Chapter 4: The Catacombs of Heroic Spirits

I was glad to see that a touch of nostalgic Japanese culture had done wonders for rejuvenating the Heroes. The sashimi we had for dinner—caught by Sera and prepared by Efil—received rave reviews.

Yep, you really do need soy sauce for sashimi. I’m so glad I bought some from Toraj. Thank you for developing it, Toraji (if that’s your name)!

In sharp contrast with the Heroes, I was absolutely exhausted due to having kept my guard up the entire time against Touya’s protagonist disposition. You couldn’t believe how tired I was. But I did it. With Gerard’s cooperation, not a single accident happened on our watch. Our battle was legendary.

The next day, as planned, we set off and returned to Deramis through the teleportation gate. Originally, I’d intended on hardening my heart and throwing Touya and the rest into the most dangerous dungeon in Deramis with nothing but the bare minimum of support so that I could fully apply myself to investigating the Apostles. Unfortunately, the situation did not allow for this—although not due to any sort of protest from the Deramisian brass going, “We can’t put the Heroes in such danger!” In fact, Colette gave her permission without batting an eye—religious fanatics really were scary. Rather, it was because a visitor brought us news.

“The children from Lifil Orphanage were kidnapped?!”

“Yes, Oracle. But we’re still trying to keep it under wraps for now...”

The person who delivered the alarming news was none other than Cardinal Sai. According to his account, early this morning, a holy knight on patrol was passing by the orphanage when he noticed that something was off.

“Since Captain Cliff was absent, the man came to consult me instead, what with me being the previous knight captain. He said the children are usually playing around boisterously at that time of day, but the place was dead quiet this morning. So he went inside to investigate and found Sister Marigan unconscious on the ground, likely having been knocked out using magic. Thankfully, she had no injuries, but we’re still healing her at the moment while taking her statement. The other nuns and the children were all gone. Instead, he found this.”

Cardinal Sai handed Colette an envelope. The sender was unmarked, and it had been carelessly thrown onto the table right next to where Sister Marigan had been lying.

“A letter?” Colette asked as she pulled out the sheet of paper within and began perusing the contents.

Seeing the look on her face growing graver by the moment, I asked, “What’s it say, Colette?” Considering the situation, it can’t be anything good. It’s just a matter of how bad things are.

“Please...here, read it for yourself.”

“Let’s see...”

◆————————————————————◆

To the Oracle and Heroes of Deramis:

Come to the Catacombs of Heroic Spirits by twilight. If you don’t, the souls of these poor children who placed their faith in you will be released. The time to rise up is upon us. It is time to proclaim the true Goddess.

◆————————————————————◆

This was all that was written. I had no idea where these Catacombs of Heroic Spirits were, but I got the message that whoever had kidnapped the children was waiting there. The worst part was where it insinuated that the kidnappers would kill all the hostages if Colette did not come to this place in person. I couldn’t tell if it was a move by the Apostles. It would have to be someone pretty close to Colette to know her relationship with those in the orphanage, though.

“Oracle, this is difficult for me to say, but...”

“I give you permission. Speak.”

There wasn’t the slightest hint of hesitation in Colette’s words. Right now, she was one hundred percent the Oracle.

“It appears the anti-Melfina faction, the one worshipping Elearis, which has been moving in the shadows all this time, has finally sprung into action with this incident serving as the trigger. I’ve already sent word to Pope Philip, but still, please remain vigilant even when in the city. Anyone you know could be an enemy.”

Cardinal Sai was not lying. As I’d noted before, Deramis was not a monolith. When Melfina became the Goddess of Reincarnation, the Oracle of the previous goddess, Elearis, had caused an uprising with her believers chasing an ideal. Embers of that fire still smoldered to this day, kept alive by descendants of those who had kept the faith. Even if their numbers only made up a small percentage of the entire body of Rinne adherents, it still posed a huge menace. After all, there was no telling what they would do if they saw this as an opportunity.

“The Elearis faction has shown itself, you say. All right, I understand. So, what is the current situation?”

“Embarrassingly, they’ve occupied the entrance to the catacombs. They were already taking action when I received word and succeeded due to several holy knights and soldiers who were stationed in the palace turning traitor. Fighting hasn’t broken out yet, as Pope Philip expressly forbade it, so the two sides are simply glaring at each other over a barricade. The Elearis believers seem entirely uninterested in dialogue. Cardinal Marcel is trying to talk with them now, but there’s no telling how the situation will develop.”

“So bringing Cliff with me in my magic pool made the situation worse...”

In other words, there were Elearis believers among the holy knights and believers too. Wow, they’re more numerous than I’d thought. But wait, “in the palace”?

“Colette-chan, are these Catacombs of Heroic Spirits underneath the Great Cathedral?” Shutola asked with perfect timing.

I took the opportunity to chime in. “I want to know too. What are they, anyway? ‘Catacombs’ is in the name, so it’s an underground mass cemetery?”

“Well, I haven’t actually told the Heroes yet, but I suppose this is as good a time as any,” Colette said, standing up to peek through the window at the Great Cathedral. “There are two dungeons in this city. One is the Training Grounds of the Guardians—as you can tell by the name, it’s used as a place of training. It’s Rank C and is mainly for newly summoned Heroes and holy knights.”

“Ah, I remember it,” Touya said. “It’s that tall one that’s visible over there, right? Boy, the memori—”

“Sh!” Setsuna landed a sharp jab in his ribs with an elbow. “Not now!”

“Oof!”

“Sorry, Colette. Go on.”

The term “training ground” really does pique my interest, but it’s the other place that seems to be the main topic right now. Let’s make a note to ask more about the Training Grounds of the Guardians another time.

“Ahem. The other dungeon is called the Catacombs of Heroic Spirits and is deep, deep underneath the Great Cathedral of Deramis. It’s a massive crypt with ten floors, built during the age of the Great War to honor those who gave their lives on the battlefield. Due to the powerful spirits of malice that roam the place, it was classified as a dungeon.”

A cemetery underneath the Great Cathedral. Ah, maybe the whole thing about gathering magic at the center of the city isn’t only to bolster the abilities of the Oracle, but also to purify and pacify the spirits in this place.

“Whoa, and these Elearis believers are barricading themselves in there?” Dahak asked incredulously.

“The strength of the spirits differs drastically by floor, so I suspect they’re staying on the higher floors. The holy knights and clergy both work hard to keep the first two floors safe enough to be used as a normal cemetery. However, the danger increases exponentially the deeper down you go. There might even be a Rank S monster at the lowest level. What’s more, it turns into a labyrinth starting on the third floor and is incredibly expansive. It’s basically shaped like one huge rhombus. To be honest, even I don’t have a clear idea of the layout of floors seven and lower.”

“Why was it made that way?”

“I’ve been told that the lowest levels were made to entomb popes and Oracles. The layout was meant to prevent anyone from getting to them. The variety of traps also shoots up starting from the middle floors.”

I guess it’s the same as protecting the bodies of kings in booby-trapped pyramids. I can’t imagine the Elearis believers easily getting through such measures, but they did specifically choose the place. I’m sure they have something in mind.

Just in case, I asked through the Network, Sera, Ange, can your detection abilities reach the Great Cathedral from here?

::Mm...sort of,:: Sera replied. ::I can tell that the nuns and children have been split up across several floors, but I’d have to get closer to find out more.::

Ange agreed. ::That’s what I’m getting too. Oh, and I can sense someone on the deepest level.::

Oh? So they have someone capable of getting to the end of the dungeon with women and children in tow. Interesting...

◇ ◇ ◇

We needed to take urgent action. Personally, I was just itching to charge right in, but the other side did have hostages. I had no choice but to control myself.

“Wow, they sure got us good! I never thought the Elearis faction would take such extreme measures, ha ha. What should we do?” Pope Philip laughed like a child caught in a prank trying to gloss things over.

“Your Holiness, Kelvin-sama and the Heroes are present. Please take this seriously,” Cardinal Sai said in a chiding tone.

“Aw, Sai! Why do you and Colette both act so cold with me?!”

“That’s hardly the issue now, Your Holiness! The lives of the children are on the line!”

“Okay, Colette, there’s no need to be so intense just because Melfina-sama is here.”

“What?! I...I’m just—”

Ah, he hit the bull’s-eye. No, I’m sure she’s actually worried about those from the orphanage; considering her history with them, maybe more so than anyone else in this room. It’s just that when it comes to Melfina, she tends to overreact a lot. Please forgive her.

“However, Your Holiness, your flippant attitude might negatively affect the Heroes’ morale. Please—”

“C’mon, Sai. You were a Hero too once. We were in the same party and all. We even fell in love with Serge together. I’m sure we count as friends, don’t we? I know you, ‘prince of a fallen country,’ ha ha!”

“Oh yes, we were close enough to fall in love together. We even had our hearts dashed, yes?”

“Ah, I’m sorry. No, Sai, that smile you make is scaring me!”

Oh, is his previous love life a sore point for Cardinal Sai?

We were in the middle of a strategy meeting. Those present included my party, the Heroes, Colette, Cliff, Philip, and Sai. We were all sitting around a round table and were supposed to be talking about how to handle the hostage situation, but the direction of the discussion was veering off track, and it was mainly the pope’s fault.

“Philip, have you joked around enough yet?” Melfina cut in. “I will remind you that we do have a time limit: twilight.”

“Okaaay. I’ll get serious,” Philip replied, drawing his words out.

So, he listens to you, Melfina. How do I put this? It’s like... It’s like you’re the mother of a problem child.

::If you’re the father, then I wouldn’t be against it, honey. In Philip’s case, however, he’s partly acting this way on purpose. It’s when he seems to be messing around the most that he’s thinking the hardest.::

Even though this is a meeting where we’re all supposed to be thinking of a solution together?

::Well...all right, maybe it’s at something close to a two-to-one ratio.::

Wait, which side is two and which side is one? Don’t tell me, is he using more than half of his brainpower on messing around? Isn’t he supposed to be a saint?!

Suddenly, Philip’s facial expression changed. “Well then, let’s sum up where we are. The Elearis faction’s demand is for Colette and the Heroes to go to the Catacombs of Heroic Spirits. It’s written on this note that they’ll kill the hostages at twilight if we don’t hurry, but honestly, I don’t think that’s their real aim.”

“What makes you think so, Your Holiness?”

“I told you to call me ‘father,’ Colette! As for my reasoning, remember that these guys have lain low since the position of goddess of this world went to Melfina-sama. I can’t imagine them suddenly being brazen enough to all come out of the woodwork just because they took a few orphans and nuns hostage. For all they know, I could send the knights charging in, not caring if the hostages died or not.”

The pope waved the letter from the kidnappers nonchalantly in the air. The words he said sounded all the crueler for his young face, but the same was true in the modern world. No matter how many of a country’s citizens were captured by a terrorist group, there was no way the head of state would go out to meet the group in person. Depending on the country, it might even deploy its forces to completely wipe out the group in question.

“Also, it bothers me how they’re asking for not only Colette, but the Heroes too,” he continued. “I can’t see why they’re inviting a group of fighters who rank near the top of the country into their camp. Do they think they can overwhelm them with sheer numbers? It’s like they’re broadcasting that they’ve got something else in mind. Or I should say, it’s like they’ve got someone else with them.”

The first word that came to mind left my lips. “The Apostles?”

Philip shrugged. “Based on the information that you and Melfina-sama brought back, and considering the timing, I think that seems like a reasonable conclusion to make. An Apostle joining their side makes for more than enough reason to suddenly spring into action. Who knows? Maybe the act of sending this letter was purely for raising their morale; it could just be a bluff to reassure the rest of their group that, with the strength of an Apostle on their side, they now have enough fighting strength to overwhelm even the Heroes. The letter indirectly refers to the resurrection of Elearis-sama, so I’m certain the believers are working on something else. Clearly, these Apostles really do like pulling the strings from the shadows.”

Seeing how smoothly Philip put our situation into perspective and produced inferences one after another, I heaved an inward sigh of relief, realizing that he had only been playing around as a joke and was actually thinking seriously. He probably did not intend for it to happen, but the former Apostle with us, Ange, was averting her gaze, looking decidedly uncomfortable.

“In that case, there’s only one thing they can be after,” Cardinal Sai said.

Philip nodded. “That’s what I think too.”

Colette looked mystified. “What would that be, Your Holiness?”

“What else but the thing sealed on the deepest floor, my daughter?”

“The thing...sealed on the deepest floor? But the only things on the lowest floor are the graves of past popes and Oracles...”

So even Colette doesn’t know? I mean, it’s not like I do either.

“Ah, I guess we never told you. Truth is, there’s something else down there. Right, Melfina-sama?”

“I’m afraid I cannot answer you in this artificial body.”

“Oh, so you can’t say it? May I say it, then? Only Sai and I know at the moment.”

“You plan on saying it with or without my permission, don’t you?” Melfina sighed. “Considering what’s coming, it’s probably best. Yes, go ahead.”

Something that’s serious enough to trigger Divine Binding? What can it be?

“In the deepest part of those catacombs is Elearis-sama’s beloved weapon, Holy Lance Eclipse. Although it’s no longer as powerful as the legends say, if it falls into the hands of one of her Apostles, there’s no telling what would happen.”

“Isn’t that a huge problem?!” Colette cried.

“Now, now, there’s no need to get so worked up. We did install a whole bunch of barriers and traps around the place. No matter how strong this Apostle is, they’d still have a tough time getting through everything. After all, I’m the one who designed the catacombs and they’re so convoluted that even I’ve forgotten the correct path and how to disable everything. Aha ha, I went a bit overboard!”

Dude.

“Your Holiness, that’s not something to brag about.”

“Hey, it was centuries ago. And we destroyed all the blueprints and everything. How am I supposed to remember it all?”

“I still remember it all.”

“Wh— Are you a genius, Sai?!”

That surprised face looks really affected.

“To add to what His Holiness said, the weapon itself is protected by a barrier that was erected by the Oracle of the era. I’m sure it is enough to at least buy us some time.”

“Yep, yep, what Sai said. So then, Kelvin-kun, do you have any good ideas? Preferably one that doesn’t involve putting Colette in danger, please. Because if Melfina-sama asks, I’m sure she’ll say yes without a second thought. She’d probably even walk through the streets naked if the order came from the goddess herself.”

“Of course I would!”

Colette, couldn’t you have at least denied that part?

I racked my brain, mumbling, “A good idea...”

The quick and dirty way would be to destroy the entire dungeon in one go with magic and draw out the mastermind that way. But the Great Cathedral would be destroyed too as collateral, and I figure that would be a problem. Plus, they have hosta— Hold on. We encountered the same situation back in Toraj, didn’t we?

“I suppose I do have an idea,” I said slowly. “I’d need your cooperation, though.”

“Sure. Just say the word!” Philip replied casually.

“Whatever lofty scheme it is that Kelvin-sama has thought up ought to be followed without question!” Colette cried with conviction. “Tell us what to do!”

Sai chided the two of them. “At least listen to Kelvin-sama’s plan first before agreeing.”

Aren’t this pope and Oracle a little too quick to agree to things?

◇ ◇ ◇

The heart of Deramis, the Great Cathedral, was currently enveloped in the greatest commotion it had seen since its construction. The underground area that served as the entrance to the Catacombs of Heroic Spirits, which were usually heavily guarded and accessible only to those with permission, was now sealed with a barricade. Behind that barricade stood ranks of holy knights and soldiers bracing themselves behind large shields, and at the very back was a man in a cleric outfit who was barking orders while pressing one hand to his ear.

On the other side of that barricade, the cardinal with a red stole, Marcel Gottes, shouted, “Such action makes the heavens weep, my children. You must remove these barriers immediately and open the way. The goddess we worship might be different, but if you repent your ways now—”

“Then what? Melfina-sama would forgive us? We’re tired of hearing such trite lines now! Our demands are the Oracle and the Heroes. Time is running out! If you really care about the missing lambs, you will bring those five here now!”

“Hear, hear! You’re the traitors for betraying Elearis-sama!”

“Go home! You have no place here!”

Marcel had been earnestly trying to speak with the other side ever since the commotion broke out, but his words were clearly falling on deaf ears. All that he got back were insults. As he was a first-rate White Mage, he had also been maintaining a barrier to protect against surprise attacks. Exhaustion was heavy on his face.

A holy knight suddenly ran in and whispered in Marcel’s ear. “Cardinal Marcel, Colette-sama is coming soon.”

“What?! Is that true?!” the other man exclaimed in surprise.

“Yes, Your Excellency. This information came from Cardinal Sai and Captain Cliff, so it should be reliable.”

“Colette-sama is really coming?”

The news spread among the ranks like a wave, creating a significant stir. It didn’t take long for the Elearis believers to notice that something had changed. The man who had been giving orders, the commander, asked a nearby subordinate, “What’s happening?”

“They suddenly started to get worked up about something. I guess something’s happened?”

“And I’m asking you what that something is! Do we not have anyone with the Overhear skill?!”

“I-I’ll go check!”

Just like Marcel’s side, the Elearis believers also burst into activity. It was only a matter of time before they, too, learned of Colette’s coming arrival. However, they were not alone—there was a third side that was also starting to move.

Two figures perched on the roof of the Training Grounds of the Guardians were currently peering into the Great Cathedral through a window. They were so high up that someone on the ground would have had trouble making them out against the detail of the structure. This tower was a dungeon, and naturally, it contained numerous monsters.

No, a correction was in order. It used to contain monsters. Every single floor from the ground level to where these observers stood was filled only with tiny fragments, some as small as dust motes, of what used to be monsters. Not a single actual monster remained.

::Movement confirmed on both sides. The news about Colette-sama seems to be spreading.::

Good. Everyone, go.

◇ ◇ ◇

Huh? What’s with the commotion outside? thought the woman wearing a nun’s habit, hiding in the shadows of the long, long spiral staircase leading from the Great Cathedral to the catacombs. She had served the Holy Order of Rinne for the past five years but secretly worshipped Elearis. She had started this day like any other, but as soon as her companions informed her that the uprising had begun, she had dropped everything and hurried to join them, bringing nothing but the clothes on her back. Currently, she had a transceiver in her ear and was watching for any intruders or signs of trouble.

“Ack!”

“’Kay, that’s one down.”

Unfortunately for the woman, she had been stationed too close to the entrance, and she had been alone. In a way, it had also been unfortunate that she was a woman. In any case, she suddenly found herself choked by a black-hooded figure who seemed to have appeared out of nowhere. Everything had happened so fast that she had not even had time to scream. The hold was performed with the perfect amount of strength, bringing her to the fine line where she was only barely able to breathe.

“We sure are lucky! This woman also has the transceiver thing the previous one had! Go me!”

A woman with fiery red hair, dressed in a military uniform, came into the nun’s fading view, chatting cheerfully. She, too, had appeared without any warning whatsoever.

“I’m glad we’re doing this together, Sera-san. If I’d been by myself, I’d probably have had to off quite a lot of them before I got lucky. Can you maybe share some of that luck with me?”

“You’re plenty happy, aren’t you, Ange? They say that if you ask for too much, it’ll ruin you. Then again, I guess Kelvin’s someone who asks regardless!”

Her two assailants chatted nonchalantly, seemingly not paying any mind to the nun who was teetering on the verge of life and death. However, she was shuddering with alarm inside. Many terms she’d just heard were blaring in her head. Offing people? Does that mean what I think it means? And they mentioned the names of Grim Reaper and Empress!

“A—” Just as the nun was about to clench her abdomen to scream a warning to her companions, however...

“Oh right, I forgot—we’re short on time too.” The red-haired woman took the transceiver from the nun’s ear and examined it curiously, holding it up to the light and turning it every which way.

“I’m sorry if it hurts a little,” the black-hooded figure whispered. “We just have a few questions for you. Will you answer them? And don’t bother trying to raise your voice; I can tell when you’re about to do it from your breathing.” Although her voice was kind, it also contained a razor edge that brooked no argument.

Right after that, the woman found the pressure around her neck loosening. What’s this? she thought. Is this my cue to talk? Talk about...what, though? No, I am a servant of the true goddess. I cannot—I won’t betray her.

