Dungeon ni Deai o Motomeru no wa Machigatte Iru Darou ka Gaiden – Sword Oratoria - Volume 3 - Chapter 5

CHAPTER 5 HELL AND HELL 

Darkness overtook the man’s vision. 
The only sounds to reach his bloody inner ears were a muffled mix of human screams and the howls of monsters on a rampage. 
The screams came from all angles, so many echoes that it was impossible to discern where one began and another ended. 
The man dragged his upper body across the floor, senses overwhelmed by the pandemonium that surrounded him. 
Both his eyes had been crushed. 
Tears of blood flowed from behind closed eyelids as he fumbled through an endless abyss. 
Everything below his waist had been severed from his body. 
Using his arms to pull himself forward, he moved like a nearly deceased creature that had forgotten it had once been a man. 
A body that was unrecognizable. Moans of pain. A consciousness in turmoil. 
He felt intense heat. 
His throat was so dry it stung. 
Even his jaw wouldn’t shut comfortably. 
Each time he shuffled forward, some essential part of him spilled from his open abdomen. 
The literally half-dead human man had no idea where he was as he proceeded deeper and deeper into the Dungeon. 
Whirling pain and suffering unknown to this world finally consumed his mind. 
Any normal person would have already died in this hell. But the Falna in the Status on his back wouldn’t let him easily pass into the next realm. 
A new sound filled his ears: the crude laughter of gods. Although not real, he could hear them laughing at him, as though he were a freak for their entertainment. Even if this was just some hallucination the exitless Dungeon was tormenting him with, it was nothing more than a curse. 
Anger and rage filled the tears of blood still pouring from his eyes. The will to live had yet to break. 
The man who hated everything outside himself was swallowed up by despair from which there was no escape. 
The man could go no farther, lost in a vast ocean of darkness. 
He lay completely still, leaking the last of his blood into the red puddle beneath him. 
There were no sounds of people, no sounds of monsters. Only silence. 
His body turned cold in a corner of the Dungeon completely cut off from the rest of the world— 
Slither. 
A sound wafted through the air as something reached out to the man on the brink of death. 
A single root grew toward him from even deeper in the Dungeon. 
A richly colored glow sparkled at the end of its tip. 
It glided ever closer as if inviting him to come to the other side of the darkness. Wrapping itself around his lifeless body, it flipped the man over onto his back. 
The vivid glow disappearing into the legless human’s chest, his eyes closed. 
The man awoke with a start a moment later, crushed irises taking on a greenish yellow hue. 
A beastly roar echoed through the darkness. 
 
Lefiya shook in fear as Olivas’s yellow-green eyes warped into a diabolical smile. 
A threateningly intense glow emanated from the object in his chest. That, combined with a lower body the same off-green color as his eyes, proved that this man was no human. 
His overpowering presence was enough to make Lefiya forget where she was, her eyes spinning. 
She also felt extremely nauseous. 
Lefiya the elf was afraid of the thing in human form before her eyes—utterly revolted by it and overcome with an urge to put as much distance between them as possible. 
“This has to be some cruel joke…” 
Asfi swore under her breath. The rest of Hermes Familia was equally perturbed. 
Was their enemy human? 
Or a monster in human form? 
Feeling vomit build up in her throat, unable to take it anymore, Lefiya pressed for answers. 
“Just what are you…?” 
Olivas’s lips curved into a smile, his white hair swishing around his shoulders. 
“I am both and neither, a combination of strengths that has ascended beyond human and monster!” 
The man shrouded in white sneered at Lefiya and the other adventurers as he proudly declared his origin. 
No sooner were those words out of his mouth than the last of the light coming from the magic stone disappeared behind a healing wound, accentuating his point. 
“How can the likes of you, who only fight with a deity’s Blessing…win against one such as I?” 
Olivas chuckled with contempt. 
As for Lefiya, her mind frantically tried to make sense of what she had just heard. 
The strengths of man and monster. 
Intelligence with Status, contained in a body equipped with monstrous strength and ridiculously high defense. 
There were several instances in the previous battle where those abilities had been on display. 
Lefiya had seen him take several direct hits from Bete, a top-class adventurer, and not even flinch. That unfathomably thick skin had repelled magic and possessed a terrifyingly fast self-regeneration ability that was still at work as they spoke. The idea that all these things came from a Status felt too strange to be true. 
If Olivas’s words were to be believed, then whoever “She” was had transformed a dying man into something completely different. 
The feminine fetus at the base of the quartz pillar was visible just behind the man in white. 
Human and monster—a hybrid. 
The man in front of her—and most likely the red-haired woman as well—was the same type of absurd abomination. 
Creature was the only way she could describe it. 
“…Are you a remnant of the Evils?” 
Asfi, who had recovered enough to speak, narrowed her eyes as she joined the conversation. 
The entire party focused solely on Olivas. The man laughed off that idea, however. 
“Do not confuse me with the scum who refuse to let go of the past. I am not some puppet who will dance for a god.” 
Yellowish green irises surveyed the landscape. 
The cavern floor was dotted with scorched corpses, as well as a few robed warriors who had been denied that fate. Although he didn’t say it directly, Olivas’s expression was enough to let the adventurers know that the zealots whom Hermes Familia and Lefiya’s party had dispatched were part of the still active Evils organization. Based on his choice of words, Lefiya guessed they were merely cooperating with him, nothing more than pawns in a larger plan. 
An eerie silence filled the chamber. 
The gigantic flower monsters still attached to the quartz pillar emanating red light and the fetus created the only sounds in the cave. This time, it was Asfi who broke the quiet. 
“What is this place? What is it that you and your conspirators were planning to do here?” 
“This is a Plant.” 
“Plant…?” 
“That is correct. A pantry infested with parasites forcing it to bear violas…A vessel to bring monsters from the Deep Levels to higher floors.” 
Lefiya was unable to hide her shock. 
The plant monsters originated in the Deep Levels, and— 
“Monsters giving birth to other monsters…I have never heard of anything like it.” 
The Dungeon gave birth to all monsters as their “mother.” 
That was an absolute truth. 
Even the gods clearly stated it was a law of this world. 
The gigantic flower monsters’ infestation of the pantry, the flesh walls that spawned flower buds. Even now, more buds opened, and the brood’s broken-bell howls started filling the chamber once again. Lefiya fell silent, speechless. 
“In other words, you used your skill as a tamer to instruct those monsters to create the space?” 
“No, incorrect. I am no tamer.” 
Olivas’s voice intensified. 
“The violas, myself—all of us are one entity under Her. As Her representative, the monsters obey my will.” 
The man spoke as though he had been given a great honor, his voice brimming with delight. 
Asfi donned the scowl of a disbeliever in front of the faithful and pressed right to the heart of the matter. 
“What is it you’re trying to achieve?” 
Olivas’s greenish yellow eyes smiled once again, glinting. 
“Destroying Orario.” 
That declaration sent a wave of fear through the adventurers as they stood like statues. 
Lefiya gulped. Those around her did the same. 
Whether she was aware of it or not, Lulune’s trembling hand took hold of her tail and squeezed as she spoke for the first time. 
“D-do you know what you’re saying…? What that means?” 
Orario was a large city built directly on top of the Dungeon. It was also a fortress that kept the Dungeon in check. The Tower of Babel stood directly over a large hole in the ground, like a lid that prevented monsters from reaching the surface. Built in the Ancient Times, it was a barrier that separated the Dungeon from the rest of the world. Calling it humanity’s last bastion wouldn’t be an exaggeration. 
If Orario fell, the world would be plunged into the darkest days since the Ancient Times. 
The tragic days of war between monsters and the various races of humanity would begin again. 
“Of course I do!!” 
Olivas shouted his response to Lulune’s question. 
“I would destroy Orario voluntarily!! All to make Her dream a reality!” 
He gestured to the pillar behind him in front of the adventurers’ horrified faces. 
“She speaks! Can you not hear Her?” 
His outstretched hand pointed directly to the base of the column, to the fetus contained in the orb. 
“She wants to see the sky! She longs for it! That is Her wish, and I will do everything in my power to grant it!” 
His voice steadily reached a fever pitch. 
Skin paler than a sick man’s wrinkled as an exultant smile appeared on his lips. 
If there was one thing that the adventurers understood from the nonsense that spilled from his mouth, it was that this man possessed loyalty to “Her” that bordered on obsession. 
“The city blocks her view of the sky from deep underground! The metropolis that blocks the hole must be obliterated! 
“Inept humans and powerless deities have no right to control the surface! She should reign supreme! 
“She is not the same as deities who merely crave amusement, letting chips fall where they may so they can be entertained, whittling the time away, doing nothing themselves! No!! She granted me a second life and bestowed an even greater joy upon me!” 
Lefiya’s and the other adventurers’ glares intensified as Olivas unleashed an avalanche of scorn. 
“I have been chosen by none other than Her!! And I—we—will see Her dreams come true! I will stop at nothing to give Her anything She desires!!” 
One look at the man’s expression was enough for Lefiya to know. 
—A fanatic. 
Olivas had a blind faith in the “Her” who gave him a second life. 
That was a feat that even the “philosopher” who created the Philosopher’s Stone—an item that granted eternal life—had tried and failed to accomplish many times. Gekai was bound by a set of rules that even the deities who loved the children had to abide by, one of them being that reanimation of the dead was impossible. Olivas Act had committed himself to “Her” because she transcended these rules for his sake. 
A soul that had forsaken the gods themselves willingly chained his existence to this new entity. 
“She is my everything!!” 
Olivas declared this with the female fetus as his witness. 
No one could say a word in the face of this man’s unwavering devotion to an unidentified being known as “Her.” Asfi stood transfixed with a searching gaze. Lulune weakly shook her head, trying to convince herself this was just a very bad dream. Filvis was still shaken to the core, unable to speak or move. 
Lefiya continued to stare at him, horrified. 
“Shut up already.” 
Bete suddenly broke the silence. 
