A Priceless Cartload

Following his unhesitating escape, Sabnac led two of his most trusted aides along the shortest route to the nearest secret emergency shelter, which was hidden away on the 5th floor of Knossos. He wasn't familiar with the majority of the confusing layout of this place, but he had paid special attention to this specific path, just in case he ever needed to make use of it. To be honest, he had hoped that a day like this would never come, but alas…

A depressed sigh escaped Sabnac's lips as he rested his back against the cold wall whilst hugging his knees. It had taken him and his two guards a mere quarter of an hour to get to safety and lock themselves in the shelter, but during that time, almost the entirety of his familia had been obliterated. The connections that he had felt to their Falnas had been cut off repeatedly in rapid succession. Whatever enemy that they had come into contact with had completely outclassed them, there was no doubt about that.

"Back then, I never should have agreed to the proposal that Ikelos' brat made me…"

With an ever-increasing number of tears trickling down his cheeks and his eyes reddened due to all the crying, Sabnac showed a pained smile. He recalled the faces of all of his children who by far and large had been decent citizens before he had been tempted by that alluring promise. Only because he had chosen for their familia to step into the shadow of Orario's society did things end up the way that they did. They had endangered the Lower World by selling monsters to whoever desired to own them, they had silenced the few people who had come too close to the truth or had witnessed something that they really shouldn't have seen, and so much more. It truly had been a slippery slope that had started with nothing more than the desire to earn a few extra valis and provide a better environment for his children.

'I should have known that a day like this would come. How could that geezer possibly leave a place like this alone for too long? He surely struck at the first opportunity… which just happened to be now. Everyone, I hope you can forgive me. If I had known that you wouldn't even be able to escape, I would have taken you all with me and wouldn't have asked you to hold your ground at all!'

Noticing their god's shoulders twitching as he silently wept, Libin and Klait hastily knelt down next to him, the latter putting a hand on his shoulder. The worn and torn, about 40 year old male human, as well as the female Cat Person in her late teens both had concern written all over their faces. As a veteran of many battles and the one most accustomed to permanent partings, it was up to the experienced Libin to raise their god's spirit.

"Lord Sabnac, don't blame yourself. I was there when you asked all of the higher-ups of the familia about whether or not to accept Mr. Perdix' proposal. It wasn't a unanimous decision, but we all eventually determined our course of action together. It's fine to mourn everyone who was lost, but don't let their deaths bog you down. They wouldn't want that, would they? Look at the bright side: We're still here. All that we need to do is to do better from now on and learn from this mistake."

At his side, Klait nodded her head, her grip on Sabnac's shoulder tightening a little to get him to lift his head. Through his tear-blurred vision, he could vaguely make out her toothy, reassuring grin. She was clearly only forcing herself to put up a tough front, but in his current state, he couldn't spot it. Her tail had turned puffy some time ago, but she had consistently been hiding it out of view behind her back.

"We have enough rations in here to last us for a couple of months, so let's stay here for a few weeks and then sneak out into the city via the dungeon. When they don't hear from us within three days, everyone back at home should be following the emergency procedures that you drilled into us, so they should be fine. Let's just… leave Orario and start anew somewhere else, okay?"

Feeling even more guilt-ridden because of how understanding and caring his children were, Sabnac choked up a little more momentarily, but then he slapped his cheeks and proceeded to take deep breaths, calming himself down ever so slowly. Approximately five minutes later, although he hadn't made it all the way back to proper form as his long hair was still dishevelled and dirty, his noble bearing had started to return.

"Alright, we'll do as you recommended, Klait. Thank you for helping me gather myself, you two."

A bit embarrassed, the cat girl scratched her ear while Libin composedly nodded his head. However, even he couldn't hide the small smirk that had stolen itself onto his lips.

'I'll build you all a proper memorial when this is over, I promise.'

Right when Sabnac had found his inner peace once more and the three of them felt as if they had successfully figured out where to go from here, a noise that they had heard just ten minutes earlier made them jump to their feet in alarm. Those rocks sliding against each other… when they had opened the secret door, it had produced the exact same sound!

'But how!? How could anyone possibly know which torch sconce to turn and, while right in front of it, to inject the key with mana once more? Did one of the three fools who got done in earlier write that information down and leave it in their home? That's the only way in which this could have been leaked! Wait… could there be a traitor!?'

The moment that he laid eyes upon the person leading the around two dozen strong party that blocked the entrance of the shelter, Sabnac didn't bother with thinking about any of these questions any longer. His eyes almost popped out of their sockets in extreme shock, but fractions of a second later, the look within them turned more resolute than ever. Before his guards could react, he had already prostrated himself on the ground and shouted at the top of his lungs.

