War Game(end)

Unlike the chaotic clash that was taking place between the two groups, the fight between Bell and Hyakinthos was a matter of technique and speed.

The two stood quite far apart from the others, but the sound of their weapons clashing was more than audible.

The clash seemed evenly matched and that was what shocked Hyakinthos the most. Only the week before Bell could do nothing to him, but now he could not only keep up with him, but Hyakinthos could see how quickly he was adapting to his way of fighting.

"Gha!"

A small cut appeared on Hyakinthos' chest, but when he tried to counterattack, Bell quickly retreated and charged to another side at the same speed.

"I won't accept it!"

Hyakinthos also charged toward Bell, but when he saw the latter raise his hand toward him, he rolled as quickly as possible to the side.

"Firebolt!"

The blaze narrowly missed him, but now that he was on the ground, Bell took the opportunity to attack him, or at least he tried to.

"No!"

The girl who seemed to appear out of nowhere and threw herself at Bell was none other than Cassandra, who had newly gained consciousness after being hit on the head by one of the stones thrown by Zoe.

"Let me go!"

Having lost his balance from the sudden weight thrown at him, Bell tried to drive Cassandra away as quickly as possible. The latter, however, refused to let go and squeezed even tighter.

'Magic chant.'

Hyakinthos did not miss such an opportunity, and he began to recite his magic; he would no longer risk getting close to him.

When Bell saw Hyakinthos begin the magic chant, he wiggled even more, finally managing to free his arms, which he used to push Cassandra away, and as soon as he did, he rolled to the side when he saw something approaching him.

A circle made of glowing light cut through the ground where he stood just a moment ago, but it had not ended there. The circle of light suddenly changed direction, heading back toward Bell, forcing him to dodge once more, but even so, the ring of light kept following him.

"HAHAHA! No matter how much you run, my magic will continue to follow you."

Laughed Hyakinthos with delight, seeing Bell in trouble.

"Firebolt!"

Realizing that dodging would not solve anything, Bell changed strategy and tried to destroy magic with his own. Unfortunately, he did not get the result he desired; rather, the flames joined the circulatory movement of the magic, increasing its power.

"GHM!"

With little room for evasion, he failed to completely dodge the circle of light, which managed to cut his shoulder, but Hyakinthos' attack didn't end there.

"Explode!"

"WHA-"

'Boooom!

Caught off guard, Bell ended up in the center of the explosion created by Hyakinthos's magic.

A cloud of dust formed, obstructing the view, but when it cleared, Bell could be seen battered. There were several burn marks and cuts on his body, but he still managed to get up, albeit with difficulty.

'tonf'

Something seemed to fall from his neck, but he continued to keep his gaze on Hyakinthos, who even though was in a better state, showed clear signs of fatigue from the various wounds he had sustained and the use of his magic.

"How did you endure even all that! HOW?!"

Hyakinthos seemed possessed by madness.

He was a level 3, captain of the Apollo Familia and his god's favorite, but since Bell had appeared nothing seemed to go right. His god wanted Bell for himself, and all the strength he had gained during his years as an adventurer was surpassed in a few months by the little boy in front of him.

He could not accept such a thing.

"I no longer care about Apollo's orders! You must die!"

'ROOOAR!'

'ROOOAR!

Several roars came from the forest, accompanied by the sound of the ground being trampled and trees being uprooted. This blocked Hyakinthos' charge and attracted everyone's attention.

On the other side of the camp, six silhouettes appeared, all more than two meters tall with mighty humanoid bodies, red-skinned and with beastly faces, from whose mouths came out fangs the size of an adult's hand. They were equipped with rudimentary weapons and armor, but their disposition was enough to give off a strong murderous aura.

"Why the heck are there ogres?!" -Shouted Hyakinthos.

Ogres were some of the most difficult level-3 monsters to deal with. They had good regenerative abilities, which combined with their strength, agility, and intelligence was a danger that could not be underestimated.

Bell and Hyakinthos looked at the monsters with agitation. Fighting each other in this situation was nothing but stupid. With the state they were in, they were not very confident if they could face them alone.

---Tower of Babel---

Inside the tower, the various gods were entertaining themselves by watching how this War Game would end, but the appearance of the monsters seemed to have heightened their interest.

"So... why there are ogres?" -Loki asked.

At her question, all the gods shifted their gaze to Ganesha, who began to sweat from the situation.

