"What was that commotion?"
The dazzling glare of that little "sun" exploding even reached the members of Loki Familia exploring at the very top of this [Ancient Hunting Grounds].
Watching that dazzling pale color begin to spread beneath their feet, Gareth couldn't help but shake his head.
"That'd be the Lefiya girl, wouldn't it? Her magic is really getting more and more outrageous."
"Mm—"
Riveria, beside him, nodded. From it she could sense a very familiar magical aura—one that belonged to Lefiya.
It was [Fusillade Firebolt] and [Arcs Ray].
These were merely two extremely basic spells—so how on earth had she altered their form, turning them into what they were now?
"That girl's really something. Not only does she have that absurd magic that lets her learn her kinsmen's spells, she can even create so many of her own. Among you elves, that'd be enough to earn her her own page, wouldn't it?"
"..."
Riveria recalled the words of warning from an old acquaintance, the witch Lady Lenoa—that the Magic Kingdom had already taken notice of Lefiya's existence.
At the same time.
If those old men back home learned of the girl... well, that didn't need worrying about. Those stubborn old men weren't adventurers; they merely relied on their authority within the clan, hiding in the green forests to swagger about, and couldn't affect Orario at all.
But the Magic Kingdom truly was...
A nation controlled by Odin, a great god of the same rank as the two deities Zeus and Hera.
After so many years, it remained an existence with considerable depth.
Although in terms of "adventurers" the other side indeed had no fighting force capable of rivaling Orario, in other aspects... Riveria recalled the "secret" Loki had quietly told her before.
The gods from Asgard seemed to hold a kind of fated obsession with completing the "Three Great Commissions."
Thor, who presided over courage, lightning, and war, had since ancient times led his familia to guide the [Overlord of the Land] Behemoth, making it head toward barren lands rather than places where humans gathered. At the same time, he was responsible for the construction and defense of the [Great Wall] beyond the northern Dragon Valley.
Baldr, god of light, had built the Spirit Ship—that is, the present-day [Academic District]—which was also a warship for subjugating the [Overlord of the Sea] Leviathan.
And it was said—at least, Loki had said it with a rather serious expression—
Odin was preparing to subjugate the [Black Dragon].
His exact words were.
[If you all (Orario's adventurers) cannot accomplish it, then I shall do it myself, but a certain price must be paid.]
With the power of the entire Magic Kingdom.
The great god Odin seemed to have created some kind of weapon capable of killing the [Black Dragon], but the price was that at least a third—perhaps even more than half—of the lives on the continent would vanish.
About this.
Riveria had once thought Loki was talking nonsense.
But thinking it over carefully, although her own goddess was usually flighty, she wouldn't joke about something like this. What's more, more than once—at the gods' banquets, or when she met Goddess Astrea—
the latter had also made clear that she should "watch over Lefiya carefully, and not let her be discovered by the people of the Magic Kingdom."
Perhaps the secret weapon capable of annihilating the [Black Dragon] was also connected to Lefiya, this exceptionally gifted mage?
Then... was it also connected to herself?
The relationship between the elven race and the Magic Kingdom was very delicate.
The old generation of elves, who prided themselves as a race of magic, had since antiquity looked down upon humans who likewise used magic.
And they scorned even more those "creations" that attempted to combine magic with various machinery.
But even so.
Nowadays, even the most traditional elven villages would have "magic lamps" made by the Magic Kingdom, or "ice boxes," "hot-water bottles," and other everyday household tools maintained by small magic circles.
At the same time.
Many of the things the city developed using magic were in fact in a "competing product" relationship with that nation's.
And because of their low prices, the fact that one didn't need to seek out magic-craftsmen and witches for repairs, the convenient after-sales service, and so on, they sold very well. But some "high-end goods," even "military-grade" items, could not be replicated using magic.
Shaking her head, Riveria flung these chaotic thoughts out of her mind.
She even recalled the city's Goddess Festival from before.
The envoy of Alf Royal Forest had once told her that the Magic Kingdom and the Empire had grown very close, seemingly plotting something together.
Perhaps it was merely a passing grumble, but it might truly not be good news.