The nun shored up her resolve and opened her mouth for one final act of defiance.

“Like the Grim Reaper you serve, go to h—”

The pressure around the nun’s neck returned, cutting her off midsentence.

“How was that?” the redhead asked.

“Good enough. Now I can imitate her voice.”

The nun felt her consciousness fading more and more.

“Okay.” The redhead turned to the nun. “It’s all right; you don’t have to speak if you don’t want to. We’ll get it out of you either way.” The tip of her index finger seemed to become stained in red. This was the last thing that the nun remembered.

“Ah, ah, ahhh... How is it? Do I sound like her now?” The black-hooded person, Ange, tried a few lines in a perfect imitation of the unconscious nun’s voice.

“It’s perfect, Ange! You’re so good at so many things!”

“You’d be surprised by what I picked up to make my missions go easier. And voice imitation is actually pretty easy; with enough practice, I’m sure even you could copy any woman’s voi— Wait a moment. Uh, it’s a bit late to ask this, but was there a need for me to do all this? Couldn’t you have just made her say whatever we wanted using Blood Dominion?”

“Well, about that...” Sera turned to the nun, who now had a dab of Sera’s blood on her forehead, and crooked a finger.

Immediately, the woman leaped to her feet and, with a sharp salute, said, “Awaiting your orders, Sera-sama!” Then she remained stock-still, almost as if she were a well-trained soldier and not a nun.

“For some reason, they all turn out like this. Some more, some less. It’s great that they give me whatever information I want, but they do stop acting like themselves. Blood Dominion isn’t great for making people act things out.”

“What?! I thought you were the one ordering them to behave that way!”

“I’m not! I will admit it makes me feel good, though.”

“I...see...”

Perhaps Sera had made them act that way unconsciously. Interestingly, the greater the difference in fighting strength between Sera and her target, the more pronounced the phenomenon was.

“Okay then. First, tell us everything you know about Elearis, the Apostles, and the opposition faction! And Ange, you watch the time and do what you need to do!”

“Mm-kay! I’ll check the Network to watch the info you upload, Sera-san. But before that, can you start by asking this woman how to use the transceiver?” Ange asked, putting on the gadget she had seized from the nun.

◇ ◇ ◇

“The Oracle is really here!”

“And the Heroes too!”

The Great Cathedral was enveloped in a commotion, with those on both sides of the barricade in a fluster. Everyone’s eyes were fixed on the figure slowly walking through the great doors that led to the underground area. Cardinal Sai and Captain Cliff—both with swords on their hips—flanked Colette as the Heroes of Deramis followed behind them. When she passed Cardinal Marcel, Colette stood still and closed her eyes. The place fell silent.

“As demanded, the Oracle is here!” Cliff shouted. “Now, you will return to us the hostages from the orphanage!”

The commander of the Elearis believers started and hurriedly tried to regain his composure. “H-Hah! Didn’t think you’d actually come, Oracle!”

Colette remained silent and kept her eyes closed. Cardinal Sai took one step forward to speak in her stead.

“Look how you’ve fallen, Archbishop Richard. How do you imagine this situation is going to play out?”

“What an honor it is to be blessed by your presence, Cardinal Sai. The surprises continue, I see. However, we only asked for the Oracle and the Heroes. We have no use for you.” Richard let out a bark of laughter. “But if you want an answer so badly, we’ll tell you how this will go down. Whether you actually get the children back or not is entirely at our discretion! So first, O ‘esteemed Heroes,’ disarm yourselves fully! No weapons and no armor! And unrelated parties, back off!”

“Are...you sure you want to go through with this?” Sai asked.

“They’re still free to say no,” Richard sneered. “It’s just that if they do, it would mean the Oracle and Heroes chosen by Melfina decided to abandon the poor lost lambs out of love for their own lives! The true goddess is Elearis-sama after all!”

The logic and the claims that Richard was shouting were ridiculous and nonsensical. What made it worse was that he seemed entirely convinced of every last word. Both Sai and Cliff grimaced, understanding that this situation could not be resolved through discussion.

“Captain Cliff, don’t worry about us,” Touya said, stepping forward. “We promise we’ll protect Colette.”

“Even unarmed, we won’t lose to such riffraff,” Setsuna added, close on Touya’s heels with Miyabi and Nana.

“You guys...” Cliff watched helplessly as Colette walked forward, surrounded by the four Heroes with one on each side.

“Heh heh heh. Welcome, Oracle. I’ve been looking forward to meeting you in person.”

Just like before, however, Colette remained silent and composed.

“Oh, you don’t deign to speak to someone like me? No matter. Heroes, don’t you even think of doing anything funny. Not if you value the lives of the children, that is.”

“Ugh...” Setsuna gritted her teeth.

Delighted by the sight, Richard lifted a finger to press a switch on the transceiver in his ear.

“We have the Oracle and Heroes in custody. We’re sending them in now. Hurry with the preparations...”

After Richard finished giving his instructions through the transceiver, he looked back up at Colette. The blank looks of disbelief on the faces of all the holy knights and soldiers around her gave him an adrenaline rush.

Rue your foolishness in worshipping a false goddess! he thought gleefully.

“Now, it’s time—”

BANG!

“Uh...what?”

Richard was interrupted by an explosion in his ear that seemed similar to a balloon popping. A beat later, his other ear picked up what sounded like glass shattering. Then, he was racked by an indescribable pain.

“AH, ARRRGHHHHHHH!!!”

His left ear was in absolute agony. It was hot. It was on fire. The agony was such that he clapped both his hands over his ear and fell to his knees. Then, he noticed something. He realized that his entire ear had been blown right off.

“M-My eeeeaaaarrr!”

He scrambled across the ground now made slippery with blood, reaching for the severed ear. However, someone else got to it before him. He looked up to see the subordinate who had been taking orders from him a moment ago now looking down at him. In his bloodstained hand was the ear with the transceiver still plugged in.

“You! Hand that over! That’s... That’s my... My...”

Richard trailed off as he noticed that blood was not only dripping from the man’s hand, but from his forehead as well. His eyes were blank and unfocused, whereas his motions were jerky and awkward. Completely bewildered, Richard looked around and found all his allies now looking at him with the same glassy stare, blood dripping down their foreheads.

“Thanks for making the call,” a woman’s voice said from behind. “We’ll make sure to send this Colette down without fail.”

Then, Richard’s field of view turned red and he was reduced to a mere puppet, an existence who lived solely to provide all the information he held as an archbishop and to serve as a guide into the catacombs. Depending on one’s perspective, this was perhaps not a reduction in his station in life but an elevation, although that is up to personal interpretation.

“Thanks for waiting! All done here!”

“Sera-san!”

The Heroes rushed over happily, praise on their lips, as the soldiers and Marcel, who could not comprehend what had just happened, simply looked on in bafflement.

To go back a little, to when Richard was talking into his transceiver, Sera had already begun devastating his forces. She had suddenly appeared from the entrance of the spiral staircase that led down into the dungeon—basically, from the back of the Elearis believers’ side—and made short work of them.

Of course, even if she had attacked them from the front, there was nothing they could have done to prevent their demise. The reason the soldiers and knights were staring with disbelief was not because they were stricken by regret, but because of how one-sidedly Sera had finished off the opposition forces while Richard was still on the transceiver.

Suddenly, Kelvin and Efil seemed to appear out of thin air.

“Heyyy, glad to see it went well.”

“It was an easy shot.”

“Kelvin-sama?!” Cardinal Marcel and the knights found themselves bewildered once more.

However, Kelvin paid them no mind. He simply walked through the path created by the ranks of kneeling Elearis believers, followed by Efil.

“Um, Captain Cliff, what’s going on?” Marcel asked.

Cliff smiled wryly. “I...can’t really explain this fully either, but...let’s just say this is just how powerful Rank S adventurers are.”

“I...see...”

Truth be told, even Cliff wasn’t sure he fully understood what had happened. All he could say was that he was witnessing a power beyond what even the Heroes had achieved. Without intending to, the part of him that was a soldier could not help but compare himself against the greats, a group in his mind that included Cardinal Sai, Pope Philip, and now Kelvin’s party.

::Ange here. I’m done eliminating the lookouts in the staircase. I’ll use the transceiver I picked up to clear the way for you guys through the first floor.::

Noted, Kelvin replied. Guess having you phase through and then Summoning Sera at your location was a good idea after all.

What had happened was that Kelvin, from his vantage point of the Great Cathedral, had sent Ange in first. Ange had used Uncontainable to phase through the walls and proceed directly inside. Based on her report of the interior layout, Kelvin had Summoned Sera directly into the underground staircase, after which the two had seized control of the area in the blink of an eye. They waited for Richard to report to the forces on the lower floors that he had Colette and the Heroes in hand. When he was done, Efil had sniped him through one of the cathedral’s windows. Now that they had one of the enemy’s transceivers, Kelvin was going to take on the role of guiding the “prisoners” down.

According to what Sera and Ange picked up, the hostages are pretty scattered. Let’s get as close as we can.

::Want me to use Hades’s Sanguine Army to create you an army of skeletons, Kelvin?::

Nah, let’s at least make an effort to be covert. We might hear useful information along the way. However, when the enemy finds us out and dies, feel free to do whatever you want with their bodies.

::Okaaaay.::

A rather alarming conversation was taking place through the Network, but because only those within the party could hear it, there was no problem whatsoever, even though they were now in a holy place.

Kelvin turned towards the Oracle, who still had yet to say a single word. “Well then. This is going to be your first real fight. Remember to use whatever you can, all right?”

The girl nodded in acknowledgment and gave him a smile that seemed to make her look younger and more adorable somehow.

◇ ◇ ◇

At the bottom of the spiral staircase was the most dangerous dungeon in all of Deramis: the Catacombs of Heroic Spirits. That said, the top two floors were entirely free of monsters, the very picture of tranquility. There was a lot of space, however, as certified by Pope Philip. The first floor had a ceiling so high up it might as well have been the sky, whereas the ground was a grass plain stretching as far as the eye could see, dotted with marble tombstones here and there. The Elearis believers had set up camp in the middle of this space, waiting for the arrival of the Oracle and the Heroes of Deramis.

“Roger that. We’ll be ready to receive them.” One of the leaders lowered his hand from his ear after receiving a notification from Archbishop Richard. “Brothers and sisters, rejoice! Our fellow brother, Richard, has managed to apprehend the Oracle and Heroes. They’re being escorted down as we speak.”

Cheers rang out over the grassy plain. Their victory was assured the moment their targets entered the dungeon. The Oracle’s Summoning and the Heroes’ abilities were indeed terrifying, but the believers had done their homework. Thanks to all the digging they’d done—while pretending to worship that fake goddess, Melfina—they were now thoroughly familiar with what they were dealing with. The plan they had developed involved scattering the hostage children and keeping them in more than a dozen locations, all beyond the range of the Oracle’s Summoning ability. Naturally, guards had been assigned to each location as well. There was a limit to the number of Followers the Oracle could have, meaning it was impossible for her to save all the children in one go. The believers could maintain the leverage they had with the hostages and there was nothing the Oracle could do about it.

“The Oracle deeply hates Melfina’s name being marred. If she had refused our demands, it would have meant proclaiming to the world that she, Melfina’s Oracle, was someone who would abandon lost lambs of the flock. So, it makes sense that she wouldn’t hesitate to put her own life on the line to save her congregation.”

This man had every confidence—faith, even—in Colette’s dedication to Melfina. This was why the Elearis believers thought this absurd and ill-advised plan would work.

Suddenly, the transceiver in his ear buzzed to life. “Reporting. The Oracle and Heroes are on their way. To forestall any possible trouble, please send reinforcements to bolster the escort.”

“Reinforcements? Well, I suppose it would be a bad idea to split up the forces above,” the leader muttered to himself before replying, “All right, sending reinforcements now.” He then formed a team from the main force and sent them towards the spiral staircase.

“Ah, there they are.”

After a while, the clank of sabatons on stone could be heard from the staircase, growing louder by the moment. It wasn’t only one or two pairs, but a whole crowd, making the leader smile wryly, thinking about how excessively careful his comrades were being.

Sure enough, the Oracle and Heroes eventually came into view, surrounded by numerous figures clad in the white and silver vestments worn by those stationed above. However, due to how expansive this floor was, there was still quite a distance between the staircase and the believers’ camp. Everyone watched with growing impatience as the group seemed to approach with agonizing slowness.

“Good grief, I know we’re talking about the Heroes and the Oracle, but was there really a need to come in such numbers?” The leader chuckled to himself. “How many are even still manning the barricade above? Wait...the reinforcements I sent aren’t with—”

With extremely convenient timing, the leader’s transceiver buzzed again. “Reporting. Tensions were rising at the front line, so the reinforcements were ordered to remain up top.”

“Ah, I see. Well, that makes sense.”

Perhaps the sight of the Oracle, whom he had been so obsessed with, being right before his eyes had caused him to get sloppy. What would normally raise a red flag in his mind was now dismissed without a second thought.

After what felt like an eternity, the Oracle’s group reached the camp.

“Welcome, Oracle and Heroes! Though I commend you for your courage in coming here, heedless of the danger, do you not think it was a rash decision? Or did you not expect this many to side with our cause?”

The leader spread his arms proudly, gesturing towards the large number of Elearis believers gathered behind him. He then shot the Oracle a look to see what her reaction was.

However, she seemed entirely uninterested. Even more, she suddenly hung her head and asked one of her escorts in a soft voice, “Um...is this enough?”

“Hmm...just a bit more,” the man replied.

The leader could not believe what he was seeing. With wide eyes, he asked, “Oracle, do you understand the situation you’re in? Every single word that comes out of your mouth now affects the fate of your poor, lost lambs.”

“I mean, you’re just going to say the same things Archbishop Richard did, right?” Colette replied with a plaintive sigh. “You’re using different words, but the message is the same. If you really want to convert more people, you need to talk about something else once in a while. You just don’t get it, Kaiser. That’s why you’d never be more than a bishop.”

The leader, Kaiser, froze in astonishment. He had never conversed with Colette directly, and the two had only been in close proximity as participants in large-scale ceremonial rites with Kaiser unilaterally looking at Colette. He had never even imagined that Colette would know his name.

What’s more, the Oracle of Deramis was famous for holding both herself and those around her to high standards. The way she was speaking now seemed very much out of character. Needless to say, Kaiser had not expected to be insulted to his face under the circumstances.

“You...know who I am?”

“I never forget the names and faces of the people I meet. That goes doubly for those vested in the cloth. Do you want me to recite the names of all the military officers, officials, and clergy of Deramis?”

“What on earth...”

“Colette, that’s enough. Everyone’s safe now.”

The man from the military escort whom Colette had conversed with earlier ignored Kaiser and addressed the Oracle by name and without honorifics. This threw Kaiser into even greater confusion. Someone in his ranks had entered into a personal relationship with the Oracle? Without anyone knowing? And who was “everyone”? Why were they safe? The thoughts whirled through his mind like a hurricane...but thankfully, not for long.

“Everyone, come out and play!”

The sight of Colette stretching out her arms and shouting in a childish tone seemed like a reproduction of Kaiser’s earlier greeting. She, however, had a bright and innocent smile and radiated an adorable aura that endeared her to all. The biggest difference was her height. In the blink of an eye, she was now sitting on the shoulder of a giant teddy bear, surrounded by an army of jet-black knights brandishing Gatling guns. The thought Is this the Oracle’s Summoning ability?! flitted through Kaiser’s mind, but he had never heard of such a feat. Someone particularly skilled at sensing magic might have noticed what looked like strings attached to each of the knights’ limbs, but unfortunately, the Elearis believers were far too flustered.

Colette turned to the man at her side. “Asking just in case, dearest brother, but I believe we should keep Kaiser alive. What do you think?”

“I’ll leave it to your discretion,” the man replied, taking off his vestments to reveal an outfit that was black from head to toe. “Do what you want.”

“‘Grim Reaper’ Kelvin?!” Kaiser recognized the man. No, to be more exact, there was no way he couldn’t have recognized him. After all, Kelvin was currently the center of attention in every single country on the Eastern Continent. Unfortunately, none of the believers had what it took to fight on equal footing with a Rank S adventurer.

“Okay, I’ll do whatever, then!” When Colette moved her ten fingers with incredible dexterity, the knights all pointed their muzzles at the Elearis believers.

“Hold... Hold on! Did you forget we have hostages?! If I give the word, those poor lost lambs—”

“That’s why I said ‘everyone’s safe now,’” the man in black interrupted. “Go on, try reaching out to your buddies on your transceiver.”

“That can’t be...”

Kaiser raised a hand to his ear, sending a message to each of the groups guarding the children. However, not a single one replied. All that came back was static loud enough to sound like a sandstorm.

“Thanks for keeping the hostages on the upper floors. They were all close enough that we only needed to send one person.”

“One... ONE person?! That can’t... You’re a liar! A deceiver! What you say is impossible! Do you know how massive this dungeon is?! We took every care, and the distance between each group is—”

“We have someone with us who’s good at rescuing hostages. And you say ‘massive,’ but the top two floors are the smallest, right? What, did you think we were going to walk it one foot in front of another? Nah, our companion got it done nice and quick, easy as going for a stroll.”

“A... A STROLL?!” Kaiser shook violently with rage, confusion, and most of all, terror. “Let me guess—you’re not actually the Oracle either?!”

“Oh, you finally figured it out?” Colette’s figure became blurry as her silver hair turned to gold and her height decreased. Once the effect had passed, she had reverted to her appearance as young Shutola.

“What...” Kaiser had no words. Just as he was thinking, We’ve been had! his transceiver buzzed.

“This is Number Eight. This is Number Eight. Please respond. Please respond.”

Kaiser recognized this voice. It was one of his fellow believers. He couldn’t raise his hand to his ear fast enough. “It’s me! I’m Kaiser! KILL THE HOSTAGES NOW!” he shouted at the top of his lungs. This was his last chance to make things right.

Oh, Goddess Elearis! Thank you for this one last chance to make a difference, to get in one final blow in retaliation! We bring your judgment down on those who foolishly chose to condemn and scorn us!

For a brief moment, glee washed over him.

“Oh, you actually said it...”

But glee turned to confusion yet again as the voice over the transceiver changed into someone else’s. It was more beautiful, but it sounded both disgusted and pitying.

“Mister, did you just try to kill my friends?” The girl on the teddy bear who was not Colette spoke in a detached voice that sent shivers down the spines of all the Elearis believers present. The smile was gone from her face, replaced by undisguised hostility.

“Sorry, we were testing you,” the man in black explained. “If you didn’t actually plan on harming the hostages, we could have worked this out. But you’ve gone and crossed that line.”

“Noooo! Please, esteemed Apos—”

“Dearest brother, I take back what I said earlier.”

From her position in the back, Nana turned away as the sound of gunfire filled the air. When silence returned, not a single follower of Elearis remained alive.

“This...was a bit too stomach-turning as an appetizer,” the man said with a grimace. “Well, now that the worthless bait is taken care of, let’s do some warm-up exercises and catch up with the others who went ahead.”

The threat hanging over Deramis had yet to be dispelled.

◇ ◇ ◇

“Guys, I’m giving you a challenge. Catch up with us on the tenth floor.”

That was all Kelvin said before he took off into the dungeon at what was probably his top speed. To my surprise, even Efil left us behind. So, that left Sera and Shutola still here with us on Floor One.

“It’s a challenge from Teacher! Everyone, let’s do our best!”

“Okay... Yeah!”

Touya was raring to go, and Nana was again being pulled along in his wake. They were pumping their fists in the air in a show of motivation, so I knew there was no talking to them. It was good that Touya had learned how to retreat when needed, but I was pretty sure I would continue to have my work cut out for me for a long time still.

“Um, Sera-san?”

“Sorry, I’m busy dealing with all these corpses right now, so don’t talk to me, please. If you need something, go ask Shutola.”

When I had turned to Sera for help, I found her occupied with casting Hades’s Sanguine Army on the dead believers and turning them into crimson skeletons. As it turned out, that was why she had remained. She hadn’t stayed behind for our sake.

“I see. So that’s how you do it!”

