Chapter 179 - Flower Language for You Part 3

Haruhime smiled and nodded.

"Kokonoe."

A different sort of magic power started gathering.

For the first time, her sorcery was being performed in the light of day.

"Beloved snow. Beloved crimson. Beloved white light."

The golden light reflected in countless mirrors watching the battle drew

the gaze of the masses. The adventurers in the city and the deities in Babel

were all drawn to the renart who had appeared out of nowhere.

"Please let me be beside you—this love I have found at the end of two

thousand nights."

Poetry and music, a stirring, brilliant performance. Her unfaltering

verses drew the gaze even of those on the battlefield.

"My name is Magic Fox, former destroyer. My name is Ancient Song,

former dreamer. For you who beat your wings like a bird, I shall allow the

nine spirits to dwell within me."

The einherjar found their target.

They realized she was the devil fox capable of killing them. They loosed

bloodcurdling howls, ready to do whatever it took to bring her down.

"Echo song of gold, sacred poem of Tamamo. White face, golden fur,

king of nine tails."

The Berbera roared. They fought like walking storms to prevent the

enemy from laying a hand on the girl who had once been their sister. And if

that poor little sister of theirs could howl with all her might, then they had

no choice but to raise an even greater battle cry.

"Oh, tails of the auspicious beast, consume all, grant all wishes"

Samira punched. More than anyone, she raged, punching the enemies,

kicking, shattering, destroying her own limbs in the process, but even so,

continuing to fight. Together with Lena, she drew a line in the sand and

refused to let any einherjar past.

"Grow."

Chained casting.

Finishing the special enchantment, she switched to the verse that Samira

and the others had heard countless times now.

"That power and that vessel. Breadth of wealth and breadth of wishes.

Until the bell tolls, bring forth glory and illusion. Grow."

She picked up speed.

Intoning the lines she had recited so many times as fast as she could,

Haruhime raced to the end.

"Confine divine offerings within this body. This golden light bestowed

from above. Into the hammer and into the ground, may it bestow good

fortune upon you."

The einherjar were using all their remaining strength while screaming

that they had to stop her.

The Berbera threw themselves into the fighting, shouting that they

would not let the enemy come near. Those who had already fallen stirred

once more, grabbing einherjar legs and dragging them down to the ground.

They couldn't advance. They were not allowed to.

They couldn't reach her. They were not allowed to.

At last, a howling beast person thrust with wild abandon.

Struck by the spear of a warrior far stronger than her, her shoulder

skewered, Samira smiled. She smiled even as she coughed up blood. And

grabbing on to Noga's chest, she hit him with a full-strength headbutt.

The headbutt crashed through his helmet and into his forehead. Falling

together with the white-eyed beastman, she murmured.

"Go."

"Grow."

Haruhime answered her.

The image of her sisters protecting her seared into her eyes, igniting her

tears as she sang.

"Uchide no Kozuchi—Dance!"

The highest tier of miracle had been activated.

Ahnya, Chloe, Runoa, Mikoto, Nahza, and Aisha.

Using all six tails that she was now able to control after her level-up, she

applied the strongest buff to their side. Adventurers with keen instincts and

omniscient deities perceived the trick of the massive buff that the coalition

had been receiving since the start of the battle. There was no going back.

Hearing Haruhime's resolve through the oculus mounted on one of her

hands, Lilly shouted.

"It's time!"

That was the only order. Sending up the signal along with the glittering

gold light, she threw her opening pitch. A black ball thrown by Lilly, falling

to where Runoa and the others were fighting the Gullivers.

Landing between the adventurers, it hit the stone pavement and

exploded forcefully.

"Smoke?!"

"A smoke bomb!"

It was a magic item.

Fels's high quality black mist that had even held off Loki Familia when

they were saving the Xenos. The mysterious black smoke writhed like a

living creature, entangling their limbs, made them lose sight not just of their

enemies, but even of one another.

"Insolent!"

"Trying to disrupt our coordination?"

The pitch-black fog was almost sticky, clinging to their bodies, shutting

out all sensory information. It blocked sight and even scent. Sound was the

only sense still fully functioning. The brothers who prized their telepathic

connection were, for once, alone.

"—Futsu no Mitama!"

The next instant, a powerful gravity weighed on them. The tremendous

pressure flowing from above pushed their bodies to the ground.

""""Ghhhhhh?!""""

Mikoto's magic, enhanced by the level boost. The full-strength knockout

blow of a pseudo–Level 3 was enough to slow down the massively debuffed

Level 5s.

The magical black smoke was compressed by the deluge of gravity as

well, creating a mysterious situation that made their connection even more

difficult to maintain for the brothers. The damage was gradually building

up, but they could still escape. A cage of this level wasn't enough to bring

down the Bringar.

The problem was choosing which direction to escape in. In all

likelihood, the enemy was waiting outside the cage of gravity and darkness

to attack them when they popped out. If they leaped out in different

directions, it was sure to lead to them being defeated in detail. All four of

them had to escape together. Just as the seed of impatience started to take

root, with a tremendous gravity slowly eating away at their endurance…

"Two o'clock! No enemies to the northeast!"

—Berling's voice!

The third brother was the best of them all at detecting threats. Hearing

his callout, Alfrik, Dvalinn, and Grer immediately responded. The first-tier

adventurers, who had maintained a firm grasp of where they were standing

before being trapped in a cage of darkness, made their escape with fearsome

leg strength and an unshakeable internal compass.

Breaking free from the gravity well's grasp, first Dvalinn, then Grer,

then Alfrik, and finally Berling leaped from the cage.

"They came out! Get them!"

Adventurers immediately leaped at them.

Obeying Aisha's command, Runoa and Chloe joined, attacking from

three sides.

It was only natural. The enemy could hear Berling, too. Even if the

enemy wasn't lying in wait in that direction, they would immediately react,

so there was no time to carefully confirm the situation.

But that was trivial to the Bringar. A mere trifle.

As long as they could see one another, each of them knew without a

doubt that their brothers would do something. And they would know what

they should do, too. The instantaneous consolidation of information was the

essence of their limitless coordination.

Alfrik attacking the Amazon's podao with his spear.

Dvalinn shattering the cat's knife with his battle hammer.

Berling slashing the human and her fists with his battle ax.

Leaving Grer free to unleash a spinning slash with his greatsword to

mow all three of them down.

Sharing that foresight with each other in an instant, Bringar put it into

action.

"Haaaa!"

"Futile!"

Alfrik's spear knocked away Aisha's podao.

"Nyaaa!"

"Futile!"

Dvalinn's hammer shattered the cat's knife, sending shards flying.

"Raaaaaaaah!"

"Futile, we said!"

And Runoa, who was trying to punch Grer, was cut down by Berling's

ax.

That was the end.

Or at least, it was supposed to be.

"Oraaaaaaaaaaaaaa!"

"Gah?!—Eh?"

Runoa's iron fist landed straight in Grer's side as he was starting to wind

up for his attack.

Time stopped. A fatal static appeared in their minds. Their limitless

coordination had been disrupted.

"What are you doing, Berling?!"

Alfrik roared at the back of the formation behind him as he swung

around.

In an instant, he saw it. Berling was moving in entirely the wrong

direction. He saw his younger brother, his sand-colored helmet and armor,

empty-handed.

His mind went blank.

"—,—Gh, —Ghhh?!"

The black mist was wriggling.

And then he saw it, inside the darkness.

Berling had been trapped in the middle of the gravity field, tied to the

ground so tightly that he couldn't even raise his voice.

"" ""

Alfrik's shock and that fragment of information were shared with

Dvalinn and Grer, too.

It was intentional. They had intentionally let Alfrik, Dvalinn, and Grer

escape the cage. The pitch-black barrier of gravity hadn't been aimed at all

four of them from the start—it was targeting just one of them. A prison to

hold only one.

A magic box to switch the original for a fake!

Feeling the world around him slow to a crawl, Alfrik shouted.

"—What are you?!"

He immediately swung his spear. The being who had taken his brother's

shape held up their left arm to protect their head from the attack. The

resulting damage was enough to dispel the magic, and as the particles of

grayish light fell away, what appeared was a prum girl.

Lilliluka Erde?!

The transformation magic, Cinder Ella. The child's play granted to Lilly

alone. But she used that child's play to turn things around.

—Impossible—

Alfrik was speechless as Lilly's bloodshot eyes lost focus. Her feet

floated off the ground and flew to the side as her light body was batted

away at furious speed. Her flesh tore, and the bones in her left arm easily

shattered, igniting a searing pain in her head—but she didn't cry.

Don't cry—!!!

She swallowed the pathetic scream she had partially let out, the tears she

had cried when her arm had been broken by Alfrik before, and instead

reached out to grab her chance at victory.

I'm the commander!!!

She had sacrificed adventurers and used deities as bait. So the last thing

she used was herself. She offered up her powerless body without complaint.

She cast away all doubt and tears. It was only right to use herself as one

more card they could play. The commander who had engraved Braver's

teachings in her heart let out a roar for victory.

As long as the four of them are together, there is no hope…

The answer she had reached before. It was the ultimate and hopeless

conclusion to the four warriors' coordination.

—But if even one of them is missing, there will be an opening!

But there was an even simpler answer beyond that hopeless conclusion.

If they just removed one of the four, their infinite coordination would

become finite.

Their world was over. The high-speed thoughts that they alone shared,

the accelerated perceptions came to an end.

Lilly's right hand was already reaching into her pouch, holding it.

Sensing they were in a dangerous position, Alfrik, Dvalinn, and Grer were

already regrouping.

But Lilly's hand was faster. The three brothers tried to gather up,

ignoring Aisha and the others, when something was thrown in their midst—

a single bottle. It was a present from Asfi.

Burst oil.

"""Gah?!"""

They were sent flying in three different directions. The bloom of fire and

energy sent the prum warriors to the east, south, and north. Lilly rolled

across the ground as the Bringar were completely separated.

It was the ultimate opportunity and the perfect chance for a

counterattack.

"You have any idea how much you've done to me all these years?"

"Ghh?!"

East.

A woman appeared in front of Grer as he used his sword to stand back

up. Short beige hair rustled in the breeze. The knuckles on her gloves were

soaked in blood.

This was the avenger who had kept challenging and losing to Bringar

until today.