The young werewolf was clearly unamused and stepped out in front of the group. 
“Just find a resting spot an’ die…’Cause you can’t fight for shit right now, can you?” 
Voice arrogant, the werewolf’s eyes burned with a wild fire as he made his claim. 
Lefiya and the other adventurers stared at him, jaws slack with surprise. Olivas said nothing in response, closing his mouth. 
The top-class adventurer Bete realized that this lecture was nothing but a way to buy time to heal. Recovering from those injuries would have required a considerable amount of Mind and physical energy, meaning that the man wouldn’t be able to fight with the same ferocity as before. 
“Hmph,” mumbled Olivas with a grin in the face of Bete’s sharp glare. “My strategy deciphered by mere humans, how troubling.” 
Olivas admitted to Bete’s claim. 
However, his reaction was quite the opposite from someone whose ace in the hole had been discovered: a calm smile. 
Bete sensed something was off in the relaxed demeanor of his enemy and snarled. 
“This body is nothing but a thing that She saw fit to grant life…It is as you say. I cannot fight as I am now. 
“—I cannot,” he added with a smirk. 
Asfi’s and Bete’s eyes shot open a heartbeat later as something entered their line of vision. 
Not giving them time to react, the man with the title “Vendetta” raised his arm into the air with such force that his white hair swirled to the other side of his body. 
“Now—viskum.” 
The quartz pillar behind him immediately began to shake, filling the chamber with wavering red light. 
One of the three gigantic flower monsters attached to the crystal shook its threatening petals as it shifted toward the adventurers below. Rather than roaring, it screeched like nails on a chalkboard as it broke away. 
A new stench coming from the vivid flower filled the air—putrid, rotting flesh. 
Time slowed to a crawl as a gigantic shadow above the adventurers’ heads grew larger by the second. The beast was descending. 
“—Scatter!!” screamed Bete as everyone took off running. 
They sprinted as fast as their legs could carry them. Filvis was the last to react, taking action only when Lefiya grabbed her wrist and half dragged her outside the beast’s massive shadow. Their enemy Olivas ran off in the other direction, safely exiting the landing zone with a few light strides. 
The gargantuan body of the monster slammed into the floor a moment later with the force of a meteorite. The entire cavern shook with the strongest tremors of the battle. 
“~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~?!” 
“You gotta be kidding!” 
Arms up to protect their faces, Lulune and Asfi braced themselves against the shaking. 
Pieces of the green floor exploded, falling like rain. Another ash plume filled the air, concealing the massive creature inside. 
Every upper-class adventurer looked upon the gigantic shadow in the middle of the cloud, easily larger than a floor boss. 
“Obliterate them.” 
Following Olivas’s command, the gargantuan flower monster lumbered forward. 
The beast was far too heavy to raise its upper body like the violas, so instead it slithered toward the adventurers like an overgrown worm. 
“!” 
Separated from Filvis, Lefiya watched the massive green body approach and immediately moved to get out of the way. 

An enemy this large left no room for error. Kicking off the ground, she dove headfirst to avoid its initial body slam, only to get caught up in the burst of wind that accompanied the impact and roll across the floor for several meders. 
Other members of the party didn’t fare much better. Since each twist and turn of its gigantic frame could result in a fatal blow, every adventurer was quick to put some distance between themselves and the monster. 
“Can we even hurt this thing?!” 
Lulune screamed as she dodged round after round of ivy-like whips from the monstrous roots. 
One of Hermes Familia’s human supporters also evaded a slew of ivy tendrils as she extracted a magic sword from her backpack. She unleashed the full power of the fire-infused blade onto the beast, but the monster didn’t seem to notice. Flames bouncing off its incredibly thick skin, the gigantic flower continued its series of plunging body slams unfazed. 
Brave adventurers drew their weapons and attacked, but the monster’s incessant wiggling knocked them back over and over. Magic users busily cast their spells in an attempt to overwhelm the beast with their power, but they were silenced by waves of ivy whips in their vulnerable state. Even worse, the magic energy attracted a swarm of violas. There was no time to complete their trigger spells. 
The chaos on the battlefield prevented Hermes Familia from using its formations and teamwork. 
“Over here, piece of shit!!” 
An airborne Bete landed a devastating kick. 
The hastily attached knife on Frosvirt opened up a large gash in the monster’s flank, but it was nowhere near enough to bring it down. Although it writhed in pain, a raging bull would never fall to a toothpick. 
The beast’s movements and attack speed weren’t all that impressive, but its mass and scale were just too immense. 
Bete clicked his tongue in frustration as he glared at the enemy that no one in their right mind would ever willingly engage in battle. 
“FUA-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA! Go, my viskum! Eliminate the adventurers who have set foot on this holy ground!!” 
Olivas watched the battle from a short distance away, his laughter echoing through the chamber. 
Knowing he had two more of the beasts in reserve, the man couldn’t have been more confident of victory. Satisfaction appeared on his face as he waited for the last of his injuries to heal. 
“Olivas Act!” 
“……?” 
A cry of rage reached his ears. 
Turning to face its source, he saw an elf with long, shiny black hair wearing pure-white combat gear. 
“How have you lived with yourself after causing so much pain and suffering?” Her murderous visage obscured her elven beauty. “Because of you, my allies…I…!” 
“…Oh, you survived that plan, too?” 
“How dare you!” 
The thirst for revenge in the elf’s eyes let Olivas know the girl had been directly affected by the Twenty-Seventh-Floor Nightmare. 
The man lifted his chin, head tilted as he calmly smiled at her. 
“Although the plan was executed according to my design, I am also a victim—I perished, after all. And now I finally awaken from the nightmare of the gods…We can share this pain.” 
“Go to hell!!” 
Filvis wouldn’t have any of Olivas’s mind game and shot it down. 
Her arms and legs trembled with fervor. Rage rolled off her thin body, and her mind was far away. Any semblance of reason had long since disappeared. 
Her shortsword gone, she made a fist out of her open right hand and raised her wand high with her left. 
Filvis’s loathing was not only directed at the man responsible for her pain but also at herself for not being strong enough to take revenge while he was in his weakened state. 
“So long as you die, nothing else matters…!” 
Dark flames of indignation burned within her red eyes as Olivas accepted her hate with open arms. 
At the same time, he shifted his gaze to look directly behind her. 
“While entertaining you does pique my interest…can you abandon your kin to her fate, elven maiden?” 
“—!” 
Her eyes quivered. 
She looked over her shoulder at the viskum’s onslaught. 
Among the adventurers desperately fighting for their lives was another elf with golden yellow hair, trapped between the gigantic flower monster and several smaller plants. 
Filvis’s expression contorted once again. 
The irony in the man’s taunts brought her back to herself, awakened her ability to see reason. 
“Your friends have already perished…and now, can you let the same happen to her?” 
A series of vicious attacks had left cuts and gashes all over Lefiya’s body. Filvis’s red eyes landed on each one. 
She was faced with a decision: forward or backward. 
Would she take the forward path and slay the enemy with the burning rage within her? 
Or would she extend a helping hand backward to rescue a fellow elf on a precarious edge between life and death? 
—“Banshee.” 
A horrid nickname that she’d never once paid any attention to now tormented her in the back of her mind. 
She didn’t know how many elves had forsaken her after learning of her past, calling her an “embarrassment to their race” before today. 
It was the truth. 
Never once had her heart felt pain. 
That is, until someone called her “beautiful” despite knowing everything. 
The girl who was willing to speak kindly to someone as unclean as herself, even if it was only consolation and sympathy. 
Just like Dionysus. 
She had looked upon Filvis with sincere, honest eyes, gorgeous enough to make her envious. 
Would she leave that beautiful young girl to die…? 
The dilemma dug deeply into her soul, posing the same question over and over. 
The voices of her deceased allies came to life in her ears. 
—Run for your life, Filvis!! 
—Go…go now! 
—AARRGHHHHHHHHHHHHH!! 
—Yes, Filvis…you must…go. 
—Run, Filvis. 
—Fil-vis… 
—Save me. 
The voices of allies lost to the Nightmare kept coming. Memories that had been eating away at her from the inside began to flash before her eyes, staining the chamber red. 
Their sad voices, bloodcurdling screams, and mournful final whispers seized her heart. 
I—… 
The one responsible stood in front of her, watching her inner conflict and enjoying every twinge pass across her face. Directly behind her was a fellow elf desperately fighting to stay alive. 
She stood at an impasse. Then— 
“Damn! Damn it all…!!” 
Turning her back on Olivas, she rushed back into the battlefield. 
“!” 
Lefiya guided the ivy whips away from her body with her staff. 
Her special robes were getting torn to shreds, but she was managing to keep the rain of creepers from making a direct hit. 
Her ability to protect herself in a situation where casting was impossible was thanks entirely to Riveria’s tutelage. Magic energy was volatile, and its wielders possessed a great deal of it. They must be able to physically defend themselves should the time come. Riveria had taught her to have the resilient spirit of a towering tree, keeping her mind calm amid the chaos. As long as she focused on her enemies and harnessed the many bow-staff techniques that had been drilled into her, Lefiya could deflect monster attacks on her own. 
And, of course, she had plenty of experience dealing with plant monsters. 
Lefiya dodged oncoming attacks well before they reached her by calling upon her many battles with this species of late. When the impact of a nearby ivy whip knocked her off balance, the carnivorous plant monsters saw their opportunity and swarmed her. Although able to avoid a direct hit, Lefiya was tossed high into the air. 
She landed on her back, fighting through the pain and struggling to breathe as she forced her body up off the floor. 
Not good! She could feel the bloodthirsty eyes on her as she got to her feet—when a yellow lightning bolt passed just in front of her face. 
“Viridis!” 
“Miss Filvis!” 
Filvis dashed to Lefiya’s side as the smoldering monsters fell away, done in by her magic. 
Lefiya had feared the worst after the two became separated, so she breathed a sigh of relief upon seeing the other elf’s face. 
