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

An extraordinary "Strength" ability value.

On the other side of the overlapping blades, the trembling expression of the fierce and powerful enemy (Yacintos) before him was reflected in his own eyes.

——Lv.3.

The battle in the tavern flashed through my mind. The moment I was utterly defeated, the attack and defense.

Bell forcefully shook off the burning sensation on his neck and glared at everyone.

"Ugh—Aa ...

With a roar, he mustered all his strength and forcefully repelled the enemy's longsword.

The enemy leaped backward to create distance, and in an instant, Bell lowered his body to its limit.

Imagine your whole body as a fully drawn bow and an arrow about to be released—and then launch an attack.

"call!!"

Fastest acceleration.

With an aura that could almost shatter the stone slabs he kicked, he unleashed everything he had, unleashing a deadly attack with all his might.

Rabbit Rush. Super-continuous slashing attack.

A merciless storm of blades had begun.

"--This is so slow."

However, the enemy who mocked them did not waver in the slightest.

“——”

Blue-purple and crimson, a series of arcs of light flashed out in succession.

Despite facing countless slashes, the opponent's reaction was exactly the same as before, meeting all attacks head-on.

The Hestia Blade, striking the air, and the Ushiwakamaru, knocked down, each of their consecutive slashes was neutralized by the excessively decorated wave-shaped sword. The wave-shaped blade emitted the brilliance of the sun, flickering like flames, and with an abnormal power, it caused the Hestia Blade and the Ushiwakamaru to spark and emit a sharp, mournful cry.

The "Sun Wave Sword" is a weapon that only the leader of the Apollo Clan is permitted to possess.

The wavy blade, which etched an afterimage, was imprinted in Bell's wide-eyed eyes.

"Stop your shrill squabbles, you lowly rabbit."

With a smirk, Hyacinthus moved with even greater speed than before, his figure blurring into a blurry shadow.

A high-speed and skillful knife-wielding technique.

He knocked down the crimson arc of "Ushiwakamaru" and deflected the blue-purple flash of "Hestia's Blade." Faced with a series of fluid and beautiful sword-parrying techniques—the attacks were deflected, and his arms were lifted into the air by the recoil—Bell held his breath.

The next instant, the wave-shaped sword slashed upwards from below.

Bell used his superhuman reflexes to retreat, and the blade, along with his breastplate, slashed through his body. The wavy blade, cutting through light armor and piercing through skin, dug into his chest, slicing away flesh and causing excruciating pain.

—I got slashed.

The fiery red sword light flashed past.

Despite the boy's blood splattering and his movement halted, Hyacinthus relentlessly continued his pursuit.

“Huh!?”

The opponent spun his hand, the hilt of his sword striking horizontally against Bell's cheekbone. He stomped on Bell's staggering foot, trying to create distance, and delivered a powerful elbow strike. The elbow, piercing Bell's throat, sent shivers down his spine. Before he could even vomit, the opponent punched his slashed abdomen—and then followed with a powerful spinning kick. The opponent's boots filled half his side, sending Bell flying onto the cobblestones.

Hyacinthus's cloak billowed in a circle, and his golden earrings swayed with his movements.

"Be...Be...!?"

Hestia, her face ashen, uttered words that ultimately failed to form.

The boy, battered and bruised, lay sprawled on the ground like a corpse. His chest was lacerated with a deep, bleeding wound, and blood-tinged saliva splattered on the nearby stone slabs. His face was covered in blood. Only his trembling hands could barely support him as he tried to rise.

Seeing her clan members suffer such a crushing defeat for the first time, the goddess was speechless.

"Ah, clack, woo...!"

"He's still conscious."

Bell struggled to his feet, his vision blurred. His deep red, tear-filled eyes looked up at the sneering Hyacinthus.

This is—a Level 2 adventurer.

Hycintos, who has reached Lv.3, is no mere figurehead. He is not arrogant because of his abilities, and his skills and tactics are top-notch. Fighting a human is completely different from fighting a monster. "Magic" that leaves no time for aiming, and "Heroic Wish" that is tantamount to suicidal charging, are all useless against him.

Not only is his pure hand-to-hand combat ability impressive, but even his [ability stats] are...

Bell's current adventurer level is far too low compared to him.

A stark and overwhelming sense of defeat, like being trapped in a quagmire. Tears streamed down my face.

The burning pain and the indescribable vortex of emotions distorted Bell's appearance.

"What an ugly face, and so lacking in taste... Why would Apollo be so fixated on such a thing?"

“Wu!?”

Hyacintos kicked Bell, who was staring at him with a blood-stained face, without any mercy.

Unable to defend himself, the boy was easily kicked away and rolled into an open space in front of the back alley.

"Wait, stop!"

"I have given my heart and soul to that person. Only I can accept everything about that person. ... A mere rabbit should obediently submit to being hunted."

Without even glancing at Hestia or ignoring what she said, Hyacinthus walked toward Bell.

Every word he uttered revealed his jealousy, and he stopped in front of the boy who was curled up in a ball.

"...It would be troublesome if you resisted. Anyway, you'll be healed later, so cutting off an arm or a leg won't matter, right?"

With a swing of his left-hand waving sword, Hyacinthus's sword rang out, and a cruel, sneer appeared on his face. Bell's eyes were filled with fear.

