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

None of them fit, all of them lead to passivity, and all of them are poor strategies.

Even the hero couldn't see through the enemy's intentions.

Most importantly, there is a reason why Finn cannot conclude that everything was due to the enemy's miscalculation.

(……thumb……)

He looked down at his right hand and remained silent.

His right thumb was throbbing, as if trying to warn him of some "omen".

Although the pain is mild, it has been ongoing since then.

"...Amid, I need to retreat the front lines. Please gather all the wounded and take them to a location near the retreat route."

"Let the battle lines retreat? Is that a good idea?"

"I will not lift the encirclement; I will maintain it to prevent the enemy from escaping. Although the Grace forces responsible for searching for the mastermind cannot retreat... In any case, to prevent the 'Fairy Clone' from attacking, I must first establish a defensive line. Please also inform Hermes, Dionysus, and Deancate's personnel."

"Okay." Amid bowed and left. Finn silently watched her go, then quietly licked the pad of his thumb.

He couldn't think of any way or strategy to eliminate this inexplicable unease.

At this moment, Finn simply couldn't see the face of the player on the other side of the chessboard.

(...In any case, we must not retreat now.)

The only option in this situation is to attack.

We have no choice but to see it through to the end.

"...Tiona, Tione. Select the elite from among those who are still able to fight, and we will launch an offensive."

"Yes! I'll get on it right away!"

"You mean those people who are still alive and kicking, right? Got it—!"

Finn gave instructions to the Amazon sisters and began preparing himself.

He wanted to use all available combat power to form a force capable of dealing with any kind of trap.

Soon Finn led the assembled members toward the "Hall of the Lost Ones" that Grace and the others had headed for.

Illustration 56219

Loki is in a standoff with Sanatos.

He has long, thick purple hair and an androgynous face that could suit both men and women. Most importantly, he exudes the decadent aura unique to those known as "Death."

Sanatos, all alone with no family, seemed to be laughing at his situation.

"This is the first time I've met you like this."

"Yes, it seems so. We don't have that kind of connection in the heavens, and besides, I mostly live a life without seeing the light of day because I'm in charge of managing 'souls'."

"Well, it might not be appropriate to say something like that so soon after we met, but—you're finished, Thanatos."

"Yes, the game is over."

Sanatos met Loki's sharp gaze with a nonchalant smile.

While Grace and the members of Loki's Familia remained silent and merely observed the conversation between the two gods, Loki secretly harbored many doubts.

That's too straightforward.

The overly honest Sanatos gave her a "strange feeling".

She had been secretly nervous, thinking the mastermind might be hiding something, since they had cornered him so easily. However, the divine being before her revealed a sense of despondency in its words. It was almost like playing a chess game.It's like conceding defeat when the ball is thrown.

I don't know how to describe it... I can only say that I just didn't have the feel to win.

"So, you're the guy who calls himself the Urban Destroyer <Enior>?"

Loki pressed her for answers, trying not to let her know what she was thinking.

Sanatos laughed so hard his shoulders shook when asked this question.

"Didn't you hear what my sister Lefia said? I'm not some kind of urban destroyer."

"..."

"I haven't seen them, I haven't heard their voices, I don't know if they really exist... even whether they are gods is questionable. I'm not that kind of god... not only am I not, but I've been used and played with by those unknown guys."

"……What?"

Seeing the self-mocking... no, the self-deprecating smile on Sanato's face, Loki's eyes widened.

"Yes, I was tricked, completely tricked. I thought he wasn't showing up in front of me because he was playing some kind of 'game'... but I didn't expect it was to keep me from noticing. Come to think of it, who would play mind games with someone who's never appeared before? It's not even possible for gods to deceive each other."

—Even deception and trickery don't hold water?

—No, he said he got scammed?

Just as Loki's thoughts went blank for a moment, Thanatos continued:

"Ernio never considered this place a 'fortress' from the beginning. To that guy, it was an 'altar.' The embryonic form..."It is—a sacrificial offering.

"————"

at this moment.

Loki felt a chill run through his body.

A "possibility" that even Finn or God (himself) could not have foreseen froze her neck.

A clear tremor was present in the heart.

("Altar"? "Sacrifice"? Where is he referring to? Who is he referring to? Is he referring to the man-made maze <here>—us?)