“Are you hurt?” 
“I am all right, thank you.” 
Filvis’s relief was evident as well when she saw Lefiya stand on her own two feet. 
“Do you have any blades?” asked Filvis. Lefiya immediately removed her backpack and flipped open the lid. Filvis stuck her hand into the tubular container and pulled out a one-handed longsword. 
Ditching the sheath, she moved in front of Lefiya to protect her. 
“What do we do, Asfi?!” 
—Elsewhere, a group of adventurers were directly engaged in battle with the enormous parasite. 
Lulune yelped from inside the swarm of monsters too numerous to kill. Asfi did her best to defend with a shortsword, but she’d lost too much blood to go on the offensive. Rivers of sweat poured down her face and neck as she desperately knocked away oncoming vines. 
“…Now would be the perfect time to have Thousand Elf incinerate it with magic, but maintaining a Wall is impossible against an enemy of this size.” 
She could order many of her allies to raise their shields in a line, but the entire group would be crushed under the gigantic body. Whether or not they could block wasn’t the issue. 
Asfi glanced over her shoulder at Filvis fighting tirelessly to protect Lefiya before facing forward once again. 
“It appears our only option is to aim for its magic stone.” 
Destroying it would turn the entire monster into a mountain of ash. Drawing out the battle would only work against them. Going for an instant kill at the monster’s “core” was their only choice. 
The problem was finding where the magic stone was located. 
Was it in the central chest area as was normal for monsters in the Dungeon, or was it in the back of the throat like the violas? 
Bete called on every muscle in his body to knock the monster off course. Asfi used these brief windows to examine its body for clues. But once they found it, could their blades penetrate deep enough into the gargantuan body to break the stone? Asfi did everything she could to drive that scenario out of her head as she issued orders to Lulune and her allies. 
“Pointless.” 
Olivas chuckled to himself as he watched the party of adventurers fight back against the monsters. 
Absorbing the nutritious liquid from the quartz tower had allowed the viskum to grow to a scale that outclassed other monsters. Each one would take more than a fortnight to conquer. 
Deciding to end the battle before the adventurers devised a new strategy, Olivas narrowed his leaf-colored eyes and prepared to summon another of the gigantic beasts into battle. 
Then, as he was about to raise his arm, it happened. 
A new explosion from the other side rocked the cavern. 
“?!” 
Every inhabitant of the chamber turned around to find the source of the deafening boom and the cracking that followed. 
They immediately spotted several columns of smoke rising—and the red-haired woman directly beneath them. 
She had hit the wall of the cavern with the force of a cannonball, shattering its surface with her back on impact. THUMP THUMP THUMP! She tumbled down the wall and slammed into the floor. 
Her body had flown like an arrow to the other side of the chamber, away from the rampaging viskum. 
“Kagh…!” 
Grunting in pain, she tossed what was left of her heavily damaged crimson blade to the side. 
Despite the numerous injuries covering her from head to toe, offering a clue as to the intensity of her battle, she propped herself up onto one knee. 
“Haaahh…haaah…!” 
Everyone looked toward the wall she had come through and saw the unmistakable blond girl with golden eyes—Aiz. 
The girl’s armor and exposed skin were also covered in cuts, and her shoulders rose and fell with each breath. 
“Levis!” 
“Miss Aiz!” 
Olivas and Lefiya yelled at the same time. 
Aiz lifted her silver saber into a defensive position as she took her first step into the cavern. Cautiously scanning, her eyes popped open in surprise to see Lefiya before nodding to her right away to indicate she was okay. 
It had been over half the day since they last saw each other. The sight of Aiz alive and well made Lefiya’s eyes water with joy. Asfi, Lulune, and all of Hermes Familia couldn’t help but smile as they fended off the latest round of attacks. Even Bete flashed a grin. 
Lefiya quickly wiped her tears with her sleeve and refocused her attention on the new arrivals. 
There was no doubt in her mind that this red-haired woman called Levis was the one who’d led the attack on Rivira. Judging by her sudden appearance in the cavern, Aiz had managed to deliver a direct hit at full strength during a fierce battle. Unable to withstand the blow, Levis had been launched through the wall and into this chamber. 
Both combatants were covered in cuts and bruises, their armor and combat gear heavily damaged, and they were sweating up a storm. 
Neither was anywhere close to peak condition, but Aiz held the advantage because of her weapon’s special characteristic. 
Aiz didn’t let her guard down, keeping her focus squarely locked on to the now weaponless Levis kneeling on the floor. 
“…All talk, Levis? Disgraceful.” 
Olivas observed the new arrivals just like Lefiya. The red-haired woman was supposedly his ally, but he only jeered at her. 
Levis’s green eyes flicked toward him. 
Aiz followed suit as Olivas’s sneer deepened the wrinkles on his brow. 
“This child, ‘Aria’?…Hardly, but it matters not. If that is Her will.” 
There was an air of hostility in the man’s voice, almost as if he were jealous of Aiz. 
Face contorting even further, he lifted his right hand high above his head. 
“Viskum!” 
He looked over his shoulder at the quartz pillar behind him and roared at the top of his lungs. 
One of the monsters still leeching liquid from the quartz pillar started to move, detaching its body from the towering structure until it fell from it like a collapsing building. It hit the floor with a deafening crash, pieces of the broken surface scattering in all directions as it arched its lumbering body forward. 
The last remaining viskum watched from above as its companion leveled the petals of its blooming head toward Aiz. 
“Miss Aiz!” 
Lefiya screamed as the second monster was summoned into battle. 
The elf started to rush to her aid, but the first creature on the floor unleashed a wall of ivy whips, most likely at the behest of Olivas, to bar her path. 
Reaching Aiz was now impossible. 
“Corpse or not, I will bring the girl to Her.” 
With the monsters keeping the adventurers at bay, Olivas decided to approach Aiz himself. 
The girl had sustained considerable injuries just as Levis had. A conniving grin grew across his lips as he thought about how easy it would be to kill her in this state. 
“Hey, back off!” 
“Do not attempt to get in my way, Levis. I will take care of the enemy you could not handle.” 
Levis shouted at him with one knee still firmly planted on the floor, but Olivas wouldn’t listen. Subdued white hair swished back and forth with each step, his eyes unblinking and focused on the blond girl. 
The man watched as Aiz quietly leveled her saber at the gigantic dark-green body slowly slithering toward her. 
The difference in scale was so dramatic that it looked as though she were holding a toothpick toward the massive beast. The absurdity of it all made the man chuckle. 
“Die, Sword Princess!” 
Olivas roared as he thrust his arm in her direction. 
The monster under his command picked up speed, carving up the floor as it closed in on its target. 
“—Fool.” 
Levis snapped from her vantage point. 
“—Here we go.” 
Aiz whispered to her weapon of choice, Desperate. 
Then she cast her spell. 
“Awaken, Tempest.” 
Immediately, swirling winds burst through the chamber at her call. 
Maintaining eye contact with the monster in front of her, Aiz bestowed Desperate with the strongest winds her magic could muster. 
Slash! 
The viskum’s head was severed with one arcing slice. 
 
“?” 
Olivas, the adventurers in the cavern, and Levis all fell silent. 
The power of the sword enhanced with magic. The flash of silver light. The howling wind. 
The viskum’s head fluttered through the air, riding the air currents created by the sword’s single slash. 
Time slowed to a crawl as the soaring mass of flesh was reflected in Lefiya’s dark-blue eyes. 
Blood splattered in all directions. The moment between the beheading and the dull thud of the projectile hitting the floor felt like an eternity. 
“?Aaa!!” 
The feminine fetus at the base of the quartz pillar released an earsplitting scream. 
The quartz itself seemed to writhe in pain in response to the magic wind howling through the cavern. 
As soon as time returned to normal for the adventurers, Lefiya and everyone else focused on Aiz with shock. The girl was standing still, Desperate still extended after her follow-through. 
One blow. 
She’d ended the fight with one blow. 
Although not as strong as a floor boss or either of the female-figured monsters they had faced before, she had just taken down a monster of that scale with one blade. 
Unlike Aiz’s Status or swordsmanship, there was no way to measure Airiel’s true power. 
The red-haired woman watched the events unfold with a cold stare. Bete’s eyes were wide open while Asfi and Lulune stood transfixed, muscles in their faces twitching. Filvis stayed completely still, a speechless Lefiya at her side. No one moved. The only sound was the cry of the feminine fetus. 
Its head gone, the gigantic flower monster was nothing more than a motionless mountain of green flesh. 
Aiz slashed her saber down toward the creatures’s limp body. Howling winds once again tore through the area. 
Her beautiful, long blond hair swirled in the currents. 
“Wha…what…?!” 
One step, two steps. Olivas shrank away from the battlefield, his sickly white skin losing even more color. 
His assured victory gone, the unyielding confidence he’d carried was a thing of the past. Losing the viskum in the blink of an eye shook him to his very core. 
The residual magic wind whispered through his white hair. 
“!” 
Redirecting her first Level Six Airiel wind around her body like armor, Aiz shifted her attention to the man in white. 
Olivas immediately thrust a shaking hand into the air and desperately called out. 
“V-violas—!” 
Following his command, the remaining flowers disengaged the other adventurers and swarmed toward Aiz. 
Aiz looked around at her new opponents. With the wind as her ally, the swordsman charged into battle. 
And so began a one-sided massacre. 
She hit the line of approaching monsters with the speed and ferocity of a hurricane. Slashes similar to the one that slew the viskum cleaved several violas at once, pieces of their bodies soaring through the air. Instant death. The whirlwind surrounding Aiz deflected oncoming whips into other monsters. Victims of friendly fire, they were either blown backward or cut into pieces by the appendages of their allies. 
“……!!” 
Lefiya shuddered, struggling to comprehend the overwhelming force that was the magic wind whirling around Aiz. 
—It was not normal. 
Simultaneous offense and defense; power that granted her the ability to face the floor boss on her own; a strength that went far beyond any enchantment. No enchantment could produce an effect of this magnitude. 
