In the blink of an eye, four days had quietly passed.
On this day, the grand ceremony of the spirits, Gate of Heaven, which had been continuously chanted underground for over a month, finally neared completion, and it began causing slight abnormal phenomena throughout Orario.
Some citizens went to the Guild to provide information, reporting that they had witnessed suspicious red lights appearing in certain places, with those lights emerging from underground and continuously rising like particles while surging waves of magical energy that could only be perceived by mages spread out alongside them.
After receiving this information, the Guild dispatched personnel to verify it, and the results showed that the suspicious red lights were not only growing brighter but also continuously expanding in range.
Some bold and capable adventurers followed these red lights into places such as underground waterways, only to encounter Violas there.
Yes.
Violas, those man-eating flower monsters, had emerged from underground.
As if trying to hinder the people on the surface as much as possible during this final moment—preventing them from dealing with the impending light from Heaven—Violas began appearing at various entrances throughout Knossos.
Some attacked adventurers within the Dungeon, others emerged from places such as sewers, and some even reached the surface itself, rampaging throughout the city just like during Monster Feria.
To deal with these Violas, the major familias had to expend considerable effort.
After all, although Violas seemed like mere cannon fodder in front of Riezel and his group, easily wiped out in large numbers, that was only because they were facing powerful First-Class Adventurers like them.
Against ordinary adventurers, Violas posed a significant threat, as they possessed extremely high resistance to blunt attacks and reacted violently to magical energy, often prioritizing the elimination of protected and powerful rear-line combatants such as mages.
Furthermore, they could grow stronger by devouring magic stones, causing each individual among them to evolve into a strengthened species. Once fully developed, even the weakest Violas could rival a Level 3 adventurer, while the strongest were comparable to Level 5 or even higher-ranking First-Class Adventurers. Even Tiona and Tione had once found them troublesome when they first encountered them.
Enemies of this level required considerable effort even from large familias to handle, let alone adventurers from small and mid-sized familias. Only familias like the Loki Familia and the Freya Familia could treat Violas as expendable monsters—the rest simply could not afford to do so.
Under such circumstances, the large-scale emergence of Violas inevitably threw Orario into chaos.
In response to the situation, the Guild began urgently pushing for the assault on the Man-Made Dungeon Knossos to commence immediately, and could no longer afford any further delays.
In other words, the time for the expedition had finally become imminent.
Answering the Guild's call, Finn ultimately decided to hold a pre-battle meeting.
Naturally, this would not be an internal meeting exclusive to the Loki Familia, but a joint pre-battle meeting involving all familias participating in the assault on Knossos.
Aside from the Loki Familia, the familias participating in this meeting—the main forces that had long been fighting on the front lines against the underground faction—included the Ganesha Familia, which served as Orario's enforcer; the Hephaestus Familia, which acted both as an informant regarding the Demi Spirits and as a provider of equipment; and the Hermes Familia, which had previously undertaken the investigation mission into the 24th Floor's Pantry alongside Riezel and Ais.
Among the participating familias, there was no need to elaborate on the Ganesha Familia.
As Orario's enforcer and an officially designated collaborator of the Guild, they had long been fully aware of matters concerning the underground forces. Moreover, since this crisis threatened the entirety of Orario, their participation in the assault on Knossos was inevitable.
As for the Hephaestus Familia, their participation in this operation was only natural.
Firstly, the Loki Familia's large-scale procurement of equipment within the city inevitably involved the largest blacksmith familia. In addition, the Hephaestus Familia had previously joined the Loki Familia on expeditions, and Tsubaki had long been aware of the existence of the multicolored monsters and Demi Spirits.
As a result, the Loki Familia and the Guild ultimately chose neither to deceive nor conceal the truth from them, instead explaining everything in full and gaining their support.
Meanwhile, the Hermes Familia could only be said to have been dragged into the situation.
After all, the details of this operation—whether it was the existence of the underground forces or the spirit grand ceremony threatening the entirety of Orario—were not things that could be publicly disclosed.
To avoid causing widespread panic and disrupting the city's order, this information had to be kept hidden from most familias. Even the Freya Familia had not been permitted to know the full details, let alone the other small and mid-sized familias.
Because the Hermes Familia had participated in the investigation mission of the 24th Floor's Pantry and knew about the existence of the multicolored monsters, they unfortunately came to learn information that others could not.
Hence, they were naturally pulled into the operation and became one of the supporting parties involved in the assault.
Of course, in order to compensate for the shortage of manpower and mitigate this crisis as much as possible, the Guild also reached out to several trustworthy mid-tier familias, requesting their participation in the operation.
In particular, those berberas who had once belonged to the Ishtar Familia had previously taken part in operations within Knossos alongside Ishtar, and they had once stood against the Loki Familia while possessing knowledge regarding the underground forces. If the details became known to their current familias through them, those familias would inevitably be dragged into the situation as well, just like the Hermes Familia.