Runoa's eyes flared as she glared at her hated enemy.

"Time to pay it all back, with interest!"

"D-don't look down on meeeee!"

Runoa came head-on, and Grer charged to meet her.

He swung his sword to cut her down just like he had during the Goddess

Festival.

Then Runoa suddenly stopped.

" "

Not failing to notice that Grer was on edge and rushing to settle things

after being separated from his brothers, she slipped to the side, letting his

swing pass her by harmlessly. The fist-fighter unleashed a quality feint

followed by a hail of punches that contained everything she had been

holding on to for so long.

"Doooaaa!"

A body blow with her right. Coming up from below, scraping the

ground, it smashed into Grer's stomach. Grer's body bent at the impact

point as a rush of punches followed.

"Without your stupid coordination, you aren't shit!"

A storm of punches.

Straight, hook, uppercut, elbow, backfist. She tore into Grer's body from

all angles, destroying the greatsword that slipped from his hands, smashing

his helmet, shattering even his armor. She didn't let his body land back on

the ground as she kept him floating in the air with an explosive combo.

"Gaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa

aaaaa?!"

—Back when Orario was still shrouded in chaos, there had been a

bounty hunter.

Hailing from outside the city, she had made a name for herself using

only her fists, taking down many upper-class adventurers. She had been

invincible, until she met the Bringar.

She was obsessed with head-on fights, and her gauntlets were stained a

reddish black from the blood of her targets. Because of that, she came to be

known by the alias Black Fist. She didn't use any magic or anything of the

sort. She just defeated her enemies with the pure strength of her punches—a

thoroughbred infighter.

"Rot in helllllllll!"

Her finisher was a punch swung downward into Grer's chest, slamming

him down to the ground and exploding the stone pavement beneath him.

"Gahaaaah?!"

Buried in the cratered ground, the prum coughed up blood. His helmet

and visor were gone as his eyes glazed over and his head slumped to the

ground.

"Yeaaaah! You see that?"

She traced the wounds from where she had been cut by his sword, and

cracked her knuckles.

The girl who was quicker to start a fight than anyone grinned

victoriously.

"Grer?!"

West.

Seeing his brother laid low by the immediate assault, Dvalinn shouted.

"Should you really be worrying about your brother right meow?"

"Gh?!"

There was a cat's meow from behind him.

Chloe had a scornful sneer on her face as she leaped at him.

"That's more like it!"

A sandy wind from the burst oil blast kicked up a gust of sand. A

surprise attack burst out from behind, but Dvalinn managed to react.

Swinging his massive hammer, he shattered the rash cat. Chloe's entire

body literally shattered to pieces.

"?!"

"Felis Kurus."

Dvalinn was stunned by the splintering cat's body for just an instant

before he heard the name of the spell whispered in his ear. The super-short

cast spell had already been completed Illusion magic?!

The cat disappeared in a glimmer as the real surprise attack closed in on

Dvalinn.

"UuuuwwooooooAAAAAA!"

But Dvalinn even managed to react to that, attacking Chloe, who was

lunging at him from overhead.

He shattered her.

"Tooooo bad. There can be three illusions."

"—Gah?!"

The real Chloe calmly stepped out from where the first illusion had

leaped out of the dust.

Dvalinn had lost ruined his posture attacking the second illusion, and

she tore into his back while he was off balance. The weapon she used to cut

him was a dagger with an eerie purplish-black color, unlike the knife that

had been shattered before.

"This one's called Violator, meow. It's my special toy that's absorbed

aaaaall sorts of poisons and venoms from monsters in the Dungeon."

The prum just managed to hang on and was about to insult the cat

boasting about her demonic weapon. He was about to yell, As if that would

work on me.

"—Gahhh?"

But the words refused to come. A spray of crimson spilled from his lips.

"You wanted to say how poison wouldn't work on a proud first-tier

adventurer's super-trained body, didn't you? Toooooo bad, soooooo sad."

But Chloe just purred in satisfaction. A top-class cruel, spiteful, sadistic,

evil smirk on her face.

"Even your antipoison abilities are no good thanks to Ahnya's magic."

" "

Dvalinn froze as he learned the details about Ahnya's magic that he had

fatally not known before. A terrible amount of hideous, black blood started

welling up in the prum's mouth while a Cheshire grin appeared on the cat's

lips.

"And meow that you're like that…even I can beat you up."

"Giii, aaaaAAAAARRRRRRRRRRRGHHHH?!"

The poison dagger danced. Slashes aimed perfectly at the gaps in his

armor tore into his arms and legs. Every blow laid into him with even more

poison, making blood flow from every opening on his body, until he finally

collapsed.

"Gaha…gugh…gaaaaaah…?! Ugh?!"

And as he lay on the cracked stone pavement, the cat's heel landed on

his cheek.

"How does it feel?"

"Gaaaah…?!"

"How do you feel being walked all over by an enemy you thought was

nothing?"

—There was an assassin who had been active during the same time as

Black Fist.

A woman who was always careful to hide her identity, never

approaching a fight straight on, using every trick in the book, who

contributed greatly to the city's wet work industry.

A dancing poison blade and a cat's tail. If you heard her purr, you were

already dead. Her alias was Black Cat, the exact opposite of Black Fist,

who loved head-on fights. Chloe put her hand to her hot cheek and

shuddered in exhilaration as she ground her heel into the first-tier

adventurer's face.

In a word, she was evil.

"Because right now, I feel great."

"Uooooooooooh!"

"Ghhh?!"

After gathering all of his strength inside the barrier, Berling finally

broke free from Mikoto's Futsu no Mitama, which had been focused on the

tiniest area possible.

As the cage of gravity shattered, magic power exploded, and the black

mist started dispersing.

Berling was stunned to see his brothers scattered in all directions.

I have to go to them—

"Shadow moves. Darkness falls. Mine armless self is decay embodied."

"!"

But just then, as he was preparing to relieve his brothers, a different cast

stopped him.

The chienthrope…that sharpshooter!

Nahza had only taken shots with her bow up to this point, only to reveal

an unknown magic at the last moment. Berling's unease flared as he swiftly

changed angles, expecting another trick coming.

"Evil bugs, infested flesh, disgraced spirit. Silver tormented by writhing

wings' flutter."

"You traaaaash!"

The distance was closed in an instant. He swung the battle ax he would

never allow himself to let go of down straight at Nahza. The cast was

complete, but his attack would be faster than her magic.

I won't let you do anything else!

As if anticipating Berling's decisive slash, Nahza had held out her right

arm.

"Gh?!"

Even though his abilities were lowered, it was still the attack from a

first-tier adventurer that would send her whole arm flying. But instead, his

attack was ground to a halt by an incredibly solid resistance.

"Wha—a silver arm?!"

The gleam of metal through her torn sleeve and glove. A man-made

arm.

Airgetlám.

Berling hadn't bothered to research the unimportant trash among his

enemies, so this discovery caught him totally by surprise. It was halfsevered, but the airgetlám's multiple joints ensnared his ax like a silver

snake.

"It's fine, you can have it."

Evading the one attack at the cost of her prosthetic arm, she squinted at

the scattering fragments.

It's worth the price.

The chienthrope offered up the prosthetic without any regrets, even

though the massive loans that had been taken out for it were far from being

paid back. It was all so she could activate her one and only magic.

"Darbh Daol!"

Vibrant black particles spewed out of her broken silver arm, almost

looking like a horrifying swarm of insects. Activated at such a short range,

there was no time to evade, and the wave of black swallowed the prum's

body. There was no damage. Instead, he experienced a terrible fatigue.

Another anti-status?!

Nahza's magic had an anti-status effect just like Ahnya's. She had

manifested it when she lost her right arm, when both her body and spirit had

been battered beyond belief. Ironically, it was an emblem of decay, sparked

by the indebtedness that had so troubled her familia and even tormented

Miach.

"All of youuuu?!"

Berling raged as his status dropped even more from the stacked debuffs.

Shaking of the airgetlám ensnared around his ax, this time, he swung to

lay Nahza low.

But before he could.

"I am in your debt, Lady Nahza—"

"?!"

Overhead.

Mikoto flew through the air with her hand on her longsword resting in

its sheath.

Nahza was a decoy to keep Berling from joining up with the other

Gulliver brothers. To keep him from restoring their coordination, she had

intentionally cast her spell in a loud voice, drawing his aggro.

Entrusted with the finishing blow, Mikoto responded with her full

strength.

"Zekka!"

"Gaaaaaah?!"

The slash erupted, running through Berling.

The quick-draw taught directly by the war god dealt a critical blow to

the first-tier adventurer whose status had been lowered to the limit. There

was a thud as the prum collapsed. And also a thud as Nahza collapsed from

losing her prosthetic and the aftereffect of her magic.

The last girl standing, after a moment's regret, sheathed her sword.

"Grer, Dvalinn, Berling?!"

Finally, in the south.

Seeing all of his younger brothers defeated one by one, Alfrik was

overcome by shock.

They planned this from the start…!

Somehow or another, Lilly had gotten a firm grasp on Bringar's habits

and idiosyncrasies, including the knowledge that Berling was particularly

skilled at detection. And on top of that, she had observed them as much as

possible during this war game. Anything less and they would have seen

through her when she pretended to be their brother.

She even used that up-close experience during the Goddess Festival

attack…to trick us?!

With her one and only weapon, Lilly had waited all this time for the

moment when she could catch them.

Seeing her at the edge of his vision, limp and lying weakly on the

ground, this time Alfrik really was speechless.

"Come, reckless conqueror."

"Gh?!"

As he struggled to shake off the shock, he was attack by both a podao

and concurrent casting. Aisha charged in with everything she had, not

letting the opportunity that Lilly and the others had created go to waste.

His three younger brothers were already down. All that remained was

Alfrik, standing all alone. The defeat in detail that Lilliluka Erde had aimed

for had blown away their infinite coordination. The girl that Alfrik had

acknowledged on the day of the Goddess Festival had defeated the Bringar.

"—My famished blade is Hippolyta."

Aisha pushed her chant through to the end, her body covered in

scratches from his spear's tenacious resistance.

"Hell Kaios!!!"

"Ghhh?!"

