Chapter 8 part 2

P/N let me know if there's any mistakes and I will try to fix them

Just as she was about to be crushed by the weight of her responsibility-

"Lilly."

The white oculus hanging at her hip lit up.

"Let's do it."

The boy's voice was trembling. He was struggling with his own fear, too.

Let's face it together. Saying that, he was putting his hand on Lilly's back as she stood frozen.

That was enough to shine a light in the dark maze she had been trapped in.

Her swirling thoughts suddenly cleared, and her racing heart calmed as she made her decision.

She clenched her hand into a fist.

"Gather all the scattered forces."

There was still sweat on her cheeks as she glared out at the enemy.

"Quickly re-form the squadrons. Mr. Luvis and the rest of the scouts will act as a raiding force."

"U-understood!"

"Ms. Haruhime, go inside the building here and put on a reverse veil. Do not allow the enemy or anyone in the city to notice you, and hang back close behind Ms. Aisha's unit. Be prepared to cast your Level Boost whenever needed."

"Y-yes!"

Surprised by the sudden change in Lilly's demeanor, Daphne started giving directions to Cassandra and her squad while Haruhime and her Berbera bodyguards went down into the mausoleum for a moment.

"Ms. Chigusa, Lilly doesn't need a guard anymore. Link up with Mr. Ouka's unit and support them."

"Lilly...yes!"

"Ms. Aisha, Ms. Tsubaki, do we know the location of the enemy's healers?"

"...No, we can't see them from here."

"They're being kept hidden. We won't know until the fighting starts."

"Then prioritize finding them once the fighting starts. Lilly will search as best she can, too. Breaking the enemy's lifeline will be crucial...Prepare magic items for Mr. Luvis's raiders, too."

Chigusa nodded forcefully, and Aisha and Tsubaki smiled as they responded. Hearing their commander's unfaltering voice and seeing the commanding and courageous prum's figure, the coalition forces escaped their moment of turmoil.

Mord and the others seeing and hearing her through the oculi, and the adventurers around her, obeyed her instructions without question.

"Other than the raiders, re-form everyone into three divisions. Ms. Tsubaki will command the center, Ms. Aisha the left wing, and Ms. Daphne and Mr. Bors the right wing. Distribute the magic swords throughout all three divisions!"

Morale quickly recovered from its low ebb as Lilly fired off orders.

It was safe to say that the advantage Lilly had tried to gain from the oculi- communication speed and fidelity-had basically been erased.

If Freya Familia was entirely within earshot and well inside Hedin's line of sight, then his orders could reach every warrior. Even if there was some lag, it would just be a rounding error. Their army was firmly under control, and they would be able to make up for the communication speed of the oculi.

Because of that, the only clear advantage the coalition had left was the massive number of Crozzo magic swords they had prepared. They would have to cut through the strongest deployment using just the powerful magic swords that Hephaistos Familia had provided and that Welf had mass-produced instead of sleeping the past two weeks.

Don't cower! You're standing here for Mr. Bell's sake!

We'll break them.

We have to break through.

Remember the grief and anger!

Shred the enemy formation to get revenge on Freya and her followers for charming them and making them hurt Bell!

I am this party's commander!

Spurring herself on, Lilly drew the knife, stabbed into the board, and pointed it at the devilish elf across from her.

"We'll do it...!"

"Passing marks."

After receiving confirmation of the coalition's redeployment, that was Hedin's evaluation of Lilly's resolution.

If she had turned tail and run just because the enemy was Freya Familia, or if she had trifled with some pointless stratagem, Hedin had intended to decimate the coalition in the blink of an eye.

"I despise incompetence. But I will acknowledge the weak who strive for competence."

An ordinary commander would have cowered at the difference in strength between the two sides and not have drawn the blade he had thrust into the board.

On that point, the prum girl who had received Finn's shared wisdom was passable in the same way as Bell.

"If it's you, then I can cross swords as I planned."

Having silently acknowledged the girl, Hedin gave his order.

"Have them prepare to charge. Do not defend. Only attack."

"Sir!"

As the one adventurer rushed off, the white elf carefully observed the coalition's movements.

"This is like a dream. Lining up head-on across from Freya Familia...the Freya Familia..."

"I know what you mean...a nightmare, right?"

Following Lilly's orders, a large number of adventurers started moving together.

Ogma Familia's Gyle's face drained of color, and Nahza grinned ever so slightly as she responded.

"I joined because I thought I would be able to fight, too, since they aren't monsters, but this...this is scary. Really scary."

Her right arm, her airgetlám was trembling.

The opponent was the strongest enemy imaginable. Difficult enough to make her think a monster rex would be better to face. Even Nahza, who always had an indifferent look on her face, couldn't avoid being scared.

"...I'm not going to run. I'm doing this to help Bell. I won't hurt him again."

But even so, she wouldn't say she regretted it.

She was another adventurer who had committed to fight for Bell's sake, just like Lilly. The smile on her face captivated Gyle, and steeling his resolve, he smiled back.

"...Same here."

They didn't say anything else as they both headed to where they had been deployed.

Gyle with his ax to the raid squad, Nahza with her bow and arrows to the left wing.

"The center should be heavy on walls and focused on defense; the wings are mobility oriented. The dwarf-only Magni Familia needs to head to the center."

Lilly was standing atop the massive mausoleum, having sent everyone else

away as she continued to give orders into her oculi.

She wasn't dividing the adventurers by level. It was natural that keeping members of the same familia together would allow them to work together more easily. Other than people like Nahza, who didn't feel any restraint-she was mostly filling the divisions with whole familias.

The center had Tsubaki, Welf, Magni Familia, and many of Hephaistos Familia's high smiths.

The right wing had Daphne, the healer Cassandra, Ouka and Chigusa, and the Rivira outlaws led by Bors.

The left wing was Aisha and the ex-Ishtar Familia Amazons. Because they had notably fewer magic swords than the other two divisions, Mikoto with her gravity magic had also been deployed there. Behind the three divisions were the mages and Haruhime's reserves.

"Sh-should we change our positions, too?"

"Don't. It would be pointless for us to do that. All we can do now is keep hidden and watch."

Inside a certain ruin, Hestia was restlessly staring at the oculus connected to Lilly while Hephaistos just crossed her arms and leaned against the wall with her eyes closed.

The eastern half of the island where the coalition deities were hidden was devoid of adventurers save the deities' bodyguards. The battlefield was farther west than the dividing line in the middle of the island. The coalition set up its headquarters at the big mausoleum in the center of the western region, Freya Familia was deployed to protect the house of the gods on the western edge of the island, and the two sides were carefully watching each other.

"...This is the first time I've seen such a quiet war game."

In the city far away, Ibly, who was always so loud and abrasive, murmured to himself in a voice barely picked up by the magic-stone megaphone.

He was right, it was quiet.

The only action was the redeployment of the coalition's forces.

Other than that, there were no swords clanging and no battle cries raised.

The deities on the island and the residents of Orario gulped as they continued to watch.

But finally, the silence was broken.

"...It's time. Advance...'

Having finished their preparations, Lilly gave the order through the oculus in her hand.

As both camps watched, the crumbling ruins turned into a battlefield strewn with a sea of rocks. There was no one to stop what had once been blocks filled with buildings from being turned into a vacant lot. The three large divisions nervously began to advance in a line toward Freya Familia in the distance.

