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

This steely willpower... no, it's the "heart of a great tree".

Legend has it that this is a courage as steadfast as the Great Sacred Tree nurtured in the Elf Forest—faced with such "damned courage" that it far surpasses her own, Lunova felt a chill run down her spine.

Unable to interrupt the enemy's chanting.

They could no longer escape the attack range of the "magic".

Oh no!

Lunova broke out in a cold sweat.

"[Soaring through the skies, galloping across the wilderness, moving at a speed surpassing all things. Conquering enemies with the brilliance of the stars!]"

Liu did not let his opponent waver for even a moment.

The chant was completed in one breath.

The magic was activated in the nick of time.

"【Light of the Wind】!!"

The large sphere of light, wrapped in green wind, transformed into a burst of light and shot out.

"~ ...

Ryu and Lunova were both blown away.

"Meow!?"

"Wait, wait a minute—Meowa ...

Anya and Chloe, who were also in the inner courtyard, were both affected.

This earth-shattering impact blew the four girls, including Ryu herself who had used the magic, flying them in different directions.

Starting from the center of the inner courtyard where Ryu and Lunova were located, a large number of powerful magic bullets flew in all directions.

The space, surrounded by buildings, was damaged in many places, full of cracks, and was emitting thick smoke.

"Ugh... They actually pulled this on me! Are they planning to take me down with them...!"

"Unless we're at that close range, my magic can't hit you..."

Lunova, who had crashed into the bar's warehouse, dragged herself out and grinned through gritted teeth.

Ryu, whose back had slammed against the wall of the building, got up and wiped his face, which was covered in sweat and burns.

To prevent Lunova from having any opening to dodge, Ryu forcibly cast a spell at extremely close range.

"You idiot Ryuh～～～～～～～～!! The cat came here specifically to save you, what are you doing, meow──!!"

"You want to kill the cats, meow—!?"

"Putting Anya aside, Black Cat, you were originally here to assassinate me, weren't you?"

Ryu rolled her eyes at Anya and her friends, who were shoving the rubble aside and yelling angrily. Although Ryu wanted to apologize to Anya, Lunova's sudden appearance forced her to abandon the idea.

"Ahhhhhh, awesome! I'm so excited right now! It's because I sometimes run into idiots like you that I can't let go of this job!"

Perhaps due to her personality, Lunova punched her right palm, revealing a ferocious smile.

Even though she knew her reaction wasn't cautious enough, Ryu couldn't help but smile knowingly at Lunova's straightforward nature.

But she quickly composed herself and assumed a fighting stance with two small katana.

"Hahaha! As expected, it was a draw where both sides were severely injured!"

at this time.

A voice, clearly belonging to a third party besides Liu and the others, came from inside the courtyard.

"……What?"

"This is……"

Runova frowned and looked around. She found that there were countless thugs standing all around, and each of them was holding various weapons such as knives, swords, and clubs.

"Bruno Trading Company...? What's going on? Didn't we agree that I would handle [Gale] all by myself?"

Runova revealed a sharp look and glared at the human man who led this group of thugs.

Beside the man stood a dwarf with a lewd smile.

"That dwarf... is the client who commissioned the cat to carry out this assassination, meow."

Koro narrowed her eyes. Ryu and the others also vaguely sensed the situation before them.

"I see... You weren't just targeting [Gale], you included us too..."

"You're right! 'Black Fist' and 'Black Cat,' you're just as much of a nuisance to us!"

The human merchant—a staff member of the Bruno Trading Company—smiled and admitted it.

"First, let you fight [Swift Wind] until you're both badly injured, then we'll take care of you all at once... That's the real purpose of this commission! And since only our Bruno Trading Company has information on Leon, it will be even more advantageous to this plan!"

The fact that the two of them both set their sights on [Swift Wind] was also a deliberate arrangement.

Two members of the trading company, who had secretly conspired, provided the same intelligence to lure Lunova and Chloe into choosing the same day to eliminate Ryu.

"The Dark Faction has fallen! All thanks to you, Leon! This city... Orario will be transformed because of you."

As many had predicted, the business executives echoed the same predictions about the future and continued to make pronouncements:

"As for the completely transformed and revitalized Orario, our trading company will manage it! If rogue mercenaries and outlaws like you without any clans continue to exist, it will cause us a lot of headaches!!"

The bank's executives, carried away by their pride, began to talk at length.

