As night fell, the scattered lights of the city gradually went out.
In a time when every resource was scarce, adventurers wouldn't even turn on magic stone lamps. With the situation as it was, everyone had to squeeze savings like a miser—if you could conserve, you conserved.
In that darkness, only the lamps of the Central Plaza still burned.
Familias were summoned there, and those who were close naturally clustered together.
At the moment, the Astraea Familia stood with the Hermes Familia. Their relationship had always been good.
"Asfi, are you okay?"
Ryuu had Alicia help support Asfi—who still had long hair and wasn't wearing her glasses.
This adventurer, famed not for raw combat but known as the "Universal," had a reputation and strategic value widely acknowledged to rival first-class adventurers.
A small number of people even believed she was more important than them.
Ryuu knew Asfi well. They were friends.
That was why Ryuu truly ached for her.
Asfi had once been a princess of a nation, living in comfort and luxury.
And now look at her—she was worn down to the edge.
The rest of them just had to fight, kill enemies, and save civilians. Asfi, buried in logistics and the production of magic items, had to juggle far more than any front-liner.
Ryuu hadn't rested these past days either. She'd been fighting nonstop. But even her mental state wasn't as bad as Asfi's.
At least when she walked down the street, she didn't need to keep her concentration locked at maximum.
Asfi had been running at full focus for more than seventy hours.
Hermes really was outrageous—steal away a princess, then work her like a corporate drone.
But Ryuu couldn't bring herself to tell Asfi to rest.
Right now, Orario couldn't function without her.
For people like Asfi, "the capable do more" wasn't a compliment. It was a curse.
Only because there was urgent business to discuss—and because her current workload had, briefly, hit a stopping point—did Asfi finally get a sliver of downtime.
And even that tiny scrap of rest, some people still wanted to strip away.
"Asfi, when will the shield be finished? That's our trump card!"
Lyla shoved Asfi. Asfi jolted so hard her whole body trembled, and she reflexively barked back:
"I'm working on it, I'm working on it! Stop rushing me!"
"Lyla…"
Ryuu went speechless, not sure what to even say.
So even her own companions were participating in the oppression. Did Lyla have no conscience?
"Don't look at me like that," Lyla said, spreading her hands. "If she falls asleep now, she won't wake up for two or three days. We can't afford to lose her right now."
Lyla wasn't a demon.
And the shield they'd requested was already done—Asfi had personally handed it to her, and it was strapped to Lyla's back even now.
But Asfi's head was so scrambled she'd forgotten entirely, and she hadn't even noticed the shield on Lyla.
In that condition, if Asfi closed her eyes, she would drop into a dead sleep.
So they had to keep poking her awake.
"Asfi," Alicia said in the gentlest tone, delivering the cruelest cut, "now isn't the time to rest yet."
"No… I've had enough…"
Asfi looked like she was about to cry.
How badly she wanted to go home. To return to her parents, to their warmth and kindness, to soothe her battered heart.
Even so, aside from Asfi's miserable condition, the mood in this corner was comparatively light.
Look around the plaza: some adventurers were taking deep breaths, some stamping their feet, some closing their eyes, some wiping down their weapons.
Adventurers were, by nature, sharp. They all sensed something was different.
"Is this the final battle?"
"There are so many people…"
"This has to be something big."
They whispered as if afraid to disturb something.
Not because they feared the night, but because they feared the dark faction.
This gathering included nearly every faction in Orario.
Even Familias whose highest level was only Level 2 had been summoned.
If this wasn't preparation for the real decisive clash, the Braver would never raise a formation this large.
As everyone waited, Finn appeared before them, his surface wounds tidied up, wearing the same calm posture he always did.
And behind him, Cid followed—standing squarely at the center of everyone's gaze.
Finn refused to take Cid's credit, and he himself was badly injured. Cid couldn't talk him out of it, so he ended up coming along.
Cid had prayed all eyes would stay on Finn.