"Hold."

Meanwhile Freya Familia was unmoving.

At Hedin's cool command, they maintained their positions, not budging at all. Some had thrust their spears' pommels into the ground like gatekeepers, while others just glared with their swords still sheathed.

"Keep advancing. Don't stop..."

Lilly repeated the order as the divisions unconsciously slowed beneath the glare of so many eyes.

What she wanted was to get into effective range.

To reach the range where the magic swords could spit flames that would scorch the enemy's forces.

It felt like her life was being shaved away with each step the coalition force took, but with a will of steel, she had them continue the advance.

"Forward..."

The coalition pressed onward.

"Hold."

The einherjar didn't move.

"Forward..."

A bead of sweat trickled down the prum girl's cheek.

"Hold."

The elven marshal's expression was unmoving.

"Forward..."

The sweat dripped from her chin.

"Hold."

The marshal's eyes wouldn't misjudge the distance.

"Forward!"

The next instant.

"Now."

"Oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo"

"Oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo"

The battle cry marked the start of combat.

"They're coming!"

Bors shouted as the einherjar rushed forward in the blink of an eye like a raging tide.

"Ready the magic swords!"

In the center, Tsubaki's shout reinforced the adventurers who had been badly shaken.

"Not yet! Don't fire yet!"

On the left wing, Aisha watched for the moment to unleash her fusillade.

"The enemy isn't using any magic yet! They aren't in range, so calm down!"

On the right wing, Daphne called out her analysis.

In the era of gods, when opposing armies met, it was standard to see volleys of spells instead of arrows. But there was no magic yet. Meaning the enemy had grown tired of being cautious of the Crozzo magic swords.

That was how it looked to their eyes.

"Ugh...?!"

But the danger they posed was all too real. Weapons brandished with malice, bestial roars, and a speed that could only be achieved by those with terrifying statuses. A disjointed charge poured forth like a torrent, as if they had no intention of cooperating with one another. Freya Familia's followers, who built their individual strength by clashing daily in Folkvangr, didn't pay any attention to their comrades. They only looked to cut through the coalition lines and scatter the enemy by their individual strength alone.

It was a charge that brought to mind a twisted mountain of swords, and Ouka and Chigusa holding their magic swords were overwhelmed by the vision of it.

"H-hold! Hold! Don't get ahead of yourselves!"

Bors's voice shuddered as he desperately tried to control himself. An eerie coldness gripped his heart.

They were pushing, closing in, stampeding. Faced with the strongest warriors who would trample them the moment they closed the distance, they felt their mouths go dry, but even so, they endured the moment that seemed to last an eternity.

"Hold, hold! Nowwwwwwww!!!"

And Bors roared, his veins swelling and spittle flying.

"Fire!!!!!!"

Tsubaki gave the signal as well.

The next instant.

"Kazukiiiiiiiiiiiii!!!"

Flames erupted from countless magic swords.

Explosive flames, crackling blizzards, thunderclaps, gales all erupted into the advancing force. "—————————————GH?!"

The rainbow flashes of artillery intertwined, creating a glorious torrent of magic power, slamming straight into the onrushing Freya Familia and drowning out their cries.

Explosions and shock waves shattered the paving stones and shook the entire ruins.

Explosion after explosion. The concentrated fire of the entire force set off a chain of detonations, and a flood of destruction followed in the blink of an eye.

"Giii?!"

"Geeeh!"

"Gaaaaaa?!"

The unwavering cannonade sent a beast person running at the head tumbling, followed by a human, and then a half-elf.

As the overwhelming and awful contradiction of a rapid-firing artillery barrage landed all around them, Freya Familia couldn't escape. Even famous second-tier adventurers fell victim to the magic swords and were swallowed up in the flash of light.

All of the Crozzo magic swords could output a power that far exceeded even long-cast magic by an advanced mage. Adding Hephaistos Familia's magic swords to the mix, the firepower swelled to excessive proportions. It was a pure show of force capable of pacifying even some of the lower floors of the Dungeon.

Seeing the wide swath of destruction they had cut before them, even the adventurers using the magic swords shuddered.

But that shock was immediately replaced by terror.

"——Ooooooooooooooooooooooooo!!!!!"

They didn't fall.

Even with their skin burning, even after losing their weapons.

Even if they might lose an arm, even if they might have a leg blown off out from under them.

The followers of the goddess of beauty couldn't be stopped.

"Ahhh?!"

Forgetting that she was a healer, Cassandra clutched her staff and screamed.

A human kept charging despite being covered in terrible burns.

She saw a dwarf with icicles still hanging from their body, and an Amazon holding her arm that had been cut off by a blade of wind. No matter how many times they were blown back, they kept getting up, even walking over their fallen allies as they charged at the coalition.

"Einherjar!" Daphne shouted.

The army charging through scenes of hell were the epitome of berserkers.

Freya Familia didn't fear death. They had experienced it countless times in the daily fighting in Folkvangr, dying and then reviving. There was fear. Pain, too. But the goddess's formidable followers forced all of that into submission with their unwavering fealty and pure, honed fighting instinct.

That was why they couldn't be stopped. That was why they continued to run beneath the furious assault of the magic swords, still seeking battle. That was why they were einherjar. It was a feat only possible because they were Freya Familia and after witnessing that live demonstration of why they were often called the strongest familia, the coalition adventurers grew pale and started to recoil in fear.

"D-don't cower! Crush them! Fire! Fire! Fire!!!"

Bors roared in fear, but it was effective. It was a reckless command, but because it was simple, the adventurers reflexively obeyed. They fired. And fired. And fired again. Swinging down and swinging up, pleading for the fearless warriors to be destroyed, they grew desperate as they continued to unleash their barrage. Cracks formed in the blades, but when they shattered, one of the adventurers waiting in the reserve would step forward, and a new magic sword would roar to life.

Even without the divine mirrors, what sounded like a volcanic eruption echoed over the mountains between Orza and Orario and could be heard by residents all around the city.

"Whoa...that's crazy..."

"This is just a straight up war."

"But this is the only way Hestia's side can win."

"So this is why that idiot Ares is so obsessed with Crozzo..."

While the people shuddered, the deities in Babel had their own thoughts.

The thunder echoed without end, shaking the entirety of the Beor mountain range. As the mountains were shaken to their foundations, the monsters living there fell into a panic and scattered, trying to get as far away from the giant caldera as they could. And just as the number of remaining Crozzo magic swords started to reach the halfway mark of their reserves...

The massive cloud of dust, sparks, ice crystals, wind currents crackling with electricity, and multicolored magic particles quietly cleared. Just beyond, countless einherjar lay collapsed on the battlefield where even the paved stones had been obliterated.

"...Hah, ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-hahhh! We did it! Serves you right, you Freya Familia bastards!"

After almost a minute of silence, when he saw that the enemy wasn't getting

up, Bors started laughing maniacally.

"Screw einherjar! We've got Crozzo's magic swords!"

His laughter spread, and the other adventurers, who were all breathing heavily, started cheering, too. Even if the einherjar didn't fear death, there was no one who could escape it. None except for deusdea. Because of that, the limit would come. The sheer strength of Crozzo's magic swords just happened to be greater than their fortitude this time.

