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

Hestia slapped his burning back hard, as if sending the boy to war.

"Okay, go ahead!"

❧

"Okay, go ahead!"

The moment he heard the sound, Bell's sensory time shortened to its limit.

He could hear his heart pounding. His toes were enveloped in heat. But his mind couldn't be clearer.

Throughout Hestia's ability upgrade process, he maintained a crouch start position. He concentrated his strength in his feet and lifted one knee from the ground.

"Gaa ...

Deep inside the passage, directly in front of you, a monster roared fiercely.

Silverback Ape. Even with its enhanced stats, a direct confrontation with this monster would only result in defeat.

It wasn't exactly a golden opportunity to win. Bell was still somewhat skeptical about whether he could defeat the monster.

However, even if he can't believe his pathetic and pathetic self.

Bell, however, could completely believe Hestia's words.

With his almost foolish devotion to his god as the trigger, Bell took the first step.

"—!"

The silverback ape's cries ceased.

A super acceleration unlike anything before.

The ability to exceed 600 granted Bell a speed incomparable to what it had been before. Even though there was still a considerable distance between them, the silverback ape realized that it had acted too late and that it would have fatal consequences for the future.

"—Listen carefully, Belle? Take what I'm about to say with a grain of salt. Absolutely do nothing reckless!"

As he looked through the space before him, Bell recalled what Eina had said.

"No matter how powerful a monster is, or how high its defense is, every monster has an unavoidable weakness."

He still remembers the way she held up her finger and enthusiastically explained the knowledge about monsters.

"If you can hit that one spot, even a dragon will be defeated. It can be said to be the monster's true weakness."

He still remembered. He still remembered. He remembered her voice, and he remembered the next thing she said to him.

"Just one strike. Even if it's just one strike, as long as it can pierce the opponent's skin, theoretically, an adventurer can defeat any monster."

That's what makes a monster a monster. The unique "core" that it possesses because it is a monster.

"I don't need to explain further, do I? Yes, that's what any monster hides in its chest—"

—Magic Stone. An absolutely effective attack point when defeating monsters.

Bale's target spot was his opponent's chest.

The silverback ape drew ever closer. In the brief moment it took to gather strength, the enemy, halfway up his arm, stared wide-eyed, frozen in place.

Hestia's Blade glowed with phosphorescence. The intense attack power transformed into blue-purple droplets that overflowed from the blade, tracing paths in mid-air.

A short sword, drawn from behind. A thrust unleashed with all its might. A single, all-out, fatal blow.

Using himself as a spear, Bell charged toward the enemy's chest.

"Aa ...

Assault rifle (penetration).

"Gah!"

The pitch-black blade pierced the center of the monster's chest.

First, there's the tactile sensation of piercing muscle, then the feeling of shattering a hard object.

The silverback ape's eyes widened to their limit as it lay back on the ground.

"——!"

Unable to dissipate all the force of the attack, Bell was thrown into the air and flew away.

Speed ​​control and defensive maneuvers were not part of his consciousness. From beginning to end, he only thought about piercing through the body of the boy in front of him, turning him into a human cannonball the size of a real object, tracing a beautiful parabola in the air.

Soon, he began to fall.

"Oh dear!"

He crashed to the ground, rolling seven times before finally coming to a stop. Lying on his back, Bell was momentarily stunned by the pain, then suddenly opened his eyes and looked back.

The silverback ape lay sprawled in the middle of the road. The monster with a short knife stuck in its chest remained motionless until finally, part of its body began to disintegrate.

The shattered flesh of the magic stone returned to dust, drifted away with the wind, and vanished without a trace.

Hestia's Blade clattered as it rolled onto the stone floor, its blue-purple light flashing intermittently.

"——!"

A burst of joyful cheers erupted.

The residents of Daedalus Road, who had been watching the battle between Bell and the Silverback Ape unfold, erupted in excitement. No longer hiding in their homes, they leaned out of their windows and cheered. A corner of the labyrinth street was filled with a heat comparable to that of the arena.

Surrounded by cheers and applause praising him, Bell finally smiled.

He looked cheerful and was about to smile at Hestia in the corner of the passage and tell her that he had succeeded—when he found the petite Hestia lying on the road.

"immortal!"

Bell turned pale and rushed to her side after retrieving Hestia's Blade.

He picked up her limp body lying on the ground and saw that her eyes were weakly closed and her face had become even paler.