How was she, a human without the inborn magical talents of the elves, capable of producing that much power? 
Miss Aiz as she is now is…! 
The reason that Aiz had been considered to be among the upper echelons of adventurers while still at Level Five was due to her command of this magic, plain and simple. 
This “wind” placed her on the same stage as Orario’s elite, Level Six adventurers. 
In terms of pure swordsmanship in a one-on-one duel, Lefiya was certain Aiz had surpassed Finn and the other leaders. 
No one here could stop her. 
“…Damn, she’s leavin’ me in the dust.” 
The Level Five werewolf watched Aiz fight, and a fire lit in his heart. He clicked his tongue. “Ahh, shit.” 
He turned his head back to his allies. 
“Oi, we still got shit to do!” 
The adventurers called out to one another, regrouping to face the gigantic flower monster in their way. 
Seeing Aiz literally tear the monsters apart had done wonders for their morale. Bete led an invigorated counterattack as Hermes Familia’s superior teamwork began to come together. 
The adventurers took the fight to their enemy. 
“Everyone, I found it! The magic stone is in the head! Aim for its flower!” 
Lulune had used the lull in the action to investigate the severed head of the first monster Aiz took down. She swiftly passed on the information. 
When the thief’s yell reached their ears, everyone quickly descended on the location of the surviving beast’s magic stone. 
“That’s all well and good…but we are still unable to use magic as it is. We lack sufficient firepower.” 
Asfi muttered to herself as she watched the magic users prioritize the ivy raining down from above. 
The slithering viskum wasn’t about to allow them the time to cast a powerful spell, but without magic strong enough to pierce its thick skin, there was no hope of destroying its core. 
Watching the casters be interrupted over and over and catching a glimpse of the desperation on Lefiya’s face—determination appeared in Filvis’s eyes. 
“I shall go myself!” 
“Miss Filvis!” 
She left Lefiya behind her and raced forward. 
Tightly gripping her wand in her left hand, she weaved in and out of the tendrils and into point-blank range of the enormous creature. 
“Werewolf, open a hole!” 
“…Tsk, don’t go telling me what to do!” 
The elf and the werewolf made eye contact before putting on a burst of speed. 
The friction between them was still there, but they had a common goal, and the situation called for teamwork. Bete took the lead, slicing the vines out of their way. Filvis was close behind, following the path he cleared for her. 
The two of them reached the top of the beast’s body in no time flat and advanced toward the looming petals that formed the viskum’s head. 
Lulune’s information led them directly to the vivid blossom, and Bete launched himself into the air. 
“Eat this!” 
Flipping, he brought the heel of his metal boot down directly into the beast’s skin, tearing open a long slit in its head. 
Filvis had her target. She jumped forward the moment Bete was clear of the gash. 
“Purge, cleansing lightning!” 
She was on top of the open wound just as she finished her trigger spell—and thrust her wand into the hole in the monster’s flesh. 
“Dio Thyrsos!!” 
The lightning from the tip of the wand ripped through the gigantic monster’s innards. 
The creature flinched unnaturally several times as the skin on its belly flashed randomly from the inside. Electrical current found its way to the other gashes inflicted by the adventurers and escaped as streaks of golden plasma. Powered by an enormous amount of Mind, the spell continued to work its way through the monster’s body, searching for the core. 
After no more than a heartbeat, it went still. 
The electrical current had pierced the magic stone. Unable to let out a dying cry, the viskum turned to ash. 
Cheers erupted from the ranks of Hermes Familia as the monster became nothing but a pile of black soot in their wake. 
 
Just before Bete and Filvis slew the gigantic flower monster… 
Aiz cut down the last remaining viola. 
Releasing herself from a self-imposed restriction on her own magic, she used Airiel to its fullest extent. Now, only mountains of ash remained on the battlefield. 
“This…this isn’t possible…!” 
With Aiz’s full power on display, Olivas couldn’t stop his extremities from trembling. 
A beautiful yet aloof knight stood before him. The sight of her slaying monsters with wind and overwhelming strength was worthy of the heroes who had become immortalized in legendary tales. 
The strength the man possessed would not be enough. 
Greenish eyes shaking uncontrollably, he heard an explosion from a different direction. The second viskum had been eliminated. 
Two of his best cards gone, Olivas began to lose his composure. 
“I refuse! Losing…I will not allow it!” 
He kicked off the ground, charging directly at Aiz. 
Since her back was to him, he had the element of surprise. The magic stone in his chest provided him with strength that surpassed the realm of human comprehension. Focusing all of it into his hands, he reached up with the intention of snapping her neck. 
However, the fight against Bete and Asfi had taken its toll. His hampered movements were far too slow to contend with the new Aiz Wallenstein. 
“—” 
A golden eye caught a glimpse of Olivas’s diving approach. 
A flash of silver light, her saber a high-speed blur… 
“~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~!” 
Cuts and gashes covered Olivas again. 
It seemed unnatural that a body with that many wounds spewing blood could still be in one piece. 
The yellowish green flesh of his lower body and his human torso shredded beyond recognition, Olivas fell onto his back. His eyes stared blankly toward the ceiling. 
“Inconceivable…I, who have ascended beyond man and beast, who was chosen by Her…?!” 
Olivas howled into the air as the agony of defeat started to set in. 
Terrified, he looked up at the War Princess standing over him. He was so scared that his vision blurred. 
“—Ridiculous.” 
“!” 
It happened just as Aiz approached the now helpless man on the floor. 
Levis burst onto the scene like a gust of wind to come to his aid. 
Aiz jumped back out of reflex and watched the red-haired woman grab what was left of the man’s clothes and carry him away. Levis came to a stop at the base of the quartz pillar and tossed Olivas’s body unceremoniously to the floor. 
Monsters had all but disappeared from the cavern, meaning there was nothing to distract Aiz, Lefiya, Bete, or the remaining adventurers who were starting to gather around them. Now the center of attention, they were the last two left alive. 
“Th-thank you, Levis…” 
“……” 
Olivas pulled his body up to his knees even as he gasped for breath. 
Caring little for the blood still leaking out of his body, he desperately focused on breathing. Levis didn’t respond to the words he managed to squeeze out. 
The adventurers spread out into a half circle, cornering the two. The woman, illuminated by the ominous red light of the quartz, looked at each of the adventurers in turn with eyes hidden by dark shadows. Her green irises quickly returned to the kneeling man. 
She reached out to him, her face blank. 
She grabbed ahold of his collar and lifted him with one hand as if to make him stand. 
Then— 
She drove her knifelike hand directly into his chest. 
“!” 
“Wha—?” 
Aiz and the adventurers forgot to breathe. 
Her hand plunged into his broken rib cage. Bones and muscles cracked as she forced her hand deep. 
Olivas himself was the most surprised by this turn of events, gaping at his “ally” in shock. 
“L-Levis, what is the meaning of this…?!” 
“Use your eyes, look around.” 
Aiz, Lefiya, Bete, Filvis, Asfi, Lulune. 
The woman flipped her blood-colored hair out of her eyes as the line of upper-class adventurers watched. 
“I need more strength. That’s all.” 
Her voice was passionate, then cold. 
“No matter how many I consume, no amount could ever satisfy me.” 
He must have realized what she intended to do with those words alone. 
Olivas was petrified. 
“You cannot be serious! I am the same as you, one chosen by Her…!” 
“Chosen…? Do you think that is a goddess or something?” 
“……!” 
“There’s no reason to put it on a pedestal.” 

Levis scoffed through her nose. 
“You and I, we’re nothing but pawns.” 
Levis’s assertion made Olivas’s eyes go wide, perfect circles of despair beneath his white bangs. 
Desperation taking over, he used both hands to grab the woman’s thin arm sticking out of his chest. 
“D-do you mean to kill your only associate?!” 
Levis flexed her fingers deep inside his chest, completely ignoring his words. 
All the strength of the man’s body instantaneously disappeared, like a puppet that suddenly lost its strings. Even the hands that gripped her arm fell to his sides. 
It was as if every muscle, every tendon’s strength had been rooted in his chest. 
“With me gone, who will be able to protect Her—?” 
Levis violently ripped her hand out of him, effectively silencing him mid-scream. 
A brilliant magic stone drenched in blood was clasped tightly between her fingers. 
Without his core, Olivas disintegrated into a pile of ash, just like any other monster that met the same fate. 
“Don’t get the wrong idea.” 
Practically spitting the words at the pile of ash by her feet, Levis looked away. 
Aiz stood completely still with her gaze straightforward, unable to speak after witnessing the gruesome turn of events. 
“I protected it all along. That’s not about to change.” 
Levis brought the magic stone up to her mouth and crunched it between her teeth. 
Slurp. She ran her tongue over her lips, cleaning the last fragments off her mouth. 
Filvis stared, speechless, at this unimaginable betrayal. Crick! Lefiya squeezed her right hand into a fist, keeping her composure out of sheer will. The woman’s red hair stood on end, fluttering in a nonexistent breeze. 
One heartbeat later—the floor exploded at her feet as Levis charged directly for Aiz. 
“!” 
She left the other adventurers in her dust, her powerful fists aimed directly at the girl. 
Aiz lifted the magically enhanced Desperate into the path of her oncoming opponent for defense. Even so, she was knocked off her feet and thrown backward a moment later. 
Bete and the other adventurers only now noticed what had happened and turned toward the sound of impact, but Levis was already in pursuit of the blond swordswoman. 
“You’re…?” 
“You can still talk? Let’s fix that.” 
The woman’s bloodred hair reflected in Aiz’s trembling golden irises. 
A richly colored magic stone. A man who’d turned to ash. An absorbed crystal. A monster. 
Aiz had no knowledge of Olivas’s or Levis’s true identities, but the information that was in her head began swirling, connecting the dots in her mind. It led her to one conclusion. 
