels.” 

Behind Hestia came the sound of fabric shifting. 

Then the person called Fels started to take his leave. 

“Well then, I shall excuse myself. I’ll be late if I don’t set off soon.” 

With those words, Fels returned to the hidden door. 

“Please make yourself at home, Goddess Hestia.” 

Fels said a final good-bye before disappearing into the darkness. 

Hestia watched until the figure vanished, and then she returned her attention to the god before her. 

“I have a lot of questions, Ouranos. Mind if I get some answers first?” 

“I’ll allow it.” 

Hestia had known Ouranos was the one who ordered the mission the moment she saw the hieroglyph message on the document. 

While she didn’t know how it would happen, she had had a feeling that the two of them would meet face-to-face at some point. 

“Was this mission only your idea?” 

“It was indeed. No Guild employees have been informed.” 

“Are Bell and the others safe?” 

“They’re in the Dungeon. There are no guarantees.” 

Hestia’s first order of business was to ensure her followers were safe. She frowned at the god dodging her question, but her shoulders relaxed. 

I can still let him have it after I find out everything he has to say , she promised herself before she reined herself in. 

“Such an elaborate scheme…What’s with the roundabout process?” 

“It was necessary to take expedited measures to ensure our meeting remains absolutely secret. I was prepared for you and your followers to be wary.” 

Most likely, Ouranos didn’t want anyone else to know that he had summoned Hestia to the Chamber of Prayers. This forceful method was probably chosen as the least risky course of action. 

Hestia felt that they were being tested at the same time. 

Ouranos knew from early on that Hestia and her familia were harboring Wiene. 

Everything that had transpired up to today, including the mission, happened under his watchful gaze. 

He saw their decisions, their reactions. 

It was all to determine whether or not she was worthy of an audience with the deity. 

“Am I correct in assuming that you’ve called me here because of the vouivre girl—because of Wiene?” 

Hestia changed her course of questioning. 

The large, wizened god looked down at her from atop his altar. 

“Just what is she? Do you know something, Ouranos?” 

“……” 

“What is happening in the Dungeon right now? What are you hiding?” 

Ouranos remained silent as Hestia piled on more questions. 

Her voice reverberated around the dark chamber. Before her last words faded, Hestia asked the most important question yet. 

“What is your will?” 

Crackle! Sparks burst from one of the torches. 

Ouranos slowly opened his mouth, his majestic form illuminated on all sides by the flames. 

Eyes as blue as the midday sky locked onto Hestia. 

“I shall inform you, Hestia, of our secret…” 

The clash of swords echoed through the labyrinth. 

Slashes and their answering counterstrokes. A cutting edge stopped in mid-swing, met by a blade and a burst of red sparks. 

A shield immediately blocked the subsequent reprisal. The warrior wielding the weapons felt the impact. Waves of pain shot through its arm, and it let out a bloodcurdling roar through its pulsating throat. 

The deep, beastly roar filled the passageway and shook the battle party to the core. 

The Dungeon, twentieth floor. 

Bell’s party had made good progress, pressing even deeper into this floor they were seeing for the first time. 

Not much different from the nineteenth, this level of the Colossal Tree Labyrinth was overflowing with plant life. Its walls covered in tree bark, the twentieth floor was a green maze that dazzled adventurers who traveled through its halls. Their faces were illuminated by the steady, dreamlike blue glow emanating from the moss-covered walls. 

Lilly guided the party through the halls using her map. The monsters they encountered were similar to the ones upstairs, with mad beetles and dark fungi, among others. Mikoto’s Skill, Yatano Black Crow, kept them safe from ambushes, while Bell and Welf knew how to deal with them on the front lines. The group’s efficiency had improved, making their journey much safer and faster than before. 

However, a new enemy had appeared. 

It was currently crossing blades with Bell and Welf. 

“RUOOOHH!!” 

“OO! OOOOOGH!” 

The lizard warrior howled as it charged the party on two powerful legs. 

A blade’s flash catching their eye, the two young men blocked it at the same time. 

“These things are pretty damn good!” 

Welf growled to himself, not taking his eyes away from the red-scaled monsters called lizardmen. 

Standing upright and wielding weapons in both arms, the two monsters attacked much like adventurers would. About 170 celch tall, they could look Welf in the eyes. Bell had fought against many creatures in the Dungeon, but this was the first time he felt as though he was engaging other adventurers in battle. 

Mainly because these two monsters attacked with swords. 

Their clawed fingers were wrapped around sword hilts and shield grips. 

“Flowers as nature weapons…?” 

The two lizardmen were carrying “landforms”—naturally occurring weapons that the Dungeon supplied. 

These metallic flowers grew straight from the Dungeon walls. Removing the stem from the flower resulted in a round shield measuring fifty celch in diameter. What’s more, each of the petals could be individually plucked from the flower, becoming daggers as wide as swords and worthy of the nickname “cutters.” 

The nature weapons they had encountered up to this point included tree-stump clubs and stone tomahawks, but this was the first piece of equipment that provided monsters with the offensive and defensive support equivalent to an adventurer’s sword and shield. Welf parried a cutter away from his body as a lizardman blocked Bell’s knife with its round shield. 

“SHAAAAAAAAA!!” 

The two adventurers were forced to simultaneously deal with the tenacious lizardman assault and the ranged attacks of a gun libellula mob coming from behind. The monsters used powerful side sweeps, quick downward slashes, and sudden forward thrusts to overwhelm them. The blows shattered the floor beneath them, and the two humans’ limbs trembled under the strain of receiving the attacks. 

Their technique might have relied mostly on power, but it was unmistakably swordsmanship. 

“Monsters with sword skills…Well, guess what?!” 

Welf yelled back at his unusually skilled foes. 

The tables turned as soon as Mikoto and Lilly finished wiping out the gun libellulas with a slew of arrows. 

Welf blocked the lizardman’s following strike and, with a well-timed twist of his blade, sent the creature’s flower-petal dagger flying. He exploited the second it took for the disarmed lizardman to regain its balance, raising his greatsword high into the air. 

Surprised realization passed over the monster’s face as it lifted its shield up to defend. Welf smirked at the useless gesture. 

He then used every muscle in his body to bring down an overarching slash that cut straight through the shield and plunged into the monster’s body. 

“GEH—!” 

Welf’s sword tore right through its magic stone. The lizardman crumbled into ash before the halves of its shield hit the ground. 

As the remaining lizardman reacted to seeing its companion slain, Bell kicked off the ground with the speed of a rabbit. 

“GAH!” 

A crimson arc carved straight through the creature’s midsection as the boy slid by, holding Ushiwakamaru-Nishiki in a backhand grip. 

The blade tore red scales off its body as it bit deep into its flesh. 

The creature staggered for a moment with a massive gash in its torso before loudly collapsing to the ground behind Bell. 

“That was a real surprise at first, but they’re really rough around the edges. Those weren’t techniques.” 

“Bear in mind that if monsters like that appear in greater numbers… the way forward will become much more arduous.” 

Welf returned his greatsword to his shoulder, scoffing at the fallen monsters like a seasoned veteran, while Mikoto exchanged an empty arrow quiver for her katana. Lilly and the supporters quickly set to work, collecting magic stones from the battlefield. 

“I wonder if any of them live long enough to learn how to do more than just swing.” 

“While Lilly can’t guarantee there aren’t…it wouldn’t make sense, Mr. Welf. Once it was identified, the Guild would immediately issue a bounty for such a monster and send exterminators to eliminate it.” 

Bell listened to his allies’ conversation and thought about the look of insatiable bloodlust in the lizardmen’s eyes. The battle over, he led his party deeper into the Dungeon. 

“Lilly…how far do we have to go?” 

“According to the map, our destination is close. Please turn right up ahead.” 

They had diverted from the main route quite a while ago. 

Lilly’s eyes never left the red circle over a room close to a pantry in the back corner of this floor, their mission’s destination, as she spoke. 

Every party member could sense their anxiety increasing with every step. 

Backpacks over their shoulders, Lilly and Haruhime desperately tried to hide their exhaustion and keep their nerves under control. 

Even Welf, who always lightened the mood with a few jokes, was unusually quiet. 

Mikoto’s Mind was little more than fumes after triggering her Skill so many times. She took out a Dual Potion, drank the whole thing, and silently wiped her mouth. 

Bell led the group at the front, holding idle thoughts at bay while keeping his eyes and ears wide open. He glanced back over his shoulder. 

Wiene looked up, her trembling amber eyes meeting his almost as if on cue. They seemed to exchange thoughts and feelings in that long moment. 

The inside of the girl’s hood was glowing red with the light of the red jewel in her forehead. 

The party encountered several more groups of monsters after that. 

The path required them to climb over a series of thick, matted tree roots, up a hill, and through a thicket of lush plant life. 

Until finally… 

“We’re here…” 

They had arrived at their mission’s destination. 

The room was a long rectangle about ten meders wide, and the ceiling was just as tall. Tree bark covered the walls and canopy, just like every room they had passed by on the way, and it was all carpeted with Lamp Moss. 

Green grass and an assortment of small white rings came together to form a flower bed growing out of the floor like a patchwork garden. 

However, they were not what the party noticed first. 

“Quartz…” 

Maybe because the pantry was nearby, but the deep-green quartz that resembled emeralds stuck out from the floor, walls, and ceiling in every direction. The verdant light of the rock formations reminded Bell of the quest that he and Lilly once undertook at Nahza’s request. For others like Haruhime, this was their first time seeing quartz in every size and shape like this with their own eyes. The sight took their breath away. The largest cluster was situated at the other end of the room, directly facing the party—and covering the wall almost like a miniature iceberg. 

Other rooms located close to pantries had the same manner of quartz formations. 

“I’m glad to hear this is it, but…” 

“There’s nothing to see and no one here…” 

The group came to a stop at the entryway, Welf scanning the chamber as Mikoto frowned. 

There were no monsters waiting to greet them, let alone a party of people. Everyone agreed that the quartz was beautiful, but nothing special enough to designate this room as their mission’s destination. 

Bell and his party stood in the room’s only entrance. 

Of course, a way to go even deeper into the Dungeon from that spot didn’t appear to exist. 

“Lady Lilly, are you certain our location is accurate…?” 

“I am absolutely sure. This…has to be correct.” 

Lilly again examined her map, along with the one provided with the mission document, as an uneasy Haruhime asked for confirmation. 

Bell paused in front of the tranquil room, the moss’s blue light mixing with the quartz’s green in front of his eyes. He set foot inside. 

The room was brighter than the path they had taken thanks to the quartz. The party followed Bell, staying in a tight cluster in case a monster came out of the Dungeon walls. They also kept their eyes open for a clue as to why their mission had brought them here. 

But it was all for naught. 

“There really is…nothing…” 

“Dammit, Guild, what did you want us to do?” 

At a loss for an explanation, they returned to the entrance. 

Welf voiced the frustration everyone was feeling and massaged his neck. Haruhime’s Level Boost was nearing its time limit, so the motes of light hovering over his body were vanishing as they spoke. 

The fatigue they had been hiding, the exhaustion from relentlessly pressing forward through the Dungeon, had reached a breaking point and weighed heavily on everyone’s shoulders. Meanwhile, the white flowers at their feet gently swayed back and forth. 

—Now that I think about it, the ones watching us… 

Bell raised his head from his spot in the middle of the party. 

All the gazes he had sensed after they entered Babel Tower, which had only increased once they arrived on the nineteenth floor, had vanished. 

There was no mistake. Whoever had been observing them was gone. 

Bell racked his brain, trying to figure out what it could mean, when— 

“?” 

Twitch. 

Wiene’s pointed ears twitched again. 

“I hear…” 

“Huh?” Everyone’s attention suddenly focused on Wiene. 

She looked over her shoulder to the opposite side of the room. Her gaze fell on the wall of quartz on the other end. 

No way… The party was in denial as they watched the vouivre girl focus on sounds only she could hear. But once they tried… 

“?” 

…they could hear it, too. 

It was a song none of them had ever heard before. Growing louder, the reverberations rang in their ears. 

Every eye went wide as the adventurers tried to find words. 

“A song in the labyrinth…” 

The tone was pure and steady, forming a melody that conjured images of the ocean under a calm night sky. Lilly whispered to herself, having heard about this somewhere before. 

“Is it…calling?” 

Wiene’s eyes opened fully as her gaze raced along the quartz iceberg, trying to locate where the song was coming from. 

The others had figured it out, too. The sound waves were coming from even deeper in the Dungeon, from behind the cluster of quartz crystals. 

No one said a word as they climbed to their feet and drifted to the wall as if the melody were magnetic. 

They came to a stop in front of the gorgeous quartz formation. 

It looked like one solid piece at first glance…but then they found a dim spot among the crystals. 

