Is It Wrong To Skitter In A Dungeon? Chapter 49: The Beasts Below

Chapter 49: The Beasts Below

Taylor was hiding in the attic of a house located on a street in-between the meeting spot for the Crozzo family reunion and the Heart Manor. It was surprisingly cozy, having been converted into a bedroom, though it was currently unused, and had been for over a year according to her investigations.

She’d been offered a chance to attend a war council, but had ignored the summons in order to get everything ready for the evening. And after setting it all up and waiting for the right moment, it was finally showtime.

The parahuman stretched her power outwards and flattened it a bit into a more oval shape. Doing so, she was able to keep an eye on both her home and the warehouse at the same time as night fell upon Orario.

‘Just as expected,’ she thought to herself as her swarm detected far more people within the warehouse then there should have been. Five in total, with all of them adventurers, and one was the same Level 3 she’d detected lurking in the shadows of Ares’ tent.

‘The rest are Level 1s and a single Level 2. The latter must be Welf’s grandfather,’ Taylor mused. None of the shadowy figures noticed as Lili snuck in through the roof. The pallum had shapeshifted into a monstrous form with wings – a Bad Bat, to be precise – and flown overhead to land on the warehouse’s roof before sneaking in with the Hades Head helmet and lying in wait for the confrontation to come.

While the Level 3 adventurer was a threat, the rest wouldn’t be that dangerous. Welf and Lili would be able to take them all on if they worked together. After all, the duo, while they might bicker a bit, were able to fight in tandem quite well, and could take on Level 3s if they worked together. Aisha and Bell had both seen and experienced this first hand, the duo having managed to score a win on the former, though the latter had yet to be defeated.

‘And, if necessary, I can step in to help,’ she thought to herself, maneuvering a few insects so they could immediately swarm the area if she needed to.

Welf entered the warehouse, and Taylor listened in as his family tried to convince him to return. It wasn’t effective at all, and Welf refused outright, only to be betrayed by his father. Who could have ever seen it coming? Spoiler: They all did.

What Taylor didn’t expect was the threat the Level 3, Umber, made about sending kidnappers after Hestia. Hearing that, she immediately stretched her power out around her home, scanning it for any threats.

Unfortunately, she found them. Seven men of various races, all Level 2, wearing the same outfits as Rakia’s Shadow Troupe that were sneaking up on the manor from the rooftops.

However, not a single one of them was a threat. With a Level 5, a Level 4, two Level 3s, and several Level 2s and 1s, not to mention Chris, Debbie, and the other monsters, Taylor wasn’t worried about any of these Rakians.

What did concern Taylor was the presence of dozens of monsters and several extremely powerful adventurers lurking below in the sewers surrounding the manor. Some of the adventurers wore the white of Evilus, but others were clad in black, similar to the Rakians, but different, as they reeked of poison and blood. Worse, though, was that somehow, the monsters were not under her control, even though they’d entered the range of her power.

Which should have been impossible. They were Violas and Virgas, the flower and caterpillar monsters that by all rights should have been able to be controlled by Queen Administrator based on all prior experience.

Pushing her power further, the parahuman probed the minds of the monsters, and as she dug into them, found that something was very, very wrong.

‘Someone else has already taken control of them!’ she realized in horror. She could issue orders to the monsters approaching the manor, but before they could do anything more than twitch they would fall back under the dominion of the red-haired woman who, to her swarm’s senses, hummed like badly tuned TV static.

‘This mental domination must be how that person is doing this,’ Taylor guessed. After all, she knew from Shakti that the Tamer Skill did not allow a person to control dozens of monsters at once with near-absolute authority. It required something else, like Taylor’s own Shard-based power, to do so.

Without wasting another second, numerous bug clones appeared throughout the Hearth Manor, warning everyone of the approaching threats.

“Hestia! Take Wiene to the panic room!” Taylor commanded, her voice emanating from a bug clone that appeared in the kitchen where the goddess was cleaning up.