Miyabi was entirely engrossed with watching Sera at work. There seemed to be some mutual understanding between the two Black Magic users. I had expected as much from Miyabi, but it didn’t seem like she’d be able to understand what was bothering me. That left only one person.

Shutola, the little girl with blonde hair and blue eyes who had been transformed into Colette a while ago, asked, “Are you okay, dearest sister Setsuna? You look kind of pale.”

She was such a sweet and kind girl that she came over to check on me even while controlling her huge plushie and more than twenty knight golems. This girl was so cute, she looked like a doll herself. I really wanted to hug and cuddle her—she was such an angel that I had a feeling that all my stress would fade away if I did.

However, I held myself back. “Mm-hm, I’m totally fine. Thank you for asking, though.”

“Are you sure? Okay, then. We’re setting off soon to catch up with dearest brother Kelvin, so get ready!”

Oh right, Shutola-chan’s abilities are also off the charts in her own way.

The fact that she only had to move her fingers and the marionettes under her control would annihilate her enemies came back to me—the mangled bodies strewn all around were undeniable proof. Her puppets moved with even greater synchronization than a well-trained army. Each could deal enormous destruction on its own, but they also worked great as a team. I was still in absolute awe of how wide and comprehensive her field of view must have been.

When she noticed me looking at her plushie, a delighted gleam came to Shutola’s eyes. “Oh, do you want to know about Georgios? Georgios is...” She began telling me all sorts of things about the plushie. First, Georgios was its name, and it was the main source of her battle strength. After being asked to, Efil had made it in one night and given it to her.

So, on top of archery and cooking, Efil-san is great at sewing too?! She really can do everything. We’re so far apart, I can’t even compare myself to her...

Next, Shutola explained that the golems standing protectively around her had been made by Kelvin. She simply called them Guards. However, before getting into the extra features that the Guards were outfitted with, I had no idea how powerful a normal golem created by magic was. So I drew on the only golems I’d ever seen for reference: the ones guarding Kelvin’s house.

The Guards were more than 180 centimeters tall, making them a notch smaller than Gerard, who was similarly clad in full-body armor all the time. Their shields were par for the course for Kelvin’s party, which meant they were ridiculously tough. The biggest things about them, however, were their lances, which were outfitted with Gatling guns. Unlike the guns I knew, there was no reloading needed; instead, these gun-lances shot bullets created from MP. Touya had gotten super excited, going “Look at this” and “Look at that,” but I was still coming to terms with the whole “knights with lances that are actually guns” thing.

Kelvin-san made these too? I guess there’s really no limit to what’s possible for him.

“Heeeey, Setsuna! What’re you standing there looking so down for? If we don’t hurry up, Teacher’s gonna leave us behind,” Touya shouted urgently.

I took a second to gather myself, then replied, “Okay, I’m coming!” before running over, my hand resting on the handle of my katana.

That’s right, I can’t just remain in my thoughts. Only the top two floors are safe, and Deramis’s most powerful monsters are waiting for us starting on Floor Three. According to the rumors, there might even be a Rank S monster at the bottom. I’ve made up my mind to go, so I need to get my head in the game. I swear I’ll protect my friends!

◇ ◇ ◇

The vegetation covering Floors One and Two became cold, inorganic stone pavement on Floor Three, dotted by what could only be described as large art installations of humanoid figures with hands reaching towards the sky. Considering where we were, I figured they had to be tombstones, but their designs were so bizarre that I was lost for words.

This floor was even larger than the ones before, so much so that I couldn’t get a firm grasp of the exact size of it. The dungeon was shaped like a rhombus, or rather two quadrangular pyramids that met at their bases. Based on this, Floors Five and Six should have been the biggest, and the floors should have gotten successively smaller after we passed Floor Six.

“Mm...dearest brother is now on Floor F—no, Floor Six, I think. Grandpa Gerard and dearest sister Mel went ahead, so they’re now on Floor Eight,” Shutola informed us, indicating that she had a way of sensing how far away her party members were.

“Already?!”

“So fast.”

Aren’t they going too fast? What mad pace were they setting while we were still going through the first two floors that didn’t even have enemies?!

“Grandpa and Mel-san are so far ahead because they got a head start from dearest brother Summoning them on lower floors. Our starting positions are different, so there’s no point comparing ourselves to them. And we don’t have time for that now. Look.” Shutola narrowed her eyes, jerking her chin forward.

Just then, my Danger Detection went off.

“So many?” Nana groaned softly.

Figures broke through the patches between the stone pavement. When I took a better look, I realized they looked like smaller, shadowy copies of the “art installations” we’d seen. The monsters continued pouring out of the shadows, almost filling the area around us.

“No problem. Each one is weak,” Miyabi remarked.

“Miyabi’s right,” Touya replied. “If we stay calm and fight normally, we’re more than strong enough to beat them all.”

It was at times like this when I felt Touya and Miyabi were truly reliable. The two of them already had their weapons out and at the ready.

“This is much easier to deal with than the Cavern of the Divine Beasts,” Shutola said from her perch overhead. “In front are Rank B monsters called labyrinth shadows. If you don’t attack hard enough, they’ll split into more and more copies, so be careful. Aim for the head.”

Ah, Shutola-chan has Analyze Eye. Her instructions are clear and to the point, and they’re honestly a great help. Okay, we’ve got this. There might be a lot of enemies, but they’re only Rank B!

“Also, I guess you can say we’re lucky. If we follow that path, things should be easier for us. Plus, it lets us know which way to go.”

“Huh?” I strained my eyes once again. “There is a line that the monsters...seem to be avoiding?”

There was a line of stone pavement visible, which the shadowy monsters were not crowding onto. It stretched into the distance like a path, somehow giving me the impression that it was sparkling.

Shutola nodded. “Mm-hm, that’s the path Rion-chan took. She probably ran through as usual, killing everything in her way, but the ground’s been purified, so the monsters can’t get close. Rion-chan is basically holiness in human form, after all.”

I saw that she was entirely serious, but I had no idea what she was talking about. I only barely managed to mumble, “I...see...”

◇ ◇ ◇

The eighth floor of the Catacombs of Heroic Spirits looked much more like a temple actively used in worship of a god rather than a dungeon. It had walls inlaid with platinum, a solemn and austere architectural style, and braziers casting dancing shadows that added an indescribable sublimity to the entire scene. Even on this floor, however, a fierce battle was being waged. Those embroiled in it were none other than the two who had been sent out ahead of the rest of the party: Melfina and Gerard.

“Grrrooooaaaann...”

The monsters on this floor all looked like knights. They were from different races, wore different equipment, and bore indications of differing social classes—there wasn’t a single commonality to any of their designs. The one thing that was the same, though, was their ferocity, which was akin to a fully buffed, well-trained knight order charging in with the resolve to die in battle. What’s more, just like on Floor Three, there was no apparent end to them.

“Frost Bind!”

“Hmph!”

In spite of the extremely hostile environment, Sword Guru and The Smile were having no trouble whatsoever. Melfina would stop a wave of charging monsters by freezing their feet and then Gerard would bisect them all at the waist with one sweep of his sword. This was fast becoming mere routine for the two as they made steady progress across the floor.

“Ba ha ha ha! Princess! Am I not shining right now?!”

“Aren’t you always shining, Gerard? From being surrounded by your grandchildren?”

Currently, the knight laughing at the top of his voice was being buffed by the Unique Skill Glory Within Mine Hands, which increased his stats whenever he dealt damage to and killed a target. What’s more, for each target killed, the duration of the skill’s effect would extend a little more, and the monsters coming his way seemed truly endless. His rampage was going to continue for quite a while longer.

However, although their progress was entirely smooth and they had yet to encounter any problems, Melfina’s face was clouded. “This is strange...”

“What is?” Gerard replied. “We are making good time, are we not?”

“I recall the monsters in this dungeon all being undead. However, I feel a strong vitality from the ones we are fighting. They’re not conscious, but they don’t look dead.”

“Now that you mention it...”

Dainsleif smashed through a monster’s torso, armor and all. The blood that sprayed out looked nothing like the muddy, impure blood of zombies and ghouls. Even someone completely unfamiliar with fighting could tell how much fresher this was.

“They actually do seem pretty similar to normal people.”

“Well, I suppose there’s no point thinking about it. I’m sure the answer lies deeper within.”

While wiping out all the enemies in their way, the two continued going up and down the labyrinthian passages, which were extensive enough to match that of a smaller dungeon. Knights got into formation and lined up to block the way with their greatshields, but Gerard and Melfina made short work of them just as they had all the previous monsters.

Suddenly, the two of them stopped. Melfina said, “Well, let’s prioritize rescuing the remaining hostages. If I remember correctly, of those from the orphanage, Sister Atra and Sister Ria are still unaccounted for, right?”

“Indeed. My king’s sent over their names and images. Even I will be able to recognize them when I see them. Thanks to Sera and Ange, we now also have a general idea where they are. And this...is one of those locations.”

The black helmet looked up. Gerard was indicating a large, spacious room at the end of a passage branching off. If he was heading for the staircase that led to the floor below, this path was the wrong way, as it was a dead end. Sera and Ange had already finished mapping this entire dungeon—except for the tenth floor—and uploaded the information to the Network. The reason Gerard and Melfina had chosen to go down this route was to save the two nuns who were not among the hostages already recovered from the Elearis believers.

“The one being held on Floor Eight is...” Gerard walked into the room and saw the woman tied to the enormous cross at the far end. “Sister Ria, I believe.”

The nun was unconscious but, thankfully, otherwise unhurt. The same, however, could not be said of her glasses. They lay on the floor, probably having fallen off when she was hoisted up, with one of the lenses cracked and broken. On either side of the cross were white coffins decorated with the national emblem of Deramis.

“Hmm, on par with Sera’s. Impressive.”

“What is?”

“Oh, nothing. Only my king would understand.”

Melfina chose not to question what Gerard had said in such a serious-sounding tone. There was no time to do so anyway, as another person was standing in front of the cross that Sister Ria was tied to.

“Well, well, well. Look who’s come. I confess, I’d expected you to look a lot more exhausted from the trip, Goddess Melfina.”

Marcel Gottes, the cardinal who was supposed to be all the way up above the entrance to the dungeon, stepped out from a shadowed corner beyond the light of the lit braziers. He was wearing the same outfit from when he had welcomed Kelvin’s party to Deramis, complete with the red stole and amiable smile. However, the fact that he knew Mel’s real identity as Melfina, the Goddess of Reincarnation, was a huge warning sign.

“I must be getting on in years,” Gerard mumbled. “I think I see Cardinal Marcel before my eyes.”

“Don’t worry, Gerard; I see him too. Cardinal Marcel, you were an Elearis believer all along? Is the man above ground an impostor?”

“That’s very close, but not quite. I’d say you got half of it,” Marcel replied after rubbing his chin thoughtfully. “First, the me up above is not an impostor. Anything short of the real thing would have been exposed by Kelvin-sama’s Rank S Analyze Eye. Unfortunately, I haven’t quite reached the point where I can overcome that hurdle.”

Back when Marcel was arguing with the Elearis believers in the Great Cathedral, Kelvin had been watching the scene alongside Efil after borrowing Farsight from her. Just as Marcel was saying, a body double would have been exposed immediately.

“Secondly, if asked whether I’m an Elearis believer...honestly, I’m not. However, I did help them out. Specifically, I thinned out the guards assigned to the area around the orphanage and the entrance to the catacombs so that the believers could move about with greater ease.”

“You’re practically saying that you’re a believer.”

“My exact position in this whole incident is a bit too complicated to explain, I’m afraid. However, I do think that kidnapping orphans and ultimately trying to kill them is absolutely unforgivable. The believers were a group that was overly obsessed with Elearis-sama and blindly believed that, should the need arise, involving innocents and killing them was justified. Such fools are not worthy of calling themselves believers, and their actions only served to generate unnecessary blowback from society.”

“What is your goal, then? Why are you giving us so much information unsolicited?”

“Oh, please don’t mind me. The fact remains that I aided the Elearis believers, and that, too, is unforgivable.” Marcel reached into a chest pocket slowly, prompting Gerard to readjust his grip on Dainsleif and Melfina to adopt a sharp look. “However, one question, if I may. With the two nuns still being held as hostages, why did you walk straight in here? If I had been another run-of-the-mill Elearis believer, I just might have finished off this woman first.”

Melfina studied him. “The transceiver the believers used only had a range of two or three floors. Even if someone on Floor Two above sent a message, there’s no way it’d reach you down here on Floor Eight.”

This information about the transceivers had come from Kelvin, who had examined one using Analyze Eye.

“In short,” Melfina continued, “I believed chances were high that you belong to a third force. The believers only kidnapped the children; you purposely went to kidnap the nuns. Not to serve as hostages, but as bait to draw us out.”

“Interesting. Do you have any proof?”

“Perhaps not. However, the longer this situation lasts, the more critical it becomes. And eventually, the pope will have no choice but to abandon the remaining hostages. That being the case, it makes sense to save as many as possible.”

“Ohhhh, I am relieved to hear that our goddess is such a compassionate and benevolent being. And here I am, tainted by this imperfect world and corrupted by my participation in its hideous power struggles, yet blessed by this opportunity to hear your voice in person. Oh, Oracle, I now understand why you adore her so!”

Melfina had put a nice spin on everything, but many parts of the strategy had been rather off the cuff. Floors One and Two were fine and all, but even the goddess had broken out in a cold sweat when she had learned that some of the hostages were on the deepest floors. She was feeling relieved that the decision to charge in at top speed hadn’t led to the worst outcome. Still, it was also true that in the absence of a clearer plan, using Summoning to effectively create a shortcut to the lower floors was the most sensible thing to do.

“Melfina-sama, I have every faith that you will be able to overcome this situation as well.” Marcel revealed what he had been reaching for: a large stake. As Melfina and Gerard stared in shock, he drove it through his own heart. Grunting in pain, he cried, “O ancient heroes, awaken from your slumber to slay this goddess!”

The lids of the two coffins in the room suddenly slid open with a heavy scraping sound and crashed to the floor as two figures sat up. The one on Melfina’s side had distinctive ears and wore a traditional outfit that identified him as an elf. He looked very advanced in years—a rare sight among elves—indicating that he had lived a long life in his time. However, his features were extremely chiseled and attractive—even the white mustache around his mouth gave him a stylish appearance.

The person in the left coffin wore a knight’s armor with blue accents and wielded a shield bearing a crest. The design of his armor was different from that of the Holy Order of Knights. He had a face that radiated masculinity and a powerful force of will. With muscles bulging underneath his armor, he seemed to embody the general public’s ideal of a knight.

“Hm? Where are we?”

“Is...that you, Sorondil?”

“What a nostalgic face! Ragat, you old dog! I never thought I’d see you again. What a strange turn of fate this is!”

“Where...are we?”

As soon as they got up, the two men from the coffins broke into conversation, revealing that they knew each other well. But then they looked around the room curiously, clueless about the situation they were in.

Gerard, who was equally baffled, asked Melfina through telepathy, ::Princess, do you know who these people are?::

::They were companions of the previous Hero, Serge Flore. The elf is “Silver Bow” Sorondil and the knight is “Taciturn” Ragat Titan. After their party defeated Demon Lord Gustav, Serge returned to her world and these two eventually passed away.::

::As in, they should be dead, right? I’m sorry if this sounds wild, but I think I’m staring right at them, and they look alive and well.::

::Sounds just like what we were talking about earlier. However, these two are not dead. Strangely, they are very much alive. Something’s happened on this floor.::

There was no way to resurrect the dead; not even Rank S White Magic had such a spell. That was common knowledge in this world. As an extreme exception, there was Reincarnate, a power exclusive to the Goddess of Reincarnation, but this clearly wasn’t it. Even Iris, who possessed Reincarnate in an imperfect state, could not use it in this way.

::I see. Just now, Marcel did mention “ancient heroes.” I guess he wasn’t entirely wrong.::

::Just in case, I’ll let Honey know.::

Melfina summed up what had happened and what they now knew and telepathically sent it to Kelvin, who she figured was still powering through the middle floors.

I’m coming now! Right now! Leave some for me! was his reply. The battle junkie considered even great heroes from the past possible opponents to fight. There was little doubt that he was now heading to Floor Eight at an incredible speed.

::Okay...yes...understood. We’ll do that.::

::What did my king say, Princess?::

When Melfina finished communicating with Kelvin, Gerard asked her for an update, despite having guessed the general gist of it.

::He said that my voice is really pretty and lovely today...and that he wants to see me soon.::

However, the reply Gerard got, as well as the sight of his companion squirming in embarrassment and blushing furiously, left him dumbfounded. My king chose love over battle?! he thought for a brief moment before shaking his shield hand in an exaggerated gesture of denial.

::No, no, I won’t fall for such an obvious lie!::

::Come on, you don’t have to deny it that strongly! It wouldn’t hurt you to pretend to fall for it, right? Ah! It depends strongly on the time and location, but he sometimes cares for me as much as he does battle—::

::Stop, stop! I can’t stomach any more details!::

As usual, their conversation took place in a matter of seconds. Someone looking on would have seen Mel run through a bunch of expressions, from embarrassed to depressed to fierce blushing, in quick succession. Everything went by so fast that an ordinary person wouldn’t have been able to catch any of it, but in this case, the ancient heroes were no ordinary people.

“My oh my, what an alluring young lady we have here. Would you be interested in enjoying a cup of tea with me?”

“Silver Bow” Sorondil had caught every one of the expressions that Melfina cycled through but decided to hit on her anyway. One might question if trying to pick up girls in a dungeon was advisable, but as he did not know that he was currently in a dungeon, perhaps it could be said this was unavoidable. With a whole bunch of caveats, of course.

“No, thank you.”

“Urk!”

Upon being rejected by Melfina, who maintained a straight face and didn’t even stop to think about it, Sorondil clutched his chest and staggered backward.

“You’re...still doing that at your age?”

“If I meet a cute girl or a beautiful woman, I hit on her. That’s manners for a gentleman.”

“What...about Serge?”

“I chase love wherever it’s closest! But if Serge is here too, I’ll definitely go for her!”

“Hmph.”

“What’s that ‘hmph’ supposed to mean?! Are you judging me?! I know you and Sai are closet perverts! In the first place, as men—”

Just as Sorondil, who was surprisingly energetic for a newly resurrected dead man, was about to launch into a whole speech, Melfina interrupted him.

“Can I cut the banter short right there? Do the two of you understand the situation you’re in?”

“Oh! A bit of a sharp tone, I see. As someone who’s just woken up, I would appreciate a kiss to jog my memory a little. Wouldn’t you, Ragat?”

The man in blue armor looked at Melfina, then averted his gaze, saying nothing.

“Ahhh, you still have trouble speaking with women you’re meeting for the first time. My lady, what say you to chatting with me instead?”

“Gerard, we’re in trouble. These people don’t understand language.”

“We must work with what we’ve got, Princess.”

“Princess?! Is the fair lady a princess?! Do tell!”

“You, be quiet.”

Melfina could not believe that the conversation was making no headway whatsoever. She felt a rising desire to wrap this up quickly and get back outside.

“I suppose I have no choice.” She sighed. “You two, what do you see behind you?”

“Behind us?”

Sorondil and Ragat turned around, finally noticing Cardinal Marcel. Red blood was bubbling from where the stake had pierced his chest, with the puddle underneath him more than large enough to indicate a fatal wound. Instead of being dead, however, his body was undergoing drastic changes. Previously wrinkled and brittle with age, it was now expanding into a white, muscular form with sharp, swordlike scales covering his arms and the jagged teeth of carnivorous beasts sprouting from his mouth. Finally, the light in his eyes died, marking his transformation from human to monster complete. However, despite its fiendish appearance, the creature showed no intention of moving from its spot, staying in place as if it meant to merely watch how things developed.

“By ‘what do I see,’ are you referring to this dainty young girl? With her pretty black hair, she looks like a younger version of Serge.”

“Hm? I...see a more mature Serge radiating motherliness.”

When they turned back, delirium could be seen in the eyes of the two men.