The continent's most powerful Empire joining hands with the Magic Kingdom—were it not for Orario's existence, they would be enough to sweep clean the entire continent...
"Say, Riveria, isn't that Lefiya girl's magic level growing a bit too fast?"
"Isagi and the others are all like that—and aren't we the same too?"
"Hmm... true..."
Gareth nodded to himself. The adventures of these past month or two had yielded more ability points and gains in [Excelia] than the several years before.
Most important of all was that indescribable yet utterly real "progress" in battle.
Fighting life-and-death battles against stronger, more dangerous, more lethal enemies—such experience was truly far too scarce.
"By the way, don't you plan to give that last spell to the girl?"
The dwarf uncle usually wasn't much of a talker.
But with only the three of them left now, he had instead become the noisiest one. And Riveria knew what magic Gareth was referring to.
Her strongest, and the only one she still hadn't taught Lefiya—[Verse · Viddheimr].
That attack magic that, back when she was Lv5, had been enough to annihilate the [Greatest Evil] in a single blow.
It was also the magic that had once destroyed in a single strike a gate-guarding BOSS of the deep levels, one starting at least at Lv7.
That great emerald wave of light.
Compared to Alfia's strongest magic, [Extinction · Annunciation Prayer], which was stronger?... Riveria had no wish to compare, but as a mage, she couldn't help but think about it.
The strongest magic the other had once used to kill Leviathan.
So then, if she used [Verse · Viddheimr] to kill the [Black Dragon]—
Or.
Lefiya... if it were her, could she do it?
Having long regarded the elven girl as her own "disciple," the reason Riveria hadn't given her this magic wasn't selfishness, but worry and fear.
The magic that might be enough to destroy the [Black Dragon] was also magic enough to destroy the world.
Elves' lives were far too long.
Therefore, Riveria had heard of, and witnessed with her own eyes, many of her kinsmen's falls into corruption.
Chasing pleasure, surrounded by pain, or collapsing because of the destruction of something, giving themselves up to despair, falling under the bewitchment of scheming people or even gods, finally walking onto a wayward path full of blood and screams...
To name one not far off.
The "Dis Sisters" on the Dark Familia's side during the [Great Conflict] were the most infamous degenerates among their kinsmen.
As Lv5 adventurers, they, together with the [Killing Emperor] Valetta, had hands stained with the blood of at least tens of thousands of adventurers and city residents.
It wasn't that Riveria thought Lefiya would become someone like that.
She was afraid.
Handing the strongest magic over to her was, to Riveria, also a kind of responsibility—and it was this responsibility she feared.
The woman closed her eyes slightly, no longer thinking about the matter.
And Gareth, seeing that Riveria didn't answer, naturally and tactfully changed the subject.
"Say, Finn, how much longer do we have to look for that guy?"
"Soon."
The Pallum holding the golden spear walked at the very front of the three, stepping onto a broad, thick leaf, crouching down to examine some kind of trace left upon it.
Regarding this [Ancient Hunting Grounds].
Isagi and the others, Loki Familia, and Freya Familia, as three mutually cooperating squads, had therefore from the very start of their exploration simply divided up "zones."
To put it simply.
Loki explored downward from the topmost layer, while Freya Familia explored downward from the very middle, and Isagi and the others of Astrea Familia directly explored the very bottom.
This way, they avoided everyone exploring the same place at once and wasting time, and could also compile their respective intelligence after each adventure ended.
"Freya Familia's side said they found some [Hunter's Black Market]—it wouldn't be connected to the guy we're looking for, would it?"
"Maybe, maybe."
Finn and the others were searching for a person—a "hunter."
After just entering the [Ancient Hunting Grounds] area, everyone had marked out their respective zones and soon began exploring.
In a very hidden tree hollow at the edge of a certain giant tree, the three of them found a "corpse."
It looked like it should be a monster's corpse.
But it had already weathered down to bone, yet the Magic Stone within its body remained firmly embedded in its chest cavity, as if that was why it had managed to continue existing.
And beside it lay a sheet of parchment.
Something was written on it in words that were utterly incomprehensible. But later, Finn and Riveria and the others encountered another hunter—one of the kind they could communicate with. Though extremely wary and quick to leave, he still told them the contents written on the parchment.