Hestia jumped in shock, but didn’t hesitate to listen to her captain’s words and rushed out, grabbing Wiene on her way to the special bunker Taylor had secretly built in the basement.

Debbie had dug it out, along with a tunnel that connected to the basement of a bookstore that Hestia frequented, and whose owner was a kind old man that was friendly to their Familia. It would let the goddess and Wiene escape if the manor fell.

“Bell! Ryuu! Tammuz, Aisha! Get your weapons and equipment, now! We have Evilus incoming!” she instructed. “Oriana, Mikoto, gather with the Level 1s in the ballroom! Barricade the room and prepare for a siege!”

“Haruhime, I need you to cast your Level boosting Spell on everyone you can. Start with Ryuu and Tammuz!” Taylor said, continuing to monitor the terrorists as they headed towards her Familia.

The red-head seemed to have noticed Taylor’s attempt to rip control away from the monsters around her, and she’d doubled her pace, pushing them further.

‘I have no choice,’ Taylor thought, and sent an order to several Virgas.

It was a simple command: Die. The moment it was received by the caterpillar-like monsters, their primitive minds obeyed and before the red-haired hybrid could react and regain control, several Virgas perished, their organs instantly shutting down.

As soon as this happened, their bodies exploded, spraying acidic blood everywhere that immediately caused a chain reaction in the cramped confines of the sewer tunnels. Several Evilus members armed with exploding vests perished, and the survivors panicked and triggered their own detonations prematurely, causing the bombs to go off far away from their intended targets.

Taylor also helped that process along by using her bugs to sneak inside the bomb vests and trigger them that way, killing the rest of the ones who hadn’t succumbed to acid or suicide.

In mere seconds, the mortal cannon fodder were all dead, with only some monsters and a pair of elite Evilus adventurers left.

Checking back in with Welf and Lili, she felt a flicker of pride seeing the two of them strike down the Level 3 assassin, but she didn’t have time to congratulate them, and formed a new bug clone inside the warehouse.

“Return to the manor, Evilus is coming,” she informed them through the buzzing mass of insects, and the duo shot off, running back home to help out. Taylor herself had already begun flying back the manor, not wanting to leave her Familia alone.

It would still take a couple minutes before they all got back, so until then, Taylor had to coordinate everything through her swarm.

As she rushed back, the street in front of the manor collapsed, having been weakened by acid and explosions. Two adventurers leapt out, landing in front of the gate which was torn apart with a quick strike.

One had short red hair and dead eyes, her body humming like a cross between the divine essence of the Falna and the monsters of the Dungeon. It was hard to judge her strength, but it felt like she was maybe in the upper limits of Level 6. The other intruder had spiky pink hair and a demented look in her eyes. From the hum of her Falna that sounded like maniacal laughter, she was Level 5.

Behind them, six Violas slithered out, but they looked battered. There were more still squirming within the hole, but they had yet to emerge, clearly being held in reserve.

Without a moment of hesitation, the red-head punched the gate open, tearing it down. At the same time, the Hearth Manor’s front door swung open, and Ryuu, Tammuz, Bell and Aisha emerged, fully armed and equipped for war, while the two former Ishtar Familia members had been boosted by Haruhime.

“Hand it over,” the red-head demanded, sticking her hand out imperiously.

“Why are ya asking them for anything?! Let’s just tear them apart and ransack the place!” the pinkette sneered. “I owe them, after all! They ruined my jacket!”

“Valletta Grede,” Ryuu spat out, glaring at the spiky pink-haired woman who’d jumped out of the hole in the ground.

“The Gale! So good to see ya!” Valletta cackled. “I knew ya were still alive! Nobody who offs a god and their entire Familia would just die in the gutters!”

Ryuu raised her wooden blade, glaring at the pinkette, who raised her own sword. The two stared each other down.

“Ready or not, here I-!” Valletta began, only to be blindsided as Tammuz leapt in, attacking the Evilus member first.

“The Hell?!” the Level 5 exclaimed. “What are you-?!”