The coalition roared with excitement.

Even if the enemy's first-tier adventurers hadn't been part of the charge, they had taken down a large portion of the enemy's fighting strength. It was safe to call this initial skirmish a complete victory. Holding up the hilts of broken swords, the members of every familia cheered.

All save a few who grimaced.

Even if there hadn't been any other way, Daphne and Aisha and the likes of them didn't feel great about a sheer burst of firepower that couldn't really be called a strategy.

"Rakia's mythic invincibility...dammit!"

In particular, Welf, who had mass-produced the Crozzo magic swords, had a bitter look on his face. His homeland of Rakia had fought many countries using countless Crozzo magic swords, turning everywhere they reached into a wasteland. They had earned the resentment of most elves and brought the sort of destruction despised by spirits. And the scene before them was no different from the works of Rakia that gave birth to their legend of invincibility. Or at least that was how it looked to him.

"I just ended up doing the exact same thing as them...!"

Following the same path that he had so despised, Welf was struck by intense self-loathing.

But.

There was a misunderstanding in his reaction. He didn't see the whole picture.

He was too naive.

"Ha-ha-ha-ha-ha...huh?"

Bors's loud laughter suddenly stopped. His good eye was focused on the members of Freya Familia collapsed on the broken, shattered ground. And countless golden particles the color of twilight.

"-My name is Gold. Arm of the goddess who vows immortality."

And then a sweet voice reached their ears.

"Thrice burned, ever pierced. Hell of flaming spears, yet light is born laying death low."

It was coming from the enemy's formation. They appeared, standing within the clearing cloud of dust in the distance.

"The Andhrímnir?!"

Lilly was the first to realize they were there. Her hazel eyes picked out the group wearing white robes like a band of priestesses. She shouted, realizing she had been slow to notice them because the fusillade unleashed by the magic swords had created a curtain of smoke covering the battlefield.

"Rejoice, be merry, go wild. My body is gold. Source of renewing light, bring endless conflict here."

Her long, faintly crimson hair was tied back in two tails. She wore a white pinafore over a red nurse's dress and token armor. The one difference between Heith Velvet and the other healers and herbalists was she held a rod embossed with gold decorations as she wove her spell.

A giant golden magic circle appeared in the center of the battlefield strewn with piles of corpses. Time froze for the coalition forces. They simply couldn't believe the scale of the magic.

"Zeo Gullveig."

It was a healing spell that covered a massive area. The special ability of the girl who had supported the baptism in Folkvangr all by herself activated-and the fallen einherjar revived.

"What?!"

Bathed in the golden magic welling up from the ground, the human's scorch marks and the beast person's frostbite completely disappeared. The dwarf and Amazon pressed their severed limbs to their wounds, and after an eruption of magic energy, they regained the use of their limbs. And like the dead rising

anew, more warriors tottered back to their feet.

"I have received Lady Freya's permission. Starting now, this is a new Folkvangr."

Ignoring the coalition staring in shock, Heith calmly spoke.

"Welcome, brave savages."

Despite those words, her eyes were cold, as if she was looking at insects rather than warriors. It was a gaze Bell had never seen coming from her. Instead of a reliable healer, she was a merciless enemy. The beautiful girl with a visage almost like a goddess's delivered the death sentence.

"The blessing of battle upon all of you."

There was an intense gleam in the eyes of the newly revived einherjar.

"Th-the magic swords!" Lilly shouted.

"Too late," Hedin concluded.

"Go forth, einherjar," Heith delivered the goddess's command.

"Oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo"

A second charge.

This time, the fearless charge slammed into the coalition's lines.

"No waaaaaaaaaaay?!"

Bors's scream was drowned out by a deafening war cry.

The einherjar had covered half the distance in the initial charge, and now their sprint was carrying them the rest of the way as they unleashed their swords, spears, axes, and hammers.

The coalition's shield wall immediately braced themselves as the lines crashed.

"Guooooooo0000?!"

Dormul shouted in shock the moment the enemy's charge landed.

His shield caved in and the heavily armored dwarf forced back.

"I-I can't hold them?!"

The struggle only lasted a moment.

Magni Familia's defenses were shredded in the blink of an eye, and they were all flung clear.

"Gaaah! Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah?!"

After their shield wall collapsed, the adventurers' screams were inevitably going to follow. Under the brutal assault of the einherjar, their armor shattered,

their weapons snapped in half, and before long, blood was splattering everywhere. And from there, it was a familiar scene. The unforgiving math of superior levels and statuses utterly crushed the lower-level adventurers.

A human cut down, a beast person run through, an elf hit by a thrown sword, Amazons thrown back all at once. After Dormul and the other dwarves had been sent flying, dozens of pairs of sabbaton forced their way through the hole. Panic and confusion consumed the coalition, and the line began to buckle.

"Dammit!"

Aisha's voice roared as she swung her sword in a one-sided melee.

The right wing, the left wing, and the center had all been shattered the instant they made contact. The front line was crumbling, leaving the mages and Haruhime's reserves in the rear very exposed.

There were some who unleashed their Crozzo magic swords even if it meant hitting allies, but it was no use. Even if some of them were blown away, Freya Familia wouldn't stop. Ignoring their comrades that fell, the einherjar thought of nothing besides slashing into the enemy. The most nightmarish part of it was that even if three coalition adventurers banded together to attack, they would be taken out by just a single einherjar.

In the age of gods, quality outweighed quantity.

Just one higher-level adventurer could easily dominate a hundred nobodies.

In a fight against opponents who were superior even in techniques and tactics, the coalition's adventurers were helpless.

"They're too strong...?! Even the weakest of them is too much! All of them are like this!"

Mikoto couldn't do anything but focus on evasion as she endured attacks from all sides.

She was forced to use shinobi skills to survive rather than fight head-on like a samurai. Smoke bombs, grenades, and her kunai Shakuya-she was going through weapons and items at a rate that was going to leave her empty-handed soon.

She finally managed to cut down a single person, but she could tell from the response that it was a mere Level 1 adventurer. As she stood still, struck by that merciless realization, she was nearly decapitated and was forced to continue fighting.

The strongest familia.

They should have been aware of the weight of that reputation already, but Mikoto shuddered as the full force of it hit her.

"Ms. Haruhime! Cast your level boost on Ms. Aisha, Ms. Mikoto, Ms. Daphne, Mr. Bors, and Mr. Welf!"

"R-right away!"

With the coalition being shredded, Lilly wasn't going to stand idly by.

She was deploying five tails. With her level up, Haruhime could now handle six, but the Mind cost grew with each tail. When she used five during the expedition, she had almost slipped into Mind Down, but Lilly couldn't worry about that now. To hold the line, she had to use their cheat card without holding back.

"-Mages! Commence your attack! Serket Familia through Ratri Familia, focus fire on the center of the line!"

This was also the time for Command Call.

The effect of the skill she had gained with her level-up allowed her words to travel farther when she shouted above a certain volume.

So if she raised her voice, it was possible for her orders to reach people's ears even on the most intense battlefields. This was how she was sending orders to those who hadn't received an oculus.

Standing on the roof of the giant mausoleum looking out at all of the divisions fighting, Lilly used her skill and the oculi to send out more orders.

