Is It Wrong to Try to Pick Up Girls in a Dungeon?, Vol. 6 (29 page)

Lastly, Welf would escort Bell all the way to the throne room.

Everything was going exactly the way that Lilly and Hestia had drawn it up.

A traitor in their midst—Lilly in disguise had been the Trojan horse all along.

“I told you yesterday, but the enemy general is at the top of a strange-looking tower. In order to get there, you have to go through a long hallway connecting to the third floor.”

Returning to Luan’s speaking style, Lilly explained everything to Bell. Rakia had made some serious design changes, the largest of which was an enclosed bridge that connected the whitish main tower to the rest of the castle. She pointed to it through the window as they ran.

“We can’t break in from the outside?”

“No, there’s no entrance. The thing may look pretty but it’s sturdy as a rock. It’ll take time to get there and enemies will swarm in. But, once you get inside…”

“Straight shot to the throne room?”

The small man nodded and grinned at Bell’s words.

“There’ll be a ton of magic users in that hallway. Counting on you?”

“Yeah, I got this.”

The prum “man” asked Welf to watch Bell’s back and grinned.

Then he split off from the two humans. The only people who knew “Luan’s” true allegiance were the people watching the mirrors in Orario. Lilly could still stir up enough chaos inside the castle to keep the remaining enemies away from her allies.

“Let’s do this.”

“Yeah!”

Bell, wearing brand-new, refurbished light armor, and Welf, greatsword balanced on his shoulder, raced up the nearest staircase toward the sky bridge.

“Tell me, what’s going on?! Out with it!”

Daphne yelled as she watched the tide of battle turn against them from her post at the base of the main tower.

“You don’t need to tell me the wall’s been destroyed, I can see that from here! Why is the castle so empty?!”

Eyes widened, a tinge of fear in her loud voice, Daphne shook her hair as she yelled.

Smoke was still rising from the north and east walls; she had a direct view from one of the many windows around her. She was trying to get a straight answer out of the messenger who had brought news from the front lines.

Daphne, along with only eight other adventurers, stood at the end of the sky bridge as the last line of defense.

“L-Luan said Hyacinthus ordered a direct attack…”

“HHAH?! That man ordered no such thing! I’ve been right here the whole time! I’d have been the first to know!”

Indeed, she had been ordered to stand guard in front of the only entrance to the main tower. No messenger carrying word from Hyacinthus would have reached the troops at the front line without her noticing.

The elf messenger shrank backward in the face of Daphne’s intimidating aura.

“Luan…betrayed us…?”

It was believable, especially considering that Daphne doubted most of her comrade’s allegiance to Apollo in the first place. She bit her lip before pressing the messenger for more information.

“What about Lissos and his troops?”

“E-eliminated, by the looks of it. The enemy used some kind of magic in the courtyard and trapped many of our warriors inside it. I don’t know how many are left who can still fight.”

She quickly reasoned that all of this had to be Luan’s handiwork; he had to be the reason that things fell out of hand so quickly. Not even an hour had passed since the start of the War Game, and the enemy had already made this much progress with almost no resistance.

Daphne cursed through her teeth. Not only was she angry at Hyacinthus’s way of looking down on their enemy since before the War Game, but also at herself for hesitating to act the moment the north wall collapsed.

“Daphne, they’re here! Two humans…The Little Rookie!”

“…This ends now. Alto, deliver a message to Hyacinthus for me: Bring reinforcements down from the throne room and we’ll crush Bell Cranell.”

One of the adventurers had spotted the two advancing up the outer tower and alerted Daphne to the danger. She issued her orders to the elf, who immediately bowed and disappeared into the main tower.

Daphne’s plan was to flood the sky bridge with so many warriors that it would be impossible for Bell and Welf to pass. The hallway in the sky was surprisingly wide—it would take more than ten large men in full body armor, standing shoulder to shoulder, to seal it off completely. She knew it would take several seconds for them to approach from the other side. Windows dotted the walls, a very solid ceiling above and a red carpet running down the full length of the floor. There were no obstacles in the way, no cover. Daphne ordered the mages to start casting.

Finally, the two humans appeared at the other end of the hallway.

“Archers to the front! They have nowhere to run—shoot everything you’ve got! Mages, fire on my command!”

Each archer and magic user had a straight shot to their target, a literal firing range. Magic with a decent blast radius would wipe out anything in this confined space. There would be no escape.

Daphne’s eyebrows sank, visions of these would-be attackers’ demise in her head. Withdrawing her shortsword from the hilt at her waist, she pointed it directly at their oncoming enemies.

Archers nocked their arrows; magic users reached the final phrases of their trigger spells.

“—GO!”

At the same time, the man with the massive sword over his shoulder—Welf—yelled.

The white-haired boy beside him leaned forward for an instant before taking off in a mad dash.

“FIRE!”

Bow strings cracked as arrows hurtled forward. Magic users moved their lips to bring their magic to life. At that moment—

Welf thrust his right hand forward.

“
Blasphemous Burn!
”

A short-trigger spell.

Silver, murky mist silently flowed like mercury from the palm of his hand.

The mist overtook Bell and inundated the enemy ranks around Daphne.

“
^____
”

She watched in horror as the bodies of each of the magic users started to glow, flickering like flames inside a furnace as the mist washed over them.

A heartbeat later, each of them flinched awkwardly as their bodies flashed from within.

KA-BOOM!

“Huh?!”

Sparks erupted like flower petals all around her.