“You are my opponent,” Tammuz declared.

“Shit, how are you so strong?! You were only Level 4 last time we met!” the pink-haired cultist shouted in disbelief as she parried the sword aside. “And why are you fighting for the shit-stains?! Didn’t they kill your goddess?!”

“My heart was once charmed by Lady Ishtar, it is true, but now it belongs to another,” Tammuz declared. “And you are threatening all she holds dear. For that, you must be punished.”

Valletta screamed in frustration as she began to take the fight seriously. Tammuz’ curved blade unleashed miniature tornados of razor-sharp wind that drove the Evilus adventurer back.

Tammuz was no fool, and pressed his advantage, making sure to stay as far from the ominous blade while he tried to cut her apart.

Ryuu turned away from the sight of their duel, leaving the former Vice-Captain to his fight, and instead looked towards the other adventurer who’d leapt out of the hole.

“And who are you?” Ryuu demanded.

“My name doesn’t matter,” she replied coldly. “Especially not to a dead woman.”

Ryuu barely had time to react, raising her sword in the nick of time to block the vicious blow from the bizarre Tamer.

‘Strong!’ Ryuu thought in surprise. Even with her Level boosted to 6, it was clear this person was far more powerful, possibly nearing Level 7.

The elven waitress was driven back several steps but quickly cast Luminous Winds, filling the air around the hybrid with explosive orbs of stardust. They rained down onto the Tamer, bursting apart with immense force, but it barely did anything to the red-head, the wounds healings rapidly.

“You… are a threat,” the cultist declared grimly as her face regenerated.

“I am the hurricane that tears down your kind, scum,” Ryuu retorted darkly. “Evilus should have stayed dead.”

“We cannot die,” the woman claimed. “So long as she desires to see the sun, we shall fight for that dream.”

“Let’s test that theory,” Ryuu shot back, before lunging in, the air filling with even more magical stardust.

As that clash was happening, several more Violas burst out of the ground near the gate as well. They immediately joined with the six already there, and all of them surged towards the manor where Hestia and the others were sheltering, the monsters able to detect the divine magic within.

“No you don’t!” Bell shouted, and he and Aisha charged out at them, attacking the flower-shaped monsters with gusto.

The Amazon swung her great sword, shouting “Hell Kaios!” as she did so. A red shockwave lashed out from the tip of her blade, splitting a Viola in two, while Bell double-teamed another one with a clone which exploded inside the mouth of the man-eating plant, destroying it.

More Violas and even Virgas came, far more than the two could handle, but Chris leapt into the fray as well, his bladed limbs carved them apart. Debbie erupted from the ground as well, a Viola caught in its mouth which was quickly swallowed like a grotesque spaghetti noodle. And from above, the Gun Libellula fired spikes into the horde, scoring hits on the Virgas and causing them to detonate which helped debilitate the enemy.

While this was happening, seven black cloaked and hooded figures crept towards the manor, thinking they could use the chaos to achieve their own goals, but upon entering the building and breaking into the ballroom, they found several adventurers waiting for them.

“To think Rakia would stoop so low as to take hostages,” Oriana declared, pointing her spear at the agents sent to kidnap Hestia.

“Indeed. Let us show them the error of their ways,” Mikoto agreed, drawing her sword. The rest of the Familia showed their war faces as well, Lucia and Iris standing protectively in front of the others.

The Shadow Troupe exchanged looks with each other before charging in at an unseen signal between them. Seven Level 2s should have been able to overwhelm the duo, to say nothing of the Level 1s, but the kidnappers soon discovered they were a lot stronger and more coordinated than they should have been.

Mikoto lunged, her sword aimed at the chest of one of the Rakians. He managed to sway aside and tried to plunge a knife into her arm, but Mikoto was ready for such an attack and withdrew.

The assassin sneer at her as she retreated and he tossed a smoke bomb onto the ground, filling the space around them with noxious green smog that blinded her. However, her Abnormal Resistance protected her from the poison-laced gas, and she didn’t need eyes to find her opponent. The Far Eastern swordswoman spun around, slashing into the cloud behind her.