The song had grown so loud that now even the quartz vibrated ever so slightly in time with each note. Exchanging glances, everyone nodded. 

Welf stepped forward, took aim with his sword—and brought it down in one swift motion. 

Crash! The quartz broke into pieces, shattering like glass to reveal an alcove in the wall. 

“…Well, how were we supposed to find that?” 

Welf groaned, whispering at the opening. 

The Dungeon always healed itself, repairing the damage it sustained during battles, but quartz grew back abnormally fast. In fact, the process was already under way. The party quickly strode through the opening as new crystals formed before their eyes. 

Shards of broken quartz littered the path under their feet as they watched the entrance seal itself behind them. 

“…Let’s go.” 

The song was gone, as though it had served its purpose. 

Peering down the slope into the depths of the tree, Bell urged his allies forward. 

Tension held them in its grip once again as the party formed a line and pressed onward. 

“Could this place be…?” 

Lilly’s quiet voice trembled in through the dim, bark-covered passageway. 

While everyone knew exactly what she was trying to say, no one spoke. Breathing as quietly as possible, the party was so on edge that they became drenched in sweat. 

The path was narrow, but there didn’t seem to be a danger of monsters bursting from the walls. There was no Lamp Moss on any surface. Small quartz crystals dotting the passage provided just enough light for the adventurers to see one another and their immediate surroundings. 

Bell led the way. Wiene, directly behind him, reached out to take his hand. 

The boy didn’t say anything as he felt her thin fingers wrap around his, giving them only a tight squeeze. 

Having accepted the portable magic-stone lamp from Lilly in one hand, Bell pointed forward with the other as the group continued their descent. 

“…A spring.” 

A body of cool, clear blue water awaited them at the bottom of the hill. 

The bottom of the wide pool appeared to be five meders deep. It could have easily passed for a small pond. 

The little light the quartz crystals provided glinted off the water. Bell used the lamp to scan the room, sweeping the beam from one end to the other. 

“Looks like the path ends here…” 

“That can’t be…The song came from here, did it not?” 

Haruhime didn’t want to believe what Bell just said. 

Casting light on the ceiling and the walls revealed only solid bark. There were no openings that could possibly lead to another path. 

Lilly and Welf tilted their heads, examining the room in an effort to puzzle out what had happened to the mysterious singer. 

“…?” 

That was when Mikoto discovered something on the water’s surface. 

A single floating golden feather. 

The idea came to her as she stood transfixed by the feather’s speckled, golden sparkle. 

“Sir Bell, the light.” 

Mikoto approached the shore with purpose in her stride. 

The light from Bell’s lamp passed through the clear water, reaching the bottom with ease. 

As every detail came to light, Mikoto caught a glimpse of an opening in the submerged wall leading away from this apparent dead end. 

“I have a theory…” 

Mikoto spoke as she removed her katana, armor, and the rest of her equipment from her body. 

Down to a single layer of battle cloth, she dove into the water. Trained in the unforgiving rivers of the Far East, she used her ninja-like coordination to glide through the water toward the opening like a fish. 

Wiene, Bell, and the others watched with bated breath…Bubbles rose before Mikoto’s head breached the surface a few seconds later. 

She pushed the wet hair plastered to her face out of her eyes before giving a firm nod to her allies above. 

They all exchanged glances and began to disrobe. 

Mikoto briefly emerged to collect her katana and knives. They followed her example, leaving everything but the essentials behind before entering the water. Lilly and Haruhime removed their Goliath Robes and backpacks, filling small pouches with as many items as they could fit. 

Joining Mikoto and Ouka on trips to nearby rivers in her youth had served Haruhime well. She swam with relative ease while Welf walked along the bottom, weighted down by the massive sword he refused to leave behind. Lilly held her dagger-length magic blade tight against her body as she zipped through the water like a minnow. Wiene, who had been reluctant, held on to Bell’s arm as he helped her in. 

The water blurred their vision and chilled their skin as they filed into the hole. 

It opened into a long submerged passageway that was illuminated by quartz crystals poking out of the bottom as if to guide the way. 

Their Statuses allowed them to hold their breath much longer than the average person could. Mikoto led them to a fork in the underwater path. Once there, the group noticed light filtering down from above and changed course. 

Kicking their legs as fast as they could, the party made a break for the surface. 

“—Pwah!” 

Their heads popped out of the water one by one only to find what resembled a limestone grotto instead of the wooden alcove from whence they came. With black stone walls extending in every direction, only the dim quartz light remained consistent. The party climbed out of the water, Wiene and Haruhime shaking their bodies to dry off. 

Bell was quick to find a new path in the blackness—one leading even deeper into the rocky labyrinth. 

“So this is…” said Lilly, appalled, as she peered into the dark, unexplored corner of the Dungeon. 

“…‘Frontier.’” 

The Guild possessed a great deal of Dungeon map data. 

While it was being used to assist modern-day adventurers, it was the adventurers who came before them as well as the brave explorers from the Ancient Times who had originally gathered it. These people had blazed the trail with no knowledge, putting their lives on the line to discover new routes and make maps of every floor. These were grand achievements. 

However, there were still areas yet to be explored. 

The Dungeon was far too immense to ever be completely mapped. 

People sometimes overlooked branching passageways in the never-ending journey deep into the Dungeon. 

There were also special cases like this one, where pristine terrain had yet to be touched by explorers. 

“Frontier.” 

Just as the name suggested, no one had ever been here before. 

It wasn’t recorded on any map—not even top-class adventurers knew this area existed. Lilly, Bell, and the rest of the party gaped at the thought. 

“……” 

A large opening connected to what seemed like a dark abyss. 

Bell’s party quietly took their first steps. 

They fell into formation around Wiene. Bell held the magic-stone lamp high as everyone followed his path. 

Quartz crystals provided nothing more than a slight glimmer. The lamp’s beam was all they had to cleave through the darkness. They were so on edge, a few confused their own heartbeats for far-off footsteps and the rock crunching beneath their feet as a sign of danger. The passage was quiet, but the party heard every little sound. Without the occasional familiar monster cry in the background, the silence was deafening. 

There was no way to know what creatures they would encounter. 

Should an as-of-yet-undocumented Dungeon gimmick or an Irregular occur, death was a very real possibility. 

This was pure, unbridled “unknown.” 

Their throats were dry, but their skin was slick with perspiration. Their five senses were focused beyond their intended limits. Their minds had never endured such stress, and yet, at the same time, they also felt sharper than ever before. Nothing was more reassuring than a familiar hilt in their grasp. The “unknown” revealed more of itself with each step, just like it had for their forebears. 

Bell led the party farther and farther into the Frontier. Just as everyone’s anxiety hit its peak, the rocky tunnel’s end came into view. 

“It’s dark…” 

And it opened up. 

Bell and Welf were suddenly freed from the claustrophobia that plagued them in the tunnel. This new space was extremely wide, overwhelmingly so. The words that fell from Welf’s lips resounded off into the darkness. 

This was probably a large room. However, it was pitch black. 

The lamp’s illumination couldn’t penetrate far enough into the darkness to find the opposite wall. 

“……Um, Mikoto.” 

“Sir Bell?” 

“Are there any…monsters in here?” 

“N-no, not as far as I can tell…” 

Bell struggled to control his trembling voice as he asked. 

Something was there. 

There was definitely something in here. 

More somethings than he could count were watching them. 

They hid in the darkness, masking their presence while observing the adventurers’ every move. 

Terror crept into Bell’s veins as he realized how very many eyes were looking at him. 

Mikoto’s Skill couldn’t detect them. That left only three possibilities: these were people, they were monsters they hadn’t encountered before, or they were simply lurking just outside Yatano Black Crow’s range. 

A fresh wave of cold sweat ran down Bell’s neck as his mind raced. He had to issue orders, get Haruhime to recast her Level Boost, make sure Wiene was protected, and so on. 

However, there wasn’t time. 

An incredible killing intent swelled within the darkness. 

““““““!!”””””” 

It swept over Bell, Lilly, Welf, Mikoto, Haruhime, and Wiene like a jolt of electricity. 

The animosity was intense enough to halt these upper-class adventurers in their tracks. 

Suddenly, thud thud thud THUD THUD THUD!! The unmistakable sound of feet charging directly at them reached their ears. 

At the same time, whoosh! Several feathered wings took flight. 

“!!” 

Bell’s left hand guided the lamplight toward the closest oncoming sound. 

The beam cut through the darkness, but Bell could make out only one thing—scarlet scales. 

“—RUOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOH!!” 

Bell’s eyes flew open as he recognized the reptilian-warrior howl. 

—A lizardman?! 

A lizardman with bloodshot eyes didn’t give Bell a chance to attack as it stepped deep inside his space. 

The lizardman wielded a long curved blade in its left hand—a scimitar. A flash of silver scythed down with blinding speed. 

“?” 

The invisible swordsmanship stole Bell’s breath away. 

The Hestia Knife in the boy’s right hand had moved to the right place out of sheer luck. 

The two blades collided directly in front of his chest. 

Immediately after, he felt the impact with his entire body, making his vision swim before hurling him to the side. 

“Bell!” 

The boy slammed into the ground, rolling away from the party as Welf’s yell reverberated through the room. 

The lamp fell from Bell’s grasp, and a reptilian foot crushed it beneath its talons. 

With the light source gone, the area was plunged back into darkness. 

“What the hell is going on—?!” 

“HYAA!!” 

“—?!” 

Welf’s heart was racing in his darkened surroundings when a small shadow zipped toward him. 

He promptly raised his greatsword overhead, where it crashed into something with a high-pitched metallic ring. The impact was strong enough to drive him to his knees. 

Sparks scattering from the collision briefly revealed the attacker: a diminutive monster wearing a red hat. 

“A goblin?!” 

The plump bottom-rung monster disappeared into the veil of darkness. Welf watched with stunned eyes, unable to believe its strength. 

“!” 

“!!” 

Even farther back in the rear guard, Mikoto recognized the sound of projectile weapons whistling through the air. Jumping over to land by Wiene, she deflected the shots with a sweep of her katana. 

“—Feathers?!” 

In the instant it took her precise blade to repel the projectiles, she realized what they were as they fluttered before her eyes. 

Still recovering from the shock, she realized another volley of feathers was heading right at her from the same direction. 

“Everyone! Wiene!” 

“GAAAAAH!!” 

“!” 

Bell had gotten back on his feet while yelling in his party’s direction, but then another flash of silver descended upon him. 

He dodged the lizardman’s blade by the slimmest of margins, and the monster howled as it pressed the attack. 

Bell moved to engage an opponent he could barely see. 

“Wh-what in the world is…?!” 

A metallic ring echoed in the chamber; a burst of sparks scattered through the air. The bestial howls combined with the adventurers’ panicked gasps in the chaos. 

Bell’s party was forced into a desperate last stand, relying only on sound. The battle left Haruhime powerless to do anything. In the obfuscating dark, the pandemonium reached a fever pitch. 

“!” 

At that moment… 

Lilly’s hand, which had plunged into her spare pouch the moment combat began, brushed against what it was so desperately searching for. While fighting against fear and panic, the devoted supporter of the party made a quick decision and grabbed what she needed to overcome their trial. 

She pulled a small bag out of her pouch, opened it, and flung it forward with all her might. 

“Lamp Moss!” 

“!” 

“?!” 

The bioluminescent substance spilled out, spreading across the ground. 

It was the Lamp Moss Lilly had harvested on the nineteenth floor. 

Pieces of the Colossal Tree Labyrinth’s primary light source lifted the shroud of darkness surrounding them. 

Friend and foe alike were caught by surprise as the battlefield came into view. 

“…!” 

That’s when Bell’s party definitively learned the true identity of their attackers. 

“Huuooo!” 

“OooOOooOO…!” 

A lizardman, a goblin, and a harpy flapping its wings in midair appeared. 

The species of monsters might have been different, but they each had one thing in common: all of them had equipment, whether scimitar or hand ax, shield or armor. 

“Monsters…! 

“…With weapons…!” 

Bell and Welf could hardly believe their eyes. 

Both clearly remembered the posting on the Guild’s bulletin board: 

A report stating that monsters had been seen stealing equipment from adventurers or looting it from dead bodies in the Dungeon. It had even displayed a sketch of them with the gear. Both young men felt as though that drawing had come to life. 

“H-how many of them are there…?!” 

At the same time, Lilly was more distracted by the other monsters farther back. 

In addition to the harpy, a gargoyle and a griffin circled the space above their heads. Meanwhile, on the ground were… lamias, al-miraj, formoires, war shadows, the humanoid spider called arachne, unicorns …The horde was composed of myriad monsters hailing from the upper, middle, lower, and even deep levels of the Dungeon. The space almost seemed big enough to fit the surface’s Coliseum, and the number of eyes watching them in the room made Mikoto and Haruhime turn pale. 