A vertical slash swung down from high above. He immediately readied

his spear horizontally to defend. There was a cross formed as he caught the

sword with his spear's haft. But that was the end of it.

A crimson wave erupted from her blade.

"DgggghaaaaaAAAAAAAAAaaaaaaaaaaa?!"

A magic blade far bigger than his body hit him directly, sealing Alfrik's

fate. His spear split in half, and he slammed straight into the wall of the

mausoleum.

"—We did it, shrimp!"

Aisha roared in victory as the last of the Bringar fell.

Runoa, Chloe, Mikoto, and Nahza cheered as well, and sitting on the

ground, Haruhime flashed a sweaty smile, too.

"Thank you…everyone…!"

Lilly, who was barely holding on to consciousness from the pain of the

compound fractures in her arm, managed to return to her senses at the

sound of victory. Pulling her face up off the ground, she looked around,

confirming the state of the battlefield.

The reserve squad was completely knocked out except for Haruhime.

But the Berbera had managed to drag the einherjar down to hell with them.

With the Gulliver brothers out of the battle, too, all that remained was

Allen, who was still fighting with Ahnya.

"Gh…someone!"

There was just a single first-tier adventurer left. They could manage

something themselves. They would manage something themselves.

So she squirmed, bringing her right arm and the oculus in her hand up to

her mouth.

Her body was covered in blood and dust as she raised her voice as loud

as she could, pleading to the whole army.

"Is there anyone who can still move?!"

"The enemy's main battle force is almost wiped out! All that remains are

Warlord and Vana Freya!"

Her voice resounded across the city ruins.

"Mr. Bell's group is taking care of Warlord! We are holding down Vana

Freya!"

She called on her allies using the oculi scattered all around the

battlefield.

"Anyone who can still move, go west! Go toward Lady Freya to support

Mr. Bell! This is our one and only chance! Take the goddess's flower! Bring

us victory! Please…anyone!!!"

Lilly's voice fell on the broken weapons and unconscious adventurers.

There was no movement at all from any einherjar or any of the

adventurers who hadn't yet been recovered by Ganesha Familia. Not a

single one moved. The long-ago-abandoned ruins were silent. The warriors

who had spent their last energy in the face of their end couldn't answer her

plea.

"Someone…anyone…!"

"Lilly…!"

The only one who could hear the voice echoing from the crystal,

Cassandra, wept.

She had given up her right to fight. She had surrendered to Hegni to save

Daphne.

She cursed herself, regretting not fighting to the end like her friend had

said, as she hugged Daphne's still-unconscious body tight. The girl's voice

desperately reaching out toward victory echoed hollowly in the blue sky

hanging over the ruins.

".........Gh."

His eyelids twitched. Kicking aside the desire to linger in the comforting

darkness, he forcibly woke himself up. He didn't have the strength to

answer her voice. But he should be able to answer her plea.

So he moved his body. But it wouldn't move how he wanted. He was

half-dead, just like all of the other adventurers around him who had burned

the last bit of their strength. It was amazing he even managed to open his

eyes. His consciousness was fuzzy and faded in and out several times.

So he relied on items. With a slow, listless movement, he pulled the

elixir the chienthrope had completed out of the pouch at his hip. But even

so, it took all of his will just to turn his head to the side. Since he couldn't

do anything else, he poured it out on the stone his cheek was lying against.

Like someone starving for water lapping at mud, he slurped pathetically

at the puddle of elixir.

Finally some energy returned to his limbs. He wasn't close to fully

healed, but he had some energy again. So he could move. Even if he

couldn't stand, he could crawl across the ground. Picking up the weapon

that had fallen near his hand, he dragged himself miserably but surely in the

direction of the goddess.

"…"

Hedin watched that scene in silence.

He didn't speak. He didn't lend a hand. Instead, he didn't get in his way.

If someone with determination was moving forward, even if it meant

going on hands and knees, then no matter how unsightly it might be, Hedin

wouldn't stop them. Because that was the proof of a person struggling to be

useful.

For the same reason, he hadn't intervened in Lilly and Aisha's group's

furious battle. At first, he had butted in unnecessarily. But they were far

more capable than he had expected. And with their own strength, they had

laid the Gullivers low. All that remained was a single chariot.

So the location he needed to go was already settled.

As he was about to turn—

"He…din…!"

"…"

A dark elf whose body was battered called out.

Swallowed up by the flower of flames, the battle clothes on the right

side of his upper body had been scorched away. His slender but well-trained

abs and chest were bare. The look of a loser. His dark skin had been

atrociously burned and charred.

Holding his wounds, wheezing in pain, Hegni glared at Hedin.

"What are you…doing…?! Why would you betray…Lady Freya…?!"

"…I already answered that question for Heith."

"Me! Right now! I'm the one asking you!"

Using his entire battered body, Hegni shouted furiously.

His magic was already dispelled. These were not the words of the lord

of war who dominated the battlefield. These were Hegni Ragnar's own

words that he was unleashing on the white elf, whose expression went

blank.

"Don't screw with me, Hedin…! It was Lady Freya who saved us both,

wasn't it! When we were fighting on that accursed island…!"

"…"

"She was the one who freed us from the shackles of being king, wasn't

she?!"

The elf in front of him slammed him with the memories of days past, of

the scene the day they had sworn loyalty to the goddess.

When he opened his eyes and finally learned that Hedin had betrayed

them, it was Hegni who had felt the greatest shock. The dark elf bared his

anger as tears welled in his eyes. He swung his trembling fist.

"And yet youuuu!!!"

There was a dry sound.

A first-tier adventurer could easily have evaded it, but Hedin had

allowed Hegni's wounded fist to strike his cheek.

Because the dark elf had the same origin as him, because he alone had

the right to lay his hands on him. That was his quiet statement as the glasses

flew from his face and clattered to the ground.

"Even though we—If nobody else, we—We should never betray her!"

"Don't push your luck, idiot."

"—Ghfeh?!"

But even that was tolerated only once.

The stern elf punched him back, as if to say there was no right to a

second punch.

Already barely hanging on, Hegni took the solid punch to the cheek and

almost went groggy just from that.

"What are you blathering about after getting your ass so miserably

kicked by a child of an elf. As if you could hope to match me as you are

now."

"Whoa, ghhh, argh?! S-stop! Please! You're always like this, Hedin!

Argh, ow, ow, ow, wait!"

To top it off, he swept Hegni's feet out from under him, sending him

tumbling to the ground, and then began to stomp on him over and over. The

dark elf cried for the ultra-rationalist white elf to have mercy.

"Why did I commit my sin? Because it was necessary."

"Gh…?"

"As she is now, it will be lost to Lady Freya. The wish that she will

never again be able to attain."

Hegni looked up, stunned at Hedin's answer after he stopped kicking

him.

"Because I concluded that Lady Freya cannot be saved without that

stupid rabbit."

"!!!"

"And so I trained it up until today. I continued tailoring it, so as not to be

swallowed up inside her gilded cage. Whatever the result, there is no future

to it. The goddess's love cannot fulfill her wish."

That was why Hedin had visited so much suffering onto Bell.

In the event that a stout wall was built around him, he could pretend to

be the same sort of merciless warrior as Allen and the others on the surface,

while training Bell's spirit and body to the limit. Because he sensed that it

would be necessary, regardless of whether the wall was broken down or not.

Even if he hadn't predicted a great familia war like this, in the future that

Hedin Selrand envisioned, Bell Cranell would still have to reject the

goddess's love.

Kicking the boy down into hell, pushing him to the breaking point,

overlooking his exchange with Mia after slipping the familia's surveillance

—all of it had been intentional.

He hadn't needed to steel his heart to do it. Because he had that intention

from the first moment he approached Bell.

The journey that had begun with the boy's reconstruction in the lead-up

to the Goddess Festival, all of it accumulated to the goddess. That was why

Freya hadn't suspected Hedin's loyalty. Because his statement that the

rebellion he was currently perpetrating was all for his master's sake wasn't

a lie.

"Saved…? Wish…? What are you talking about, Hedin?!"

"Quit playing dumb, you fool."

"Gh?!"

"I'm sure you've noticed it, too. You played at being a king just like me,

so even if you can't understand, you should be able to feel it."

His coral-red eyes pierced Hegni.

"If it's not that stupid rabbit, she won't be set free. Because she chose

him."

"Gh…!"

"I don't know whether she can really be saved. That fool has already

hurt her several times. But even so…we cannot be the ones to do it. So we

can do nothing but allow it."

There was almost a resignation in Hedin's cold voice as Hegni steadied

himself with wobbly arms and stood up.

"What is that…what are you saying, Hedin?!"

"The truth."

"Don't screw with me! We just have to protect her! Just like we've

always done! We can just support her, be her hands and feet —!"

"—Accept the truth already!"

"!"

Hedin grabbed Hegni's ragged chest and pulled him close.

"You understand it, too! Even if we protect the goddess, we can't ever

save her!" Hegni's eyes widened all the way as Hedin continued shouting.

"Quit dressing it up in pretty words and just say what you really think! You

just don't want to let anyone else have your beloved goddess!"

"Gh…?! Wh-what…"

"Of course I understand it! I feel the same!"

Hedin's violent tone and his true feelings robbed Hegni of all escape.

"Why him?! Why not me?! I wanted to be the one who was special to

her!"

It happened the first time he had seen Syr and Bell together. When he

saw one of her smiles, Hedin had been shaken to his core. It was a childlike,

joyous, irreplaceable smile, as if she had forgotten being a goddess.

Along with that shock, he also understood that that smile was the true

her. And he was immediately jealous. Of none other than Bell Cranell.

Why that brat? Why him?

But—he realized the reason.

Goddess Freya had given Hedin and all of them love.

A love that no mortal could ever match, a love like the sea, wide and

deep, enveloping all those who wished for it.

But " "…

That could only be directed at one person.

Because she was the goddess of love.

Because she presided over love, she didn't know what it meant to " ,"

and so she was a clumsy, pitiful girl.

"But we can't! We who worship the goddess! Who were saved by her!

Who desire her! We can't set her free!"

Yearning for the goddess, they fought for love and to be loved. That

pushed her away from the truth. It pushed her away from her wish. The

more she tried to be a goddess, the more Freya's wish wouldn't be fulfilled.

She wouldn't be able to even notice her true wish.