There was a cry of pain as the assassin collapsed, cleaved open from right shoulder to left hip thanks to Mikoto’s Skill, Yatanokurogarasu, letting her detect the assassin even though he was obscured by the smoke bomb.

Nearby, Oriana challenged her own assassin, tanking the sword strikes. Her opponent was a dual-wielder, the pair of gladius he used bouncing harmlessly off of her armor thanks to her own Skill, Knight Wall, boosting her Endurance and enhancing the gear she was wearing.

‘I must protect my Familia!’ she thought to herself, waiting for the perfect moment to strike. Her grip tensed around her spear, and then she leapt back as the assassin tried to cut her throat open.

The Shadow Troupe agent had not expected Oriana to move after previously standing still and not even bothering to dodge earlier, and as a result he overextended, becoming unbalanced and, in that moment, vulnerable.

Oriana took advantage of it and thrust her spear forward. It pierced the assassin’s chest, killing him instantly.

The rest of the assassins had split up to take on the rest of the Familia, clearly thinking they could handle a couple of Level 1s. How wrong they were, for the Hestia Familia was many things, but weak was not one of them. Above all else, Taylor had drilled teamwork into them day after day, and this was to their advantage.

Many other people with a Falna tended to become lone wolves, only fighting in groups when necessary, and even then, they did so as individuals forced to work together. That was not the case for the Hestia Familia, and everyone had a partner they could trust with their back.

A pallum member of the Shadow Troupe tried to murder the two youngest members of the Familia, but discovered he’d bitten off more than he could chew as Gina was able to keep him on the backfoot, forcing him to dodge and block more than he should have.

He may have been Level 2, but he was still a pallum, and an assassin at that. Gina was an Amazonian child, who even without her Falna was significantly stronger than many Falnaless adults of other races.

“Take this!” Primo shouted, having taken the time her friend had bought her to chant and prep her Spell. “Lumine Pleiades!” Magic Circles suddenly formed all around the assassin, and he staggered as a barrage of magical beams slammed into him from every direction.

“HA!” Gina cried out, plunging her swords into the Rakia intruder the instant the barrage of energy faded. One went through the pallum’s chest, the other through their throat. He died instantly.

Nearby, Iris and Lucia were teaming up against a figure whose poorly hidden ears revealed him to be a rabbit-kin. To handle his superior strength, the cow-girl had activated her Bronze Bull Skill and was quick to attack, driving the assassin back with the aura of flames surrounding her and her giant sword.

The rabbit-kin Shadow Troupe agent was fast and was more than able to dance away from Iris, but little did he know she was luring him into a trap. With his attention focused on her, he never noticed when Lucia teleported behind the assassin and she plunged her sword into his back, the tip bursting through his chest while the diverted kinetic energy made the wound even worse.

The next duo to take care of their opponent was that of Silva and Gita. It was honestly sad to watch. The cat and dog-girl both wielded large, heavy weapons and they simply overwhelmed their foe, a plain human, with speed and brute force, never allowing him to dictate the way the fight was supposed to go.

Once Silva’s mace crushed the assassin’s left shoulder, it was all over, as he froze, shocked from the pain, and Gita followed up with a blow to his waist that cut him in half with her battle axe.

Karen and Haruhime were next, the duo taking advantage of Karen’s two Skills that significantly boosted her ability to fight against a single foe while the renard chanted her Spell.

Because Haruhime was a backrow fighter, a supporter, and wasn’t directly fighting, this meant that Karen’s Never Retreat Skill was in effect, ensuring the noblewoman got a large bonus to her stats while fighting the assassin one on one. And Noblesse Oblige also raised her stats since she was face to face with her opponent.

Karen’s rapier swished through the air like a blur, forcing the assassin to push themself to block and dodge. His own weapon, an estoc, was a decent match for Karen’s blade, but it was clear Karen had the advantage as she was used to up front combat while the assassin, was, well, an assassin, more used to sneak attacks rather than prolonged conflict.