Bell remained oblivious to the large dark circles under Hestia's eyes. He picked her up and ran off amidst cheers and blessings.

✟

"I'm really sorry to Hestia this time... but it's really something to be jealous of."

On the roof of someone's house.

Freya murmured to herself from a high vantage point that offered a panoramic view of the area around Bell's location.

In front of her silver eyes, there was the figure of Bell carefully holding Hestia.

The goddess uttered those words somewhat awkwardly under the blue sky, but then laughed.

"Congratulations. Although you're still a little bit inexperienced...hehe, um, I think you're really cool."

Freya narrowed her eyes as she watched Bell run through the passage toward the exit, oblivious to everything else.

With her silver hair, reflecting the sunlight, fluttering in the wind, she left the scene.

"Let's play together again next time... Bell."

❧

"Goo ...

With a single blow, the giant's life was instantly ended.

"Hmm, it's over?"

"Yes……"

Ais made the silver saber whistle sharply, then smoothly sheathed it. The surrounding citizens cheered as they watched the monstrous creature collapse in the street with a deafening roar.

Loki, who was standing behind Ais with utter boredom, put his hand on his head and let out an "Oh".

"That's really disappointing. And it seems like nothing serious happened... I feel like I've been tricked."

Indeed, Ais inwardly agreed with Loki's opinion.

They ran around trying to prevent the civilians from being harmed, but when they arrived at the scene, they found that the monsters were not threatening anyone. They were just wandering around the arena rather roughly, as if searching for "something".

There is no denying that there is a feeling that the whole thing is in the hands of "someone".

"Is that all there is to it?"

"No... there's only one left."

Of the nine escaped monsters, one silverback ape remained.

If it were Ais, she would have cut down this opponent before he could even blink. So let's finish him off quickly. Having already lost all motivation, Loki began to move swiftly. Ais obediently followed.

They learned of sightings of silverback monkeys from the citizens who had taken refuge, and then came to East Street.

"Huh? What, it's already over?"

The main road was bustling with activity; there was no fear of the monster, only obvious excitement.

Loki approached a group of people that had formed in front of an alley and asked what was going on.

"Auntie, where's the monster? What's going on?"

"That's right, I heard it was that boy who defeated the monster! The people from Daedalus Road just came to describe what happened; they said the boy cornered the monster deep inside the maze and defeated it with a single blow!"

"Wait, wait a minute, ma'am, who is that boy you're referring to?"

"What? Didn't you see the fight going on here? It's a young adventurer with red eyes and white hair...yes, he looks like a rabbit!"

"Huh?"

Beside Loki, who was looking confused, Ais, who was listening intently, was slightly startled.

(White hair...?)

She had a clue.

This morning, she seemed to have caught a glimpse of that figure from upstairs in the store.

At that time, there was a white-haired boy with deep red eyes who was hurt because of his own mistakes.

"Excuse me, may I pass?"

The crowd ahead suddenly stirred. It seemed the adventurer had returned.

The citizens, eager to catch a glimpse of him, excitedly began jostling each other. Loki, equally intrigued, exclaimed, "I want to see too—!" and ran off to join the fun. Ais was left alone, standing somewhat forlornly in place.

Feeling somewhat troubled, she made up her mind and followed at the very back of the crowd, desperately standing on tiptoe to peer ahead.

"--Excuse me!"

"!"

Just then, the boy, who had been keeping a low profile, forcefully broke through the wall of people and ran past Ais.

As they brushed past each other, Ais's golden eyes followed the boy's figure.

(……real,)

Ais watched the boy's retreating figure, unaware of her presence.

No mistake. It's the boy she defeated the Minotaur and saved.

(Defeated, silverback ape...?)

Back then, he was still a novice. His colleagues in the Familia were exaggerating, but it's true that he was just a clumsy, novice adventurer at that time.

In Ais's memory, the boy could never defeat the silverback ape, no matter how hard he tried.

(……Congratulations.)

When she came to her senses, she found that her lips had uttered those words.

She just wanted to offer her blessings to the boy who was ridiculed by many people that day and shed tears of regret for his "growth".

(.......)

She was very curious about what techniques the boy used to defeat the monster, but she put that aside for now.

In short, she wants to see him and apologize to him; that's Ais's idea.

▣

The door slammed shut with a click.

Seeing Seele walk out of the room, Bell quickly ran up to her.

"Miss Xi'er, the fairy...!"