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

"!"

Bell's eyes lit up with fire.

Those wide-open eyes saw through the trajectory of the spear, and with the last of their strength, they chopped off the spear tip.

"Varied--"

"Saving others doesn't discriminate between people and 'monsters'!"

The cursed spear tip spun as it flew away, making a loud sound before landing in the distance.

Facing the astonished Dix, Bell said clearly and resolutely:

"She's calling for help!"

The boy roared, "This is what we should do! This is the truth!" and raised the goddess's blade.

"That's enough!"

It is not someone else, nor is it the words or will of another.

The boy's own decision and his feelings resonated throughout the hall.

"Bell Craney, you..."

Hearing the boy's roar, Fels murmured quietly.

Meanwhile, the once-mad and unruly "heretics" also began to change.

Some monsters swayed their shoulders, while others' chests rose and fell.

A gargoyle opened its stone eyes wide.

A lizard-man shed tears from its bright yellow eyes.

"I think you're just a hypocrite!"

Dix listened to Bell's declaration.

Then, his mouth was torn open wide, and he attacked again with a sinister smile.

"So you're saying you want to save both humans and monsters? You think saving everyone is the right thing to do?"

"...!"

"How could that be? Even a child knows it's impossible!"

Dix seemed disgusted and laughed at Bell.

He equipped himself with a spear handle that had lost its tip and a combat dagger, and mercilessly attacked Bell, who was no longer able to fight properly.

"Bell Craney, you're not a rabbit! You're a bat!"

「!?」

With a decisive sentence, he punched Bell in the face, then raised his long leg high, kicking the boy away.

"Ugh...!?"

"Ugh, how boring... To be honest, he's just a brainless brat."

Dix tapped his shoulder with the butt of his gun as he approached the fallen Bell.

He let out a sound of genuine disappointment and spun the gun around.

"Enough, die."

Dix thrust the sharp-edged gun handle toward Bell.

However, just moments before the spear was about to pierce Bell.

"Thank you--"

Behind Dix, a tail covered in crimson scales swayed.

"—Little Bell."

The lizardman raised his longsword to his eyes, his eyes bloodshot, and slashed down fiercely.

"What—Goo-ooh!?"

Dix suddenly realized what was happening and barely dodged the direct attack, but blood splattered from his back.

The goggles-wearing man, who had retreated like a wild beast, creating distance between himself and others, shouted as if he had seen something unbelievable:

"You, you bastard!"

Bell was also surprised to see Reed, the lizardman who had rescued him.

Reed's eyes were still red, clearly indicating that he had not yet escaped the influence of the "curse".

however.

"Damn it, I'm so happy, so incredibly happy... so happy that all my inexplicable power has been blown away!"

"...!?"

"Human language... so this is what it's like! It's exhilarating...!"

It was as if the warmth hidden in his heart was his foothold to invigorate himself and break free from the curse.

Reed's fangs were almost broken from his grip, and he tightened his grip on the hilt of his sword, his face stiff with a mixture of crying and laughing, almost like a monster's.

Her bright yellow eyes were constantly filled with tears, as if her tear ducts were damaged.

"I'm sorry, Bell... thank you."

After expressing his apologies and gratitude for his actions so far, Reed stared intently ahead.

He will still be forced by the "curse" to be violent, and by the monster's roar, toward Dix.

"Roar! Ro ...

"!!"

Inspired by that sight, Bell mustered his remaining strength and joined the lizardmen in the battle.

One person, one weapon, shoulder to shoulder, fiercely slashing at the brutal hunter.

"Stop joking! ...What, you've actually regained your rationality, monster?"

Dix sounded agitated. His tone was even wavering.

In fact, he was indeed in trouble.

Bell, battered and bruised, and Reed, still not fully free from the "curse." While neither could unleash their full power, it was still two against one. The lizardman, though severely inferior in swordsmanship, possessed at least the monstrous strength of a first-tier adventurer—a potential slightly superior to Dix's. Dix, now significantly weakened by the Curse of Bewitching, was no match for Reed.