“Stand still, cur, and accept your punishment!” Karen declared, never letting up.

“Crazy bitch!” the assassin snarled, trying to avoid being poked full of holes.

“…Grow!” Haruhime finally finished chanting, and Karen’s movements suddenly vastly increased.

With both of her Skills boosting her stats, she’d been able to single-handedly hold off a Level 2. Now with her own Level artificially raised, the young noblewoman was simply too much for the assassin to handle and he soon fell, her rapier piercing through his left eye. And then his throat. Followed by his right lung. When Karen was finished, he was assuredly dead.

Last but certainly not least, Emma and Leo clashed against a black-clad dwarf who, unlike the others was using a war hammer, a decidedly non-assassin-like weapon.

In many ways, the duo was perhaps the most unimpressive, at least outwardly. They didn’t have outstanding strength or speed that was out of the ordinary, and they lacked the powerful Skills and Spells the others could use.

What they did have were Emma’s absolutely broken ability to borrow and redistribute the stats, Skills, and Spells of her Familia members, and Leo’s total confidence in herself and her partner.

Leo was trading blows with her opponent, her great sword clashing against his hammer. The pink-haired twin sword user had traded her Power and Agility stats to Leo, letting the swordswoman match against the assassin, at least for a little while Emma acted as back-up.

Unfortunately, the dwarf’s muscles abruptly bulged as his body started to glow, some sort of Skill activating, and he slammed into Leo, who immediately began to struggle against him even with her own Power stat modified with Emma’s. She managed to hold him off long enough, though.

“Now!” Leo shouted, and Emma nodded, activating Rein Amur once more.

The short-haired swordswoman sagged as her Power and Agility stats suddenly went down, all of the bestowed strength and then some returning to Emma, causing the dwarf to overpower her and slam his hammer into her great sword.

Her weapon shattered, along with her ribs, but just like when Oriana had tricked her own opponent into overextending, so too had Emma and Leo. Even as the blue-haired adventurer was nearly crushed to death by the dwarf’s hammer, Emma was already blitzing forward, her twin swords flashing towards the assassin’s neck.

The dwarf managed to lean back and avoid getting his head chopped off, but all that meant was that he didn’t die instantly, and instead had his beard cut off and his throat slashed wide open. He died beardless and choking on his own blood.

As he collapsed to the ballroom floor, silence fell, only groans and heavy breathing filling the air, along with the realization of what they’d just done. Seven Rakian elites, dead at the hands of the Hestia Familia’s weakest members.

Taylor watched all of this through her swarm, feeling pride at her Familia managing to overcome what should have been a lopsided conflict not at all in their favor. She directed a few insects to bring Leo some healing potions, but couldn’t do much more than that.

‘I will reward all of them,’ she vowed. ‘First, though, I have to save the Familia.’

Thankfully, that was something she could do as she finally arrived at the manor. She hovered in the air, glowing wings holding her aloft as she stared down at the battlefield. Nobody had noticed her arrival yet, and she intended to take advantage of this.

‘Welf and Lili will be here soon, but until then I need to buy time,’ Taylor thought to herself. She slotted a lightning element Magic Blade Cartridge and pointed her hand down at the battlefield.

Bolts of lightning cascaded down onto the lawn, tearing apart half a dozen monsters in a flurry of power. They also struck a couple of clones Bell had made, and they absorbed the electricity, glowing brighter and becoming stronger.

This naturally drew a lot of attention her way, the two Evilus agents getting temporarily distracted by the attack and quickly breaking away from their opponents, creating distance so they could focus on the new arrival.

“Well, well, well, look who bothered to show up?!” Valletta sneered as she looked upwards.

“You’ve made a mistake attacking our Familia,” Taylor said, her voice carried to them via her swarm.

“Neat trick,” the pinkette sneered. “But why don’t you come down here and face us properly!”