"BRAVER! PLEASE HEAR ME OUT!!"

What followed were tens of seconds of agonizingly tense silence. Thankfully, Libin and Klait weren't foolish enough to cause a scene now, despite how pathetically he behaved. With the weapons of the Loki Familia aimed at them, they wouldn't rashly make any moves. Well, that was what Sabnac hoped for.

Eventually, when the back of his vest had become drenched in sweat, an unhurried but threatening voice finally responded.

"What do you have to say?"

Not daring to look up even though he had been granted the chance that he had bargained for with his dignity on the line, completely disregarding the status disparity between a lofty deity and the Loki Familia's Captain in front of him, Sabnac lowered his head until it touched the ground.

"Do anything you want with me, but please let the Guild give my children a fair trial. I was the one who dragged them into this and far too many of them have already paid the ultimate price."

Stumbling backwards in incredulity at this development, Libin and Klait were flabbergasted for a moment, then the more emotionally driven cat girl teared up and shouted in defiance, stepping forward right next to her god.

"Lord Sabnac, what are you saying?! We followed you out of our own free will! Sir Braver, please let me and my partner shoulder the brunt of the punishment that is to come instead!!"

Deeply shaken by her sacrificial spirit, but also terrified of the last glimmer of hope that he had just fought for possibly getting extinguished due to her outburst, Sabnac banged his head against the floor until his forehead started to bleed, leaving a golden stain on the cold rock.

"Braver, please. As their god, as their figurehead, I am the one to blame. I beg of you, don't listen to her."

"AHEM!!"

Clearing his throat as loudly as possible, Finn interrupted this melodramatic farce. He was certain that the two would just continue this back and forth for a long time if he didn't intervene. While it was amusing and somewhat touching to witness moments like these, he also currently didn't have the luxury of excessive time.

Putting on a stern, icy expression, Finn walked a bit closer and raised Sabnac's head with the end of his spear, staring straight into the unwavering eyes that set their sights on him in the process.

"What makes you think that any of you will escape your due punishment?"

With his last hope dashed just like this, the light in Sabnac's eyes slowly began to fade, a deep sadness settling in to replace it. Before it could fully manifest, however, Finn's next words reached the despairing god's ears.

"All of you will be handed over to the Guild when we're out of here. Don't even think of getting off scot-free!"

Not bothering to waste any more of his time on this, the Pallum turned around and motioned for his party's second in command, Raul, to come closer. He didn't want to hear any exclamations of gratitude from the criminal that they had just caught. When it came down to it, he wasn't the one making the decisions during this operation. What happened to everyone in this place was solely left up to Isaac's discretion, Finn had merely played a part in helping with some details in the planning stages.

"Get the rope and tie that trio up. Set aside some people to guard them as well."

"Understood, Captain. Leave it to me!"

Somewhat overeager, Raul saluted him and then got busy. As he was observing him perform his duties, Finn slightly distanced himself from the rest of the group and whispered into the empty air, not even loudly enough to hear his own words.

"Why did you ask me to spare the two guards?"

He was already aware that there was not enough incriminating evidence against Sabnac in this place to execute him on the spot, so he would have to be handed over to Ouranos' side for proper processing. However, according to the original plan, every single member that the Sabnac Familia had stationed here in Knossos should have been eliminated. There were a few theories floating around his mind regarding what could be going on, but he couldn't be certain of any of them yet. Therefore, he was eager to find out which one of them was actually what had spurred Isaac into making this decision.

"Out of all of the forces here, from what I've observed, the Sabnac Familia can be considered the least devious. There might be other crimes that they have committed that make them truly deserving of death, but trafficking non-sentient monsters alone isn't enough to qualify them for total extermination. I'll let Ouranos have the 'pleasure' of figuring out how to handle the Sabnac Familia's circumstances and settling on an appropriate sentence. Killing everyone aside from the two guards can be excused as them failing to comply or having been collateral damage, so it's not a huge issue. I chose to end them to help the Guild send a message that Ouranos wouldn't be able to bring himself to push: Don't fish in murky waters without being prepared to pay the ultimate price. Arrows don't have eyes, so they might just hit you in the heat of the moment."

Staying silent for a bit to think it over, Finn eventually nodded his head. Still, some last crumbs of confusion remained. He was pretty certain that he had already figured it out, but he needed one more confirmation.

