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

This is an absolutely true "declaration of annihilation".

"【The heroic and tragic undead soldier】."

*

『Eek e ...

Ibrahim couldn't stop screaming.

As he was expressing the reactions of all the audience members in the city, he almost dropped the megaphone made of magic stone from his hands.

"Pause, pause, wait a minute!! My brain is so confused, what's going on?! Please wait a minute!!"

The city was thrown into turmoil once again as the Grayfaced Ones were attacked by a barrage of lightning.

The defeat of the Black Elf Sword alone was enough to drive the crowd into a frenzy of excitement, but then the White Elf Wand did something "incomprehensible," completely exceeding the limits of everyone's brain's information processing ability.

No one could understand the situation regarding this astonishing piece of information that was almost enough to cause a brain short circuit.

The public initially questioned whether the "mirror" had malfunctioned, but the gods immediately and loudly refuted this claim.

Once the adventurers realized this was an undeniable reality, they immediately erupted into unprecedented "severe chaos".

"Was it a misfire?! Did the [White Elf Wand] accidentally misfire?! Did it confuse friend and foe?! No, it's still attacking with full force... Waaaaaahh ...

"Is that Ganesha?!?"

"How are we supposed to broadcast this?!"

The situation spiraled out of control.

The announcer (Ibli) and the commentator (Ganesha) were rendered useless, reduced to nothing more than noise generators constantly led by the nose by the battlefield footage.

Including the gods, everyone in Orario who were watching the battle in stunned silence had one sentence flash through their minds.

However, this is too unbelievable.

Because such a thing could never happen in the Freya Familia, a faction of goddesses whose members are all loyal to the main god.

"...Treason...?"

One of the spectators in the central square whispered those two words.

This statement, over time, stirred up unrest and eventually escalated into a shocking riot.

"You're saying the [White Elf Wand] has betrayed us!?"

"So, you're rebelling!?"

"You're lying!"

"Nonsense!!"

"That's impossible! Because he's—a model of unwavering loyalty (Herdin Søren Kiss)!?"

The elves were the ones who were screaming the most.

The cold and fiercely independent White Elf, more loyal than anyone else, actually rebelled, a fact that many people still refused to believe even after witnessing the reality before their eyes.

"Is it the same as the Apollo Familia back then!?"

Faced with this strong sense of déjà vu, people couldn't help but shout out this phrase.

(—Incorrect.)

On the other hand, Lily rejected this view.

Despite witnessing this unbelievable scene and repeatedly doubting whether she was hallucinating, the girl still firmly denied it.

The "rebellion" that occurred during the war game with the Apollo Familia has happened again—it's understandable that the people of Orario and the adventurers of the faction alliance would have such thoughts.

But that's not the case at all, Lily is sure it's not.

That was a strategy Lily adopted using "transformation magic"; in reality, the dwarf Luan did not actually betray them.

Therefore, this scene is by no means a replica of that war game from the past.

That's because the person involved has truly "gone mad".

"So, everything Lord Bell said back then... was it all true...?"

Lily, stunned and muttering to herself, began to recall what had happened a few hours earlier.

"Hey, Lily...can you listen to me for a moment?"

On the eve of the start of the war game.

After Lily finished her spiritual address to the faction alliance, the white-haired boy finally spoke, as if he had made up his mind:

"I think Master Hedin... he... is willing to lend us a hand."

While Lily and Hestia and the others were in shock, Bell revealed the feelings he had kept hidden in his heart.

"When the world was 'seduced' and I was at my wit's end... Although my master often beat me until my head was swollen, I always felt that he was secretly helping me."

"So he used to beat you up like a pig's head all the time..."

"Um... well, anyway! I feel like Mr. Hedin has never treated me as 'Bell Crane of the Beauty Faction (Freya Familia),' and always gives advice to 'the real me'...!"

It doesn't matter whether you are different from others or not.

Keep moving forward; the only thing you can't do is stop.

These are the words Hedin said to the boy (Bell) when he was about to lose himself.

And on the "battlefield" at dusk, Hedin seemed to smile at Bell against the backdrop of the afterglow.

Bell spoke with uncertainty about how Hedin, despite always treating him, his incompetent apprentice, with very harsh "baptisms," had a vague feeling that Hedin was always guiding him.

"I always felt that Master was different from Mr. Paine and Mr. Allen... Of course, he's not one of our companions, so I think it's unlikely that such a thing would happen..."

After Bell finished explaining this absurd "idea" with his head down, he suddenly looked up.

"...Now that things have come to this, I have a feeling...that perhaps long before my date with Miss Seele...Master was already taking action for 'that person'."

Therefore, in order to utilize us, our master might lend us a helping hand.

Although Bell, as the apprentice, had no way of guessing his master's thoughts, he said it with the tone of a firm belief from the bottom of his heart.

Since this was a baseless "guess," Commander-in-Chief Lily couldn't accept it easily, so she responded with the statement that "the possibility of 'this situation' occurring is extremely low." Bell understood what Lily meant, so he smiled and said, "Just keep an eye on it."

"I never imagined that Lord Bell's premonition would actually come true...?"