But she couldn't erase the concern she was feeling.

"They got us to waste our magic swords!"

The initial charge of the einherjar had seemed reckless, but the true purpose was to bait the coalition into using their Crozzo magic swords.

Hedin hadn't underestimated the threat that Welf and Hephaistos Familia's magic swords posed. So he had provoked them to waste a large portion of their limited resources on a failed attack that was completely negated by the Andhrímnir. The fierce counterattack was just a cherry on top.

The Andhrímnir...just as Mr. Finn said, they are far too dangerous!

Even though the coalition should have completely won the initial skirmish, they or rather a single girl-had completely erased all their progress.

An army that didn't fear death and a healing ability that was at worst second in all of Orario. It was a tactic that required both of those factors to work-in other words, it was something that only Freya Familia could pull off.

"But now we know where they are...!"

Defeating the Andhrímnir was their highest priority, up there with taking out the enemy's first-tier adventurers.

In exchange for a board state that she desperately wanted to pretend didn't

exist, Lilly reached her hand to a silent oculus to silence Heith and the healers at any cost.

"Mr. Luvis, Mr. Mord! Please!"

In an instant, the troops she had set as an ambush sent up a wild cry.

"All right!"

"Let's do this!"

Far to the northwest and away from the main melee, right on the flank of where the Andhrímnir were deployed, Mord's unit cast off their robes, becoming visible again.

Fels's reverse veils.

Lilly had distributed them to the raiders and kept them hidden. She had set an ambush by having them circle around the main battlefield with the express intent of sending them after the Andhrímnir.

"We were waiting for you to show up!"

They had carefully, carefully approached the enemy while avoiding detection, and now they broke into a sprint not to let their opportunity go to waste.

Because the coalition's line had been shattered, almost all of the enemies

were pouring into the front lines. And because they were pushed up far from the back lines, too, there was no one protecting the Andhrímnir.

Mord licked his lips at the sight of the isolated healers as he swung his magic sword.

"Eat this!!!!"

Mord, Gyle, and Scott each unleashed a line of flame that swallowed up the Andhrímnir.

"Keep going!"

The fierce, rough men fired off their Crozzo magic swords over and over to destroy the beautiful girls.

Not knowing that the deities watching the mirrors in Orario were booing them, Mord and friends continued their barrage without letting up.

"H-hey! Aren't you overdoing it a bit?!"

"There's no such thing as overdoing it with Freya Familia! The whole reason we're doing this is you said you couldn't use these swords! Just sit back and watch!"

The elf Luvis spoke out against the merciless onslaught, but Mord wasn't going to listen.

He was on fire. Not out of heroism but from a powerful desire to help one boy.

To pay back all of his debts, the ruffian rampaged.

"We're gonna help Bell Cranell!"

Urged on by the feeling of omnipotence that Crozzo magic swords tended to give people, they kept summoning more explosions.

Soon, their attacks created a sea of flames, scorching the Andhrímnir.

Because it had been a complete surprise attack, they hadn't had time to avoid it. And there was no way to defend against so much firepower.

Cracks ran down the swords' blades as they reached their limit. Mord and his friends were breathing raggedly as they finally stopped their barrage.

"Hah...hah...no matter how much you can heal, you can't use magic while getting scorched! Just curl up and die!"

Mord flashed a proud grin as he leaned the sword on his shoulder.

There wasn't a single person left standing in the sea of flames.

The crackling of the flames filled the air.

The einherjar fighting on the front lines were unconcerned. Naturally.

Even Hedin standing at the rear watched in silence. Because there was no need for him to do anything.

Finally, Mord, along with Luvis and the rest of the raiders, grimaced at the unpleasant smell of burned flesh and covered his face with his burly arm.

"Maybe we did overdo it a little...?"

"Of course there would be some lying in wait to aim for us."

Mord froze when he heard a voice coming from the flames.

"But what of it?"

Slowly, a single girl stood up from the burning ground where she had been lying.

"What?!"

Mord and Luvis couldn't believe their eyes.

The girl was burning.

Her armor had been completely destroyed, and her clothes had burned away.

Her snow-white skin was bright red.

Standing in the sea of flames, tormented by the hellfire, her body was becoming covered in grotesque burns.

And she was regenerating.

"Ars Gullveig. Unfortunately, I already activated my magic."

A golden light drove away the fierce flames lapping at her skin.

A pattern of light like a compressed magic circle appeared on the surface of her skin.

"M-Mord! She's just like...?!"

"The eighteenth floor?!"

Gyle and Scott grew pale as they remember the Black Goliath Bell and the others had fought.

The scene before their eyes was eerily similar to the nightmare of a monster rex whose regeneration outpaced the damage a whole mass of mages could deal.

Auto-heal.

A regeneration that continuously healed damage for a set period of time.

Heith's magic had been cast on herself and the rest of the Andhrímnir before they were attacked-before they had set foot on the battlefield even.

One by one, the healers and herbalists stood up after her.

"N-no way...?!"

They were like phoenixes rising anew from the ashes. It was like watching the dead come back to life after cremation. Their scorched skin regained its vibrant luster beneath the golden motes of light. The bands holding Heith's hair back burned away, but even her long, singed hair soon recovered.

The weakening flames were no match for the auto-healing, and now the Andhrímnir were not even being burned. All the crackling inferno could do was shame the girls by burning away their clothes.

What remaining battle gear they had slowly disappeared as shoulders, stomachs, supple hips and thighs, and even the well-formed lower halves of breasts were revealed.

But even so, the adventurers had no time to be embarrassed or aroused.

Holding her rod in one hand, Heith walking forward through the flames was too divine.

"Y-you monsters!"

"Mord?! Stop!"

Faced with a rare magic that only members of Freya Familia knew about, Mord went into a frenzy.

Not listening as Gyle tried to stop him, he slashed at Heith as she stepped from the flames.

"If I hit you with this!"

Hefting his magic sword, he intended to hit her directly with a blazing attack.

"Hideous."

But the rod in her hand flashed with a terrible speed.

"-Gh?!"

A vertical swing from high overhead slammed into Mord like a war hammer.

His face dropped to the broken stones, and Mord was immediately knocked unconscious.

"Odious. Unsightly. Far too unpleasant."

Gyle and Scot, and Luvis's elves went silent as the girl stomped down on the magic sword at her feet.

"I cannot understand how the likes of garbage such as you could dare bare their fangs at the goddess. How can you dare to corrupt her authority... You cannot be sane!"

Looking up and brushing aside the curtain of hair covering her face, she revealed her bright, crimson eyes burning with wrath.

"Have some shame, you fiends! Impure wretches who reject the goddess's divine will!"

"I will not let your vulgar gazes or your foul stench reach her. Not one drop of your disgusting saliva will fall in her presence!"

There wasn't a trace of her usual warmth in her voice as her face twisted into a portrait of rage. If Bell had been there, he would have been taken aback by such a dramatic transformation, but it wasn't anything special. Just like her comrade and the rest of the familia, she worshiped the goddess of beauty.

Saved by the goddess, she faithfully offered up awe and love that didn't pale in comparison to Hörn's.

"Everything is for Lady Freya's sake-be gone adventurers!"

In a rage, she revealed her murderous intent and willingness to fight.

What began then was annihilation.