"But all of that could have been achieved by simply leaving the Sabnac Familia members in the city alive. Aside from Sabnac, only Dipsios, Kakia and Sabaktes had bases in the city. We purposely didn't aim at the Sabnac Familia home because you intended to let the Guild handle the people there, right? Then why did you suddenly add the two guards to the list of survivors?"

Apparently slightly flustered, Isaac didn't reply for a few seconds. When he ultimately gave a response, he sighed resignedly because he knew what was to come now that he was being honest.

"I heard them console Sabnac earlier when he was struggling with the loss of his children. Later, when I witnessed him stand up for them, that girl doing the same for him in turn and the old-timer in the back clearly intent on joining in as well, I developed a modicum of respect for the three of them. It wouldn't hurt to let them live, so that's why I did."

Smirking smugly at Isaac's repose, Finn chuckled to himself. Sometimes, the degree to which Ais' beloved could emotionally detach himself from those that he wasn't close to surprised even the Loki Familia's Captain, who had frequently had to steel his heart to make difficult decisions. However, these moments when Isaac exhibited some genuine compassion reassured Finn time and time again that there was nothing for him to worry about.

"... if you're done, then get moving and go to the 7th floor already. Tiona has everything ready."

Complying with his orders with a small, cheeky bow, Finn relayed Isaac's instructions to the rest of his party. The restrained Sabnac Familia trio was put on a cart that had been prepared beforehand and brought along for this express purpose, safely protected and monitored. Even on the off chance that they could wrestle free from their extremely durable restraints, those movements would immediately be perceived and they would be knocked out as a result.

Around ten minutes later, Finn's party approached the chambers which the Ignavia Familia had been treating as their home up until just a quarter of an hour ago, when a lively Amazoness and Riveria's treasured protégé descended upon them with more than 20 other Loki Familia members.

According to Isaac's observations, the Ignavia Familia had been deeply involved in the slave trade. They would regularly venture to the surface - and sometimes even into the dungeon - to capture unsuspecting individuals. Down here, those who put up too much resistance would have to go through a 'reeducation' process, which left them in a state fairly close to death. The healer of their familia then patched them up to be as good as new, sometimes using expensive High Potions if the wounds were too grievous. Perhaps unexpectedly, this was a worthwhile expenditure, because the Ignavia Familia's slaves were highly rated by the buyers due to their extraordinary obedience. Many customers were more than willing to hand over a few tens of thousands of extra valis due to this reputation - it achieved the same effect as a brand name.

Ignavia herself wasn't actually involved with her familia's wrongdoings, she had simply gotten dragged along by her children and ended up in this place somehow. It was unknown whether or not she minded any of this, though, because as the goddess of sloth, she had never bothered to intervene. Amongst the myriad of deities, she was definitely amongst those who were the most affected by their Divinity.

All of this was also the reason as to why Isaac had decided to hand her over to the Guild for judgement, just like Sabnac. However, because slavery tended to be heavily frowned upon in Orario - even more so than monster trafficking - her inaction, despite her special circumstances, would most likely lead to her current stay in the Lower World getting cut short prematurely.

As for her familia? Of course, everyone had been wiped out.

When Finn's party arrived, Tiona handed over a tied up Ignavia who still looked as if she didn't really care about anything that was happening. She hadn't put up any resistance back when her familia's hideout had been stormed, and she didn't fight back now either. Nay, she didn't even raise an eyebrow. Like a sack of potatoes, she silently let herself get carried over to the cart that the Sabnac Familia's remnants were on, then she closed her eyes and fell asleep immediately after she got there. As for her fellow captured deity? She didn't even acknowledge his existence in any way.

The next target of Finn's party was on the 9th floor, while the five members of Tiona's party who were at least Level 4 needed to head to the 16th. That being the case, they advanced together for a while, but parted ways as soon as the Captain's party arrived on their target floor.

Once more, it had taken them around ten minutes to travel a two floor distance and approach the next base that they needed to visit, the home of the Metus Familia. Bete's party had just finished dealing with all matters here a couple of minutes ago.

This time, what awaited Finn's party was not an unharmed deity, but instead a beaten and bruised man of about average height whose real features couldn't even be made out any longer. His golden Ichor was dripping from his open wounds in excess and his face was so swollen that his eyes couldn't be seen any longer. All of his limbs had been broken and the area around his crotch had been kicked so heavily that his 'equipment' had been forcefully stuffed into his body. Well, what was left of it, at least. Metus really didn't have any of the dignity of a deity remaining, at all.

