From the center of the arena came a sharp cry.
Standing face-to-face with the small dragon at close range, the beast tamer raised a hand toward it as if to say, Stop.
The monster let out a low growl, then obediently lowered its head and stretched out its tongue to lick the tamer's hand.
The crowd instantly exploded into thunderous applause.
The beautiful tamer lifted her hand high as she led the dragon forward, basking in the spectators' cheers and praise.
Seeing that everything inside the arena was still under control, Ganesha secretly nodded.
"Good. Dispatch emergency teams to hunt down the escaped monsters! Have the Astraea Familia and Loki Familia act together! And seek aid from any gods currently present!"
"Yes, Lord Ganesha!"
"I am Lord Ganesha! I will not allow the citizens I am meant to protect to come to harm! Our greatest joy is the smiles of children—status and reputation are things we can cast aside!"
"We understand! We will defend both our Familia and your honor!"
"The festival continues! Do not let the audience inside the arena leave, and absolutely do not let them learn that monsters have escaped! Tell them the explosions were part of a drill. Do not do anything that could cause panic. All threats must be eliminated in secret and with absolute perfection. Understood?!"
"Y-Yes!"
"Go!"
At Ganesha's command, the members rushed out at once.
But just as everyone was still scrambling to respond, another explosion rang out.
And this time, it came from Babel Tower.
With the blast came a chorus of furious roars—and then an endless surge of monsters.
Watching the creatures rampage through the streets, Xien's eyes hardened.
"So it's finally started. I can't say I didn't expect this... They'd never pass up an opportunity like this."
Not far away, members of the Ganesha Familia and Loki Familia were already rushing toward the scene.
Xien knew then that his efforts had not been wasted.
"Lady Astraea, please evacuate immediately. Leave this place to us."
"Yes. I'm counting on you, Xien."
Astraea understood her role perfectly well. The safest thing for her to do was remove herself from danger—her well-being itself was the greatest reassurance to her children.
Without hesitation, she turned and left.
"Understood."
Xien stepped forward.
At the same time, another figure moved as well.
It was Lady Artemis.
Knowing full well that Artemis was absolutely the combative type, Xien said nothing. If she wanted to fight, then that only meant one more powerful ally. He had no reason to object.
Without another word, he moved.
The monsters ranged from Level 2 to Level 4. For Xien, dealing with them was not particularly difficult—but this was a city street, with civilians all around. He could not use his usual methods.
He began with a short chant.
"Tree Realm Descends."
A vast green tide of life energy swirled around him, and countless newborn plants erupted in response to his will, wrapping around, tearing apart, and slaughtering every monster he designated as a target.
The fleeing civilians nearby stared in shock.
It was an absolute area attack, yet it precisely avoided the people while binding, controlling, and killing only the monsters attacking them.
Xien ignored the stunned looks around him and broke into a run.
As he passed the arriving adventurers, he threw out a single sentence:
"I'll leave the evacuation and civilian assistance to all of you. I'm going to check the source."
In moments like this, the strengths of adventurers showed themselves clearly. Because the one giving the order was Xien—a fighter whose strength had already earned absolute trust—his words were followed at once.
"...Understood!"
Without paying any heed to the still-stunned goddess or the others, Xien sprinted away.
"Captain Finn, bad news! There have been sudden explosions all over the city. The two biggest are beneath the Amphitheater and Babel Tower!"
So it's come after all. Just as he feared.
Standing over the map spread across his desk, Finn quickly assessed the situation while continuing to gather information.
"How severe is the threat level? And the structural damage—Babel and the Amphitheater weren't critically compromised, were they?"
Knowing exactly what their captain meant, the messenger answered immediately.
"No. The main load-bearing structures are intact. But there are multiple fires, and endless monsters are pouring out from the source beneath both locations. The surrounding explosions have already caused panic and casualties…"
"And the Pleasure Quarter? Any abnormalities there?"
Recalling the intelligence Astraea Familia had provided, Finn added the question.
"Nothing so far. And members of the Freya Familia are stationed there…"
Finn nodded silently.