"What devotion! What retainer would I be if I didn't consider my

master's wish!! What is love if I can't even protect her smile!" Hegni's

hand trembled as if it was spasming. The gaze right before his eyes

hammered him with an unvarnished resolve. "Hegni, lend me your strength!

If you will allow yourself to be deceived by my nonsense, then help me!"

"Gh…!"

"To save the woman I wanted to save—to free her from the goddess's

yoke!"

Without his glasses, every trace of his logical mask was gone. Struck by

his rival's raw emotions, Hegni slumped. The strength drained from his

arms and they dangled limply.

"…I'll let you trick me, Hedin."

And then, Hegni smiled.

"Because I'm an idiot. I don't know what's right or what's wrong.

Because I was a fruitless king who only ever drifted with the flow of things.

—There had been two pitiful kings.

On a desolate island divided between white and dark elves killing one

another, they had been raised up to the head of their peoples and killed at

the demands of their loyal followers.

Scared of others, the dark king had been unable to go against his

comrades, and even as he cursed his own weak will, he fulfilled the duty he

had been given. The white king, who despised incompetence was a slave to

his pride, and unable to abandon his duty because of that pride, he was a

puppet to his small world.

Both of them trapped by the symbolic meaning of the word "king," they

had thought that at least if they could slay the opposing king, there would

have been some meaning to their existence. The black sought the white

king, and the white sought the black king. That was their only wish.

"Sorry I destroyed your countries. They were just too unsightly."

However, the goddess had saved them.

Destroying that island of miserable fairies, the goddess had set both

kings free. No matter how much anyone else might criticize what she had

done or curse her as a witch, those two elves alone worshipped her. Because

to free them from the shackles of being king, for just their sake, she had

become a witch.

Having lost their need to be king, Hegni and Hedin kneeled before the

goddess and swore their devotion. On that day, both kings died—and the

white and black knights were born.

"I'm just trash, always leaving my fate to others. But…!"

Putting his right hand on Hedin's hand, which was grabbing his chest, he

clenched it and shouted.

"But even so, I didn't know Miss Syr could…that she could smile like

that!"

He shared his resolve, remembering, just like Hedin, how she had

smiled like an innocent young girl in front of that boy.

"If she can smile like that, then I want her to always be smiling! So I'll

fall for your nonsense!"

Looking back, the white elf's lips curled as the dark elf shouted as if it

was a competition. It was a real smile, one he hardly ever showed. The sort

only Hegni would recognize.

"You go south. Do something about Allen. He's too much for them

alone."

"Got it…What will you do, Hedin?"

"That's obvious."

He pulled an elixir from his cloak and put it to his lips and then picked

his glasses up from the ground. As they turned away from each other, Hedin

looked to the northwest.

"I'll remove the greatest obstacle."

The eastern end of the main battlefield.

"Chloe, help Ahnya! Hurry!"

"I know, meow!"

Runoa's and Chloe's voices rang out over a field where einherjar,

Berbera, and the Gulliver brothers lay fallen. The only enemy left was Vana

Freya. Ahnya was still holding out, but she was gradually being pushed

back. As much as his abilities might be lowered, it was practically a miracle

that she had managed to hold out even that long.

Just as they started to run toward Ahnya—a spearhead came flying

through the air.

"Whoa!"

"What meow?!"

They leaped back as the pitch exploded into the spot where they had

been just one second earlier.

The remnants of a long spear whose haft had been broken in half stuck

out of the ground. It had been thrown by a lone prum.

"I won't…let you…"

Alfrik had stood up, his body such a bloody mess they couldn't

understand how he was able to move.

Aisha's Hell Kaios had broken his spear and sliced through his armor,

leaving a deep, vertical gash in the right side of his chest, staining his battle

clothes crimson. Part of his helmet was missing, revealing his left eye; he

winced as fresh blood dribbled over it. With his small body, he looked like a

battered tin soldier toy.

But even so, the last brother of the Bringar was standing.

"You…! Are you not dead yet?! You have an immortal body or

something?!"

Aisha was caught between shock and annoyance as Ruona and Chloe

leaped into action.

"Don't get in our way! Just take a nap!"

"Hmph, missed the memo? Then I'll perform your last rites!"

Even if he was barely standing, they couldn't risk turning their backs on

a first-tier adventurer. Runoa charged in, fists flying, and Chloe followed up

with a cliché villain line.

Empty-handed, Alfrik reached his hands out to his younger brother's

weapons which were sticking out of the ground like tombstones. He drew

Grer's greatsword with his right hand, Dvalinn's battle ax with his left, like

a thunderclap.

""Gh?!""

Runoa's eyes widened at an attack sure to kill her, and all traces of

composure disappeared from Chloe's expression. There was a sudden, loud

crash as they defended themselves with gauntlets and knife, getting

knocked back by the blow.

"Both of them?!"

"Youuuu!"

Even as Nahza was shouting, Aisha had already charged in. Mikoto

drew her blade, Shunsan. Runoa and Chloe immediately leaped to their feet

and started running, an entirely different look in their eyes. All trace of

carelessness was gone as they swarmed the prum to make him taste defeat

again.

"I won't let you…"

But he refused to fall.

"I won't let you…!"

Not only that, he swept away the two humans with his greatsword while

pushing back the Amazon and cat person with the battle ax.

"—I won't let you go!!!"

Even if his back was cut, even if his shoulder was stabbed, the prum

wouldn't fall.

"So long as we are here, we will never let you reach Lady Freya!"

Howling what sounded almost like a vow, Alfrik transformed into a

blood-drenched asura. His eyes were hollow. It wasn't even clear if he was

fully conscious. He seemed almost a revenant. But after being pushed to the

very limit, he revealed a hidden reserve of strength that left them all

speechless.

Bringar's tenacity…

Collapsed on the ground, Lilly watched that monstrous scene unfold.

The shades of his fallen brothers—of Dvalinn, Berling, and Grer—at

Alfrik's back. With him wielding their weapons, they continued to fight.

They were still the Bringar.

Her face paled as she saw the first-tier adventurer, steeped in anti-status,

having lost his infinite coordination, still forming a wall that stood in their

way.

"Gh…enough already, meow!"

"We have to get to Syr!"

Losing their patience with the prum who still kept fighting, Chloe and

Ruona both shouted.

The next instant, Alfrik's rage exploded, as if set off by that name.

"Shut up! What Syr! What girl! She is Lady Freya!!!"

His eyes flared, his face twisted in wrath, overwhelming the two girls.

"She is a goddess, now and forever! She will never stoop to being a

mere girl!"

"Th-that's not for you to decide! Syr was always with us!"

"Even if it was a goddess's whims, that was what Syr herself wanted!

You're just spouting your own selfish wish!"

Runoa and Chloe slammed their arguments back into him along with a

fist and knife, but his will remained unshaken.

"Even if that's true! As the girl, she can be hurt, can't she?!"

""!""

"At this very moment, she's sad, isn't she!!!"

Runoa and Chloe were speechless at what came out of Alfrik's mouth, at

the words of a faithful retainer who had guessed his master's feelings.

"If she is a goddess, then she cannot be hurt! No matter the brutality, no

matter the cruelty! Because she is the absolute monarch! The goddess won't

cry!"

Aisha, Mikoto, and Nahza froze, too, dumbstruck.

"But if she becomes a girl, she can be easily hurt! That's what it means

to be a woman! That's what the mortal realm is! If she isn't a goddess, she

could be easily broken!"

Alfrik had lost his armor and the defenses of rationality as he vented the

feelings deep in his heart.

"Bell! He will surely hurt her! And you! You all will deceive her and

bring her sadness in the end! So, we! We want her to remain the goddess!"

That was Alfrik and his three brothers' bare, honest feeling.

The roiling swell of emotion shattered the stopper on his heart.

The boundary between present and past faded as his eyes filled with

regret.

"We disgraced her…!"

Each of his brothers shed a tear on the ground all around him.

"Because of us, she was defiled!"

—There were four prums.

The brothers born in an industrial town were highly skilled craftsmen.

It was a common tale. A greedy manager exploiting ignorant but

talented workers. Those unselfish brothers were being used by the dwarf

who was their intermediary for work, knowing almost nothing of the world

outside the cave where they were closed away. They didn't even notice they

were being exploited, that the reward for their work wasn't even close to

fair. Then a goddess appeared before them.

"I would like a necklace made by you. Could you please do that for

me?"

Free of avarice and self-interest, they were satisfied with the opportunity

to honor the goddess's request, and so they promised to make the greatest

necklace and present it to her four days later.

But four days later, the goddess didn't appear. Instead, the dwarf came,

telling them that they were free.

The brothers were confused and asked what was going on. The dwarf

had a vulgar grin as he answered. In exchange for freeing them, he had slept

with the goddess for four nights.

It was nothing special. The goddess had wanted to free them from their

vicious exploitation, so she had negotiated with the dwarf, who demanded

the goddess herself. She hadn't used the charm she so loathed to forcibly

steal them away. Because if she didn't pay a fitting price for the brothers,

she would be no different from the exploitative dwarf. She understood that

their souls had that much value.

Learning that, the brothers butchered the dwarf. Dragging him into the

cave, possessed by pure rage, they pummeled him with hammers and other

tools. Dyed red with the dwarf's spattered blood, they wailed and begged

forgiveness from the goddess who appeared later.

"Spending a night with a boring man is a cheap price to pay to get my

hands on you." The goddess looked almost sad, but then she smiled.

"Because what I really wanted…was you."

The goddess's love was fair and equal to all four, and it didn't begrudge

them for what she endured for their sake.

And that grace granted became a sin that the four brothers would bear

for all of their lives.

Even though the goddess said there was no need to be bothered by it,

they would curse themselves forever. They swore to eradicate all who

would wrong the goddess, who would defile her, who would hurt her.

Whether she desired it or not. Even if it meant being punished by the

goddess, the Gulliver brothers would always protect her body and heart.

That was how they showed their devotion to the goddess, and how they

intended to earn their atonement.

"Allow her to be defiled?! To be hurt?!"

Pure obsession. The other side of the coin to an unwavering loyalty.

That was the impetus that drove Alfrik and his brothers. They had always

hated themselves. But even more than that, they had always prayed for the

goddess's safety.