::Gerard.::

::I know.::

After the brief exchange, no more conversation was needed. The ancient heroes were seeing an illusion; in all likelihood, they were seeing the form that they liked most. The now monster Marcel was doing this for two reasons. One, so they would not attack him.

“Whoa, whoa, you plan on attacking such a young girl?! You two must be mad!”

“Absolutely unforgivable.”

And two, the heroes would become hostile towards Melfina and Gerard.

“Now that I’m looking closely, that man in black armor looks like a Demon Lord! You were deceiving us this whole time?!”

“And the girl...is strange and suspicious.”

“Watch out, Ragat. I remember where I’ve seen her strange mannerisms before! That’s how people act when they’re communicating through the type of telepathy that comes with the Summoning skill! I’ve seen the Oracle of Deramis acting that way before!”

“I...don’t recall.”

“That’s because you didn’t even look at her! I know because I was looking at her twenty-four seven!”

Both Melfina and Gerard were at a loss for words. It was as if the situation had been about to turn serious but hadn’t quite made it all the way.

◇ ◇ ◇

Sorondil moved first. He took out a bow with a dull silver sheen and loosed an arrow faster than the eye could follow. The arrow that shot out was also silver, as it was a material that was easy to imbue with magic. This was how he bolstered his arrows’ speed and power.

“No mercy at all, I see.”

His target was Melfina. Although he had taken her by surprise, she managed to evade the silver arrow with the barest of movements. Not only that, she even caught it as it passed with only the first three fingers of her hand. The distinct elven markings along the shaft that made it plain the arrow was Sorondil’s seemed to burn into the heroes’ eyes as they stared incredulously.

“She caught it?!” Sorondil cried with disbelief.

“Incoming,” Ragat murmured before stepping out in front of him. His role was to protect the party as its tank. This duty, which he had developed while traveling as a part of Serge’s group, now naturally moved his body. The black knight, Gerard, was closing in—he had taken Sorondil’s arrow as the gong for the start of the fight and now swung his greatsword in attack.

“Guh!”

Ragat deployed a barrier centered around his blue greatshield, which was large enough to cover several people. Together, shield and barrier were almost as firm as a rock wall, but Ragat still found himself nearly floating up for a split second from the force of the impact. He held on to his pride as a knight, however, and braced himself by throwing every ounce of weight he had behind his shield. Thanks to that, he just managed to weather the terrible blow.

::Well, I’ll be! Princess, did you see? He blocked my sword!::

It had been a long time since Gerard had fought someone who could block his attacks instead of dodging them. And not only did Ragat block, he was still charging despite knowing the danger. Gerard couldn’t help but share his delight with his companion.

::I can see how you’d be happy about it, but I believe you unconsciously went too easy on him, Gerard.::

::Hm? Did I?::

Gerard had gone with a simple easy-to-read uppercut swing in order to gauge his opponent’s abilities. He had not meant to, and it was only when Melfina pointed it out that he realized he had indeed used only half his strength. The reason he’d held back was because, during the very few opportunities he had to fight, he was able to resolve the situation without getting serious. The times he got to go all out were pretty much limited to practice matches with his companions and when he’d fought the Apostle and Divine Pillar in Gaun.

::If so, then I shall now get serious.::

He pushed Dainsleif against Ragat’s barrier with all his strength and activated its power. The blade began tearing through the barrier by absorbing all of its MP.

Did my shield just... Ragat’s shield barrier had been broken before, with one instance being the final battle against Demon Lord Gustav. That time, however, the barrier had failed only after taking several incredibly heavy hits. Never before had he seen the barrier destroyed by a single hit, and for the destruction to happen not upon the moment of impact, but a beat after he had fully blocked an attack.

Now that there was nothing in his way, Gerard could land hits directly on Ragat and his shield. Before the vestiges of the barrier had even dissipated, Dainsleif landed with even more destructive power than any monster was capable of.

“Oh, oops.”

“Arrrrghhh!”

This time, Gerard ended up using too much strength, sending Ragat—armor, shield, and man—flying towards the far wall like a cannonball. The blue shield that represented his role as protector of his party and the people was completely bent, folded over like a mere piece of cardboard. Naturally, Ragat had not gotten off unscathed after taking such a devastating blow head-on. He could not muster any strength in his muscular body, and his bones creaked in protest. In fact, he was on the verge of blacking out.

::You sure are ruthless sometimes, Gerard. Look, he’s totally going to crash into the wall.::

::But, I mean...::

There was, however, someone who offered Ragat a saving hand in his moment of need—literally. The monster that had been Marcel reached out with one of its white arms and caught the large knight with surprising gentleness, bringing him in.

This warm embrace and faint fragrance... It’s the warmth of my mother. How long have I forgotten this memory? Ahh, Serge. I knew it. You really are the one who is suitable to be my mother...

No one knew this, but just before he lost consciousness, Ragat was extremely talkative in his mind. Although it was merely an illusion, this knight who had fought for a full lifetime surely deserved a moment of peace and joy...discounting the fact that the source of that peace was none other than whatever had become of Marcel. All Marcel was doing was leading a lost lamb to inner peace. This was an exchange that worked out for both parties, so it would be boorish to pick it apart by focusing too much on the details.

“What?! Ragat, you! What do you think you’re doing to my Serge?! I knew you were a closet pervert this whole time, but to think you were a lolicon as well! Get away from her!”

As it turned out, there was another lost lamb here in the form of an elf. Perhaps there were more people who ended up on the wrong path in a dungeon.

“You’re next.”

Ignoring the fuss that Sorondil was kicking up, Gerard rushed at his next target, Marcel. He lifted his greatsword high with the intention of bringing it down in one great slash.

“I won’t let you!” Sorondil screeched, drawing his bow.

“And I won’t let you,” Mel interjected with anger in her voice, stabbing his right shoulder with her lance and throwing him off balance. “What is this? You’re looking away immediately after trying to pick me up? It displeases me greatly to say this, but I’m who you should be paying attention to.” She slammed Sorondil into the ground with far greater force than her thin, shapely arms suggested was possible. The spear ran through his body and buried itself into the ground.

“ARRGHH! Ugh, you...have my apologies, fair lady. However, I’m now...in the middle of... Huh?”

Sorondil’s bow hand felt cold. In fact, it was freezing. When Sorondil registered the strange sensation, he looked down at his hand and found the entire thing encased in a solid block of ice, still gripping his beloved bow. Even now, that ice was climbing up his arm, giving off pings and crackles that sounded both beautiful and cruel at once.

“Wha... What is this?!”

“And that’s why I told you not to look away. How many times must I... You know what? Forget it.”

“AAARRRGHHHHH!”

Ice was also sprouting from the place where Melfina’s spear pierced his shoulder. The terror he felt from seeing the encroachment come from two directions was far greater than their sum. Thankfully, it did not take very long for Sorondil to turn into an ice sculpture, though whether that was a good thing or not was up for debate. Although she had been as merciless fighting him as she had been when helping Kelvin learn how to control his Rank S spell, naturally, none of the care she usually showed Kelvin afterwards was seen here.

::Now then, how’re things on your side, Gerard?::

::Mm, I’m just about done.::

Gerard propped his greatsword onto his shoulder at the same moment the top half of Marcel’s form slid to the ground. He had finished his fight as well.

::How strange. The beast was powerful, but its movements were so sluggish, it might as well have been a sitting duck. Could Marcel not control his new form?::

::But he did catch Ragat in time. In all likelihood...:: Melfina cut herself off and approached the former cardinal’s corpse. “Marcel, I don’t understand why you threw in your lot with the Elearis believers, and I don’t plan on digging into it. However, your actions before your death were admirable, proving to me that you were indeed a true clergyman. That is something you can be proud of. And now, you may rest in peace.”

Melfina chanted a short line, and a light enveloped Marcel’s transformed body. When it faded, all that remained was a heart pierced with a stake, but this, too, soon crumbled to dust.

::What do you think he wanted to achieve, anyway?::

::I believe there is a high chance that whoever gave him that stake lied about what it did, though there’s no way to prove it anymore. For now, let’s get Sister Ria down.::

Melfina flew up and severed the chains that held the nun to the giant cross. Gerard watched her until his eyes suddenly fell on the figure of the elf who was still frozen to the ground.

::By the way, Princess, do you think my king will be disappointed when he hears we defeated these “ancient heroes” before he got here? Actually, I’m pretty sure he will be.::

::It’s still hundreds of times better than letting him be disappointed by how weak they are. To put things into perspective, these two did not actually Evolve after defeating Gustav. That means they’re weaker than Philip and Sai.::

::Hm? Didn’t the elf who fought alongside Serge turn into a high elf? That’s what the Elder of the Village of Elves said.::

::Sorondil died from old age. That alone is proof that he did not Evolve. We’ve both seen enough of his personality now—he probably claimed he did in a bid to impress a woman and word got back to the village. I mean, I can see it happening.::

::I...can...:: Gerard made a decision to not tell Efil about this matter.

During the course of this conversation, Sister Ria was finally freed.

“All right, she’s down. All that’s left is to heal her back up.”

“Nn...nn?” Slowly, the nun’s eyelids fluttered open.

Mel leaned over. “Hi there. Do you still hurt anywhere?”

“You’re...Mel-san...and this is... Ah!” Ria suddenly gasped and sat up in a hurry. Gerard made sure to catch every second of her jiggling chest using Mind’s Eye in order to serve his duty as a knight by presenting it to his king afterwards.

“Please! Atra! Sister Atra! She’s in trouble! They’re going to sacrifice her! Please save her!”

Even Gerard had the decency to not leave a record of her teary face.

◇ ◇ ◇

We ran. Monsters appeared before us, but we cut, pierced, burned, and smashed them all. It didn’t matter how we did it; all we focused on was reaching the staircase that led to a lower floor as quickly as possible.

After receiving Melfina’s message, my heart had been beating so loudly, I thought I could actually hear it with my ears. The reason was obvious: heroes from a past era were waiting for me! That was all that mattered. However, I was the one with the lowest Agility among my companions. No matter how hard I pushed myself, everyone else still had to go slower to match my pace. Thank you, everyone.

The group currently consisted of Efil, Rion, and Ange. That just happened to be everyone in my party whom I could communicate with telepathically thanks to Clotho but not use Summoning on, but we were pretty well-balanced in terms of roles in battle.

Rion, the Hero, was suitable for the vanguard; Ange’s skill set made her an incredible hit-and-run DPS; Efil was the hunter with off-the-charts firepower and unerring accuracy; and I provided support from the back with my ridiculous MP pool. At least, that was how I’d describe us from the context of a role-playing game. Needless to say, we were not just proceeding in a single file but were maintaining a proper formation.

Put simply, Efil and I ran shoulder to shoulder in the back, blasting the monsters in our path with arrows and spells. From her position in front, Rion slashed through everything in the way, her very presence also working to forcibly make swathes of undead pass on—all of them looked happy and peaceful while fading away.

That left Ange, who zipped about cleaning up the remaining monsters. How this looked in effect was basically a reproduction of Moses and the Red Sea, with us leaving a path in our wake that looked weirdly clean and opened up.

Rion’s Unique Skill, Absolute Purification, proved perfect against the monsters that appeared in this dungeon. So far, we had yet to receive anything that could be called a proper attack. Of course, there were mage types who cast spells at us, but all magic attacks, hexes, curses, debuffs, and even monsters themselves became purified and dissipated as soon as they came within three meters of Rion. We didn’t even have to lift a finger. The Unique Skill that I’d originally thought was for dispelling debuffs had proved far, far more powerful than I’d imagined.

Now that we were on Floor Six, we were seeing pretty powerful monsters with a few Rank A enemies showing up every now and then. One example was the butchery wraith that had just appeared in front of us, swaying like an apparition. It wore a tattered white dress and was humanoid in form but ridiculously tall. A creepy noise akin to a broken tape recorder leaked out of the upside-down crescent gash that served as its mouth. The only way something like this would be above ground was as the super powerful boss monster of a haunted mansion. Everything about it screamed horror.

Of course, even this supposedly super powerful evil spirit turned tail, shrieked, and fled when it got close enough to Rion—with very beautiful form, I might add. This was just not its lucky day, however, as its top speed was still nowhere near as fast as she was. Several seconds of tag later, she had caught up and the monster was fully within range of Absolute Purification.

“No, no, no, noooooo!”

Oh? This one’s pretty stubborn. Is its lingering regret that strong?

As it turned out, even evil spirits had a will. Its scream grated on our ears like nails on a chalkboard—clearly some form of a curse. However, its efforts were in vain. Although we could still hear the sound, the effects it carried were entirely stripped away by Rion’s skill. Ange threw a kunai that landed squarely in the monster’s forehead, and Rion, in passing, slashed it with an Aklama clad in holy energy. That served as the final nail in the coffin.

“Noooo...ooo... Thank y—”

Right before it disappeared fully, the spirit assumed the appearance of an ephemeral woman who actually looked quite pretty. Just like all other undead here, being purified seemed to have granted her freedom. I was glad to see she had a smile on her face during her last moments.

Ahhhh, no, I need to focus! Staircase! We need to get to the staircase! Wait for me, ancient heroes!

::So, Kel-nii, what did Mel-nee say, exactly?:: Rion asked while cutting down another monster as powerful as the butchery wraith. There was no mercy at all in her actions—as long as a target remained before us in the direction we were traveling in, she marked it for purification.

How should I put it? After her lessons with the Beast King, she’s gotten a lot more...resolute and mature. Dear sister, your brother feels very conflicted about this change.

In any case, I shared what Mel had told me with everyone else.

::Resurrection of ancient heroes? You mean, dead people came back to life?::

That’s what Melfina said. That’s why we have to hurry! Otherwise, Mel’s gonna eat them up!

::That wording’s gonna cause misunderstandings, Kelvin,:: Ange cut in. ::But still, resurrection. Yeah, something comes to mind.::

It was indeed common sense in this world that the dead could not be brought back to life. But just like Ange, I was reminded of a certain...someone. In fact, Ange was the one who had told me about this person.

Grrr, this place is seriously big.

::The fifth and sixth floors are the most spacious, after all. Even though we are taking the shortest path, it’s still going to take us a while longer.::

The entire floor was enveloped in darkness. Not to the point where we couldn’t see our way; candles did grant us a certain amount of visibility. The general atmosphere was similar to that of a ruined building, one that was perfect as a paranormal spot. Considering how huge the place was and the kinds of monsters that appeared, I could easily imagine someone who was bad with horror having a very terrible time here.

I thought about how Miyabi would probably really love this place, but Nana worried me. My party? Oh, we were just fine. Every single time Efil attacked something, we basically got a giant bonfire going—let’s just say it’s hard to maintain a creepy atmosphere when the place is as bright as day the majority of the time.

::Huh? Kel-nii, I see a light ahead.::

According to the map, there’s a giant room that way.

We stopped right before the room. Cutting a sharp contrast with the rest of the dungeon, this was a giant hall brightly lit from corner to corner. The material used in the walls and floor was as dazzling as the Great Cathedral up above, and there were statues high up near the ceiling depicting angels, pegasi, and various other symbols of holiness. The ceiling was even painted over with murals that strongly reminded me of historic castles in Europe. However, the most conspicuous element was, without a doubt, the ridiculously huge gravestone in the center.

I mean, you didn’t have to match the size of the grave to the size of the floor, did you? Hmm, is this room meant as a temple dedicated to whoever’s entombed here?

::Do you think it’s a trap?:: Rion asked.

Seems like it, I replied. Do you sense anything, Ange?

::Hmm...at the very least, there are no physical or magical mechanisms set up here. If anything happens, it’ll come from that grave.::

Since I had Summoned Melfina and Gerard directly to Floor Seven, they had not passed through this place. In other words, this was my party’s very first encounter with it. I guess we might as well go for it.

“Efil, fire away.”

“Understood, Master.”

BOOOOOOM!

My maid fired off an arrow right after I ordered it, not missing a beat. The gravestone was blown up. Fragments whizzed everywhere. A cloud of dust filled the air. A dragon appeared. Wait—a what appeared?!

“Who’s raising a clamor, hm? Who is it?”

The long neck that appeared from the dust cloud and turned to glare at us was indeed that of a dragon. What’s more, it was intelligent enough to talk. Its white scales reminded me of Rosalia in her dragon form, but this one took the white theme to the extreme without a single blemish on its skin. It was rather sizable, easily matching Dahak’s length from snout to tail.

“I awake from a long slumber and this is what I find? Do you puny humans realize it is the Light Dragon King that you are disrespecting? Are you that eager for death?”

Wait, I think I just heard something that’s really got my heart pumping. Did I imagine it?

“Hey, you. Big guy. Did you just call yourself a dragon king? Did I hear you right?” I asked the towering form before my eyes.

Gotta ask, just in case. After all, there are only eight of them in the world, right? What are the chances of meeting one in a place like this? And from a grave. This has gotta be some big joke.

“A mere human dares make me, an incarnation of nobility, repeat myself? How foolish. But thank your gods that my noble self is also magnanimous. I shall declare it again. I am the noble Light Dragon King, one who stands at the top of the dragon race and possesses power to rival the gods!”

Oh wow, he was actually courteous enough to answer my question. And what, is “noble” his favorite word? He used it a lot of times just now.

Of course, being a calm and wary man, I was not idiotic enough to take someone’s claim at face value. And I had someone I could ask in this situation.

DAHAAAAAAK! Is that really the Light Dragon King?! Is he powerful?!

Normally, I’d turn to Melfina for this sort of thing, but she was occupied at the moment. As the saying went, every man knows his own business best. So it made sense to ask a dragon about other dragons. Since they would be too conspicuous appearing on the streets of Deramis, all my dragon Followers were currently staying inside my MP pool. Consequently, I could casually reach out to any of them whenever I wanted.

::You...sound rather excited, brother.::

What are you saying?! I am the very definition of calm! But that’s beside the point! Tell me! Quickly!

::Y-Yes, sir! To the best of my knowledge, the position of Light Dragon King changed hands during the Great War era.::

Go on.

::Long story short, he lost in a duel with a subordinate. The condition for an ancient dragon to Evolve into a dragon king is to make a current dragon king admit defeat. And when a dragon king admits defeat, they lose the title and the power. Basically, in the world of dragons, it’s eat or be eaten!::

I see. So that’s the reason Dahak, Boga, and Mdofarak never Evolved no matter how high they raised their levels. I guess if level were the sole condition for Evolving, dragon kings would be all over the place.

::I heard from my old man that in that duel, the previous Light Dragon King actually lost his life. But it happened way before I was born, so I’ve no idea how true that is.::

Someone who’s supposedly dead coming back to life. This again, huh?

::By the way, brother, couldn’t you tell just by using Analyze Eye?::

Now that I know about the existence of the Disguise skill...honestly, at the level we are, I feel like the info from Analyze Eye isn’t worth much more than a general indicator going forward.

Based on what Dahak said, chances were that the white dragon I was facing was the one who had lost the throne of Light Dragon King. A different ancient dragon, the one who beat him, was alive somewhere else as the real dragon king. I had no idea what had happened for this dragon to be entombed here or how he had come back to life, but I did know that I felt somewhat disappointed.

At the same time, however, my expectations were rising. I did tell Dahak that I only took Analyze Eye readings as a general indicator and no longer fully relied on them, but what I saw from this dragon had undoubtedly moved me. After all, it stated his race as “White Dragon (Light Dragon King).”

No, no, I need to calm down. What is it that I ought to be fighting now? The ancient heroes? The Apostles? Or perhaps...this dragon king? Hold on, let me cool my head and sort things out.

My first option is to fight the ancient heroes that Melfina and Gerard found. If they’re members of the previous Hero’s party, that makes them like perfected versions of Touya’s group, with the achievement of having defeated the previous Demon Lord under their belt. I’ve been waiting for Touya’s group to grow up this whole time so I can enjoy fighting a whole group of heroes, but I can have that fight here and now. This is very tempting. Very tempting indeed.

My second option is to fight the Apostle who’s likely on the lowest floor at the moment, working on obtaining Holy Lance Eclipse. It’s already clear that this Apostle is deeply involved in this whole incident. As such, chances of getting a battle just by going down to Floor Ten seem pretty high. If this individual is even more powerful than Ange, there’s no way I’m letting that fight slip through my fingers. Nuh-uh, no siree.