A powerful kick came down from above—a kick strong enough to contend with a leveled-up Airiel. Levis’s heel tore through the air, launching a blade of wind down at her. Spinning out of the way with ease, Aiz moved to counterattack. It was all the woman could do to defend before, but now she was going on the offensive. 
—Enhanced species!! 
Aiz had no choice but to accept that explanation for her opponent’s sudden boost in strength and speed. 
It was the natural order for monsters that consumed magic stones, a dog-eat-dog world diametrically opposed to that of humans with a Status. The being in front of her now was a monster in the shape of a human. 
What was truly frightening was that Levis had become physically stronger and faster than Aiz at Level Six by devouring Olivas’s magic stone. Only with the addition of Airiel’s power had Aiz managed to keep the onslaught at bay. 
A flash of silver. A gash appeared in Levis’s shoulder. 
Ignoring the blood spewing from the wound, Levis lifted her fist high into the air and used every muscle in her body to bring it down over Aiz’s head. The girl dodged at the last possible second, but the fist kept going. It crashed into the floor and a small crater appeared where the blond girl had stood. Levis’s fist stayed in the fleshy green depression for a moment before…crick crick CRICK! She pulled it free with all her might. 
A crimson greatsword emerged from the ground, a nature weapon from the floor. 
Holding the weapon with both hands, Levis charged once again. Aiz responded with a thrust of her saber. 
“!!” 
The wind-coated silver blade and the massive crimson greatsword collided in a thunderous impact. 
“Just what is she…?…’Cause…holy shit!” said Lulune between gulps, transfixed by the battle between Aiz and Levis. 
Just like the monsters that had acquired a taste for magic stones, the woman was matching Aiz blow for blow, on equal footing with the blond swordswoman who’d slain a viskum with one slash. 
The battle was so fierce that it looked impossible for anyone else to join the fray. Bete was the first to make an attempt, dashing toward the battle with Lefiya and Filvis close behind. 
“The situation may be dire, but…!” 
As Bete led reinforcements toward Aiz, Asfi took off in the other direction by herself. 
She made a beeline for the base of the quartz pillar in the deepest part of the pantry, where the orb containing the feminine fetus sat unprotected. 
That orb was at the center of everything—this incident, the attack on Rivira, and possibly many more events to come. Whether or not it was related to the “Her” Olivas kept going on about, there was no doubt in her mind that the fetus was the key to it all. 
She was determined to acquire it no matter the cost, when—WHAM! 
A sudden impact from out of nowhere. 
“!” 
“Wha—?!” 
A hooded purple robe, a bizarre mask. 
Asfi had no idea where this mysterious newcomer had been hiding, but his sneak attack knocked her off course. 
Mind-blowing strength and a pair of metal gloves delivered a blow powerful enough to penetrate Perseus’s custom white cloak. 
“Asfi!” 
“There was another one?!” 
Lulune and the rest of Hermes Familia rushed toward their leader even before she hit the ground. 
Even Lefiya’s group came to a stop, looking back at what had just transpired. All three of them stared at the masked attacker. 
“While not complete, it’s grown enough! Take it to Enyo!” 
Levis shouted to the newcomer between strikes as she continued to fight against Aiz. 
The attacker wrapped his hands around the orb in its root cage while it shrieked in the presence of Aiz’s magical energy. It fell silent in his grasp. From there, he ripped the entire thing off the pillar with one swift jerk. 
“I understand.” 
The masked attacker spoke with a voice so deep and layered it sounded like several people speaking at once. With that, he made a quick exit. 
The orb safely tucked into his arms, the man in the purple robe was well on his way to vanishing into one of the many exits in the cavern walls. 
“Lulune, stop him!” 
Asfi shouted at the top of her lungs in a desperate attempt to prevent his escape. 
Lulune gritted her teeth and groaned as she took off in full-speed pursuit. 
“Viskum!” 
However, Levis’s voice rang out. 
Forcing Aiz away with a powerful swing of her blade, she issued an order to the last gigantic flower monster still attached to the quartz pillar. 
“Keep bearing monsters!! Don’t stop until your strength is spent!” 
A howl echoed through the cavern a second later. 
“…!” 
Aiz paused mid-charge to look up at the ceiling. 
The group around Bete and the group around Asfi and Lulune felt a tremor pass beneath their feet and came to a stop. 
They all turned their attention toward the source of the howl, only to see the remaining viskum shifting from side to side. Only then did they hear the sucking sounds coming from beneath it, as though it was drinking every last drop of the liquid from the glowing red quartz all at once. 
Crack! A series of fissures ran up and down the pillar of crystals. 
At the same time, burgeoning lumps popped up all over the thick roots that worked their way around the cavern. The viskum convulsed as the lumps began to pulsate at an alarming rate. 
Moments later… 
All the flower buds located on the ceiling and walls of the cavern bloomed in unison. 
“?” 
Every single one of the richly colored buds—every single one of the violas—came alive. 
Each was in a different state of maturation, some buds larger or more colorful than others. The plant that had absorbed an immeasurable amount of nutrients from the Dungeon itself was now attempting to birth all the monsters it had created in one go. 
The viskum withered at an alarming rate, turning a dull brown before its large body became weak and went limp. The monster’s flower head folded in on itself. 
The apocalypse had arrived in the form of an off-green tidal wave. The newborn monsters’ broken-bell cries swelled within the dying pantry, echoes coming from everywhere. All color drained from Lefiya’s face as she watched the approaching wall of green, her eardrums throbbing. 
All the adventurers had the same thought, as much as they didn’t want to believe it. 
Aiz and her comrades watched in horror as the terrifying violas bared their fangs and fell from the ceiling and walls. 
—Monster party! 
Next came a series of tremors beneath their feet as the monsters touched down. Their heads rose high into the air, ready to attack moments later. 
The adventurers watched in shock as monsters descended upon them from all directions in one furious wave. 
“OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!” 
“!” 
Many of the adventurers couldn’t get the screams out of their throats in the face of such overwhelming numbers. 
They could see only flowers, flowers, flowers no matter where they looked—forward, left and right, backward. Even the space overhead was blocked out by yellowish green bodies. Cacophonous howls bearing down on them, the adventurers took off at full speed to avoid getting swallowed up by the wave. The viskum had sacrificed itself to completely inundate the cavern with monsters. 
The swarm was so intimidating that even the strongest second-tier adventurers were on the brink of losing their will to fight. 
There were hundreds, possibly thousands of them. Normal monster parties paled in comparison. 
This was much, much worse. 
“Keh…!” 
The masked man made it into one of the cave entrances and left the hellscape behind. 
Asfi saw him easily escape with her own eyes. 
“No, no, no! This is frickin’ impossible!” 
“Stay close or you’ll get crushed!” 
Lulune wailed as she ran around in a panic, trying desperately to evade the massive walls of green bodies and seemingly infinite whips. The war tiger Falgar forced words out of his mouth in an attempt to reach her, but the monster howls swallowed his shout. 
The violas attacked everything in their path. Upon seeing an adventurer, they either attempted a slithering body slam or unleashed a rain of whips. However, the monsters were also attacking one another. Amid the chaos, the last living members of the robed faction were devoured on the spot. “GAHHHHHHHHHHHH!!” came one dying scream through the carnage as the remaining Evils’ Remnants vanished from the cavern. Even the remains of the man in the off-color robe disappeared down a monster’s throat. 
Violas followed their scattering prey. Several isolated battles commenced. Bete spun through the air, slaying monster after monster with powerful kicks. Other frontline fighters wielded large weapons, slicing monsters in half with each swing. No matter how many of the monsters died to their blades, more kept coming. The adventurers could not make a dent in their numbers. 
The battle became an all-out brawl. 
“Violas!” 
“!” 
Meanwhile, Aiz was trapped in Levis’s monster-pincer attack. 
No sooner had she blocked her opponent’s crimson sword than the violas at her command thrust their vine-whips at her like spears. Surrounded by a ring of endless enemies, she had nowhere to escape to. Levis used her limitless supply of disposable pawns as distractions to launch her own hit-and-run attacks. Even with the added strength of Airiel, Aiz was losing ground. 
Neither Aiz’s nor Lefiya’s group of adventurers could come to each other’s aid. They had their hands full just staying alive. 
“—!!” 
“Wha—?!” 
Levis made her move after Aiz’s wind had felled twenty, thirty, forty or more of the violas and blown them into the air. 
She positioned herself behind one of their massive frames before cutting it out of her way. Caught off guard, Aiz wasn’t able to react to the ambush in time as Levis appeared from among the pieces of the monster’s body. She lost her grip on Desperate on impact, and it was knocked from her grasp. 
—Oh no! 
Aiz’s weapon spun through the air in diminishing flashes of silver. Intense heat ran through her veins. 
The knight was disarmed, a swordswoman without a sword. Aiz’s capability in battle decreased dramatically without Desperate in her grasp. 
Levis wasn’t going to let this opportunity go to waste and charged in. 
“You won’t escape!” 
“~~~~~~~~~!” 
Aiz did everything in her power to knock Levis away, but the monsters barred her path to Desperate. 
That one-step delay was enough for the red-haired woman to close the distance and put Aiz on the defensive once again. 
Forced into hand-to-hand combat, not her strong suit, the blond girl was in dire straits. 
Just like the adventurers around her screaming at the top of their lungs, Aiz had her back against the ropes. 
 
The monsters were becoming more aggressive. 
Lefiya and the other adventurers managed to regroup in the cavern’s center and desperately held the violas at bay. 
Their only saving grace was that these monsters had been born prematurely, making them physically weaker than normal. 
Even so, that didn’t change the fact they were fighting for their lives. They were trapped in a nightmare, surrounded by fanged, vibrant blossoms. There were so many of the beasts that all exits were hidden from view. 
It seemed like after every monster shriek, one of the adventurers fell to the ground. 
“Ahh! Oh no…!” 
Lefiya and the other magic users were trapped in the middle of the chaos, unable to harness any of their power. 