""Gaaaaaaaaaaaah?!""

"Guuuuh?!"

Gyle and Scott were swatted aside by her rod before they could use their magic swords. And the arrow Luvis immediately loosed may have pierced Heith's shoulder, but it did nothing else. After she pulled it out, it didn't even leave a wound behind, and right after Luvis's face twisted, his consciousness was stolen by the swing of a rod. The remaining members of Modi Familia were sent to the ground with all the might that the healer Heith could muster.

A dedicated healer had just torn through Level 2 and 3 upper-class adventurers.

Seeing that strange scene on the mirrors in Orario, the most speechless were not the normal people or even the adventurers.

It was other healers.

"Heith Velvet..."

Among the Dian Cecht Familia, healers who had avoided participating in the war game, Amid Teasanare, Dea Saint, narrowed her eyes in awe.

Amid, who was famed as the greatest healer in the city, and Heith.

For a while, they had been known as Orario's two great healers: the silver saint and the golden witch.

The main difference between the two who dominated the first and second slots on the list of best healers was above all healing range.

Amid could use healing magic with a broad area of effect, too, but Heith had been forged in the fires of Folkvangr and was on a completely different level.

Amid would win out in raw healing output, but Heith likely took the flag when it came to sustained output.

And the other decisive difference was pure combat ability.

While Amid's melee ability was in the realm of normal healers, Heith could obliterate second-tier adventurers all by herself.

"Her background as a healer is just too different..."

That was what the rumors that had reached the saint said, but they were unmistakably steeped in the truth.

The girl had originally endured the baptism in Folkvangr as an einherjar, but -just like a certain abandoned kitten she recognized her limits as a warrior and despaired. However, with unwavering devotion to the goddess, she changed class to a healer and discovered a latent talent that eventually bloomed.

Her current status was Level 4.

Her second name was Vana Mardel.

In consideration of the golden gleam of her magic, her unbreakable determination, and her undying life force, the deities hailed her as a true Valkyrie.

"A unique follower born from the harsh environment of Freya Familia...Just like the first-tier adventurers, if the coalition can't do something about her, they have no chance of victory..."

As the fellow healers in her own familia around her shuddered, the saint murmured those words with absolute confidence.

"Not good! At this rate...!"

Daphne was fully aware of that, too.

"Lilliluka, are there any more raiders you can send in?!"

"I'm doing it already! But Vana Mardel's healing ability is too great! She won't go down!"

In a gap between the onrushing einherjar, Daphne could just barely see another unit attacking, but the Andhrímnir didn't fall. The other healers and herbalists' work was abnormal, and as the raiders struggled to take them down, the enemy mages in the rear shredded them.

She could feel Lilly's impatience through the oculus painfully well.

"If we don't stop them, no matter how much we fight, everything will fall apart..."

The enemy she had just managed to put down would be revived again if Heith and the healers started moving. With the help of a level boost, she had finally taken down one. To have them come back would be a nightmare.

She couldn't blame Lilly for incompetence in letting the ambush fail, though. The moment they had a hidden trump card like auto-heal, the most effective strategy of crushing the healers before they could activate their healing was out the window. If Daphne were in Lilly's place, she would have flipped the board and rampaged by now.

"Can the Andhrímnir be targeted from the right wing?!"

"Don't ask the impossible...! We've got our hands full just holding the line!"

She was in the middle of the scramble herself while commanding the right wing, catching a spear swing with her Fencer Laureate. The level boost particles around her body were shimmering as if groaning from the exertion, but she somehow managed to defeat the attack. She had no time even to catch her breath.

"Soul Light!"

But even so, they were still okay.

They were centered around Cassandra while Ouka, Chigusa, and Bors in particular were fighting with wild desperation.

Just like Daphne, Cassandra had managed to reach Level 3 on the expedition, and she was making full use of her healing magic, helping adventurers on the verge of collapsing recover their footing countless times.

Even as they struggled to deal with the enemy's healers, they were being saved by their own. But unfortunately, in a battle of healers, the coalition had no hope of victory.

"The enemy's base! If their mages move up, it will be bad! It's over if they get in range! We have to take out the Andhrímnir before-"

Daphne was fighting without even the chance to wipe the sweat away as she pleaded into the oculus.

"Gh."

Lilly's breath caught like she was being strangled.

Daphne immediately realized why.

"

Time froze for her as she saw it.

Near the back of the enemy base in the distance, there were countless spears of lightning targeting them.

"You seem to have gotten the wrong impression... This is well within my range."

The color drained from Daphne's face. The voice of the elf she should not possibly have been able to hear echoed in her ears as she realized her mistake. At the start of the fighting, it had seemed like the enemy had decided to ignore the threat of the magic swords. That they had mistaken their range. That was how it had looked to Daphne and the rest of the coalition.

But they were wrong. The enemy-Hedin-had not attacked simply to get them to cough up their Crozzo magic swords. The main battlefield, the newly formed Folkvangr-it had been within that first-tier adventurer's range from the very start.

"Checkmate-Caurus Hildr."

He unleashed his spell.

The bolts of lightning lit up the faces of the adventurers frozen in disbelief, arcing downward and pouring onto the battlefield.

"Gyaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!"

The countless lightning strikes landing from above hit like bombs. They were an evil battalion of lightning soldiers raining chaos on the battlefield. One bolt pierced a human running away in terror, while another blew away a chunk of the ground and a beast person with it. An Amazon who tried to cover a comrade was electrocuted. And all this happened without touching a single member of Freya Familia.

The lightning strike had been ultra-precise. Hedin had a clear and accurate grasp of everything happening on the battlefield, and he took extra care to hit only enemy adventurers. He also destroyed many of the remaining magic swords.

"Gh-Protect Cassandra!"

"Uoooooooooooooooo?!

Daphne screamed as the rain of lightning fell on her.

Giving up on maintaining the line, she chose to prioritize maintaining their party's lifeline instead. Responding immediately, Ouka raised his great shield while Bors and the rest of the residents of Rivira rushed over with steely resolve. Pushed to the ground by Chigusa, Cassandra watched as countless lightning bolts crashed into dozens of shields.

Fallen pillars and rubble scattered in every direction, kicking up stone fragments as the battlefield was miserably split in two.

"The absurd number of magic swords has been whittled down. It's time."

As the crackle of electricity and a massive cloud of dust rose over the battlefield, the lone white elf who had created the current situation delivered his cold announcement.

The countdown to the true rampage had begun.

"It's time now you beasts. Go."

"That powerful a barrage, from that far away? He's crazy as ever...!"

Tione spat in irritation as she watched the battle on the mirror.

The magic attack had traveled more than five hundred meders, and it had hit so hard that more than two hundred adventurers had gone down. His hail of lightning that managed to blanket most of the battle line inspired cold shivers even in the members of Loki Familia.

"Hildsleif Hedin Selrand...the range of his magic is the greatest of anyone in Orario."

"Eh?! But, but, you're stronger, aren't you, Riveria?! You're called the city's strongest mage, right?!"

"Depending on what exactly you mean by that, the answer changes. Taken to an extreme, if it comes down to super-long-distance spell slinging or hand-to- hand combat, I would lose to Hedin."

Tiona resolutely tried to argue against Riveria's cold analysis, but the high elf fixed her hair as she calmly answered.