My last option is to fight the “maybe” Light Dragon King that I’m looking at. If he’s the real deal, then he’s a target that tops nearly all others I could ever hope to meet. However, I only have his word for it. Taking into consideration what Dahak said, there’s a strong likelihood that he’s lost his powers as a dragon king and the real Light Dragon King is someone else at the moment. But on the off chance that this one hasn’t actually lost his powers...

“What is this? You’ve gone all quiet! Ha ha ha! I’d expected you to show a bit more backbone, but look at you all quaking in your boots!”

“Silence, please. Master is currently deep in thought.”

As I was racking my brain with Parallel Processing running to the absolute limit, Efil issued the dragon a warning on my behalf.

“How dare a lowly servant give orders to my noble se—”

“Silence, please.” Efil repeated herself with emphasis. At the same time, her bow, Penumbra, burst into flames with a roar.

“I... Very well. Just a short while. Since I am magnanimous. I’ll wait just a while.”

“Your understanding is greatly appreciated. I thank you on my master’s behalf.”

Apparently, Efil had succeeded in negotiating enough time for me to finish thinking. I’ve got to reward her later. And this isn’t related to anything, but did the tip of the dragon’s tail twitch when all the flames burst out? Yeah, let’s say I imagined it.

After a short while, I looked back up. “All right, I’m done. Thanks for waiting, everyone.”

“Are you sure?” the dragon asked. “It hasn’t even been ten seconds.”

“Which was more than enough,” I replied. “I’ve now got my thoughts in order.”

Including the time that we had stopped in front of the room, we had lost almost half a minute. Without delay, I began shooting out orders through telepathy.

Rion and Ange, go ahead and regroup with Melfina and Gerard. The staircase leading to Floor Seven is close. Leave the dragon to us.

::Okay! You take care, Kel-nii!::

::Gotcha. See ya soon, Kelvin!::

One of my companions ran off in a clap of thunder while the other disappeared without a sound.

“What?!”

The dragon failed to react in time, and the two had no problem shooting past him, heading for the staircase that led downward.

“Don’t worry about them,” I said. “We’ll take care of you ourselves.”

“You choose to split up your forces before facing me?! What arrogance! What hubris! Know that your lack of foresight shall be the cause of your own death!”

The white dragon drew to its full height and spread its wings—admittedly, it was an awe-inspiring sight. I lifted Black Staff of Disaster and Mad Holy Sword Clive as Efil also nocked a burning arrow and drew Penumbra.

“Being arrogant is fine with me. I simply do what I want.”

The reason I had chosen to fight the dragon king was because I had no guarantee I’d ever get to fight another one. If we ever found the Flame Dragon King, who had apparently murdered Efil’s mother, I would throw both hands into the air in celebration and immediately go for the kill. However, there were dragon kings who were friendly to people, and I couldn’t very well force a fight on them.

There were a total of eight elements in fire, lightning, wind, earth, water, ice, light, and darkness, meaning there were a total of eight dragon kings. I had no way of predicting how many of them I’d get to face.

On the other side were the Apostles—after Ange left, there were now nine of them. As the organization they belonged to was blatantly hostile towards Melfina, the chances of getting to fight all of them was very high. This was why I had decided to stay here and make the most of what seemed like a very limited opportunity.

As for whether this dragon was really a dragon king...well, all I could do was fight him and hope for the best. And when it came to the ancient heroes, I figured they’d probably be a threat if they were a whole party, but I couldn’t see the individual members measuring up to the other two options—it wasn’t even close. If that fight would help Setsuna and the others grow, they could have it. And if Melfina ate them up first, so be it.

On top of everything mentioned above, there was one more reason I chose to stay behind. Without further ado, I Summoned the dragons within my magic pool all at once.

Dahak, Boga, Mdofarak! Take down the Light Dragon King and usurp his seat!

The room suddenly felt a lot more crowded as three dragons seemingly appeared out of thin air, shaking the air with their roars.

“So you are a Summoner,” the Light Dragon King boomed, sounding somewhat impressed. “And not just any Summoner, but one capable of leading so many of my brethren. I understand now why you sounded so confident before.”

The term “dragon” was used to refer to an entire race, but there was actually a huge variety, and one dragon could look vastly different from another. Some had scales that reflected what element they were best at, some had appearances that seemed to mimic things found in nature—such as rocks—and some defied general definitions that applied to most living creatures...like having three heads.

Needless to say, there was also a large spectrum in their temperaments and sizes. The Light Dragon King we were facing was very likely the first type—it had white scales that clearly indicated it specialized in White Magic. However, by being a black dragon that specialized in Green Magic, Dahak’s existence proved that exceptions did exist, reminding us not to let our guard down.

“You old geezer, I was listening this whole time. You sure were acting high and mighty with my brother, huh? You think you’re hot stuff?”

There was also one dragon who spoke in a way uncharacteristic of dragons. In fact, his lines sounded exactly like what a third-rate hoodlum would say when picking a fight he couldn’t win.

Dahak, what’s happened to you? You’ve completely taken on the personality of a bottom-tier hoodlum. Where has the you from our first encounter gone? I guess it doesn’t matter as long as it doesn’t affect his battle ability, though. I know he’s working hard to make Goldiana turn his way, though I really don’t want to know the specifics of what he’s working on.

The dragon king gave Dahak a look, then continued. “However, it seems clear that the dragons following you severely lack dignity. Such characters thinking they can fight on equal footing with my noble self can only be described as painfully misguided.”

“Hah! You sure know how to bark! Watch that you don’t swallow the bullshit you’re spouting!”

The massive forms of the dragons leaped into the air, signaling the start of the fight. If I were to order all of the dragons I knew by decreasing size, it would be Boga, Dahak, White Dragon, Mdofarak, then Rosalia. Of course, size was not all there was to power, but back during their Dragon Knight Order days, Boga had been the only one who could go toe-to-toe with Dahak.

“You lot, put your backs into it!”

“ROOOOAAAARRRRR!”

“GAAAWWRRRR!”

The jade-green stream coming from Dahak’s mouth joined Mdo’s Trinity Breath and Boga’s destructive roar to form a multicolored beam that blasted towards the Light Dragon King.

“ROOOOAAAAARRRRRRRRR!”

The white dragon unleashed its own breath, one that looked like liquefied light, and the two beams clashed, creating shock waves that shook the room and sent showers of brilliant sparks flying everywhere. Looking from afar, the scene was so beautiful it reminded me of fireworks. The deafening sound was a bit unnecessary, though.

The dragon king was more powerful than I’d thought. By my rough visual estimate, its breath attack was equal to—no, slightly more powerful than the final beam unleashed by Diamante, the Divine Beast. At least, it was clearly powerful enough to hold its own in a three-against-one. I allowed myself to get my hopes up a little.

“WA HA HA HA HA! This is all you can do?! Your power seems so trivial compared to my Noble Breath!”

Wow, he even named his breath attack “noble.” But anyway...

Dahak and the gang were slowly but surely losing the breath showdown. In fact, the Light Dragon King felt so relaxed he could even speak with the torrent of light blasting from his mouth. However, this was still kiddie pool stuff. I sincerely hoped that wasn’t all he was capable of, because Efil could cut off that light breath attack with a single arrow. She wouldn’t even have to use Blue Flame.

KA-BOOOM!

“What?!”

An explosion went off suddenly as a Blaze Arrow shot up from a position near the ground, bisecting the Light Dragon King’s breath attack in a clean slice from an angle. Without slowing down in the slightest, the projectile rushed towards the white dragon’s astonished face.

“HMPH!”

Damn, he dodged that? I think this is my first time seeing an opponent who’s managed to evade an arrow shot by Efil while she was maintaining Covert Action. Normally, you’d need either Melfina’s overpowered stats or Sera’s intuition to pull off such a feat. Oh man, it’s really getting my expectations up!

“You sure are a force to be reckoned with, elven girl!”

“You damn right ’bout that! There ain’t no way you can beat sister Efil’s crazy firepower! She’s the most destructive person here, hands down!”

“Dahak, is that a compliment of Efil or a diss?”

“Wait, huh?! When’d you get there, brother?!”

It was getting a bit boring just spectating, so I’d used Fly to climb onto Dahak’s back. Efil was similarly perched on top of Mdofarak.

“Roaar...” Boga rumbled forlornly.

Ah, is he feeling left out? I mean, his usual rider, Gerard, isn’t here, and there are only two of us, so it’s not like there’s anything we can do about it. He’s just gonna have to deal with it.

“So, which is it, Dahak?”

“I was speaking out of nothing but respect and reverence, of course! I swear to Prettia-chan!”

“Uh, how am I supposed to take an oath sworn to Goldiana?”

“Master, it’s fine. It didn’t bother me. More importantly...” Efil switched to telepathy. ::This opponent can move faster than he seems.::

I get the feeling he dodged with an ability, not physical stats.

Efil’s Blaze Arrow had indeed gotten extremely close to landing a direct hit on the Light Dragon King. The instant before it did, however, the dragon’s entire form seemed to have moved in the blink of an eye, almost as if it had used teleportation. He had not flexed any of his muscles and certainly did not flap his wings.

Just spitballing here, but since he’s the dragon king of light, what if he can move at the speed of light?

::Even if so, the fact that he’s not using it constantly must mean there are limitations.::

That’s true. And I can’t imagine him having more Agility than Ange, though maybe that’s a bit of an extreme comparison.

“Both of you leaped all the way up here? Are you truly a mere Summoner and servant?”

“What, haven’t you heard? Summoners these days dabble in swordsmanship and hand-to-hand combat too. In fact, they prefer getting up close and personal with their opponents. And a servant shooting explosive arrows is nothing unusual.”

“Huh? Um...uh? How baffling. Have I woken up in a different world? Is this hell?”

I mean, you sound so serious, but I honestly don’t know what to tell you. All the maids in my house know how to fight, and sometimes they use a little too much fire when cooking. What’s so strange about any of this?

“Very well; I apologize for my prior disrespect. It is now clear to my noble self that you are an opponent that I must get serious against.”

Claaaang!

I thought I heard the soft tolling of a bell.

“Noble Aureola!”

An intense light burst out behind the Light Dragon King’s back in the form of a giant nimbus like what a Buddha or saint might be depicted with. The golden ring, which was inscribed with illegible symbols, rotated clockwise with regular ticks. The tolling I had heard had actually come from one of four large bells attached to the sides of the nimbus. Every tick the nimbus made rang the bells again.

“What do you think? This sublime and noble appearance is the reason my noble self is exalted as a god. If you bow to me now, with your head grinding into the ground, I may forgive you the disrespect you have shown me thus far.”

I scoffed. “Self-proclaimed god, has anyone ever told you that you really overuse the word ‘noble’?”

“Hm...so you still refuse to yield. Very well, you have chosen your lot.”

We had a real goddess in our party and we saw her every day, so all that talk about being noble and whatever wasn’t really hitting home for any of us. It was going to take a lot more than the dragon king lighting himself up like a Christmas tree to make us hesitate or feel scared.

Dragons, whoever beats him gets to become a dragon king. I know all of you were worrying about how to get stronger—here’s your opportunity!

::You sure don’t mince your words, brother...though you’re not wrong.::

::Roaaar!::

::Raaawr!::

Yep, I know, you two. But don’t let that discourage you. First come, first served, all right? If you take your sweet time, Efil or I just might finish him off first!

::We just might!::

::Boga, Mdo, I’m aiming to become the Earth Dragon King, so I’ll let you two have this. Get fired up!::

The fact that Dahak wasn’t aiming to be the Darkness Dragon King was a bit of a surprise, but I let it slide. Also, I sincerely prayed that the other dragons would properly use their heads too instead of just getting fired up.

Well, I’ll give you guys a boost at the start. Here ya go, Dahak, Boga.

I cast Sonic Acceleration on Dahak to double his Agility and Vortex Armor on Boga to envelop him in a vicious squall.

::And I’ll help you, Mdo-chan.::

Similarly, Efil cast Bursting Heat on Mdofarak to double the damage dealt by her ranged attacks. Although the spell was Rank S and cost a ridiculous amount of MP, I actually quite liked it.

“All right! Let’s do this!” Dahak roared, signaling the start of their assault. He charged right in...with me still on his back.

◇ ◇ ◇

Whoa, whoa, whoa! Were you listening to me?! I said use your head! I protested indignantly. The way Dahak was charging in like a loose cannon, I was going to be collateral. If you can’t win alone, then work with the others! Come up with a plan or something! Who the hell told you to go in by yourself?!

::I did use my head, brother! We dragons have been dreaming of defeating a dragon king all this time. So we asked our great senior, Clotho, to give us training. It was so harsh that we nearly vomited blood, but we pulled through! We got that special training in secret from you and old man Gerard!::

Great senior Clotho! Here I was, thinking you were just chilling out floating in the garden fountain, when you actually had a clone elsewhere and were up to something like this?!

I felt my slime buddy jiggling a little inside my robe as if responding to my surprise.

::Normally, I’d leave it to Boga to lead the charge, but now that my speed is doubled, I can’t not do this! And with you on my back, I know I have nothing to fear!::

That’s just a nicer way of saying you’re dragging me into the fight!

::But brother, you say this all the time: “When fighting, use everything that’s available.” I can’t imagine you being able to just sit back and watch us fight without getting involved yourself!::

I realized, to my chagrin, I couldn’t refute any part of what Dahak was saying. If I did, my companions might worry about me to the point of subjecting me to the same all-hands-on-deck healing session they did in Gaun.

::I heard you yielded the fight with those half-baked heroes to m’lady too. Uh, are you feeling okay, brother? Did you eat something wrong?::

Why is it weird that I did that?

No fewer than five voices went, ::Huh?!:: in my head. That was more than there were people in the group currently with me! Getting such a reaction honestly made me feel stupid for holding myself back.

Just saying, no crying about it afterwards if I end up taking the finishing blow, okay?

::Now that’s more like it! All right, we’re doing this!:: Dahak cried as he accelerated even more.

“You are coming straight at me with your master on your back? You have guts, I’ll give you that!”

The Light Dragon King unleashed another blindingly bright breath attack at us. Of course, he was hardly going to sit there and do nothing. I racked my brain for how to deal with it while feeling happy about the fact that this attack was clearly more powerful than the previous one.

So he wasn’t serious at first! Yes!

Dahak wasn’t slowing down in the slightest, meaning he had no intention of dodging the incoming attack—probably the right call, as the beam of light was so thick, I wasn’t sure he could get out of its range in time even if he wanted to.

I see you’re staying on course. How’re you thinking of dealing with this attack?

::Based on what happened just now, I know my Corrosive Breath isn’t enough to stop it! This is where you come in, brother! Go and do your thing!::

Multiple thoughts flashed through my head, such as What happened to showing the results of your special training?! and Couldn’t you have told me earlier?! However, I couldn’t say them out loud because I was busy feeling touched that I had such a considerate Follower. Of course, this was a big fat “no” in terms of strategy, so he was definitely going to get a talking-to later.

The incoming breath attack was powerful—so powerful, in fact, that I was quite certain it could even destroy Helix Barrier. That left us no choice but to offset it with our own attack, but it was almost already on top of us. The simplest solution was to bisect it with Boreas Death Scythe, but there wasn’t enough time to cast the spell on my staff and physically swing it.

I guess this will be my first time actually using this in combat.

::Using what? Whatever it is, please hurry up! Like, seriously!::

Dude, if you’re going to rush me, couldn’t you have told me earlier? Anyway, I’m talking about my Unique Skill.

::Your... Okay, seriously, hurry, please!::

I could hear the panic in Dahak’s tone even through the high-speed telepathy.

I was currently capable of casting Rank B spells instantly. Of course, a mere Rank B spell was nowhere near enough to shoot down what the Light Dragon King was throwing our way. That was why I was revealing Magic Overclock, the Unique Skill I had gained when I Evolved.

According to Melfina, the power of a spell normally depended on the caster’s max MP and the amount of MP expended when casting said spell. The former was easy to understand—it was literally the number on the MP field in the Status window. There wasn’t much anyone could do about their max MP at a moment’s notice, which meant most of the variation in the power of a spell came from the latter: how much MP the caster used for the spell.

There were some exceptions, but the vast majority of spells had a set MP cost. For example, Wind, a Rank F Green Magic spell, required 2 MP. However, depending on how familiar the caster was with Wind, it was possible to use more than 2 MP—this was called “overcharging” the spell. That was why I sometimes used more MP than was needed.

However, although the concept was easy to explain, actually employing it was much more difficult. This was akin to improving one’s swordsmanship without relying on the Sword Mastery skill. The tiniest bit of improvement required serious effort in understanding a spell and repeating it countless times. Even renowned mages only had two or three skills that they could overcharge.

“Dual Radiance Lance.”

The spell I chose to use now was Radiance Lance, one that I had been relying on since all the way back when I fought Viktor. The familiar lance of light flew straight into the thick incoming breath.

“You choose to use White Magic against me, the noble dragon who administers the element of light?! And with a Rank B spell, no less! You must be mocking me!”

The white dragon’s attack growing even more powerful from its anger was a nice surprise. I understood where it was coming from—my attack seemed far too paltry in comparison to his. And since he had such pride in his strength, it must have looked like I was messing around.

“I’m not, though. I chose this attack precisely because of my respect for your strength. Go on, I hope you like it!”

“Wh—”

Light clashed against light. The lance that seemed so tiny and flimsy in comparison bore straight through the large beam as it continued charging ahead at the speed of light. In contrast, the beam that had its center gouged out simply fell apart. Fragments fell indiscriminately all around the room, but we had a master archer on our side who shot them all down before they hurt any of us. I could feel Mdofarak’s eagerness to fire an attack over the Network, but because her next attack would deal double damage, she was likely holding back for a more opportune time.

“What? You’re not dodging it this time?”

“AAAARRRRGHHHHHH!”

The Light Dragon King roared in pain due to the giant hole that had opened up in his right shoulder. It wasn’t so much a hole as it was his whole arm merely hanging on by a sliver of skin at the armpit area, meaning it was pretty much entirely lost to him. After destroying Noble Breath, Radiance Lance had gone on to wreak havoc directly on the white dragon’s body.

“Guh! What... What did you do?! What was that power?!”

Even if I was incredibly familiar with the spell and overcharged it the normal way as best I could, I still would not have been capable of creating this much destruction with Radiance Lance. How did I manage it, then? That’s right, it was thanks to my Unique Skill, Magic Overclock. Simply put, it enabled me to overcharge any spell as much as I wanted—I could literally spend all the MP I had remaining on a single cast. “Dual” was the word I added on to indicate that I was doubling the destructive power of a spell. And its effect was as demonstrated. When used properly, a low-ranking spell could become even more powerful than a high-ranking one.

“Sorry to add more to your plate when you already seem to be struggling, but you ought to watch your feet too.”

“What are y—” In a fluster, the Light Dragon King shot a glance downward. It was already too late, of course.

Creeeaaak.

Both of his legs were entangled in fully grown plants reaching all the way up from the ground, with thick branches that held him as tightly as a giant’s hands. There was no doubt who the culprit was.

“I gotcha now! FALL!”

With his most charged shout of the day, Dahak made the plants abruptly pull the white dragon down. Caught by surprise, our enemy was nearly thrown off balance. However, he barely managed to live up to his kingly title—his wings shot wide open, helping him brace in midair even as blood fountained down from his wound.

“This is not enough...to bring down...my no—”

“Dual Air Pressure.”

“Nooooooo!”

Oof, he crashed hard. Air Pressure’s kinda been turning useless these days, so I’m glad it’s getting some time in the spotlight again.

“How... How daaaaare you!”

Despite being half-buried in the ground from the impact, the white dragon did his best to resist my Dual Air Pressure. Now that he was all covered in dust, though, there was nothing left of his self-proclaimed nobility, and his composure from before was nowhere to be seen. Even so, he was slowly yet surely clawing his way back out.

“Whoa?! This guy’s seriously tough!”