A bloody tear dripped from Alfrik's left eye as he roared.

"There's no need for her to get hurt pretending to be some mortal girl!"

It was the shout of a man who knew regret. The lamentation of a man

who had begged for repentance.

It was a feeling toward Freya that didn't pale in comparison to what they

felt toward Syr.

They couldn't put him down.

Ruona and Chloe couldn't defeat the prum standing in their way.

Blocked by the four prums, the adventurers were forced to confront

Bringar's tenacity and their vow.

"What are you doing, you idiot?!"

"Meow!"

A battle between two cats without any reinforcements or interference.

Their spears crashed and clanged. The silver spear continued

accelerating, making the gold spear groan dangerously.

"I told you not to get in the way! So what the fuck are you doing here?!"

"Ugh…I…?!"

"Do you not understand words?! How much do you have to piss me off

before you're satisfied?!"

He showered Ahnya with a barrage of insults and abuse as they fought.

Annoyance and anger merged as his spear rampaged. Thanks to that,

Ahnya was managing to survive.

If Allen was even a little bit calm, he would have been able to finish

Ahnya in the blink of an eye, even while debuffed. That was just how much

of a blind rage her brother was in.

Ahnya grit her teeth and put her words into her spear.

"I already told you…Brother! I want to save Syr! Just like when I was

small…and you always saved me!"

"Ghhhhhh!!!"

Allen's eyes flared.

The next attack was one that Ahnya couldn't defend.

"Don't make me remember that aggravating stain on my past!"

His deadly attack bore down on her, as if he wanted to blot out all

memories of that past.

Just as her face twisted bitterly at the attack that would pierce her right

shoulder no matter what she tried to do—

"I'll be interrupting."

""!""

A pitch-black shade broke between them, deflecting the silver spear with

a black slash. There was a bright flash of sparks, and then the dark elf

leaped back, holding Ahnya's body.

"Hegni…?! What are you doing?!"

"Yeah, you would be mad…sorry, Allen."

Hegni had appeared so gallantly, but he was practically in tears and

already apologizing the moment Allen erupted.

Ahnya's eyes darted in confusion even as the dark elf still held her.

"Sir…Hegni…? Why did you…?"

Back when she was still with the familia, Ahnya had only sought to

remain with her brother, so she had just the bare minimum interactions with

anyone else in the familia. At the time, Hegni was already one of the

candidates for promotion to the core of the familia, someone she had

absolutely no connection with at all.

Hegni winced as his wounds ached and slowly lowered Ahnya.

"I'm the same as you."

"Eh…?"

"Me too…I want to save Miss Syr."

Brother and sister alike looked stunned, but Allen's eyes quickly filled

with a raging fire.

"Hegni, you bastard!"

"Sorry, Allen. Sorry for being trash. Sorry for being tricked by Hedin!"

Meeting Allen's glare, Hegni apologized without arguing.

"But I also thought her smile was precious! So I want her to be able to

smile like that!"

The elf was a ball of negativity, but even so, he shouted back.

"So sorry! I'm…going to help your sister and Bell. I'll bet it all on them,

just like Hedin. To set her free!"

Declaring that in his own words, without activating Dáinsleif, was

Hegni's demonstration of his resolve. The shred of etiquette for an elf who

was sinning and disgracing himself.

Allen's anger had long slipped his reins, and betrayal had pushed him to

his boiling point.

"Have you lost your minds! That fly, and you too! What Syr! What girl!

It's all just make believe!"

"Ngh…No it isn't! Big brother, Syr is…!"

"Shut your damn mouth! I didn't put up with this stupid farce all this

time to worship the likes of you idiots! If it was going to end up like this, I

should have just locked her up in a cage!"

Allen had always been tasked with guarding Syr. And he never hid his

annoyance with it. He hadn't hesitated to call the goddess's role-playing a

farce in as many words plenty of times before.

"That idiot and I were saved by the goddess!"

"Allen…"

"The goddess is my master! Not some girl!"

—There were two cats.

A sister who depended on her older brother. And a brother who was

annoyed by his little sister and hated her very existence. The two of them

were all alone when the goddess appeared in a world empty and deserted by

all save them.

The goddess had granted them salvation and days filled with struggle.

The brother threw himself into that vortex of combat of his own accord.

The sister shuddered in fear but desperately chased after him. In the end, the

sister was abandoned and wept over her brother being taken from her.

And the brother who abandoned his sister—

"I obeyed the goddess because she promised to give me strength! What I

wanted from her was to always remain the absolute goddess who made me

strong!"

"!"

"Not being a goddess anymore? Fuck off. You think I'll allow it? I won't

accept some damn girl!"

Allen leaped, incapable of forgiving those before his eyes who wanted to

degrade the goddess into a mere girl, unleashing his fury on Hegni and

Ahnya, who readied themselves.

"The haughty, cruel goddess! A goddess more powerful than anyone!

That's who stole my heart!"

—There was a lone boy.

He was a foundling.

His oldest memory was a bitter cold that burned his skin and a

merciless, cruel dark night.

Before he knew it, all alone at such a young age, he attempted to end his

own life in a solitary back alley.

"Are you all alone?"

That was when the goddess appeared.

A halo of silver light swept away the violent darkness. The little boy

barely had any self-awareness, but in that moment, consciousness took root

along with that silver light.

"What's your name?" she asked, but he couldn't answer.

She smiled. "All right, then I'll give you a name." But he couldn't nod.

To the boy who hadn't even been self-aware, let alone know his origin,

the goddess who held him in her arms was the world.

She was everything to him.

"You will be Ottar."

And from that day, he was Ottar—

"Rrrrrryyaaaaaaaaah!"

He slammed his black greatsword into the dwarf's steel.

"Haaaaaah!"

"Firebolt!"

He batted aside the fairy's star blade and the rabbit's flame lightning

with one arm. They unleashed a continuing stream of attacks, but Ottar

intercepted and repulsed each and every one.

He didn't have any words to give. He knew nothing but fighting. To

Ottar, there was no line between the past that was his origin and the present

that spread before him.

—Why do you fight?

No one had ever asked him that, and he had never asked it of himself.

There was no room to doubt. It was simple. He could do nothing else.

Brusque and unsophisticated as he was, there was nothing he could do to

please the one who had given him everything. So strength. He couldn't

repay the goddess except with strength. Ottar couldn't prove himself except

by fighting. Because he couldn't separate good and evil, or even right and

wrong, without fighting.

And so—

"Nrgh!"

"""Ngh?!"""

Ottar tested.

Ottar questioned.

Ottar checked.

For the sake of the goddess who was everything to him, he asked what

they could do. He refused to allow lip service such as claims of rescue to

pass. His plummeting greatsword split the stone and the ground beneath,

blowing Mia, Lyu, and Bell backward. With his attack, he interrogated three

souls that the goddess had loved at first sight.

And if you cannot defeat me, then—

Then you will die here.

Those who cannot overcome this body have no right to save the goddess.

Let alone save the girl.

"Oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooh!!!"

Something that could satisfy Ottar. It couldn't be a pipe dream, not some

fantasy or sophistry. It was strength. If they couldn't demonstrate that, then

the goddess's victory would never waver.

The strongest warriors remaining on the battlefield roared their will and

vows. Not one of them was mistaken. Every one of them followed their

faith, maintaining their feelings to the goddess, clinging to their egos. The

goddess of beauty's followers rampaged, to save her, protect her, tie her

down, repay her.

"Supporter! Your goddess of victory has come! Here to power up all of—

whoooooooooooooa?! You're crazy beaten-up! You look like a halfdrowned rat?!"

Shut up.

The goddess's voice was loud and annoying from start to finish as she

ran over, causing a vein to bulge in Lilly's forehead even as she lay

collapsed on the ground.

"A-are you still alive, Supporter?! Wh-what about healing?! Are you out

of items?!"

"Items are wasted on Lilly…Lilly can't fight, so Ms. Mikoto and the

others are more important…!"

As she finally sat up with Hestia's help, a cold sweat appeared on her

brow.

Hestia gasped seeing her shattered left arm and all the other wounds on

her body. She started to say something, but when the commander's gaze

met her eyes, she swallowed those words.

After at least doing the basic first aid she could, she pounded her

bountiful bosom.

"Like I said before I came rushing over to give you a powerup! So hurry

up and let me see your back! I'll update yours and Mikoto's stat—"

"We don't need it! Why did you come here?!"

"—Whoa?! Are you denying all the hard work it took to get over here?!"

Hestia's eyes widened at that spittle-flecked immediate rejection.

Even though, out of the corner of her damp eyes, she could see Miach

cradling Nahza as she hugged him back. Why was she getting this reaction?

While Miach was updating his follower's status under cover so as not to

expose her through the mirrors, Hestia Familia's band of little girls were

shouting at one another.

"Lady Lilly! Lady Hestia!"

Haruhime, who also couldn't fight directly, rushed over on unsteady

feet. Seeing her approaching, Lilly put away the oculus she had been about

to take out since it wasn't necessary anymore.

"Lady Hestia, Ms. Haruhime! Go to Mr. Bell!" She endured the pain,

explaining as the two of them looked stunned. "We will take care of things

here ourselves somehow! You go to Mr. Bell in the northwest! In the very

end, if we don't do something about Warlord, we will never win this war

game!"

She wouldn't say they had enough fighting strength left here. They

couldn't let their guard down against Alfrik, who was still holding on, and

Vana Freya. But it was looking more and more like a stalemate at least with

the unexpected help from Dáinsleif. That was most likely at Hedin's

prompting.

He and Lilly were seeing the same scene. If Ottar remained, everything

would be for naught. Even if they somehow took down Allen and Alfrik

and tried to approach Freya, Ottar would surely sweep away Bell and

everyone else fighting there to stop them. As long as the summit of Orario

was defending the throne, the coalition couldn't win. So they needed to

pour as much of their limited resources as they could into the Warlord fight.

"Ms. Haruhime, can you still use Kokonoe?! On three, no, four

people?!"

"—!!! …I can. I will!"

"Then cast Level Boost on Ms. Lyu and everyone there! Lady Hestia,

update Mr. Bell's status!"

"…Supporter…from the start…you…?"

"That's what Lilly has been saying, yes?! If you are going to raise

anyone's base strength, then it makes the most sense to do it for Mr. Bell!