Wiene fearfully looked around at the numerous monsters that had many of the same features she did. 

“OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!” 

The lizardman facing Bell let out a ferocious roar, and the other monsters started to move all at once. 

The blue-green light emerging from the ground illuminated claws and fangs as well as the raised swords and axes. 

“All these guys…!!” 

“They’re after Lady Wiene?!” 

The attacking monsters’ weapons were all aiming for the vouivre girl at the center of their party. 

Breathing ragged and eyes filled with bloodlust, they headed for Wiene with drool spilling from their mouths. Welf and Mikoto desperately tried to hold back the onslaught threatening to overwhelm them. 

“The magic sword isn’t an option like this…!” 

The battle had transformed completely into a wild melee in the darkness. Engaging the monsters in hand-to-hand combat, Welf and Mikoto could potentially get caught up in the blast. 

The chamber’s entrance, their only escape route, had been blocked off at some point during the fight. Lilly yelled in frustration, frowning as she loosed a barrage of arrows into the air only to have the harpies overhead launch a volley of feathers in her direction. 

“Lilly! Haruhime!” 

“Lady Wiene!” 

As the attack neared the supporters, Wiene shielded them with her one wing. 

Haruhime and Lilly embraced the girl as her peculiar appendage spread open. The pain and shock from the attack drew a groan from her. 

“I-it hurts…” 

Another round of feather missiles descended on the girl—but then Bell turned toward them from his distant location. 

“—FIREBOLT!!” 

A roar. 

Swift-Strike Magic streaked across the chamber to protect Wiene and the girls. 

Several thunderous bursts of flame cut through the darkness and collided with the harpy and the griffin in midair. Shrieking in pain, the monsters fell to the ground in a trail of smoke. The gargoyle, along with the other airborne fiends, used their wings to shield themselves from the magical attack like Wiene had done earlier. 

“SHAAAAA!!” 

“!” 

The snarling lizardman charged forward and slashed at Bell as if to remind him who his opponent actually was. 

Bell had been interrupted in the middle of launching more ranged attacks and only barely managed to dodge. 

The lizardman carried two weapons: a longsword in its right hand, a scimitar in its left. A breastplate was firmly strapped to its chest over its scarlet scales. Metal plates covered its forearms, waist, shoulders, and knees, protecting the vital areas. The equipment might not have been the highest quality, but the lizardman could be described as fully armed and armored, standing a head and shoulders taller than Bell. 

Bell grimaced as he drew Ushiwakamaru-Nishiki and faced his opponent with double knives. 

This lizardman…It’s strong! 

Not only was its first strike fast enough to create afterimages, it was smart enough to exploit the darkness for offense and defense. 

Being on the receiving end of the monster’s onslaught, Bell was well aware of the creature’s potential. There was no comparison between this lizardman and the one he fought earlier on the twentieth floor. Its strength, speed, and skill with the sword were in a different league. Welf might have been joking around about one of them honing its technique, but this monster fit that description. The possibility that this could be some subspecies of lizardman popped into the back of his head. 

In terms of Level, the monstrous warrior could be beyond him—while only a guess, Bell couldn’t shake the thought. 

Bell’s rubellite locked onto his foe. It glared back at him, running its tongue eagerly back and forth behind its sharp fangs. 

He would never reach Wiene and the girls without winning this fight. 

Silencing every doubt, the boy held nothing back as he charged forward to defeat the lizardman. 

“Hya!” 

“GRWAAA!!” 

The Hestia Knife slashed forward, leaving an arc of violet light in its path while the monster’s longsword came down with its full strength behind it. 

The two closed upon each other and collided. 

““!”” 

The blow confirmed Bell’s suspicions. The lizardman was incredibly powerful. 

At the same time, the lizardman was taken aback by the boy’s incredible speed. 

Rubellite eyes met reptilian pupils. 

The faintest of grins appeared on Bell’s lips, and the lizardman bared its fangs in what resembled a ferocious smile. 

““—OOOOAAAAHHHHH!!”” 

Bell and the lizardman roared at the top of their lungs as they crossed blades again in a flurry of strikes. 

“Li’l E—do it!” 

—Elsewhere, Welf stood as the last line of defense holding back the advancing horde. 

He yelled over his shoulder, using the flat part of his blade as a shield against the onslaught. 

“But—” 

“JUST DO IT!!” 

The formoire laid into his makeshift defense with a metallic club. Knowing that the next block might be his last, Welf wasn’t about to let Lilly object. The prum was hesitant, glancing to the other side only to see Mikoto fighting for her life against several monsters at once. 

Tightening her grip on the glistening dagger-shaped magic sword, Lilly bit her lip before finally hardening her resolve. 

“FIRING!!” 

With that, she swung the red dagger with all her might. 

A river of flames surged from the Crozzo Magic Sword in a straight line. 

Welf and Mikoto noticed a sudden wave of red light in their periphery and immediately dropped to the ground. Using their incredibly quick reflexes, the monsters jumped out of the fire’s path at the last moment. The beasts shrank away as a corner of the room erupted into a ball of flames. 

“AHHHH!!” 

“RUOOO!!” 

Bell’s battle with the lizardman continued unabated, the two going blow for blow as flames danced in the background. 

Their profiles were cast in a soft orange light as longsword and knife collided. The scimitar streaked through the air, only to be intercepted by a crimson blade. Then as a violet slash arced forward, the longsword halted its advance. 

The monster had displayed a powerful fighting style that included fierce kicks and an approach to swordsmanship that made good use of its combat instincts, all backed by sharp, unyielding counterattacks. 

Bell’s body became a blur, and the lizardman’s blades sliced through empty air. Sparks erupted from the armor that stopped the boy’s attack. The monster knocked him backward, but not before a line of scarlet scales was ripped from its body in a spray of dark-red blood. 

Then… 

“SHAA!” 

“WHA—?!” 

Their stalemate was broken. 

Bell was trapped between the scimitar and the longsword. Caught in simultaneous attacks on the left and right, he blocked both weapons with his knives. In that moment, something flew in from an impossible angle and nailed him in the stomach. 

—A tail!! 

The third strike came from an appendage as thick as a log. 

The completely unforeseen attack from a creature that shouldn’t be very experienced fighting adventurers sent Bell reeling. 

It was the perfect final blow. Striking from an angle that the boy never thought to defend, the lizardman’s tail knocked Bell off his feet. Now was the monster’s chance to finish him off, and it used the opportunity to drive its clawed foot into Bell’s chest in a powerful kick. 

The boy hurtled backward through the air. 

“GAH!” 

“OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!” 

The lizardman declared victory with a roar as Bell’s body bounced deeper into the room like a river rushing through broken levees. 

He lost his grip on the Hestia Knife and Ushiwakamaru-Nishiki, and the weapons flew from his hands. 

The lizardman warrior wasted no time in turning around, shifting focus to its original prey. Its bloodshot eyes landed on the vouivre girl surrounded by adventurers, and it charged. 

“?!!” 

Wiene reflexively cringed in fright at the pounding footfalls and savage roar. 

Cutting straight across the scorched battlefield, the lizardman raised its longsword high overhead. 

The monster’s long shadow fell over the girl unable to stand when… 

“No!!” 

“!” 

Haruhime jumped in front of her, arms open wide as Lilly embraced Wiene, placing her own body in front like a shield. 

Two more shadows jumped into the fray as the strike hurtled toward its target. 

“Oh no you don’t!!” 

“I won’t let you!!” 

A terribly battered Welf and Mikoto brought their greatsword and katana crashing into the longsword. 

Two blades came together in time to catch the longsword. Their weapons audibly groaned as the two adventurers fought the incredible power and weight—and then it stopped. 

The longsword came to a halt a tiny distance from Haruhime, who was positioned directly in front of Wiene. 

Rattle rattle rattle! The lizardman tried to force its weapon forward, its orpiment-colored reptilian eyes wide with shock at the strength of the humans holding it back. 

“?” 

Just then… ring, ring. 

The lizardman’s ears picked up a chime. 

Shifting its gaze to the source of the sound, it saw an adventurer bounding toward it like a blood-splattered rabbit. And then a punch of bright white light. 

A five-second charge. 

Bell’s eyes flashed as he unleashed every bit of anger with his entire body. 

“HAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!” 

Impact. 

“GOHOO!” 

The glowing fist collided with the lizardman’s cheekbone. 

Several broken scarlet scales soared through the air. Now it was the lizardman’s turn to be sent flying. 

The blades fell from its grasp and loudly tumbled across the floor. 

It worked…! 

Bell had used his Skill, Argonaut, while moving at high speed. 

Seeing Wiene in danger had provided him with an extra spark of emotion and determination. Up until now, he’d been able to charge Argonaut only with his feet firmly planted on the ground. The situation had forced him to do a Concurrent Charge. 

The lizardman bounced off the ground and hurtled through the air into a pitch-black stalagmite a good distance away, finally coming to a stop. 

The other monsters had fallen back, forgetting to even bellow after seeing the magic sword’s destructive potential. Silence hung in the air. 

At the same time, Bell paid no attention to his numerous injuries and stood with his back to Wiene, ready to face the next challenger. 

“GEH—” 

Clawed fingertips digging into the floor, the lizardman pulled itself up using the stalagmite for support. 

Still seated on the ground, the monster made a noise in its throat—when it suddenly lifted its head and cried out toward the ceiling: 

“GUH-GYA-GYA-GYA-GYA-GYA-GYA!!” 

Bell, Wiene, and the rest of the party watched in disbelief. 

The murderous aura and rage that had been washing over them just moments ago were gone. It was almost comical to see a lizardman holding its gut and cackling like this. 

Scanning the room again, the party realized that the other monsters’ threatening glares had disappeared as well. 

“GYA-GYA-GYA-GYA-GYA—!” 

Slowly but surely, the cackling cries began to change. 

“—HA-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA!” 

They started to sound much more like a person’s laughter. 

“Eh…?” 

“Wha…?” 

Haruhime’s and Lilly’s astonishment at the sound was plain on their faces. Welf, Mikoto, and Bell were just as dumbfounded. 

Unable to comprehend what they were seeing, there was nothing to do but stand and stare. 

Realization started to set in. Each member of the party glanced at Wiene before returning their gaze to the lizardman. 

“That’s new! Never met adventurers like these before!!” 

Never in the familia’s wildest dreams had any of them expected a lizardman to start speaking, let alone with this level of fluency. 

The monster happily slapped its knees a few times before climbing to its feet. 

“Adventurers willing to sacrifice themselves to save a monster! Haaah! Don’t know what this feeling is, but I like it!” 

“—Didn’t I tell you, Lido? These ones are different.” 

Flap! A new set of wings took flight. 

A single golden feather fluttered to the ground from overhead. One of the winged monsters—a siren—glided down. 

“I know that voice…” 

“There’s no way…” 

Bell and Welf flinched as soon as they heard the new voice’s unusual inflection. The golden-winged siren landed with a smile on its face. 

“So we meet again.” 

One look at the monster’s sky-blue eyes was all Bell and Welf needed to be certain. 

It was the strange robed person—no, monster—they had encountered on the nineteenth floor. 

Seeing her face for the first time, they were shocked at just how warm and friendly she seemed. Neither Bell nor Welf could string words together to respond. 

Just like Wiene’s, her beauty was breathtaking. Her long, dull golden hair was light blue at the tips. Not unlike the half-human/half-bird harpy’s, both of her elongated forearms formed beautiful golden wings. Similarly colored feathers covered most of her lower body, the exception being the birdlike talons on her feet. 

As she wore a battle cloth that Amazons would have approved of over her pronounced bust, her un-feathered stomach was completely exposed. 

The siren standing in front of them was a far cry from the ferocious beasts they had heard of that froze adventurers in their tracks with earsplitting screams. 

“Yeah, it’s just as you said, Rei! These guys are different!” 

The lizardman addressed the golden-feathered siren, Rei, as it giddily approached the group, its thick tail swaying back and forth. 

The two monsters walked right up to Bell as the other party members watched in various states of shock. Lilly was perfectly still, slack-jawed. Mikoto was confused beyond words, and Haruhime tried to figure out what to do. 

“Sorry about that. You were too fast for me to hold back.” 

“Umm…huh? I…um……” 

It took Bell several moments to understand that the lizardman was talking about the battle that had just ended. 

And for good reason. The monster that nearly killed him moments ago was suddenly more interested in having a conversation than cutting him to shreds. 

“First off, let me apologize. We’ve been testing you from the start.” 

“Test…ing…?” 

“Yeah. We had to know if adventurers had truly taken in one of our comrades or not. Would they abandon her at the first sign of danger? Use her as a decoy to make their escape…?” 