But Finn was a prum—his small frame couldn't possibly block Cid from view.
If anything, with Finn as a comparison point, Cid looked even more conspicuous.
"Is that Cid? He went to help the Braver? Why didn't he tell us?"
Ishtar narrowed her eyes, wondering if she was seeing things.
"I heard he's been doing a lot lately," Niz said, not surprised. "He's probably being nurtured as a key asset. And he's not the type to show off."
Several capable friends had talked to her about Cid recently.
Being selected by Finn was extraordinary, but given Cid's recent achievements, it wasn't strange at all.
"Alicia, and you still say it's not your fault?" Kaguya's words slammed pressure onto Alicia. "Why is it that the moment Cid leaves us, he racks up merit after merit? Say something!"
Did Alicia know what people had been saying about them lately?
They said the Astraea Familia treated their companion well—and that, because of it, they held him back.
They said Cid's talents weren't meant for close-quarters fighting, that their daily life had been too comfortable, and that the Astraea Familia's training approach was the problem.
Kaguya didn't even know how to refute it.
Luckily, she wasn't the primary target of blame.
"I… I don't know…"
Alicia mumbled, too timid to say it loud.
Lately, she'd been questioned more than anyone.
Usually, she played the fool on purpose to loosen tension and soften awkward moments.
But now people were starting to think she might genuinely be foolish.
Alicia was miserable.
At this rate, her reputation really would become "the red-haired gorilla who doesn't think."
After hearing it so many times, Alicia was starting to doubt herself.
Were they right?
Was she truly stupid?
But as an older sister, wasn't it only natural to protect her little brother?
"Everyone, listen to me!"
With Babel Tower behind him, Finn's voice rang out strong.
"Thanks to the guidance of Cid Rorfeil, we have identified the enemy's true objective!"
In an instant, every gaze snapped to Cid.
Cid's expression was strange—pale, with a hint of dead-eyed resignation, as if this wasn't a glorious moment at all.
But to the adventurers, that drained look read as Finn-like composure, or Asfi-like exhaustion from pouring in time and effort.
Surely he wasn't simply feeling awful and that's why his face looked like that, right?
So their trust in Cid deepened.
With merit like that, he did have the right to stand at the Braver's side.
"The enemy's goal is to summon the monster known as the Great Evil," Finn continued. "They will use evil gods as bait, violate the Dungeon's taboo with divine might, and lure the Great Evil to the surface!"
"Hold on," Kaguya blurted. "What is the Great Evil?"
There was a monster like that in the Dungeon? Why had she never heard of it?
"Now isn't the time for a full explanation," Finn said. "For simplicity, understand it as a monster on the level of a Floor Boss—possibly even stronger. It originates on the Thirty-Seventh Floor."
The adventurers who understood what that meant felt their limbs go cold.
The Thirty-Seventh Floor's Floor Boss was Udaeus, a Level 6 monster.
On paper, a Level 6 monster sounded weaker than the two tyrants. But in a situation where they were already at a disadvantage, a new enemy that could overturn the board entirely—
How were they supposed to fight? They might as well surrender.
And Floor Bosses were typically massive, hit hard, and took forever to bring down. The most dangerous part was the sheer scale of destruction a huge body could cause.
If something like that reached the surface, it would be a fatal blow to Orario.
Yes, Orario had adventurers capable of withstanding that monster.
But even the collateral damage of the battle alone would cripple the city.
Worse still, if the monster rampaged on the surface, it could shatter their defensive formation outright.
The Dungeon also connected directly to Babel Tower, the core of their entire defense.
If that monster surfaced—whether it attacked Babel Tower directly or simply wrecked the surrounding defensive infrastructure—it would be enough to push them into an abyss.
And so, once again, Cid received the full weight of every adventurer's eyes.
This time, Cid's face was calm.
He simply lifted his head and looked up at the sky.
The moonlight tonight was beautiful.
....
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