Leave us and go!"

She alluded to his Liaris Freese in a way that wouldn't be noticed by

anyone watching from the city. Enhancing the Level 5 Bell would

obviously have more strategic impact than slightly improving the Level 2s

Lilly, Mikoto, and Haruhime, whose combined abilities probably hadn't

grown by more than 100 total points.

Hearing Lilly explain it even as she struggled to breathe, even as she

continued bleeding, Hestia finally made up her mind.

"…Let's go, Haruhime!"

"Yes, ma'am!"

Enduring the grief, she turned her back on Lilly, who was still badly

wounded, and Mikoto and the others who were still fighting. Leaving

command in this battle to Lilly and Miach, they started sprinting toward the

amphitheater on the northwestern edge of the island.

"Hah, hah, haaaaah…?! Dammit…I've been running all day!"

But they were slow. They were hardly making any progress.

Even just making it from the eastern end of the ruins to the main

battlefield near the western edge of the island was already a rough journey

for a goddess with physical abilities below those of an average person. Even

accounting for her slow pace, serious fatigue was starting to become

apparent.

And also—

"...Agh"

"Haruhime?!"

Haruhime's legs suddenly gave out.

Hestia frantically stopped as Haruhime braced herself with both hands

on the ground and turned back. Haruhime's green eyes were open wide, and

her whole body heaved with each breath. She was sweating an unnatural

amount, her skin glistening all over, the sweat dripping to the ground and

forming a stain.

"Haruhime, your body is…!"

She was showing clear signs of Mind Down.

Her firm answer to Lilly's command had been false bravado—no, it was

a resolve to grind her own body down to nothing for the sake of her

comrades. Haruhime didn't have enough strength left to use Kokonoe. It

was dubious whether she could even reach them on her own two legs.

Putting her hand on Haruhime's back, unable to do anything else, Hestia

struggled in mental anguish.

"…No…no! Haruhime can still stand!"

"H-Haruhime…wh-whoa?!"

"I can run while carrying you, Lady Hestia!"

Haruhime forced herself to her feet while somehow managing to lift

Hestia off the ground. Her golden hair glistened, and beads of sweat flew as

she started running on sheer willpower.

"H-Haruhime, are you okay?! A-am I not too heavy?!"

"I am…Level 2 now! I can carry a pair of breasts fine!"

"Who are you calling the manifestation of breasts!!! Heyyyyyyy?!"

The goddess's breasts bounced and swayed, blocking Haruhime's view,

even as she complained. And Haruhime continued running despite her mind

barely still hanging on—her mental state was so shot that she had equated

Hestia with breasts out loud.

Racing to the northwest, she believed that she needed to push through

her own limits, just like Mikoto and Samira and the others had before.

"Doryah!"

The dwarf's full-strength swing was met by a slash of the greatsword.

"Fuuu!!!"

The human's twin-bladed combination of attacks were all deflected,

nullified by the back of a single hand.

"Luminous Wind!"

And the elf's barrage unleashed with those two as decoys, all seventytwo orbs of light.

"Weak."

Even they were knocked down by a barrier of slashes, and the final one

was snatched out of the air by his right hand and crushed.

"""Ghhhhh?!"""

He defended. And defended. And continued defending. It wasn't a

furious torrent of attacks, but of defense. A defense that even Mia, Bell, and

Lyu's combined assault couldn't pierce. A defense made manifest utilizing

his black greatsword and his sturdy limbs. Even as he hammered them with

shock after shock, Ottar's face was unchanged, nullifying each and every

possible attack.

The ultimate defense.

Ottar's attacks that could crush everything tended to be what people

focused on, but his true worth was in defense. An unwavering stance like a

great tree, techniques that could deal with any attack with ludicrous

precision, and eyes that saw through enemy tactics as if he knew the future.

Adding his incredibly extreme endurance ability, and he could endure

attacks like a divine shield.

He didn't need buffs from magic or skills. All he used was simple time

spent. His body, which he had never stopped forging. The crystallization of

the techniques and tactics that he had never ceased polishing.

The world that Warlord had reached.

We can't break through…?!

There isn't even a single dead angle!

As proof, Ottar hadn't even really moved from the center of the

amphitheater.

Bell and Lyu, who had both been sunk in a single attack during the

Goddess Festival, sensed it. That up to this point, Ottar hadn't even really

fought them.

This rotten brat…! How much did he keep training himself after that!

Mia, the only one who had the right to actually fight with Warlord,

guessed it.

The truth of just how much more time Ottar had spent training and how

much more intense it had become after she had retired.

Even as he attended to Freya as her retainer, he had never once

slackened his diligent efforts. After Syr left early in the morning for her

role-playing, he devoted everything to his own training.

Ottar didn't descend into Folkvangr anymore. Because there were none

who could challenge him. Because even Allen and the others who were

forbidden to fight were not a threat.

He had long ago ceased to descend into the Dungeon on a regular basis.

Because he knew his body was already at the limit. He was at the point

where mere exploration barely increased his abilities if it even raised them

at all.

Ottar was the strongest. There was no one left in Orario who could

further strengthen him. And so Ottar had immersed himself, sinking deeper

and deeper into himself.

Swinging his sword alone, imagining powerful enemies past, spending

all his time building techniques and mastering tactics. Until the day

permission was given by his master to embark on a trial staking his life, he

built himself up simply as a warrior.

That was the difference between him and the Sword Princess, the

monster slayer who simply slaughtered monsters in the Dungeon.

"We…couldn't get through it."

"Yeah…! Even with both of us fighting!"

Tione glared at the mirror inside Twilight Manor, while Tiona nodded

furiously.

Ottar and Loki Familia had fought several times. And they hadn't ever

been able to crack Warlord's defense. Aiz had only been able to escape his

follow-up attack when he was blocking her way with the help of Tiona and

Tione.

Sitting on the sofa, the golden-haired, golden-eyed girl clenched her fists

in her lap, trembling at the severity of what these challengers were trying to

achieve with just the three of them.

"He's already there."

"…Finn."

"Yeah, Gareth, Riveria. I know."

Gareth murmured, Riveria's eyes narrowed, and Finn nodded.

Ottar is already on the verge of Level 8…

Braver's eyes saw through the cruel, despair-inducing truth.

Ottar was a Level 7 who was on the cusp of reaching Level 8.

He had his hand on the summit that the strongest, Zeus and Hera, had

stood on.

Braver acknowledged it. And the deities could definitively say it. There

was no one who could stand with Warlord. He was the summit of all

adventurers.

"Ghhhhhhhh?!"

Because of that, they were doomed to struggle against impossibly bad

odds.

Mia's attacks were deflected, and the damage she took from his

counterattacks quickly added up. The only reason they were somehow

managing to make a fight of it was thanks to Mia.

She was the overwhelming vanguard who could go toe-to-toe with Ottar

and trade blows, but if she fell, then they would immediately lose. Lyu's

and Bell's fighting styles were focused on agility. They specialized in high

speed maneuvers, so they couldn't match Ottar blow for blow when he was

specialized in pure strength and defense. No matter how good their hit-andaway tactics, no matter how much they tried to disrupt his flow, if none of

their attacks made it through his defense, they had no hope of winning.

Lyu and Bell sprinted, drenched in sweat as they supported Mia, not

allowing her to fall. The adventurers desperately struggled, with the sturdy

dwarf as a base, trying to latch onto something.

And as if acknowledging their hard fighting, the boaz warrior began to

cast.

"Silver moon's mercy and the golden plains."

Lyu was the first to be stunned when that unrefined voice rang in her

ears.

"Concurrent casting?!"

To be more accurate, it was a bit different. Ottar didn't have the

knowledge of casting that Hedin or Hegni or other first-tier elves had. He

didn't have the ability like Lyu to combine attack, movement, evasion, and

casting all at once in real combat.

Just like Mikoto during the battle with Apollo Familia, he limited

himself to a single action other than the casting. For a short cast, where less

time was required, even a non-mage like Ottar could manage to brute-force

that much. Unlike Mikoto, though, the one additional action he chose

wasn't movement, but defense.

Planting his left foot, which was his fixed pivot, he combined his

absolute defense with casting.

"That magic is…?!"

Hildis Vini.

It was a simple enhancement magic, and the ultimate attack that could

even cancel out Bell's full charged attack.

He shuddered, and the dwarf's face warped. The elf filled with

impatience, and they all three charged from different angles.

"Don't either of you dare let up!"

They didn't stop.

Like a barrier that surpassed all reason, he deflected back all slashes,

slams, and lightning flames.

"I offer this body to the lord of battle."

Ottar didn't hold back.

He would never make the foolish mistake of preserving his one-andonly magic as a trump card or ultimate attack out of vain pride. But because

he was able to bend most every enemy to his will using raw strength alone,

he didn't resort to his magic that was so terribly fuel-inefficient.

But that meant he would use it when the time came.

Forget attacking…we can't even stop his casting!

If Ottar was using his magic, that meant it was an opponent who

couldn't be brought down by just his monstrous strength and his absolute

defense.

So just having made Warlord use his magic was honor enough.

Bell could be proud. He had made Ottar use his magic twice.

And the boy could also despair. Because it was unmistakably a death

sentence.

"Kh?!"

Mia had no choice but to go.

Even knowing that the bait of his almost finished cast was purposefully

dangled in front of her, if she didn't stop the cast, the bomb would erupt.

Even knowing that she was playing into his hand, she had no choice but to

commit to what was almost a suicidal charge.

"—Weak."

Ottar pointed out the truth in the face of Mia's full-strength blow aiming

to destroy him, defense and all.

The Warlord's defense was synonymous with offense. As he unleashed

his greatsword, it crashed into her shovel, and instead of locking against it,

he swung powerfully.

"Gahhh!"

"Ms. Mia?!"

"Mama Mia!"

The slash pushed back her shovel and carved a gash diagonally across

her body. As her blood spurted, Ottar mercilessly let loose with a kick. Mia

stumbled, somehow managing to block it as Ottar gripped the hilt of his

greatsword with one hand, readying it at his right shoulder.

His steel deltoid and trapezius bulged. The next instant, he unleashed a

thrust like a cannon blast.

"Ghhhhhh!"