Hestia rushed forward, but it was too late.

The longsword, swung downwards, was about to sever Bell's arm, but in the next instant...

Countless arrows shattered the stone slabs where Hyacinthus had stood.

"What?"

Hyacintos narrowly escaped, showing the same surprised expression as Bell and Hestia.

Turning my head sharply, I saw an ancient clock tower outside West Street. In the distance, on the roof of the tower, there was an archer with a longbow at the ready.

To be able to shoot from such a distance—am I a sniper? Yacintos couldn't help but admire him.

"Dogman..."

More arrows flew in, aimed at Hyacinthus, who was squinting and staring at his opponent.

□

"That's why I hate high-level adventurers..."

Ahead of him, Hyacinthus dodged all the arrows aimed at him, causing Nazha to frown.

She drew arrows from the quiver fixed to her waist, nocked them, and fired them in rapid succession to cover Bell.

Sensing the conflict instigated by the Apollo Familia, Naza quickly arrived at this high vantage point to set up her formation, finding Bell and his group's location before anyone else. The former third-tier adventurer archer of the Mihe Familia possessed unparalleled archery skills, able to accurately lock onto a single enemy (Hyacinthus) and snipe from a distance invisible to the naked eye.

"Bell, run!"

Naza murmured to herself, her plea seemingly reaching the other's ears. Bell staggered to his feet and pulled Hestia forward with all his might. Hyacintos tried to catch up, but she immediately provided support fire, firing an arrow at her opponent to hinder his advance.

The small figure glared at him furiously. Naza fired another arrow at him, but it was easily cut down by a longsword. Hyacinthus was forced to flee behind a building, avoiding the arrow's trajectory.

He seemed to have temporarily given up chasing after Bell and the others who had disappeared, and pulled his cape as he ran in the opposite direction.

"There are too many enemies..."

After delaying Hyacinthus's actions, Naza continued to snipe other adventurers, but her support was only a drop in the ocean.

She looked down at the scene below; there were probably two hundred enemy figures.

Naza threw away the quiver that had run out of arrows and filled it with a new one.

She shot through the feet of hunters running on the rooftops, knocking them off the buildings. Her beast-eared ears listened to the echoing screams as she continued firing arrow after arrow.

"Mih God, hurry..."

Naza muttered to herself anxiously.

●

"Bell, are you alright!?"

"It's...it's alright..."

Bell, breathing intermittently, answered Hestia, who was on the verge of tears.

His body, sluggish from the beating he received from Hyacinthus, was heavy, and the high-grade elixirs he had were only enough to barely heal the wound on his chest. To create distance between them, Bell had run here with all his might, but he was already unsteady on his feet and had to be supported by Hestia.

His injured body, which prevented him from moving freely, caused him great anxiety. Just then, a chanting came from afar.

「!?」

"magic!?"

Hestia's scream was not wrong; an elven mage above her raised his staff.

Using the difference in elevation between the buildings, the person chanted from a position out of Naza's sniping range. Worse still, the person was completely outside the range of the [Flame Lightning] spell. Bell and the others ran desperately to create distance between themselves and her on the rooftop, but the spell was already complete and it was too late.

The long-range lightning magic unleashed its power from behind them.

"~~~~~~~~~~!?"

With the ends of their hair singed at the back of their heads, Bell and Hestia rolled to the ground together.

Although the enemy adjusted their artillery positions to avoid hitting the goddess (Hestia), not only the back alley, but also the surrounding buildings were blown up, generating a lot of smoke.

"Lisos, we've got them!"

"Well done! Call Daphne and the others over!"

After a few seconds of deafness and a blurry vision, they heard a large number of footsteps gathering around Bell and his companions. Looking up, they saw the elf leader who had covered his mouth with a scarf—the same one who had commanded the attack on the church—appearing from around the corner of the back alley with five adventurers.

The handsome elf named Lysos coldly said to the two, "Surrender."

With his arm around Hestia, who was slumped on the ground, Bell's dirty face was contorted. Just then—with a "whoosh," a group of people blocked their way.

“Eh…”

"This sounds interesting. Let us join in!"

A small team of six adventurers walked forward from behind Bell and his group.

A burly man stood on his back, bearing the stunned murmurs and gaze of Bell. It turned out to be Sakura, the leader of the Takemikazuchi Familia.

Besides him, there was also Chigusa, who was armed, and three other members of the group, who were still alive.

"What do you mean... do you want to be enemies with us, the Apollo Familia?!"

"Is that what we mean?"

"We cannot stand idly by and watch our allies fall into crisis!"

Upon hearing Lisos's threat, Sakura raised her greatsword in response, while Destiny spoke loudly and decisively.

With a roar, the Apollo Familia and the Takemikazuchi Familia, who had been at odds with each other, clashed fiercely.

"Did I make it...?!"

"M-Mich!"

Just as Bell and his companions were witnessing the fierce battle, Mih, breathing erratically, appeared from behind.

Hestia looked up and called out. The male god nodded with a "Hmm."

"I ran to Takemikazuchi for help as soon as I heard there was a commotion. Are you all alright?"

"It's...it's alright."

"Mich, you're really something...!"

Mih simply smiled at Bell's surprised expression and Hestia's grateful look.

He and his group member Nazha split up and brought Sakura and others here.