Although he felt a cold breeze between his thighs when he looked at the state that Metus was in, Finn didn't criticize Bete and simply commanded Raul to get someone to carry that piece of filth to the cart in the back. The value of its cargo once more increased by an inestimable amount.

There was a good reason for the brutal treatment that Metus had received. Just like Ignavia, he chose not to resist the effects that his Divinity had on his mind at all… but it was a lot worse, as he was the god of dread and terror. He had chosen the most depraved individuals that he could find on the streets of Orario to become his familia's children and taught them how to torture others in the most painful ways - how to break their minds into pieces, fix them back up again and then shatter them anew… repeating ad infinitum, like an inescapable cycle.

He obtained great satisfaction from witnessing the spectacle so he had spurred his children on by condemning the ones whose monthly performance was the weakest to join the torment themselves. In that way, he had successfully sparked the dormant ingenuity in his children as well as fostered a spirit of competition, which let him often catch sight of abuse that he himself had never even thought of before.

Of course, all of this wasn't only done 'just because' or due to his Divinity's influence. By gaining a deeper understanding about dread and terror, he could advance his Divinity to further heights! It was considerably more difficult to do so while taking the hands-off approach and observing from Heaven, so his objective when he descended to the Lower World had always been to create a place like this, filled with people who were experiencing the worst nightmares that they could ever imagine.

His familia had become infamous long ago, even before Evilus had risen to prominence, but because they had been based here in Knossos for a long time and had almost never ventured outside on their own aside from the times when they bought slaves or kidnapped someone, the Guild and the law-abiding familias of Orario hadn't had an opportunity to deal them a decisive blow. It only got worse since the Ignavia Familia, which was focused on slave trade, had settled down in these depths years ago - the Metus Familia members had appeared in the city even more infrequently.

Just like his familia's members, Metus would have to kiss his mortal vessel goodbye before long. He would be providing both Ais and Isaac with some sweet AP relatively soon. The only reason as to why they hadn't killed him on the spot was that the beam of Divine Energy which would transport his Divine Soul back to Heaven would also completely obliterate anything in its path - it really wasn't a good idea to allow a deity to die down here.

With the handover of the criminal completed successfully, the two parties then set off deeper into Knossos - Finn's towards the last deity that needed to be picked up, and Bete's to the 16th floor where Tiona's party had ventured to mere minutes earlier. Of course, only those at Level 4 or above were allowed to go.

They stuck together for around half an hour, until they made it to the 15th floor, where the Ker Familia had been living. Currently, they were still locked in combat with Tione's party.

Waiting patiently, Finn's party rested at a distance of a few hundred meters and listened to the sounds of fighting. The battle raged on for another five minutes, during which a few of those that were standing by grew worried about their fellow familia members. Fortunately, they were aware of the fact that Isaac would have notified them if their help had been necessary at all. Because that hadn't happened, it was safe to say that their friends were doing just fine. This eventual realization caused most of the fidgety ones to calm down once more.

There were good reasons as to why this battle had taken 'so long'.

Firstly, Tione's party had only made it to the 15th floor shortly before Finn's had come here, so the conflict hadn't actually been going on for that long - actually, everything was progressing remarkably fast.

Secondly, the Ker Familia had been quite impressive, boasting five Level 4 adventurers and one who had reached Level 5 a short while ago! Tione's party only had four Level 4's, but because she was a Level 6, they hadn't been in much danger. She had easily subdued the Level 5 and the strongest of the Level 4's, then she spent her time occasionally stepping in when the others made a mistake or couldn't hold on any longer. But aside from times like these, she left them to fend for themselves. It was important for her comrades to grow stronger, after all!

Why did the Ker Familia have such excessively powerful forces? In truth, almost nobody in Orario was aware that they were in the city, or that they even existed. This was because they had infiltrated from the outside over a long period of many years, slipping in their members one by one. This all had taken place decades ago, and since then, they had rarely left Knossos.

Due to having utilized his Eyes of Hermes to study all of their documents and having listened to their interactions, Isaac found out that they were a secret weapon of… some country. They never actually mentioned where they were from and simply used the term 'the homeland' or 'the motherland' when referring to it, even in all of their paperwork. Considering that there were plenty of youngsters in their ranks, Isaac suspected that those individuals might not even know which government they were serving. To find out more later, he had stealthily whisked away one of the older but weaker members of the Ker Familia before the assault on their base had begun.

More importantly, their illegal entry into the city and residence in Knossos alone didn't qualify them to get put on the chopping block, so what did? It was their trade.