" 'Cough' well, as you all know, my Familia was responsible for controlling the battlefield."

At his words, the other gods nodded.

"Of course, I didn't think there would be many monsters, and with the fact that the strongest members of my Familia were busy with the dungeon, I sent the younger ones to gain experience."

The others nodded once again.

"What my Familia did not expect was that there was a camp of monsters. A total of ten ogres commanded groups of orcs and goblins. My members did their best to kill them during the week, but once the monsters dispersed, it became more difficult and they seem to be the few who escaped...however, it's Apollo's fault, he put me in too much of a hurry to finish preparing everything."

Ganesha concluded his speech by turning all the blame on Apollo, who simply shrugged his shoulders as if it was no big deal.

"Haaaa, can't your members do something?" -Hestia asked, after glaring at Apollo.

"Well, they should still be in the area, so-"

"Looks like the victory goes to me then, hahaha!" -Apollo interrupted arrogantly.

"What you are talking about now?" -Hestia asked exasperatedly.

"Dear Hestia, you don't want the sacred War Game to be dishonored by the participation of another Familia? Because if so, it would mean the end of the game, and since I have more members left, it is obvious that I will win." -He said triumphantly.

"No matter how you look at it, it is my Familia that has the advantage!" -Shouted Hestia.

"But you're the one who wants the help, so that means you want to surrender."

The other gods seemed to agree with his words; the War Game was a clash between two Families, and if another Familia were to intervene, it would be a violation of one of the sacred rules.

"You-"

"Fufufu, there seems to be an interesting turn of events."

Although soft, Freya's voice seemed to catch the attention of everyone, who shifted their eyes back to the flying screen to see what she was referring to.

Apollo did not seem concerned. If the members of his Familia had any brains at all, they would have used the opportunity to run away and hide in the forest, where they would wait for the end of the games and thus their victory.

'Ah! I can already see Bell in my collection.' -He licked his lips at the thought.

Unfortunately for him, such feelings did not last long. What he saw next made his mouth open wide, but he was not the only one to have such a reaction.

---Camp Apollo Familia---.

The appearance of the monsters made the expressions of the two groups harden.

The Hestia Familia, could momentarily retreat and wait for the remaining members of the Apollo Familia to deal with the monsters, and then attack them when they ran out of energy, but it was not safe.

It was common knowledge that the Apollo Familia members were not close with each other, so the possibility of the remaining group retreating into the forest was high.

So a stasis situation was created. The remaining members of the Apollo Familia were undecided whether it was worth running away and leaving the other members, increasing the chances of victory, or fighting the monsters with the risk of the Hestia Familia.

'Grrr!

The monsters began to approach when a change occurred.

The wind and temperature began to rise, but the area where it was most noticeable was where Zoe was.

Her hair fluttered in the wind, but even so, she remained firmly on the ground with her spear pointed at the monsters, while in front of the tip there was a fireball being compressed by the wind.

The monsters who had started running suddenly stopped sensing that something bad was about to happen, but unfortunately for them, it was too late.

"Fire blast."

'vosh!

A column of blue fire was shot from her spear. The flames quickly swept across the entire camp, reaching toward the monsters who did not even have time to scream in pain before their bodies immediately turned to ashes.

The trail of destruction left by the flames split the camp in two, burning everything in its path.

Everyone looked down the path of the scorched ground, where some flames continued to burn until their gaze reached the person responsible for it all, who was holding onto her spear as she gasped for breath.

"Let's finish this and go home!" -Zoe shouted wearily.

"W-WHA-"

'punch!

"Gheh!"

The moment Bell saw Hyakinthos distracted, he quickly approached him and punched him in the face so powerfully that he went flying for a few seconds, then fell unconscious with a few teeth missing.

The others also seemed to take advantage of the opportunity. The members of Apollo Familia still did not seem to have recovered from the shock of the events, failing to react in time and thus ending up defeated.

The only one who was left was Cassandra, but when she was surrounded by everyone, she raised her hands in surrender, marking the end of the last member of the Apollo Familia.

"The Hestia Familia wins the War Game!"

With Ganesha's energy-filled shout echoing throughout every building of Orario, the War Game ended on the same day it began.

(Author: in chapter 118, I said that the flames released by Zoe were white (white flames are less hotter than blue flames), so, I corrected the text and made it blue).