Nine Hell Riveria Ljos Alf was superior in raw power and in the number of options she could call upon for offense, defense, and support. In terms of the standard back line mage role, her power and abilities far outstripped anyone else.

But Hedin was a magic swordsman who had also mastered close-range combat.

Their fields of expertise were too different to really compare.

He was an expert in melee and faster spells using super-short casts. He was the optimal build for an advance support class. But on top of that, as demonstrated so powerfully in this war game, he also had absurd firepower and range.

"He once defeated a massive army using only magic."

Whether it was true or not, rumors about him to that effect had spread from the sand sea. If there was a single way to describe him, it would be an artillery swordsman.

"But more than anything else, the total amount of his Mind...Hedin's ability to sustain his magic is demonstrably greater than my own."

Riveria acknowledged that when it came to total amount of Mind with which to use magic, she lost out to him.

The fact that he hadn't even broken a sweat after launching a hail of magic that covered an entire massive force lent her statement even more credence.

As the Amazon sisters made clear their disapproval, Riveria's eyes narrowed.

"And the other elf of the black and white knights is coming."

Her jade eyes sternly looked deep into the mirror as the cloud of dust started to clear.

In the center...

"Haaaaaaaaa!"

"Gua?!"

A sharp slash tore into Freya Familia.

While most of the coalition's adventurers were being pushed back, Tsubaki Collbrande wiped the blood and dirt from her face as she continued fighting a frenzied, ferocious struggle.

"Don't hesitate! If three isn't enough, swarm one of theirs with five of ours!

If five isn't enough, then make it ten! As long as you can hold out, I'll cut them all down!"

The Level 5 master smith's encouragement raised the morale of all the adventurers around her.

Since she couldn't really exert command, Tsubaki transformed into a warrior who cut down enemy after enemy. Even as imposing as the einherjar were, they still fell to their knees in the face of her first-tier strength.

She had already cut down dozens of enemies, and countless warriors in armor were lying all around her.

This is bad! The flow of enemies isn't slowing! I've put down dozens of them, but they still keep coming!

Sweat dripped down her cheek.

She muttered to herself, calling them war demons-

And as long as those healers are around, the ones sleeping on the ground will keep coming back...! This is worse than the Dungeon!

"This is why Freya Familia is so hard to deal with."

They had been holding out with the support of Hephaistos Familia's magic swords, but Hedin's barrage earlier had taken out a lot of them. With the cloud of dust obstructing his vision now, he wasn't going to fire another volley yet, but once it cleared, if another round came, the coalition's morale would collapse.

And Tsubaki would probably reach her limit, too.

If it comes to that, then there's nothing left but a suicide charge against the Andhrímnir before the cloud clears.

Just as she was about to make her decision-

"Guaaaaaa?!"

There was a sudden sound.

Not the cry of someone who had been cut down, but a hair-raising slash.

"————"

Tsubaki's ears didn't deceive her.

It was a sound that could have only come from a master of the blade.

"-Hegni!"

She spun around to the west.

The dark elf was standing in the back of the fading cloud.

"H-Hegni Ragnar?!"

"A first-tier adventurer!"

"H-he actually came...!"

Tsubaki's shout primed the adventurers and their shouts and screams started

soon filled the air.

Silver, almost purplish hair and dark skin marked Hegni as a dark elf. His pitch-black sword was drenched in blood, and his sharp gaze roved as if searching for prey to chase down. He had a cold smile on his lips, as if he wished to enjoy a banquet of blood.

Facing off against a first-tier adventurer. That was enough to make any adventurer despair, and so the alliance stood on wobbly feet.

Meanwhile, Hegni...

Arghhhh...so many people I don't know are looking at meeeee...!

He was panicking.

Just complete and utter panic.

His dangerous gaze flitted this way and that to avoid meeting anyone's gaze, and the cold smile was just a spasm that had frozen his face in a strange way. The useless elf who was the ultimate introvert and utterly lacking in communication ability felt his heart racing as he transformed into a monster.

N-not good...I-I have to do this right...! I am Lady Freya's follower and technically an amazing, first-tier adventurer in Orario...! If people make fun of me, that would be a humiliation for the familia and Milady...!

Her forcefully twisted his lips upward, spasming cheek and all, forcing himself to wear a sinister smirk.

"...Keh-keh-keh, coming face to face with my abyss here is your fated end... the ruins of the ancients mean nothing and sing of crimson...my blade lusts for sacrifice. And thus...d-d-d-d-die."

Twitching beneath the gaze of so many people, Hegni tried to convey the idea "I will handle this division and exterminate you all. The initial skirmish is over. Prepare yourselves."

Meanwhile, the reaction from the coalition was tragic.

"Uwah, what's with him?!"

"I thought he was going to say something, but holy crap he's weird!"

"Oy, what's with him?! What's he saying?!"

"For an elf, his face looks like a damn ogre!"

"Apologize! Apologize to all elves!"

"""How the hell is someone like him a first-tier adventurer?!"""

Argh, I want to die.

A gleaming droplet shimmered at the corner of the dark elf's eye.

Stop, please stop, don't look at me like that! I can't, I can't, I can't, I can't! Why, why am I a first-tier adventurer. I don't need the attention, just let me fade into the darkness and fight. Just let me become darkness, I want to be an embodiment of shadow. I can't. Make it stop. I just want to be alone in the forest. Argh, make it stop. I just want Lady Freya to lay her head on my lap-no, the other way around.

Hegni tried his best.

He really tried his best, enduring the pressure of everyone's eyes and his own imagined victimization. But the moment he realized that his silly performance was being broadcast on the mirrors in Orario, his mental balance collapsed, and catastrophe struck. The shame and embarrassment seared into his mind, and he executed a pathetic retreat.

I can't...I should just use it...

In other words, he used his magic.

"Draw thine sword, King of the fiendish blades."

He held his sword up to the heavens with both hands, like a knight or as if trying to hide his face.

At the same time, a black magic circle unfurled around his feet.

"Ghh?! Stop his cast!"

Tsubaki screamed without concern for dignity.

She was taken aback by his comic performance that had lasted just a brief moment, but the moment she heard him begin casting a spell, the biggest alarm bells started ringing in her head.

She knew the reason for Hegni's second name, and she worriedly drew the magic shortsword at her waist.

"Sacrifice reason and offer up blood. Slaughter all until the feast is finished."

It was a short cast. Even if she slashed at him now, it would be too late.

Seeing her reaction, the other adventurers and smiths followed her lead.

Countless magic swords and dozens and dozens of arrows all flew at Hegni as he stood there with his eyes closed.

"Dáinsleif."

There was an explosion as he said the name of the spell.

The magic circle seemed to gleam, and then it was swallowed up in a storm of attacks.

It was a firepower that even a first-tier adventurer couldn't just take head-on. Tsubaki and the others covered their faces and gulped. The flames danced.

And

"Gyaaaaaaaa?!"

The sound flashed.

Tsubaki's ears shuddered at the sound of a sublime rampage bereft of all mercy and restraint.

"———-"

Tsubaki was speechless as a spray of blood rose from one end of her formation.

Three upper-class adventurers fell to the ground.

Standing beside them was a single dark elf who seemed to be wearing the smoke like armor.