The Light Dragon King was resisting not only Dual Air Pressure, but also the plants reaching out from the cracks in the broken ground to tie him down. Even together, they proved insufficient to hold him back—the powerful branches were being torn apart and the dragon king seemed about to spread his wings and take flight at any moment.

“Mere worms who dare to denigrate my noble self deserve death a thousand times over!”

Not only was he freeing himself, he unleashed a breath at those of us who were in the air while shouting in rage. He was trying really hard to come across as composed and in control of the situation, but sadly for him, I had already finished casting Boreas Death Scythe on my staff. I swung it once, and his supposedly noble breath attack was split cleanly in two.

“Oh, oops.”

In a small corner of my mind, I realized that I’d messed up. The scattered rays of light smashed into the sculptures and ceiling murals that were probably one of a kind, thoroughly pulverizing the depictions of angels and gods and other actually noble beings.

This isn’t, like, a world treasure or anything, right? Uh...what a scourge this Light Dragon King is! He’s done the unforgivable!

All right, that was enough joking.

“Sorry to cramp your game when you’re doing so well, but here’s our next move.”

Suddenly, a giant shadow fell over the white dragon.

“RAAAAWWWRRRRR!”

“What?!”

A meteor clad in wind sharp enough to dice everything in its way fell from high above, roaring furiously. Of course, it was Boga. He was literally throwing his body into the fray, putting his faith in the toughness of his own skin, fully resolved to getting hurt. The way he curled up into a ball made him look like an armadillo. Okay, not really. Yes, he was rolled up, but that giant meteor was something else entirely.

“This is not enough t—”

Aaaaaand impact. The Light Dragon King was interrupted, smashed into the ground by the hammer that was Boga. The floor roiled as in an earthquake, thoroughly destroyed. The damage from Boga’s incredible mass had been doubled thanks to Dual Air Pressure, and he had been wearing a coat of wind that would absolutely shred anything that came close. I was glad that our entire team was up in the air. Truly. At this point, the whole thing about this place being a world treasure was already moot.

KLAAAANG!

“Roar?”

Once again, the sound of a bell tolled. If this sound came from the mandala of bells on the Light Dragon King’s back, it means he—

“This is but a gnat’s bite!”

“ROAR?!”

Boga, who had pretty much destroyed the entire floor, was suddenly blasted into the air. Specifically, in the direction where Dahak—and I, for the record—were.

Dahak, evade it! And Boga, brace yourself for impact! You’re gonna hit the ceiling!

::Yes, sir!::

::Roaaaar!::

Thanks to Sonic Acceleration, Dahak had no problem evading in time. And thanks to his Endurance stat, Boga got off largely unscathed too. The problem was what the state of the white dragon in the hole was. I’m impressed he was able to throw Boga off despite being hurt, but—

“You said you were a Summoner, did you not?”

I looked towards the voice and found the Light Dragon King with his razor-sharp claws already held at the ready. He was right before me, the shoulder that had been gouged out by Radiance Lance already healed without a scar, showing none of the wounds he should have been bearing from Boga’s attack.

Did he move at light speed again? Is that bell the source of his healing? All sorts of possibilities presented themselves in my mind, but what I had to do at that moment was crystal clear.

“BROTHEEEEEER!”

An impact smashed into me with such force that I almost thought an explosion had gone off in my ear. It wasn’t actually an explosion, but the sound of the Light Dragon King’s claws catching me head-on. Dahak, whom I had kicked out of the range of the attack at the last possible second, shouted something, but I had no idea what he had said. Use telepathy, dude.

“I see. You managed to create a shield in the fraction of a second before my attack landed. Not only that, you even had time to do this.”

Mad Holy Sword Clive was protruding from the white dragon’s right arm, plunged all the way in. I had thrown it on the spur of the moment, hoping the curses packed into its blade would affect our opponent to some degree.

I feel like I’m always throwing it around. Oh well, the target is not a girl this time, so why not go all out?

“Phew. I didn’t think I’d let my guard down, but you really got me good.” I pushed aside the fragments of the wall I’d slammed into and took a better look at our enemy. Sure enough, aside from Clive being in his arm, the dragon looked entirely unhurt with his nimbus of light—Noble Aureola, was it?—still turning behind his back. I seriously have no idea what that thing does.

I brushed the dust off my clothes and fixed my grip on my staff.

Dahak, Boga, Mdofarak, I’m gonna get serious now, I warned them. I was done setting things up for my companions; it was about time for me to get a bit of the action myself.

“Interesting! That is a look that portrays the opposite of nobility, but I commend you for smiling in such a situation!”

“’Cus I can’t hold myself back any longer! How can I not smile when I’m having so much fun?!”

I leaped off the wall, throwing multiple Dual Radiance Lances at the same time. The dragon king unleashed a breath attack in response.

::Oh, Master, what a wonderful smile you have!::

Efil was so touched that she clapped a hand over her mouth. I could tell without looking. Her feelings of happiness were coming through loud and clear over the Network.

::Uh, sister Efil, I think you’ve been overly influenced by brother. No matter which way you see it, that’s the smile of a madman...::

::Roaar...::

::Raaawr...::

The dragons sounded somewhat creeped out. Boga and Mdofarak were nodding furiously in agreement with Dahak’s reply, but of course, I knew I was only imagining it. You guys realize that even though I’m focusing on the fight, I can hear you and have Parallel Processing activated, right?

::What an auspicious day it is! That’s right, I have a great idea! Master once mentioned that where he’s from, cooking red beans with rice is done to celebrate things! And I learned how to do so in Toraj!::

::Oh damn, sister Efil is on fire today!::

Aren’t you too, Dahak?

“Hmph!”

“Hah!”

The white dragon swiped its tail at me so fast that wind screamed with its passage, but I chopped it off with Boreas Death Scythe. Blood fountained from the bisected appendage, leaving no doubt as to the severity of the wound. However, the wound fully healed only seconds later with the ringing of another bell.

After exchanging a few more blows with the Light Dragon King, I realized a few things. First, the four bells on his nimbus rang when they reached the twelve o’clock position, with there being roughly thirty seconds between each ring. Each time a bell went off, all of the dragon’s wounds disappeared. I had sliced off his limbs and wings several times now, and Clive was inflicting every curse it could, but each time a bell tolled, everything seemed to revert as if time itself were being rolled back.

Whatever the Light Dragon King was doing to move at the speed of light, he clearly could not use it repeatedly in quick succession. However, from what I could tell, each time the bell rang, it not only healed him but also allowed him to use his movement ability again. It was particularly troublesome that he could use this to evade and attack. It meant that Air Pressure wasn’t going to be much help, and I would be in a very bad place if I took even one direct hit from him.

Of course, I was all for a long, drawn-out fight because it meant I got to have more fun, but things were going to get worse for me as time passed. That left me with only one option: to defeat the Light Dragon King within the thirty-second window between rings. I had also considered destroying his mandala, but he was doing a good job of dodging the attacks that he really needed to. Now that he had his head in the game, he was a rather troublesome opponent. The answer lay not in one big attack, but in first whittling down his mobility.

“Dual Obsidian Edge times four!” I cried, generating blades far tougher and sharper than anything I had previously made with the spell.

Klang!

The ringing of the gong signaled the start of my race against time. I immediately sent flying scythes using Boreas Death Scythe and cast Air Pressure to rob the newly healed dragon of his ability to move, then bombarded him with Radiance Crossfire. I left just the tiniest of gaps for him to escape as a way to guide him towards the wall, then lastly...

“Run him through!”

The four Dual Obsidian Edges that had been on standby blasted forward, impaling the dragon. I didn’t need all four to land; only one was enough. Now he was nailed to the wall, completely open to attack. In other words, we could serve him up however we wanted to.

::Mdo-chan, Master did not tell you to hold back. In other words, you are free to join in at any moment. And this seems like the perfect time, does it not?::

::RAAAAWWRRRRR!::

What looked like a super colorful bullet flew in from beyond my field of vision.

◇ ◇ ◇

The violent fighting just now had left the large room completely trashed, almost every last artistic detail thoroughly mauled and destroyed. In fact, the room itself seemed on the verge of collapse. We were fine because I had shored it up with Green Magic, but it was clear that not using large area-of-effect attacks had been the right call.

“I’m terribly sorry, Master. Should I not have intervened?”

“No, no, it was the right call. If you hadn’t jumped in, I would have finished things myself.”

If I was the one who finished off the Light Dragon King, then none of the dragons would have gotten the chance to Evolve. I cut off Efil’s apology and praised her instead while using the Clean spell to get off the dust and debris that was covering the two of us. She looked down, blushing slightly. Could she be any cuter?

“Mm, to think you lot actually managed to take down an ancient dragon as noble as myself. Now that I am no longer noble, I cannot help but express my respect for your power.”

For some reason, the former Light Dragon King joined our conversation. There was a saying that “yesterday’s enemy is now today’s friend,” but it was quite jarring to witness such incredible adaptability in person.

Long story short, it was Mdofarak who had dealt the final blow that finished off the Light Dragon King, using a new breath attack that she had developed secretly with Efil’s help. She had taken what was originally an area-of-effect attack and concentrated it into the shape of a bullet—this was the colorful bullet that had zipped across my field of vision when I’d had the white dragon pinned against the wall.

As a result of packing all that energy into such a small form, her attack boasted much higher speed and destructive power. Mdo’s three heads had thrown their attacks together, creating a bullet containing fire, ice, and lightning that had been further bolstered by Efil’s Bursting Heat spell. The white dragon’s ring of light, and all the bells on it, had been pulverized.

“So you’re not noble anymore?”

“Indeed. Going forward, I am but a simple white dragon. Call me by my name, Murmur.”

He had been dragged down from his seat as a dragon king, but he was very much alive and well. When his Noble Aureola was destroyed, he had taken it as a sign of his loss and surrendered to Mdofarak. And now that he was no longer a dragon king, Murmur no longer went on about being disrespected, and there was no need to fight him any further. That’s right, I no longer had a reason to fight!

But still, his name is such a mismatch with... Yeah, okay, let’s not finish that thought.

“How is Mdo-chan doing?” Efil asked me.

“She’s still sleeping in my magic pool. It’s probably gonna take her a while, like it did for Sera.”

The lucky winner who was now a Light Dragon King had been Unsummoned and was resting within my magic pool. Murmur surrendering and acknowledging her power had kicked off the process of Evolution.

“Rawr...”

Every once in a while, I felt thoughts about wanting to eat something sweet coming through. I supposed it couldn’t be helped with her being a girl and all. My hope was that she might have learned how to transform into human form after her Evolution. If so, I planned on asking Efil to bake her a mountain of sweets.

“Still, you know you already lost to the current Light Dragon King ages ago and died, right?” Dahak, who had assumed human form, asked Murmur. “How’re you alive again? And as a dragon king, to boot.”

“Mm, are you the black dragon from just now? That is a fair question. You are correct; my ignoble self did lose to a subordinate and lost his life.”

“Then it was true. So...”

“Why...indeed? Even I do not know.”

“Huh?! The fuck?!”

“I do not know what I do not know—what do you want me to say? When I woke up from my long slumber, I suddenly found all of you destroying my tombstone. Mm? Wait, my tombstone? I...do not remember knowing this before I died.”

Dahak slapped a hand to his forehead. “Oh god, so he’s slept so long he’s gone senile!”

“Hold on, let’s first take stock of what we do know,” I said.

When he was alive, Murmur had been a dragon king who was on friendly terms with Deramis. He’d had a contract with a previous pope that placed him in a relationship with Deramis similar to what the Water Dragon King had with Toraj. However, during the era of the Great War, one of his men had betrayed and killed him in a surprise attack.

“Technically, you don’t need a dragon king’s acknowledgment to usurp their seat—you can outright kill one,” he explained. “When that happens, the ancient dragon who’s the closest in power to the deposed king will gain the title.”

According to Dahak, that new Light Dragon King had fallen off the radar, rarely making contact with other dragons. I made a mental note to ask Melfina if she knew anything the next time we met.

We asked him one more time, but Murmur confirmed that he had no idea how or why he had come back to life. For some reason, he knew that these were the Catacombs of Heroic Spirits and that this room had been built as his mausoleum, as if the knowledge had been planted in his head. The mausoleum had most likely been created by the Deramisians as a sign of their respect and affection for him, so when we destroyed it, he had unconsciously flown into a rage.

Uh, hold on, does that mean...I’m in the wrong here? I gotta apologize to Pope Philip and reimburse him afterwards.

When I bowed to Murmur in apology, he waved it off. “It is fine. My ignoble self is now alive and well. I will forgive you on behalf of that deadweight Philip.”

“Thank you for your kindness,” I replied, bowing once more.

“Thank you for your kindness, Murmur-sama,” Efil echoed, also bowing.

“Mm. And, uh, the pretty attendant there? This is entirely unrelated, but kindly please inform me ahead of time if you plan on making loud noises. I have a trauma from when I was alive that makes me quite sensitive to them. I will be fine as long as you give me advance notice, however.”

“I sincerely apologize for causing you such discomfort.”

Oh, so that’s why he started when Efil activated Penumbra.

“Perhaps the reason I remained a dragon king was because I died as a dragon king. I cannot be sure, though; there is no precedent for a dead dragon coming back to life that I know of. Unfortunately, I do not think I can be of much help in regards to getting to the bottom of this phenomenon. My apologies.”

“Oh, no, that’s totally fine. I’m pretty sure the culprit is currently on the lowest floor of the dungeon, after all.”

“What?”

I turned to look at the far end of the room where a staircase led to the next floor down.

◇ ◇ ◇

At the same time, the current Heroes of Deramis were running frantically through Floor Five.

“Go on, run, run! The path’s already been opened up for you! Faster! And keep smiling! I’ll take care of the monsters you miss, so don’t worry about them!”

“I... No more...!”

“Gawr!”

“Nana, you can’t give up!”

“Wait a moment; I’ll heal your stamina!”

“Phew, I’m glad I had another Grave Death Ogre. What? It’s so I can, uh, focus ahead of us!”

When Sera had finished creating her army of blood skeletons and caught up with the Heroes who had gone ahead, she’d suddenly decided to give them a taste of her own demonic brand of training. Her instructions were simple and clear: she and her Hades’s Sanguine Army were running in formation behind the Heroes, chasing them at a certain speed, and they had to maintain their distance. If the red skeletons got close enough, they would start “prodding” the Heroes with the tips of their swords. Consequently, they had to run at least as fast as the skeletons were going.

At the same time, they had to defeat the masses of high-ranking monsters that Kelvin’s group had left when they had passed through earlier. At their heels were Sera and the army of skeletons; at their front were endless hordes of undead enemies. As they were running pretty much at top speed, they had to constantly maintain their stamina and brace themselves to dive into what looked like an unending sea of grotesque monsters.

The only silver lining was that they had a clear path to take, thanks to Rion, and that the path helped to repel the monsters somewhat.

“Good going, everyone! When you get through this, you will become a new you! My intuition tells me so!”

Basically, Sera had seen Kelvin acting as the Heroes’ trainer back in Toraj and had wanted to try doing the same thing. This was the result.

“Kanzaki-kun, thank— AHHH!”

For Nana, who was terrible with horror and gore, this wasn’t just training anymore—it was a tribulation. She had started getting somewhat used to seeing skeletons because of Miyabi’s magic, but real-life ghosts were just too much for her. And the farther down they went, the more grotesque the monsters’ appearances became. She was being tempered through this training in more ways than one.

“Um...dearest sister Sera, am I supposed to be on this side?” Shutola, who was on her teddy bear, asked as she and her Guards ran alongside Sera’s group.

“At your current strength, there’s not much meaning in fighting Rank B monsters, is there?” Sera replied. “Oh, but I feel some pretty powerful presences on the floor below. You wanna go up front after we head down?”

Shutola nodded deeply, racked with a sense of guilt from seeing the Heroes forced to maintain their breakneck pace.

◇ ◇ ◇

The deepest floor of the Catacombs of Heroic Spirits, Floor Ten, was where the beloved spear of the previous Goddess of Reincarnation, Elearis, was enshrined. Those who had passed through the rest of the dungeon to reach this floor would be surprised by how small it was, as it was just one large, open room. The white-and-silver design that characterized the Great Cathedral aboveground was found here as well, creating a holy area where worship seemed the only appropriate thing to do. Any passionate Rinne believers who beheld the sight would undoubtedly burst into tears from joy and ecstasy, possibly even swooning with emotion. That was how beautiful and majestic the place was.

A gigantic sculpture of a woman who looked markedly different from Melfina towered at the far end of the room, and at her feet was an altar that was white without blemish. This whiteness, which seemed capable of swallowing and overwhelming anything, evoked both healing and awe in any who saw it.

The most attention-grabbing part of the room, however, was Sister Atra, who was lying on top of the altar. She bore no external wounds, her clothing appeared untouched, and there were no restraints holding her down. She was sleeping on the altar—there was literally nothing more that could be said of her situation.

“Oh my goddess, there’s Atra! What a relief. I’m so glad she’s all right!” Sister Ria, who had been saved by Melfina and Gerard on Floor Eight and accompanied them ever since, placed a hand on her chest and breathed a sigh of relief. Normally, she would not have been brought there since she was not a combatant, but when she had said the word “sacrifice,” all such considerations had become moot.

After being rescued, she had explained that she’d coincidentally heard her kidnapper let the word slip. If she was to be believed, that meant every second counted. Melfina and Gerard were the closest to Floor Ten, and they could not afford to waste time first escorting Ria back aboveground. As such, they decided to bring her along by having her ride on Gerard’s shoulders. She suffered a very shaky ride but otherwise reached their destination looking none the worse for wear.

No one else was in the room with Atra, and there were no signs that anyone was hiding there. It seemed like a one-in-a-thousand chance to rescue Atra. It was practically a miracle from the heavens! Or so Ria believed.

“This is definitely a trap,” both Melfina and Gerard said at the same time.

“Huh?!” Ria turned around in surprise at hearing the opposite opinion of what she had been thinking.

Melfina switched to using telepathy. ::I sense several individuals who do not seem to belong here. I imagine their intention is to jump us when we approach Sister Atra, but they are doing a terrible job of hiding their killing intent. I can’t imagine an Apostle being so sloppy, but...::

::It’s not as if we can remain standing here either. Should I go?::

::Hm...no, I will. You focus on protecting Ria.::

Melfina walked forward with steady steps, Holy Lance Luminary held at the ready. Gerard, who had every faith in the goddess and prioritized his charge’s safety above all else, turned his eyes away from the part of her where the hopes and dreams of all men were packed and focused on carrying out his duty as a knight. Ria, for her part, was simply praying to her goddess, looking very flustered and distressed.

When Melfina was halfway between the staircase and the altar, she could already see Atra’s face in detail. The nun had a calm and peaceful expression, as if having a very pleasant dream. Her chest was rising and falling at a steady rate, indicating that she was alive and had no problem breathing.

::No attack yet. I feel the gazes, but the enemy is still waiting.::

::Wouldn’t it be simpler to blow them all away with a large spell, Princess? You know, like my king always does.::

::That’s an option too, but I’d prefer to avoid it until I can be sure of Atra’s safety. Also, this place is considered an important chamber, a holy room, to Deramis. I don’t want to destroy it without reason. I will also ensure that every last reprobate who dares sully the sanctity of this place meant to entomb the dead will meet their end on my lance!::

::Oh, wow, uh...far be it from me to stop you.::

Something seemed to have set Melfina off today, as she was uncharacteristically goddess-like. However, we must not forget that her possible future husband had completely trashed an entire mausoleum, tombstone and all, on Floor Six. Of course, even if she were to hear of this matter, the goddess would surely backtrack and forgive him with a laugh. As is often said, love truly is blind.

::I’m almost there...::

When Melfina was only two or three steps away from Atra, the killing intent emanating from all around her abruptly exploded in intensity. All attempts at secrecy were dropped as magic spells of fire, lightning, and every other element shot towards her from the shadows of the nearby pillars and ornaments, with more than a few threatening to hit Atra as well. Every one of the projectiles was Rank A in strength, and their numbers revealed there were eight assailants. Judging by how coordinated they were and how quickly they chanted new spells, all eight were rather skilled.