Those words surprised not only Bell but the entire party. Wiene was no different. 

“We’ll explain the details later, but…I’m sorry for scaring you like that and inflicting so much pain.” 

“……!” 

“Thank you for protecting our comrade all this time.” 

The lizardman no longer felt like an enemy. In fact, it apparently had never intended to kill them in the first place. 

Its lowered reptilian head and sincere voice all but confirmed it. 

Next, the lizardman shifted its gaze to Wiene and opened its mouth to speak. However, the startled girl dashed for the safety of Haruhime’s shadow. 

The lizardman chuckled to itself, not reproaching her in the slightest. Giving up on the endeavor for now, it turned back to Bell. 

Urhh… 

Bell was in serious agony, with open cuts all over his body and a throbbing pain in his chest where the creature’s foot had connected that showed no signs of dulling. But the ache couldn’t be farther from his mind. 

Sharp claws and fangs; skin covered in scales. These were not familiar traits for a person. And yet the lizardman was interacting with Bell, a human, without making him fear for his life as any other monster would. 

A lizard warrior equipped with adventurers’ gear. 

A talking monster. 

The same as Wiene. 

“I’m Lido; as you can see, I’m a lizardman. Nice to meet you, Bell Cranell.” 

“H-h-how do you know my…?” 

“Ahh, I heard it from Fels.” 

—Well, they were the same to a point. Wiene had a mostly humanoid form, making her appearance easier to accept. 

That was the main difference between the lizardman looking down at him from just above eye level and the vouivre girl. He bore a perfect resemblance to others of his species. If a wolf walked up to a lamb and tried to start a conversation, the peaceful grazer would probably have the same reaction. 

Bell’s mind was moving too fast to pay any attention to the word that sounded like a name. On the verge of passing out, he managed to come back into the moment. 

“Hey, mind if I call you ‘Bellucchi’?” Lido asked. 

“Uh, um, sure…G-go ahead.” 

The lizardman narrowed its reptilian eyes, focused on Bell. 

Smiling…perhaps? It wasn’t the hungry stare that hunters wore in front of their prey. 

Many thoughts ran through Bell’s mind as he looked into the lizard’s squinting eyes, but it was difficult to make sense of any of them. 

“Bellucchi.” 

“Y-yes?” 

“Let’s shake hands.” 

Huh? 

Bell came back into the moment as its right hand appeared in front of him. 

It was covered in red scales and protected by a metallic glove, its fingers ending in sharp claws. 

Pupils shrinking to nothing but red dots, Bell stared at the hand hovering in front of him. 

He knew what following through on the gesture would mean, and it made him feel faint. 

“M-Master Bell…” “Sir Bell…” “Bell…” “Mr. Bell!” 

His allies couldn’t bear the tension and called out to him, but they didn’t move from where they stood. 

Haruhime was pale as a ghost, Mikoto dizzy and on the verge of becoming physically ill, Welf unable to hide his anxiety, and Lilly struggling with her growing alarm. 

All of them knew that what they were seeing defied logic. They called out to their leader, voices like hands desperately reaching out to stop a fall. 

“……” 

Sweat poured from Bell’s skin. It wouldn’t stop flowing. 

A handshake. A sign of friendship. A bridge between man and monster. Unprecedented. “Unknown.” 

Bell couldn’t help but feel that he was making a mistake somehow. It seemed like the instinct to refuse that right hand and turn away was overwhelmingly correct. His completely nonfunctioning mind thought so. 

He wanted nothing more than to run away from a decision that would turn all common sense on its head. 

However, the lizardman was patient. 

He waited for Bell to either make a move or reject the offer. 

He was afraid. 

Bell was terrified. 

Of those fangs, those claws, all those scales. Of the reptilian gaze, of the creature’s terrifying visage. 

Every fiber of his being wanted to put as much space as possible between himself and the lizardman looking down at him. 

Logic screamed in his ears that it would be easier to listen to reason and flee. 

But. 

Bell glanced over his shoulder. 

“Ah…eh, uh……” 

He saw the vouivre girl’s bewildered eyes. 

He thought back to when they first met, remembering how he felt during that fateful encounter. 

“…” 

Finally… 

Bell smiled. 

A bit clumsily. 

—If this is a mistake, I’d rather make it for the right reason. 

“A-hem.” He cleared his throat. 

And worked up his courage. 

“………P-pleased to meet you.” 

Bell stiffly stretched his lips and took hold of the extended hand. 

Haruhime and Mikoto watched with bated breath. Welf flashed a grin and let his shoulders relax. Lilly looked up at the ceiling and let out a long sigh. 

Bell shook hands with a monster. 

“—Pleasure’s all mine!” 

The lizardman—no, Lido—bared more of his fangs in a broad grin and gave Bell’s hand a firm shake. 

One heartbeat later—“WOOOOOOO!!” 

The adventurers nearly leaped out of their skins as a burst of sound roared through the room. 

The monsters that had been just as anxiously watching Lido and Bell as the adventurers—they were celebrating. 

The red-cap goblin applauded. Harpies on the ground skipped excitedly. The formoire pumped its fists into the air, albeit slowly. al-miraj hopped around in circles. The cheers continued. 

Friendship between man and monster—this day would go down in history, and all were elated to be a part of it. 

“Hey, over there, hit the lights!” 

Lido’s booming voice cut through the celebration to issue orders. 

Hellhounds and other agile monsters brought the magic-stone lamps out from hiding places in the rock landscape and flipped them on using claws or fangs. 

“Monsters…using magic-stone lamps…” 

Mikoto was dumbfounded at the sight of monsters operating the man-made devices. 

Harpies had already taken to the air and started pulling back pieces of thick cloth to reveal the quartz crystals hidden underneath. 

Every detail of the limestone cavern-like room came to light in a matter of moments. 

“—A g-green dragon?!” 

“One of those was in here the whole time…?” 

Far away from the entrance where the party stood, a dragon more than ten meders long lay at the base of a quartz pillar. Its body covered in scars, the wizened beast observed the adventurers with quiet eyes that seemed to contain the wisdom of countless years. Lilly and Welf recoiled at the presence that had been watching them from the shadows. 

“Please, let me greet the surface dwellers!” “Uuuu…” “Me too!” 

Some who could speak, others who could not, as well as those who had difficulty with pronouncing words—every sort of monster gathered in front of Bell. 

“I have heard stories about you. It is an honor to make your acquaintance, Signor Bell.” 

“S-Signor?” 

“To be able to shake your hand, I am very happy!” 

“Th-thanks.” 

“I’m Laura. Good to meet you.” 

“N-nice to meet you, too…” 

“……” 

“Eep!” 

The red-cap goblin who called him “Signor” was the first in line as monsters approached Bell one at a time to shake his hand. His face had gone entirely stiff, and at times he would quietly shriek—such as when a silent large-category monster, a formiore, held out its massive hand toward him. 

“I apologize for the late introduction. I am Rei, a siren.” 

“I’m…B-Bell Cranell.” 

“Yes, I am aware…Bell, thank you for saving my comrade.” 

The siren from before came to exchange greetings with the young boy as well. She offered her wing, the tip extended out like a finger. Bell clasped it. 

Feeling the soft feathers in his hand and noticing Rei’s ravishing smile, he blushed bright red. 

“They’re all happy, too. They’re glad to meet a person who doesn’t reject us.” 

The lizardman warrior, smiling from ear to ear, watched the monsters approach Bell one after another, sometimes shaking his hand again and again. 

Bell looked around after hearing Lido’s comment. 

The gentlemanly red-cap goblin, the harpies bursting with emotion, the lamia that spoke in halting sentences, the silent war shadow…It didn’t matter if they could speak or not, or even if they were humanoid or monsterlike, Bell could see consciousness in every one of the monsters who came to shake his hand. Some had tiny palms, others were large and covered in fur, but every one of them was warm. 

As an indescribable feeling swelled within Bell, the monsters chanced glances over in the direction of Lilly and the other adventurers. 

However, Welf and the others uncomfortably avoided the incoming gazes. 

“…Uuuu.” 

As for Wiene… 

She watched the cluster of monsters surrounding Bell like a child whose treasure was about to be stolen from her. 

“Kuuu…” 

“A-al-miraj…” 

She watched as a new, smaller monster briskly stepped up to Bell. It wore a loose blue battle jacket and had a broken pocket watch hanging around its neck like a pendant. The white rabbit looked up at the boy with cute round red eyes. Bell bent over, the same awkward smile on his face as he held out his hand. 

“Kuuu!” The al-miraj wiggled its long ears and leaped at him. 

“H-hey, wait, that tickles…! Wh-why are you licking me?” 

“Aruru…She cannot speak, but it seems she’s taken a liking to you.” 

“When you say ‘she’—it’s a girl?!” 

The al-miraj had already jumped onto his chest and was happily licking his cheek when Rei offered an explanation. Bell almost screamed hysterically. Lilly and the other adventurers weren’t sure what to say as they watched the indescribable scene of two “rabbits” frolicking together—and that was when the dragon girl finally exploded. 

Rushing out from her hiding spot behind Haruhime, she ran straight for Bell. 

“N-no! You can’t have Bell, no!!” 

“Kuu?!” The al-miraj yelped as the vouivre girl physically pulled her away and latched on to Bell’s arm. 

The monster came bouncing back, hopping adorably to protest. But Wiene let out an “Uuuu!” and wouldn’t retreat even one step, which was when she noticed— 

—that she was surrounded by monsters, and they were all looking at her. 

The creatures that were as fantastical in appearance as she, the ones she’d been too afraid to face, were now right in front of her. 

The siren Rei stepped forward, and Wiene tightened her grip on Bell as she approached. 

“Would you please share your name with me?” 

“…Wiene.” 

“Wiene…It’s a very good name.” 

Rei smiled at the quiet voice. 

Wiene blushed, squirming as though she were being tickled after the compliment on the name Bell and the others had given her. 

A few moments passed before a winged hand was extended to her. 

The vouivre girl hesitated, fearfully reached out with her own hand several times, then quietly settling into a grip. 

The golden-winged siren smiled with her blue eyes. 

“A pleasure to meet you, our new comrade. No one here will hurt you. We welcome you.” 

Just as the boy and his familia had done, she had been accepted as a “comrade.” Wiene’s amber eyes opened wide. 

Touched by the kindness and acceptance, she quietly wept. 

After the soft wingtip reached out and dried her tears, the smallest of smiles bloomed on the girl’s face. 

The surrounding monsters howled to the ceiling, as though giving their blessings. 

“…Um, please tell me.” 

Around the time the echoes started to die down… 

Still not fully grasping the situation around him, Bell spoke while still hugging Wiene. 

“All of you, and Wiene—what are you?” 

It was what they’d been trying to find out ever since the day they met the fantastical girl. Bell and the party wanted to know the answer to that question more than anything else. 

Every monster turned to face the adventurers. 

As the representative of the group, the golden-winged siren answered. 

“We are Xenos.” 

“—Xenos?” 

Hestia whispered under the light of the crackling torches. 

Ouranos, still seated on his throne, nodded in response. 

“That’s how we refer to them…Monsters endowed with intelligence.” 

In the Chamber of Prayers beneath Guild Headquarters, the elderly deity, who knew everything about the situation, informed Hestia as to Wiene’s true identity. 

Xenos …A word that gods and goddesses used to describe heretics. 

They were anomalies expunged from the established system. 

“You’re saying that Wiene is also one of these Xenos, or whatever you call it?” 

“Indeed. All of them share one thing in common: an intellect that far exceeds what is normal for monsters…They possess the capability to understand—but more important, they all have hearts that are in no way inferior to our children in terms of will and emotions.” 

“……!” 

“Abnormal monsters that aren’t dominated by the urge to murder and destroy…” 

Hestia almost forgot to breathe as she listened to Ouranos bring these facts to light. 

His voice continued to resound in the Chamber of Prayers, adding that the human-shaped monsters looked almost no different from the people who inhabited the mortal realm. 

“As for when the Xenos first appeared, it is not known. However, those of us who have observed them with our own eyes and come in contact with them have ever since offered them support under the pretext of ‘protection.’” 

“Support…? The Guild is supporting monsters?!” 

What the hell are you thinking?! Hestia was about to embark on a rant when something occurred to her. 

She and her followers had done exactly the same thing for the vouivre girl. They had harbored and continued protecting her. 

It was just as Ouranos said. That pure, innocent girl had a heart of her own, no different from Bell or any of her other children. 

The elderly god did not budge as he watched Hestia’s mouth snap shut. Then he continued. 

“This mission’s purpose was to return a Xenos who had reached the surface back to her allies in the Dungeon. That Xenos is none other than the vouivre girl you and your children have been protecting, Hestia.” 