Bell leaped, moving fast enough to make it look like time flowed

backward. He activated his skill, just a brief, half-second charge. Light

gathered around his right foot, and he kicked off the ground with explosive

force, moving between Mia and Ottar.

As the greatsword thrust forward with a growl, Bell raised his Hestia

Knife. His left hand held the hilt, the right the flat of the blade. With both

hands supporting it, he precisely blocked the thrust with the flat of the

blade.

The divine blade didn't shatter. But there was a cry instead.

"UgGaaaaaa?!"

The knife was pushed back by the sword's thrust, slamming into Bell's

stomach, making him cough up an absurd amount of blood.

"Ghh!"

He became padding, but even so, the tremendous force sent him and

Mia, who had caught it behind his body, both flying backward.

"Charge bearing the goddess's will."

Of course there was a merciless follow-up.

The final verse. Ottar would crush his enemies with the magic he had

intended from the start.

"Hildis Vini."

A gleam.

A golden fur covered the black greatsword, just like he remembered.

Ottar unleashed his golden slash at the two of them where they had

crashed into the amphitheater's north wall.

"If you die, then that is all you were ever going to amount to."

Hildis Vini was a simple enhancement spell.

It wasn't even an enchantment, so it should not have been a method that

allowed his attack to reach an enemy who was out of range of his blade. But

what happened when a simple enhancement raised the force of his already

monstrous strength?

The answer was that the slashes he unleashed killed even space itself.

"" ""

A golden slash that surpassed Aisha's Hell Kaios. A slash that severed

the air. Blood-drenched, Bell's and Mia's vision took on a golden glow like

twilight.

"Khhhhhhhhhh?!"

Lyu came flying in.

With a speed befitting the name Gale Wind, she made her escape at fullspeed carrying Bell and Mia.

Just one instant after they slipped away, there was a thunderclap.

"~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~?!"

A tidal force of sound and energy crashed over them.

Battered by that, they skidded and rolled across the ground.

Unable to move, Van shouted wordlessly as he endured the tremors of

the amphitheater.

The sound quickly faded. The aftereffects subsided. It was a simple

destructive slash that didn't bring about the secondary destruction of a hightier magic. But everything that had been in its path was completely blown

away.

"Wh…?"

Bell raised his head, Mia and Lyu pushed themselves up, and they were

dumbstruck.

The wall, the columns, the high spectator seats, an entire section of the

north side had been erased.

The slash continued out into the ruins, piercing all the way to the outer

edge, reaching past the island. They could see all the way to—and through

—the beautiful emerald-green lake.

"…I can't manage it so well as Leon."

The murmur that slipped from the warrior's lips disappeared in the

sound of waves.

The lake surface split by the arc of his slash burbled as it sank back into

place.

Bell and the others shuddered. Van, who had fallen on the southern end

of the spectator seats, was ashen. The people in the city who saw it through

the mirrors all froze. The entire world halted at the sight of that destruction

that obliterated everything in its path.

"Again."

And the golden fur hadn't disappeared.

"""?!"""

A second attack was coming.

He swung his sword, still clad in golden light, mercilessly down. An

extra-large slash, as if rerunning what had just happened.

—It's over.

Bell, Lyu, even Mia felt their impending doom.

"Strike forever, indestructible lord of lightning."

What stopped that end was a brilliant, ringing spell.

"Valiant Hildr!"

An enormous bolt of lightning shot down. Not a barrage, but a single,

concentrated blast.

The massive bolt big enough to consume even a floor boss rushed from

the east, crashing straight into the side of the slash. There were sparks

before their eyes, and the next instant, the golden light's path nudged from

northeast to northwest. The buildings and ruins to the northwest were

obliterated.

Meanwhile, having narrowly escaped death, they spun to look in the

direction of the spell.

"How much Mind do I have to spend just to shift the angle, you lump of

irrationality?"

A white elf calmly descended from the eastern spectator seats where he

had unleashed his cannon blast.

Hedin Selrand. Rhomphaia in one hand, he adjusted his glasses with the

other hand in annoyance.

"…Master? Why?! Wait, does that mean…really?"

"Don't show me that unpleasant face, stupid rabbit. Figure it out from

the fact that I saved you, fool."

Because he had been constantly enduring Ottar's baptism, Bell didn't

know about Hedin's change of sides. For a second, he couldn't believe his

eyes, but he remembered the feeling that he had told Lilly before the battle,

and shock filled his eyes.

He grimaced as Hedin looked at him like he was looking at human

waste…but then the joy came, and he broke into a clumsy smile. He

recognized clearly that this wasn't the Hedin Selrand who had tormented

Freya Familia's Bell Cranell, this was the master who had done so much to

remodel him before the Goddess Festival.

Considering the situation, it wouldn't have been that strange that the boy

might even have a tear in his eye, but Hedin snorted in disgust at the smile

anyway.

"What a pathetic display, even with you here, Mia."

"…Quit yappin'. I've got a bit of gap in my résumé."

"Then fill it at once. If you're going to casually sleep it off, we will all

be crushed."

Hurling venom equally at Mia, too, Hedin finished his descent and

tossed two small vials.

Those were his last items. Mia used part of the high potion to close the

wound on her torso, and then poured the remaining half of the high potion

and the high magic potion over Bell's and Lyu's heads. They were both

surprised, but as if recognizing there was no point in complaining, they

didn't say anything, wobbling to their feet after recovering.

"Hedin…"

"You don't need any explanation, Ottar."

"No."

Even though his attack had been diverted and Hedin, Freya Familia's

marshal, had switched sides, Ottar didn't show any reaction.

Resting his greatsword, the golden aura now faded, on his shoulder, he

met the elf's gaze.

"Answer me one question."

"What?"

"How much did you know?"

With Bell and the others standing up behind him, Hedin faced Ottar and

calmly spoke. "I took measures to break in this stupid rabbit. That was why

I instigated Hegni and the others to make him suffer and push him to the

brink of death. It was so he could be at least a little bit useful."

Bell forgot all his earlier happiness and froze like a stone statue.

"But you alone rejected my directions."

When the cracks started to form in Freya's twisted world, after he had

intentionally intensified the baptism. Hedin had argued that they should

push Bell to the limit immediately, that the entire first-tier adventurers

should join the baptism.

—You too, Ottar. Crush that rabbit with your sword.

—There is no need for me to join as well. I leave it to you, Hedin.

But Ottar had declined.

"Did you predict then I would revolt, that it would end up like this?"

Hedin had been continually acting beneath the surface. Even Freya

hadn't noticed it.

But the warrior before his eyes had distanced himself, as if sensing it.

Ottar's expression was unchanged as he answered.

"…I am not so wise as you. I couldn't have known what might come."

His rust-colored eyes looked at Hedin and Bell standing diagonally

behind the elf.

"But at that moment, I saw an image…An image of the two of you

standing before me. Just like now."

Hedin's face twisted.

"Don't foil my stratagems on a mere hunch, war fanatic."

He scoffed in growing annoyance at the boaz's warrior instinct.

Glaring at the person who was the exact opposite of him, he finally

swelled with the determination to fight.

"Are you done talking?"

"Yes. Now I will swiftly destroy you. Or else that noisy cat will come

chasing, too."

Kneading his mind, calling an end to the questions, Hedin shifted to a

battle stance.

Bell frantically called a halt to it.

"M-Master? You're going to fight together with us?!"

"What other option is there in this situation, you trash. Stop talking."

"…We couldn't do anything to him. Do you have some plan for dealing

with him?"

"Why do you not? What are you doing fighting a true monster head-on?

Make a plan. Use every trick you can. Would you face a monster rex in a

head-on match?"

Rudely insulting Bell, who slumped, he continued to heap scorn at Lyu

for her question.

Not even glancing at them, he made it clear that this was equivalent to

fighting a monster rex.

"Mia, I'll handle the rear guard. Take them and try again."

"…We can't pull off the kind of teamwork that your directions will

need."

"I'm not expecting anything of the sort."

His wise eyes looked only at the warrior standing calmly before them as

he made his order.

"Ten seconds is enough. Buy me that much time."

The next instant, he unleashed his magic power, signaling the start of the

battle.

"Struggle for eternity, indestructible soldiers of lightning."

His voice was the signal for the three of them to leap into action. Lyu

concurrent casting as she did.

And for the first time, Ottar switched from a defensive stance to an

offensive stance.

A straight charge.

"Whoa?!"

"Kh?!"

"Don't look down on me!"

As if to say there was no reason for him to just wait for Hedin's artillery

barrage.

Bell and Lyu were easily knocked aside by the charge, but Mia resisted.

As if proving with her body that she was a dwarf, she caught the boaz's

tackle head-on, her feet sinking into the battered cobblestones. Her shovel

and his sword clanged together, struggling evenly for a second. But in that

second, the fairy was already on the move.

Using Mia as a shield, Hedin began running.

"…!"

He ran in a circle around the outer edge of the stage, sometimes leaping.

What appeared in the wake of his quick movement was countless missiles.

Arrowheads of lightning crackled into existence, but they didn't

immediately launch themselves at Ottar. They were instead set, hanging in

the air to the east, northeast, and north. For the first time since he had

started fighting, Ottar's eyes widened slightly. Immediately recognizing

Hedin's aim, he pushed Mia forcibly away and moved to crush Hedin.

"Firebolt!"

"Agaris Alvesince!"

But two flames stopped him.

Bell's lightning flame quick shot and Lyu reapplying the blazing flower

petals.

The former was just harassment not calculated to stop Ottar, while the

latter was a forceful attack making use of its extreme firepower.

Fired off in succession without even proper aim, the lighting flames

created a flare and explosions to block Ottar's view while the explosive

slice closed in from the side, forcing him to meet the attack. It couldn't

break his absolute defense, but it forced him to stop his charge. Ignoring

Bell's consecutive shots, he batted Lyu aside, but in that moment, Mia

recovered and attacked again.

While they persistently latched onto him, the lightning was set in the

northwest, west, and southwest.

And.

"That was ten seconds, as requested. I will reward your hard work."

With the final rounds set in the southeast, Hedin stopped.

"This is…!"

"Lightning encirclement!"

Bell and Lyu looked around in shock. All around the stage, there were

dozens of lightning rounds floating in the air. A series of depth charges set

using the magic's standby phase.