Trying to cast magic in the middle of the swarm was the same as suicide. None of their allies was willing to form a protective Wall. They all had their hands full as it was, leaving Lefiya powerless to assist and cursing her uselessness. 
The war tiger Falgar, caked in his own blood, howled. Elf fighters blocked oncoming attacks with their swords, barely able to repel them. A dwarf had lost his weapons in combat and instead slammed his broken fists into one monster after another. Asfi and Lulune engaged the violas with a flurry of slashes as Bete kept his feet moving, piles of monster corpses around him. Hearing their yells—no, screams tormented Lefiya as she watched their battles from a distance. 
—Why can’t I… 
Why can’t I fight side by side with these brave people? 
Why can’t I pick up a sword and slay monsters, pick up a shield and protect my allies? 
I just run away, get saved, watch helplessly. 
My chants only hold them back. 
I’m useless. 
The magic staff she clutched to her chest had never felt so heavy. 
If only I could be like Lady Riveria or more like Miss Filvis…! 
Visions of the overwhelmingly powerful high elf came to the forefront of her mind as she caught sight of the elegant young elf woman fighting valiantly. 
Just like the blond swordswoman she idolized, the master elf was still far beyond her, and the beautiful magic swordswoman was still out of reach. 
If only she were capable of fighting like the elf Filvis. 
If only she were armed with sword and song, she could be slaying monsters that very moment. 
Lefiya glimpsed Filvis taking down yet another beast. In that moment, Bete’s words flared up in her mind. 
—“You’ll never be anything more than baggage.” 
She no longer felt any pain from those words, just a deep-seated sense of powerlessness. 
“Aiz…!” 
While Lefiya wallowed in despair, Bete caught a glimpse of the other battle. 
He snarled at the sight of the blond swordswoman with golden irises fighting alone against Levis and a swarm of monsters. 
Bete had lost track of how many of the premature, weaker monsters he had slain and quickly scanned the battlefield—and spied the young elf. 
“Oi!” 
“Eh…?” 
He didn’t bother announcing himself until he was right next to Lefiya. 
“I’m going to help Aiz. You figure out a way to take care of this!” 
Lefiya’s shoulders jumped as the werewolf grabbed her collar. 
“B-b-but I am just—” 
“A bottom-feeder, I know! But I also know how ridiculously powerful your magic is!” 
Bete interrupted her with a rage-filled lecture. 
“All bottom-feeders say they want to be strong but run away from it! Is that all you’re ever gonna do? Prove me wrong! Make all of us regret doubting you!” 
Bete’s amber eyes glared deep into Lefiya’s dark-blue irises. 
“Don’t admire the old hag, surpass her!” 
—Surpass Riveria Ljos Alf. 
Bete said it, loud and clear. 
That absurd goal that no one else ever said. Even Aiz, Tiona, and Tione had never uttered those words. 
They weren’t the words of the abrasive, never-satisfied-with-his-current-strength werewolf, but they were Bete’s true thoughts. 
—Are you satisfied with how you are? 
The question came right from his heart. 
Bete, always irritated by the mere sight of weak adventurers, gazed at her with passion and roared with the power that lit a spark within Lefiya. That spark grew into flames that spread throughout her body. 
Burning emotion filled her heart. It was a new pain, the pain of wanting to do exactly what the man in front of her was asking but not knowing if she could. It made her very soul shake. 
As Lefiya unknowingly clenched her fists, the werewolf leaped into the fray. 
He said nothing, provided no encouragement or smile as he turned and dashed away. 
Lefiya watched his retreating form for a moment—the powerful back of a man worthy of fighting at her idol’s side. 
That image of his back burned into her memory. She frowned a moment later, her shapely eyebrows bristling. 
The young elf came to a decision amid the howls and screams of man and beast. 
“—Please protect me!!” 
Lefiya’s voice was powerful enough to cut through the chaos. 
She held the one weapon allotted to her high above her head, signaling to her allies that she was preparing to cast magic. 
The other adventurers’ eyes went wide upon seeing her take that stance. 
“P-protect you? And do what? A half-assed spell isn’t going to do jack shit…!” 
“Believe in me!!” 
Visibly shaken by Lefiya’s request, Lulune squealed between slashes. 
Lefiya knew that she had to dispel thoughts of herself as a weak, cowardly magic user right here and now. 
“I am a magic user! Protect me and I’ll save us all!!” 
She put the raw energy she had received from Bete, the flames burning in her chest, and the desire to reach a higher level into her voice. It was all an attempt to take a step closer to Riveria, a strong magic user anyone would want to have behind them. 
That majestic tone and strong stance were enough to sway both Asfi and Filvis. 
“All units, gather around Thousand Elf! I trust her!” 
“……!” 
Filvis led the group of adventurers entrusting their fate to the young elf into a group in front of her, to hold back the swarming monsters. 
Lefiya began to gather Mind energy and issued one more plea. 
“Surround me! Please hold for five—no, three minutes!” 
She did her best impression of Riveria. The adventurers followed her command. 
The violas’ infighting came to an abrupt end as all of them zeroed in on the elf in the middle of the ring of adventurers. Lefiya lifted her gaze and started to cast. 
A three-minute countdown that would determine their fate had begun. 
“I beseech the name of Wishe!” 
A golden circle grew under her feet, illuminating all the adventurers in magic light. 
Blocking out the violas drawn to her like moths to a flame, Lefiya focused solely on her spell. 
“Ancestors of the forest, proud brethren. Answer my call and descend upon the plains.” 
Sing. Sing. Sing. 
No unnecessary breaths, every syllable loud and clear, there was no doubt in her mind that Riveria could do this in less than a minute. 
That wasn’t something she could do as she was now—only sing. 
A song of hope to save her friends—a song of victory. 
“Connecting bonds, the pledge of paradise. Turn the wheel and dance.” 
She selected her Summon Burst. 
The magic she was calling forth would duplicate Riveria Ljos Alf’s in a spell capable of destroying everything in sight. 
Using the power of this incredible magic, she could wipe out every single monster at once. 
“Come, ring of fairies.” 
The adventurers in formation around her blocked one attack after another as the monsters broke into a frenzy. 
The shield-wielding war tiger and dwarves refused to back down despite their injuries, ignoring the searing pain of their bleeding shoulders. 
Elves equipped with twin blades and animal people sacrificed their bodies to hold back the surge of monsters. Lulune and Asfi were a blur behind them, knocking away the countless whips that came in over the heads of everyone manning the Wall. 
Filvis and Hermes Familia faced the omnidirectional assault head-on. 
“Please—give me strength.” 
Lefiya’s eyes shone with faith in her allies, allowing her to eliminate all distractions from her mind. She increased the tempo of her song—and triggered the spell by calling its name. 
“Elf Ring.” 
Her golden magic circle suddenly turned emerald green. 
Lefiya then began to cast the summoned magic. New hope surged through Asfi and her allies, more determined than ever to buy Lefiya enough time. That is, until they saw something that made their faces go pale. 
“Big ones! And a shit-ton of them!” 
The newcomers must have been wandering about the green hallways of the transformed labyrinth. This new flood of enemies surged in from the many cavern entrances. 
Lulune’s scream sounded above the battle as more of the massive creatures encroached every time they slew their immature counterparts. 
“Viridis—!” 
Lefiya’s spell was far from complete. Filvis peered over her shoulder at her kin and saw the young elf continuing to chant—determination once again burned in her eyes. 
“Out of my way!” 
“S-sure!” 
Pushing her way past, Filvis charged directly into the path of the oncoming monsters. 
Lefiya’s gorgeous refrain sounded behind her as she opened her lips. 
“Shield me, cleansing chalice!” 
A short-trigger spell. 
Asfi and Lulune watched in amazement as a second spell manifested. 
Filvis thrust her left hand straight forward at the incoming tidal wave of violas. 
“Dio Grail!!” 
A pulsing white sphere appeared. 
The first wave of monsters slammed into it. The field held against their whips and body slams. 
Each impact sent sparks of magical energy flying into the air. Asfi’s and the other adventurers’ shadows danced, Filvis in the center of it all. 
 
As the sphere of white light illuminated one part of the cavern, Aiz’s wind was being overwhelmed. 
Violas hindered the girl’s path forward, and Levis relentlessly slashed with her crimson greatsword. 
Dodging it by a hair, Aiz used her momentum to spin and land a devastating kick. 
“That’s nothing compared to that sword of yours.” 
“!” 
Every ounce of wind Aiz could muster went into that kick, but the impact landed on the hilt of the crimson greatsword. Completely unscathed, the red-haired woman regarded her with cold confidence as she launched a counterattack of her own. 
All the unarmed knight could do was evade. Airiel alone was not enough to contend with an opponent like Levis, especially when the heavy greatsword was fast enough to leave crimson afterimages. 
If only I had a sword…! 
Desperate had landed in a corner of the chamber not too far away, piercing the soft floor. Every time she caught a glimpse of the silver blade, Levis moved in to block her path. Aiz frowned in the face of this enemy who would not let her retrieve her weapon. 
The two had been engaged in combat for quite a while at this point. Aiz’s physical strength was waning, and the constant use of magic ate away at her mind and body. On the other hand, her opponent possessed seemingly limitless endurance, worthy of the title “monster.” 
“Let’s finish this already!” 
A bead of cold sweat rolled down Aiz’s neck as Levis rode the front of a charging viola with the crimson greatsword held high. 
A searing-hot pain shot through her chest as the blow connected. At that moment… 
“—A blaze shall soon descend.” 
The elf girl’s song reached Aiz’s ears through the monsters’ howls. 
“!” 
—Lefiya! 
The spell powerfully resonated as if Riveria herself were casting it in her beautiful voice. Aiz momentarily gawked at the elf’s song. 
At the same time—a flash of gray fur entered the fray. 
“Get lost!” 
Bete had arrived. 
Forcing his way through the walls of monsters, he finally caught up to the furious battle with a series of vicious attacks. Aiz and Levis watched in surprise as the werewolf made a beeline to the girl’s side. 