“…I won’t bother asking how long you’ve known. Just tell me where Bell and my children are going right now…” 

“They should be headed to where the Xenos reside—their Hidden Village.” 

The mission had been to take Wiene home. 

The unrest spreading throughout the city after the other night’s commotion must have been the impetus for creating the mission. 

Hestia let that idea sink in. At the same time, a new question arose. The goddess couldn’t stay silent. 

“Ouranos, why did you bother asking us to carry it out at all? Couldn’t you have kidnapped Wiene and brought her back by force? Why let us learn about these ‘Xenos’ at all?” 

“There are several reasons, including that Bell Cranell and your children have already become aware of monsters that could communicate using language. However, the most important one is…” 

Ouranos paused for a moment before he told Hestia. 

“I decided it was possible your familia, no matter how minuscule the chance…could become our hope.” 

“Hope?” 

“Yes,” said Ouranos with a nod. 

“To bridge the gap between people and monsters and lead to the path of coexistence .” 

“This is a dream, right…?” 

“Would you like Lilly to pinch your cheek to check…?” 

Welf and Lilly spoke as though they were in a trance. 

Bell heard their mutters, unable to hide the cold sweat running down his own cheeks. 

“Food! Drinks! Bring out everything we have! Today, we need to celebrate our new comrade and the first people we’ve ever had as guests!” 

The monsters erupted with excitement as soon as they heard the lizardman Lido’s booming voice—the room shook from all the noise. 

A wide array of food, including fruits, nuts, and herbs found in the Dungeon, was circulating. Barrels of alcohol carved with marks that read R IVIRA were rolled out. People and monster alike sat in a large circle encompassing several bright magic-stone lamps. 

The whole scene was reminiscent of the night spent with Loki Familia around a campfire. It was truly a banquet. 

“Bellucchi, eat all you like; don’t be shy! Try this!” 

“Wh-what is it…?” 

“You humans call it ‘mruit.’ Supposed to be a real delicacy on the surface!” 

Lido, seated on Bell’s right, held out what looked to be a red fruit in the palm of his hand. Very slowly, Bell picked it up and took a cautious bite. It felt like he was biting through a thick slab of soft meat, but his taste buds disagreed as a mellow, fruity flavor washed over his tongue. The texture was unlike any beef, pork, or chicken and he could describe it only as the finest steak of some sort, eliciting his surprised reaction. “It’s so good…” 

Honey-cloud fruits and more were placed in front of Lilly, Welf, and the other adventurers as well. Smaller monsters like the red-cap goblin and al-miraj were in charge of distributing giant mushrooms grilled by hellhound flames atop wide leaves in lieu of plates. 

“Um, sorry for hitting you so hard back there…” 

“Don’t even sweat it. Everything’ll grow back soon enough. And I didn’t exactly hold back, either.” 

Bell gingerly brought up Lido’s left cheek—specifically the painful-looking wound his fist had made. He apologized guiltily, but the lizardman warrior merely brushed off worn-out scales with his arm. 

“Nothing to lose sleep over,” said Lido, his sulfurous yellow eyes forming crescents. Most likely, he was smiling. 

Bell was getting to the point that he could recognize their facial expressions, even if they didn’t look like people. It had been a real struggle at first, but the young boy felt as though he was getting the hang of it. 

Lido’s low voice and ferocious appearance made him seem much more intimidating than many of his comrades, but he was surprisingly personable. It was thanks to his constant laughter that Bell was able to stay somewhat calm despite their company. 

He felt proud of himself for adapting so quickly—then again, he might’ve also just become numb. 

Those thoughts made him want to laugh in spite of himself. 

“Now that I think about it, you guys drink liquor…?” 

“Yeah. At first I thought, What the hell is this? but then I got a taste for it, and now it’s become a habit! People really make the most interesting things!” 

Lido was drinking from what was most likely a bottle that had been discarded somewhere in the Dungeon. His breath smelled of alcohol as he slapped Bell on the back several times. Around them, a stunningly beautiful lamia was as red in the face as the lizardman, and several other monsters were not far behind, either. 

“Never been less drunk in my life…” 

At the same time, Welf and the other adventurers weren’t as social. 

A troll passed by, giving out wooden tankards filled with the cheap brew. Welf had hoped liquid courage would save him, but to no avail. Lilly sat next to him, sinking further into silence. 

Mikoto and Haruhime sat on their heels, incredibly tense, as a group of harpies gathered around them with eyes gleaming in curiosity. They seemed most interested in Haruhime’s scent, sniffing the air around her as the renart seemed on the verge of passing out. 

“And then Bell came back to save me.” 

“Did he? That makes me jealous. Bell is certainly stra—Ahem, very kind.” 

“Yep!” 

Wiene sat on Bell’s left. Receiving warm welcomes from all the monsters, despite her bewilderment, she would every so often flash an unworried smile. At the moment, she was speaking with the siren Rei, recounting the events up to the current day. 

While it was a little bit embarrassing for Bell to hear his name mentioned a few times, the entire party was overwhelmed by the monsters’ hospitality. 

“So then this alcohol and equipment…Is all of it from adventurers…?” 

Their hosts continued rolling out more food and drinks. Bell watched in awe, glancing at the armor covering Lido’s body before cautiously asking. 

The Guild had posted notices on the bulletin board about monsters seizing adventurers’ equipment. Bell was pretty sure he was looking at the culprits right now. 

“Weeell, yes and no. The alcohol was a gift, but these blades once belonged to an adventurer who suddenly attacked me.” 

Lido let his gaze fall on the scimitar and longsword lying by his feet as he set his bottle down on the floor. 

“But he dropped them and ran away as soon as I started fighting back…Thought I might as well try them out. Adventurers take monster claws and fangs home after slaying them, right?” 

“Th-that…Yes, it’s true.” 

“People seem to want them back even after they’re dead, so we try to return what we can…But adventurers get angry at us for carrying their weapons. It’s hard to know what to do.” 

Lido spoke with a nostalgic air, as if remembering a specific incident in the Dungeon. Bell couldn’t respond. 

“I gotta tell you, liquor is amazing, but crafted weapons are really something else! They cut better than those flowers over there and are a whole lot harder. There’s no way we could make those!” 

Words excitedly pouring out of his mouth, Lido spoke with tremendous respect for people and their creations. 

Many other monsters wore some type of battle cloth, Lido included, even if they didn’t have armor. A few of them wore normal clothing, like the scarf that the red-cap goblin had wrapped around his neck. 

Perhaps they were trying to imitate people…copying what they saw. 

Bell felt that each of them had grown fond of the handiwork of surface dwellers for one reason or another. 

“—Lido, stop this nonsense at once.” 

The speaker hurling venomous words toward them weaved through the banquet’s commotion. 

“They’re people. They aren’t worthy of trust!” 

“Are you still on about that, Gros? You saw how Bellucchi and his friends protected Wiene with everything they had. We only had to go through all that because you insisted on testing them. Ain’t that right?” 

Standing apart from the monsters who had joined Lido in welcoming the party, there were others who had separated themselves from the group. 

A gargoyle, an arachne, and a griffin, among others, were seated atop a nearby cliff. All of them were glaring at Bell. Its body composed of ash-colored rock, the gargoyle called Gros implored Lido to see reason. Instead, the lizardman turned back to Bell and waved off Gros’s words. “Don’t mind him,” he said reassuringly. 

“Sorry, they…All of us have been through a lot. The news that people would be coming here had everyone on edge.” 

“Th-that’s, um…It’s okay.” 

“From what we’ve seen of you on your way here and in battle, we know that all of you are different from normal adventurers. That includes them.” 

“Wait a second, on our way here…? You were the ones watching us in the Dungeon…?” 

“Oh, you noticed? That’s right, our comrades kept an eye on you until your arrival.” 

Lido went on to say that, in addition to testing them, Xenos members had trailed the adventurers to make sure that they could rescue Wiene in a worst-case scenario. 

That explained why Bell felt they were being watched in the Dungeon. 

“Were you guys only watching us in the Dungeon? Was anyone on the surface…?” 

“Nope, Lett and his team started observing you upstairs, on the nineteenth floor.” 

Lido scratched his scaly chin, clearly stating that he didn’t know of anyone going any higher than that. 

Bell’s mind began turning again once he realized that those first watchers were someone else. 

“…Hey, was that true, what you said a second ago? Are you in league with the Guild?” 

Slam! 

A wooden jug was set on the floor with more force than necessary. 

Welf had been following their conversation and couldn’t hold back any longer. 

Surprised that Welf had spoken up on his own, Lido blinked a few times before flashing his fangs in a grin. 

“Yeah, all true. They’ve pulled a lot of strings to keep us hidden, as well as provide us with food and equipment…They’ve done more than enough for us.” 

“…Lilly cannot take you at your word that the Guild would dirty its hands to keep this secret. The risk of discovery is too great, and the benefit…What benefit could there be?” 

“We are not simply parasites that rely on the Guild’s charity. We accept their requests to investigate situations or strange incidents while suppressing uprisings in the shadows…Our relationship is ‘give and take,’ as they say on the surface.” 

Lilly made her skepticism known while Rei stepped in to support Lido’s explanation. 

The Guild asked the Xenos to respond to Irregulars before adventurers were alerted to the danger or when the situation was too difficult for adventurers to handle by themselves. 

“We got similar goals, that’s all.” Lido casually dismissed the notion. 

“But I’d say that we’re more connected with a god named Ouranos than with the Guild itself. Most Guild employees have no idea we’re down here.” 

“L-Lord Ouranos…” 

Orario’s founding deity. Several of the adventurers gasped at the name. 

The Guild claimed to lack any form of military power, yet here sat their—no, Ouranos’s private army . Suddenly, Lilly and the others realized where Lido and the rest of the Xenos stood in the hierarchy. 

“So then, it’s just as you said. This mission…” 

“That it is, Bellucchi. Lord Ouranos contacted us, and we agreed to test the people who lent a helping hand to one of our comrades.” 

The mission hadn’t been issued by the upper levels of Guild management but from Ouranos himself, its true head. 

They’d been dancing in the palm of his hand—being appraised. Bell and his party knew the whole truth now. 

“However, hearing about you got our hopes up a bit.” 

Just as Bell was about to ask for clarification— 

A booming voice came from the other side of their makeshift magic-stone campfire. 

“REI! SING!” 

“OOOOOOOOOOO!!” 

A couple of drunken monsters started demanding a song, and more howled in approval. 

The siren, still seated close to Bell, sighed and looked up at Lido. He nodded, eyes twinkling with expectation. 

Rei grinned and stood. 

“I suppose I must. I shall sing and add some color to this banquet.” 

Taking a few steps forward, whoosh! One flap of her wings and Rei landed on top of the tallest magic-stone lamp with the grace of a feather. 

She turned on her heel to face Wiene, Bell, and the others, wearing a delicate smile. 

“A new comrade and guests from the surface are here. Let’s make this one special.” 

With that, Rei closed her eyes and drew a breath. 

Silence hung in the air for a fleeting moment before a beautiful voice replaced it. 

“Wow…!” 

“This song…” 

Hearing the high-pitched notes, Wiene suddenly smiled with joy, while Bell and the others reacted with surprise. 

It was the gentle soprano that had guided them through this Frontier. 

The siren brought one of her golden wings to her chest, singing happily and enjoying her solo with a smile on her face. There were no instruments or lyrics. The pure melody alone was enough to ensnare the hearts of her listeners. 

A single siren, weaving a song with her eyes closed, ringed by people and monsters sitting side by side. 

The scene, illuminated by quartz and magic-stone lamps, was so elegant and beautiful that it seemed to come from another world. 

This hardly seemed to be the same dark labyrinth filled with monsters deep underground—but then again, perhaps it was one of those moments when the Dungeon would allow its audience a glimpse at sacred mysteries and illusions. 

The song reverberated deep into the maze. 

Bell and the others had never heard a song so captivating, so beautiful, and the passage of time left their minds. 

“Let’s dance, surface dwellers! May I have this one?” 

“Eh? Wha…wai—Please don’t, I’m not a dancerrrrrr!” 

“M-Mikotooo!” 

A young harpy girl dragged Mikoto out, leaving a wailing Haruhime to chase after them. In the ring’s center, two shadows danced together. A curious and energetic monster girl twirled hand in hand with Mikoto, or perhaps it was more accurate to say she swung her partner about. A human hand and a winged hand were clasped tightly together. 

The singing siren chuckled to herself for a moment before changing the tune. 

Her beautiful ballad became an upbeat, toe-tapping rhythm similar to a waltz. 

Completely drunken Xenos rushed to join Mikoto. They called out to one another, pairing off. The red-cap goblin and a lamia joined hands, hellhounds ran stride for stride with al-miraj, and the formoires joined the trolls, using their gigantic fists to pound the floor like drums. Other monsters came up to Wiene and whispered in her ear to join. “Okay!” she replied cheerfully, heading toward Haruhime. Meanwhile, the gargoyle and his group watched the tumult from their distant seats, unamused. 