With his Level 6 status and his supreme magic control, he had

maintained the lightning rounds already set while moving around the circle,

laying out even more. Even though she had reached Level 6 herself, Lyu

couldn't begin to do that sort of feat.

The dome of magic shots resembled a dreadful starry sky. The total

number of the lightning arrows set was 978.

Ottar's eyes narrowed as he looked all around at the arrows, every last

one aimed at him.

"Run wild, vanguard. I'll align the rest."

Understanding the substance of his instructions on an instinctive level,

they rampaged, just as ordered.

"Haaaaaaah!"

Bell took the lead, slicing from the side with his knife.

Ottar prepared his absolute defense, ready to completely shut him down.

So far, it was exactly the same as before. But that was where the differences

started.

"Þrír."

Lightning arrows set to the east fired in time with Bell's approach.

"?!"

It drew surprise from Ottar.

Three bolts launched from directly behind Ottar, at a completely

different angle from Bell's charge. His upper body and arms were originally

preparing to meet the boy's attack, but he was forced to quickly change

stances, allowing the Hestia Knife's blade to flash. There was a metallic

crash. The backhand-grip upward slash was blocked by the gauntlet on the

boaz's immediately raised left arm.

But…

He blocked it! But I still got through!

Bell's own eyes widened as he shuddered at the first proper feedback he

had gotten from an attack all day. In good hit-and-away style, he

immediately retreated to avoid taking Ottar's counter attack. And taking his

place was Lyu, flying in from the exact opposite direction as him, swiftly,

sharply, low to the ground so Ottar couldn't see her, swinging her flaming

sword upward. Ottar reacted to that deft slash with inhuman speed, but—

"Sjau."

Another small barrage at his back, this time from the southwest.

As if refusing to let the same trick work again, blood vessels bulged in

his arm as he swiftly unleashed two slashes with his black greatsword,

knocking aside Lyu and the lightning both, but—then came Mia.

"Uraaaaaaaaaa!"

"Nrgh?!"

She made her move in the momentary pause after his attacks ended.

Closing in at that brief opening, she swung her shovel, sending the boaz's

massive body backward.

"It landed?!"

"Amazing!"

The deities watching from start to finish in the mirror on the thirtieth

floor of Babel roiled.

Seeing Warlord finally pushed out of the center of the stage, everyone,

regardless of who they were rooting for, got excited.

"That's sick! Timin' what's supposed to be a sure-kill magic right with

the vanguards' attacks!"

"And he's even controlling the force and number to not damage Bell and

them with it, too!"

Loki and Hermes praised the adroit performance.

Their all-seeing, all-knowing eyes immediately saw through the

stratagem that Hedin had devised.

"One-sided coordination! You can't expect perfect understanding from a

ragtag party! It takes everything just to make things work! And he's making

up for all of that with just his head and supporting them in the process!"

Synchronized attacks with the frontliners. That was Hedin's plan.

Accurately predicting Bell, Lyu, and Mia's movements from the rear, he

deftly manipulated the lightning arrows deployed all around the stage,

timing them perfectly with their attacks.

He wasn't foolish enough to try to unleash them all at once, hoping that

would somehow be enough. Even if he was wounded a bit, Ottar's complete

defense could endure a full barrage from all angles. And so, synchronized

attacks. By timing his shots with a skilled vanguard's assaults, he could

force Ottar to make more decisions with his defense. Even if it didn't cause

any damage.

Shifting timings, disrupted concentration, a discord in attack and

defense, all of those accumulated impediments would bring about a collapse

of the complete defense. It was an extension of a forced choice. A series of

them repeated on end. He was forcibly broadcasting static noise into the gap

between Ottar's tactics and everyone else's.

"Each one of those shots has the force to knock out a second-tier

adventurer. Then there's Mia's and everyone else's attacks as well. Warlord

has to account for all of it!"

"Hedin turned that defensive focus against him. Even though he's got a

pretty, girly face, he's a pure sadist! Course this is all 'cause their

movements are good, too…but not bad, rubbin' a little dirt on Ottar of all

people! Ain't that right, Bete?!"

"Tch…with that rear guard, anyone could at least get him a little dirty."

While Hermes and Loki got excited, Bete frowned angrily.

He didn't want to acknowledge Bell even if it killed him, but that just

meant praising Hedin, making him more and more pissed.

"Ottar, this is a formation I theorized to roast you. I shelved it because I

couldn't manage the front- and back-line movements alone, but it's just

right for recycling now."

Hedin calmly held his position at the east of the stage, manipulating the

lightning.

It has been said many times before, but the members of Freya Familia

famously didn't get along well.

The first-tier adventurers were no exception to the fierce internal

conflict between fellow familia members. This was a deployment that

Hedin had expressly developed several years ago to defeat Ottar, and now

its time to be used had finally arrived.

"Gh?!"

His counter-Ottar tactic was proving highly effective. The synchronized

attacks made it such that each and every lightning bolt effectively had a will

of its own. It was as if an army of lightning soldiers were performing wave

tactics at the order of their king, and even Ottar couldn't afford to ignore the

bite of their blades.

And Hedin was cunning.

At times, he held back his soldiers, which were deployed in every

direction, including overhead. But at other times, he boldly sent in masses

of them. There were moments where it seemed as if each was aimed

precisely at the dead angle of Ottar's back, but then someone would come

in blatantly visible from the right and left to camouflage the true shot that

landed a clean hit. Sometimes, he used Bell's and their attacks as decoys,

while at others, he used even thirty rounds as a feint, carefully calculating

their angles, timings, and orders, so that even if he failed to break Ottar's

defense, it forced him to continuously think, increasing the mental load.

And as a bonus, if Ottar defended using his sword or gauntlets, it would still

cause an electric shock, slowly but surely building up minor damage.

Manipulating his magic from the back lines and synchronizing it with

the vanguard, Hedin was just like a conductor. But instead of a conductor's

baton, he swung his rhomphaia, the first-tier weapon Dizaria.

A long-hafted weapon made of a branch of sacred tree, just like Lyu's

Alvs Iustitia, it could also be used as a staff that increased elven magic

power. The magic stone at the top of the staff gleamed, making the lighting

soldiers roar.

"Lyu, kiddo! On me!"

Gradually, the three of them adapted to the lightning support, and now

they didn't just trade places but even began attacking at almost the same

time. And the moment Ottar's perfect defense faltered, they began.

"Soraaaa!"

Mia charged from the front.

In perfect alignment, Hedin barked.

"Tólf! Legio!"

Sending in all of the bolts in the north, he made it rain on Ottar's back.

"Gh!"

Pincered from the front and back, Ottar stubbornly refused to choose

evasion.

Recognizing that casting aside his absolute defense was what Hedin

wanted, and also that he was steadily being cornered as if by hunting dogs,

Warlord twisted his upper body, creating a storm.

It was ferocious spinning slash.

Using the full reach of the greatsword almost as long as he was tall, he

batted away Mia, the lightning, and all who tried to approach him.

Mia barely managed to use her shovel as a shield and retreat, but there

was a smirk on her lips. She and the massive amount of lightning were

decoys.

"—Charging through space, bind the star traces to this land!"

A flowing concurrent cast. Lyu had dispelled the flaming petals,

charging in while reaching into her Astrea Record. Just after Ottar had used

his whole body to attack.

He had even spun around, so there was of course an opening. Ottar's

eyes widened as the racing gale slipped in, trying to get inside his range—

but even so, he managed to react.

"Nrgggggggh!"

Ignoring all inertia and reaction, his joints and muscles creaking, he

unleashed a slash. A transcendent reaction speed. A strength that surpassed

even giants. Lyu's sky-blue eyes reflected the black guillotine about to

swing down right at her— "Nowwww!"

"?!"

A matching black scarf flew.

Bell undid the Goliath Scarf he was wearing and threw it in. It was a

snakelike, writhing, indirect attack. The cloth wrapped around Ottar's

sword, binding it, sealing the guillotine's slice.

A Level 5 and Level 7. Ordinarily, he would never win that tug-of-war.

But with his spinning slash and the target being off balance, for just one

brief moment, the boaz's stance wobbled.

And that brief moment was enough.

"Justice returns!"

Finishing her cast and her approach, Lyu activated the magic. She

crouched, her star sword at her hip in a quick draw stance. Her left hand

was in the approximate place where a sheath would be if she had one,

blending magic and technique together seamlessly.

"—Kaguya, lend me your strength!"

She unleashed the Far-Eastern secret technique that her bitter rival and

comrade Kaguya Gojouno had used.

"Gokou!"

The sword flashed like it had been drawn in an instant, giving birth to

five slashes.

"Gh?!"

The five separate attacks moved as one, coming from all angles. A

downward slash from overhead, upward slashes from left and right, from

the back a diagonal slash down from the shoulder, and from the front a

horizontal slash. The five flashes were like five different slashes unleashed

from all angles and directions, closing in on Ottar.

"Ghhhhh?!"

Gojouno Kaguya's Gokou. It was a magic that merely created a magic

slash in the positions she set, but she had combined it with her draw to turn

it into an unblockable, inescapable sure-kill attack.

Even caught off guard, he would absolutely defend. He could even

withstand Alize's Alveria. Because she knew that, Lyu had chosen this

Gokou attack. As expected, the strongest managed to block the horizontal

slash from the front with his gauntlet, but he was caught by the remaining

four lights.

The magic blades destroyed his chest piece, his gauntlets, his headpiece,

the few bits of armor that Warlord wore. Blood erupted from the warrior as

crimson particles of magic danced like a petal storm.

"This is—!"

Bell immediately pulled the Goliath Scarf, raising the greatsword.

As Ottar stiffened, the hilt was dragged out of his hand. The giant sword

flew through the air. He lost his armor and his weapon. It was a decisive

decrease in his defense.

Hedin's eyes flared sharply as he bellowed.

"Fire, stupid rabbit!"

"Ghhh!"

As he let go of his muffler, a furious flame rose in his right fist, while

his lightning-wielding master unleashed all of his magic.

"Firebooooolt!"

"Caurus Hildr!"

Powerful lightning flames and the full remaining volley of the lightning

bolts set in a dome all around the stage. A storm of magic poured into Ottar.

"Ooooooooooooooooooooooo!"