“Hand it over, Aiz!” 
“!” 
That was all Aiz needed to hear to understand. 
“Wind!” 
A wind current glided from her outstretched hand and into Bete’s metal boots as he passed by. 
The yellow jewels built into the metallic greaves flashed as powerful vortices enveloped both his feet. 
“Approaching flames of war from which there is no escape. Battle horns blaring on high, all atrocities and strife shall be engulfed.” 
Aiz immediately made her escape from the battle after giving Bete the power of wind. Lefiya’s song in her ears, she made a break for the silver saber protruding from the floor in a corner of the cavern. 
Bete took her place in battle, blocking the red-haired woman’s path. 
“You!” 
“Damn it, woman, stay down!” 
Levis saw what Aiz was trying to do and gave chase. However, Bete wouldn’t let her. 
The clash of the woman’s greatsword against Airiel-empowered boots reverberated through the open arena. 
“Come crimson pyre, merciless inferno. Become hellfire.” 
Bete rode the air currents to deliver a meteor shower of powerful kicks. 
The werewolf devoted everything he had to allowing Aiz time to retrieve her sword. He had to keep their opponent in place for as long as possible. 
Levis snarled in frustration. Sending the violas in the area to bar Aiz’s path, she confronted him with every intention of killing the man in her way. 
“Move!” 
“…!” 
The crimson slashes descending on Bete dyed his vision red. The wind allowed him to evade, kicking each strike out of the way at the last possible moment with the knowledge that he wouldn’t survive if that blade hit home. 
Even with the assistance of Aiz’s Airiel, Bete was no match for Levis’s enhanced physical strength. All his skills and techniques combined weren’t enough to overcome her power. Ax kicks, sweeping kicks, reverse cyclone kicks—it didn’t matter. The red-haired woman simply dodged and blocked his wind-infused feet, spinning like a top. 
The werewolf’s onslaught tore her combat gear to shreds. One of her gauntlets went flying as the wound in her shoulder reopened, spraying blood as she spun. 
“I said move, werewolf!” 
Voice shaking with fury, she swung her sword even faster. 
Bete jerked his body into a defensive position. Attacking was no longer an option. 
“Purge the battlefield, end the war.” 
A girl’s song reached Bete even as he lost ground. 
Out of the corner of his eye, he caught sight of the group of adventurers surrounded by a white light. The men were covered in blood, and the women fended off monster attacks with magic staffs. Their screams and the monsters’ howls sounded over the field of death. 
An elf magic user stood in the middle of it all, shining like a beacon. 
Bete gritted his teeth and sneered as he violently forced his body forward. 
“Take this!!” 
He knocked the blade back. 
Bete knew he didn’t stand a chance but refused to surrender any more ground. If his opponent wouldn’t give him time to attack, he would take it. 
Bete howled and bared his fangs in a crazed smile. 
“The riffraff’s standing tall! And they’re not gonna see me get my ass whipped by the likes of you!” 
It was the pride of the powerful and the iron will of a man. 
The sight of the weak putting up a fight lit a fire within Bete, and he pushed his own limits to the point of shattering. 
He poured all he had into his kicks as his feet rode torrents of wind. Back on the defensive, Levis widened her eyes before flashing an irritated scowl. Adjusting her grip, she reared back with her crimson greatsword held high. 
Bete responded by jumping up with enough force to blast a hole in the floor beneath him as he spun and extended his left leg with incredible speed. 
“HAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!” 
Bete’s ferocious roar filled the air as he drove his foot straight toward his enemy. 
The crimson sword came down toward the wind-infused kick. 
Impact. 
“—” 
The vortex of wind provided little resistance against the crimson blade, instantly giving way. 
A web of cracks raced through the metal boot from where the two weapons collided. 
The leg inside the boot snapped. Blood spewed into the air as skin and muscle tore asunder and bones splintered. 
Intense pain quickly followed the shock of impact. Bete’s eyes bulged in their sockets. 
“Incinerate, sword of Surtr—My name is Alf!” 
—That was the moment Lefiya completed her spell. 
A sudden flash of emerald light reached Bete and changed the color of the battlefield. 
Magic had been summoned. 
“Rea Laevateinn!!” 
A towering conflagration erupted from the magic circle. 
The pillars of flames started where Lefiya and the adventurers were holding the line. Reaching all the way to the ceiling, the hellfire narrowly missed the other combatants while consuming all the violas in one giant blaze. The roar of the flames was so loud it drowned out their final howls. 
The incredibly destructive magic left no trace of the monsters behind, burning their magic stones and ashes into oblivion. The chamber had been turned into a realm of fire. 
“—Heh!” 
A grin formed on Bete’s lips as red light illuminated his face in the immense heat. The monsters’ fiery demise, the girl responsible, and her protectors’ cheers—his amber eyes reflected it all. Focusing everything he had into his badly hurt left leg—spewing blood, about to give way to the crimson sword—Bete howled loud enough to rival the weaklings’ cheers. 
“AWWWOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!” 
The silver boot pushed back the crimson sword. 
“Wha—?!” 
An unforeseen reversal. 
Although the collision launched Bete into the air, the weapon’s momentum knocked back Levis’s upper body as well. Her green eyes went wide in the fire-scape. 
Bete’s sacrificial, all-in attack had been strong enough to knock Levis off balance. 
Then. 
A swift shadow dashed toward the woman, surrounded by swirling sparks. 
Squeezing her way between the towering pillars of flames, a blond, golden-eyed girl returned to battle with a silver saber clutched in her grasp. 
The tip of the blade was pointed at Levis. 
“Awaken, Tempest!” 
The swirling air currents around her body blasted Aiz forward like a cannonball. 
Her ally had given her a window and she wasn’t about to let that go to waste. Desperate in position, she struck. 
“GaHA!” 
The blade arced diagonally through the air— 
And sliced through the weapon that had been hastily brought up to defend. 
“!!” 
Her technique was flawless. 
Just barely missing the center of Levis’s chest and her magic stone, the blade created a new wound that sent droplets of blood into the air as the red-haired woman hurtled backward. 
“—AAAHHHHHHHHHHH!!” 
One final arcing slash to end the fight. 
Both hands firmly grasping the hilt of Desperate, Aiz focused air currents down the blade to create a raging whirlwind as she jumped into the air. 
And brought the weapon down—directly onto Levis beneath her. 
“!!” 
Levis crossed her arms in front of her chest and took the full force of the blow. 
The air itself around the weapon screamed with the strike’s incredible power as the blade bore down on its target. 
A heartbeat later, Levis careened backward, as though trapped in the current of a raging river. 
Even slamming her feet into the floor didn’t stop her momentum. Two long gashes appeared in the floor as Levis’s one-way trip to the back of the chamber continued unabated. 
She finally came to a stop with her back against the base of the quartz pillar. Once bright enough to illuminate the cavern, its feeble red light flickered silently overhead. 
Victory was in Aiz’s grasp. 
“Haaahh…haaah…” 
She caught her breath, saber clutched in her right hand. 
The protective air currents around her body going quiet as she released them, the blond swordswoman walked steadily toward the base of the pillar where Levis was waiting. 
The magic Lefiya had summoned to the battlefield had turned the pantry into a charred, burning wasteland filled with sweltering heat. The birthing apparatuses that once dotted the ceiling and walls crackled as they burned away and fell to the floor. The rocky surface of the original Dungeon walls began to reappear. The adventurers, this time certain that the enemy forces had been eliminated, collapsed to the floor well behind Aiz’s back. 
Levis, propped up on one knee as the blond girl approached, slowly stood up. 
A shining vapor drifted from the wounds that covered her blood-speckled body—magic energy residue—as she began to heal. Eyes a bit wider than normal in disbelief, she opened her mouth to speak. 
“…Seems I can’t beat you right now.” 
Her green eyes showed no emotion at all while she spoke. 
Levis openly admitted that consuming Olivas’s magic stone didn’t give her enough power to overcome Aiz’s wind. She was alone with no allies or monsters left, yet she still spoke with a calm confidence. 
Aiz kept her distance, eyeing the red-haired woman with suspicion as her opponent looked up at the quartz pillar behind her. 
“This is a weight-bearing pillar. If it collapsed…Well, I’m sure you can figure out what would happen.” 
“!” 
—She wouldn’t. 
Levis ran her fingers down the surface of the quartz. Aiz rushed forward in an attempt to stop her, but it was too late. 
The woman clenched her fist and pivoted at the waist, slamming all her strength directly into the base of the column. 
The giant crack raced up the weakly glowing red quartz all the way to the ceiling, like the slash of a dragon’s claw. The high-pitched shatter echoed throughout the chamber, and the badly damaged support collapsed a moment later. 
The ceiling of the pantry began to crumble almost immediately. Large pieces plummeted to the floor. 
“……!” 
“You’ll be buried alive if you stay here. Especially those friends of yours who can’t move.” 
Levis casually glanced at the badly injured members of Hermes Familia; then to an exhausted Lefiya, who had pushed her Mind to the absolute limit; and finally to Bete, whose broken leg was in desperate need of attention. 
Aiz bit her lip as the first pieces of the ceiling slammed into the floor behind her. Most likely, Levis had this in mind when she absorbed the final blow and made sure she wound up close to the pillar as a result. 
More fragments began to fall. 
The adventurers started to retreat in a panic. 
“Assist the injured! Leave everything behind, escape takes priority!” 
Whipping into action, Asfi called out to her allies and directed the movements of Hermes Familia. 
“I ain’t some pathetic mutt! Like hell I need your help!” 
“Damn, you’re such a pain! This is exactly why I hate dealing with werewolves!” 
The chienthrope begrudgingly lent her shoulder to Bete in spite of his complaints. 
Exchanging insults, the two raced for the exit. 
“Viridis!” 
Meanwhile, Filvis was reaching out to help up Lefiya, who had collapsed due to Mind Down. 