The song, cheers, and laughter wouldn’t stop. 

Wiene pulled along a flustered Haruhime all the way to where Mikoto and her partner were, before starting their own dance. 

The long shadows of people and monsters stretched across the floor, mingling together. 

“…Things never get this crazy.” 

Lido’s eyes were filled with delight as he muttered. And his lips were definitely turned up in a smile. 

Bell, Lilly, and Welf were convinced they were dreaming and still at a loss for words. But before they realized it, all of them were laughing. 

The siren’s soothing song and the echoes of joyful howls serenaded them. 

“Lido, what did you mean earlier when you said we got your hopes up a bit…?” 

“Hmm? Ahh…” 

Bell watched Wiene and the girls for a time before turning back to Lido. 

The reptilian warrior didn’t look away from his dancing comrades as he responded. 

“You gave us hope—that maybe things can change…” 

“People and monsters coexisting…?!” 

Hestia wasn’t sure how many jolts of surprise shot through her body after what Ouranos had just said. 

The elderly deity’s face was as stoic as ever. He did not turn away from her stunned expression. 

“Do you understand what you’re saying, Ouranos…?!” 

“Of course.” 

People and monsters living together in peace was impossible. 

Hestia had already reached that conclusion, and yet Ouranos responded with a deep nod. He knew what that meant. 

Those born in the Dungeon were the greatest enemy of surface-dwelling races. People killed monsters and monsters killed people. With such overwhelming fear and ingrained hatred on both sides, they would like nothing more than to avoid each other. They could not be together. 

The various races residing in the mortal world were fated to kill and be killed by monsters. 

That was their destiny ever since monsters first emerged from the “Great Hole” back during the Ancient Times. 

They were doomed to fight for all eternity. 

Then Ouranos arrived with the divine will to turn that undeniable truth on its head…Hestia frowned, unable to overlook such a desire from the Guild’s master, of all people. 

“However, the Xenos do not attack people instinctually but instead wish to engage with them in dialogue.” 

“!!” 

“Rather than with fangs or claws, they wish to use words and logic to make their voices heard. They want to walk on the surface. They want to know our children…to learn more about people.” 

Wiene’s face appeared in the back of Hestia’s mind. 

“Self-aware Xenos are constantly under threat even from normal monsters. They live in alienation and exile. They have no place to belong on the surface or in the Dungeon.” 

“…” 

“With no one to hear them, their easiest choice as monsters was to resign themselves to oblivion. However, they possess determination as well as the means to express their thoughts and wishes. Just like our children,” he said. “Then I discovered them.” 

Ouranos lowered his eyes ever so slightly. 

“As the one who offers prayers to the Dungeon…No longer could I withstand their lamenting as they perished.” 

Someone sure is diligent— Hestia tried to force herself to poke fun at Ouranos but she couldn’t manage to get the words out. 

Because she had met Wiene. 

Could she really bring herself to abandon the vouivre girl now? 

Could she become a treacherous and deceitful goddess for her familia’s sake? 

Hestia’s thoughts swirled, trapping her in a whirlpool of choices and decisions. After a few minutes of heavy silence, she lifted her face and started asking Ouranos another question. 

“Are you serious about bringing harmony to the children and monsters?” 

“The will of the divine has been set. However, it is an impossible demand. The truth is that it is beyond my control.” 

Ouranos had no qualms about confessing everything in response to Hestia’s question. 

“If our goal is harmony between our children and monsters, then we must question the reason of their existence in detail.” 

—Prove that monsters themselves were important. 

From birth, they were constantly stigmatized because of their physical features that diverged from what was considered normal. 

Threatening physiques, claws and fangs that were symbols of bloodshed, death-heralding flames, and voices tinged with savagery. 

In order to break free of their reputation as icons of slaughter and violence—as well as for the sake of establishing peace—there was no choice but to demonstrate their role in this world to the children of the mortal realm. In order to realize their dream of basking in the surface’s sunlight, it was imperative to overcome people’s hatred and fear by proving their significance. 

One option was the cruel subjugation method known as taming. Although it would allow them to be recognized by the masses, it required living with a collar of thorns. What’s more, that path would never lead to true peace. 

“…So basically, in your quest to prove the meaning of their existence, you thought there’s a possibility Bell and my other children could become a bridge between the two sides?” 

“That is correct.” 

Hestia let her head hang limply at the revelation. The elderly deity was so unbelievably open about these secret plans it was almost refreshing. 

She understood Ouranos’s reasoning. After getting to know Wiene, she also wanted to help the Xenos find happiness. 

However, this path put Bell and their familia in a very precarious position. 

Ouranos mentioned alienation and exile. If the fact that Hestia Familia had assisted these “monsters” became public knowledge, not only would their standing in Orario be at risk but their place in the entire world. Just like the Xenos. 

Perhaps it was impossible, but Hestia preferred to not have their fate hanging in the balance. 

Even if that means running away , the goddess thought to herself. 

“Is what you just said the Guild’s opinion on the matter as well?” 

“Currently, it is mine alone.” 

That made sense. 

Declaring peace with monsters would shake the world to its core. 

Even Ouranos, the one heralded as the founding deity of Orario, could not help but lose political power as cracks formed in his base. 

“The highest levels of Guild management, including Royman and his closest advisers, have been kept in the dark on this matter.” 

His employees had been ordered only to deliver the mission to Hestia Familia . Most likely, Royman believed that Bell’s rapid growth had caught Ouranos’s attention and the deity intended to test the boy’s strength with the mission. 

Ouranos explained this to Hestia. 

“So the only ones who know are…” 

“Among deities other than myself, Hermes, because he accepts my requests…and Ganesha.” 

“G-Ganesha?!” 

Hestia was completely taken aback at the unexpected name. 

“You must be kidding,” she said, wide-eyed. 

But then, her shoulders jolted. 

“Don’t tell me the Monsterphilia is…?” 

“Correct. It was conceived five years ago in order to soften people’s hatred for monsters, no matter how slight, and has continued ever since.” 

The Monsterphilia: an event that turned taming monsters into a spectacle. 

The festival had been proposed and organized by the Guild. It hadn’t been the brainchild of deities who craved entertainment. It was still relatively new, and Hestia had heard that the Guild didn’t offer much explanation about it during Denatus. 

Now she was able to connect the dots. 

Ouranos had been the driving force behind the event. Putting on a show despite the dangers of bringing monsters out of the Dungeon was all his idea. 

He wanted to soften the public’s opinion of monsters by showing the majestic tamers interacting with them, making the beasts less alien, providing a foundation for future change. 

It was all to lay the first stepping-stones that would lead to a day when the Xenos could revel in the sun’s rays. 

It wasn’t just “Monster Festival” but “Monster philia .” 

But that merely served as the first stage, and its impact was rather limited. 

“I informed Ganesha in order to gain his support.” 

While the Guild oversaw the event, it was Ganesha Familia that provided tamers for the show. 

Ouranos would never have gained Ganesha’s confidence by being manipulative. So the elderly deity had no choice but to reveal his divine will. 

Never thought it’d be Ganesha… 

Out of everything she had heard, that had been the most surprising. Hestia wiped the sweat off her neck with visions of the friendly god wearing an odd elephant mask popping up in her head. 

She promised herself right then and there to take some time to get to know him better. 

“Is that everyone working with you?” 

“No,” Ouranos responded plainly to Hestia’s question. 

The god looked down at his feet as if he were gazing deep into the Dungeon far beneath. 

“Fels is also with us.” 

“Well…this certainly exceeded my expectations.” 

A serious voice devoid of any shock or mockery reached the banquet, still as lively as ever with singing and dancing. 

Bell and everyone else who heard the remarkably monotone voice turned toward the entrance of the room to see where it came from. 

“Fels, you made it!” 

What they saw seemed like a living shadow, wearing a long black robe and black gloves adorned with intricate patterns. Bell and the adventurers were quick to react to this mysterious individual, instantly ready for a fight, but Lido opened his arms and gave the newcomer a friendly wave. 

Fels. A name that both Lido and Rei had mentioned quite a few times. 

The adventurers still watched the hooded figure for a bit as he approached. However, Fels seemed more interested in watching Wiene and the other dancers. 

“You’re here earlier than I thought you’d be.” 

“I came as fast as I could. But please, Lido, I could do with a quick explanation. To tell the truth, I’m quite startled.” 

Fels asked the lizardman warrior climbing to his feet to recount what had happened. 

The adventurers followed suit, standing as Lido brought the stranger up to speed. “Oh-ho?” A light chuckle emerged from the hood. “You all may be more important than we thought.” 

Fels looked down toward Bell and the others, offering words that were difficult to discern as praise or ridicule. 

The black-robed figure stood just a little shorter than Welf. Examining each member of the trio in turn, the shadow come to life continued speaking. 

“First, allow me to introduce myself. I am Fels. I act as a liaison between Ouranos and the Xenos—a messenger, if you will. I also take on odd jobs as necessary.” 

“O-odd jobs?” 

“Yes, that’s right…Perhaps you would understand if I were to say that I was the one keeping tabs on you and the vouivre girl?” 

“!” 

Bell, Lilly, and Welf were stunned. 

Something resembling a laugh spilled from the darkness of Fels’s hood as a gloved hand rose into the air. 

“Bell Cranell, Lilliluka Erde, Welf Crozzo…as well as Mikoto Yamato and Haruhime Sanjouno. I’ve been observing your activities over the past week.” 

Those were the only words they needed to hear to put the pieces together. 

The person in front of them was the Guild’s “eyes” who had taken the liberty of thoroughly investigating them without their knowledge. 

“Are you…Are you a monster, like them?” 

Lilly knew that something was odd about this person; something felt off. Fending off her confusion, she pressed for answers. 

“Nah, Fels is a person,” Lido replied, and Fels’s black hood fluttered up and down again. 

“ Formerly a person may be a better choice of words.” 

Huh? Bell nearly whispered under his breath. 

“I’ll show you.” 

Two black gloves took hold of the hood and pulled it back. 

“—” 

For Bell, Lilly, and Welf, time came to a screeching halt. 

The eyes that were supposed to be there didn’t exist—just two pitch-black cavities, empty eye sockets. 

The skin they expected to see was also missing. Perfectly aligned teeth protruded from the exposed jawbone. 

The face simply didn’t exist. 

A white skull of death stared back at the adventurers. 

“A…a skeleton?!” 

“Hold up, hold up, hold up…!” 

“A spartoi?!” 

Three voices shrieked. 

There was no doubt that it was a skeleton’s head—no eyes, no nose, no ears, no hair, just bones. The horrifying personification of death itself was proof enough that this being was no living person. 

Bell was reminded of the skeleton monsters from the deep levels called the spartoi. But Fels slowly shook his skull side to side to refute the boy’s terrified scream. 

“Sorry, but I am not a monster. As I said, I am formerly a person.” 

“F-formerly a person…?” 

“What…what the hell happened…?!” 

Lilly could only echo Fels’s words as Bell struggled to speak, mouth opening and closing again and again. Meanwhile, Welf clenched his teeth together in a desperate attempt to remain calm but couldn’t hide the fear scrawled across his face. Fear was a natural reaction to a voice originating from a skull with no skin or throat to speak of. 

While the three of them stood dumbfounded, it was Lido who spoke up with an answer: 

“Fels is the Sage. An awesome Magus.” 

Those words. 

It was as though Bell and his companions had been doused by water, all of them going silent. 

That is, until a moment later, when Lilly let out a cry. 

“The Sage?! As in THE Sage?! The one who created the Philosopher’s Stone in the Kingdom of Magic—the only one to ever successfully create the elixir of eternal life ? That Sage?!” 

“Y-yeah…Probably that Sage, I guess…?” 

The lizardman was unfamiliar with what was considered common sense on the surface, so the prum’s red-faced outburst caught him by surprise. Overwhelmed by this demi-human girl only half his size, Lido took a step back as a stunned Bell remembered the story Eina had once told him about the Sage. 

Just as Lilly said, that legendary person created the Philosopher’s Stone, a magic item that granted the user eternal life. 

Mastering the Advanced Ability Enigma, the Sage became the most powerful Magus in history. 

He brought his creation, the Philosopher’s Stone, before his god only to watch the deity smash the stone on the floor… 

If that story were true, then the being standing before him was worthy of being named among the heroes in fairy tales and legends. Bell’s eyes opened as wide as they would go. 

“Another correction, if I may. I am what became of the one once called the Sage.” 

The Magus shocked the adventurers further, explaining with a shade of self-deprecation. 