[Bounty:]
[By order of the Hunting Grounds Administrator "Hand of the Great Emperor": kill the traitor who dared defy the Great Emperor's will, the "hunter" Hagnas. Whoever holds his severed arm may obtain the qualification to have an audience with the Hunting Grounds Administrator, and may terminate the hunting mission.]
The contents weren't complicated.
But the hunter who had helped translate, after finishing, merely said coldly, "Liars."
He even retorted, "You all wouldn't believe what these guys say, would you? The only possibility of ending the mission is to kill off this whole pack of administrators."
Then he immediately left.
Gareth and Finn even strongly suspected that this hunter was very likely connected somehow to the [the "hunter" Hagnas] on the bounty.
"By the way, didn't Isagi say before that Alfia killed one of the administrators?"
"Mm..."
The administrator the woman had taken down seemed to be called something like the "Ear of the Great Emperor."
She couldn't quite remember.
She also didn't know just how strong the other had been, but without doubt it certainly wasn't as strong as this one—though it indeed wasn't weak either.
[It still took some effort.]
Those were Alfia's exact words.
"Well, no need to worry about all that. Anyway, find the monsters, do battle, take them down, and collect the spoils! That's exactly what we adventurers are here to do!!"
Gareth was simple, after all.
He didn't care at all about the plot, what on earth had happened here, or what story there was. After all, as an adventurer, as long as he took part in battle and gained increases in ability points and [Excelia], that was enough.
At this, Riveria felt a bit like rolling her eyes. The elven woman was, on the contrary, quite interested in what exactly had happened here.
Exploration and adventure were both about pursuing the unknown, understanding the unknown.
And compared to the two of them, Finn was extremely pragmatic.
The Pallum [Braver] not only shouldered the grand dream of reviving his race, but also knew he had to keep his feet on the ground, accomplishing it step by step.
Including right now.
He had more or less figured out just what kind of process Isagi's "special Dungeon" really followed.
To find powerful opponents and monsters, occasionally one might indeed bump into them by sudden luck—but more often, one still had to pursue the so-called "main line," or rather the "story line."
At the very middle or the ending of a story, there would surely be an incomparably powerful being waiting for everyone's challenge.
And right now, this "bounty" in his hands was probably such a story line.
But at this moment the three weren't searching for that hunter on the bounty—there was no way to even begin, because there were no clues at all.
At this moment, they were searching for clues about that already-dead one—that is, the skeleton holding the bounty.
Who was it, how had it come here, why had it died?
On the back of the bounty, there was a map the other had left, which looked like some kind of "supply point."
That made sense.
To pursue a target within this [Ancient Hunting Grounds], one either carried large amounts of provisions oneself, or there had to be a place to replenish supplies.
Through the previous several explorations, they had continuously narrowed down the target's range.
Now, Finn and the others were nearly about to find that place.
"It looks like it might be a [Pantry]."
"Mm."
Passing through the thick branches and leaves and tree trunks, climbing over the huge vines tangled together, as if scaling incomparably towering mountains—
before their eyes it suddenly opened up.
In the darkness, the phosphorescence clinging to the edges of the giant trees gave off a faint green glow, illuminating a certain massive cavern among the rock walls at the end of their line of sight.
It was just like a pitch-black great maw.
The giant trees all around stretched out their branches and leaves, converging from different directions, until at last they formed a "broad, level highway" leading to the cavern.
It really did resemble a [Pantry].
In the Dungeon, monsters too needed to eat.
Not only would they eat dead adventurers; most of the time, the monsters would head to a place called the [Pantry] to eat a kind of slime-like "food."
Adventurers could eat that stuff too.
But it was extremely, extremely disgusting—only when at the absolute end of one's rope would one regard it as something edible.
Moreover, heading to the [Pantry] was dangerous to begin with.
This was a place where monsters gathered. Actively running over there was, for adventurers, no different from delivering a meal to the door.
The "supply point" on the back of the bounty depicted exactly this place.
"Let's go."
Gripping the spear in his hand.
At this moment, Finn, Gareth, and Riveria had all already sensed a certain "dangerous aura" emanating from within.
____
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