"With Riveria and the others guarding the important structures, those areas should hold. Tell the members stationed there to follow their orders completely. As for the rest, divide into small teams and deploy them to the other affected areas to rescue the wounded. And remember to bring the special medicine Astraea Familia sent over."
"Understood!"
The moment the orders were given, the messenger departed at once. At a time like this, every second mattered.
By the time Xien arrived, the place had already become a battlefield.
Members of the three Familia had formed a defensive line, holding back the tide of monsters trying to pour farther into the city.
But it seemed a tunnel connecting directly to the Dungeon had been opened below, because the monsters just kept coming, wave after wave, from the underground holding area.
Every so often, even monsters that should only have appeared in the Lower Floors were mixed into the swarm, making the ordinary Familia members' lives miserable.
This had successfully pinned down every upper-class adventurer present. If reinforcements did not arrive soon, the situation would become dire.
Among the fighters, Xien recognized several familiar faces.
And then he saw a flash of green.
He paused for a fraction of a second.
He had not expected her to be here.
With her strength, cutting down monsters on this scale should not have been a problem—but then again, this was still the city, with adventurers fighting all around her. Large-scale magic was too dangerous to use in such a setting, so she could only cast short-chanted spells to support the battle.
Seeing this, Xien no longer hesitated.
He opened with magic immediately.
"Flower Tree World Descends."
With the outpouring of Abundance power, huge plant-like blossoms and roots burst up from the ground and lashed out at the monsters, instantly easing part of the burden on the adventurers around them.
What was even more astonishing was that the plants seemed almost alive. They did not merely bind, crush, and kill the monsters before them—after killing one target, they automatically sought out the next nearby enemy.
The stunned expressions on the faces of the adventurers and civilians alike spoke for themselves.
Somewhere Xien could not see, Riveria's body stiffened.
As she watched those lush, vibrant plants brimming with terrifying life force, a deep and involuntary yearning rose again within her, making her swallow hard.
Turning toward the direction Xien stood in, her expression became complicated.
"Xien… you came."
A figure rushed up beside him.
It was the werewolf, Neize.
Xien drew his weapon, flames instantly igniting along its surface.
"This number of monsters is completely abnormal. I suspect there's a direct tunnel to the Dungeon down there. We need someone to seal it. Neize, gather the higher-ranking fighters nearby—we're breaking in."
"Got it! On it!"
There was no room for hesitation.
Xien had already proven his judgment again and again, and trust in him had taken root deep in all their hearts. At a critical moment like this, their bodies moved almost before their minds did, obeying his lead.
Neize fired a signal flare to summon the others.
In the meantime, Xien had already charged forward.
Lady Artemis had also arrived by now.
Taking in the chaos around her, she joined the battle without hesitation.
Looking at the tunnel mouth completely packed with monsters—and the stream still boiling up behind them—Xien knew they had to carve a path open before the others got there.
So he acted.
A short chant began.
"Giant Fireball."
Crimson magic circles flared around him, immediately drawing the attention of both the nearby adventurers and the monsters.
Seeing the creatures turn toward the boy, and sensing the extraordinary power gathering in his spell, Artemis moved to cover him without needing to be told.
From what she had already seen, she knew that this boy was the kind of high-value damage dealer worth protecting at all costs.
Arrows flashed from her hand like cold stars.
Like moonlight scattering into a rain of deadly constellations, every shaft drove cleanly into a monster's throat. It was proof of the Moon Goddess's warrior spirit—she single-handedly carved out a vacuum around Xien within the endless sea of monsters.
Xien, of course, had no intention of betraying that trust.
He did not fire the spell.
Instead, he attached it to Candleflame.
He could feel the weapon's delight.
It wanted to unleash this strike.
And very conveniently, so did he.
The violent energy was suppressed by his Abundance power and bound along the blade. Under the absolute control granted by the Transparent World and the Sharingan, Xien mastered it completely.
But it still wasn't enough.
There were dozens—no, hundreds—of enemies. This much power alone would not do.
Then he'd add more.
"One Thought, God and Devil."
In an instant, the elevated power transformed the deep red flames into an azure blue, a heat so terrifying that the approaching members of his Familia all went still with solemn expressions.