A sound came from a corner of my mind.

Crackling, crackling, that's the sound of the "strange feeling" being scraped away.

It is the sound of the "unusual feeling" being peeled away, revealing the bright red "crisis consciousness" gradually emerging.

"Loki, it seems we've been completely fooled by that guy?"

Just as Sanato's tone made Loki's eyes widen.

Grace's "Eye Crystal" suddenly started making a fuss:

"Mr. Grace! The masked man...! He's controlling... so many... monsters...! The troops are retreating...!!"

"Lefia!? Hey, Lefia, what's wrong!? I can't hear you!"

Upon hearing Lefia's communication, which was a mix of screams, sounds of fierce battle, and ferocious roars from monsters, Grace roared in response.

Loki listened to their conversation while keeping a close eye on Thanatos.

Thoughts operate at an astonishing speed.

She surveyed the chessboard, examining it thousands of times in an instant.

Thinking they had taken a step to the finish line, it turns out "who" was actually lured out?

Faced with a game where the outcome is already decided, who is it that is preparing to draw their sword from outside the chessboard?

As if understanding Loki's thoughts—no, as if empathizing with them—a kind smile appeared on Thanatos's face.

Then he asked that question:

"Loki, were you the only god on your journey here? Or did you have an important companion?"

"!"

Loki was asked this question and finally realized that his god Dionysus was not here.

She snapped out of her daze, looked around, and then took out the "eye crystal".

"Hey, Dionysus!! Where are you right now!?"

Illustration 56262

"Hey, Dionysus!! Where are you right now!?"

Hearing the goddess's voice resounding all around, Dionysus brought the luminous crystal to his lips.

"I'm on a fork in the road... I apologize for acting without permission, but please forgive me. I'm going to... take the head of my 'enemy'."

"What are you saying!?"

He gripped the short sword tightly with his other hand and said.

In the dark passage, Dionysus can now only rely on the flickering light emitted by the "Eye Crystal" to move deeper, but he feels no fear.

"He's here, I'm sure of it, right ahead. The culprit behind it all... the abominable evil god who killed my child!"

This is a certainty.

It's a fact that your "enemy" is right in front of you.

The face of God was adorned with a passionate makeup called wrath.

He shook off the silence that haunted him and used the light of his short sword to cut through the darkness as he moved forward.

As if closing in step by step, as if keeping a close eye on the target, he continued to move forward.

"...!? Wait, wait a minute, Dionysus!"

An unusual, panicked sound emanated from the crystal, as if trying to call out to Dionysus.

But Dionysus did not stop.

As if driven by the fire of anger, they chased after the dark shadow that tempted them.

"Come back! This is bad! Something's wrong! Something's about to happen!! You'll make a mistake if you go alone!!"

The crystal, which was shining brightly, complained to him about the divine intuition that was causing him sharp pain.

Loki's pleas were in vain, and he came to an open space.

It was filled with darkness.

A kind of pitch-black darkness where you can't see your hand in front of your face.

And in that depths—Dionysus's "enemy" stood there.

"Nothing will happen, I have my bodyguard <Philweis> with me."

His sharp gaze remained fixed ahead, as he answered Loki's fears.

"Are you there, Phil Weiss?"

"Yes, Dionysus."

Hearing the voice from behind, he nodded in response, "Okay."

"...Wait, wait! Dionysus!?"

Dionysus gripped his dagger, took a step forward, and intended to corner the man in the darkness—

"Who are you talking to right now!?"

Loki's shout made him stop in his tracks for the first time.

Illustration 56308

"Roar! Ro ...

"Ughh ...

A series of roars, like broken gongs, rose and fell.

Faced with hordes of man-eating flower monsters wielding countless tentacles and hideous mandibles, the adventurers were routed and fled.

"Snipe, elven archer! Pierce through, arrow that never misses! — [Spirit Bow Light Arrow]!!"

Lefia launched artillery fire in a fierce resistance, but it was only a drop in the ocean.

It happened suddenly.

The masked man appeared without warning, leading a large horde of carnivorous plants in a sudden attack.

Go.

"——————Ahhh!!"

Following the fluttering blue-purple robes, the carnivorous plants, like a swarm of writhing snakes, attacked the other adventurers.