Is it wrong to try to meet someone in a dungeon?

In the very end, seeing Thanatos subtly reveal his "love" for his retinue, Loki momentarily forgot to breathe.

Then, in the next instant, Sanatos drew his short sword.

Finn and the others stared in astonishment as he smirked and plunged his short sword into his own chest.

"Varied……!?"

With a vomiting sound, a large amount of blood leaked from his mouth.

The blade pierced deep into his chest.

Leaving the speechless Loki and the others aside, the Celestial, whose body was left with a fatal wound, used "divine power" that was strictly forbidden to use in the mortal realm in order to save his life.

"—Go, Loki. This is a gift from Death (me) to you."

Loki's eyes widened.

Embraced by countless orbs of light, Sanatos, whose figure disappeared into the depths of the light, finally gestured towards the "sky" with one hand.

Immediately afterwards, a loud "thump!!" was heard.

The second repatriation pillar pierced through the ceiling and surged through the man-made labyrinth.

It brought with it a stunning impact, and a massive waterfall of light that seemed to flow backwards towards the horizon. The surrounding green blobs of flesh seemed to shrink back in fear of divine might, and the white light illuminated the adventurers' astonished expressions.

The towering pillar of light creates an escape route from the maze to the surface.

"—Get out of that hole quickly!! Hurry!!"

As the beam of light faded, Loki immediately yelled when he saw the "big hole" that had appeared in the ceiling with the naked eye.

As soon as the God finished speaking, the Level 1 adventurers took action.

They sped up so fast that they kicked the paving stones to pieces, using their supersonic reaction to escape the crisis of total annihilation.

Tiona, Tione, and Grace almost instinctively picked up the members with lower [ability values] and leaped towards the "big hole" where the remnants of light were flying like snowflakes.

Loki!

"!"

The other advanced adventurers dropped their weapons and followed, and Loki was also grabbed by Finn and jumped into the hole.

The next instant, the green meat immediately launched another attack, as if it wouldn't let anyone escape.

"Jump, jump—jump ahh ...

The adventurers, leaping repeatedly, roared and screamed incoherently.

They leaped along the "path" of the pillar of light in lightning-fast leaps—jumping over each floor through every opening leading to the surface, constantly ascending. Everyone relied on the light above, the sparse starlight of dusk, and their only thought was to escape the abyss at all costs.

"Ugh...!!"

The air vibrated and crackled, and the astonishing wind pressure slapped against the skin.

Loki's arm was gripped by Finn, his shoulder being rubbed so hard his joints felt like they were about to break. But he had no time to protest, no energy to whine; screaming would be pointless. Because when he looked down, that hideous green flesh was still relentlessly pursuing him from below, like a volcanic eruption.

Once caught by that thing, everything will be lost.

"Finn!"

"Hurry up!!"

Tiona and Grace, who were leading the charge to escape, shouted at Finn, who was at the very back.

While the other members of the group were focused on getting away from the green meat, the little dwarf supporting Loki somehow found the strength to jump even faster.

Then, they were finally about to reach the vicinity of the surface exit.

We've reached the second level of the man-made maze—but just then…

"Roar!!"

From the side, a monster's distant howl suddenly resounded.

“————————”

It was a man-eating flower that stayed in the second-level passage and luckily escaped the pillar of divine light.

Just as Finn and Loki were about to pass through, it opened its jaws as if it were some kind of trap, trying to bite them.

“————————”

Loki froze on the spot, but Finn's actions and "judgments" were faster than the speed of light.

In the first second, the god who was grabbed by the right hand was thrown straight up, entrusted to Tione above his head.

In the second, he used the "Spear of Fortia" held in his left hand to tear the approaching carnivorous plant into eight pieces.

When everyone's time stood still, those two seconds determined Finn's fate.

The green flesh approaching from below roared, placing the pitiful little people within range of attacks from which they had no way to escape.

“————————”

The attack from the side caused him to lose speed slightly during his jump, leaving him momentarily floating with no way to break free.

His eyes met Grace's wide-open gaze.

Their eyes met those of the stunned and pale-faced Tiona.

Their eyes met, and Loki, who seemed about to shout something, exchanged glances.

Their eyes met those of Tiony, who was frozen in place.

Finally, the pain in my thumb stopped, as if I had given up completely.

"Commander——————————————————————————!?"

Tiony shouted loudly.

The green-skinned creature ignored her cries and continued to pursue her relentlessly.

The little man's blue eyes revealed regret as he looked up at the sky above, where his body was easily swallowed...

"Don't even think about it."

But just a moment ago.

Golden wings soaring through the sky swiftly snatched away Finn's body, which was about to be swallowed up.

"what?"

Tione's soft murmur fell silent, Finn's eyes widened, and Loki and the adventurers were all astonished.

A "heretic" has appeared.