A Level 3 using an attack like this?
Their scalps prickled.
But before anyone could say anything, Xien swung.
"Heartflow — Scorching Sun Dance!"
A moment of fleeting brilliance.
Everyone's first thought was the same:
Beautiful.
Like a crimson lotus blooming in fire—vanishing in the next instant, but so beautiful it stole the breath from their lungs.
One horizontal slash.
A blade of azure flame shot out like lightning toward the mass of monsters.
Like the scythe of death itself.
The creatures had not even realized danger had reached them before they were severed cleanly in half.
It was as if a razor-edged beam had swept through them all.
A scorched, charred smell spread through the air.
Then one muffled burst after another sounded as the monsters turned to ash, leaving only their drops and magic stones clattering to the ground.
In an instant, the entire front line had been cleared.
The tunnel entrance lay open.
"Alright. Let's go."
Xien calmly sheathed his blade, deeply satisfied with the strike.
"Ridiculous... but somehow totally fitting for Xien. As always, the boy's full of surprises."
What kind of nickname is that…?
There was no time to complain about whatever new title had just been thrown at him.
Xien charged into the opening first.
Behind him, the adventurers followed.
As they pushed deeper, they soon found the cause.
At the center, surrounded by several monsters, stood a group of dark-robed figures wielding whips. Guards encircled them.
"The Dark Faction… just as I thought. They're controlling the monsters. Beast tamers?"
"Now I get it. They're making the controlled monsters cry out for help, drawing more and more creatures here…"
"Kill them."
"Got it."
"Damn it, what's going on?! How did they get through that many monsters?! Don't let them get close!"
The enemy had never imagined a monster like Xien would exist—someone capable of instantly wiping out a huge wave of monsters without causing wide-scale collateral damage, and using that opening to force a breakthrough.
That information gap sealed their fate.
"Your time's up, trash."
"AAAAAAAHHH—!"
A short while later, every enemy in the area had been cut down.
Behind him, the Elven Queen and the goddess both wore openly astonished expressions.
What stunned them was not one single thing, but everything Xien had displayed.
What was that flame wrapped around his blade?
Was it magic?
If so, why was it lasting so long?
His face had not changed at all.
Was his mind not being drained?
And wasn't he supposed to be a healer?
So why was he charging at the very front of the formation?
And what was with that swordsmanship?
Those razor-sharp movements, those perfectly efficient killing blows, not a single wasted gesture—
It was elegant.
No, more than elegant.
It was art.
The art of killing.
Was he really only Level 3?
That strength, that speed, that reaction time—his base stats in every single category were far beyond what an ordinary Level 3 should possess.
He looked more like a frontliner than the frontliners.
Was this why Astraea had accepted him into her Familia?
A genius?
Artemis's expression shifted.
She knew the standards her friend had for taking in members. If this boy truly fulfilled those conditions and possessed talent like this, then his future would be limitless.
As for Riveria, she had already found herself staring in a daze.
Unlike the warm, reassuring life force that had overwhelmed her before, what radiated from him now was the blazing heat of justice.
Two utterly different qualities, existing within the same person.
Coupled with the complicated feelings she still had not sorted out after that earlier incident, the image of him was being branded deep into her heart.
On the other side, at the monster incursion beneath the Amphitheater—
Alexia, the older dwarf, and the other patrol members were fighting desperately in the underground holding zone.
Most of Astraea Familia's core members were there, struggling their way through the monsters.
At the same time, Lila was continuously analyzing the battle as she fought.
Something about it felt wrong.
"There's a problem. The way these monsters are moving doesn't fit normal behavior. It looks like they're being controlled."
"Yeah—and the levels are wrong too. There's no way the Upper Floors should have this many high-level monsters."
After instantly beheading four creatures surrounding her, Kaguya looked at one of the monsters in the back—a creature that should only exist in the Deep Floors—and her face darkened.
"There may be a direct path to the Dungeon below us. Otherwise this number makes no sense. It completely exceeds the count Ganesha's people reported."
Her eyes sharpened.
"Those bastards…!"
....
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