"-Rebels who refuse to heed the goddess's will. I shall accept thy penitence in spilled blood."

His voice changed completely. The timidness from just moments earlier was completely gone. His gaze was unyielding and cruel. He had activated the magic that he must never be allowed to cast.

"Dáinsleif...! Hegni's personality-altering magic!"

That was the ritual and the key that allowed the dark elf who was so scared of what other people thought to transform into a warrior.

It was different from a standard offensive magic or enchantment. It was a rare magic that affected the mental state of the user. The effect was a literal transformation of both his personality and his speech. This magic was the reason why when Bell was attacked by Hegni during the Goddess Festival, he wondered if he was really the same person.

But it didn't affect his status in any way. It only affected his personality, so among the wide range of magics, it could even be said to be rather plain.

"He switched to the other Hegni...!"

But in specializing so completely in its mental effects, it surpassed mere autosuggestion and transcended into self-reconstruction. What happened could be called the realizing of his ideal form. A magic to summon the strongest

version of himself created because he hated himself so. "I grow tired of your faces. I shall grant you mercy. Draw your swords. I

shall allow you to fall as warriors."

A bead of sweat dripped down Tsubaki's cheek.

During Orario's dark ages, Hegni had used that magic and felled over a thousand followers of the Evils in a single battle. She knew painfully well just how powerful it could be.

Absorbing the light of the shattering magic circle, Hegni's faintly purple eyes glimmered bewitchingly as he made his declaration.

"Be gone, rabble. Worms who reject the goddess's love are not worthy of life."

The dark elf's body suddenly sank slightly. And then he sprinted. So fast that it almost looked like teleportation. The moment it seemed a black shadow had passed, a full squadron had been cut down.

"Aaa...aaaah?!"

It was a single slash.

The curse sword he wielded extended the range of his slashes, allowing him to cut down many adventurers in a single flash.

A rondo of destruction and despair began. There was no hesitation. No mercy. The limiter holding back his full power had been completely removed by his magic, and he transformed into the manifestation of a blade that made even his ultimate rival Hedin call him "utter garbage, but the strongest melee fighter amongst all elves."

As if wielding a magical sword that couldn't return to its sheath without bringing countless deaths, he set off a storm of blood.

Adventurers were cut down. High smiths and their magic swords were broken, too.

His slash didn't discriminate. Not between men and women and not between races. Like a god, it was impartial. It merely handed down death sentences like a tyrant.

"It is not my job to announce injustice. All who content themselves in weakness are at fault."

Hegni's second name, Dáinsleif, came from the name of his magic.

It was the highest praise from the fanatical and passionate fans he had among the city's deities, acknowledging his transformation from a dark knight to a true tyrant of darkness.

Ten people, then another ten. He was laying adventurers low at a blistering pace. Merciless and cruel, the dark elf had transformed into a murderous, rampaging lord of war. Standing a short distance from him, Tsubaki spoke up.

"...L'il E, I need that level boost or whatever."

"Eh?"

"Hurry!"

"R-right away!"

Borrowing Welf's name for her, she called to the prum girl through the oculus.

It sounded like someone rushed over, and then suddenly a powerful magic power rose up behind her, and a golden pillar of light that looked almost like a hammer appeared overhead.

"Uchide no Kozuchi!"

Haruhime's level boost seeped into her body, and her status shifted from

Level 5 to Level 6.

However, even so, that didn't put her at ease. Every adventurer other than her had fallen, leaving a crimson ring of blood around them.

"So you are the one with the qualification to battle me, Cyclops."

"Aye, ominous blade. I will snap your magic sword."

Hegni watched her with eyes like a sharpened blade.

She muttered to herself, "You're no elf, you're an evil spirit."

With that, her expression changed, and she readied her Benishigure.

The breeze rustled the dark elf's cloak. The central division was almost obliterated as the lord of war and the smith faced off against each other.

"Your fate is decided. This blade shall be your gravestone."

Suddenly, the two of them disappeared, and there was a furious clash of blades.

"Tsubaki!"

Hearing the furious clash of swords behind him, Welf raised his voice.

It was a dance of blades that a Level 2 like Welf couldn't really even see. The pitch-black blade and long sword crashed and slid, and then sparks flew, etching an arc letting him know there had been a slash there.

Welf gasped at the afterimages created by a battle between two Level 6s, and then clenched his fist.

Even if it's a duel, I have to help! Li'l E told me about Dáinsleif's magic! My Will-o-Wisp can work...!

Lilly had shared a lot of the information Finn gave her about Freya Familia, and Hegni's magic was of course part of that. To maintain his other self, he was constantly using Mind, and his body was flooded with magic power. The mysterious light in his eyes and the purple gleam rising off his body like a heat haze were effects of that.

And if there were magic particles, then there was a spark that would ignite Welf's anti-magic fire. Dáinsleif, which had to be constantly active like an enchantment, was a perfect target for Welf.

"Blasphemous Burn!"

Holding his magic sword in his left hand, he thrust out his right hand.

He poured in Mind, pushing the range to the limit.

That way, no matter how fast Hegni was, no matter whether he could even see Hegni or not, the dark elf's entire area of movement would be covered.

Targeting the entire ring where the elf was locking blades with Tsubaki, he shouted the ultra-short cast.

"Will-o-Wi"

But THUD.

There was a sound like lightly tapping a wheel with a staff.

Like a light cat kicking off the ground and into a sprint.

Just before his anti-magic fire activated, the sound of instantaneous acceleration rattled in Welf' ears.

In the blink of an eye.

A chunk of flesh went flying from Welf's right shoulder.

A super-speed line cut into view, stealing away a part of his shoulder.

Time seemed to slow for Welf, and the moment he recognized he was being attacked, blood poured from the opening and a scream erupted from his throat.

"Guaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa?!"

His eyes were bloodshot, and a terrible sweat erupted on his face as his right

arm hung limply like a broken doll.

"Don't try anything strange, small fry."

There was a voice to his right.

Turning around, he saw him.

"You're..."

Vana Freya Allen Fromel.

Having easily interrupted Welf's magic, he was standing there leisurely with silver spear in hand.

Silver armor on his right shoulder and an emerald pelisse hanging from it. His only other armor was silver greaves below his knees. An armor that didn't account for the possibility of stray hits, because he was the fastest in all of Orario.

Welf's face twisted from the searing pain as a cold sweat formed. He had no way of knowing, but Vana Freya only wore his pelisse when he intended to fight all-out.

"Though I intended to finish you in the first hit like last time."

"Gh....?!"

"You pulled back at the last second? Learned your lesson about being run down by me already?"

That was right.

Welf had been attacked by Allen during the Goddess Festival. The moment he heard the chilling sound of that instantaneous acceleration, he reflexively started moving. That split-second defensive instinct had kept him from being instantly knocked out of the fight.

"But it doesn't make a difference. Just a waste of my time. Get lost."

"Gh...screw you!"

He erupted at those eyes, looking at him not even as an enemy, but just a bump in the ground slowing the chariot's rush. But right when he brushed off the searing pain and howled, the next instant, Allen suddenly bore down on him.

What began was a tremendous barrage of spear thrusts.

"Gah, Gh, uggggh...?!"