“Celsius Briar.”

However, these were but normal people, and they could not have encountered a worse opponent than Melfina. The beautiful briars of ice that Melfina generated formed a small dome around her that blocked the multi-elemental bombardment, not allowing even the shock wave of their impacts through. In fact, the spells failed to so much as leave scratches on the briars themselves.

That was not all Celsius Briar did either. Grunts of surprise rang out as the briars crept over the ground, sweeping towards the assailants’ feet. The moment their feet were caught, they were tied up so thoroughly that they could not move a finger.

::And that’s the fight over!::

::Um, Princess...didn’t you say you didn’t want to destroy the place without reason?::

Melfina hummed cheerfully as she dispelled the dome of briars, revealing that her spell had entirely covered the ceiling, walls, pillars, and floor of the room, stopping only short of Gerard’s feet. The room now looked like a massive, majestic ice cathedral.

“What?! I, uh, huh?!” Sister Ria was shaking, both in voice and in body. It wasn’t clear whether it was because she felt cold, overwhelmed, or something else.

::I suppose this is my first time showing you this spell, Gerard. Heh heh, don’t underestimate the spell Kelvin’s family crest is based on. It knows how to differentiate between friend and enemy. It played a huge role during the Demon Lord fight, and it’s protecting this room at this very moment.::

::Interesting. That does sound like a spell with high utility. So, what can you tell us about the enemy?::

In response, eight briars each pulled out a humanoid form from the crackling field of ice—all that remained of their assailants.

::They seem to be rather high-ranking mages, but they differ greatly in both outfit and race. It’s like particularly skilled individuals were gathered from a number of different countries.::

::This again? You think they’re companions of those on Floor Eight?::

::Hard to say. We never did see anyone resembling the Apostles, so...::

::Hmm...::

“Um...” Sister Ria spoke up as if she could not wait any longer, interrupting the telepathic conversation between Mel and Gerard. “Are we, um, fine now? As in, can we help Sister Atra now?”

“Oh.” Gerard started. “I suppose so. Yes, let’s waste no time waking her—”

Slash. Thud.

Just as he was turning towards Ria, who was still on his shoulders, something fell past his field of view and hit the ground. When he looked up, the face that he expected to see was no longer there. Blood stood out starkly against the nun outfit that Ria was wearing. In other words, what he had just seen fall down...

A cheery “Aha!” sounded from behind his back.

Gerard turned around to find Ange standing there in her Assassin outfit, a look of sheer ecstasy on her face as if she were drunk on the smell of blood.

◇ ◇ ◇

Gerard immediately fired off an ::Ange, what have you done?!:: through the Network, ready to dive into battle depending on her answer.

That was how incensed he was. After all, Ange had activated Covert Action to get as close as possible without alerting Gerard or Melfina in order to behead the target they were supposed to protect, even using Assassin’s Strike so that her surprise attack would deal more damage. Needless to say, she had not given them any prior notice.

::Phew. Gerard-san, that woman...::

::Wha— Hmph!::

However, Gerard’s attitude did a one-eighty an instant after he received Ange’s telepathic message. He grabbed the headless body on his shoulders and threw it as far as he could—without hesitation, without mercy, and using every ounce of his strength. Ria’s body slammed into the ice wall and disappeared within a cloud of dust.

What Ange had just shared with Melfina and Gerard was the shocking revelation that Sister Ria was actually an Apostle. Ange had uploaded a detailed report about her to the Network, and Gerard had determined it to be trustworthy intel. There had been almost no time lag between her passing the information along and Gerard taking action—it had been a transmission that took full advantage of one of the perks of the Summoning skill.

::How surprising. Never did I imagine one of the Apostles would be disguising herself as a nun at an orphanage. That said, Ange, lass, couldn’t you have told us earlier? I think you shaved a few years off my life span there!::

::Sorry, Gerard-san. She’s really sensitive to what people are feeling, and I wanted to catch her in a perfect surprise attack. I’m pretty sure that if you had hesitated even a bit, she would have caught on.::

Gerard couldn’t help but think Ange still looked like she had really enjoyed it. In fact, there was a slight blush on her cheeks.

::I now understand the situation. However, according to this information, this is—:: Just as Melfina stood protectively in front of Sister Atra, a voice sounded from near the ground.

“It hurts, it hurts, it hurts! Why, why, why do I have to suffer like this?”

The source of the voice was Ria’s head, which still lay where it had rolled after being chopped off by Ange. She sounded like she was in pain, but she was supposed to be dead considering the state she was in. Her being able to speak was itself an abomination.

Immediately after hearing the voice, Ange mercilessly threw another kunai at Ria’s remains. With a dull thud, the blade pierced the body of the girl who was supposed to be dead.

“Oh, stop it with the theatrics. A vampire like you won’t die from this. Did you think you could trick me by just changing the color and style of your hair?”

The voice sounded surprised. “What?”

“Okay fine, have it your way.” Ange shrugged and threw two more kunai knives with deadly precision. However, these failed to land. Ria’s head crumbled into countless bats that burst into flight, rushing towards the cloud of dust within which her body lay. Soon enough, a humanoid figure could be seen standing up within the cloud.

“Assassin, has anyone ever told you that you’re pretty dry? I confess, I’m pretty surprised to find out you’re even more serious and more of a goody two-shoes than Baal-chan is. Aren’t you curious why I’m here?”

Ria’s tone had undergone a drastic transformation. The timid and nervous way she’d spoken at the orphanage had turned clingy and sultry. It sounded seductive, making for a very stark contrast with earlier.

“Are you disappointed? Then I hope you die nursing that disappointment. I’ll happily keep your head!”

“Oh my, what a deranged thing to say. Is that your true self? But I don’t think you can win. Not against me, the queen of vampires and their progenitor, the Seventh Seat among Goddess Elearis’s Apostles, Estoria Kranweltz!”

Ria—no, Estoria—made her appearance, causing a cacophony of loud, high-pitched cracks with her careless trampling of the briars on the ground. Her previously chestnut-colored hair had turned a golden blonde, and her nun outfit was torn up in a highly provocative way, greatly revealing her cleavage and bearing a deep slit that ran all the way up her leg. It was a truly scandalous look, but Gerard was not one who would let his guard down in such a situation. No, it was more accurate to say that he couldn’t let his guard down. That was how threatening Estoria’s presence was. And, of course, because Ange’s smile had taken on a very dangerous glint.

“Aha ha, thanks as always for the courteous self introduction, even though no one asked.”

“Well, just think of it as the way I do things. I accomplish everything I do by perfectly embodying the kind of woman that men want. It’s because I am this way that I make sure to treasure my true self. You may be good at gathering and manipulating information, but I’m confident that I’m far better than you at handling men and love affairs. That gentlemanly mister over there! Gerard-sama! I couldn’t help but be smitten by your kind consideration for others and your striking boldness. Would you like to spend some time with me?”

“I think I’ll pass. With you, I feel like I might get burned.”

“Aw, what a pity. You’re such a wonderful man.”

Estoria’s eyebrows furrowed as if she really did feel disappointed. Perhaps she had actually been serious in her invitation. Turns out Gerard was a pretty popular guy. Now, whether that made him happy or not was a different matter entirely.

“We’ve secured Sister Atra,” Melfina said, placing a hand on the shoulder of the sleeping nun. With a forceful look at Estoria, she asked, “Where have you hidden the real Sister Ria?”

“My oh my, to think a goddess of all people could make such a mistake. I’m going to correct your misconception here and now. You ready? Listening? Sister Ria is me. It was me all along. So there’s no ‘real’ Sister Ria. I shortened ‘Estoria’ to ‘Ria.’ Simple, right? I got the idea from Analyzer. I really did get taken under Atra’s wing, and I really did do my best as a nun. Oh, but keep all this secret from Atra. She taught me a whole bunch of things, and to be honest, she made the church a comfortable place to stay in. She’d be shocked to learn I’m a vampire.”

“To think a vampire would choose to live in a church filled with crosses and holy water and natural light... I can’t even laugh.”

Vampires were such a powerful race that they were often considered a subspecies of demon. They possessed tough bodies overflowing with magic and the ability to convert others to undead members of their own race by sucking their blood. For all their power, however, they also possessed a lot of weaknesses, with the most iconic being their fear of crosses and running water and their inability to withstand sunlight. Consequently, the majority of vampires lived in the underground world where the sun never shone: Abyssland.

“I am a vampire who worships a goddess and receives Her blessing. I suppose you can call me an odd case among my kind, but thanks to this, there’s a lot that I’ve overcome. Now, I find churches the most comfortable places to be in. And, um, goddess? There’s something else you’re misunderstanding.”

“Which would be?”

“You haven’t quite secured Atra yet.”

A foul sensation traveled up the arm that Melfina was touching Atra with. It felt cold and disgusting, almost as if she were touching an evil spirit directly.

Atra sat up on the altar, an enormous specter attached to her back.

“You see, that altar is for offering sacrifices. Looks to me like the dungeon boss thinks you’re stealing its virgin maiden, and, well, it doesn’t like that at all.”

Melfina instantly retracted her hand and cast a curse-dispelling spell on herself. ::It’s a lich king! Gerard, Ange, I’ll focus on exorcizing it! I’m sorry, but you’ll have to take care of the Apostle yourselves!::

::Understood! We’ll handle her!::

::Sure! Just wait to see her head!::

One of the replies sounded somewhat disturbing, but Melfina paid it no mind and immediately shifted into action. The wriggling branches of Celsius Briar erupted to form a wall of ice separating her and Estoria, cutting the room in half so that neither could interfere with the other. The deepest floor of the dungeon was much smaller than the other floors, but because the room made up the entire floor, there was still plenty of room for both sides to fight. The main reason Melfina did this was to prevent Estoria from coming into contact with Atra.

“My, my, my! You don’t have to hate me that much, do you?” Estoria called to the other side of the wall, sounding hurt. The briars at her feet were starting to wind their way up her legs, but she paid them no mind. “It looks like breaking that wall’s going to take quite a bit of effort. I suppose I’m going to have to finish you two off first, then.”

“You say it so casually, but do you think it’s going to be that easy?” Ange said.

“Are you sure about this, Assassin? You think you, the Eighth Seat, can beat me, the Seventh Seat?”

Estoria’s face still had the same seductive smile as before. The smile on Ange’s face, in contrast, had the corners of her lips drawn up in a manner very similar to a certain battle junkie.

“What was it you always said to Condemner? Ah, that a one-rank difference isn’t worth much. What, are you acting tough because you’re losing your nerve? Estoria-chan?”

“You’re right, I do say that. Though it annoys me to admit it.”

Estoria leaped into the air, not hampered in the least by the briars clinging to her legs. The few dark shapes that flapped around her indicated she had gotten free by simply converting her feet into bats. Now, jet-black wings that bore a strong resemblance to Sera’s protruded from the back of her torn nun habit.

“The briars were annoying, so I hope you don’t mind me doing this from the air.”

The vampire stuck a hand in between her voluptuous breasts and pulled out a white staff. Ample though it was, her chest was nowhere near large enough to hide such a sizable weapon. Then again, it was only a minor detail that hardly surprised anyone this late in the game.

“This staff’s name is Shion. It’s a stud that raises my MP by feeding on my sexual desire. Look at it; isn’t it beautiful? Don’t you think it’s perfect for me?”

“Gross. It’s just gross.”

“Aw, looks like we have a difference of opinion, Assassin. How sad.”

Ange had seen the white staff before. It was back while on a mission with the Third Seat of the Apostles, Jildora, though where it had been will remain unmentioned. Everything about it, including its superficial beauty, repulsed her.

Estoria raised Shion up high. “Well, it’s about time I kill you both. Salvation Ray!”

FLASH!

The large cathedral was suddenly covered by a rain of burning light. Rays so bright as to blind all onlookers fell down without mercy. The truly terrifying part about the spell was that each and every one of those streaks of light dealt as much damage as a Rank S spell. The Celsius Briar covering the floor was smashed into nothing, due to either how high Estoria’s Magic stat was or Shion’s effect. Either way, when the light finally faded away, not a single thorn was left on the ground.

“Well, I’ll be! Now that was frightening! What was that? It was as powerful as Efil’s arrows!” Gerard lowered the shield he had been huddling under to ride out the barrage. Despite his words, however, the massive shield that had been retempered by Kelvin multiple times did not look particularly damaged. Gerard himself, of course, was also unscathed.

“I really have taken a liking to you, Gerard-sama! There aren’t many who remain so lively after being showered in my love!” Estoria licked her lips as her eyes took on the look of a bird of prey.

An indescribably cold chill ran down Gerard’s back. He recognized those eyes—they overlapped with those from the forceful gaze of a certain big-boned (fe)male who shall not be named and invoked nothing but terror for him.

However, Estoria could not afford to only stare at Gerard.

KLANG!

Ange had used Uncontainable to ride out Salvation Ray, then used Sky Walk to close in on Estoria’s position in the air. A high-pitched note rang out as dagger met staff.

“Aha ha! I’m surprised you managed to block it!”

“I knew you’d slip through my spell and come after me!”

As a vampire, Estoria’s Strength stat was quite high. In fact, hers was even higher than Ange’s, and one swing from her staff proved enough to send the other girl flying through the air. Of course, Ange was not one to simply take things passively; she immediately activated Sky Walk and regained her balance. The next instant, kunai and spears of light—the attacks that both sides found the most suitable—clashed in a barrage.

This exchange was furious in the extreme. Ange perfectly dodged every ray of the shower of light that fell literally at the speed of light as Estoria deftly used her ability to turn into bats to prevent a single kunai from making contact. The death of one or two bats did not seem to affect her in any way. At this point, it had become a meaningless war of attrition.

“Poison on your knives? Isn’t that a bit underhanded even for you, Assassin? And that black hood of yours looks soooo boring.”

“Aha ha, you do realize you’re talking to an assassin, right? And I’ll have you know, my hood is the epitome of fashion!”

At the same time, the two were also exchanging a somewhat—no, a very—immature verbal tête-à-tête. Their fight was more than fierce enough to offset what they were saying, though.

“And now you’re looking away from me?” This time, it was Gerard making a move. He had climbed a ladder on the wall made of kunai thrown by Ange and now leaped out into the air with far more momentum than one might expect from a suit of armor, Dainsleif already in midswing.

“Oh, hardly! I never let down my guard around guys.”

Something appeared between Gerard and Estoria. No, it wasn’t just one something, but multiple somethings. Black forms spread wings of the same color and rushed to intercept Gerard.

“Hmph!”

The swing of the greatsword killed off one of whatever they were, but then Gerard succumbed to the force of gravity and plunged to the ground. The rest dove after him at incredible speed in pursuit.

“Did you just kill a vampire lord with one strike? They’re my most powerful minions! I’m falling for you more and more, Gerard-sama!”

Vampire lords were a superior race of vampires. They were as powerful as archdemons, so if one appeared aboveground, it would undoubtedly be classified as a Rank S monster. They were beings to be feared.

“Shouldn’t you do something about that falling-in-love-so-easily issue?”

“You’re the last person I want to hear that from. All right, that’s enough. Euthanasia!” A coffin-shaped barrier appeared around Estoria. At that moment, she let up her attacks, and Ange found her own attacks shut out.

“What... What are you doing?”

“Well, you know...in exchange for being really tough, Euthanasia makes it so that even I can’t attack anyone. I just wanted to catch my breath, that’s all. We’ve been going at it for quite a while now, and it didn’t seem like it’d end anytime soon.”

“What, you want to have a chat? After all this time?”

Even while replying, Ange threw a knife tagged with an explosive talisman straight at Estoria’s face. It exploded the moment it touched the coffin but did not even leave a scratch.

Estoria continued talking, not bothered in the slightest by the attack. “You know, the vampire lords that I just sent after Gerard-sama have all died and turned to ash before. I’m talking way back in the past when Demon Lord Gustav was taking over Abyssland. But then I revived them. I brought them back to life.”

“Guess you’re not called Reviver for nothing.”

“This is actually a pretty incredible ability, you know? Those I drink blood from turn into my kin, but those I feed my blood to return to life. That is what my Unique Skill, Uprising, does. There are a lot of little conditions and whatnot, of course. For example, I need the target’s actual body—or ashen remains, in the case of my minions. The eight that I had set on Melfina were all great champions from the age of the Great War that still had bodies in good condition—I was pretty strict in my evaluation! After all, I had all the options I wanted down here; it’s practically a treasure trove.”

Estoria smiled bewitchingly as Gerard and the vampire lords clashed beneath her.

“I couldn’t help taking a few trophies home, if you know what I mean. And my latest hobby is watching other people fight from inside this coffin. Sweating is so yuck, right?”

“Aha ha, in your case, I think you could do with a little exercise. To shed a few pounds of useless fat.”

“These aren’t useless. They’re embodiments of love.”

Suddenly, a huge crowd of individuals from various races began emerging from Estoria’s coffin, every last one having freshly come back to life.

◇ ◇ ◇

Estoria was born a bottom-tier vampire in a slum somewhere in Abyssland. She did not know her father’s face or name, and her mother was a prostitute who, being a hard worker, would sometimes leave the house unattended for days on end. As a result, Estoria grew up without knowing parental love. Perhaps that was why she became so fanatical about pursuing love, something she thought everyone else had. However, her fellow slum dwellers were all coarse and simple and only occupied with getting through each day. There was nothing for her in a town where everyone was obsessed with themselves.

“This isn’t where I belong.”

When she came to that realization, Estoria left home and set out on a journey. She had no particular attachment to her home, and her memories were dull and gray—there was nothing to hold her back. She did not even leave a note, let alone bid anyone farewell.

Abyssland was a harsh place to live in, much more so for someone who was a bottom-tier vampire and a teenage girl. It was only through sheer luck that she survived. In the next town, which she barely reached alive, she caught the eye of a noble. Being in her midteens, Estoria was beautiful and had developed a very sexually attractive appearance. The noble, who clearly had ulterior motives, immediately brought her back to his mansion and employed her as a servant.

Despite the twisted nature of her circumstances, Estoria found happiness for the first time in her life. The noble plied her with clothes she had never worn before, good food, a warm bed, and so many other things. Even though all of these things were but matters of course in his house, they filled Estoria, the girl who had only known life in the slums, with satisfaction and delight.

In order to repay just a little of the favor she had been shown, she threw herself into her duties and constantly gave thought to what would make the noble happy. Eventually, he was all she could think about. In other words, she had fallen for him. Gratitude gradually shifted into a desire to make him turn her way, and she became obsessed with molding herself into the noble’s ideal woman. As a result, she not only learned how to read the slightest changes in people’s feelings, but also learned how to create a fictional persona that she could act out so perfectly as to convince herself it was her true self. All for the sake of obtaining ever deeper love.

The noble, naturally, greatly rejoiced at her efforts. Of course he did: his ideal woman was there in front of his eyes. It did not take long for the two to reciprocate each other’s feelings, and they enjoyed days of bliss. However, it did not last long. The noble’s wife felt her position was threatened and schemed to secure the house’s riches for herself. Eventually, she enacted her plan, and her husband was assassinated.

“Oh no! I’ve got to find my next love!”

After killing the wife to avenge the nobleman, Estoria realized that there was nothing more she could do for him. That moment, her love for him faded like the setting sun. Why dwell on a past love when she could go in search of a new one?

So, this love-starved vampire set out again, armed with the nice clothes and accessories the noble had given her and the skills and techniques she had picked up trying to win his love. That, and some of the assets from the mansion. By now, she was no longer a bottom-tier vampire.

Then came a slew of countless fateful encounters. Estoria had possessed the Charm Eye skill since birth, but never once had she used it on a lover. What she sought was love from the heart, not convenient puppets to listen to orders. At the end of the day, what she cared about was that the other person saw the “true” her.

Due to her disposition for easily falling in love, she found it almost everywhere she went. From mercenary to statesman, bandit, wealthy merchant, traveler, and everything in between. The vast majority were humanoids, but she accepted anyone who would give her his love. She would accurately discern what kind of woman he desired and reconstruct herself accordingly, picking up strength, knowledge, education, open-mindedness, heartlessness, the status of a noble, and so much more, all for the sake of ensuring that she got together with the next target of her love.