Every single magic user in front of her had failed to cast—victims of Ignis Fatuus.

—
He turned the mages into bombs?!

Welf’s anti-magic Magic. Archers caught up in the blasts were tossed like rag dolls left and right. The mages lay where they fell, black smoke steadily rising from their limp mouths. They would not be casting again anytime soon.

The series of explosions shook pieces of rock loose from the ceiling and walls of the hallway, the singed red carpet in shambles. Daphne managed to brace herself just before the explosion and kept her feet despite the raging winds howling inside the stone bridge.

A swirling cloud of black smoke in front of her, Daphne steadied herself as the white-haired boy burst through it.

“?!”

Bell bounded right by her like a rabbit on the loose, making a break for the staircase at the base of the main tower.

Dammit!
Daphne turned to give chase when suddenly, “Ekkkk—!” A scream stopped her in her tracks.

Spinning on her heel, Daphne saw an archer bounce face-first off the floor and a red-haired man walk toward her over the remains of the carpet.

Black jacket rustling in the wind, Welf came to a stop a stone’s throw away from Daphne —
THUD
.

The tip of his sword on the floor, Welf looked Daphne in the eyes just over the hilt of his weapon.

“Real adventurers settle things with blades, don’cha think?”

The young woman’s eyes trembled as she looked at the smith’s fearless grin.

Welf’s and Daphne’s blades flashed in what little sunlight came through the sky-bridge windows.

Loki watched the two battle on her own mirror, a playful grin growing on her lips as she watched the red-haired man force Daphne away from the main tower.

“Fei-fei, that kiddo’s somethin’ else!”

“Why, thank you.”

The main table inside Babel Tower. Loki sat next to Hephaistos, who had just allowed Welf to join
Hestia Familia
. This was the trickster’s chance to have a little fun.

“Those flashy magic swords—forged by him, right? Regrettin’ lettin’ him go?”

“Who knows.”

Loki’s pearly white teeth glistened as her grin grew even deeper. Hephaistos looked at her with a warm smile, as if happy about something.

Elsewhere, the conversations taking place just outside Babel Tower were nowhere near as high-spirited as the two goddesses’.

“I’m screwed at this rate…”

“There’s still a chance, there’s still a chance…”

The atmosphere inside the bars had become thick with tension, adventurers restless.

Many eyes twitched as they watched Bell run on one of the many mirrors floating in the air. “Give up already!” one shouted as he stood up, shaking his fist at the boy. “Like hell you can lose!” yelled another, cheering on
Apollo Familia
with all of his might. Every adventurer who had bet money on Apollo’s victory was suddenly extremely vocal. Their shouts could be heard all around the city.

“Go, Whitey! Make ’em cry, meow!”

“Did she place a bet behind our backs…?”

“Be glad she didn’t bet on
Apollo Familia
, meow…”

West Main Street, The Benevolent Mistress.

There wasn’t a single empty seat at the bar. Chloe screamed at the mirrors along with the adventurers while carrying jugs of ale in her arms. Runoa and Ahnya watched her in disbelief.

“…”

Syr stood next to the two girls, unable to focus on her job in the slightest as she watched Bell on the mirror.

Her silver-gray eyes traced the boy’s every step, as if pleading for him to make it out alive.

“—Wow, just wow, Aiz! Look at him go!”

“Yes.”

On the northern edge of the city…

Loki Familia
’s home was also brimming with excitement despite being far away from the bars.

Tiona’s eyes sparkled as she watched
Hestia Familia
’s carefully crafted attack unfold on another mirror.

Aiz stood next to her, golden gaze nailed to the boy reflected inside.

“Yes, they’re doing very well…But even without all the tricks, couldn’t they have just sent that hooded adventurer with the magic swords straight in and let the cards fall as they may? That would’ve been so much easier.”

Tione stood behind the two girls, watching the action over their heads as she asked her own question.

“Amazonian to the bone, thinkin’ like that…”

“Hmm, simply put, would a Goliath stand a chance charging into a battle party of one hundred?”

“…Impossible.”

“Additionally, those two magic swords alone would have been unable to destroy the entire structure. There is no doubt that Apollo’s forces are much better organized. Hestia’s group couldn’t afford to have a wide-scale battle, chaotically mixing friend and foe.”

Gareth, Finn, and Reveria rolled their eyes at Tione’s proposition and each explained their reasoning in turn.

A battle party composed of only
Apollo Familia
members led by the Level 3 Hyacinthus was already powerful enough to take down a Goliath on their own.

The three started calmly breaking down the group’s tactics for her when—

“Doesn’t mean shit.”

Bete entered the conversation.

“Rabbit Boy wants to settle the score with the perv himself.”

Many members of
Loki Familia
had gathered in the common room of their home. Loki had set up many Divine Mirrors before leaving earlier that morning. The young werewolf was watching a different one from the girls, one that showed the side of Bell’s face as he ran.

“He’s a man, that one.”

Talking loud enough to be heard by everyone, his amber-colored eyes didn’t leave the mirror.

“Do you know something?”

“…Nope.”

Bete spat out a response to Reveria’s question.

“This’ll work, this’ll work! They’ve already come this far!”

Completely ignoring what was going on behind her, Tiona started running around Aiz and pumping her fist in the air. Tione, Bete, and the others watched in annoyance as the young Amazonian girl started jumping up and down as well. Tiona didn’t care as her cheering became even more acrobatic.

Her face beet-red, the girl came to a stop and punched toward the mirror with each word.

“Fight! Win—! Argonaut!”