“As my story will be handed down to future generations…and as it is told even today, I came to loathe the deity who destroyed my precious stone. I became more driven than ever before in my pursuit to acquire more knowledge, to unlock the secrets of immortality…and became what you see now.” 

The skeleton recounted the traumatic experience with that god while running black gloves up and down the robe that hid the rest of his body. 

“My methods took their toll, causing my skin and flesh to rot off my bones. Now I have become something more revolting than a monster. I’ve forgotten the sensation of hunger and thirst…I am no more than a living ghost.” 

Fels finished by saying that all his experimentation produced was a “curse.” 

Learning the other side of the story, one that had been lost in history, the adventurers gulped as the Sage’s fate came to light. 

At the same time, they were in awe at how cruel the deusdea could be, completely ruining the lives of their followers. 

“I now go by the name Fels the Fool.” 

“Fels.” A fitting name for someone who had once been known as “Sage,” only to have been reduced to a farce. 

Incapable of expressing even the slightest emotion, the skeletal Magus who could no longer even smile now went by that name. 

“…Mind explaining how the Sage ended up in a place like this?” 

“It’s a long story, to say the least. Suffice it to say that Ouranos took me in despite my wretched state after I wound up in Orario.” 

Welf certainly looked uncomfortable, but he posed his question without fear. Fels responded openly, making the peculiarly indistinct voice friendlier in tone. 

“Now I’m privy to a front-row seat in the ‘center of the world,’ the driving force behind the changing times.” 

Pulling the hood back up, Fels spoke as though satisfied with the state of things. 

As Bell stood frozen in place, he had thought nothing could surpass the shock of encountering Lido and the other Xenos. Now his eyes were spinning from a second knockout blow. 

“The Sage, huh…Well, of course I’ve heard of him. So that kid from earlier has become your right-hand man, Ouranos?” 

“I do not deny it. Outside of my agreement with the Xenos, Fels is the one piece I can move at will…My private soldier.” 

Ouranos nodded at Hestia’s inquiry. 

Several familias, including Ganesha Familia , worked closely with the Guild to create a public face. Meanwhile, Fels, a Magus—a being who had a firm handle on the intricacies of Magic—worked in the shadows, conducting dirty jobs and taking on secret missions. 

“I take it Fels played a major role in keeping the Xenos a secret up until today?” 

“Indeed. We have already worked together for centuries.” 

Fels also filled the role of Ouranos’s personal bodyguard. Many Guild employees had witnessed his movements through Guild Headquarters, with rumors of an elusive “ghost” circulating among their ranks through the generations, each with a common thread. 

“Monsters with the capacity to think and feel…I first encountered Lido and his kind fifteen, maybe sixteen years ago.” 

Fels continued to speak even as the siren sang among the happily dancing monsters in the background. 

At that time, members of the familia close to Ouranos captured them. The deity managed to keep their presence a secret from the rest of Orario by issuing a strict gag order. That familia fell into ruin and no longer existed. 

Fels obeyed Ouranos’s divine will and had served as a messenger ever since, eventually becoming the Xenos’s first contact with the world aboveground. 

“After talking with Lido and his companions, we decided to dub their group of heretics ‘Xenos.’ They now live as a community under the same name.” 

“A community?” 

“Yeah. Others like us are born throughout the Dungeon. We make contact with our comrades to form our own organization.” 

Bell asked for clarification from Fels, but it was Lido who provided the answer. 

“We gather in Hidden Villages like this one and travel between different floors in the hopes of finding comrades nearby.” 

As soon as Lido explained that most of their activities took place in the lower levels, Lilly jumped back into the conversation to ask about something that had been stewing in her head for some time. 

“…This has been bothering Lilly for a while, but…do monsters not spawn in this room?” 

“Oh? You noticed, Lillicchi?” 

“L-Lillicchi…?” 

As the prum struggled with how to feel about being addressed in such a strange manner, Lido glanced out over the chamber dotted with dark-green quartz jutting from the walls and ceiling. 

“This place…You might call it a safe point. There are plenty more just like it.” 

“Eh?!” 

“Of course, adventurers haven’t found them. That’s why we call these places Hidden Villages.” 

Lido ignored the astonishment on Bell’s, Welf’s, and Lilly’s faces and carried on with his explanation. 

The Xenos frequented undiscovered Frontiers in the middle levels all the way down to the deep levels—places adventurers didn’t know existed—using them as base camps in their search of monsters who shared their unique gifts. 

They were a community of monsters, a traveling brigade. 

“There are about forty Xenos at the moment…The numbers go up and down, but Lido, Rei, and Gros were members from the start.” 

“It has been a long time, yes?” 

Fels glanced at the siren and gargoyle while the lizardman flashed a toothy grin. 

“…That would make you the leader, wouldn’t it?” 

Welf finally asked what he and Lilly had suspected for a while now. 

“Yeah. Gryuu used to hold that title, but his dragon body can’t move like it used to. So I’m leading everyone in his stead now.” 

“Then the strongest member is…” 

“Of course! You’re looking at him!!” 

Lido proudly puffed out his armored chest. 

Bell thought that might be the case after fighting the lizardman one-on-one. Lido was most likely holding back at the time, but it still summoned flashbacks of Ishtar Familia ’s first-tier adventurer, Phryne, during the battle. Therefore, the boy had suspected that the lizardman’s potential strength could very well exceed hers. 

“…Well, that’s what I’d like to say.” 

—However, Lido let his reptilian head droop, shoulders slumping right away. 

“One of our newest comrades took the title from me in no time flat…” 

“O-ohhh…” 

Welf wasn’t sure what to do with the clearly depressed lizardman. Bell, however, was stunned. 

The question had to be asked. 

“Um, so, what’s this new member like?” 

“He isn’t here now. He’s a strange one, I tell you. Went off to the deep levels on his own for training.” 

“Th-the deep levels…Do…do you think that’s okay?” 

“Knowing him, I think worrying would be a waste of time.” 

Lido drily chuckled to himself as if he was exhausted just thinking about it. 

“…Mr. Fels.” 

“What is it, Lilliluka Erde?” 

After some time had passed… 

Tired of singing and dancing, the revelers were starting to seat themselves on the floor. Mikoto, Haruhime, and Wiene were among them. 

Lilly had been lost in thought when, finally, she looked up at Fels. 

“When the siren Rei…Miss Rei spoke with us, she described the Xenos’s relationship with the Guild as ‘give and take.’” 

“Yes, this is true.” 

“Lord Ouranos provides support, and in return the Xenos scour the Dungeon for new members…Is that really everything?” 

Her chestnut-tinted gaze bore into the darkness beneath the Magus’s hood, but his only answer was silence. 

“Lilly can’t help but feel that this relationship is too one-sided. There’s something oddly urgent about these heretics’ chosen words and actions…” 

A group that used several unknown Hidden Villages and had members capable of traveling alone in the deep levels possessed considerable power. The brigade of monsters called Xenos should be able to take care of itself with or without assistance from Fels and Ouranos. 

Lilly acknowledged that the Guild, in charge of the city and Dungeon management, would want to keep an eye on them to prevent mass panic from spreading through Orario. However, from what she could tell, the deal was incredibly unfair. 

Above all, the Xenos members seemed to yearn for something more. 

Lilly spelled it all out. 

“If this is simply charity, then Lilly will drop the suggestion now…However.” 

Averting her eyes and hesitating for a moment, she made her point. 

“Are they in this relationship because they want something only Lord Ouranos and Mr. Fels can provide?” 

She’d kept these misgivings to herself ever since arriving at the Hidden Village, voicing them only now. 

Bell and Welf stayed silent, ears perked and waiting. 

A look of quiet contemplation grew on Lido’s face. 

As their conversation reached a standstill, only Wiene’s laughter and playful monster howls could be heard. 

“—To walk on the surface.” 

Just then… 

A voice cut through the still air, clear as day. 

“Miss Rei…” 

“That is our desire.” 

Rei stepped lightly as she approached the group, winglike arms folded as if she were hugging her own body. 

Bell, Lilly, and Welf gazed at the siren’s resolute blue eyes in amazement as her words sank in. 

“…I have dreams.” 

Lido’s soft voice brought them back into the moment. 

“Dreams about a ball of red light sinking behind a massive pile of rocks…A sky that can’t be found here, burning red, so red and beautiful it makes me tear up. Getting redder and redder as time goes by…” 

“Wouldn’t that be…a sunset?” 

The lizardman warrior looked up at the dark shadows that hid the Dungeon ceiling from view, but his gaze seemed to reach farther, going beyond. 

Bell could easily visualize what he was describing. 

“You may be right,” Lido answered with a nod. 

“But is that just a dream…? You’ve been outside on the surface, haven’t you?” 

“Not even once. Which means that maybe sometime in a past life I broke out of this dark hell and spent some time above.” 

Lido’s suggestion made Bell and the others freeze. 

“In…a past life…?” 

“You couldn’t mean…” 

Lilly and Welf whispered in astonishment. Then Bell’s voice shook as he asked: 

“ Reincarnation…? ” 

Lido and Rei didn’t respond, staring off into the distance. 

“You know, Bellucchi, that Wiene’s a real talker.” 

“Huh…? Oh, y-yeah, she is.” 

The seemingly abrupt change in topic caught Bell off guard, but he recovered in time to nod his head affirmatively. 

Lido watched the laughing young vouivre girl play with Haruhime and Mikoto as well as chat with harpies and al-miraj. 

“Some of us can use language, but some can’t speak a word. There are those who know how to express themselves while others have no clue. Don’t you find that strange?” 

Lido amusedly mentioned that was where the individual differences ended, though. 

“Here’s what’s crazy. The really good ones can speak right from the start. Almost like they’re recalling something they already know .” 

“!” 

“Maybe they’d watched people for a long time in the past …Jealous of them, yearning after them.” 

— “Lots of people, just like Bell…Protect someone from me.” 

— “I see those people, and I feel cold.” 

— “But those people were beautiful.” 

The vouivre girl’s words, whispered under the covers of a very cramped bed only a few days ago, came to the forefront of Bell’s memory. 

A surge of disbelief accompanied them. 

Wiene and those like her really did— 

“— A powerful longing .” 

Fels’s voice interrupted his thoughts. 

“Each of the Xenos has their own unique thoughts and feelings. However, they all have one thing in common: an intense yearning for people or the surface world.” 

The Xenos remembered in their dreams their jealousy of the people who resided beneath the sun and the sky and their desire to do the same. 

They had seen beautiful things among the violent hostility and murderous intent. 

Humans desperate to save one another’s lives. A dwarf courageously standing tall despite the numerous injuries covering him head to toe. An elf on the edge of death and still carrying herself with pride to the end. Or perhaps ones who showed mercy, sparing a monster’s life. Even something as simple as a beautiful blue sky and the setting sun. 

The Xenos remembered their “past lives” in their various “dreams.” 

And each possessed an intense desire that gave them a strong reason to keep living. 

“I want to live in that world with a beautiful sunset one more time.” 

“I want to spread my wings in a world filled with light, but in exchange, these arms can never hold…I want to be held by someone I love.” 

To be with people in the sunlight. That was their wish. What these men and women desired. 

They were looking for a way to make it happen, with help from Fels and Ouranos. 

All to accomplish a goal that would have been so simple if only the Xenos were human. 

They were also fully aware how difficult it was, how long a road they would have to take. Both Xenos stopped speaking, letting their words hang in the air. 

Lido and Rei smiled wanly as Bell and the stunned adventurers came to the same realization. 

“We know what we are. Our place is in the shadows—halfway between man and monster, neither side accepting us…Even so, we want to keep dreaming.” 

They wanted to follow those dreams and the permission to do so. 

Lido cast his gaze at the labyrinth ceiling once again as he spoke. 

“Maybe Mother wanted beings stuck in the middle like us to have a place to go when she made Hidden Villages like this…The thought crosses my mind every now and then.” 

“M-Mother…?” 

“Mother—you know: Mom. The one who gave us life.” 

“In other words, the Dungeon.” 

Rei’s words astonished the adventurers again. 

“We still do not know how Mother feels about us…Why those who should be our brothers and sisters attempt to take our lives. Even so, we are allowed to exist. It is our quandary.” 

Lido and Rei seemed to be asking the Dungeon despite knowing there would be no answer. 

On top of everything, they still wanted to pursue their dreams. 

“So that’s why…we couldn’t be happier to meet you, Bellucchi, and everybody else.” 

After looking off into the Dungeon with Rei, Lido returned his gaze to the adventurers. 

At about the same time, Wiene and the others stood up and rejoined the rest of the group. 

Bell heard someone happily call his name and glanced over his shoulder to acknowledge it before turning his attention back to the Xenos. 

“We’re not asking for help or favors. It’s enough to know that there are people who accept who we are…That alone means the world to us.” 