Unfortunately, none of her relationships lasted long. The renowned warrior who wished for a strong woman rejoiced in her strength at the start, but eventually came to fear her for being in a realm so far beyond his reach and walked off on his own. In the case of the statesman, the leader of his neighboring country became so jealous of Estoria’s peerless beauty that he declared war, causing at least one entire clan to be executed on top of all the casualties from the war itself. By the time someone started calling her The Femme Fatale, she already stood above all other vampires.

“Ahhh, I feel so empty...”

A castle towered above a plain, and standing at the top of the castle was its owner, Estoria Kranweltz. The more she sought love, the higher she climbed, constantly starving. Now, she had an entire country under her. On her way there, her name had resounded throughout Abyssland, as did tales of the end of all the men who had given her their love. Those now surrounding her feared and were in awe of her, but none loved her. In turn, even she, who had a penchant for falling in love, could not bring herself to love someone who was not her match in power and station.

Eventually, she became obsessed with her search. She wanted someone with a heart generous enough to accept her, a prudent person with a mature way of thinking. That meant someone middle-aged, old enough to have settled down somewhat. If he had the magnanimity to not care about trivial details, then she would even accept a fierce and aggressive person. However, such a perfect person couldn’t—

“I’ve found him! My fated partner!”

The man Estoria had discovered was the head of a force that had started rising to prominence recently. He possessed the boldness to not fear anyone and the strength to merit being the leader of so many big-name demons. When Estoria came upon this man who matched her in power on the battlefield, her heart danced in ecstasy for the first time in a long time and she instantly fell in love with him.

After this came days of investigating, probing, and analyzing what kind of woman Gustav wanted. When Estoria was done, she sought him again in battle, pitting her vampires against his demons. The conclusion that she had arrived at was that Gustav sought a strong woman, one who could accompany him for the rest of his life on his path of conquest, a partner exemplary in both mind and body whom he could love with all he had. Estoria was fully convinced that she was the only woman in all Abyssland who could fulfill those conditions. So she decided to flaunt her power to him. Their two countries clashed repeatedly, meeting in direct battle again and again. Within the conflict, Estoria found joy and satisfaction. Gustav was properly looking at her, thinking about her, expressing his love for her. She was delighted beyond words.

Perhaps she had already gone crazy at this point from being starved for love so long. She was so desperate for love that her goal and methods failed to line up—of all things, she ended up forming an adversarial relationship with Gustav instead. And yet, she never doubted that she would eventually wed him, continuing to seek the joy of meeting him in battle. The world came to perceive them as bitter rivals struggling for supremacy, but that meant nothing to her. She was living in love, living in the moment. Sadly, however, this joy did not last long either.

“That can’t be!”

Several months later, Estoria received word that Gustav had gotten married to some woman named Eliza. His country had held a large-scale celebration, proclaiming the union from the rooftops. Eliza had had a weak constitution ever since she was born and had trouble even getting up, but thanks to the devoted love and care of her childhood friend, Gustav, she was making inroads to recovery. Even now, she was recuperating inside Gustav’s castle.

The article detailing everything was written in a way that was meant to warm the hearts of those who read it, but all it instilled in Estoria’s heart was despair. That was the moment she came to her senses. She realized that what she had been doing all along was the furthest thing from love. It was Estoria’s first time failing to realize her love, and the emotion remained in her heart, faint but persistent. She could not really remember what happened after this. In all likelihood, she had continued going out to meet him in battle just to vent emotions that no longer had any means of release.

“Where...is this?”

When she came to, Estoria found herself in a white space. Before her eyes was a temple that looked like a mirage. A silver-haired saint and a warrior in white were looking at her.

“I shall grant you a new light.”

Then, Estoria’s eyes were opened to holy love. Despite being a vampire, she dedicated all of herself to that goddess and offered her worship. Everything she did, she now did for the sake of the one who had blessed her with more love than she could ever receive. One of her fellow Apostles really got on her nerves, but it never went beyond mere squabbling. Strangely, she could not find it in her to actually hate the other girl.

She still kept her interest in guys, but it was nowhere near as fanatical and all-important to her as before. Rather, now that she was aware of how she often brought misfortune to those in her life, she came to spurn long-term relationships. The best ones were the ones that lasted only a single night.

After coming to adopt this way of thinking, she started acting like a wanton prostitute who always had a ticket to her bed to hand out. All for the sake of becoming someone who could easily whisper love and cut ties just as easily.

Then, the goddess bestowed upon her the Uprising skill, and she became a being surpassing what she had been in her previous life. The large majority of Abyssland fell under her hand.

To bring the story back to the present, this was the woman who had just sent out a giant, created from a motley assortment of living beings. A dragon and a misshapen demon also hovered in the air, looking down at Ange.

“Let’s get you back to Our Lady’s side, Ange.”

◇ ◇ ◇

The giant threw the first punch. The momentum caused a few beings to be shaken free from its body, but they did not seem to mind. Instead, they turned their attention to Gerard.

After easily dodging the approaching fist, Ange said, ::It’s so slow! But heads up, Gerard-san, quite a few of them went your way!::

::I am well aware!::

The knight had whittled down the number of vampire lords until there were only three left. Humans and monsters fell from the sky to take their places, but seeing as some failed to clinch the landing and groaned in pain, they were clearly not all well-trained fighters.

However, their strength lay in their numbers. Even now, more figures were appearing from Estoria’s coffin and crowding around the giant, trying to climb on.

::It’s going to take me quite a while to kill these vampire lords while also paying attention to everything around me. Ange, how are things on—::

Gerard looked up just in time to see his companion slipping past the giant to end the dragon and demon in the blink of an eye before charging directly at Estoria’s barrier.

“Wait, wait, wait, you can’t just ignore my Stampede Algos!”

“I’m an assassin, if you’ve forgotten! I go straight for the high-profile target!”

Despite Ange’s words, however, the giant that Estoria had created—which she called Stampede Algos—was now wrapped up in chains tied to swords tagged with explosive talismans. As she passed by, Ange had thrown the chains at the monster and tangled it up. The swords now protruded at regular intervals across its massive body, stuck deep into an unlucky few and mercilessly rooted in place due to the multiple nasty barbs at their ends.

KA-BOOOOOOOM!

And so began the explosions that followed the path of the chains, killing far more beings that made up Stampede Algos than were being added. With huge parts gouged out of it, the giant fell over.

Creator never told me about these weapons. So, she hasn’t simply let love go to her head, Estoria thought as she lifted her white staff. “Recovery Invo—”

“Too late.”

Before Estoria could finish casting her healing spell, Ange had already phased into Euthanasia. Even this barrier, which supposedly blocked all intrusion, meant nothing before Ange’s Uncontainable.

“This coffin perfectly blocks out the outside, right?”

“That’s ri— Huh?!”

Both of Ange’s hands held the same barbed swords with explosive talismans as before. With godlike speed, she covered the inside of the coffin with several layers of them while throwing a few in Estoria’s direction just often enough to keep her occupied.

“Do you plan on dying too, Assassin?” Estoria cried, desperately parrying the incoming attacks with Shion. She was capable of evading most physical attacks by turning parts of her body into bats and could heal herself in the blink of an eye even if she were poisoned. However, not even those abilities could save her from an explosion over a large area. One bat dying hardly affected her, but all her bats dying at the same time was another story.

“Don’t worry, it won’t affect me, so you can enjoy the fun all by yourself! Aha!”

Ange produced two new blades and struck them against each other as if striking a match. The high-pitched clang that rang out served as a trigger that set off all the talismans inside the coffin. Explosions rocked every inch inside—even though the barrier was half-transparent, all that was visible when looking in from the outside were blinding flashes of red and orange.

An instant later, the barrier faded away. It had not been destroyed; Estoria had dispelled it. Immediately, the explosions and roiling flames spread out to consume the rest of the space in the top of the room along with all the remaining monsters. The cathedral was having a pretty bad day, what with being enveloped in ice, shaken by explosions, and seared by flames.

“Ugh...” Estoria fell out of the cloud of smoke and flames, her previously porcelain-white skin now marred with black soot and her black wings bearing severe burns. She was still alive, albeit barely, thanks to her healing magic.

“I’VE BEEN WAITING, HONEY!” a manly voice shouted at her approach. It was Gerard, charging forward while roaring fiercely. The vampire lords and riffraff that had been harrying him before all lay on the ground, dead. “Or should I say, sorry to keep you waiting? It did take me quite a bit of time handling everything back there. But thanks to that, I’m now in top form!”

Demon Sword Dainsleif had been powered up by cutting down the vampires, and Gerard himself was being buffed by Glory Within Mine Hands. The Sword Guru was in perfect condition, standing ready with his greatsword clad in a howling whirlwind of magic and waiting for the perfect moment to strike with all the power he could muster.

“Oh no, darling, don’t get my hopes up. I’m the type to become pretty devoted when I get serious, I’ll have you know. But I admit, I didn’t exactly expect this...” For some reason, Estoria’s cheeks were blushing. However, she still had her staff held out.

“Salvation Ray!”

“Skyfall!”

Light rays bringing destruction fell far and wide, yet Gerard stood tall and proud, sending the whirlwind of magic gathered along the length of his blade flying with one mighty swing. The pitch-black slash called Skyfall swallowed all the light in its path, drawing even more strength in the process.

That is definitely going to reach me. Quickly discerning the danger that she was in, Estoria braced herself to turn into bats at just the right time. Just then, however, she felt a sudden pain in her back that messed up her timing. Before she knew it, that pain had pierced her heart. When she looked down, she found the source of her agony protruding from the left side of her chest—a sharp blade made of silver, one of the things vampires were vulnerable to.

“Assassiiiiin!”

“Cough, cough. You’re still not dead?”

Ange leaped down from the flames above, coughing. She had thrown the silver sword at Estoria while remaining hidden within the roiling orange mass. Due to having stayed inside longer than the duration of her Unique Skill allowed, she had been unable to get out unscathed. However, thanks to the explosions serving as cover, her use of Covert Action, and Gerard drawing away Estoria’s attention, she had managed to land one good, solid attack on her opponent.

“Now then, let’s have an endurance contest, shall we?” Gerard said before disappearing into the barrage of Salvation Ray. As he had just finished swinging his sword, he had no time to properly duck underneath his shield. However, his words carried a strength that belied his circumstances. And on Estoria’s side, she now had to deal with the present Gerard had left behind: Skyfall.

Oh no...he really is so wonderful!

In turn, Estoria disappeared into the darkness. Skyfall swallowed up Salvation Ray, Estoria, and all the flames still in the air, piercing the ceiling of the cathedral and burrowing deep into the hole it had cleft. The sound of something crumbling echoed back down.

::Where’s Estoria?:: Gerard looked around warily. He could not see even an arm of hers remaining, but that was no excuse to be careless. She had proven herself resilient enough to survive being beheaded and stabbed in the heart, after all.

Rightfully wary of their opponent’s vitality, Ange used her detection skills to scour their surroundings.

“Squeak...”

“THERE!”

Three bats that were likely parts of Estoria were all flying towards the giant that was now on its knees, approaching from three separate directions. Ange ignored her body’s screams of protest to charge forward for one last hunt. Unfortunately, just as she finished off her second bat, the third one reached its goal.

“Urgh!” Ange grunted in frustration.

Estoria laughed weakly, breathing heavily. “Close...but no dice, Assassin.” She had returned to her original form but was in an absolutely deplorable state. Half her body was gone, and what was left was covered in blood. However, she was now gathering her blood back from Stampede Algos—what she had once given out, she was taking back with interest. All of the living beings that made up the giant suddenly shrank and shriveled up, reverting to mere skin and bones at a visible rate. In exchange, a large amount of blood gathered above the palm of the single hand Estoria had left.

“As long as a single one of my bats remains, I can stay alive. I might not be Survivor’s equal in this regard, but I’m pretty confident in my survivability too. And with this blood that I’ve collected—”

“You’d make a full recovery?”

Rion suddenly appeared in front of Estoria. She’d had Covert Action activated for a while now, waiting for the perfect moment to strike. In a split second, all the blood that Estoria had gathered and her one remaining arm were reduced to dust by a flash of electricity. To follow up, Rion then blasted her surroundings with Absolute Purification.

◇ ◇ ◇

“Are you okay, An-nee?”

“Mm, I’m fine. My throat’s a bit singed, but I’ll have Kelvin heal it for me.”

Ange accepted the hand that Rion offered and stood up. Since the protection from the ice briars was gone, the ground now bore deep and treacherous holes from the spell cast by Estoria. The chamber was almost entirely buried in rubble, with nowhere stable to stand on top of.

Just then, one large piece of rubble shifted and was pushed aside. “Phew! Ugh, owww... Ah, I finally got out!”

Gerard emerged from the hole, all beaten up. He had used up every last drop of magic he had, and his armor was bent and broken in several places, but he still had a lot more energy than his appearance suggested.

“Hi, Gramps! Good work to you too. You okay there?”

“Ohhh, if it isn’t Rion! I’m fine...but not entirely fine! Can I have you ride on my shoulders?”

“I’m pretty sure that’s not something to do to an injured person,” Rion replied, pulling a wry face while clambering onto the shoulders of the old knight, who was now radiating happiness. “I’m sorry. I wanted to help out earlier, but...”

Ange waved a hand dismissively. “Don’t worry about it. It’s thanks to you we managed to finish this fight.”

Rion took a better look around the room. All the enemies in the air had been burned and blasted to death by Ange’s explosions, all the beings that had made up Stampede Algos had been wiped out when Estoria had stolen their blood earlier, and all the enemies on the ground had been taken care of thanks to Gerard’s efforts. Estoria herself had also been rendered entirely powerless. Ange and Gerard had suffered injuries that were going to need proper attention, but the battle was unmistakably their win.

“That’s right,” Gerard agreed, nodding. “At the end of the day, Rion really is wonderful.”

“Um...how so?” Rion tilted her head quizzically.

“In grandchild power.” Gerard’s face was entirely serious, though it could not be seen behind his helmet. Since he’d had his fill of skinship with his grandchild, he now carefully placed Rion back down on the ground.

A hoarse voice barely louder than a whisper spoke up. “That...wasn’t fair. To think...there was someone...else...hiding...”

The speaker was, of course, Estoria Kranweltz. Any other vampire hit with Rion’s Absolute Purification at point-blank range would have instantly turned to ash. There was no sign of this happening to Estoria, however, perhaps because she worshipped a goddess, or perhaps because she had received a blessing from one. Either way, she was extremely weakened but alive. It would have been easy to finish her off, but depending on one’s perspective, she could prove to be a valuable source of information. After all, she was privy to what had happened among the Apostles after Ange had left.

After a discussion, it was decided that she would be left alive until Kelvin arrived to pronounce judgment. He had already been informed through the Network and would be reaching them soon.

That said, for all they knew, this queen of vampires perhaps still had a way to heal herself. Therefore, the group stabbed her thrice with Lethal Opiate Sword to steal three of her senses—up to her sight—and a clone of Clotho swallowed her up and used Metalicize to turn into the most powerful metal it knew, continuously draining her MP. Consequently, Estoria’s MP was continually emptied out, rendering it impossible for her to cast spells. Her having 0 MP for an extended length of time likely also gave her some sort of debuff, but just to be triply sure, Rion called Alex out of her shadow and had him use his own shadows to tie up the Clotho clone.

Lastly, the group took away Shion and confiscated the Storage pouch hidden in Estoria’s cleavage. Rion got curious about what was inside, but the moment she peeked in, the contents started purifying at an alarming rate, so she gave up. In all likelihood, they were merely articles belonging to deceased beings that Estoria planned on reviving and a large number of monster corpses.

“All of you...are too lenient... You really should...kill me now...when you have...the chance...”

“That’s Kelvin’s call to make. We’re just gonna stay put and hold our position until then.”

“Well, I suppose this, too, is some form of fate. What do you say to some small talk?” Gerard lumbered over and sat down next to where Estoria lay on the ground, prompting a barely audible gasp from her.

Ange caught it and turned her way. “Huh? Hold on, Reviver. Why’s your face red?”

“I-It’s nothing. My burn wounds...just feel hot...that’s all...”

Estoria tried to look away, but because she was entirely immobilized, all she ended up moving was her gaze. However, that ended up with her looking directly at Gerard’s face. She was supposed to have lost her vision, but she got as flustered as if she could see. Perhaps she was sensing something beyond what could be viewed with the eyes.

An awkward atmosphere fell until Gerard, who actually could see, could not stand it any longer.

“Ah, that’s right! What’s happened to Princess?! I need to back her up!” He got up and whirled towards the wall of ice Melfina had erected.

“Mel-san already finished up a while ago,” Ange replied, giving him a teasing look that stopped him in his tracks. “She defeated the lich king. Didn’t you see the message in the log? She’s now focusing on healing Sister Atra.”

“Has spring finally come for you, Gramps?” Rion laughed. “Looks like Prettia-chan has a new rival.”

“Don’t misunderstand, Rion!” Gerard protested. “As I keep saying, I’m only dedicated to my wife—”

Ange sighed. “It’s already a complicated enough love triangle. I know I’m hardly the right person to say this, but Reviver, you fall in love way too easily.”

“Oh, shush...” Estoria replied, sounding embarrassed.

Before they knew it, the group was having fun just shooting the breeze. Although Estoria had forgotten what real romantic love was for the longest time, just a little bit of what had been suppressed in her heart had come back out. Whether that was a good thing or not was a different matter entirely, of course—if that part of her that had been mitigated by holy love was to be put into words, “manic love” would probably be most suitable.

Crack.

Suddenly, cracks started running through the wall that split the room, filling the air with the sound of splintering ice. Eventually, the tightly packed barrier of briars broke apart into chunks and came crashing down.

Gerard looked over. “Oh? Princess’s triumphant return.”

“Saved by the bell, eh, Gerard?” Ange chuckled.

“Like I said, that’s not it!”

“Mel-neeeee,” Rion called out playfully.

However, no answer came from beyond the crumbling wall of ice.

“Huh? Did she not hear me? I’ll use telepathy.” Rion tried to reach out to Melfina once again. “That’s...strange. She’s not replying to me.”

“Really? I feel her on the other side, though.” Ange directed her senses to the other side of the wall. As expected, the only presences she picked up were Melfina and Atra. And—

“What?!”

Nope, there was a third one.

“What happened, An-nee?”

“Everyone, prepare for battle! NOW! Argh, why?! How did this happen?!”

Ange sounded uncharacteristically flustered. Understanding that something serious had happened, Rion and Gerard promptly drew their weapons, and Alex bared his fangs.

Ange uploaded the detailed profile of the Apostle of the Fourth Seat onto the Network before calling out, “Why are you here, Protector?!”

When the wall fully fell away, it revealed Melfina on her knees, covered in wounds from head to toe, and a young girl sitting at the edge of the altar, smiling cheerfully. Next to her lay the nun Melfina was supposed to have saved, still lying on her back.

Protector, whose real identity was Serge Flore, the ancient Hero who had defeated Demon Lord Gustav, wore a pure white outfit and had a sweet face framed by black hair. The sword at her waist indicated that she was a swordswoman, but it was no normal sword. In fact, Rion had seen it before, and very recently, at that. Specifically, it looked extremely similar to the Holy Sword that one of the current Heroes, Kanzaki Touya, carried. Touya’s was more of a greatsword and Serge’s veered on being a slender longsword, but everything else, including the ornamentation and quality of the magic flowing through it, greatly resembled Holy Sword Will. The likeness was all the more obvious to Rion, who had fought against it recently.

Another detail that immediately caught the group’s attention was the strange shapes made of ice in the room. What looked like fierce fangs of ice covered the floor in a way that looked like they were running towards the altar where Serge sat but then suddenly veered off when they got close. Due to this, the area in a three-meter radius around the altar was entirely flat but framed by a giant bristling crevasse. The wall behind Serge also bore the scar of a dreadful attack.

“C’mon, that’s a pretty cold thing to say, Assassin. I decided to drop by after finishing a mission!”