His shout was nothing more than spirit. It was almost a miracle his limp right arm was even still attached. All he could do was slip into a crouch and use Shikou-Kazuki, his magic sword, as a shield. But doing that, he was like a child unable to fully hide behind a tree trunk. Beneath the protection of the longsword's flat blade, he endured a barrage of thrusts.

But he was gradually being carved away. His clothes, his skin, his whole body.

He was fading. Losing blood, the strength to hold on, the will to counterattack.

He continued yelping as his left hand holding the magic sword and his shoulder pushing against the flat of the blade were both being pierced by attacks that evaded his defense. His flesh was tearing, and his bones were cracking and shattering as his entire body was broken down. The torrent of thrusts pushed Welf to the brink in no time at all.

...It isn't breaking...

Meanwhile, Allen looked quizzically at the scene.

No matter how many times it wavered from his thrusts, Welf's magic sword didn't break. An ordinary magic sword was fundamentally a consumable item. In its endurance, it was an eloquent expression of its maker's persistence.

Allen's sharp gaze shifted, acknowledging the bump in the road to be a real, if minor, obstruction.

"What is that magic sword?"

"...Just a little something...that I made...!"

Welf didn't boast at Allen's question. He called the blade he had forged with his pride as a blacksmith just a stepping stone to greater heights.

"If you can't even break a simple magic sword, you must not be much, either...!"

And he maintained a false bravado.

He was bleeding, and his body was battered, but he still forced himself to grin. It was a provocation, an arrogant blacksmith laughing off a first-tier adventurer. But Allen was untroubled.

"I'll acknowledge your skill as a blacksmith."

Indeed, for the first time, he actually recognized Welf's capabilities.

"But only that."

And then he made Welf his next victim.

Kicking against the stone pavement, he accelerated. There was no way a mere blacksmith would be able to react in time. Welf had turtled behind his sword, but in an instant, Allen appeared at his side, unleashing a kick.

"Gah?!"

And that was all it took to finish Welf.

The rising right leg landed straight in Welf's side, knocking him off the ground.

For a brief moment, he experienced a floating sensation, and then a spinning left kick slammed home. Welf's collar bone cracked, and he went flying, rolling across the cobblestones, where he collapsed miserably.

With the last bit of his stubbornness, he managed to hold on to his sword, which grew red with the blood dripping from his hand.

"I told you before, small fry. Run back to your workshop and go play with your toys."

Allen had said the same contemptuous line the first time they had met. That was the day that Ishtar Familia had been destroyed.

"Get it through your head. Smiths aren't ever going to be any use on a battlefield, loser."

What Welf had accomplished wasn't even one minute of slowing Allen down.

Leaving the blacksmith quietly slumped down on the ground, Allen began to perform his mission.

"Aaah?! Uwaaaaaaaaaa?!"

"I...I can't hit him...nothing works?!"

At Hedin's direction, the chariot had joined the fight along with Hegni.

Seeing that, the coalition adventurers screamed in despair. Their formation had been completely shredded. Even Lilly grew pale while watching from atop the mausoleum.

On the left wing...

"Lady Aisha! The center!"

"Dammit...! Those monsters!"

As the cloud of dust finally faded, Mikoto and Aisha could see that Hegni and Allen had obliterated the center of the battle line.

In textbook fashion, the coalition's battle line was deepest at the center. The Level 5 Tsubaki had been sent there, and the bulk of their fighting adventurers and smiths had been set there, too. But now it was almost completely wiped out.

Seeing the adventurers being picked off without even being able to run away, it was clearly no longer even a battle.

"What should we do?! Lady Lilly has her hands full directing the center and right wing! At this rate...!"

"Gh...reinforce the center! If Cyclops goes down, that really will be the end! We need to get Haruhime and go help that dwarf-"

That was Aisha's agonizing choice.

The left wing was currently in a massive free-for-all. They would have to set a rear guard to move over the center, and that rear guard was sure to be lost in the process. Aisha swallowed the guilt and was about to order the Berbera putting up a valiant fight around her to die for them.

"Ugh?!"

"Gyaaaaaa?!"

But her resolve amounted to nothing.

"...?! Sharay! Eliza!"

The Berbera who were behind her were suddenly taken down by four people at once.

Spinning around in shock with Mikoto, Aisha saw four figures.

"A useless plan."

"Not like you could do it."

"Obviously."

"Since we're here."

Sand-colored helmets and matching armor.

A long spear, a great hammer, a great ax, and a greatsword. Four weapons for four prums.

"The Gulliver brothers...! Bringar!"

Mikoto shuddered as the three younger brothers' lips curled into sneers.

"Eternal Shadow and Antianeira."

"This is a rehash of the Goddess Festival."

"You're going to fall to us again?"

And finally, the eldest brother, Alfrik, announced with compassion-

"Fall here, for Lady Freya's sake."

"Ghhh! Don't look down on me!"

Aisha's furious shout broke the damn, and the bloodied Amazons around her all raised a battle cry. With magic sword flames, with the light of level boost, with gravity waves, they struggled against the four prums and the einherjar with every bit of their strength.

Disadvantage piled upon disadvantage.

Looking up at the mirror above Main Street, one of the residents, an adventurer or maybe a deity-said it. Or maybe they all were thinking it.

"This is just a one-sided stomp."

"The strongest melee elf Hegni in the center, the cat with his extreme mobility to crush those shooting from a distance, sealing the relatively intact left wing with the prum brothers' coordination...a textbook response without anything interesting to it at all."

Hedin sounded bored as he looked out at the battle's development from his perch atop their side's temple.

If he hadn't held back the first-tier adventurers at the start and just sent them out to begin with, it would probably have ended up basically the same.

But Hedin made absolutely sure.

As the person charged with conducting Freya Familia's operations, he understood just how lethal it would be for a first-tier adventurer to fall. If Hegni or Allen were to be taken down, even einherjar who didn't fear death would still lose their composure, and it would lead to a loss of morale unlike any other. And the opposing general was surely aiming for that.

Because of that, he had played his trump cards only after the singular element of uncertainty-Crozzo's magic swords-had been sufficiently dealt with. From Lilly's or Daphne's perspective, it was a despair-inducing ruthlessness.

"The coalition's main fighting power has been fully deployed...but there is one rabbit missing."

His elven eyes didn't miss the details of the enemy deployment.

Even in a massive melee, he noticed that the white-haired boy he had broken in wasn't there.

"Even if he charges his blast and sets it off in the main battlefield, it would just be a waste so long as Heith is there."

Sending in a single Level 5 now wouldn't turn things around.

After being killed so many times in Folkvangr already, even that stupid rabbit would know that much deep in his bones.

"And more than anything...with the rules of this war game, he can't even do that."

Indeed, the only chance the coalition had of victory was to use the main battlefield as a decoy and aim straight for the queen.

Seeing through the coalition's plans like a mind-reading demon, the white elf looked up.

His eyes narrowed as he looked to the ends of the island far removed from the fighting.

"South...or north?"

I'm running northwest, taking care to avoid notice while still moving at full speed.

My destination is Freya Familia's base, all by myself.

"Lilly, maybe I should fight with everyone else...!"

"No! Keep moving toward Lady Freya!"

Hearing the battle cries over my left shoulder and at my back-the countless screams of my allies-I want to turn back, but Lilly's voice coming from the.