The winged monster squeezed through the gaps between the erupting green flesh and the walls, rapidly ascending from the hall below, refusing to let this place become Finn's final resting place.

The singer, Rei, escaped the magician <Fels>'s control and used echolocation to find the survivors. She finally arrived at the hall with the altar and rushed to the adventurers' side.

She used her high-speed flight to evade the ferocious green flesh, her grappling hook gripping Finn's arm tightly.

"I'm going to fly away from here!!"

Then comes explosive acceleration—high-speed flight that only winged beings can achieve.

The songbird carried Finn past the group in one breath, flying to the front and leaving Tiony and the others in awe—then it mustered its last strength and made a great leap.

Jump out of the hole and onto the ground.

"!!"

They flew through the large hole and into the night sky in one breath.

A silhouette of a half-human, half-bird flapping its golden wings, accompanied by a small human race, with the full moon as their backdrop.

then……

"————————————————————————!!"

The green flesh emitted a deafening roar, like that of a monster, and overflowed from the large hole.

The gaping hole that Death had created was completely blocked and buried by hideous chunks of flesh.

Tiony and the others, who had landed in the labyrinthine street, hurriedly retreated, putting distance between themselves and the green blocks that were bubbling and overflowing like a geyser...

"...Stop...Here it comes."

The ugly fleshy spring, which had expanded to a radius of about ten meters, stopped moving.

As if a lid had been placed over the "altar," everything came to a complete standstill.

“…………”

Finn had the singing bird grab an arm with its talons, looked down at the scene from the air, and squinted.

The sight of the earth from the air for the first time was a truly bitter experience.

Not long after, he turned his eyes upwards and said:

"……Thanks."

"……Won't."

Humans and monsters exchanged thanks and gifts.

However, at this moment, this conversation could only echo emptily in the dark night.

Illustration 56571

On this day, the first wave of the man-made maze conquest operation was successful, but it also failed.

The results were the disintegration of the dark faction and the repatriation of the chief god Thanatos.

The loss was the complete annihilation of the entire Dionysian Familia.

The factional alliance was forced to retreat... no, it was forced to "flee in defeat," and in terms of the cost, the number of lives lost was far too great.

The demon cave, once conquered by adventurers, has been transformed into a brand new "Demon City".

Whodunit: The Final Chapter of Sword Oratoria 11

There were approximately eighty people and one emperor.

This is the number of casualties in this operation.

The Loki Familia and the Hermes Familia also suffered damage, but their casualties were zero. They overcame an unexpected "anomaly" and minimized the damage—which sounds good, but it was only by salvaging the lives of the Dionysus Familia who failed to come to their aid that morale inevitably plummeted. Although it was their first time fighting alongside this faction, the fact that an entire Familia had perished was far too heavy a blow.

Annaquite and other members of the Second Army in charge would never show this to their lower-ranking members, but a shadow of gloom appeared on their faces.

The one who suffered the most emotional trauma was Lefia.

The fact that a fellow girl had died before her eyes shattered the young elf's heart.

Distracted and dejected, she didn't respond to Ais and the others' voices, becoming like a doll sitting blankly in the room. To prevent her roommate, Elfie, who had been crying and repeatedly encouraging her, from being negatively affected, she was moved to a different room.

This man-made maze strategy was meticulously planned and executed.

The demonic act of achieving a successful campaign, yet fundamentally overturning the entire operation, forced both adventurers and gods to acknowledge its flaws.

They admitted that they underestimated the "urban destroyers" who never showed their faces in public.

To acknowledge that the enemy is the embodiment of utterly ruthless "evil".

"..."

The morning after the operation.

Loki arrived at Daedalus Road.

She came alone from the rooftop platform of the building, gazing at the central area of ​​the labyrinth street—the man-made maze.

The green flesh overflowed from the openings created by the "repatriation" of Thanatos and Dionysus, running rampant. Spreading over an area so vast it seemed to be creating a forest park, the green flesh was now concealed under a huge curtain, ostensibly for surrounding reconstruction work. The public was not to be allowed to discover this anomaly.

The green flesh's erosion is believed to have spread to all areas of the man-made labyrinth. Thanks to the quick thinking of Bert and his team, the entrances connecting to the underground city were sealed with "doors" made of the hardest metal, orogen, to stop the outflow. Only the central area of ​​the labyrinth street, where two openings had appeared due to the repatriation, overflowed with green flesh.

Green Meat's activities have now completely fallen silent.

No, perhaps it should be said that it has stopped "growing".

"When Harlene and the others perished, they seemed to be gazing at this very spot..."

The whispered words drifted away on the morning breeze.

In the direction Loki was looking, the Ganesha's Familia remained stationed around the tent, monitoring and investigating. One could see their leader, Shakti, tirelessly issuing instructions to his members, as well as the figure of the chief god, Ganesha.

If Loki's life were in danger now, they would probably come immediately.