Lily, having retrieved her consciousness from the sea of ​​memories, stared ahead in astonishment.

Even from the cemetery, one could clearly see a large number of lightning bolts relentlessly striking the Gray-Faced Ones, a sight that confirmed Bell's "guess," which lacked corroboration.

No one knew Hedin's thoughts; all the truth and falsehood remained hidden in the darkness.

However, judging solely from the undeniable fact before them, the first-level adventurer Hedin Thrandu—

"—Decided to align with the faction alliance!?"

*

"Aa ...

Heci's scream, indistinguishable between a lament and a roar, echoed through the sky.

A barrage of lightning bolts rained down from the sky. While the healers and pharmacists were electrocuted, blown away, and collapsed to the ground, only Haici trembled with righteous indignation.

"What are you doing!? What on earth are you doing!? Lord Hedin!!"

Haici activated "High-Speed ​​Recovery" to heal his charred body, swatted away a lightning bolt with his staff, and glared fiercely at the figure in front of him.

"Are you insane!? Why are you attacking us, your comrades!?"

As her long, pale red hair, now free of its headband and seemingly expressing the anger in a young girl's heart, fluttered in the wind, Hedin, having temporarily exhausted the seventy-eight lightning soldiers (magic missiles) he had summoned, calmly replied:

"I'm not crazy, and how could I possibly do something as stupid as accidentally firing the wrong weapon?"

"...!?"

"Based on my own judgment, I have decided to annihilate you all."

The magic circle that appeared beneath Hedin's feet seemed to express his will, and then new magic power surged forth.

There was not a trace of irrationality in those coral-red eyes behind his glasses. Hedin revealed the wise, sage-like gaze that Heitz knew all too well, and committed the "atrocity" with an attitude of utter self-righteousness.

Immediately afterwards, nearly a hundred more white lightning bolts floated in mid-air, locking onto the target once again. Upon seeing this, the girl's clenched fist trembled slightly.

"Are you, a loyal subject, going to betray Goddess Freya?! I firmly believed that even if we were to go against the world, at least you and the captain would continue to protect Goddess Freya!"

"Fool, don't presume to know what I'm thinking by your own standards. It's disgusting to hear."

Faced with Heitz's outburst of insults, Hedin, genuinely finding the question utterly pointless, replied:

"Furthermore, I had absolutely no intention of plotting against the goddess Freya."

"Huh...!?"

"I'm saying I committed the crime out of 'loyalty'."

To make sure Heinz could understand, Hedin used the simplest of analogies.

"Just like that woman... and the goddess's daughter (Helen)."

"──────"

This is the name of one of Haici's colleagues.

Heci wasn't sure how the other person really saw him. Heci was often annoyed by how clumsy she was, sometimes he would take care of her, sometimes he would empathize with her, and he even considered her one of his few "friends," but now she had become the name of a "traitor."

"...Even you...even you did this!!"

The emotions he felt upon learning that his friend (Helen) had betrayed the goddess surged back into his heart.

The person before me is a traitor who committed the same heinous crime as Heron.

The moment she realized this, Haici cast aside her confusion and embraced a raging fury.

"Shameless traitor!! The will of Goddess Freya is supreme!! Once you disobey the divine will, how can you be qualified to talk about loyalty!?"

"Talking to you fanatics is exhausting and a waste of time—just lie down."

Hedin ruthlessly unleashed another barrage of grenades.

Even though Haici was the only one left standing on his feet, countless lightning strikes still came down.

"A mere trifle!"

Haici endured constant attacks, her body scorched by lightning strikes, and sometimes even had her limbs blown off. However, the glowing characters that appeared on her skin quickly restored her to her original state.

"[Ode to the Earth Goddess]! Even a first-class adventurer cannot kill me! I am Heiji Bellpert—the witch bestowed with gold by the goddess Freya!!"

Haici radiated a magical light that could only be described as golden, healing his body with an endless regenerative effect.

This is an "automatic healing" that even the "Krozo's Demon Sword" couldn't defeat. It's a magic that should be Lv.4, yet it was able to withstand Hedin's fierce attack (the brave and pitiful undead soldier). This can indeed be described as a threat, and it can be considered an extraordinary level.

"As long as I am here, the valiant warriors and the soothing gray-faced ones will not fall! I will protect the goddess Freya!!"

Hecsis roared in fury.

No matter how many lightning strikes she endured, causing Haici to stumble and fall, she still bravely forged ahead.

"Shut up, you idiot."

"Huh—"

But—

Hedin said, with a genuine feeling that it was meaningless:

"Can't kill you? Foolish, your 'magic' is not eternal, but finite."

His face clearly showed an expression of being too lazy to explain.

He continued shelling while speaking.

"It is common knowledge that casting spells requires mental energy."

At the same level, the total mental energy of other healers or mages is simply incomparable to that of Haici.

It is precisely because her healing endurance surpasses that of the Saintess (Amid) that she becomes one of the reasons why the faction alliance is plunged into a bitter struggle.

However──

"Who do you think has the upper hand in terms of mental strength, you or I?"