Lilly and Welf stood motionless with Bell at their side. 

The Magus watched from underneath the shadowy black robe. The siren smiled. 

Lastly, the lizardman shyly scratched his nose. 

“I’m glad I met all of you.” 

“—Ouranos, last question.” 

In the stone chamber illuminated by crackling torches… 

Hestia’s voice echoed. 

“What’s happening in the Dungeon?” 

“…” 

“These ‘Xenos’…Do you know why Wiene and others like her were born in the first place?” 

Rogue monsters, subspecies, Irregulars. If these were all it took to explain the situation, then that was that. 

However, she was convinced there was something more to the Xenos due to the simple fact that not even the deities could explain their existence. Hestia had to know why. 

After a long silence descended upon the chamber, Ouranos slowly opened his lips. 

“What do you think happens to monsters after death, Hestia?” 

“……?” 

Hestia frowned at having her question answered with another question. 

The elderly god didn’t wait for her response and carried on. 

“The souls of our children return to the heavens, are judged and sorted by our kind, and then many are reborn into the world…So what about the souls of monsters? No, it would be better to phrase it as…If these monsters who are not our children have souls, where do you think they would go?” 

Shudder. 

Hestia felt her heart tremble. 

“Could it be…?” 

“This is only my speculation, but I also have confidence it is correct.” 

Ouranos was gaining momentum. 

“After death, monsters return to the mother from whence they came, the Dungeon…They’re given new form somewhere deep inside the labyrinth and then are born again.” 

A cycle of death and rebirth—monster “souls” were in constant circulation inside the Dungeon. 

The motionless, elderly god declared it while his deep-blue eyes narrowed. 

“Monsters have…souls…?” 

“Yes. They have shown change during their centuries of death and rebirth.” 

Specifically, they became self-aware and capable of learning. 

The “change” started to manifest itself in individual monsters after so much time had passed that the Ancient Times felt like a distant dream. Strong feelings of attachment and desire accumulated in each soul as it completed countless revolutions in the cycle. 

Hestia’s dumbstruck voice tumbled out. 

“I can’t believe something like that…What could possibly be the cause?” 

“The driving force is either the monsters’ strong yearning and desire…or—the Dungeon’s will.” 

Ouranos’s words vanished into the shadows enveloping the chamber. 

The banquet at the Xenos Hidden Village was coming to an end. 

Bell and the others were making preparations to return home. Lido and the rest of the Xenos were planning to move to another Hidden Village soon after. 

Haruhime and Mikoto wore awkward smiles as they shook hands with their dance partners and said their good-byes to monsters who had become something close to friends. 

The magic-stone lamps were extinguished one by one until only the glow of quartz illuminated the area. 

“……” 

Enveloped in their green radiance, Bell watched his allies exchange words with the Xenos around the dim cavern. 

He hadn’t had time to think about it before, but the monsters with human characteristics were all genuinely attractive individuals. Some spoke with ease while others couldn’t say anything at all. It was just as Lido said. Every one of them was different. Even their body types were incredibly varied. They each had their own personality, their own way of living. 

He had learned that they had aspirations. He had heard they had hope. 

And he had also discovered that before they gained these feelings, they were bloodthirsty beasts incapable of even shedding a tear. 

That was just as true for the openhearted Lido as it was for the beautiful Rei. 

—Can I point a blade at monsters the way I used to ever again? 

The thoughts he’d been keeping locked away started resurfacing in the corners of his mind. 

As Bell stared into the palm of his hand, he could almost hear the whirlpool of anguish inside him. 

“…Bellucchi!” 

Lido spotted the boy lost in thought. He waved one hand high above his head and approached him. 

Bell looked up to see the lizardman warrior slowly wagging his thick tail back and forth as he pulled something out from beneath his breastplate. 

“You know what this is?” 

“That’s a magic stone…isn’t it?” 

Lido nodded as he pinched the purple stone between his claws. 

Suddenly, he brought it to his open mouth and plopped it inside like candy. 

“!” 

“Do you know what happens when we Xenos…we monsters eat magic stones?” 

Crunch! Crunch! Bell wasn’t sure how to react as he watched Lido purposely chew louder than necessary. 

At the sight of a lizardman gulping down a magic stone, one of the facts that Eina had drilled into him rose from his memory. 

“Enhanced species…” 

It was like how adventurers became stronger by receiving excelia and updating their Status, but for monsters. 

They gained a power boost by consuming another monster’s “core”—a principle of the monsters’ world where only the strongest survived. The ones who gorged themselves on magic stones and became too powerful were identified by the Guild and subsequently marked for extermination via missions. 

Bell couldn’t respond as he watched the phenomenon firsthand. 

“We kill any monsters that aren’t our comrades. Then we pluck out their magic stones and eat them.” 

“!!” 

“I’m sure you already knew that other monsters attack us on sight. We aren’t about to lie down and let them kill us without a fight. We kill to survive and eat to see tomorrow.” 

They had meticulously honed swordsmanship and the potential to match top-class adventurers…Bell reflected on their earlier battle, the strength and power the lizardman possessed, and knew at once that Lido was telling the truth. 

The Xenos were forced to commit cannibalism every day to stay alive in the Dungeon. 

Purely because their lives depended on it. 

Blood drained from Bell’s face as Lido made his point. 

“So please don’t waver. Don’t hold back for our sake. Those things are scary as hell, and they’ll kill you if you hesitate for even a moment. You’ll die, Bellucchi.” 

“Lido…” 

“And even if they can speak, if they attack you, kill them for me.” 

This den of monsters is already littered with corpses and ash. 

While he didn’t say it directly, the lizardman warrior truly wanted Bell to prioritize his life above anything else. 

“Don’t you ever die. I want to see you again.” 

The Xenos themselves had killed countless other Dungeon-dwellers and would continue to do so. 

So don’t you hold back, either. So we can meet once more. 

Bell’s eyes trembled at Lido’s argument. 

“Bellucchi.” 

“……?” 

“Let’s shake hands.” 

Reptilian eyes smiling, Lido stuck out his right hand. 

Bell paused for a moment, looking between the lizardman’s face and his hand…but then he managed a grin. 

Hearing the same words as when they first spoke, the boy smiled at the row of fangs right at eye level. 

He took the hand offered to him. 

Bell felt Lido squeeze back, scaly skin rough on his own. 

“…So, why did you arrange for us to meet them, exactly?” 

The prum was busy tying an item pouch to her waist when she caught a glimpse of Bell and Lido’s handshake. Then she turned to the Magus standing beside her, looking up at the concealing hood as she spoke. 

Fels didn’t meet her stare, but a response emanated from deep within the dark confines of the robe. 

“We wanted you to know them. That’s all…at least for now.” 

At the deep, cryptic answer, her chestnut-colored eyes narrowed. 

Her glare said it all: We’d rather not have more trouble to deal with, so please excuse us and leave us out of it. 

The black-hooded figure shrugged good-naturedly. 

“I don’t think I need to remind you, but please keep what you saw today to yourself.” 

“Would anyone believe Lilly if she told them?” 

Clenched fists trembling in frustration, Lilly stomped away toward the center of the room where Welf and the others were waiting. 

Bell and Lido weren’t far behind. The people and monsters gathered at the quartz pillar before going their separate ways. 

“Bell, let’s go home.” 

Wiene immediately broke away from her conversation with other Xenos as soon as she saw him coming. 

Turning around with a smile on her face, she reached out to take his hand. 

Bell weakly smiled in return and was about to let her. 

However, Lido got in the way. 

“Your place is here, Wiene.” 

“Huh?” 

He grabbed hold of her bluish-white arm and dragged her back toward the Xenos group. 

Shocked, Wiene yelped and started struggling. 

“Lido! No! Let me go!” 

“No. You’re staying here in the Dungeon.” 

“I don’t wanna! I want to be with Bell!” 

Her thin arms stood no chance of breaking Lido’s grip. Tears of desperation began forming in her amber eyes. 

Bell watched, unable to speak as the lizardman knelt down to the girl’s height. 

“If you’re with them, Bellucchi, Lillicchi, everyone will wind up crying.” 

“!” 

“Bad things happened to you on the surface, yes? Only this time, that might happen to Bellucchi.” 

All those angry, jeering voices. Cold, hard stones striking her skin and the weapons maliciously pointed her way. 

Wiene’s slim shoulders trembled as memories of that night came to mind. 

“…We cannot live on the surface yet. But no one will be cruel to you here. You can live here with us.” 

The siren’s voice reached them. The young girl’s dragon wing, the feature that clearly identified her as a monster, quivered. 

A flurry of emotions flooded the vouivre girl’s mind as she looked at each of the other monsters in turn. 

“Lady Wiene…” 

Bell didn’t move. 

He heard Haruhime behind him as she did her best not to cry. The moment of separation came much more abruptly than he’d expected, and surprise was written all over his face. 

No—it was just an act. 

The moment he met Lido and the other Xenos and learned there were others like Wiene who considered her a friend, he had done his best to ignore the possibility. Immersing himself in the new discoveries and revelations had allowed him to run away from reality. 

The reality that Wiene had a place here. 

That saying good-bye would be the obvious conclusion. 

“There is a group of hunters that indiscriminately try to capture the Xenos.” 

“!” 

“After all, they’re monsters who can communicate with language. The ones with humanoid features possess enticing beauty. If they’re rare enough, anything becomes exciting for these hunters. After capturing Xenos, they apparently smuggle them out of the city and sell them to gourmets.” 

Lilly and the other adventurers were as genuinely shocked as Bell at Fels’s explanation. 

The black-robed Magus spat out the words with disgust. 

“They put out tidbits of information, calling the Xenos ‘monsters wearing armor’ and the like, but they never leave a trail to follow. They must have a base of operations, a place to hold their captives, but…” 

Fels cast his gaze toward Bell from beneath the concealing hood. 

Staying with Wiene will only result in disaster. Bell got the hint. 

Ikelos’s ominous smile appeared in the back of his mind, sealing off his last hope of escape from the reality. He turned to face the young girl. 

“Beeeell…” 

As the lizardman and siren gently held her shoulders, tears rolling down her face, Wiene cried Bell’s name as though hanging on to him. 

A realization hit Bell as Lilly, Welf, Mikoto, and Haruhime watched with worried eyes. 

—I won’t let her be alone. I won’t let her die. 

He could keep the promises he made to himself without being there to protect her personally. 

“Bell! I…!” 

A large group of intelligent monsters stood directly behind her. 

Behind him was the family he’d gone through so much with up until now. 

Bell was surrounded by those precious to him, before and behind. 

For this girl’s happiness… 

And his familia’s, everyone’s, his goddess’s— 

“…See you, Bellucchi. We’ll head out first.” 

Lido said his good-byes before turning his back on the adventurers. 

Bell couldn’t stop him, couldn’t even take a step forward. 

The monsters began to disappear into a corner of the cavern shrouded in darkness, Wiene with them. She looked around one last time. 

He could see her amber eyes glistening with tears. Bell clenched his hands and shouted even as his expression was on the verge of breaking. 

“This isn’t good-bye! We’ll see each other again!” 

He left her with that reassuring promise, unsure if he could keep it. 

Wiene sobbed, mouth opening and closing as if trying to tell him something, but she couldn’t turn her feelings into words. 

It wasn’t long before every Xenos faded into the darkness. 

“……” 

With his allies silently watching over him from behind… 

Bell only stared at the spot where he last saw the vouivre girl. 

Morning fog filled the air. 

The puddles dotting the stone pavement suggested rain must have fallen the previous night. Wide-leaved trees appeared to be shedding tears as water droplets fell from their branches every so often. Another one splashed on the stone surface and vanished. 

The sun wasn’t out yet. Only the smallest traces of light were starting to appear on the horizon. 

Silence hung over the sleeping city. 

It was early morning at the base of Babel Tower. 

Bell’s party returned from their mission a little more than a full day after their departure. 

Fels, who accompanied them to the surface, had already disappeared. The party of five stepped out from beneath the white tower’s entrance. 

Hestia waited for her followers outside the gate alone before sunrise. 

Noticing that they numbered one fewer than when she saw them off, the goddess’s shoulders sank in sadness as she said, “Welcome back,” with a weak smile. 

“Goddess…” 

“…What is it, Bell?” 

The group was completely alone in Central Park. Bell opened his mouth to speak. 

“What…is the Dungeon?” he asked, turning to face Hestia. 

Welf and his other friends quietly watched as she averted her eyes. 

“The Dungeon is…the Dungeon…” 

She gave him the same response deities had given the children of the world from the beginning. 

The goddess wouldn’t say more than what had already been said. 

Bell stood like a statue as her words faded away. 

The boy stared at the ground as if the world itself weighed on his shoulders. 

Dawn broke on the other side of the city wall, ushering in a blue sky.