Taylor ignored the crazy Level 5, as her attention was entirely focused on the mysterious woman beside her.

Unseen to all, a battle of wills was occurring as Taylor tried to fight the Tamer’s control over the monsters. The Violas and Virgas were no more intelligent than a Killer Ant, but the hybrid’s domination ability was a bit different from the way Queen Administrator did things.

‘There’s a connection between her soul and the monsters,’ Taylor realized. Queen Administrator could dominate the mind but it couldn’t control the soul… or rather, the Magic Stone. That was what this woman was using to maintain control.

‘I can order a monster’s brain to do something, but she can counter by commanding it on a more fundamental level to ignore whatever I tell it. If we fight, it will always be a tug-of-war situation,’ Taylor thought to herself. ‘When we raid Knossos, we’ll have to be extremely careful. Her range cannot be equal to my own, though, so I’ll have the advantage in that regard.’

Taylor wouldn’t admit it, but there was something novel and exciting about fighting somebody who had a power so similar to hers.

“Give us the key, Weaver,” the hybrid suddenly said, her dead eyes locked onto those of the Level 3 parahuman.

“Is this what you want?” Taylor asked after a moment, removing the crimson orb Tammuz had stolen from the Ishtar Familia and holding it aloft.

“Hand it over,” the red-head demanded, her eyes now zeroed in on the object.

Taylor stared down at her, before clenching her hand. The orb shattered as her golden fist closed around it, crystal shards raining down upon the battlefield.

The hybrid adventurer blinked up at the parahuman while Valletta squawked in disbelief.

“What did you do, you crazy bitch?!” the pinkette shrieked.

“Pot, meet kettle,” Taylor drawled. Valletta stepped forward, scowling darkly, and bent her legs, clearly about to leap up and try to attack the hovering captain, but the red-head placed a restraining hand on her shoulder.

“Our mission was to retrieve the key. It has been destroyed,” the hybrid stated.

“HUH?!” Valletta uttered in disbelief. “We’re just gonna leave?!”

“The parameters have changed,” the hybrid replied. “Lord Thanatos must be informed.”

“Ugh! Fine!” Valletta growled, before turning around, only for a wall of insects to rise around them.

“You think I’m just going to let you leave like that?” Taylor asked.

Thousands of insects spilled forth from their hiding spots, swarming over the members of Evilus.

“Eww!” Valletta gagged, swatting away the bugs as best she could, but wasn’t able to do anything, especially when her body suddenly gave out as Taylor cast Geas Immulatio upon her which gave the parahuman a chance to shove fistfuls of squirming vermin down the madwoman’s throat.

The hybrid for her part completely ignored the tide of insects that was trying to suffocate her and instead grabbed Valletta, planning on running off with her, but Taylor had planned for this.

‘Now!’ Taylor thought, and sent a command through her swarm.

On a rooftop nearby, an invisible Lili summoned something Welf had built for her a while ago for the Dungeon expedition they’d planned, but due to reasons, never got around to using it.

From her extra-dimensional storage space a pre-loaded giant ballista appeared, landing on the roof with a thump.

Now, Lili was a very good shooter. Quite good, in fact. Her skills with a crossbow – both repeating and regular – were suburb. And a ballista was just an oversized crossbow when you got down to it, right?

Add in the fact she had used Cinder Ella to transform into a werewolf version of herself to borrow their exceptional night vision, and Lili would be able to hit any target she wanted.

Upon the signal Taylor gave from her swarm, a massive Adamantite tipped ballista bolt fired through the air and slammed into the red-headed hybrid, piercing clean through her chest and effectively pinning her to the ground.

Thanks to her Level 2 strength, Lili was able to reload the ballista with little trouble, allowing Taylor to lash out at the impaled hybrid while that happened.

“Earthquake!” Taylor intoned as she formed dozens of miniature magic circles all over the two women’s bodies using ants, gnats, and other members of her swarm.