They were an assassination organization who put themselves up for hire. That alone would already be extremely condemnable, because they regularly sent their members to slay innocents all across the continent. Sometimes, it was due to the orders from their masters or customers, but at other times, it was simply to gain experience or to refine their art. Their goddess encouraged such trips and even accompanied them a lot herself, as her Divinity of Violent Death could only grow in the presence of such events. Occasionally, massacres of unknown villages had been performed in her name. However, contrary to Metus' situation, this method of advancement was actually less efficient than simply watching from above, because she could only pay attention to a limited number of deaths at a time. In conclusion: She was only here to thrill-seek.

Once the battle had been concluded, Tione dragged the bound and gagged, one-armed Ker over to Finn, gazing at him with expectant puppy eyes while covered from head to toe in blood, intestines, bone fragments and Ichor. Where did the Ichor come from, you ask? Well, Ker did still have two arms when she ate breakfast this morning…

"Here you go, Finn!"

With a resplendent beam on her gore-covered face, Tione threw the incapacitated goddess over to her beloved Captain, trying to use this opening while he was focused on catching Ker to sneak over and hug him. Regrettably, Finn instantly saw right through her. He was capable of moving far faster than her, so he grabbed the 'goods' out of the air and delivered them to the deity-bearing cart faster than the affection-starved Amazoness could react. Feeling as if he should give her at least a little something for her efforts, he patted her shoulder and strolled off. It had actually not been as simple as it sounded to reach all the way up there considering his height, so he had had to very slightly jump to make up for the difference.

"Good job."

These two words were more than enough to rekindle the motivation in the downcast Amazoness' heart and make her swoon in delight. During the time she was submerged in desire, licking her lips in longing, breathing heavily and gazing at Finn as if in a love-induced haze, the target of her tender feelings chose to ignore her - he simply fulfilled his duties.

Everyone who hadn't reached Level 4 yet was to return to the surface with the captured deities in tow, to wait there for the conclusion of the raid. Many other parties had already sent their weaker members there, so they could all merrily wait there and reflect on today's happenings while taking care of all those that they had saved from this place.

"Raul, Aki, Nicole. You three will follow me to the 16th floor!"

-----

Gazing at what remained of the around 20 members of the Black Blade that had been in their outpost on the 12th floor, Ryuu sighed helplessly.

She had been made aware of the exact relationship between her nemesis Evilus and this subordinate organization of a certain primordial god named Váli by Isaac, so most of her hatred for these black robe-wearing people had disappeared. After all, they weren't the same people who had caused her friends and her so much suffering.

And yet, when she saw their scattered bodies after the mechanisms in their hearts had caused them to explode, she couldn't help but feel somewhat saddened. She knew that they were Isaac's enemies, and that they had tried to kill his people and aimed for his life as well. Still, it was difficult for her to feel all too positively about their deaths because she herself hadn't been harmed by them directly.

'Oh well, he did capture one of them for interrogation purposes, so that girl might survive…'

Feeding her justice-obsessed heart a smidgen of delusional hope, she took a deep breath and turned away from the devastation. Suddenly, she perceived some rapid movement nearby and was about to get into a defensive position, then she recognized who the new arrival was and halted in her actions immediately.

Having successfully escorted the Red Blade's members to the surface, Ais had casually ran back all the way down to the 12th floor in about ten minutes. She had seen no need to waste any AP on teleporting to cover such a miniscule distance, especially when there was nothing to worry about - with the trusty Gale, Ryuu Lion, as the vice-leader of her party, she could rest easy and leave the Black Blade to the Elf in the green cloak.

"It seems like you took care of everything already. Thank you for your hard work!"

Shooting her an otherworldly smile full of praise that would have caused most members of her fan club to die of blood loss, Ais stunned Ryuu into awe for a moment or two. When she finally snapped out of it, her eyes hastily darted away and she revealed a light blush. Coughing to dispel her embarrassment and to distract from what had just happened, she nodded at her party's leader, extending her greetings.

Her teasing having successfully produced this adorable display, the corners of Ais' mouth twitched in amusement. She rejoiced even more when she realized that her beloved had probably also cracked a mischievous grin because of this. Still, as she was aware that they had bigger fish to fry for now, she chose to leave it at that and informed everyone of what they needed to do next.

"Ryuu, Cruz, Elfy - follow me to the 17th floor. As for the rest of you, please return to the surface under Liza's command. Don't fully relax just yet, but be aware that your part in this raid is most likely already over. You've all done very well today!"