After glimpsing the merchant's ambition to satisfy his own desires, the girls all narrowed their eyes.

"Besides, how can we leave alive guys like you who know our connection to the dark factions! Brothers, attack!"

The man stretched out his hand and gave orders to the burly men around him.

The thugs greedily licked their lips at the wounded and pitiful girls and began to tighten their encirclement.

but.

"Ugh... How boring."

"That's just third-rate, mediocre cleverness, meow..."

Lunova and Chloe, who had started to complain, sighed helplessly.

"But what infuriates me the most is that I was actually used in this hopeless conspiracy."

"Even cats can't help it, meow. Lately, cats have been worrying about their future..."

Unlike Chloe and the others who seemed lost in thought, Anya and Ryu started talking.

"Ryu, the cat can beat all those people to a pulp, meow?"

"I think it should be fine; after all, there's no reason to go easy on them."

The thugs launched their attack simultaneously in the next instant.

Runova sighed helplessly, and after raising her head, she spoke the declaration on behalf of everyone.

"If you want to defeat us, bring ten times more men."

What followed was a series of screams.

Echoing screams, seemingly emanating from the deepest hell, echoed beneath the starry sky. The thugs, who had just been brutally beaten, lay sprawled in the inner courtyard.

It was an instant kill.

"Ugh, ugh...!!"

"Don't even mention ten times, twenty times wouldn't be enough, meow."

Kroy kicked both the human and dwarf clients, a ferocious smile spreading across her face.

The businessman's face was distorted from being slapped, his mouth opening and closing like a fish.

"Yes, don't think you can get away with this after doing this to us...!! The ones backing up Bruno Trading Company are...!!"

"Ugh, all that chattering is so noisy, shut up!"

Runova landed a punch, followed by a scream as air was forced out of her lungs.

The mastermind behind the series of disturbances was so easily and brutally wiped out.

The only people still standing on the field are the same as before, only four girls.

"You guys want to keep fighting, right?"

"Of course, as the saying goes, it is impolite not to reciprocate."

"Just what the cat wants, meow."

"Watch out, the cat will kill you, meow."

Lunova, Ryu, Anya, and Chloe stared sharply at each other.

The girls, their eyes bloodshot from the fighting, are preparing to reignite the war.

"Take this!"

However──

Boom... boom...

The girls, who were all assuming fighting stances, heard a sound that shook the earth.

"That sound is..."

"What, meow...?"

"........."

"........."

Compared to the bewildered Lunova and Chloe—

Anya was already deathly pale, while Ryu was covered in cold sweat, but this had nothing to do with the "poison" she was suffering from.

Soon after, the source of their fury, powerful enough to shake the earth, appeared before Ryu and the others.

"—Hey, you bunch of silly girls."

The visitor was none other than Mia.

"What happened to cause this terrible scene?"

The building with its windows and corridors blown off, the warehouse and wine cellar with a large hole blasted in the wall that destroyed all the food and wine, and the courtyard where a second building was planned to be constructed were all completely destroyed.

The scene before us was so bleak that it made one want to laugh.

"Whose shop is this? Hmm? Tell me, what do you guys think?"

Faced with the return of the "abundant mistress" shop owner, Ryu was so terrified that she was sweating profusely.

Runova and Chloe, who intuitively sensed that the other party was extraordinary, also stood frozen in place.

As for Anya, her eyes were already brimming with tears, and she kept sobbing.

Mia lowered her head, her face shrouded in shadow, making it impossible to discern her expression.

"Mom! May and the others brought some alcohol from the shop and they all got drunk... Ahahaha, I guess I shouldn't be bringing this up now..."

Sher, who had rushed over, threw out these words, the first half of which was addressed to Mia and the second half to Ryu and the others, before letting out a dry laugh and retreating from the scene in a few quick steps.

Hopeless.

"Mom! Mom!! Please let the cat explain, meow!! There's a very complicated reason for this—"

Anya could no longer contain herself and ran towards Mia.

The cat-person girl—a burly dwarf—who rushed up to him and desperately tried to explain herself caused a deafening roar to erupt from the scene.

To be precise, he punched the girl into the ground.

『────────────────』

Ryu, Lunova, and Chloe were all stunned to see Anya sprawling on the ground with steam rising from her head.

Another earth-shaking sound rang out, and the giant dwarf stood before the stiff-bodied girls.

Liu, now completely enveloped in the other's shadow, finally understood that her intuition upon first seeing Mia was correct.