Even so, if the "curse" is lifted in order to regain the power, it will restore the rationality of all the mentally deranged "heretics" and they will all bare their fangs at Dix and the other hunters.

The only abnormal situation (Irregular) brought about by the foolish hypocrite cut off the man's escape route.

"Dix!?"

Seeing Dix's retreating state, Big Man (Gran) and the others shouted anxiously.

Dix's "curse" is the only way for the Ikelos Familia to maintain their advantage. They ran deeper into the hall, intending to rescue their faction leader.

"—Gah!?"

Just then, the female warrior (Amazonian) was caught off guard and struck in the back by a tremendous shockwave.

"Don't even think about it...!"

"You, you bastard!"

Ignoring the female warrior (Amazon) as she fell face-first to the ground, the big man (Gran) and his companions turned around and saw the battered magician standing there, his left arm outstretched.

Facing the enraged hunter, Fels, feeling utterly exhausted, stretched out his right arm as well, unleashing a barrage of shockwaves.

"Damn bastards! You guys kill that magician! I'm taking the rest of the others to help Dix!"

Without waiting for his companions' reply, the big man (Gran) used the orc and dwarf hunters as human shields and ran off. He kicked his other companions, who had been knocked to the ground by Fels, awake, and weaved his way through the battlefield where monsters were rampaging.

However, in the next instant.

With a bloody gurgle, half of the big man's (Gran) vision disappeared.

"Ah, ahh...?"

It took Big Man (Gran) a moment to realize that the blow that came from the side, raised high, had gouged out the left half of his face.

He mumbled something in a daze, stiffly turned his neck, and looked with his remaining eye. There stood the gargoyle, panting heavily, its shoulders heaving.

"Ah, gaa ...

"Why, why—Katsura ahh ...

The "heretics," who should have been under the control of the "curse," attacked the hunters in a state of irrationality.

Like Reed, the Guros, who were resisting the curse, attacked the screaming giant (Gran) and his gang, as well as the dwarves and others who were trying to deliver the final blow to Fels, indiscriminately as if they wanted to wipe everyone out.

"Sand!!"

"snort!!"

"~ ...

As the battle situation in the hall changed, Bell and Reed joined forces and gradually cornered Dix.

The lizardman swung his twin swords from the right, while the boy thrust his dagger from the left.

The two quickly switched positions, unleashing various attacks, either simultaneously or in combination, causing the gun handles and combat daggers, which were constantly parrying the attacks, to creak and groan. The screams of the big man (Gran) and the others reached their ears, further intensifying Dix's anxiety.

The man, who always had an arrogant expression, broke out in a sweat for the first time.

Then—he discovered it.

“——”

Bell swung the Blade of Hestia in his left hand, while Direid swung his longsword and scimitar in response.

As the three blades came slashing wildly, he heard the sound mixed in with them.

Ring, ring.

"--Hello."

The subtle chime played amidst the sound of the wind cutting through the blade.

The music, drowned out by the sounds of fierce fighting, came from Bell's fist.

"--Hello!"

The fist was enveloped in pure white light, gathering particles of light.

Upon witnessing the gleam reflected on his goggles—Dix screamed at the top of his lungs:

"—What the hell are you gathering energy for?! Aa ...

【Hero's Wish (Argonauts)】

Parallel charging during high-speed combat

The "techniques" Bell learned in his battles with the lizardmen came in handy in this fight with his master.

“Gurgle!”

「!?」

Reed's scimitar caught a fleeting opening in Dix's panic.

Although Dix narrowly escaped, his posture became unstable as a result, and he closed in at an excessive speed, gaining the distance between them.

Swish! Bell's left foot slammed into Dix's arms. The man's expression froze.

Twenty seconds of charging up.

With a shout, Bale unleashed a powerful punch.

"Aa ...

bombing.

"—Gaa ...

The flash exploded like a white lightning bolt, striking Dix in the chest of his combat suit.

The man was pierced by the tremendous force of the impact and slammed into a pile of black cages far behind him at high speed.