And just like that, on the fifth day, the pre-battle meeting led by the Guild was officially convened on the 30th Floor of Babel, a vast hall designed with an open layout that made the entire floor resemble an aerial pavilion, presenting nothing but an expansive and unobstructed open space.
In fact, this place was also the venue used for the Denatus, which was held once every three months.
In the past, various gods would gather here every three months to exchange information and assign titles to adventurers who had successfully leveled up, but today, this sacred place had been opened to the familias that would participate in the assault on Knossos.
On this day, each participating familia dispatched its captain along with highly ranked representative members, gathering all of them together on the 30th Floor of Babel.
From the Loki Familia, the one who arrived was naturally Finn.
However, the one accompanying him was surprisingly not the vice-captain, Riveria.
"You're the trump card for this operation, so come with me to the meeting."
Using that as his reason, Finn brought Riezel along with him to the 30th Floor of Babel.
By the time Riezel arrived, the place was already filled with the captains of various familias and the attendants accompanying them.
"You're here, Finn—and Riezel!"
As soon as Finn and Riezel stepped into the venue, the first to greet them was Tsubaki, the captain of the Hephaestus Familia and its only Level 5 member.
As she walked over alone, she wore her usual fearless smile, though unlike the other captains, she appeared to have come to the meeting by herself.
Besides her, the captain of the Ganesha Familia, Shakti, also stepped forward, followed by two familiar figures whom Riezel recognized.
"Asfi."
Riezel raised an eyebrow.
One of the two was none other than the captain of the Hermes Familia, a renowned master of magic items, one of the few individuals in the city who possessed Mystery, and the woman known by the alias Perseus—Asfi Al Andromeda.
"Long time no see, Trickster Sword… No, I suppose I should call you Liberator now."
Asfi adjusted her glasses and greeted Riezel with a bitter smile.
It was clear that being dragged into such a major operation had placed her under tremendous stress, as the heaviness in her mood was obvious.
In contrast, the other person standing beside Asfi spoke to Riezel in a far more relaxed tone.
"I knew you'd be here, Liberator."
The one who said this was an amazoness with bronze skin, a tall and voluptuous figure, and a pair of strikingly long legs, while her gaze toward Riezel was filled with provocation.
"Antianeira?"
Riezel raised his brows precisely because of her presence.
Needless to say, she was none other than Aisha Belka, the berbera known as Antianeira.
Yes, she was the same tall amazoness who had once belonged to the Ishtar Familia and whom Riezel had defeated twice.
"You're part of the Hermes Familia now?"
Ignoring her provocative gaze, Riezel spoke as though he had only just realized it.
"Well, you could say I got tricked into it..." Aisha replied, seeming slightly bored after her provocation failed to get any reaction out of him. "After Goddess Ishtar was sent back, I honestly didn't know where else to go. In the end, that god sweet-talked me into joining with all his smooth words."
It was obvious that Aisha held a considerable amount of dissatisfaction toward the so-called god she was referring to.
God Hermes was famous for his silver tongue and his extremely free-spirited, willful personality. Even Asfi, despite being the captain, would show a headache whenever he was mentioned, let alone Aisha, who had clearly suffered quite a lot under him already.
"You didn't join the Hestia Familia with Haruhime?"
Riezel asked casually.
"No—that familia doesn't suit me. They're all way too pure and innocent. If someone like me joined them, their goddess would probably keep watching me all day long."
Aisha seemed to recall something as her expression turned both amused and slightly narrowed while she looked toward Riezel.
"I thought you cared quite a bit about Haruhime. I figured you might try to bring her into the Loki Familia, but in the end, you didn't do anything at all."
Aisha genuinely found that difficult to understand.
From Riezel's past actions, she could tell that this famous Liberator truly cared about Haruhime.
At first, she had assumed he was interested in Haruhime's magic, which was why she had remained wary of him during their previous encounters. Yet after Ishtar had been sent back and the Ishtar Familia had completely disbanded, he still made no move whatsoever, allowing Haruhime to join the Hestia Familia of her own free will.
What exactly was going on?
Aisha simply could not figure it out.
In response, Riezel merely smiled and replied with a single sentence.
"It's nothing. Same as you—I just thought she wasn't suited to being with us."
Hearing that, Aisha raised her brows slightly.
"Hmm, that's true... Haruhime doesn't have much ambition or desire. She just wants a peaceful life and to watch the back of the hero she admires as he keeps moving forward. Yeah, she's not suited for a familia like the Loki Familia, one that's always standing at the very front lines."
Although she acknowledged the reasoning, Aisha kept her eyes fixed on Riezel as she let out a sigh.
"Still, you're already Level 7… Looks like I've got no chance of getting revenge on you anymore."
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