What happens when dozens of tiny, localized earthquakes all hit a person’s body at once? It turns out the human body isn’t built to withstand that sort of abuse and even with the Endurance of high-level individuals Valletta and the red-head both suffered severe internal injuries and broken bones.

To everyone’s shock, though, the hybrid was still able to recover, her regeneration utterly insane, and she pulled herself off the ballista bolt pinning her down, leaving behind a large puddle of blood.

She then booked it, still dragging Valletta, and dove into the sinkhole in front of the manor, narrowly avoiding being impaled a second time as Lili fired the ballista again.

“They’re getting away!” Ryuu hissed as she rushed over and stared down into the gaping hole leading to the sewers. She prepared to leap in after them, but was stopped but a bug clone blocking her path.

“Stop,” Taylor ordered as she floated down. “Don’t go after them.”

“Why?” Ryuu demanded.

A moment later the power boost she’d been operating under the last couple of minutes disappeared and the elf gasped before sagging. Tammuz was next, the sword wielding man all but collapsing as his power up faded.

Turns out cheating the system and artificially going up a whole Level without earning it came with some drawbacks, mainly extreme physical and mental exhaustion.

“They know the underside of Orario better than we do,” Taylor pointed out, adding another reason for not chasing after the Evilus members, despite having hurt them quite badly.

Already, the bugs clinging to the duo were beyond the range of her power, and it was frustrating to Taylor how easily the hybrid shrugged off her favorite spell.

“What happened with Welf?” Bell asked, walking over with a concerned look.

“We’re fine!” Welf called out as he jogged over with Lili at his side. “My family tried and failed to take me back. Me and Lili even managed to team up and defeat a Level 3.”

“Whoa!” Bell gasped, and everyone else looked impressed.

“They’re not the only ones who deserve praise,” Taylor stated. “The rest of the girls took down a Rakian hit squad that was supposed to kidnap Hestia and hold her hostage for Welf’s release.”

“They did?” Aisha exclaimed.

“Yes. Seven Level 2s, all on their own,” Taylor said with a proud smile, and the group stared at her in disbelief.

“Okay, now I’m convinced. This Familia is bullshit. In the most awesome way,” Aisha declared.

“Indeed, the rate of growth is impressive,” Tammuz agreed.

“That’s all well and good, but what about Evilus?” Ryuu asked, still fixated on that.

“We will deal with them with the Loki Familia and the rest of the task force,” Taylor replied firmly, giving Ryuu a look that told her to drop it.

“Unfortunate that the key to Knossos had to be destroyed to drive them off,” the former Vice-Captain of the Ishtar Familia said, and a round of disappointed heads bobbed in agreement.

“It’s fine, we can still get inside the mini-Dungeon,” Taylor told them.

“But you destroyed the orb!” Bell said. “Wasn’t it important?”

“The orb itself was not important. This, however, is,” Taylor said, opening her golden hand. Nestled in her palm was an eyeball, the very same one that had been inside the crystal orb!

“Wait, so, you’re saying that the eyeball is the actual key?” Welf asked, surprised.

“It is. The thing is full of magic, and the crystal it was embedded in was designed to channel the energy within like a magic tool,” Taylor explained. “So long as the eyeball itself is safe, it can still be used. And it seems that Evilus assumes I didn’t know this, and destroyed the eye when I crushed the orb.”

“You tricked them!” Lili gasped, impressed, and Taylor smirked.

“I did.” She then looked around at the devastation that had befallen the manor.

There was a giant hole in the street in front of the gate, along with a considerable amount of damage within the yard. The house was mostly intact, but the windows and front doors would need replacing, as would the porch.

“For the moment, let’s clean up,” Taylor suggested.

“And then what?” Bell asked.

“Rakia made a mistake tonight. First, they tried to abduct Welf and Hestia. Then, they allied with Evilus,” Taylor said darkly. “By tomorrow morning, this siege will be over, and they will regret everything.”

Nobody said anything in response, but every single one of them had the same thought: ‘Sucks to be Ares.’