However—her outstretched arms had stopped, trembling in place. 
It was as though she was hesitant to touch her kin with her soiled arms, and her pride as an elf prevented her from moving forward. 
Lefiya reached up and took the outstretched hand herself. 
“…!” 
“Do not…worry…” 
The young elf’s gaze was cloudy, a weak smile on her face. Filvis’s eyes widened. 
The elder elf drew her younger kin into a heartfelt embrace before lifting Lefiya off the floor. 
Holding her delicate body tight against her own, Filvis raced toward the exit. 
“……!” 
Aiz watched the adventurers assist one another as they fell back, and she made up her mind to join them. 
Her desire to help her injured allies took priority over the woman in front of her. 
“Aria, go to the fifty-ninth floor.” 
It was just before she turned her back to leave. 
Aiz looked over her shoulder when she heard the red-haired woman’s voice. 
“Things are getting interesting right now. Should answer a lot of your questions.” 
“…What do you mean?” 
“Surely you have some idea? If the rumors about you are true, the blood in your veins will tell you.” 
“……” 
“It’d be a lot easier if you went there on your own,” said Levis, hinting that taking her there by force was more trouble than it was worth. 
She fixed Aiz with a narrow gaze. 
“There are those on the surface trying to use us…but two can play that game.” 
Levis muttered as if talking to herself. Falling silent, all she did was stand in place. 
“Hey, Sword Princess!” 
“Aiz, move it!” 
Only when Lulune’s and Bete’s voices had cut through the din of falling boulders did Aiz break contact with the woman’s green eyes. 
She then took off at full speed for the only unobstructed exit, where the other adventurers had gathered. 
Aiz checked over her shoulder one last time just before leaving the cavern for good. 
The red-haired woman hadn’t moved from her spot at the other end. She was just staring in her direction, green eyes unblinking until she disappeared behind a pile of falling rocks. 
Turning away, Aiz helped the last of the wounded to safety. 
The twenty-fourth floor’s north pantry collapsed that day. 
The party of adventurers managed to escape before it was too late. 
 
After surviving a series of fierce battles that would remain largely unknown, Lefiya and the adventurers made a brief stop in Rivira before returning to the surface later that day. 
A worried Loki was quick to punish Aiz in her own way once the members of Loki Familia returned home, but they had all made it back in one piece. Bete’s badly injured leg made a full recovery thanks to Dian Cecht Familia’s healers, and Lefiya recuperated from Mind Down after sleeping for an entire day. 
Filvis didn’t say much when she headed home to Dionysus Familia, sharing only a quick smile with her fellow elf. She did feel that the distance between them had drastically reduced and wanted another opportunity to talk about many things with Lefiya in the near future. According to Loki, her god, Dionysus, had a difficult time dealing with this incident and apparently “spent the day bawlin’ his eyes out.” 
Unfortunately, several members of Hermes Familia didn’t make it out alive. Lefiya didn’t know what to say, but Lulune and Asfi softly smiled and only asked her to please put flowers on their graves. They also reassured the elf by saying that each of them willingly became adventurers and were fully aware of the risks involved. The girls knew their allies were prepared to die. Lulune, the one who had accepted this quest in the first place, was clearly grieved…but Lefiya was not in a position to ask. 
This incident had left considerable scars on each familia, but slowly and surely, they all returned to life as usual. 
“So much has happened…” 
On the second day since their return… 
Lefiya, feeling much more like herself, lay on her bed in her room with nothing to do, blankly staring off into space. She shared the room with several other female members of the familia, but the spacious quarters felt exceptionally empty without their company. 
“Aria, huh…?” 
The orb with the feminine fetus. The Evils’ Remnants. The creatures. 
Her head was still spinning from all the shocking discoveries, and so many questions were unanswered. However, that name was at the top of the list. 
That was what Olivas had called Aiz in the middle of the cavern. 
The same thing had happened during the attack on Rivira. The red-haired woman—Levis—called her Aria as well. It sounded like they were searching for someone by that name. 
Not knowing the connection between her idol and these mysterious beings got under her skin, so she went to Aiz to ask for an answer. Unfortunately, it didn’t help. Aiz didn’t tell her anything about what happened in the cavern, what Levis told her, or who this “Aria” was. 
An apologetic “Sorry” was all the blond girl offered. Her voice unsteady, Aiz likely didn’t understand the situation herself. 
“Uwahh…I know it is wrong to press for answers, but…” She groaned. 
Plop. She rolled over in bed. 
Her golden hair fanned out beneath her as she stared up at the ceiling. 
“Lefiya, you all right in there?” 
“…Miss Tiona?” 
Hearing a muffled voice on the other side of the door, Lefiya stood up. 
She went over and opened it to find not only Tiona but Tione as well. 
“Are you really okay? That had to have been rough! Should you even be standing?” 
“I-I have recovered, as you can see…” 
Tiona bounded through the doorframe, asking one question after another. Lefiya retreated a few steps. 
Smack! Tione hit her sister across the back of her head to make her cut it out. The younger Amazon’s apologetic smile let Lefiya know the sisters were worried about her and had come to see how she was doing. 
The headaches and fatigue from suffering Mind Down had been so horrible the day before that Lefiya had stayed cooped up in her room. 
“I only heard bits and pieces from Aiz and Bete, so what really happened is beyond me.” 
“No, you idiot. You’re just too dense to figure it out.” 
“Ah-ha-ha…I just remembered. The two of you were part of the group that went into the sewer systems, yes? Did you find anything?” 
The Amazonian twins had accompanied Finn to investigate the old sewer network beneath the city at the same time Lefiya had been fighting on the twenty-fourth floor. 
“Found a few of those flower monsters, but nothing I would call useful. Going back in was a waste of time.” 
Tione shrugged. 
Lefiya paused for a moment, deep in thought…Seeing the cages of monsters ready for transport in the pantry meant the Evils were the ones who had brought them to the surface. 
But there was a different question on her mind. 
“Um, Miss Tiona, Miss Tione…Does the name ‘Aria’ mean anything to you?” 
Lefiya felt horrible for asking around behind Aiz’s back, but the thought of forever remaining in the dark on this matter wouldn’t let her remain silent. 
Tiona and Tione had known Aiz long before Lefiya met her. Thinking there was a possibility they might know something, she decided to take a chance and ask. 
“Aria? Never heard that name before…” said Tione as she tilted her head. 
“Aria? Oh! I know!” Tiona jumped in. 
“Eh?! Y-you do?!” 
“Yep, I dooo.” 
In truth, Lefiya hadn’t had much hope that the twins could provide any information. So the fact that Tiona of all people had the answer caught her off guard. “P-please tell me everything you know!” said Lefiya with a step forward. 
“Sure thing!” answered Tiona without a second thought. 
Suddenly, the Amazon started walking toward the door. 
“M-Miss Tiona? Where are you going?” 
“Oh, the archives!” 
“What? Why would you want to go there?” 
Lefiya and Tione gazed at her with confused suspicion, but Tiona didn’t care. “’Cause it’s faster than me trying to explain!” she said as she made her way through the narrow hallways with a bit of pep in her step. 
The three arrived at the archives, open for familia members to use anytime, a few minutes later. 
With the scent of wood hanging in the air, the three girls approached rows of bookshelves in the middle of the room. The shelves were packed with books on the Dungeon, strategies for magic users and other styles of combat, as well as incredibly old books that Loki collected on a whim—all the resources of Loki Familia. The three girls found used grimoires stuffed into the shelves every so often. 
“I saw that name all the time when I was a kid…Now then…” 
Tiona dug through her memories as she weaved her way between shelves, hunting for a specific one. 
Lefiya and Tione watched as Tiona doubled back more than a few times. 
“I know it’s around here somewhere…Ah, there you are!” 
Tiona’s voice turned giddy as she reached high above her head to pull a book off the top shelf. 
Surprisingly thick, the volume’s cover showed a great deal of wear and tear built up over many years. 
Tiona flipped through random pages until she found what she was looking for. “Yep!” she exclaimed with glee and held it out. Lefiya, more confused than ever, took the book from her. 
The Amazonian twins looked over her left and right shoulders while the elf read the page. 
“Isn’t this…a tale of heroes?” 
The book was open to a picture of a hero and a woman with long hair standing close at his side. 
The black-and-white picture depicted her in an angelic robe. 
The name written beneath her was… 
“…The fairy Aria.” 
Together with the fairy, the hero joined forces with a high elf, dwarves, animal people, prums, Amazons…a large group of brave warriors in order to slay a monster. 
“She’s a little different each time, but Aria shows up in a lot of stories.” 
“I almost forgot. Back when we were little, you always had your nose buried in books about myths and legends, didn’t you…” 
“Sure did, hee-hee!” 
Lefiya ignored the conversation occurring overhead and focused entirely on the illustration. 
…Did this woman…resemble Aiz? 
No, this black-and-white picture didn’t provide enough details to be sure. 
The story itself was based on events that took place in the Ancient Times…a story that unfolded over one thousand years ago. 
Fairies… 
Children favored by the gods. They were practically deities themselves. While not completely immortal, their lives could span many centuries. 
Like elves, they shared an affinity with magic. However, the fairies exceeded elves as magic users, possessing superior magic and the ability to perform miracles. 
—Aiz’s “wind”? 
Impossible. Lefiya smiled to herself as she discarded her conclusion. 
Anyone could immediately recognize a fairy for what they were, the same way they could identify a deity. Aiz was certainly aloof and had a mysterious air about her, but she lacked the divine presence. 
Fairies shared another similarity with deities in that they couldn’t bear children. Lefiya dismissed all her silly theories right away. 
She had to admit that Aiz’s elegant beauty was on par with deities—But that is simply her hidden potential! Lefiya’s heart declared for the person she adored. 
She smiled with a bit of disappointment, realizing it was just a case of mistaken identity. 
Lefiya slowly closed the book. 
The title engraved on its cover read DUNGEON ORATORIA .